Impolite Company

Personal Day

That's it for today, I'm outta here!  I'm going to go spend some time with my college room mate, his family and his brother's family; it's gonna be a mad house. See you tomorrow.

Cuba: A Quick Glimpse

There's an article on the BBC website today, looking at some pros and cons of the current situation in Cuba.  In light of yesterday's discussion of capitalism, I thought it might be interesting to link to it and post a couple of highlights.  On the continuum of the balancing act between individual rights vs. social stability, Cuba definitely leans heavily in the social stability direction and production and efficiency suffer from this.  But they do really well when it comes to health care, infant mortality, literacy and free education.  Though I doubt many in the US would want to emulate Cuba, there are things they do we could learn from.  Keeping Cuba on the Economic Road:

One of the goals of Fidel Castro's revolution was to create an egalitarian society. Private enterprise was banned and everyone from doctors to factory workers was paid the same.

Today Cuba has one of the most centrally controlled, state-run economies left in the world. It is inefficient and the average salary is barely $25 (£17) a month.

And later in the article:

Education is free right the way through to university and post-graduate level and Cuba boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the world.

The health statistics are equally impressive. All the key indicators from infant mortality to life expectancy are among the best in the Americas. Its doctor to patient ratio is one of the highest in the world.

Health care has now become a major export. Cuba sends tens of thousands of doctors and health workers to some of the poorest parts of Latin America and Africa.

Can Organic Feed the World?

This is a question that has been running through my head for months now--when it comes to productivity and land use requirements, are organic methods sufficient to feed the world?  I've seen some indications that the answer may be "yes", mostly based on rather small experiments that are used as models to extrapolate to world food production.  The Rodale Institute, a Pennsylvania organization that has been an organic leader for sixty years, has put out a report based on data from other studies that confidently asserts the answer is YES.  I don't think it's quite as definitive as they assert but I'm glad to see more support for the idea is being marshaled.I don't have time to read through it right now but will try to do so over the next day or so.  You can find the report here--The Organic Green Revolution.

Here's how they see the current problem:

Based upon the heavy use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation, the industrial Green Revolution worked only as long as fuel was cheap and water was abundant. The transitory benefits of increased short-term food production have come at too great an ecological price as carbon is extracted from the soil and emitted as global-warming carbon dioxide in our air instead of remaining in the soil to nurture crops. Petroleum-based fertilizers and chemical pesticides have also polluted our water and poisoned our environment, food, and people.

And here's their view of the answer:

Not only can organic agriculture feed the world, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in a report released in October, it may be the only way we can solve the growing problem of hunger in developing countries. UNEP states that its extensive study “challenges the popular myth that organic agriculture cannot increase agricultural productivity.” UNEP reported that organic practices in Africa outperformed industrial, chemical-intensive conventional farming, and also provided environmental benefits such as improved soil fertility, better retention of water and resistance to drought. This analysis of 114 farming projects in 24 African countries found that organic or near-organic practices resulted in a yield increase of more than 100 percent.  (UNEP “Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa,” 2008) Achim Steiner, head of UNEP, said the report “indicates that the potential contribution of organic farming to feeding the world may be far higher than many had supposed.”

Stephen Colbert Sings the National Anthem

And does a lovely job of it.  In light of recent posts impugning capitalism and calling Israel into question, I felt compelled to demonstrate my USA bona fides.  Well, not exactly.  I just heard this version of the National Anthem with Colbert and John Legend and it's really good and thought I'd share it.  (1:30)

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Intro - 4/14/08

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

OMG, I Promise I Won't

Yet another study has been released showing that one component of abstinence only sex education has no appreciable effect on sexual activity in teens and apparently discourages the use of condoms.  Virginity pledges are promises by teens that they won't have sex until marriage--the pledges are often part of abstinence-only sex ed programs.  The study by Janet E. Rosenbaum of Johns Hopkins, which attempted to control for 100 variables in order to make certain that there were no built in biases in the results, found that rates of sexual activity were the same despite the pledges and there was a ten percent decrease in the use of condoms by those who had made the pledge.  Study:  Virginity Pledges are Ineffective:

By 2001, Rosenbaum found, 82 percent of those who had taken a pledge had retracted their promises, and there was no significant difference in the proportion of students in both groups who had engaged in any type of sexual activity, including giving or receiving oral sex, vaginal intercourse, the age at which they first had sex, or their number of sexual partners. More than half of both groups had engaged in various types of sexual activity, had an average of about three sexual partners and had had sex for the first time by age 21 even if they were unmarried.

