Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada "Of Interest To Me" Nov16 -- Nov30, 2003
Email: mike -at- mikecampbell dot net
The opinions expressed on this website are those of the author alone, and are not necessarily those of his employer or any organization with which he is affiliated.
|
Reading
|
News Resources
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Dawson Speaks
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Who was the most important figure of the 20th century?
Only Churchill carries that absolutely required criterion: indispensability. Without Churchill the world today would be unrecognizable--dark, impoverished, tortured....After having single handedly saved Western civilization from Nazi barbarism--Churchill was, of course, not sufficient in bringing victory, but he was uniquely necessary--he then immediately rose to warn prophetically against its sister barbarism, Soviet communism.
-- Charles Krauthammer
Today is the 129th anniversary of the birth of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Happy Birthday, Winston!
I've been asked from time to time, 'why Churchill?' Certainly a valid question. Why an interest in the life of someone who died 6 months before I was born? I'll try to explain why it's important to me to recognize today's anniversary. I recall a "Seinfeld" episode when Jerry and George had a friend who was a Civil War buff, and George asks something like 'how do you get to be a buff? I always wanted to be a buff.' I think, actually, the word 'buff' doesn't quite apply to my interest in Churchill; I'd say it's more than an enthusiasm or an area of knowledge where I'm an authority (relative to most peoples' knowledge). Churchill is one of my main heroes, and I'm continually inspired by the man that he was, the things that he stood for, and the life that he led. I became involved with the Churchill Centre listserv and became a member of the International Churchill Society in 1999.
While there's been an increased interest in Churchill as a war leader since September 11th, my interest in his life and legacy stems to around 1997 and certainly runs broader than his war leadership. I was browsing in a used bookstore/coffee shop on Argyle Street in Halifax -- Trident Booksellers, which is now on Hollis Street -- and noticed a book called "Their Finest Hour" by Winston S. Churchill. As the phrase that formed this title was familiar to me, and I assumed it would be about the Second World War, I bought it. Frankly, at that time, at age 32, I wasn't even aware that Churchill had written anything. How little I knew.
As well, when I made that purchase, I was not aware that "Their Finest Hour" was one of six volumes in Churchill's war memoirs. There's a good chance that I wouldn't have bought that book if I'd known it was only the second of six volumes. Funny how you stumble across things in life that turn into great interests. Funny, but also a bit scary, as things that prove so satisfying quite easily might never have been.
I read through "Their Finest Hour", and then found the entire six volume set at another used bookseller in Halifax, Schooner Books on Queen Street. I recall being so pleased with the purchase, as the price for all six was less than the price of my first "Their Finest Hour" purchase. I buy a lot of used books, and, unless it's falling apart, the condition of the book itself is a pretty minor consideration; I'm more interested in the content.
So, over the course of a few months, made my way through "The Second World War". Certainly, I fell in love with Churchill's writing style -- direct yet poetic, very interesting, informative and, at times, humourous. I learned a lot about the Second World War, but was mainly struck by Churchill's strategic sense. Making life and death decisions across such a broad spectrum and relating to possible events well into the future. He played an interesting role as idea man and prodder into action; while de facto Commander in Chief, he never overruled decisions by his senior military staff. Upon becoming Prime Minister, he had produced new notes to be placed on reports and memos that he was sending out; they had "Action This Day" in large bold letters at the top. This symbolized Churchill's thinking ~ don't give me excuses, get it done! He forced the British government and people to recognize that the 'Twilight War' had ended and that the real thing was coming.
He was the right person for the right time. On becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, as the Nazi war machine was rolling through the Low Countries and threatening France, Churchill wrote,
"... as I went to bed at about 3 a.m., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as though I were walking with Destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial. Eleven years in the political wilderness had freed me from ordinary party antagonisms. My warnings over the last six years had been so numerous, so detailed, and were now so terribly vindicated, that no one could gainsay me. I could not be reproached either for making the war or with want of preparation for it. I thought I knew a great deal about it all, and I was sure I should not fail. Therefore, although impatient for the morning, I slept soundly and had no need for cheering dreams. Facts are better than dreams."
-- The Gathering Storm, The Second World War, Volume 1
Anyone who studies the life and times of Winston Churchill knows that this is a guy who can't be pigeon-holed. Nor do they think the guy was perfect; rather, he was a most human human being.
Some find it easy to criticize Churchill as an imperialist or an aristocrat, therefore making it easier for them to dismiss the man and his role in the 20th century. As far as I'm concerned, these views don't stand up to the facts. Churchill worked to establish the first unemployment insurance program in Britain, albeit meager compared to today's standards. We should not, however, be comparing this to today's standards; rather, to the situation of the day in the early part of the 20th century. There was no system in place to help those who were forced out of work. Churchill did something to help. Churchill also worked to arrange pension benefits for widows, an 8 hour day for miners, restrictions on child labour, and the establishment of labour exchanges (the first Unemployment/Employment Centers).
As far as the imperialist moniker goes, many critics point to his statement during the "The End of The Beginning" address to the Lord Mayor's Luncheon following the Battle of Egypt, Nov.10/42 - "I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire" - and assign to Churchill a strong belief in the old Empire over which England held control. I think he had a good sense of the way things were going when it came to the status of the British Empire. In practically the very same breath during that same address, Churchill states: "I am proud to be a member of that vast Commonwealth and society of nations and communities gathered in and around the British monarchy, without which the good cause might well have perished from the face of the earth." I know it's been discussed before, but I think too much is made of that 'liquidation of the British Empire' quote. I think he was speaking less of the maintenance of a political system, and more about the threat of the loss of a society and a way of life.
