It's that time of the time of the year when the Kennedy Center announces the individuals who are being honored this year. I am not going bore with the names this year. If you want to find they're on the internet. I have two issues. One: The US Constitution says we can't create titles of nobility. Does anyone else find the Honors smack of this? Two: They have again denied the honor to William Shanter. Doesn't Captain Kirk deserve to be in that center box?
Stuart Taylor was Cato talking about his book on the Duke case. The program is on Cato.org and will be on Book TV. This is a report on somethings Mr Taylor commented on. Mr Taylor said the fact that the book in not in book stores was a bad decision made by the publisher. He said the publisher did not think the book would be a success. Durham in Wonderland will be closing because C B Johnson will be teaching in Israel and the distance is too great. Watch the program! It's very good.
I wanted to briefly mention that the three accused have a suit against the City of Durham. Such a suit is not surprising but one of the demands is. They are asking Durham to support changes in the disclosure law in North Carolina. This for more than money for the players is a really great idea. I understand that C-Span will be carrying the appearance of Stuart Taylor on Book TV. C B Johnson will be closing down Durham In Wonderland. Some of us are hoping he will keep it going on other issu
I went through the 304 pages of the decision. It seems to cover every aspect of the case that can be considered by the courts. The greatest part is devoted to the the time of death evidence. This was perhaps the strongest part of the Crown case. While the court says the crime could have occurred at the original time the evidence now available suggests a much later time. The original pathologist seems to have a great many doubts about his original findings. The evidence of the various wit
Yesterday Sept 8th was 41st anniversary of Star Trek. I am not a big fan of first show although I liked Voyager and Deep Space Nine. But Star Trek like Star Wars is a cultural icon. We all know "Live long and prosper". "Beam me up Scotty;" is thought to be from the show although is was never said. Star Trek has one more claim to fame. The fans were able to get it one more season. It is one of the few show that that can be said about
The tile of the Taylor-Jonson book is "Until Proven Innocent". There was a great review of the book in the Wall Street Journal yesterday Sept 6th. There is also an op-ed in today's Washington Post by Johnson & Taylor. As a final point the book is on the Amazon top one hundred.
Senator Ted Kennedy has come under recent attack for his opposition to a wind farm on Cape Cod. He has been quoted as saying "But it's where I sail". Senator Kennedy might remember that a queen of France who was supposed to have said "Let them eat cake." She ended up losing her head.
Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson's book about the Duke Hoax has been published. They have both separately and together making appearances about the book. The both did one yesterday on Good Morning America. Durham in Wonderland is reporting the appearances by Prof. Johnson. He also has many of the reviews of the book. There will be an appearance at Cato Institute on Sept 11th which I will be at. There is more information at the Cato web site Both of these commentators are looking like pr
The last couple of days have not been good for Arthur Miller. It has been revealed that shortly after one of the sons who suffered from Downs Syndrome was put in what was called a "home". Miller did this even through his wife at the time wanted to raise the child. Miller would not even mention the boy in his autobiography. Arthur Miller has been regularly referred to as the American playwright of the 20th century. His two most famous plays are "The Glass Menagerie" and Death of a Salesman
Around 1997 after several individuals had been freed from prison as a result of DNA Truscott contacted AIDWYC one of the other most successful of these groups about having such testing. After going back and looking through for such samples the report was there was no such material Aidwyc was not disheartening but not discouraged. Trusccott's wife Marlene and others had been gathering material and TV news program thought there might be a story in the case. The show began interviewing individu
William and Harry should be happy they look more like her that their father. Church music can be very moving and inspiring I glad Elton John didn't sing at this service. I hope that Objectivists can make the point that production is vastly more important that distribution. I hope that some producers can be as honoured.
A couple of people have asked why and how I became interested in this case. Shortly after Truscott had been sentenced to death I read a small item in Newsweek about the case. The item simply noted that agiatation about the death penalty might lead to its abolition in Canada. I forgot till one day in 1966 walking home from work in New York City I entered a small bookstore. This small bookstore had a newsletter about interesting forthcoming books. There was an item about a book called The Tr
A few quick thoughts. How does everyone feel about policeman sitting in bathroom stalls to prevent inappropriate sexual contact? Do any of you feel safer? Senator Craig in his wide stance explanation and his pleading guilty hurt his case. I think the Senator should resign. One of the stories in the Idaho Statesman says that Sen Craig had sex in a bathroom at Union Station. The bathrooms have a lot of use and are very busy. Not for sex. Bathrooms have to somewhat deserted.
Yesterday the Crown accepted the decision and will not appeal. This means the case is over. I have yet to start looking at decision so it will be a little longer for my longer comments. But I have been interested over forty years so I think I can take a little more time.
Tomorrow August 28 after almost fifty years Crown vs Steven Truscott will finally have a resolution. Steven Truscott was arrested, charged and convicted of the murder of a class mate in 1959. He was sentenced. That sentence was commuted. But his conviction was later affirmed by Canadian Supreme Court. Truscott came to his unlucky state of affairs because he gave a ride to this school mate. A younger girl in his classes she was in his home room. The Crown pathologist said the time of de
Monk is a very popular show on cable. I find the show very annoying. I like detective shows. I don't like Monk. I am willing to put up with many things with my detectives. They can violate rights. They can torture. They can kill people like Mike Hammer did. I don't want them to be neurotic. Monk is neurotic. He has a hand washing and cleaning fetish which in an earlier time would not have him on a police force but in some quite place where he would be kept away from sharp objects.
Popular Mechanics has published a very good book on 9-11 called "Debunking 9/11 Myths". They have further debunking on their web site. I recommend the book and the website.
The Agitator whose principal writer is Radley Balko is another very fine blog I look at every day. Balko used to work for Cato Institute but now is editor for Reason's blog Hit & Run. His work for Cato concerned police abuses and the increasing militarization's of local police forces. He has also written on the abuse of the Bill of Rights by many government agencies. The address is www.theagitator.com and I hope readers will look at this blog.
As I mentioned earlier yesterday Sunday, August 19th was Errol Flynn day on TCM. One of the movies was Robin Hood. Robin Hood has been done in various versions but this is the best. As the readers of this forum know Ayn Rand did not approve of Robin Hood. Her reason are good but this is still a great movie. The acting by Flynn, Dehavilland, Rains and Rathbone is first rate. Flynn looks great. Rathbone is the proper villian. The script is well done. The photography is excellent. It i
Yesterday August 19th was Erroll Flynn day on TCM. That meant is was also Korngold day.. Who was Korngold. Korngold wrote the music for the swashbucklers Flynn made so many of. Korngold wrote for other Warner Brother movies. He was one of the three or four great Hollywood composers during the 30ths and 40ths. Korngold wrote more series music for the concert hall but I suspect his Hollywod music will be what is remembered. I don't know if any of the music can still be bought but go down
We're taking off to London and Liverpool for a rockin' good time. Inky's coming too. It's our first time out of the USA and I'm so excited! Cheerio!! Kat