"It seems that pledgers aren't really internalizing the pledge," Rosenbaum said. "Participating in a program doesn't appear to be motivating them to change their behavior. It seems like abstinence has to come from an individual conviction rather than participating in a program."

State Governments Aren't Immune

Krugman wrote a column yesterday about how state governors are slashing spending in response to the budget shortfalls they face because of the economic situation.  And he repeats his argument on the state level that he uses on the federal level--now is not the time for the state to stop spending.  But things are different on the state level because many states have balanced budget requirements and because states can't borrow as readily as the federal government during an economic crisis, which means the feds must extend help to the states to keep them from gutting social services and spending that is more necessary than ever:  Fifty Herbert Hoovers:

But even as Washington tries to rescue the economy, the nation will be reeling from the actions of 50 Herbert Hoovers — state governors who are slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future.

These state-level cutbacks range from small acts of cruelty to giant acts of panic — from cuts in South Carolina’s juvenile justice program, which will force young offenders out of group homes and into prison, to the decision by a committee that manages California state spending to halt all construction outlays for six months.

Now, state governors aren’t stupid (not all of them, anyway). They’re cutting back because they have to — because they’re caught in a fiscal trap. But let’s step back for a moment and contemplate just how crazy it is, from a national point of view, to be cutting public services and public investment right now.

Books of 2008

The Statesman has a good list of the best books from 2008, for those of you out there who are always on the lookout for a good read.  Unfortunately, I find it very difficult to read online.  I'm linking to it because I think it's a very good list if you take the time to sort it out--the list is recommendations from various big name Austin lovers of books:  The Best Books of 2008.

Is Israel Wrong?

I must admit that I don't follow the Israeli situation closely enough to comment intelligently on it and, as I do other times when I can't really add to the conversation on something that seems pretty important, I'm going to outsource.  Ezra Klein posted yesterday a little blurb with the title "Israel, Wrong" in which he discusses the lack of proportionality of Israel's response to Hamas.  Oddly enough, one of the most interesting aspects of this post are the comment responses, which do a good job of debating out the different perspectives on the situation.  I'll give you a blurb from the post and then just encourage you to read through some of the comments to get a feel for the ongoing debate--it's far from a black and white situation and calls into question the motivations and strategies by both sides of the conflict:

This is the paragraph that I can't get out of my head:

Hamas had in recent weeks let it be known that it doubted Israel would engage in a major military undertaking because of its coming elections. But in some ways the elections have made it impossible for officials like Mr. Barak not to react, because the public has grown anxious and angry over the rocket fire, which while causing no recent deaths and few injuries is deeply disturbing for those living near Gaza.

No deaths and few injuries. "Deeply disturbing." Hamas lacks the technology to aim its rockets. They're taking potshots. In response, the Israeli government launched air strikes that have now killed more than 280 Palestinians, injured hundreds beyond that, and further radicalized thousands in the Occupied Territories and millions in the region. The response will not come today, of course. It will come in months, or even in years, when an angry orphan detonates a belt filled with shrapnel, killing himself and 25 Israelis. At which point the Israelis will launch air strikes killing another 70 Palestinians, radicalizing thousands more, leading to more bombings, and so the cycle continues.

Here's another analysis of the situation:  Israel Reminds Foes That It Has Teeth.

Dorsey Barger and Eastside Gardening

When I first moved to Austin I got a job waiting tables at the Eastside Cafe.  It seemed like a pretty natural fit--I'd been in restaurants for years, preferred small, local establishments that served good food and this was a place that my girlfriend at the time liked a lot (this actually may have been the deciding factor--well, and it was close to where we lived).  I worked at Eastside for a couple of years till I ran off to San Antonio to go to law school. 

While I was at Eastside, I always thought of the garden as a cute diversion, a nice place to enjoy a final cigarette before work, a place to sit for a couple of minutes before a shift.  And at that time, it largely was a show garden with only small amounts of produce or flowers making it onto the menu periodically.  There was an article back in October about Dorsey, one of the owners, taking over the garden and it sounds like she's taken her obsessive energy outdoors.  I think I need to head north and see how much things are changing in my old haunts!  Eastside Cafe's Dorsey Barger Finds Her Passion in the Garden.