A "vast Commonwealth and society of nations and communities" -- I would assume that Churchill chose those words carefully, and that they represented his view. This was not the old Empire. [The India Act and the Statutes of Westminster had been in effect for years by the time Churchill made this statement.] Except for some key exceptions, those countries that were once part of the British Empire could still today be described in the same way that Churchill described them on November 10, 1942. While an independent liberal democracy, Canada is still a constitutional monarchy and a member of the Commonwealth. While vestiges of Empire remained in Canada's history and culture at that time (and still remain), there was no political or military involvement by the Crown. The King/Queen and the Governor General are today complete figureheads, as they were in 1942 or in 1939.
In the political realm, Churchill was a member of the House of Commons for 60 years (refusing a seat in the House of Lords near the end of his political career). While he enjoyed many victories and suffered many setbacks, his political life appears to me to be so different than what we see today. "Hardball"'s Chris Matthews, who is on the Board of Trustees of the Churchill Centre in Washington, summed it up for me:
Churchill told the world the truth when it didn't want to hear it. He fought when others would have quit. He personified the very best in politics. He was out there all alone and was proven right. But most of all, he knew why he was there. [...]
He would not have been at home among so many of today's politicians who don't make a move that has not been first tested before a focus group, what the pros call "peasants under glass," where every position is cleared by pollsters then are scripted for fashion and political correctitude. Churchill didn't worry what his critics thought, didn't ask what someone else's definition of "is" was. Where other politicians cling to the office, he was prepared to fling it away, to risk popular rejection, which came to him on so many cruel occasions, rather than be the person he was not.
He knew why he was there. He made sure he could do the job before he took it. He wrote his own speeches because no one else but him had the feeling, the knowledge, the passion to write for Winston Churchill.
The goal of World War II, he said, was "to revive the status of man." He wanted to raise up the individual beyond the reach of the Hitlers and Stalins of this world. His life is a guide not just to great leadership. He stands as an example of what a free man can be.
Churchill was a great war leader, a great politician, husband and family man, journalist, soldier, prolific and Nobel Prize winner writer, photographer, painter. He led a full and interesting life, he believed so strongly in democracy and its institutions, and in the paramount value of human freedom.
He was amazingly prescient. He wanted to strangle Bolshevism in its cradle. He warned early and often - to deaf ears - of the threat of German National Socialism and Hitlerism. He warned against appeasement. At Fulton, he warned the West of the Soviet threat and prescribed the way to defeat it. And, he accurately predicted Soviet communism's fall.
Churchill's passion and romanticism stood in the face of the cold, modern ideologies that threatened human freedom in the 20th century. Thanks to Churchill holding true to his convictions, freedom won.
So, today, stop for a minute and look around you at the freedoms you enjoy in your life and take a moment to remember Winston Churchill's life.
11:10am
Saturday, November 29, 2003
The Flea does extremely well to describe Bush's recent trip to Baghdad as Churchillian. That thought hadn't occurred to me.
The President's Thanksgiving in Baghdad had a Churchillian flair at a time when symbols count as much as strength of arms.
In "The Man Who Flew Churchill" (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1975) book by Canadian journalist Bruce West, describes Churchill's air travel in Commando, a converted B-24 piloted by American pilot Captain Bill Vanderkloot.
The mileage logged by Churchill during the war is staggering, and he often took the opportunity to visit the troops and boost morale.
On Bush's trip, Andrew Sullivan writes
It reaffirms resolve, raises morale, and asserts our intention to get this done right. It's called leadership. And we just saw some.
Update: On Churchill's wartime travel, Neil Coates writes to the Churchill Centre listserv,
A map was "Issued to World Book members in April, 1956 to commemorate the completion of publication of the Reprint Society edition of the Churchill War Memoirs". It was compiled by Lieutenant-Commander Frank A. de Vine Hunt, FRGS, FRSA, RNVR dated 1947 and titled "Dunkirk to Berlin, June 1940 to July 1945, Journeys undertaken by the Rt. Honble. Winston S.Churchill, O.M., C.H., F.R.S., M.P., in defence of the British Commonwealth and Empire."
On it is plotted the following journeys
"Atlantic Charter meeting" Aug 1941
1st "Washington Conference" Dec 1941 - Jan 1942
2nd "Washington Conference" Jun 1942
1st "Moscow Conference" Aug 1942
"Casablanca Conference" Jan - Feb 1943
3rd "Washington Conference" May - Jun 1943
1st "Quebec Conference" Aug - Sep 1943
"Cairo Conference"--"Tehran Conference" Nov 1943 - Jan 1944
"Normandy" Jun, Jul, Aug 1944
Italy, the Italian fronts, and the South of France invasion coast Aug
1944
2nd "Quebec Conference" Sep 1944
2nd "Moscow Conference" Oct 1944
Paris and French front (Vosges) Nov 1944
Greece Dec 1944
Paris and Belgium Jan 1945
"Malta Conference"--"Yalta Conference" Jan - Feb 1945
Belgium and Holland Mar 1945
The Rhine Mar 1945
Potsdam Conference Jul 1945
3:58pm
Dave mentioned this show yesterday. I really liked this one. Space: Above and Beyond ran on Fox in 1995 and 1996; it
chronicled the interplanetary adventures of a Marine squadron battling hostile aliens in the years 2063-2064. Part (anti-)war drama, part science fiction, it examined such themes as courage, loyalty and faith. Through the eyes of the Wild Cards, it explored what we, as humans, live for... and what we would be willing to die for.
I liked the scenario, I liked the characters and acting, and the writing was great. Sarah Stegall writes on the pilot,
Nathan West's final soliloquy, completing his interrupted farewell to Kylen, is poetry of the highest order.
