U.S. Kills Osama Bin Laden decade of 9/11 attacks
I am not a fan of the death penalty. But when it comes to terrorists or military leaders, taking aggressors out is the right cause of action. Psychologically, this is a big moment for Americans. And it surely is different from the Royal Wedding last week in London, which was also a big event. I am sure before long we will see a movie about the end of Osama Bin Laden. KIMBERLY DOZIER and DAVID ESPO of the Associated Press report:
WASHINGTON—Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces Monday, then quickly buried at sea in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run.
Long believed to be hiding in caves, bin Laden was tracked down in a costly, custom-built hideout not far from a Pakistani military academy.
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Coco avant Chanel
The Supreme Justice Potter Stewart famously said, “I know pornography when I see it.” Watching Coco avant Chanel I became less sure that I could identify in all instances of prostitution when I see it. Early in her adult life, Coco tracks an aristocrat to his country mansion and then exchanges sex for food, lodging, and social climbing. So we may ask: What is the big difference to her taking money for sex to pay rent a nearby apartment and cook her own food? The film follows Coco until she makes a big in the fashion world. Coco clearly was a trailblazer and I enjoyed watching her find her path. The most appealing feature of the film is its understated, classic style. The director managed to imbue entire film with the core of Chanel’s fashion sense.
Virginia Wolfe’s Last Letter to her Husband
Virginia Woolf’s last letter to her husband, Leonard, reads:
Dearest,
I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don’t think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can’t fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can’t even write this properly. I can’t read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that - everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness.
I can’t go on spoiling your life any longer.
I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been.
V.
Continue ReadingThe Japanese People
I only spent a short time in Japan, but I noted in my travel blog how smitten I was by courteous way all Japanese seemed to behave. Nicholas Kristof confirms these observations in the NY Times and digs a lot deeper into psyche of the Japanese. I hope that Japan will be spared a deeper nuclear crisis.
The Japanese Could Teach Us a Thing or Two
When America is under stress, as is happening right now with debates about where to pare the budget, we sometimes trample the least powerful and most vulnerable among us.
So maybe we can learn something from Japan, where the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaks haven’t caused society to come apart at the seams but to be knit together more tightly than ever. The selflessness, stoicism and discipline in Japan these days are epitomized by those workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, uncomplainingly and anonymously risking dangerous doses of radiation as they struggle to prevent a complete meltdown that would endanger their fellow citizens.
Continue ReadingOptical Illusion
The world is full of mysteries. I have no idea how this stationary picture appears to be moving.
Peggy Noonan executes Don Rumsfeld
I was impressed with Peggy Noonan when she—although a Republican partisan—called Sarah Palin’s nomination ridiculous. Her commitment to truth and integrity made her write this scathing review of Donald Rumsfeld memoirs in the WSJ.
The One That Got Away
Memoirist Rumsfeld seems to forget why we went to Afghanistan.
I like Donald Rumsfeld. I’ve always thought he was a hard-working, intelligent man. I respected his life in public service at the highest and most demanding levels. So it was with some surprise that I found myself flinging his book against a wall in hopes I would break its stupid little spine.
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The New Humanism
David Brooks continues to lay out in the NY Times his argument for a new humanism that tries to understand how human beings flourish collectively.
Over the course of my career, I’ve covered a number of policy failures. When the Soviet Union fell, we sent in teams of economists, oblivious to the lack of social trust that marred that society. While invading Iraq, the nation’s leaders were unprepared for the cultural complexities of the place and the psychological aftershocks of Saddam’s terror. We had a financial regime based on the notion that bankers are rational creatures who wouldn’t do anything stupid en masse. For the past 30 years we’ve tried many different ways to restructure our educational system—trying big schools and little schools, charters and vouchers—that, for years, skirted the core issue: the relationship between a teacher and a student.
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