I ordered several books through inter-library loan about raising boys, not knowing anything about them other than the title. The one pictured below was the first to arrive. On the inside flap of the jacket it reads, "Dr. James Dobson, America's foremost authority on the family [say what? first alarm bell rings], provides a road map for raising healthy sons -- for shaping the next generation of responsible, God-honoring men." [ding ding ding, multiple alarm bells going off]
Flipping to the table of contents, I see chapter nine is titled, "The Origins of Homosexuality." This should be good, I think naughtily. Sure enough, I learn there that the "condition of 'prehomosexuality'" can be "effectively prevented." The author goes on: "Change is possible. Hope is available. And Christ is in the business of healing."
Sweet Jesus, I'm sending this one straight back from whence it came (the Newfield Public Library).
Henry Brandon shares his opinion of Jimmy Carter in this 1989 appearance on Booknotes:
"I had a feeling that Carter suffered from an inner insecurity. If you watched him on television there was an expression of anxiety usually in his face. We were ... talking about [what] a leader needs and he needs to project inner self confidence and Carter did not. I think Carter would have made a very good Secretary of State because he was a good negotiator. He proved that in the Camp David negotiations for instance. But I don't think he had the stature for the Presidency."
A running collection of closing words from the authors interviewed on Booknotes … this also serves as a record of all the episodes of Booknotes that I have viewed:
Zbigniew Brzezinski -- "I enjoyed it. Thank you."
Judy Shelton -- "My pleasure. Thank you for having me."
Bruce Oudes -- "You're quite welcome."
Susan Moeller -- "Thank you, sir."
Henry Brandon -- "Thank you for asking me."
David Hackworth -- "My pleasure."
James Fallows -- "Thank you. It's been a great pleasure."
Gregory Fossedal -- "Thanks for having me."
Stanley Karnow -- "Thank you, Brian."
James MacGregor Burns -- "Thank you."
Robert Christopher -- "It was a lot of fun. Thank you."
Robert Byrd -- "Thank you very much. Thank you."
Nathaniel Branden -- "I really enjoyed this. It was absolutely, from my point of view, wonderful. Very relaxed, very easy, very natural, I don't know how it even sounded to you, but whatever your personal agenda was, I had a very good time."
Roger Kennedy -- "Thank you."
George Wilson -- "Thank you."
Jeanne Simon -- [interview cut off]
Gina Kolata — “Thank you.”
Clifford Stoll — “Many thanks to you. I appreciate it.”
Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar — “Thank you very much.”
Jennifer Toth — “Thank you.”
Robert Wright — “Thank you.”
Ted Yeatman — “Thank you.”
Ellen Joan Pollack — “Thank you.”
Roy Morris, Jr. — “Thank you for having me.”
Peter Charles Hoffer — “Thank you.“
Linda Greenlaw — “Thank you.”
Jill Jonnes — “Thank you so much for having me.”
Simon Worrall — “Thank you, Brian. It was a pleasure. Thanks.”
Liz Trotta — “Thank you, Brian.”
Malcolm Wilde Brown — “Thank you very much for having me.”
Fitzhugh Green — “….“
Adam Bellow — “Thank you, Brian.” | 2019 Jan 28
Walter Berns — “…” | 2019 Jan 30
Carl Cannon — “Thank you.” | 2019 Feb 6
Robert Conquest — “…” | 2019 Feb 7
Barbara Crossette — “Thank you.” | 2019 Feb 8
Midge Decter — “…” | 2019 Feb 13
James Abourezk — “…” | 2019 Dec 4
Jean H. Baker — “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.” | 2019 Dec 4
Irving H. Bertlett — “…” | 2019 Dec 4
A. Scott Berg — “Thanks for having me here.” | 2019 Dec 9
David Aikman — Thank you, Brian. | 2019 Dec 9
Liva Baker — Thank you. | 2019 Dec 9
Nicholas Basbanes — Thank you, sir. | 2019 Dec 9
Jane Alexander — Thank you, Brian. It's been a pleasure. | 2019 Dec 10
Neil Baldwin — “Thank you very much.” | 2019 Dec 10
Here are some of the bits I liked best from Susan Moeller's appearance on Booknotes, discussing her cleverly titled book, "Shooting War: Photography and the American Experience of Combat." [emphasis mine]
[Talking about a photo printed in Life Magazine in September 1943]
"MOELLER: The reason it's pivotal is that it was one of the first three photographs that were released of the American dead. So it's the first time in 50 years that Americans saw Americans who had been killed in combat. Up to that 1943 date, censorship for World War II was the same as for World War I. You couldn't show graphic pictures of any kind."
...
"World War II was the war that everyone felt needed to be fought. It was a good war. But the Korean War people had much more ambivalent feelings about -- so the photographs that came back mirrored the ambivalence."
...
[Discussing the controversial photograph of a South Vietnamese general using a revolver to shoot an alleged Viet Cong lieutenant in the head, in the street.]
"MOELLER: Well, it was very controversial for all kinds of reasons. It raised questions about how far photography go. How much should the media show us. But more importantly than the journalistic issues, it raised questions about was this a war that condoned that kind of action. Was that a war that Americans wanted to participate in?
LAMB: I can even remember -- and this is 20 years later -- that it was General Loan.
MOELLER: It was General Loan.
LAMB: I mean, did it have that kind of an impact on all us?
MOELLER: Yes. It really did."
There's video footage of that execution, which I have unfortunately seen, not just still photos. It's probably on YouTube, if you're inclined to search for it.
I wrote my widely-read posts on SunEdison ($SUNE) and Valeant ($VRX) back in January, and thought I'd post updated charts to show what has happened since.
SunEdison (SUNE) was $3.41 when I wrote that post and last traded at $0.43, an 87% drop. The trend turned in July 2015 and has been continuously down since. I'm flabbergasted that there are big-money hedge funds that rode this one all the way down, and continued to hold even after reading my post.
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Valeant (VRX) is a little more complicated. As you recall, the key exit was on September 28, 2015 at $196.73, the same day that Xuhua Zhou's blog post appeared. On December 7, 2015 my trend-following system signaled a buy in VRX at $94.08. The exit from that long occurred on February 16, 2016 at $90.49 (a loss of 3.8%), and the trend has remained down since, with the stock closing last Friday at $28.10, a 68.9% fall from the February exit.
Again, there were prestigious, big-money guys who rode this thing all the way down, and even *added* to their losing positions as it fell ... completely unbelievable from this frayed-shirtcuff chartist's perspective.
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No changes this week.
Many have wondered what semi-retired Appalachians wear on their feet, and the answer in my case is flip-flops by Teva, specifically the Mush II Canvas model. I have a pair for indoors and a pair for outdoors. Actually, I have a couple of pairs for each in different colors since I'm such a fashion maven. Like the old Birkenstocks, the soles of these things conform to your feet exactly, making them super comfortable, but they don't have the ugly tops like Birkenstocks have. A steal at $25 a pair.
Previously: Chairman Recommended: Underwear
