Military Enlistment The Highest Since RN’s Days

October 14, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under International Affairs, Iraq War, Middle East, Military, Richard Nixon, Vietnam | 2 Comments 

Enlistment rates are at their highest levels since RN was Commander-in-Chief.

The Washington Post is reporting that military recruiters have posted their best year since 1973, bringing in nearly 170,000 new troops in 2008, 3 percent above their stated goals. The Post credits the ballooning civilian unemployment for a surge in enlistment rates.

But Pentagon officials are crediting the declining violence in Iraq for the upswing, which can ultimately be credited to Washington’s moment of truth in fighting small wars of attrition, and innovative Generals like David Petraeus and Ray Ordierno who sought a responsible exit from what seemed interminable just three years ago.

Similarly, RN insured an honorable exit from Vietnam, all while conducting groundbreaking diplomatic efforts in China and Russia, effectively reestablishing American prestige on the World stage.

When Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird declared the end of the draft in January 1973, 75 percent of Americans approved of RN’s handling of Vietnam, a sweeping mandate that also reflected the youth’s revived fervency for volunteerism.

Obama’s War

October 14, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Afghanistan, Afpak | 1 Comment 

The first of the Frontline series on the Afghan War is now on the PBS website. Rife with new battlefield footage, spectacular scenes from the rugged Central Asian country, and interviews with troops and military experts, it details the tasks and complications of conducting a modern counterinsurgency:

Russia’s Energy Vulnerabilities

October 14, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Russia, The National Interest | 1 Comment 

Nicholas Gvosdev, the senior editor at The Nixon Center’s magazine The National Interest and a professor at U.S. Naval War College, argues that the West should rethink its energy policy with Russia:

1) Russia’s dependence on central and Eastern European transit countries limited Russia’s ability to wield the “energy weapon” against its former satellites, because Russia could not afford to alienate its Western European customers. (A related assumption was that Russia would be forced to subsidize the energy purchases of its immediate neighbors, such as Ukraine, in order to keep the transit lines open, meaning that the United States and its European partners could count on a major Russian subsidy to these economies.)

2) Russia’s overall dependence on Europe as its main customer locked Russia into a dependence on the West for the export income needed to power its economy. Where else did Moscow have to go? (Of course, some of the logical alternatives for Europe for energy supply—not fantastic schemes of central Asians directly connecting to Europe, but more practical exploitation of existing yet underdeveloped projects in the Mediterranean, north and west Africa—never reached any level of urgency in Washington.)

Russian strategists recognized these vulnerabilities—so why, then, should we be surprised that they are taking concrete steps to change their position? Pushing forward with the Nord Stream line to link northern Russian gas sources directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea, so as to reduce Russia’s vulnerabilities via the existing transit countries is a logical and entirely predictable development. So too making the argument to the Germans (and the French, and the Italians, and others) that it benefits them to have a new direct link to Russian sources of supply, free of the possibility of disruptions caused by friction in Russian bilateral relations with countries like Ukraine or Poland. (And Germany is happy to resell Russian gas via the pipeline links eastward to countries like Poland or Ukraine—but the Germans will demand a higher price and be less willing to accept IOUs.)

And the ongoing plans for shipping more natural gas eastward—to hungry markets, especially in China—changes Russia’s gameplan even further. If Westerners become reluctant to invest in Russia, China is more than eager to make up the difference. And soon Russia will have the ability to shift gas and oil from one vector to another. The West wants to reduce its dependence on Russia? No problem. Redirect the energy eastward. But this also gives Russia the ability to decide that it might want to reduce the energy it sends westward. Perhaps not to well-paying customers in parts of the EU, the ones which have good economic ties to Moscow and prize good relations with Russia—but we can easily think of other countries that can’t pay higher prices, and those who can’t pay the ticket don’t get admitted to the dance.

Perhaps the possibility of a normalization of relations between the United States and Iran—or at least something along the lines of the Libya approach—might change the game by allowing the West to fully access Iran’s immense energy reserves (and finally opening the closed back door to effective and efficient transit of resources from central Asia to global markets). But is such a rapprochement likely? And why would Russia agree to support renewed U.S. efforts to pressure Iran to try and quickly resolve the nuclear standoff?

