The Colloquium

The $5,000 Home for Developed Nations

2011-06-14T02:08:00.000-07:00

An American Confucian: The Saint Bernard

2011-02-22T23:22:00.000-08:00

An American Confucian: The Saint Bernard: "Simon possesses one quality that is rather unusual for most Americans: he speaks six languages, three of which are not European. Granted, ..."

UCLA ALC: Asian Languages and Cultures

2011-02-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

There are few things as daunting as entering graduate school for a Ph.D. Unlike professional schools, difficult though they be, you are not entering with 50 to 100 other students, many of whom will become your friends for life.

No.

You are entering with a class of, say 1-10 other students, all of whom possess these qualities:

1) They are probably pretty smart
2) They are nervous about that fact, so
3) They are anxious to prove it as soon as possible to practically everyone else, who are mostly students who have been there longer than the newly admitted students, which
4) Compounds their anxiety, and
5) None of them shares a specific field, which creates more anxiety to,
6) Carve out an extra-spectacular (it never is) intellectual niche because
7) New students don't have the luxury of knowing that they and a100 of their fellow students will be doing exactly the same thing for the next 2-3 years and that they can always rely on fellow students for notes and other things if they screw around and miss a class.

Humanities Ph.D.'s are also different from Science and Math Ph.D.'s because they don't get to rely on experiments and empirical data to either validate or invalidate their research.

Instead, Humanities doctoral students get to rely on their peers, who are by definition anxious, envious, and jealous, and their advisors (see previous description of student peers) and, additionally, their advisors are always centering their classes on subjects that they themselves are investigating but require additional insights to fill out the book. Professors are not above stealing their students insights for their own books and then giving them (maybe) a little acknowledgement at the back of the book.

But few departments embody cultural colonialism. Now, some people who think they are smart but after all, only possess a Bachelor's and a professional degree (those are far easier) have observed, "Wow, I've never heard a department called that before!" as if they are the last word on what is and is not a valid definition of an academic department.

These people are uninformed, ignorant, and know nothing. They should be avoided at all costs.

What's really interesting is that the ALC department at UCLA does seem to qualify for a lot of what may be legitimately considered intellectual colonialism. What can that mean? Well, for one, almost all of the content-based professors are white. And yes, they profess to know best what the condition of the respective Asian cultures covered in the department are. They find no irony in this condition. None.

Indeed, one professor who taught an introductory to cultural criticism course scoffed when he said that some of them, including Edward Said, didn't really understand what Joseph Conrad meant when he wrote Heart of Darkness.

That's not actually true. Said did know what Conrad was trying to do. But Conrad's intent still does not preclude a colonialist and imperialist narrative. For someone who is supposed to be smart, this seems to be a remarkably ignorant statement by a UCLA ALC professor.

What's more disturbing is that practically the only teachers, it's unclear if they are even professors but perhaps merely instructors (UCLA doesn't do the dreaded "adjunct") who are Asian foreign nationals are the language instructors.

That's right. There may be two, or perhaps three Asian nationals in the department who actually teach content. The rest are second-class citizens who do the grunt work of teaching languages.

Wow.

And the lack of self-awareness especially in this day and age of legitimate cultural criticism within this department is glaring and also rather shocking.

Perhaps rather than bragging that they are the premiere Asian Languages and Cultures department, they should do something about actually acquiring some true cultural and intellectual legitimacy by hiring Asian Americans who know a little bit about what it truly is to study this field that professes to "know" Asian cultures and their languages in the midst of a very Euro-American setting.

Japanese Whaling

2010-07-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

not a lot of press is given to this in the u.s. although earlier this year, one santa monica restaurant, the hump, was fined and eventually decided to close its doors because it was caught selling whale meat. what's even more shocking is how it was stored: according to one news story, the chefs would simply go to some benz in the parking lot and retrieve it! yikes.

but watching the show, whale wars, has been been interesting. most of the time, the time, the show is just melodrama and it is clearly trying to discover ways to fill it's 45 mins of airtime (minus the 15 mins of commercials). normally, it is best to watch without the sound, because then one can forward through the melodramatic, filler, dialogue bits and the really important stuff is also closed captioned b/c of the noise.

but the japanese. so shameful. what is up with their wanting to hunt whale meat? not like they are inuits, living a sustainable life that relies on the single harpoon and a small, row-powered boat. there are times when the japanese are just soo intractable and entitled, and really shameful.

and this case of the former sea shepherd member whose boat was clearly rammed by the japanese boat, the shonan maru II (gross), is such an obvious aggressive, intentional act by the japanese whalers. yuck. shameless. they were clearly aiming for the ady gil, bearing towards starboard to hit them.

honestly. what's next? hopefully, the sea shepherd organization will continue to be successful in their attempt to discourage, if not completely curtail, the whaling done by japanese.

p.s., and that "research" pasted on the side of the whaling boats? gross.

An Open Letter to Republicans in Congress

2010-07-10T19:33:00.001-07:00

Mass Email Republican Senators!

2010-07-10T19:30:00.001-07:00

This was a great website for the emails of All Republican Senators on Unemployed Friends.

And if that's too much trouble, try just copying these:

alan_hanson@shelby.senate.gov, jonathan_graffeo@shelby.senate.gov,
anne_caldwell@shelby.senate.gov, laura_friedel@shelby.senate.gov,
senator@shelby.senate.gov, arne_fuglvog@murkowski.senate.gov,
amanda_makki@murkowski.senate.gov, kristen_daimler@murkowski.senate.gov,
isaac_edwards@murkowski.senate.gov, althea_stmartin@murkowski.senate.gov,
kristen_daimler-nothdurft@murkowski.senate.gov, chuck_kleeschulte@murkowski.senate.gov,
lisa@lisamurkowski.com, andrew_wilder@kyl.senate.gov, elizabeth_maier@kyl.senate.gov,
lucy_murfitt@kyl.senate.gov, tim_glazewski@kyl.senate.gov, craig_wismer@kyl.senate.gov,
jennifer_romans@kyl.senate.gov, ryan_patmintra@kyl.senate.gov,
ann_begeman@mccain.senate.gov, ellen_cahill@mccain.senate.gov,
lee_dunn@mccain.senate.gov, richard_fontaine@mccain.senate.gov,
nick_matiella@mccain.senate.gov, talal_mir@mccain.senate.gov,
mark_salter@mccain.senate.gov, elissa.scannell@mail.house.gov,
joe_donoghue@mccain.senate.gov, adam_noah@chambliss.senate.gov, Lindsay_mabry@chambliss.senate.gov, saxby_chambliss@chambliss.senate.gov, justin_clay@chambliss.senate.gov, Steven_meeks@chambliss.senate.gov,
glee_smith@isakson.senate.gov, joan_kirchner@isakson.senate.gov,
michael_quiello@isakson.senate.gov, tyler_thompson@isakson.senate.gov,
Tricia_Chastain@isakson.senate.gov, Catherine_Henson@isakson.senate.gov,
molly_manning@isakson.senate.gov, chris_carr@isakson.senate.gov,
susan_wheeler@crapo.senate.gov, marques_chavez@crapo.senate.gov,
Margaret_ballard@crapo.senate.gov, staci_stevenson@crapo.senate.gov,
Roy_Hansen@crapo.senate.gov, katie_downs@crapo.senate.gov,
gregg_richard@crapo.senate.gov, energy_prices@crapo.senate.gov,
craig_ferguson@crapo.senate.gov, Mark_Shonce@Risch.senate.gov, senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov, andy_fisher@lugar.senate.gov,
georgiana_reynal@lugar.senate.gov, aaron_whitesel@lugar.senate.gov,
mark_hayes@lugar.senate.gov, casework@grassley.senate.gov,
chuck_grassley@grassley.senate.gov, aaron_mckay@grassley.senate.gov,
beth_pellett_levine@grassley.senate.gov, Kathy_nuebel@grassley.senate.gov,
david_young@grassley.senate.gov, kolan_davis@grassley.senate.gov,
sherry_kuntz@grassley.senate.gov, Betty_Burger@Grassley.senate.gov,
mike_steenhoek@grassley.senate.gov, kurt_kovarik@grassley.senate.gov,
landon_fulmer@brownback.senate.gov, glen_chambers@brownback.senate.gov,
brian_robertson@brownback.senate.gov, john_rankin@brownback.senate.gov,
brian_hart@brownback.senate.gov, brownback@brownback.senate.gov,
melanie_benning@brownback.senate.gov, Galen_Roehl@Brownback.senate.gov,
pat_roberts@roberts.senate.gov, jackie_cottrell@roberts.senate.gov,
jennifer_cook@roberts.senate.gov, mike_seyfert@roberts.senate.gov,
sarah_little@roberts.senate.gov, molly_mueller@roberts.senate.gov,
Jennifer_swenson@roberts.senate.gov, Maggie_ward@Roberts.senate.gov,
Verna_Regier@roberts.senate.gov, jim_askins@bunning.senate.gov,
Holly_santry@bunning.senate.gov, sarah_timoney@bunning.senate.gov,
kim_dean@bunning.senate.gov, mike_reynard@bunning.senate.gov,
jim_bunning@bunning.senate.gov, Fred_Karem@mcconnell.senate.gov,
Adam_Howard@mcconnell.senate.gov, Hannah_Benton@mcconnell.senate.gov,
robert_steurer@mcconnell.senate.gov, julie_adams@mcconnell.senate.gov,
scott_raab@mcconnell.senate.gov, allison_thompson@mcconnell.senate.gov,
Reb_Brownell@mcconnell.senate.gov, leann_crosby@mcconnell.senate.gov,
Moon_Sulfab@mcconnell.senate.gov, kyle_ruckert@vitter.senate.gov, Kathryn_Fulton@vitter.senate.gov, crystal_ellerbe@vitter.senate.gov,
garret_graves@vitter.senate.gov, chris_stanley@vitter.senate.gov,
shawn_geddes@vitter.senate.gov, rachael_bohlander@vitter.senate.gov,
tonya_newman@vitter.senate.gov, suzanne_gillen@vitter.senate.gov,
Steve_Abbott@collins.senate.gov, Holly_Nesbit@collins.senate.gov,
John_Richter@snowe.senate.gov, Anna_Levin@snowe.senate.gov,
Brian_Klippenstein@bond.senate.gov, Annie_O'Toole@bond.senate.gov,
kit_bond@bond.senate.gov, kara_smith@bond.senate.gov, shana_marchio@bond.senate.gov,
mike_dubois@bond.senate.gov, kara_vlasaty@bond.senate.gov,
tom_schulte@bond.senate.gov, meagan_perry@bond.senate.gov, WriteJim@mail.house.gov,
AsktheLeader@mail.house.gov, senator@demint.senate.gov, Jim_Inhofe@inhofe.senate.gov,
Adam_Brake@LGraham.senate.gov, Alana_Hyman@enzi.senate.gov,
Andre_Harper@Voinovich.senate.gov, Angela_Mikolajewski@Voinovich.senate.gov,
Angela_Youngen@Voinovich.senate.gov, Beth_Hansen@Voinovich.senate.gov,
Beth_Martens@Voinovich.senate.gov, brendan_plack@thune.senate.gov,
Bret_Bernhardt@demint.senate.gov, bryn_stewart@barrasso.senate.gov,
Chris_Joyner@burr.senate.gov, Chris_Paulitz@Voinovich.senate.gov,
chris_tomassi@enzi.senate.gov, chris_walker@burr.senate.gov,
Colin_Allen@LGraham.senate.gov, Courtney_Shadegg@Coburn.senate.gov,
Mike_Schwartz@Coburn.senate.gov, Daffnei_Riedel@thune.senate.gov,
susan_sweat@wicker.senate.gov, Terri_Moore@johanns.senate.gov, jurani@ensign.senate.gov,
Kathleen_Amacio@johanns.senate.gov, mark_williams@vetaff.senate.gov,
Hardy_Lott@wicker.senate.gov, Jason_mulvihill@ensign.senate.gov,
john_lopez@ensign.senate.gov, johncornyn@gopsenators.com

Erase Iphone Photo Album

2010-03-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

Well, there are a lot of threads and sites out there that profess to help you with this. None of them do.

You cannot actually erase photo albums in your Iphone. Another design flaw. Gasp! There are design flaws with Apple products!

Now that you've gotten over that, here is what you can do.

1) Determine the names of the albums you want to delete photos from. Note that you will not actually be able to delete the albums themselves. You will, however, be able to delete some or all of the photos in the albums.
2) If you want to delete all the photos in the album, make a new folder with the same name on your computer.
3) Now sync your Iphone with your computer via Itunes.
4) In the Photos tab, select the name of the folder in the phone you want to delete photos from.
5) Then "apply"
6) When you are prompted as to whether you want to change the contents of the phone folder with the computer folder, "Yes."

That's it.

If you want to delete only some of the photos, do the same thing, that is, in the corresponding computer folder, load/keep the photos you want to keep on your phone, delete/move out of the folder those you don't.

You are essentially replacing the folder on your phone with the same-named folder on your computer, in which you have already removed some/all of the photos you no longer want.

Palisades Taiji/Palisades "Taichi"

2010-02-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

Review, "Rebirth of a Nation" by Jackson Lears

2009-10-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

An excellent re-telling of the period between the American Civil War and the First World War, Rebirth of a Nation is ultimately a critique not merely of American Imperialism, and not even of American Racism, but of American Militaristism, as it has informed its imperalistic and racist history. On occasion enamored of densely-packed sentences reminiscent of many less artful academicians, Jackson Lears constructs a predominately accessible, readable, and fascinating narrative that tells us not just where America has been, but why it is here today.

Thus, throughout his narrative, he draws clear analogies between the choices that a militaristic Teddy Roosevelt made with the ones George W. Bush has made, decisions couched in the language of regeneration-through-blood-and-military-sacrifice that can bring an "American-styled democracy" to all lands. Should not all lands (read: economic colonies) enjoy the riches we do every day? Never mind, he reminds us, that the only way for these other colonies, like present-day Iraq, must be economically exploited for their material and labor resources to ensure the continued livelihood of large corporations whom Bush had invested in.

More importantly, Lears draws a stark picture of racism from Reconstruction onward. As Eric Foner has convincingly shown, Reconstruction was initially an experiment of joint white-black governance of the south, as well as black self-governance, quickly gutted by the successful backroom deals made between Andrew Johnson and white Democrats anxious to re-establish their power base. Too long have Americans ignored the long history of racism and its continued resonance in our policies today.

Lears shines a startlingly harsh light on all these convenient obliviousnesses and demonstrates that we cannot remain blind to these impulses, of self-righteousness in the name of Christianity, of racism couched in moral superiority, and of economic imperalism disguised as benevolent paternalism or cleansing militarism, if we intend to conduct ourselves with true integrity.

Perkins+Will Los Angeles, Architecture, and The Economic Depression

2009-07-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

July 17, 2009 marks the beginning of the layoff process at Perkins+Will, Los Angeles. Though there have been rumblings, for example, people leaving over the past few months because of a lack of new projects for the firm, as well as four people who were laid off earlier this year, this has been the first wide-spread move. Fifteen of the staff at P+W Los Angeles were laid off on Friday. Evidently, Friday is the traditional day for such moves, presumably because that way, the ongoing staff will not become overly distressed or frightened.

But they should be. P+W, Atlanta just laid off 20 employees--no, they aren't "workers" because that is a convenient dehumanization that allows people in higher positions to forget that the people they laid off are, well, people--right after the completion of a large project they were on.

This is what happened at P+W Los Angeles. And that is just the latest in a long string of layoffs at multi-national architecture firms that a short two years ago appeared impervious to the signs of recession. Gensler, for one, began its layoff process late last year.

Indeed, the architecture field is in such dire straits right now that international firms have begun bidding for small projects that are normally the purview of small and boutique-sized firms. The first thing that disappears during an economic depression, not recession, is people's interest in building new buildings and urban projects. It's the first thing people realize they don't need more of when they can't afford to put food on the table: buildings or urban projects. Suddenly, all this appears to be a luxury rather than a necessity.

a view on stocks

2009-06-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

some thoughts by one of our members on today's stock market:

"

yesterday was up sligtly or not down as much as previous 2 days.

i am still figuring markets down, but compared to last year, markets i think are down 50-100 points, which i think is more normal.

it was going up at about that same pace in april and may, and early june.

any plays to upside, keep tight stops.

possible plays on downside.

morning looks like might be up

markets been channeling up slowly, now seems to be channeling down slowly

agriculture sector seems to be really down.

agu, pot, mos, mos feed, But after a week or so, might provide buying opportunity

steel

internet

some financials, or the ones including ms gs

oil

are weak,

as i said, i think markets are slowly pulling back,

but this should give us opportunity to buy, we hope in a bout a week or so.

but this in heading into summer, typically slower for stock market, until later july early aug, to sep when

fall , and market picks up again."

How To Watch Foreign DVD's

2009-05-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier, I had posted that a combination of DVD Decrypter version 3.5.4 could help with dvd's that have different region codes than the one your computer is set for because the VLC Media Player could then play the files.

Since then, I've changed my mind because my computer has Vista Home Premium, which VLC was crashing.

I then read that if you revealed the extensions on the vob (video object files) that were
made by DVD decrypter to an mpg/mpeg extension, you could play the files on Media 11 Player, which came with my Dell. That was also helpful, but it entailed a lot of work, changing all the extensions. And then you couldn't get subtitles.

Btw, I did this all in service of the complete set of Murphy's Law with James Nesbitt I had purchased from a British purveyor, where the dvd's are set to region 2.

Then I read from another website more about how to use DVD Decrypter. I didn't quite understand it all, but I read something about Daemon Tools, which would create a virtual dvd drive on your computer which could then help the dvd software program on my computer read the ISO file made by DVD Decrypter as if it were a real dvd without any region code problems.

Again, Daemon Tools was not compatible with my OS, so I uninstalled it, which was also a bit of a problem.

Then I read about another program, which is also freeware, that makes a virtual drive on your computer so that my main media-playing software, MediaDirect by Cyberlink, can play the ISO file Decrypter made for me as if it were a region 1 dvd.

It's perfect. The program, Virtual CloneDrive by Slysoft, is their only free program and it creates a single virtual dvd drive on your computer. And for my purposes, why do I need more than one?

It works a treat because now when I use Decrypter to make an ISO file of the Region 2 dvd's I bought, it immediately recognizes that it will be associated with Virtual CloneDrive. I click on the ISO file, and MediaDirect opens it right up.

Perfect.

How To Remove Splinters-Vinegar/Peroxide and Baking Soda

2009-05-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is the only remedy that really works. Reliably.

