Pride and Prejudice on Film

I have now seen four film versions of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Last night I had the extreme pleasure of viewing for the first time the earliest and best of the four: the 117-minute, 1940 release starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy. The 1940 version shows Hollywood at its finest. Great actors delivering great lines with panache and wit in a lavish, tightly orchestrated, and fast-paced production that demands — and deserves — your full attention.

Garson and Olivier, in particular (but not exclusively), outshine their counterparts in the other productions that I have seen. Garson may have been “too old” (36 at the time the film was released) but who cares? She is now my image of Elizabeth Bennet: witty, cunning, cutting, forthright — and beautiful as well. Olivier (33 at the time of release) simply exudes Darcy: stubborn, prideful, haughty — and yet vulnerable and kind behind the facade.

The other three versions that I have seen all are commendable for various reasons. They are:

1995 (300-minute mini-series), starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth — excellent performances delivered at a more thoughtful pace than that afforded by a feature film, and in realistic settings (as opposed to the gaudy faux-rusticism of the 1940 version)

1980 (265-minute mini-series), starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul — somewhat stiff performances in a production clearly (and successfully) aimed at recreating the time and place of which Austen wrote

2005 (127-minute feature film), starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen — a mixed bag of performances (e.g., Knightley is good, if too juvenile; Macfadyen is a nothing) in a feature film that achieves more “realism” than the 1940 version.

Throw the Rascals In

The outcome of yesterday’s elections can be summed up in the phrase “throw the rascals in.” That’s, of course, an ironic variation on the usual expression of voter dissatisfaction with incumbents, which is to “throw the rascals out.”

A marginal minority of voters having “thrown the rascals in,” all Americans now face at least two years of Democrat control of the House (and probably the Senate), from which will emanate efforts to

  • raise taxes
  • “solve” the nature-made problem of global warming
  • “solve” the non-existent “crisis” in health care by passing measures that will drive health-care providers out of business and deter drug companies from investing in research and development
  • duck the very real crisis in entitlement spending
  • otherwise try to legislate and regulate the conditions of our existence in ways that penalize hard work, law-abidingness, entrepreneurship, and the accidents of having been born white and/or male and/or straight and/or of American-born parents —
  • all while trying to surrender to our enemies by giving up the fight abroad and by granting them the same constitutional rights as the very Americans whom they are trying to kill.

The only silver lining in this very dark cloud is that President Bush can — if he is willing — wield the veto pen. Two years of gridlock would indeed be a blessing, for the federal government might actually do less to screw up our lives and the lives of our progeny. But I do fear for the war effort, especially because our enemies undoubtedly have been emboldened by the prospect of a Congress that is controlled by an anti-war faction. And I also fear that President Bush, facing a hostile Senate, will be unable to appoint constitutionalists to succeed Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both of whom are likely to postpone retirement in the hope that Bush is succeeded by a Democrat.

I am as worried about the future of the country as I was — justifiably — when Jimmy Carter won the election of 1976. My only hope is that the Leftist agenda of congressional Democrats will frighten Americans and induce an electoral backlash that brings pro-defense, small-government Republicanism to power in 2008. All we need are some small-government Republicans.

I’m a Sponsor

I now sponsor Jim Gosger’s stats page at Baseball-Reference.com. Jim lived a few houses down the street from me when we were young boys, though he was too much younger than I (by two years) to be a playmate. That “little kid” went on to do what I could only dream of doing — he had a career in the major leagues. Cheers, Jim.

More Names

The Social Security Administration publishes a list of the names most commonly given to newborns. Here are last year’s top ten:
Rank Male name Female name
1 Jacob Emily
2 Michael Emma
3 Joshua Madison
4 Matthew Abigail
5 Ethan Olivia
6 Andrew Isabella
7 Daniel Hannah
8 Anthony Samantha
9 Christopher Ava
10 Joseph Ashley
Note: Rank 1 is the most popular, rank 2 is the next most popular, and so forth.

You can follow the above link and see, for example, the top 1000, which includes Tyler (#16 as a boy’s name, #764 as a girl’s name) and Madison (#3 as a girl’s name). Which leads me to think of president’s last names that have been given to some famous, infamous, and semi-famous persons as first names (though often without reference to the President being honored or dishonored):

