2002 REVIEWS
STUPID WHITE MEN
DOWNSIZING DEMOCRACY
THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY
THE SAVAGE WARS OF PEACE
THE NEXT CHRISTIANITY
WHAT IF?
INTOLERANCE: THE BESTSELLER
THE MIDDLE OF EVERYWHERE
WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY
POLITICALLY INCORRECT
POLITICAL FICTIONS
FRONTIER HOUSE
U.S. OIL POLITICS
FREE AGENT NATION
SEVERED TRUST
DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE UNIVERSE
THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
NEXT
AMERICA'S UNDECLARED WAR
ONE NATION, SLIGHTLY DIVISIBLE
Stupid White Men
Michael Moore
2001
Perhaps a subtitle for this book would be "America-What
Went Wrong", as Moore tees off on a variety of home grown ills from
airline pilots making poverty wages to the decline of the nation's libraries.
There's a lot on this book for Conservatives to hate.
Moore goes off on how bad GW Bush has been as president
but doesn't spare Clinton who he aptly describes as a Republican. From
health care to welfare "reform" Clinton, and Gore, haven't been
noticeably better than the current illegitimate "President".
In the "We're # 1" chapter Moore lists the categories of U.S.
leadership: billionaires, millionaires, per capita energy use, per capita
municipal waste, oil and gas consumption, least amount of tax revenue generated
as a percentage of GDP, budget deficit as a percentage of GDP, lowest voter
turnout, lowest 8th grade math scores and other assorted embarrassing (or
what should be) categories. All of these achievements have been greased
along with the help of our living politicians, Republicans and Democrats.
Moore also states his case for our general ignorance
and miss education, a stance few others with general media access will
take. This comes from a self admitted college dropout. But he does research.
Forty four functionally illiterate Americans. Perhaps (he speculates, probably
correctly) another 200 million who don't read much if anything, let alone
anything serious. Even our "President" is seen as intellectually
challenged [Just compare him to Jeb Bartlett of "The West Wing"].
If you are reading this you are probably already familiar with how many
holes in basic knowledge even our college graduates have yet who bothers
to address these deficiencies when we have all those trivial entertainment
distractions around.
Moore even takes on our foreign policy conundrums. He
offers advice to Arafat to use civil disobedience sit downs and media exposure
to pressure Israel to let up and seriously negotiate for a Palestinian
state. Not a bad idea since nothing else has worked. But then he advises
Protestants to convert to Catholicism to end the Northern Ireland dispute.
Similar facile and "humorous" offerings for other conflicts do
little to educate or solve.
But Moore does penetrate the conventional gloss, albeit
sometimes crudely. It does seem to be true that right wing politicians
who are quite willing to trample on the less fortunate "get religion"
when adversity strikes close to home. GW modified his anti stem cell research
position when Nancy Reagan called on behalf of similarly callous Ronnie.
Cheney got tolerant about homosexuals when his daughter came out of the
closet. Moore might have cited Senator Pete Dominici about mental health
programs too. The author offers a prayer to afflict the comfortable in
order to get benefits for the rest of us. It has apparently come to that
since Democrats have become Republican wannabes.
For those less inclined for the high brow liberalism, this blue collar
approach makes a lot of sense. It's not hard to get the idea here.
22/October/2002
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Downsizing Democracy
Matthew A. Crenson & Benjamin Ginsberg
2002
Let's start off with the bad news. Many are going
to find this a tough read. It is dry and one probably will long for some
dry, John Kenneth Galbraith type wit to break up the predominate dullness.
That said, the authors offer some very important, if
less generally noticable, nuggets of illumination. Their premise is that
government itself has, or is in the process of, turned citizens into customers
of governmental services. The factors that promoted mobilization of the
populace into forces for change have almost dissappeared. Devolving federal
goverment programs to amorphus state subcontractors, using litigation to
gain objectives and privatizing government work directly has broken the
common bonds of orginizing. "The state may no longer need citizens
as much as it once did..." therefor citizens can make fewer claims
on government in return. Citizens are acting individually such as cleaning
up the environment or serving meals to the needy but this is no substitute
for civic connectedness or political participation.
Political decisions in Washington are made with ever
less popular suppport. Consider the Bush tax cut and his crusade against
the Iraqi regime. But the authors of this book consider historical causes
for our participitory demise. The development of polls, the demise of a
drafted citizen army, the contraction of labor unions etc., even providing
regulatory bodies to service the discontented serve to reduce mobilization.
The authors insert insights such as the army refusing
to use Apache helicopters in Kosovo because of differences with Clinton
not because they weren't capable; the state's settlement with the tobacco
industry which strings out payments (frequently not used for anti-smoking
campaigns and health care) insuring dependence on big tobacco; how little
the national public cared or could do anything about the voting results
in Florida in 2002; the "blackmail" lawsuits instituted by lawyers
against government regulations which result in big payouts to the attorneys
to drop the suits; to GSEs, lending institutions which get government backing
while persuing a private profit agenda and private prisons making money
on longer sentences and giving less time off for good behavior. These gems
alone may make working through the book worth while.
...devolution[i.e.,]...privatization, vouchers, and policies
of "choice". ...is frequently an intermediate stage on the way
to a more thoroughgoing disaggregation of public purposes and public constituencies.
Devolution tends to divorce public policies from the organized groups that
support them and leaves policies vulnerable to elimination....Devolution
and block grants are stepping stones on the path of citizenship to customerhood
and clienthood. Devolution leads not to new public philosophy but to the
absence of such policy."
The authors offer only the hope that privatizers will
overstep themselves and there will be a resulting backlash restoring citizen
mobilization and participation.
18/November/2002
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The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Greg Palast
2002
Investigative reporter Palast takes on his most scurrolous
issues of the last decade starting with the "fixed" Florida vote
in the 2000 presidential election. He summerizes the known scrubbing of
potential Democratic votes and ties the private company ChoicePoint to
the governors administration. Palast contends that 40,000 were wrongly
barred from registering (almost all would have been Democratic voters)
along with the wrongly purged ex-felons. By the end of the chapter it is
pretty clear that overall legitmate voter intent was to favor Gore.
