Notes and Quotations from "Almost President" - The Men Who Lost the Race but Changed the Nation by Scott Farris
As of today in American history 34 men have run for President of the United States as the nominee of a major political party, sometimes 2 or 3 times, and always lost.
Scott Farris describes how some of them, 9 in particlar, should be considered more important in their impact on the American political system than quite a few other candidates who actually became president. He also points out that, because of 3rd party campaigns, 40% of the time the presidential winners have received less than a majority, that is 50%, of the popular vote.
However, the 9 who are written about at length in this book are:
Henry Clay ran 3 times and, apparently, should be cosidered the principal founder of modern liberalism; that is, a "belief in the necessity of an assertive national government to act positively for the economic, social and moral well-being of the nation." Scott Farris's point of view seems very contrary to the very long standing "Jeffersonian-Jacksonian" presentation of American history.
Next are Stephen Douglas, in 1860, and William Jennings Bryan, who also ran 3 times.
In the chapter on Al Smith the author writes extensively on the Motion Picture Association of America{MPAA} and the Production Code Administration{PCA}. The code was "deeply Catholic in tone and outlook" and required that films "show deference to civil and religious authority", "that characters accept personal responsibility for their actions, demonstrate a belief that suffering has value as a step toward salvation, resist the glorification of sin, and never depict the ultimate triumph of evil over good." "Any studio that released a film without PCA approval faced a hefty twenty-five thousand dollar fine."
Further writing about anti-Catholic prejudice, one way or another, Scott Ferris notes that, "as of 2012, six of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court were Catholic, including Chief Justice John Roberts, and with the other three justices being Jewish there was not a single Protestant on the nation's highest court."
Thomas E. Dewey ran twice, in 1944 and 1948. And so did Adlai Stevenson, in 1952 and 1956, who was born in 1900; so he would have been at, or about 52 and 56 years of age in those years. Next come Barry Goldwater, in 1964, and George McGovern, in 1972.
Ross Perot, in 1992 and '96, is the last of the "great losers". "No person has moved directly from the business world directly into the White House. Of those presidents{notice! presidents} who had a background in business before they entered politics, < > none could be labeled tycoons". However, "Perot still collected 19% of the popular vote{in 1992}. Only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 had done better as a third party candidate."
"In a nation that has fretted for decades over whether it has properly honored its Vietnam War veterans, it is ironic that the three presidential nominees who served in Vietnam - Al Gore, John F. Kerry, and John McCain - were all defeated, while the two men of the Vietnam generation who were elected president did not serve in Vietnam."
Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Experimental Blog #134
Notes on "All Roads Lead to Austen" - A Yearlong Journey with Jane by Amy Elizabeth Smith
One of the most interesting things about this book is that it can be so interesting to people who have never read a book by Jane Austen.
At the very begining of her book the author, Amy Elizabeth Smith, writes that "Austen keeps coming to life through sequels, updates, and spin-offs".
And she asks, "What is it about Jane Austen that makes us all talk about the characters as if they're real people? People we recognize in our own lives, two centuries after Austen created them?"
Among many other historical and literary pages there are long discussions about 3 of Jane Austen's books: "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility", and "Emma".
There are also long descriptions of Amy Smith's long stays in Antigua, Guatemala; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Santiago, Chile; Asuncion, Paraguay; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. These are all capital cities, except for Puerto Vallarta and Antigua, although it was once the capital city.
One of the most interesting things about this book is that it can be so interesting to people who have never read a book by Jane Austen.
At the very begining of her book the author, Amy Elizabeth Smith, writes that "Austen keeps coming to life through sequels, updates, and spin-offs".
And she asks, "What is it about Jane Austen that makes us all talk about the characters as if they're real people? People we recognize in our own lives, two centuries after Austen created them?"
Among many other historical and literary pages there are long discussions about 3 of Jane Austen's books: "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility", and "Emma".
There are also long descriptions of Amy Smith's long stays in Antigua, Guatemala; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Santiago, Chile; Asuncion, Paraguay; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. These are all capital cities, except for Puerto Vallarta and Antigua, although it was once the capital city.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Experimental Blog #133
Comments and quotations from "Uncompromised" - The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab American Patriot in the CIA by Nada Prouty
Although this book contains an opening disclaimer, "This material has been reviewed by the CIA to prevent disclosure of classified information," it is, nonetheless, very informative and exciting about training and work in the American FBI and CIA.
