DISAPPOINTMENT / THE HUMANITIES' DECLINE

DISAPPOINTMENT. Drake Bennett in the Boston Globe -- "America is disappointed. The economic recovery, such as it is, has produced few jobs and little growth, the war in Afghanistan is going poorly, and Washington's culture, which President Obama took office promising to reform, is as vitriolic and paralyzed as ever .... There's no question that the president has failed to live up to the expectations of many of his supporters -- expectations he created with his empyrian campaign rhetoric. But it turns out that human beings are very easy to disappoint. Research suggests that even when people know that someone has nothing but bad options to choose from, they still blame the decider for a bad outcome. And while disappointment and regret and even anger are often spoken about in similar terms, psychologists see them as distinct emotions, triggered by different events and motivating us to act in different ways .... And in general, the disappointed seem to prefer to blame people over circumstances."

I've been saying ever since the 2008 election campaign that if Obama were to win, he would face YEARS of struggle to overcome the lies, greed, ignorance and overweening culturocentrism inherent in Republican politics. Twenty years of Reagan, Bush and Bush have trashed America's economy, not to mention the already-shaky esteem with which we are regarded by the rest of the world. For a brief period in the 1990s, Bill Clinton was able to perform some damage control (for the country, if not for his personal life), but it took no time at all for GW Bush to squander the $3 trillion budget surplus which Clinton's policies created, and run the country to the edge of bankruptcy. And we all know the tried-and-true solution to taking the minds of the voters off their economic woes -- start a war or two.

So as we approach the end of the second year of Obama's first term in office, let's cut the man some slack. A full eight years as president would hardly be sufficient to show us the light at the end of the tunnel. All you Tea Party airheads and conservative obstructionists out there, please stop shooting the messenger. Rather, look inside yourselves, and see whether maybe, just maybe, your own expectations require adjustment.

THE HUMANITIES' DECLINE. In The Crisis of the Humanities Officially Arrives, NYTimes columnist Stanley Fish shines a much-needed spotlight on the decline of public investment in the humanities, disciplines such as ancient and modern languages, literature, law, history, philosophy, and visual and performing arts. In a sterile world whose power brokers seem to be mostly business moguls, attorneys and politicians, if it doesn't produce a buck, it isn't worth support. University administrators, Fish argues, need to take the bull by the horns and aggressively explain to policy makers the true and abiding value of the humanities, to help all people to "understand what is being lost when traditions of culture and art that have been vital for hundreds or even thousands of years disappear from the academic scene."

I couldn't agree more. There is an analogy in government. The concept of every department producing a balanced budget is a fundamental fallacy. When it comes to functions ranging from roads to health care to public education to emergency services, there IS NO BALANCE SHEET. We pay taxes, and we receive human services in return. Those taxes enable our nation to function in the present, and they also are an investment in our future viability. That is how citizenship works. Period.

Similarly, in academia there is more to life than profit. Our understanding of how the world functions has been obscenely twisted by the machinations of economists of every stripe, most especially by the bottom-line mentality of capitalism. How one dimensional, gray and predictable our lives would be without the dynamic perspectives of art, fine music, theater, literature, history, languages. Our world is intensely rich in its diversity. We don't learn, we don't broaden our horizons, we don't dare to dream, if we restrict ourselves to only making a profit. Just as with governmental services, the humanities in education are an investment in ourselves and in our children. Where is the profit in Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony? What is the value of an art museum, or learning to speak Spanish, or coming to understand the philosophical underpinnings of our own culture? The answer is clear -- we enrich our own spirits, our own intellects, our own hearts. Priceless.

VIDEO BONUS. Fruit and vegetable decomposition, time lapse. A bowl of fruits and veggies, recorded over 74 days, with one frame shot every 40 minutes, played back at 30 frames per second. It is amazing to contemplate the millions of microbes at work, and to notice toward the end of this 1:37 film the sudden regeneration of new life. Enjoy.