Apparently capable of garnering inside confidential reports
and other paperwork, he then exposes some of the inner workings and failures
of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. Some of this material has shown
up elsewhere but cases like Tanzania, where the destitute have to pay for
hospital appointments and school fees to reimburse the IMF, need more exposure.
The 4 step program to qualify for international acceptance approval are
1- Privatization (or "briberization"); 2- Capital Market Liberalization
(or deregulation) 3- Market Based Pricing (raising prices on essentials)
and 4- Open Markets (at least for imports). Much on how this all works
comes from Joe Stiglitz.
Palast takes on the issues of small businesses, immigration,
Pat Robertson, Wall-Mart, energy company takeovers and bought politicians,
all the while wondering why he seems so unpopular. But he really takes
on Blair's British government in a scathing "screed" concerning
just how unprincipled and corrupt it is. Spending much of his time there
writing for the Guardian, he ran a sting operation getting lobbyists
and insiders to confess to their access to and influence on the Blair government.
It seems to have all blown over without fundimental change. Finally, Palast
excoriates the British press and the comparative lack of free speech in
England, which doesn't have the civil suit rights we take for granted in
the U.S.
There are tantalizing insights presented here such as
the deal to drop the investigation of Clinton's illegal campaign contributions
in return for forgetting about Koch industries illegal corporate campaign
contributions to Republican candidates. Starr was left to overdue the Lewinsky
affair when Clinton might have otherwise been legitmately forced to resign.
Palast's sacrasm gets in the way of the cases he makes
until it tones down a little toward the end of this 200 pager. Although
ascerbic and discomforting because of the insider information on institutions
we would prefer not to question, this book is rewarding for those who want
to get a further glimps about how the world really works. Page 169 alone
should give you the shivers.
15/October/2002
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The Savage Wars of Peace
Max Boot
2002
Most Americans are at least vaguely aware that the
U.S. has fought a couple of world wars, the Korean war and lost in Vietnam.
This book chronicles all the other military campaigns, or undeclared wars,
we have been involved in since coming into existence, starting with the
hostilities along the Barbary coast (see To the Shores of Tripoli ;
Whipple; for a book on that conflict).
As our military might began to grow we engaged in "butcher
and bolt" tactics in the 19th century, putting down pirates in the
Caribbean, freeing whalers off the Falklands, defending merchant ships
off Sumatra, protecting political and economic interests in China, opening
Japan, controlling events in Mexico and central America. These encounters
usually involved landing parties which stayed for a short period of time,
frequently just to teach the bad guys a lesson.
And our military returned to many of these trouble spots
and more in the 20th century. Often those involved in previous little wars
saw action from a higher rank in following skirmishes. Prebbles boys begat
a Stephen Decatur. Smedley Butler spent his military career in a series
of small wars. Experience in these gorilla conflicts rendered valuable
knowledge for the next encounter. Boot traces several of these forgotten
fighters.
With the Spanish-American war won, the U.S. spent considerable
time and treasure quelling the insurrection in the newly acquired Philippines.
This finally ended 100 years ago yet our troops are there again today.
During the same period, the Boxer Rebellion involved trying to save American
lives and maintain an open door trade policy. Later, we chased Pancho Villa
around in Mexico; invaded and occupied Hispaniola (Santo Domingo and Haiti)
and Cuba, went after Augusto Sandino in Nicaragua and lost perhaps the
most crucial conflict in Russia. Boot considers the Vietnam war a small
war because of the style and commitment, even though we lost by far the
most soldiers than on any other foreign battlefield. He informs us, with
insight, as to why we lost. More recently we threw out the dictator of
Panama, have been kicked out of Lebanon and Somalia, established peace
in the Balkans and order back in Haiti.
In the late stages of the book, Boot takes issue with
current Secretary of State Colin Powell's doctrine which states that 1-we
should only commit forces in cases of our vital national interest, 2- commit
wholeheartedly, 3- have clearly defined objectives, 4-reassessed ends and
means, 5- obtain popular support, 6- last resort. Citing the historical
examples, Boot makes the case that we have net benefitted from military
action taken with unclear and limited resources and objectives. In repelling
aggression we do not always know what the consequences will bring.
In this new unipolar world our role will necessarily
be to protect beneficial values from our adversaries. We will be fighting
small, gorilla wars with all the risk to civilian populations and nation
building that entails. We will have to be smarter and more discriminating
in this TV age where perceptions can be so widely disseminated. Will our
generals fight the last wars instead of the new ones?
This is an interesting and informative read. A well balanced
historical knowledge requires understanding our military history--including
our involvement in small wars.
1/July/2002
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The Next Christianity
Phillip Jenkins
The Atlantic Monthly
October 2002
Religious trends in the world tend to be overlooked
or under reported by our media owing, at least in part, to the "irrelevant",
superstitious, dogmatic, unverifiably supernatural and highly charged emotional
aspects of foreign faith and practice. In the last few years in America
we have seen coverage not only of the pedophilia scandals but also of the
clamor for more liberal standards and lay participation in the Catholic
church. But the Pope hasn't budged on celibate priests, women clergy and
more tolerance for homosexuals. Some think that a more inclusive and tolerant
Papacy is inevitable if the Catholic church is to remain viable. Think
again.
At least think again if Jenkins is right about the growing
numbers and influence of the more conservative "prophetic" strains
of Catholicism coming up from the population besieged south where Christian
faith is taking over. He sees a new counter-reformation similar to the
one around 500 years ago happening again in the next 50 years. As cities
and countries become overwhelmed with undereducated populations more and
more will believe in cleansing the "demons" in their lives. We're
talking evil spirits, witchcraft, exorcisms, spiritual healing, puritanism
and the like.
As the percentage of Cardinals serving these backward
masses increases they will see to it that a Pope who reflects their priorities
will be elected. But it gets scarier. Whether Catholic or other denominations
of Christianity, missionary prelates will be infiltrating American and
European cities from Africa, South America and Asia to bring their conservative
ordinances and amass followings of the discontented here.
Some of these sects are apocalyptic and will try and
bring about the kingdom of God through violence. Other divisions will butt
heads for supremacy as power passes from nation states to religious alliances.
