Carnival Catsup

When one of my posts finds its way into a blog carnival, the polite thing to do is to post a link to the mention.  Reciprocity is one of the etiquette values of the blogosphere.

Regrettably, I have neglected to note several recent blog carnivals, and I wish to make up for that now -- even though the oldest of these dates back to June 7, 2009.

Starting with that one, The Symposium hosted the 19th Book Review Blog Carnival and mentioned my review of Titanic Legacy, by Paul Heyer, which first appeared on this blog on June 5 of last year and was later reposted at Book Reviews by Rick Sincere on January 6, 2010.

On August 2, 2009,  the British blog, Bart's Bookshelf, hosted the 23rd Book Review Blog Carnival, with a link to my review of Fred Kaplan's book, 1959: The Year Everything Changed, which I posted on July 23.

One day later, on August 3, Kitsch Slapped hosted "History Is Ephemeral, 4th Edition," making note of my reminiscences about the night my family's house caught on fire, complete with -- shall I use the word? yes, I shall -- kitschy newspaper ads from the Wauwatosa News-Times in July 1975.

A blog with a marvelous name in tribute to Jimmy Durante, "I'll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book!," was host for the 33rd edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival on December 21, just a few days before Christmas last year.  It listed my review of  The Daily Telegraph Book of Carols, by Ian Bradley.  That book review was also featured in the 2009 Carnival of Christmas, hosted by Cathouse Chat on December 25.

Two blog carnivals took note of my video from the 2009 Virginia Film Festival in which Matthew Broderick discusses his new movie, Wonderful World, alongside the film's screenwriter and director, Josh Goldin, and producer Glenn Williamson.  Anomalous Material hosted the movie blog carnival on January 13 and VLoveMovies.com hosted the Movie Lover's Carnival on January 27.

Home School Dad was the host of the 35th edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival, pointing to my review of Rose Marie's 2003 memoir, Hold the Roses.  (That article actually appeared on my book review blog, after first being published in The Metro Herald shortly after the book was released by the University of Kentucky Press.)

Finally, and most recently, Mysteries in Paradise, a blog based in Adelaide, Australia, linked to my long-lost, never-previously-published review of The Wayward Professor, a humorous look at academic life by Joel J. Gold.  Mysteries in Paradise was the Valentine's Day host of the 37th Book Review Blog Carnival.

As I related not long ago, I will be hosting the Book Review Blog Carnival on March 28 at Book Reviews by Rick Sincere.  I am looking forward to receiving many submissions.

That's it for now.  I hope that in this exercise I was able to catch up (catsup -- get it?) with all of the blog carnivals that have linked to me.  If not, please let me know and I'll gladly add a reciprocal link.

Update:  From the Bobo Files, the BoBo Carnival of Politics - Valentine's Day Edition ends with a pointer toward my piece on the Virginia Fifth District congressional candidates' views on the Tenth Amendment.

Update on My New Book Review Blog

About a month ago, I noted that on January 5, I had launched a new blog for purposes of archiving old and publishing new book reviews.

Although traffic to the new book review blog (Book Reviews by Rick Sincere) has been slow so far, the new weblog has already led to some new and interesting opportunities.

For example, the 35th  edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival, hosted by Home School Dad, features my review of Rose Marie's memoir, Hold the Roses. Moreover, I will be hosting the Book Review Blog Carnival on March 28.  (Watch for more announcements and requests for submissions.)

Another exciting development is that I have been chosen as one of four guest bloggers to cover the 2010 Virginia Festival of the Book, which is scheduled to take place in Charlottesville from March 17 through March 21.

Since I last wrote about the new blog, I have added 20 more book reviews:

'Maritime Strategy for Medium Powers,' by Rear Admiral J. R. Hill
'A German Identity, 1770-1990,' by Harold James
'Conflict and Peacemaking in Multiethnic Societies,' edited by Joseph Montville
'With Enough Shovels:  Reagan, Bush, and Nuclear War,' by Robert Scheer
'South Africa: Revolution or Reconciliation?,' by Walter H. Kansteiner

'Danger and Survival: Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years,' by McGeorge Bundy
'The War Powers Resolution: Its Implementation in Theory and Practice,' by Robert F. Turner
'And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic,' by Randy Shilts
'Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America's Sixteen-Year Involvement in Vietnam,' by William Colby
'A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the IRS,' by James Burnham

'Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery,' by Robert William Fogel
'Reader's Digest Illustrated History of South Africa: The Real Story'
'Elections and Democracy in Central America,' edited by John Booth and Mitchell Seligson
'The Mind of South Africa,' by Allister Sparks
'Middle Passage,' by Charles Johnson

'Europe's Neutral States: Partners or Profiteers in Western Security,' by Stephan Kux
'Regional Conflict and U.S. Policy: Angola and Mozambique,' edited by Richard Bloomfield
'The Wayward Professor,' by Joel J. Gold
'Mad Dreams, Saving Graces,' by Michael T. Kaufman
'Arming the Dragon: U.S. Security Ties with the People's Republic of China,' by A. James Gregor

The latest entries also include several examples of what I call "book notes," or book reviews no longer than a paragraph or two, drawn from old editions of terra nova and The Metro Herald.

