November 12, 2013

The Index. For those wishing to jump over sections of little interest, here a new twist: an index to the week's blog entries.

• Veterans Day
• Election re-cap
• America's right, then and now
• Are we really alone? (astronomy)
• Nonfiction: David McCullough's The Greater Journey
• Our new secretary of state
• The “state of the art” White House

Veterans Day. A hearty “thank you” to all of my comrades who have served over the years. The grammarians among you will no doubt note the lack of an apostrophe in the usual spelling.

     This national holiday was formerly known as Armistice Day, having been first proclaimed by President Wilson, on November 11, 1919, since broadened to honor all American military veterans. Including, only very belatedly (1980), the Women's Army Air Corps (WAAC). WAACS held all manner of wartime jobs, including ferrying all types of aircraft from factories to air bases, including overseas locations. (See recent PBS Nova program.)

      History buffs will remember that the armistice ending WW I, began the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day, of the 11^th month in 1918. Intense armistice talks had been ongoing for three days and the official document was signed at 5:10am on November 11^th just outside Compiegne, France. However, the fire-breathing American commander, General John J. (Blackjack) Pershing, thought the Germans needed to taught a “severe lesson” and had elected to continue the fighting. As a result – and despite the valiant attempts of German machine gunners to stop an impending assault – the last American (Private Henry Gunther) died needlessly at 10:50am, November 11^th. RIP

Election re-cap. First, to follow up on last week's blog note: In the nationally-watched, Republican primary in AL's 1^st congressional district, the tea party candidate failed to defeat the establishment's choice. To continue, for the first time in twenty years, NYC's “His Honor” will be a (progressive?) Democrat, William de Blasio. In NJ, that loveable heavyweight, Chris Christie, was re-elected with support from disaffected Democrats, Hispanics, and independents. Governor Christie appears to be on his way for a run at the “big show” in 2016. Meanwhile, in the northwest, in a much-watched, nasty campaign, Seattle elected its first openly gay mayor.

     Here in CO, voters rejected by a nearly 2-1 margin a $1B tax increase (over 10 years) for K-12 education. (When I came to Denver in March 1970, CO was among the top five states in funding education. Back then, of course, CA had a marvelous higher education system; that, too, has been largely dismantled.) Fear not, the CO treasury will get added revenue from two taxes on marijuana sales. Finally, citizens in three CO jurisdictions voted to limit/eliminate the process of “fracking” in gas/oil wells. The results in a fourth county will require a recount since the measure apparently failed by a mere thirteen votes.

     The internal policies of both parties, especially among Republicans, are intricate and arcane. Republican moderates, who once dominated the party, are attempting to regain control by changing the way their candidates are selected, from state-wide conventions to primaries. See this article from the congressional daily, Roll Call. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/us/politics/gop-weighs-limiting-clout-of-right-wing.html?hp&_r=1&

“Conventions have a flimsy track record of selecting the most electable candidates,” David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican strategist, said in an interview on Wednesday. “There’s just no good substitute for a full-scale vetting by a large universe of primary voters.” So, the beat goes on!

America's Right, then and now. Rick Perlstein's article in the Nation (November 7th) recounts the rise and fall of various right wing Republican movements, from Senators McCarthy (1950s) and Goldwater (1964), through Governor Ronald Reagan (1980), to the Tea Party of today.

http://www.thenation.com/authors/rick-perlstein#

Are we really alone – here in our very small bit of the Milky Way? According to a story from this past Tuesday's science news, we may not be as alone as we once thought. Numbers extrapolated from observations by NASA's Kepler deep space telescope indicate that roughly one in every five sun-like stars is orbited by a potentially habitable, Earth-size planet, meaning that the universe has abundant real estate that could be congenial to life – tea-temperature water is one key ingredient. In the “seeable” universe, those numbers run to the untold billions of possibilities!

     So, what did transpire in Roswell, NM, in 1947?? Spooky stuff, coming this close after Halloween and all! http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/kepler-space-telescope-finds-earth-size-potentially-habitable-planets-are-common/2013/11/04/49d782b4-4555-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html

     There was an astronomical anniversary this past week. On November 6, 1572, the inveterate night-time sky watcher and astronomer, Tycho Brahe, observed a totally new star in the firmament. (Those years, with little if any light pollution to “darken” the night's skies, must have been a glorious time for Brahe and his kindred spirits.) This new star appeared, increased in brightness, then vanished, all within two short years. Biblical references aside, Brahe had witnessed and noted the birth and death of a super nova, though, admittedly, this birth and death had transpired untold light years earlier.

     For the first time, there was concrete evidence of the following: The stars were not fixed, eternal and constant; new stars could (apparently) be created, and, finally, stars can (apparently) go away, too. The most eternal things in all of human experience weren’t eternal, after all. Now four centuries after Tycho’s supernova first appeared, we have discovered this truth numerous times over as we turned our telescopes (radio and visual) skyward. Not to worry, though, our sun is not slated for death anytime soon.

Nonfiction. America's early travelers. Have we not always been hurrying to get somewhere else? Last week I began David McCullough's book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. At first blush, you might assume that this eminent historian would regale us with vignettes about the more well known Americans in Paris, those who came (some stayed) after WW I and the Spanish Civil War. Stories about the better known literary giants like Earnest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, John dos Passos, et. al., not to mention, Jerry Mulligan, Gene Kelly's loveable, fictional painter in the movie, “An American in Paris.”

     But, as noted on the book's flyleaf, not all early American pioneers followed Horace Greeley's advice to go west. Rather, McCullough tells of the Americans involved in the first rush eastward, 1830 – 1900, an era when travel by sea was equally as daunting as plunging into the vastness of the American west. Some travelers were well known, some lesser, but all were drawn, moth-to-the flame, to the City of Light.

Elizabeth Blackwell (America's first certified MD), Charles Sumner (anti-slavery abolitionist), Samuel F. B. Morris (skilled painter, but most remembered for the telegraph), Louis Moreau Gottschalk (pianist), George P.A. Healy (portrait painter), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (physician), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Henry James, and James Fenimore Cooper (writers all). The list goes on, a veritable who's-who of Americana.

     In 1831 came one of those noteworthy historical coincidences: a young Frenchman, Alex de Tocqueville, sailed west from Le Harve to the United States. He traveled among us for nine months, returned to Paris, and, in a poignant remembrance, held up a mirror to our early nation in his unforgettable Democracy in America.

Our new secretary of state. Washington Post deputy editorial page editor, Jackson Diehl, penned a recent column titled, “John Kerry's Middle East dream world,” which he later referred to as “....Kerry’s Magical Mystery Tour.” Indeed, Secretary Kerry seems to be struggling to find his voice and place in this touchiest of diplomatic venues that involves, among other things, Iran's nuclear arms program. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jackson-diehl-john-kerrys-middle-east-dream-world/2013/11/10/5b17d2d2-47cf-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html?wprss=rss_todays-opeds&tid=pp_widget

The “state of the art” White House.  It's worth a peek at the website to enjoy the cover of the November 11^th New Yorker magazine: President Obama talking on a 30 year-old cell “brick,” HHS Secretary Sebelius with crossed fingers (on both hands), and the IT specialist about to insert a floppy disk into the desk top, a venerable Apple 2, hammer and screw driver close at hand. As my young friend says, “Well, it could have happened!” http://www.newyorker.com/magazine