As "The cultural gap between Christians of the North and the South
will increase rather than diminish in the coming decades..." a new
schism is bound to occur with all the nasty fallout that will bring. The
telecommunications savvy vs. the functionally illiterate.
So, the advanced nations not only have to worry about
WMDs being brought in from the underdeveloped nations or cities and exploded
in our midst or choking pollution and global warming enveloping us because
the South is just trying to emulate our energy production but now there
is the specter of reverting to the bad old times of religious intolerance
and strife percolating up from the depths of civilization. The very advancement
of mankind may be thwarted by this heretofore unrecognized force.
And the only seeming cure would be to bring these "unwashed"
masses up to educational and material speed, an overwhelming task, especially
in the absence of population controls. Throw in the water fights and spreading
diseases................
Few books or articles peer into the future as insightfully
as Jenkins does here. He seems to know what he is talking about and we'd
better pay attention.
1/October/2002
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What If?
20+ contributing authors
1999
For those that find the study of history a little
dry, this book, by providing room for speculation and imagination can liven
up the subject considerably. At the very least it can help us appreciate
just how lucky we have been; how many ways little changes could have turned
our fortunes quite differently.
Twenty different turning points in battles and some other
incidents that could have changed the course of history are presented,
ranging from 450 B.C. to 1950. In some instances, things might have come
around to later circumstances anyway, with minor alterations. The Revolution
could have been lost any number of times but the British might not have
been able to hold on to America past the early part of the 19th century.
The Louisiana purchase may have settled what would have been won by other
means later on. Even though we got really lucky at Midway against the Japanese
carrier fleet, we still might have eventually produced enough to bring
about an eventual win in the Pacific.
However, some events have left an indelible legacy. It
is debatable which but it would seem that the death of Temujin (Genghis
Khan) which ended the westward advance of the Mongols was instrumental
in preserving some sense of comparative civilization even in those dark
ages. If the Mongol barbaric slaughter mentality had permeated western
Europe, those entering the new world might have brought a quite different
mentality here, one that was primarily destructive rather than constructive.
General Lee's "lost order" might have prevented
the South from winning the civil war. If a stalemate ensued and Europe
recognized the South as a separate nation, the North might have had to
settle. And unless the country were truly united later on, our efforts
against Germany in WWI and WWII would probably have been insufficient if
not non-existent.
It is well known, now, that if Hitler had invaded the
middle east oil fields of Iraq and Iran rather than try for a smashing
victory against Russia, he might have won WWII. A German Europe might still
be in place.
Then there is the place in history of irreplaceable figures
who by their absence would have changed the course of history. Washington
was almost shot in the middle of the Revolution. Without his leadership
and the example he set by stepping aside for an elected President our history
would have been different. Annie Oakley came within inches of ending the
life of Kaiser Wilhelm whose belligerence embroiled Europe in the first
world war. And while in N.Y. in 1931 Winston Churchill was almost killed
when struck by a cab. Imagine Britain without his stalwart leadership during
WWII.
A reader can take these segments one at a time and do
his own dream work. One author contends that we could have had a non-communist
China except for the advice of one of our most respected generals. Ah,
speculation..................
9/August/2002
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Intolerance: The Bestseller
Gershom Gorenberg
The American Prospect
23/09/2002
This is a review of a book review; or more accurately
Gorenberg's review of a series of books. Gorenberg takes 4 pages to alert
us to the Left Behind series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B.
Jenkins. These works of fiction are based on the supposed Armageddon and
Rapture, the Antichrist and coming holocaust before Jesus descends after
the true believers are lifted into heaven.
"Such classic religious intolerance might matter
less if The Remnant [the latest novel in the series] hadn't levitated
to the top of The New York Times best seller list immediately after
publication in July [2002]....or if the previous nine installments of LaHaye
and Jenkins' Left Behind series of thrillers hadn't already sold
33 million copies since they first appeared in 1995."
Why care about such babble? Because it extracts from
the Bible a self serving interpretation which is intolerant of all other
faiths or non faiths and gives license to violence as a solution; and perhaps
one fifth or more of our countrymen are believing evangelicals. "...the
series is intensely political. Read critically, it provides a window on
how theology can drive right-wing activism--sometimes in bizarre ways,
as when vocal supporters of Israel look forward to the conversion or death
of the Jews."
Yet these believers and their outlooks pass under our
radar screens because they are an embarrassment to institutional religions
and indeed, while Christians, these supporters are being led to define
Jews and even the Catholic church as evil. Empiricists probably haven't
even heard of these books and write off the Jerry Fallwells and Pat Robertsons
as kooks.
The times of tribulation, when the Antichrist rules the
earth, contain the plagues, wars and disasters we commonly see unfolding,
ergo the time of redemption is near according to these writers and followers.
History is all part of the master plan. Such talk and forecasts have been
with us since the Pilgrims according to Gorenberg.
What should be clearly troubling is how much stock is
put in this nonsense by our political leaders. Reagan wasn't entirely free
of such mysticism and our "President" Bush, under pressure from
the religious right, has departed from America's honest broker stance in
the Palestinian-Israeli dispute to side with the Jews. Coincidence? It
would never be admitted if it was.
The question is: Just how influential are these books
and their followers? Is this our version of a Christian right al-Queda
in the making? As evermore Americans feel overwhelmed by the complexities
of our modern society will they take seriously these simplistic "ravings"?
Should we engage these people and reacquaint them with reality or just
hope they will self destruct?
Mixing fiction with religious underpinnings and conservative
dogma is something to be concerned about. The value of Gorenberg's review
is that it calls our attention to this phenomena. Evaluation and response
should be next.
16/September/2002
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The Middle of Everywhere
Mary Pipher
2002
This book is a compilation of personal observations
concerning struggling refugees who are landed in Lincoln Nebraska. Pipher
is a psychologist who has interviewed many of these newcomers and sat in
on English Language Learners classes and she describes various students
and their behavior. But Pipher goes further and reports her social encounters
with these people who have come here to get away from the dangers and traumas
of their homelands. Not surprisingly, they come with problems related to
the causes of their migrations as well as the culture shock of coming to
a new country so technically advanced.