"We'll sit alone on a dark chunk of ice at the top of the world, and the stars above and beyond and between us will never shine brighter..."
It takes a fine and subtle hand to write about the death of the solar system and make it an affirmation of life, but Morgan and Wong have made Nathan -- and by extension, his four comrades --the five fingers of a fist raised in the face of annihilation.
12:07pm
Via Nealenews, Tim Robbins has written and directs a new anti-Iraq war play called "Embedded". Good for him, but I don't think I'll be buying a ticket.
Robbins portrays journalists as Pentagon puppets, U.S. soldiers as thieves and killers of innocent women and children, and the Bush cabinet as war mongers willing to start a war to escape the negative publicity of the Enron scandal.
In production less than a month, the play received not one, but two glowing reviews from the Los Angeles Times. Robbins' audience appears to accept his version of the war as the gospel truth.
"It is not propaganda. It is a voice of dissent, which is different than propaganda," said audience member Kadina Dayal-Halday.
Dissent? Dissent from what? If you hold opposing political views, fine. We all hold views that differ from other peoples' views. If we work toward achieving our own political goals within the democratic system, great. That's what it's all about. Everyone grumbles over some aspect of government, are we all dissenters? Where were the dissenters when Clinton was waging war? How many plays did Robbins write about that? (Granted, he and Sarandon were Naderites in 2000.) Everybody wants that 'dissenter' label next to their name these days.
In the latest Rolling Stone, Moby is quoted as saying that he hopes people shut down New York during the Republican Convention, presumably so that it won't be allowed to happen. Real democratic there, Mobe.
Don Henley says that "real patriotism ... involves questioning authority. The foundations of our democracy were laid by dissenters." Yes, they were dissenting against the undemocratic society in which they lived. How is Dave Matthews going on about Bush's "arrogant, longhorn belt-buckle moronic behaviour" on par with the actions of the founding fathers of the United States? I don't quite see it.
It's interesting that the 'rockers against Bush' don't seem to be talking much about the Bush administration's domestic policies. Surely there's something there worth discussion?
It seems, though, that reaching the status of American dissident is the ideological zenith of the moonbat's human evolution, the waypoint from which it evolves into a truly higher being. Fine, leave the democracy stuff to the mortals.
If there was no Iraq war, would Robbins have said 'boo' about the 23 million Iraqis living under Saddam's bloody fascist regime? Why bother with that?
One person who wasn't convinced by the portrayals was Marine Maj. Rich Doherty.
"It was spun to make it look like that leadership started this war simply for its own political agenda … and that can't be further from the truth," Doherty said.
Doherty, who has a Ph.D. from Berkeley, fought in Iraq and worked alongside several embedded journalists. After the show, which Fox News was not allowed to tape, Doherty discussed the performance with some of the audience and cast members.
"You're not on the ground, there is no historical, no empirical evidence to say...that what you're believing or saying politically (is true)," Doherty said.
True? That's expecting a bit much, isn't it?
11:24am
Charles Krauthammer reminds us that the Geneva Accord is not any kind of enforceable treaty, and the person who negotiated for the Israelis is a private citizen.
Not satisfied with having given up Israel's soul, Beilin gives up the body too. He not only returns Israel to its 1967 borders, arbitrary and indefensible, but he does so without any serious security safeguards.
Palestine promises to acquire and buy no more weapons than specified in some treaty Annex. This is a joke. Oslo had similarly detailed limitations on Palestinian weaponry and nobody even pretended to enforce them. Last year, a massive illegal boatload came in from Iran on the Karine A. What did the world do about it? Nothing.
Today, however, Israel still has control over Palestine's borders. Under Beilin, this ends. Palestine will be free to acquire as much lethal weaponry as it wants.
And on the critical question that even the most dovish Israelis insist on -- that the Palestinians not have the right to flood Israel with Arab refugees -- the agreement is utterly ambiguous. Third-party countries are to suggest exactly how many Palestinians are to return to Israel, and the basis for the number Israel will be required to accept will be the mathematical average!
This is not a treaty, this is a suicide note -- by a private citizen on behalf of a country that has utterly rejected him politically. That it should get any encouragement from the United States or from its secretary of state is a disgrace.
10:22am
Victor Davis Hanson writes on Multilateral Mantras
I don't think we will see too many Europeans privately telling us to lay off Tehran — not when they, not us, will soon be in distance of Iran's missiles without a "retrograde" or "wholly unnecessary" ABM deterrent. For all their triangulation and good-cop/bad-cop role-playing, a Noble Peace Prize for a courageous dissident is just not going to bring in real inspectors. Our own State Department won't talk much anymore of "moderates" that we can "work with" in Tehran. How can we when the mullahs ape Kim Jong-Il, speaking of Muslim bombs and nuking Israel? [...]
... if Americans in exasperation are asking "What is going on here?", the answer is, "Almost everything." And that is precisely why so many are so upset about so much. Remember, "multilateralism" and "unilateralism" are just concepts — only as good or bad as the people who embrace them. In 1939 a "multilateral" world — Germany, Italy, Russia, along with support from Spain, Japan, and many Eastern Europe states, and the indifference of the United States and most of the Americas — decided to carve up Poland; a "unilateral" Britain choose to become bothersome and thus resisted. Go figure the moral arithmetic between the one and the many.