  • Washington (Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which engendered the terrible movie starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci)
  • Jefferson (Davis, leader of “The Lost Cause”)
  • Madison (Kuhn, obscure historian — but not a girl)
  • Jackson (Pollock, artist dribbler painter)
  • Harrison (Ford, still life car dealer film actor)
  • Tyler (Mathieson, of CNBC)
  • Taylor (Booth, computer scientist and namesake of an education award)
  • Pierce (Brosnan, ex-007)
  • Lincoln (Chafee, Republican in Name Only)
  • Grant (Hull, founder of Enabled Solutions — never heard of him or it, but I found his name here)
  • Hayes (Milam, a security guard at the think-tank at which I worked, for about as long I worked there, which was 30 years)
  • Arthur (Godfrey, entertainer/radio-TV host remembered mainly for playing the ukulele, buzzing the control tower at Leesburg, Virginia, airport, and firing singer Julius La Rosa on the air)
  • Cleveland (Amory, cat lover and writer)
  • Roosevelt (Grier, immovable object defensive lineman)
  • Wilson (Pickett, recently departed R&B and soul singer)
  • Truman (Capote, American poof writer)
  • Ford (Madox Ford, English aesthete writer)
  • Carter (Stanley, Ralph’s very late brother)
  • Reagan (Dunn, member of the King County, Wash., council and son of former U.S. Representative Jennifer Dunn)
  • Clinton (Eastwood, still life film actor — bet you didn’t think of him as a “Clinton”)

By my reckoning that leaves

  • Adams (not to be confused with Adam; John wasn’t the first “man”)
  • Monroe (cooler than Madison)
  • Van Buren (way cool)
  • Polk (might be mistaken for an invitation)
  • Fillmore (for fatties)
  • Buchanan (pronounce it properly: “buck-an-un”)
  • Johnson (don’t go there)
  • McKinley (very preppie)
  • Taft (ditto)
  • Harding (double ditto)
  • Coolidge (triple ditto)
  • Eisenhower (no parent should do this)
  • Kennedy (déclassé, an instant Tiffany or Brittany)
  • Nixon (the American Adolf)
  • Bush (absolutely don’t go there)

Any takers?

Trans-Gendered Names

Long before girls began to acquire trendy, unisex names like McKenna, Morgan, Payton, and Taylor — an improvement on Brandi, Brittany, and Tiffany — they had already claimed ownership of many formerly masculine names; for example:

  • (George) Beverly (Shea), composer and singer of religious songs, long associated with Billy Graham
  • (Arthur) Evelyn (St. John Waugh), English writer
  • Merle (“Punk” O’Rourke), my father’s uncle by marriage, and an outstanding semi-pro pitcher
  • Shirley (Povich) American sports writer and father of Maury
  • Vivian (Cook), an English linguist (who has more to say, here, about “Vivian”)

To read more about unisex names, start with this article at Wikipedia. See also this list of popular baby names.

A Small Circle of Stars

Evelyn Waugh was born in 1903; Katharine Houghton Hepburn, four years later. Of Waugh’s novels that were adapted to film, Hepburn appeared in but one: Love Among the Ruins.

Hepburn’s co-star in Love Among the Ruins, Laurence Olivier, starred also in a mini-series based on Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited…

…which co-starred, among others, Jeremy Irons of The Merchant of Venice (2004).

Merchant featured Allan Corduner, a.k.a. Sir Arthur Sullivan of Topsy-Turvy, the co-star of which (Jim Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert) was in Widow’s Peak with Natasha Richardson…

…whose mother (and co-star in The White Countess), Vanessa Redgrave, appeared in the play A Madhouse in Goa with Rupert Graves.

And Graves starred in the film adaptation of Waugh’s A Handful of Dust.

Wordplay

There is laughter in slaughter, but there ought to be naught.

When rain is naught there is a drought, the thirst of which can be quenched by a draught.

Enough is enough, especially when it’s a cough that comes with a cold caught by sitting in a draught.

When the wind soughs the boughs wave gently.

He bends before her in a deep bow before sloughing his coat and bending his bow to take aim at a bough on a tree that stands in a distant slough.

A daughter’s laughter softens even a rough, tough crofter.

All That Jazz

An otherwise sensible blogger (whom I’ll not name) adores Miles Davis. He (the blogger) says, “If you listen to nothing else by Miles Davis, buy and listen to Relaxin’. I absolutely guarantee you will not hate it, and you are very likely to love it.”

Well, I refreshed my memory of the Davis oeuvre by listening to a few cuts from Relaxin’ via Amazon.com. I absolutely hate it; it’s pablum for the ears. It reminds me of the background music for Peanuts films. Maybe it is the background music for Peanuts films.

Wherever jazz went after the late 1930s, it wasn’t a good place. Davis’s stuff is better than the dithering, discordant offerings of other post-war jazz “artists” whose names will not (dis)grace this blog. But that’s like saying a bowlful of sugar is better for you than a bowlful of arsenic. It is, but why eat either when the jazz pantry is stocked with the nutritious, flavorful pre-war offerings of Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Jimmie Lunceford, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Kid Ory (heard here with his post-war group but in pre-war form), the Quintette of the Hot Club of France (featuring Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli), Fats Waller, and the “smooth” but always listenable Paul Whiteman. They are among the many greats to be found at The Red Hot Jazz Archive. Go there. It’s a toe-tapping, foot-stomping treat.