The strategic assumptions made during the 1990s about Russian energy are becoming increasingly invalid as we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century. Some uncomfortable readjustments in our strategy might be the consequence.

Featured Articles — October 14, 2009

October 14, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting takes from home and abroad:

After a Key Vote, Health Care Now Turns to Harry Reid By Jay Newton-Small, Time
Now that the last of the five congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care, Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee, has passed its much anticipated reform bill, it falls to majority leader Harry Reid to cobble together something that can pass the Senate.

How Fox News Outsmarted the White House By John Batchelor, The Daily Beast
David Axelrod, Emanuel Rahm Gerald Herbert / AP Photo The White House’s war on Fox shows its ignorance of the network’s true purpose: show business. And Team Obama is giving Murdoch just what he wants.

Don’t Reinflate the Old Bubbles By Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post
Analysts at Goldman Sachs suggested Tuesday that, despite a 50 percent run-up in stock prices that has left the Dow Jones industrial average just shy of 10,000 and the S&P 500 selling at 20 times earnings, stocks are still cheap.

Rush Limbaugh, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the Rams: Should the NFL be Renamed the ‘National Liberal League’? By Carl Cannon, Politics Daily
Conservatives suggested this week, not unreasonably, that if one of their own is ever to be awarded a peace prize, an organization other than the Nobel committee is going to have to hand it out.

Biden No Longer a Lone Voice on Afghanistan By Peter Baker, The New York Times
A few hours after getting off a plane from America’s war zones, Joseph R. Biden Jr. slipped into a chair, shook off his jet lag and reflected on what he had seen. The situation in Iraq, he said, was much improved. In Pakistan, he said he saw encouraging signs.

Not Good Enough By Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times
If President Obama can find a way to balance the precise number of troops that will stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan, without tipping America into a Vietnam there, then he indeed deserves a Nobel Prize — for physics.

CNN Leaves It There

October 13, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, Comedy, News media | 3 Comments 

The revolution manqué has started to devour its own children.  But in a world where so much time is spent automatically bashing Fox News, it’s bracing to see at least some spillover skepticism aimed in CNN’s direction.  Of course the target here is fatuity not ideology.

Lessons In Disaster

October 13, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Book Review, Vietnam | 1 Comment 

Courtesy of Kathryn Jones from the The Massachusetts School of Law, here is a recent video of a special q and a with former UN security official Gordon Goldstein on Afghanistan and the lessons learned in Vietnam.

While Sorley’s book A Better War has been passed around the Pentagon, Goldstein’s Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, has been circulating around the White House and is now being read by President Obama.

Laughing Matters

October 13, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Barack Obama, Comedy | Leave a Comment 

10.13.60

October 13, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Forty-nine years ago tonight, Vice President Nixon and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy engaged in their third of four debates of the 1960 presidential campaign, the first ever to be televised.

Frank Gannon wrote about the first debate here.

The Philly Burbs website is featuring highlights of the 1960 campaign with this video:

Featured Articles — October 13, 2009

October 13, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | 3 Comments 

Interesting takes from home and abroad:

Get Nasty or Go Home By Michael Scheuer, Foreign Policy
The go-light strategy in Afghanistan is a joke. If Obama’s serious about victory, it’s time to start making unpleasant choices.

Petraeus for President? By Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast
The GOP, torn apart by extremists, needs a hero to step up and lead the party. Peter Beinart thinks General David Petraeus is a lot like Ike.

Obama must start punching harder By Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
Just five years ago, Barack Obama was still a local politician in Illinois, preparing for a run for the US Senate. His office wall in Chicago at the time was decorated with the famous picture of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston, after knocking him out in a heavyweight title fight.

Clinton and Gates Join Forces in Debate on Afghanistan Buildup By Mark Landler and Tom Shanker, The New York Times
The last time the Obama administration arrived at a moment of truth in the debate over what to do about Afghanistan, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Robert M. Gates delivered a one-two punch in favor of a more ambitious approach.