Because while other suggest warm water and baking soda, or using a debriding agent like a salicylic patch, these don't work. Those methods may soften the skin sufficiently so that you can remove the splinter a bit more easily, but they don't actually cause a chemical reaction that causes an embedded splinter to move towards the surface of the skin Much as those who rely on the warm water/baking soda aver, there is no chemical reaction going on there. It's inert.

With vinegar/peroxide and baking soda, there is a chemical reaction. That initial bubbling reaction that you get may stop, but the interaction of the two ingredients that causes that initial bubbling? That continues to work more subtly on the finger. And, after about twenty minutes of soaking, the splinter will move closer to the surface of the skin. And it can then be painlessly, and I do mean painlessly, removed with tweezers.

Friends, Kitty-style

2009-05-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Swine Flu and the Racist Discourse

2009-05-02T13:07:00.001-07:00

The other day, someone said that he didn't want to be around "Mexican" people at all. He then observed that he didn't feel the same way when there was the media-driven SARS scare. Of course, he is East Asian.

This is an interesting illustration of a few things. First, that while ethnic minorities cannot be racist in that they do not have the social power that allows them to act out their bigotry on a level that can intimidate on a deeper level than just a personal threat, they can harbor racist ideation. Meaning they can have racist thoughts. The big difference, obviously, is that members of ethnic/racial minorities cannot plug into, resonate with, or otherwise take advantage of a long, historically-established, set of institutionalized racist agendas that have made entire racial groups feel oppressed, fearful, and exploited because they are the victims of such behavior. Racism as a practice implies the ability to do just that: plug into a larger, institutionalized, oppressive, and exploitative discourse that regulates our institutions. However, you can be a bigot.

So that was the first interesting characteristic of this particular observation.

The second is this. That the reason this person did not fear for his health during the SARS scare was that he was Asian, and he knew that the likelihood of his contracting that illness here, in the U.S., was remote. And what's more, he knew that he, as an East Asian, had absolutely nothing to do with its spread so the idea that people were demanding that East Asians be confined if they had traveled, was not only preposterous, but as he correctly had identified, was racist.

And this is the thing about identifying these illnesses along with a particular country: they plug into, resonate with, and further institutionalize people's racist ideation, especially those Euro-Americans in power. And here is the true racism, because it can be acted upon through legal, institutional avenues that then reinforce people's racist ideas.

(Chinese) Avian flu, (Mexican) swine flu, (Asian) SARS, all of these illnesses legitimized racist discourses against an entire people, here and abroad.

On returning to this man, he further said that not only would he not want to be around any "Mexicans" at all, but that he didn't think it was safe to go to entire counties because a few "possible" cases might have been identified in those counties. That is akin to asking a person who lives in Los Angeles whether they are alright because an earthquake of 4.4 registered in Morro Bay (that is in the middle of the state). In short, it is quite ridiculous.

Moreover, the chances that you will get sick from this flu strain is very, very small. I mean, really. All the people who have been confirmed to have contracted it had mostly 1)mild symptom, and 2) have added up to may 20. Or 30. All over this nation.

Who is to blame? First, and most obviously, the media. While scientists keep telling the news media that this is not hitting people very hard, even local NPR--for shame--stations rebroadcast the "threat" on the hour, along with the hourly news update.

Second, people are to blame. For being alarmist. Gullible. And watching TV news, which is not news. It's entertainment.

This country seems filled with people who always need a scapegoat, a bugaboo, or some kind of enemy to "fight." Who knows why.

A Good Companion for VLC Media Player

2009-05-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

The VLC player is good, but only insofar as it can actually read dvd's from different regions. For one disc I bought (a series called Murphy's Law from the UK), I had no trouble. Indeed, when I bought the third series from a used dvd outlet in Australia called RedeyeRecords, I didn't even have to change my region setting on my new Dell 1525.

But with this entire set of the series, I did have to change the region. And then I discovered this media player and I thought, I'm set, now I can buy all sorts of dvd's of UK series that they just won't sell for an American audience. Shows like Waking the Dead, for example.

Unfortunately, after the first disc, none of the others would play. The picture kept pixelating. I read on the VLC forum that it was because I needed to address the problem at the firmware level.

I reject that because I happen to know, from downloading a free trial of Divx Player that the problem can be addressed at the software level.

However, I have discovered that if I copy my dvd's to my computer using a program called DVD Decryptor, then I can then use VLC player to play the files on my computer. It is a little less convenient because I do have to copy them to my computer, and it doesn't play all the chapter's seamlessly: I have to then click on the next video file. But at least I can buy dvd's from all different regions, now, and not worry about not being able to watch them. And best of all, it is free.

Obviously, the problem with these programs is that they can be used to make illegal copies of dvd's and cd's, which is actually an unfortunate by-product. Really what's great, I think, about them is that they allow you to any region dvd and play them. Without spending money on a silly program.

Best Freeware Region-Free DVD Program: VLC or VideoLAN Player

2009-04-24T08:40:00.001-07:00

After doing a bit of searching on the web, and recognizing a few programs, I discovered a few things. One was this article in, of all online publications, Popular Mechanics which discussed a few free programs that deal with the region-specific demands of computers.

Because as everyone has noted, you can only change the region on your computer a max of 5 times and then you're locked for good. While most articles tell you that you can't change that, even if you re-load Windows, you actually can. But it would require that you erase your hard-drive and then completely reinstall everything. I know. I've done it.

So this seemed a more promising route: simply download a program that overrides your DVD player program's demand that you commit to a region. The one recommended in the article was called Remote Selector and it has a rather bare bones approach to how to use the program.

That did not work for me. I have Power DVD's Dell-specific program called "Media Direct" and that wasn't compatible with this program.

The other program the article recommended for MAC users is actually GREAT with Windows users, as well. This is the VideoLAN VLC Player.

In brief, it's awesome!!

You download it. It's an independent player. No interface necessary. Nothing fancy. Just literally a player that recognizes all regions. And it's a shareware, I downloaded the one from Madison University in Wisconsin, and it works an absolute treat. Did I mention the free part? Legally? Because it's shareware. No paying $59.95 or whatever for Div-X or some such thing.

But the absolute best part? All those programs like Div-X and the like require that you actually copy the dvd onto your hard drive and then you can play the movie. What if you don't have enough space? I mean, I do because I just bought a new computer, but honestly. I don't want that cluttering up my computer. And for all those people who say, "Yes, but it uses more energy that way, to run the movie off the dvd itself," I say pshaw. I want to play something immediately, not copy it over to my hard drive first.

VLC is, in short, GREAT!

2009-04-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Texas Rep. Betty Brown: She Didnt Insult "Asians"--She Insulted CHINESE-Americans

2009-04-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the text, cited from Thinkprogress, below.

The problem with her subsequent apology is that it is directed at Asian Amnericans, when her racist comment was directed at CHINESE AMERICANS IN PARTICULAR.

This is an important distinction. Because the discourse of racism directed specifically Chinese either born here in the U.S. or foreign born becomes erased, elided, invisible, by the discourse of "Asian Americans" and the supposed collective group that forms.

Sorry, but Asian Americans are not a discrete group. But Asians encompasses South Asia (such as India), Southeast Asian (Thailand, Vietnam, for example) and East Asia (China, Japan and Korea). So "Asians" is not a cohesive group.

Imagine how insulted Northern Europeans would be to be confused with someone from, say, Italy, and you'll understand.

Who says racism is latent in America?

"“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] Ko: 'Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?'

2009-04-11T11:57:00.001-07:00

Pomegranates: How to Peel Them Easily

2009-04-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

There are all sorts of juices out there to make consuming pomegranates easily. Unfortunately, they are all pretty dismal and strange.

Why not eat the real thing? Of course, some stores like Trader Joe's sell small tubs of the seeds so you can eat them without peeling because it seems so daunting.

No more. This is what to do. Break open the fruit and then peel it in a bowl of water. Voila. The inner vein will float to the top, and the seeds will sink to the bottom. They separate themselves for you in the water.

So enjoy the real thing without fear! And without paying $3.99 for a small tub of seeds.

Vista Patch for HP Duplex Printing

2009-04-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

There are some issues with the duplex printing function with several HP printers and a person named Bob Headrick who has authored several patches to solve them. His email is Bobh@proaxis.com and wow, did it fix the problem immediately!

His instructions are a little technical, but if you email him, he'll give you the patch and attach instructions. If they still confuse, essentially, you just have to use the patch he gives you and put it into the folder ending in:

drivers\w32x86\3

Then you have to delete all the files ending in ".bud" because, as he says, they will regenerate with new ones using the patch.

Great!

It worked like a charm, so email him and get rolling.

Nigerian Scam: Paypal Notification

2009-04-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

This really looks authentic. Click on the image and a clear screen will come up. Problem is, the return email isn't from Paypal.

Nigerian Paypal Scam

2009-04-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

Just to reiterate:

hsbcgold@gmail.com professes to be an "agent" of Paypal.com

First of all, Paypal doesn't use gmail email addresses--they use their own domain name.

Another gmail account, serviceonlinefund@mail2consultant.com, professes to be the "customer service" rep of Paypal.

Another, Jerry Springer, aka Anita Morgan at Springerfuture011@gmail.com, professes to be the buyer.

The address?

Let me again reiterate:

NAME: OWOLABI KAZEEM
ADDRESS: NO 11 ADEOLUYOYE STR OFF IMALEFALAFIA ROAD
CITY; IBADAN
STATE: OYO
COUNTRY: NIGERIA
ZIP CODE: 23402

How can it be that the buyer is different from the recipient, who is again different from the original buyer?

Nigerian Scam Buying Items Using Fake Paypal

2009-04-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of posts on this problem, so I don't profess to be the last word on it. Indeed, this is just another post on the burgeoning problem. In fact, there is a website devoted to the past addresses and fake names used by past Nigeria-based scams.

But this one deserves a little spotlight.

It began with an ad I posted in the L.A. Craigslist, as well as on Blujay, for some 18k Tiffany Fringe Earrings. I put the ad in because, like many other people, I need the money.

And that's when it began. So I wanted to prove that I had bought the earrings myself and because, like most normal people, I threw away the receipt, I put up an image of my bank account statement. It said I could prove that I bought them myself. Which I did. All $514.19 of it. Sheesh. What was I thinking?

At any rate, I was, and am, asking for a little over $100 less than I paid for them. $400 to be specific. And I got a response within a few hours.

It sounded too good to be true. Sound familiar? What is that adage they say about "If it sounds to good to be true, it is?" Well, as much as we would like to think that we are special, individually, there is a reason that is an adage. Because it is true.

So the buyer was named "Jerry Springer": beware of that name, right? Again, sounds unreal, so it probably is. The email address, and all subsequent ones, are gmail addresses: Springerfuture011@gmail.com.

This is the content of a series of emails over the past two days, from April 1 (so appropriate) through April 3:

IS THIS ITEM STIL FOR SALE GET BACK TO ME ASAP...........

4/0/09 12:18 pm: I am very glad to hear back from you,but i will just like to know if the item is really in good condition?cos i wanna get this for my partner who is on a company project inspector in abroad, and i will not be able to come and pick it up from your place,Because am out of state for a Business trip,so i will be glad if you can help me to handle the shipping and i prefer to paying you $100 for the shipping cost via USPS EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL EMS AND YOU CAN GET THIS FROM YOUR POST OFFICE THERE....so get back to me with all details to proceed the payment and the total price including the shipping fee as well.....and i will like to pay you via paypal email account...ok.....so do get back to me now with your paypal email personal account for instant payment..ok....

Thanks.

4/1/09 11:57: YES..IT GREAT TO HAVE YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT EMAIL ID...I WILL MAKE THE PAYMENT INTO YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT NOW AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS AM THROUGH WITH TRANSACTION PAYMENT.
THANKS

And finally in response to a deadline I set of a payment by 8 am PST where I said, and did, cancel my Paypal bill, this is what I received, at 12:59 pm, 4/2/09, no less:

thanks for the propmt mail,i am very busy here and right now i just transfer the money into your account..i am sure that paypal will have get back to you through your paypal email address that you use to have the account with them ..and i have add the shipping fees with the money i sent to your account so as soon as you got the notify mail from paypal i want you to kndly get the package ship to this address ..

NAME: OWOLABI KAZEEM
ADDRESS: NO 11 ADEOLUYOYE STR OFF IMALEFALAFIA ROAD
CITY; IBADAN
STATE: OYO
COUNTRY: NIGERIA
ZIP CODE: 23402

and i want this to be ship through express mail international and you can get this done in your post office there and you get back to me with the tracking number so i can forward this to paypal for final verification ...hope to hear from you back soonest ..

After my husband checked our real paypal account, and saw that there was no deposit, I decided to check the email account associated with the Paypal account.

Four emails were in my box, from, supposedly, Paypal, though the return address was different:

serviceonlinefund@mail2consultant.com, "Hank Bonds" at --can you believe it??

And now we are getting emails from hsbcgold@gmail.com that says

It is important we know the status of the item bought otherwise, legal action may be taken against you since you have not replied to the confirmation of payment made to your account by our client(Anita Morgan) via PayPal.We request for the Tracking Number to prove postage of the item in less than 24hours and we will fund the money into your account or face the consequences of LEGAL ACTION.

We believed you entered into bidding agreement by requesting money through Pay Pal , and by non response to the payment confirmation made to your account you have violate Pay Pal agreement. However the buyer has already contacted us in other to make report about your non response. We are ensuring to make PayPal a safer place, therefore we need to set confidence on our users.

Therefore, if your Money is credit into your Account before the shipment of the item, that means the item will not be shipped to the Buyer. From IC3 we give you 24hours (1days) to ship the package to the Delivery Address given to you by your buyer, and also send the Shipment Tracking Number immediately to us to verify the shipment.Immediately we confirm the shipping.You will receive a confirmation e-mail that your account has been credited.

NOTE:
Failure to respond to this means your Name and Address will be forward to the law enforcement Agency in your Country which may result to an Arrest, because you are practicing Scam, And your Account with PayPal will be BLOCKED, In order to free yourself from this'' Ship the package within 24hours and send the Shipment Tracking to PayPal for them to Verify. If you have any comment on this issue do not hesitate to contact us via our customer care email. Although we check our e-mail frequently, we do not consider it to be an alternative to telephonic contact in emergency situations.Feel free to contact us directly to this mail (serviceonlinefund@mail2consultant.com)
New York Field Office
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Can you believe this?

Shocking.

Exoticizing the "Native Chinese"

2009-03-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

Westerners always think that these kinds of photos are not just "artsy" but that they are somehow "illuminating" of the culture. Especially if those people are "of color" as compared to your basic Euro-American, who is often thought of as setting the standard and definition against whom those of color must be defined.

After taking this photo, I realize that it doesn't say anything except that I observe my own people in cliched terms. Because I was born in the West, so try as I might, I still see people through that privileging lens, though I myself am oppressed by institutionalized racism and bigotry.

2009-03-25T15:46:00.001-07:00

Zinc Oxide (A+D Cream): Cyst and Pimple Remedy

2009-03-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it makes sense. After all, you use the A+D cream, not ointment which has a petrolatum (vaseline) base, for diaper rash. Which essentially dries out the rash and voila! You have a happy baby or toddler once more. The stuff usually works within a few hours. On really bad diaper rash, too.

Well, that same drying action works wonders on cysts. Wonders. And pimples, too.

Forget the expensive decoctions you're buying with Salicylic Acid in those tiny glass bottles at $20 for .5 oz. This works much better and you get a 4 oz tube, which if you're not an infant, will last you literally years. Unless you break out a lot. Even then, it will last much longer than .5 oz.

Just apply a dab. Put a bandaid over it to keep the thick coating on your cyst or pimple. It will significantly reduce overnight.

Stem Cell Research and the EPA on Mining Mountaintops

2009-03-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

A few good things President Obama is doing.

1) Loosening restrictions on stem cell research.

2) The EPA is now going to closely review Mountaintop Mining, where an entire Mountaintop is razed during the mining process. See the NY Times article for more information.

Vegetarians Can Be Tiresome

2009-03-22T15:58:00.001-07:00

I used to be one, so I know of what I speak.

Vegetarians, vegans, and all those other people with severe dietary restrictions that are not purely medical need to learn manners. Or stop being churlish, one of the two.

What does that mean? It means that vegetarians always expect everyone else to cater to them but they never cater to anyone else. Ever been to a vegetarian's house? Ever hear them offer you anything with meat? No?

But if they come to your house, guess what you're supposed to do? Offer them something vegetarian, of course!

You'll hear them protest, but vegetarianism is good for you. It's ethical.

And there's the rub. They're always being superior, so they think, morally and ethically. There is always an implied critique on your lifestyle if you do eat meat.

So to recap, 1) they always expect you to cater to them but they never cater to you, a clear case of bad manners, and 2) they act as if you should be grateful to them for not feeding you meat and demanding that you eat more vegetables, which implies

1) you are inferior, you have no morals, ethics, and hence again they are being presumptuous and showing bad manners, and 2) that you don't know what's best for you. Maybe you have a dietary need that requires meat. But that is never considered, either.

And what's more, there is such a level of hypocrisy in these assumnptions that it's almost comical.

Here are the questions that need to be answered by people who think they are superior for not eating meat.
1) Do you take antibiotics?
2) Do you wear leather anywhere on your body?
3) Have you ever taken any other kinds of medicine?

Yes to any of these? Then let's rethink the "moral superiority."

Plus, many local beef providers are actually quite humane and have been actively courting people to consider meat that is locally husbanded. That's right. It keeps smaller animal husbandry purveyors in business.

Helping the World's Poor through Micro-Lending

2009-03-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Recent organizations have made it easier for individuals to relieve impoverished individuals around the world who need small loans to either start a new business to sustain themselves or to improve their small businesses.

One is Kiva. The process is simple. The minimum amount you can donate is $25. And then you choose a region in the world you are interested in lending to, and once you pick that region, you scroll through the different people asking for loans.

Once you lend, you get periodic updates from Kiva informing you of the status of repayment. Even if you don't receive the entire amount, you can relend to another borrower, as long as you make up the difference to amount to at least $25 for another loan.

It is a great program and a good way to lend directly to people who want to start some sort of enterprise and need a small boost.

It's also a good way to donate, which is essentially what this is if you continue rolling over the money to other borrowers, in addition to donating to more traditional organizations which use part of donations for their operating costs.

ThinkorSwim.com: The Best Stock Trading Software

2009-03-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Tried Muriel Siebert, Schwab, and various other trading engines that are now defunct.

Thinkorswim.com is the best! And unless you do high volume trading, not most people, it's way cheaper than Scottrade.com at $5.00 per order.

Can't beat that. Plus, analysis, charts, software to download to your desktop, great customer service.

Buddhism, Like All Religions, Has Cultural Connotations Westerners Don't Get

2009-03-14T18:52:00.001-07:00

I was attending a lecture at UCLA by Professor Gregory Schopen. As is clear, the man is no slouch in the intellect department nor is he uninformed about Buddhism, the South Asian and Southeast Asian kind that Euro-Americans are so enamored of.

Several months ago, I won't quote who, a professor in that same department said in an LA Times article that Buddhism was anything one brought to it. It was as if it was a free-floating thing. Transcending culture. Time. Timeless.

I'm not certain what he meant. But I know what a lot of Euro-Americans think: "Hey, Buddhism is, like, this totally cool religion! I can, like, meditate, and feel good! Like I'm not making all this bad karma, you know? And it's so open. This Noble Eight-fold Path is great, the Four Noble Truths are great, and if I follow them, I am soo superior to my fellow average white American! And you know what? If I add a few new-agey, completely stupid ideas that came out of my own head, hey, that's alright because it's Buddhism! Everything and anything goes! Oh, and we're apolitical, the Buddha doesn't like that. Except when it comes to China. Then we're really political, but the Dalai Lama says it's okay."

Something like that.

I have few things to say about those opinions. First, they are wrong. Buddhism is not an open, free-floating religion that accepts all the stupid ideas that you can come up with. It's not the "new religion" that can replace the narrow-mindedness you associate with Christianity. It's also not a way to forget you are a white, Euro-American. Sorry. You don't get to just adopt the "good bits" and feel good about yourself, all the while maintaining your white superiority. Doesn't work like that.

Buddhism is a very culture-specific religion. Like all religions. There are certain practices, tenets, and beliefs that reflect very specific times, places and people. That's right, folks. You can't just plug in, take what you want, and say blithely, "Hey, I'm a Buddhist! Everything goes!"

What does this very brief cultural critique of white Americans who feel like if they don't fit into the Christian tradition, they can easily adopt and culturally colonize this other one? Well, exactly this. That during this faculty lecture, amongst the many arguments Schopen was making was that not only was the Buddha portrayed in many narratives as a businessman, but that he was an eminent pragmatist. That his concern was not to remain "up in the clouds, meditating" the way all these annoying Euro-Americans do when they're trying to escape the pain in their lives. That he was often portrayed in dialogues as teaching very practical lessons regarding institutional longevity and even basic successful institutionalization that rather less-than-pragmatic monks often did not grasp. Else what was the need for such didactic texts?

He also argues that the idiots always "meditating" were considered the fringe. Rather like they are here. Loser fringe people who can't make it in the mainstream world, so they run away to the "land of spirituality", India. Which probably doesn't appreciate all these annoying Euro-Americans looking in someone else's backyard for things they should be seeking in their own.

Moreover, and I find this particularly entertaining in re: these Euro-Americans here, things like the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths? Well, guess what? They weren't universal.

Gasp!

Yes, it's just that these were amongst the few scriptures that were translated into English. So lots of white people got their hands on them, assumed that they were representative of all of Buddhism, and voila! Globalization! Universalization! Stupidity.

The crux of the problem is that the majority of white Americans "practicing" Buddhism don't speak any language other than American English. They haven't grasped the fact that there are literally stacks and stacks of volumes at UCLA's YRL, East Asian Library, that have yet to be explored. Of course, that would require the average American interested in this sort of thing to be, oh, bilingual. Perish the thought!

Can't do it. Much easier to remain in a haze of ignorance abroad, traveling around India, Nepal, or wherever the heck it is convenient for these fringe Americans to be and not confront the fact that they cannot succeed in their own country. That they have to go abroad for some Cultural Imperialism before they can feel good about themselves.

Rafael Vinoly Grant

2009-03-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

They rejected the best grant proposal they are going to get in a long time. I think so, anyway, and since I wrote the thing, why wouldn't I think that? But still, the fact that they didn't pick this as one of the five grantees makes me wonder. What are they afraid of? A real Ph.D. candidate? One who isn't getting a Ph.D. in architecture, where they don't know real research if it bit them on the you-know-where, but in a field where architecture requires knowing other disciplines. Fields. An undergraduate degree that isn't primarily a skilled trade degree?

So here it is:

Despite all recent press, a close reading of China’s urbanization has not been performed by those trained in its history, language, culture, historiography or epistemology. Western, Orientalist discourses privilege the “Nest,” the “Egg,” CCTV or hutongs as the sole relevant examples of Chinese urbanization. They exemplify China’s modernity and its failings, along with superior Western design. Presumably China cannot attain true modernity, producing grotesque imitations plagued by uniquely Chinese problems: alienation, exploitation and the spectacle amidst indiscriminate demolition.

"This project transforms the entire discourse on Chinese urbanization, transcending narrow studies on “hutong preservation” or “migrant housing”. It frames context: Western discourses portray projects as decontextualized icons. We investigate an entire area of all formal, informal, small and medium-scale projects and spaces. Most importantly, we situate them in their larger context. We study Beijing because it has become the proxy for China’s failed modernization and has been so grossly misrepresented.

At stake is fundamentally changing strategies and policies for urbanizing China—not just Beijing—to prevent what Westerners lament and yet replicate: designs disassociated from China’s cultural and historical context. By documenting how architects, China’s government, residents and the Western gaze construct Beijing, this project will shape advanced strategies and policies."

My guess that the post-Orientalist, and anti-Orientalist approach was too much for their rather narrow, dare I even suggest racist? minds. I think so. They'd rather have some Chinese person from China, who doesn't question basic American epistemology about China, to make a proposal about China.

This was a grant about emerging economies, the BRIC economies, and I think it is just too threatening for conventional people not educated outside of the architectural field to contemplate something different. I guarantee none of them has ever read Edward Said. Or, dare I suggest a woman? Chandra Talpade Mohanty?

I await the de-Orientalizing of the architecture field

2009-03-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Discourse of "Skin Whitening in Asia"

2009-03-11T16:27:00.001-07:00

A story on the PRI radio show, The World, made much of the idea that this trend of skin whitening is not so much one of a long history as it is one of the cultural colonialism of the West.

I would suggest that that arrogance is itself evidence of the West's Cultural Colonialism.

How? Because historically, light skin was not "white" skin that supposedly mimicked Western Europeans or Euro-Americans.

It signified wealth. How? Because wealthy people did not labor in the marketplaces or in the fields. In other words, they had enough money, and servants, to do all of that for them. They themselves could engage in the more heady activities of politics, social policy, and the like.

Another cultural specificity that Euro-Americans just don't get? Fat babies. They don't get them. Pride in a fat baby? Don't call her fat, they say! That will give her a complex.

Beyond the practical stupidity of that statement--no, babies don't have that Euro-American obsession with being skinny, that's for adults--fat babies meant something very specific. That you had enough food to feed your baby. That your baby would then be healthy. And that because of that, you in turn must be if not wealthy, at least comfortable.

So before Euro-Americans go patting themselves on the back, again, for setting the "trend" for what constitutes desirable all over the world, maybe they should step back for a moment and consider the culture of which they speak.

Discrimination Against "Same-Sex" Marriage and Autism in "Liberal" California

2009-03-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

California is not a liberal state. Witness how we are making an entire class of people institutionally discriminated against. We are denying them rights we consider basic to the most destitute Tibetans. Think not? Visit any "Free Tibet" website and see how hypocritical we are.

Oh, so you think this is a debate about religion? It isn't. It is about demarcating what is "authoritative" "normal" and what passes for "legitimate", especially in the eyes of the law.

So, an entire sector of the population continues to be denied their rights. To have the same protections as people who just happen to be heterosexual. Think it's abnormal to be homosexual? Ever read any of the European Classics? From Greece?

Talk about denying people their Human Rights, let alone Civil Rights.

Hypocrisy. Nothing short. The LA Times has done a series on this issue, and they bear examination: 1, 2.

And now that it appears that the State Supreme Court will uphold the "law" all I can say is, I am ashamed.

And as for the discrimination against those with Autism, this is a severe blow to those people who have children with any form of Autism, from Asperger's Syndrome to the full-blown Autistic cases.

Discrimination, pure and simple. Having worked for Ivar Lovaas at UCLA before he formed the actual "Lovaas Institute", I can attest to the astonishingly effective, yet labor intensive work that autistic children require. They also require intervention at a very young age.

For insurance companies to not only deny such care, but to redefine what comprises necessary care for these people is shameless.

And it is a certainty that these are the same people who decry abortion as "killing an unborn child."

Too bad they don't care about these children once they are born with severe illnesses that need equally intense treatments.

Hypocrisy is apparently live and rampant in California.

2009-03-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

Morgan Tsvangirai and the Beleaguered Zimbabwe Nation

2009-03-07T10:20:00.001-08:00

Well, as I reported yesterday, some of the early AP reports carried on some other sites, like the unfortunately equally-beleaguered Yahoo, were carrying reports that Susan Tsvangirai was seriously injured but not dead. I checked later and the story Yahoo's AP feed was carrying finally acknowledged that she had died.

I cannot express enough sadness for this country and its struggles since it finally threw off the shackles of colonialism.

Now of course there are questions of whether this was an intentional assassination attempt on Tsvangirai himself. That remains to be seen, and is clearly a very sensitive subject given the very delicate position he occupies, vis-a-vis Robert Mugabe and his cohort.

But I express my deepest, most heartfelt sympathy for the man, and his movement. And I hope that the situation improves, though I have my doubts.

Zimbabwe's Primer Minister Tsvangirai Injured, Wife Susan Dies in Crash

2009-03-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

The accident occurred south of Harare and was evidently caused by, amongst other factors, that most streets are not two-way. So overtaking cars is the norm. The details aren't clear, though the story by The World appears most reliable. Other sources are citing that Susan Tsvangirai is severely injured, but one wonders whether as reputable a show as The World would declare her death unless they had confirmed with several reliable sources. One hopes.

But though the American eye may be focused on Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, even Afghanistan, I can't help but lament American foreign inattention to countries like Zimbabwe. Evidently since we cannot colonize them, exploit their resources, or otherwise subjugate them, they don't really register on our foreign policy radar, let alone your average person.

But this country's struggles over the past year and a half to establish something of truce between Robert Mugabe, the President of over 28 years, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, has been a lasting indictment of the pernicious vestiges of colonialism in Africa. Though Robert Mugabe was initially hailed as a "Democratic-Western-style" leader when he led his country to independence, Westerners are now shocked and amazed at how he has remained unwilling to relinquish power.

Hypocrisy-much?

Not to mention that whenever Western NGO's have offered help, especially last year with all the slayings of Tsvangirai supporters over the election Mugabe seemed to have lost, many of Mugabe's ministers would staunchly aver that there was no way they were going to let Western organizations in their country. Who knows, they might try to colonize them again. Take resources, labor and power away from the Zimbabweans.

Sound crazy? Look at Iraq.

I don't have judgment about what's going on Zimbabwe about "Human Rights Violations" because I don't believe we should be pointing the finger at anyone else when the West is the reason they are in this mess in the first place. But I do have a lot of sympathy for the people. That nation. And it's really sad history.

That seems a nation worth volunteering for.

James Otis Auctions Mohandas Gandhi's Items

2009-03-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

It's true, the Indian businessman who successfully bid on the glasses and other personal items from James Otis, a self-proclaimed "pacifist".

But the problem with Mr. Otis, and others in this country like him, is that although he claims to respect India, he refused to honor their sovereignty by fundamentally recognizing that his act of putting them up for auction was a cultural, if not ethical and moral violation.

Why is it a violation? Imagine if some Indian, or, gasp, Chinese person owned some memorabilia of Abraham Lincoln's. Can you imagine the uproar, the American national outrage? And then, imagine if this foreign national said, "Well, I'll give these over to your government to display in the Smithsonian, but only if you agree to raise your national spending on Welfare Programs, especially for single parent households."

Imagine that. Can't do it? Well, that's exactly what Mr. Otis did. Since when did we allow someone from another country who possessed cultural icons from our country hold those items hostage until we changed our domestic policies? Never? Right.

So where do Americans think it's alright to coerce other countries that they should change their policies or they'll go right on doing the wrong thing and sell off/auction off their cultural icons?

Oh, right, Western Europeans and Euro-Americans like James Otis, and Mr. Berge, Yves Saint Laurent's partner.

Pro-Tibet Rhetoric by Euro-Americans Often Is Racist

2009-03-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

It is interesting that many Chinese-Americans will not join in the Pro-Tibet rallies. Why not, you wonder? Are they all so awful, have they all been so indoctrinated that they simply cannot contemplate that Tibetans civil, not human, let's call it something that Americans can relate to in their own past, civil rights, are being violated?

The short answer: no. Chinese-Americans, or rather, American-Chinese, get it. Of course they are offended. They think it's wrong. So why don't they join in the debate?

Because pro-Tibet rallies that critique Chinese people are often shorthand for racism against Chinese.

How, you ask?

Let's begin with some basics. Ever notice a white person criticizing Tibet? Think about this. Do they have a lot of American-Chinese friends? No? Number one, then.

Number two, why not? Because they assume that all Chinese people must be bad, because their government, and let's face it, white people always say it's your government since they immediately forget that lots of Chinese people have been here for generations. They're still not American, hence the term American-Chinese, rather than Chinese-American. So, alright. They don't have any faith that these people have any critical thinking skills and can critique the Chinese government. Even though per capita, there are more Chinese people born here and abroad who have professional jobs than Euro-Americans, per capita.

Third, let's see. When was the last time a Chinese person born anywhere suffered from racism, I mean of the institutionalized kind that makes them feel if they are violated even verbally, they can't say anything, they just have to swallow it because otherwise people will just say, "Oh, you're being too sensitive." Yesterday? Okay, so yesterday that just happened. Sanctioned by the community, who doesn't want to hear that you're just too sensitive. You're just being too "touchy." That's right. Institutionalized racism.

Soo, that person next to you complaining about all those civil rights violations occurring across the world? Does she or he care about how the civil rights of that Chinese person standing next to them are constantly being violated, flouted, or otherwise ignored?

And does that person care about how Latinos, so often just "Mexicans" as if it's a dirty word, are being exploited? How their labor is exploited but the government won't legalize them. So they can be exploited and then deported conveniently, to whatever country they come from, when we're done exploiting their labor? Does that person crying "Foul" about Tibet care about them?

Do you see those people demonstrating in the streets? In San Francisco? In Los Angeles? Anywhere? About the poor black man caught smoking pot forty-five years ago in the South and is still in jail? Along with hundreds of his now compadres? Or protesting the government, yes, the federal government, initially introduced drugs to South and East L.A. to keep the black people down who were finally feeling their civil rights? Do you see them protesting that, and all the ills that have resulted from it? Do you see it?

I heard from someone that after all, there isn't a ranking of these kinds of social ills. The one is as bad as the other.

No. They aren't. If it's happening in your own backyard, that's worse. Because you have to take care of your own house before you go pointing the finger at how someone else's is corrupt. Something American's are soo good at doing: pointing the finger elsewhere. Can't think about how we still oppress people here.

It's so much easier to point the finger at China and Tibet. It's not an issue of condoning heinous civil rights violations abroad. It's about doing something about the heinous, continued civil rights violations here, in the U.S., of the poor, disadvantaged or just plain colored people.

If you're so worried about civil rights violations, shut up. And do something. Here. In your community. With your government. Protest that. Or are you too racist or bigoted to care about the poor people in the South? The disadvantaged colored people in the cities? And the exploited migrant women and men picking all your vegetables?

French Man Refuses to Return China's Imperial Bronzes

2009-03-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

It should have been deemed an illegal auctioning of two Chinese imperial bronzes looted from the Imperial Palace when the French and the English sacked it during the Opium "War." That "war, by the way, was really a shameless attempt again by the Brits and French to colonize China because, after all, they were so used to colonizing everyone else in the world. Christie's response? They couldn't deny the right to auction the pieces, owned by the partner of the late Yves Saint Laurent.

One wonders. If this were the Italian government, protesting that the Getty had yet again acquired more statues illegally, of course both Christie's and this French man, would have acquiesced, stopped the auction and returned the pieces.

But it's China. Hey, they are just so easy to scapegoat. Again and again. So this French man said that he would return the illegally obtained bronzes if China "improved its human rights record."

That's shorthand for, you know, I'm really irresponsible, I'd rather have the money, and since everyone else points to China's human rights, I will too. It's convenient, rather than actually confronting the central issue: these were looted bronzes, illegally obtained during a war that was, frankly, a colonialist attempt by the French to subjugate the Chinese by inducing rampant drug addiction. When that didn't work, hey, why not just invade them? It's our right, after all, isn't it? We're from the West, we're French. We can do anything.

Why doesn't Mr. Pierre Berge confronting real history and examining what his country did to acquire these pieces in the first place?

The issue is not what China does do, the issue here is what other countries also do but don't take responsibility for because they avoid the issue by pointing the finger at China. That's the issue Westerners often don't grasp.

See the entire article here.

Indie103.1.com

2009-02-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Ever since Indie 103.1 went off the FM airwaves on January 16, 2009, there has been chatter about what will happen to the online-only radio station.

I have a few things to say about it. First of all, Indie 1031.com is still great--it is not a shadow of its former airwave radio self. Moreover, Indie 103.1.com is better by far than any other Independent/Alternative radio station. This includes another favorite of this blog, Morning Becomes Eclectic, now hosted by Jason Bentley. It's good, but not as good. Too much, well, eclecticism. I don't always want to listen to some weird, breathy woman from Brazil trying to be ethereal, if you know what I mean.

As for the few pseudo-news (i.e. blog posts) that lament that Indie 103.1.com is a shadow of its former self now that Jonesy's Jukebox is no more, I disagree. I appreciate Steve Jones and all but I am not one who laments the passing of his show. I mean, one can only listen to so much 70's music, which often comprised the majority of his two hour show. Ugh. It is sad that Henry Rollins's show, Harmony in My Head is moving to KCRW, but Indie still rules.

And for the many who want Indie to live on beyond the internet, there was one person who was evidently petitioning Entravision, the owners of the station who are still evidently willing to support it online. I remain unconvinced how effective that was.

And while it is great that Henry Rollins will be moving to KCRW for a new forum for his show, Harmony in My Head, I still think that Indie 103.1 is by far the best radio around. I will be sticking with it!

Being Western Isn't Enough of a Credential Anymore

2009-02-25T16:04:00.000-08:00

The days when being a Westerner, especially one form Western Europe (read: Britain) or from the U.S., in order to be instantly credible, experienced and desirable, are over. In what context? In the East Asia context.

Americans and Western Europeans who travel to India still experience some cache, as do those same people who also travel to other countries in South Asia. They've been colonized enough to be "used to" Westerners who treat a trip to India, for example, as a spiritual pilgrimage. Usually these same people don't subscribe to a "conventional religion" but they sure don't mind using an entire country to activate their "spirituality."

But more and more, partly because much of East Asia was not colonized by these same Western countries, Americans, Brits, French, they aren't instantaneously viewed as more capable, more skilled, more intelligent, or otherwise more informed, than the indigenous peoples. Travel to any of the major cities in China, for example, and one will find more sophistication in the young people than anything Americans might offer. More ambition, better gadgets, and for those born in the city, better educated.

It must be so disappointing for travelers who assume that just because they are less than stellar in their own country, either sexually or professionally, they can still establish their cultural hegemony over there. Well, they can no longer.

Being Euro-American just isn't enough of a credential anymore. Wherever one goes in East Asia, one will find that not only can they do things just as well, they can often do it better, with better technology. It can be done more quicker, and their adoption of newer, more sustainable and efficient technologies is far more rapid and agile than the slow process made in Euro-American countries. Except perhaps those in North-western Europe, where many of these technologies originate.

Nevertheless, the idea of the BRIC economy is more than merely the latest wave of strong, developing economies. It is of cultures that are rapidly gaining on those of the West, building upon both their developments and their mistakes. Americans in particular should take note and stop being so arrogant.

"I don't like Chinese food" Often Equals Racism

2009-02-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

It does sound like a leap, but bear with this reasoning.

In an article the other day, an actor who was filming in Hong Kong over the summer vehemently declared he "hated Chinese food." He was there for three months, had nothing to say about traveling, the culture, different as it is from China since it was a colony for 150 years and is inexorably changed, and nothing to say about the experience. Just that he hated Chinese food.

Hmm. What happened to all the other aspects of Hong Kong that are interesting? I know, for the sanitized white tourist, it's far too difficult to embrace.

Imagine that same white tourist, this one from Boston where the actor was from, in, say, India. Suddenly things change, don't they? Because India was a colony for over 300 years, white people who find it far too intimidating to travel to China or even Hong Kong will travel to India. Why? Because int he popular imaginary, there is nothing threatening about India. The people, most obviously, have been subdued for centuries. That they finaly threw off the shackles of colonialism happened only in the recent past. Look how long it's been trying to overcome the long-lasting effects of centuries of slavery and you'll understand that fifty years means nothing compared to hundreds of years. India was a colony for over 300.

So people know that the Indians will speak English. They feel that they ar a non-threatening peole. They aren't violent. They've adopted an originally British Indianized dish of Chicken Tiki Masala, just for the Western palate, even. And theydon't do violent things. They are, in short, nonthreatening.

Imagine China, now. People do't speak the language. The government has never been touched by a Western hand. And the Communism? It wasn't as Marx envisioned. It was never an economic system in China, just another form of imperial control, under a different name. The peole have never been cowed. They do things so differently. There isn't a lot of history about China that has not aready been sanitized by hundreds of years of Western scholars. There are, in short, unknown. Hence threatening. And the likelihood that a Westerner traveling to China knows the language? Right.

So when someone says, I don't like Chinese food, what they are saying is Chinese food is a proxy for a culture and a people they find different, threatening, scary and unable to e cowed. By Western values of "democracy" or "humanity"--yes, that's why we criminalize same-sex marriage, here, homosexuality, colored people, single mothers--yes, we are humane, here, incarcerating old men over fifty years in the South because once, a black man sold some pot. Gee. And what happens to Robert Downey, Jr.? A few months? Hmm. But we are humane. Yes, we are. We value human rights. We don't incarcerate, criminalkize or otherwise discriminate. Unless somehow those groups deserve it.

And imagine if someone said, I hate hot dogs and baseball. What would be the reaction? You mean you hate America?

UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball Trounces the Stanford Cardinal, 97-63

2009-01-31T15:31:00.000-08:00

At half-time, the Bruins only had a lead of about 13 over the Cardinal, with the scores hovering in the 30's and 20's, respectively.

But while the major newspapers are touting the 40-14 run by the Bruins, which helped rout the Cardinal, what was more impressive about the game was Howland's vision of his bench and the development of his players.

So with a little more than 9 minutes left in the second half, and UCLA at a comfortable 30-point lead, Howland decided to rotate some of his younger players in. The second team. With James Keefe, who just lately got bumped from his starter position, who along with Michael Roll, were the two veteran players of the second team. Roll for his part continues to solidify his talent for sinking 3's. Then Howland began rotating even greener players like Jerime Anderson, Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee and J'mison Morgan for significant minutes. To not just give them experience during the height of the season, but to more importantly deepen his bench for the March Madness Run.

There will be talk of the selflessness of passes, rather than driving for a basket, making the pass, but what really struck me watching this game was that for almost ten minutes during the second half, Stanford scored primarily through free throws. And while that can often be the difference between winning and losing, they were technically playing the second and third teams. And against them, the veteran players on Stanford's team should have been able to score more than they did.

Which proves the importance of the mental game. By the time Howland began rotating his bench in, the Stanford team had already begun losing in their minds. Granted, the 30-point lead can weigh heavily on the mind, but they were clearly much more experienced, and bigger, than the Bruins. And yet still, they couldn't seem to score. Again, highlighting the importance of the mental game. For all the fans who left early, you missed some great last minute plays.

Though in fairness, Darren Collison, my favorite, is a really exceptional athlete and I give him a lot of credit for energizing his team, playing solidly throughout the first and second halves until Howland began rotating other players in.

Go Bruins.

Republican Solution to Everything: Cut Taxes

2009-01-31T07:33:00.000-08:00

While it has been repeatedly reported that the Republicans are being obfuscatory in their total lack of support to help this sinking recessive economy, the most interesting aspect of their ideological quandary is their lack of any alternative suggestions. Other than cut taxes.

Which is patently unhelpful. Unemployed, homeless people who lost both job and home do not need tax cuts. They need housing. And most importantly, they require jobs. Jobs that will secure a home, any kind of home, rented or bought, for the foreseeable future. That is what is required.

It's unconscionable that the fat cats called Republican congressmen and women, who have no worry about their own livelihoods, are pushing only federal tax cuts as their solution to a problem that is complex and deep. Conservatism is not working. It hasn't since Bush's infamous tax cuts. Numerous tax cuts. That, coupled with intense deregulation, lack of governmental oversight, and the evidently uncontrollable urge towards cronyism, has led to a worldwide recession.

It was unthinkable that anyone could see that reality and not understand that tax cuts would not help. People don't need a one-time five hundred dollar check from their government. What people need when they don't have employment is, guess what? Employment. People need more services until they can afford to buy them through their future employment. People need housing.

And what is even more unconscionable is that Republicans forget those millions of working poor, who make minimum wage and can't feed and house themselves properly, let alone any children or spouses they might have. Don't believe it? Read Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich. She has a Ph.D. and she could not make a living earning minimum wage.

One really wonders exactly how privilege has blinded Republicans into thinking that, as long as they stick with their outmoded, privilege only wealthy-white-people policies, they will eventually convince the poor masses Republicans have their best interests at heart. On the other hand, it worked for eight years with Bush.

The Economy Closes More Smalltown Stores: Harari Off and Eastside Book Cafe

2009-01-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles and its wealthy playgrounds should be immune from the Recession, one might think. But if the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an accurate measure, the economy continues to reside in the cautious side of pessimistic. A few weeks ago, when it began climbing towards 8900, I thought that finally, people would stop freaking out. And I want to tell all the idiots who keep making it hover around 8100, stop it! Stop freaking out! You're in this for the long haul, that's why you bought stocks in the first place, so stop making it artificially roil! But no, I believe it was Keynes, though it might have been Friedman, who said that while markets act rationally, once they begin to fall freely, they behave irrationally. Or, in other words, instead of anthropomorphizing markets, let's be real. Markets reflect the people who are buying and selling stocks. And they behave rationally as long as things seem to be going well. But once these people get spooked, guess what? So does their behavior in selling and buying stocks. Hence a spooked market.

At any rate, this recession has continued to shutter small businesses that provide goods to locals and tourists alike. The first lament is for the Eastside Book Cafe in Big Bear City, which is different from the more touristy Big Bear Lake. This gem of a bookstore was not simply replete with a great selection of books, but also offered a great little cafe next door, as well as free wifi. And on the weekends, the parking lot provided a venue for locals to sell their wares while they reconnected. The link to the article says that Gail Sefl, the owner, renegotiated her lease to remain open. Unfortunately, that didn't work. As a matter of fact, there was another story published in the Big Bear Grizzly newspaper by Brian Charles, but interestingly, that story can no longer be located on the web. At any rate, this was the only decent bookstore not just in Big Bear but for the surrounding area, including Lake Arrowhead. That bookstore, located at the downtown "mall" was turned into a clothing store because, as the owner confessed, no one was interested in books. Evidently. So no more gems from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala John Berger, or Rex Stout to be bought anywhere in the mountains east of Los Angeles. Evidently, after skiing or shopping at the local antique shops, people just want to watch television.

I hope that the economy improves and that this trend of small stores closing ends. Especially small bookstores. As it is, with Midnight Special closing in Santa Monica four years ago and then Dutton books (though that wasn't nearly as good), there are very few good bookstores in L.A. that aren't overly specialized. I often looked forward to going to the mountains just to visit that bookstore and now it's gone.

A different kind of store in Redondo Beach will also be sorely missed and I'm guessing not just by me. This is the Harari Off outlet store located in the Riviera across from the local Trader Joe's. This has been a mainstay not just for those who live in the South Bay, which included Palos Verdes just up the hill, but for anyone who has appreciated elegant, comfortable and extremely well-made clothing at a good price. Normally Harari designs are sold at a price point that favors their Neiman Marcus clientele. But at the outlet store, these same designs, with printed silks that were not only daring in design, but were also graceful and rendered in tasteful and sometimes bold palettes, could be had at prices ranging from $10 to $100.

Sadly, Harari has decided that they can make a better profit by changing their market strategy. They will be decreasing their patterned designs which were probably expensive to make, in conjunction with using using different manufacturers who emphasize plain fabrics, as well as carrying additional lines. They will also be decreasing their inventory, making less of their own designs with their new contracted manufacturers. That will be in conjunction with carrying other lines they don't have to spend money producing, thus diversifying their smaller inventory. So they will no longer need an outlet store to move sale items since there will be less of it. They can sell what little they have in store, for a larger profit.

Tant pis. I know I won't be going to the Montana, Santa Monica store anytime soon. The staff there are so overly impressed with themselves. Ditto for the store in Beverly Hills. The women at the Redondo Beach outlet store were polite, helpful and nice, all characteristics that are sorely in need in our Post-Bush society.

Organizing for America (OFA) and the Community Action Network (CAN)

2009-01-27T14:33:00.000-08:00

There has been a strange phenomenon occurring on the MyBarackObama.com website. The good thing about the website is it has a lot of tools to make organizing events and groups extremely easy. The bad thing is that this has also bred a lot of competition for power within the structure.

The ongoing feud between people who want to join the official Organizing for America or OFA organization, run by the Obama Administration's representatives, or the Community Action Network CAN, run by some very enterprising Obama supporters, is a good example.

Essentially, a tempest in a teapot has begun because the two organizers of the nationwide CAN, which one can join through MyBarackObama.com, Lisa Lindo and Paul Currier, have been, well, organized and enterprising. And lots of people who have worked on the campaign as volunteers, paid or otherwise, are upset.

So, for example, some emails by a woman who worked on the campaign named Laura Velkei, has been protesting vociferously that these people are charlatans, they don't represent the Obama Administration, their agenda should not be heeded, and that, by the way, you can unsubscribe to the CAN emails at the bottom of this email or on the MyBarackObama.com website, seems like professional jealousy. Though the emails were entitled innocuously, "In the spirit of openness" or some such thing, that was clearly disingenuous and what she wanted to do was discredit these people.

There were very restrained responses by Paul Currier and Lisa Lindo, who did say that this was approved by David Plouffe, even if they aren't the official organizing arm of the Administration,
which included that they wanted to organize and help, people are still protesting from all over the country.

It is decidedly strange. After all, if one doesn't want to join, don't. If one does not want to embark upon the campaign suggested by Mr. Currier or Ms. Lindo, don't. Do what Ms. Velkei herself should clearly do: unsubscribe. Do something else constructive with your time.

It is puzzling. The struggle for power and ascendancy, even in this supposedly equalizing forum, is mind-boggling. Actually, it is quite similar to the campaign itself: headed by a person who is clearly passionate about his principles and then supported, especially at the very lowest rungs, by people elbowing each other out of the way as they jockey for power.

Jettison "No Child Left Behind"

2009-01-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Obama Administration needs to jettison the absurd, pedagogically useless policy of "No Child Left Behind."

Teachers throughout the K-12 system I've spoken too, especially those who teach kindergarten through sixth grade, routinely criticize this system because rather than ensuring that children are performing well, it saddles teachers with constantly prepping their students for exams.

And studies have shown that tests are predictive of very little. They don't predict anything except how well students perform on exams. They don't accurately reflect what kids have learned. They certainly don't predict what they will be capable of learning in the future. And they place an inordinate burden on students.

For example, in one school in Redondo Beach, CA, Kindergarteners are required to produce a book report. Yes, that's right, five year olds. A book report. Teachers recommend that parents keep their children out of kindergarten until age 6 because of this requirement.

How about let's make certain the children actually just learn through activities that have nothing to do with exams? Plenty of smart people in our society achieved many things without being tested or required to do one to two hours of homework a night as a first-grader. But that's what happens in Pacific Palisades' Marquez school, CA, to make sure their students fulfill the NCLB requirements.

These exams are also culturally biased. Pegged for certain ways of approaching problems, like exams. And privileging certain types of thought.

In the Math Ph.D. program at UCLA, all the pure math majors pride themselves on getting perfect scores on their Verbal GRE's, as well as obviously perfect scores on th Math portion and the Subject exam. Why? Because, as I was informed by a friend, those exams privilege a certain type of thinking. So that even if one doesn't know the vocabulary, or the stories to analyze, one knows how to think in order to assess which answer is correct.

This particular friend was embarrassed because he had broken the record by missing three questions.

Jettison NCLB. And let teachers start teaching again, not just being test monitors.

Faith's Role in Offering Succor

2009-01-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

People who are religious will frequently assert that their faith offers succor and solace during difficult times. Death, financial difficulties, work, these are all potential arenas that those who are religious will say that they could not survive if they had not their religion to rely on.

One woman, a Mormon, admitted that during these financially difficult times, she knew that from past experience, she would get through this time, as well. Furthermore, that she knew God would make things alright, though perhaps that result may not come in the form she expects or desires. The past had told her that.

What is really interesting about this is that those who are either agnostic or atheistic, not just towards Christian religions, but towards Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, as well, can experience exactly the same thing.

Therefore, if one experiences tragedy or personal difficulty, unless it results in death, one knows that one will survive. Things will, eventually, be alright. And despite the length of time one was in difficult times, one knows it will pass. Because one knows this from past experience. And one again experiences periods of joy, happiness or contentment.

This is neither an argument for or against religion. It's just an observation that while those who have religious faith think that their faith in the future is exclusive to their belief in a higher being, those without religion experience the same faith that they, too, will be alright. They, however, do not have that higher being in whom they can place that faith/knowledge.

Israeli Shoots and Kills Two Girls, Cripples Third

2009-01-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

This story, reported on The World is truly horrifying if it is confirmed. The reporter, Quil Lawrence, did say that on several key points, the stories of the Grandmother, who survived, the father, who carried both his grandmother and one remaining 4-year old daughter a mile to a hospital during the 3 hour "humanitarian" lull, all match. And the 4 year old girl, shot in the spin and crippled, is in Europe so there isn't a lot of opportunity to get her story to "match" her father's and grandmother's story.

Basically, they lived in an area in Gaza under Israeli control, the entire area was leveled. They were told to get out. And so the grandmother, mother and three little girls, 2, 4 and 7 years of age, came out with white flags.

An Israeli soldier purposefully shot them. The 2 and 7 year olds died almost instantly. The mother, father, injured grandmother and daughter hid inside their home for over an hour and a half, waiting for relief or instructions. None came. Israeli soldiers were joking and evidently drinking soda outside.

During the "humanitarian lull"--which is such an offensive term because who gave the Israelis the right to dictate what happens to other people in their own country?--the father took the grandmother not fatally shot, and his one remaining daughter to the hospital and mile and a half away. The daughter was later flown somewhere in Europe for treatment. She will be crippled for life.

The Obama Effect

2009-01-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

I arose early this morning and took my daughter to a public event to watch President Obama take his oath of office and his speech that inspired me.

I have some simple thoughts. I think like many people, I have become renewed and resolved. I am ready to serve in what way I can. I do not think that it will change. I will do what I have done in the past, within my skill sets and in line with my principles. But what has changed is that I feel that my efforts will not be fighting a losing battle. Perhaps, if he can continue to ignite people's inspiration, and I'm not talking about those already involved, but those who were not inclined to donate their time to community service of some sort, if President Obama can do that, we may finally begin a progress towards something that transcends the kind of bigotry, narrow-mindedness and selfishness that has marked so much of the past decade.

On the Eve of the Inauguration

2009-01-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

It is a profound and profoundly moving moment in history. There is simply no other term for it but a moment in history. No one in this world will ever forget where they were and what they were doing on the 20th of January, 2009.

The nature of President-elect Obama's conduct over the past two months and some days has been extremely moving and personal for innumerable people around this country and indeed, the world. I am no different.

What I find most interesting about this incoming President, and I admit I am more interested in him right now than his administration, is that he has changed the tenor of people's attitudes. Despite the fact that we may be in even more dire circumstances than the Great Depression (after all, this Recession is Global), Mr. Obama has inspired people to change the way they view themselves, their empowerment, and their responsibility to those beyond their own narrow lives.

It is one of the most striking contrasts to the kind of culture and mindset that George W. Bush heralded. With him and his "War on Terror" rather than "Terrorism," Bush instituted a culture of "Me First, in fact, Only Me" wherein the rules of conduct applied to everyone else but oneself. Of course, what that meant was that the rules applied to no one, since everyone occupies the role of "someone else" in relation to other people.

Thus people became rude. They were unrepentantly mean. And racist, "hate" crimes increased dramatically. They could call each other names and then, like Sarah Palin, accuse other people of the very conduct they themselves engaged in by hiding behind the excuse, "Well, you're just being mean." Projection and irresponsibility was the order of the day for eight long years.

If I am any measure, everything has changed. I have gone from being extremely cynical about my agency to feeling that empowerment is less important than the fact that I want to serve my country. I am looking for myriad ways of doing so, despite that I am unemployed and have been for several months. Nevertheless, I am glad I am American. I am actually contemplating wearing an American flag shirt for the celebration in Downtown L.A. though in honesty, I don't have anything like that so I won't. But if I did possess such an item, I certainly would.

I am attending tomorrow morning to watch the Swearing in Ceremony live on enormous screens with thousands of other people. I am taking my daughter to this event, unlike some people I know who are attending the actual inauguration and have left their seven-year old at home. I am going to take photos. Because unlike those other people, I know that though I am not old, this election has not been about me, and this inauguration is likewise, not for just me. It is for and about the younger generation. So while my daughter is not yet two, I intend to take her to this celebration. She will experience what it is like for people to join together in strength, unified in purpose and joined by a vision that can accommodate personal goals in a way that benefits the many. Because even if she does not remember the event when she grows older, I will share that experience with her. With photos and video. And she will know that her life, which began the day before Mr. Obama declared his candidacy, was improved in innumerable, countless ways by this singular event.

I am glad, and proud, to be American. And I will be proud when I go abroad. And people will no longer scorn me when they discover I am American, though I am of color. They will congratulate me. As a representative of something for good.

Service-Oriented Jobs and Living Vicariously

2009-01-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

It is interesting that there are certain service sectors, namely ones providing services in the home, that breed a need to live vicariously through their employers. To wit: imagine a full-time housekeeper. S/he works inside someone's home to allow that person or those people to have lives outside that home. In other words, the employers are busy doing things, producing either objects or services, that can be both seen and acknowledged by the outside world.

Now imagine what the person working inside that household does: cleans. Cooks. Shops for those people. Prepares food for them. And then, when they come home, listens to their triumphs. In the outside world.

No wonder people like Kato Kaelin, of Nicole Brown Simpson fame talked the way he did. His words, and his conversation, can be reduced to one word: gossip. That's because he didn't produce anything himself. He lived vicariously through other people's lives. In essence, he did not have his own life. So he garnered vicarious pleasure, pride, and even a sense of achievement, through the lives of those around him who actually did something other than take care of someone else's house.

It is sad. No wonder these people gossip so much. It's what they have. Because their own lives are devoted to making other people's outside lives possible. By taking care of their home lives for them. Cleaning their homes. Cooking for them. And taking care of their children.

Hangers' On, Wannabe's and Others Invited to Inauguration

2009-01-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

It is depressing to hear of people who hated Obama, his wife ("Can you believe what she said about being finally proud of Americans?") and vowed that if he won the presidency, this country would go to the dogs?

Those would be the same die-hard Hillary fans who are now riding to the Inauguration, and they hope, the White House administration, on her coattails. They didn't raise money for him, but for her. They didn't do anything at all for him, as a matter of fact, except spread rumours about how awful he was, etc, etc, but aren't they excited about being able to attend the Inaguration now!

After all, it's an opportunity, and this surely is the land of opportunity! Hey, if Obama can be President, why can't all these insignificant, self-aggrandizing opportunists use this chance to promote themselves? Throw an event or two, pretend you're important, and be certain to tell every person who will listen to you, who has less power than you and is stupider than you, that you are soo important! Guess what, they'll believe you!

This inauguration is not about self-promotion, much as these cynical Clintonites like to think. On this upcoming day of service celebrating Martin Luther King's birthday, it is important for these people to recall that it isn't just "the day before the inauguration when I can possibly hob-knob with the person who stands next to the person who stands next to Obama"--it's about what you can do. Not about hiring celebrities for your function or bragging to every person who will listen what you have done. It's about doing something and not bragging. It's about just doing something to help people who don't have the money you were born into. It's about serving.

Israel Is Wrong

2009-01-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

For some reason, we are never allowed to criticize what Israelis do with their neighbors. It's somehow wrong because of the Holocaust.

That is a specious argument. Chinese people suffered horribly at the hands of the Japanese during that same World War: II. And people think it is absolutely fine to criticize China. All the time. They say, but it's different. China violates people's human rights. Look how they treat the ethnic minorities. Look how they treat Tibetans. They took over their land. They have denuded the culture.

So what about what Israel has done to Palestinians? That's not even their land. Their country. And yet the Israelis enforce what goes in and out of Palestine, especially the Gaza strip. Thousands of Israelis think it is their right to live in Gaza and they frankly have never really left. They just moved. And do you know about that huge wall that separates where the Israelis live and the Palestinians? That again limits Palestinians access to basic necessities? Like water? Food?

Have you seen the enormous difference in lifestyle between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Just across this border? And they have absolutely no say in the matter?

It is completely absurd for Israelis to say, "Well, there are militants hiding amongst the civilians so it's okay for us to invade them, bomb them and basically kill anyone in the way. If they want us to stop, make Hamas stop."

Okay, so since when did Israelis listen to their civilians regarding military action? When did civilians have any power in persuading men with guns to change their minds? That's right, never. It's a specious argument that demonstrates the Israeli military/government mindset.

And for Bush to say, Hamas has to stop for the Israelis to stop is again, intentionally obtuse. Rocket fire? Killed three people. Israelis? Killed hundreds. Of civilians. Who again have absolutely no control over the men with guns. It is so clear that Bush believes in personal responsibility, as he has demonstrated over and over again, only on the part of his enemies. He never demands it of his allies. Like Cheney. Rove. Rumsfeld. Or the supporters who have received millions of dollars in military contracts from his Invasion, not War, people, Invasion, of Iraq.

Racial Profiling Middle Easterners at Airports

2009-01-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Of course, the family of 9 was Muslim. In the LA Times today was a story about a Muslim family removed from the plane, then AirTran refused to let them back on. All because two white teenagers heard two of the 9 talking about where the safest part of the plane was.

If this seems legitimate to you, let's take this from another stance. Would this have happened to a white family of 9? Would 9 family members from a white family even be traveling together? But if they were, would this have happened to them if, say, two teenagers who were from the Middle East reported them? Doubtful again.

The TSA justified what AirTran officials did because they said that it was according to protocol. Which protocol? The "violate your civil rights" protocol if you're of color or the "safety first" protocol which seems to justify violating civil rights? If, that is, you're colored. Interesting how the issue of civil rights, human rights, gets glossed right over when white people seem concerned about what colored people are doing. But they are sooo concerned about human rights when they talk about China and the Chinese government's treatment of their minorities. No one ever thinks about how the U.S. government treats its minorities.

Who says that racism and racial profiling isn't still institutionalized?

Defining the word "Ambition"

2008-12-29T19:33:00.001-08:00

The word "ambition" will often stir scorn or even fear in the minds of those who consider themselves too intellectual and too principles to possess this quality.

That is stupid.

The first order is to define ambition. By my calculations, there are four different, broad categories which fall under the general term "ambition," which I will herefrom cease putting in quotes.

The first is social ambition. In bald terms, this is the kind of social climbing often associated with people who often are financially ambitious, as well. However, social ambition is one that vies for and hungers for social prestige. Admiration from others. The ability to make others envious, which is different from jealous. Jealousy, in case this is unknown, is the fear that others are detracting from oneself. Envy is desiring what others have.

So social ambition often is accompanied by the desire to inspire envy in others. It is, briefly, achieving social position.

Then there is financial ambition. As stated above, this is often seen in conjunction with those who harbor social ambitions. However, financial ambition can be satisfied not only by marrying into it, which is often a way social ambition is achieved, but through one's employment. This in the popular consciousness is often associated with rapacious and unprincipled men and women in "Business" with a capital "B": people who hold MBA's and little else, who have no ethics and no principles and certainly no desire to advance society or their own communities. The sole concern is, stereotypically though not necessarily in reality, one's own pocketbook.

Then there is professional ambition. This may or may not result in financial success. But for those who do not hold (graduate) degrees in some specialty that does not end in "M.D." "J.D." or "M.B.A." pursuing one's professional interests and satisfying one's professional ambition may or may not result in financial success. Witness the average pay a professor receives: $60,000. That is less than people without even a Bachelor's degree who work for one of the Big Three Auto Companies under the $70/hr union contracts. And professors have a four year degree, plust another 6-8 years for their Master's and Ph.D., plus another few for completing their dissertation.

But I digress. Then there is intellectual ambition. That is obviously an ambition that is geared towards learning and increasing one's knowledge-base. It is often driven by a combination of curiosity, ethics, and a desire to improve the world around oneself.

The problem with people with graduate degrees that aren't M.D.'s (who are inevitably socially and fiscally conservative--the worst of Nimbyism), J.D.'s or MBA's is that they scorn people with the degrees just mentioned. People with MBA's are viewed as unprincipled, selfish, self-centered and rapacious. Like Bush and his ilk. M.D.'s are too conservative. And J.D.'s are viewed as overpaid hired guns. They can be bought and sold.

This is the wrong outlook. People are naturally ambitious. They want to improve their lot. Based on their principles. After all, do we really think that Obama is not ambitous? Of course he is. And he's a lawyer. The difference between him and Bush is that he has principles that include taking care of other people. Who are not exactly like him. Something that Conservatives just don't understand. He doesn't care if they aren't Black, he doesn't care if they aren't educated, and he certainly doesn't care if they voted for him. He still wants to take care of them as their President.

That's something that annoying intellectuals just don't understand. That they need to take responsibility for their ambition. Just because one doesn't desire to rape a small country of all its resources, including its labor force, does not mean one doesn't "have ambition." It merely means one doesn't have a particular kind of ambition, the kind that cares nothing for anyone else but oneself.

Ambition is not something that only people who work on Wall Street have. Activists have it. Professors have it. It is the principles and ethics one chooses to guide that ambition that matters. That is the crux of the issue. If one wants to be wealthy, that in itself is neither good nor bad. It is the way one achieves that wealth, and what one does with it that is the issue.

And it is not that desiring to attain social prestige, or even power in one's work is bad. It is how one acquires it and how one wields it that is at issue. I often hear people who consider themselves "above" having ambition aver that they want to be rich. They want to have the power to sway opinions about social issues they deem important. That is ambition. The question is, are you clear enough to achieve it? And that means can you take responsibility for having ambition, and wielding it in a socially responsible way?

Taking a Walk With the Family on Christmas Day

2008-12-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

I noticed something around the neighborhood as we left for a quick trip to the other side of town for dinner: adults taking a walk together.

I remember this was a frequent occurrence when I was young. Indeed, it seemed that Christmas, whether one celebrated the day or not, was one of the few days that one could see adults taking a walk together here in the U.S. Most of the time, people are too busy rushing towards their next destination--work, shopping, out somewhere--to take the time to walk with their relatives, let alone their partners. But Christmas, along with Thanksgiving, was a day that one saw this often.

Part of the reason was that all stores were closed except for liquor stores. There was always a moment of panic, "Oh, no, the stores are closing at six in the evening on the wednesday before Thanksgiving!" and there would be a last mad rush to get the whipping cream or some more sugar.

And precisely because no consumerism could occur on the day of those holidays, there was an enforced quietude the following day. A day of rest. Calm. There seemed to be nothing to do except eat, talk with one's relatives and perhaps watch some tv if one was so inclined. But the inability to shop had a great influence on the quietude that settled on the collective mind. And so, one would often see groups of adults, walking together. At a leisurely pace.

The enforced day of quietude. The day when adults alk together in the street because there is a collective acceptance that nothing else can bedone except spend time together. No distractions such as shopping. No going somewhere to avoid each other. Just being together. Americans don’t do enough of that.

It's been years in urban cities since Thanksgiving has shut down stores. Now if one forgets whipping cream, the local grocer is open for business. No need to visit the liquor store and pay an inordinate amount of money for disproportionately small amount of cream. And it's been years, as well, that New Year's shut stores down. Christmas was the last day that this enforced contemplativeness could be experienced.

Except for Armani A/X. Apparently they think that last minute shopping is something one can do on the day of gift-giving. The cynicism of this decision is so great that they really deserve no more thought.

But I not only say it is a shame that we can not at least have one day of quiet. I think that stores who promote that mindset are shameful.

Transferring Eudora, Firefox, Thunderbird and Netscape Settings/Mailboxes to New Computer

2008-12-24T21:44:00.001-08:00

I scoured the web for directions on how to transfer Eudora and Thunderbird mailboxes, settings, filters, and also how to transfer Firefox and Netscape settings, bookmarks and passwords. Every set of directions was flawed, and each time I tried them, some things would be missing: mailboxes, or passwords, or bookmarks.

This is foolproof and idiot proof.

You need an external drive, either a physical one or a backup online. Do these simple steps. Works every time.

1) Copy the entire program from the program file onto the external drive. The entire folder, like Eudora.
2) Copy the entire Eudora folder in the application settings folder. It will look something like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\Eudora in XP. In Vista, you will find the application settings folder under: [your user name]\appdata\roaming
3) This second folder will contain your profile, your mailboxes, passwords, filters and attachments.
4) Copy the program folder onto the new computer in the "program files" folder
5) Then go into the application data folder, and locate, the Eudora folder, and open it. Find the profiles folder and profile configuration setting document. Replace these with the old profile folder copied from the old computer.
6) The profile.ini configuration setting document may need adjustment. Open it with Notepad. Locate the line that has a file that resembles this: vtue7nve.default. The important part is the series of letters and numbers.
7) This has to match the default folder which is located in the old profile folder you just pasted into the Eudora profile folder in application settings. If it doesn't, then type in the correct name of the folder labeled "default."
8) You're done. Open up Eudora and you will have your mailboxes, filters and password all transferred.

This process works for Thunderbird, Firefox and Netscape, as well.

New Ageists Undermine Legitimate Environmentalism

2008-12-23T16:11:00.001-08:00

Environmentalism has become extremely trendy in the past decade. And while many scientists have spent years contributing to our storehouse of knowledge, their research and their credentials are severely undermined by New Ageists who claim that they know what is happening to "Mother Earth" better than all else.

What is their source? Their "feelings," their "connection" with the Earth with a capital "E" and their ability to be in tune with all things that are "earthy" unlike practically anyone else on the planet.

These people never have any credentials. It is shocking if they even hold a Bachelor's degree, and often that is in something that is completely unrelated to the rigorous sciences, something fluffy and often incomplete. They claim expertise in other, nebulous fields of "knowledge" such as "wholistic nutrition" or "Amazonian herbal expertise."

The problem with these people is severalfold. First, they over-identify with the Earth. Again, the point is not that the Earth should not be valued--indeed, there is much proof that humans undervalue the Earth and Americans in particular are seemingly incapable of exercising restraint in exploiting natural resources if their own gain is in the balance. Nevertheless, at issue is that New Agey people think themselves to be undervalued. They feel marginalized. Disrespected. They are convinced that if people only listened, they would see wisdom rather than mere charlatanism.

Conveniently, they share certain qualities with the Earth, which is also undervalued, often not "heard" and is too easily dismissed. Lo and behold! They are the same, these people think. And so they become the collective "voice" for Mother Earth, and begin adopting "native" monikers for both themselves and for various icons of Mother Earth. Though they mispronounce "Himalaya"--the accent is on the second, not third, syllable--they pride themselves on not calling Everest "Everest." They call themselves pseudo-Indian names, though they don't know what they mean. And occasionally, they subscribe to some gutted, white, milk-toast religion they claim is originally "Indian" since that, evidently, is the root of true spiritual authenticity.

Not much has changed from the Colonials of 18th century Britian. These people still view India for some strange reason as the center of white spiritual salvation, though their interpretation is actually a corrupt projection of their own value system. Indeed, it is the ultimate narcissistic gesture, the ultimate contemporary colonialism, though it is of course not seen as such.

Somehow, Mother Earth/Nature gets caught up in this cultural colonialist discourse.

It's a shame, really, because true, science-based environmentalism is the way to if not reverse, at least slow, the rapacious appetite of humans around the globe. Science will offer the technology and clear techniques to address the fundamental ills wrought by Western appetites. The last thing needed is a bunch of nitwits who know nothing, projecting their own needs and desires, onto the environmental cause.

Big Three Auto and Congress

2008-12-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

it may be old news, but there are still some issues regarding the Republican Senate's refusal to help these three automakers.

1) The hypocrisy of being willing to help the financial world with $700 billion, which demanded absolutely no oversight in comparison with a paltry $14 billion is truly shameless and shocking

2) The demand by Republican Senators for concession from unions is somewhat justified because, after all, some of their workers get $80/hr. Most people with Ph.D.'s don't even get that. But here is the problem: the issue at stake was not that unions should "bend" and be more transparent for these Republicans. It was that these senators came from southern states who didn't have those automakers in their states, so they didn't care if tens of thousands of newly unemployed men and women might join the unemployed rolls. It wasn't happening in their backyard. It was the worst kind of Nimbyism combined with a not-so-subtle attempt to gut unions.

3) What happened to all the other news out ther? Like what's happening to other economies around the world as a result of Bush running our country into the ground? What is happening to state economies?

4) As for the automakers themselves, here is what I would like: stop being arrogant. Design cars that people want. If Honda and Toyota are more successful, don't you think there is a reason for it? Stop designing stupid cars with giant engines that get 14 miles to the gallon because in America, "bigger is badder and better." Stop being arrogant and offering what you want. Design what the people want: cars that are fuel efficient and sleekly designed. What is wrong with American designers designing bulky gas-guzzlers with dipping noses that supposedly connotes "sleek" in all American cars. Why does it appear as if American car makers always pick their industrial designers from the dregs of classes from ArtCenter while Honda and Toyota get their best and brightest?

5) In terms of layoffs, the automakers might consider beginning with laying off its management, since they are the incompetent people who have made these decisions that have led to your current crisis?

6) As for Senate Republicans, the hypocrisy of their decision to save the financial industry but not to save the auto industry at a mere fraction of the cost, is glaring and unconscionable. And the protest that what they want is "oversight" rather than that they merely wanted to gut the unions is equally repugnant.

Household Tips: Water Marks, Toilet "Snake" Marks, Frizzy Hair

2008-12-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

1) Watermark Removal: If one scours the web for suggestions on how to eradicate water marks, many suggestions arise. Amongst them include mayonnaise (??) and other oil-based treatments. These do not work. The issue is that there is a thin layer of polish/wax, minimal though it is, that protects a wooden table's color from being easily removed. Yes, this is even in the case of those older tables.

What will remove a water mark is paste toothpaste. Trader Joe's provides an excellent choice, inexpensive--$2.99. It is also just a really good, low-chemical toothpaste that is a great-tasting alternative to Tom's of Maine toothpaste which is far more expensive.

Use a washcloth. Wet it lightly. Put a dab of toothpaste on the cloth. Then rub the watermark--circular or back and forth is not relevant. What is being removed is that thin top coating that protects the actual color of your table. Use another part of the washcloth, also lightly dampened, to wipe off the excess toothpaste.

Once the table is dry, polish your table as normal.

2) Toilet Bowl Scratches from a Plumbing Snake: Again, lots of useless suggestions on the web for removing them. They include chastising the person for scratching the bowl in the first place--akin to saying, "Why didn't you use your best judgment?"--and draining the bowl and painting it--ugh and again really useless. The only real solution is Barkeeper's Friend for about $2.99. It is a type of cleanser that you can get at your local hardware store rather than buying it online. Save the environment from all that packaging and keep your local shops in business while you're at it.

Do not mistake this for any kind of cleanser, such as Bon Ami or Comet, which have their uses. Barkeeper's Friend is not earth friendly like Bon Ami, but it is also the only cleaner that will work.

Again, opinions vary on the web regarding Barkeeper's Friend. Some say you need to scrub after letting it soak. Some say to combine it with bleach to create a really toxic blend. Neither of these are true. For a toilet that was covered in scratches from multiple snakes, this was all that was needed:

Shake the canister a few times. The water will be cloudy. Let soak for 15-30 mins, depending on how much of a clock-watcher you are. Flush.

The metal stains--which is what those scratches really are--will be gone.

3) Frizzy hair: There are a lot of solutions, including Bumble and Bumble, Frederic Fekkai olive oil glossing collection, and Sebastian Laminates. Or you can turn once more to Trader Joe's, who sells their own brand of Refresh Conditioner that smells vaguely like oranges. In itself, it is alright but doesn't help those with frizzy hair. However, add 1/4 cup of olive oil. You will need to pour some condition out initially in order to accommodate the olive oil. Shake well. The olive oil will stay suspended throughout the conditioner--no need to worry about separating.

The result? For $2.99, you get conditioner that smooths your hair, makes it shiny and healthy. Sure, if you want to spend $30-$50 on name brand products, you can. Or you can be smart. And maybe donate some of that money you saved to a better cause.

It's "Terrorism" Not "Terror"

2008-12-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

It took the media how many years before they admitted that the Bush/Cheney axis duped them into believing that the Invasion of Iraq was based on falsities conjured by Cheney and his cohorts? Let's see, was that five long years?

And how much longer is it going to be before the media admits that they have again been the slaves and dupes of Bush, Cheney and the Bush administration? In what way? By thoughtlessly, mindlessly repeating the word "terror" when they mean either "terrorist" or "terrorism."

This is not an issue of grammar. It is an issue of the way the issue of terrorism and the war on it are framed.

If you accept that this is a "War on Terror," then you are accepting a set of terms which believes that "terror" is not an abstract concept but is somehow a concrete definition of a discrete set of conditions that is universal. It isn't. Aside from a definition that might come from the dictionary, Bush's intentional use of the word "terror" rather than "terrorism" is meant to strike terror in people's hearts.

And he's succeeded. Rather than examine the issue as one of terrorism, perpetrated by discrete groups, terror evokes a global sense of peril, that no matter where one is, one is unsafe. This is patently untrue.

After all, Al Qaeda did not send all that anthrax through the mail. That was domestic. Terrorism. Not "terror."

It is actually quite shameful the way that Bush has chosen to frame the subject in this way, to create fear-mongering and perpetuate a sense of imminent peril. Shameful. We have more to fear from what he has done to our economy. And the fact that we will continue to pay for these mistakes by the big businesses that supported him--think big auto and big oil.

Indeed, Bush was quite successful in making people fear for their lives four years ago, which is how he won the re-election. People felt unsafe, though it is clear that they had nothing to fear. Nothing has happened to the American people over the last four years on our soil that was not instigated by Big Business and the mentality of The Rules Don't Apply To Me.

So when is it that the media, including NPR shows like All Things Considered and PRI shows like The World, are going to demand that their reporters report accurately.

The Correlation Between Bush and Aggressive Americans

2008-12-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

The holiday season just seems to bring out the worst in people. Did you read about the poor man who was trampled to death in a Long Island, NY, Walmart? That's right. On Black Friday, people were just sooo anxious to spend as little money as possible that they lined up before 5 am, started getting antsy and angry and when the doors opened, they trampled an employee to death on their ways towards those all-important bargains in Electronics and whatever other useless items they don't need.

But that isn't the point. The point is that ever since Bush has instituted his policy of "The Rules Don't Apply To Me (or My Minions)", Americans of the less-intelligent, less-humanistic, less-inclined-to-care-about-anyone-else-in-the-first-place stripe have been taking their cues from him.

Case in point: at a Manhattan Beach, CA, Target, I espied an angry woman with a sheepish-looking husband in tow. In the passenger seat. As I walked to my car, I saw her on another aisle and a man who saw I was leaving decided to claim my soon-t0-be-vacant spot. He dutifully turned on his blinking lights and began the wait. I loaded my items and as I shut my trunk, I saw the angry woman driving up towards me. She saw me leaving and then turned on her light. I then saw the man who had been waiting point to her, himself and then my spot. Which triggered a spate of obscene gestures. He then pointed at her, himself and my spot. I added my two cents by nodding an ascent. She then decided to include me in the obscenities, but of course, as she passed, she didn't have the courage to actually look at me--she could only do this at a distance. Nor did she look at the man waiting for my spot.

And a year ago, I was actually run into a wall along PCH near Malibu because someone was impatient with me driving the speed limit. It was right out of some C-movie, this enormous truck of the type that people buy because they feel inadequate in other ways, was tailgating me. I was in the slow lane and at 9 at night, it wasn't like PCH was particularly crowded. Plenty of room and two other lanes for this person to drive in. But no. He decided it was better to flash his brights. At a stoplight, I figured, okay, now he'll finally move over. And he did. Once we started again, he decided that he wanted to teach me a lesson. He literally drove into my lane. Along a certain stretch, near Pacific Palisades, there is a retaining wall to keep the hill from turning into a mud river during rainy season. And there was just no place for me to go. So I jammed into the wall. I couldn't believe it. I was pregnant at the time, too. So that was particularly fun for me. When he realized what he'd done, of course he sped off and the police said there was nothing they could do. Of course not.

This aren't the only examples of aggression by people whom we are led to believe by the media are model citizens, i.e. they're white. In Cape Cod three years ago, I recall driving around the various towns and seeing stickers that said "Kill the French" simply because they think, rightly so, that our Imperialist Invasion of Iraq was wrong. I guess it's okay to kill, maim, or otherwise be aggressive towards anyone who disagrees with us. Must be nice to be Conservative and have such a simplistic, and yet terrorizing, view of the world.

The Auto Industry's Woes

2008-12-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

On the November 17, 2008 edition of The World, a story was heard on not only the future of foreign auto car makers, but what a Detroit lobbyist thought about the current woes of Chrysler, GM and Ford. The gist was that this lobbyist rejected the idea that the Big Three were out of touch with the American consumer. That the fact that over 40% of domestic car sales were for foreign-designed, but domestically produced cars was somehow not an indictment of American auto-makers' designs that emphasized gas-guzzling SUV's. The fact is, it isn't that American automakers are not making what American's want, but that somehow, Americans just want something different.

That would be the doublespeak they call a "distinction without a difference."

Because, frankly, the American automakers have not been serving their market. They have ignored the market, that thing that Big Business in America so often touts as the indicator and regulator extraordinaire.

But now that the Big Three have finally had to admit that they were not listening to the market, they don't want to take the consequences for their actions. In other words, these three, who would be so quick to sacrifice other businesses to failure don't want to take that responsibility themselves. Instead, they want a bailout.

It is clear how "Big Business" works: the rules of the "Market" apply to everyone else. But when we are failing, we want special treatment.

The Rafael Vinoly "Grant"

2008-12-04T07:23:00.000-08:00

The premise of Rafael Vinoly’s research grant is to foster deeper understanding, one presumes, in the arenas of architecture, urbanism and material culture.

However, this premise seems to be a sham. This year’s competition explored the built environment of developing nations. The purpose was to understand and address problems inherent in countries like China, India, and presumably those in Africa. But China was the first area they specified as being interested in understanding.

So I submitted a proposal. It was a critique on the fact that Westerners, Americans and Europeans alike, assume that western designs in China, including the Nest, the Egg, CCTV Tower and the Cube, are representative of both the problems and the inadequate solutions for a unique Chinese urbanization.

The problem is that Chinese modernization supposedly victimizes the individual. It tears down “traditional” architecture like hutongs, which no one ever acknowledges are a uniquely Beijing typology.

Well, Beijing is not a stand-in for all of China. But it has become that.

As for Beijing “fatigue,” a phenomenon in which architects think they have fully explored Beijing, the problem is they haven’t explored it at all. What they have explored is themselves: Western architecture in Beijing. The editor in charge of Beijing at Architectural Record, for example, never actually explores Beijing. Instead, he helps people exoticize elements of Beijing that Westerners find interesting. Not coincidentally, these elements are the Western designs in Beijing named above.

But as for documenting the rest of Beijing, what Beijingers really experience, no, that’s not interesting. That does not reinforce assumptions westerners have about Beijing: that it dehumanizes people with its monument, that it is an out-of-control city developing with not regard for the people, and that Beijinger’s really miss their traditional architecture, which supposedly represents the pinnacle of Chinese architecture.

First, there are innumerable neighborhoods in Beijing of a human scale. No one ever bothers documenting those. And since Western architects can’t never speak the language when they go over there, how would they know what Beijingers feel about their city, anyway? Imagine if some Chinese person came over to the U.S. to study NY architecture, assuming it represented all of the U.S., and didn’t speak the language? Americans are so narrow-minded and gringoistic that they would immediately protest, “How can you study us without speaking American?” Yes, and the same goes for architectural tourists traveling in China who lament what’s going on without understanding the first thing about China. Like William Menking. The arrogance of his assumptions about China is mind-boggling: he knows nothing about it, doesn't speak the language, doesn't hold a degree in it, and has never visited there. But he sure is certain that the U.S. is superior, it doesn't trample people's human rights. Evidently, he has been out to lunch during this entire administration, doesn't understand how our prison system is racist, and knows absolutely nothing about institutionalized racism, sexism and classicism. But since he knows nothing of these problems in the U.S., it's alright to engage in architecture here.

Modernization is not defined by Western progress. It just isn’t. Other countries must necessarily define and determine their own trajectory towards a modernization that is uniquely their own. The West does not equal Modernization with a capital “M” but just typifies a modernization, one of many.

And the argument that “traditional” architecture represents the pinnacle of Chinese architectural innovation and that it should be saved? Well, as long as these people have access to other housing, do white Americans traveling as architectural tourists to Beijing know for a fact that they lament losing their housing? Have most of these hutongs actually been seen by superior Americans, or is that just a projected lament about our own inability to preserve our own monuments? Yes. That’s what these people do best: project.

Indeed, what is never specified is what elements of “traditional” architecture the hutongs represent that are so great. Never once is that specified. Instead, hutongs are used as an indictment of how the “Chinese government” is insensitive to the “people” and victimizes them. Of course, then when Americans begin talking about those “people” they begin talking about the ethnic minority, in a dizzying display of a lack of logic. These writers and architects don’t really care about the Han Chinese except as a symbol to indict the government. But as for actually understanding what these people want and need? No. That task is reserved for the ethnic minorities, the Tibetans and Uighurs are current favorite darlings of Westerners, but again, the discourse is “Isn’t the Chinese government awful?” The goal is never to truly understand but to reinforce the superiority of Americans and Western Europeans.

Finally, Rafael Vinoly grant doesn’t seem interested in people actually qualified to determine what is needed by Chinese people in order to propose architectural proposals that are not just projections. After all, in order to determine what is needed, one needs to speak the language. Have studied the history and culture so as not to exoticize. And have, finally, training in architecture. But one needs all those things. Speaking the language or living in China do not necessarily qualify one because again, one needs training in how to approach the problem.

In other words, one needs to know how to critically think. Something most architects lack. Critical thinking skills. They are too often seduced by surface. Which inevitably, always, culturally colonializes the Other.

Debunking the "Model Minority" Chinese-American Myth

2008-12-03T09:24:00.001-08:00

There is a cohort of Chinese-Americans, of whom one suspects Amy Tan is one, who embrace the "Model Minority" mentality.

Here's how it goes:

We are Chinese-Americans in California. We have been oppressed since our relatives from the Toisan area of Southern China. Indeed, the racism and oppression was institutionalized by law that limited our status and our access. We are proud of being successful, law-abiding citizens whose ancestors hail from this very modest, indeed poor, area of Southern China, in Guangdong province. We like to wear "traditional" Chinese clothing to all events, drawing attention to our pride in our heritage. And we also try to make connections to each other wherever we can through last names.

1) We are Chinese-Americans who have been institutionally oppressed since our relatives came over from Toisan, Guangdong, China, in the 1800's.

That's true. Obviously. The issue is not merely about a singular oppression against Chinese Americans, however. In the rush to focus on "Chinese-American" issues, many of this particular generation of Chinese Americans ignore the larger issues of racism and bigotry that exist. Not in the naive sense that they don't know they exist or that something needs to be done about these issues. Rather, this particular cohort, who ranges from around their mid-50's and older, they tend to focus on how they are "special" and that this specialness has been ignored because there are so many other groups, such as Black-Americans and Latino-Americans, who have grabbed the spotlight of "We Are Most Oppressed by Whites" in this country.

Therefore, this cohort consistently draws attention to the institutionalized ways in which they were oppressed. Good. Fine.

How about thinking of ways to draw attention to themselves other than proclaiming that "We Are Oppressed, Too"? How about focusing on how to mobilize institutionalized agency and power? How about training Chinese-Americans, from wherever they originally hail, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, to not be so narrow-minded as to think that, simply because they have a job as a Doctor or Attorney that they don't experience racism and oppression? That racism is an institutionalized phenomenon, not an individual one. That it is not something that happens to you as an individual, but as a member of a group. Therefore, even if you are personally not a victim now that this does not preclude that possibility in the future because you are part of that group. Moreover, it does not help combat the other, more vulnerable members of your group that you yourself are personally doing alright for now--by being passive and disengaging yourself from the larger discourse, you are aiding and abetting the continued marginalization of Chinese Americans?

How about teaching people that fact instead of just focusing on historical wrongs?

2) We are from Toisan, Guangdong Province, China, and we are proud of that fact, which makes us law-abiding.

Every time this is averred by some self-proclaimed member of this group, it makes one think of Shakespeare: Methinks he doth protest too much.

The issue is not that your relatives were from a very poor part of town in a poor part of the country at the time and that, wow, look at us now, we're successful! The issue is, what can you do to raise agency, not just individual success, but agency, of all Chinese Americans? Does drawing attention to your ancestors' humble beginnings, and the fact that you are a fourth-generation American do that? No. How about focusing instead on how Chinese Americans are too focused on individual success, to the detriment of the collective? How about shifting the focus to the collective? How about teaching the new generation about getting involved in the community, rather than pounding into their heads that they have to be doctors who, by the way, have absolutely no power in the community and change nothing for the status of Chinese Americans in the eyes of White America? Gee, what a concept!

As for law-abiding, again, that's good. But it's not good to be docile. And passive. And not willing to engage the larger community that is non-Chinese American. Until we get White American to listen, we will continue being the "pet" that is really what model minority means. Model Minority was a moniker coined by Euro-Americans to emasculate and ultimately to keep the Chinese Americans down--it's a verbal pat on the head. Don't wear it like it's a good thing.

3) We like to wear "Traditional" Clothing to every event.

Don't. Unless you enjoy exoticizing yourself and reinforcing that yes, those Chinese (and believe me, they don't think Chinese Americans, they only think "Chinese") are so traditional. Read: so marginal. So backwards. They do make lovely clothing, but you know, they haven't contributed to the global society in hundreds of years, except by polluting the air--did you know that America gets China's polluted air?

Actually, America produces its own polluted air. All those factories back East. And we pollute Canada's air, too. I mean, really, how in the world can that air travel half-way across the globe just to target American airspace? Americans need to get over themselves on that one.

But Chinese Americans need to stop wearing that stuff unless making an ironical statement is the intent. Amidst lots of hipster White people who might appreciate it. Otherwise, it just reinforces how Chinese people just used to be "so clever but they haven't done anything significant in years." Truly powerful people always dress accordingly. When in Rome and all. They never wear Edwardian tea dresses to fancy balls or Consulate General gatherings. Don't do the Chinese equivalent.

4) Making connections with other Chinese Americans through last names.

Short and sweet. It's like asking someone who went to UPenn, so I have a friend so-and-so who went there--know him/her? It's not necessarily bonding to discover you have the same last name as someone else that this person you just met knows and yet you aren't related. How is that empowering? It's just annoying. Why not make connections about something more significant, like asking what the person does, what they want to do. How that contributes, etc, etc. In other words, how about making substantive conversation about real issues?

Zimbabwe and The Elders

2008-11-27T07:39:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan and Graca Machal held a news conference in South Africa regarding the refusal of Robert Mugabe to actually follow through on his power-sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai. They were quite critical of Thabo Mbeki, amongst others, to exert more pressure on Zimbabwe in general and Mugabe in particular to stop his rabid handlling of his country and its citizens.

Carter, Annan and Machal are part of a group called The Elders who consider themselves in a way beyond politics because they have been so involved in politics, but because of their age have transcended the regionalism inherent in nation-state-based politics. In other words, they no longer act in the interests of a particular region since that would undermine their credibility but instead can descend upon different regions of the world, as necessary, to exert pressure and share their wisdom.

The irony is that one of the members of The Elders, Bishop Tutu, was quite vociferous in the ouster of Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted as president in part because of his corruption by the African National Congress party of South Africa.

But one of the most glaring components of the passivity of Mbeki's presidency was his constant blocking of the Pan African Coalition to censure Mugabe. Mbeki's continued support of Mugabe, even during the particularly heinous period of killing of all opposition members--the description of the way these people were killed was particularly grisly--essentially allowed Mugabe to continue on in this way and refuse to first deal with Tsvangirai and then honor his deal with him.

It is understandable that Mugabe does not want the interference of The Elders, primarily because many of them have lost credibility by either hailing from Western Europe/America or having been leaders who dealt with them. Unless one has grown up in a colony as a colonized person, one cannot understand the insistence of former colonies to not have the interference of white people. However the passivity of Mbeki has legitimized reasoning about his dictatorship and genocide that should have been addressed long before now.

Let's Talk About The Other Jobless Rate

2008-11-20T07:45:00.001-08:00

I want to repeat again that the media needs to address the invisible cohort of those entering the job market after pursuing higher degrees: without any sign of work in their specialized fields, this cohort will have an even more difficult time than those who have just lost their jobs because of the following reasons:

1) They do not qualify for unemployment benefits
2) They have typically very high student loans they need to begin repaying
3) Their training is very specialized and thus there are fewer jobs available to them
4) Because they do not qualify for unemployment benefits, they do not qualify for any other government aid, either

It would be nice if both the media and the government were to address these issues.

Pets Reflect Their Owners

2008-11-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

It has long been a trope that people's pets resemble their owners. That isn't all. Their temperaments, as well as the type of pet they choose, is extremely revealing.

I will draw one example and let conclusions be drawn: owners of Pit Bulls. Enough said.

On the Economy

2008-11-17T19:48:00.001-08:00

Kenneth Rogoff, Professor at Harvard, had some interesting commentary to make today on The World regarding the inadequacy of the G-20 summit.

Some highlights include that he places today's global economic recession--let's not call it a "downturn" anymore, shall we--on the shoulders of the U.S. The last twenty years, yes, that implicates the vaunted Clinton years, of a U.S. economic policy that made certain all the other Western European countries knew that the U.S. thought its own policies were superior. Eminently superior. And that, moreover, our version of irresponsible deregulation, one that begin with Clinton but was embraced far more stridently by Bush and his cronies in the Administration, as well as its supposed superior free market, has actually failed. What was lacking, according to Rogoff, was the unwillingness of the U.S. representatives to the G-20 summit should have at the very least acknowledged the U.S.'s looming role in creating this global recession.

The Unspoken Cohort of this Recession

2008-11-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

It is irritating that people are constantly talking about the "downturn"--who was the brilliant person who came up with that euphemism?--always talk about people losing their jobs.

But not about those people who have not been able to find jobs over the past year. These are people who hold multiple degrees. They are not competing in the job market with the people who just lost their jobs at Linens 'n Things or even will be losing them at GM, DHL, or any of these other corporations. No. These are people who occupied upper tier management positions in specialized fields. And hold multiple graduate degrees within those specialized fields.

And the worst part of this particular cohort is that they don't qualify for unemployment benefits. Instead, they live on their 401k's or what little savings they have left. While it is devastating that people are losing their jobs, from where I stand, at least they have benefits they can look forward to. And Congress is contemplating extending unemployment benefits for those who have already been on them for a while. Again, relatively speaking, the appear "lucky."

But not being able to find a job after going to school at least seven additional years to the four for a B.A. is absolutely devastating. Because the likelihood is that while receiving that additional education, that person was not being paid, or if they were for being either a Teaching Assistant or a Research Assistant, the actual pay is enough to qualify one for food stamps and other Federal Aid.

It would be nice if, finally, the mass media would address this very significant cohort of the population in their stories, rather than just focusing on the easy, sensationalist stories regarding lay-offs in large corporations.

Facebook: Anonymity Masked as Keeping in Touch

2008-11-14T07:06:00.001-08:00

The most pernicious effect of Facebook is that it is a forum that encourages narcissism, anonymity and social irresponsibility. But it masks all of these effects by allowing people to fool themselves into thinking that they are "keeping in touch with others."

Here is how it works. The page that you see after initially logging in is the page that shows all the other posts made by your other friends. And the content of these posts? All about ME. The definition of narcissism. And they are usually fatuous entries if they aren't photos. About people drinking coffee at that moment. Or about how they just got into work and they must prepare for the games, or some stupid entry. Entries that used to be part of one's diary. As in, a venue that was private.

But now? You can publish those thoughts! You can feel that your pathetic thoughts are witty! You're so "avante garde" and "cutting edge" and all those things you really are not. Because other people are reading these insignificant posts.

Then there is the ability to read other people's posts and think, "Gee, I know what so-and-so isdoing right now." You don't, really, because usually the content of these posts is unsubstantive and silly, but you can pretend that you know. And hey, you know they use Facebook a lot, just like you, so there is that knowledge.

The effect of logging in to Facebook to "find out what others are up to" is that you never actually have to communicate with those people on your friends list. It takes a lot of times less time to email a quick note. Not a phone call, no, just a quick email. Because the amount of time people spend self-aggrandizing themselves using Facebook in order to make themselves appear more cool and witty is much longer than they would sending a quick email. But they never do. Because they console themselves with the thought that they are really keeping in touch with their friends and their friends are also in touch with them, via these stupid posts that say nothing substantive.

What a great tool.

Alito, Roberts, the Navy vs. Whales and the Environment

2008-11-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

Who says that Roberts and Alito aren't conservative? From the LA Times, on the issue of the Navy being forced to turn off its sonars when within 1.2 miles of espied whales. It is a display of blatant disingenuousness:

"Roberts faulted judges in California for "second-guessing" the views of Navy leaders. "Where the public interest lies does not strike us as a close question," he said.

Roberts also questioned whether whales have indeed been harmed by sonar. He said the Navy had been operating off the California coast for 40 years "without a single documented sonar-related injury to any marine mammal."

The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups strongly disagreed. They say studies conducted around the world have shown that the piercing underwater sounds cause whales to flee in panic. These studies said some whales have beached themselves and have shown signs of bleeding in their ears as a result of high-powered sonar."

The Washington Post offers further details:

"At issue in the case is the Navy's use of a type of sonar that can detect quiet new submarines deployed by China, North Korea and other potential adversaries. Environmental groups sued the Navy to demand restrictions on 14 training exercises scheduled from February 2007 to January 2009 in the waters off Southern California, which are shared by 37 species of marine mammals including whales, dolphins and sea lions.

Roberts noted in his opinion that the parties strongly disputed the extent to which the Navy's training exercises harm the marine mammals or disrupt their behavioral patterns. The Navy claimed it has used mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar in such exercises off the Southern California coast for 40 years "without a single documented sonar-related injury to any marine mammal," Roberts wrote. At most, that type of sonar might cause temporary hearing loss or brief disruptions of the mammals' behavioral patterns, the Navy asserted.

The plaintiffs in the case, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, contended that sonar can cause much more serious injuries than the Navy has acknowledged, including permanent hearing loss and decompression sickness, and that it can lead to mass whale strandings. Certain species such as beaked whales are especially susceptible to mid-frequency sonar, but the Navy would not necessarily be able to detect their injuries because these whales dive deeply and spend little time at the surface, the environmental groups argued."

As for worrying about China and Korea, they just really don't care about the U.S. except insofar as they can make money of the U.S. economy, which is a really long shot right about now. Why is the U.S. always searching for scapegoats to justify unnecessary expenditures that pad the coffers of their flunkies, lobbyists and others who have these politicians in their pockets? Oh, perhaps that is the answer.

How Will Obama Engage His Volunteers

2008-11-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

It's a simple question. With a very complicated answer. After all, many of his volunteers are his contemporaries and older, not the Gen-Yers and younger who can move to D.C. because they don't yet have families.

And if this new administration is to truly represent the people, and it is built by those same people, then how can these same people all converge upon D.C.? Will that not make them representative of D.C., and a very self-selecting cohort at that, rather than representative of the place from whence they come? Because after all, if you live most of the time in D.C., it's rather easy to forget what happens in, say, a small town in Virginia like Appomattox Court House. Or in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Of course, that is what Congress is for, to represent the needs of its constituents. But not in the Executive branch, those people represent their constituents in the Legislative Branch. If Obama truly wants to involve these new volunteers, he needs to do it in a more substantive way than merely by making a "digital suggestion box" available to people across the country. He needs to establish an infrastructure that can incorporate people around the country into a system that will utilize their unique skills, visions to contribute to the shape of this new Administration within the Executive Branch of government.

Identity Politics

2008-11-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Whenever I begin discussing race, the double bind of hyphenation in the U.S., I am often told by some extremely smart person who is inevitably Euro-American (read: white) who scoffs and says s/he just hates identity politics.

And the other day, I was having a conversation with a woman who teaches Anti-Bias Curriculum to budding teachers and therapists, as well as classes on how to deal with identity issues in K-12 classrooms. So I asked her how she would respond to such scorn in re: identity politics. She replied that it is not something that you can have a single conversation about and change another person's mind. Rather, she would point out inherent particularities in that other person, who is most likely white, has in his/her identity. They aren't just "white," but they are from Idaho. Their parents immigrated from Ireland. And so on and so forth. Because normally these people don't have to think about their identities, because they are part of the dominant culture. Actually, that's my observation because she seemed to think that white people are not. But so long as they are in control of all the institutions in our society, so long as they dictate the rules, they are the dominant culture. Hey, I don't like it, I just tell it like it is.

So anyway, her point was that over time, this person would realize that his/her identity was also particular, and that just because s/he doesn't have to defend him/herself by explaining that yes, actually, I'm American and my family is a fourth-generation fill-in-the-blank, that they, too, have a quite possibly contested identity.

This answer struck me as fundamentally unsatisfactory. It was, for one, far too touchy-feely. It had no strength behind it. No academic credentials behind it. No one like Susan Stanford Friedman arguing for the fluidity of constructing identity. A constructed narrative of identity that is simply that: a construction. And it is a relational construction defined in terms of the other. Consisting of intentional deletions, insertions and highlights. No one like Ella Shohat to give us a resounding, often extremely, painfully incisive summary of the problems of equating Euro-American definitions of self, agency with authoritative, either when trying to understand people from other countries and especially those in this country but who have different racial, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. No one invoking Anne McClintock or Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

So now, I'm doing it. To reject identity politics is to reject the idea of a dominant white culture. To reject that is to not understand that there is privilege in the ability to ignore that identities are constructions. After all, if you're part of the dominant culture, no one questions your identity. But identities are narratives that depend upon not just a careful selection of what gets included in that narrative, but also upon systemic, institutionalized constructions of self and other. And those, in turn, rely on the silencing of minority narratives. They rely on the false assumption that identity is fixed, rather than fluid. Indeed, if it were fixed, not so many people who wanted to silence the Obama presidential run would have been quite as threatened as they were.

I intend to keep refining my understanding of identity construction. And next time, if some friend tells me s/he hates it, I will have a few things to say.

Obtuse, Ignorant Republicans

2008-11-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

I was just at a symposium at UCLA and I was accosted by a woman named Halie who asked me why I liked Obama. I said that I had liked him since 2004 when Bush won re-election, I had made a bumper sticker for Obama. What did I like? That he was smart. I then told her about an Op-Ed letter in the L.A. Times in which I paraphrased a woman who said many people like her cared about others, wanted policies on Health Care and Education that did not just serve themselves. And that there were many others like her. They were called Democrats. She laughed.

And then this woman named Dolly (can you believe that name??), turned to me and began lecturing me. Did you know that Chris Rock was a Republican? Did you know that Republicans vanquished the KKK? They didn't. They aren't vanquished and certainly were not during the 1960's, when they hung black people at will. And did you know Don King was a Republican? And that means what?

First, I wonder why she kept bringing up all these black examples of Republicans. And then referencing the KKK. If you think Don King is your best example of what a Republican is, you are two things. You are a bigot. Another word for racist. Because you automatically assume that simply because a few black people are part of the Republican rolls, that fact somehow mitigates racism. And she also proved her racism because she was evidently assuming because I am colored, though not black, I MUST have voted for Obama because he is colored, too. Because she kept saying things about black people in trying to prove me "wrong"--of what, I have no idea. And it was shown by the Pew Research Center that this year's Republican National Convention had the lowest number of black people in recent history: less than 6% black. Just for comparison, the Democratic National Convention had over 40%.

And she also proved her unrepentant, uninformed obtuseness. Because what does Don King being in your political party mean? You have bad taste in hair? Oh, right, you're not very smart. I forgot.

But like I said, evidently she thought that I was just voting for Obama because I'm not white. Even though I never said anything about race. I said I thought he was smart. Twice. That's it. And that Democrats vote on policies, even if it does raise their taxes, because they want to help other people. Today. Not 100 years ago. What kind of argument is that if you have to say that your party helped squash the KKK over a hundred years ago? Especially if you're wrong?

Clearly, this woman does not know history. Does she know that, statistically, immigrants who become citizens become Republicans? Because they read the original ideals of Republicans. No, she says, she did not. Does she know that it was the 1960's that turned the Republicans into the kind of Neo-Cons they are today? That it was part of a grand strategy to retake the South (boy, did they ever) as Republican territory? No, she did not. Did she know that Republican politicians have made it a dirty word to be "smart?" And that is what I and the letter-writer (which admittedly I have probably decontextualized) were referring to in asserting that "we care": because Republicans are always labeling Democrats, and not just the politicians but everyone else, as "Limousine Liberals" and that we're intellectuals. As if policies like Healthcare for ALL children--which Democrats want but Republicans don't--is not humanitarian but merely "Elitist."

How did this conversation with this bigot begin? Because she overheard me say Democrats value taking care of others and that I thought Obama was smart. So she just HAD to say something "because I have been standing here listening to her and I have some things to say!" Again, my question is, who asked her? This wasn't her conversation. But, like so many white people, she just feels she is entitled to intrude on any conversation. So she evidently objected to my observation that Democrats care? Or that Obama is actually smart? Gee, you're right. If you're a Republican, evidently those things are offensive! They aren't true!

I am so sick of rabid idiots who are rude and intrude on other people's conversations. And I'm sick of Republicans. Not coincidentally, they seem to go together.

The Aftermath...

2008-11-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

So Obama won. Seeing a Black U.S. President is an emotional thing, for sure.

But of course Gay Marriage took a big hit nationally.

Affirmative Action (or what's left of it) was banned in two (more) states.

California (the big, blue, leftist state) decided to continue its project of criminalizing and subjugating people of color. (If we didn't have prisons, what would we do with them all?)

And I'm not even sure what other nefarious state measures were passed...

So what direction is this country headed in again?

Cynical, But True

2008-11-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

I've been hearing some rumblings about the campaign, now that it is a presidency, which trouble me.

The issue of a black man being elected has now become associated only with black people, i.e. it will raise black people. Amazing that all other people of color have become, well, insignificant. They have faded into the background. Who cares about them? That's the problem with this country: too focused on black and white. Not enough focus on all those other, inconvenient minorities.

And the hypocrisy of Hillary supporters is also disturbing. They hated Obama during the primaries all the way to the end of the election. They were quite vocal in their criticism, from his naivete/inexperience to his wife's comments. But now they are clamoring for their old Clinton-era positions. Not the high-level cabinet positions, all those other, less visible, but well-paying nevertheless, positions. Working their "connections." Disturbing.

Some Thoughts

2008-11-03T06:41:00.000-08:00

In an article in the LA Times, which is a far more liberal newspaper than any of the other national newspapers, including the Washington Post, NY Times, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times, I read an article about race, white voters and Obama.

I thought this one quote, by a 47 year old man whose ancestors were slave owners, was really on point. Bear in mind that while this was in the context of voting, it is generally relevant to Euro-Americans and their approach and reluctance to discuss racism.

He says: "For me, the Obama thing is a giant step forward for America," he said. The 47-year-old's ancestors once lorded over black slaves as owners of one of the Old South's largest plantation empires. Electing a black candidate, he said, would show that "we're not just the slavery nation, the Jim Crow nation." He then later observes, that Obama, if elected, would quell overseas critics who accuse the United States of racism. If critics like Steele called that "white guilt," he said, then so be it.

Guilt, he said, "has a place and a role. Those who fail to feel guilt are sociopaths."

It is good to see this kind of article in a national newspaper that can also be accessed online. Though whether people will read this, and whether more importantly it will spark the kind of critical self-examination needed, is another question.

Too long, those of color have been forced to dance around the "politically correct" position of not raising the issue of racism, or indeed even mentioning the word, around Euro-Americans. Too long. It is as if we must acknowledge that, "Hey, if I feel guilt, isn't that enough?"

No, it isn't. Changes must be wrought, not simply in individual minds, but collectively. So that the Neo-Nazis who hatched a plan to assassinate Obama are not merely brushed under the media rug. This is not a mere blip on the screen of information. This is a postule that reveals a much deeper, systemic rot underneath: the systemic, institutionalized racism that is symbolized by Palin's followers. Immoral. Radical. And yet, knowing that they are referencing hundreds of years of domestic terrorism, otherwise referred to as racism, that they are buoyed still by institutions that inadequately address Neo-Nazism, racism, and "hate-based" crimes. Because today, these crimes are treated as individual acts, rather than collective acts that reference history. And becuase of that referencing, have a greater deleterious and pernicious effect on the psyche of its victims: people of color.

Scrambled Eggs Recipe

2008-10-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

This recipe thought up by my brother. He is now a professional chef, years later, but he came up with this in college, when he was not a chef but just a "cook" at Love's--remember them? So this was before he worked for people like Ming Tsai in Wellesley, MA, and Ians in New York.

Scrambled eggs, American style are, in my opinion, awful. They are rubbery. Overworked. And dry. Why chop them up and keep turning them over? Ugh.

Instead, they should be done Chinese style. It is similar to the classic French-style omelette, where the egg is moved from side to side only a few times and then slid off the plate. But it's even better than that. A friend, who hails from New Orleans and who says that there, a man isn't a man unless he can cook, said of these eggs: "I have discovered a whole new respect for eggs."

One to two cloves of garlic, crushed
Salt and Pepper to taste
A dash of white wine
Small chunks of cream cheese

Add these two twe eggs and beat together

The key is the cooking. Heat an omelette pan on high for several minutes. The oil, whether you use Olive or butter or a combination, should be what Americans call "shimmering."

When you add the eggs, it should make a very loud crackling sound--if it doesn't, the eggs won't turn out right. Tip the pan to spread the eggs around the entire bottom evenly. Let cook for no more than 1 minute. Using a spatula (I use chopsticks--it really can work) or a spoon, whatever you have on hand, move one-third of the egg to the middle of the pan and then tip the pan to spread more of the uncooked egg around the pan. The cooked part of the eggs you have moved to the middle should be brown.

Repeat the process of moving a third of the eggs to the middle twice more.

Quickly transfer the egg onto a plate. The eggs should NOT be fully cooked--they should be what is translated from Chinese as "smooth". No chopping of the egg. No rubber. Not overworked.

Just divine.

Joseph Ellis on Conservatism and Liberalism

2008-10-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

In reading Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Professor of History at Mt. Holyoke Joseph Ellis defines Conservatism and Liberalism.

On liberalism, Ellis says, "The core revolutionary principle...is individual liberty. It has radical and, in modern terms, libertarian implications, because it regards any accommodation of personal freedom to governmental discipline as dangerous. In its more extreme forms it is a recipe for anarchy, and its attitude toward any energetic expression of centralized political power can assume paranoid proportions," (2000: 14).

On conservativism, he says, "...the American Revolution [was seen by some] as an incipient national movement with deep, if latent, origins in the colonial era...The core revolutionary principle in this view is collectivistic rather than individualistic, for it sees the true spirit of '76 as the virtuous surrender of personal, state, and sectional interests to the larger purposes of American nationhood, first embodied in the Continental Army and later in the newly established federal government. It has conservative but also protosocialistic implications, because it does not regard the individual as the sovereign unit in the political equation and is more comfortable with the governmental discipline as a focusing and channeling device for national development. In its more extreme forms it relegates personal rights and liberties to the higher authority of the state, which is "us" and not "them," and it therefore has both communal and despotic implications," (2000: 14).

