on emergence in churches. I’m not sure she’s using the term in the same sense that I do.
Clayton Cramer comments on Prozac and mass murder.
His post has a close bearing on a discussion I’ve been having with shrinkette.
In her blogging capacity rather than her professional capacity, I mean.
The headlines from various newspapers, as reported in this interesting post make you wonder if they’re reporting the same story:
Relief pours in (Miami Herald)
Red tape ties up tsunami aid (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Tidal wave of relief gets moving (Lewiston Tribune)
Relief effort builds (Tribune-Review)
Nations struggle to get aid to tsunami survivors (The Morning Call)
The original post has actual shots of these front pages and a lot more.
There’s been quite some kerfuffle in the blogosphere over this statement by British minister Clare Short:
“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,” she said.
“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.
“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”
The Diplomad, for example, responded diplomadically (as opposed to diplomatically) with the post Flash! Clare Short is an Idiot!. It was while reading the post on Captain’s Quarters that I wondered what the source of the United Nations’s moral authority actually was.
To the best of my knowledge only three alternatives have ever been proposed as sources of moral authority. The first is, of course, the Hobbesian proposition that might makes right. This can’t conceivably be the source of moral authority for the United Nations since the UN has no might of its own whatsoever.
The second potential source of moral authority is the top-down notion that moral authority derives from God. This was the source of what was called the “divine right of kings”. It’s also the source of moral authority for the obviously virtuous. I don’t see that any of these are actually pertinent to the United Nations.
The third potential source of moral authority for the United Nations might be the bottom-up sort of moral authority that’s embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: the will of the people. The problem with this as a source of moral authority for the United Nations is that the United Nations is about as un-democratic an institution as is imaginable. By what stretch can the General Assembly be called democratic? Any body in which tiny Lichtenstein gets the same vote as China may be deliberative but it’s not democratic. Or the Security Council in which any of the World War II allies can veto any measure that doesn’t strike their fancy? Additionally, there is the problem of the monarchies and other autocracies that comprise a good part of the United Nations. Can societies that don’t believe in the moral authority of democracy convey moral authority on the United Nations through the power of democracy?
Is there something particularly democratic about the UN bureaucracy? I certainly don’t see it. Is there some special moral authority conveyed by bureaucratic process per se? I can’t imagine what that might be but it would seem to be the only possible source of moral authority for the United Nations. Perhaps this is the particular danger presented by the unfolding Oil-for-Food scandal. If the moral authority of the UN bureaucracy is conveyed by some mystical effect of following the appropriate processes when those processes themselves are not followed by that bureaucracy what becomes of the moral authority?
So I continue to be puzzled. Perhaps someone can explain it to me.
I’ve been collecting predictions for the new year in anticipation of coming up with a few of my own. I’ll be updating this as I come up with more. Check out these:
Alex Barnett has his own run-down of 2005 predictions. There’s also a run-down of predictions (particularly with a business or economic focus) at this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists.
As The Sage said, it’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. Here are my meager offerings:
There will be two U. S. Supreme Court vacancies to fill before year’s end either through death or retirement. My first guess would be Chief Justice Rehnquist. I guess I’ll tap Justice O’Connor as my second guess since she may be waiting to see if she’s appointed Chief Justice. She won’t be.
The Iraq elections will come off at the end of this month and there will be a good turnout including among the Sunnis. The elections won’t do much to quell the violence there but the new government may have a freer hand in doing so.
No appreciable Social Security reform (although there may be some legislature passed and packaged as such).
Dow stays below 11,000.
Howard Dean will not be named chairman of the Democratic party.
Flu pandemic.
Major development in solar power generation. My guess: much cheaper solar panels.
No major improvements in either spam control or net security.
Iran tests nuclear weapon.
No UN official or employee does a day of jail time for corruption related to Oil-for-Food scandal.
Kofi Annan continues to serve out his second term as UN Secretary General (and in all probabilty will complete his in 2006).
Ben Affleck will not marry in 2005.
Britney Spears’s marriage will not survive 2005.
The Passion of the Christ will be nominated for one or more Academy Awards but won’t win any.
“Hot pursuit” military action into Syria before year’s end.
Osama bin Laden will not be captured. At least 3 more audio tapes will
appear apparently from OBL. No video.
Former president Ford dies.
Former president Carter doesn’t.
All of the following will either have announced their campaign for the Presidency, formed exploratory committees, or will obviously be campaigning for the job: Joe Biden, Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Frist, John McCain.
My surest prediction: no major Chicago professional sports team will win a championship in 2005.
Gerard Vanderleun of American Digest has a modest proposal: let America
take a sabbatical. Been there. Done that. We called it “the Clinton Administration”.
And while we’re looking at The Dead Parrot Society Fred of TDPS posts on adopting a pet after the holidays. I’ve
been meaning to comment on this myself. I see red every time I pass a pet store advertising pets
as holiday gifts.
