The finer things in life

As we all can see, the baby boomer generation is now nearing retirement age even as that same generation and their offspring become more obsessed with youth. This week Siggy has two essays on ageing that got me thinking about several people I've had the privilege of knowing throughout my life. All these people are too old to be baby boomers.

In his first essay Siggy says

Still, no matter how ferocious attempt to obviate nature, time will not be denied. The devotion to youth upends those who chase what will soon represent the lesser part of our lives. At 40 we enter middle age. At 50, we are reminded that there are those in the wings who are waiting for us to give way, for no other reason than our experiences and wisdom are of less value than youth. Mandatory retirement is no gift or recognition or achievement. It is the conclusion of a process that institutionalizes a process of inactivity and decline at an age when most of us have the capacity, wisdom and insight to be most productive.

While economies need to make way for new employees since at any give time there is a limited number of jobs available and new workers are less expensive than workers with more seniority, societies lose when the more experienced workers are discarded simply because the calendar turned one day.

Siggy also states,

Or are meant to contribute something meaningful and lasting? If we understand that our legacy will be measured in how we left this world a better and more meaningful place, then it becomes immediately apparent that our maturity, wisdom and insight are of far greater value than our physicality. When this truth is realized, the maturity, wisdom and spirituality of those with the experiences of life under their belts more than compensates for their diminished physicality. As our physicality declines, our priorities are reevaluated and ordered- and that usually results in making the four cubits we inhabit and beyond, a better place.

I have met several people who lived to a very advanced age precisely because they didn't retire.

The youngest of my parents' siblings to die lived past age seventy (and he had burned the candle at both ends and the middle), the oldest was at least 106 years old, so genetics has a lot to do with how long you live. How well you live has a lot to do with you.

I learned this at a young age from several people, one of which I'll tell you about now.

When I was first married my husband and I went to his college reunion along with my in-laws since my father-in-law had graduated from the same college exactly thirty years earlier. They went off to some activity or another and I was left by myself enjoying a beautiful day, having lunch at a picnic table. A very elderly gentleman came by and asked if he could join me. Of course I said yes.

He was one of the most fascinating people I've ever met.

He could walk about as long as it was on pavement, but because we were on a lawn he was on a wheelchair. He told me that he of course knew that the reunion was on and wasn't sure he could make it since had recently been inconvenienced by some ailment, but since he was fine now he wasn't about to miss it. He lived in Princeton (where I now live) which is some 300 miles from the college.

Aside from his charm and intelligent conversation, what I learned from him was that one's work is never finished, and that that is a very good thing.

This gentleman was the oldest member of his family still to be involved in the family business, a very large multinational pharmaceutical company. He had through the years been intimately involved in the business even as chairman of the board, and had decided to step aside when he felt that he could not give his job 100% (later on I learned from another board member that he had insisted on stepping aside in spite of the board's recommendation that he stay). But he didn't go off to fade into the sunset.

Instead what he did was to become involved in projects that the company had with non-profit and community outreach organizations, and with the college (which we were visiting) and its students.

I realized right then that that was exactly why he was so vital, so interesting. His purpose was what gave his life meaning.

While this may sound like a real dozer of a conversation, he was witty, funny, and quick. So witty that it wasn't until an hour later or so after our conversation that I realized that it was he who had donated the building for the school's student union.

Mind you, the gentleman in question wasn't simply another old codger bragging about his work. He was clearly happy to be there, he was enjoying the good food and the cold beer, the beautiful day, the company of a young woman who was totally absorbed in what he had to say. His conversation was not a long list of things he had done; instead it was a series of replies to my questions (since he was a great deal more interesting than I and he had a lot to say), replies which he peppered with humor, puns (and you all know how I love puns) and wit. He was well dressed, accompanied by a uniformed (attractive) nurse, and driven there in his luxury car by his chauffeur.

The guy knew how to live.

May we all learn to appreciate people like him. And may we all learn from people like him to enjoy the finer things in life.

