The recent dust up caused by a group of historians naming George W. Bush as the worst president ever makes me think that the rating system of "Great," "Near-Great," "Average," and "Poor" needs to be changed, especially when it comes to living ex-Presidents. Therefore, I propose that Presidents be compared to retired major league baseball players. I willingly grant that this system will increase the number of arguments because baseball fans, the most statistic conscious and verbose fans of all sports, will weigh in and argue about both the Presidents and the MLB retiree, but isn't that the point.
I will start by offering a couple of suggestions. First, George Washington is Babe Ruth. Washington was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of hearts of his countrymen." He set the standard that is used to judge future Presidents. I readily admit that Ruth's personal life might not live up to Washington's standards, although Washington apparently came home with the sunrise rather frequently as a young man. Ruth, however, set the standard by which future stars are judged. He was a great pitcher before he became the home run king.
Abraham Lincoln would be Hank Aaron, the guy who passed Ruth's stats and who is undeniably great. If Wills assertions are correct that Lincoln turned the founders on their heads by placing the ideals the Declaration of Independence over the specifics of the Constitution, then Aaron is even a better fit. Aaron was as quiet of a superstar and home run king as Ruth was boisterous.
On to our current President. I have to go with Dave Kingman. Kingman hit 422 home runs in his career. Bush had some home runs after 9/11, and even if I opposed the war, toppling a dictator should count as a home run. Kingman also struck out grandly and often. Bush mishandled Katrina and the occupation of Iraq. His civil liberties assault is a major strike out.
More arguments, baseball, political history and no absolutely correct answers. What could be better?
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Random Musings and Notes For Future Posts.
1. This Joseph Bottom post makes sense.
2. I teach in the humanities. I love teaching literature because it's a place for those for whom the world doesn't seem to work. People on the fringes or in the shadows can find friends and a place to call home as they read. No one knows what to make of us because the humanities are not practical. We don't teach people to read tech manuals, and those stories and poems really get in the way of making money and conformity. Whether it's Huck deciding to go to hell and treat Jim as a full human or the X-Men trying to survive anti-mutant hysteria, the basic idea is that conventional morality is usually conventional but not necessarily moral. I need to do more with this idea, but I really think that professors and teachers in the humanities have to do more to defend and expand the teaching of the humanities.
3. Money magazine listed the 50 best jobs in America. They ranked the jobs based on the level of stress that each created, the amount of flexibility that the job allows, the amount of creativity that the job requires, and the difficulty of each job. Teaching's stress level and difficulty would probably rank a B. The creativity and flexibility that it allows are probably at a D.
2. I teach in the humanities. I love teaching literature because it's a place for those for whom the world doesn't seem to work. People on the fringes or in the shadows can find friends and a place to call home as they read. No one knows what to make of us because the humanities are not practical. We don't teach people to read tech manuals, and those stories and poems really get in the way of making money and conformity. Whether it's Huck deciding to go to hell and treat Jim as a full human or the X-Men trying to survive anti-mutant hysteria, the basic idea is that conventional morality is usually conventional but not necessarily moral. I need to do more with this idea, but I really think that professors and teachers in the humanities have to do more to defend and expand the teaching of the humanities.
3. Money magazine listed the 50 best jobs in America. They ranked the jobs based on the level of stress that each created, the amount of flexibility that the job allows, the amount of creativity that the job requires, and the difficulty of each job. Teaching's stress level and difficulty would probably rank a B. The creativity and flexibility that it allows are probably at a D.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Musings About The Past Week
I didn't post every day. I have to work on that.
Wednesday was a day when everything went wrong. I couldn't utter a coherent sentence to answer a simple question. The notes that I had carefully put together turned out to be rather sloppy. If I had been a baseball pitcher I would have given up 4 homeruns on 4 straight pitches unless I decided to aim at a hitter's head to break the streak. Wednesday reminded me that I try to teach. If doctors practice medicine and lawyers practice law, it seems presumptuous to claim that teachers teach. The best I can do is try.