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News from the Book Review World

Jordan Michael Smith reports in this week's Jewish Daily Forward that a new book review journal will be launched next week (with February 15 the scheduled publication date).  The new periodical will be called the Jewish Review of Books, and, from the illustration that accompanies the Forward article, it looks like its format and appearance will be much like the New York Review of Books.

Smith writes:

A quarterly magazine devoted to Jewish literary and political affairs, the JRB boasts heavy hitters on its editorial board, such as Michael Walzer, Leon Wieseltier and Ruth Wisse. An oversized, stapled newsprint magazine like the New York Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement, the JRB will open with an issue that features contributions from Ron Rosenbaum, Adam Kirsch and Harvey Pekar....

Abraham Socher, the editor ... took a leave from his spot as chair of the Jewish studies program at Oberlin College’s department of religion to launch the JRB. He’s both optimistic about the future of journals of ideas and opinions and well aware of the pitfalls that await any print publication in the 21st century.

“Magazines of ideas, which are willing to address a subject at as much length as is called for, which are willing to let writers be writerly, can remain print publications,” Socher said. Those readers attracted to long-form writing prefer to read their lengthier articles in print and are willing to pay for the privilege, Socher believes. “The great threat to print may be a far greater threat to newspapers and news magazines than it is to literary journals, journals of opinions and policy journals,” he said. The print JRB will be complemented by a Web presence before the end of February.

Given today's unsteady, uncertain environment for print media, launching a new publication -- especially a journal of ideas rather than, say, a gossip, sports, or entertainment magazine -- requires a large measure of bravery and even more confidence.  Not to say chutzpah.

(Cross-posted from Book Reviews by Rick Sincere)

Why Dress in Texas?

DC Agenda (successor to the venerable Washington Blade) has an interview with two Arlington residents who help contestants in female beauty pageants.  One of their "projects" is the new Miss America, Caressa Cameron.

The story, by Tyrone Ford, begins:

Chip Brown and his partner, Scott Freda, have achieved their dream by helping someone else achieve theirs.

The two gay men recently assisted 22-year-old Caressa Cameron of Fredericksburg, Va., as she worked toward becoming the latest woman to win the Miss America crown. Brown and Freda, who started the Miss Arlington Scholarship Organization nine years ago in keeping with their love of pageants, worked with Cameron as the Miss Virginia champion prepared last month to compete for the Miss America title.

A member of the Miss Virginia and Miss America families, the Miss Arlington Scholarship Organization previously helped three women take the Miss Virginia title. Cameron is their first champion to win the Miss America contest.

Later we find this curious exchange:

Agenda: After being in the pageant business for nine years now, what do you personally do to assist these young women?

Brown: We help them with their platforms, we take care of the paperwork, we do mock interviews and we help them shop for outfits. Every year, I take Miss Arlington to Texas and I buy her a dress or have one made by a dressmaker in Texas.

If any answer cries out for a follow-up question, it's that one.

Why Texas? Not that there's anything wrong with the Lone Star State (my visits there have been pleasant and educational) but it's not exactly known for haute couture. One's inclination is to think that, if you want to dress up a beauty pageant contestant, you'd go to New York or Paris or Milan. But why buy a dress in Texas?

The answer is probably that Mr. Brown knows a fashion designer in Austin or Laredo. But Ford doesn't ask the implied follow-up question.

In related news -- since, unless things have changed in the 30 years since I last saw a Miss America Pageant, there is still a swimsuit competition -- the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit issue is out, and it's a big moneymaker for the magazine and its parent company, Time Warner.

The cover model is Brooklyn Decker, opposite-sex spouse of tennis player Andy Roddick, and the issue is, as usual, getting a lot of buzz.

Dylan Stableford reports on The Wrap:

Make no mistake: the swimsuit issue is big business. Here are some hard numbers.

The issue generates 7 percent of the annual ad revenue SI generates. This year, SI sold 67 ad pages into its swimsuit issue, which was flat over last year. (In 2009, though, pages were down 33 percent -- so maybe that’s a sign the ad market is stabilizing.)

The magazine points out that more than a dozen advertisers created custom packages for the issue -- making it something like the print equivalent of the Super Bowl broadcast for print creatives on Madison Avenue.

And at the newsstand, the magazine usually sells well over a million single copies, or about 10-15 times how many regular issues of SI are sold.

I make no claim to understand the motives of heterosexual adolescent males, but aren't there a lot of other outlets for soft porn on the Internet? Perhaps the SI swimsuit issue is just a ritual or rite of passage, like getting a driver's license or a boy's first hangover.

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Snow Blast from the Past

We seem to have dodged a bullet tonight.  Early forecasts predicted that Charlottesville might be facing six to ten inches of snow on top of the 15 or so inches that walloped us last weekend.  A changeover to sleet and freezing drizzle seems to have thrown a blanket over those predictions, and we're likely to wake up in the morning with no more than an inch or two of the wet, white stuff on the ground.  Morning rush hour might be slower, but not disrupted.

Apparently the storm tracked northward, so Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., will still suffer multi-centimeters of snow in addition to the two feet or so that capital area residents have been trying to dig their way out of since Saturday.

