September 22, 2005, 8:26 a.m.
Bush salutes Helms, &c.

On Tuesday night, President Bush paid tribute to Jesse Helms, sending a video to a dinner honoring the senator (former senator, I guess I have to say). Wanted you to note a few things:

"Throughout his long public career, Senator Helms has been a tireless advocate for the people of North Carolina; a stalwart defender of conservative values of limited government and individual liberty; an unwavering champion of those struggling for freedom; and a fearless defender of a culture of life. Senator Helms has always stood up for what he calls 'the Miracle of America' — and America is a better place because of his service."

Hear, hear. And have some more:

"When Jesse Helms came to Washington in 1973, conservatives were a minority in our nation's capital — and Senator Helms sometimes found himself on the lonely end of 99-1 votes. He stood his ground — and over the course of three decades of service in the Senate, the world moved in his direction."

Yup, yup. Just so.

And have one more taste:

"Today, from Central America to Central Europe and beyond, the people remember: In the dark days when the forces of tyranny seemed on the rise, and their friends were few, Jesse Helms took their side."

Amen. Well done, Bush. And those remarks could have been made only by someone who conceives of himself as conservative.

(When I tell lefties that conservatives — hordes of them — don't grant that Bush is a conservative, they're amazed. Shocked. They think he's Attila the Hun.)

(My crowd says, If only!)

(As long as I'm doing these parenthetical deals: Less-than-regular readers may wish to know that my recent Q&A with Senator Helms can be found here.)

Want a touch of good news? Officials in the Vendée (France) have named a school after Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. There should be a school named after Solzhenitsyn on every block in the Free World; but there is not. Yet the Vendée came through, and many Frenchmen weren't too happy about it: But he insulted our revolution! they say. Yes, indeed, which is key to his greatness.

I should note that the Vendée was famous — infamous, to some — for its resistance to the revolution.

The Collège Alexandre Soljenitsyne is located in the town of Aizenay. (You may see a website here.) Outside the school is a plaque, which includes what might be thought of as the Solzhenitsyn motto: "Live not by lies."

The opening ceremony for the school took place on September 8. Solzhenitsyn does not now travel from Moscow, but the middle of his three sons, Ignat, was there, representing him and the family. Ignat is a pianist and conductor, the music director of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. For an article on the ceremony — complete with pictures (including the plaque) — please go here.

And listen to part of what Ignat said that day. He began by noting a previous visit by the great man himself:

Standing here, in front of this new school bearing the name of my father (who has a special affection for France), I think back to the words he spoke here, twelve Septembers ago, and, in my turn, reflect upon the lessons of the Vendée. History is woven not solely out of actual events, but also out of myths, and the Vendée has become a universal myth, for she symbolizes resistance to oppression and the uprising of conscience. Its message is still current in our world today, where there rises a new mortal menace, the feral delusion of possessed madmen seeking to drag humanity into yet another form of that "radiant future" into which we were pushed by Robespierre, Lenin, Hitler, and Pol Pot. . . .

A wonderful lineup, isn't it? Robespierre, Lenin, Hitler, and Pol Pot.

More Solzhenitsyn (Ignat, that is):

A collège is a cradle of culture, enlightenment, and, most of all, thirst for knowledge. To any school one would wish successes, flourishing, the calm concerted work of dedicated pedagogues and assiduous students. All of this, I (the son of two teachers — something that is not widely known) wish you with all my heart. But may the collège that bears the name of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn become something greater, something more profound. May it come to embody my father's call to all, even us citizens of the rich free world, to throw off our habitual cloak of intellectual duplicity, and to live not by lies. . . .

Then Ignat read a special message from his father, written on September 5. (This translation is by Ignat, by the way):

My dear young friends!

Each beginning of a school year seems to us, in our youth, a new start to our entire journey. But then it suddenly, insidiously, turns out that, for a long time already, you are no longer at the beginning: a large segment of your path is already behind you.

And so — never waste time, for not one of the days of your life will ever repeat. And do not look for excuses in outside circumstances: It is not they that mold your fate; it is your own character. I believe that this holds true for any age, and for any place upon our Earth.

As for the land of your birth, I am tied to it by long-held, emotional, warm connections. And, though I am a bit embarrassed at your decision to name your school in my honor, I am also glad, for it will prolong my presence in your heroic land.

Yours with all my heart,
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Not bad, huh? As I said, a touch of good news.

This is something I've had in my file for many weeks, and I'd like to disgorge it now. At the beginning of August, Peggy Noonan wrote a column about a visit to West Virginia (one of my "home states," and dearly beloved). A particular vignette reminded me of something I had witnessed earlier in my life. Here's Peggy:

"At the store the man behind the counter was friendly, intelligent and missing an eye. He had no artificial eye, no eye patch, just a red space where the eye would be. When I asked his name he said, 'Jack, but my friends call me One Eye.' I nodded at this information and remembered what a friend told me. He works with a local man who was complaining about his lazy brother-in-law who's on welfare. 'He wouldn't take a job in a pie factory!'"

Okay: Years ago, I knew a man who was missing an arm. But — some people will hate me for that "but" — he was a successful businessman, and he liked to play golf. In time, I began working at a golf course, and one of my co-workers was a very crusty, very salty older man. One morning, I saw the businessman come into the clubhouse. I didn't know that my co-worker knew the man, at all — and he greeted him with, "Hello, you one-armed son-of-a-bitch."

And the businessman returned the greeting with something equally sharp (I can't remember it).

I was shocked for about two seconds — and then grinned like mad. These two were longtime friends.

What a wonderful moment, for reasons I would be hard put to explain. There was a naturalness that one rarely experiences.

I'd like to tell you about a situation that has come to my attention. It's a little bit personal. William A. Paton was a professor of economics at the University of Michigan. He lived for a very long time — from 1889 to 1991. He had a distinguished career, in the course of which he became known as the father of modern accounting. (For a bio of Professor Paton, please go here.) Unsurprisingly, there is a building named after him on the Michigan campus: the Paton Accounting Center. But the university proposes to tear it down.

About a month ago, the local paper, the Ann Arbor News, had a story on this development: here.

So, what's my interest? Well, the late Professor Paton's son is a friend of mine, and so is his son. So are others in their family. The late professor's son is William A. Paton Jr. — a distinguished professor of accounting himself. I might also mention that he's a heck of an athlete. He appeared at Wimbledon, and I don't mean to eat strawberries and cream. Paton Jr.'s son Tom is a professional golfer, and all-around whiz.

Last May, Professor Paton wrote a letter to the University of Michigan regents, and received no response. It's a good letter, and I'd like to share it with you — after which, I'll make a couple of general remarks.

Dear Regents:

It has come to light that — following large gifts from Stephen M. Ross — the Business School plans major construction that apparently may include razing the Paton Accounting Center. Before making a major mistake, the Regents should reflect upon the history of this building and its honoree.

Born in Michigan, Professor William A. Paton received three degrees from The University of Michigan: A.B., 1915; M.A., 1916; Ph.D., 1917. Beginning his teaching career at The University of Michigan in 1915 as an instructor in economics, he gained the rank of assistant professor in 1917, associate professor in 1919, and full professor in 1921. He retained his appointment in the economics department until his retirement in 1959. In 1947, Professor Paton was appointed Edwin Francis Gay University Professor of Accounting.

Professor Paton was one of the first professors in the School of Business Administration, founded in 1926. His scholarship, teaching, and writing attracted students from all over the United States and the world. With accounting at its core, the Business School flourished and achieved national and international reputation. Professor Paton taught some 20,000 students and worked tirelessly to assist in their placement in accounting practice, teaching, and other fields. He wrote five textbooks and dozens of articles in The Journal of Accountancy, The Accounting Review, The Journal of Political Economy, and other publications.

Among the important honors that he received during his lifelong career at The University of Michigan are the following. In 1940, Professor Paton was Dickinson lecturer in accounting at Harvard University — the first academic accountant chosen to give one of these lectures. He received in 1944 a gold medal from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for the best article of that year, and in 1950 he was one of the first three initiates (and only academic) into the Accounting Hall of Fame. Friends and former students established the William A. Paton Fund for Accounting Scholarships and Fellowships in 1955. The Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants established in 1961 a William A. Paton award for the candidate with the highest score on the Michigan C.P.A. examination. In 1983, he shared (with former student Professor Carl Devine) the American Accounting Association annual Outstanding Educator award. As a 1987 capstone, The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants named Professor Paton the Accounting Educator of the Century.

Dedicated in 1976, built and funded entirely by private donations, the Paton Accounting Center was established by legions of former students and other supporters for the express purpose of honoring William A. Paton. To demolish needlessly this fine, modern building would demonstrate a blind disregard for Professor Paton's achievements, the efforts and intentions of the building's donors, and the Business School's proud history. Please reconsider any plans calling for the destruction of the Paton Accounting Center.

Sincerely,
William A. Paton, Jr.
A.B., M.B.A. 1949
Ph.D. 1954, The University of Michigan

Now, I know life moves on, and that new things replace old — Progress, Progress, Progress. But I've always cringed to see old names wiped off buildings. You know: George Washington Elementary becomes Angela Davis Elementary — that sort of thing. And I think we ought to think hard before tearing down a building like the Paton Accounting Center. The University of Michigan may have good reasons. But it seems to me that Professor Paton's letter deserves a response.

Don't you think?

I mean, if you were a regent, and you received such a letter — would you throw it in the trash?

If so . . . they may have a job for you!

I liked this story out of India:

An Israeli couple was fined 1,000 rupees after an Indian court found them guilty of obscenity for kissing during their marriage ceremony in a Hindu pilgrim town, newspapers reported Wednesday.

The couple had decided to have a traditional Hindu marriage while visiting Pushkar town earlier this month in the temple-studded desert state of Rajasthan, The Times of India reported.