The author describes 4 stages of acculturation; relief
and euphoria, the new realities, missing the old country and finally becoming
bilingual and bicultural.
Some of the adjustments have to do with our dependence
on precise time, the use of money instead of barter, how cold it is for
some who have come from the tropics and the adjustment to our media. "Over
and over I have noticed a certain innocence in refugee families who have
not lived in the world of media--their children are quieter and more respectful;
everyone is less cynical and more content; hedonism is tempered with a
strong sense of social responsibility; and people take pleasure in small,
quiet events. It is an innocence that rapidly fades." TV is frequently
a bad influence.
Getting work quickly is a high priority for the adults.
There are the travel debts to pay off and homes to establish. Usually this
means taking the lowest paying jobs that Americans will not do--if these
refugee adults can work at all. Not only does this condemn them to subsistence
living but there are no longer the mid level jobs that people on the bottom
can aspire to and grasp. Hopelessness and depression can result. Women
have to work outside the home also, sometimes undermining the male authority
especially when the older children assimilate faster and gain greater independence.
This book makes one more aware of the plights that others
face "over there". They are horrors that make our problems look
trivial by comparison but most Americans remain conveniently oblivious.
Pipher also broadens our perspective on the healing process, citing a number
of ways other than our psychotherapy approach to putting the past behind
and enjoying the newfound benefits of living here. Twelve attributes of
resilience are listed. Those that can select the best from both cultures
and can switch back and forth seem to adjust most successfully.
Pipher tells us what she has learned from her contacts
with the immigrants to Lincoln and makes it clear that they have a lot
to offer. She also finds that they can show us some of our faults that
we ignore. It is most beneficial to readers if an author uses examples
to demonstrate generalizations but Pipher goes on too long with her descriptions
of students. However, this book is an easy read if one is absorbed by such
personal accounts. She ends with 3 appendices, the last one being the U.N.'s
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps we should commit that to
memory rather than the Pledge of Allegiance.
14/July/2002
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Wealth and Democracy
Kevin Phillips
2002
If as many people read and understood Wealth and
Democracy as studied the Bible, Americans would be better off than
they are now. Safe to say that won't happen. If it did, however, much of
what is making headlines today would be properly contextualized and some
future predicaments already headed off.
Phillips discusses our history in terms of class and
concentrations of wealth. He compares our assent on the world stage and
circumstances of our decline with the rise and fall of Spain (1500), the
Dutch (1600) and the British empire of 1900. Each instance involved the
financialization of incomes which accrued to the elite and the wars that
contributed to their demise as leading powers. Similar sophistries were
employed, tailored to the particulars of the times, in each instance. We
may have advanced to a new technological age but hubris, self deception
and greed has yet to be overcome.
Within living memory of many Americans we have gone from
"the great compression" after the depression and WWII up to the
late '70's to the most unequal distribution of income and wealth since
the Gilded Age. Phillips sketches out the social costs; mothers leaving
their families to support their husband's faltering wage compensation,
the huge accumulated personal debt loads taken on by middle America and
the stagnant, even decline of real incomes of the working class and poor--while
corporate management has reaped unconscionable rewards. Perhaps even more
disturbing has been the disinvestment in America by trans national corporations
who have derived higher percentages of their income by shipping family
supporting wage jobs overseas and selling the products back to strapped
U.S. citizens.
And Phillips denotes the increasing powers of unelected
officials; international bankers, bureaucrats and judges who thwart the
best interests of the publics they supposedly serve. Resentment, he asserts,
is growing against NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF and our corporate overlords
who bribe and control our legislative bodies. It was worse back when railroad
controlled state legislatures picked our Senators to serve their private
sector interests. But in some ways it is worse now. And contrary to conservative
myth, old wealth has held on to their holdings--usually with the help of
governmental policies. And the stock market? Phillips quotes the Wall
Street Journal (1999), "Nearly 90% of all shares were held by
the wealthiest 10% of households."
This is familiar territory and easier to read for progressives.
However along about chapters 6 & 7 Phillips seems to get bogged down
and impact is lost. Perhaps if the precedents, with all their consequences,
were carried through from start to finish memorable clarity would have
been achieved. Perhaps the book should have been shortened or published
in 2 volumes. But the importance to our well being and all the consequences
derived therefrom makes this a must book to not only read but study if
unfamiliar with such contents.
2/August/2002
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Politically Incorrect
ABC network TV
1993-2002
In any given year these days millions die and many
celebrity deaths are noted. Many TV shows are cancelled too. Life, for
those remaining, goes on.
But too little attention has been paid to the cancellation
of Politically Incorrect . After getting its start on cable channel
Comedy Central, someone at ABC was bright enough to realize that general
discussion about topics of the day in a manner more like one would find
in a home after dinner was a natural follow up to the news story oriented
Nightline , which itself is a beneficial contrast to Leno and Letterman.
Given the anti-corporate, anti-politician and frequently anti-mainstream
stance of the host, Bill Maher, it is surprising that the show stayed on
so long despite, as Maher defended, acceptable ratings.
The surprise comes only because of the longevity under
the corporate umbrella of Disney (which owns ABC); a conglomerate dedicated
to the entertainment business, i.e. the business which serves to distract
Americans from uncomfortable truths about abuses of government and corporate
America. Those counter establishment views aren't coming from anywhere
else on network TV and those views need to be expressed and debated for
a healthy nation to exist. Remember, all progress starts with unpopular
ideas.
Yes, Maher's pet peeves were familiar to regular viewers;
profiling Arabs at airports is justified, American men are wimps, religions
are detrimental and so forth but he has led spirited, if less illuminating
discussion and argument on all manner of topics, usually right from the
headlines. He not only hasn't been afraid to invite guests with opposing
views, he regularly had them on. And although many guests went for the
quick laugh at the expense of the salient point, that very humor undoubtedly
drew less serious viewers who wouldn't sit through the Sunday morning interview-pundit
shows.