MUSIC / BULLIES

MUSIC. In his article What Type of Music Makes People Happiest?, psychologist Warren Davies posits that part of the answer appears to be hard-wired into human brain physiology. "When you listen to music, it is processed in brain areas associated with, among other things, language, memory (short- and long-term), and emotion. But when that music is something you really like, something that gives you chills, the brain areas involved with pleasure and reward light up too.

"These reward circuits turn on when you eat, have sex, or do pretty much anything that's naturally rewarding. They are also activated directly by many drugs, which is partly why these drugs are so addictive ... The areas which music activate(s) are crammed with opioid receptors (e.g., endorphins)."

There are also personal and cultural components to our musical tastes. On a personal level, when we experience intense happiness or arousal, our senses record the sight, sound, smell, taste and touch stimuli happening in that moment. Because music and memory are so closely linked, later exposure to that particular smell or sound (music) will restimulate the feeling of pleasure, reinforcing both the memory and the sensory association. Similarly, on a cultural level, those raised in the western tradition of music experience more pleasure when listening to consonance (as opposed to dissonance).

Finally, it is clear that the music most present in our environment during our culturally formative years (say, five years old to 25 years old) will heavily influence our preferences. So it is probably not possible to categorically state (though in my mind it's true) that Classical music rules and punk rock drools. As with so much else in our lives, both nature and nurture exert powerful influences.

BULLIES. Pamela Paul, in The Playground Gets Even Tougher, illuminates a definition of bullying which is much broader and more pervasive than was true in my youth. Half a century ago (in my then-limited awareness), bullies were usually boys who picked on other boys. I was the target during several passages in my early teens -- at the hands of individuals and also of a pair of boys. Strength in numbers. My initial fear eventually turned to scorn for anyone whose personal insecurity would lead them to inflict emotional or physical trauma on another. (Woe betide the bully who attempts to intimidate me today -- my training in boxing, Army hand-to-hand combat, and karate allows me to walk through life with quiet assurance, which in turn makes me a less likely target for those who prey on someone perceived as being weak.)

Now, as Ms. Paul explains, bullying has become much more pronounced among girls, and also is surfacing in both genders at much younger ages -- as young as kindergarten. What could possibly account for such sociopathic behavior? The answers are important, not only for our children, but also because child bullies grow up to become adult bullies -- socially, at work, in relationships. I invite you to read her article (linked above), and draw your own conclusions.

CSEM / FASTEST BIRDS

CSEM. A recent article in the UK's Daily Mail describes and illustrates the astonishing possibilities for exploring the world of the very, very small using a scanning electronic microscope to produce images called color scanning electron micrographs (CSEM). These ultra-magnified images have been around for years in monochrome -- color images are a new development. Above is a photo of human eyelash hairs (magnified 50 times). Below is a photo of a fold of fringe tissue, part of a human Fallopian tube. Gorgeous.

FASTEST BIRDS. From the BBC, a very cool video showing Peregrin Falcons and Gyrfalcons in dizzying flight, using both ground cameras and tiny cameras mounted on the birds' backs. Peregrins are the world's fastest creatures in flight, able to attain diving speeds of up to 250 miles per hour. Check here for more images.

PUBLIC SEX / PICTURE BOOKS

PUBLIC SEX. PDA alert !! Dateline Puttenham, England -- this small village in county Surrey has become famous for its inclusion in lists of good places to go "dogging", i.e., "to have sex in public, sometimes with partners you have just met online, so that others can watch. So popular is the woodsy field below the ridge as a spot for gay sex (during the day) and heterosexual sex (during the night) that the police have designated it a 'public sex environment.' Public sex is a popular and quasi-legal activity in Britain, according to the authorities and to the large number of Web sites that promote it."

Here is the entire article for your enjoyment, outrage, or boredom. Residents of Puttenham have become concerned over the sheer numbers of enthused hedonists, and have made suggestions including police patrols on horseback, rousting doggers with actual dogs, and deploying bad-tempered bulls in the field in question. I was tickled by one County Council Cabinet member's response -- "If you close this site, there would be an increase in suicides because these people would have nowhere else to go." You gotta love British civility. Among the tales of woe, "The occasion when an unsuspecting motorist went for a bathroom break in the bushes, only to be surrounded by a crowd of eager men. 'It was the quickest pee he'd ever done in his life.'"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. John Lennon would have turned 70 years old today. The world misses you, John. Imagine.

