Here's a good editorial today from the NY Times about Obama's recent shifts toward the center. I agree with the ending, where they say that a candidate's shifts toward center in an general election are expected and necessary, but I do find some of them distressing, particularly the one about gun control in DC and illegal wiretapping. I have mixed feelings about the public financing issue (he could have worked within the system and then fixed it...but his denial of lobbyist funds is encouraging...but the hunt for high rollers is dismaying), and I have no problem with the faith-based initiatives - as long as they are carefully chosen, churches are often in a good position to provide aid to those who need it, and are better organized for that than the government is. I don't agree with him about the death penalty, but I understand why he holds that position. In a presidential race, I'm not looking for a candidate who agrees with me on every topic, but for someone whose judgment I feel I can trust. In the past, I have sometimes felt shaky on that with Obama, but he has usually risen to the occasion, particularly with the Reverend Wright affair and with the issue of negative campaigning. Here's a good article where he acknowledged some missteps in a rough week of the primaries. I would never expect a candidate to be perfect all the time, but the acknowledgement of missteps goes a very long way in my estimation of him.
He is of course a masterful and crafty politician (and not at all naive, as some would paint him). The fears on the right about his Chicago politics are not entirely unbased, but he'll have to play the game to the hilt in order to win, so I don't grudge him the occasional shifting positions, but I am a bit concerned over the gun control and wiretapping issues. The pattern in the past has been that he gets bogged down in the system (which anyone would), but then manages to rise above it (most clearly in the negative campaigning issue), and I hope that will prove to be the case here too.
Friday, July 4, 2008
General Clark
I've followed General Wesley Clark for several years now, and have been impressed in many ways. He was the Supreme Commander of the NATO forces in Kosovo, and ran for president in 2004. The recent fallout over his off-hand remark about John McCain - saying very clearly that he is a hero to Clark himself and to hundred of thousands of other soldiers who fought in Vietnam, but that getting shot down in a plane and serving in a prison isn't necessarily qualification for high office - has caused a great deal of controversy. Paul Krugman has an editorial about this today which I believe puts the situation in proper perspective, but I do regret that public opinion is following the same path it did with the Swift Boat situation in '04. One of McCain's most vocal aides is Colonel Bud Day, who is outraged that Clark would "insult" McCain in this way. Colonel Day was one of the primary Swift Boaters, who actually did question and insult John Kerry's Vietnam service, though that's clearly not what Clark did. The original interview is here, and you can see for yourself how even-handed he is.
I had hoped (and still hope) that Obama would choose Clark as his vice-president. That would have been unthinkable when Karl Rove was still in charge, but Krugman seems to suggest that the days when his tactics worked automatically on an unsuspecting America are now over, and that we are now in an era where trumped up smears are outshined by real issues.
God, I hope so.
I had hoped (and still hope) that Obama would choose Clark as his vice-president. That would have been unthinkable when Karl Rove was still in charge, but Krugman seems to suggest that the days when his tactics worked automatically on an unsuspecting America are now over, and that we are now in an era where trumped up smears are outshined by real issues.
God, I hope so.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Biker Brotherhood
I know I'm opening myself up to serious charges of nerdiness here, but I've been a nerd pretty much all my life, so I'll just plow ahead.
Last year, horrified not only by global warming but by the fact that the oil crisis is the primary cause of our involvement in Iraq, I decided to get a scooter. I believe that the only way to defeat terrorism is to cut off what's important about them, and as soon as we go to electric cars, powered by wind, solar and methane collection, the entire Middle East will be just a sterile
desert, and our planet can begin to heal itself. I researched different options, and bought a Genuine Buddy 125 (see photo). It gets 100 miles to the gallon, so I fill up about once a week, and the gas tank holds about 1.5 gallons, so I never spend more than $6 (usually more like $3.50). It also comes with a 2 year warranty and 1 year road-side assistance, which I've never needed, because it has run like a dream ever since I got it. People like to make fun of it, but today, I took it for my first time on the interstate, and clocked 74 miles per hour.
