Chris Grieb

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Grieb

  1. Chris Grieb

    Stuart Taylor at Cato

    By Chris Grieb,

    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.
  2. Chris Grieb

    Heath Ledger

    By Chris Grieb,

    I have recently reseen "Brokeback Mountain". I marvel at Heath's performance. He was so young and now he gone.

    His last line in "Brokeback" was "I'm sorry". It the only thing one can say now.
  4. Chris Grieb
    In the last couple of weeks the home of the mayor of a small Prince George's County was raided by a swat team because the home had received a delivery of marijuana.

    The mayor and his family were subjected to all the thing that happen in these actions including the killing of his two dogs.

    If you read Radley Balko's blog The Agitator he has a host of stories of this sort.

    The people who were raided were held for over an hour withe their dead dogs very close to them.

    There are investigations going on let's hope there's no white wash.
  5. Chris Grieb

    Arthur Miller

    By Chris Grieb,

    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. He also wrote a play called "All My Sons". Another play was based on his most famous marriage to Marilyn Monroe. When Miller died he was of course described as a caring and empathic. Horsepuckey!

    Miller with the story of his son is revealed not as a deeply caring individual but a man basically concerned with his own self created image.

    His plays are basically attacks on his leading characters who are not very nice but highly neurotic individuals His play based on his marriage to Marilyn Monroe is nasty piece of work about that sad women. Marilyn was used by many of the man she was involved and deserved much more than she got from Miller.

    There is a little bit of good news. Miller apparently shortly before his death included the son in his will. The son now 41 is doing OK . Apparently the boy should thank the actor Daniel Day-Lewis who convinced Miller to change his will.

    I think I going to make a point to see more of Daniel Day-Lewis movies.
  7. Chris Grieb
    This was a very harrowing season and next year does not look like it will be any fun.

    John Lithgow was a great villain probably the best one the show has had. The other continuing character had complications this season that will make the wait for the next season bad.

    Michael C Hall is getting chemo which may mean there will not be a next season.
  9. Chris Grieb
    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.

    I tried to watch the show but I found Monk too annoying.
  10. Chris Grieb

    The Wire

    By Chris Grieb,

    Let me begin by saying that "The Wire" is not for everyone.

    There is a lot of cussing, sex, and gratuitous violence. If you offended by these things don't watch.

    The show was an HBO mini-series that ran for four years set in Baltimore. It shows the inter-action between the police and drug dealers.

    More to come.
  11. Chris Grieb

    Charlie Wilson's War

    By Chris Grieb,

    I f you watch TV you may have seen ads for this movie.

    I smell a rat. A Hollywood rat.

    I want to say that I have not seen the movie. The movie does not open till Christmas day but I read the book of the same name.

    Charlie Wilson's War is a fascinating story. Congressman Wilson after being something of a playboy during the 70ths did help the Afghan rebels get funding. But he was not alone. One of the other people who helped was a man who lived in government housing. I am of course referring to Ronald Reagan.

    Is it just possible that a Hollywood movie might downplay Ronald Reagan's role in bringing an end to the cold war. Is it possible that Hollywood might make the ending the cold war was just because Charlie Wilson wanted to get in a Houston socialite's pants. As Larry the Cable Guy says "I should be ashamed.
  13. Chris Grieb

    Summer Seminar 2008

    By Chris Grieb,

    The Atlas Society has announced the site for the next Summer Seminar 2008.

    It will be Portland Oregon. We will have more information later.The Atlas Society got the message from last summer and will have a range of places to stay at.
  14. Chris Grieb
    K C Johnson has announced that Durham In Wonderland with a very long post on Monday Dec 10 will be closing. No more posts. Prof Johnson is in Israel.

    DIW will be missed. Prof Johnson is a very honest man.

    I hope when Prof Johnson return he will keep us informed about PC.
  15. Chris Grieb

    ARI Bookstore Catalog

    By Chris Grieb,

    It's bigger and better than ever. It's an attractive package. That's the good points. Most of the items are too expensive. It has too much Leonard Peikoff, Peter Schwartz and Harry Binswanger. I must add that they also carry too much Ellen Kenner.

    If you have not not seen it you should. They will send you a catalog at no charge.

    I must also add that the staff is very courteous and competent.

