Time on President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Scooter Libby, Valerie Plame, and the Legacy

Time magazine has a detailed article on the fight for legacy by President Bush and Vice-President Cheney.  Scooter Libby’s actions and the Valerie Plame episode frame the different perspectives of the two men.

Article Abstract: “These last hours represent a climactic chapter in the mysterious and mostly opaque relationship at the center of a tumultuous period in American history. It reveals how one question — whether to grant a presidential pardon to a top vice-presidential aide — strained the bonds between Bush and his deputy and closest counselor. It reveals a gap in the two men’s views of crime and punishment. And in a broader way, it uncovers a fundamental difference in how the two men regarded the legacy of the Bush years.

And there were these two sentences: “Our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth,” Bush said. “And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable.” Particularly if he serves in government. Bush’s allies would say later that the language was intended to send an unmistakable message, internally as well as externally: No one is above the law.

Bush had long approached pardons with suspicion. As Texas governor, he granted them sparingly. His reluctance stemmed not from a lack of mercy but from his sense that pardons were a rigged game, tilted in favor of offenders with political connections. “He thought the whole pardon system was completely corrupt,” says a top Bush adviser. Bush had a textbook illustration in one of his predecessor’s last acts: Bill Clinton’s eleventh-hour pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose ex-wife had contributed heavily to his campaigns and presidential library, created a firestorm that consumed Clinton as he left the stage — and overshadowed the first days of the Bush Administration.

Link to the Article: President Bush and Vice-President: Different optics (Time magazine article)

Comments and commentary on Professor Henry Louis Gates, Cambridge Police, and Race

President Barack Obama’s comments in his surprise appearance at the White House Press Conference on Friday, July 24th:

“THE PRESIDENT: Hey, it’s a cameo appearance. Sit down, sit down. I need to help Gibbs out a little bit here.

Q Are you the new press secretary?

THE PRESIDENT: If you got to do a job, do it yourself. (Laughter.) I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there’s been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there.

I actually just had a conversation with Sergeant Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation — and I told him that.

And because this has been ratcheting up — and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up — I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically — and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.

I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you’ve got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved.

The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn’t illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.

What I’d like to do then I make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts — but as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues. And even when you’ve got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding.

My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what’s called a “teachable moment,” where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now — because over the last two days as we’ve discussed this issue, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care. (Laughter.)

I will not use this time to spend more words on health care, although I can’t guarantee that that will be true next week. I just wanted to emphasize that — one last point I guess I would make. There are some who say that as President I shouldn’t have stepped into this at all because it’s a local issue. I have to tell you that that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society. Whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive — as opposed to negative — understandings about the issue, is part of my portfolio.

So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about — my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House. We don’t know if that’s scheduled yet — (laughter) — but we may put that together.

He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn. (Laughter.) I informed him that I can’t get the press off my lawn. (Laughter.) He pointed out that my lawn is bigger than his lawn. (Laughter.) But if anybody has any connections to the Boston press, as well as national press, Sergeant Crowley would be happy for you to stop trampling his grass. All right.

Thank you, guys.”

Stanley Fish reflects on the issue in The New York Times Blog.  Abstract of the Reflection, “As the story unfolded in the press and on the Internet, I flashed back 20 years or so to the time when Gates arrived in Durham, N.C., to take up the position I had offered him in my capacity as chairman of the English department of Duke University. One of the first things Gates did was buy the grandest house in town (owned previously by a movie director) and renovate it. During the renovation workers would often take Gates for a servant and ask to be pointed to the house’s owner. The drivers of delivery trucks made the same mistake.”  Link to the Reflection: Henry Louis Gates: Déjà Vu All Over Again (Stanley Fish)

The Indian Newspaper, The Times of India:  Abstract, “US President Barack Obama Friday telephoned a police officer and regretted his choice of words when talking about the arrest of a black Harvard scholar, which has fanned a race row here.”  Link to the Article: Obama says his race row remarks ‘unfortunate’

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic has a thoughtful personal essay on the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates by Police officer James Crowley on the charge of disorderly conduct.  Link to the Article:  The Cambridge Cops — And Me

Comments in The New York Times Blog by Kate Phillips can be found here: Blogtalk (The New York Times): Gates, Obama, Race and the Police

Ben Smith (Politico.com) comments:  Professor Gates, Cambridge Police, Race and President Obama

How Bostonians feel?  Abstract of the article in Boston Globe: “On both sides, however, was the unsettling realization that a city that prides itself on its progressive politics and racial tolerance had been singled out by the country’s first African-American president as an example of the limits on racial progress.”  Link to the entire article:  Reaction of Boston Residents to remarks by President Obama (Boston Globe)

Justice Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings: Is a comparison of the roles of umpires and judges reasonable?

This is an interesting article in The New York Times on the comparison of the roles of umpires in baseball and the judges.  In the context of upcoming confirmation hearings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, this makes a productive read.

