Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 30 March 2005
Son Kevin turned 10 today, and besides a lot of vintage Star Wars models, including a C3PO model from 1977 (wonder where my wife found that one!), he got cool comic books (including a couple of compendiums of "The Simpsons" and "Futurama"—both signed by Matt G. himself) and the PSP (I think?) new portable game player that everyone's going so wild over right now. We had a great cake upon which our favorite baker (Mad Hatter in Newport) did a brilliant rendition of B-29s flying over Normandy and releasing airborne troops in parachutes (Kev remains obsessed with WWII). Emily, our artist, drew an entire manga comic for him that went on for pages and pages and—of course—involved vampires. Nice little party.
I spent today getting some more stuff done on the house for showing, plus taking Jerry to his annual physical, plus working out a solid hour on the treadmill (finishing "Emma" and moving on to "Mansfield Park").
Lined up seven more stars on the Esquire story: a four and a three. The timing will wreak some havoc with my flights as planned in coming days and weeks, but traveling with the magazine is proving to be a lot more easy than with the government (not so many regulations).
Also ordered some business cards from Esquire.
Big accomplishment of day was finishing my edit of Mark's edit of Chapter 3. It rang in at just under 24,000 words, meaning the first three chapters are all very close in size. Four will be similar, but Five will be much smaller. Conclusion and Afterward will be in the 5-6k range, and Preface less than 2k, so text body is looking like around 140,000, meaning the net effect of the editing will be close to zero. We'll just have to see if Neil Nyren is happy to get 2 times as many words as promised this time as he was last time, and maybe I'll learn to stop signing contracts for 75,000-word books I'll never write.
Tomorrow will be a non-stop crunch on Chapter 4, plus I think I need to get an intro written for Chapter 5 (the only outstanding writing that I am to do once Four goes to bed (or box) tomorrow night).
Scanning some of the articles I've pulled in last few days:
The biggie was the WSJ front-pager sounding the alarm on "China Flexes Economic Muscle Throughout Burgeoning Africa: Beijing Forges Deep Alliances With War-Torn Nations, Countering U.S. Influence" (by Karby Leggett (if that's his or her real name!), 29 Mar, p. A1). Bit much in this "breaking story" that's been going on for . . . I dunno . . . about half-a-decade or more. The scary tone comes off as a ways hyperbolic. Like we're "losing Africa" or something! My God! We want nothing to do with the place and never have! Big deal if China's engaging in aid and investment there: are we suddenly against that?
Ah, but the Chinese tend to favor rancid dictatorships that make the energy and other resources flow steadily. We've never done anything like that, have we?
Ah, but the Chinese use their aid and investments to curry favor with the governments regarding their pet diplomatic causes, like non-recognition of Taiwan. Again, I'd hate to cast the first stone on that one.
Ah, but the Chinese stop us from doing anything in Sudan!
Ah, but I guess we'd actually have to want to do something there for that to matter.
So the Chinese look for opportunities wherever the Americans and the West in general tend to express little interest. Hmmm. That is odd. I mean, why wouldn't they concentrate on countries that already have a huge Western presence?
Ed Royce, the CA congressman I met a while back at dinner is quoted in the article as citing China's growing influence on the continent as a "concern," but why is that, exactly? I mean, we tend to ignore Africa, so why is it bad if somebody else doesn't? Or is it supposed to stay ignored when we ignore it? Or are we the only ones who can do good things there, like build roads or invest in infrastructure?
Africa is a place with the U.S. and China could logically locate a lot of common strategic interests, or a lot of mutually exclusive antagonisms. I guess I just wonder why the bias is always toward the latter, as if that is the extent of our strategic imagination on the subject. Or can we do better?
Another scary story on Japan and China conflicting over energy in the South China Sea ("Drawing the Line on Energy," by James Brooke, NYT, 29 Mar, p. C1). This macho posturing on both sides is too stupid for words, because China without access to reasonably priced energy means Japan will suffer economically in a big way, and ditto the other way around, so what exactly are they going to fight over? The right to see one economy tank on lack of energy so that the other can lose it's most important long-term trade/investment engine? The answer on this one is such a no-brainer: Chinese muscle and Japanese money = development of cheaper energy they both share. The two countries will reach this understanding eventually, but watch stupid politicians on both sides make a lot of dumb moves and say a lot of dumb things before logic prevails.
Cool story ("Brazil: Free Software's Biggest and Best Friend," by Todd Benson, NYT, 29 Mar, p. C1) on Brazil's efforts to keep redefining itself as not just a "body" nation (commodities producer) but a "head" nation (high-tech/content-oriented) as well. Watching them connect up average citizens in innovative ways is really cool. Brazilians are a huge chunk of the second billion on the web, according to Ethan Zuckerman of Harvard.
Lest we forget India ("India's Ties With Iran Pose Challenge for U.S.," by John Larkin and Jay Solomon, WSJ, 25 March, p. A7), we are reminded that China isn't the only energy-hungry, influence-peddling, rising New Core state that bears watching. Isn't it weird how, the more India and China behave like us in global markets, the more we distrust them?
