Abulafia






						t S E P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 0 3 Interesting people Joseph C. Wilson IV "...his days in Baghdad, where he was acting U.S. ambassador. In 1990, while sheltering more than a hundred Americans at the U.S. Embassy and diplomatic residences, he briefed reporters while wearing a hangman's noose instead of a necktie -- a symbol of defiance after Hussein threatened to execute anyone who didn't turn over foreigners. The message, Wilson said: 'If you want to execute me, I'll bring my own [expletive] rope.'" Washington Post This is the diplomat who objected, on the op-ed pages of the New York Times, (on the grounds that he had previously been asked to investigate the claim, had done so, and found it nonsense), to the "sixteen words" in President Bush's State of the Union speech which linked Saddam Hussein to a looming nuclear threat. Poll watch: 85% of public believes George Bush's approval rating fell in last month The Onion "I'm not surprised," said Barry Amodale, a Plano, TX, systems analyst. "I had a feeling that Americans were feeling that way. I heard that the voters were wondering how the average citizen thought Bush would explain his $87 billion request to the taxpayers, too." Habermas and Derrida On September 11 University of Chicago Press Derrida is adrift in seas of words of many languages. Adrift My word for the day (Merriam-Webster) &-'drift Function: adverb or adjective Date: 1624 1:without motive power and without anchor or mooring The clouds appeared adrift upon the skies. I feel adrift in this city. Moving pictures As I woke up, I watched the clouds moving through the picture frame of the window, colliding, rushing onward, separating, thinning, pure white wisps masking bright blue sky. Beautiful, calm, peaceful. The air was brisk, the breeze had a bite. It's threatening to frost tomorrow night (so early, the jetstream has taken off on an unseasonable southerly vacation). I don't think it will, but perhaps it is time to bring in some of the houseplants on the patio. The chrysanthemums are just starting to bloom. The perennial plumbago is in full bloom, and the pineapple sage is just no showing red on its unfurling spikes. The wave petunias did not weather September well; they are barely hanging on. The impatiens are still blooming, though legy and a little sparse. One of the delphiniums appears set to rebloom. m S E P T E M B E R 2 9 , 2 0 0 3 Cleaned the garage Or thought I did, anyway -- I can hardly tell the hours of work that went into it. Also planted a few pansies in the window boxes and hanging baskets in the back garden. Cruising the Brewery District for Book of Lists photos A lawyer wanted to know why we were taking picutres of his building. It was being renovated, and the front pillars were down. He assured us they would be back up soon, they were supposed to be already, and please come back and take pictures then. He said the structure had been originally located in the path of I-70, had been cut in two, moved and reassembled where it stands now. I frequently wonder what was lost to make way for the interstates, and what the neighborhoods looked like when Old Oaks and Olde Towne were part of the same "Silk Stocking" neighborhood; when great-grandfather was pastor of Old Trinity at Third and Fulton downtown, just north of I-70, and Old Trinity was part of German Village, now south of I-70; when Milo-Grogan was not bisected by I-71, and Mt. Vernon was not physically separated from downtown by the same interstate. n S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 3 To Columbus Walked the leaf trail Off of Sand Run AESQUE s S E P T E M B E R 2 7 , 2 0 0 3 Grapes Picked, separated, pressed Met with our deacon Who confirmed that we are, indeed, compatible f S E P T E M B E R 2 6 , 2 0 0 3 The opposite of deja vu I-71: A very familiar road that gave me the feeling over and over that I had not traveled it before. To Akron r S E P T E M B E R 2 5 , 2 0 0 3 Why is free trade so unpopular? Christian Science Monitor Bush's unfortunate foray into protectionism should be a warning against populists and protectionist unions (and certain Democratic candidates), but probably won't be. Little democracy here Although liberated from tyranny far more than four months ago, Russia is still struggling with democracy. Washington Post Bad signs I don't think this means that Bush's $87B request is truly in trouble, but this is no time from the Republicans to go all isolationist. Washington Post Some of the specific items unfortunately do appear rather questionable, and there is still that (maybe little, maybe not so little) conflict of interest problem that arises around no-bid contracts given to Halliburton. I can't see any problem ensuing from this report as Cheney seems to have truly isolated himself finacially from Halliburton; the no-bid contracts are nonetheless very troubling. They re-enforce a feeling that the rebuilding is being done flippantly, without care. "A Congressional Research Service report released yesterday