mjh's blog

The National Symphony

Last week cellist Mstislav Rostropovich died. Rostropovich was the conductor of the National Symphony when I worked there about 25 years ago (and long after I left). I was the Data Processing Manager for the National Symphony, hired to set up an IBM System/34 minicomputer donated to the Symphony. My office was a former broom closet — albeit a very large one — on the edge of the suite of Symphony offices deep backstage and upstairs in the Kennedy Center. The glamor and grandeur of the Kennedy Center largely stopped at the backstage elevator.

The interview for that job was the most grueling of my life. My soon-to-be boss, John Berg, was — probably, still is — a mild-mannered, good-natured gentle man. For the interview, he was joined by Mr X, whose name I suppress. X worked for the donor and took it upon himself to test me during the interview. So, as John asked the usual questions, X kept interjecting rapid-fire questions and comments, often interrupting me mid-sentence, seeming not to care at all about my actual response. After the interview, I walked numbly along the huge exterior balcony with its magnificent view of Memorial Bridge. I’d been through the ringer. Later, John confided that after I left, X said, “there’s your man,” believing I was even-keeled and unflappable. While no one who knows me would call me unflappable, I am mostly steady, a trait that has served me repeatedly in the classroom. I know for a fact I flapped more than once at the Symphony.

Conductors have longer lifespans than any other profession. It helps to be rich and pampered, but there is no question that the physical and mental exertion — and the adulation — keep one strong.

Though I saw Rostropovich conduct the Symphony many times and play cello a few times, I only met him once. I don’t recall the occasion, but staffers gathered in an office with him. We each downed a shot of vodka and greeted Rostropovich one at a time. I can imagine he kissed everyone on both cheeks. mjh

Church and State

Did Justices’ Catholicism Play Part in Abortion Ruling? By Robert Barnes, Washington Post Staff Writer

Is it significant that the five Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold the federal ban on a controversial abortion procedure also happen to be the court’s Roman Catholics? …

[On the other hand,] last week, four of the five Catholics were in the court’s minority in voting to uphold death sentences in three cases from Texas. Capital punishment is another issue to which the church is opposed, although it hasn’t held the same political currency as abortion.

Undoing the Damage Done by Neocons & BushCo

Pentagon to End Talon Data-Gathering Program, By Walter Pincus, Washington Post Staff Writer

Less than two weeks after being sworn in as undersecretary of defense for intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. is moving to end the controversial Talon electronic data program [Threat and Local Observation Notices], which collected and circulated unverified reports about people and organizations that allegedly threaten Defense Department facilities. …

Talon, launched in 2003 with an eye toward Sept. 11, 2001, came under public scrutiny in December 2005 with the disclosure that it had collected data on anti-military protesters and peaceful demonstrators. More recently, the American Civil Liberties Union released an internal Pentagon report showing that, as of 18 months ago, Talon had about 13,000 entries, of which 2,821 involved reports on U.S. citizens. …

In answer to questions before his confirmation hearing, Clapper, who has worked for 43 years within military intelligence, said: “The history of the intelligence community is replete with instances of abuse of civil liberties — well intended, but abuse nonetheless.” He said it is “important that the proper balance be struck between the counterintelligence mission, on one hand, and the protection of civil liberties, on the other.” …

The agency’s size and budget are classified, but congressional sources have said that CIFA [Counterintelligence Field Activity, which was established in September 2002 by then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz] had spent more than $1 billion through last October. One counterintelligence official at that time estimated that CIFA had 400 full-time employees and 800 to 900 contractors working for it.

The King of Blind Cynics

Oh, how I hate Dark Lord Dick. It’s amazing he doesn’t choke and stroke on his own duplicity. He believes any opposition to the War Without End is unthinking and motivated solely by power-plays. The Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight (but shoots constantly) judges the rest of the world by their own view, that winning is all that matters — domestically and in places there will be no win, like Iraq. Now that they’ve pissed away their dreams of a generation of Republican power, as Karl Rove ‘architected’ it — now they struggle to maintain any relevance at all. Step one: shut up. Step two: don’t prolong it — end it. Bush started it. If he were a leader, he’d finish it. Instead, he’s AWOL and leaving it for the next president. “Here’s the keys to the quagmire.” Just imagine what Cheney and the Radical Wrong will say when a Democrat is president — they’ll be counting the days until Impeachment. mjh

ABC News: Cheney, Reid Spar Over Iraq Policy By ANNE FLAHERTY

“Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics,” Cheney told reporters at the Capitol after attending the weekly Republican policy lunch. “Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election.”