Beautiful Free Fall

The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped.  His wings were still folded against his sides as though he were singing from a limb and not falling, accelerating thirty-two feet per second per second, through empty air.  Just a breath before he would have been dashed to the ground, he unfurled his wings with exact, deliberate care, revealing the broad bars of white, spread  his elegant, white-banded tail, and so floated onto the grass.  I had just rounded a corner when his insouiciant step caught my eye; there was no one else in sight.  The fact of his free fall was like the old philospophical conundrm about the tree that falls in the forest.  The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them.  The least we can do is try to be there.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

The Ultimate Limits of Worldliness

I have tried a few different ways to frame this quote from Thomas Merton but I think it performs best when it stands alone.  It comes from a section of his Seven Storey Mountain in which he is discussing how he turned to Communism after leaving college in the UK and returning to the United States.  His withering critique of capitalism rings pretty true to me--I've never quite been able to figure out the close affinity between a large segment of American Christendom and unfettered free market capitalism.  Though I find Thomas Frank's analysis in What's the Matter with Kansas? interesting, I think he misses this strong vein of free marketry, particularly among more fundamentalist believers.

It is true that the materialistic society, the so-called culture that has evolved under the tender mercies of capitalism, has produced what seems to be the ultimate limit of this worldliness.  And nowhere, except perhaps in the analogous society of pagan Rome, has there ever been such a flowering of cheap and petty and disgusting lusts and vanities as in the world of  capitalism, where there is no evil that is not fostered an encouraged for the sake of making money.  We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pith of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest.

Christmas Hike

Sorry, I've had this up for hours with no introduction.  I posted it while talking on the phone and I'm not very good at the whole multi-tasking thing and so I figured I'd add some details later when I had the chance.  Which I'm doing now and everyone's happy.  These are a few pictures I took while "hiking" around with my brother in the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park.  I say hiking, but it was on well-worn and graveled paths, so it wasn't really anything hardcore.  But it was a good, long ramble that led up to a fire tower from which the last couple of pictures in the slideshow were taken.  Sadly, my batteries ran out of juice so I couldn't snap the obligatory panaromic shot.  Have fun:

Please Don't Divorce Us

I don't have confirmation on the numbers but if Prop 8 passes constitutional muster with the California Supreme Court and is found to operate retroactively, there are around 18,000 couples whose marriages will be void.  The Courage Campaign has put together a Flickr slideshow of people who will be "divorced" by the state who sent their pictures in:

More Attention to Food Policy

This time it's the Christian Science Monitor that is sporting a piece on food policy and how it's time for Obama to take a crack at putting us on a more sustainable and more diverse track.  We haven't reached the consensus point we have with climate issues and a I'm sure there are plenty of folks who look at our concerns and shake their heads in befuddlement, but if we can keep getting good stories in major publications maybe we can keep chipping away and growing the movement a few more people at a time.  Slowly.  Sustainably.  People who embrace slower living by conviction and by reason rather than through a faddish trend. 

Here's what Christopher Cook had to say in part (for the rest of the list of nine priorities and the rest of the article read A Food Agenda for Obama):

The change we need in food is as urgent as any we face – changes that affect national health, energy security, global warming, and more. Here, then, is a not-so-modest nine-point platform for food reform, some of which could be included in Obama's stimulus package. Other elements may require a lengthier policy push:

1. New public investments targeting sustainable agriculture, defined as organic, small- to mid-sized, diversified farming.

2. New investments in local/regional food networks and foodsheds – to help build up the connections between farmers and consumers, to open up and expand new markets for organic farmers and those considering the transition; for more farmer's markets and food stores that feature local produce.

3. A moratorium on agribusiness mergers, and strenuous antitrust provisions and enforcement to protect what little is left of diversity in the food economy.

4. A moratorium on all new genetically modified (GMO) products, and an expansion of existing ones, and appointment of a blue-ribbon panel/commission to assess the impact of GMO foods on our environment and our health.

5. A moratorium on – and gradual phasing out of – concentrated animal feeding operations, aka factory farms, which are among the nation's top polluters of water and air, and breeders of widespread and virulent bacterial strains.