All this snow -- a record seasonal snowfall for Charlottesville -- reminded me of one of the "big ones":  the 1979 Presidents' Day snowstorm that hit Washington while I was a sophomore at Georgetown University.  Records show that National Airport recorded an official total of 18.7 inches the weekend of February 19-20, 1979, but as an article in Tuesday's Washington Post explains, this number probably underestimates what fell on other Washington-area neighborhoods.

Paul Farhi wrote in the Style section:

National Airport became the official NWS reporting station for the District in 1941 and has recorded the most precise and voluminous weather data in the region since then, said Chris Strong, a Weather Service meteorologist. The city had its own official station in Georgetown dating back to the Civil War, but that was closed as the Weather Service moved to serve the meteorological needs of the growing aviation industry, he said. Dozens of weather "spotters" provide readings from around the city, but none as frequently as the office at National Airport.

What's more, the lower snowfall totals recorded there aren't really surprising, given the airport's location along the Potomac, Strong said. The river and sea-level location moderate the direction and influence of winds in the area.

Bob Ryan, WRC-TV's chief meteorologist, points out, too, that the construction of Crystal City immediately to the airport's west further affected wind patterns, making the airport's microclimate somewhat more benign than elsewhere.

In all, "precipitation levels can vary quite wildly" over a relative small area, Strong said. In fact, Alexandria -- a short jog south of the airport -- recorded 28.9 inches during the storm.

My memory of that 1979 storm jibes with that explanation. I remember snow much deeper than a foot and a half -- and home movies I took in the storm's aftermath seem to confirm my memories. I dug up -- no pun intended -- this two-minute clip of brief shots in Georgetown, including one really quick flash of Wisconsin Avenue right at the beginning, with most of the pictures taken on the main campus and East Campus of Georgetown University. Alert to Georgetown alumni who were frolicking in the snow over Presidents' Day weekend in 1979: you might see yourself in this video. (That includes you, Roger Theis, Leonard MacKenzie, Joe Banno, and Rick Peete, inter alia.)

Here's the clip, which I posted to YouTube on Monday evening, just before that popular web site went into maintenance mode for several hours:

(The music accompanying the pictures is an instrumental version of Georgetown's alma mater, known in 1979 as "Sons of Georgetown" and now called "Hail, Oh Georgetown," sung to the traditional Welsh anthem, "Men of Harlech.")

Just to bring things up to date, last Sunday, in the bright sunlight that inevitably follows a major snow storm, I took a few photos on the grounds of another renowned institution, the University of Virginia. Here's a sample; the rest can be found on Facebook.

 

  

  

  

Thinking back on that video -- made on a Super-8 movie camera with a zoom lens -- those kids you see throwing snowballs at Sugar's are now in their 30s or 40s, probably with kids of their own.  Time flies as fast as the jet stream brings an Arctic blast to the mid-Atlantic region.

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99 Years of Ronald Reagan

One year from today we will be celebrating the centenary of the birth of President Ronald Reagan.  It will also be Super Bowl Sunday, which should make for a lot of peanuts and beer, nachos and chicken wings -- as well as, one would hope, Jelly Belly multicolored and multi-flavored jelly beans.

Few people are waiting to begin the celebrations.  Around the country there are already stirrings of tribute to mark today, Ronald Reagan's 99th birthday.

In California, state Senator George Runner has introduced a bill that would make "Ronald Reagan Day" an official state holiday. In Nevada, there is a proposal to rename a mountain -- as yet undesignated -- "Mount Reagan."  In Iowa, a museum is showing two of Reagan's World War II-era movies.  In Illinois, Michael Reagan is speaking at his father's alma mater, Eureka College.  And Newsmax.com offers a slideshow of photographs from significant events during Reagan's life and presidency.

In an article in today's Los Angeles Times, Richard Simon writes about some of the ideas planned for the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth in 2011:

Events are planned across the country: A Reagan-themed float will grace Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena during the Rose Parade on Jan. 1. His boyhood home of Dixon, Ill., has commissioned an original piece of music -- the "Reagan Suite" -- to honor him. A program at Eureka College, from which Reagan graduated, will reflect on his Midwestern roots. Warner Bros. has been contacted about a possible event looking at the former president's Hollywood years. An effort is even underway to name a mountain in Nevada after him.

And events abroad are likely. A statue of Reagan will be unveiled in London, for example.

Over the last five years, I have posted a number of reflections on the life and legacy of Ronald Reagan, the earliest being a recollection of a speech he gave in Arlington, Virginia, in support of the three Republicans who were seeking the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General in 1985. One short quotation remains salient:

...we must never forget that our very freedom is based on this fact: that this nation is a federation of sovereign States, and they must never be reduced to administrative districts of the Federal Government, as some in Washington would have us do.

Apparently the Senate of Virginia agrees, at least insofar as the freedom of individuals to choose not to buy health insurance policies goes.

My next post on Ronald Reagan came one year after his death, which took place on June 5, 2004, coincidentally the eve of the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day. On that occasion, I quoted at length from "The Speech," also known as "A Time for Choosing," which, in one form or another, Reagan delivered countless times in the 1950s and '60s, but most famously just before the 1964 election in a television broadcast in support of presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. One nugget from that speech:

I think the government has legitimate functions. But I also think our greatest threat today comes from government’s involvement in things that are not government’s proper province. And in those things government has a magnificent record of failure.

