Wednesday, September 30, 2009

stupider than Germans

9-30-09—Life expectancy: US 78 years, Germany 80 years; Infant mortality: US, 7/1000 births, Germany 4/1000; Health Spending as 5age of GDP: US 15, Germany 10; Percentage of health spending that is private: US 54%; Germany, 23%; Doctors per 10,000 people: US 26, Germany, 34.

Monday, September 28, 2009

jesus lurks

9-28-09—“We are a calm nation that drinks beer and eats dumplings, and we have strong antibodies to any kind of religious persuasion because of our history.” Czech Rev. Alex Opatrny, commenting on Pope’s visit.—NYT 9-28-09
--A pope’s visit should energize all Christians, but I find his social conservatism quite ridiculous. The Vatican and this pope have been absolutizing the traditions of the past without thinking of the reasoning behind the rules, which is what Jesus was fighting against.” Daniel Barton, Czech Protestant youth leader—NYT 9-28-09
--[a recent poll] found that fully half the people would support a tax of 50% or higher on the country’s wealthiest millionaires.—NYT, 9-28-09 p. B3.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

fall falls; fen fu

9-22-09—Pentagon Delays Troops Call: Request for Additional Forces Hold as White House Seeks Review of Afghan Strategy. WSJ A1
--On the eve of the 60th anniversary Oct. 1 of Communist rule that was supposed to create a classless utopia, China is instead gripped with a renewed sense of anger toward a new elite. The Mandarin phrase FEN FU, or to hate the rich, has been coined in recent months to capture the public’s bitter resentment.—WSJ A1
--China Spreads Aid in Africa, with a Catch for Recipients. NYT A1
--An internal watchdog at the Justice Department said he was reviewing the agency’s involvement with the national community organizing group Acorn. Inspector General Glenn Fine wrote to Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, that his office would examine whether Acorn sought or received any Justice Department grant money, or conducted any reviews of the group’s use of such money. More than a dozen state and local authorities are also scrutinizing Acorn, including Maryland’s attorney general. –NYT A20

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

ides of September

9-15-09—“We won this war [WWII] because our men are brave and because of many things—because of Russia, England and China and the passage of time and the gift of nature’s material. We did not win it because destiny created us better than all other peoples. I hope that in victory we are more grateful than proud.”—Ernie Pyle (1945) NYT A27
--Senate votes to deny funds to ACORN after video airs. SBT A3
--“If the free market was the solution to all problems and was never wrong, when then are we in such a situation?” asked Mr. Sarkozy. “We need to change criteria.” ..Sarkozy is suggesting gauges of economic health encompass well-being in addition to GDP. Measures could nclude Employment levels, Health Care, Vacation, Household Assets and Income, Consumption, and Education.—WSJ A13
October HARPERS, p. 13:
--Percentage of their countries’ respective GDPs that the US and Chinese stimulus packages represent: 6, 13
--Portion of China’s stimulus spending that will go toward infrastructure projects: 2/5
--Portion of US spending that will: 1/8
--Percentage of Americans who could be sent to medical school in China this year on the total US health spending: 100

Friday, September 11, 2009

yale beats harvard

9-11-09—Harvard’s endowment dropped 27%, Yale’s 30%. NYT

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

9-9-09

The dollar tumbled to its lowest level in nearly a year as investors fled a safe haven for riskier assets and worried that the US economy could be a laggard in the global recovery.--WSJ A1

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

sept. songs

9-8-09—But there is another type of disturbing behavior, coming from our political leaders and the public at large, that is also symptomatic of a society at loose ends. We seem unable to face up to many of the hard truths confronting the US as we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century. [e.g., health care, Iraq, Afghanistan, California] The serious wackos, the obsessive compulsive absurdists, may be beyond therapy. But the rest of us could use some adult counseling. ... The first step, of course, is to recognize we have a problem. NYT A21

--9-7-09--Despite a recession that knocked down global arms sales last year, the US expanded its role as the world’s leading weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than 2/3 of all foreign armament deals... NYT A4

Friday, September 4, 2009

the week (and 2500 years) that was

9-4-09—President Obama’s plan to deliver a speech to public schools on Tuesday has set off a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused the president of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas and are asking school officials to excuse the children from listening.—NYT A1
--Obama Advisers are Split on Size of Afghan Force—NYT A1
9-3-09—For FDR was a divider, not a uniter, and he unabashedly waged class war.—NYT A25
9-2-09—[A Senate report ] makes clear that one of the principal means by which Forest [Laboratories] hoped to persuade psychiatrists, primary care doctors and other medical specialists to prescribe [their drug] Lexapro was to put money into doctors’ pockets and food into their mouths. NYT B1
--...health care is not an individual commodity to be bought and enjoyed like other products. That the health of each of us depends on the health of the rest of us, as epidemics from the Middle Ages to this year’s flu have demonstrated. ... You have to share [health care] with others in order to protect your own health. Yes, Democrats can prove that America pays more for health care than other countries; yes, they have won the dispute that private health insurance is needlessly expensive. But what they’ve lost is the argument that we are a society.—WSJ, Frank, A13
9-2-09—Abe Grady settled in Kentucky in the 1820s and married a freed slave. One of their grandchildren, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, give birth to [Muhammad] Ali—then Cassius Clay—in 1942 ... Ali’s wife, Yolanda, said her husband’s Irish blood might help explain his legendary ability to bludgeon his opponents with blarney as well as punches. –SBT A1
9-1-09—Decades from now, the crisis of 2008 might not be remembered as the last days of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, but as the moment the dollar lost its undisputed No. 1 ranking among world currencies. ---WSJ C1
9-1-09--Japan’s opposition party won an overwhelming victory at the polls on Sunday pledging to increase social welfare, better protect workers and do away with American-stle pro-market reforms to lead the country out of its long slump. NYT A1
8-31-09—As Banks repay bailout money, US sees profit. NYT A1
--Raft of deals for failed banks puts US on hook for billions. WSJ A1
--[Japan’s newly elected prime minister] has spoken of the end of American-dominated globalization and of the need to reorient Japan toward Asia.—NYT A1
--1996 (1975)—Again experience showed that expeditionary forces were severely troubled by consistent irregular or guerilla warfare, especially in rather remote mountainous areas where the foreigners lacked local support. The Russians struggled for decades against such resistance in the Caucasus, and the British gave up the attempt to control Afghanistan directly.. HOBSBAWM, THE AGE OF CAPITAL: 1848-1875, p 117.
~420 BCE--Few indeed have been the large armaments, either Hellenic or barbarian, that have gone far from home and been successful.”—Hermocrates of Syracuse [quoted by Thucydides]