And Maher has become one of the sharpest wits on the
screen, wrapping hypocrisy and condemnation in comic cleverness. Some of
his brief, opening monologues are classics, such as when he came out of
the White House dog house dressed as the President's "best friend"
complaining about how crowded it was since Clinton moved in. While it was
tough to compete with Leno's nightly monologues, Maher could get serious
where Leno and Letterman will not.
And then there was the slap in the face for Ted Koppel
and serious viewers when ABC reportedly tried to get Letterman to come
over to replace Nightline/PI . One gathers that the Disney people
are just waiting for the chance to dump any serious discussion that eventually
comes around to corporate and political wrong doing.
What should be most disturbing is the lack of general
public protest over the closing off of probably the last remaining source
of real, unscripted discussion on network TV. Yes, it was on too late for
some but that's why we have VCRs. Late night has been the post prime time
slot for some serious discussion on network TV (which is all some people
can receive) and is still where the mass audience is. Now all we have is
the juvenile insipidness of O'Brien and Kilborn. Insisting that network
public interest programming be reinstated would be a start at addressing
the problem.
Life after PI will go on but it will be less stimulating
and many of us will be intellectually poorer.
29/June/2002
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Political Fictions
Joan Didion
2001
This a compilation of 8 articles written for The
New York Review of Books covering aspects of the political scene since
the inauguration of Bush I in 1988. According to the cover blurb, the purpose
was to show how both parties have narrowed the decisive electorate down
to a narrow, manageable strata, leaving most potential voters disconnected.
While this goal is laudable, the author's recollections
and evidence make for a diffuse and ephemeral case. From the Dukakis primary
to a long chapter on the alleged massacre at El Mazote to Dinesh D'Souza's
work glorifying Ronald Reagan, the segments seem unrelated. The "New
Covenant" of Bill Clinton is described. It turned out to be that triangulation,
that middle way: translation-- moving the liberal base to the right was
to capture "soccer moms", i.e. the stressed middle class. Newt
Gingrich is brought in, with his lists, and Bob Woodward is gone over.
Clinton's sex scandal gets attention as well. A case is made for a right
wing conspiracy ("the elves") to oust him. But well into the
book one can legitimately wonder what the point of this all is.
Clouding the presentation still further, the reader may
find a number of unfamiliar words to deal with. While referring to the
dictionary can help build vocabulary, these interruptions can also break
the reader's concentration and understanding if such "opportunities"
are passed over.
It is worthwhile informing or reminding readers of the
American political class; those celebrities and power people who talk to
each other on the media and rarely care to understand the rest of us; as
if the rest of us really understood what is going on anyway. Marvin Olasky's
The tragedy of American Compassion , the work of Judge Bork, Charles
Murry, William Bennett, Newt Gringrich etc. make a case that we are listening
to and absorbing the philosophy of the Republican right and GW Bush and
Senator Lieberman polish off the underclass with exhortations to religious
salvation.
Nothing at the end of each segment ties them to the whole
and the end of the book just trails off. If an author is going to put writings
together, it's more beneficial to the reader if there is a reason to do
so. Usually one can find some illuminating points here and there in each
work, and there are some in this one. However, an experienced writer such
as Didion should have provided more.
20/May/2002
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TV REVIEW:
The Frontier House
PBS
29/4-1/5/May 2002
Could modern Americans make it on the Montana frontier
of the 1880's? Are we tough enough or have modern conveniences made us
too soft? This 6 hour, 3 part series set out to find some answers, up close
and personal.
The Homestead Act gave U.S. citizens 160 acres to manage
for 5 years before they could own it. Homes had to be built and farmsteads
and/or ranches established. Most failed, largely due to the harsh winters.
Three parties were given the opportunity to try and make
a go of it starting in mid May (apparently in 2001). Expert wagon masters
guided the newcomers, with enough provisions to get started and one modern
item of choice, to the designated plain near a stream. Cameras followed
every move and diaries were kept. There was the Glenn family, Mark and
Karen with their 2 children. The Clunes were comprised of Gorden, Adrienne,
2 children and a teenage cousin Tracy. Nate Brooks came with father Rudy
to build their cabin for bride-to be Kristen. Rudy departed when she arrived
to start their mixed race marriage. Back then such an arrangement would
have limited their contacts considerably but now it didn't matter. These
contacts would have included the owner of the general store from which
all got their supplies.
However, from the start this exercise was somewhat fraudulent.
Not only were the camera crews around, not only did the Clunes sneak in
makeup and a salvaged box spring mattress but a doctor was called in to
check Kristen, guitars were provided for the teacher brought in, Gordon
Clune built a still, shaved timber appeared out of nowhere to fence off
a herd of garden stomping cattle, along with the barbed wire. No one was
going to be allowed to die out there as many did in the past.
Still, everyone had their problems. The kids had to get
used to the hard, mindless work, Mark felt that he was an outsider subordinate
and the Glenns felt that the Clunes were cheating. Adrienne was unhappy
all the time and Gorden withdrew. Kristen quickly found that the married
excitement quickly abated in the face of daily chores. However, when it
was over, several thought that it had been a worthwhile experience and
were sad to leave in the fall.
When the experiment was over there was a farewell gathering
with food and song, the cast and those on the outside who helped out. The
three homesteads were inspected by experts in their fields and written
reports were issued in the winter. The Clunes were given a failing grade
and they discounted the evaluation. They had sold their horses for food
supplies and their firewood was not adequate to carry them through the
winter. The Glenns did better but it was doubtful that they would have
lasted it out to ownership. Without children, the Brooks were given the
best chance given that they were young and healthier. One can imagine how
long that would have lasted given the long, freezing winter nights there.
The insights did give one an intimate sense of the hardships
of such a life, both physical and mental. Personalized "history"
on TV. Thankfully, we have come a long way in a little over a century.
3/June/2002
JBM
U.S. Oil Politics in the 'Kuwait of Africa'
Ken Silverstein
The Nation
22/4/02
The production of oil to feed our extravagant consumption
and our dealings with oil producing nations has been in the news a lot
lately. This figures to continue as long as the big campaign contributing
oil companies dictate policy to this government. Who we deal with and how
tolerant we are of their policies intersects with our interests in human
rights and the treatment of indigenous peoples overseas. Too often we have
little regard for the latter.