Later that year, in December 2005, I had an opportunity (my first of two) to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and I photoblogged my experience there.

Two years ago today, I posted video that I took on my second visit to the Reagan Library (in July 2007) to mark President Reagan's 97th birthday.

Last year I wished my readers a "Happy Reagan Day" with excerpts of the then-future President's widely quoted 1975 interview with Reason magazine, in which he said:

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.

Last June, commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day, I quoted Reagan's address that he delivered in France in 1984, with the famous tag line:

These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.

A few days later, people in the United States and Central and Eastern Europe were taking note of another Reagan-centered anniversary: His speech at the Brandenburg Gate, in which he challenged Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" That blog post includes the text of the key passage and also has video of the speech.

Ninety-nine years of Ronald Reagan: what a remarkable near-century, what a remarkable man.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President, and thank you.



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Justice Thomas' Florida Vacation

Escaping the snow and ice (and more snow and ice!) of Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., was not likely foremost in his mind when he made his travel plans, but U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas demonstrated good timing when he chose to make a mini-tour of Florida law schools this week.

On Tuesday, Justice Thomas -- who rarely (if ever) speaks during Supreme Court proceedings, though perhaps less rarely delivers public speeches -- gave an address to students at Stetson University's College of Law in Gulfport, in which he defended the Court's recent campaign finance law decision in the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case.

According to the New York Times:

“I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it were The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company,” Justice Thomas said. “These are corporations.”

The part of the McCain-Feingold law struck down in Citizens United contained an exemption for news reports, commentaries and editorials. But Justice Thomas said that reflected a legislative choice rather than a constitutional principle.

He added that the history of Congressional regulation of corporate involvement in politics had a dark side, pointing to the Tillman Act, which banned corporate contributions to federal candidates in 1907.

“Go back and read why Tillman introduced that legislation,” Justice Thomas said, referring to Senator Benjamin Tillman. “Tillman was from South Carolina, and as I hear the story he was concerned that the corporations, Republican corporations, were favorable toward blacks and he felt that there was a need to regulate them.”

The St. Petersburg Times elaborated on Thomas' remarks, quoting him as saying:

"If 10 of you got together to speak, you would have a First Amendment right to speak and a First Amendment right to free association. Now what if you wanted to form a corporation?"

Later, another student pressed him that the decision could politically disenfranchise those without a corporation's resources.

Thomas seemed to acknowledge the point, but also cautioned: "The law can't solve all our problems."

The local paper also explained how Thomas came to make his visit:

Two factors brought Thomas to Stetson: his friendship with U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich of the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, a Stetson grad, and Thomas' appointment as circuit justice for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It's his job to decide on stays and other matters for the court, which includes Florida.

Thomas has a passion for reaching out to law students, said Stetson professor Michael Allen. What few public appearances the justice makes are often at law schools.

"It is difficult to convey how rare of an experience it is for any American law student to have with one of the Supreme Court justices," Allen said.

WTSP-TV, a Tampa Bay CBS affiliate, reported that Thomas offered his views on the Constitution in general:

Known as a conservative member of the court, Justice Thomas says he tries to uphold the original meaning of the United States Constitution. "I like the structure of the Constitution and the structure is our biggest protection as opposed to the Bill of Rights."

He reminds the students constitutional law is more than a subject in law school, "It's about our country. It's about how we deal with the government. It's about whether we will be ruled or governed by consent. It's about how we participate."

Justice Thomas says personal feelings are checked at the door when deciding on a case. "Not as a citizen, not as a Catholic, not as a black person or Corn Husker fan, but as a judge. You limit your role as a judge. That's what I do."

Thomas also reflected on his own days as a law student, according to radio station WUSF:

"I've sat where you all are sitting," Thomas said. "Wondering if I was going to get a job. Wondering what I was going to do next. Wondering how I was going to repay my student loans. Wondering how I was going to buy Infamil for my baby."

Thomas spoke at length about growing up in segregated Savannah, Ga. He portrayed it as a kinder, gentler time, where neighbors helped neighbors. Where he could bicycle safely to Mass before sunup. Where - as he put it - if you caught too many fish, you could give one to your neighbor and get some corn back in return.

"I still have reflections of segregated school and saying the pledge allegiance to the flag - proudly," he said. "Patriotic, proudly. People fighing to be part of a war when they were living under segregation because they're proud of their country. We weren't always fighting each other about who had more rights and who had less. It's like our family, whether we get along or not. And in some sense, And it some sense the one thing we can regain is it's our country, and it's worth keeping. And it's our Constitution, and it's worth interpreting right."

(WUSF has a link to the audio of Justice Thomas' remarks.)

Jamal Thalji of the St. Petersburg Times reported in a second article about Thomas' views about SCOTUS itself:

Thomas professed his love of count[r]y and the Constitution. He said he is most proud of how the Supreme Court goes about its work defending both.

"I would say one of the hallmarks of the court is civility," he said. "What we are trying to protect is larger than us."