Liz Cheney’s group ‘Keep America Safe’ takes on ‘radical’ White House By Ben Smith, Politico
Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s eldest daughter Liz will launch a new group aimed at rallying opposition to the “radical” foreign policy of the Obama administration which it says has succeeded only in undermining the nation’s security.

Cruelty in the Court By George F. Will, Newsweek
Crush videos and foie gras.

You Can’t Win ‘Em All

October 12, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Barack Obama, Humor, Ideas, Obama administration, economy | 2 Comments 

The winners of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics were announced today in Oslo.  Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson shared the award for their work in the area of economic governance.

Professor Ostrom, a political science professor at  Indiana University in Bloomington is the first woman Nobel laureate in this category.  She describes her work as studying “how local people, as well as government officials, have attempted to solve very difficult resource problems.”

Dr. Williamson is an emeritus professor of microeconomics at Berkeley.  He has developed a theory in which business firms represent alternate governance structures and are studied in terms of conflict resolution.

The Nobel Academy said that their work over the last three decades has “advanced economic governance research from the fringe to the forefront of scientific attention.”

The “First Take” wags over at Dow Jones’ MarketWatch took a different approach to the story.  Under the headline ”Obama fails to win Nobel prize in economics,”  Tom Bernis wrote:

LONDON (MarketWatch) — In a decision as shocking as Friday’s surprise peace prize win, President Obama failed to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Monday.

While few observers think Obama has done anything for world peace in the nearly nine months he’s been in office, the same clearly can’t be said for economics.

The president has worked tirelessly since even before his inauguration to wrest control of the U.S. economy from failed free markets, and the evil CEOs who profit from them, and to turn it over to wise, fair and benevolent bureaucrats.

From his $787 billion stimulus package, to the cap-and-trade bill, to the seizures of General Motors and Chrysler, to the undead health-care “reform” act, Obama has dominated the U.S., and therefore the global, economy as few figures have in recent years.

Yet the Nobel panel chose instead to award the prize to two obscure academics — Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson — one noted for her work on managing collective resources, and the other for his work on transaction costs.

Other surprise losers include celebrity noneconomist and filmmaker Michael Moore; U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; and Larry Summers, head of the U.S. national economic council.

It is unclear whether the president will now refuse his peace prize in protest against the obvious slight to his real achievements this year.

The Power Of A Great Story

October 12, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Advertising, Cool Commercials, Humor | Leave a Comment 

Canal+ is a French premium pay cable channel of the “It’s not TV, it’s Canal+” variety.

Have Faith In The Youth

October 12, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Richard Nixon | 2 Comments 

In the 1968 campaign, RN made an appeal to the nation’s youth:

I have great faith in American youth. The youth of today can change the world, and if they understand that I think we’re going to go forward to a great age, not just for Americans but for peace and progress for all the people in the World.

Update 1:00 pm, September 12, 2009: Speaking of RN and the youth, reader MK points out that in a 1973 article in the Evening Independent, Vicki Lynne Cole, the girl who inspired the 1968 inaugural theme with a campaign poster that read “bring us together,” credited RN with ….. well bringing us together:

“The whole atmosphere is a lot calmer when he took office,” the 17 year-old high school senior said. “I think he’s done a great job and really brought us together.”

5000….And Counting

October 12, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under The New Nixon | Leave a Comment 

In the Milestone Department: Over the weekend, the five thousandth post was uploaded to The New Nixon.

Columbus Day

October 12, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under History, Holidays, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

A Columbus Day Parade float on Fifth Avenue in New York City.  (Photograph by Sean Unruh.)

On 8 October, a few days before Columbus Day in 1972, RN spoke —without text or notes— to a dinner at the Sheraton Park Hotel sponsored by Amerito (a federation of Italian-American organizations in the Washington D.C. area) and the Knights of Columbus.

Here are some excerpts from his recorded remarks:

Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I may take just a little of your time to pay my own special tribute to the organizations that are represented here, and also to the day that will be celebrated all day tomorrow, Columbus Day. May I speak of what that day means to America. May I speak also of what the Italian heritage means to America.

