"It was one hell of a summer." So begins the last clause of the last sentence of the last chapter (bar the epilogue) of Bill Bryson's latest tour de force, One Summer: America 1927 (Doubleday 2013), which Walt recommends most highly.
Bill Bryson is one of my favourite writers. But it must be said that the quality and "interest quotient" of his earlier works (especially his travel books) is more consistently good than that of his more recent writing. Of all his books, I can think of only three that I haven't particularly enjoyed. Two of those -- A Short History of Nearly Everything and At Home -- are among the more recent.
So it was with a bit of doubt that I laid out the spondulix (Bryson would love that word) for One Summer, wondering if I might later suffer from buyer's remorse. I didn't.
Although the dust jacket illustration of the Spirit of St. Louis, a baseball player and a flapper should have tipped me off, I also wondered what happened in the summer of 1927 that merited a whole long(ish) book. Here, from the last chapter (bar the epilogue) is the answer.
Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs. The Federal Reserve made the mistake that precipitated the stock market crash. Al Capone enjoyed his last summer of eminence. The Jazz Singer was filmed. Television was created. Radio came of age. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. President Coolidge chose not to run. Work began on Mount Rushmore. The Mississippi flooded as it never had before. A madman in Michigan blew up a school and killed forty-four people in the worst slaughter of children in American history. Henry Ford stopped making the Model T and promised to stop insulting Jews. And a kid from Minnesota flew across an ocean and captivated the planet in a way it had never been captivated before.
The kid, of course, was Charles Lindbergh. One Summer begins and ends with him. In between, Mr. Bryson manages -- this is the amazing part -- to tie together all of the events and personalities mentioned above, as well as countless others of lesser note. The depth and detail of his narrative is astounding. Besides being a voracious reader, I believe he must have had at least one very good research assistant. [Hey! Is that a dig at me? Ed.]
It is a tribute to Bill Bryson's skill as a writer that, although One Summer runs to 458 pages -- plus notes, suggestions for further reading, a bibliography and index! -- I found it a fast-paced and entertaining read. It's part social history, part biography, and part pure story-telling. And, as they say, the whole is much more than the sum of its parts. Best new book I've read this year.
Post scriptum et caveat: It must be said that some fairly large chunks of One Summer -- particularly the story of Charles Lindbergh -- have been, errr, recycled from Made in America (Martin Secker & Warburg, 1994). But since Made in America antedates the travel books that made Bill Bryson famous, many of you may not have read it. And even if you did, Mr. Bryson is such a good storyteller that you won't mind a rerun.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Justice for Zemir Begic!
You think "the truth is out there"? Hah! If by "out there" you mean "in the mass media", you are sadly mistaken. All you're going to get from the lamestream media in the USA and Canada is "all the truth that fits" into their secular humanist, politically correct template. Anything that doesn't fit, that contradicts political and social orthodoxy, will be ignored.
Case in point: the murder of Zemir Begic, beaten to death by hammer-wielding assailants on Sunday morning in... wait for it... St. Louis.
You didn't hear about it? Gee, what a surprise! The story has been notably and woefully under-reported by the American meeja. Why? Because Mr. Begic was white -- a Bosnian immigrant -- and the killers were... wait for it... black.
Mr. Begic was driving his car with two passengers, including his fiancée, when something hit his vehicle. When he got out, he was confronted and assaulted by several dark-complected attackers. He was unconscious when emergency personnel arrived on the scene, and later died at a local hospital.
Police have arrested three teenage suspects and charged them with murder. They are still looking for a fourth. Although the suspects are black (or at least non-white), and the victim was white, a St. Louis police spokesthingy says that they have no indication that race was a factor in the attack. And if you believe that, he has some nice bottom land on the banks of the Mississippi he'd like to sell you.
Given that the attack occurred less than 14 miles from the town of Ferguson, which has been under a bright media spotlight since the August shooting of a black teen by a white police officer, local residents have been quick to draw comparisons.