PICTURE BOOKS. According to a report by Julie Bosman in today's NYTimes online, sales of children's picture books have been declining markedly in recent years, as parents and schools have shifted their childrens reading to chapter books (books without illustrations). I find this a sad commentary on the pace at which we are pushing our young out of childhood. It is fine to introduce kids to academic subjects like math, spelling, reading and foreign languages at an early age -- in moderation. But it is also important to let them be kids, to explore the world on their own in an unstructured environment, and most importantly to allow them to develop their imaginations. Non-electronic game playing and picture books do just that. When my son was young, one of our greatest shared joys was the bedtime ritual of sitting together reading the stories in picture books. Repitition did not dim his delight, since each reading revealed fresh nuances in both the story and the illustrations, and how they fit together.

One of my favorites was a story with line drawing illustrations, called David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. The eponymous hero is (who else?) a young boy who enters into a world of breathtaking adventure and mythical, guided by the sacred firebird which appears in appears in the myths of ancient Persia, Greece, Rome, Egypt, China and Phoenicia. Alas, the story's antagonist is the stereotypical evil scientist, and it is important to talk with young listeners about how scientists by and large are the good guys. Nevertheless, I highly recommend the book to the parents or grandparents of any young child.

BEE MYSTERY / EMPTY SEAT / SPIRIT DAY

BEE MYSTERY. "Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States have suffered 'colony collapse.' Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food. Now a unique partnership of military scientists and entomologists appears to have achieved a major breakthrough ... a fungus tag-teaming with a virus has apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana."

Who cares, right? Well, you do. Bees are the prime pollenators for nearly all fruits and vegetables grown commercially -- not to mention the pollenators of wild and ornamental flowers, shrubs and trees. Take away the bees, and ... well, you get the idea.

Here is the entire NYTimes article describing how the fungus-virus symbiosis works, and the disastrous effects on entire bee colonies.

EMPTY SEAT. Regular readers know how little tolerance I have for racism or other forms of prejudice. Zero. The more you learn about socialized hatred, the more you realize how much there is yet to learn. John Edgar Wideman describes his experience riding Amtrak's high-speed Acela train beween New York City and Providence, RI -- a black man being shunned by white passengers to the point of having two seats to himself. Sounds like an unexpected benefit at first blush, until you place yourself in his shoes and experience how that must feel. The article is written with no rancor or finger-pointing. He calmly states the facts, and leaves you to draw your own conclusions about those 90 percent of people who would rather stand, than sit next to a person of color. How pathetic is that?

I just noticed an interesting confluence -- the word "racism" appears within the word "ostracism."

SPIRIT DAY. This announcement on the blog homorethanmusic -- "It's been decided. On October 20, 2010, we will wear purple in honor of the seven gay boys who committed suicide in recent weeks/months mostly due to homophobic abuse in their homes and at their schools. Purple represents Spirit on the LBGTQ flag and that's exactly what we'd like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality. Please wear purple on October 20. Please tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and schools. RIP Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase, Billy Lucas and Cody J. Barker (picture not shown). You are loved."

I remember thinking with horror upon hearing of the murder of students at Kent State University by Ohio National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970, "Oh my god, we're killing our children." Antiwar demonstrations and police riots have faded in memory, yet we are still killing our children. When will we stop the madness? Regardless of your sexual preference, please join in making a statement for tolerance -- please wear purple on the 20th.

McNUGGET PASTE / BOY OR GIRL

McNUGGET PASTE. From The Huffington Post: "Someone figured out in the 1960s that meat processors can eke out a few more percent of profit from chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows by scraping the bones 100 percent clean of meat. This is done by machines, not humans, by passing bones leftover from the initial cutting through a high pressure sieve. The paste you see in the picture above is the result (click to enlarge) .... There's more. Because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color (see image below) .... The resulting paste goes on to become the main ingredient in many of America's favorite mass-produced and processed meat-like foods and snacks -- bologna, hot dogs, salami, pepperoni, Slim Jim-like jerkeys, and of course the ever-polarizing chicken nugget, where the paste from the photo above is likely destined."