More on aging (and a lot of other topics) in yesterday's podcast.



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Today at 11AM Eastern: Siggy talks about progress

In today's podcast at 11AM Eastern Siggy will talk about his series of essays on progress, which you can read here:
Progress And Failure: An Introduction
Progress And Failure, Part One
Progress And Failure: Part Two

Chat will be open by 10:45AM, and the call-in number is 646 652-2639. We'll take calls in the second half of the podcast. Join us!

The wages of allowing terror

Siggy forwarded this article, Machete-wielding teens attack Australian school

A group of teenagers armed with baseball bats and machetes attacked Australian teachers and students on Monday, injuring 18 people and forcing a high school in Sydney to be locked down, police said.

Five youths barged into the morning assembly at Merrylands High School in south-west Sydney, witnesses said, grabbing students before starting to smash windows at the school.

Five punks injure eighteen people and terrify hundreds.

Siggy then posted, Terror Down Under. He explains that

When violence or threats of violence are considered legitimate forms of political or social expression, inevitably violence or threats of violence will manifest themselves.Terror has become an accepted form of political and social expression, that status granted by those who most profess to be non violent or peaceful.
...
If we allow or excuse terror elsewhere, it is only a matter of time before that terror will manifest itself on our shores. What is terror here has to be regarded as terror everywhere, no matter what one might think of the 'cause.'

Go read the rest.



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Adam's books

In yesterday's podcast Siggy and I had the pleasure of talking with Adam Bellow.

Adam is the author of In Praise of Nepotism


Adam's father, Saul Bellow, won the Nobel Prize for Literature.


Allan Bloom and Milton Friedman were influential in Adam's conservative thinking:


As an editor, Adam has published several remarkable books,


In addition to his work as an editor and writer, Adam is also a co-owner of The New Pamphleteers. Last June we did a podcast with Tony Woodlief where he talked about Raising Wild Boys Into Men: A Modern Dad's Survival Guide, his excellent pamphlet.

Talking to Adam is a real pleasure. I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to the podcast.



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Shrinkwrapped asks, "Has Israel Lost the Will to Live?"

Shrinkrapped

What happens to a people when the world's press maintains a constant barrage of anti-personal missives and anti-Semitism becomes increasingly mainstream and unobjectionable?

And what happens to a people when they feel like the world just wants them to disappear and go away and has no concern for the lives of Jewish men, women, and children?

Is there a threshold beyond which the entire population surrenders to despair?

I am very fearful for Israel. It is still a democracy. Yet where are the people? Why are they not marching through the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv in the hundreds of thousands, demanding their government do something to stop the reign of terror that they have been told repeatedly is their inevitable lot?

Why are the Israelis not enraged with their own government's fecklessness?

Breath of the Beast expands,

Israel is still a democracy but the government of the moment is self-destructive to the point of suicide. If the people do not shake off the deadly effects of compromise and insist on a new civilian leader to replace Olmert and jolt Israel out of her paralysis, the confined and frustrated military might at some point elect to save the country on their own authority- A latter day Saul or David may arise. I pray that this is not necessary. It is not a good prospect but it is preferable to annihilation. It is not too late- YET.

Siggy replies

While the current political images from Israel are bleak, it bears remembering that far greater forces than the dysfunctional Palestinians have tried to eliminate the Jews. History has shown that while Jews may show up to the fight late and at times ill prepared, in the end they will prevail. They will fight not only for themselves, but they will fight for their legacy. Every year at the Passover feast, Jews are asked to celebrate the seder meal 'As if they themselves were brought forth from slavery to freedom.' The same is true as they memorialize the destruction of the Temple- for each new generation, the loss is fresh and new.

In today's podcast Siggy discussed the subject of the Palestinian war against Israel. You can listen to it here.

UPDATE
Hamas Admits to Using Women & Children As Human Shields



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The power of words

Today Siggy has an absolutely beautiful post, From the Author of SC&A: "And I will make of thee a great nation".

