« July 07, 2006 | Main | July 14, 2006 »
July 10, 2006
SOME HARD REALITIES CONCERNING THE "UNDOCUMENTED" AND "ILLEGALS"...
...are put forward here by the executive director of Accuracy in Academia. Most of these points must be addressed, we think, by the Congress in whatever compromise bill the House and Senate finally endorse. But...we doubt that such responsibility will trump mere, and more, politics.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)
WHAT THE SOVIETS KNEW ABOUT US AND HOW THEY KNEW IT:
The many ways in which the KGB gathered intelligence in and about the United States is the subject of a major study based upon Soviet archives that were opened after the disestablishment of the USSR. A major book summarizing the methods and findings of the KGB is reviewed here in the official public journal of the CIA.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)
WHY IS SLEEP NECESSARY?
Possibly to weaken synapses and thus help us to forget, thus avoiding the overload and over-exertion of the brain itself. So suggests a researcher whose work was presented at the recent annual meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping. The report is from the Economist.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:14 PM | Comments (0)
WHAT'S WRONG WITH MODERN PSYCHIATRY?
Well, to begin with, it has little foundation in serious science. And then there's the dreadful necromancy by which it was misled by Freud and the Freudians. Paul McHugh (a member of the guild) has written a valuable critique of his profession, says Kay Hymowitz in this review of his recently published book.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
MIRACLE CURES AND CATTLE MUTILATION IN ARGENTINA...
...are submitted to close scrutiny by Joe Nickell, the senior investigator for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). This fellow is, simply, one of the most expert "paranormal deconstructionists" in the world--and everything he writes provides "lux et veritas."
Posted by Ext720 at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)
THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE VOUCHER PLAN...
...as a way of getting around the mediocrity and/or dysfunctionality of public school systems was, of course, Milton Friedman. Here he is, still hot on the case, talking to an interviewer from the Los Angeles Times.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:10 PM | Comments (0)
SPEAKING TRUTH TO GHETTO YOUTH...
...and to their absent fathers is the mission that Pastor Eugene F. Rivers III has set for himself. This strong and valuable iteration of essential truths is his latest published exhortative analysis. Would that black clergymen like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton had the selflessness (or should that be "honesty"?) to say the same.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:10 PM | Comments (0)
WHAT DOES A MAN DO WHEN HE GIVES UP THE WORLD CHESS TITLE?
He goes after the scoundrels, grafters and latent totalitarians who now comprise the government of the Russian republic. Here's an article from today's New York Times in which Garry Kasparov instructs western leadership on what to say to Putin at this week's meeting of the "Group of Seven" in St. Petersburg.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:09 PM | Comments (0)
AS KASPAROV TURNED FROM CHESS TO POLITICS...
...last year, he offered this apologia pro vita sua to his fans and to that portion (probably rather small) of the Russian public that was paying any attention.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)
AN ENCOUNTER WITH SUSAN SONTAG...
...is memorialized in this inevitably gripping article by Dana Heller, recently published in The Common Review. Our last encounter with S.S. was somewhat less unnerving; indeed it was rather pleasant as she discussed her just-published novel. She was, as most readers will know, the first wife of the recently deceased Philip Rieff.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)
CAN THE LOVE OF LITERATURE SURVIVE GRADUATE TRAINING...
...in a major English Department? That fine observer of modern academic life, the pseudonymous Thomas H. Benton, thinks it possible even though politicized "theory" will chase some of the best students away. Here he reflects on what draws undergraduates toward literary study before they become disenchanted with their professors.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
A PHOTOGRAPH OF CONSTANZE MOZART...
...taken around 1840 has just turned up! The BBC News Service reports the find and provides the picture and the background story.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
FUNKY MUSIC...
...by, among others, Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Gladys Knight, the Temptations and The Doors.
Posted by Ext720 at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)