Roger Cohen's op-ed in the NYT today got my goat up:
"Nowhere else could a 47-year-old man, born, as he has written, of a father “black as pitch” and a mother “white as milk,” a generation distant from the mud shacks of western Kenya, raised for a time as Barry Soetoro (his stepfather’s family name) in Muslim Indonesia, then entrusted to his grandparents in Hawaii — nowhere else could this Barack Hussein Obama rise so far and so fast."
What?
Within fifty years of independence, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan all managed to elect women to the highest seat in office. India, one-upped everyone by electing a party headed by an Italian immigrant, and simultaneously selecting a Sikh to be PM. They've even had a member of the "untouchable" caste as president. United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Phillipines, Liberia, Iceland, Ireland, Finland, Indonesia, Chile, and Argentina (to name a few) all have/have had women as presidents/prime ministers. Many nations have large numbers of minorities in various legislative positions. British Columbia's previous premier was an Indian immigrant.
While we may agree that this is a historic election for the United States, it is by no means the first of its kind, nor are people looking to America for direction on this front. Mr. Cohen please accept this shortcoming of American politics, and stay away from such grandiose statements that sound pleasing but have little substantive value.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Mary Poppins can teach you everything
If you invest your tuppence wisely in the bank, safe and sound
Soon that tuppence, safely invested in the bank, will compound
And you'll achieve that sense of conquest, as your affluence expands
In the hands of the directors who invest as propriety demands
[You see, Michael, you'll be part of]
Railways through Africa,
Dams across the Nile,
Fleets of ocean greyhounds,
Majestic, self-amortizing canals,
Plantations of ripening tea
All from tuppence, prudently, thriftily, frugally, invested in the,
To be specific, in the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs,
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!
[Now, Michael]
When you deposit tuppence in a bank account, soon you'll see
That it blooms into credit of a generous amount, semiannually
And you'll achieve that sense of stature, as your influence expands
To the high financial strata that established credit now commands
You can purchase first and second trust deeds.
Think of the foreclosures!
Bonds! Chattels! Dividends! Shares!
Bankruptcies! Debtor sales!
Opportunities!
All manner of private enterprise!
Shipyards! The mercantile!
Collieries! Tanneries!
Incorporations! Amalgamations! Banks!
[While stand the banks of England, England stands.
When fall the banks of England, England falls]
[You see, Michael, all for the lack of]
Tuppence, patiently, cautiously, trustingly invested in the,
To be specific, in the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs,
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!
Soon that tuppence, safely invested in the bank, will compound
And you'll achieve that sense of conquest, as your affluence expands
In the hands of the directors who invest as propriety demands
[You see, Michael, you'll be part of]
Railways through Africa,
Dams across the Nile,
Fleets of ocean greyhounds,
Majestic, self-amortizing canals,
Plantations of ripening tea
All from tuppence, prudently, thriftily, frugally, invested in the,
To be specific, in the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs,
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!
[Now, Michael]
When you deposit tuppence in a bank account, soon you'll see
That it blooms into credit of a generous amount, semiannually
And you'll achieve that sense of stature, as your influence expands
To the high financial strata that established credit now commands
You can purchase first and second trust deeds.
Think of the foreclosures!
Bonds! Chattels! Dividends! Shares!
Bankruptcies! Debtor sales!
Opportunities!
All manner of private enterprise!
Shipyards! The mercantile!
Collieries! Tanneries!
Incorporations! Amalgamations! Banks!
[While stand the banks of England, England stands.
When fall the banks of England, England falls]
[You see, Michael, all for the lack of]
Tuppence, patiently, cautiously, trustingly invested in the,
To be specific, in the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs,
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Get your facts straight
Every night, one of the last things I do before turning the computer off is check the New York Times website. Living at the other end of the country gives me the advantage of seeing the newest edition of the paper late at night rather than waking up to it. It also means that no one has commented on the op-ed articles yet. I have this burning desire to be the first to comment. But I haven't done it yet. There are two very simple reasons for this; (1) I have nothing much to say in response, and (2) I prefer well-thought out comments which have correct facts in them.
Why am I talking about this? Well, I just saw a comment claiming that Lousiana governor Bobby Jindal was a Muslim. This, coming from a university teacher, was sort of funny and ridiculous. Funny because Gov. Jindal is actually Roman Catholic! His family hails from India and he was born Hindu and converted in high school. But he has never been a Muslim. Ridiculous, in a sad kind of way, because the person making the claim should have been better informed.
I should have added that the comment was responding to an article regarding Colin Powell's defense of Muslims in America and the mistaken claim of Obama's being a Muslim. Irony, my friend, we meet again...
Why am I talking about this? Well, I just saw a comment claiming that Lousiana governor Bobby Jindal was a Muslim. This, coming from a university teacher, was sort of funny and ridiculous. Funny because Gov. Jindal is actually Roman Catholic! His family hails from India and he was born Hindu and converted in high school. But he has never been a Muslim. Ridiculous, in a sad kind of way, because the person making the claim should have been better informed.
I should have added that the comment was responding to an article regarding Colin Powell's defense of Muslims in America and the mistaken claim of Obama's being a Muslim. Irony, my friend, we meet again...
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A pale yellow envelope
...was pushed under my door today. In bold red capital letters it's entitled:
OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOTING MATERIAL
With a curious lack of fanfare (except in my mind), I've just filled in my first ever ballot for the 2008 United States election.
It was a somewhat breathtaking (in the literal sense) moment, even though words cannot quite describe the quiet moment in my apartment, as I sat with the ballot, chose an ordinary black ballpoint pen and filled in my votes for president and congressional representative, sealed and signed my declaration of choice as a citizen of this democratic nation.
OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOTING MATERIAL
With a curious lack of fanfare (except in my mind), I've just filled in my first ever ballot for the 2008 United States election.
It was a somewhat breathtaking (in the literal sense) moment, even though words cannot quite describe the quiet moment in my apartment, as I sat with the ballot, chose an ordinary black ballpoint pen and filled in my votes for president and congressional representative, sealed and signed my declaration of choice as a citizen of this democratic nation.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Excerpt
An excerpt from former Secretary of State, Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama:
"I'm...troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said, such things as, "well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well the correct answer is, he's not a Muslim, he's a Christian, he's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?...This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
Enough said...
"I'm...troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said, such things as, "well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well the correct answer is, he's not a Muslim, he's a Christian, he's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?...This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
Enough said...
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Decline of the Intellectual
For the past decade, there has been an increasing divide between the highly educated and the barely graduate (if even that) classes in America. We all see this in the consistent push by the Republican party to sneer at elites and intellectuals as a method of gaining popular support.
Today's New York Times has an article by David Brooks called "The Class War Before Palin" (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin), which provides a succinct description of the evolution from what he describes as "disdain for liberal intellectuals" to a denigration of educated Americans as a whole. Now, Mr. Brooks is the Times' conservative columnist and represents traditional Republican values, not those mired in moral politics but those concerned with fiscal conservatism and small govenments (lets not be deceived that the McCain/Palin ticket stands for either of these latter values), and his criticism of the Republican party comes of as far more weighty than many other liberal columnists' work would.
I have bemoaned for a long time this anti-education push in American politics and society. It's antithetical to the values of a country which prizes ambition and progress. Reading the responses to the column, I found one which accurately pinpointed the unfortunate consequence of this class battle:
"What a pity, indeed, that the Republican party, as a result of this sort of truculence, has alienated thinking people, even as it devoted itself to the destruction of its unthinking allies' lives, as the last week has shown. Proud and defiant ignorance may win votes among the ignorant--they identify with it-- but it hasn't done much for their pensions, mortgages, or their children's futures. The current administration, whose titular head shows an arrogant lack of curiosity and contempt for any intellectual endeavor, has sold the American people down the river for generations to come, by appealing to the stupidest among them. The Founding Fathers didn't envision government by the most easily duped; as a result we are now rather worse off than some South American countries we were used to describe as tin-pot dictatorships. We are now a whole nation that is owned by the company store.--M Carter, Endicott, NY"
I also want to point out that Republicans are very hypocritical about their stance on the educated class, sneering at candidates who are well-educated and pushing their "ordinari-ness" and simultaneously proclaiming America as a technologically superior nation during Presidential debates etc. It's not Joe Sixpack who is achieving the breakthroughs which have made America a leader in scientific discovery, nor who has caused American scientists to be the most frequent recipients of Nobel prizes, nor made America the location where science students flock to for the best possible higher education in the world.
The Republican Pary is no longer the same party as founded by William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman and no longer the one that follows the values of Edmund Burke. It's high time conservative intellectuals accept that fact and distinguish themselves from the religious conservative right that has taken over the Republican party.
Today's New York Times has an article by David Brooks called "The Class War Before Palin" (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin), which provides a succinct description of the evolution from what he describes as "disdain for liberal intellectuals" to a denigration of educated Americans as a whole. Now, Mr. Brooks is the Times' conservative columnist and represents traditional Republican values, not those mired in moral politics but those concerned with fiscal conservatism and small govenments (lets not be deceived that the McCain/Palin ticket stands for either of these latter values), and his criticism of the Republican party comes of as far more weighty than many other liberal columnists' work would.
I have bemoaned for a long time this anti-education push in American politics and society. It's antithetical to the values of a country which prizes ambition and progress. Reading the responses to the column, I found one which accurately pinpointed the unfortunate consequence of this class battle:
"What a pity, indeed, that the Republican party, as a result of this sort of truculence, has alienated thinking people, even as it devoted itself to the destruction of its unthinking allies' lives, as the last week has shown. Proud and defiant ignorance may win votes among the ignorant--they identify with it-- but it hasn't done much for their pensions, mortgages, or their children's futures. The current administration, whose titular head shows an arrogant lack of curiosity and contempt for any intellectual endeavor, has sold the American people down the river for generations to come, by appealing to the stupidest among them. The Founding Fathers didn't envision government by the most easily duped; as a result we are now rather worse off than some South American countries we were used to describe as tin-pot dictatorships. We are now a whole nation that is owned by the company store.--M Carter, Endicott, NY"
I also want to point out that Republicans are very hypocritical about their stance on the educated class, sneering at candidates who are well-educated and pushing their "ordinari-ness" and simultaneously proclaiming America as a technologically superior nation during Presidential debates etc. It's not Joe Sixpack who is achieving the breakthroughs which have made America a leader in scientific discovery, nor who has caused American scientists to be the most frequent recipients of Nobel prizes, nor made America the location where science students flock to for the best possible higher education in the world.
The Republican Pary is no longer the same party as founded by William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman and no longer the one that follows the values of Edmund Burke. It's high time conservative intellectuals accept that fact and distinguish themselves from the religious conservative right that has taken over the Republican party.
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