Toyah

I always watch the State of the Union (or any major speech, really) on C-Span, to avoid all the chatter from the news networks. And when it's done I make a point of not switching to a network or reading any blogs until I've set down my own impressions.

Which are that it was good speech, although nothing majorly different was proposed. In general, the tone was "full speed ahead." However, I should say that I'm optimistic (and a bit cynical, too) about his energy plans to reverse American dependence on oil. ANWR would be useful but it's noteworthy that he's thinking beyond ANWR. On the other hand, I'm somewhat skeptical of his health care proposals, which sounded mostly like ways for the government to help more.

I kept waiting for some variation on "government is the problem." Health care would've been a great place to say, "There are problems with American health care---I propose that government should get out of the way by cutting X taxes or reducing Y regulations," but I was disappointed not to hear that.

Still, I know that George W. Bush is not a dyed-in-the-wool laissez-faire political scientist, so I'm not deeply disappointed. I give his speech a B+.

PETA kills animals?

Reuters reports on the filibuster yesterday that wasn't. As they had indicated they would, Senators Kerry and Kennedy led a filibuster effort, but they lost 72-25.

I'm not sure why they tried: all signs prior to Kerry's announcement from Davos were that a filibuster would fail miserably, so why did they try? Neither of them are in any danger of losing their seats as a result of the filibuster, of course, but how does it make political sense to start a doomed battle? I find it hard to believe they're that principled.

The only explanation I can think of is money: they can tell MoveOn.org that they really tried to stop Alito, but avoid fallout from centrist voters concerned about Democratic obstruction. But Kerry still has plenty of money from his presidential run, last I heard, so does he really need it? Ditto for Kennedy.

Or are they really just that incompetent?

On this day in 1965, Winston Churchill died at the age of 90 as the result of a stroke. (Hillsdale College students will now observe a moment of silence . . . Ok.)

Though only tangentially related, this past weekend Bekah and I visited an art museum in Dallas that had several Churchill originals on display. What's that? You were not aware that the great man of Britain was also an artist? Well, it just so happens that Winston Churchill was very fond of painting, though not all agree as to the quality of his work. He started painting during WWI as a way to relieve stress, and soon acquired a passion for it. He put painting aside during WWII (with one exception, below), but resumed the work after he lost the 1945 election. My impression from the art I saw is that Churchill is better than a lot of amateurs, but his subjects and style aren't really to my taste. The art on display in Dallas was mostly landscapes and seascapes. The style was almost impressionistic, but lacking the usual subtlety of form and color. But I only saw a few pieces. The one below was not in Dallas.

The Tower at Katoubia Mosque, the only painting by Churchill during WWII, was given to President Roosevelt after a meeting between the powers at Casablanca. After the meeting, Churchill insisted that FDR accompany him to see the sun set on the Atlas Mountains. After FDR left, Churchill painted this painting, which he later gave to FDR.

I could not find any online catalogue of his work, but I hope to find time to browse this book of Churchill's art, should I ever find it in a bookstore. I understand there is a large collection of his work at Chartwell, Churchill's home in England, which I would like to visit, if I ever get the chance. I know J-Roc is a fan.

it seems that there is a new look to toyah. who did that? it's nice, but i almost thought i was on the wrong webpage.

my car isn't new any more, and now i officially must begin the non-standard maintenance. i have already replace brake pads (standard) and i need new tires (not unheard of at 57K mi) but i have other issues that are causing my car to just shut down at random times. not cool. then it starts back up, but i have stopped in the middle of the road, which totally sucked.

today i will be spending my lunch hour buying new pants, because i totally ripped the seat right out of the ones i am wearing. wow, not cool . it wasn't a small thing...it was a major blow out. my stuff is pretty much hanging out. of course this happened in front of the cubicles of the 3 "power assistants" who also happen to be easy to look at. not cool...did i mention that...no?...not cool.

81 points for kobe bryant. i could do that. maybe not.

For those who read and enjoyed David McCullough's John Adams, you may want to check out American Experience's John and Abigail Adams, which airs Monday night on PBS. Actors will present the couple's story in their own words, drawing mostly from the couple's personal letters, while McCullough and other regular TV historians will fill in the gaps.

The American revolution took the Adamses on a truly extraordinary path, from the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, to Paris, Amsterdam, and finally London as representatives of the new US government. Throughout, John and Abigail wrote hundreds of letters, both to each other and others, sharing opinions on topics ranging from the progress of the war and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution to their personal opinions of men like Jefferson and Franklin. If you've been looking for a good documentary to spice up your regular fare of Lost and OC, set your DVR--this is your show.

Apparently there's an offer from Al-Jazeera on behalf of Osama bin Laden for a truce in Iraq and Afghanistan:

"Based on what I have said, it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land," he said. "We do not mind offering you a truce that is fair and long-term. ... So we can build Iraq and Afghanistan ... there is no shame in this solution because it prevents wasting of billions of dollars ... to merchants of war."

But the Quran, in Surah 9:1 says, "Freedom from obligation (is proclaimed) from Allah and His messenger toward those of the idolaters with whom ye made a treaty."

This is modified by verse 4, which says a treaty with an idolator should be honored until the term is up, unless the idolator breaks it.

Furthermore, I am absolutely sure that bin Laden is or would be following the example of Muhammed in the treat of Hudaybiyya, essentially making a treaty of peace while weak, and then using the time to become stronger than the enemy and returning to the attack. So, a Muslim may make a treaty with an idolator, for purposes of rest and recovery, and then he may break (or find a pretext for breaking) the treaty. In other words, for a Muslim who believes in jihad, there is no such thing as permanent peace with the infidel.

I see no reason whatsoever to trust bin Laden. A fight to the death is what he wants, and we must give it to him.

