Saturday, January 29, 2011

Ayn Freakin' Rand

Self-loathing female misogynist, fascist apologist, writer of tiresome, polemical novels...

Turns out there's another word to describe Ayn Rand:
Hypocrite.  Better yet, free-loading hypocrite.  Isn't it lovely, the way opponents of social programs end up eating from the very trough at which they turn up their noses?

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/28/ayn-rand-took-govern.html

Boingboing, I love you.  <3

Friday, January 28, 2011

Stirring Things Up in Pakistan

Just when you thought the US could not possibly destabilize its tenuous relationship with Pakistan more than it already has...

An American "consular employee" shot and killed two Pakistani citizens in Lahore on Thursday, January 27.  The employee, whose role with the diplomatic corps has not been disclosed, has claimed the men were attempting to rob him.  A third Pakistani citizen was struck and killed by the employee's colleagues as they sped in their car to assist him. 

Little is known about the employee, identified by the BBC as Raymond Davis, or his duties in Pakistan.  He did not have diplomatic immunity, and he was not authorized to carry a gun for security.  Even more puzzling is that, while most consular employees in Lahore travel with guards, Mr. Davis traveled alone on Thursday--although he alleges that he had just withdrawn money at an ATM when the shooting occurred. 

Added up, the circumstances do not paint a favorable portrait of either Davis' or America's motives in Lahore.  Despite the fact that we are using Pakistan to stage our attacks on the Taliban and other militant groups, the US has shown itself to be singularly callous as regards Pakistani civilians.  By conservative estimates, 1,100 people were killed by drone strikes in northern Pakistan between August 2008 and September 2010.  Many of those casualties were civilians. 

The US Embassy has "denounced" the killings with the customary diplomatic palaver, affirming that an employee of the consulate "was involved in an incident yesterday that regrettably resulted in the loss of life."

This lukewarm rhetoric will probably be insufficient to cool the heating tensions bewteen Pakistanis and Americans in Lahore; to the contrary, it will likely add nothing but insult to injury.  Curiously enough, while the BBC has identified the American, the AP maintains that he is an "unnamed consular employee." 

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Thoughts on Obama's SOTU Address

There were some definite benefits to watching the State of the Union Address on CNN last night.  First and foremost, John Boehner sat behind Obama to the left. While I don't normally enjoy looking at Boehner (aka "The Annoying Orange," aka, "Cry Baby"), seeing him forced to sit silently while Obama spoke was definitely entertaining.  He started out with an obviously fake, but polite, smile.  As the speech progressed, the corners of his mouth drooped more and more.  When Obama mentioned ending corporate welfare for oil and gas companies, he looked downright grim.  And towards the end, when Obama mentioned a certain boy from Ohio getting his start as a sweeper in his father's bar, I thought we'd see the famous Boehner waterworks.  No such luck.  But he did look mighty, mighty embarrassed!  Honestly, of all the things Boehner has done, sweeping the floor in a bar seems the least embarrassing.  But, hey, I've never really understood the workings of the Republican mind.

Another high point was the President's call to more rigorous science education.  The previous administration seemed against all science that did not have an immediate military application (or so they led their followers to believe).  In fact, the previous administration seemed to have issues with knowledge and education, in general.  After years of hearing the virtues of the "gentleman's c," it was nice to hear a president promote intelligence and education.

And there's the segue to what was possibly the most flawed aspect of Obama's address.  I am all for funding science ed, promoting teachers as "nation builders," and innovation.  Yet the context in which all of this was mentioned troubled me deeply.  To endlessly mention "competition" with other nations, to speak of out-innovating other nations, brings back too many memories of the Cold War: an era that saw great gains for the military/defense complex, but few for scientific innovation or education. 

I was disturbed by Obama's use of the "brain-drain" (at least he had the sense not to use that designation) in his arguments for the infamous "anchor babies"/young dreamers (kudos for avoidance of that catch-phrase, too).  It's true that America does educate many foreign born scientists.  It is not universally true that those scientists take "our" education back to their nations thanklessly, though.  Yes.  Some do return to their countries of origin.  Many, however, stay here to work in research and development--or to teach college science courses.  Invoking the over-used "brain-drain" is unfair and smacks of pandering, especially when we depend upon those same scientists for much of our present day innovation.  To me, it seemed Obama was just rubbing the big, racist, xenophobic underbelly of our culture.

