JavaScript counter tallies the financial cost of the U.S. war in Iraq at costofwar.com. Watch the tally mount at a rate of more than $1,000 per second….
Cost of the War in Iraq
Stay in School
“Be studious, stay in school, and stay away from the military. I mean it.”
– Marine Staff Sgt. Russell Slay, giving instructions to his 5-year-old son, Walker, in a letter to his family shortly before he was killed in action in Iraq last month. (Newsweek)
Music: Who, The :: Eyesight To The Blind
Slavery in Mauritania
Had the privilege last night of viewing an almost-completed documentary by J-School student Jigar Mehta on the problem of endemic slavery in Mauritania, where light-skinned Moors have for centuries been enslaving sub-Saharan blacks. Although the government of Mauritania has decreed slavery illegal three times in the past twenty years, it turn a systemic blind eye, chases out journalists, and has even abolished the word “slave” from the vocabulary.
The problem is made more complex by the fact that Mauritania is so poverty-stricken that many slaves feel they’re economically better off being owned than being on their own — freed slaves have been known to return voluntarily to their masters (some masters are abusive, others relatively “civilized,” apparently). And it’s culturally and religiously embedded: Children born into slavery are taught that their enslavement is part of their duty to God.
Another interesting twist: Although the country was until recently a vocal critic of the United States, the discovery of oil and the recent installation of drilling rigs off the Mauritanian coast (expected to double the country’s GNP) has coincided with them suddenly turning against Saddam Hussein, switching their official state position to pro-Israel, etc.
A Mauritanian slavery watch group, working underground to document details on tens of thousands of slaves (and in some cases freeing them), has produced a report which was recently accepted by the U.N.’s human rights watch group.
Mehta’s documentary, which is exceptionally well-produced, is not yet available for public viewing. Will post again when it is. Here’s a 2001 NPR story on the subject.
The Wrong Trousers
Breaking my pseudo-moratorium on political postings after two days because this is just so interesting… a man in Orange County has won a spot on the school board even though virtually no one has ever heard of him or seen him, beating out a challenger who has three children in the district, is president of the PTA at his kids’ school and is active with the Boy Scouts.
Now all that’s left is to find him. “Absolutely nobody, but nobody has seen this guy,” said Paul Pruss, a middle school teacher and the president of the union. “The whole thing is just bizarre.”
On the ballot, the challenger was identified as a “park ranger.” The mystery candidate, who lives with his parents and keeps a Johnny Cash record cover nailed to his front door, was identified as a “writer/educator,” even though no one can figure out what he’s written or who he’s educated.
Two plausible theories: 1) In a contest where voters have not informed themselves adequately about the candidates, people naturally pick “writer/educator” over “park ranger” because it sounds like a better fit for the job. 2) In the absence of enough information, many voters tend not to pick the Latino-sounding name.
Either way, the snafu points up a flaw in the election system — voting with insufficient information can yield unpredictable and potentially dangerous results.
Tieing into our earlier discussion about what kinds of experience qualify one for office, I’d like to frame the point this way: it is knowledge, not intelligence alone, that is crucial. And knowledge comes from two sources: experience and intelligence (where intelligence is defined as some combination of curiosity, analytical skills, and memory).
Music: Herbie Mann :: Memphis Underground
All Used Up
After my recent spleen vent and the ensuing multi-tentacled fracas, I’m feeling politically spent. Just don’t want to think about politics at all for a while. Don’t know how long that while will last, but don’t be surprised if I appear to have lost interest over the next few weeks. It’s a defense mechanism, not a moratorium. Friends and family, sun and rain, music and food — that’s all I want right now.
Music: Neil Young & Crazy Horse :: Piece Of Crap
Give ‘Em Enough Rope
Warning: Major spleen vent on deck. Indulge the rantings of a depressed American, or skip this post.
Keep thinking I need — or want — to get everything off my chest at once re: Bush’s 2nd term, to somehow convey all the multiple levels and layers of my incomprehension at the result. But every time I start, the thoughts tumble too quickly to be corralled, and I just don’t have an essay in me tonight.
Seriously, America — How much harm would Bush have to do to our nation for you to evict him from office? Would he have to personally come to your house, open up your septic tank with a Bradley and dump half a ton of uranium into your swimming pool? Would he have to steal directly from your bank account, rather than from your children’s? Condemn your kids to be educated in public schools in the projects? Wiretap every room in your house? Become convinced that you were hiding a secret cache of dangerous weapons, destroy your home over it, then not apologize or even admit wrongdoing (and tell you he’d do the same thing all over again)? Let a bunch of frat boys high on hatred attach electrodes to your father’s testicles? Would he have to assemble an inner cabinet of serial killers, rather than mere criminals? Would he have to corrupt every branch of government (and your city council too) with high-finance cronies? Would he have to drive unemployment to 70%? Eliminate Medicare? Undo the New Deal altogether? Just how many debates would he have to lose before you became convinced he wasn’t the right man for the job? Would he have to amend the Constitution to specify that marriage is only allowed between members of the same sex? Only allowed between armadillos and umbrellas? Would he have to ignore every piece of advice given to him by experts, rather than just most? How absurd does it have to get? How many countries would have to hate us over his policies? How much international good will would he have to squander? Would the U.N. have to kick us out altogether? Would Canada and Europe have to embargo the U.S. before you understood how low our standing is in the world today? What would it take, America? You seem to like being punished by your leaders — just how badly do you want more of this humiliation? Apparently, quite a lot.
