Chris Lang's Web Log
2008-11-17 1645: This week, the Senate is going to vote on an emergency bailout of the Republican Party. Economists say that without government intervention, the Republican Party may run out of cash reserves by year's end. Some commentators argue that the intervention is necessary, because the GOP employs many thousands of people, particularly in the South and in small towns. They say that if the GOP attempted a Chapter 11 reorganization, the credit crunch would still prevent the GOP from borrowing the money it needs to operate, and the Chapter 11 would quickly devolve to a Chapter 7 liquidation. In that event, GOP supporters warn, it could cause a cascading failure of right-wing think tanks and publishers, increasing unemployment and worsening the home foreclosure crisis. Critics of the GOP counter that a bailout would only delay the collapse of the GOP, and that a bailout would be good money after bad—money that would be more productively used on other segments of the economy. Critics of the GOP say that there is a moral hazard in rewarding a political party for its bad decisions. In the case of the GOP, they argue, the party stayed with a failed business model of running on conservative social issues (such as opposition to same-sex marriage), long after the American public moved away from such issues. Critics say the GOP is a dinosaur in a more-tolerant America.
2008-11-17 1630: Yesterday, something happened that has never happened in the history of the NFL: a game finished with a 11-10 score. This was Pittsburgh over San Diego. The strange final score was almost disrupted when a desperate San Diego lateral pass was batted down and recovered by Pittsburgh on the last play of the game, and ran in for a touchdown. But the officials ruled the ball dead and disallowed the touchdown.
2008-11-05 0630: I am so grateful that Barack Obama won the election, and by a convincing margin of victory—he even won Indiana. My own county voted 55% to 45% for McCain over Obama, but Democrats easily won the two Congressional races in my local area. (Baron Hill won reelection in the Indiana 9th Congressional District; John Yarmuth won reelection in the Kentucky 3rd Congressional District.)
One big disappointment in yesterday's elections: it appears that Proposition 8 in California (to ban same-sex marriage) was approved. Another disappointment was the Indiana State Representative District 77 race, where Republican Ed Clere defeated Democrat Bill Cochran (the incumbant) by 144 votes out of about 30,000 cast. This was disappointing to me because Cochran is a strong advocate for Indiana University Southeast (he helped IU Southeast get its new student housing), but also because the Republicans used a scurrilous direct mailing against Cochran (smearing him as being soft on satanic ritual child abuse). I hope this doesn't mean that there will be more of that kind of campaigning in our district in the future.
2008-11-04 0845: I finished an interesting book by Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. This book is a sequel to his outstanding book The Making of the Atom Bomb. The earlier book contains wonderful biographical sketches of the scientists and others who conceived and developed the atom bomb, and it develops in lucid detail the science and engineering of the two parallel bomb projects in World War Two (the plutonium implosion device and the uranium gun device). The later book has scientific details and biographical sketches, but it is much more focused on the military and political circumstances that led to the development of hydrogen bombs. This includes the Soviet spying effort that gave them detailed information on the American atom bomb; the first Soviet test of an atom bomb was in 1949, and spurred the American effort to develop the hydrogen bomb. Rhodes details the intensification of the Cold War through the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War. He describes Gen. Curtis LeMay's efforts to forge a strategic bomber force that could obliterate the Soviet Union, and he details LeMay's efforts to provoke a hot war with the Russians (he knew his force would be useless once the Soviets began to catch up). This is most frightening in Rhodes' account of the Cuban Missile Crisis—Lemay and others advocated war but the Americans were unaware that the Soviets already had nuclear missiles in Cuba capable of reaching Washington. This was the one time in history that a nuclear war was close to happening. As for the scientific details of the development of the hydrogen bomb, Rhodes describes the difficulties caused by the American decision to try to develop the ambitious "super" bomb (which had unlimited potential yield, but whose feasibility was uncertain), over the "alarm clock" or "layer cake" design (only half a megaton yield, but expected to be feasible). This culminates in a critical breakthrough by Stanislaw Ulam and Edward Teller that made the Ivy "Mike" test (10.4 megatons yield) possible. Unfortunately, Rhodes gives few details on the scientific story beyond Mike, and few details on the Russian effort to develop a thermonuclear bomb. The book does give as a lengthy epilogue the sad story of Robert Opppenheimer having his security clearance stripped. This includes two poignant details: Oppenheimer asking a colleague for "a number" after the Castle "Bravo" test; his former colleague broke the law by saying "fifteen" (megatons). And Rhodes describes Edward Teller's anguish at realizing he had sundered many friendships by testifying against Oppenheimer.
2008-11-03 1645: A old friend of mine had a wonderful prayer on his Facebook page, by Rabbi David Seidenberg: A Prayer For Voting. This prompted me to see if the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer has a prayer for voting. Indeed, it does: For an Election: Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of this community) in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
2008-11-03 1440: There is an interesting account by Sewell Chan on the New York Times website, of a debate hosted by The Jewish Week between Christopher Hitchens and Rabbi David Wolpe: Hitchens Debates Rabbi Wolpe on God. Hitchens is the author of the recent book god is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything; Wolpe is the author of Why Faith Matters. I commented on Hitchen's book in this blog last July. I haven't read the book by Wolpe, but the review linked to by Sewell Chan was interesting; I think I'll get the book.