In speaking to you on this occasion, I, of course, could mention a number of areas in which people of Italian background have contributed to the greatness of this country. For example, in the field of government, the man on my right, Secretary Volpe. There are others. We have honored one of the top labor leaders of America, he, of course, of Italian background.

But whatever area you pick, whether in the area of business or politics or labor, you will find that those of Italian background have made their way to the top, and they are justly honored. It seemed to me quite appropriate that your program last year was at the Kennedy Center and that opera stars from all over the world were brought there, because everyone knows not only of the Italian contribution to America but to the world, in the field of music.

John Volpe suggested that perhaps some of you in this great audience might not know that that band that you have heard tonight is also one that we owe to our Italian background. When Thomas Jefferson was first trying to get an appropriate band for the White House, he found that there were not enough good musicians in the then new Capital of the United States, and so he, who had traveled much in the world, sent people to Italy. They recruited Italians to come to join the Marines, and the Marine Band came from Italy. Now, if any of you think that that story is apocryphal just for this occasion, I can tell you something that I know has been checked historically, as has that story, and that is that over one-half of all of the leaders of this distinguished band, which is called the President’s Band–it is the one that always plays in the White House–over one-half of them, over 180 years, have been men of Italian background. So it is the President’s Band.

But when we describe professions, the profession of politics, labor leaders, business, music, and the like, we could, of course, describe various groups who have contributed to the greatness of America. Let me indicate to you some other factors that I think more closely touch the subject in which we are all interested tonight, what those of Italian background have contributed to this country over the years.

….We see one of those factors very clearly, and that is, putting it quite bluntly, hard work. Italian immigrants came to this country by the hundreds of thousands, and then by the millions. They came here not asking for something, asking only for the opportunity to work. They have worked and they have built.

I think it can truly be said that they, along with many other groups who have come from all over the world to America, have helped to build this country. They are the builders of America, and, consequently, we owe a debt to this group for what they have done in building America, for what they have done in teaching us all that the dignity of work is what made this country what it is and that we must always respect the dignity of work and the dignity of those who lead the workers of America….

There is a second feature which is represented by this head table tonight. Those of Italian background bring with them a very deep religious faith. We in America have varying religious backgrounds, but the day when America loses its religious faith, this will cease to be a great country. Those of Italian background, with their deep religious faith, have helped to sustain the strength of America, the moral strength, which is more important than all the military strength and the economic strength in the world…..

There is another factor that this evening reminds us of. Those of Italian background have a deep love of family….. But most important of all is the fact that those of Italian background, along with so many other immigrant groups who have come to this country, are proud of where they came from, where their parents or grandparents came from, but they are prouder still to be Americans.

As we think of that particular fact, I would like to put it in terms of what we really owe to so many groups who have come to America from abroad and have added character and strength and fiber to this country’s idealism, to the love of country which sustains us through difficult times and other times as well…..

Let me say, as one who came not from an Italian background, but from a not very affluent background, that I always feel very grateful that I was born in America. But also, I always recall that in the term I have been President the moments that perhaps have touched me the most have been those when I have attended citizenship ceremonies–one in Chicago, one in New York, one in Washington– and new citizens have come by, just getting their American citizenship for the first time. Whether they happened to be from Poland or Italy or Germany or the Orient or wherever they were, more often than not tears would be in their eyes when they said, “I am so proud now to be an American citizen.”

Let us be proud to be Americans tonight.

Featured Articles — October 12, 2009

October 12, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes From Home And Abroad:

Time for Decisiveness on Afghanistan By Robert D. Kaplan, The Atlantic
Obama needs to get behind his chosen general and put the spectacle of indecisiveness behind him. Otherwise, in the coming months, the Democrats may be seen as having lost a war. And if that happens, not even the Nobel Peace Prize will rescue his reputation.

What Failure in Afghanistan? By Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post
At the heart of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for a major surge in troops is the assumption that we are failing in Afghanistan. But are we really?

