Comments on "Jimmy Carter" by Julian E. Zelizer
This book is a brief, but concise, account of the life and political career of Jimmy Carter, who rose quickly to the American presidency to some extent because of the disillusionment of American voters with the Washington establishment and political system. However, in spite of very high public support and expectations and initial public relations successes, it seems that the Carter administration was overwhelmed by an exceptional number of domestic and foreign problems and crises, few of which it dealt with very successfully in the last 2 years of President Carter's one term.
At 56 years of age, Jimmy Carter became one of the youngest of American ex-presidents. In the 30 years since that time he has participated very productively and helpfully, although sometimes controversially, in solving many of the world's problems and events.
It is especially stimulating to read about those times and events of the Carter presidency and to think about them again.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Experimental Blog #41
Comments on the books "The Greater Good" - How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism by Claire Gaudiani and "After the Fall - Saving Capitalism from Wall Street - and Washington" by Nicole Gelinas
The first book, written "before the fall" in 2003, is all about the history and necessity of the philanthropy of the wealthier Americans, and especially the most wealthy of them. This very American practice of giving to, endowing, and founding of hospitals, libraries, museums of many kinds, housing projects, universities, colleges and other schools of all kinds, advocacy organizations of any kind, and whatever else people thought of makes America what it is, and provides an example to the rest of the world.
Private funding seems to have almost always led the way in everything in America except for purely government functions, such as the military and prisons.
The whole history and ongoing process of American philanthropy, and that it must be continued, might be described as "Voluntary American Socialism."
"After the Fall" by Nicole Gelinas was written in 2009, and is all about the"meltdown" of the world's financial markets in 2008. The details and technical vocabulary are very difficult for an outsider to understand.
However, it seems possible that the government regulation of American industry and finance, that was largely constructed by the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, effectively lasted about 50 years, but became irrelevant and ineffective during and soon after the presidency of Ronald Reagan, actually a few years before the downfall of all the Marxist-Socialist governments in Europe.
Near the end of the Reagan presidency the American government began a policy of "propping up", or saving failing American corporations, banks, and other financial institutions that were considered "too big to fail." This policy was continued by all succeeding administrations.
Meanwhile, Wall Street financial firms began "securitizing" and "tranching", that is classifying securities in order of risk and expected return, all kinds of debt and credit in as many ways as possible.
Among other things, all this "propping up" of banks and other financial firms that were considered "too big to fail," and "securitizing and tranching", and who knows what else led to the illusion of the absence of risk and the certainty of profits. Some financial executives took huge bonuses based on profits that had not yet been made, since they would save or make so much money for their companies, including firms that were receiving billions of dollars to "prop them up" from the federal government.
The author says that even Nobel laureates in mathematics were working for some of these firms, and were providing the complicated equations.
"Financial Armageddon" arrived in 2008, and so did one "panicky bailout" after another for financial firms considered "too big to fail". Nicole Gelinas writes that all of these "bailouts" are unpopular with the public, and that the public will eventually have its way.
The first book, written "before the fall" in 2003, is all about the history and necessity of the philanthropy of the wealthier Americans, and especially the most wealthy of them. This very American practice of giving to, endowing, and founding of hospitals, libraries, museums of many kinds, housing projects, universities, colleges and other schools of all kinds, advocacy organizations of any kind, and whatever else people thought of makes America what it is, and provides an example to the rest of the world.
Private funding seems to have almost always led the way in everything in America except for purely government functions, such as the military and prisons.
The whole history and ongoing process of American philanthropy, and that it must be continued, might be described as "Voluntary American Socialism."
"After the Fall" by Nicole Gelinas was written in 2009, and is all about the"meltdown" of the world's financial markets in 2008. The details and technical vocabulary are very difficult for an outsider to understand.
However, it seems possible that the government regulation of American industry and finance, that was largely constructed by the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, effectively lasted about 50 years, but became irrelevant and ineffective during and soon after the presidency of Ronald Reagan, actually a few years before the downfall of all the Marxist-Socialist governments in Europe.
Near the end of the Reagan presidency the American government began a policy of "propping up", or saving failing American corporations, banks, and other financial institutions that were considered "too big to fail." This policy was continued by all succeeding administrations.
Meanwhile, Wall Street financial firms began "securitizing" and "tranching", that is classifying securities in order of risk and expected return, all kinds of debt and credit in as many ways as possible.
Among other things, all this "propping up" of banks and other financial firms that were considered "too big to fail," and "securitizing and tranching", and who knows what else led to the illusion of the absence of risk and the certainty of profits. Some financial executives took huge bonuses based on profits that had not yet been made, since they would save or make so much money for their companies, including firms that were receiving billions of dollars to "prop them up" from the federal government.