concluded that federal ethics laws treat Vice President Cheney's annual deferred compensation checks and unexercised stock options as continuing financial interests in the Halliburton Co." -- Washington Post And it's not as though Bechtel, another no-bid winnner, appears to be going out of its way to make Iraq a success. If the customer is always right, then in this case Bechtel apparently does not consider Iraq to be the customer. Perhaps the United States, as the customer, should encourage them to reconsider. Or perhaps the United States needs to reconsider whether a for-profit company is the right structure to have placed in this position. "When grease-stained technicians at the Baghdad South power plant needed spare parts recently, they first submitted a written request to Bechtel Corp., the engineering firm given more than $1 billion in U.S. government contracts to fix Iraq's decrepit infrastructure. "Then they went to the junkyard. "They scoured piles of industrial detritus for abandoned items that could be jury-rigged into the geriatric plant, such as the hydraulic pump from a bulldozer that was used to restart a broken water condenser. "Of course we'd like new parts," sighed Ahmed Ali Shihab, the senior operations engineer. But he said repeated appeals to Bechtel and the U.S. military had not yielded any significant new equipment. "All we have received from them are promises," he said." -- Washington Post Bechtel says, quite reasonably, that this is not included under the terms of their contract. But it is necessary, and now. Perhaps it just isn't best to bring in a private company under these circumstances. I know. In this and most other instances, I tend to emphasize the negative. While (usually?) remaining optimistc overall. A very interesting (and it seems, unique) job New York Times "MICHAEL EVERSON, a 40-year-old typographer who lives in Dublin, considers himself blessed because he has found his life's work: to be an alphabetician to all the peoples of the world. Mr. Everson's largest project to date - a contribution to a new version of Unicode 4.0, an international standard for computerizing text - is cementing his reputation. "His mission has taken him to Kabul, Afghanistan, and Helsinki, Finland; to Beijing, Tokyo and Redmond, Wash. His Dublin house is a shrine to his obsession with every writing system that humans are known to have created - 148 of which Mr. Everson says he can use for writing his name. In the hallway is an icon of the saints Cyril and Methodius (Cyril is often credited with inventing the Cyrillic alphabet) and a page from a Maghreb manuscript from North Africa. "He keeps a photo of a stone inscribed with ogham, an ancient Irish alphabet that looks like hash marks, in a silver frame. His office chair, parked in front of a Macintosh G4 laptop named Cyril, is upholstered with dark blue fabric dotted with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Surrounding his desk are shelves heavy with books on the origins of cuneiform and other writing systems." Choir rehearsal Dinner in Bexley With Stephanie and M&D and Grandma, whose grandfather used to read poetry to her w S E P T E M B E R 2 4 , 2 0 0 3 I only play a photographer on paper Janet was out today with an alpaca giving birth, so I tried to come up with a couple photographs for the paper. t S E P T E M B E R 2 3 , 2 0 0 3 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison The 9th Circuit rejoins America Temporarily, no doubt. Nonetheless, they rule, unanimously, en banc, that voting machines that were constitutional enough to elect Gray Davis governor are constituional enough to unelect him, should the voters so desire. They reheard the arguments, studiously ignoring the previous ruling by their own three-judge panel, still standing off in the corner, "moon[ing] the Supreme Court." "You can't read the 9th Circuit panel's decision without recognizing that it is neither brilliant nor subtle. ... Reading the opinion, it's hard to escape the fact that the court seems to take pleasure in applying the broad and indefensible legal principle laid out in Bush v. Gore even more broadly and indefensibly. This wasn't just a liberal panel trying to prop up an embattled Democrat. The 9 th Circuit isn't necessarily political, even where it's ideological. No, the more likely explanation for the panel's decision is that the court, which has been ridiculed, reversed, and unanimously shot down by the Supremes at rates that exceed (although not by much) any other court of appeals, just wanted this one sweet shot at revenge. This time, said the panel, it's personal." m S E P T E M B E R 2 2 , 2 0 0 3 Slept. Many hours. n S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 0 3 Much cleaning to do Perhaps John Reed could start by looking at his old firm as an example of how Not to run things. Chasing your rights Nature is not a believer in immutable property rights. Neither is John Ascroft a believer in immutable rights. Tom Toles Does anyone read the stories? WBNS "The state provides an annual $12.5 