A lesson for academics is that any time the word “force” is used as a verb (“the policy should be to force banks to do X or Y”), the next sentence [...]]]> Phillip Swagel’s “The Financial Crisis: An Inside View“.  It is a meaty 50+ page document but it is full of great lines such as the following:

A lesson for academics is that any time the word “force” is used as a verb (“the policy should be to force banks to do X or Y”), the next sentence should set forth the section of the U.S. legal code that allows such a course of action—otherwise, the policy suggestion is of theoretical but not practical interest.

Swagel was the former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy under Henry Paulson.  He served from December 2006 until January 2009.

AP: Feinstein seeks block solar power from desert land.

“If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave [...]]]> I wish they would just be honest with the American people and admit they don’t want any new energy instead of claiming to be FOR “green” energy and then doing everything they can to stop it (see Kennedy, Ted).

AP: Feinstein seeks block solar power from desert land.

“If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it,” Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.

To those of us who live and work in Hollywood, movies are always the perfect gift. So we’re puzzled to read about the controversy that erupted when President Barack Obama gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a collection of classic movie DVDs.

It seemed like a chintzy gift to some sniffing British journalists. Impersonal, [...]]]> By ROB LONG

Los Angeles

To those of us who live and work in Hollywood, movies are always the perfect gift. So we’re puzzled to read about the controversy that erupted when President Barack Obama gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a collection of classic movie DVDs.

It seemed like a chintzy gift to some sniffing British journalists. Impersonal, slapdash, borderline insulting — the sign, some suggested, of a president in over his head.

But, look, we’ve all been there. We’ve all been faced with finding a last-minute gift. We’ve all sprinted through the aisles of Walgreens, scanning the shelves for something — anything — that might possibly, if wrapped stylishly, qualify as a present. President Obama has the added burden of being almost completely broke, so it’s only natural that his eye drifts to the discount bin at the video store.

Twenty-five classic movies? Some that he included, like “The Wizard of Oz” and “City Lights,” are so old and so well-known that they’re practically free. Perfect! Wrap them up in last year’s Hanukkah paper — he’s British; he won’t notice — and presto: diplomatic crisis averted.

And there are nuances aplenty to be found in the titles that the president offered to the prime minister. For Britain, with its long tradition of cross-dressing and racism, the copies of “Some Like it Hot” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” really do form a quirky double-feature.

So there might be some strategy to this last-minute gift. It’s awfully early to begin drawing conclusions about our young and unpredictable president, but one way to better understand his foreign-policy philosophy is to watch closely which DVDs he gives to whom.

A copy of “Gentleman’s Agreement,” the 1947 Gregory Peck film that exposes the subtle but pervasive anti-Semitism then prevalent in American society, might be a nice house present for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. President Obama has yet to formulate a clear policy toward Iran, so the movie could make an important point in a fairly nonconfrontational way. If Mr. Obama sends him a box set of the HBO series “Oz,” on the other hand — a show set in a terrifying men’s prison, with explicit scenes of what are euphemistically called “full cavity searches” — then it’ll be clear to the Iranians what “nuclear inspections” might entail.

Russia represents a subtler, but in many ways more dangerous, policy question. The complicated relationship of power broker Vladimir Putin, now the putative prime minister, and his hand-selected president, Dmitry Medvedev, is probably best summed up by “Brokeback Mountain.” Mr. Obama could hand both men a copy and then dash back to the plane before they figure out the joke.

The correct thing, according to diplomatic protocol, is to give each of them a specific gift. For Mr. Medvedev, perhaps, a copy of “Godfather II,” with a Post-It note directing him to pay special attention to the scene where the calculating Michael Corleone orders a hit on his silly, ineffectual brother. For Mr. Putin, well, who knows? What do you give a guy like that? “A Clockwork Orange”? “The Silence of the Lambs”?

Corbis

‘Some Like It Hot’ got a cool reception from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The French are easy: Give them a box set of the classics of French cinema. They won’t get it, but the British will.

You never really grasp just how many countries there are in this world, President Obama will soon discover, until you try to buy DVDs for all of them. The good news here is that even though most countries are reflexively anti-American, most Hollywood movies are, too. So it’s easy to come up with a thoughtful title for your Hugo Chavezes and your Fidel Castros — just grab an American film that touches on the business or financial world. It doesn’t matter which one: “Wall Street,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Silkwood.” It’s a safe bet that any movie you pick will portray American businessmen thoughtlessly pillaging everything in sight.

As American policy makers turn their gaze east, the most pointed DVD gift for China, our most powerful and challenging trading partner, would be a huge shipping container full of movies currently on screen in the U.S. — all pirated, direct from China, and bought off the street in Los Angeles. If Hu Jintao complains that black-market DVDs are notorious for their bad picture and sound quality, President Obama can nod in agreement and then add, “So what are you gonna do about it, Hu?”

More cautious policy makers might remind the president that it’s going to be up to the nice Chinese to fund his extraordinary spending spree, so maybe a more neighborly gift is in order. One thing the Chinese are always up for is a little Japan-bashing. If the president offers up a collection that includes “Tora, Tora, Tora,” “Midway” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (for the spectacularly bigoted portray of Mr. Yunioshi by Mickey Rooney, in buckteeth and Coke-bottle glasses), then we’ll know that it’s pretty safe to get back into Treasurys.

India, too, is a fascinating and potentially powerful American ally. The trouble here is that not only do they have a vibrant and profitable movie industry of their own, but they are also supplying American movie consumers with low-cost, outsourced movie hits like “Slumdog Millionaire,” this year’s recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Perhaps, then, at his next meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Obama should forgo the coals-to-Newcastle gift of movie DVDs and present Dr. Singh with something from another popular category, like self-help. Maybe something from the expanding catalog of Deepak Chopra? Or one of those new yoga DVDs?

Whoops. Same trouble. I guess when it comes to India, President Obama should just go with something from Duty Free.

Turnabout, it’s important to admit, is fair play. So how should Prime Minister Brown have responded to President Obama’s box of classics? I suggest that Mr. Brown give Mr. Obama a copy of “Notting Hill”: a bittersweet comedy about the up-and-down romance between a plodding, nervous Englishman and an egomaniacal, out-of-touch American with grandiose self-regard. President Obama has probably seen that movie. But maybe he should watch it again.

Mr. Long is a writer and producer in Hollywood.

There was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, boldly testifying Tuesday before Rep. Charlie Rangel’s Ways & Means Committee – promising that the Obama administration intends to propose [...]]]> Studying philosophy, students love to debate the idea that we are all just brains in a vat.  Based on recent experience, I think we’re brains in a comedy routine. Exhibit A:

There was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, boldly testifying Tuesday before Rep. Charlie Rangel’s Ways & Means Committee – promising that the Obama administration intends to propose “a series of legislative and enforcement measures to reduce . . . tax evasion and avoidance.”

Geithner and Rangel vowing to crack down on tax evasion?  Hahahahahahaha……

“I’m fine, I think,” Christopher said.

He seemed to be in pretty good spirits, all things considered.

“The SSNP,” I said, “is the last party you want to mess with in Lebanon. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you properly. This is partly my fault.”

“I appreciate that,” Christopher said. “But I would have done it anyway. [...]]]> Christopher Hitchens in Beirut

“I’m fine, I think,” Christopher said.

He seemed to be in pretty good spirits, all things considered.

“The SSNP,” I said, “is the last party you want to mess with in Lebanon. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you properly. This is partly my fault.”

“I appreciate that,” Christopher said. “But I would have done it anyway. One must take a stand. One simply must.”

After picking up [...]]]> I have always wondered why some people can stand cilantro.  It’s delicious – I love adding a handful to any mexican-related food items I eat.  Just last night, Annamarie and I were talking about this.  And now, the Journal writes an article. 

Across the Land, People Are Fuming Over an Herb (No, Not That One)

After picking up a vegetable burrito on his way home from work, Mike Racanelli planted himself in front of his television and took a bite. The smell hit him immediately: cilantro.

Irate, the 29-year-old Chicago band manager drove 20 miles back to the Mexican restaurant where he’d bought the offending item, threw it on the counter, he recalls, and “raised hell,” demanding a cilantro-free replacement “immediately.”

Later, he decided to vent some more. He recounted his experience on a Facebook networking group called “I HATE CILANTRO.” Social-networking Web sites have emerged as a bonding place for the multitudes who share his aversion to the pungent herb. The group has 894 members; there are some 40 other Facebook groups dedicated to cilantro bashing.

Cilantro lovers say it has a refreshing, lemony or limelike flavor that complements everything from guacamole to curry. It’s a key ingredient in a range of ethnic cuisines, including Mexican, Indian and Chinese.

But few foods elicit such heated negative reactions. Many people say it tastes soapy, rotten or just plain vile. Just a whiff of it is enough to make them push away their plates.