We need not talk up all these new realities. No need for braggadocio at all; forget the Clintonites as they desperately try to reinvent their past laxity as diplomacy. Reassurances are preferable to threats, lip-biting to banter. The goal is to reestablish a lost deterrence, not prompt endless war. Our leaders engaged in these perilous times would do well to ignore the hysteria, smile, and praise to the heavens the old reassuring alphabetic standbys and multilateral nomenclature — the U.N., the EU, NATO, the Arab League, Oslo, Camp David, and on and on — even as they quietly press ahead on their own in crafting a safer, better future for everyone involved.
10:20am
What do these songs have in common?
* Jesse by Carly Simon
* Another One Bites the Dust by Queen
* Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin
Aside from being early 80s releases, these songs cannot be heard by yours truly without immediately transporting me back to The Wizard arcade on Quinpool Road, Halifax, 1980-81. Spent many a quarter up there, mainly playing Galaxian and a pinball game called Timeline. But, these songs are integral to memory of being there, and I'm sure they always will be. Heard "Fool in the Rain" last night, and it made me think of the other ones.
[Cross-posted to Switching To Glide]
9:53am
16 year old phenom (and Dartmouth, NS native) Sidney Crosby was named the Q League Player of the Week for the second time this year.
Watch today's sports highlights to see if you can catch the behind-the-net goal he scored (last night?). He picked it up, lacrosse-style, and dumped it in the net. It's been done before, but still a cool move.
9:38am
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Via Andrew Sullivan, here is another great piece by Christopher Hitchens, this time on the recent synagogue bombing in Turkey.
I have not yet read any article explaining how the frustrations of the oppressed Muslims of the world are alleviated by this deed, or how the wickedness of American foreign policy has brought these chickens home to roost, or how such slaughters are symptoms of "despair." Perhaps somebody is at work on such an article and hasn't quite finished it yet. (I have noticed, though, a slight tendency on the part of this school to shut up, at least for the time being.)
There is a vulgar reason for this reticence. In recent attacks from those gangs who have been busily fusing Saddamism with Bin Ladenism—and who didn't start this synthesis yesterday—it has been noticeable that Saudi citizens (the week before last), or Iraqi citizens (every day, but most conspicuously in the blasting of the Red Cross compound in Baghdad), or Indonesian citizens (in the bombing of the Marriott in Jakarta in August), or Moroccan citizens have been the chief or most numerous casualties. To this, one could add the Christian Arabs whose famous restaurant in Haifa was blown up, along with its owners, on Yom Kippur. I sometimes detect a strained note in the coverage of this. Why would the jihadists be so careless, so to speak? Have they no discrimination, no tact?
Those who think this even semiconsciously have already forgotten what jihadists were doing in Algeria, Egypt, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, long before the assault on the World Trade Center (which also killed a substantial number of Muslims). It's pretty safe to say that the large majority of those murdered by Islamic holy warriors have not been Europeans or Americans as the term is usually understood. This is why I disagreed with the president when he described Sept. 11 as an attack "on America." It was true, but it was not the truth. The current jihad is still waged chiefly against Muslim states and societies and, as Istanbul proves, not just against dictatorial ones.
He later updates his essay, saying that he did find such an article, but shows why it should be dismissed.
9:45pm
Caught Lucy Lawless hosting Warrior Women the other night, an episode about Boudica, the Celtic Queen who lead the last British uprising against the Romans. In AD 43, Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe of East Anglia, captained a bloodthirsty revolt against the Romans, destroying Colchester and St. Albans and sacking London where 10,000 were slaughtered.
(Don't ask how they made their face paint.)
The Roman commander, Suetonius, chose the field near Lichfield against the Celtic rebels and his outnumbered legionnaires ended Boudica's rebellion with 80,000 Celts dying to the Romans' 400.
In Frank Delaney's "The Celts" (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London, 1986),
In London (Londinium) her supporters got out of hand and by way of giving offerings to victory to the gods of war, skewered some of the Roman women lengthwise.
Eek. But Delaney makes a point about Boudica that relates to the decline of Celtic civilisation throughout Northern Europe.
[Boudica's] rebellion, brief, fierce and doomed, became a Vercingetorix-like metaphor for the decline of the Celts. An army mirrors the society from which it is drawn. The disparate Celts never could organize: their resistance to invasion and colonization never achieved success. Their attitudinal individuality precluded nationality; they never attained that same depth of political and military unity which had enabled Rome to become a cohesive Empire. The story of the Celts' decline becomes a tale of utter colonization, of being subsumed by other cultures, Romans, Saxons, Vikings, Normans; a story of erosion, of retreat and diminution, of winnowing, assimilation and retiral. Further and further back they retreated on promontories and islands, Atlantic Celtic ghettos, out of reach and, where possible, inaccessible.
Growing up in the Celtic ghetto was rough, but I pulled through. (From my fairly extensive reading on Celtic culture over the years, Nova Scotia, or at least Cape Breton, is considered as part of the Celtic Fringe along the Atlantic, albeit a fringe along the other side of the Atlantic.]
8:59pm
Driving my wife to the airport in the dark this morning, it occurred to me that there could be a better lit sign at the highway exit. There is a large green road sign, of course, but, while it wasn't the case this morning, I know other mornings I've almost missed it (just paying attention to the road rather than the exit).
I note the Tim Horton's sign at the airport exit is lighted.
Also, while I'm very pleased with the recent refurbishment at the Halifax Airport, one thing was driving me nuts this morning. They have ceramic tiling all over the foyer area near the departure security. To one side is an eating area with a Tim Horton's and a Burger King. They have stylish metal chairs - with arms that come in too close at the front of the chair, ie too narrow for my hips and thighs - and with nothing underneath the chair legs. To hear all those chairs and tables scraping around the floor, they might as well have made the floor out of chalkboard and put human fingernails under the chair legs.