Now, along comes the case of Equatorial Guinea, located
near the "armpit" of Africa, which has recently found significant
offshore oil deposits. Silverstein finds that this tiny country could be
producing as much as half a million barrels a day, one per capita. Through
Triton Oil (now a subsidiary of Amerada Hess), the Bush administration
is drawing closer to one of the most oppressive states in the world. The
chairman of Triton bought Bush's Texas Rangers making our "president"
a multi millionaire. The country is run by Brig. Gen. Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Mbasogo who took over in a '79 coup. You've probably never heard of him
or any public debate over our "growing appetite for West African oil".
Silverstein paints a vivid picture of the monstrous bifurcation
of wealth and quality of life in the offshore island capital and the mainland.
Outside the Malabo's luxurious extended family quarters, slums prevail
without basic amenities such as water and electricity and the rural areas
are even worse off. 90% are poor, by African standards. Foreign oil workers
are housed in compounds. Political oppression is overwhelming, insuring
Obiang's continued rule.
Now that oil revenues are flowing in there is little
need for Obiang to beg for foreign aid with the human rights strings that
frequently come attached. Despite Obiang's disregard for the populace,
"Bush quietly authorized the opening of a new American Embassy in
Malabo". Trade benefits are about to be restored. The U.S. wants to
muscle in on the oil business in this region which is currently largely
controlled by European companies. Everybody who can make a buck in Equatorial
Guinea is trying to dress up Obiang's regime to look good enough. Once
convinced, other investors are likely to follow in.
This 11 page article gives one a good insight into our
reach into the backwaters of the world to get what we want. Again it seems
that our trans-national corps and our administrations are willing to do
business with oppressors, hence the title. Hopefully, this involvement
will rise up to the radar screen of the major media before we have human
rights egg on our faces again. The time is now to set the terms of our
business interest in E.G., taking all factors into consideration. This
article is a "heads up".
22/April/2002
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Free Agent Nation
Daniel H. Pink
2001
Free Agent Nation is a generally upbeat look
at the sea change shift from the traditional industrial age corporate long
term worker to the mini entrepreneur and contractor, as corporations expand
and contract to adjust to the rapidly changing demands for products and
services. This type of independent work allows the worker time tailoring
rather then the old time Taylored regimen of the past. Work is frequently
done at home now that telecommunication services have become widespread.
Pink recognizes that he is talking about a bifurcated
free agent work force in that "temp slaves" ("tampons"
and "floaters"), without commanding skills, composing a minority
of temps who, in turn, compose a minority of free agent contractors, get
the lowest paid drudgery work but he maintains that union backed and other
organizations are springing up to address that problem.
Pink also debates the idea that these workers are relatively
isolated from social interaction. He believes that these largely "stay
at homes" populate the otherwise suburban communities and that instead
of connections with managers and subordinates they are forming internet
relationships and meeting peers. And any "weak ties" are the
best referral system for new work that comes along.
Pink also predicts that "e-tirement" will be
a coming wave as retirees will continue to work as they want to in a schedule
they are comfortable with. They will also inherit tremendous wealth from
their parents which they will invest in micro-businesses.
Our public schooling is relatively poor compared to other
industrial nations yet we are relatively rich and dynamic. Pink describes
our mass schooling as an "aberration in history" designed to
make compliant factory workers and now there will be a growing trend to
home school significant numbers of youngsters, more work to learn situations
and frequent back to schooling for adults. High School will die out. Ivy
league schools will disappear. This mix of learning opportunities will
keep us on the forefront of progress.
After a lot about free agents and their conditions, Pink
offers some interesting thoughts about the future in which there will be
"just in time" office space instead of permanent offices now
used about 15% of the time each week; "punk bonds", in which
anyone starting a one man business can float his own bonds and stocks too.
These will be rated as NASDAQ rates smaller companies. These bonds will
fill the space between restrictive student loans and high interest rate
credit cards which are now used to get some small business ventures off
the ground. Once bundled together to reduce payback risk, middle class
investors will buy in with the investment houses. Medium sized corps. will
either grow to become giants or disappear. In either case, investing in
the individual will be seen as a better long term bet.
The 2 political parties will become increasingly irrelevant
as more voters become truly independent. In all, it seems that there is
going to be less to count on; trust, which a healthy society depends on,
will be increasingly fragile and a greater degree of self confidence will
be necessary to cope.
At the end of each chapter, Pink provides a summary "box"
but don't rely on those to get most of the nuggets contained within this
book. If you can stay with it through the middle, the latter chapters provide
scrumptious food for thought. Young adults should read this material or
have the ideas presented to them.
19/April/2002
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Severed Trust
George D. Lundberg M.D.
2000
The theme of this book, written by the editor of JAMA
for 17 years, is that care and concern for the patient has been waning
in the medical profession as doctors have become more business oriented.
The detachment has come partly as the result of 3rd party payers, i.e.
insurance carriers, public or private. The rationing system for medical
care is increasingly unproductive.
People are going to die eventually and it is up to doctors
to stop wasting money on prolonging life at the expense of others who need
care and can benefit from it for a long time to come. We have gone from
spending $12.7 billion in 1950 to $1 trillion for medical care, more per
capita of GDP than any other developed nation and we aren't getting more
for it.
The professionalism of the profession has withdrawn as
doctors have lost autonomy. Health care reform has failed and The American
Medical Association comes in for notable criticism for inconsistent principles
and fostering the money making aspect of medicine to the detriment of patient
relations. The journal, relatively independent of the association, has
been critical enough to have felt the pressure and Lundberg, among others,
was forced out for publishing discomforting studies and articles.
And changes are on the way. Not only are new procedures
coming on line without adequate studies to confirm efficaciousness, but
more pills than ever are being introduced. Lundberg feels that the Internet
will revolutionize aspects of medical care. The question is will these
changes result in better coverage for everyone? Lundberg isn't optimistic.