The post is extraordinary for a number of reasons:
First of all, it starts with an indictement of the political and fourth estate characters that populate the airwaves today; certainly not one Abraham Lincoln among any of the candidates.

The post also features an excerpt of one of the most stirring texts I've read, one which was unkown to me until now: the eulogy of Abraham Lincoln given by Rabbi Isaac M Wise, delivered in Cincinnati Ohio, on April 19, 1865.

Siggy asks,

Would the candidates for the highest office in the land today be worthy of these words? Could words such as the ones that follow, be written today?

Among these extraordinary words, one also can appreciate Siggy's admiration for his father, who clearly is a hero to his son; not the unconditional love of a little child towards his dad, but the admiration of a grown man to his father.

How many fathers can make that claim?

Or to paraphrase Siggy, how many fathers today are worthy of those words?

Go read the post.



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Yesterday's podcast: Sovereignty- Winners, Losers and who pays

Following our podcast on the Akaka Bill, Siggy suggested that we talk to Canadian bloggers Darcy of Dust My Broom and Meaghan and Charles of Somena Media.

We talked about sovereignty, and how the First Nations legislation has affected Canada. Wild Phil and Jazz Shaw called in and joined the conversation.

You can listen to the podcast here.

It was a very animated conversation, which we will continue next Saturday, March 8 at 5PM Eastern.

Also coming up in this week's podcasts,
Tomorrow at 11AM Eastern: La Vida Vica will talk about men.
Friday March 7, 11AM Eastern: Michael VanderGalien of Poligazette will talk about European politics.
Tuesday March 11, Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse will talk about What you didn't know about Obama and Rezko.
Chat is always open fifteen minutes before podcast time, and the call-in number is (646) 652-2639. Join us!





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Rewriting Medieval history

This morning Siggy forwarded his post, "What if the Muslim armies hadn't been stopped at the French border?". Siggy refers to Joan Acocella's review in the New Yorker of David Levering Lewis's book God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215.

Siggy points out,

It is true that the Arabs oversaw a great advances in medicine, mathematics, philosophy and science. There is no question they were to have a tremendous influence in the world as we know it, but that is not the story.

The Golden Age of the Arabs did not occur in Arab lands.

There would have been no Golden Age for Islam had Muslims not been in contact with Jews and Christians.This glaring truth still holds true today.

I must clarify that I have not read the book, but one statement in the book review stands out:

The Muslims came to Europe, [Lewis] writes, as "the forward wave of civilization that was, by comparison with that of its enemies, an organic marvel of coordinated kingdoms, cultures, and technologies in service of a politico-cultural agenda incomparably superior" to that of the primitive people they encountered there.

As any modern Medievalist will tell you, the Europeans of the period extending from the eigth to thirteenth centuries were not a primitive people. During that period, Europe developed banking, postal systems, many of the techniques presently used in organic farming, textile industries, and a network of monasteries that preserved the knowledge of the Ancient World for all mankind. Two years ago I did a brief debunking of a list of top 20 Muslim inventions, which included the fact that

The first Arabic-language medical treatise was written by a Christian priest and translated into Arabic by a Jewish doctor in 683.

Additionally, during the Middle Ages Europeans developed the creation of the modern state, the Western university, and the concept of reason as a means of developing a moral theology.

If the book review is accurate, Lewis appears to build his thesis on the concept of the European Middle Ages as the Dark Ages of a primitive people, a concept that has been thoroughly debunked by modern historians.

The fact that Medieval Europe was not a primitive society is not a moot issue: it stands as the basis of the concept of modernity with the emphasis on the worth of the individual. During my conversation with Dr John Fleming, Dr Fleming stated on the conflict between a collective "we" and an individual "I",

Now, that was a tension in Medieval society, but it was resolved at the intellectual level, at least, by the end of the radical freedom of the will that came with Baptism.