In "The protesters near Ferguson who are begging for more police", a member of the city's small Bosnian community is quoted thus. "In Ferguson, they want to make a protest about nothing and yet that attracted attention across the nation. We're just trying to keep more police down here because of these little thugs."
The Post's reporter observes that it's police inaction, not action, that has demonstrators angered. He describes the scene at the protests, drawing an implied comparison to the occasionally violent demonstrations that took place after officer Darren Wilson was cleared by a grand jury last week in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
"The protesters did not chant," writes Todd Frankel. "The protesters didn't hurl insults at police. Some huddled around a bonfire on a garage's parking lot. A memorial for Begic with stuffed animals began to take shape in a corner. The protesters only edged into the street whenever police showed signs of losing interest and departing."
Outside of St. Louis, the murder of Mr. Begic has gone largely unnoticed. However, the story has gained traction among conservative commentators and bloggers, who view it as an example of media and liberal activist hypocrisy.
Why is there nation-wide outrage over the death of Michael Brown -- shown on video to be one of the "thugs" from whom the larger community wants police protection -- but silence on the murder of Zemir Begic -- by all accounts a law-abiding immigrant trying to make his way in a land he came to to escape just such race-based violence?
If the episode can somehow be linked to the Ferguson demonstrations, that fact could be used to discredit the protest as a whole. Some might even think that the looting, the vandalism, the mindless violence and attacks on white people are somehow related -- the criminal acts of a lawless and violent... and black... underclass.
Case in point: the murder of Zemir Begic, beaten to death by hammer-wielding assailants on Sunday morning in... wait for it... St. Louis.
You didn't hear about it? Gee, what a surprise! The story has been notably and woefully under-reported by the American meeja. Why? Because Mr. Begic was white -- a Bosnian immigrant -- and the killers were... wait for it... black.
Mr. Begic was driving his car with two passengers, including his fiancée, when something hit his vehicle. When he got out, he was confronted and assaulted by several dark-complected attackers. He was unconscious when emergency personnel arrived on the scene, and later died at a local hospital.
Police have arrested three teenage suspects and charged them with murder. They are still looking for a fourth. Although the suspects are black (or at least non-white), and the victim was white, a St. Louis police spokesthingy says that they have no indication that race was a factor in the attack. And if you believe that, he has some nice bottom land on the banks of the Mississippi he'd like to sell you.
Given that the attack occurred less than 14 miles from the town of Ferguson, which has been under a bright media spotlight since the August shooting of a black teen by a white police officer, local residents have been quick to draw comparisons.
In "The protesters near Ferguson who are begging for more police", a member of the city's small Bosnian community is quoted thus. "In Ferguson, they want to make a protest about nothing and yet that attracted attention across the nation. We're just trying to keep more police down here because of these little thugs."
The Post's reporter observes that it's police inaction, not action, that has demonstrators angered. He describes the scene at the protests, drawing an implied comparison to the occasionally violent demonstrations that took place after officer Darren Wilson was cleared by a grand jury last week in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
"The protesters did not chant," writes Todd Frankel. "The protesters didn't hurl insults at police. Some huddled around a bonfire on a garage's parking lot. A memorial for Begic with stuffed animals began to take shape in a corner. The protesters only edged into the street whenever police showed signs of losing interest and departing."
Outside of St. Louis, the murder of Mr. Begic has gone largely unnoticed. However, the story has gained traction among conservative commentators and bloggers, who view it as an example of media and liberal activist hypocrisy.
Why is there nation-wide outrage over the death of Michael Brown -- shown on video to be one of the "thugs" from whom the larger community wants police protection -- but silence on the murder of Zemir Begic -- by all accounts a law-abiding immigrant trying to make his way in a land he came to to escape just such race-based violence?
If the episode can somehow be linked to the Ferguson demonstrations, that fact could be used to discredit the protest as a whole. Some might even think that the looting, the vandalism, the mindless violence and attacks on white people are somehow related -- the criminal acts of a lawless and violent... and black... underclass.