JAMA, under Lundberg, published a list of 10 characteristics
of a learned professional. They are: Self-governance, Pro bono service,
Quality service, Fair pricing, High level of learning, Autonomous activity,
Altruism, Self sacrifice, Heroism as needed and Ethical practice and public
accountability. In the realm of patient care, the author stresses the need
for more autopsies to determine precise cause of death and mistakes in
diagnoses and treatments. Court appointed neutral expert witnesses should
replace "guns for hire" in malpractice lawsuits. Informed consent
for surgical procedures and clinical trials should really be informed consent
instead of what often passes for it. Self referral is unethical; doctors
should have tests done by an outside lab. Patient confidentiality must
be maintained. Dying patients should have their wishes respected. Heroic
care isn't warranted if unwanted. Cherry picking insurance companies will
drive themselves out of business. Some drugs should be covered by insurance
while others shouldn't be.
Lundberg's reforms would include: Primary care physicians
would be paid by the patient but preventive costs would be covered by the
government. Everyone would be required to carry a high deductible hospital
insurance and primary care physicians would not have hospital privileges.
All patients would to informed of the cost of their care before hand. Medical
education would be free to reduce the doctor debt burden and the profit
making incentive.
This is a great book for the general public concerned
about the state of the art in the 21st century. A variety of subjects are
covered in an easy to read way. Think of it as a foundational book on the
subject of American medicine.
15/October/2001
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Don't Know Much About the Universe
Kenneth C. Davis
2001
Pitched as Everything You Need to Know About the
Cosmos but Never Learned , Davis takes us briefly through the history
of the study of what's out there, starting with the ancient Greeks. Interspersed
in the chapters on the who and what is a chronology of significant events,
giving readers a time line perspective. Contributions of Thales, Aristotle,
Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton on up to
Hubble and modern speculators are described.
In Part II, questions about the Sun, our solar system
and the Moon are addressed. Each planet is described in a "If you
went to..." section. It is interesting and basic knowledge virtually
all of us should be aware of. If you have come across this information
sometime before, it wouldn't hurt to brush up with the latest findings.
For instance, were you aware that Jupiter acts as a meteor absorbent shield
for us and that any other intelligent life containing planets in other
solar systems would need something similar?
Part III goes into the matter, and "emptiness"
beyond our solar system; the dust and stars that compose our expanding
galaxy and universe. How have we been influenced by these things, including
astrology and making sense of the constellations? Part
IV deals with the history of our ventures into space including our man
made satellites and travels to the moon and orbiting space stations. Davis
lists over 30 practical and life saving "dividends" derived from
these exploits including: smoke detectors, thermal insulation, neuromuscular
electrical stimulation, MRIs, exercise machines, satellite imagery and
mapping, computerized solar water-heating systems, weather resistant coatings,
ergonomic seats and improved design efficiencies.
The final part delves into the timeless questions of
how did it all start (The Big Bang), dark matter and GOD. There are no
answers here.
All in all, this is a readable book which touches on
the common place basics of extraterrestrial investigation and knowledge.
5/January/2002
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The Story of Philosophy
Bryan Magee
1998
About 230 pages long, this oversized book is studded
with art work and photos, making it good coffee table book which can provoke
discussions on a wide range of subjects pertaining or deriving from the
discipline.
Magee starts with the Greeks before Socrates and devotes
pages to Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicurians, the
Stoics, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Bacon,
Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkley, Hume, Burke, Voltaire,
Diderot, Russeau, Kant, Schopenhaur, Hegal, Marx, Nietzsche, Bentham, Mill,
the American Pragmatists, Russell, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Popper
and others but stops short of including current thinkers, leaving future
historians to judge their import.
Although short and cursory in the description of each,
one can get confused about who represented what. The idea of juxtaposing
pictures which might help memory recall is an interesting one. It might
be helpful for some people.
Perhaps of interest to note; Socrates questioned all
our assumptions but Plato is credited with the idea of 2 worlds which Christianity
picked up on for its after life model. Aristotle dismissed that thought,
believing that the only reality was the one we were experiencing.
Epicurus questioned God's attributes if he is unwilling
or unable to expunge evil. Schopenhaur may be underrated, given his extensive
influence. Hagel's dialectic process and worship of the state, where everyone
fit in for the greater good was picked up by Marx and led to Fascism and
Communism, systems that governed much of the world in the 20th century.
Nietzsche believed that conflict eliminated the weak and was therefore
good. Bentham's Utilitarianism theory of ethics and politics judges morality
by pleasure for the most and pain for the fewest.
What do we really know? How certain can our conclusions
be? Are we living in a world of shadows, with reality contacted only now
and then, if at all? Is there a God or is that a figment of our imagination?
What philosophy should we live by since we now have superpower status?
Or are we slaves in our own state? The sketches in this book can provoke
such questions and more. In that regard it is a good book to have laying
around.
24/February/2002
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Next questions our technological race into
an uncertain future. Largely through the Internet and computer development
we are changing society in unexamined and unapproved ways. One example
is how quickly youth is making the middle age population obsolete. Without
preconceptions, the young mind is able to adapt to current availabilities
and revolutionize society in ways their lack of experience cannot comprehend.
Their "future" is tomorrow; literally.
Lewis visits people to learn first hand. Fifteen-year-old
Jonathan Lebed used the Internet to tout stocks he had invested in. In
the SEC investigation that followed Lewis reveals that Lebed had done little
more than what had become common practice. Stock manipulation by the Wall
Street elite had been prohibited by the Securities Exchange Commission
but now anyone could give advice and if convincing enough cause price fluctuations
unrelated to company performance. Lewis belabors this case, perhaps to
help fill out a rather short book but the point is worth pondering.
In another example, Marcus Arnold, another teen, hands
out free Internet legal advice and got top ratings doing so. Lawyers were
miffed. The knowledge pyramid was flattened again. Gnutella allows a computer
to find information and copy it from all kinds of sources, bypassing more
"experts". Askme.com taps into a shared information network,
just ask your question and agree to answer someone else's question. Glory
and peer approval are replacing monetary compensation. Intellectual property
rights are becoming a thing of the past.
Internet technology is bringing producers and consumers
into closer contact. When Marillion lost record contracts they found a
fan base which supported their performances and recordings. Fringe players
take over from the establishment when they get venture capital looking
to make spectacular profits. Take TiVo. The black box that hunts down your
favorite TV programs and records them apparently is going to supplant the
VCR and make prime time programming an entirely fictional construct. And
when people watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it, they
will be skipping the commercials, the reason for commercial TV. [What does
it say about the mentality of Americans that they never learned to master
the VCR in the 1st place?] The networks are trying to coopt and adapt but
this ship is sinking.