But the court's role, he said, is often misunderstood.

"People think we are a court of appeal," he said. "We are not. We are there to settle disputes."

That's the purpose of the law, he said, to settle disputes ("Short of fisticuffs," he said to more laughter.)

Later this morning, Justice Thomas will be speaking with faculty and students at the Levin School of Law at the University of Florida. His speech and Q&A are scheduled to begin at 10:00 o'cock a.m. (EST) and there will be a video webcast sponsored by the University.

Four University of Florida law students have been selected to form a panel to ask questions of Justice Thomas, according to the Gainesville Sun:

[Debra] Amirin said only six seats were made available for media and Thomas wouldn't be taking any questions from reporters — only from the panel of four UF law students.

Leah Edelman, Joshua Mize, Jon Philipson and Dwayne Robinson earned the opportunity to ask Thomas questions after being selected by a faculty committee at the law school.

There will be 796 other people in the audience, the fortunate few who will hear the views of the quietest justice ... and not a snowflake for miles around.

(Hat tip to Booker Rising.)



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Charlottesville's 'Affordable Housing' Trap

The announcement that Charlottesville's City Council wants to increase the stock of so-called "affordable housing" by a significant fraction sent me back to look at one of my earliest blog posts.  Before revisiting that piece (which was the republication of an article I wrote in 1997, for what it's worth), let's look at this week's news.

Rachana Dixit wrote in the Daily Progress on February 1:

The City Council has agreed that Charlottesville’s affordable housing stock should increase to 15 percent of all city housing in the next 15 years.

“Housing is just as important as the other infrastructure we invest in in our community,” Councilor Holly Edwards said during the council’s meeting Monday.

Upping Charlottesville’s affordable housing percentage from 10 percent — the current amount, according to an affordable housing report completed by the city’s Housing Advisory Committee — to 15 percent would require the city to commit an average of $1.7 million each year until 2025, or a total of roughly $25.7 million. This would be needed to add and preserve 2,350 affordable housing units, the report states.

Now, take a look at what I wrote on December 23, 2004, but replace references to "Arlington" and "County Board" with "Charlottesville" and "City Council," and fast-forward dates from 1997 and 2047 to 2010 and 2060. (Just thinking of those upper-digit years sends shivers up one's spine.)

Moreover, Arlington suffers many of the same problems that communities across the United States do. Housing policy expert William Tucker explained in Reason magazine that "researchers estimate that zoning delays and building- code requirements add some $15,000 to $30,000 to the price a new home in many parts of the country. ‘Starter homes' -- simple, no-frills structures that first-time home buyers can afford -- are almost impossible to build in exclusive suburbs. Apartments are fought everywhere. . . . Then people wonder why we have an 'affordable housing problem.'"

We need to reframe the debate by removing the term "affordable housing" from our lexicon. "Affordable housing" is a weasel word that confuses more than it assists us in discussing housing policy. All housing is affordable to somebody. We should rather talk about low-income or moderate-income housing. That's the real issue.

Most low-income housing in Arlington was once owned or rented by middle- and upper-middle income residents. Colonial Village and Buckingham, for instance, were built almost 60 years ago to house well-paid New Deal bureaucrats who came to Washington from around the country and needed a place to live.

Over the past six decades, that housing has deteriorated and lost its value for upper-income people. It has therefore become available to lower-income groups. This scenario has been played out across the country. In cities like Philadelphia, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Richmond, houses that were once mansions owned by rich people have been subdivided into apartments for low- income tenants.

County Board Member Eisenberg and others would like to see a greater emphasis placed on low-rent units today, so that 10 percent of the county's housing stock falls into that category. Can you imagine what low-rent units built for 1997 will look like in 50 years? They will decay so rapidly that by 2047, they will be -- as one homeowners' advocate so aptly put it -- "mere shells," inviting disintegration, grime, and crime. Such decay may happen even sooner.

The flexible and adaptable housing market provides better long-term prospects. Whenever a developer builds a rental unit for a middle- or upper- income tenant, he frees up a unit that tenant formerly occupied for a lower- income resident to move into. That resident's former apartment then becomes available for someone from an even lower income group.

When government intervention -- whether in the form of subsidies or rent control -- takes place, the housing cycle becomes disrupted. The supply of housing does not circulate fully or smoothly, driving prices up. This makes rents and mortgage payments higher for everyone.

Little has changed in the past five (or even 13) years that would make me amend what I wrote back then, except to state it more baldly:  "Affordable housing" by design has to be cheap or low-quality housing.  If it isn't, the builder has to lose money on it (in the absence of a transfer payment from taxpayers).  Government intrusion in the marketplace interrupts the circulation of housing that makes older units "affordable" (relatively less expensive) and brings new, higher-quality units onto the market.  It may seem paradoxical, but if we want "affordable" housing in the future, we should be building "unaffordable" housing today.

Even though Charlottesville is a small city and Arlington is about five times as large (and is an urban entity overlaid with -- or masquerading as -- a county-government structure), the problems and solutions remain the same.  The economic realities of the housing market apply across the board, whether we are talking about large cities or rural areas, suburbs or exurbs, Manhattan (Kansas) or Manhattan (Big Apple).

