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DECEMBER 7, 2009 - DECEMBER 27, 2009 PEOPLE
My grandmother, now long dead, sent something from her meager Social Security check to Oral Roberts every month, religiously. One summer, he came through Baltimore. I was maybe 9, 10 years old, impressionable and reared in the church, a real believer. But even then, it seemed a sham. Old people, folks in wheelchairs and on crutches, lined up lined up to have him put hands on their heads and HEAL HEAL. The more dramatic cases were put on the stage for display and effect; others were passed through the assembly line (my grandmother). My impression, even at that age, was this guy was a charlatan, false prophet, money grubber and faker. I haven't changed my opinion these many years later. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Oral Roberts, Fiery Preacher, dies at 91 <> Thank you for this thoughtful post. I'm an ORU alum, and you are correct that the prosperity gospel preached at ORU is absolutely untenable -- and unbiblical. What I (and I suspect most other alumni) loved about ORU were the people I met and the way we challenged and questioned things together. We were not sheep unwittingly following a misguided shepherd -- my circle of friends was composed of dissenters searching for a valid theology and a God who didn't conform to anyone's notions of Him. Bad theology aside, ORU provided a wonderful place to search in earnest. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/My day with Oral Roberts <> The subculture known as the Pentecostal Church can be extreme, ill-informed, exclusive and abusive. Although their intentions to spread the "message" are sincere, many members have only a superficial understanding of the Bible which has been spoon fed by an adrenalin junkie pastor. I left 15 years ago and am nauseated by most televangelists. I consider those years of my spiritual journey part of my education. There are many wonderful, loving people involved in this movement. My hope is that they will be allowed the intellectual freedom to ask questions without condemnation and to realize that the Gospel is intended to be a universal message of love, hope, redemption, and sacrifice, not just a glorified get rich scheme which encourages people to give for their own gains. Read the article POLITICS DAILY/The death of Oral Roberts and the Dimming of American Pentecostalism <> I have felt a deep connection and respect for Oral Roberts since, as a young evangelist in the late 1950's, I had the privilege of knowing the Roberts family - dated Rebecca, played ping-pong with Richard on visits to their ranch south of Tulsa, was guest of the Roberts family at Sunday brunch at Tulsa Country Club, received books from Oral's home library -- all things that gave me an opportunity to know Oral up close and personal for a brief period. Read the article TULSA WORLD/Oral Roberts dies at 91
PAUL SAMUELSON -- THE MATH-MAKER OF ECONOMICS
Paul Samuelson was one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. His accomplishments in economics--providing the mathematical foundations of Keynesian macro theory, extending that theory in many creative directions, and serving as a great teacher, both in his textbook and as mentor to so many others--are really comparable to what Richard Feynman accomplished as a theoretical physicist and as the revolutionizer of how the discipline is taught. <> Like millions of others, I studied Dr. Samuelson's text book in college. It taught us that the "economy" could be understood as a set of dynamics among various "sectors". Individuals are folded into these various collectives, all of which could be successfully manipulated by government policies, be they fiscal or monetary. The analogy to a machine runs throughout his macroeconomics explanations. Like most contemporary economic thought, the reality of an economy--the fact that it is really the conduct and interactions of hundreds of millions of individuals--is lost in the analogy. That's why none are bothered with the fact that government manipulations ALWAYS benefit some individuals at the expense of others . If you like our current politicized economy, where the politically important gain and the politically insignificant lose, you can thank Dr. Samuelson. May he rest in peace. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Paul A Samuelson, economist, dies at 94 <> Of Christopher Wren, it was said that if you would see his monument, look around you. Sadly, as the father of modern economics, Paul Samuelson's monument is the wreckage of the credit crunch. He may not have produced the ideas that led to the catastrophe, but his disciples did. Read the article BBC NEWS/Remembering Paul Samuelson
