Set your calendars ahead one day - at least, if you live in Samoa (capital, Apia).
Samoa will have no Friday this month. At midnight tonight, Samoa will leap forward to Saturday, December 31, 2011, skipping Friday, December 30.
This decision reverses the change made July 4, 1892, when Samoa changed its date to conform to the Western hemisphere and have the same date as American Samoa, capital Pango Pango.
This isn't the only recent change intended to conform to practices in New Zealand and Australia, Samoa's closest trading partners. In 2009, Samoa switched to driving on the left side of the country's roads. Among other things, this made it easier for Samoans living in Australia and New Zealand to ship used cars to relatives living in Samoa.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Ghost Of Christmas Past
Today was a lovely Christmas Day. Good friends visited for coffee ( The Bean was closed) and for Christmas Dinner.
It caused me to recollect the first Christmas I remember. It was 1940. My parents divorced in 1938. Mother remarried in August of 1940 to a young soldier in the United States Army Air Corps. We moved from Tulsa to Tampa to begin a new life.
Here I am on the porch of our upstairs apartment with all the Christmas gifts spread out to admire. It appears that two sets of grandparents had a Christmas present competition.
I'm not sure who won the competition, since I don't remember who gave me what gift. But I remember my favorite present. It was the Erector Set leaning against the wall. I spent countless hours building different structures and machines from designs that came with the set.
This was the last prewar Christmas. Never again would there be so many toys.
But I didn't mind. The best thing about Christmas was always the family get-togethers.
By Christmas of 1941, I had a little brother. Oh, yes, and by then we were at war.
It caused me to recollect the first Christmas I remember. It was 1940. My parents divorced in 1938. Mother remarried in August of 1940 to a young soldier in the United States Army Air Corps. We moved from Tulsa to Tampa to begin a new life.
Here I am on the porch of our upstairs apartment with all the Christmas gifts spread out to admire. It appears that two sets of grandparents had a Christmas present competition.
I'm not sure who won the competition, since I don't remember who gave me what gift. But I remember my favorite present. It was the Erector Set leaning against the wall. I spent countless hours building different structures and machines from designs that came with the set.
This was the last prewar Christmas. Never again would there be so many toys.
But I didn't mind. The best thing about Christmas was always the family get-togethers.
By Christmas of 1941, I had a little brother. Oh, yes, and by then we were at war.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Christmas in Indiana
It looks like Santa Claus delivered a Christmas present to Indiana Democrats. You have to read it to believe it:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/23/1048083/-Good-Grief,-Charlie-White!-Why-a-Court-Ruling-in-Indiana-Could-Have-National-Implications
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/23/1048083/-Good-Grief,-Charlie-White!-Why-a-Court-Ruling-in-Indiana-Could-Have-National-Implications
Monday, December 19, 2011
Hungary - Back To The Future?
Disturbing post today on Hungary's authoritarian revolution. It sounds like a more extreme version of what has been happening in Wisconsin, Michigan and other states in the United States.
The post appears on Paul Krugman's web site, but it is written by Kim Lane Scheppele, Director of the Law and Public Policy program at Princeton University.
It sounds like what is happening in Hungary is a reappearance of the kind of authoritarian regime that has characterized Hungary in the past, including the notorious period of Admiral Horthy's dominance from 1920 to 1946. The forms of governance may resemble those of democracy, but the content is increasingly that of authoritarianism.
By the way, Newt Gingrich's recent diatribes against judges would fit right in with the new Hungarian system.
The post appears on Paul Krugman's web site, but it is written by Kim Lane Scheppele, Director of the Law and Public Policy program at Princeton University.
It sounds like what is happening in Hungary is a reappearance of the kind of authoritarian regime that has characterized Hungary in the past, including the notorious period of Admiral Horthy's dominance from 1920 to 1946. The forms of governance may resemble those of democracy, but the content is increasingly that of authoritarianism.
By the way, Newt Gingrich's recent diatribes against judges would fit right in with the new Hungarian system.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011
A great man died today.
Vaclav [pronounced "Vatslav"] Havel had been a literary figure and dissident under the Czechoslovak communist regime. He spent four years in communist prisons, but managed to inspire a large following through his plays and other writings. He was an eloquent advocate of democracy.
Havel was one of the first spokesmen for the Charter 77 human rights movement (after the abortive "Prague Spring" of 1968), a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the last president of the state of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. He died Sunday night at the age of 75 at his country place in North Bohemia. He was one of the greatest Czechs of modern history.
Despite his international prominence and popularity, Havel had become something of a controversial figure in his own country. Radio Prague has published a detailed obituary, describing Havel's accomplishments and related controversies.
The New York Times has a slightly different take.
A curious feature of most biographies of Havel is that while mentioning that the Havel family was wealthy, that Havel's father founded the Barrandov subdivision and movie studio near Prague, and that the family's property was confiscated in 1948 by the communists, no mention is made of the Havels' activities during the Nazi occupation. In fact, the elder Havel collaborated with the Nazi regime, including producing Nazi propaganda films at Barrandov. Here is one account of that period.
It would be unfair to brand the younger Havel with his family's collaboration (he was only three years old when the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939), and it is hard to imagine Havel himself as a collaborator. Still, it is curious that Czechs still avert their eyes from some details of that period.
Havel himself, during the communist period, referred to Czechoslovakia as "Absurdistan."
Havel's grandfather developed a Prague landmark, the Lucerna ballroom and theater, near Wenceslas square. One hall is decorated with an ironic sculpture of Wenceslas astride a dead horse dangling from the ceiling.
It's a Czech thing.
