The worst thing that ever happened: 1 Sep 1939

Here was Warsaw after the first Germany terror raid, seventy-two years ago this month. Thus began the Second World War, the worst thing that ever happened in the bloody history of the world. The Germans would be followed on September 17 by the Russians, dividing Poland between them according to the Hitler-Stalin pact of August 13. Go here for more about the rape of Poland. The photo, taken from a church tower, is from Wikipedia Commons. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Driving while drunk, illegal, and related to the president

Embarrassing relatives go with the territory when you're president of the United States. However, if you are Barack Obama, you can count on the New York Times not only to bury the story, but to omit it altogether. I was puzzled this morning not to see any mention of Uncle Onyango, arrested in Framingham for drunk driving and being held on an immigration "detainer"  (something like a retainer except that it's injurious to one's freedom of action.) So I did a search on the NYT website and got this response:

Your search - Onyango Obama - did not match any documents under Past 30 Days

It's not as if the NYT doesn't have access to the Boston Globe. They own it, after all. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Neither rain, nor snow, nor ...

Well, to be sure, the old saw says nothing about tropical storms. But in my experience almost anything can stop the U.S. Postal Service. Tropical Storm Irene passed by us at six o'clock in the evening on Sunday. Twelve hours later, the Wall Street Journal was in its accustomed place in the newspaper tube, but here it is Tuesday, and the U.S. mail has yet to make an appearance. In similar vein, the road to Durham has been cleared of a small pine tree that had been blocking it, but the signs are still up: Road Closed. I understand that to mean: Proceed if you like, but don't sue us if anything goes wrong!

Proof, if any be needed, that it will not be government employees who haul us out of the ditch. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The builder

Farewell, Steve Jobs! The Wall Street Journal this morning had an editorial with "Jobs" in the title, but it was not about unemployment, but with the man who more or less by himself built the most valuable company in the world. I personally don't care for the Apple experience--it's too closed for my taste--but I can't imagine life without my iPhone. I work at my computer every day from five o'clock to noon, and visit it occasionally in the afternoon and evening, but it is an anonymous tool, like the chair I sit in. My iPhone by contrast is part of me. I carry it wherever I go. I use it to check my mail, to listen to music, to read books (I do own a Kindle, mostly to check how my own books look in digital form, but I prefer to read on the iPhone), and even occasionally to make a telephone call.

While Barack Obama spends trillions of our dollars in a fruitless attempt to get American growing again, Steve Jobs built Apple into a company worth $346 billion, at no cost to the taxpayer. He made our lives easier and more amusing, and he became rich in the process, adding both to our Gross National Product and our (and the world's) Gross National Happiness. Good on you, Steve, though I could do without that iTunes interface. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The awful pain of austerity

Now that the debt ceiling debate is over, and the Tea Party has done its worst (or best, depending on your political orientation), what does that portend for Federal spending? Gasp! It will only go up a little bit. (The Wall Street Journal has an editorial.) So much for the president's new dedication to spending restraint. Mr. Obama, in his first term, will have spent a bit more than fourteen trillion dollars. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The worst thing that ever happened: 23 Aug 1939

Seventy-two years ago, the 20th Century's premier despots signed the Hitler-Stalin Pact, formally known as the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union. It divided Europe (and in particular, Poland) into two halves, with the western half going to Germany and the eastern half to Soviet Russia. The pact was the keystone of the Second World War, the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world. Without it, neither country would have dared go to war, for each feared (with good reason!) a stab in the back by the other.

With the pact in place, Hitler and Stalin were free to launch their individual wars of aggression. As was usually the case when he made a bargain, Josef Stalin got the larger share of the booty: in addition to half of Poland, he got the three Baltic states--Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia--and a good piece of Finland, though the Finns would give him a black eye in the course of his land grab there. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Good on you, mate!

Not many thanks to the United States, it seems that the Libyan rebels have stormed the capital, and that for the most part it simply welcomed them in. Good on them!

They probably won't be as friendly to the U.S. as they might otherwise have been, had we been more forthcoming in their struggle. Indeed, they mightn't be friendly at all. That's the hard part of democracy and popular uprisings. But it's their country, and I wish them well with it. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

How to improve your cellphone service

It's magic! says the New York Times:

Spotty cellular service magically improves on Martha’s Vineyard when President Obama arrives each August.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Early days in Vietnam

In May 1964, I took the publisher's advance on my first book, added $26, and bought a ticket to Saigon. I kept a journal of my three months in South Vietnam, hoping to publish the dispatches on my return. Alas, Lyndon Johnson decided to escalate the war, so the conflict by August was far different from the one I'd investigated in my old fatigues, a tiger-stripe bush hat sewn up for me by a Saigon tailor, boots from L.L. Bean, and field gear bought on the black market. So I used the experience instead to write Incident at Muc Wa, later filmed as Go Tell the Spartans with Burt Lancaster starring. (He also contributed $150,000 when the producers went broke.)