"Uncompromised" is, perhaps, necessarily vague, sometimes, and it contains quite a few reconstructed apparently partly artificial conversations. However, Nada Prouty's book might be described as a rather controversial, but inspiring and thought provoking, search and struggle for father, family, and country. She writes that the American FBI became her new family, at least temporarily; and she also seems to maintain dependable relationships with her 2 sisters, and she finds a good husband and starts a family.
Nada Prouty says that she has now converted to the Catholic faith, but her "parents were Druze, a minority religious faction amounting to approximately 7 percent of the Lebanese population. The Druze religion started as a religious-philosophical movement in Egypt in the tenth century. The Druze consider their faith a blend of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and believe that their spiritual message was inherent in the prophetic voices of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad."
"...the Druze eliminated all elements of ritual and ceremony, leaving no fixed daily liturgy, no defined holy days, and no pilgrimage obligations." ... "The Druze religion is also secretive and closed to converts."
A few pages earlier Nada Prouty writes of the Druze religion, "There is a definite mysticism to it, and the Druze strongly believe in a supreme being. I had never practised this religion in Lebanon, but its mysteries and otherworldliness intrigued me at times. I suppose I was similarly susceptible to the mysteries of Roman Catholicism."
Although this book contains an opening disclaimer, "This material has been reviewed by the CIA to prevent disclosure of classified information," it is, nonetheless, very informative and exciting about training and work in the American FBI and CIA.
"Uncompromised" is, perhaps, necessarily vague, sometimes, and it contains quite a few reconstructed apparently partly artificial conversations. However, Nada Prouty's book might be described as a rather controversial, but inspiring and thought provoking, search and struggle for father, family, and country. She writes that the American FBI became her new family, at least temporarily; and she also seems to maintain dependable relationships with her 2 sisters, and she finds a good husband and starts a family.
Nada Prouty says that she has now converted to the Catholic faith, but her "parents were Druze, a minority religious faction amounting to approximately 7 percent of the Lebanese population. The Druze religion started as a religious-philosophical movement in Egypt in the tenth century. The Druze consider their faith a blend of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and believe that their spiritual message was inherent in the prophetic voices of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad."
"...the Druze eliminated all elements of ritual and ceremony, leaving no fixed daily liturgy, no defined holy days, and no pilgrimage obligations." ... "The Druze religion is also secretive and closed to converts."
A few pages earlier Nada Prouty writes of the Druze religion, "There is a definite mysticism to it, and the Druze strongly believe in a supreme being. I had never practised this religion in Lebanon, but its mysteries and otherworldliness intrigued me at times. I suppose I was similarly susceptible to the mysteries of Roman Catholicism."
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Experimental Blog #132
Comments on "Where They Stand - The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians" by Robert W. Merry
Rating all the American presidents from #1, the best, to #44, the worst, seems rather absurd and irrational. Besides that, do the terms "Great" and "Near Great" describe real human beings in a, hopefully, democratic society? The enormously changing times over 224 years make comparing the presidents of all 9 generations of very questionable value.
Probably, for most people the most important presidents are those that they remember and lived with, which, of course, is highly variable. Besides those presidents are some earlier presidents that their parents, or, maybe their grandparents, remember and lived with.
The author, Robert Merry, is very persuasive in some matters, for instance; that the electoral college still works to prevent the smaller states, by population, from being completely swamped by the larger states, even though this has led to the election of a president with slightly less{and always slightly less} popular votes than the other candidate in 4 presidential elections.
However, Merry also repeats the unconvincing story of the "stolen election", stolen by the Republicans, in 1876. Merry doesn't seem to consider the murderous violence commited against the southern Negroes to keep them from voting; and that they would surely have voted overwhelmingly for Rutherford B Hayes, who had 48% of the popular vote to the Democrat Samuel J Tilden's 51%. Hayes was not only a Republican of the party of Abraham Lincoln, but was also a distinguished Civil War veteran.
However, the idea that the American presidential elections are a "referendum" that, like it or not, occurs every 4 years on the incumbent president, or, at least, his party, is a very useful and helpful concept.
Rating all the American presidents from #1, the best, to #44, the worst, seems rather absurd and irrational. Besides that, do the terms "Great" and "Near Great" describe real human beings in a, hopefully, democratic society? The enormously changing times over 224 years make comparing the presidents of all 9 generations of very questionable value.
Probably, for most people the most important presidents are those that they remember and lived with, which, of course, is highly variable. Besides those presidents are some earlier presidents that their parents, or, maybe their grandparents, remember and lived with.