The added benefit I didn't expect was that I would become part of the brotherhood of bikers. If you haven't ridden a motorcycle or scooter before, you probably don't know about this brotherhood. I was surprised at first to see everyone on a bike wave at me as I passed them. The first time it happened, it was a group of Harleys, and I was sure I'd offended them in some way. I kept checking in my rear-view mirror to see if they were following me to beat me up. But it kept happening, and before long, I realized that scooters are also a part of the biker brotherhood. Every time I pass a bike, I get the trademark left-handed wave, sometimes varied as a point or a head nod, especially at stop lights. The only people I've ever passed who don't wave or nod are the people on the rocket bikes whose jackets and helmets match their cycles, usually in black and electric blue or canary yellow. But every Harley rider of every age (the old Hell's angel, the dissatisfied yuppie, the young rebel without a cause) solemnly recognizes my part in the brotherhood, as does every other bike rider out there. It's a completely different experience than you get in a car, which is so isolated. That may be connected to how different riding a bike on the highway is. You are always aware of your surroundings. Even when I listen to my iPod, I am keenly aware of the rhythm of the road, of where every car around me is, of which drivers are paying attention and which ones are not, of whether it looks like rain, or whether the wind picks up on a bridge. This hyper-awareness is something all bikers share, and the wave may be simply a tribute to that common understanding, that no matter the cool factor of the bike, we can admire each other and connect to each other through a common experience.
I've also noticed that my bike is probably the most consistent conversation starter I've ever had. It's typically middle-aged men who catch me in parking lots, to ask about what type of mileage it gets, to complain about oil prices, to reminisce about the days when gas was cheap, and to commiserate about wives who won't let them get the bike they've always dreamed of. There's a type of freedom that comes with the risks a bike entails, and that feedom is apparently quite attractive to men of a certain age. Today, I got in a conversation for about 45 minutes in a parking lot with a man who believes that oil should not cost above $65 a barrel (it passed $145 today), and that the entire gas crisis is a product of speculators - a few Ivy league graduates who have learned how to manipulate the situation. "America doesn't make anything," he fumed, "we just invent ways to get rich off of nothing. Nothing at all. Get rich off of people's fears, off of their stupidity, off of other people's work." Just the simple fact that I was riding a bike made me a confidant to this stranger, and a sort of icon of a way to stick it to the man. I didn't get into the fact that I can't really afford another car right now, and that I'd probably buy the Tesla Roadster if I were rich, rather than this scooter, because I didn't want to spoil his view of the situation. It helped him to have someone to blame, and it helped him to see a different way of approaching the situation, rather than just complaining. He asked me where I got the bike, and I told him, so maybe he'll go check it out. When I told him what part of town it was in (a pretty rough section), he laughed and asked if this is what all the drug dealers are driving now. I don't know, but I certainly am curious about the limo that is always in front of Ed's Seafood and Produce (click on street view on the link - it's even there on google maps!).
I'm rambling now, but while part of the decision to get the bike was a practical one, I'm also quite convinced that it's one minor way to start saving the planet. The number of scooters on the road has more than tripled since I bought mine last year, and I see one every time I ride now, as opposed to seeing one only every month or so when I first bought it. It's definitely tough to ride in the winter, or in the rain, but the weather here has been perfect recently, and I do love the sense of freedom it provides.
