Ginny

Age: 77 Place: Originally Nebraska, now Texas Family: Husband, 3 daughters, 3 sons-in-law, 3 grandchildren Occupation: Retired Education: BA, MA Nebraska; Ph.D. UT-Austin Work On hhe Double (1979-1992); taught: ta Austin, Blinn Jr. College (1993-20015), Kelly Girls intermittently.

2005 Pulitzers

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The Pulitzers included two works that we have posted about this year. The history choice is an old favorite; Lexington’s first mention of David Hackett Fischer appears to be in 2003 and he appears in twelve more of Lexington’s posts. (Isn’t the new search engine great?) This year, Washington’s Crossing won; Fischer told the New York Times,“My Washington was a figure who took me very much by surprise,” he said. “What he did was bring together the values of the American Revolution with the conducting of the war.” Lexington’s summing up essay this January of books read noted it was a “Superb book about Washington and his army, the crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton.” He then notes that Fischer’s Liberty and Freedom is on his “to do” list.

The Poetry prize went to Ted Kooser, for Delights and Shadows. The New York Times noted: “Clarity is the hallmark of Mr. Kooser’s style, with deceptively modest metaphors grounded in the Nebraska landscape.” I put a note up when Kooser was named Poet Laureate last year.

C-SPAN 1 & 2 (times e.t.)

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Book TV Schedule. C-SPAN 1 schedule. Topics from After Words and Q&A follow.

C-Span-2’s In-Depth monthly feature interviews Robert Kaplan Sun at noon – when listeners can call in or e-mail questions; this is repeated at midnight. E-mail connection is up on the site. Kaplan, a correspondent for Atlantic Monthly, has reported on the hot spots of the last twenty years. His last book is Mediterranean Winter. His Warrior Politics was the first book on Andrew Sullivan’s short-lived book club blog. During the past few years, such works as The Coming Anarchy, Balkan Ghosts and Soldiers of God: With the Mujahidin in Afghanistan were often referred to as we tried to understand the places he had been. Not surprisingly, such interests have made him a voice listened to by

both Pres. Bill Clinton and Pres. George W. Bush. Mr. Kaplan has been a consultant to the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Regiment, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Marines. He has lectured at military war colleges, the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency.

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Germany as Husband

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My son-in-law forwarded “Germany Is Tired of Footing the European Bill” (from On-Line English edition of Der Spiegel). It discusses preparations for June 16-17 when

Europe’s heads of state will come together for their next summit and to ratify the European budgetary framework for the coming years. What may sound like a routine yawner is really a meeting at which nothing less than the future of Europe will be decided — and especially Germany’s role in that future. On those two days in June, the assembled heads of states will decide how much each member state should pay to Brussels and how much it should receive in payments from Brussels, if anything.

The potential pitfalls are huge; the European Commission’s proposals in this regard are completely unacceptable to the German government. According to the current draft of the legislation, which bears the relatively innocuous-sounding title “Financial Forecast for 2007 to 2013,” the EU’s budget will increase from about €100 billion this year to €158 billion in 2013. This increase would have serious consequences for Germany, which, as Europe’s largest economy, pays by far the most into the common budget. Between now and 2013, Germany’s contribution to the EU would almost double, to about €40 billion. Instead of the current 8 percent of its federal budget, Berlin would then be required to send more than 10 percent of its budget to Brussels.

The authors observe that

the Germans send significantly more money to Brussels than they receive back. In 2003, the difference amounted to €7.7 billion, making Germany the biggest net contributor by a long shot. Only the Netherlands and Sweden pay more on a per capita basis.

Happy 91st to Borlaug

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Instapundit notes that today is/yesterday was the 91st birthday of Norman Borlaug, Nobel Prize winner and Aggie. More than any other single person, he made life better in the second half of the twentieth century. Today, when our blog is heavy with disputes over death counts and the death watch in Florida continues, we can celebrate Borlaug and thank him for what he has done, for the billions he has saved. We can be grateful that one pragmatic man set about (and still sets about) making the world a better place.

Already in his seventies twenty years ago, Borlaug turned his attention to Africa. We are sometimes critical of Carter on this blog (and I think reasonably so), but his union with the father of the Green Revolution appears to bring out the best in the peanut farmer from Georgia – and the best in African soil.

And, thinking of Borlaug, I feel a broader gratitude. To the Chicagoboyz, grateful they let me play on their blog, respectful of the Great Books tradition that influenced so much of our plains life and came from Chicago. And I will go pretty far with them in terms of reducing government, but I am also grateful that in 1862 a Vermont congressman, Justin Smith Morrill, envisioned the Land Grant Schools that have not only educated farm kids (like me, my siblings, my husband, my parents) for the last hundred and forty years but also increased life expectancy- a fact that trumps much.

Our life is mundane, but it sparks the imagination: we sit in the middle of the largest campus in the world as experimental fields stretch for miles. And now Aggies are planting crops in Iraq.

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Those who Beseige Shannon & the Schiavo Tragedy

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Thanks to Heiko’s and Jonathan’s comments; they have a sense of proportionality. Also Heiko shows us what a good study can do: narrow, real, thorough; then it points to modifications that will (clearly their motive) save lives.

I delete most of my friend’s e-mails on Schiavo or skim them to be polite. To him, as a Catholic, this case has attained great significance. Quality of life, what is life – these are important questions and of course he believes quite strongly in what Pinker dismisses as the “ghost in the machine.” I’m closer to my friend in that, but not all the way. The tensions involve the big issues – what is life and what is death, the relationship between the family and state. This then moves to the ancient tensions: between the “new” family of the Schiavo’s marriage and the “blood” family of the Schindlers; between the state and the federal government, between the courts and Congress. So, now, not only have people of strong religious commitment weighed in, but so have doctors. Then, politicians entered: not always grandstanding, they are often legitimately moved by these two issues. The big hitters on constitutional law on the blogs then enlisted in the battle. Yes, I’ll admit its importance not only to my friend but to others, on both sides of most of these issues. I can only feel sorrow at her death and sympathy with her parents, her husband, and even those involved in what has become a pathetic circus in front of her hospice. But I still delete. I know my sympathies will be pulled & cloud my mind; I won’t be able to deal with the big questions. Others argue that the cliche is wrong; that, indeed, hard cases can make good law. I have my doubts. Certainly, my husband’s argument that dysfunctional families make bad law seems true. I suspect both sides have enlisted troops to satisfy gnawing uncertainties. Applications in family matters to such external authority comes from a “nuclear option” mentality and a lack of confidence. I sympathize but suspect it arises from an unwillingness to face truths at which most of us would blink.

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