The author, Robert Merry, is very persuasive in some matters, for instance; that the electoral college still works to prevent the smaller states, by population, from being completely swamped by the larger states, even though this has led to the election of a president with slightly less{and always slightly less} popular votes than the other candidate in 4 presidential elections.
However, Merry also repeats the unconvincing story of the "stolen election", stolen by the Republicans, in 1876. Merry doesn't seem to consider the murderous violence commited against the southern Negroes to keep them from voting; and that they would surely have voted overwhelmingly for Rutherford B Hayes, who had 48% of the popular vote to the Democrat Samuel J Tilden's 51%. Hayes was not only a Republican of the party of Abraham Lincoln, but was also a distinguished Civil War veteran.
However, the idea that the American presidential elections are a "referendum" that, like it or not, occurs every 4 years on the incumbent president, or, at least, his party, is a very useful and helpful concept.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Experimental Blog #131
Notes from "Live From Cape Canaveral" - Covering the Space Race from Sputnik to Today by Jay Barbree
Although there is sometimes a frustrating lack of dates, this book is a very exciting history of the competition between America and the Soviet Union in manned space flight. The author, Jay Barbree, appears to be unusually well acquainted with the Soviet and Russian satellites, cosmonauts, rockets, and spacecraft; but as for the Americans:
The Project Mercury spacecraft were for single astronauts and short flights or orbits, up to 22 in number.
The Project Gemini spacecraft were "two-man spacecraft that would test and perfect all the key techniques needed to reach the moon, rendezvousing and docking with other vehicles and walking in space."
Apollos 8{December, 1968}, 10, and 13 went to and around the moon; and Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17{December, 1972} went to the moon and sent 12 astronauts, 2 on each trip, to the lunar surface and outside the lunar module.
On July 15, 1975 two Russians aboard a Soyuz 19 spacecraft and three Americans aboard an Apollo spacecraft{the author says it was "the last Apollo in the stable"} rendezvoused and docked in space.
After this event NASA built 4 reusable space shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. The tragic fates of Challenger on the 25th shuttle launch, in January 1986, and Columbia on the 113th{or 112th} shuttle descent, in February 2003, are well known. However, altogether the shuttle fleet apparently made over 130 flights before they were retired by presidential order by September 30, 2010{which is after this book was written in 2006 and '7}.
The American shuttles had many missions, among others: sending off a TDRS, which was a tracking and data relay satellite to a stationary orbit at 22,300 miles; the Magellan, which was a probe to Venus; Galileo, to Jupiter; Ulysses, to orbit the Sun; a Gamma Ray Observatory; the Hubble Telescope{and its repairing mission}; secret CIA satellites; and many launches to help construct the International Space Station.
Although there is sometimes a frustrating lack of dates, this book is a very exciting history of the competition between America and the Soviet Union in manned space flight. The author, Jay Barbree, appears to be unusually well acquainted with the Soviet and Russian satellites, cosmonauts, rockets, and spacecraft; but as for the Americans:
The Project Mercury spacecraft were for single astronauts and short flights or orbits, up to 22 in number.
The Project Gemini spacecraft were "two-man spacecraft that would test and perfect all the key techniques needed to reach the moon, rendezvousing and docking with other vehicles and walking in space."
Apollos 8{December, 1968}, 10, and 13 went to and around the moon; and Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17{December, 1972} went to the moon and sent 12 astronauts, 2 on each trip, to the lunar surface and outside the lunar module.
On July 15, 1975 two Russians aboard a Soyuz 19 spacecraft and three Americans aboard an Apollo spacecraft{the author says it was "the last Apollo in the stable"} rendezvoused and docked in space.
After this event NASA built 4 reusable space shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. The tragic fates of Challenger on the 25th shuttle launch, in January 1986, and Columbia on the 113th{or 112th} shuttle descent, in February 2003, are well known. However, altogether the shuttle fleet apparently made over 130 flights before they were retired by presidential order by September 30, 2010{which is after this book was written in 2006 and '7}.
The American shuttles had many missions, among others: sending off a TDRS, which was a tracking and data relay satellite to a stationary orbit at 22,300 miles; the Magellan, which was a probe to Venus; Galileo, to Jupiter; Ulysses, to orbit the Sun; a Gamma Ray Observatory; the Hubble Telescope{and its repairing mission}; secret CIA satellites; and many launches to help construct the International Space Station.
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