Vaclav [pronounced "Vatslav"] Havel had been a literary figure and dissident under the Czechoslovak communist regime. He spent four years in communist prisons, but managed to inspire a large following through his plays and other writings. He was an eloquent advocate of democracy.
Havel was one of the first spokesmen for the Charter 77 human rights movement (after the abortive "Prague Spring" of 1968), a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the last president of the state of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. He died Sunday night at the age of 75 at his country place in North Bohemia. He was one of the greatest Czechs of modern history.
Despite his international prominence and popularity, Havel had become something of a controversial figure in his own country. Radio Prague has published a detailed obituary, describing Havel's accomplishments and related controversies.
The New York Times has a slightly different take.
A curious feature of most biographies of Havel is that while mentioning that the Havel family was wealthy, that Havel's father founded the Barrandov subdivision and movie studio near Prague, and that the family's property was confiscated in 1948 by the communists, no mention is made of the Havels' activities during the Nazi occupation. In fact, the elder Havel collaborated with the Nazi regime, including producing Nazi propaganda films at Barrandov. Here is one account of that period.
It would be unfair to brand the younger Havel with his family's collaboration (he was only three years old when the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939), and it is hard to imagine Havel himself as a collaborator. Still, it is curious that Czechs still avert their eyes from some details of that period.
Havel himself, during the communist period, referred to Czechoslovakia as "Absurdistan."
Havel's grandfather developed a Prague landmark, the Lucerna ballroom and theater, near Wenceslas square. One hall is decorated with an ironic sculpture of Wenceslas astride a dead horse dangling from the ceiling.
It's a Czech thing.
Friday, December 16, 2011
A Mug's Game
Starting a war is a mug's game.
This has been true in almost all cases in international wars over the past two centuries. Just think of the examples:
British invasion of the American Colonies after having earlier withdrawn all forces (1776);
Napoleon's invasion of Russia (1812);
Santa Ana's attack on American forces along the Nueces River in 1846 (President Polk provoked the Mexican attack and then took full advantage);
Confederate States of America attack on Ft. Sumter (1861);
Austrian declaration of war against Prussia (1866);
French declaration of war against Prussia (1870);
Austrian attack on Serbia (1914);
Russian attack on Germany (1914);
German attack on Belgium and France (1914);
Italy's attack on Ethiopia (1935);
Germany's attack on Poland (1939);
Germany's attack on the Soviet Union (1941);
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor (1941);
North Korea's attack on South Korea (1950);
US intervention in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (1964).
There are other examples. There are also a few examples of apparent successful aggressive wars, but the more normal outcome is temporary advantage, followed by stalemate or back-sliding.
It is too early to say what the long term effects of our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan will be.
By the way, soldiers don't start wars. Civilians do that.
This has been true in almost all cases in international wars over the past two centuries. Just think of the examples:
British invasion of the American Colonies after having earlier withdrawn all forces (1776);
Napoleon's invasion of Russia (1812);
Santa Ana's attack on American forces along the Nueces River in 1846 (President Polk provoked the Mexican attack and then took full advantage);
Confederate States of America attack on Ft. Sumter (1861);
Austrian declaration of war against Prussia (1866);
French declaration of war against Prussia (1870);
Austrian attack on Serbia (1914);
Russian attack on Germany (1914);
German attack on Belgium and France (1914);
Italy's attack on Ethiopia (1935);
Germany's attack on Poland (1939);
Germany's attack on the Soviet Union (1941);
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor (1941);
North Korea's attack on South Korea (1950);
US intervention in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (1964).
There are other examples. There are also a few examples of apparent successful aggressive wars, but the more normal outcome is temporary advantage, followed by stalemate or back-sliding.
It is too early to say what the long term effects of our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan will be.
By the way, soldiers don't start wars. Civilians do that.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Mission Accomplished?
Tonight's TV news showed joyous scenes of our military members returning from Iraq to be united with their families.
Those who answer their country's call have every right to be proud of what they did.
Those who sent them into Iraq with the flimsiest of excuses and a bodyguard of lies have nothing to be proud of.
I have not forgotten the air of triumph exuded by the neocons who pushed this policy. From their standpoint, getting the United States to go to war against Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11, was a great accomplishment.
There was no wisdom here.
It is well to turn the future of Iraq back over to the Iraqis. Where will this lead? No one knows. There are those who believe our presence has accomplished little in the long run other than to strengthen the political and military influnce of Iran in the region.
I'm not prepared to accept this view, either. We shall see.
For a cautionary tale, one might read the triumphant celebration of victory penned by the leading neo-conservative, Richard Perle, in USA Today in the spring of 2003:
Those who answer their country's call have every right to be proud of what they did.
Those who sent them into Iraq with the flimsiest of excuses and a bodyguard of lies have nothing to be proud of.
I have not forgotten the air of triumph exuded by the neocons who pushed this policy. From their standpoint, getting the United States to go to war against Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11, was a great accomplishment.
There was no wisdom here.
It is well to turn the future of Iraq back over to the Iraqis. Where will this lead? No one knows. There are those who believe our presence has accomplished little in the long run other than to strengthen the political and military influnce of Iran in the region.
I'm not prepared to accept this view, either. We shall see.
For a cautionary tale, one might read the triumphant celebration of victory penned by the leading neo-conservative, Richard Perle, in USA Today in the spring of 2003:
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Election Protest Grantsboro
Yesterday morning the Pamlico County Board of Elections met to complete the hearing on the protest of the Grantsboro election. We sustained the protest and forwarded it to the State Board of Elections for action. The State Board plans to hear the protest on December 22.
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