Years later, I got out that old typescript and found it a fascinating snapshot of insurgency in its early stages, when there was still a chance of containing it. (Is there ever a chance of containing revolution?) So I published it as The Only War We've Got. More recently, I touched up the digital edition and lowered the price to $3.99. If you have a Kindle device, or are willing to download a bit of software for your computer or smartphone. it's worth a read. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

On promoting tolerance and civility in London

A story in London's The Telegraph is so poignant it deserves to be quoted at length:

An Oxford University law graduate threw bricks at police officers in broad daylight during last week’s riots in London, a court heard yesterday.

Fahim Wahid Alam, who also has a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, is accused of being part of a mob that attacked police in Hackney last Monday afternoon.

Mr Alam, 25, attacked police as he walked home from a job interview with an organisation that helps to promote a more tolerant and civil society, Highbury Corner magistrates’ court heard.

He is alleged to have thrown two bricks at police officers, one of which hit a constable on the leg, during almost three hours of disorder outside Hackney town hall, on Mare Street. He was arrested at 6.30pm that evening....

Yesterday the court heard that on the same day he is alleged to have attacked police, he had attended a job interview with the London Civic Forum.

The organisation’s website says its aims are to “build healthy communities and improve quality of life for all.” The website carries pictures of Londoners cleaning the streets after the riots and a statement that reads: “London Civic Forum has been shocked and saddened by the wave of destruction that has rocked our city and others since last Friday.”

A spokesman confirmed that Mr Alam had been offered a job as an intern researcher, which he had been due to start next Tuesday.... The London Civic Forum said his job offer would now be reconsidered.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The Battle Bus

The BBC, which is the Gray Lady of British television, has not for a generation seen a liberal cause it didn't applaud. But President Obama's million-dollar campaign bus (one of two that have been pimped up by the Secret Service at taxpayer expense) is an exception:

In British elections we're used to what we call "battle buses", cheerfully painted wagons, festooned with party slogans and colours.

US President Barack Obama has embarked on his first bus tour in office. But his vehicle for the trip through the rural parts of three Midwestern states looks like it really is heading for a battle.

Big, blocky, black, with painted-out windows, it looks more like a police mortuary van than a symbol of hope arriving on your street.

Mr. President, if you've lost the BBC, you've lost Mittel Europa. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The shrinking dollar

Somewhat unfairly, the chart attributes the dollar's decline to the day forty years ago when President Nixon "closed the gold window" and made the dollar what economists call a fiat currency. Lewis Lehrman has a good op-ed on the subject in today's WSJ. Personally, I date the decline a bit earlier, as starting in the 1950s, and the result even shabbier: those 1950 dollars were each worth ten of ours. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Barbie looters

It's reassuring to know that the British (or "Afro-Carribeans") still queue up, even when breaking and entering. More great photos here. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Reuters celebrates community spirit

Remember when Reuters was a news-gathering organization? Here's how it reports on the British riots:

(Reuters) - Residents of a London housing estate laughed at a televised plea by police for parents to call their children and help rein in the youths who looted and burned swathes of the city.

Not only were some of the parents at the riots themselves, but many of those taking part were not the hooded, teenage delinquents on which many have pinned the blame for the worst street riots Britain has seen for decades.

"Some of the parents were there. For some parents it was no big surprise their kids were there. They've gone through this all their lives," said an Afro-Caribbean man of 22 who gave his name as "L," voicing the frustration and anger felt by youth and parents over yawning inequalities in wealth and opportunity....

Other young men were sitting with him, on a wall outside the drab flats typical of the subsidized housing that is home to many of Britain's poor.

One man held a marijuana joint, another rode in circles on a bike with his hood drawn tight over his face, a so-called "hoodie," a stereotype blamed for much of the violence....

"If you're not working, you find out what your friends are doing. We're just socializing, generally. Keeping out of the radar of the police looking to get in our business," said Ariom, 23, wearing baggy jeans and sporting corn-rows in his hair.

The young men sat within sight of a recently installed surveillance camera at the entrance to the estate.

A police car drove by, and all heads turned toward it....

Michelle said she had quit her job with the police youth offenders unit because her children and others saw her as an informer.

"The reason I don't work for them any more is ... it's a white institution, and I won't change my identity," she said.

She sympathized with the rioters and looters.