CPL. FRANK BUCKLES' LONG MARCH TO WASHINGTON: AN OLD SOLDIER'S PASSIONATE APPEAL
I salute Corporal Buckles for his service to our country. Congress should not be debating this matter. Washington, DC has become the epicenter for honoring the sacrifices on a national platform that serves to remind the millions who visit our nation's capital, that the price of freedom is high. World War I defined America's entry into a global "modern" military effort that saw Americans fight and die on European soil. Congress should only be debating two things: How much money to spend on the design and construction, and Where, on the Mall, the memorial should be erected. For once, the lawmakers should shed their rancorous debate and come together as a unified voice to speak for all of the Corporal Buckles who served and died, and many of whom lived to fight yet again in World War II. Without question, our nation lives today because others have died to preserve it and they, soldier and sailor alike, deserve no less than our gratitude. Just do it! Read the article CNN NEWS/Last U.S. veteran of World War 1 testifies for memorial
I wanted to correct one poster who short changed the cost that Americans paid in blood during WWII. Over 400,000 Americans died in WWII and over 1 million were wounded. During WWI we lost over 100,000 dead and had over 200,000 wounded. Given the the short period of time we were involved in WWI that is pretty astounding. It is nice that there is a national memorial in the heart land, but our soldiers should be represented in the nations capitol as well. Not to have a national memorial in D.C., at least to me, seems to minimize the sacrifices of all the Americans who served in the war to end all wars. Read the article USA TODAY/Last U.S. vet of WWI wants national memorial in DC <> Kansas City's Liberty Memorial is impressive and important. Please don't discount it. It is a national treasure, and should be appreciated as the most historically significant WWI memorial in the country. Read the article USA TODAY/Last U.S. vet of WWI wants national memorial in DC
NOVEMBER 30, 2009 - DECEMBER 6, 2009 PEOPLE THE NEW TRIAL OF JOHN DEMJANJUK
How ironic that I have an 89 year old father who was a prisoner in a Nazi prison camp, a subsidiary camp to Dachau. Even though my father was liberated 64 years ago, he is still haunted by the memories of his imprisonment and talks about it everyday. There is no punishment on earth sufficient to deal with those who ran these camps. It is my belief that their only just sentence will come when they face God. Even though God is merciful, the actions of the Nazis are things for which there can be no mercy. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Accused Nazi camp guard on trial in Germany <> With all due respect, WW II was an atrocity - period. Read the article CBC NEWS/Demjanjuk death camp trial opens <> I remember when I first learned about the Holocaust in grade school and I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that human beings could behave this way towards others. After reading these comments and the justifications used to exculpate the acts of the Nazis and the willing participation of others (whether motivated by cowardice or hatred)I feel sick. To all those commenters who are trying to say that because this man isn't German, he clearly was not willingly participating in these acts: did you skip the history lesson on Russia and its satellites' behavior towards Jews and other "undesirables" without Nazi interference? Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Accused Nazi camp guard on trial in Germany NOVEMBER 16, 2009 - NOVEMBER 29, 2009 PEOPLE BELLE DE JOUR -- ALL IN THE INTEREST OF SCIENCE