Abstract: ““Judges are like umpires,” Judge Roberts declared in the opening remarks to his own confirmation hearings. “Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role.”

…the overlapping issues of a justice’s personal beliefs and judicial activism are almost certain to be raised this week, quite possibly by Senator Sessions, who now represents the minority party on the Judiciary Committee. Judge Sotomayor’s public statements about the kind of empathy she brings to the bench as a Latina have already elicited objections to what some view as an admitted bias. And that position was fanned by the Supreme Court’s recent reversal of the appellate court decision she joined that nullified the results of a firefighters’ exam in New Haven because a disproportionate number of minority candidates failed it.”

Link to the article: The Deciders: Umpires v. Judges

President Barack Obama: A man of dignity and personal distinction

While Barack Obama’s policies (health care reform, effect of stimulus, management of the economy) may be coming under increasing scrutiny, and the overall approval rating of the President may be declining, there is an almost universal agreement that President Barack Obama is a man of dignity and personal distinction.

Here is an opinion piece by David Brooks –

Abstract: “Americans still admire dignity. But the word has become unmoored from any larger set of rules or ethical system.

But it’s not right to end on a note of cultural pessimism because there is the fact of President Obama. Whatever policy differences people may have with him, we can all agree that he exemplifies reticence, dispassion and the other traits associated with dignity. The cultural effects of his presidency are not yet clear, but they may surpass his policy impact. He may revitalize the concept of dignity for a new generation and embody a new set of rules for self-mastery.”

Link to the article:  In Search of Dignity (The New York Times)

Iraq, and Withdrawal of American troops from the cities

The New York Times article Abstract: “In accordance with the security agreement, there were few American troops to be seen on Baghdad streets, and the Iraqi authorities stressed that they did not want to see them unless their help was requested. The American military has obliged, ordering soldiers to remain in garrison for the next few days to give the Iraqis a chance to demonstrate that they are in control.”

Link to the Times article: Iraq Marks Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Cities

The New York Times Editorial Abstract: “For a badly overstretched American military it will certainly be time to go. Repeated deployments have taken a huge toll on soldiers and their families. The Iraq war — an unnecessary war — has diverted critically needed resources away from Afghanistan, the real front in the war on terrorism. Many Iraqis are eager to see the Americans gone. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has declared June 30 to be a day of “feast and festivals.””

Link to the Times editorial: The First Deadline

Ali Akbar Khan, Sarod Virtuoso

Ali Akbar Khan, Sarod Virtuoso,

The New York Times Abstract: “Mr. Khan, who was named a national treasure by the Indian government in 1989, carried on the musical traditions of his father, Allauddin Khan, whose ashram in East Bengal produced some of India’s most celebrated musicians, notably Mr. Shankar, the flutist Pannalal Ghosh and the sitarist Nikhil Banerjee.

Unlike his father, a volatile and uneven performer, Mr. Khan maintained an austere demeanor onstage while coaxing passages of extraordinary intensity from his sarod, an instrument with 25 strings, 10 plucked with a piece of coconut shell while the remainder resonate sympathetically.

“He was not as flashy as Ravi Shankar, but he had the ability to play a single note, or a simple passage of notes, and draw out such amazing depth,” said John Schaefer, the host of “New Sounds” and “Soundcheck” on WNYC-FM in New York. “That’s why he was able to get a world of emotion and color out of ‘Malasri,’which is often called a three-note raga. That, for me, stands as the calling card of the genius of Ali Khan.”

The violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who brought Mr. Khan to the United States in 1955, called him “an absolute genius” and “the greatest musician in the world.””

The New York Times complete article: Ali Akbar Khan

Michael Jackson: An artist who transcended all boundaries

As an artist, Michael Jackson transcended geographic boundaries, race, gender, ethnicity and all other divisions.  His contributions are celebrated all over the world by all the people.

Here is a The New York Times Report:    “Michael Jackson’s brand of pop knew no borders and needed no translation, linking listeners around the world through the accessible corridors of rhythm, beat, and dance. And as reaction to his sudden death began to pour in Friday, its extent underscored how far his influence had spread.”

Link to the New York Times Article: The Word Mourns

The Press Trust of India announces: “Michael Jackson dies of cardiac arrest; world mourns”

Link to the Press Trust of India Article: Press Trust of India Report

The Times of London states that, ” A secret library of over a hundred songs recorded by Michael Jackson could now be released following his death.
One of the singers biographers, Ian Halperin, claimed that the unheard songs had been made for his children.”

Links to The Times of London articles: Michael Jackson R.I.P.;  and Michael Jackson: secret library of 100 songs could be released

The Economist writes, “The length of Mr Jackson’s career ensured that he experienced, popularised and even pioneered many of the techniques that help artists to profit from their musical talents.”