Roofs I Have Worked Under

This is a sequel to “Roofs I Have Lived Under.” The satellite photos, once again, come from Google Maps and are of varying scales.

1. The two grocery stores in my home town where I worked when I was a senior in high school and during the summer following my freshman year in college.

2. The headquarters of a division of GM, where I worked in the accounting department during the summer following my sophomore year in college.

3. The home of the economics department at my undergraduate school, where I was a research assistant as a senior.

4. The sites of the first two office buildings where I worked for the defense think-tank by which I was employed for a total of 30 years. The site on the right is occupied by a newer, larger building than the one I worked in. The site on the left is occupied by the original building.

5. The Pentagon, where I endured almost two years as a “whiz kid,” between stints at the think tank. After leaving the Pentagon I returned to the building on the left in photo #4.

6. The site of the building in New York State where we had a small business for almost three years.

7. The building occupied by the defense think-tank upon my return to it following the New York sojourn. The building is on the northern edge of a park-like office campus, most of which lies across the street that cuts across the picture.

8. The next building occupied by the defense think-tank — an inferior building in an inferior location — into which we were forced by a political deal. I spent a lot of my time making arrangements to move us back to the office park. (See #10.)

9. Cato Institute’s building in Washington, D.C., where I worked part-time — for fun, not money — after my retirement from the defense think-tank.

10. The current home of the defense think-tank. It is in the same office park as the building shown in photo #7, but #10 gives a better view of the grounds, most of which are dedicated to a nature preserve. I planned the building and negotiated the lease before I retired from the think-tank, where I had been director of finance and administration. The think-tank moved to its current home after I retired.

Roofs I Have Lived Under

Below are satellite views of every place in which I have lived — or of whatever now sits there — plus one of my grandmother’s house, where I spent much time as a boy (see this, this, and this). The photos, courtesy of Google Maps, are arranged chronologically, with the exception of the final photo, which is of my grandmother’s house. It isn’t possible to judge the relative sizes of the houses, apartment buildings, and dormitories featured in these photos, because of variations in scale.

1. The house in which my parents lived when I was born was to the left of the green arrow. It has been swallowed by a community college.

2. The house to which my parents moved when I was about 18 months old.

3. My parents then moved to this house for a year.

4. They then bought this house (the first they owned), and lived there four years.

5. Then there’s this bigger house that my parents owned and lived in for 37 years. I went off to college while they lived there.

6. I lived in this dormitory during my freshman and sophomore years at Big-Ten U.

7. I shared an apartment during my junior year. The house, which was only a block from campus, seems to have been replaced by a parking lot.

8. As a senior, I had a room in a decrepit house several blocks from campus. It seems to have been replaced by a commercial building of some kind.

9. During my brief tenure at an eastern grad school — from which I withdrew because I could not stand it — I shared an apartment in this building.

10. On my return to Big-Ten U for the balance of the academic year, I had a room in a house just a few blocks from campus. The site seems to have been taken over by an office building and parking lot.

11. This building housed my first apartment in Virginia, where I went to work after leaving grad school. I had the aparttment for a year.

12. My wife and I lived in this apartment building for the first year of our marriage.

13. We then lived in this building for two years.

14. We rented this house for two years.

15. And then we had this house built, and lived there for seven years. I have cropped the photo to encompass, roughly, the 4+ acre lot on which the house sits. A later owner enclosed the deck and screened porch that I single-handedly added to the house. (The enclosed addition can be seen the lower-right corner of the house.) The pond at the lower left corner of photo was added by a later owner; we kept a garden in that location.

16. During our sojourn in New York State we rented this house for about two years.

17. We then bought and lived in this house for about a year before returning to Virginia. (For more about this house, see “My Old Sears Home.”)

18. We lived in this parkside house for 24 years — long enough to enlarge it by about 50 percent and thoroughly renovate the original portion, inside and out. Our real-estate agent listed it as “the jewel on the park.”

19. Three years ago we opted for the warmth and sunshine of central Texas, where we were lucky enough to find this house on a wooded hillside lot.

Finally, there’s Grandma’s house. Luckily the satellite shot of her village was taken before the house was torn down to make way for a much larger house.