Mayor Dave Norris and his fellow council members are well-intentioned.  It is good to make home ownership available to as many people as possible, and also to prevent homelessness.  Intervening in the housing market through subsidies and regulation of housing providers, however, will do little more than shift the problem either from one taxpayer to another or from one jurisdiction to another.  After all, the housing market of the City of Charlottesville is not self-contained; it is integrated with the markets of Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Nelson counties, and other areas beyond the our metropolitan area are affected, as well.




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Harvey Fierstein Coming to D.C. as Tevye

A news release came across my desk recently.  It announces that the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof, starring Tony® Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein, will be arriving at Washington's National Theatre in April.

The last time I saw Fiddler on the Roof in Washington, it featured Herschel Bernardi as Tevye at the Warner Theatre.  I think this was in 1980 or 1981.

Bernardi (who also starred in Zorba on Broadway and as "Arnie" on the eponymous TV series in the early 1970s) had taken over the role in the original New York run from the peripatetic and unpredictable Zero Mostel, who despite a brilliant performance in the lead, had a habit of breaking character and, for instance, announcing football scores to the audience in the middle of a show.  (I don't think the New York Giants played a lot of games in Tsarist Russia.)

I was also fortunate to have seen Harvey Fierstein in his first big hit, Torch Song Trilogy, on Broadway.  Matthew Broderick had already left the cast, but Fisher Stevens had taken over the role of David, the gay teenager needing an accepting home, which Fierstein's Arnold provides for him.  (Interestingly, I also saw Stevens on Broadway in Brighton Beach Memoirs, after he had taken over the role of Eugene, originated by -- wait for it -- Matthew Broderick.)

All this, plus my experience of having performed in Fiddler on the Roof in community theatre in 1979, will bring warm waves of nostalgia, coinciding with the arrival of the cherry blossoms.   Nice timing.

Here is the text of the news release about Fiddler on the Roof in Washington:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 21, 2010) Tradition is back! Harvey Fierstein reprises his Broadway role as Tevye in the North American Tour of the Tony® Award-winning musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, playing the National Theatre April 13 through May 9, 2010.

Tickets for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, starting at $51.50, go on sale Sunday, February 14, at 12 noon at the National Theatre Box Office and through Telecharge at www.telecharge.com or by calling (800) 447-7400. For groups of 15 or more, call (866) 276-2947. For more information, call (202) 628-6161 or visit www.NationalTheatre.org.

Mr. Fierstein starred as the iconic milkman Tevye in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival. Audiences now have the rare opportunity to see the Tony® Award-winner embrace one of his favorite roles in this Jerome Robbins-inspired production. Mr. Fierstein has won four Tony® Awards, including Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy. His most recent win was in 2003 for Best Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. He also won for La Cage aux Folles (Best Book), the upcoming Broadway revival of which opens this April. Mr. Fierstein was most recently seen on Broadway in A Catered Affair, for which he also wrote the book.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF has captured the hearts of people all over the world with its universal appeal and timeless message. The North American Tour continues the tradition of the 1964 Jerome Robbins Broadway production, for which Robbins garnered twin Tonys® for direction and choreography. In this National Tour, both are faithfully recreated by Director Sammy Dallas Bayes, choreographer of the Broadway Revival.

When FIDDLER ON THE ROOF opened in the United States in 1964, it was a time of change and crumbling traditions in this country. Perhaps the explanation for its worldwide success in the '60s and '70s was that the play illustrated the universality of such issues as the “generation gap,” youthful dissent, revolutionary doctrine, and the oppression of minorities. Students of the time identified with the rebellious Perchik, and strongly related to the breaking of hallowed traditions. Tevye and others of his time struggled with these same issues in 1905, and emerged triumphant, offering the hope and promise of reconciliation to a turbulent society. Today, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is as relevant as ever.

Now, in the midst of a new millennia, in a world fraught with anxiety and fear, the one constant humanity can rely on is the strength of family and of its traditions that will ultimately sustain it through its own trials and tribulations. Forty-five years later, new audiences can identify and take heart as they experience the tradition in great musical theatre that is FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

It might just be coincidence, or an ill portent, that this production of Fiddler opens on the 145th anniversary of another notable event in a Washington theater:  the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at Ford's, just a few blocks from the National Theatre.

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Fifth CD Candidates on the 10th Amendment

At the invitation of radio talk-show host Rob Schilling, six of the seven candidates for the GOP congressional nomination in the Fifth District of Virginia -- Ken Boyd being the exception -- have submitted short statements on their views on the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Rob lists the candidates in the order in which their responses were received, but I'll upend that by selectively quoting them in alphabetical order.  (Like Rob, I have not edited these sentences for spelling or grammar or syntax.)

Ron Ferrin:

Many have never read it before and had no idea that the REAL power of this country was placed by the constitution in the hands of the STATES. However, I believe that is about to change. For the first time, states have the motive and popular support to challenge a Federal Government action by the parameters of the 10 amendment.

Robert Hurt:

In Virginia, we are standing up for limited government and individual liberty. In fact, as a member of the Virginia General Assembly, I have cosponsored legislation that seeks to challenge the authority of the federal government to enact an unconstitutional federal takeover of our healthcare system. If elected to Congress, I pledge that I will continue to fight to reduce the size and influence of the federal government and to restore this country’s founding principles.