“It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage,” Cheney said.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3073925

TheHill.com – Cheney blasts Reid’s ‘defeatism’ By Klaus Marre

The vice president called it “cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security interests of our country, not on the interests of their political party.” [mjh: you gotta admit every misstep BushCo makes is bad for their party -- and the nation.]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cheney-blasts-reids-defeatism-2007-04-24.html

Kucinich: Cheney impeachment effort ‘practical’, by Sabrina Eaton, Plain Dealer Bureau

Washington- After hinting for weeks that he would initiate impeachment actions against the Bush administration, Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Tuesday introduced three articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kucinich said Congress should oust Cheney from office for “fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction” to trick Congress and the public into believing war with Iraq was necessary. He said Cheney also manipulated intelligence to deceive the public about purported links between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and al-Qaida, the group responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11.

Additionally, Kucinich accused Cheney of threatening aggression against Iran even though Iran has not threatened the United States.

“This goes beyond partisan terms,” Kucinich said. “This becomes a question of who we are as a people.”

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/117749043613670.xml&coll=2

Guns Don’t Kill People?

I often think of Iraq as NRA-land. In Iraq, every male over 10 has at least one automatic rifle. (Who makes all the money from that?) Therefore, according to the NRA, Iraq is a paradise on earth, where each man is his own master and personally responsible for his own defense. In Iraq, men do not cower under desks — they shoot!

Curiously, the NRA doesn’t crow in public about this paradise. As strangely, they say nothing about how Iraq also shows the other face of the NRA: the government wants your weapons. There is no question that in Iraq, the government has tried to confiscate weapons. Worse, US soldiers play a major role in this round-up of a freedom-loving people’s last defense against a tyrannical government. How can the NRA remain silent and look the other way? How does the NRA know those soldiers won’t come home and take your weapons next? mjh

Gunmen kill 43 in northern Iraq by Thomas Wagner, The Associated Press

BAGHDAD – Gunmen shot and killed 23 members of an ancient religious sect in northern Iraq on Sunday after stopping their bus and separating out followers of other faiths, while car bombings in the capital killed at least another 20 people.

Ask Gingrinch How He Puts His Foot in His Mouth When His Head is Up His Ass

Think Progress » Gingrich Blames Virginia Tech Tragedy On Liberalism

In the wake of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich laid the blame for the tragedy at the feet of liberals. Here’s what he said:

“I want to say to the elite of this country – the elite news media, the liberal academic elite, the liberal political elite: I accuse you in Littleton…of being afraid to talk about the mess you have made, and being afraid to take responsibility for things you have done, and instead foisting upon the rest of us pathetic banalities because you don’t have the courage to look at the world you have created.”

On ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Gingrich if he would apply those same words to the Virginia Tech tragedy. “Yes,” Gingrich said, offering a rambling, nonsensical response that segued into Don Imus and McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform.

Gingrich has a history of spinning tragedy for ideological and partisan gain.

– In 1994, after Susan Smith confessed to drowning her two children in South Carolina, Gingrich quickly blamed liberals, saying the only way to avoid similar future incidents was “to vote Republican.”

– After former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) was forced to resign over his sexually inappropriate behavior towards House pages, Gingrich declared that conservatives didn’t act to stop Foley because they “would have been accused of gay bashing” by liberals.

– At the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year, Gingrich blamed the residents of New Orleans’ 9th ward for “a failure of citizenship,” by being “so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn’t get out of the way of a hurricane.”

In Gingrich’s mind, anything bad that happens can always be traced back to the culture created by liberals.

Watch the video at: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/22/gingrich-liberalism-vatech/

Exciting News for Virtuous Pagans — Agnostics Don’t Know and Atheists Don’t Care

Vatican abolishes the concept of limbo By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

ROME — Limbo has been in limbo for quite some time, but is now on its way to extinction. …

That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell, giving rise to the popular usage meaning “in between.”