Generations

Here is a good summary of Generations: The History of American’s Future, 1589 to 2069, which I read 10-15 years ago. The authors’ historiographic technique consists of after-the-fact generalizations that lead them to conclude that there are four basic generational personalities, which occur in repetitive cycles. It is those cycles that dictate the course of American history — according to the authors.

The generational analysis is of dubious value, because of its reductionism. Human nature and history just aren’t that simple. But the analysis does provide a hook on which to hang a neat summary of American history. The book is worth reading for its unique perspective on that history, not for its pseudo-scientific explanation of it.

Pennant Winner vs. Best Team

UPDATED, 10/16/07 and 10/28/07

With the ascension of the wild-card Detroit Tigers and mediocre St. Louis Cardinals (83-78 WL record) to their respective league championships in 2006, and with the triumph of the wild-card Colorado Rockies in 2007, it’s time to take stock of divisional play and the wild-card designation. Since the advent of divisional play in 1969, and especially with the introduction of wild-card teams in 1995, league championships often have not been won by the best team. Here’s the whole story:

From 1901 (the American League’s first year) through 2006 each league has had 106 champions (with the outcome of this year’s AL race still pending). (There were no champions in 1994, when the baseball season ended early because of a players’ strike.) From 1901 through 1968 each league’s champion was the team with the best regular-season record; there were postseason playoffs only when two teams tied for the league’s best record.

From 1969 onward the leagues have been split into divisions, and league championships have been determined by postseason play. League championships were determined in one round of postseason play from 1969 through 1993, when there were only two divisions in each league. (There was an exception in 1981, when a midseason strike led to the declaration of “first half” and “second half” winners in each leagues’ two divisions. That necessitated an extra round of postseason play to determine overall division champions.)

From 1995, the first year of postseason play after each league was split into three divisions, it has taken two rounds of postseason play to determine a league’s champion. The extra round accommodates the addition of a third division champion and a “wild card” team — the second-place team with the best record among the three second-place teams in a league.

Twenty-one times in the 39 seasons of regular postseason play (1969-2007, less 1994), the National League pennant has been won by a team that did not have the best regular-season record. The same thing has happened 16 times in the American League, through 2006. It is because of such results that I have expressed (elsewhere) my disdain of postseason play as an indicator of excellence.

The following tables summarize the results for each team. The first pair of tables gives the number of times, beginning with 1901, that each team has led its league in championships and had the best record. The second pair indicates the years in which a team won its championships and whether or not it also had the league’s best record in those years. (Franchises that have been located in more than one place (e.g., the Los Angeles Dodgers) are identified by their current location.)

NATIONAL LEAGUE – CHAMPIONSHIPS/BEST RECORD/NUMBER OF SEASONS (FIRST SEASON*) – 1901-2007

Arizona: 1/1/10 (1998)
Atlanta: 9/13/107
Chicago: 10/12/107
Cincinnati: 9/9/107
Colorado: 1/0/15 (1993)
Florida: 2/0/15 (1993)
Houston: 1/2**/46 (1962)
Los Angeles: 18/16/107
Milwaukee: 0/0/10 (1998)
New York: 4/4/46 (1962)
Philadelphia: 5/3/107
Pittsburgh: 9/12/107
San Diego: 2/0/39 (1969)
San Francisco: 18/17/107
St. Louis: 17/18**/107
Washington: 0/1***/39 (1969)
__________
* If not in the league in 1901.
** Houston and St. Louis tied for best record in 2001.
*** Montreal (now Washington) had the best record in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE – CHAMPIONSHIPS/BEST RECORD/NUMBER OF SEASONS (FIRST SEASON*) – 1901-2007

Baltimore: 7/9/107
Boston: 12/10****/107
Chicago: 6/8/107
Cleveland: 5/6****/107
Detroit: 10/10/107
Kansas City: 2/1/39 (1969)
Los Angeles: 1/0/47 (1961)
Milwaukee (as AL team): 1/1/30 (1969-97)
Minnesota: 6/5/107
New York: 39/39***/107
Oakland: 15/16**/107
Seattle: 0/1/31 (1977)
Tampa Bay: 0/0/10 (1998)
Texas: 0/0/47 (1961)
Toronto: 2/3**/31 (1977)
__________
* If not in the league in 1901.
** Oakland and Toronto tied for best record in 1992.
*** New York had the best record in the strike-shortened 1994 season.
**** Boston and Cleveland tied for best record in 2007.