Last year, horrified not only by global warming but by the fact that the oil crisis is the primary cause of our involvement in Iraq, I decided to get a scooter. I believe that the only way to defeat terrorism is to cut off what's important about them, and as soon as we go to electric cars, powered by wind, solar and methane collection, the entire Middle East will be just a sterile
desert, and our planet can begin to heal itself. I researched different options, and bought a Genuine Buddy 125 (see photo). It gets 100 miles to the gallon, so I fill up about once a week, and the gas tank holds about 1.5 gallons, so I never spend more than $6 (usually more like $3.50). It also comes with a 2 year warranty and 1 year road-side assistance, which I've never needed, because it has run like a dream ever since I got it. People like to make fun of it, but today, I took it for my first time on the interstate, and clocked 74 miles per hour.The added benefit I didn't expect was that I would become part of the brotherhood of bikers. If you haven't ridden a motorcycle or scooter before, you probably don't know about this brotherhood. I was surprised at first to see everyone on a bike wave at me as I passed them. The first time it happened, it was a group of Harleys, and I was sure I'd offended them in some way. I kept checking in my rear-view mirror to see if they were following me to beat me up. But it kept happening, and before long, I realized that scooters are also a part of the biker brotherhood. Every time I pass a bike, I get the trademark left-handed wave, sometimes varied as a point or a head nod, especially at stop lights. The only people I've ever passed who don't wave or nod are the people on the rocket bikes whose jackets and helmets match their cycles, usually in black and electric blue or canary yellow. But every Harley rider of every age (the old Hell's angel, the dissatisfied yuppie, the young rebel without a cause) solemnly recognizes my part in the brotherhood, as does every other bike rider out there. It's a completely different experience than you get in a car, which is so isolated. That may be connected to how different riding a bike on the highway is. You are always aware of your surroundings. Even when I listen to my iPod, I am keenly aware of the rhythm of the road, of where every car around me is, of which drivers are paying attention and which ones are not, of whether it looks like rain, or whether the wind picks up on a bridge. This hyper-awareness is something all bikers share, and the wave may be simply a tribute to that common understanding, that no matter the cool factor of the bike, we can admire each other and connect to each other through a common experience.
I've also noticed that my bike is probably the most consistent conversation starter I've ever had. It's typically middle-aged men who catch me in parking lots, to ask about what type of mileage it gets, to complain about oil prices, to reminisce about the days when gas was cheap, and to commiserate about wives who won't let them get the bike they've always dreamed of. There's a type of freedom that comes with the risks a bike entails, and that feedom is apparently quite attractive to men of a certain age. Today, I got in a conversation for about 45 minutes in a parking lot with a man who believes that oil should not cost above $65 a barrel (it passed $145 today), and that the entire gas crisis is a product of speculators - a few Ivy league graduates who have learned how to manipulate the situation. "America doesn't make anything," he fumed, "we just invent ways to get rich off of nothing. Nothing at all. Get rich off of people's fears, off of their stupidity, off of other people's work." Just the simple fact that I was riding a bike made me a confidant to this stranger, and a sort of icon of a way to stick it to the man. I didn't get into the fact that I can't really afford another car right now, and that I'd probably buy the Tesla Roadster if I were rich, rather than this scooter, because I didn't want to spoil his view of the situation. It helped him to have someone to blame, and it helped him to see a different way of approaching the situation, rather than just complaining. He asked me where I got the bike, and I told him, so maybe he'll go check it out. When I told him what part of town it was in (a pretty rough section), he laughed and asked if this is what all the drug dealers are driving now. I don't know, but I certainly am curious about the limo that is always in front of Ed's Seafood and Produce (click on street view on the link - it's even there on google maps!).
I'm rambling now, but while part of the decision to get the bike was a practical one, I'm also quite convinced that it's one minor way to start saving the planet. The number of scooters on the road has more than tripled since I bought mine last year, and I see one every time I ride now, as opposed to seeing one only every month or so when I first bought it. It's definitely tough to ride in the winter, or in the rain, but the weather here has been perfect recently, and I do love the sense of freedom it provides.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Disadavantages of an Elite Education
This was brought to my attention by our Academic Dean. It's an amazing article written by a Yale professor about the problems of an elite education, including that it is (counter-intuitively) anti-intellectual. The article is long, but really worth taking the time to read.
Meditation & Genetics
Here is a new study on how meditation can actually alter genetic responses in the body. People have known this for millenia, but it is nice that science is catching up...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Mandela, the terrorist
Amazing. Today, Nelson Mandela was removed from the US terror watch list. It reminds me of when Pope John Paul II pardoned Galileo...
An invisibility cloak
Here is an article about the possibility of actual invisibility cloaks that proves that whatever you imagine will one day become a reality. Of course, they are a long way off, but the mathematical models are there, and that's the beginning. I sometimes wonder if that is how the world is created. We imagine something, give it some time and space and plenty of our attention, and eventually it materializes.
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