But they infuriated the priest as they started to kiss and embrace while he was chanting vedic hymns.

The priest, along with other Hindu holy men, complained to police, who filed charges against the couple. The court in Pushkar gave its verdict Tuesday.

The Asian Age newspaper said Hindu priests were outraged.

"We will not tolerate any cultural pollution of this sort," Ladoo Ram Sharma, president of an organization of Hindu priests in Pushkar, was quoted as saying.

Pushkar has a famous temple dedicated to Brahma — the Hindu god of creation — and is popular with foreign tourists who come for its desert ambience, camel safaris and annual camel fair.

India has tough obscenity laws and kissing in public is frowned upon in the largely conservative country. Last October, local residents in the western state complained to authorities that a group of Israeli women had danced naked near Pushkar.

That report is courtesy of Reuters. Talk about strict! Talk about conservative values! Don't go complaining to Dr. Dobson about being stifled, y'all.

And may madcap couples be warned: Respect the local culture (at least outwardly)!

Check out another story that grabbed my attention. (This one, too, is from Reuters.) Indeed, the headline was one of the most amazing I had ever seen: "Miss Thailand didn't expect to have to live there."

Australian beauty Angela MacKay has handed back her Miss Thailand crown just 10 days after winning it, saying her entirely unexpected triumph interfered with her modeling career.

"I really went into the competition because I just wanted to learn how to speak Thai and I wanted to have a Thai experience," said the 21-year-old from Perth with an Australian father and a Thai mother.

"I wanted to just learn about Thai culture. I honestly didn't expect to win at all. It was a very, very big surprise to me," she said before heading back to New York late on Tuesday to go back to modeling.

MacKay said she had been persuaded to enter by relatives in Thailand when she came for a visit and hadn't realized that the title required her to stay in the country for the coming year.

She returned the prize money of 1 million baht, a diamond crown worth 800,000 baht and a car.

Thailand will send second placed Sirinda Jensen to the Miss World contest in China in December. Jensen is half Thai and half Dutch.

There are a million things to say about this remarkable story, but an obvious one is: Isn't it kind of sad that the Miss Thailands are half something else — half Australian, half Dutch, whatever? Why can't a full breed — or a thoroughbred, if you like — be Miss Thailand? Does this remind you at all of Brown v. Board of Education — you know, little black girls wanted to play with white dolls (or so it was alleged)?

Where's the outrage? The Thais are clearly a woefully self-hating bunch.

(N.B., dear readers: I am being facetious. I think.)

Mark Steyn has come up with a perfect comparison, as usual: Kofi Annan vowing to reform the U.N. is as O. J. Simpson vowing to find the "real killers."

A killer comparison, Mark.

(The relevant article in The Spectator is here. Subscription required, I'm pretty sure.)

Care for a little language? Our word for the day is "roister-doister," used by Sam Leith in a Spectator review of a Shakespeare book: "The Shakespeare [the author] gives us is at the centre of his world, but somewhat withdrawn; when he lived among the roaring boys of Shoreditch, a contemporary complained that he always excused himself from going out roister-doistering by claiming to have a headache."

That word just sounds dirty, doesn't it? Roister-doister. I should be doing it now, instead of typing on this laptop.

But I'm almost done . . .

I've been writing a lot about American anti-Americanism — and the fashionable worship of the foreign — and a reader reminded me of a wonderful lyric by W. S. Gilbert. Our reader writes, "One of the people on the Lord High Executioner's list of expendables is 'The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone, / All centuries but this, and every country but his own.'"

Care for a little music criticism? The other day, I sent my NR colleague John Virtes a link to an article about the new Paul McCartney album. John knows more about the Beatles than even the tour guide a group of us had in Liverpool this summer. (That was during the magazine's British Isles cruise. Wish you had been there.)

(By the way, speaking of great lyrics, do you know this one? Imagine a postcard: "The weather is here, wish you were beautiful.")

Anyway, John is encyclopedic about a lot of other things, too. And here is his comment on the McCartney article I sent him:

"Jay, this new album has been getting pretty good notices. But I disagree with reviewers who say that this is McCartney's best work since his debut album or Band on the Run (released in 1973). I happen to think that Flaming Pie, which he released in 1997, is as good as the earlier two."

And that, my friends, you can take to the bank.

Care for some more music criticism, classical division? These were published in the New York Sun: For a review of the opening concert of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, please go here. For a review of the gala opening of the Metropolitan Opera, please go here. And for a review of the Met's Manon, with Renée Fleming in the title role, please go here.

Friends, I've been brutally behind in my mail, and will probably never catch up — so please forgive me, if you can. And I'll see you soon.

Oh, and just one more word: Thanks to all who attended our dinner party in L.A., at the home of Cat and Elisabeth Pollon. (Thanks especially to them.) It is so satisfying to receive support, and to meet interesting, appreciative, and, of course, brilliant people!

Again, thank you.