million operating subsidy, but the farms produce about $6.7 million worth of meat and $3.1 million in dairy products, said Michael Randle, chief of Ohio Penal Industries." ... "Asking private companies to take over the farms that help raise food for nearly 45,000 inmates wouldn't save money, [state prisons director Reginald Wilkinson] said." If there is a good explanation for why private companies could not supply $9.8 million of meat and dairy products for less than $12.5 million, this would be a good place to insert it. If there is no explanation, perhaps the lede could be rewritten? Iraq vs. Germany (et alia) Many of the people directing this war, although out of the executive branch for eight years, nonethless had a very long time in which to ponder What Comes Next for Iraq. The decision to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein was not made suddenly of a night; it was made in a fullness of time that surely ought to have included extensive planning for the aftermath. The rebuilding of Europe after WWII certainly and understandably took far longer and was (this close after the defeat of Germany) far less advanced than the rebuilding of Iraq is today. However, these time periods are not directly comparable. We have the experience of rebuilding Germany to look to -- we Ought to do better. Despite the efforts of this administration to conflate Hussein's murderous and tyrannical rule with the attacks of September 11, virtually no ties have emerged. This war has always seemed more elective than necessary. I accept that the enemy of September 11 is radical Islam. I also accept that a key reason for the success of radical Islam in winning recruits is the failed nature of many Arab governments. They do not provide opportunity for even a bare majority of their citizens to acheive economically or spiritually. They do not offer the opportunity to be meaningful. Only by building a successful government in Iraq can the United States affect the one way in which the disaster of Saddam Hussein's government could be seen as tied to September 11 and the ongoing terrorism committed against the United States and Western targets. On World War II, we were being attacked directly by the governments of Germany and Japan. The war stopped that. The Marshall Plan was insurance against a repetition, separate from and after the goals of the war itself. I cannot see the rebuilding of Iraq as anything but the sole intent of this war. To simply replace Hussein with another tyrant would be a utter waste. The Iraq War was well planned and ably executed. What came next was not. It should have been. Theodore Roosevelt complex Even when I am very unhappy, I want to be me and not anyone (even Someone) else. This is perhaps where my dislike of drugs comes from. I am often afraid they will make me someone else. (Theodore Roosevelt comes from "Arsenic and Old Lace," in which the character who believed himself to Theodore Roosevelt once "hid under his bed for days" rather than "be" anyone else.) Posted photographs AESQUE \| Link Amy to Akron Short walk through the Circles of Dennison Place Charlie picked out the house he thought we should have. Dinner in Bexley With Amy's apple crisp. St. Matthew Sunday It is not the well that need a physician, but the sick. s S E P T E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 3 Dinner at Mike & Jen's - Walking through Victorian Village House that we like. (The photo fails to do it justice -- the gardens looked wonderful, and there were more porches and decks around back). Don't think it could be bought for anything close to the county's "appraised value." I also liked this house, but Amy said it was really just my house painted blue. The photo makes it look almost the color of my house, but really, it did seem more blue in person. f S E P T E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 0 3 Amy to Columbus Posted images Hessel, 2003 \| Link After Pilgrim at Tinker Creek There are an incredible number of insects in the garden today. (I'm taking a hurricane day, having accepted from the newscasters the singular disaster that this storm must mean for all affected -- and it was certainly felt here in Columbus, what with the mild breezes blowing overnight, and the subtle rains (which I feel compelled to augment with a little sustained watering out in the garden today).) Two incredibly happy-go-lucky Monarch butterflies. They seem to appreciate the blue flowers in particular; this endears them to me. All kinds, types and sorts of bees, bumblebees, and bee-like creatures. I do not know the of the differences between them or what creatures they actually are -- I read early this spring about the bumblebees, gentle and laid-back, the best pollinators who prefer to nest in an undisturbed sheltered part of the garden. They are unlikely to defend their nest by stinging, the nest housing only tens of bumblebees, not thousands and more like honeybees. The sort of creature any gardeneer would want to attract. Little tiny bee-like creatures. They flit from flower