Strippers going to college...I saw a stripper who had a tattoo of the equation defining a mathematical derivative last week. Yes she was going to college! More power to this woman. Any moral barrage she faces is rooted in severe hypocrisy when we imagine who her clients were. Hell, I sold a few illicit substances as an undergrad to get me through and now I am a Ph.D. physicist. Read the article ABC NEWS/Diary of a Call Girl blogger is revealed -- Gasp -- as a Scientist <> “So much curiosity about my tax situation!” she wrote. “Yes, I did pay taxes on sex work earnings.” So,this surely means the government is "living on immoral earnings". This is a criminal offense ! Anyway,good for Dr Magnanti,perhaps it will help to chip away at the hypocritical attitude that prevails in society towards "sex for sale",get real people it's always been so, and always will ! Read the article U.K. TIMES/Belle de Jour owns up to her mother <> "Belle" is obviously intelligent, good looking, and very uninhibited. She has dabbled in prostition and has no regrets. Writing about it has been very lucrative for her. Now she has moved on to a career in medicine. Read the article U.K. TIMES/Belle de Jour revealed as research scientist Dr, Brooke Magnanti NOVEMBER 2, 2009 - NOVEMBER 15, 2009 PEOPLE CLAUDE LEVí-STRAUSS, THE MAN WHO READ THE SAVAGE MIND
"The intellectual dominance of this great French anthropologist." He would not have loved being considered as "dominant", but more inspiring, sharing, communicative. As I said before...human availability and open minded curiosity is normal to such rich minds....not artificial hierarchical distance. It´s good French (probably worldwide!) intellectual tradition. Warning us from a disconnected society unable to care for our environment, pointing out that the so called "wild" had found ways to keep a balance through rituals and preserving handling of resources over century's.Pattern recognition is the key. His distance to certain post modern interpretations and associations to his oeuvre shows his ability to see integrative further then short therm sensationalism. He remains even more now, a great gift to humanity. Do I see an feather falling to earth...very, very slowly? Read the article GUARDIAN/The raw, the cooked and Claude Levi-Strauss <> He was one of the fathers of structual anthropology, which, in very simplified terms, provided a standardized structure on which to analyze cultures that explored all of the interelated parts. He did great work on kinship. He was in the US during WWII and was exposed to US Anthropological study, which tended to be more regimented and less rooted in philosophy than the Europeans. There has been some backing off from a strict adhearance to Structualism in Anthropology, but many of his ideas are still very relevant today. I would suggest "The Savage Mind" as good read, even if you are not into Anthropology. It is about his time of research among Brazilian tribal groups. It is very well written and interesting. Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/ Anthropology giant Claude Levi-Strauss dead at 100 <> Even though I am only 80 years old, I feel exactly the same way as Levi-Strauss does in the quote below. In the next 100 years the human race, I mean the whole human race, will have to cooperate to solve unprecedented problems caused by us 'eating' the planet Earth. I am not optimistic but we have no choice but to try. Read the article SCIENCE/Famed anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss dies
DR JOSEF MENGELE AND THE TWINS WHO SURVIVED AUSCHWITZ
I imagine Mengele treated the twins somewhat like people treat lab animals. They don't inflict harm on them (outside of the harm they're doing with their experiments). How many times has a researcher killed a lab animal to do a necropsy for research purposes? It's sickening to think that any human being could consider an entire race of people to be less than. Then do experiments on them supposedly for the betterment of his own particular race. Thank you Ms. Pogrebin, for getting these lovely ladies's story before it was too late. We cannot allow this atrocity to go by without recording it as a warning to others. Read the article DAILY BEAST/Dr. Mengele's twins <> Amazing and glorious recapturing of history many would choose to forget. Read the article DAILY BEAST/Dr. Mengele's twins
OCTOBER 26, 2009 - NOVEMBER 1, 2009 PEOPLE SOUPY SALES: "HOW COME EVERY TIME I WRITE 'F' YOU SEE 'K'?"