Time for Holidays

Time changes over the holidays, sometimes with multiple shifts.  For procrastinators like me, sometimes there's a crush when you suddenly need to find a half dozen gifts within a very small window.  At other points of the holiday season there will be a long stretch of relatively unscheduled time, no deadlines, no goals, no structure.  

With that in mind, I'd like to share a bit of Barbara Kingsolver, from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in which she discusses time, the saving of it and what it is that you do with your bankroll of saved time:

When I was in college, living two states away from my family, I studied the map one weekend and found a different route home from the one we usually traveled.  I drove back to Kentucky the new way, which did turn out to be faster.  During my visit I made sure all my relatives heard about the navigational brilliance that saved me thirty-seven minutes.

Healthcare Documentary Showing in Austin

I just got this announcement via email and want to pass it along without much comment because I think it speaks for itself.  I got the announcement from Health Care for All Texas, a group I've talked about around here before.  Their website is worth checking out for information on the health care debate and specifically about single payer options that should be considered:

Sick Around the World - PBS Documentary and Discussion
January 22, 2009, Thursday 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
14311 Wellsport Drive (1 block west of I-35 at Wells Branch exit.) 78728
512.251.0698

HEALTHCARE REFORM is coming. Are you informed on your healthcare options?
We are the only developed country without Universal Healthcare. One-third of our population either has no insurance or is severely underinsured. 
Our system denies coverage to those who have pre-existing conditions. It makes premiums and other medical costs unaffordable for many individuals and businesses.
 The US ranks among the lowest in life expectancy and among the highest in  infant mortality of developed countries Yet we pay more than twice  per person for healthcare as compared to other developed countries..
Medical bills are responsible for more than half the bankruptcies in the US, and we are the only developed country where this happens.
 
This film focuses on types of health care plans in other developed countries and what works!  Afterwards, there will be a short slide presentation and discussion with a panel of doctors and other healthcare professionals. Admission is free, but donations gratefully accepted.  Please contact Gaye Kopas for further information at gkopas@msn.com.

Pointier than Austin

Just got into Boone, NC yesterday and so I'm going to try to blog from the road.  This is the window from my bedroom, looking down and out over lots of trees and mountains.  It's definitely different from Austin!  I'm in a little coffee shop called Conrad's Coffee Company so the view out the window is a little bit different.  North Carolina playwright, novelist, screenwriter and former news anchor Bob Inman just walked in the door and is talking to a young fellow at a nearby table.  He was the voice of local news when I was a kid, splayed out on the floor in the den on the shaggy green carpet.  The last time I was up here we were eating at a local family restaurant called The Mountain House and bluegrass and folk legend Doc Watson walked in.  This place is just crawling with celebrities. 

Time to catch up on the news and figure out if there's anything worth posting about.  Happy Christmas Eve!

Karate Makes You Sing Better

Those of us involved in teaching and training in the martial arts are used to long lists of how studying martial arts can improve your life in an infinite number of ways, from improving your physical condition (d'uh!) to helping you get that promotion at work you've been shooting for (huh?).  As you may have guessed from the title, I've got a new one to add--karate can help you sing better.

A Colbert Christmas

Very, very funny.

Food Deserts

It's strange to think that in many of our urban centers it can be extremely difficult to find healthy food rather than chips, twinkies, Whoppers, Big Macs and Big Gulps.  This is one of the points that Mark Winne brings up again and again in Closing the Food Gap and it's yet another example of how there are often systemic hurdles for the less fortunate to overcome to break the cycle of poverty.  It's a story that makes it into the mainstream press as well on occasion, for instance this AP story that just came up on MSNBC:  Urban Areas Struggle to Find Grocers, Fresh Food:

Selma Lozoya is working to bring better food to one of the poorest communities in America, South Los Angeles, where neon lights illuminate a greasy fast-food vista and obesity and diabetes are rampant.

While grocery stores and healthy restaurants are scarce, corner stores are stocked with beer, cigarettes, fried snacks and fatty sweets...

...There are only six supermarkets in South Los Angeles, serving a population of about 688,000. By comparison, 19 supermarkets serve West Los Angeles' population of about 395,000.

For those of us in Austin, there's a chance to get a different perspective on the gap between the food have's and have-not's from Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved this coming January 25th at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.