Russian Sees US “disintegration” in 2010; Norwegian Sees US collapse in 2020; American Sees Mary Todd as misunderstood November 5, 2009

Russian Professor Says This is Our Fate

At the end of last year, the Wall Street Journal reported the assessment of Igor Panarin who said that US would “disintegrate” by June or July of 2010.   He said that a collapse of economy and of morals would result in a Civil War that would end with the United States being broken into the Republic of Texas, The Californian Republic, the Central North American Republic, Atlantic America and Russia would lay claim to Alaska while Hawaii would hook up with either China or Japan.   The journal describes Mr. Panarin as a “Russian Academic” and later points out that he is a former member of the KGB.  It seems that another professor  has come up with a similar prediction in a new book called, The Fall of the US Empire-and Then What?  Johan Galtung explains his new rationale in and interview with Russia Today.  He thinks that the fall began with the Korean War and claims that he had successfully predicted previous events, such as the fall of the Soviet Union.   But, Professor Galtung, the Norwegian sociologist and a principal founder of the discipline of Peace and conflict studies, offers hope.  He says what the US can do to avoid his gloomy forecast and its not another stimulus package, but instead a mixed bag of geopolitical action.  Keep in mind the book was published by Transcend Peace University Press and it provides the prolog to Galtung’s book.  I wonder if he would have had any marital advice to give Abraham Lincoln because…

On This Date In History: On this date in 1842,  Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd. She was considered quite a catch in her day. I don’t think they had a “catch and release” program back then.

Mary Todd at age 28...catch of the day?

She actually is a rather interesting figure and there have been several biographies about her and numerous…hundreds…..written about Lincoln which delve into their relationship, how it affected his presidency. Its probably a good idea to read several to get some sort of perspective because each author will come at it from different perspectives and sometimes with a preconceived agenda or notion of what they want to say.   Jean Baker has one of the more recent biographies of Mary Todd and it paints a very sympathetic portrait by often using late 20th century sensibilities and transporting them back to the 19th century.  In my view, that is a flaw because you really can’t take modern psychology and modern ideals of society and try to use them to create a portrait of a person from the past.  I believe its like comparing apples to oranges and is often a problem when trying to draw conclusions.  One must understand the thinking and customs of the day when examining the events and people of the past.  If you look closely, you find that Professor Baker received funding from the Elizabeth Connolly Todd Foundation. Like I said, biographers look at subjects from different perspectives and different photos…the one adorning the Baker portrait of Todd is not the same presented above.

On this date in 1965, speedster Craig Breedlove’s wife, Lee Ann, tried to steal his thunder when she became the first woman to drive more than 300 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats. I’m not sure if Craig got mad, but he certainly made sure he shared the spotlight. Just few hours later, Craig Breedlove got in his car and shattered his land speed record by reaching over 555 mph in his Spirit of America jet powered car. I don’t have a photo of Lee Ann.

Friday Morning Temps (NWS LMK)

Weather Bottom Line:  Lee Ann Breedlove might have been hot and someone in the mid 19th century might have thought that Mary Todd was hot, but our weather will remain on the cool side.  Thursday morning found some lows below freezing in the extreme southern and eastern parts of the viewing area and Friday morning, there may be more wide spread instances of the mercury tickling the freezing mark.  The National Weather Service in Louisville under the steadfast guidance of John Gordon provided their notion of area temperatures overnight in map form above.  What’s gonna happen is that the big fat area of high pressure that is over us now will move to the east and we will get a nice return flow.  That means are temperatures will be on the rise to the point that Saturday afternoon we will see mid to upper 60’s and Sunday afternoon maybe even some low 70’s.  A front moves through here on Monday bringing some rain and an end to the mild conditions.  That same front may also dictate what happens with Tropical Storm Ida, if it has not been broken up by its current trek over Central America.