F The rise of individualism during the Middle Ages is the start of the Modern Age, as I understand it.
JF: Well, that's right, and of course we all look in the mirror of history in the sort of way that Narcissus looked in the pool, that is to say, we can always see ourselves, so there is a great tendency to try to impose upon the past those categories with which we're comfortable, and one of the features of this is that individuality, or as the scholars now prefer to call it, subjectivity, the idea of an I who has a deep personal sense of individuality; one of the current features of scholarship is to keep pushing this back.

It used to be thought that, well, this phenomena appears only in the High Italian Rennaissance, other people said, "oh no, you have it in the 14th Century", now we find it in Abelard and Heloise in the 12th Century, and so on. But in general terms, what you say is true.

(You can listen to the entire podcast here. For a transcript, follow the links here)

The book review continues,

They did Europe a favor by invading. This is not a new idea, but Lewis takes it further: he clearly regrets that the Arabs did not go on to conquer the rest of Europe. The halting of their advance was instrumental, he writes, in creating "an economically retarded, balkanized, and fratricidal Europe that . . . made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, persecutory religious intolerance, cultural particularism, and perpetual war."

Present-day Europe has moved well away from all these trends.

My question, then, is what areas in the world are now economically retarded, fraticidal, making virtues of hereditary aristocracy, persecutory religious intolerance, cultural particularism, and perpetual war?



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In yesterday's podcast: Cultures of creation vs. cultures of destruction

Yesterday Siggy of Sigmund Carl and Alfred, Michael Van Der Galien of PoliGazette, and Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse discussed the conflict between cultures, and the political implications for public policy.

Siggy posts,

...we participated in a terrific BlogTalk Radio podcast with Fausta, Micheal van der Galien of Poligazette and Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse in which we discussed the differences between cultures for who creation is the highest expression versus cultures for destruction are the highest form of expression. Both Michal and Rick are astute observers and more than competent analysts. They possess teh capacity to see what is going on around them and understand what they are looking at- gifts not so common.

We also discussed what happens when cultures of creation meet cultures of destruction and the impact that confluence has on each.

In the end, cultures and societies are all measured by what they build and not by what they destroy. The merits of religion are measured by how many lives are saved, enriched and elevated in God's name and not by how many lives are taken and extinguished in His name.

More from Michael here.

We are going to continue this discussion in future podcasts. Our regular schedule is Tuesdays and Fridays at 11AM Eastern.

You can listen to yesterday's podcast here.





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Tomorrow at 11AM Eastern: More on outrage

Tomorrow at 11AM Eastern Siggy continues to discuss moral equivalence and misguided public and foreign policy.

As usual, the chat room will be open by 10:45AM, and the call-in number is (646) 652-2639.

Join us!

Friends, food, faith and podcast

This morning I had the privilege of talking to two friends I haven't met yet, Siggy and Julie of Happy Catholic and Meanwhile, Back in the kitchen.

Julie was very impressed over Siggy's voice, because of Ooooo, those melting British tones! offering even some cinnamon buns from heaven.

Siggy posts about the podcast,

We talked about the natural and spiritual relationship between food and religion- feeding the body and feeding the soul, and the similarities between communing with family over meals at home and communing with God in a House of Worship. We hope to be able to expand on these and other issues in a follow up podcast.

Julie masquerades as the author of a couple of blogs, but in fact she’s a terrific writer, literary and film critic. More than that, she writes cogently and with clarity.

Siggy also talked about ice cream emergencies, a tradition we all must start in our own homes.

You can listen to the podcast here. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed talking to Julie and Siggy.



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Coming up on Blog Talk Radio

This afternoon at 3PM Eastern I'll be Ed Morrissey's guest, along with our mutual friend Val Prieto. We'll be talking about Cuba, Venezuela and politics.

Tonight I'll be liveblogging the debate at Heading Right.

Tomorrow at 11AM, Siggy and I will be talking about food with Happy Catholic.

Tuesday, January 29, at 11AM, Siggy and I will have a new, one-hour show.

