Obama Will Triumph

 I don't subscribe to all of this, but it does provide a useful perspective
JHB

Obama Will Triumph -- So Will America

By Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times best selling author.

Before he'd served even one year President Obama lost the support of the easily distracted left and engendered the white hot rage of the hate-filled right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds -- including this white, straight, 57-year- old, former religious right wing agitator, now progressive writer and (given my background as the son of a famous evangelical leader) this unlikely Obama supporter -- are sticking with our President. Why?-- because he is succeeding.

We faithful Obama supporters still trust our initial impression of him as a great, good and uniquely qualified man to lead us.

Obama's steady supporters will be proved right. Obama's critics will be remembered as easily panicked and prematurely discouraged at best and shriveled hate mongers at worst.

The Context of the Obama Presidency

Not since the days of the rise of fascism in Europe, the Second World War and the Depression has any president faced more adversity. Not since the Civil War has any president led a more bitterly divided country. Not since the introduction of racial integration has any president faced a more consistently short-sighted and willfully ignorant opposition - from both the right and left.

As the President's poll numbers have fallen so has his support from some on the left that were hailing him as a Messiah not long ago; all those lefty websites and commentators that were falling all over themselves on behalf of our first black president during the 2008 election.

The left's lack of faith has become a self-fulfilling "prophecy"-- snipe at the President and then watch the poll numbers fall and then pretend you didn't have anything to do with it!

Here is what Obama faced when he took office-- none of which was his fault:

# An ideologically divided country to the point that America was really two countries

# Two wars; one that was mishandled from the start, the other that was unnecessary and immoral

# The worst economic crisis since the depression

# America 's standing in the world at the lowest point in history

# A country that had been misled into accepting the use of torture of prisoners of war

# A health care system in free fall

# An educational system in free fall

# A global environmental crisis of history-altering proportions (about which the Bush administration and the Republicans had done nothing)

# An impasse between culture warriors from the right and left

# A huge financial deficit inherited from the terminally irresponsible Bush administration.

And those were only some of the problems sitting on the President's desk!

"Help" from the Right?

What did the Republicans and the religious right, libertarians and half-baked conspiracy theorists -- that is what the Republicans were reduced to by the time Obama took office -- do to "help" our new president (and our country) succeed? They claimed that he wasn't a real American, didn't have an American birth certificate, wasn't born here, was secretly a Muslim, was white-hating "racist", was secretly a communist, was actually the Anti-Christ, (!) and was a reincarnation of Hitler and wanted "death panels" to kill the elderly!

They not-so-subtly called for his assassination through the not-so-subtle use of vile signs held at their rallies and even a bumper sticker quoting Psalm 109:8. They organized "tea parties" to sound off against imagined insults and all government in general and gathered to howl at the moon. They were led by insurance industry lobbyists and deranged (but well financed) "commentators" from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh.

The utterly discredited Roman Catholic bishops teamed up with the utterly discredited evangelical leaders to denounce a president who was trying to actually do something about the poor, the environment, to diminish the number of abortions through compassionate programs to help women and to care for the sick! And in Congress the Republican leadership only knew one word: "No!"

In other words the reactionary white, rube, uneducated, crazy American far right, combined with the educated but obtuse neoconservative war mongers, religious right shills for big business, libertarian Fed Reserve-hating gold bug, gun-loving crazies, child-molesting acquiescent "bishops", frontier loons, and evangelical gay-hating flakes found one thing to briefly unite them: their desire to stop an uppity black man from succeeding at all costs!

"Help" from the Left?

What did the left do to help their newly elected president? Some of them excoriated the President because they disagreed with the bad choices he was being forced to make regarding a war in Afghanistan that he'd inherited from the worst president in modern history!

Others stood up and bravely proclaimed that the President's economic policies had "failed" before the President even instituted them! Others said that since all gay rights battles had not been fully won within virtually minutes of the President taking office, they'd been "betrayed"! (Never mind that Obama's vocal support to the gay community is stronger than any other president's has been. Never mind that he signed a new hate crimes law!)

Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific emotion on election night turned into an angry mob saying how "disappointed" they were that they'd not all immediately been translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House! Where was the "change"? Contrary to their expectations they were still mere mortals!