Jim McKelvey:

The tenth amendment to the Constitution is arguably the clearest statement in the bill of rights. There are powers and duties in the Constitution that spell out the scope of the federal government. The founders included the tenth amendment to help all of us understand where the power lies, powers that the Constitution did not impart on the government. It is clear and direct; it needs no interpretation, but it does need defending.

Mike McPadden:

...the Federal Government is only allowed to do what is actually written down in the Constitution saying what it is allowed to do. This was referred to by James Madison as the, “enumerated powers “, of the Constitution. If the Constitution doesn’t say that the Federal Government can institute universal health care, then it may not.

Feda Morton:

The Supreme Court has continued to turn its back on the 10th Amendment and given the Federal Government more power than strict Constitutionalists have deemed to be proper. With the establishment of the Interstate Commerce Clause, the courts have “discovered” all manner of permissions to elevate Washington and suppress state and individual rights.

Laurence Verga:

I am the only candidate who has signed a written pledge to uphold the 10th amendment. I challenge my opponents to do so as well if they want to take the amendment seriously.

It's clear that these six candidates are, to one extent or another, "Tenthers" -- a word not of opprobrium, but of pride.



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Remember to Count the Buts

The punditocracy is abuzz with anticipation of President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address, scheduled to take place Wednesday night at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

(I will be in Washington, too, but won't be watching the SOTU.  Instead, I will be at Ford's Theatre to see a play about the Lincoln-Douglas debates called The Rivalry, written by Norman Corwin.  Remember when politicians really engaged their audiences with extended and articulate argumentation?  You'd have to be old enough to have seen Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas to say "yes.")

Continuing pre-game coverage of the State of the Union sent me back to what I wrote about Bill Clinton's 1996 State of the Union message for The Metro Herald, 14 years ago next week.  One paragraph leaped out at me:

Unfortunately, Clinton does not mean what he says. When he appears to embrace conservative -- even libertarian -- principles, he always has a fallback to traditional, failed liberal policies. In his State of the Union message, Clinton used the word "but" 27 times in 65 minutes. Each time he made a grand statement that conservatives and libertarians could readily and happily agree with -- such as "the era of big government is over" -- he qualified it with a "but." Each "but" meant that "we liberals recognize that conservatives have won over public opinion, so we're telling you we agree with them, even though we're sticking to the same policies we've advocated for thirty years."

Although Obama lacks Clinton's deft political skills (Obama is not nearly enough like a chameleon to match Bill Clinton in that regard), it may be useful to count the "buts" in the President's speech.

In fact, why not make a drinking game out of it? Instead of taking a shot every time President Obama says "Hi, Bob!" (an unlikely prospect, in any case), swing one back whenever he says "but" or "however."

You'll be lucky to leave your SOTU-watching party on your own two legs.

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Pop One for Me, Please

It's Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!

Who knew?

It turns out that people have been celebrating the useful (but sometimes annoying) packing material for nine years now, in anticipation (I guess) of the 50th anniversary of the invention of Bubble Wrap in 2010.

According to the Christian Science Monitor -- which used to be available as packing material itself, until it went on-line only last year:

Sealed Air Corporation's Bubble Wrap, like Kleenex, Post-Its, and, well, Snuggies, has come to occupy one the rarest gems of consumer acceptance: adoption of its brand name as the generic term for the product. And because an Indiana radio station decided it nine years ago, today, the last Monday in January, is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, a day when folks the world over are encouraged to pause, ponder, and, well, pop little plastic bubbles of air.

CSM points to a web site to aid the celebration: BubbleWrapFun.com, which includes "Fun & Games," a "Gift Shop," and "1001 Uses." And, of course, Bubble Wrap has an official Facebook page.

All that's left is for you to rush to your nearest office supply store, buy a roll of Bubble Wrap, and tease your dog for hours on end.

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Fifth District Republicans Debate

Last Friday evening, six of the seven declared candidates for the Republican nomination for Congress in Virginia's Fifth District came together for a forum sponsored by the Lynchburg and Jefferson Area Tea Parties. The candidates' forum took place at the Lane Auditorium in the Albemarle County Office Building in Charlottesville.

The forum was carried live on the radio on WCHV-AM 1260 and -FM (94.1) and that station's morning host, Joe Thomas, welcomed the audience and introduced the participants, including moderator Robert Tracinski, editor and publisher of The Intellectual Activist.

Keith McGilvery covered the debate for WVIR-TV (NBC29) in Charlottesville:

Within minutes, talk turned to health care, where the candidates thought it had gone wrong, and how they would fix it.

Candidate Michael McPadden says, "I don't see where the federal government has any role in mandating any sort of healthcare reforms, we can do this via free market reforms, there's a number of things we can do."

A number of candidates at the tea party sponsored showdown argued that creating competition is key.

Candidate Ron Ferrin said, "The bottom line is, my philosophy in government is capitalism is the cure and that is exactly what we're talking about to cure health care."

Candidate Feda Morton says, "We do need to be able to have access to insurance across state lines to make competition between the different insurance companies, so people can compete and choose the insurance they want."