Link to The Economist article: Michael Jackson

President Barack Obama (through his spokesperson Robert Gibbs), observed “I talked to him about it this morning. Look, he said to me that obviously Michael Jackson was a spectacular performer and a music icon. I think everybody remembers hearing his songs, watching him moonwalk on television during Motown’s 25th anniversary. But the president also said, look, he had aspects of his life that were sad and tragic. And his condolences went out to the Jackson family and to the fans that mourned his loss.”

The U.S. House of Representatives held a moment of silence Friday morning to mark the passing of Michael Jackson.

Representative Jesse Jackson Jr, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representaatives, said,  “I come to the floor today on behalf of a generation to thank God for letting all of us live in his generation and in his era.”

The Associated Press reports of sorrow in Middle-East: “Beyond his global reach, Michael Jackson held a special place in the Muslim world, as one of the first major Western entertainers to break through cultural barriers in the 1980s.
Some made a connection with the pop icon because of rumors, never substantiated, that he had converted to Islam. Others embraced him as one of their own after he sought refuge in the Gulf emirate of Bahrain in 2005, following a bruising trial on child molestation charges in the U.S.”

Link to the The Associated Press: Arab world mourns Michael Jackson

The reliability of Electronic Voting Machines (EMVs)

India just concluded monumental elections for the 15th Indian Congress (Lok Sabha).  The voting was done through Electronic Voting Machines.  There is a public debate in India about the accuracy and the tamper-proof resistance of these machines.

There is debate about Electronic Voting Machines in the U.S. and other parts of the globe.  Several scientists have commented on the reliability of these machines.  Here is an interesting editorial in The New York Times on this topic.

Abstract: “Electronic voting machines that do not produce a paper record of every vote cast cannot be trusted. In 2008, more than one-third of the states, including New Jersey and Texas, still did not require all votes to be recorded on paper. Representative Rush Holt has introduced a good bill that would ban paperless electronic voting in all federal elections. Congress should pass it while there is still time to get ready for 2010.”

Article: How to Trust Electronic Voting (New York Times)

Human minds are stubborn, so it is difficult to change the perception

Unfortunately, once the human mind forms an opinion/perception it is difficult to dislodge that.  That’s how myths, prejudices and stereo-types are born and survive.

One of the persistent misinformation is that President Barack Obama is of Islamic faith.  Of course, this is not true at all.  But it has been impossible to complete disabuse the individuals and the society of this falsehood.

Brendan Nyhan, Jason Reifler, and their coauthors show in a recent study (The Effects of Semantics and Social Desirability in Correcting
the Obama Muslim Myth) that mis-perceptions are stubborn and persistent.

“In this paper, we address the question of how to counter political misperceptions, which are often difficult or impossible to eradicate. One explanation for this difficulty is that corrections frequently take the form of a negation (i.e. “Tom is not sick”), a construction that may fail to reduce the association between the subject and the concept being negated (Mayo et al. 2004). We apply this approach to the persistent rumor from the 2008 presidential campaign that Barack Obama is a Muslim, comparing the effectiveness of what we call a misperception negation (“I am not and never have been of the Muslim faith”) with what we call a corrective affirmation (“I am a Christian”), which should be more effective.

As expected, we find that the misperception negation was ineffective. However, our hypothesis that the corrective affirmation would successfully reduce misperceptions was only supported when a non-white experimental administrator was present, suggesting a strong social desirability effect on the acceptance of corrective information. In addition, three-way interactions between the corrective affirmation, race of administrator, and party identification suggest that social desirability effects were more prevalent among Republicans. When nonwhite administrators were absent, the corrective affirmation not only failed to reduce Republican misperceptions but caused a backfire effect in which GOP identifiers became more likely to believe Obama is Muslim and less likely to believe he was being honest about his religion. We interpret this reaction as being driven by Obama’s embrace of Christianity, which may provoke cognitive dissonance among Republicans.”

Is the credit card business in US losing it market attractiveness?

Here is the analysis by The Economist –

Abstract: “CREDIT-CARD borrowers who roll over a portion of their balance each month are known as revolvers. These days lenders are in a spin as they struggle to cope with write-offs, a regulatory crackdown and changes in consumer behaviour.

On May 18th American Express, a credit- and charge-card giant, announced a second round of job cuts (bringing the total to 11,000), slashed its marketing and business-development budgets and offered a “very cautious” outlook. A few days earlier Advanta, a provider of cards to small businesses, froze all existing accounts after charge-offs (uncollectable debt) reached a dizzying 20%. The shutdown sent a shiver through the market for bonds backed by credit-card debt, which is only now starting to recover from the ravaging securitised assets took last year.

The rise in unemployment—which card defaults track and may now be exceeding, given the recession’s severity—has spattered a once-profitable business with red ink (see chart). David Robertson of the Nilson Report, a newsletter, expects card write-offs in America to hit $94 billion this year, up from $61 billion in 2008″

Link to the article: Credit cards in America: A once-glittering business loses its shine