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The Daily Dose/May 24, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes From Around The Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: Obama's Wars By Bob Woodward: We're sure Woodward has his detractors, but we're not one of them. One the very best there's ever been at what he does, Woodward consistently puts out books that are deserving of the time of every concerned citizen, and we've enjoyed his work here at the Writer's Shack since we were young men, not that we are trying to make Mr. Woodward feel old or anything like that, because we're not.
Leading Off: Obama's Wars chronicles Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan. Woodward uses classified documents, some obtained by such nefarious means as merely asking for them, meeting notes and interviews with virtually everybody concerned, including Obama himself, who sat down with Woodward one Saturday afternoon when Woodward was almost through writing the book.
Obama comes off looking fairly, good, too, with a better grasp of what he wants to accomplish in Afghanistan - basically get the hell out of there - than you would expect of someone with zero military experience.
Yeah, This Is A Bulletin: One of our fave points made in the book is what a complete mess the office of the president has devolved into, with absolutely everybody on the president's staff having to get their hands in every goddamned thing, which really prevents Obama from getting the information he needs and the options he wants, and how Obama's staff is really the same fiasco that any other large office is.
By The By: This trait transcends political parties, though based on the reading we've done, which is significant though certainly not definitive, it does seem to be a phenomenon that began in the second half of last century,
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is fairly well read he is not Einstein for Pete's sake and is not a professional book reviewer. Reviews are based on his own personal tastes, are completely subjective and not measured against established literary standards. He has a habit of re-reading selected favorites and books that were published as early as the 20th century.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Capsule Review Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. More or less worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: EX. Go and do yourself a favor and read this book. Woodward's writing is as compelling as his research is complete and if you are interested enough in your human experience to put up with this column on a regular basis, you will like, and be served well by, Obama's Wars.
WE GET LETTERS...SOMETIMES: A reader wrote following Sunday's On This Date item concerning the treason trial of Aaron Burr, specifically about the following point:
Like a lot with Jefferson, his owning of slaves for example, his pursuit of Burr should be examined in the context of the times.
An Invitation: The reader invited us to expound on that, writing:
Why don't you expound on that, Gaylon.
Well, OK: Jefferson, mankind's preeminent spokesman for human liberty, was a slave owner. Though he authored one of mankind's most memorable lines
we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal
he still owned other human beings, and his slaves had the same legal status as the house Jefferson owned or his farm implements. They were Jefferson's property, and could be treated as he saw fit. They could be leased, sold or kept. He owned them. His slaves were his property.
Disclaimer: We are not particularly interested in hearing from you whack jobs out there accusing us of defending slavery. We are doing no such thing. We are merely providing some of what we like to call "context" of the times Jefferson lived in.
We're Not Saying, We're Just Saying: Slavery was legal in Jefferson's time. This is not to say it was right. It wasn't. The owning of human beings was merely allowed by statute.
To compound matters, Jefferson came from a slaveholding family. Not only that, he inherited slaves when he got married, and one of these slaves, Sally Hemmings, whose father may well have been Jefferson's father-in-law, probably bore Jefferson several children, though further expounding of these matters is beyond the scope of today's column.
OTOH: Just because it was legal didn't make it mandatory. Jefferson certainly could have freed his slaves, though the life of a free slave in America wasn't something poets wrote sonnets about, and it would've been highly unlikely to expect a white landowner of Jefferson's status not to have owned slaves. That doesn't make it right, it merely sheds some historical light on the matter.
OPEN UP THOSE GOLDEN GATES…OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT: The Brooklyn Bridge opens on this date in 1883. Spanning the East River, it connects Brooklyn with Manhattan. At 1,594 feet, it is the longest suspension bridge in the world, a title it would hold until being replaced by the Williamsburg Bridge, a little farther north, in 1903.
Missed Opportunity: We were hoping to throw in a New York/Brooklyn baseball score from May 24, 1883, but Brooklyn wasn't in either the National League or the other major league, the American Association, in 1883. The Giants, then known as the Gothams, did lose in Cleveland, though, 1-0, while New York's entry in American Association, the Metropolitans, dutifully lost to Philadelphia 11-2.
Going…Going…Gone: Tony Lazzeri of the New York Yankees becomes the first major leaguer to hit two grand slam home runs in one game and the first American League player to drive in eleven runs in a game in a 25-3 victory over the A's in Philadelphia on this date in 1935.
As Long As Your History Books Are Out: Lazzeri, who had four RBI's in the second game of a doubleheader the previous day, also establishes the major league record for most RBI's in consecutive games with 15, a record that still stands.
Thought For The Day: It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is. - Marbury vs. Madison, 1803.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Marbury vs. Madison overturned a small portion of the Judiciary Act of 1789. William Marbury had been appointed as a Justice of the Peace for Washington D.C., just before President John Adams left office in 1801.
And You Wonder Why You Don't Get Invited To More (Any) Parties: Marbury's appointment had been approved by the Senate, but he never received his commission, so he couldn't take office. Marbury sued to have the Supreme Court compel the new Secretary of State, James Madison, to deliver his commission, which was authorized under the Judicial Act of 1789. The Supreme Court found this provision, which actually expanded the Court's power, to be a violation of the Constitution, which did not grant the Supreme Court this power.
Today's Stumper: What is the oldest suspension bridge still in use that once held the title of world's longest suspension bridge? - Answer next time!
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