Here is the complete Huffington Post entry, including reader comments. It has been many years since I've been a fan of fast food restaurants, for reasons rooted in lack of flavor and nutrients, as well as abhoring the inhumane conditions at poultry farms and other non-free-range operations. This article is icing on the grotesque cake of the American diet. Meat by-products paste, deep fat fried. Small wonder that a third of Americans are clinically obese, and another third are seriously overweight.

If you would like to know where you stand, healthwise, check out your body mass index. The chart is broken down by gender, and shows the acceptable range of weights for a given height. Guideline -- within your target weight range, less is better. No matter how far you are from this goal, a healthy diet and a comprehensive exercise program will transform your life.

BOY OR GIRL. Here's an entertaining poser. "Assume you know that a woman has two children, the older of whom is a boy. Given this knowledge, what is the probability that she has two boys? 50/50, right? Not so fast. John Allen Paulos explains the range of conditions which can affect our prediction. Probability theory is the branch of mathematics which deals with analysis of random (or seemingly random) phenomena. It impacts every aspect of our lives, from the DNA-governed characteristics of a fetus, to the chances of being involved in a traffic accident, to drawing that desperately-needed card in a game of Texas Hold 'Em, to weather forecasting, to being struck by a comet.

BONUS. From the website of The Nature Conservancy, one of the world's most effective conservation organizations, here is a slide show called Natural Light (the best of over 11,000 images). My four years working as a preserve caretaker for TNC in southern Arizona were among the most fulfilling in my long and varied career. I encourage all to support the Conservancy, through donations, through volunteering, through protecting your land by creating a conservation easement, or any of a score of similar innovative agreements which benefit both you and the planet we call home.

CLASSICAL MUSIC / POLITICAL IDIOCY

CLASSICAL MUSIC. Colin Eatock notes that increasingly, classical music may be heard in the background at Canadian venues ranging from convenience stores to subway stations. While one might hope that the resulting drop in crime could be attributed to the transformation of troubled or violent souls by classical music's depth and sophistication, Eatock suggests another possible explanation -- that in a world where pop music is hectic, simplistic, brief and often devoid of substance, "classical music in public places is often deliberately intended to make certain types of people feel unwelcome. Its use has been described as 'musical bug spray,' and as the 'weaponization' of classical music ... 'Move along quickly and peacefully, people; this is not your cultural space."

This is just the first salvo in Eatock's examination of the current state of classical music. He outlines the history behind people's dislike for the genre, and suggests possible remedies. The essay is somewhat long, but provocative and worth the read. Speaking as one whose music of choice is classical, I hope that you will consider his thoughts, and maybe even dip your toes into the sublime waters of classical music yourself. You may find it to be a revelation.

POLITICAL IDIOCY. Three of my favorite NYTimes columnists take on the myths and the realities of the current political campaign season. Frank Rich in The Very Useful Idiocy of Christine O'Donnell suggests several reasons why this vapid Palin-wannabe (with a propensity for blatant lies and personal incompetence) has become a sensation among the far right. Paul Krugman in Fear and Favor examines the far right itself, and its incestuous, hypocritical relationship with the media and with deep-pocket donors. And Bob Herbert brings into focus the bizarre and checkered career of John Boehner ("always willing to stick his neck out for the elite"), potential Speaker of the House after the November elections, in That's Where the Money Is.

Should the elections bring Republicans into power in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, the only losers will be the public, and the only winners will be late night comedians. Have we learned nothing from the George W. Bush era? The short attention span of the American voter is positively dazzling. (Click on images to enlarge.)

SINGAPORE MATH / IKE

SINGAPORE MATH. Theories on learning have shifted over the years, particularly in the realm of mathematics. I'm a graduate of the older style of teaching which held sway in the 1950s and '60s -- rote learning and practice drills. The math skills I mastered remain sharp to this day. Standing in line at a checkout stand, I can mentally compute the change due faster than the math-challenged clerk can punch in the numbers on his/her computerized cash register. I still love algebra and geometry.

But there was something missing from my learning set -- learning to understand and to manipulate abstract concepts. So trigonometry was a little tougher for me, biostatistics was tougher still, and calculus .... oh my.

Over the years several iterations of learning theory have held sway in the nation's classrooms, none of them totally satisfactory. "New math" focused on absract theories. "Back to Basics math" espoused a return to rote learning and practice drills. "Reform math" emphasized problem solving and conceptual understanding.

Currently the teaching methods practiced in Singapore are receiving much attention, since students there consistently score among the top math students in the world on standardized math tests. Singapore math is unique in several aspects. Firstly, it insists on slowing down the learning process, allowing students plenty of time to solidly grasp a new skill, thus establishing a firm foundation of understanding upon which to build more complex skills. Secondly, it appears to combine the best aspects of both old and new math -- concrete, pictorial, and abstract thinking. This accomodates students with different learning styles, leveling the playing field. (The middle step is typically skipped in American schools, to the detriment of students.) Thirdly, gifted students can accelerate through the learning process, starting by fourth and fifth grades, thus allowing all students to learn to their individual potential.

Significantly, the most vocal opponents to Singapore math have been American teachers, who themselves "lacked a strong math background and adequate training in the program." Other opponents include parents and school boards who are skeptical about importing a "foreign" math program. To the first objection (the appeal to mediocrity) my response is -- why are unqualified teachers instructing our children in the first place??? This is one of the most glaring deficiencies in American education. To the second objection (the appeal to xenophobia) my response is -- there is nothing "foreign" about math. Like music, it is a universal language. Whether a successful teaching method originates in Singapore, Sarasota or Siam is totally irrelevant. You simply cannot argue with success.

The Singapore system is explained in greater detail in Winnie Hu's NYTimes article. As both a former student and former teacher, I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude. But I must say, this approach looks very promising.

IKE. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his parting address to the nation, famously intoned the warning "Beware the military-industrial complex." Truer and more oracular words have rarely been spoken. According to Michael Moore (who, though controversial, has yet to be proven wrong), throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, Presidents and the public have been manipulated by the Pentagon, and by the corporations which will employ Pentagon generals and admirals when they retire. One need look no further than the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to find abundant evidence. Every president since Eisenhower (and many preceding him) has been a titular figurehead -- "commander in chief" in name only. Military chiefs of staff and other advisors play a decisive role in determining where, when, why, and how the guerre de jour will be fought.

Moore cites Bob Woodward's book Obama's Wars in support of his assertion. I invite you to read Moore's entire article here, and draw your own conclusions.

CHARTER SCHOOLS / MARIJUANA

CHARTER SCHOOLS. In her usual penetrating style, Gail Collins discusses several layers of issues raised by the new film "Waiting for Superman", which critiques America's public schools, and appears to advance charter schools as a more viable alternative. It is a well-documented truth that over the past several decades, public schools have been treading water while schools in all other developed nations have been forging past us in reading, math and science skills. Clearly a major overhaul is needed, including (in my opinion) scrapping seniority, requiring all teachers to undergo annual re-training and annual examination of their teaching skills and currency of subject knowledge, and raising the standards expected of students, both for passing a class and for graduation from every level of education. We are producing a nation of illiterate, math-challenged, science-ignorant underachievers whose greatest workplace achievement may be learning to say "Would you like fries with that?"

However, charter schools are a questionable alternative. While they may have value as laboratories for new ideas, their performance has been dismal. Unregulated and unencumbered by universal standards, only 17 percent of charter schools do a better job than the comparable local public school. In Texas, only 37 percent of charter school students passed state academic achievement tests, compared with 80 percent of public school students.

Collins is right -- "the regular public schools are where American education has to be saved." Here is her complete essay. It should be required reading for all educators, school boards and legislators.