During the week we got an email politely castigating us for not taking attendance properly or effectively. I know that attendance is part of the job, but I never thought it was worth an email. During the past 10 years, we have gotten emails or memos about all sorts of administrative tasks that were not being done properly. I don't recall a single email encouraging me to learn more about my subject matter or to try to each better. In fact, I don't recall a single department meeting devoted to learning to teach better. I have never worked in a business, but I wonder if every memo and meeting is about administrative details.
I found some good comic book blogs. This post is really good.
I was reminded that the electronic hand dryers really suck.
The singer/songwriter Pink seems to be the same sort of enigma that all humans are. She writes and sings a song that urges girls to think about being President of the United States, but then there is this article. (I got to watch videos with my daughter this morning. I don't get much time with her, so two hours of VH1 Countdown is really fun.)
Wednesday was a day when everything went wrong. I couldn't utter a coherent sentence to answer a simple question. The notes that I had carefully put together turned out to be rather sloppy. If I had been a baseball pitcher I would have given up 4 homeruns on 4 straight pitches unless I decided to aim at a hitter's head to break the streak. Wednesday reminded me that I try to teach. If doctors practice medicine and lawyers practice law, it seems presumptuous to claim that teachers teach. The best I can do is try.
During the week we got an email politely castigating us for not taking attendance properly or effectively. I know that attendance is part of the job, but I never thought it was worth an email. During the past 10 years, we have gotten emails or memos about all sorts of administrative tasks that were not being done properly. I don't recall a single email encouraging me to learn more about my subject matter or to try to each better. In fact, I don't recall a single department meeting devoted to learning to teach better. I have never worked in a business, but I wonder if every memo and meeting is about administrative details.
I found some good comic book blogs. This post is really good.
I was reminded that the electronic hand dryers really suck.
The singer/songwriter Pink seems to be the same sort of enigma that all humans are. She writes and sings a song that urges girls to think about being President of the United States, but then there is this article. (I got to watch videos with my daughter this morning. I don't get much time with her, so two hours of VH1 Countdown is really fun.)
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Introverts and the Kingdom
First, I think this post should be taken as an example of a work in progress--some ideas that aren't fleshed out. Perhaps, as this Crooked Timber post suggests it's just "a repository for [a ]transient thought. . . "
With that caveat, I'll start rambling. I'm an introvert, a member of the misunderstood group described here and here. Even worse, I'm an introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving (INTP) person described here and here. In short, I like to stay away from people.
Much of this angst, if that's the right word, has come about as a result of bits of reading that I've done. Several bloggers who give advice about starting successful blogs claim that a blog roll is necessary to show that one is part of the internet community. Don't get me wrong, I plan to add a blogroll as soon as I can, but it strikes me as odd that the internet which has been described as a digital Wild West has no room for voices crying in the wilderness.
In John Fischer's Confessions of a caffeinated Christian , Fisher explains how he has trouble looking past the coffee cups to engage in conversation with other coffee shop denizens. He vows to keep trying.
All of this got me to wondering. Is a possible for the introvert to live the moral life of the golden rule. If all we want is to be left alone, can we do any good by treating others as we want to be treated? If people will know we're part of the kingdom of God because we love our neighbor as ourselves, can we ever show that we're part of the kingdom?
Re-read paragraph one for a conclusion.
With that caveat, I'll start rambling. I'm an introvert, a member of the misunderstood group described here and here. Even worse, I'm an introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving (INTP) person described here and here. In short, I like to stay away from people.
Much of this angst, if that's the right word, has come about as a result of bits of reading that I've done. Several bloggers who give advice about starting successful blogs claim that a blog roll is necessary to show that one is part of the internet community. Don't get me wrong, I plan to add a blogroll as soon as I can, but it strikes me as odd that the internet which has been described as a digital Wild West has no room for voices crying in the wilderness.
