Beldar has posted his endorsement of Ted Cruz for Senate. There are going to be 2 debates in March on successive Thursdays at 5:30 PM at the Belo Mansion on Ross Ave in Dallas for the candidates. I have wanted to be inside the mansion and plan to take a little vacation and go. The notice was in the Dallas Morning News.

The Century of the Icons

Obama was elected because people saw his struggle as, Keynesian and Democratic, preserving the icons of America, of GM. He himself is an icon of our goodness, our support of the Other in the black struggle. Even in California a cause wins supporting the icon of marriage. The Catholic Church is being attacked. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meum, 'To God who is the joy of my youth,' an icon of our youth, shall it be taken away? No, an America which responded to the attack on the icon of New York to begin the century will struggle with Rick Santorum to preserve it.

On one visit, Kennedy was embroiled in one of the most defining moments of his presidency, the Cuban Missile Crisis. For 13 days in October 1962, the United States and the Soviets were at a nuclear standoff.
Although historians have dissected Kennedy’s actions, none was privy to what he confided to Mimi.
“I’d rather my children red than dead,” he told her.

Link

This from the story of the intern seduced by JFK. How about all of our generation that went to VN? We were terribly used. I guess you can argue the counter-factual and wonder if the counter-revolutionary Cubans had had air support at the Bay of Pigs, would they have won, would we have gone in after them. However it was pursued, if we lost in the action, would it have devolved later to a nuclear war, were Nixon president. He would more likely have bombed on discovery of the missile sites and nuclear armed missiles, unbeknownst to us, were already in Cuba, but he was good calculator of chances, a good gambler. I can remember waking up at about 2 AM the night of Kennedy's election and hearing Nixon optimistic about returns, and he did probably win except for fraud in Illinois.

Polish poet dies

Wislawa Szymborska and references in the Atlantic. The cat one and statistics are my favorite; she wrote a weekly coumn in Polish called not required reading.

Well, as you know we had terrible news tonight, Newt got bit in the behind in Florida, but the worst of it, you know that liberal lamestream media, well Newt called Mitt to congratulate him. .. Then Newt went onstage and said how he felt about it, congratulating Mitt for a hard fought primary and saying that he’d clear his throat and stay in bit longer but, as Mitt requested that he do for Mitt’s campaign, he was going to act like a grandiose loser, like the Roman Republic was going to crash and it was just him Brutus against the empire and just play to type. The media of course went along with this (wait, well that’s partly true).

It is kind of ironic, maybe. You don't, I suppose, in business talk to a private equity guy unless you need a turnaround and are willing to relinquish (some) ownership. The Republicans are seeing if they can get used to that with Romney, a private equity guy to whom they will have to relinquish some ownership even if he is not one of 'them.'

Good article on Mitt Romney's tax return with application to many in the WSJ today, also the teenage mind, and Japanese perfection as applied to the consumer experience. The New Yorker has a good article on imprisonment and I enjoyed one from Jan. 2009 on the movie Defiance.

Ann A. linked to:

The CNN Debate, Feb. 26

Gingrich didn't defeat Romney in SC; the Washington Post did when Romney didn''t have an answer to the Cayman's island question. Gingrich and Perry showed that Romney didn't have good defenses against the class warfare plays. I appreciate Gingrich's defense of the Catholic Church most notably about adoption in MA. I'll vote for him (not solely) for that reason. My impression is that the loss of the Speakership was tactical for the Republicans. Though the underlying problem was not a bid deal, they didn't want to use their political capital in defending him; I haven't seen that episode discussed. Overall, the debates have given us a chance to know the candidates. We develop favorites and, yes, grudges but like in a relationship, past issues are also discounted in going to the future. I understand Romney better, see black intellectuals, TNC at the Atlantic, and others are offended by him and will support Romney. Santorum also impressed me tonight in explaining where Obama was coming from in the SOU. Rush, linked through Drudge, had some interesting comments. Gingrich instead of promising Bolton for Sec. of State should promise Ron Paul as Drug Czar.