Misguided Monetary Mentalities By Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Some of the bad ideas that helped cause the Great Depression have, alas, proved all too durable.

Nobel Surprise By Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker
If President Obama really had to get a gift postmarked Scandinavia this month, he would probably, on the whole, have preferred the Olympics.

Two State Races May Put Lens on Obama By Adam Nagourney, The New York Times
The governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey loom as early if imprecise tests of the president and his policies.

Why India Fears China By Jeremy Kahn, Newsweek
On June 21, two Chinese military helicopters swooped low over Demchok, a tiny Indian hamlet high in the Hima-layas along the northwestern border with China.

Laughing Matters

October 11, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Afpak, Barack Obama, Comedy, History, Humor, Obama administration | 2 Comments 

On Thursday the Daily Show turned its attention to the news about Afghanistan.  Jon Stewart’s deconstruction of Speaker Pelosi’s body language is inspired.  And the profile of General McChrystal —”he’s as strong as a grizzly bear and better at catching salmon; his mother was a yeti and his father a ‘68 Camaro”— covers some serious ground.

And this week’s issue of Time features a Fun with Photoshop Gallery of “Obama’s Other Awards” (in addition to his Heisman Trophy already noted here) — including an MTV Music Video Award, a Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar, and a Cy Young Award:

Annals of the Obama Administration

October 11, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Annals of the Obama Administration | Leave a Comment 

The First Lady made a charming video with Sesame Street’s Elmo about encouraging habits of healthy eating and smart  living — with the nice tag “You’re your child’s best role model.”   It’s possible that I am the last person in the western hemisphere to know about this PSA — which, apparently, was made in May.  But  I only saw it for the first time last night when I went to hulu.com to catch up on this week’s episode of FlashForward.*

____________________________________

*FlashForward (Thursday nights on ABC) combines the maddeningly intriguing ambiguities of Lost with the unalloyed adrenaline of 24 (at least it has for three episodes),  and it is phenomenal TV.   Check it out now and you can thank me later.

Laughing Matters

October 11, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, Barack Obama, Comedy, Obama administration | Leave a Comment 

Last night’s cold open. Less edgy, less risky and, perhaps not coincidentally, less funny:

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives

October 11, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Soundtrack Of Our Lives | 1 Comment 

Every Sunday, The Soundtrack of Our Lives looks back at some of the music that was popular, and the performers who were influential, around the time Richard Nixon became President in 1969.

TAKE IT EASY (JACKSON BROWNE + GLENN FREY) performed by THE EAGLES

Jackson Browne was on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1975.

Jackson Browne wrote “Take It Easy” in 1971 with the idea of including it on his debut LP which was about to be recorded.  Typical of the Jackson oeuvre, it cast a detached but perceptive eye on the singer’s (not unenviable) situation.

Well I’m running down the road
Tryin’ to loosen my load
Ive got seven women on my mind.
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she’s a friend of mine.
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easy.

Well I’m running down the road
Tryin’ to loosen my load
Got a world of trouble on my mind.
Lookin’ for a lover
Who won’t blow my cover
She’s so hard to find.
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy.
Come on baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me.

Browne played the song-in-progress for his friend and  housemate Glenn Frey (the other housemate was singer-songwriter J. D. Souther — that must have been quite a crib.)   Frey was in the course of preparing the first album of his band, the Eagles.  He immediately recognized that “Take It Easy” wasn’t just a hit, but a song whose chromatics and sentiments would be particularly suited to the Eagles’ senses and sensibilities.   He also “Eagleized” it —lightened its existential load, one might say— by adding a second verse that provided a memorably vivid and earthy image and elongating the “e” in “easy.”

Well I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me.
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me
We may lose and we may win
Though we will never be here again
So open up, I’m climbin’ in,
So take it easy.

As Frey told an interviewer in 1993: “As far as I was concerned, being visual — to start with a picture — was the first and most important aspect of lyric-writing. You can look at the list of Eagles songs from ‘Take It Easy’ through ‘Hotel California,’ and in the first four lines, we put you someplace: ‘On a dark desert highway…’ or, ‘I’m runnin’ down the road, tryin’ to loosen my load…’. Openings of songs are very important, so I’ve always considered myself to be a visual songwriter.”