"Before, it was if a black man is killed, it's OK, 'black on black crime'. Now, when it's property damaged or stolen, it's uproar. What other platform have the youths got?" she said.

At a nearby housing estate, heavily tattooed Jackie, 39, resented what she saw as the media's portrayal of the riots as mindless youth violence.

"This was not kids. This was youths and adults coming together against the crap that's been going on since the coalition," she said, referring to Britain's conservative-led government, which has made deep austerity cuts since coming into power last year to tackle a big budget deficit....

"I was out in the riots. My 16-year-old daughter was calling me asking where I was," she said, chuckling.

She stood with a group of Afro-Caribbean men and women on a street corner, muttering and eyeballing the police who stood some meters (yards) away across the road. Shattered glass from the riots still littered the road in places.

She and others had little sympathy for many of the store owners whose premises had been looted and burned, identifying most as big chain stores that offer little to their community.

Many of the more upmarket stores cater for growing numbers of middle-class professionals and white hipsters who have moved in recent years into Hackney's handsome townhouses, of which many sit yards away from poor housing estates.

"The looting was done, not just because they can't afford the stuff, it was done to show they just don't give a shit .... We're here and not going away," Michelle said....

"It's like the old days. It's bringing the community spirit back. Even though it's a sad way to do it, it's bringing the community together," Ariom said.

As the sun set, the men at the estate said they would hang out on a typical evening, play football or visit girlfriends.

"But if the riots kick off again, I'm going. It's history, it's a revolution," Ariom said.

"I loved Hackney during the riot. I loved every minute of it. It was great to see the people coming together to show the authorities that they cannot just come out here bullying."

You'll notice that Reuters doesn't describe the blacks as hyphenated British, but Afro-Caribbean. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The new face of destitution

The Providence Journal has a heartbreaking story of a jobless man who plans to sell his automobile rather than pay the state's ad valorem tax on it:

The single 45-year-old ... lost his job when the Cleanscape recycling plant closed its doors in April. He and his nephew pay $1,050 each month for their half of a Sunbury Street duplex.... He also has a cell phone, electric, cable, heat, grocery, car insurance and Internet bills.

His $551-a-week unemployment covers all that, and the new tax bill. But it leaves little for him to indulge his love of dining out.

Since he lost his job, he’s begun to do things more cheaply — bargain movies, not as many pastries from LaSalle Bakery, and getting a less expensive steak on Wednesdays at Texas Roadhouse.

$551 a week is $28,652 a year. The per capita income in the U.S. for 2009, the most recent year available, was $27,041. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

This is not Athens

Now London has been taken over by the mob, as another yet another European country reaches the end point of the welfare state. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

On the bright side: Shakespeare in Central Park

From The New Yorker. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

On shooting the messenger

After weeks of predicting a calamity if the debt ceiling weren't raised, President Obama managed to get both the rise and the calamity. So now, after weeks of blaming Republicans for not doing it his way, he is undertaking to blame Standard & Poor's for its downgrade of America's credit rating!

The problem was never the debt ceiling. The problem is the debt. It was 40 percent of the national product--the sum of all our efforts to build, earn, and create--when he took office. It is now heading inexorably for 70 percent. It is not true, as Michele Bachmann has claimed, that Mr. Obama has borrowed more money than the preceding 43 presidents combined. But he has come uncomfortably close. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The Dow, on the other hand, IS falling

Why would that be? Peggy Noonan has some thoughts, though none of them gets to the heart of the matter as neatly as the cartoon that accompanies her Saturday column: it's never a good idea for a president to predict catastrophe. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Well, my goodness, the sky didn't fall after all!

So now the debt limit has been raised, as everybody knew it would be. I am reminded of a lunch at the Athens Olympia in Boston where a friend admitted that he never watched the Evening News, "Because there's no news in the News." True enough. Ninety percent of what the newsies get excited about is of no importance whatever.

That's not entirely true of the debt-limit debate. What happened was a compromise. Everybody is in favor of compromise, including the president of the United States, but what he means by compromise (what the New York Times means by compromise, what PBS and NBC and CBS and most of the newsies mean by compromise) is that Republicans should vote for Democratic priorities. That has worked for fifty years that I know of, with some minor exceptions during the Reagan presidency.

Then came the Tea Party, which for some reason the newsies present in lower-case letters. The Tea Partiers refused to capitulate, much as Mr. Obama has refused to capitulate over the past three years. (Because "I won.") The result of the fracas was--a compromise! The nutters on both sides are furious, as nutters are prone to be, though we only hear about the fury of the Democratic left.

Tough. You wanted compromise; you got compromise. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford