worldwide pablo

George Plimpton -- author, journalist, publisher, raconteur and above all, writer -- died yesterday at the age of 76. Far be it for Worldwide Pablo to add much to the already mounting multitude of tributes to the self-deprecating, yet strangely patrician, Plimpton. Yet let it be noted that Plimpton's new-journalism style of writing caught the attention of a certain 12-year-old from Bellevue, WA, who, a few short years after it was published in 1963, discovered Paper Lion, and doted on every word, idea and stylistic turn.

For a writer, there are fewer tributes higher than being featured or interviewed in Plimpton's Paris Review. But as a reader, the ultimate compliment was knowing that somehow Plimpton already knew you ... and vice versa.

Paired with the death of Robert Palmer today, it's been a really lousy day. Say your prayers.

This could happen only in East County ...

[Disclosure: ... a few blocks from Chez WWP.]

What next? Liverwurst? [Maybe she should be taking them to Utah instead.]

Yes, WWP told you this could happen: Experts are already beginning to warn that the impending electoral disaster in California (aka, the gubernatorial recall election on October 7) has the potential to make Election 2000 look like a Methodist women's tea party. You will remember that the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount (the infamous Bush v. Gore decision) because the state of Florida lacked standardized procedures for recounting the votes. Experts now warn that the very same thing can be said about the way California counts the votes in the first place.

Here's why:

Let’s pretend the Golden State has 1,000 voters: 400 of them vote by punch-cards, 600 vote by other, more modern electronic methods. Now, if the error rate in punch-card voting machines is, say, 2 percent (low by some estimates), that means 8 votes will be thrown out (so-called undervotes, overvotes or outright error). But in the larger group, the 600 using electronic voting machines, the error rate is said to be 0.5 percent (one-half of 1 percent), meaning just 3 votes will be not counted. In other words, because of the varying error rates of the machines used to count votes, it is possible that voters using punch-card machines, though they comprise less than half the electorate, will have about three times as many uncounted votes.

Big deal, you say? Now pretend that the election is close, let’s say within one half of 1 percent, which in the case of our pretend state, is a difference of 5 votes. That, if you didn’t notice already, is the difference between the two error rates mentioned above. Does this seem like “equal protection under the law”?

This is the very point the ACLU was attempting to make to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected the equal protection argument this week. No doubt, should the gubernatorial circus devolve into a "hanging chad" debacle (and this seems very likely should the recall election be close, and all indications today are that it will be), the equal protection argument is likely to arise again.

It will be interesting, and telling, to see whether the GOP rallies around the principles of Bush v. Gore in California as strongly as it did three years ago in Florida. WWP is not holding his breath.

California gubernatorial candidate Tom McClintock swears he's not a spoiler in the upcoming recall election on October 7. But WWP thinks his refusal to consider leaving the race so that The Terminator might prevail reminds us of the hopeless (some would say shameless) vanity of a certain 2000 presidential minor party candidate. The national Dems must be secretly praying that McClintock will go national in the 2004 presidential race.

Or maybe McClintock has another office in mind?

The Champs d'Elysees is getting some new neighbors. Mon dieu!

Three notable passings occurred this week:

The inimitable Garner Ted Armstrong died Monday of complications from pneumonia. For the flamboyant Armstrong, his religious beliefs always seemed to come in second place, overshadowed by the evangelistic efforts of his equally famous father, to say nothing of the younger Armstrong's innumerable personal shortcomings, shady business deals and failed denominations. Over the years, in the pulpit of his various "universal" churches, Garner Ted Armstrong held sway over evangelicals in a way that makes today's blow-dried televangelists seem, well, bland. WWP can recall watching the young Armstrong with his grandparents, who though they were Methodists, hung on every word from the golden-tongued tele-preacher. [But then, these were the same grandparents that took their daughter, WWP's mother, to hear Aimee Semple McPherson at the famed Foursquare Gospel Tabernacle in Los Angeles during McPherson's heyday in the 1930s.] Say what you will about his religion and his methods: Garner Ted Armstrong was an original. The airwaves will seem a bit dull without him. [Another colorful account of Armstrong appears here.]

Also passing this week, the estimable Catharine Crozier, a world-class organist who made Portland her home during the final years of her life. She blazed all kinds of trails: for organists in general, and women organists (and musicians) specifically. Along with her late husband, Harold Gleason, she literally "wrote the book" on learning organ playing and technique. Crozier also popularized modern sacred music, bringing attention to emerging artists (and sometimes alienating other classical musicians along the way with a zeal that bordered on imperiousness). Her concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, Washington's National Cathedral and locally are the stuff of legend. With her passing, it marks the loss of two great masters of the organ: Just 17 months ago, another organ giant, Allan Van Zoeren, who also made Portland his home, died at age 90. The choirs of heaven must be rejoicing right about now. [A memorial service for Crozier will be held early next year at Trinity Episcopal Church, where she was "artist in residence." Many other world-renown organists are expected to pay tribute to her life and music. For sacred music junkies, it will be a "must-hear" event.]