Such a fine sight to see: the Eagles in London in 1972 (from left, Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner )where their first, eponymous, LP was recorded at Olympic Studios.

Browne gave the Eagles the song and they began playing it during their sets in Aspen and Los Angeles.   By the time the song was recorded in London, it had taken on a distinct country tinge.

In concert in 1973, Frey, Randy Meissner, and Bernie Leadon segued into “Take It Easy” with an a cappella snatch of the folk classic “Silver Dagger”:

“Take It Easy” was the first track on the first side of Eagles, which was released in June 1972. The album was a success (and is now Number 374 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time); and the song was a hit — reaching Number 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100.   In 1995, it was chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

Frey later introduced “Take It Easy” by saying “Here’s hot it all began….”  It was the song that, in a manner of speaking, put the spin on the Eagles.   In a 1992 interview, Frey told Bob Costas that “Take It Easy” was “America’s first image of our band with the vistas of the Southwest and the beginnings of what became Country-Rock.”

Jackson Browne recorded “Take It Easy” the next year —1973— when he chose it as the first track on his second album —For Everyman (#457 of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums).

There are no early Jackson Browne “Take It Easy” videos on YouTube, but a later, somewhat jauntier, performance conveys the folkier spirit of the ‘73 album track:

The connections between Jackson Browne, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt during those halcyon and heady days in the late ’60s and early ’70s are many and deep.  It was Ronstadt’s manager John Boylan who created the Eagles by assembling four prime session musicians to back her up on the road and in the studio.  They can be heard on her 1970 debut album Silk Purse.

Here is a terrific version of “Take It Easy” featuring that Ur country folk rock crowd: the Eagles, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt.  In addition to adding some interesting harmonies (with Linda’s voice ringing distinctively clear and true), the cutaways —although somewhat scrubbed up for TV purposes—  convey the peaceful easy feeling of that particular ’70s vibe.

STANDING ON A CORNER IN WINSLOW ARIZONA

Well I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me.

The town of Winslow, Arizona, eagerly and cleverly embraced the quarter hour’s worth of fame conferred by Glenn Frey’s “Take It Easy” verse and turned that otherwise unprepossessing urban venue —Kinsley Avenue and the northwest corner of Second Street— into an hommage to the song.

A life-size bronze statue by Ron Adamson presents a dude leaning against a lamp post holding a guitar.  In John Pugh’s trompe-l’oeil mural on the wall behind him, the “reflection” of a flat bed Ford —with a hot blonde behind the wheel— can be seen in the store window.

For the last decade there has been an annual Standing On The Corner Festival at a park a few blocks up the street (the area is under major construction these days).   Note: The holidays are just around the corner, and real fans know that Standing On The Corner merch makes great stocking stuffers.

Jackson Browne’s extensive catalog is easily available (as on Amazon).  As is the Eagles’ (as on Amazon).

Featured Articles — October 11, 2009

October 11, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting takes from home and abroad:

A Wicked and Ignorant Award By Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal
How Barack Obama could help redeem the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s grievous mistake.

Gandhi Wuz Robbed By Maureen Dowd, The New York Times
Two former presidents hash out, and bond over, who should have been candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Want Peace? Give a Nuke the Nobel By David Von Drehle, Time
President Barack Obama’s Nobel peace surprise was given “primarily for his work on and commitment to nuclear disarmament,” according to Agot Valle, a Norwegian politician who served on the award committee.

What I Heard in Honduras By Jim DeMint, The Wall Street Journal
Our ambassador is the only person I met there who thinks there was a ‘coup.’ Let’s release the State Department legal analysis.

Iran-Contra’s Scary Sequel By Art Levine, The Daily Beast
Conservatives are mounting an attack against Obama over his support for the deposed Honduran president. Leading the charge: ex-Iran-Contra operatives and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina.

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