Yeah, it’s all radical hyperbole, but seriously. I usually try to maintain some sense of patriotism, even though our administration shames us daily. But an election result like this makes it so much harder to be patriotic. I want to be proud to be an American. I find myself having to look deeper and harder to find things to be proud of. We’re in a bad way.
And then we hear that “moral values” was the highest criteria among voters when making their choice. Moral values? In what universe could Bush be considered a “moral” leader? How can you consider our president, who is opposed to gay marriage, who values American lives higher than Iraqi lives, who steals from the future to give to the rich, etc. to have high moral values? And where exactly are the moral blemishes on Kerry’s record?
Look on the bright side. Air America is just getting good, and a 2nd term guarantees they won’t be running out of material anytime soon. Same for Jon Stewart. More importantly, a 2nd term will allow plenty of time for the full effects of this administration’s policies to take hold. We’ll see whether people are still committed to self-destruction in 2008.
Some inspiring/inspired notes in Boing-Boing’s Kerry Concedes post.
P.S. Why does this map of average education levels look so much like the 2004 electoral college distribution? Draw your own conclusions.
Music: Bill Withers :: Ain’t No Sunshine
Leaves of Sorrow
As I walked into the Free Speech Movement Cafe for my coffee today, the usually quiet CNN feed on the wall was turned up, throngs were gathered around in silence. John Kerry was making his concession. I was listening to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer on the iPod, and paused in the middle of a verse:
Were you there to watch the earth be scorched?
Did you stand beside the spectral torch?
Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face,
Scattered on the ashes of disgrace.
From “Tarkus: VI. Battlefield”
Music: Hem :: Idle (The Rabbit Song)
Live J-School Election Coverage
Dozens of J-School students are busily covering the 2004 elections as the day unfolds, at both the national and regional levels. Stories will be added and updated as poll results roll in, with further updates planned for the post-election wrap-up.
Update: Next day… was at work until midnight running the MT-based publishing system – almost 60 stories in the end, with dozens of them updated regularly as the results came in and analysis changed. Five people on the web crew, 10 editors and copy editors, three photographers, and dozens of authors. Election night at the J-School is always exciting — a real, throbbing newsroom environment — but this one went more smoothly than elections past. We’re getting this down to a science. Feels good.
To Waste a Vote
I’ve been meditating on this question of whether voting against a candidate, rather than for, is ultimately the right thing to do. I certainly am not much enamored of John Kerry, who wants to send 40,000 more troops to Iraq, who has shown support for the abominable and frightening Patriot Act, who just seems a little bit weasely to me, etc.
I’m registered Green, and I like David Cobb a great deal… though not as much as Dennis Kucinich, who struck me early in the primaries as one of the most articulate, plain-spoken presidential candidates I had ever heard. But I’m a pretty hardcore pragmatist, and know that candidates who actually reflect my views are too “radical” for mainstream America, i.e. don’t stand a chance. Interestingly, the voter’s guide (PDF) put out by the Green Party of Contra Costa County explicitly offers “No recommendation for president” (followed by a brief essay).
Earlier tonight, Mark Odell left a comment on an old post (Peace and Love) including a number of links to writers making the case that there is no such thing as a “wasted vote.” Do we (those of us who do not feel that mainstream candidates adequately represent our views) really want to spend the rest of our lives voting against candidates rather than for them? It’s a valid question.
Some say that success in politics is all about knowing how to compromise. I think it’s more like the game of Survivor – vote the weak and the strong players off the island first, leaving only the middle ground as contenders. The need to satisfy the widest possible swath of voters becomes a built-in middling mechanism, which almost guarantees that mediocrity will be rewarded. Every time.
Living in California, I probably have the luxury of voting Cobb without putting my state’s electoral votes at risk. But somehow, with the stakes this high, I think I’d rather wait for Instant Runoff Voting to become a reality before taking that plunge. This is my reality compromise: Register Green, vote Green in the primaries, and then become a begrudging Democrat in the general election. Every time.
In the end, I think that my moral responsibility to defenestrate Bushco trumps my desire to help pave the way for alternative candidates. But only just. And I pray for a future in which the race isn’t so close, the consequences so grave.
Music: Sonic Youth :: Mote
Homeland Security and Trademark
Homeland security is apparently about a lot more than protecting us from terrorists. In St. Helens, Oregon, agents visited a toy store to ask them to remove a Rubik’s Cube knock-off from shelves. Turned out the Rubik’s Cube patent has expired so the “Magic Cube” wasn’t infringing at all. But why did Homeland Security care to begin with?
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency’s intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C. “One of the things that our agency’s responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation’s financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications,” she said.
Music: Augustus Pablo :: Well Red