The author says that even Nobel laureates in mathematics were working for some of these firms, and were providing the complicated equations.
"Financial Armageddon" arrived in 2008, and so did one "panicky bailout" after another for financial firms considered "too big to fail". Nicole Gelinas writes that all of these "bailouts" are unpopular with the public, and that the public will eventually have its way.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Experimental Blog #40
Comments on "Cro-Magnon - How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans" by Brian Fagan
This very prolific anthropologist and author, he has written 23 other books besides this one, provides documentation that the scientific revoultion of the late 20th and early 21st centuries also occurred in paleoanthropology.
The author's thorough acquaintance with and careful explanations of the new revolution producing sciences of paleoclimatology and molecular biology together with his gifted persuasive imagination create descriptions of something like the real histories of Neanderthal people, who were human, but not surviving today or anatomically modern, and Cro-Magnon people, modern and very much surviving.
These excellent, vivid and persuasive descriptions, along with those of even earlier people, cover tens and hundreds of thousands of years.
This very prolific anthropologist and author, he has written 23 other books besides this one, provides documentation that the scientific revoultion of the late 20th and early 21st centuries also occurred in paleoanthropology.
The author's thorough acquaintance with and careful explanations of the new revolution producing sciences of paleoclimatology and molecular biology together with his gifted persuasive imagination create descriptions of something like the real histories of Neanderthal people, who were human, but not surviving today or anatomically modern, and Cro-Magnon people, modern and very much surviving.
These excellent, vivid and persuasive descriptions, along with those of even earlier people, cover tens and hundreds of thousands of years.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Experimental Blog #39
Comments on "Pandora's Seed" - The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization by Spencer Wells
The author of this book, Spencer Wells, seems to be a very accomplished American anthropologist and geneticist who also writes very informatively and persuasively. His book is full of stimulating information in paleohistory, genetics, and quite a few other subjects.
For instance, scientists can now find out that about 10,000 years ago, or about 350 generations, the human population began to dramatically increase and undergo an enormous genetic differentiation in hundreds of places on our chromosomes. The author writes that these changes occurred in conjunction with the developement of agriculture, that is, the domestication of land animals and plants.
The author also describes how until about 10,000 years ago, people died most often from "trauma", that is, injuries from hunting or other accidents. However, by about 7,000 years ago, most people died from infectious diseases, acquired from their domesticated animals and from each other in their large permanent settlements. Today, for the first time in human history, most people in the world are now dying from chronic non-infectious diseases of "genetic maladaptation" in origin. Even mental illness is predicted to become the second most common cause of death, after heart disease, by 2020.
And the author goes on to many other contempoary subjects and problems.
The author of this book, Spencer Wells, seems to be a very accomplished American anthropologist and geneticist who also writes very informatively and persuasively. His book is full of stimulating information in paleohistory, genetics, and quite a few other subjects.
For instance, scientists can now find out that about 10,000 years ago, or about 350 generations, the human population began to dramatically increase and undergo an enormous genetic differentiation in hundreds of places on our chromosomes. The author writes that these changes occurred in conjunction with the developement of agriculture, that is, the domestication of land animals and plants.
The author also describes how until about 10,000 years ago, people died most often from "trauma", that is, injuries from hunting or other accidents. However, by about 7,000 years ago, most people died from infectious diseases, acquired from their domesticated animals and from each other in their large permanent settlements. Today, for the first time in human history, most people in the world are now dying from chronic non-infectious diseases of "genetic maladaptation" in origin. Even mental illness is predicted to become the second most common cause of death, after heart disease, by 2020.
And the author goes on to many other contempoary subjects and problems.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Experimental Blog #38
Comments on "The Ptarmigan's Dilema" - An Exploration into How Life Organizes and Supports Itself by John Theberge and Mary Theberge
It is possible that there is a common opinion among scientists and interested non-professionals that Charles Darwin's most serious and least forgivable mistake was to replace his original concept, in the first publication of "Origin of the Species", of "Natural Selection", ten years later, in the fourth edition, with Herbert Spencer's concept of "The Survival of the Fittest."
Today, "Natural Selection" seems more purely scientific, and maybe, even beautiful; while "The Survival of the Fittest" became very distorted in an assortment of political uses, none of them very beautiful.
Charles Darwin's own explanations for preferring Herbert Spencer's term are not very clear or understandable today.
This book by the husband and wife team, John and Mary Theberge, describes some of the amazing developements in contemporary Biology and Ecology, which was a science that did not exist until long after the death of Charles Darwin. It might be said that entirely new dimensions of knowledge and understanding, never known to Charles Darwin, are being discovered by these sciences.
It is possible that there is a common opinion among scientists and interested non-professionals that Charles Darwin's most serious and least forgivable mistake was to replace his original concept, in the first publication of "Origin of the Species", of "Natural Selection", ten years later, in the fourth edition, with Herbert Spencer's concept of "The Survival of the Fittest."