African woman axes and eats passerby
Every now and then we get a bizarre tale from the southern African country of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe itself is rather bizarre, a case study in what happens when the wicked white colonists are forced to hand over to the black majority.
This was the case in what was then Rhodesia, which was betrayed by the UK government and in 1980 was handed over to Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, who is still in power (at least nominally) over 34 years later. Under Mugabe's kleptocracy, Zimbabwe has regressed, by every measure, in every aspect of human development, to pre-independence, even pre-colonial levels.
As a case in point, Walt offers the following story, as it appears in today's online edition of Zimbabwe NewsDay.
In a bizarre incident that occurred in Gutu yesterday, a mentally challenged woman allegedly wrestled a male villager, and fatally axed him before devouring part of his flesh.
Acting Masvingo provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the spine-chilling incident and identified both the suspect as Esther Katandawa (27) and the deceased as Simon Muzenda (29). The incident occurred yesterday morning at Mupandawana village under headman Gadzingo. "We have indeed heard about the incident, and we can confirm that the accused, who is mentally challenged, has since been arrested and is in custody," he said.
He said Katandawa met the deceased in the same village in the morning and disarmed him of the axe, before chasing after him and turning the axe on him. "The now deceased was limping as his leg was aching,” Dhewa said. "After the axe was taken away from him, he tried to flee, but could not go further as he could not run due to his leg that was troubling him. Unfortunately, he was struck with the axe and died on the spot. The accused then started eating his flesh."
Other villagers who were passing by were said to have heard his cries, before they apprehended Katandawa and made a police report, leading to her arrest.
It could not be established if Muzenda is related to the late Vice-President, Simon Muzenda, who also hailed from the same district.
Walt wonders if the "mentally challenged" lady thought that perhaps her victim was the late Muzenda, risen from the dead. Such beliefs are not uncommon in bizarre Zimbabwe. Nothing that a little civilization wouldn't cure, but, as the locals say, "this is Zimbabwe".
You think I'm kidding about the persistence of the African belief in sorcery and witchcraft? From the same source comes a report that Comrade Bob yesterday claimed that discredited Vice-President Joice Mujuru, working in cahoots with members of her cabal, secretly consulted n’angas (with doctors) seeking juju (magic potions or spells) to kill him in a bid to wrest power from him.
Addressing a Zanu PF Central Committee meeting in the capital yesterday ahead of today’s 6th national people’s congress, Mugabe said Mujuru and her co-plotters also clandestinely plotted to assassinate him before their plans were exposed.
Comrade Bob is 90, and is widely believed to have the necessary juju to live and rule Zimbabwe forever. Forever, do you hear? Bwuhahahahaha....
This was the case in what was then Rhodesia, which was betrayed by the UK government and in 1980 was handed over to Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, who is still in power (at least nominally) over 34 years later. Under Mugabe's kleptocracy, Zimbabwe has regressed, by every measure, in every aspect of human development, to pre-independence, even pre-colonial levels.
As a case in point, Walt offers the following story, as it appears in today's online edition of Zimbabwe NewsDay.
In a bizarre incident that occurred in Gutu yesterday, a mentally challenged woman allegedly wrestled a male villager, and fatally axed him before devouring part of his flesh.
Acting Masvingo provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the spine-chilling incident and identified both the suspect as Esther Katandawa (27) and the deceased as Simon Muzenda (29). The incident occurred yesterday morning at Mupandawana village under headman Gadzingo. "We have indeed heard about the incident, and we can confirm that the accused, who is mentally challenged, has since been arrested and is in custody," he said.
He said Katandawa met the deceased in the same village in the morning and disarmed him of the axe, before chasing after him and turning the axe on him. "The now deceased was limping as his leg was aching,” Dhewa said. "After the axe was taken away from him, he tried to flee, but could not go further as he could not run due to his leg that was troubling him. Unfortunately, he was struck with the axe and died on the spot. The accused then started eating his flesh."
Other villagers who were passing by were said to have heard his cries, before they apprehended Katandawa and made a police report, leading to her arrest.
It could not be established if Muzenda is related to the late Vice-President, Simon Muzenda, who also hailed from the same district.
Walt wonders if the "mentally challenged" lady thought that perhaps her victim was the late Muzenda, risen from the dead. Such beliefs are not uncommon in bizarre Zimbabwe. Nothing that a little civilization wouldn't cure, but, as the locals say, "this is Zimbabwe".
You think I'm kidding about the persistence of the African belief in sorcery and witchcraft? From the same source comes a report that Comrade Bob yesterday claimed that discredited Vice-President Joice Mujuru, working in cahoots with members of her cabal, secretly consulted n’angas (with doctors) seeking juju (magic potions or spells) to kill him in a bid to wrest power from him.
Addressing a Zanu PF Central Committee meeting in the capital yesterday ahead of today’s 6th national people’s congress, Mugabe said Mujuru and her co-plotters also clandestinely plotted to assassinate him before their plans were exposed.
Comrade Bob is 90, and is widely believed to have the necessary juju to live and rule Zimbabwe forever. Forever, do you hear? Bwuhahahahaha....
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Song for the Christmas shopping season (updated)
I'm pretty sure we ran this last year we ran this last year, but Ed. is curled up in the corner with a jar of jellied gin, so I can't persuade him to look. Anyway, Agent 6, who sent this to us, tells us that it's been updated. Rerun or not, it's worth listening to.
Vocal by Carrie Rinderer, with the ACLU (American Christian Life United!) choir...
Vocal by Carrie Rinderer, with the ACLU (American Christian Life United!) choir...
Please, dear readers, take the message to heart.
And don't be afraid to wish everyone
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Jean Béliveau est décedé
"Le courage et l'honneur: il était Jean Béliveau"
The title of this morning's article by Philippe Cantin in La Presse says it all. In the days to come, there will be countless obituaries and lengthy articles on the life and incredible career of Jean Béliveau, who died last night, aged 83. +RIP.
Walt and Len will not attempt to duplicate or even summarize the 1000s of words which will be written in praise of an athlete who was loved by many and respected by everyone. Few professional athletes have exuded as much class and dignity. And no-one personified the essence and spirit of the Montréal Canadiens longer or more completely than the elegant Monsieur Béliveau.
Jean Béliveau will no longer be sitting behind the Habs' bench at le Centre Bell, but will smile down on the team from his place in hockey heaven, and will remain forever in the hearts of all canadiens -- pure laine or otherwise.
Older Hong Kong protest leaders surrender; students remain in streets
From the beginning, a serious problem for the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters has been leadership -- not so much lack of leadership, but division of leadership. Protesters have been encamped for over two months at two or three different sites in the city state -- Causeway Bay, Central and Mongkok -- and there has been a conspicuous lack of communication between them, or even within them. The protests resemble nothing so much as the stereotypical Chinese fire drill.
There seem to be two or three factions: students; members of the "Occupy Central" movement and other assorted other community leaders and political activists. They share the same goal -- free elections for the position of CEO of HKG -- but differ on the means of achieving it. In the last week clashes between the student protesters and police have become increasingly violent, to the dismay of the Occupy Central faction. Today the leaders of the latter group surrendered to HKG police, in hopes of bringing peace back to the "peaceful protest".
In this Reuters photo, we see (L-R) Joseph Cardinal Zen, Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, as he walks with Occupy Central civil disobedience founders, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, chairman of the Hong Kong Democracy Development Network, Chan Kin-man, professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Benny Tai, law professor at the University of Hong Kong, as they arrive at the Central Police Station to surrender themselves.
The three leaders turned themselves in voluntarily, calling on students to retreat from protest sites in the city's financial centre amid fears of further violence, just hours after student leader Joshua Wong called on supporters to regroup.