And then, finally, a really big death. Global warming? What global warming?

Let's see if Worldwide Pablo is getting this straight:

Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals restored California's October 7 gubernatorial recall election, on the grounds that "the status quo" could not be restored, meanwhile ignoring the Florida-style shipwreck that is sure to ensue on election day when voters in nearly half the state realize their votes were not counted with the same care and accuracy of others.

Meanwhile, Jay Leno hosted former child actor Gary Coleman, porn star Mary Carey and 90 other fringe candidates on his late-night talk show.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante loses access to $3.8 million in campaign donations and calls it "vindication."

Actor-candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger is "going negative."

The man who started and bankrolled it all is now urging Republicans to vote against the recall if they cannot agree on a single candidate.

And a media crush turns the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals into something not seen since the O.J. Simpson trials.

Cue the carnival music!

Heads up, II: Worldwide Pablo is experimenting with another blogging service in preparation for upgrading this humble blog. Head over here and see what you think. [WWP will tell you when to "throw the switch."]

A perfect summer night, last night was, and what an appropriate way to end the summer. Visible in the skies above Portland yesterday evening were, among other things, the Big Dipper (Ursa Major), the North Star (Polaris), the still red-hot Mars -- even the dual heaven-bound beacon lights of the convention center just west of Chez WWP. [WWP politely differs from blog-colleague Jack Bogdanski in this regard; Jack frowns on the sentiment and expense of the emotionally disconnected West Coast tribute. Fair enough. WWP finds it sentimental, but fitting, moving and beautiful nevertheless. However, as Jack says, the twin bores at city hall are appropriate metaphors for waste and lost opportunity. But we digress...]

Yes, today autumn is fully upon us. A strange beauty, autumn is. Contrasts and contradictions abound. She is an awesome beauty made possible by the natural cycle of flora's death and decay, a brilliance and quality of light evident even only as it disappears and is made short in day -- all this with an an eye pointed toward the expected wintertime festivities of joy as our afternoons and mornings shorten to familiar but unwelcome length. For WWP, autumn is always a challenge for introspection, a time for simplifying life and "resetting the clock," as it were. Autumn is the time that startles the creative juices back into flow after a summer of hedonistic on-the-go travel, family reunions, and general self-centeredness. Autumn urges us to let go of these impulses, to re-engage and stir again the potion of community, service, awareness, family and more. And yes, creativity, too.

WWP recalls Lewis Carroll's refrain about autumn:

In autumn, when the leaves are brown,
Take pen and ink, and write it down.

Write it down? Thank goodness: WWP has a web log.

Heads up: Yes, Worldwide Pablo has tired of the indifference of the Blogger web log service and anticipates a move soon, not unlike so very many other bloggers before him, alas. Stay tuned, and continue to watch this space for news about his newly relaunched web log site.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

So begins the document that changed the world and which continues to set tyranny on its ear and breathe life into democratic ideals in every corner of the globe. It is, of course, the Declaration of Independence. As it happens, one of 25 surviving copies is in town this week as part of a national tour.

The Declaration on view is one of the "Dunlap broadsides," as first typeset and printed by John Dunlap, and then distributed across the fledgling colonies for posting and reading in town squares. [The famous calligraphic copy, complete with actual hand-written signatures, was produced about one month after the printed version; it is permanently displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.]

On Sunday, Worldwide Pablo along with countless citizens strolled over to the Oregon Historical Society's History Center to feast our eyes upon the 227-year-old document with immortal meaning:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

This copy of the Declaration is owned by television producer Norman Lear, who purchased the document at auction for the very purpose of displaying it to the public. The "Independence Road Trip" (an ambitious and somewhat over-reaching civics project) is the result. The exhibit is here only until September 28, so move quickly if you want to see this precious document. The exhibit is free.

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government."

The timing of the Declaration's road trip could not be more prescient. After reading the full Declaration again Sunday, Worldwide Pablo could not help but be struck at the contrast of the brands of patriotism lived out today and those proffered by the founders. It's almost impossible to reconcile the soaring principles of the Declaration with the preening, over-reaching, liberty-squelching articles of the inaptly named USA Patriot Act. Where one document relies on faith and hope, the other counts on control and fear. And any comparison of between the perils faced by the Declaration's signers and the self-interests of the backers of today's "patriotic broadsides" simply sickens the stomach.

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

For more than two centuries, these words, and more importantly, the ideas behind them, have sustained and inspired a nation and the world in a way few if any other secular document has. Worldwide Pablo seriously doubts that in 227 years' time that web loggers and museum curators will be paying much attention to verbal output of today's so-called patriots … a fact that must irk the hell out of the small-minded John Ashcrofts of our day.