Command Post continues to list good agencies for contributing to relief for victims of the Sumatran tsunami. Go. Give.
The Diplomad is in a lather
about the UN response to the Sumatran tsunami disaster. Well worth a read.
Norm Geras profiles blogger Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping.
We retire early here at Chez Glittering Eye so New Year’s Eve celebrations usually aren’t very much. If I make it all the way to midnight and drink a quick glass of champagne it’s a major achievement. But New Year’s Day is celebrated with considerable pomp and ceremony. Following the traditions of my wife’s family we rise early and breakfast on my wife’s famous apricot studel. I’ll give you the recipe for that some time.
We then watch the Rose Parade on TV. If you’re not aware of it, by far the best television coverage of the Rose Parade is on House & Garden TV on cable. They don’t just hit the high spots. They cover all the floats, all the bands, and all the equestrian groups. And the commentary is actually pretty well-informed unlike the inane happy-talk on the broadcast networks.
Part of the Rose Parade tradition with us has been my father-in-law’s Ramos Fizzes. Traditionally, they were consumed during the parade and all the way up to what Don (my father-in-law) as a proud alumnus of what he referred to as “the greater university of Southern California” called “the SC Game” (elsewhere referred to as the Rose Bowl Game).
Don’s been gone for some time now but we’ve preserved the tradition. I’m sharing the recipe with you so you can drink your “Fizzies” during the Rose Parade, too. Drink a toast to Don when you do.
This recipe is quite a few years old and some of the ingredients are rather hard to come by. I’ve come up with some acceptable substitutes over time and I’ll put those at the end of the recipe.
Put all of the ingredients in the bowl of a blender.
Put ice in the blender until the combined ingredients and the ice are even.
Blend until (reasonably) smooth.
Place in the freezer for one hour before serving.
To serve half-fill the glass with the fizz mixture. Add Schweppes Bitter Lemon to within a half-inch of the rim of the glass. Stir briefly. Sprinkle a little ground nutmeg on top.
I can get a really decent result in well under an hour by putting the smoothed mixture into an ice cream freezer and following the directions on the freezer. Or just wait the hour.
Any decent sweet and sour bar mix can be substituted for the Taverners Sweet and Sour Bar Mix. But Taverners is what Don always used. Schweppes Bitter Lemon is indeed available but you probably won’t find it in your local store. I have found that one part sweet and sour bar mix or Tom Collins bar mix to two parts quinine is an adequate substitute for Bitter Lemon. You can adjust it to your own taste. There is no substitute for orange bitters. If you don’t have it, leave it out—it’ll still be good (do not substitute Angostura bitters).
How much will this make? That depends on who you’re serving but for four adults you can expect to go through two recipes’ worth. We typically do around here. Happy New Year!
Dean Esmay continues posting on AIDS, HIV, AZT and scientific orthodoxy.
Love it or hate it you ought to read it.
Infidel of Duophony has a good run-down of relief efforts. And some choice words
for local Asian governments.
Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping posts an email from a long-time friend
who’s an officer in the Salvation Army giving an on-scene assessment of the tsunami disaster.
One of her greats has died. Jerry Orbach has died at age 69 of prostate cancer. Known to most people for his portrayal of the veteran cop on the long-running television series Law and Order, he was the star of nine Broadway shows over the period of the last 40 years. He created the part of El Gallo in the off-off-Broadway musical, The Fantasticks, the longest-running musical in the world (picture at right).
He created the part of the puppeteer in Carnival; he created the part of Billy Flynn, the lawyer (played in the movie by Richard Gere) in the musical Chicago. He was nominated three times for Tonies and won once, for Promises, Promises in 1969.
I suspect that the man was much like the parts he played: world-weary, cynical and very, very charming. He’s had few equals over the last 40 years and no superiors. The stage is poorer tonight.
Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,
Altho’ you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,
Without a hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,
The fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow.
UPDATE: ABC News has reported that Broadway marquee lights were dimmed for Jerry Orbach on Wednesday night. From the ABC article:
“People adored him,” said Merkerson, who plays Lt. Van Buren [ed. on Law and Order]. She recalled sharing lunch one day with Orbach and co-star Benjamin Bratt, when several fans approached the table. “Jerry stopped eating to talk to them. But after a while, I whispered to him, `Your food is getting cold.’
“`Kid,’ he replied with a big smile, ‘these are the people that keep us going!'”
Mr. Orbach may have been the last of a breed: no male star since has matched the breadth and continuity of his career in musicals. Though he originated the part of the corrupt, silver-tongued lawyer Billy Flynn in Bob Fosse’s 1975 production of the musical “Chicago,” Mr. Orbach was at his best as a tough cookie with a melting center.
One of her greats has died. 