Driving back into town, the sky was starting to get brighter, although the sun still hadn't come up. A bit of orange colour showed itself above a low wall of dark cloud that hung off to the south of the city, where it often sits.
Since I've started painting, I've caught myself paying attention to colours more. Colours and shadows. How would I paint that? What paints would I mix to get that colour? While really paying attention, particularly to sky -- all the different colours and shades and cloud formations -- I've said to myself more than a few times now that if I could paint a picture precisely the way I'm seeing it at that moment, it simply wouldn't look real.
7:09am
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
As was the case with many others, my first access to the internet was via a Freenet. I spent a good deal of time reading the soc.culture.scottish and the soc.culture.celtic Usenet groups.
I note that my submissions to the soc.culture.celtic faq are still up there, floating around the web for almost ten years now. Cool.
Craig Cockburn was then, and likely still is, one of the web's main Celtic and Scottish history/culture guru's, not to mention Scots Gaelic language.
5:19pm
Aside from his sense of humour, P.J. O'Rourke often appeals to both the classic liberal and the historian in me. Here, he's interviewed regarding his recent experiences in Iraq.
I think Rumsfeld put his finger right on it: "Long slog." My feeling is twofold: I don't think we are going to straighten out this country any time soon; it's going to be a very long haul. On the other hand, vast areas of Iraq are very peaceful and have been rid of a disgusting and repressive government. The other thing is, everyone talks about Iraq not being stable, but when it was stable it attacked Israel in 1967 and in 1973, it attacked Iran, it attacked Kuwait, it fostered terrorism in the Middle East. Who wants a stable Iraq? It's better for us and, in a way, better for the world that this government has been weakened and destroyed. Does it leave a mess behind? Do we owe it to the people of Iraq to try our best to clean up that mess? Yes. But is that mess our fault? No. It's a very complicated situation.
[...] we're going to be in [the Middle East] for a long, long time. The problems of the Middle East are the problems of mankind since we came out of the trees. They just happen to be a little more intense. When you look at a chaotic region like the Middle East, what you're really seeing is most of human history, and some parts of America and some parts of Europe and a few parts of Asia are glaring exceptions. The kind of peaceful, productive, incredibly wealthy life that we live in these few areas around the world—this has only been going on for a nanosecond as time goes. It's so exceptional I'm not even sure what it means. The whole world might degenerate back into the Middle East, because that's what it's always been. And you can't solve the problem of the Middle East, because it's not a problem, it's a condition. It's the normal condition of mankind.
4:59pm
Sunday, November 23, 2003
When I sit down with my guitar, here's some of the songs that seem to stay front and center on the play list lately.
First off, there are Lori's favourites:
 |
"Witch of the Westmoreland", by Scottish folkie Archie Fisher; learned from Stan Rogers' "Between the Breaks ... Live!" album. This song reminds me of the "Lady Hawke" film, and Lori's a hopeless romantic, so there you go |
|
"Halley Came to Jackson" by Mary Chapin Carpenter. A nice song, a parent holds a newborn baby on a porch in Jackson in 1910, watching the comet pass over, and makes a wish. That wish comes true, as the child lives long enough to see Halley return in 1986. |
|
"Pleasures of the Harbor" by Phil Ochs. Ochs called this one "my life as John Wayne"; the song is based on the John Ford film of Eugene O'Neil's play, "The Long Voyage Home". |
|
"All I Want Is You" by U2. I surprise myself with my vocals on this one (trust me, Bono's over-rated; hey, I sing and play guitar) 8-) |
|
"The Outside Track". Learned from Garnet Rogers, this song is from a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson, put to music by Gerry Hallom. |
|
"Summer Lightning" by Garnet Rogers. |
Readers will not be surprised that there are some alt-country tunes in the old set list.
|
"Wind Fall" by Jay Farrar. From Son Volt's first album. I love this song. I'd use it to close my shows (if I had shows), or maybe end the encore set. (second encore set?) 8-) |
|
"Loose String" by Jay Farrar |
|
"Left A Slide" by Jay Farrar |
|
"Rain Squall" by Richard Buckner. Saw him play at The Marquee a few years ago (along with pedal steel master Eric Heywood) -- blew me away. |
|
"Lil Wallet Picture" by Richard Buckner. Damn this stretch of 99 that takes so many lives. One of them was mine. |
|
"Hallelujah" by Ryan Adams |
|
"New York, New York" by Ryan Adams |
|
"Cemetery Savior" by Jay Farrar. On Son Volt's "Straightaway" album. |
|
"Come Pick Me Up" by Ryan Adams. Come pick me up, take me out, fuck me up, steal my records, screw all my friends. |
|
"Oh My Sweet Carolina" by Ryan Adams. From "Heartbreaker". |
|
"Tear-stained Eye" by Jay Farrar, from Son Volt's classic first album, "Trace". |
|
"Sixteen Days" by Ryan Adams, from his Whiskeytown days. |
|
"Avenues" by Ryan Adams, another Whiskeytown song. |
|
"Medicine Hat", Jay Farrar's account of the Apocalypse. |
Man does not live on alt-country songs alone.
|
"What It Is" by Mark Knopfler, from his "Sailing to Philadelphia" album. |
|
"Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart |
|
"On The Border" by Al Stewart |
|
"Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd |
|
"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd |
|
"Stones in the Road". I think Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote this one. |
|
"Southern Cross" by Crosby Stills and Nash. |
|
"April, Come She Will" by Paul Simon |
|
"In God's Country" by U2. |
|
"Stolen Car" by Beth Orton. |
|
"Shoplifters of the World" by The Smiths. Morrissey/Marr, great combo. |
|
"The Boy With the Thorn In His Side" by The Smiths. |
|
"Nautical Disaster" by The Hip. |
|
"Wheat Kings" by The Hip. |
|
a couple of Billy Bragg songs |
|
a few Springsteen songs |
Some others, but these are a lot of the main ones.