Frankly, I don't see how we can logically address either joblessness or illegal immigration when we refuse to acknowledge that it is our policies that have caused both.  Pressuring right-wing governments in Latin America to keep our multinationals cozy led to mass slaughter in El Salvador and Guatemala in the 80's. Those slaughters led to wave upon wave of illegal (illegal in the sense that we denied them asylum) immigrants from those nations.

We have made it easy for corporations to ship their jobs overseas.  Not, as the Republicans claim, by taxing them, but by culturing poverty in other countries and by supporting repressive regimes whose citizens will take any job they can, under any condition, no matter how deplorable.  The whole debate, from the left and the right in this country, is artificial and unhelpful.  I should qualify; it is unhelpful to workers whose jobs are being outsourced or given to immigrants.  It is quite helpful to large corporations.

So.  Final analysis of the SOTU--nothing changes.  Lots of attitude, but also lots of concession, more than a smidgen of grovelling, and very little of either hope or change.  Which, if you recall, are the pillars upholding Obama's election.  But we did get to see Boehner grimace.  And while I would have appreciated it if the Pres had stuck it to Boehner's party a bit more, anything that wipes the smile off his orange face is a lovely gesture. A mere gesture, but lovely, nonetheless.

To 1997 and Back Again

I am a contrarian.  Yes, it's a character flaw, one that sometimes reaches ridiculous, irrational, self-defeating heights.  So it's unsurprising, perhaps, that I was the last in my peer group to explore Pandora.com.  I am glad I did, though, because it brought me back a little piece of 1997 that I didn't know I was missing. 

In 1997, I was a recent college grad with a job in Birmingham--a 60-mile drive from my community in north Alabama (heads-up; future rant on lack of public transit in 'Bama forthcoming).  Spending that much time in the car, I listened to a lot of radio.  And Birmingham being Birmingham, that means either NPR or Top 40.  Normally, this would be a bad thing.  Except that there was this one catchy, infectious tune  that got a bunch of airplay for a while.

It featured a sample from a '30's era song I didn't quite recognize.  It was titillatingly vague, in terms of gender; that was definitely a man singing "I could never be your woman." Best of all, it contained one line that caught my ear immediately: 

So much for all your highbrow, Marxist ways...

You can go for years in Alabama without hearing the word Marxist in any context (now, "commie" occurs with great regularity, and "socialist" is trotted out like a sturdy old work horse every election--but Marxist, well, only in history class).  So to hear it casually thrown out in a clever, hooky pop song was jolting.

I loved that song.  I could never find the album in the stores when I actually had money to spend on music.  So when it was edged off the radio by blander offerings, I was sad.

Years went by.  I forgot about the fun little song about a charming, handsome, Marxist ass until Pandora played it on my station a couple of days ago.  I found the video on YouTube (fabulous!), and I did a Google search.  It turns out that White Town, the band from which "Your Woman" issued, comprises one man, Jyoti Mishra.  It turns out  also that he identifies as an anarcho-syndicalist (joy!).  And, he had a "love map" on his blog, demonstrating a lack of love from Alabama.

As an Alabamian long fascinated with anarcho-syndicalism, I had to email!  I mean, the fact that he managed to get the word "Marxist" played over and over again on pop radio was reason enough.  But also, his blog touches upon some disturbing truths about America's international policies, especially the deadly drone attacks launched against Pakistani and Afghanistani targets.  And he's a Chomsky fan. And he's straight edge. And, and...

To my pleasant surprise, he sent me the nicest email back.  His blog and his email made me feel less isolated.  It gave me a little more hope, knowing there are other people concerned about the same issues and working to keep them in the public consciousness.  Because, let's face it, in a state where Obama is largely regarded as a socialist, I'm not going to find a lot of political sympatica any time real soon! 

So my first post is in honor of White Town and Jyoti Mishra.  He's a marvelous musician and a super person--and he has done a lot since "Your Woman."  Check him out:  http://www.whitetown.co.uk/