What About Paris? : December 2014 Archives

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December 19, 2014

Big day Sunday for all you pagans in New York, DC, LA and Dublin.

Sunday the 21st is the winter solstice. It has big meanings in science, spirituality, religions and world history and culture. Many scholars believe that winter solstice, in effect, drove the date for celebrating Christmas. The retention of pagan forms and the practicing a newer religion like Christianity at the same time is an historical pattern. Rome is one example. And it certainly takes nothing away from either co-existing faith in matters of worship, spirituality, beliefs or mythology. A good live example of this is in the world today? Catholic Ireland. Things Druid still inform most facets of day-to-day Ireland life. Completely sane Catholics in Ireland still believe in the little people.

Tower Hill, 1957

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2014

Cuba

Statement by the President on Cuba Policy Changes

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Posted by JD Hull at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2014

One remarkable upside--yes, upside--of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report.

Last night North Korea blasted the United States over the Senate Select Intelligence Committee's report released last week on CIA interrogation practices--now known by most of us simply as "the Senate torture report". Last week, similar indictments and gloatings came from China and Russia almost immediately on the report's publication. These condemnations were of course predictable paybacks by three nations the U.S. has consistently attacked as abusers of human rights. The report has been an international comeuppance in the extreme and, for my money, the story of the year: world's longtime human rights cop loses much of its moral ground.

But there's a bright side. How many countries--how many developed nations that call themselves democracies--would "self-report" in real time heinous violations of its own rules on the conduct of war, its own interrogation/torture policies or indeed its own cherished human rights principles? America may be unique here. The release itself of the Senate torture report last week is something I, for one, am happy about in that sense. As egregious as its contents are, we can take certain pride in its publication to the world. Would any other nation do that?

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Posted by JD Hull at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)

Is Sen. Elizabeth Warren fun or what?

Not sure I would vote for her for anything. But I do like her in the conversation. She scares the smug and comfortable shitless. In fact, she reminds me of what H.L. Mencken once said about newspapers.

Posted by JD Hull at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2014

Suggestion: Read Alvin Toffler's Future Shock over the holiday to see what he got right.

Which was quite bit. Toffler's Future Shock (Random House 1970) was published nearly 45 years ago and was, in hype terms, the late 60s-early 70s equivalent of Tom Friedman's The World is Flat (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2005). Like Friedman's classic, Future Shock is brave and thoughtful--but much more ambitious as a possible guide to the future. Friedman tried to show how us how globalization was changing and would continue to change everything we daily experience. Toffler, who came up with term "information overload", had the idea that too much change too fast is overwhelming and bad for us. The two bestsellers are very different and, in a way, companion works.

Posted by JD Hull at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2014

Pantheon: Happy Birthday, Ms. Remick.

Actress Lee Remick died of liver and kidney cancer in 1991 at the age of 55. If she were alive today, she would only be 79 and, I like to think, still working. Born this day in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1935, Remick was 5'8", with amber hair and stunning blue eyes. She studied acting and dance as a teenager and continued with drama at both Barnard College and at the Actor's Studio in New York City. Although she is best known for her roles in two iconic movies, Days of Wine and Roses and The Omen, she worked both stage and screen during her busy career, which started at the age of 18. She had grace and natural class. She lit up rooms without smiling, moving or gesturing. In 1988, near the end of her life and in her early fifties, Remick sat in the row behind me during hearings in the Rayburn Building. I was attending as an associate for a firm client. (Unannounced and not testifying, she was there as an observer.) I have no idea why I looked to the row behind me but, after I did, it was hard for me to keep my eyes off Remick, even in her obviously plain clothing, and with little makeup. I was staring. She was 25 years older. I still can't explain it.

Posted by JD Hull at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2014

113th Congress, 2nd Session: A Passion for Excellence

Attaboy, Congress. The peoples' chamber of the most elite legislative body the world has known squeaked one by to save us all. Last night the House of Representatives, at the last minute and by a narrow margin, passed a $1.1 Trillion funding bill. New York Times: House Narrowly Passes Bill to Avoid Shutdown; $1.1 Trillion in Spending.

The Last Plantation steps up.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2014

Dan Harris: What's your Vietnam business strategy?

Dan Harris at China Law Blog asks What’s Your Vietnam Strategy? He expands on an earlier article (May 19) he penned this year at Above The Law, intriguingly entitled China Plus One: How Vietnam’s Riots Help American Businesses. The May 19 post notes that Vietnam is becoming the number one choice for American companies looking "to diversify or expand beyond China". Read both articles. Here are two excerpts from the earlier one:

It is a safe (for Americans anyway) and beautiful country. It has great food (sorry, but that matters to me). It is a relatively inexpensive place to live well and its wages are low. Its people generally like Americans, and English is by far the leading foreign language in its schools. Vietnam (not China) is a member of ASEAN and Vietnam (not China) will be a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. All of these things are plusses for business. Its main minuses are that its electrical and transportation are relatively undeveloped and it is certainly no less corrupt than China.

But what about the rioting and the fact that the Vietnamese government has felt compelled to post 3-6 police or army personnel on virtually every street corner in both Ho Chi Minh City (where I was earlier today) and Hanoi to quell protests? Though thousands of Chinese have fled Vietnam — fearing for their lives — none of the riots nor any of the violence has been directed at any American or American company....

The Vietnamese with whom I have met on this trip and heard on the news are uniformly emphasizing that Vietnam wants American investment, and that the riots should not be viewed otherwise. Both through official and unofficial channels, the government has made clear that it values the Americans here and it badly wants their businesses to stay. The Vietnamese lawyers and businesspeople are all telling me the same thing.

The American businesspeople here are saying the riots are irrelevant to their Vietnam plans. They view the riots as having been against China and against Taiwanese factory owners whom the Vietnamese view as in league with China. Some are even saying that Vietnam’s “China problem” will better position American companies seeking to do business in Vietnam. They see the possibility of increased sales of American goods and services and Vietnamese more likely to choose employment with American companies. To a person, all are convinced that the Vietnamese government takes the rioting seriously and will make every effort to prevent any recurrence.

Image: Philip Roeland Yannan

Posted by JD Hull at 07:38 PM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2014

Gruesome, ineffective and kept from the public, says Senate summary report on CIA interrogation program.

Well, see my post title above. This is a full Senate committee report I'll read when published, and it may be the story of the year. News services which have had a peek at it seem a bit riled and even surprised. The New York Times wrote at least 7 pieces about the 500 page summary report released today and noted that the report was the worst condemnation of the CIA since the Senator Frank Church released the "Church committee report" in 1970. Church's report led to a series of laws restricting CIA activities. For the details of the more horrific abuses set out in today's report, see 16 absolutely outrageous abuses detailed in the CIA torture report in a Vox post.