Cilantro, also known as Chinese parsley, is the leaves of the herb coriander, native to the eastern Mediterranean region. Cultivated for more than 3,000 years, the herb was used by Roman and Greek physicians, including Hippocrates, to make medicines. During the Chinese Han dynasty some 2,000 years ago, it was thought to have the power to make people immortal, according to Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.

It’s now grown in many parts of the world — and production has increased in parts of the U.S. California grew about $30 million of cilantro in 2007, up from about $17 million in 2000, according to the state.

Cilantro haters complain that it is showing up in unexpected places. Erin Hollingsworth, a 26-year-old editor at an environmental Web site, says she detected it in a bowl of Manhattan clam chowder she ordered at a New York lunch place.

“I thought to myself: ‘No, it couldn’t be. Really. Is this a joke? Who puts cilantro in Manhattan clam chowder?’” she wrote in her blog, “I Hate Cilantro: A Look Inside the Life of a Cilantro Hater and Food Lover.” Ms. Hollingsworth says she now lies to waiters, telling them she’s allergic to cilantro. “People take you seriously that way,” she says.

Why is cilantro so polarizing? Charles J. Wysocki, a behavioral neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a Philadelphia nonprofit that researches taste and smell, is looking for an answer.

At the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, Dr. Wysocki and fellow researchers asked 41 pairs of identical twins and 12 pairs of fraternal twins to rate the “pleasantness” of cilantro. His scale ranged from plus 11 to minus 11, with zero indicating “neither pleasant nor unpleasant.” More than 80% of the identical twins gave ratings similar to their siblings, while only 42% of the fraternal twins did — suggesting cilantro hatred may be a genetic trait. But Dr. Wysocki cautions that he hasn’t yet analyzed enough fraternal twins to draw a firm conclusion.

Dr. Wysocki contends dislike of cilantro stems from its odor, not its taste. His hypothesis is that those who don’t like it are unable to detect chemicals in the leaf that are pleasing to those who like the herb.
Facebook groups have sprouted up to bash all kinds of foods, ranging from broccoli to Brussels sprouts. (One is called “I Hate Tomatoes, But I Love Ketchup And Other Tomato-Based Products.”) But anti-cilantro groups are especially plentiful. They include “Cilantro Isn’t Edible,” “People Who Hate Cilantro And Think There Should Be Laws Against Its Use,” and “Youth Understanding Cilantro Kills (Y.U.C.K.).” The Web site IHateCilantro.com, which dubs the herb the “most offensive food known to man,” has accumulated 2,519 members.

“My family is Mexican and I always feel guilty that I don’t like it,” wrote Natalie Sample, a geography major at the University of Washington, in a Facebook posting. It’s “like somehow I am letting my heritage down for [not] liking such an important element of our cooking.”

Around early 2007, after imploring her mother not to put cilantro in a black-bean dip, Florida State University student Lauren Kennedy started the “I HATE CILANTRO” Facebook group. Ms. Kennedy didn’t pay much attention to it after that. “I honestly wasn’t sure if other people hated it as much as I did, or if I was just kind of overreacting,” she says. Months later, she found it had attracted hundreds of members.

One group member confessed that she once “threw a burrito across my living room because, despite my specific delivery order, it was packed with cilantro. no joke.”

After her roommate sneaked cilantro into Thanksgiving stuffing, Kristin “K.T.” Tomey, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, wrote:

fetid barb of green
cilantro spoils the stuffing
coriander too

Some cilantro lovers are fighting back. Their groups include “Cilantro is totally sexy!” and “cilantro is the paramount herb.”

Brady Burgess of San Francisco, a research associate at a biotech start-up, thinks cilantro tastes fantastic. When he stumbled across the “Cilantro Isn’t Edible” group, he says, he felt a compulsion to “interject.” He asked the group to change its name to “We recognize that some people find cilantro to be quite pleasant tasting but we don’t happen to like it.” He also penned a poem:

crisp cilantro sprig
trendy garnish refreshes
why peeps be hatin

Don Hobson, vice president of sales at Boskovich Farms Inc., which grows cilantro in Oxnard, Calif., often shows the fields to tour groups. “Most people just love the smell,” he maintains.

Tana D’Amico, 43, is a reformed cilantro hater. The Toronto native founded a cilantro-bashing group on Facebook. But later she tasted the salsa at a local restaurant and suddenly “really liked the freshness” of it.

“I fought a brave battle to fight for your rights to live in a Cilantro free society,” she wrote in a letter of resignation as the group’s president. But, she confessed: “The guilt has been building and churning for months.”