So Hillary Clinton thinks that the House of Representatives is like a slave-owning plantation.

My first reaction is: *yawn*

My second is: "What is a sitting U.S. Senator doing telling the other half of Congress what it is and what it should do?"

Review of Victor Davis Hanson’s A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War

One of the pleasures from reading is the ability to find a book on a subject that is completely new to me. The Peloponnesian War is such a subject to me, given that my historical interests have been Western- and American-centric. So I had great expectations for A War Like No Other.

And these expectations were fulfilled, for the most part. Hanson takes a different approach from most historians of the Peloponnesian War, in that his treatment is not chronological, nor does it follow Thucydides and Xenophon (our ancient Greek sources for almost everything we know about the war) closely. Rather he takes the events with the greatest impact on the war and examines each of them in detail: fear (why they fought), fire (destruction), disease (the famous plague of Athens), terror, armor, walls, horses, ships, and finally, the climax of the naval campaigns around Athens, followed by a discussion of the final results of the long war.

The major idea that Hanson returns to again and again is the overwhelming power of Athens vis-à-vis the comparatively weak Spartans. Athens started the war with far more money, ships, tributary cities, administrative experience, ability to project force, and population. It even survived a devastating plague, a wildly capricious assembly, and an utterly disastrous expedition to Sicily, and still managed to continue the war and even win battles after each of these calamities. It should have been no contest, Hanson implies, and yet the amazing fact is that after twenty-seven years of war, it was Athens that waited in fear for Lysander’s Spartan fleet to enter their port at Pireaus.

Precisely why Athens lost the war is not specifically explored by Hanson, who is more interested in each thematic event during the war, though these provide plenty of clues for Athen’s eventual loss. In the process, Hanson explores a number of obscure but historically interesting facts about the strategies of the two sides. For instance, in examining the Spartan plan to ravage the Attican countryside while the Athenians sheltered behind their strong walls, Hanson took an axe to his own fruit trees and also tested various ways of burning crops (He concluded that it is very difficult to effectively destroy an agricultural state with ancient weapons).

These sorts of side explorations would likely have been more useful to me if I were already versed in the Peloponnesian War: Hanson wrote his book expecting readers to already know the chronology and major events of the war, I think. This difficulty can be forgiven, given the number of scholarly works already existing on the Peloponnesian War.

What is more difficult to forgive, at least to me, is Hanson’s style of writing. It is frequently jarring, without smooth transitions or conclusions of thoughts, sometimes even within paragraphs. Too many times I read a paragraph and thought, "Huh? How does that sentence follow from the one before?" He draws comparisons frequently to modern or near-modern events as comparisons to the ancient events, such as comparing the farm-burning strategy of the Spartans to Sherman’s March to the Sea or Curtis LeMay’s fire-bombing of Japanese cities in World War II. He admits in his foreword that he will do this, and explains that he is a classicist, not a historian. Still, these trips forward in time interrupt the flow of the ancient story.

The ancient story is, nevertheless, a strong story. At the end of the book, I left with a conception that the war was most of all great tragedy: for Athens, but also for all of Greece, as it left them weakened and open for exploitation for the Persians and, shortly thereafter, for Philip of Macedon.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the longest war in the history of the ancient Greeks. It would be most useful to a classicist with pre-existing knowledge, but is fully accessible to someone who last read about the war in a high-school textbook (you’ll learn, as I did, that the plague did not lead at all directly to Athens’ defeat, coming as it did more than 20 years before the end). I wish it were written in a manner that flowed more smoothly, but it’s a flaw that can be forgiven.

it is now 4pm, and i am half an hour late to leave work, but that still means that my 3-day weekend (thank-you civil rights movement) is starting at 4 on friday. no, i will capitalize anything in my posts, unless i happen to feel especially proper, so pretty much never.

alito: i have not paid much attention to the hearings, but he seems to be taking the expected heat.

bush: any conservative that did not vote republican in the past 2 presidential elections now needs to apologize to the country and thank those who did. regardless of views on the war, the economy, or bush's intellectual status you have to appreciate the court appointments. i shudder to think what gore/kerry justices would mean.

and how torn was dubya?....bush vs texas is a tough call, but i was very happy to see texas beat usc. i will be more happy to see ohio state win a) the rematch against texas early in the season b) the rematch against notre dame in the national title game next year.

i really wish someone else on the lakers would score @20 pts a game so that kobe's point totals could be respectable. right now kobe is attempting to be dallas on the job squad...but i think i even passed more. lamar odom may not be j-rock, but seriously. i will say that smush would have been a good nickname for o'toole. no? ok.

The national title game last night was amazing and I'm sure that Phil was going crazy. Vince Young showed that he is a force to be reckoned with (I hope the Lions end up with this guy). This touchdown run he made was amazing.



Reggie Bush was equally impressive and Matt Leinart also played a pretty good game. It will be interesting to see how high Lendale White is drafted. All he did was rack up 123 yards and three touchdowns. Oh, and he didn't try any hair-brained laterals like Reggie Bush.



Texas played a great game, but if this was a showdown at high noon, then USC took two bullets; one from the Longhorns and one in the foot from their own gun of arrogance. You'd think that the Trojans would have the sense to kick a field goal when they have a 4th down inside the 20 yard line. Or maybe, nursing a five point lead with two minutes to play, they might punt the ball and make Texas go the length of the field instead of sixty yards. But they, instead, chose to go for it in both cases and it cost them big time. Add in Bush's ill-advised lateral and USC fan will be smarting over their role in this loss for a long time.


But don't expect me to feel sorry for them. Their victory over Notre Dame was illegitimate and they had won 34 in a row (or something like that). They had it coming to them. Congrats to the Longhorns. But Vince, you didn't have to rub it in with the Heisman pose...show some more class than that.



... a game for the ages.