Limbo is not unpleasant, but it is not a seat alongside God. [mjh: and you really do want the best seat for all eternity.]

In his 14th-century work “The Divine Comedy,” the Italian poet Dante famously placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo.

Catholic doctrine states that because all humans are tainted by original sin thanks to the experience of Adam and Eve, baptism is essential for salvation. But the idea of limbo has fallen out of favor for many Catholics, who see it as harsh and not befitting a merciful God. [mjh: isn't that convenient.] …

Catholic conservatives criticized any effort to relegate limbo to oblivion.

Removing the concept from church teaching would lessen the importance of baptism and discourage parents from christening their infants, said Kenneth J. Wolfe, a Washington-based columnist for the traditionalist Catholic newspaper The Remnant.

“It makes baptism a formality, a party, instead of a necessity,” Wolfe said. “There would be no reason for infant baptisms. It would put the Catholic Church on par with the Protestants.”

It would also deprive Catholic leaders of a tool in their fight against abortion, Wolfe said. Priests have long told women that their aborted fetuses cannot go to heaven, which in theory was another argument against ending pregnancy. Without limbo, those fetuses would presumably no longer be denied communion with God.
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Pope revises limbo, says there is hope for babies who are not baptized By Nicole Winfield

“If there’s no limbo and we’re not going to revert to St. Augustine’s teaching that unbaptized infants go to hell, we’re left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace,” said the Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. [mjh: holy crap, there goes our monopoly!] …

[Rev. Thomas Reese] said the document also had implications for non-Christians, since it could be seen as suggesting that non-baptized adults could go to heaven if they led a good life.

“I think it shows that Benedict is trying to balance his view of Jesus as being central as the savior of the world … but at the same time not saying what the Evangelicals say, that anyone who doesn’t accept Jesus is going to hell.”

Shootout at VPI

I’m intrigued by the notion held by some that the situation at Virginia Tech would have been idyllic if everyone had a gun. (This is the microcosm of the perfect world in which all of us are armed. You know, like in Iraq.) Oh, I know, they really mean “the right person” — the hero — but let’s take it to the logical extreme where everyone at VPI carried a gun.

How does this fantasy play out? Cho approaches the first two people he killed and draws a gun. Now what? Does one or do both of those victims shoot him on the spot? Hooray! Do they hesitate until he shoots one of them first, then the other kills him? Let’s say he got the drop on them in spite of their weapons. On to the classrooms. Students hear gunfire and all draw their weapons and run to the hallway. When do these 30 students start shooting? When they see he’s dressed in black, armed, Asian?

I get the simple version: a guy points a gun at you and you shoot him first. But in a classroom in chaos, when and whom do you shoot? When the guy next to you draws a gun and starts shooting, how do you know he’s a good guy and not another psycho? Thirty-three people start shooting. How many die? mjh

PS: I wonder if Cho watch Saturday Night Live last Saturday. One sketch involved one roommate shooting another. Third person enters the room and is shot. Then a fourth. Then a couple of cops. Everyone ends up dead. Now that’s comedy.

BioPark Vandals

The vandalism at the BioPark is very sad. The vandals and their parents must receive some punishment, though I don’t think it should haunt them the rest of their lives.

I wonder why this story wasn’t reported when it happened. A full week passed before the BioPark banned the school and that’s when it became news. How did the story remain uncovered until then? mjh

ABQjournal: City Sues Over BioPark Damage By Andrea Schoellkopf, Journal Staff Writer

The lawsuit names Charles Aragon and his mother, Tina Aragon; Desiree Gallegos and her aunt, Elene Marquez; Randy Kowalchuck [whose mother is in prison] and his grandmother, Helen Aragon; and Veronica Rodriguez and her stepfather, Joe Ramos. [mjh: I don't idolize the "Father Knows Best" model of 50's families with 2.5 well-behaved kids. But you don't have to be a social scientist to notice those families are non-nuclear.]

“I asked him, ‘Why did you do it?’ ” [Helen Aragon] said. “You know what he told me? ‘Everybody else was doing it.’ ”

Since then, she said, her grandson has been very depressed and quiet “as if he’s so worried about something.”