to flower. And of course, mosquitoes. Inescapable. I did some more editing. Weeding, pruning, cutting back. Editing is what makes it a garden, and not just a wild place of abandon. Editing gives it shape, and establishes rules that can be broken here and there to great effect. Without rules (borders, walkways), there is nothing (no pattern, no edge, no border) to break, and no surprise or exclamation. Stupid I usually think of myself as politically astute, politically aware, and not too likely to be taken in by our political leaders. Unlike the author of this piece, I supported the war in Iraq. Most political leaders the world over seemed to accept the Saddam Hussein was indeed still interested and probably harboring weapons of mass destruction, and I never really felt that was George Bush's reason for instigating the war anyway, so I have no interest in the "gotcha" of sixteen words or sexed-up dossiers. As Jimmy Breslin said of James Earl Carter, I never believed a word he said, and thus didn't feel he was lying to me. The reasons, undoubtedly plural, obviously came long before Sept. 11, and so the invasion can hardly be tied to that -- even though the administration itself long tried to so entwine it, just this past week admitting that they had no evidence that Iraq was involved (in a complete volte-face from the weekend, when Cheney had averred that we have no reason to believe Iraq was Not involved. This comes perilously close to parsing the definition of Is, and over a far more important discussion than it was raised during the previous administration). I have long felt that the adminstration of George H.W. Bush stopped Desert Storm short of deposing Saddam Hussein due to an inability to contemplate What Comes Next. No one had any ideas, no one had any plans they felt confidence in; no one wanted to speculate, even. Considering the similarities in staffing between the two Bush administrations, and yes, even the thought that the senior Bush might offer some guidance to a younger Bush so clearly in need of it, I was too willing to offer the benefit of the doubt over whether they had even considered this point before deciding to go to war. I thought it would be incredibly stupid and foolish not to. And I still think so, even as it has become apparent that there were no plans. There were no contingencies. There was little thought given to What Comes Next. We can't get just leave. We must make this work, however long it takes. However much money, tax cuts notwithstanding. "The irony, nearly six months after the US launched this war, is that while Saddam Hussein has been unseated, the threat that Iraq posed to the Gulf has not been removed. Indeed, it may be that the United States, with its overwhelming military power, has succeeded only in transforming an eventual and speculative threat into a concrete and immediate one. Now the Bush administration finds itself trying to perform the tightrope walk of building a stable and friendly government beneath the shadow of escalating violence and a growing and inevitable nationalism—and it does so in the face of an impatient and bewildered public and an approaching election campaign. The administration began its Iraq venture with an air of absolute determination, taking a kind of grim pride in defying the United Nations and "doing what is right." America, and Iraq, will need a different kind of determination now—and a new-found honesty to go with it." (New York Review of Books) I have no interest in a Democratic candidate that wants us out of Iraq now, or soon. We are there, and there is no going back. We have to make this work. I would have interest in a candidate that will make Iraq a success by doing the planning that should have been done last year. I simply don't believe that we are facing anything in Iraq that a reasonably person could not have foreseen. That this adminstration not only didn't, but did not even consider the possibility that they might face some of these issues is inexcusable. r S E P T E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 0 3 Third practice pizza I had to come up with more sauce for this one. Have to ask Amy about how to do that. Remembered the ham. Tried pineapple sage instead of basil -- didn't have a whole lot of influence on the taste, I don't think. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek In my impatience, I skipped ahead and chanced on a section on a hurricane. Appropriate, as Hurricane Isabel has today shut down the east coast. The very edge of the storm has reached Columbus, and it is raining slightly. Every once in a while a breeze blows through the trees. The very edge. Washington, D.C. is closed. Only essential government workers are required. The Metro closed at 11 a.m. and may or may not reopen tomorrow. Carey's school is off for the hurricane, and I'm taking time off in sympathy. I tried to straighten out the garden a little; it has been so neglected that it is overgrown, tangled and very ragged. I cut back a lot of allysum and removed the morning glories from the arbor vitae. Cut back the viburnum, which seemed to have gone crazy with new vertical shoots. Cut back the ivy. Tried to corral the artemesia. Tried halfheartedly to clear a path to the tomatos. Fenced in the crysanthemums. The phones kept ringing and I am not up to answering them. The phones kept ringing. I accidentally napped through choir rehearsal. I would have had to have gotten up at least half an hour early to convince myself to go anyway, even though I wanted to and it would have been good. Not at work We got out the paper this morning. We changed to year 20 on the cover, two issues too late. I thought about that several weeks ago, but was unable to remember to check when the time came to go from Issue 53 to Issue 1 of year 20 -- In year 19, we published 55 issues according to our cover. Sloppy. w S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 0 3 Tired. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek A very beautiful book, though I have only just begun. I need to read it more slowly than I am trying to -- it needs to be carefully sensed. Blue bottles Replaced the water and (where necessary) the plants in the blue bottles in the downstairs windows. Planted several of the shoots that had grown roots far too extensive to squeeze back in a bottle. Random blue bottle-related note From Real Simple: "If you buy a gallon tin, do what they do in the Mediterranean: Pour some oil into a clean dark wine bottle fitted with a pouring spout." Andrew started doing it, but I like the blue bottle part, and it's even approved by custom. (Real Simple, September 2003, p. 150). t S E P T E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 3 Second practice pizza Forgot the ham. I really liked the ham. M&D, Grandma to Columbus m S E P T E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 0 3 Tried making a pizza It wasn't too horrible. Tomato, basil, brocolli, and ham Out inspecting the city For Book of Lists cover and inside photos n S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 0 3 A failure of leadership Free trade and free markets would be cheaper and far more effective than the foreign aid we (occassionally) offer now. And would stabilize the economies of poorer nations, making military coups and conflicts less likely. None if this wins votes in the U.S. or Europe, however. The more immediate negative effects loom ever-larger to politicians already faced with weak economic conditions; they chose to offer little of value in Cancun. Listening to this week ... Arabix: "The mediterranean lounge: north african rai arabic asian drum n bass hip hop electronica dub downtempo trip hop trance remixes." Amy to Akron Tomato & basil pizza Surprisingly had all the necessary ingredients on hand Via Colori Ventured out to the chalkings on the soon-to-opened I-670; Some were quite impressive My Lord, What a Morning Al was on vacation, Don directed Holy Cross Sunday, we processed and recessed s S E P T E M B E R 1 3 , 2 0 0 3 Corn on the Cob From the market on Winchester Pike Hocking Hills Conkle's Hollow and, briefly, Cantwell Cliffs. AESQUE f S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 0 3 Amy to Columbus Forty < 40 Finally put to bed r S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 0 3 Choir rehearsal Made it out the door and to the church, and there really was a rehearsal. Art deco in Africa Italian architecture from the 30s and 40s survives in Asmara, the capital city of Africa's newest country, Eritrea. Another intriguing article in the New York Times. And a topic which, to me, seems incomprehensible without photographs -- to write of Novecento-style frescos and Art Nouveau frescos is wonderful, but really, it is necessary to see them. The year before Jason Blair, Howell Raines' New York Times won two of its seven Pulitzer Prizes in photography. Photography is more than important to some stories, it is necessary. There do not seem to be a profusion of websites yet dedicated to the architecture of Asmara, but a personal site with a few pictures was interesting. w S E P T E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 0 3 - - t S E P T E M B E R 9 , 2 0 0 3 - - m S E P T E M B E R 8, 2 0 0 3 The sound of a black hole Is a b-flat ... ... 57 octaves below middle C Imagine a keyboard for that. n S E P T E M B E R 7 , 2 0 0 3 Home. The alone-ness was too good to give up for church -- I had until 2:30 when people started arriving back. s S E P T E M B E R 6 , 2 0 0 3 No one else in the house. Glorious solitude. f S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 0 3 - - r S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 0 3 Home. Couldn't make it out the door to choir practice. w S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 0 0 3 - - t S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 0 3 A page well designed A rarity lately. To Columbus m S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 3 To Akron Photographs From this weekend and the weekend before. AESQUE > AUGUST 02
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