I recall sitting on the couch and watching him tell his audience to send him the "funny green stuff with the picture of the presidents." I was one of the kids who did that. At the time (prior to child protective services), I thought my dad would tan my hide, but he didn't. He laughed. RIP Soupy. With you, you take a piece of all of us. Read the article DAILY NEWS/Comedian Soupy Sales dead at 83
I used to watch Soupy everyday after school in the early sixties. He was the greatest. So damn funny and sarcastic! He, along with Black Tooth, White Fang, Pookie and Hippie were hilarious. I remember he would always say” wait someone’s at the door”… then he would open it and he would either get a pie in the face, or some crazy character would be stopping by to see him. Such innocent, fresh and honest humor. Read the article ENTERTAINENT WEEKLY/Soupy Sales dies at 83 <> Soupy is trying to teach White Fang the letter “F”. Soupy writes the letter on the blackboard but everytime he asks White Fang what letter it is, White Fang pronounces “K”. After several attempts, Soupy gives up and in frustration asks White Fang, “How come every time I write F you see K?”….Classic! God love ya Soupy. I know I do. Read the article ENTERTAINENT WEEKLY/Soupy Sales dies at 83
THE SILVER LIONS -- SLATE MAGAZINE'S 80-OVER-80 MOST POWERFUL OCTOGENARIANS
When I saw the 80/80 teaser I was afraid that 88-year-old Dave Brubeck would have slid under Slate's radar, and I am pleased to see I my fears were groundless. The man walks a bit slowly and slightly unsteadily, but sitting at a piano, his fingers still fly-- it's a remarkable and wondrous thing to behold, to be sure. The other members of his quartet, a trio of white-and-thinning-hair gents are just as capable, and many contemporary (that is, younger contemporary) musicians would find it humbling to take in a performance of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I had the pleasure of seeing them last weekend with my 82-year-old classical pianist friend, my wife (also 50) and a couple of our sons and a visiting friend from Beijing-- It's hard to say which of them was most captivated. Unlike a number of the 80/80 who made their billions, but whose billions could be unmade by a shift in the winds of international markets or legal pratfalls, Brubeck stands on a remarkable body of work which will outlive him and everyone alive today. Hats off to those at Slate who recognize Brubeck's talent, accomplishments and legacy. Read the article SLATE MAGAZINE/80 over 80, The most powerful octogenarians in America <> I'm not a powerful octogenarian. At going on 85, ll lived through the Great Depression everyone constantly refers to these days. I have survived even though I was a puny kid and came from a line of short livers. I served my country in two wars with a bad heart and high blood pressure since I was 15. Never thought I'd even see 60. Oldest of 4 children, I'm the only one living. Warren Buffet lost his butt in this recession. I've been retired for 22 years and still have my original nut because I remembered and never got greedy. The only one I'm powerful with is my shrinking family, whom I have helped keep afloat during these trying times. There are many interesting old geezers out there, whose life stories have never been aired and whose good works will probably die with them. Please, I'm not including myself for consideration, but merely attempting to set forth the type of men and women that one personality called "America's Greatest Generation." Perhaps their hard work and self sacrifice may set an example for the "Where's Mine Generations" that have followed and gotten us into mess we are in today. Read the article SLATE MAGAZINE/80 over 80, The most powerful octogenarians in America <> So why are you insisting on calling 80 of the most powerful, successful elderly people in America "geezers"? Ridiculous. You would think they would get a little respect for their achievements, if not by virtue of their age. Read the article SLATE MAGAZINE/80 over 80, The most powerful octogenarians in America OCTOBER 19, 2009 - OCTOBER 25, 2009 PEOPLE CATHOLIC CHURCH OPENS DOOR TO DISAFFECTED ANGLICAN FLOCK
I can see why for many this news will seem bizarre, incomprehensible, even laughable. For others it is extremely significant and will take some time to digest. Clearly for many it will be incredibly sensitive. In light of this, I agree with one of the comments below, how on earth can it be helpful to use terms such as "poaching" and "poaching plan"?? From what I understand so far the Vatican is responding to the petitions that it has not necessarily sought, but has received over the last few years, the vast majority of which have come from Anglicans around the world who are no longer in communion with Canterbury and haven't been for some years. For those individuals this could offer a resolution to the incredibly difficult position that they have been in. The Archbishop of Canterbury has himself stressed that this should not be seen as an act of aggressive proselytism or indeed a hostile takeover. Read the article U.K.TIMES/Vatican moves to poach traditional Anglicans <> Assuming there is any significant movement of Anglicans into this Ordinate, it will constitute essentially the first new Rite in the Western Church since Trent. If the Rite gets any particular size, it will provide a home for the many Roman Catholics who desire married clergy to migrate to, adding to the size of the Anglican Uniate Rite. There are lots of such ramifications that the reporters ought to have asked about when they got the announcement. For instance, the Salvation Army, based on its more Catholic than the Pope ministries to the outcasts of society they serve, would make a great Religious Order, the only such order with married members. Even the "Ordination" on women in the Army is no particular impediment, because their "Ordination" is not essentially to the Priesthood, but rather a Consecration within the Religious Order. I just might (mentally) dance with Joy when the Red Jacket becomes a habit along with the Brown Robes and White Woolen Belts, and the White Cassocks and Black long Scapulars. Catholic does mean universal, and our universe just got a little bigger. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/ON FAITH/Rome's new home for Anglicans <> If this helps disaffected people find a church home where they can worship, then I think it's a good thing. I was happy the Episcopals took me in when I could no longer stand the Roman Catholic church's positions. This is a way of returning the favor. I also find it interesting that the churches now find it acceptable to compromise on things that used to cause bloodshed--such as transubstantiation and the number of sacraments--and now we split over things like inclusion of women and gays. I don't know if that's progress or not, but at least we're not killing each other. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/ON FAITH/Rome's new home for Anglicans
OCTOBER 5, 2009 - OCTOBER 18, 2009 PEOPLE 40,000 BRIDES AND GROOMS UNITED IN GLOBAL WEDDING
My wife was hand-picked for me by Reverend Moon. We married 3 days after meeting for the first time, during which time we couldn’t speak a word of each other’s language. Two days ago, we celebrated out 20th wedding anniversary and we love each other more now than ever before. We have two beautiful teenage daughters. One is hoping to study at Oxford. Divorce is much lower among Unificationists than the general public simply because we marry for the sake of creating a family rather than for more self-centered reasons, such as lust. And, no, Reverend Moon does not have a dark side. Read the article U.K.TIMES/Thousands say "i do" in global mass "Moonie" wedding
EDGAR ALLAN POE -- THE BELATED BURIAL
I was a little girl, in elementary school, 6th grade to be exact. There, in one of our many English classes, we had to do book reports. One of my classmates asked me to switch books with her because she just didn’t like the “Poe” man. We switched books, and my first intro to Edgar was “The Tell Tale Heart”! Scared me witless, but from there, I searched more of his works with never a disappointing moment. Coincidentally, one of his homes is right here in The Bronx, NY, where I live. From then, at the tender age of 11 years, I was hooked on this macabre little man, with the captivating, haunting way with his pen. During the 60’s, I’d go to the movies where Vincent Price portrayed many of Poe’s characters. Now, at 47 years later, he still remains my favorite! Oddly enough, my daughter is named ....? RAVEN! Read the article IN ENTERTAINMENT/Edgar Allen Poe Funeral <> Every year for as long as I can remember - back to the '50s - a bottle of cognac and a single red rose appears on his grave on the anniversary of his death. All-night vigils have been set up, but no one has ever seen a living person do the deed. Once upon a midnight dreary, some friends and I were going to try to solve the mystery but figured it would be a futile waste of time. My guess is that attendance is down due to the recession and this "proper burial" will increase tourists. Read the article ABC NEWS/Edgar Allan Poe gets a proper burial after 160 years
<> Rapping tapping at the door, rapping tapping then no more... Read the article CBC NEWS/Poe gets proper send-off , 160 years on
NOBEL LAUREATE HERTA MÜLLER -- OUT OF THE SHADOWS OF CEAUSESCU
I think this perceived bias is purely coincidental - as a matter of fact, back in the 1990s the Swedish Academy was being accused of just the opposite, of not paying enough attention to European writers: if you take a look at the laureates from the 1980 to 1995, for instance, half of them are not European. I think it has to do more with the type of literature the academy likes and the type of writer that normally gets it - we cannot expect young, brilliant writers of up-and-coming nations to get the Nobel prize that normally goes to people in their late 50s upwards... Besides, I think it is besides the point where the writer does or does not live - is about what experiences and culture he/she writes about - so I will hardly classify either Coetzee, Naipaul or Xinjian as European. Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/The Nobel prize committee should get out more.