She said her grandson, who will turn 13 next month, spends most of his time at home with her watching movies or playing games. Recently, he has begun playing basketball and football with other children.

“That little boy has had a rough life and he keeps more to himself,” she said. [mjh: the next Cho?>]

Subverting Democracy

Kremlin justice in the U.S., by Jonathan Chait

AS ATTY. GEN. Alberto R. Gonzales takes to Capitol Hill to testify today, it’s worth keeping in mind what this whole imbroglio is really about. … It’s about whether the Bush administration sought to subvert democracy by turning the federal judicial system into a weapon of the ruling party.

Many people think of democracy as free elections, some other basic rights (like free speech) and not much more. But really, that’s only the beginning. …

Communications professors Donald Shields and John Cragan have found that, since Bush took office, U.S. attorneys have investigated or indicted 298 Democratic officeholders and only 67 Republicans. This massive disparity, which I have not seen any Republican even try to explain, is deeply suspicious. [mjh: Conservatives have a simple and smug explanation: Dems are corrupt and Reps are chaste. Snort. Yeah, right.]

And there are other ways in which Republicans have tried to use the legal system to win partisan disputes. [mjh: read them] …

It would be very easy to overreact to all these things and conclude that our democracy is imperiled or that Republicans are wannabe Putins. But almost nobody seems to be overreacting.

Most people are under-reacting. Allowing the security apparatus of the state to help tilt elections is an extremely grave precedent. When the line of acceptable behavior can be moved without much protest, it often can be moved further the next time.

No, we’re not becoming Russia. But becoming just a little bit like Russia still ought to be considered a major scandal.
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A Conservative Defends Political Correctness — well, sorta …

P.C. Kabuki Theater, By Jonah Goldberg

The reality is that much of political correctness — the successful part — is a necessary attempt to redefine good manners in a sexually and racially integrated society. Good manners are simply those things you do to demonstrate respect to others and contribute to social decorum. Aren’t conservatives the natural defenders of proper manners? …

There’s remarkable overlap between conservative and liberal complaints about the culture. But when traditionalists talk the language of decency and morality, the Left hears bigotry and theocracy. And when liberals talk about sensitivity and white privilege, the Right hears something totalitarian. The result is that the two sides hold separate conversations. And when they do talk to each other, each side is listening for hidden agendas.

TV is to America as Lead Pipes were to Rome

I’m nauseated by recent ads for video screens in cars and vans. One features a busload of unruly children, the other a classroom in chaos. In both, an adult flips down a tiny, worthless video screen and the children are instantly in their seats and transfixed faster than any medication could accomplish.

Leave aside that advertising routinely and perversely presents its customers as idiots. (This speaks volumes about what advertisers think of you and me.) You want discipline, order, quiet — drug ‘em, Dan-o! Mesmerize them with TV, the babysitter they have known almost as long as Mom.

Mind you, I have two TVs and no kids. Further, I spent much of my youth and too much of the rest of my life in front of the idiot box, “the chattering cyclops,” as Sideshow Bob put it. I’m also a wireless fan and grasp the notion of always being jacked in. I’m no Luddite. However, for god’s sake, people, have the spine to discipline your children without drugs, electronica or bribes. Have the intelligence to entertain and educate them your own goddamn self. Teach them to read. On long car trips, teach them to sit and do nothing — it is a very valuable skill. If you can’t amuse yourself, your life will always be empty. mjh

PS: As the Journal reported on page one (ABQjournal: It’s Like a Couch on Wheels Albuquerque Demo Spotlights In-Car Satellite TV Service), you can also get a giant screen and huge satellite antenna for your van. Great for tailgating parties where no one wants to talk to anyone else. Now, you don’t have to miss the halftime shows or commercials while you kill yourself with food and alcohol in the parking lot. Go team!

[mjh: A couple of Journal columnists addressed this nonsense and similar commonsense recently]

ABQjournal: Talk Isn’t Cheap, Neither are Car TV Systems By D’Val Westphal Of the Journal

How on earth has my family survived without satellite television in our vehicles?