MARIJUANA. In case you've been living under a rock, California voters will soon have the opportunity to pass or defeat Proposition 19, which would legalize personal marijuana use, allow local government to regulate the production and sale of marijuana, and allow local government to impose taxes on same. We as a society do move at a glacial pace, with no discernable distinction between rational thought and emotional panic, over certain hot-button issues. I've advocated for forty years that precisely this approach (legalization, regulation, taxation) should replace prohibition, which has NEVER worked. There is an Alice in Wonderland quality to our taking the saner path with regard to much more destructive substances like alcohol or tobacco, yet we resist that path when it comes to marijuana, a measurably more benign substance. Note: it is significant that the bulk of financial backing for opposition to Prop 19 comes from .... you guessed it, the alcohol and tobacco industries. When in doubt, follow the money.

Timothy Egan offers a tongue-in-cheek (and very informative) summary of the history and current status of marijuana laws in this country, along with his own pointed reality check. "Most of the bad things associated with marijuana come from its criminalization. If legalization curbs the violence -- of the Mexican drug lords, of the gangsters who still wage turf wars in parts of California, of the powerful and paranoid growers of the north -- it will have done society a big favor." Ya think?

MEMORY / COYOTES / RELIGION TEST

MEMORY. David Hirschman summarizes in a clear and accessible manner current research on how memory is recorded (and lost) in the human brain. This information is relevant to nearly every human activity, from raising a child, teaching in school, learning a new skill or name, to the loss of memory with aging. Here is a summary of the article:

"Memory isn't like a video or film, faithfully recording a sequence of minute details and storing it all intact. Rather, it's a far more complex procedure, which preserves brain space by filtering out extraneous details while still allowing us to pull together pertinent information about specific events. So a memory is a set of circumstances, details and characteristics strung together -- the brain can recreate events by activating specific strings in "convergence/divergence" zones and then accessing all the scattered details attached to the string.

"We begin to lose memories as we age when our brains have too much of certain molecules called beta amyloids. While at low levels these molecules are required for our normal memory system, high levels hurt intra-brain communication."

For a fuller, more detailed understanding of memory gain and loss, please click on the link to the article.















COYOTES. Among my most vivid memories from twenty years living in southern Arizona is the haunting, howling, yipping chorus of coyotes at night, declaring their territory. Their vocal talents are such that one or a few coyotes can sound like many. Whether viewed as mythic trickster, as God's dog, or as vermin, the coyote is far and away the most adaptable predator in North America. Efforts at eradication have only produced smarter, more elusive, and more numerous populations of coyotes. They are versatile in their hunting -- going it alone, or in packs, or even cooperatively with other species. Unlike the unfortunate wolf, which still hovers within an eyeblink of extinction, coyotes have expanded their range to include forays into towns and major cities.

Because they are so wary and elusive, wildlife ecologists find that acquiring a deeper understanding of their way of life is "like working with a ghost species." The NYTimes article Mysteries That Howl and Hunt summarizes current research into this virtuoso singer and versatile survivor.

















RELIGION TEST. This cracks me up -- and at the same time does not surprise me in the least. A basic religion test administered to a cross-section of Americans revealed that "most people are deeply ignorant about religion. Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life. On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed questions about their own faith. Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities, Jews and Mormans."

How can this be, especially given that most questions had multiple-choice answers? Simple. Blind faith equates with poor knowledge. Most atheists and agnostics were raised in religious homes, but learned to examine, question and ultimately reject the moral hypocrisies and internal contradictions of religion through reading, thinking, and informing themselves. As Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, explained, "I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than most religious people. Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That's how you make atheists."

For a more thorough description of the survey and how various religious groups fared in their responses, as well as a sampling of the survey questions which you can answer for yourself, please check out the Basic Religion Test article.

OUT OF CONTROL

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN. The parallels to the Vietnam war continue to escalate. We are fighting a guerrilla insurgency with outmoded tactics, and relying too heavily on technology rather than special forces units on the ground. Our military effort in Afghanistan appears increasingly to be running off the rails.

In a report reminiscent of the My Lai Massacre on a smaller scale, we learn today that soldiers are being ordered to deliberately kill civilians who pose no threat. Have we learned nothing?? Mindlessly following illegal orders, whether out of fear of reprisal or simply because that is how thorough military brainwashing can be, is inexcusable. Every single human being wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon is still ethically responsible for his/her own choices. Period. It turns my stomach that the military does not include individual ethical responsibility in its training. I've long thought that the minimum age for military service should be 30, not 18. At least that way low-ranking soldiers would have attained (hopefully) a minimal level of judgment. What a sad commentary on the American way of life that morally intact individuals like Hugh Thompson, Jr., are the exception and not the rule within the military.