NATIONAL LEAGUE – YEARS IN WHICH EACH TEAM WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Arizona Diamondbacks* (1 league championship)
2001 (best record: Houston and St. Louis tied)

Atlanta Braves (formerly Milwaukee Braves and Boston Braves) (9)
1914, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1991 (best record: Pittsburgh), 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999

Chicago Cubs (10)
1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1945

Cincinnati Reds (9)
1919, 1939, 1940, 1961, 1970, 1972 (best record: Pittsburgh), 1975, 1976, 1990 (best record: Pittsburgh)

Colorado Rockies* (1)
2007 (best record: Arizona)

Florida Marlins* (2)
1997 (best record: Atlanta), 2003 (best record: Atlanta)

Houston Astros (also Houston Colt 45s)* (1)
2005 (best record: St. Louis)

Los Angeles Dodgers (formerly Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Robins, and Brooklyn Superbas) (18)
1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977 (best record: Philadelphia), 1978, 1981 (best record: Cincinnati), 1988 (best record: New York)

Milwaukee Brewers* (0) (see also AL listing)

New York Mets* (4)
1969, 1973 (best record: Cincinnati), 1986, 2000 (best record: San Francisco)

Philadelphia Phillies (5)
1915, 1950, 1980 (best record: Houston, 1983 (best record: Los Angeles), 1993 (best record: Atlanta)

Pittsburgh Pirates (9)
1901, 1902, 1903, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1960, 1971, 1979

San Diego Padres* (2)
1984 (best record: Chicago), 1998 (best record: Atlanta)

San Francisco Giants (formerly New York Giants) (18)
1904, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1962, 1989 (best record: Chicago), 2002 (best record: Atlanta)

St. Louis Cardinals (17)
1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987, 2004, 2006 (best record: New York)

Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos)* (0)

AMERICAN LEAGUE – YEARS IN WHICH EACH TEAM WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Baltimore Orioles (formerly St. Louis Browns and original Milwaukee Brewers) (7)
1944, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1979, 1983 (best record: Chicago)

Boston Red Sox (12)
1903, 1904, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975 (best record: Oakland), 1986, 2004 (best record: New York), 2007 (best record: tied with Cleveland)

Chicago White Sox (6)
1901, 1906, 1917, 1919, 1959, 2005

Cleveland Indians (also Cleveland Naps, Cleveland Bronchos, and Cleveland Blues) (5)
1920, 1948, 1954, 1995, 1997 (best record: Baltimore)

Detroit Tigers (10)
1907, 1908, 1909, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1968, 1984, 2006 (best record: New York)

Kansas City Royals* (2)
1980 (best record: New York), 1985 (best record: Toronto)

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (formerly Anaheim Angels, California Angels, and Los Angeles Angels) * (1)
2002 (best record: New York)

Milwaukee Brewers (now NL; formerly Milwaukee Brewers (AL) and Seattle Pilots (AL))* (1)
1982

Minnesota Twins (formerly the original Washington Senators) (6)
1924, 1925, 1933, 1965, 1987 (best record: Detroit), 1991

New York Yankees (formerly New York Highlanders and original Baltimore Orioles) (39)
1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1977 (best record: Kansas City), 1978, 1981 (best record: Oakland), 1996 (best record: Cleveland), 1998, 1999, 2000 (best record: Chicago), 2001 (best record: Seattle), 2003

Oakland Athletics (formerly Kansas City Athletics and Philadelphia Athletics) (15)
1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1972, 1973 (best record: Baltimore), 1974 (best record: Baltimore), 1988, 1989, 1990

Seattle Mariners* (0)

Tampa Bay Devil Rays* (0)

Texas Rangers (formerly expansion Washington Senators)* (0)

Toronto Blue Jays* (2)
1992 (best record: tied with Oakland), 1993

Deer Blogging

Deer run rampant in our neighborhood. Anyone who drives above the speed limit or isn’t watchful runs the risk of killing Bambi and making an expensive visit to the body shop. Below are some photos of the many deer who have fed and rested on our property — which they think is theirs. The first four pictures capture various portions of a herd of about 18 deer that visited us in January 2005. The fifth picture, from May 2005, is of a fawn that was “left in our care” while Mom went foraging for food.





The Meaning of the World Series

UPDATED, 10/28/07

The World Series doesn’t decide the best team in baseball.

The World Series — like the playoffs that precede it — is nothing more than a expanded regular-season series. Teams play dozens of regular-season series in order to qualify for postseason play. If it takes dozens of such series to determine which teams are qualified for postseason play (i.e., the “best” teams), how can the World Series and the playoffs that precede it determine the “very best” of the “best”? Logically, the teams involved in postseason series would have to play each other many, many times before one of them could claim to be the “very best.”

The meaninglessness of postseason play is demonstrated by the inclusion of wild-card teams. After 162 regular-season games, a team that has finished second in its division suddenly has a chance to “prove” that it is really baseball’s best team. That is, it is allowed to “prove” in three brief rounds of postseason play what it failed to prove in 162 games. The result: wild-card teams have won four of the thirteen World Series played since their inclusion in postseason play.