During all my podcasts chat will be open at 10:45, and the call-in number is (646) 652-2639. Join us!




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In today's podcast at 11AM Eastern: Moral equivalence and misguided public and foreign policy

UPDATED
Please scroll down for link and more on the podcast

As I mentioned yesterday, in yesterday's podcast with Hannes Artens Siggy raised a number of issues which he further developed in his post, The Time To Unload Is Upon Us.

Today Yaacov Ben Moshe's post, Our Choice - Live in Incorrectness or Die Correct, brings up the issue of noxious multiculturalism and political correctnes:

We actually have become so polite about it that we feel that discussing those things that make Western Civilization better than (or preferable to) other cultures (let alone the measures that might be necessary to defend the west) in public constitute some kind of “bad form”. We even have whole sets of words and ideas that we refuse to use because they sound too harsh, too male dominated, too power oriented, too insensitive or judgmental. This is what is called Political Correctness and if we could put a good coach in charge, a geopolitical Belichik or an American Solzhenitsyn, he would put a stop to it before another game went by.
...
Political Correctness is Unilateral Cultural Disarmament.

You must read the whole essay and ponder the questions it raises, because they are the issues of our times.

Today at 11AM Eastern, Siggy's back, and he'll be discussing moral equivalence and misguided public and foreign policy. I have invited other Blog Talk Radio hosts to join us, and hope you will, too. The call-in number is (646) 652-2639; chat will be open by 10:45.

See you then!
Update
We were joined by Jazz Shaw of Middle Earth Journal, Michael van der Galien of PoliGazette, Shane Borgess of Political Vindication, and BTR regular Wild Phil. It was a most interesting podcast, as we all have rather different (and at times, opposite) views. I invite you to listen to the podcast and leave a comment about it.

Next Friday at 11AM Eastern our guest will be Happy Catholic for a 1/2 hour show about food.

Tuesday next week, January 29, tune in for another one-hour roundtable discussion on the week's issues.

You can subscribe to the podcasts here.




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Tomorrow at 11AM Eastern: Laurie Kendrick!

Tomorrow at 11AM Eastern Laurie Kendrick will be joining Siggy and me for a great podcast.

Here's Laurie's bio,

Laurie is a native Texan--fifth generation, to be exact. She's also an award winning writer. She's spent most of her professional career in on air positions in TV and radio. She's no longer in broadcasting and is paying the bills as a freelance writer in Houston. Laurie is single, college educated, politically Conservative, a former Democrat who was enlightened byparty idiocy. She cooks, she loathes cleaning and has a Freudian fascinating with tornadoes. She makes it a point to laugh every day, usually at her once diabolical faith in theDemocratic party. She's been blogging since March 31, 2007.

And her blog LaurieKendrick.wordpress.com was recently nominated as one of the 10 funniest blogs EVER---by the 2007 Weblog Awards.

Chat will be open at 10:45AM, and the call-in number is (646) 652-2639 if you want to join the conversation.

Join us!

McCain defends his record, Russert's inanity, and this morning's roundup

McCain angrily responds to flier about his war record. Sen. McCain has every reason to be angry; he defended our country at great sacrifice to himself and shouldn't have to put up with this garbage.
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The Unbearable Inanity of Tim Russert

Actually, the balls Russert favors may be hard, but the pitches he throws aren't curveballs, which go someplace useful. They're sillyballs, which go somewhere pointless.

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Mexico's Cartel War: Calderon in the Cauldron
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Two videos from Siggy:
Defending Racism And Genocide: Just Another Day At The UN


and
"Take That, Obama Girl!"


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Live from Vegas, it's Democracy Tonight!
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Via Larwyn, Barak Obama and Israel
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Ain't capitalism grand?
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ACLU Defends Sex In A Public Restroom


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Yesterday's podcast, and Gaddafi's water

Yesterday Siggy and I had the pleasure of talking to Erik Svane of No Pasaran.