Similarly, the CIA is stepping up its use of drone attacks on Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, a non-combatant nation. Can you say "Cambodian invasion"? Like ground soldiers set loose with no clear operational guidelines and half-baked leadership, the use of airstrikes is more likely to kill civilians than actual terrorists -- partly because hard intelligence on the location of targets is quickly outdated, and also because terrorists use civilians as human shields. We continue to generate more and more enemies who (rightly) see us as armed invaders, when the surgical use of special forces operatives (Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and Green Berets, and especially Delta Force, which is trained specifically in counter-terrorism operations) would be infinitely more effective against terrorists .... wherever they may be.

"Just following orders." Ugh. We cannot get out of Afghanistan soon enough.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Outsourcing is metastasizing, and the results are rarely beneficial to the consumer. When you base a domestic production or service in a foreign land, you lose accountability for the quality of the product or service (not to mention the loss of jobs locally). When you farm out a legitimately govermental function to private enterprise ("enterprise" being a euphemism for the concentration of wealth among a few, rather than sharing of wealth among many), you also lose accountability for both quality of service and for controlling costs.

Consider the example of privatizing prisons. Our tax dollars are still paying for the operation, but there's a hitch. We either have to pay more to maintain the same level of service (since we're now contributing to a corporation's profit margin), or we pay the same for a lower level of service (to maintain that same profit margin). Either way, we lose and CEOs gain. The same applies to contracting military operations to private companies like Blackwater.

I recognize that governments often contract with companies for specific services -- say, a construction project or the manufacture of equipment. That should NOT be confused with letting the company take over the decision-making process without the oversight of government, which represents the interests of citizens, not stockholders.

Today's NYTimes reports that the management of more and more public libraries is being farmed out to private companies. I am furious. The public library is a sacred institution. Here too, accountability is removed from the hands of taxpayers, and placed in the hands of corporate officers and stockholders. No good can come of this. Some company wonk is going to decide which books, electronic media and other library services to purchase, and which to deny to the public? That's not a public library, that's a private library. WTF is WRONG with us? Why are we letting our local, state and national political leaders get away with passing the buck?

There are services which only government should be providing -- military defense, incarceration of criminals, maintaining the national parks, improving infrastructure (roads, dams, bridges, rail lines, energy production, clean water and clean air), providing and regulating health care options, and yes, public libraries. That's why they call it government. Those among us who are so mypoic that their motto is "get government out of our lives" have only a surface understanding of how the world works. The key is not less government. The key is efficient and responsible government. If you don't want to pay taxes, just remember -- you get what you pay for.

HUMAN ASCENDANCY / DIGESTION

HUMAN ASCENDANCY. In my Philosophy of Biology class, a quarter century ago, the professor suggested that the evolution of three traits accounts for the eventual rise to dominance of homo sapiens -- large brains (abstract thinking), bipedal posture and opposable thumbs (freeing our hands to use tools). There is, of course, much more to the story, and reading the thoughts of any evolutionary biologist -- Stephen J. Gould and Richard Dawkins are good starting pointa -- provides evocative insights into our development as a species.

A new study by anthropologist Pat Shipman introduces an intriguing hypotheses -- that the appearance of a symbiotic relationship between humans and animals (initially as hunter and prey, and currently reflected in our relationships with our pets) helps to explain the development of more sophisticated toolmaking, the development of language, and even the advent of art. I highly recommend Drake Bennett's article on Shipman's work -- whether you accept the premise or not (and not all scientists do), I suspect you will discover that Shipman's research will resonate, and provoke new avenues of thought. I've found that controversial ideas often provide the seeds for the transformation of our knowledge to new realms of understanding, and even new disciplines within science. This may be one such idea. Your cat, dog, horse or parakeet will likely agree.