It is quite a shame to see that 95% of the messages are complaints about the Nobel committee not awarding the prize to an American author. There have already been 12 authors awarded the prize in its existence, and not one from Romania, which is the native country of Herta Müller. And after all, who needs to be told by the Swedish Academy that Philip Roth or Don DeLillo are great authors ? Instead, the prize, once again, pays homage to a figure which is representative of many traditions, many themes, many events. And this will allow more readers to access the works of Herta Müller which are, at present time, rarely translated (either in English, in French or in other languages) and, when they are, remain out of print. Why is this award a great idea ? Because Müller is a very good writer, of course, dealing with one of the most terrible of the 20th century political regimes (Ceausescu’s Romania). And awarding the prize to her is, at the same time, awarding it to all writers from eastern Europe who raised voice against communist dictators. Among them is Soljenytsin of course, and Heiner Müller, the famous playwright, died in 1995. Everyone who is interested in European literature, and in particular German writers, should bear in mind that Europe, at the present time, is celebrating the twenty years of the fall of communism, and of the Berlin Wall. This, too, gives a lot of sense to this prize. Müller continues the work of the greatest writers of the 20th century, as Camus who declared during his banquet speech in 1957 that the writer “cannot put himself today in the service of those who make history; he is at the service of those who suffer it”. Furthermore, the personal history of Herta Müller nourishes her more recent works and resonates with books by other Eastern European writers who lived exile. Everyone knows Canetti, of course, and Herta Müller is one of her inheritors, as is Claudio Magris and his great book “Danube”. It reminds me also of Panaït Istrati, famous emigrant from Romania, who wrote mainly in French between the two World Wars, and whose books were forbidden in his native country under communism (another European author not published in English, and that is a shame). At last, this award reminds us that there is a very rich and varied literature in German today (Grass and Jelinek of course, but also Peter Handke, Siegfried Lenz, Christa Wolf), and that it is worth reading some of it, and not only the horrible best-seller by Bernhard Schlink that everybody knows. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. SEPTEMBER 28, 2009 - OCTOBER 4, 2009 PEOPLE THE GREAT PERMITTER — WILLIAM SAFIRE, MASTER OF THE RIGHT WORD
I am old enough (58) to have read many fine columnists from all points of the political spectrum: Joe and Stewart Alsop, Walter Lipman, Jack Anderson, Elizabeth Drew, Hugh Sidey, Thomas Sowell, Herbert Stein, Carl Rowan, Anthony Lewis, George Will, and Charles Krauthammer. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Political columnist and oracle of language, dies at 79 <> I remember and honor in William Safire also a passionate concern for words and their use for clear and unambiguous expression. He shared George Orwell's principled opposition to thoughtlessly sloppy or propagandistically deformed English. Though I didn't share Safire's opinion in many particular cases, I always read with interest his columns on contemporary uses and abuses of words. But John Nichols has reminded us of an even better virtue. In opposition to the pro-oligarchy FCC, Safire was a trust-buster, which is to say an old-school conservative, which is really not so different from an old-school liberal. Our modern Congress, which has been largely bought and paid for by the biggest campaign contributors, has very little of this old-fashioned virtue left. Read the article THE NATION/William Safire: A conservative trust-buster.
MUAMMAR GADDAFI'S REMOVABLE FEAST
That Gaddafi Read the article DAILY BEAST/Quaddafi evicted from Trump's lawn <> If we wish to host the UN, then we have to take people in that we don't like - it comes with the privilege of having the UN building here. If we are unwilling to take in people we don't like or agree with, then we should have the UN hosted elsewhere. I have no love for either of these men. And I'm sure there are many from time to time in the world that don't like us or our President. But if they were hosting the UN, how upset would we be if he couldn't get a reasonable place to stay - the host country can certainly tell the executive where to stay and it should be nice, secured, and grant easy access to where ever the executive needs to get. Anyway, I am sorry that these men are having trouble finding accommodations - regardless of my personal feeling toward them. We're supposed to be better than them. We're supposed to treat them as we would want to be treated and not according to how we feel about them. I'm sure no one will agree as civility seems to be dying in this country - toward each other and toward other countries. Read the article ABC NEWS/Did Donald Trump unwittingly rent land to Gaddafi?
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