Laurence Verga says, "The health care system needs to move from an employer based system with a limited amount of companies buying insurance to an open market system."

Ken Boyd said, "We need to move out there to the people and let them negotiate for their own health care, that's just one step in the right direction."

One candidate made the case that keeping an eye on our borders could help curb costs. Candidate Jim McKelvey says, "again, shut the borders illegal immigration is a huge burden on our health care system, and it needs to stop."

McGilvery noted, as did others, that state Senator Robert Hurt did not participate in the forum alongside his six opponents for the GOP nod. A playful effigy of Hurt, however, was erected on the dais. Surprisingly, Hurt's absence (and the presence of his cardboard image) was only mentioned once or twice by the other candidates, who chose to focus on the issue-oriented questions that were posed to them by moderator Tracinski.

Brian McNeill, a reporter for The Daily Progress, noted a few of the candidates' other responses in a story on GoDanRiver.com:

Each was asked what his or her top priority would be if elected to Congress with a GOP majority.

Ron Ferrin, a businessman from Campbell County, said he would try to erase everything passed so far during the Obama administration

“I would propose the Liberty Recovery Act of 2011 that would repeal everything that Obama was going to induce in his first two years of office,“ he said.

Michael McPadden, a commercial pilot from North Garden, said he would seek to boost economic activity by cutting taxes and reducing government spending. “You want jobs in this country, then you cut taxes,“ he said. “Cut the size and scope of the federal government."

Laurence Verga, a private real estate investor from Ivy, said he would slash a long list of taxes, including corporate and small business taxes, as well as the estate and capital gains taxes.

Verga said the voters deserve better than the “devastation of Tom Perriello” when it comes to the economic problems facing the district. “We can and we will do better,“ he said.

Jim McKelvey, a Franklin County real estate developer, said he would reduce the size of the federal government by 20 percent and bring to the floor of Congress a bill that would implement the so-called FairTax that would eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a retail sales tax.

The candidates were asked if they disagreed with any actions undertaken during the George W. Bush administration.

Verga said he objected to the Troubled Asset Relief Program bank bailout, the McCain-Feingold limits on campaign finance and the No Child Left Behind education reform.

Feda Kidd Morton, a Fluvanna County biology teacher and GOP activist, said she opposed the bank bailout and also the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was actually signed by Bill Clinton in 1994.

“I go back to NAFTA, definitely. NAFTA is draining our jobs overseas,“ Morton said. “I would take NAFTA off the table and bring our manufacturing jobs and businesses back into this country."

McPadden also looked to earlier administrations for his sources of criticism. “I’d go back to the Carter administration, get rid of the Education Department first,“ he said. “Go back to the Clinton administration, AmeriCorps has got to go. Go back to the Bush administration, TARP funding has got to go. And no funding for ACORN ever."

Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd told the crowd that he has a decade’s worth of experience reducing government spending and balancing budgets.

“We need someone willing to step up, cut spending and balance the budget,“ he said. “That’s something we’ve done here in Albemarle County."

Boyd said he, too, would take drastic steps to reduce the size of the federal government.

“The federal Department of Education should be done away with,“ Boyd said, saying it is unconstitutional.

The whole discussion lasted about 90 minutes, and I was able to capture virtually all of it on video, which I had to upload to YouTube in small bites. (That is why the Democratic blog, Blue Virginia, has just two segments posted within its report on the event.)

Here is the complete discussion, in eleven parts:

Part I is the introduction by Joe Thomas and Robert Tracinski:

Part II includes the opening statements by the six candidates:

Part III has the answers to Tracinski's first question,"Would you consider opposing a bill for no other reason than that it grants powers to the government that are not specifically authorized by the Constitution?":

Part IV has the answers to the moderator's second question,"What should we do about health care?":

Part V begins a "lightning round," with two questions requiring answers just 30 seconds long. The first question of the two asks what should be the top priority of a Republican-controlled Congress after next November's elections; the second asks, "What legislation or other measure would you reverse ... from the Bush administration?":

Part VI also includes two questions, "What is the most important thing the government should to to get people back to work?..." and "What will you do to defend [the right to work]?":

Part VII continues the fast-track questions, with one on "cap-and-trade" and the EPA's authority to regulate carbon dioxide, and the other on the candidates' favorite or most influential philosopher or thinker:

After a short intermission and the announcement that the audience had 400 people in it, Part VIII returned to questions requiring a 90-second answer. That question focused on what the candidates thought about the Tea Party movement.

Part IX continues with an answer to the question asked in Part VIII; Michael McPadden's response didn't fit into the 10 minutes allotted to a video clip by YouTube:

The question in Part X assumes there is a Republican majority in the 112th Congress and looks back at the 1994 GOP takeover, asking how the candidates would vote if there was a conflict with a Democratic president like the budget showdown in 1995 between Bill Clinton and the House under the leadership of Newt Gingrich.

In Part XI, the final segment, Robert Tracinski asks about "big middle-class entitlements," namely Social Security and Medicare.

A straw poll taken after the candidates' forum gave Mike McPadden a strong lead at 56.2 percent. Full results can be seen at Virginia Fifth District Watchdog.

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