10:32am
What the enemy is fighting for
Tim Blair links to an article in The Observer by Andrew Rawnsley, They Slaughter Protesters, Too.
Just because George W. Bush says something is so doesn't make it axiomatically wrong. The man is right: 'Freedom is a beautiful thing.' Like many things of beauty, freedom can also be very fragile. [...]
As for those protesters who toppled that papier-mché Bush in Trafalgar Square, they were made to look naive. The bombers, if they could, would happily slaughter them too. It is a delusion to think that all that is needed to make the world safe is a change to the occupants of the White House and Number 10. Charles Kennedy could be Prime Minister and Michael Moore might be President of the United States. Al-Qaeda would carry on killing. Because, to them, freedom is an ugly thing.
8:29am
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Oh, Man, it's c-c-cold in Edmonton right now as the Mega Stars game is about to start. Minus 20.6C as the puck is dropped (+7C in Halifax today, btw). The regular season NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers (the first one ever outdoor) starts later ... but will they call it due to the weather?
I would think Mess will be skating circles around some of these guys (at least he should be anyway).
First goal -- The Rat!
Later: the Mega-Stars game was fun; glad I watched it. Fuhr and Ranford were great, and hats off to Ken Linseman (never thought I'd say that).
6:09pm
The Flea links to the Lord of the Rings film site where new images of Minas Tirith can be found.
Now, I too can say, "I have seen the White City."
Having just finished re-reading "Lord of the Rings", I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Packwood that the Battle of Bywater is a most important part of the book, and this will leave the film most incomplete should it be omitted. Yes, there are scenes that can and have been omitted (Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs, for example). But the events surrounding the four heroes' return to The Shire are important, and hold the key to one of the book's main messages.
5:03pm
Perhaps a good Christmas gift for any space fans on your list.
Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, authors of The Universe: 365 Days, are self-professed mild and lazy guys, but they have nonetheless created perhaps the largest and most celebrated collection of space images on the Internet.
The book culls the best of the best from their Astronomy Picture of the Day Web site, a constant stream of pictures from Earth and space that draws more than one million hits each week. The astronomers recently took a break from picking pictures for APOD, which mirror sites translate into ten languages, to talk to CNN.com about their book.
CNN: Nebula pictures. Many space fans just adore them. And there are quite a few beauts in the book. Why the fascination with nebulae? Are they the orchids of the space picture world?
NEMIROFF: Some nearby nebulas can just be resolved into so much detail. Many nebulas happen to be places where luminous gas, dark dust, reflecting dust, and young stars all interact, which can lead to tremendously intricate complexity and texture.
CNN: Many images are false-color images. Some critics think that false-color images detract from the science, that they are merely done to increase the beauty value. Do you disagree? Why or why not?
NEMIROFF: All perceived color is false color. Eyes, computer monitors, digital cameras, film -- they are all different from each other and even different from other eyes, monitors, etc.
Things only begin to appear the same when standardized filters are used, and that's when science begins. Additionally, assigning red, green and blue as digitized color to, for example, radio, optical, and ultraviolet light may create something no human eye would see, but might highlight something very interesting scientifically. Therefore, the "representative color" that is used for many pictures adds to, not detracts from, the science, in my opinion. Also, how cool is it to see beyond the normal color range for humans!
2:11pm
Wired reports that a Silicon valley programmer has been arrested for threatening to harm and kill employees of a company that kept spamming him. He downloaded something from their website and couldn't shake them.
Booker threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores" to the company [Albion Medical, which claims to produce the "Only Reliable, Medically Approved Penis Enhancement"], to "disable" an employee with a bullet and torture him with a power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and castrate the employees unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.
In a telephone interview with Reuters, Booker acknowledged that he had behaved badly but said his computer had been rendered almost unusable for about two months by a barrage of pop-up advertising and e-mail.
"Here's what happened: I go to their website and start complaining to them, would you please, please, please stop bothering me," he said. "It just sort of escalated ... and I sort of lost my cool at that point."
As I'm sure it's been said, there must be a special ring of Hell for spammers, but Mr. Booker gets no sympathy. Torture him with a power drill??
2:03pm
Friday, November 21, 2003
A blogger bash was held in Halifax last evening, as I hosted none other than Damian Penny. We found our way to the Rogues' Roost, naturally, where an initial sampling of all of this Halifax brew-pub's wares lead to further ordering of the Bulldog Brown ale. The nachos were great and Damian appeared to enjoy the Chocolate Explosion (that's a dessert).
Not sure we'd agree with these rankings at all. (I haven't voted ... yet.)
Nice to meet you, Damian!
6:29pm
Mark Steyn posts an obit of sorts for the late Diana Mosley, who was married to Britain's fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, and was the last person alive to know both Churchill and Hitler.
Plotting their escape from dreary provincialism in their childhood hideaway – the “Hons’ Cupboard” - the Hon. Diana and her sisters determined to marry well.
It didn’t exactly work out as planned: Nancy had a terrible, debilitating lifelong love for Colonel Gaston Palewski, aide to General de Gaulle and the randiest man in France, which is saying something; Jessica eloped with Winston Churchill’s Communist nephew,
Esmond Romilly, the son of Nellie, sister of Churchill's wife Clementine.
and later settled down in America with her fellow leftie Bob Treuhaft; Unity had a pash on Hitler and shot herself at the outbreak of war. Only Debo and Pam made conventional upper-class marriages, one to a duke, the other to a bisexual. Diana ended up with Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of Britain’s Fascist party, and wound up spending most of the Second World War in jail.