"I hope we can show others the meaning of the surrender," said Mr. Tai. "We urge the occupation to end soon and more citizens will carry out the basic responsibility of civil disobedience, which is to surrender."
The three leaders filled in forms and were allowed to leave without facing any charges. Including them, Hong Kong police said, two dozen people aged between 33 and 82 had surrendered for "taking part in an unauthorized assembly", and authorities would conduct follow-up investigations based on the information provided.
The students, however, seem unimpressed by this show of pacifism and, as Walt is hearing on the phone this very moment, are bracing for another night of clashes with the police. Stay tuned and show your solidarity!
Further reading on WWW:
"Why Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution' matters"
"5 things you should know about the Umbrella Revolution"
There seem to be two or three factions: students; members of the "Occupy Central" movement and other assorted other community leaders and political activists. They share the same goal -- free elections for the position of CEO of HKG -- but differ on the means of achieving it. In the last week clashes between the student protesters and police have become increasingly violent, to the dismay of the Occupy Central faction. Today the leaders of the latter group surrendered to HKG police, in hopes of bringing peace back to the "peaceful protest".
In this Reuters photo, we see (L-R) Joseph Cardinal Zen, Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, as he walks with Occupy Central civil disobedience founders, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, chairman of the Hong Kong Democracy Development Network, Chan Kin-man, professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Benny Tai, law professor at the University of Hong Kong, as they arrive at the Central Police Station to surrender themselves.
The three leaders turned themselves in voluntarily, calling on students to retreat from protest sites in the city's financial centre amid fears of further violence, just hours after student leader Joshua Wong called on supporters to regroup.
"I hope we can show others the meaning of the surrender," said Mr. Tai. "We urge the occupation to end soon and more citizens will carry out the basic responsibility of civil disobedience, which is to surrender."
The three leaders filled in forms and were allowed to leave without facing any charges. Including them, Hong Kong police said, two dozen people aged between 33 and 82 had surrendered for "taking part in an unauthorized assembly", and authorities would conduct follow-up investigations based on the information provided.
The students, however, seem unimpressed by this show of pacifism and, as Walt is hearing on the phone this very moment, are bracing for another night of clashes with the police. Stay tuned and show your solidarity!
Further reading on WWW:
"Why Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution' matters"
"5 things you should know about the Umbrella Revolution"
Monday, December 1, 2014
A lesson from ancient Rome about illegal immigration
Agent 6 spotted a good article on the BizShift-Trends website: Struggle of Illegal Immigration – Parallels Between U.S. and Ancient Rome: Lesson Learned, Unintended Consequence.
Because it was more civilized and prosperous than the barbaric tribes living outside its borders, the Roman Empire was flooded with illegal immigrants, for the same reason that Europe and North America are being inundated today. Life is better for the illegals here than in the corruption-ridden and poverty-stricken states they call "home". And of course there are the welfare and social benefits we foolishly extend to them, to assuage the hurt we inflicted on them in the bad old colonial days.
Every now and then, as in the Excited States of America at the moment, someone discovers that there are millions of illegals living amongst us, sponging off the legal residents who pay taxes, and demands that something be done about it. At the same time, residents of Planet Crackpot march in our streets, chanting "Nobody is illegal", and demanding that all the wetbacks and bogus refugees be given amnesty, freed from fear of deportation, and entitled to even more "rights" than they enjoy now.
Walt offers excerpts from the article, in which the writer discusses what happened when the governors of Rome decided, as President Obarmy did just recently, to let all the illegals "come in from the shadows".
Around the middle of 4th century AD, conditions outside boundaries of the Roman Empire became so bad that large numbers of people who were not citizens of the empire wanted entry for a better life… And just like in U.S. today, there were many ancient Romans, at that time, who believed that any kind of immigration (illegal or not) was good for the country and there were economic benefits that could be derived from allowing illegals to stay and settle in the country.