Today, "Natural Selection" seems more purely scientific, and maybe, even beautiful; while "The Survival of the Fittest" became very distorted in an assortment of political uses, none of them very beautiful.
Charles Darwin's own explanations for preferring Herbert Spencer's term are not very clear or understandable today.
This book by the husband and wife team, John and Mary Theberge, describes some of the amazing developements in contemporary Biology and Ecology, which was a science that did not exist until long after the death of Charles Darwin. It might be said that entirely new dimensions of knowledge and understanding, never known to Charles Darwin, are being discovered by these sciences.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Experimental Blog #37
Comments on "Anything Goes - A Biography of the Roaring Twenties" by Lucy Moore
Some of the most memorable developements and events of the 1920s, which seems to be the "birth of Modern America", are; the spectacular developement of motion pictures with sound in Hollywood and the lives of its equally spectacular stars, both male and female; African-American cultural developement in Harlem and Jazz in other cities as well; the widespread growth and activity of the Ku Klux Klan; the flourishing gangster activity, especially in Chicago, thanks to prohibition; the trials, and execution, of the anarchist-communists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti; the Scopes trial, about the teaching of Darwinian evolution versus the Bible, with its charismatic lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan; the building of America's first giant skyscrapers in New York; and Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.
Some of the specific representative people of the era were; Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Warren and Florence Harding, Al Capone, Charlie Chaplin, and Jack Dempsey.
The author also writes a lot about Harry and Caresse Crosby, but how many people today know who they were?
Some of the most memorable developements and events of the 1920s, which seems to be the "birth of Modern America", are; the spectacular developement of motion pictures with sound in Hollywood and the lives of its equally spectacular stars, both male and female; African-American cultural developement in Harlem and Jazz in other cities as well; the widespread growth and activity of the Ku Klux Klan; the flourishing gangster activity, especially in Chicago, thanks to prohibition; the trials, and execution, of the anarchist-communists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti; the Scopes trial, about the teaching of Darwinian evolution versus the Bible, with its charismatic lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan; the building of America's first giant skyscrapers in New York; and Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.
Some of the specific representative people of the era were; Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Warren and Florence Harding, Al Capone, Charlie Chaplin, and Jack Dempsey.
The author also writes a lot about Harry and Caresse Crosby, but how many people today know who they were?
Monday, August 9, 2010
Experimental Blog #36
Comments on "Civil War Wives" - The Lives and Times of Angelina Grimke' Weld, Varina Howell Davis and Julia Dent Grant by Carol Berkin
In the acknowledgments to this book the author, Carol Berkin, writes that her "home state" is Alabama. However, she received her college degrees at the very "Yankee" schools of Barnard College and Columbia University of New York.
On the back of the book there are 8 very respectable recommendations, and the writing is very thorough and informative in all three parts.
The first part, about Agelina Grimke' Weld, is especially interesting for its relation of the conflicts and splintering within the counter-cultural abolitionist movement, among various other things about Angelina's life.
The second account, about Varina Howell Davis, is very descriptive about the "lost cause" of the American Civil War from a more Southern point of view. It seems that, except for the first several months, the war became an increasing disaster that lasted about 4 years for the Confederate States. Varina's long, vigorous, but tragic, life was very interesting to learn about.
In the third account, about Julia Dent Grant, the author sounds somewhat dismissive, maybe even ridiculing at times, about Julia and even her autobiography in some ways. However, she recognizes that Julia's book was not published until 1975. Carol Berkin also writes that Ulysses S. Grant was five feet and eight inches tall. Others say that he was at least 4 inches shorter.
In the acknowledgments to this book the author, Carol Berkin, writes that her "home state" is Alabama. However, she received her college degrees at the very "Yankee" schools of Barnard College and Columbia University of New York.
On the back of the book there are 8 very respectable recommendations, and the writing is very thorough and informative in all three parts.
The first part, about Agelina Grimke' Weld, is especially interesting for its relation of the conflicts and splintering within the counter-cultural abolitionist movement, among various other things about Angelina's life.
The second account, about Varina Howell Davis, is very descriptive about the "lost cause" of the American Civil War from a more Southern point of view. It seems that, except for the first several months, the war became an increasing disaster that lasted about 4 years for the Confederate States. Varina's long, vigorous, but tragic, life was very interesting to learn about.
In the third account, about Julia Dent Grant, the author sounds somewhat dismissive, maybe even ridiculing at times, about Julia and even her autobiography in some ways. However, she recognizes that Julia's book was not published until 1975. Carol Berkin also writes that Ulysses S. Grant was five feet and eight inches tall. Others say that he was at least 4 inches shorter.
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