As for Diana Mitford's husband,
Her husband was a Labour MP who went on to found the British Union of Fascists. Socialism does not always lead to National Socialism, but in the early Thirties statism of one degree or another was all the rage in Europe: Communism, Fascism, Nazism. Even in Britain, liberal democracy was thought by all the great thinkers to be inadequate as an organizing basis for society. Of course, if you weren’t a great thinker, the notion that Sir Oswald and his excitable Continental comrades were the chaps to put in charge was utterly ludicrous.
6:23pm
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Nothing to report yet. He certainly held the course in tonight's episode. Tough scene with Sim towards the end.
I note LeVar Burton directed this episode, "Similitude".
10:00pm
Via NealeNews, China is talking nasty, as per usual, with respect to Taiwan.
"If the Taiwan authorities collude with all splittist forces to openly engage in pro-independence activities and challenge the mainland and the one-China principle, the use of force may become unavoidable," [top PRC official on Taiwan] Wang was quoted as saying in China Daily, an English-language newspaper with a wide foreign audience.
Separatists will "pay a high cost if they think we will not use force," said Wang, vice minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's Cabinet. "Taiwan independence means war."
Yes, naturally, it's unavoidable that a communist dictatorship will use force to prevent a society of millions, who've been a politically separate entity for 54 years, from establishing itself as an independent democracy.
Invocation of section 3302 (c) of the Taiwan Relations Act, to whatever end, will also be unavoidable.
9:29pm
Someone from the Penguin marketing department wrote me to let me know that Stuart McLean, of CBC's Vinyl Cafe fame, has a new blog. Pay him a visit.
9:14pm
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Brits to Yanks - You're "Not Evil"
A new poll shows that the majority of Britons support the Bush visit, while 62% of voters believed that the United States is "generally speaking, a force for good, not evil, in the world",
a view that appears to run against conventional wisdom that Briton put the United States on a par with Iran and North Korea as the world's greatest threats.
Surprisingly, the poll shows
it is young Labor voters who support the Bush visit, while older Conservatives don't -- a trend backed by last week's Populus poll for The (London) Times.
Meanwhile, the Stop The War Coalition, the main protest organizers, have upped their ante from 60,000 to 100,000 for Thursday's march in central London. Harold Pinter, George Galloway and friends all speaking today.
"Opposition is just snowballing," Lindsey German, a protest coalition leader, said Tuesday. "We fully expect that over the next three days the true view of the British people will become evident.".
Bush has said he's glad to be visiting a country where people are free to protest.
Frederick Forsyth says don't pay them no mind.
Damian Penny links to Mark Steyn's column on the Stop The War bunch.
... the post-9/11 grand harmonic convergence of all the world's loser ideologies, from Islamic fundamentalism to French condescension, is untroubled by anything so humdrum as reality or logic. There's "no connection" between Saddam and al-Qa'eda, because radical Islamists would never make common cause with secular Ba'athists. Or so we're told by pro-gay, pro-feminist Eurolefties who thus make common cause with honour-killing, sodomite-beheading Islamists, apparently crediting Saddam with a greater degree of intellectual coherence than they credit themselves. [...]
American popular culture is utterly worthless, except when one of its proponents - Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon - attacks Bush, in which case he or she is showered with European awards and sees the foreign-language rights for his latest tract sell for six figures at Frankfurt. The fact that the best-selling anti-Americans are themselves American - Moore, Chomsky - is perhaps the cruellest manifestation of the suffocating grip of the hyperpower.
Too Christian, too Godless, too isolationist, too imperialist, too seductive, too cretinous, America is George Orwell's Room 101: whatever your bugbear, you will find it therein - for the Continentals, excessive religiosity; for the Muslims, excessive decadence; ...
So be it. This is a psychosis so impervious to reason that on Thursday those in the most advanced stage will pour into the streets to re-enact the toppling of Saddam's statue with Bush on the podium.
9:05pm
We are in control of your screen
Governments, headed by China, Brazil, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia, are pushing to have the Internet under the control of the United Nations.
Countries with developing and emerging economies would like to hand over that authority to a U.N. agency, such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The Internet medium is too important to be left in the hands of one major power, some argue, and others say problems such as cybercrime and protection of intellectual property rights require greater government involvement.
Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the ITU, which will host the December summit, said in an interview that Brazil is "a very strong advocate" of his agency taking over the Internet.
One big UN-controlled, text-only Freenet is what we'll have if these guys get their way.
8:55pm
The Halifax Regional Municipality is looking to get serious -- with the help of major federal dough -- regarding the city's traffic woes. I'm not a commuter, so it's not always such a big deal to me, but, every now and then, I'm out at rush hour and there are certain parts of town that get pretty jammed up. Like any other city, I suppose. Here's the city's proposal on integrated bus rapid transit (one interesting feature is, instead of separate bus lanes where they are not feasible, the bus will have the ability to stop traffic and sidestep the queue).
A new system would integrate pedestrian, bicycle, transit and vehicle initiatives, said Carol Macomber, regional planning project manager for HRM.
"What we have applied for is two rapid-bus corridors, one coming from the Portland Street-Cole Harbour area and the other coming in from Sackville and Bedford, two heavily populated suburban areas," she said.
The corridors would be created by widening existing roads where possible, providing an express lane for buses. Buses would jump ahead of lineups by using priority-signal devices giving them access to intersections in advance of the green light and before other traffic.
Under the plan, 18 new Bus Rapid Transit vehicles, all with bicycle racks, would operate along the corridors.