Isn’t that today’s U.S. story line; illegals are doing work Americans won’t do and the economy will suffer without their low-cost labor? The ancient Romans subsequently changed laws to give illegals legal status. Once illegals had legal status, other illegals wanted to enter the empire to gain legal status also. (Sounds familiar). It’s estimated that there are between 12 and 20 million illegals in the U.S., and under various proposals that are being considered by U.S. government, almost all of illegals will be given opportunity to gain legal status and eventual citizenship.
There are lessons that can be learned from past great movement of illegals... They overwhelmed the ancient Roman Empire, smothered its culture. The U.S. is now at a critical point; either effective action is taken or the country faces much greater issues later, as the ancient Romans did.
There are no easy solutions for illegal immigration, for example; many immigration advocates say that it’s impossible for the U.S. to deport the many millions of illegals in the country, so just let them stay. But others say, that since illegals are here to work and make money, which many of them send to families in their country of origin, if existing laws against the employment of illegals were enforced, the magnet of employment would disappear. And without the prospect of work many or most of the illegals would deport themselves.
The presence of millions of people who have no regard for the U.S. culture or traditions, who speak little English, whose loyalties lie elsewhere, is not a recipe for a healthy country. The prospect of taking action to legalize millions of illegals -- which will attract tens of millions more -- is a recipe for national suicide.
The emphasis above is Walt's. Thanks again to Agent 6 for sending us the URL.
Because it was more civilized and prosperous than the barbaric tribes living outside its borders, the Roman Empire was flooded with illegal immigrants, for the same reason that Europe and North America are being inundated today. Life is better for the illegals here than in the corruption-ridden and poverty-stricken states they call "home". And of course there are the welfare and social benefits we foolishly extend to them, to assuage the hurt we inflicted on them in the bad old colonial days.
Every now and then, as in the Excited States of America at the moment, someone discovers that there are millions of illegals living amongst us, sponging off the legal residents who pay taxes, and demands that something be done about it. At the same time, residents of Planet Crackpot march in our streets, chanting "Nobody is illegal", and demanding that all the wetbacks and bogus refugees be given amnesty, freed from fear of deportation, and entitled to even more "rights" than they enjoy now.
Walt offers excerpts from the article, in which the writer discusses what happened when the governors of Rome decided, as President Obarmy did just recently, to let all the illegals "come in from the shadows".
Around the middle of 4th century AD, conditions outside boundaries of the Roman Empire became so bad that large numbers of people who were not citizens of the empire wanted entry for a better life… And just like in U.S. today, there were many ancient Romans, at that time, who believed that any kind of immigration (illegal or not) was good for the country and there were economic benefits that could be derived from allowing illegals to stay and settle in the country.
Isn’t that today’s U.S. story line; illegals are doing work Americans won’t do and the economy will suffer without their low-cost labor? The ancient Romans subsequently changed laws to give illegals legal status. Once illegals had legal status, other illegals wanted to enter the empire to gain legal status also. (Sounds familiar). It’s estimated that there are between 12 and 20 million illegals in the U.S., and under various proposals that are being considered by U.S. government, almost all of illegals will be given opportunity to gain legal status and eventual citizenship.
There are lessons that can be learned from past great movement of illegals... They overwhelmed the ancient Roman Empire, smothered its culture. The U.S. is now at a critical point; either effective action is taken or the country faces much greater issues later, as the ancient Romans did.
There are no easy solutions for illegal immigration, for example; many immigration advocates say that it’s impossible for the U.S. to deport the many millions of illegals in the country, so just let them stay. But others say, that since illegals are here to work and make money, which many of them send to families in their country of origin, if existing laws against the employment of illegals were enforced, the magnet of employment would disappear. And without the prospect of work many or most of the illegals would deport themselves.
The presence of millions of people who have no regard for the U.S. culture or traditions, who speak little English, whose loyalties lie elsewhere, is not a recipe for a healthy country. The prospect of taking action to legalize millions of illegals -- which will attract tens of millions more -- is a recipe for national suicide.
The emphasis above is Walt's. Thanks again to Agent 6 for sending us the URL.
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