Pooh August 21, 2009

On This Date in History:

Milne, Christopher Robin and Pooh

Hawaii became the 50th state on this date  in 1959…but the new flag with the 50th star wasn’t official until 1960. Guess the Betsy Ross’s of the day were a bit slow. On this date in 1920, the third child of Alan Alexander (AA) and Dorothy Milne and was born in London.  

Alexander Milne was a pacifist but he still ended up in the English Army during World War I. He served as a signaling officer and found himself on the front line in France for part of 1916.  He was sent home after developing a fever.  After his recovery, he was assigned to a signaling company at Fort Southwick where he remained until he was discharged in 1919.  Prior to the war, he has served as an assistant editor at Punch magazine.  With is discharge, he quit punch and decided to concentrate on writing plays.  In 1923, he wrote a poem that was published in Vanity Fair and it centered around his son, Christopher Robin.  That whetted his appetite for poetry and in 1924, he wrote a book of children’s poems. In that book, he had a poem about a teddy bear.  In the poem, the bear apparently had a weight problem because, “however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.”

Milne Wasn't Too Keen on his Pooh Fame

In 1925, the Milnes bought a farm in Sussex, UK next to a 100 acre wood and, by that time, Christopher had accumulated a number of stuffed animals.  His first furry friend was a small bear that he received when he was about one year old. This inspired AA Milne and he wrote a bedtime story for the Christmas Eve issue of the Evening News.  It was the first time he wrote about his son, Christopher Robin and his adventures with his teddy bear, Winnie the Pooh.    That bedtime story became the first chapter of his book in 1926 called Winnie the Pooh.  The book was followed with verses called Now We Are Six and The House at Pooh’s Corner in 1927 and 1928 respectively.  But that was all.  See, Milne was concerned for the well being of his son and his work that featured Christopher Robin had created quite a bit of publicity.  So, Milne announced that The House at Pooh’s Corner would be his last featuring Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. 

The Wonderful Thing about Tigger

 

An interesting part of the story is  that Milne never read the stories to his son.  Also, his work was not designed for children but instead he wanted to connect with the child within each of us.  A A went on to write other plays, books and poems but he is best known for the limited work relating to Winnie the Pooh.  You can tell that he’s a real artist because he was not amused that he was best known for a children’s story rather than his other work.  The plays are sometimes performed today in amateur plays but rarely in professional productions.  Yet, Winnie the Pooh is still an industry to itself with books and merchandise and tv shows.  I am curious as to who wrote such staples as Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day since it was not Milne.  No mind. I’m sure that the estate enjoys the royalties, which I assume roll in.   Milne died in 1956.

Now, my mother had visions of me being like Christopher Robin. I always thought the portrayal on the TV specials was like a girl. We lived in California and we had a canyon with rattle snakes and coyotes. We played there and dug underground forts, played war and had dirt clod fights. I don’t think Chris could have hung with me and my friends. As for me, I was partial to Tigger but I wonder if Tigger was a Milne character or was he the brain child of Walt Disney?

Weather Bottom Line:  If this was winter (and it’s not) then we would probably be in store for a snowy weekend (which we wont).   The front moved through and we didn’t receive any rain at all at my house. I did not do any analysis at all but there was some inhibiting factor that prevented us from getting any rain.  My only guess is that the clouds and light rain of the morning kept the atmosphere stable and then there was a big shot of dry air from the southwest…maybe hot dry air aloft because I noted a bunch of cumulus in the afternoon without much vertical development.  Anyway, obviously, the Thursday forecast was a bust..probably one of the worst in recent memory. 

Now, this deep trof sets up for the weekend and the parent low is in the Great Lakes with a big vort lobe that will swing around.  It will produce a lot of clouds.  There is not much moisture but it could squeeze out a few showers from time to time for Saturday and Sunday.  If it were colder, it would be snow showers.  As it is, look for temperatures in the 70’s in the afternoon with the clouds and also overnight lows in the 50’s and low 60’s.