Gloomy Gus

Just for the record: It looks like Gustav's forecast track is flattening out to a more East/West plotting, with a slightly more leftward arc on the map. Maybe there was some wisdom to the golden triangle counties' evacuation order. Even here around Houston, we probably need to keep our guard up.

Eureka, I guess

It appears that the New York Times, ever at the cutting edge, has discovered the existence of political blogs at the party conventions. If they had noticed this four years ago, or even some months ago when credentials were being considered by the parties, it might be worth something. However, today it's as fresh as that greenish crust of bread at the back of the bin.

Just for grins, see it now: "The Year of the Political Blogger."

Obama, Obama, Obama...

I'd like to think that there might be some level of integrity to Senator Obama's big-issue positions coming out of his trip overseas. But: he's gone from a fairly clear and consistent progressivism to ... what?

• On Iraq, he's developing a middle-of-the-road position not far from John McCain's. Let's start pulling out the troops, but only as "conditions on the ground" permit; a baseline force will remain; the Surge wasn't a success, but conditions are much better.
• On Afghanistan, he's a hawk because that's the real war on terrorism; we need a Surge there; we have to pay attention to that war, not be distracted, and win it.
• On the Middle East, who knows? An undivided Jerusalem must be Israel's capital. A partitioned Jerusalem may be the Palestinian capital. We should negotiate and use a multilateral approach on Iran (which is what is happening already) but under NO circumstances should they be allowed to have nukes.
• On the domestic side, he's showing similar chameleon-like tendencies on energy, the economy, the banking/mortgage bail-outs, health care, and other matters. We're seeing this taking shape now.

I know that Senator McCain is not the paragon of ideological linearity, but there is a general consistency to his overall positions. This seems to me to be respectable. What Obama is doing is pandering, and one is certainly given to doubt the sincerity of anything he says at this point.

For the Summer I Class

Here are the notes, as we march through them in class:

Intro/Chapter 1--

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=df8n9qbt_169cv9vtf2n

Chapter 2--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_178c39jbbnk

Chapter 3--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_184cxfcv8dx

Chapter 4--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_185hpg873fk

Chapter 5--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_186c3b7pbcq

Chapter 6--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_187cs56vdgf

Chapter 7--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_195ghn42mdv

Chapter 8--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_209tr5wssfd

Mortality

I've attended three funerals in the last month, all for folks who were not far from my age. The passing of the first was sudden, but not a big surprise: a retired educator who had defeated cancer, was being treated for a series of lesser illnesses, and died of complications from that treatment. He led an educator's life, was a person of service, and the gratitude and good memories were abundant at the rites and after. The second funeral was for a former teacher who had left the profession to take over a private business and do some writing, which she did very successfully. She died very suddenly of a heart attack--no warnings to friends or family. Because of the very special, charitable quality of her life, the service had a lightness and radiance that all seemed to feel. The reception following had the quality of a reunion of prodigals "coming home." Conversations left hanging twenty years ago were resumed without pause. The third demise was of an acquaintance who died under difficult and uncertain circumstances. The funeral appeared strained, almost surreal for the community that was present. I wasn't able to attend the reception, but sensed that the assembly was somewhat uneasy about the whole business. We do prepare our passing by our living.

News Flash: Radicals favor Republicans

Tapes from UBL, the Hezbollah takeover in Lebanon, and more unease from the IAEA about Iran's pre-nuclear mischief all seem to hint that the Al Qaeda and other radicals really do want to provoke the country into a conservative vote in the fall. You would think that these folks would lie low and play very politely in order to cast the impression that their intentions really are peaceful. After all, who wants to believe that they're really bullies?

Either that, or they can't wait.

Pure Propaganda

No wonder the daily papers are having trouble. That this disinformation should pass an editorial board is jaw-dropping:

Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons today -- an annual ritual made even darker this year by crippling internal divisions and diminishing independence hopes.

... Today's events commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians call it their "nakba," Arabic for catastrophe.

The only catastrophe here is this version of events. By the way: who initiated hostilities?

24 hours of interesting developments

As some members of the media have noticed, Senator Obama may be wearing the victor's mantle, but he's having a difficult time holding up his trousers. The West Virginia result is embarrassing--it would have to be to have him stoop to the ploy of soliciting and announcing Senator Edwards' endorsement. By demeanor and pattern of choices, Obama appears far more desperate than Senator Clinton does.

There is still an endgame waiting to be played out here, and while the result appears to be inevitable, I have a feeling that there may be some unpredictability left in this complex and apparently unstable system.

An observation

Politics is the nervous dance between ideology and conscience.

Is Mrs. Clinton finished?

See here. The answer is No. She should (and will, I believe) take her basket (a rather large one) of voters and delegates to the convention and insist on working out a political solution for ending the race formally before a floor fight takes place. With the close margins now existing, she can't be said to have no leverage at all. The Democrats can't afford the luxury of a wrenching fight for the ultimate control of the party, even though that might be a valuable prophylaxis in the long run. They see themselves in a must-win situation, and they want a winning unification ticket in place for the fall. A unilateral withdrawal would not bring this about--it's an acknowledgement of defeat, and with defeat comes the next round of treachery, perfidy, back-stabbing, etc. Withdrawal doesn't push the party's core toward an acceptable middle. Hard-edged negotiation does. I don't see that happening until all the primaries are over. They will be in less than a month, without an official victor. The preliminary rules meetings take place in early June. We'll be able to tell then what the weather will be in Denver.