Over that span (1995-2007), the World Series has been won eight times by a team with a worse regular-season record than that of its opponent. Moreover, 37 of the 78 postseason series between teams in the same league — the Division Championship Series and League Championship Series — have been won by the team with a worse regular-season record than that of its opponent. Luck, not skill, seems to have a strong hand in determining the outcome of postseason play.

Postseason play is — above all else — a way of filling seats, selling concessions, and selling broadcast rights. It delivers often-exciting games between baseball’s better teams. A series that goes down to the wire and is filled with exciting games is a baseball fan’s delight. But none of that has anything to do with deciding which of baseball’s teams is the best.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006

President Bush has signed the act into law. John Yoo has some choice things to say about it:

The new law is, above all, a stinging rebuke to the Supreme Court. It strips the courts of jurisdiction to hear any habeas corpus claim filed by any alien enemy combatant anywhere in the world. It was passed in response to the effort by a five-justice majority in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld to take control over terrorism policy. That majority extended judicial review to Guantanamo Bay, threw the Bush military commissions into doubt, and tried to extend the protections of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, overturning the traditional understanding that Geneva does not cover terrorists, who are not signatories nor “combatants” in an internal civil war under Article 3.

Hamdan was an unprecedented attempt by the court to rewrite the law of war and intrude into war policy…..

Until the Supreme Court began trying to make war policy, the writ of habeas corpus had never been understood to benefit enemy prisoners in war. The U.S. held millions of POWs during World War II, with none permitted to use our civilian courts (except for a few cases of U.S. citizens captured fighting for the Axis). Even after hostilities ended, the justices turned away lawsuits by enemy prisoners seeking to challenge their detention. In Johnson v. Eisentrager, the court held that it would not hear habeas claims brought by alien enemy prisoners held outside the U.S., and refused to interpret the Geneva Conventions to give new rights in civilian court against the government. In the case of Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, the court refrained from reviewing the operations of military commissions.

In Hamdan, the court moved to sweep aside decades of law and practice so as to forge a grand new role for the courts to open their doors to enemy war prisoners. Led by John Paul Stevens and abetted by Anthony Kennedy, the majority ignored or creatively misread the court’s World War II precedents. The approach catered to the legal academy, whose tastes run to swashbuckling assertions of judicial supremacy and radical innovations, rather than hewing to wise but boring precedents….

…[E]nemy combatants who fight out of uniform, such as wartime spies, have always been considered illegals under the law of war, not entitled to the same protections given to soldiers on the battlefield or ordinary POWs. Disguised suicide- bombers in an age of WMD proliferation and virulent America-hatred are more immediately dangerous than the furtive information-carriers of our Cold War past. We now know that more than a dozen detainees released from Guantanamo have rejoined the jihad. The real question is how much time, energy and money should be diverted from winning the fight toward establishing multiple layers of review for terrorists. Until Hamdan, nothing in the law of war ever suggested that enemy status was anything but a military judgment….

This time, Congress and the president did not take the court’s power grab lying down. They told the courts, in effect, to get out of the war on terror, stripped them of habeas jurisdiction over alien enemy combatants, and said there was nothing wrong with the military commissions. It is the first time since the New Deal that Congress had so completely divested the courts of power over a category of cases. It is also the first time since the Civil War that Congress saw fit to narrow the court’s habeas powers in wartime because it disagreed with its decisions.

The law goes farther. It restores to the president command over the management of the war on terror. It directly reverses Hamdan by making clear that the courts cannot take up the Geneva Conventions. Except for some clearly defined war crimes, whose prosecution would also be up to executive discretion, it leaves interpretation and enforcement of the treaties up to the president. It even forbids courts from relying on foreign or international legal decisions in any decisions involving military commissions.

All this went overlooked during the fight over the bill by the media, which focused on Sens. McCain, Graham and Warner’s opposition to the administration’s proposals for the use of classified evidence at terrorist trials and permissible interrogation methods. In its eagerness to magnify an intra-GOP squabble, the media mostly ignored the substance of the bill, which gave current and future administrations, whether Democrat or Republican, the powers needed to win this war.

Imagine that. The commander-in-chief — not a majority of the Supreme Court — will command the armed forces.

Evidence that Congress did the right thing can be found in the insane, Left-wing rhetoric of Keith Olbermann, who last night said this:

For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering: A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from. [Thanks to John McIntyre at RCP Blog for the quotation.]

Olbermann has evolved over the years from witty sportscaster to moon-maddened opponent of anything and everything that would bring our enemies to heel. He cannot see — or chooses not to see — the difference between foreign enemies and criminal suspects. In that respect, he is typical of our domestic enemies in the Democrat Party.