As soon as I read this, I thought again of the irony of the Republicans having usurped the mantle of "Conservatism" since according to this classical definition, they are actually quite liberal (!!) and I'm sure that those radical, right-wing jackanapes who think plotting to kill leaders based on their skin color is a good idea would cringe at the thought.

But another implication that I'm certain not many have thought of is that these diametrically opposed interpretations of the purpose of the American Revolution is how they apply to dominant Euro-American understandings of China. Many a Euro-Am will lament at the lack of freedom in China and the lack of understanding of "Democracy" not only the government, but regular Chinese people in China have. They immediately attribute this condition to the oppressive government: if not for the oppressive regime, Chinese people would understand "Democracy, U.S.-style" and indeed, they would validate the Euro-American value system, i.e. they would be more like "us."

No, they wouldn't. China and its value system, without falling into essentialisms or transhistoricisms, consistently subscribes to this principle: sacrifice of the individual for the greater good of the state. For stability to reign, each individual must sacrifice, and that doesn't mean literally they need to sacrifice certain things--horror to your average American. They mean that people must know their roles. And for each situation, there are appropriate roles to play. If everyone maintains those, then society will not experience upheaval. It is when people do not understand these roles that chaos ensues.

And frankly, what's happening in the U.S. culturally and politically, with skinheads plotting to kill the next president and the V.P. pick by McCain demonstrating that, once again, Americans can be unimaginably, shockingly stupid at the highest levels of government, seems to be a testament to what happens when people do not understand their place, their limitations, have no decorum, manners and basic honor. And if that isn't enough proof that America's way isn't so great, can we just once more contemplate how the U.S. singlehandedly ushered in a GLOBAL DEPRESSION by sanctioning an 8-year period of rapacious, hey-if-the-president-can-steal-an-election-why-can't-I-do-a-little-stealing-of-my-own mentality? I don't think we should be pointing fingers at how inferior "they" are or looking for validation for our way of being "free." W have been steadily losing our freedom under Bush for the last Eight Years, and for those who object to the Democrats controlling Congress and the
White House, it was the 6 Years of Republican Congress that helped Bush along.

Race, Racism and McCain

2008-10-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

Watching the debate last night, one thing became clear: McCain is desperate. For fear of alienating the extreme right wing, bigoted members of his party, he will not condemn those who say "Kill him" in referring to Obama. Instead, McCain points the finger at Obama for not condemning his supporters who "say the same thing."

First, none of the Obama supporters say that. Because they are actually respectful.

Second, it is unrepentantly amoral and disingenuous to draw a comparison between epithets flung at McCain (of which he had yet to name any) and those by McCain's extreme white, racist supporters.

There is no history of communities of white people being terrorized (yes, that favorite word of Conservatives) in their own homes, neighborhoods and communities by a dominant ethnic group. For Afro-Americans, they were terrorized for hundreds of years through to very very recent history by white people people. This same group was also repeatedly oppressed, exploited and terrorized by governmental institutions (think the police) who either partook in active violence or stood idly by and did nothing while entire communities were terrorized and Afro-Americans were burned, hung, beaten and otherwise physically and mentally exploited and oppressed. For hundreds of years, this has happened.

And recall James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, TX. This was in 1999, people. He was dragged over three miles. And not, as for some weird reason most white television networks were reporting, along a "lonely country road." No. It was in a black neighborhood and as one reporter had the courage to observe, was meant to terrorize the entire neighborhood of Afro-Americans. Hmm. Imagine if that happened in, say Beverly Hills. To some white guy. And imagine if that sort of thing had happened throughout history and not a lot was done about it and moreover, that you felt no matter what, you couldn't protect yourself? Think it would freak you out?

So to have a bunch of people shouting "Kill him" is not idle commentary that can be ignored, though McCain is just the kind of morally reprehensible jackanape that wants to. Words are incendiary. If the leader of your party doesn't think it's a problem for you to say words that reference a long history of domestic terrorism of an entire population of the U.S., then it is easy to think that he would condone just about anything.

And frankly, that's what George Lewis was saying. That words are incendiary. And as the leader and Presidential candidate of your party, you have a fundamental responsibility to keep your followers in line. That's why people can go to jail for inciting violence through their words. Because words can inflame and incite action. For McCain to turn all hypocritical and actually praise his followers, no matter what they say, is another sign of his complete lack of character. I have never been so turned off by any candidate before as I am by McCain. He shows not only a complete absence of character, but a basic meanness, a small-mindedness coupled with an ambition that embraces lying, cheating and obfuscation to get what he wants. And he thinks that isn't more of the same?

Project Implicit at Harvard

2008-10-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is really an interesting cognitive study being conducted at Harvard. After reading a previous post, I decided to give the test a try. I discovered that I have a strong automatic preference for Justice vs. Injustice, Democracy vs. Fascism (that surprised me a little, with my critique of the Ameri-centric "Democracy"), but this surprised me, a strong automatic preference for the Present vs. Past. You may not learn anything new about yourself, but it will amuse you for around five to ten minutes.

Study Shows People Equate White with American, Colored as Foreign

2008-10-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

An article in the Washington Post demonstrates what colored people have known for years: colored people are often considered foreigners. Hence the question, "So, where are you from?"

Here is the beginning of the article:

"A few years ago, psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Thierry Devos showed the names of a number of celebrities to a group of volunteers and asked them to classify the well-known personalities as American or non-American. The list included television personality Connie Chung and tennis star Michael Chang, both Asian Americans, as well as British actors Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley. The volunteers had no trouble identifying Chung and Chang as American and Grant and Hurley as foreigners.

The psychologists then asked the group which names they associated with iconic American symbols such as the U.S. flag, the Capitol building and Mount Rushmore, and which ones they associated with generically foreign symbols such as the United Nations building in Geneva, a Ukrainian 100-hryven bill and a map of Luxembourg.

The psychologists found that the participants, who were asked to answer quickly, were dramatically quicker to associate the American symbols with the British actors, and the foreign symbols with the Asian Americans. The results suggest that on a subconscious level people were using ethnicity as a proxy for American identity and equating whites -- even white foreigners -- with things American.

The psychologists initially assumed that this bias began and ended with Asian Americans and would not apply to other ethnic groups. But in another experiment involving famous black athletes around the time of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, they found that the same pattern applied to African Americans. Although white volunteers agreed explicitly that hurdlers Allen Johnson and Angelo Taylor, who won two golds at Sydney, "contributed to the glory of America" and "represent what America is all about," they were slower to associate photos of black athletes than white athletes with American symbols. Black participants, on the other hand, were as quick to associate black athletes as white athletes with being American.

"The reason this is powerful is it shows our minds will not just distort our preferences but distort facts," said Banaji, who works at Harvard. "African Americans in their [own] minds are fully American, but not in the minds of whites."

The experiments, based on tests that are accessible at http://implicit.harvard.edu, have provoked controversy -- especially in terms of what they mean. It may embarrass people when they subconsciously associate whites with being American, but does that matter? If people have no trouble distinguishing Americans and foreigners in their conscious minds, why should we care about their subconscious tendencies?

Clinton Backers Resist Palin and Debate Audience Unimpressed with McCain

2008-10-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

These articles show the arrogance and meanness of McCain, the one in highlighting his cynical move to co-opt not just women, but Alaska by having Palin be his running mate (boy, I bet Republicans are really regretting his decision right about now), but the other article highlights his attitude, towards his opponent and towards the audience he supposedly wants to impress. Just peppering your speech with "My friends" does not make people your friends, nor does it make you appear sympathetic. McCain's handlers should tell him that. It is quite condescending.
"Palin Meets Resistance Among Clinton Backers"
and
"Debate Audience Members Talk About Candidates"
Some observations by audience members:

"The Republican, Lindsey Trella, a family business consultant, said she was disappointed that both men used her question – should health care be treated as a marketable commodity? – to lay out their own health care plans and take jabs at each other. Neither gave her a Yes or No.

“I came away thinking John McCain has a position that supports marketable health care, whereas I think Obama supports affordable health care in a universal sense though he wasn’t really specific,” Ms. Trella said. “Personally I don’t think health care should be a marketable commodity – under the current system, too many people are excluded, and I think that’s sad in this country,”...

Both women, as well as the third audience member, were especially emphatic about their feelings on the two men’s performance after the debate. All three said that Mr. McCain shook hands with several audience members and then left fairly quickly. Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, stuck around to shake far more hands, pose for pictures, sign autographs, and answer more questions, including from people who had been on stage but did not get a chance to ask their questions. Only when Secret Service agents told them it was time to go did the couple leave (upon which they headed for a post-debate fundraiser at Al and Tipper Gore’s house nearby)."

Ms. Trella said that on the whole, she was more impressed with Mr. Obama during the debate, and that she now planned to vote for him.

“Obama talked at one point about responsibility, Americans have acted responsibly or should do so, while government really hasn’t – I liked that,” she said. “McCain, I felt more like he went over points he had already made, and went over some set answers. There wasn’t anything he clarified, in terms of what he would do.”

Bear Baiting

2008-10-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

It is so easy to judge cruelty in other cultures: about their people, the way they treat their minorities and the way they treat their animals. Oftentimes, those judgments are projections: those things we despise in our own culture but are too passive, afraid or just plain ignorant about, to change.

But I confess that this was just too sad: bear baiting in Pakistan. Not that I have a serious problem with what goes on in Pakistan--I'm not a fear-monger or racist or worse, stupid. And I frankly think our policy regarding Pakistan borders on the same old American hegemony. But this issue of bear baiting seems unnecessarily cruel. Rather like poaching (hunting) elephants in Africa for their tusks. Or tigers in India to sell their furs to the nouveau-riche in China. Or like bull-fighting in Spain and Mexico.

So here's one website that helps with bear baiting, the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

For anti elephant poaching, here are a few sites to donate to: The Friedkin Fund and the African Wildlife Foundation.

Anti tiger poaching: the World Wildlife Foundation. The Tiger Foundation was interesting, but perhaps needs more investigation.

Chinese Gymnasts' Age Cleared

2008-10-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

It was reported on October 1, 2008 that original documents including family booklets, passports and identity cards verify that the Chinese athletes He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Li Shanshan and Deng Linlin, whom Americans protested were "too young" were, actually NOT too young, according to the International Gymnastic Federation.

That must irritate some Americans who look for any reason to critique China. Human rights violations being the most obvious. But funny how these same Americans don't care about Chinese people who are exploited. Only minorities in China.

Steve Lombardo, Republic Analyst, Says McCain is Heading for Defeat

2008-10-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

That's two people, one, the pundit David Brooks of the NY Times, and now a former Mitt Romney advisor, Steve Lombardo.

Published in The Guardian, Mr. Lombardo says that McCain is heading for near-certain defeat barring a "crippling error" by Obama or terrorist attack on the US.

During the debate, it was also ironic that the talking head who claims Obama is all for "big government" in terms of his health care plan, McCain himself proposed a huge big government plan for helping individuals with their mortgages. Hypocrisy much?

And this excerpt from the article cited above is particularly satisfying:

"McCain saw fresh signs yesterday of the damage to his prospects in polls showing him trailing in four battleground states and fighting to keep Indiana and North Carolina. He suffered another blow when the wife of a retiring Republican senator seen as one of the Republicans' experts on national security officially endorsed Obama. "We're in two wars, two of the longest we've ever been in. We've run up a third of our nation's debt in just the past eight years. We're in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression," said Lilibet Hagel, whose husband, Chuck, is a senator from Nebraska."

No wonder he has been sicking Palin on Obama.

McCain is no "maverick"--he's a mean, unpredictable, volatile old man. Maybe he should just pack it in.

Further Evidence that China's Modernization Doesn't Just Ape the West

2008-10-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

From PRI.org comes this article on China's renewable technology.

China might be one of the biggest polluters on the planet, but it's also a world leader in renewable technologies.

China is bigger than the U.S. but does better in investing in renewable technologies gleaned from all over the world. I know so many people critical of China "taking our oil"--who says it's ours and btw, haven't you heard of the futures market that took off when Bush came into office--and that we get all their pollution. Maybe we should stop pointing the finger outside and take a look at ourselves. For a change.

The IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species

2008-10-06T17:39:00.001-07:00

This is just too important to not get involved with. The IUCN, which stands for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, just convened it's congress in Barcelona today. From an exhaustive study about the world's mammals, which is still incomplete because of a lack of data on some mammals, they reveal some frightening statistics.

They say that at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction.

The reason? Man. Shrinking mammalian habitat and hunting.

" The results show 188 mammals are in the highest threat category of Critically Endangered, including the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus), which has a population of just 84-143 adults and has continued to decline due to a shortage of its primary prey, the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)... Habitat loss and degradation affect 40 percent of the world’s mammals. "

Even Conservative Pundit David Brooks is Pessimistic About McCain

2008-10-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Even David Brooks thinks that the tide favoring Obama was inevitable: it's simply that our finally acknowledged Recession has sped this process considerably. Listen to his weekly assessment on NPR.org

Why racist conservatives refuse to acknowledge that Obama actually has policies that would benefit them (like the tax cut for them--you know none of the middle class protesting Obama make near $250,000--is testament to just that: the racism in this country.

Volunteering at the SoCal Obama Campaign HQ

2008-10-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

The inclusiveness is evident in the campaign HQ located on Motor Avenue in LA. Attempting to volunteer for the Kerry campaign in 2004 was futile. I couldn't even locate the HQ in Century City and once I did, evidently I wasn't allowed in because I hadn't been added to some list.

The Obama campaign is different. Everyone is invited. Do what you can. No one cares what you do outside--it isn't a forum to network and it isn't a venue to brag. Indeed, I've often overheard that many of these people are in the "Industry" which means the entertainment industry. But nothing like that matters, which is unusual in a city whose many inhabitants often care a great deal about such things.

Instead, you bring your passion. Your skills. And you contribute what you can, when you can. It is what I had thought of when I was much younger, that this is what politics was: a collective. On the ground. Contributing what you can. And that contribution is valued.

I enter data. I type quickly. So I enter a lot of data. And then I leave. And I'm always appreciated. And I feel good. Inspired. This is a campaign I can finally believe in.

A Good Summary of Polls

2008-10-02T17:41:00.001-07:00

From Real Clear Politics.

And About Race...

2008-10-02T16:57:00.001-07:00

Still think that race is not an issue in America? Or embarrassed that it is? This new poll, conducted in conjunction with Stanford University, shows that Obama would lead by 6 more points than he is now if he were white.

Some excerpts:

"There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey."

"The pollsters set out to determine why Obama is locked in a close race with McCain even as the political landscape seems to favor Democrats. President Bush's unpopularity, the Iraq war and a national sense of economic hard times cut against GOP candidates, as does that fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

The findings suggest that Obama's problem is close to home — among his fellow Democrats, particularly non-Hispanic white voters. Just seven in 10 people who call themselves Democrats support Obama, compared to the 85 percent of self-identified Republicans who back McCain."

"We still don't like black people," said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word "violent" strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with "boastful," 29 percent "complaining," 13 percent "lazy" and 11 percent "irresponsible." When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.

Among white Democrats, one third cited a negative adjective and, of those, 58 percent said they planned to back Obama.

The poll sought to measure latent prejudices among whites by asking about factors contributing to the state of black America. One finding: More than a quarter of white Democrats agree that "if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites."

About this last opinion, wow. And perhaps if whites hadn't enslaved black people, raped their culture, their women, exploited their labor, split apart their families, and then systematically terrorized them and disenfranchised them for over another hundred additional years to the present, maybe they would be better off.

Ignorant people have no idea what it is like to be systematically terrorized and to have governmental institutions support that oppression by criminalizing that same entire social and ethnic group. Because they are ignorant and most often white.

Until the late '60's, lynching was still prevalent. Ignorant people will often say, "Well, I feel scared walking down such and such a street." What they don't understand is that is an individual experience, it is not institutional. It is not on a collective, social level. Your entire neighborhood isn't terrorized while authority sits back and does nothing. People who go abroad and experience racism, they know. They can imagine what it is like to grow up with that feeling of fear, because not only does everyone feel that they can victimize you with impunity, but you also fear the supposedly authoritative, protective government institutions which are meant to protect people but not you if you're colored.

However, there is some hope that despite racism, people are seeing that Obama will do what is in their best interests, while McCain will merely continue the rapacious streak of exploitation and cronyism that Bush/Cheney have instituted. Read the story of one Pennsylvanian's change of mind, if not heart.

But then there is the other side. On Patt Morrison's show on KPCC 89.3, there was a man who said that on the one hand, he was concerned about Obama's lack of experience. But then in a dizzying display of circular reasoning, he thought that even though McCain had exactly the kind of experience that led us to this crisis (actually, McCain, Bushites and Cheneyites) it was alright that Palin had no experience because she was "like me." If that isn't a code for racism, what is?

McSame Pulls out of Michigan

2008-10-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

McCain has conceded the state that has the highest unemployment rate in the country, Michigan. He also lags in several states that were contested but are leaning more heavily towards Obama given the current economic meltdown and McCain's unrepentant incompetence in the area.

A Pew Research Center poll also finds that the initial "bounce" Palin gave McCain's candidacy is clearly backfiring. Over 50% of those polled think Palin, surprise, is unqualified to be President should something happen to McCain. The presidential debate helped undecideds realize that McCain is more of the same unprincipled ambition as Bush. For McCain and Palin, the "rules don't apply" so that even still, Palin's husband refuses to answer the court summons regarding Palin's firing of a former brother-in-law.

Similar to this administration's actual VP, Cheney, as noted in The Nation who refuses to turn over the records he has generated during his term because he claims he is "not part of the executive branch" because he is also President of the Senate. Again, if you are the party that has

Karl Rove
Dick Cheney
Donald Rumsfeld
George W.

why in the world would you think the rules apply to you? They hijacked the election and it was smooth sailing from there. Except that we are in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and that our problems are reverberating throughout the world. Because if you can hijack the presidency and get away with it, then you can create home loans and sell them in a bundle to other investors at incredibly inflated prices, exploit people by persuading them to take out multiple mortgages and then threaten states with withholding banking services if they implement legislation that demands proof of income.

Palin represents the kind of racist incompetence that Republicans embrace: cover up the incompetence with constant shouting and attacks and hopefully no one will notice you are not only incompetent, but a rapacious, unrepentant, exploitative nincompoop who represents the worst of corruption, cronyism, and amoral dissolution. Yes, that's what Republicans who think Palin is a "fox" (yes, she is, and she's in your hen house) will be voting for.

Night Apartment

2008-09-29T22:14:00.000-07:00