Duke of Data Blog: 02/10/2008

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Boys Do Not Become Men by Accident

The Lost Art of War: Hollywood’s anti-American war films don’t measure up to the glories of its patriotic era.

In Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), John Wayne’s Sergeant Stryker (center) must steep himself in violence, and make physical and spiritual sacrifices, to defend civilization.

The Resilient Society: A blueprint for homeland security

A resilient society depends on engaged citizens, like this New York volunteer helping to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina.

Why Don’t Jews Like the Christians Who Like Them?

Albrecht Durer's Revelation of St. John, 1498.

Albrecht Dürer’s Revelation of St. John, 1498

Clearly, Clemens misremembers plight of Pete Rose

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http://thetrawbros.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/clemens-needle.jpg

Friday, February 15, 2008

The Gospel in Everyday Conversations

'Roid Rage: What the sports world doesn't get about Washington

Inside the Clinton Shake-Up

Like so much involving Hillary Clinton, Sunday’s departure of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, has gotten tons of attention, but its larger significance has been somewhat misunderstood. I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last two years reporting on “Hillaryland,” as Clinton’s inner circle is known, for pieces like this one and this one, and also, infamously, for one that did not run when GQ magazine opted to kill it after learning of the Clinton campaign’s displeasure (full story here). The latter piece focused on the inner workings of Clinton’s presidential campaign and Solis Doyle’s controversial role in it, and I’ll draw on what I learned then to try to add perspective to recent happenings.

Depositions paint a complex portrait of McNamee

It's finally baseball season: Reds Spring Training Starts 2/16

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McNamee tried to balance Clemens loyalty, pressure from feds

Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

In the days before the Mitchell Report was released in December, Brian McNamee, shown here testifying at Wednesday's congressional hearing, apparently tried to warn Roger Clemens that he would be implicated.

Bono's Red Auction Rakes In Green

An auction at Sotheby's organized by rocker-activist Bono and artist Damien Hirst raised $42.6 million Thursday night to fight AIDS in Africa.

In kicking off the Valentine's Day sale, to which over 60 top contemporary artists donated museum-quality work, Bono led the crowd in a sing-along of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love." Auctioneer Oliver Barker also milked the spirit of the holiday to egg the celebrity-packed crowd to raise their paddles, asking after bids, "What is the price of love?"

It seemed to work--pieces by 17 artists sold for the highest prices their work has ever fetched at auction, Sotheby's said.

Six of seven works contributed by the U.K. shock artist Hirst sold for more than $1 million each, with a decorated steel and glass pill cabinet titled "Where There's A Will There's A Way" going for $7.15 million, including a 10% buyer's premium.

Jeff Koons' "Balloon Rabbit Wall Relief," a silk screen on stainless steel, sold for $2,035,000. It was expected to go for $800,000 to $1 million.

In a first, Sotheby's, the Gagosian Gallery and Bono's charity, Red, didn't take a penny to organize the sale. All the proceeds will go to support HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa run by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Clash of the 3-D Rock Stars

Left, Miley Cyrus in concert; right, the rock band U2 plays live.

Ronald Reagan Would Back McCain, by Michael Reagan

Unlike my father, a lot of conservatives stayed home in 1976, and we got four years of Jimmy Carter, whose main legacy was to drive the Shah of Iran from power and create the Islamic Republic of Iran with a bunch of wild-eyed mullahs running the show. He also gave us 20 percent inflation and long, long lines at the gas pumps. And don’t forget 440 days of Americans held hostage by the mullahs.

By staying home those conservatives made possible the future election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

We are still suffering from the legacy of James Earl Carter, thanks to the conservatives who refused to follow Ronald Reagan’s example and instead sulked at home while the nation was being handed over to the worst president in American history.

We were still in the middle of the Cold War in those days, and by staying home conservatives risked losing that war by allowing an incompetent leader to become commander in chief.

Hillary Agonistes

Confidence or Derangement?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Why Pitchers Use Steroids

Does a pitcher even need an opportunity to use steroids? Yes - to recover from the most unnatural act in the game: throwing a baseball.

Are Young Evangelicals Skewing More Liberal?

Observers Say Younger Christians Have Longer, Broader List of Social Concerns

A New Kind of Urban Christian, by Tim Keller

As the city goes, so goes the culture.

A gated community in the evangelical world

Many of the nation's most powerful believers � presidents, CEOs, entertainers and athletes � won't be found in the pews on Sundays, thus creating a growing gap between them and 'the people.' It's a trend that is having a profound effect on this faith movement.

The McCain Fiscal Record

Obama as Diplomat in Chief

McCain's Challenge

Obama at the Top

McCain's Donor List

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Body language analyst breaks down Clemens, McNamee performances

Who was more credible, Clemens or McNamee?

Blood-and-guts politics

"The old-guard feminist establishment has also rushed out of cold storage to embrace Hillary Clinton via tremulous manifestoes of gal power that have startlingly exposed the sentimental slackness of thought that made Gloria Steinem and company wear out their welcome in the first place. Hillary's gonads must be sending out sci-fi rays that paralyze the paleo-feminist mind -- because her career, attached to her husband's flapping coattails, has sure been heavy on striking pious attitudes but ultra-light on concrete achievements."