Best article on Kyrgyzstan's quick-and-clean revolution is by stalwart Steven Lee Myers of NYT ("Contagion: Popular Risings in Ex-Soviet Zone," 25 March, p. A8). Real strategic point of Georgia, Ukraine and now Kyrgyzstan: the signals sent to Putin regarding the 2008 election. Screw the "whole world," your people will be watching! And they're proving to be enough in places like Georgia, Ukraine and now Kyrgyzstan. That's the lesson for Putin: stick to the high road or watch it happen to you!
Three quickies from today's Post online:
"In Zimbabwe, Withholding of Food Magnifies the Hunger for Change," by Craig Timberg, p. A1.
Nice story. Here's the opening two paras:
Hundreds of bags of cornmeal were stacked in front of a bar near here this month, rising as high as its roof. The only problem for the hungry people of this drought-stricken area was that the food, like the bar, was controlled by officials from the ruling party. With a crucial election nearing, they weren't about to give it to just anyone.
The officials first held a rally by their impressive mound of food, witnesses here said. The next day, as hundreds of people from surrounding villages gathered to collect the 110-pound bags they had ordered and paid for months before, ruling party officials announced that only their supporters were eligible. When the names of opposition voters were called, they were simply handed back their money, according to several people who were turned away. The leftover bags went on sale hours later for twice the price.
Now, there's something on which to cooperate with China in Africa.
"Syria: Troop Pullout To Precede Elections: Lebanese Premier to Step Down Again," by Colum Lynch and Scott Wilson, p. A10.
Opening sentence is all you want to hear: "Syria's government told the United Nations on Tuesday that it would withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon before Lebanese parliamentary elections this spring."
Gotta like that, but it means we're getting into bed with more Shiites (Hezbollah) if we want success to follow.
"Rumsfeld And the Generals," op-ed by David Ignatius, p. A15.
Not that I'd ever say anything bad about David Ignatius, but my sense of the dynamics in the Pentagon is not that a new Chairman needs to be able to stand up to Rumsfeld, but that Rumsfeld finally needs to get his own chairman.
According to people I speak with, Ignatius is right about Pace (current Vice, USMC Gen.) and Giambastiani (JFCOM boss and USN Adm) being the front runners. Most likely scenarios are: 1) Pace moves up for 2 years, with G. as his Vice, then G. takes over for his four-year stint, or 2) G. goes straight to Chair and Pace remains his Vice for two more years. Many think Pace is in slight lead, but others tell me the service clock on Giambastiani's career means he either goes this summer to Chief or not at all. Something about his being trapped by 35-year-mark in Vice's job (a technicality that apparently doesn't apply in same way to Chief's spot). I'm not too clear on such details, but my guess is that Adm. G. is the man. He was Rumsfeld's mil aide and then the guy he trusted with Transformation's main command. I think this one's in the bank, and such an outcome would be good for the Pentagon and DoD as a whole, methinks.
Oy! Can't wait to put the AC's in the windows. Tired of this wintry moldy allergic feeling.
Even better news: can put Bailey out in the yard on his own more and more. Dog really evinces no desire to leave the confines of the invisible fence. I am convinced he's almost trained.
Now to organize the damn basement: the virtual tour people will want to shoot it for sure, given the great job we did in finishing it.
I'm already thinking about the really beeeg canoe I'm going to buy once we land in Indiana. Gotta explore the Wabash. Maybe the Ohio after that. No, I won't miss the ocean too bad. Grew up on rivers, like to go places in boats, don't like engines, and don't want to rely on the wind. Enjoy the currents and the workout. Really enjoy the silence. Can't wait to go with the kids. I have this dream of taking them back to WI and going several days down the Wisconsin from the Dells to the Mississippi. That will be fun.
Finally, Putnam's got a new president, according to a big press release out on the web. What's cool about the release is how the company chose to list it's important non-fiction authors. See the concluding "note":
NOTE TO THE PRESS:
G.P. Putnam's Sons, a hardcover imprint of Penguin Group (USA), founded in 1838, is one of the oldest and most prestigious imprints in the publishing industry. It led the publishing industry in 2004 with an unprecedented 32 hardcover fiction and nonfiction New York Times bestsellers, more than any other single hardcover imprint in the consumer trade book publishing business, besting its previous year's single-year record. Putnam has been the hardcover bestseller imprint leader for more than a decade consecutively. Among the distinguished roster of bestselling authors Putnam publishes are Dave Barry, Lilian Jackson Braun, Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Patricia Cornwell, Catherine Coulter, Clive Cussler, Kaye Gibbons, William Gibson, W.E.B. Griffin, Jack Higgins, Jayne Ann Krentz, Steve Martini, Robert B. Parker, Amanda Quick, J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts, John Sandford, Daniel Silva, Amy Tan, Kurt Vonnegut and Stuart Woods.
In nonfiction, Putnam's authors include Lance Armstrong, Thomas P.M. Barnett, A. Scott Berg, Maureen Dowd, Linda Ellerbee, Goldie Hawn, T.D. Jakes and Spencer Johnson . . .
Damn that Tour de France guy's last name! There's always some A-hole in front of me!
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