And the legion of young new supporters was too busy texting to pay attention for longer than a nanosecond. "Governing"?! What the hell does that word, uh, like mean?"

The President's critics left and right all had one thing in common: impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history (let alone reality) thrown in for good measure. Then of course there were the white, snide know-it-all commentators/talking heads who just couldn't imagine that maybe, just maybe they weren't as smart as
they thought they were and certainly not as smart as their president. He hadn't consulted them, had he? So he must be wrong!

The Obama critics' ideological ideas defined their idea of reality rather than reality defining their ideas-say, about what is possible in one year in office after the hand that the President had been dealt by fate, or to be exact by the American idiot nation that voted Bush into office. twice!

Meanwhile back in the reality-based community - in just 12 short months -- President Obama:

#Continued to draw down the misbegotten war in Iraq (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices regarding the war in Afghanistan
(But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Restored America 's image around the globe (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Banned torture of American prisoners (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Stopped the free fall of the American economy (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort to halt global warming (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Stood up for educational reform (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Won a Nobel peace prize (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial system of checks and balances (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had failed to even begin (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Responded to hatred from the right and left with measured good humor and patience (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Stopped the free fall of job losses (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and dangerous far right opposition that included the sort of disgusting people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the "blood of tyrants" needing to "water the tree of liberty". (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

#Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but explain and defend them brilliantly (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

Other than those "disappointing" accomplishments -- IN ONE YEAR -- President Obama "failed"! Other than that he didn't "live up to expectations"!

Who actually has failed...

...are the Americans that can't see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth right under their jaded noses. Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the left and right who began rooting for this President to fail so that they could be proved right in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned "news" into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted
infantile country.

Here's the good news: President Obama is succeeding without the help of his lefty "supporters" or hate-filled Republican detractors!

The Future Looks Good

After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts -- with a canny and calculating eye to the possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are all proved not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.

Just because we didn't get everything we wanted in the first short and fraught year Obama was in office not all of us gave up. Some of us stayed the course. And we will be proved right.

PS. if you agree that Obama is shaping up to be a great president, please pass this on and hang in there! Pass it on anyway to ensure that his "report card" gets the attention it deserves.

George Orwell as a social theorist

George Orwell (pen name for Eric Blair 1903-1950) is recognized as one of the great English language prose stylists of the first half of the 20th Century.  His work incorporated linguistic precision with a passion for social justice.  He was equally passionate as an opponent of Stalinism and its pretensions to represent a socialist alternative to capitalism.  This passion was displayed in his two novels, Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949) which savaged Stalinist Russia for the emergence of the new class of commissars and the repression and rewriting of history, respectively.  These books were among the largest selling of the 20th Century.  No one has (or likely ever will) matched Orwell's contempt for the abuse and distortion of language that the Stalinist regime was guilty of.

However, I want to emphasize a different aspect of Orwell's work in 1984, in particular.  When I first read the novel in the late 1960s, I was impressed by the geopolitical analysis it contains.   For those who have never read the book (Highly recommended) in 1984 the world is divided into three power blocks, Oceana, Eurasia, and Eastasia.  These are respectively, the Western Hemisphere (plus Great Britain as Airstrip One and some of the then British Commonwealth), roughly the Soviet Union (plus the satellites and Western Europe), and what is now the Peoples Republic of China.  In the novel, these powers were continually at war with each other (the better to justify their continuing repression of their peoples) in shifting alliances.  However, the warfare did not usually impact any of their main territories.  Instead, the fighting occurred in Africa, the Near East, and South Asia.  This is actually a brilliant description of the mid-Cold War geopolitical situation (although South America was definitely in play.)  Remember though, this was written twenty years before the actual situation on the ground developed.

Did Orwell offer other prescient insights?  I believe so, the great villain of the Party in the novel is Emmanuel Goldstein (a rather transparent stand-in for Trotsky.)  His book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism, explains the structure of the party as a new class.  This new class will be "...a boot stamping on a human face—forever."  Oligarchic collectivism does not discriminate on the basis of race, or other irrelevant criteria.  The Party as new class has a privileged, and much higher consumption level than the Proles who constitute the rest of society.