According to Lewis, Salvation may come in the form of
ever individualized marketing. The more information the consumer gives
to the advertiser, the more ads of interest he will be exposed to. The
subsidized, socialistic market in which those who watched ads and bought
the products paid for the programs that those who didn't pay attention
to the ads got for free may be on its way out with the advent of technology
that can separate the 2.
Late in the book, Lewis sets us up with the passage from
a book warning us about humans succumbing to control by computer robots
because everything had become so complicated. The masses would be superfluous.
The passage was from a book by the Unabomber. Is he one of the few thinking
about the culmination of all the "tomorrows"?
Lewis ends by posing the question: should we stop, or
at least slow down, our research and development at least until we figure
out where we are going and do we want to get there? The last few pages
are somewhat unclear but there are enough insights in this work to make
it worth your while.
4/December/2001
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America's Undeclared War
Daniel Lazare
2001
Although the title might suggest some other kind of
altercation, Lazare's title refers to the decline of cities due, in America,
to the Jeffersonian mentality of the southern plantation and independence
of the small scale farmer; and the advent of "Fordism", the dispersal
of volatile urban community on the roadways that his cars made possible.
The 1st two thirds of this 300 page book are devoted
to tracing familiar history and the author seems at times to wander off
the point of cities under assault. Near the end, his remedies of a working
class revolt and meglev trains seems rather inadequate when confronted
with the political realities of our system of government, particularly,
as he points out, the Constitution, which makes rural overrepresentation
a roadblock to progress. Reversing foundational assumptions is unlikely
when our Senate distorts public representation and Constitutional amendments
are so difficult to achieve. We do seem destined to drag everyone into
increasing inefficiency, confusion, social, political and environmental
decay.
But in between, Lazare makes exceptional points about
the subsidization of the middle class and sprawl with mortgage and property
tax deductions for stand alone, oversized and energy inefficient housing
and societal compensation for the negative "externalities" of
ever increasing auto transport. Such hidden costs include deaths and injury
from accidents, road building and maintenance costs, lost work time on
congested commuter routes, as well as political and social isolation which
results in unconstructive behavior such as mindless consumerism. Waste
and inefficiency are sapping our health and spirit. When the regional shopping
mall becomes the hub of local culture because population dispersal and
transportation inefficiencies won't support libraries, concert halls, museums,
theaters or zoos, as on Long Island, boredom and shallowness result.
In this book, Lazare cites estimates that range from
$7 to $10 for a gallon of gas are required to pay for the true costs incurred
by driving. This sales tax increase would soon to bring about the needed
changes in living arrangements, public transportation and social infrastructure
that would begin to rebuild a healthier nation around cores of actual urban
communities. Eliminating tax deductions for outlying expensive housing
would accelerate condensation.
As most Americans should already know around 1980 America's
income distribution patterns began to change. Leading up to that point,
the bottom quintile saw its income percentage decline a little and the
top quintile a little more but the uppermost 5% reduced significantly.
The middle 3/5s improved by as much as 40%. In the 15 years after that
the top 5% "...saw its real family income rise by an astonishing 45%.."
The income distribution has returned to look like the beginning of the
20th century.
The result is an elite and the remaining middle class
can command that their externalities be subsidized by the working class.
And the overall atomization, and impoverishment of the bottom half, is
stifling organized engagement. If you don't have time to read the whole
book, pages 201-242 are worth the time it takes to understand where we
are headed.
31/August/2001
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One Nation, Slightly Divisible
David Brooks
The Atlantic Monthly
12/2001
In order to better understand who we are, it is helpful,
if not absolutely necessary, to compare ourselves from time to time to
those around us, both near and far. This article does so by looking at
the "Reds" of the Midwest and South who voted for Bush and the
"Blues" of the coasts and the cities who went for Gore. Are we
really dividing along this fault line and other fractures?
Brooks compares his home Montgomery County, Maryland
with Franklin County Pennsylvania where he repeatedly went to find out
what those inhabitants think. He used his interviews to flesh out the statistical
surveys that have come out in the last year.
[It should be noted that our winner-take-all system of
electing our president distorts the real makeup of states and counties
where a proportional representation system would look more accurate.]
According to Brooks, Blues fly over and don't think much
of Reds, if they think about them at all. He found that 51% of the better
educated Montgomery County had at least $75,000 in household income where
as only 16% in Franklin County did. He also found that Reds were more supportive
of the anti-terrorist war effort and went to church more often.
What seemed most striking in the article was the blank
responses from Franklin County residents when questioned about the growing
income and wealth gap between the rich and the bottom half, laboring class.
Since Bush senior lost the election after winning the Gulf war because
the economy was paramount, one would have thought that this would have
a major bone of resentment. But Brooks reports that most of the bottom
half didn't consider themselves have-nots. Apparently they have no idea
of how the other half is living and seem not to care, paying more attention
to their own pursuits and community relationships. This is why Gore's "The
People Versus The Powerful" theme didn't carry him to victory in marginal
states. He lost non-college-educated voters by 17 points.
The biggest differences in the 2 counties are the real
estate prices. You can live cheaper in Franklin County. People in the Red
zones are apparently comparing themselves to their neighbors rather than
the rich they see only on TV. Although financial struggle is accepted as
a way of life, Franklin County people can generally afford to buy almost
anything for sale there. Almost no one in Montgomery County can say the
same.
So while Reds seem to be living in a "fools paradise"
economically, Brooks finds that they aren't moral crusaders either. Although
there are considerably more churches in Franklin County and more attention
is paid to bible matters citizens there appeared sane and tolerant. "Prozac
is a part of life" there.
In all, Brooks finds no class struggle or culture wars
going on and that we may be closer together (especially after 11/9) than
previously thought or that the actions of Congress in December would lead
one to believe. But given the Bush agenda and skyrocketing health care
costs, how such a division not be important and growing?
22/December/2001
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