Related posts:
American Royalty
Torture and Morality
A Rant about Torture
Taking on Torture
Losing Sight of the Objective
The Best Defense . . .
Reaching the Limit?
Terrorists’ “Rights” and the Military Commissions Act of 2006

300,000,000 and Growing

The population of the United States has passed the 300,000,000 mark. (See here.) John Tierney and Austin Bay (channeling Mark Steyn) explain why population growth is a good thing. I agree that it is.

Among the seven main causes of economic growth that I discuss here is population growth, which

means more people to work “hard” and “smart”; more output that can be saved and invested; more inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs whose activities can be leveraged into greater per-capita output; and a multiplication of opportunities for beneficial voluntary exchange.

As I observe here, population growth is a testament to the ability of the human race to provide for itself. What is relevant is not that some people today live in wealth while many more live in poverty, but that human beings — on the whole — are far better off than they were 100, 1,000, and 10,000 years ago. Thus:

Estimates for -400 through 1800 are from U.S. Census Bureau, “Historical Estimates of World Population“; estimate for 2000 is from U.S. Census Bureau, “Total Midyear Population for the World: 1950-2050.” Year 1 is plotted as Year 0 for ease of illustration. “Upper” estimates are used for -400 through 1800 (where given) because those estimates are taken from a series that extends from -10000 through 1950, and the upper estimate for 1950 in that series agrees with the estimate for 1950 in the series for 1950-2050.

More Quick Takes

World Climate Report reproduces this graphic:

Read the whole post. Then read this, and follow the links. See also this piece by Debra Saunders.

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Donald Boudreaux explains, once again, why making healthcare a “right” will only make it more expensive and harder to come by.

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Selwyn Duke’s “The Fascists among Us,” at The American Thinker, reminds me of my post, “Calling a Nazi a Nazi.” P.S. There’s also Thomas Sowell’s “Can we talk?” at Townhall.com.

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Related to that, there’s wide support among Democrats — those “tolerant” people — for the “outing” of gay Republicans. (See this post at Patterico’s Pontifications.) It’s the old Leftist double standard: The only good gay is a Democrat gay; Bill Clinton couldn’t have been guilty of sexual harrassment because his “heart was in the right place”; the only “stolen” elections are those won by Republicans, even though Democrats are past masters at the art of stealing elections; etc., etc., etc.

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Speaking of Democrats, read this post by Ed Lasky at The American Thinker, which opens thusly: “Jihadists admit they are killing for the the camera and for the Democrats.”

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Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution) asks “Why hasn’t Mexico done better?” Perhaps because it’s not populated by immigrants from the British Isles and Northern Europe, and their descendants, whose political and economic leadership brought liberty and prosperity to the United States.

28 Months for Treason?

Captain Ed reports:

A federal judge sentenced [attorny Lynne] Stewart to 28 months in prison for assisting Omar Abdel Rahman in activating his terrorist network while the US held him in custody — and then temporarily released her on her own recognizance:

A firebrand civil rights lawyer who has defended Black Panthers and anti-war radicals was sentenced Monday to nearly 2 1/2 years in prison — far less than the 30 years prosecutors wanted — for helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his followers on the outside. …

The judge said Stewart was guilty of smuggling messages between her client and his followers that could have “potentially lethal consequences.” He called the crimes “extraordinarily severe criminal conduct.”

But in departing from federal guidelines that called for 30 years behind bars, he cited Stewart’s more than three decades of dedication to poor, disadvantaged and unpopular clients.

“Ms. Stewart performed a public service, not only to her clients, but to the nation,” Koeltl said.

The judge said Stewart could remain free while she appeals, a process that could take more than a year.

This woman sent messages to Rahman’s followers in Egypt that instructed them to begin terrorist activity. She knew exactly what she did — after all, she had defended Rahman and had seen the evidence against him — and turned her back on her country and her humanity in order to suck up to a man who plotted the murder of tens of thousands of Americans. Stewart’s actions could easily have led to the deaths of many innocent civilians.

Despicable. Both Judge Koetl and Lynne Stewart, that is. There is no excuse for a sentence of less than 30 years, certainly not the excuse given by Judge Koetl. And why is the judge allowing the woman to go free, pending appeal? She will either abscond to Pakistan, to be with Osama, or find new ways to betray her country, right here at home.

It’s telling that Stewart gave “more than three decades of [service] to poor, disadvantaged and unpopular clients.” Lawyers like that aren’t really altruists who are dedicated to their clients. They’re malcontents who are dedicated to the subversion of the rule of law by playing the criminal-as-victim card.

