News commentary
---In the weekend Wall Street Journal there is an article by Peggy Noonan, "When Americans Saw the Real Obama", that is an exceptional portrait of the pickle that Obama is now in. Yeah, I know that Noonan was a speechwriter for Reagan and Bush the first, but she was a darn good one for her cause, not necessarily mine. This comment on Obama touches what we fear is the truth, that is that Obama is insulated and arrogant, and unaware of how he is perceived. It focuses mostly on the first debate, a watershed event, and is definitely worth reading by those who want to understand the current backlash against Obama as not a big nod toward Romney or something based on racism or far right politics. It is what some view as the fact that Obama has been a big disappointment.
---Jacques Barzun died this week at the age of 104. The New York Times has a major obituary as do the Wall Street Journal and many other publications. His greatest book was published at the age of 92, "From Dawn to Decadence", and was recommended to me by a high school friend, reunited by Facebook two years ago. I am not a linear reader of non-fiction, so have read parts but not all of this amazing and entertaining book. A Columbia professor for many years Barzun, with the curriculum that he created with Lionel Trilling still a freshman requirement, wrote many books on many subjects, retired 15 years ago to San Antonio for a southwest Texas life. What a life!
---Page 8 of today's Sunday New York Times is a stunning compendium of excess. The first article is Wen Jiabao's rebuttal of the Times story about the $12 billion that he has salted away with his family during his 10 years in office.
---The second article is about multi-billioniare Mikhail Prokhorov, a beneficiary of the corrupt privatisation of Russian industry, and his turn toward politics, creating a "Third Way" party. The is widely viewed as a Putin backed camouflage, allowing the population to vent off steam in a controlled way, while still being the real power.
---The third article on this page of corruption concerns the banks accounts in Switzerland of rich Greek oligarchs and their success at avoiding taxes and hiding their wealth. The public reporting of their names is at least turning the Greek people at looking at themselves instead of everyone else in the world as the source of their dire problems.
---Jacques Barzun died this week at the age of 104. The New York Times has a major obituary as do the Wall Street Journal and many other publications. His greatest book was published at the age of 92, "From Dawn to Decadence", and was recommended to me by a high school friend, reunited by Facebook two years ago. I am not a linear reader of non-fiction, so have read parts but not all of this amazing and entertaining book. A Columbia professor for many years Barzun, with the curriculum that he created with Lionel Trilling still a freshman requirement, wrote many books on many subjects, retired 15 years ago to San Antonio for a southwest Texas life. What a life!
---Page 8 of today's Sunday New York Times is a stunning compendium of excess. The first article is Wen Jiabao's rebuttal of the Times story about the $12 billion that he has salted away with his family during his 10 years in office.
---The second article is about multi-billioniare Mikhail Prokhorov, a beneficiary of the corrupt privatisation of Russian industry, and his turn toward politics, creating a "Third Way" party. The is widely viewed as a Putin backed camouflage, allowing the population to vent off steam in a controlled way, while still being the real power.
---The third article on this page of corruption concerns the banks accounts in Switzerland of rich Greek oligarchs and their success at avoiding taxes and hiding their wealth. The public reporting of their names is at least turning the Greek people at looking at themselves instead of everyone else in the world as the source of their dire problems.
posted by John Borden at 4:13 PM
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