In John Fischer's Confessions of a caffeinated Christian , Fisher explains how he has trouble looking past the coffee cups to engage in conversation with other coffee shop denizens. He vows to keep trying.
All of this got me to wondering. Is a possible for the introvert to live the moral life of the golden rule. If all we want is to be left alone, can we do any good by treating others as we want to be treated? If people will know we're part of the kingdom of God because we love our neighbor as ourselves, can we ever show that we're part of the kingdom?
Re-read paragraph one for a conclusion.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Top 4 Blog Quotes Of The Day
Listed in order of preference.
From Bookslut: To be fair, I can see where "hell" and "damn" would shock the people of Reno, Nevada. When you're driving down the street, minding your own business, looking out the window at a drunk businessman having oral sex with a transvestite heroin dealer, and Sophie B. Hawkins' "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" comes on the radio, it's all you can do to not swerve off the road in abject shock. (To be fair, this one came from 4/14/06, but I didn't surf much over the weekend, so I just saw it today.)
From Crooked Timber: Hitlery turns US soveriegnty over to the UN and they implement Sharia law using unstoppable black helicopters? I’m not being snarky here; I really want to know. (Snarky is such a wonderful albeit underused term)
From The Bull Moose: This morning, the lead story in the New York Times may stir the slumber of our sanguine sophisticates, (Gotta love the alliteration)
From Andrew Sullivan: Maybe Hillary should choose a kind of doting, proud father figure-- not someone as old and daft as Senator Byrd, but along those general lines. Or she could cast her number two as the loyal, devoted, supportive mate that her real husband has never been but that every ambitious woman dreams of having. This might be a job for John Kerry. They could hug a lot, and then he could stand aside -- and down a step -- and nod and smile and give her the thumbs-up sign while she orates horizonward about her 'vision.' (Ambitious women really dream of having John Kerry?)
From Bookslut: To be fair, I can see where "hell" and "damn" would shock the people of Reno, Nevada. When you're driving down the street, minding your own business, looking out the window at a drunk businessman having oral sex with a transvestite heroin dealer, and Sophie B. Hawkins' "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" comes on the radio, it's all you can do to not swerve off the road in abject shock. (To be fair, this one came from 4/14/06, but I didn't surf much over the weekend, so I just saw it today.)
From Crooked Timber: Hitlery turns US soveriegnty over to the UN and they implement Sharia law using unstoppable black helicopters? I’m not being snarky here; I really want to know. (Snarky is such a wonderful albeit underused term)
From The Bull Moose: This morning, the lead story in the New York Times may stir the slumber of our sanguine sophisticates, (Gotta love the alliteration)
From Andrew Sullivan: Maybe Hillary should choose a kind of doting, proud father figure-- not someone as old and daft as Senator Byrd, but along those general lines. Or she could cast her number two as the loyal, devoted, supportive mate that her real husband has never been but that every ambitious woman dreams of having. This might be a job for John Kerry. They could hug a lot, and then he could stand aside -- and down a step -- and nod and smile and give her the thumbs-up sign while she orates horizonward about her 'vision.' (Ambitious women really dream of having John Kerry?)
Saturday, April 15, 2006
A New Start
I tried to write a blog once before. It failed. I spent $80 over two years for nothing. Nonetheless, I think that I should try again, even if I do little more than make lists or respond to quotations from things that I have read.
I guess that I'll start slow but try to write daily.
I think that this article "The Seperation of Church and Hate" by John Fischer is pure genius.
The Minnesota Twins are on a 5 game winning streak.
Discovering the Hipster PDA
The preview to Marvel's Civil War Mini Series looks good.
Some generals are finally explaining why Rumsfeld must go.
I guess that I'll start slow but try to write daily.
Top 5 Events From The Past Two Weeks
I think that this article "The Seperation of Church and Hate" by John Fischer is pure genius.
The Minnesota Twins are on a 5 game winning streak.
Discovering the Hipster PDA
The preview to Marvel's Civil War Mini Series looks good.
Some generals are finally explaining why Rumsfeld must go.
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