    Highly recommended!
  17. Chris Grieb
    I will try and fill in some of my previous posting about Summer Seminar 18.

    David Saum and I got to Towson about 5pm. We checked in and meet some of the other arrivals. I have a theory that the first people you meet at an event suggest how the event will go for the week. The frist people I meet were all great.

    I then went to the barbecue and meet more great people. There seemed to be a great ethnic diversity than previous Seminars.

    The next day the conference proper began. The first talk was Bill Kline on Business Ethics. He talked about the stakeholder theory. Stakeholder theory seems to be that everybody but the shareholders and managers should have a say in the running of a company. Some of the entities cited like the environment can not speak for themselves but must be spoken by someone else. Why do I suspect the person doing the speaking will be Al Gore.

    Kline makes the point that this is the democratic theory of business.

    It gets better tomorrow with stockholder theory.

    Ed Hudgins talk on the state of the culture was very good. After hearing it there is cause for otimism.

    David Kelley's on Objectivity in the Media was good. We should demand accuracy and truth rather than fairness and balance.

    After lunch we heard Omar Altalib on "The Use of Objectivist Literature in Sociology Classrooms." I had been of the view that Sociology was a real swamp but with Omar there's hope.

    Omar has used "The Virtue of Selfishness" and "Atlas Shrugged" in his classes. I am going to post further about this lecture on this blog.

    Michael Shapiro's lecture on program music was enlightening but it had been a long day.
  18. Chris Grieb

    Book TV

    By Chris Grieb,

    For 48 hours on weekends C-Span 2 has Book TV. Book TV has 48 hours of programming about non-fiction books. You can watch book events at bookstores, think tanks, and universities.

    It is programming for literates unlike the old movies, sports events, and tired programs on the other stations.

    I find the range of books is a happy one.

    On the first Sunday of every month Book TV does a three hour interview with an author. They have had David Horowitz, Christopher Hitchens, and Tammy Bruce among others. This program is repeated the following Saturday.Sadly some cable providers are eliminating C-Span 2 from their basic cable package. This is trend that is very sad. However with a fast computer you can watch on your computer.
  20. Chris Grieb
    Duke University has a long learning curve. They are being sued again by their fired lacrosse coach. After they had settled Duke continued to make comments about the coach. They weren't supposed to. They will probably have to pay more money. The broad of trustees should start firing people.
  21. Chris Grieb
    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.
  22. Chris Grieb
    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.
  23. Chris Grieb
    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 death was right around the time of the bicycle ride. The girl's body was discovered near the bicycle rides location.

    Truscott claimed he had taken the young lady Lynn Harper to a major road and she had hitched a ride. The police believed that Truscott had taken Harper into the nearby woods and raped and killed her.

    Truscott denied he had done and has repeated this story. Several of his fellow students had seen him and Harper on the ride. They insist to this day to the truth of their stories. There was medical testimony that raised questions about the time and place of death.

    Truscott was released from prison in 1969. He was considered a model prisoner. He married and lived until 1997 when he contacted a Canadian legal group who helped in the exoneration of some wrongfully convicted people. The hoped that there was DNA evidence left from the trial but sadly there was none. They found other evidence that had been suppressed and in one review by a cabinet official a final review was ordered.

    We all find out tomorrow.
  24. Chris Grieb
    Durham in Wonderland is written by K C Johnson. The blog is about the Duke Hoax.

    Professor Johnson has written since April of 2006 about the Hoax. The blog has been about the case and the reactions to it.

    As a professor Dr. Johnson has had a great deal to say about the Duke faculty and President. Much of his focus has been on the 88 professors who signed an ad the appeared in the college newspaper now known as the "Gang of 88.

    Dr. Johnson has ably followed the criminal case as it fell apart. He live blogged from many of the court event. He liveblogged from the Nifong disbarment hearings.

    Professor Johnson has been a valued voice for sanity. He and Stuart Taylor have a book coming out in September that I am looking forward to.

    I hope you will look at Durham in Wonderland.
  25. Chris Grieb

    A Blog I Enjoy

    By Chris Grieb,

    Tom Stone has a blog called Philospher Stone that I very greatly enjoy.

    He has two humour entries which are very funny. One is a list of children's books that don't make it One is how to have fun with scissors.

    He posts about philosphy, sports and baseball in addition to humour. Check it out.