They would have features more like those on highway coaches than on existing city buses, Ms. Macomber said.
The city's putting more money into more buses, hoping that people will use them more if they are more accessible. Makes sense.
8:30pm
As you may recall, Lori and I are taking an oil painting class this fall at a community center just around the corner. Well, my first three paintings are finished (it's a nice feeling when you finally stick your initials/name down at the bottom) and are on display at the brand new Campbell Gallery.
Today is the Grand Opening! Only the most discerning art aficionados are invited (that means you). I'll keep you posted regarding updates, or just check back every month or so.
7:26pm
It's at least a little disconcerting to check your referral stats and see that something called the Third Reich Forum is linking to your website, likely interested in/discussing the Churchill stuff.
But, it says it's an 'apolitical forum' to discuss the Third Reich, the world wars, generals, etc.
Let's hope so!
4:52pm
As previously mentioned, Innocents Abroad has begun its series of posts on the current state of French affairs. Collin May writes on French author Nicolas Baverez,
... Baverez sees the alternation between reactionary and revolutionary extremes as the dominant force in French politics. The result is that France manifests “an extreme difficulty adapting to the profound transformations impacting the global geopolitical and economic system.” For all its talk, France is the incarnation of inaction. Revolution and reaction merge in petrified sanctimony.
... Baverez argues that the overall approach of the French government is uniformly misguided. Rather than seeking out an independent and practically constructive position among western democracies, the Chirac government has undertaken to champion the cause of anti-globalization while giving tacit support to the most antiquated and foolish ideologies once spouted by third world tyrants. In the place of practical propositions, France offers up abstractions full of pointless speech about multilateralism. This, of course, contradicts the facts inasmuch as most of Europe’s democracies offered their moral support to the United States and Britain during the Iraq crisis, and not to the Franco-German coupling.
4:49pm
The Origins of Totalitarianism
Not spending as much time with it as I would like lately, but still reading Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism". As discussed here, she notes the correlation between the increase in anti-semitism and the breakdown (not the strengthening of) European nationalism.
Further in to her discussion on the history of European anti-semitism, Arendt brings us to the Dreyfus Affair.
Sharply outlined in (the Dreyfus Affair) are a number of traits characteristic of the twentieth century. Faint and barely distinguishable during the early decades of the century, they have at last emerged into full daylight and stand revealed as belonging to the main trends of modern times. After thirty years of a mild, purely social form of anti-Jewish discrimination, it had become a little difficult to remember that the cry, "Death to the Jews," had echoed through the length and breadth of a modern state once before when its domestic policy was crystallized in the issue of anti-semitism. For thirty years the old legends of world conspiracy had been no more than the conventional stand-by of the tabloid press and the dime novel and the world did not easily remember that not long ago, but at a time when the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were still unknown, a whole nation had been racking its brains trying to determine whether "secret Rome" or "secret Judah" held the reins of world politics.
Similarly, the vehement and nihilistic philosophy of spiritual self-hatred suffered something of an eclipse when a world at temporary peace with itself yielded no crop of outstanding criminals to justify the exaltation of brutality and unscrupulousness. The Jules Guerins had to wait for nearly forty years before the atmosphere was ripe again for quasi-military storm troops. The declasses, produced through nineteenth century economy, had to grow numerically until they were strong minorities to the nations, before that coup d'etat, whch had remained but a grotesque plot in France, could achieve reality in Germany almost without effort. The prelude to Nazism was played over the entire European stage.
1:48pm
Monday, November 17, 2003
We went to see Wingfield on Ice at Neptune on Saturday night. As many readers will know, Wingfield is Dan Needles' stock broker turned farmer character, and is portrayed by Rod Beattie in a one-man play.
I'd never seen a Wingfield before (either live or on television). Although I found the story interesting, and Beattie did a fine job, I just didn't enjoy the evening. I dunno, maybe it was too long. I think I would have preferred to read the story, or maybe see it on television in shorter snippets. Perhaps even radio would have been fine, although Beattie does use facial expressions to portray different characters.
The worst part of the evening for me, though, were the perhaps 20% of the audience, including many who sat by me, who thought they had to laugh at every word that came out of Wingfield's mouth.
(Reminded me of a Woody Allen movie I went to at Wormwood's once; I sat next to people who literally laughed at every single thing Woody Allen said. Not just chuckled, belly-laughed. Woody frickin' Allen.)
8:56pm
Via The Flea, here are the Time covers from a few significant days in my life:
My Birthday: Champion Driver, Tim Clark (oh, yeah!)
My Wedding Day: Will you ever be able to Retire? (Hmmm)
8:42pm
Sunday, November 16, 2003
An exhibit of Theodor Geisel's original drawings for his 1957 book, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, has been on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
It's fun to see the wonderful energy in Geisel's lines and the raw, hasty quality to the drawings. The viewer follows the process of the book's creation, reading the text, typed on an old-fashioned typewriter and pasted onto the drawings.
The exhibit also provides what "may be the first original documented case of political correctness," said [AGNS gallery director Jeffrey] Spalding. The viewer can see where "Merry Christmas" has been changed to "Merry Merry."
The Grinch is actually Dr. Seuss himself sitting down at a table at the age of 53.
"It was him trying to come to terms with why he's so grumpy every holiday season," says Spalding. [...]
In the classic story, when the Grinch hears the Whos celebrating Christmas without their gifts, their tree and their feast, he has an idea: "'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store, Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!'"
I'm starting to get that Christmasy feeling ...
10:58am
Instapundit links to two important stories
a.) the CIA memo on the strong connection, over a period of 13 y