(Yes, every time I post Erik's photo a couple of people email saying that he's easy on the eyes, so I'm happy to oblige.)

You can listen to the podcast here.

We started by mentioning Eugene Schlanger's excellent book of poems Wall Street Sonnets, which I highly recommend (and which you can buy at the Underbahn link if you live in the EU. American readers should buy it here). Underbahn is also the publisher of Houdna

Erik's written three books, La Bannière Étalée, and two General Leonardo graphic novels, all of which I hope will be available in English soon. Don't miss also Erik's essay on patriotism.

Erick recommends James W. Ceaser's book Reconstructing America: The Symbol of America in Modern Thought

But as the conversation turned to Gaddafi's current trip to the EU, Siggy mentioned Gaddafi's big water project. Mind you, this is not new - but it carries huge implications to the region.

Here are some links:
Libya's Vast Pipe Dream Taps Into Desert's Ice Age Water

From a 2004 article in the NYT: Libya's Vast Pipe Dream Taps Into Desert's Ice Age Water

In one of the largest construction projects in the world, engineers are trying to "mine" ice age rainfall, now locked in the sandstone beneath the Sahara, and convey it to Libyan cities and farms along a vast waterworks.

The project is almost invisible, except when something goes wrong.
...
But the option that Colonel Qaddafi chose — the extensive pipeline and pumping system that bores into the earth to draw down nonrenewable reserves of fossil water — is now about half completed on a landscape twice the size of Texas and has been delivering water for more than a decade, with occasional interruptions for repairs.

And 2006 at the BBC: Libya's thirst for 'fossil water'

Libya had oil money to pay for the project, but it did not have the technical or engineering expertise for such a massive undertaking.

Foreign companies from South Korea, Turkey, Germany, Japan, the Philippines and the UK were invited to help.

It is impossible not to be impressed with the scale of the project
In September 1993, Phase I water from eastern well-fields at Sarir and Tazerbo reached Benghazi. Three years later, Phase II, bringing water to Tripoli from western well-fields at Jebel Hassouna, was completed.

Phase III which links the first two Phases is still under construction.


When it's finished, the Grand Omar Mukhtar will be Libya's largest man-made reservoir.

Siggy will be posting on this later on, I hope.

For now, go listen to the podcast. I'm sure you will enjoy it!



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Last night's podcast on sex and relationships

In last night's podcast my guests Joyce Vennis, ShrinkWrapped, Siggy and I discussed relationships and marriage. You can listen to the podcast here.

Money quote of the night, from Siggy:

"It's also interesting to note how people are willing to work on friendships...People say relationships are very difficult [but] if people put the same effort in their relationships as they put into their good friendships, finding an intimate relationships would be a lot easier.

You must listen to the podcast to hear the rest.

Laurie Kendrick listened to the podcast. She has a great post on beauty you should read.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

It's a beautiful day, and here's my view from the kitchen window:

If you have a chance, listen to last night's podcast where Siggy and I discuss Siggy's excellent post The American Passion for Giving Thanks, thankfulness, and our favorite Thanksgiving foods.

Thanksgiving horror stories not included.

In tonight's podcast: Thanksgiving

Tonight at 9PM Eastern Siggy and I will talk about The American Passion For Giving Thanks.

From Siggy's post:

Americans talk about freedom so passionately because we are passionate about that great ideal. Our political debates are vigorous because Americans are passionate about giving thanks for the freedoms we share. Freedom is the foundation of our beliefs. Because of freedom we free to choose the things we believe in, without fear of violence or repercussion.

We will talk about his post, about freedom, and about thankfulness.

Join us tonight at 9. The call-in number is (646) 652-2639

Two great guys, and two podcasts

One of the pleasures of blogging is the great people one comes in contact with.

This morning I was Siggy's guest.

In the afternoon I was Captain Ed's guest.

It truly is a pleasure and an honor to be the guest of these two gentlemen who I so admire.