Had I been prosecuting the case I would have gone for a charge of treason and the death penalty. Perhaps Stewart might have “pled out” to a 30-year sentence, to be served with hardened criminals — not at a “country club” for white-collar criminals.

The outcome of Stewart’s case reminds me of the grave mistake made by the U.S. Supreme Court when it emasculated federal sentencing guidelines by making them advisory. For more on that subject, see “More Punishment Means Less Crime,” “More About Crime and Punishment,” and “More Punishment Means Less Crime: A Footnote.”

ADDENDUM: See also Justin Levine’s post, “Attorney Lynne Stewart – Traitorous Scumbag.”

In Praise of Solitude

A remark by my son caused me to revisit Anthony Storr’s Solitude: A Return to the Self. Storr, in the book’s final paragraphs, summarizes his themes and conclusions:

This book began with the observation that many highly creative people were predominantly solitary, but that it was nonsense to suppose that, because of this, they were necessarily unhapppy or neurotic. Although man is a social being, who certainly needs interaction with others, there is considerable variation in the depth of the relationships which individuals form with each other. All human beings need interests as well as relationships; all are geared toward the impersonal as well as toward the personal….

The capacity to be alone was adumbrated as a valuable resource, which facilitated learning, thinking, innovation, coming to terms with change, and the maintenance of contact with the inner world of the imagination. We saw that, even in those whose capacity for making intimate relationships has been damaged, the development of creative imagination could exercise a healing function…. Man’s adaptation to the world is largely governed by the development of the imagination and hence of an inner world of the psyche which is necessarily at variance with the external world…. Throughout the book, it was noted that some of the most profound and healing psychological experiences which individuals encounter take place internally, and are only distantly related, if at all, to interaction with other human beings….

The epigraph of this chapter is taken from The Prelude. It is fitting that Wordsworth should also provide its end.

When from our better selves we have too long
Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop,
Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired,
How gracious, how benign, is Solitude.

Related post: IQ and Personality

More about Treasonous Speech

Tom W. Bell (Agoraphilia) notes that

[a] grand jury in Orange County filed a charge of treason against Adam Yahiye Gadahn [on October 11]. That marks him as the first person charged with treason against the U.S. since 1952. If captured and found guilty, Gadahn could face the death sentence.

The indictment accuses Gadahn of acting as a propagandist for al-Qaeda in several of that group’s videos. He allegedly announced that he had joined al-Qaeda and claimed, “Fighting and defeating America is our first priority. . . . The streets of America shall run red with blood.” Gadahn also supposedly called on Americans to convert to Islam and urged U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars. On the basis of those and other allegations, the indictment concludes that Gadhan “knowingly adhered to an enemy of the United States, namely, al-Qaida, and gave al-Qaida aid and comfort . . . with intent to betray the United States.”

Bell concludes: “If prosecutors can catch Gadahn, they have a fair chance of convicting him of treason.” The main doubt in Bell’s mind is whether or not Gadahn, who left the U.S. in 1998, had previously renounced his citizenship, which — as Bell observes — “it is not quite as easy as, say, simply burning a flag.”

Regarding treason and speech, generally, Bell refers to his article, “Treason, Technology, and Freedom of Expression.” I posted here (March 5, 2005) about an earlier version of the article.

Some months later (August 18, 2005) I had more to say about Bell’s views, as well as those of Eugene Volokh. Volokh yesterday repeated same points upon which I commented on August 18, 2005. Volokh’s option 2 regarding the treatment of speech runs thusly:

Speech is unprotected whenever the speaker has the purpose of aiding the enemy (and perhaps there’s some evidence that the speech is indeed likely to provide some at least modest aid). This exception would justify punishing any speech that falls within the statutory and constitutional definition of “treason.”

I think this too is probably too broad. Perhaps the speaker’s intentions made him morally culpable and thus theoretically deserving of punishment. But prohibiting all speech that intentionally helps the enemy risks punishing or deterring even speakers who intend only to protect American interests, but whose intentions are mistaken by prosecutors and juries — a serious risk, especially in wartime. On the other hand, I suspect that quite a few judges would take the view that treason by speech that is intended to help the enemy should be treated the same as treason by action that is intended to help the enemy.

As I wrote at the time,

I prefer Volokh’s option 2. . . .

[P]resumably an intention to aid the enemy would have to be proven in a court of law. I doubt very much that an unsubstantiated intention would survive an appeal. Why not give it a try and see how the Supreme Court rules on the issue — as surely it would be asked to do.

I must add this: Speech that intentionally aids the enemy cannot also be speech that is intended to protect Americans’ interests. You are either with us or against us.