Now my leap forward, doesn't this sound a bit like the social system that has evolved in the US recently?  We have an oligarchy that can depend on government bailouts whenever its economic interests are threatened.  The rest of of us, not so much.  In fact, our living standards are under constant downward pressure.  We have a condition of permanent and unwinnable warfare.  And if we don't approach the levels of repression shown in 1984, there is certainly disquieting movement in that direction.

Please: Somebody reassure me that we are not on the road to Oligarchical Collectivism.

The Death Throes of the Grand Old Party.

Gentlebeings we are watching the death throes of a great political party.  Among my other youthful peccadillos was being a Young Republican.  The great sin of the modern Republican party is allowing the tin-foil hat brigade of unbalanced conspiracy theorists (Birthers, Tenthers,etc) not just to take over, but the dominate policy discussions.

The Republican party has three ideas 1) Cut taxes 2) Scare white people, 3) Repeal the New Deal/Social Democratic settlement.  1) is nearly universally popular, so much so that it has become a talismanic formula for Republican politicians.  2) is very much in evidence in the southern United States. However, as a strategy is demographically suicidal.  Look at how they have alienated the Hispanic vote to appeal to the Nativist sentiments. 3) is the third rail of American politics, but they are too obsessed to understand.

All in all very sad.

Karl Marx's grave

On a recent trip to England, I made pilgrimage to Karl Marx's grave.  Two things struck me as incredibly ironic about the gravesite.  The first is that Marx is buried in Highgate Cemetery.  Highgate Village is a very posh, to use the British term, area in the London Metropolitan district.  The great and good have been buried there for about a century and a half.  In fact, they provide a guide to all of the famous graves there.  Of course, for the man whose epitaph shouts, Workers of all land unite, to be buried in such upper class surroundings in ironic.

The second irony, is as you can see, there are flowers and notes strewn about Marx grave.  I used the term pilgrimage above in a very loose sense.  However, his grave is literally a pilgrimage site.  For someone who was a militant atheist to be accorded such posthumous devotion is odd.




A final irony, this is the grave directly across the pathway from Marx:

 Herbert Spencer was about as distant from Marx philosophically as it is possible to imagine.  Death truly is the only equal opportunity institution.

The Efficient Krugman Hypothesis, Part II

 Last Sunday Brad Delong commented on his blog,

" Yet another demonstration of the fact that sometime in 2000 we entered a strange world in which Paul Krugman is always right. If we are going to live in such a world, I really, really wish that he had a sunnier and more optimistic disposition. It would make things much better...

 I've written previously on this phenomena.  In the discussion that followed there was much discussion of time-warps and other science fiction inspired explanations for the Efficient Krugman Hypothesis.
In the comments (late to the game) I wrote:

Occam's razor requires me to suggest that no time warp or other supernatural mechanism is needed to explain the Efficient Krugman Hypothesis. (I.e. Paul is always right.) He is always right for four distinct and simple reasons:
1) He is flat incredibly intelligent. (See Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics 2008.)
2) He is unbelievably well informed. (I continue to read Paul's and Brad's blogs because I regularly learn something that I did not know previously.)
3) He is truly disinterested (He has absolutely no axe to grind, no interests to either represent or pander to.)
4) He is amazingly brave, in the manner that only a tenured full professor at an elite school can be. 

This is the reason why second rate (OK I'm being generous to myself, third rate) academic leftists go into the battle against economic ignorance and misinformation chanting, "There is no economist but Krugman, and Delong is his prophet."


The real time warp victims were the "fresh water economists" for whom elegance in theoretical formulations became more important than empirical relevance. I really did think that economics represents more than mathematical masturbation. Silly me.

Gulf Oil Spill

In Die Welt,  a German newspaper there was a story about a new variety of concrete which is seeded with microorganisms that will actually remove organic waste from water.  Time to place an order?

  Below is my (very rough) translation of the piece linked to above:


It stinks like rotten cheese, and besides Japan, the Germans first cultivated Natto during the Second World War, on their submarines.  Natto is a slimy mixture of fermented soybeans that the Japanese for centuries have polished off for breakfast.  With the help of the hungry but resistant Natto bacteria, Japanese reseachers have now developed a concrete which sustainably converts smelly sewers and stinking streams into clear water.

Foto: Marubeni/Kölling Beton aus Japan verwandelt stinkende Flüsse in klare Gewässer

• |schließen

Foto: Marubeni/Kölling Beton aus Japan verwandelt stinkende Flüsse in klare Gewässer

The firm Koyoh has now employed this development in Yanagawa, a city with a dead, black, stinking creek. Now in just two weeks the bacteria saturated concrete disapateed the smell and in two months the water was again clear and good enough for carp. This piece of technology was produced by nature over the ages, and through cultivation yields high capacity bacteria which can consume or even produce oil.  However, the Natto-bacteria have long served as a living water filter. Fish farmers and aquarium owners shake them in as a powder to reduce turbidity.

The new discovery of the researchers from Koyoh consists of this, the Natto-bacteria can be processed with a variety fo concrete, which for years, if not decades has served as a breeding site.   No one will need to sprinkle the Natto powder.

"A method which also works in flowing water," according to Sachiko Kobayashi, the manager of the petrochemical division of Japan's second largest trading company, Marubeni whose duties include the international operations.
The capability of nature through the bacterialy charged concrete to assist in the repurification of a source, should not be underrated.  Almost all attempts failed, since most bacteria lose their appetite in the alkaline environment of concrete.  In the Koyoh patent application, the bacteria of the eco-cement, that is Bacillus subtilis (Hay bacteria), Bacillus thuringiensis, and bacillus sphaeris, survive both the alkaline conditions and heat very well.  Thus they are well suited to working into concrete.
 For a label for the bacterial water filter the Japanese reached deep into Greek mythology: Gaia Healing Project, appears in the sales catalog, named for the goddess Gaia, who in antiquity embodied the earth.
 The bacterialy infused concrete is marketed by Marubeni as "EcoBio-Block" in diverse porous large grained concrete forms, cylindrical for aquariums and fishtanks, stonelike for lakes and water tanks, or as rippled tiles for canals and streams.

It works this way: on contact with water, the hungry bacteria search out food.  In doing so, the ferment organic matter, and convert ammonia into nitrite and then nitrate.  This nitrification is an important part of the purification of water.  And even better, a shortage of nitrate is an environmental risk.  The unicellular creatures are nearly indestructible, surviving both freezing and boiling water.  If the water tempurature is below 10 degrees Celsius, they become inactive. 
In application, certain conditions must be observed, that not too much mud or leaves cover the tiles , says Kobayashi.  The bacteria require oxygen.  In light of the water pollution in Russia, and also in Asia's ecologically challenged developing countries, Marubeni expects good business.  In standing water, Kobayashi the manager recommends putting three blocks per cubic meter of water.  In canals or streams, once piece of Natto-concrete every ten meters.

My $0.02 on Financial markets reform.

New financial instruments should be subjected to the same sort of prerelease screening as new pharmaceutical compounds and for the same reason, possibly fatal side effects.  I..e. the Consumer Regulatory language of current bill.


Strongest possible presumption in favor of market, as opposed to OTC trading.  Liquid markets provide much better possibilities for price discovery.  Investment banks love OTC for the monopoly rents that they can yield.

Bad Poetry (fragment)

Houses raised in hope

Houses raised in hope,
ever so carefully planned,
modest or grand,
as our means command.

Houses raised in hope,
honest effort and its reward,
aimed firmly toward,
the future turn of the card.

Bad Poetry

Honeysuckle Afternoons


May fair,
and fair it may be,
sweet honeysuckle afternoons of youth.
Released at last from school day's toils,
gushing forth from every door,
 a climax to the day.

Greeted by the unfolding promise of azure sky.
And to the bike rack ever so quickly.

 The promise of freedom, speed, and motion.
Scented all by the sweet smells of honeysuckle twined along the fenceline of the drive.

Three questions for physicists

Given the possibility that there are space-time dimensions beyond the classic 3 physical dimensions + time:

1) Is vacumn energy a result of the energy needed to retain compression of the additional dimensions?

2) Would it be possible to store information in the "hidden" dimensions?

3)  Is it possible to shrink one of the conventional dimensions to facilitate very fast travel along that dimension?

Economic Rents, Property Rights, and Economic Performance

Several commentators (Krugman, DeLong, etc.) have noticed the difference between the economic growth performance of Democratic and Republican  administrations.  The puzzle has been explaining the differences.   One answer may be the higher levels of rent redistribution during Republican administrations.   Since the development of modern state institutions in the 1930s, many rents are allocated by administrative means, not legislative ones.  When administrations change control of the various regulatory bodies shifts.  Positing that Republicans interpret being "pro-business" as doing special favors for particular firms, it seems that rent seeking rises with their administrations.   Of course, the inefficiencies arising from rent seeking are well documented.

The Evolutionary dominance of the "hive" mind.

It is a common theme in scifi of individualistic humans meeting a species with a collective conciousness.  The model is social insects like ants, bees, and termites, where the individual organisms are merely constituents of the hive.

The usual result is that the humans recoil in horror, particularly if the hive species attempts to incorporate humans into such a collective.   E.g. The Borg in Star Trek.

When brain-computer interfaces become practical, that technology combined with wireless networking will lead to a human version of a "hive" like collective conciousness.  What is more the collective will be competitively dominant over non-networked individuals.  This is the case since those who are not networked will not have access to information relevant to survival, while those who are networked will.

Doing the Perp Walk

Doing the Perp Walk (sung to the tune of Under the boardwalk )

Another piece from several years ago with current relevance. 

When the TV lights beat down

And burn the tar on the roof

And you=re so hot

You wish the accounts were bulletproof

Doin= the Perp Walk

Thanks to the SEC

On the way to prison

>though it=s min security

(Doin= the Perp Walk) Out of the sun

(Doin= the Perp Walk) We'll be on the run

(Doin= the Perp Walk) the handcuffs may chafe

(Doin= the Perp Walk) but investors assets are safe

(Doin= the Perp Walk,  Perp Walk)

From the Street you'll hear

The sound of the closing bell

But that don=t matter cause

you=re out of assets to sell

Doin= the Perp Walk

Thanks to the SEC

On the way to prison

>though it=s min security

(Doin= the Perp Walk) Out of the sun

(Doin= the Perp Walk) We'll be on the run

(Doin= the Perp Walk) the handcuffs may chafe

(Doin= the Perp Walk) but investors assets are safe

(Doin= the Perp Walk,  Perp Walk)

Oh, Doin= the Perp Walk

Thanks to the SEC

On the way to prison

>though it=s min security

(Doin= the Perp Walk) Out of the sun

(Doin= the Perp Walk) We'll be on the run

(Doin= the Perp Walk) the handcuffs may chafe

(Doin= the Perp Walk) but investors assets are safe

(Doin= the Perp Walk,  Perp Walk)

Extremely Ineffective Daily Affirmations

    

I have the power to channel my imagination into ever‑soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.

I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.

I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself.  Unless, of course, I want to stay employed.

 In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.

Having control over myself is nearly as good as having control over others.

 My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of good judgment.

I can change any thought that hurts into a reality that hurts even more.

I honor my personality flaws, for without them I would have no personality at all.

I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those censorious, self‑righteous people around me.

I need not suffer in silence while I can still moan, whimper,  and complain.

As I learn the innermost secrets of the people around me, they reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.

When someone hurts me, forgiveness is cheaper than a lawsuit.  But not nearly as gratifying.

The first step is to say nice things about myself. The second, to do nice things for myself. The third, to find someone to buy me nice things.

As I learn to trust the universe, I no longer need to carry a gun.

All of me is beautiful and valuable, even the ugly, stupid, and disgusting parts.

 I am at one with my duality.

 Blessed are the flexible, for they can tie themselves into knots.

 I will strive to live each day as if it were my 50th birthday.

Only a lack of imagination saves me from immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.

Does my quiet self‑pity get to you or should I move up to incessant nagging?

Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so."

 False hope is nicer than no hope at all.

 A good scapegoat is nearly as welcome as a solution to the problem.

 Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day watching TV.

 Instead I will move my TV into the bedroom.

Who can I blame for my own problems? Give me just a minute...   I'll find someone.

 Why should I waste my time reliving the past when I can spend it worrying about the future?

The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.

   I am learning that criticism is not nearly as effective as sabotage.

 Becoming aware of my character defects leads me to the next step‑‑‑ blaming my parents.

  I will find humor in my everyday life by looking for people I can laugh at.

  The next time the universe knocks on my door, I will pretend I am not home.

  My body is a temple. Do you want to come over for midnight mass?

  To have a successful relationship I must learn to make it look like I'm giving as much as I'm getting.

No way will I accept YES for an answer !

I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.

Auditor's Blues

Auditor=s Blues (sung to the tune of Smuggler=s Blues by Glen Fry)

 Written at the time of the Enron scandals but still appallingly appropriate.

         There's trouble on Wall Street tonight,

                     I can feel it in my bones.

                     I had a premonition,

                     That we should not make the loan.

                     I knew the books were bogus,

                     But I didn't get a thrill.

                     Everything they told us,

                     Was just water by the mill.

                     So baby, here's your ticket,

                     Put the suitcase in your hand.

                     Here's a little money now,

                     Do it just the way we planned.

                     You be cool for twenty hours

                     And I'll pay you twenty grand.

                     I'm sorry it went down like this,

                     And someone had to lose,

                     It's the nature of the business,

                     It's the auditor's blues,

                     Auditor's Blues.

                     The lawyers and accountants,

                     The day traders and the law,

                     The pay offs and the rip offs,

                     And the things nobody saw.

                     No matter if it's SPEs, tax shelters, or hauling trash,

                     You're loath to follow GAAP

                     Cause you earn consulting cash.

                     There's lots of shady characters,

                     Lots of dirty deals.

                     Ev'ry name's an alias

                     In case somebody squeals.

                     It's the lure of easy money,

                     It's gotta very strong appeal.

                     Perhaps you'd understand it better

                     Standin' in my shoes,

                     It's the ultimate enticement,

                     It's the auditor's blues,

                     Auditor's Blues.

My Top Ten Books

By John Howard Brown

My top ten is not very high falutin’.  It consists of books that I reread again and again.  They are listed below in no particular order with brief comments.

The Hobbit  by J.R.R. Tolkien    

The function of fantasy and science fiction is to create entirely fictional worlds that are believable, then draw you into them with appealing characters.  Tolkien achieved this masterfully.  It is much better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Also this is a book that I shared with my son when he was younger and a source of pleasant memories on that account.

Dune by Frank Herbert

A science fiction classic which achieves just what was discussed above.  It is also a meditation on the use and abuse of religion in politics.  This too spawned sequels of steadily declining quality and interest.

 The Uplift Wars by David Brin

The last science fiction in my top ten, I promise.  It is notable for the most engaging fictional character whom I have ever encountered, (hold on to your hats) an intelligent, genetically enhanced chimpanzee.

The Civil War by Shelby Foote

This is an accomplishment in historical writing comparable to the best ever written.  I actually cried when I finished the final book, because I knew that, unlike my other favorites, I would never read it in full again.

The Mediterranean World by Fernand Braudel

The father of the Annales School of French historians wrote this masterful work describing the depths of the environmental and social sea in the 16^th Century Mediterranean below the winds and tides of contemporary politics.

Cities and the Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs

America’s most distinguished 20^th Century urbanist, discusses exactly why people continue to find urban living preferable to rural on economic grounds.

The Entropy Law and the Economic Process by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen

An early attempt to recognize that the economy is also a part of the natural environment and the consequences thereof.

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Adam Smith is arguably the greatest philosopher of political-economy.  This book is an exposition of the beneficial effects of the operation of markets.  Contrary to received opinion, Smith’s appraisal of capitalist economies is a measured one not an apologia.

The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

David McCullough writes beautifully and tells the fascinating story of the dream of, and actual realization of, the Panama Canal.

Cyborgs and Eskimos

My mother, not at all a 21^st Century type, recently visited and commented that students seemed almost to have their cellphones growing out of their ears.  It struck me at the time that this is the first step in the cyborgization of humanity.  In particular, the people who use the Blue Tooth hands free cells remind me of the Borg on the TV series, Star Trek, the Next Generation.  All of which sparks some thoughts on “appropriate” technology and the future of humanity.

Where do Eskimos come into this?  Well, the Inuit population represents a group that had developed an exquisite technological adaptation to an extremely hostile environment.  In the bleak circumpolar regions where most dwellers in more temperate climes would perceive few possibilities for survival, they managed to carve a relatively comfortable niche.  Indeed, most 19^th Century European polar explorers depended upon the good graces of the Inuit for their survival.  Where that assistance was not available, as in the famous case of the Hecla and Fury, they died almost to a man.  Chalk one up to “appropriate” technology.

But wait just a minute, Inuit populations to this day make use of local resources (mostly marine mammals and caribou) for their subsistence.  However, the seal bladder buoys, wood and bone harpoons, and walrus skin kayaks are long gone.  In their place are the gleaming products of Euro-American technology.  It is also well to remember that the life expectancy of those 19^th Century Inuit was probably only in the 30s.  Although still tragically low relative to the European descended populations of the US and Canada, it has still climbed appreciably.

Consider also, a true cyborg wirelessly connected to a database dropped into the Artic wilderness.  Just as the Inuit had a culturally derived appreciation for the resources available and method appropriate to access them, the cyborg can call forth the information from her database.   That data collected by generations of Inuit and the anthropologists who observed them, would probably represent the essential margin between life and death for the stranded cyborg.

The point: appropriate technology is that technology which allows individuals to cope successfully with the environment in which they find themselves.

IRAQ=Syracuse?

IRAQ=Syracuse?

One of the reasons for the decline and fall of the classical Athenian democracy was a disastrous attempt by Athens to coerce Syracuse, the dominant city-state on the (by ancient standards) incredibly rich island of Sicily.  The Athenian expeditionary force, plagued by internal dissension, was destroyed almost to the man.  Athens in the fifth century BC was in some ways very comparable to the United States in the early 21^st Century.  Athens had assembled a coalition to resist an implacable, imperial foe which had “enslaved” the Greek population of what is now Turkey.  Afterwards, Athens converted that anti-Persian coalition into an empire of its own  The analogy with the United States and the Cold War against the Soviet Union is too obvious to belabor.

Interest Groups, NeoConservatism, and the Military Industrial Complex

Andrew Bacevich has a post at the American Conservative magazine website (not at all my usual reading) decrying the failure of the United State's foreign policy elites to comprehend the limitations of military force as a tool of foreign policy. As noted in the sub-title, "America has an impressive record of starting wars but a dismal one of ending them well." He faults the Obama administration for not breaking with the consensus in favor of the use of force. This is certainly not an unwelcome message for a semi-pacifist leftist such as my self, and the source is quite surprising from my point of view.

However, there is something missing from Bacevich's analysis. This is the role of interest group politics in determining America's foreign policy posture. Specifically, I refer to the NeoConservatives. This group emerged in the 1970s and 80s as a response to their perception that American resistance to Communism had been weakened by the (eventual) public rejection of the VietNam war. Whatever useful purpose they might have served in the waning days of the Cold War, it was pretty much mooted by the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

However, by the time of these events, neoconservatives had adopted a further function, that of front group for the interests of the Military Industrial Complex. The Neocons have the distinction of being the only interest group that is a recognized political faction without the stigma of being labeled an interest group.

The Neocons were initially triumphalist (consider Francis Fukuyama's (1992), The End of History. However, a problem soon presented itself, how to justify the continued massive weapons building industry and military establishments? The result was a chicken with its head cutoff scramble to find a suitable enemy to justify these wastefully deadly expenditures. First it was Saddam, then, in the early days of George the Second's reign, Communist China, then once again Saddam. None of these were very satisfying as an embodiment of evil. After all, we had handily beaten Saddam in the early post-Cold War days, and China was becoming an increasingly important trading partner.

Of course, the Neocons, neither individually nor collectively too bright, had to be bashed in the head with the perfect enemy, Islamic fundamentalism. It is no accident that the response to 9/11 and other acts of terror has been labeled the War on Terror. Only a full scale and unending war can justify the bloated war machine that the US now supports. One is reminded of George Orwell's 1984, where Oceania must be perpetually at war to justify the Oligarchal Collectivism. As better writers than I have recognized, you can have a war on a tactic. In any case, the most effective tactics for combating terrorism are good police and intelligence work, not military campaigns.

Historical Markers and the Mystery of the Maya

I recently reread a book called, "The Chronicle of Maya Kings and Queens," which I enjoyed but also found frustrating. The past 20 years have been something of a Golden Age for Mayan archeology. There are significant on-going excavations at major and relatively recently discovered sites such as Caracol, not to mention old standards like Palenque and Chichen Itza. The text used by the classical Mayan civilizations has been deciphered and some names and events restored to history. Even so the picture is murky. For instance, we know a great deal more about the roughly contemporaneous reign of Charlemagne in France and Germany than about any Mayan King's reign.

This is partly a matter of European monastic chronicles not be subjected to active destruction that Mayan records on bark paper were. (Thanks a lot, Bishop Landa) However, part of the murkiness is a matter of random survival. I had the thought that the contemporary equivalent of the Mayan monuments are historical markers. These markers are ubiquitous, one Internet database lists over 24,000, in what is almost surely an incomplete count.

If an interval of 1200 to 1500 years were to pass, how much useful historical information could we draw from the surviving historical markers about 17th to 21st Century history? (As an aside, could the text from all the markers yield a comprehensible narrative history of American society?)

As a thought experiment, say that 0.1% of all markers are destroyed each year. Applying the rule of 70, half of all existing monuments would disappear in 700 years. After 1400 years only a quarter would remain. That would take the count mentioned above from 24,000 to approximately 6000.

In addition, besides outright destruction, the markers would be subject to damage that makes them harder to read. Suppose that the average marker has 100 significant syntactical units (subject phrases, verbs, objects, subordinate clauses, etc.) For instance, the marker on the left above, has 13 significant semantic units, beginning with, " Approaching Statesboro." If in any given year 0.1% of the syntactical units suffers some damage, how long does it take for the semantic unit to be unreadable? Again the rule of 70 suggests that in 1400 years only a quarter of the units will be fully intelligible, although probably enough would remain of the first sentence to suggest a battle occurred. Of course, the causes of the battle would be obscure, at least in terms of this marker.

Corporate Personhood and Slavery

The Supreme Courts latest atrocity against common sense and democracy has attracted a lot of attention by seemingly weakening the position of ordinary citizens vis-a-vis corporations. However, something interesting happens if you push the logic of identity of corporate personhood with natural personhood.

The origin of this comedy is Bancroft Davis who as a court reporter in the 19th Century created the idea of corporate personhood as a gloss upon a Supreme Court decision. Please note, this idea was not a part of the original decision. In the Citizens United case, decided yesterday, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court pressed the logic of corporate personhood further than ever, finding the corporations are endowed with the same free speech rights as natural persons.

Steve Andrew, known on Kos as Darksyde, discusses some potential consequences for the case for the state of Texas, here While another Kos contributor notes the potential for a New Gilded Age. (And I thought the Reagan era already initiated the Second Gilded Age of the United States. That would make this Gilded Age 3.0, to go all 21st Century.)

I am here to tell my fellow progressives not to despair. This decision, in fact, provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to move a vast progressive agenda forward. What we must do now is push the logic of corporate personhood still farther.

Specifically, we must point out that if corporations are to possess all of the attributes of natural persons, some additional progress needs to be made. The attribute that I refer to is personal freedom. After all, the 13th Amendment states: Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

What is slavery? According to the The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition:
slav·er·y

(slā'və-rē, slāv'rē) n. pl. slav·er·ies The state of one bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

It is perfectly clear that corporations are held as the property of their owners. Thus, the full doctrine of corporate personhood suggests that the next civil rights struggle must be to free corporations from ownership by private individuals.

Of course, it is also perfectly clear that corporations are not competent to exercise many of the rights that are inherent in natural personhood. This suggests that after the liberation of corporations from private ownership, they must become wards of the state. This is identical to the situation of orphaned children who have no natural relatives who can undertake their supervision and education.

This is clearly a desirable outcome for progressives, with careful tutelage corporations could grow up to be responsible adults who don't soil themselves, trash their neighborhoods, or cause harm to individuals through malice or negligence.

Of course, it would also be possible to just recognize that a corporation is a legal fiction used by our society to organize certain types of activities and are entitled to exactly the rights and responsibilities that democratic governments grant them. Nah, that would be too simple.

More on Citizens United

Steven Andrew (Darksyde)

Daily Kos (New Gilded Age)

Daily Kos (Justice Thomas)

Daily Kos (Analysis of Citizens United)

Wall Street Journal (one from the other side)

New York Times