Silly us, we’ve been spending all our commutes, quick trips on errands and vacations actually talking to each other. … We could’ve been circling the block zoned out to “American Idol” instead. …

To those who opt for mobile satellite TV— many clearly will … — I’m glad you can get service for $4.99 a month. I’ll save my cash for an even safer, greener vehicle, and I’ll spend my drive time talking to my family for free.
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ABQjournal: Don’t Forget You’re Human By Jim Belshaw Of the Journal

The trouble with being invincible is that, when you’re flying around the inside of a disintegrating car or you find yourself in the middle of a dogfight (a very bad place to be, I can attest), your invincibility always takes a beating, and sometimes you take others down with you in the bargain.

So, not to be a pest or anything, when you take Fido out for a run put him on a leash. OK?

And when you’re driving over to the bosque for that morning’s jog, wear your damn seat belt.

RAR – Republicans Against Reform

GOP Unknown Halts Electronic Finance Filings By Matthew Mosk, Washington Post Staff Writer

But before Feingold’s bill [requiring members to file their campaign finance forms electronically instead of on paper] could move forward, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) rose and announced, “Mr. President, on behalf of a Republican senator, I object.”

The objection represented another Senate tradition that is almost as quaint and baffling to outsiders as paper filings — it is called an anonymous hold. The long-standing practice allows a single unnamed senator to stop any bill in its tracks.

Senators voted earlier this year to end anonymous holds as part of their ethics reform bill, but that measure still awaits action in the House. So when Alexander unfurled his objection, there was little anyone could do. …

Campaign finance reform advocate Steven Weissman said he could only laugh — what a poetic way for senate Republicans to slam the brakes on a long-pending disclosure bill. “This is truly ironic,” he said yesterday. “Secrecy is being used to reinforce secrecy.”

Sen. Ima Luddite (R) – Washington Post Editorial

Would that this Luddite had the courage of his or her convictions to explain publicly said opposition to 21st-century custom. … All opposed ought to have the guts to come forward and explain their antipathy to sunshine.
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ABQjournal: Gov. Considers Ethics Special Session, By Felicia Fonseca, The Associated Press [4/1/07]

Senate Republican Whip Leonard Lee Rawson of Las Cruces said Saturday that he doesn’t believe the idea of the special session will be well received by lawmakers.

Ethics legislation would only trap people who are trying to be honest, and the laws can be abused, he said.

“Just because you have an ethics commission or ethics laws, doesn’t make someone ethical,” Rawson said. “Just because you walk in the garage, doesn’t make you a car. Ethics legislation only treats the symptoms, it doesn’t treat the cause.”

The bottom line, Rawson said, is that, if voters elect ethical people, “then you don’t have to worry about ethics legislation.” [mjh: it's so simple only a simpleton can see it]

VPI, not VMI

When I went to school at UVa 30 years ago, we called Virginia Tech “VPI” (Virginia Polytechnic Institute). I guess they had an upgrade to a university, just like George Mason College University. I knew people at Tech but never made what seemed like an impossibly long drive to Blacksburg. (I was still unacquainted with vast distances so familiar to me now as a westerner.)

I’ll write some other time about what a great world this would be without guns. (Have no fear, gun-freaks — you’ve got guns!) I watched part of the convocation on Tuesday and was struck by a few things:

(1) The only speaker should have been the first, the Vice President for Student Affairs. Her words, tone and demeanor were perfect. Everything else detracted from her opening remarks.

(2) You knew things had turned conventional when the President of VPI offered the biography of the Governor of Virginia. Do we really need to know what the governor did in his youth? (Unless it was march for or against gun control.)

(3) Duhbya could have been worse, even if references to a loving god seem ironic under the circumstances.

(4) When the religious leaders gathered on stage — even a buddhist, but no Hindu, I think — I wondered, “where are the atheists?” Atheists suffer life’s tragedies without magic to comfort us.

(5) I was shocked by the playing of the Star-spangled Banner and the color guard drill. This was not a military situation. These were not soldiers. This wasn’t war. As with 9/11, this was a somewhat international group of victims; people all over the world were hurt by this. We don’t need nationalism, when humanity should suffice. A world without nations or guns in which everyone recognizes each other as human beings? Talk about magic. Even people who can believe in god don’t believe that’s possible. mjh