Digestion. Speaking of science, I love the intro to this gee-whiz article -- "Science is inherently cool, but gross science is even better ... Using a combination of computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark were able to visualize the entire internal organ structures and vascular systems of a Burmese Python digesting a rat." See the entire article for a series of images that record the digestive breakdown of said rat. Below is a picture of the entire snake at mid-digestion -- definitely click on the image to enlarge, then click again on the enlargement for fullest detail. Snakes are so damn cool !!

FIVE MYTHS / WHO'S IN CHARGE?

FIVE MYTHS. In today's Washington Post, David Kirkpatrick picks up on the hype surrounding a movie called "The Social Network," whose subject is the website Facebook. The movie may perpetuate several myths about FB and its founder, Mark Zuckerman. Below are the myths. See if you have a grasp of their essential untruth, then check yourself out at Kirkpatrick's article.

1. Facebook is used mostly by college kids.
2. Facebook keeps changing to help sell advertising.
3. Facebook users are up in arms about privacy.
4. Zuckerman stole the idea for Facebook from other students at Harvard.
5. Facebook could soon go the way of Friendster and MySpace.

It is remarkable to realize that Facebook has grown to include over 500 million active users globally, since the website's launch in February 2004. I happen to be one of them, and am grateful for the opportunity to have become good friends with people in places as far-flung as Greece, Portugal, Sweden, England, Slovakia, and Lebanon, as well as all parts of the U.S.

WHO'S IN CHARGE? Last week our hard-working servants in Congress once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by failing to rescind the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which denies gays and lesbians the right to serve their country openly. Had Congress acted according to the wishes of 82 percent of Democrats and 64 per cent of Republicans, our military would be in a position to avail itself of an untapped resource of intelligent, dedicated men and women (whose sexual orientation is nobody's businesss, and irrelevant to their ability to serve). During his satiric monologue the day after the Senate vote, Jon Stewart rhetorically asked, "Are We Being Led by A**holes?" In many instances, definitely yes. The posturing and petty politics being played out in Washington do not serve the interests of the country or the military. The fact is that one out of every ten people is a gay man or a lesbian woman, whether openly or secretly. This includes everyone YOU know. Think about that. Your friends, relatives and coworkers, good people all, include a substantial number of homosexuals. Does that mean you should drop them from your life? Hell no. It means that, if you haven't done so already, it is high time you reconsider your biases toward gays. My circle of friends around the country includes a number of gays and lesbians, and I treasure them equally with my straight friends. Too bad I can't say the same about certain politicians.

YOUR HAIR / LANGUAGES

YOUR HAIR. Did you know that your hair ages faster than your toenails, and that the explanation is Einsteinian relativity? Check it out here.

LANGUAGES. Here is an extremely versatile translation website, for those times when you just really have to know how to say it in Portuguese, or Greek, or Yiddish, or .....

DOWNHILL / A MILESTONE

DOWNHILL. In today's NYTimes, esteemed economist Paul Krugman pokes holes in the already-perforated Republican Party's alleged "Pledge to American". Krugman notes that, as in past empty promises to the public, Republican math just does not add up. Far from decreasing the federal budget deficit, their agenda would actually increase the deficit -- just as they have done in every Republican administration since Dwight D. Eisenhower. Krugman cites Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center -- "the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (A) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (B) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won't cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government. No more National Parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicare (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and for others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress."





















So how does Republican rhetoric make any conceivable sense? If the party's plan for reducing the deficit makes no mathematical or fiscal sense, why are they proposing it? Well, for much the same reason they trotted out their "Contract with America" in 1994 -- in a naked grab for power. The American electorate is gullible to pompous promises (Nixon's "secret" plan to end the war in 1968 comes to mind), and in 1994 the electorate swept Republicans into power in both houses of Congress. As Krugman documents, modern conservatives make no bones about it -- being in power trumps responsibly serving the people every time. Once in power, conservatives also make no bones about their real goals -- "privatizing and dismantling Medicare and Social Security."

Yeah, that's what I really want to see, LESS accountability, FEWER governmental services for my tax dollars, and MORE money falling into the welcoming pockets of already-obscenely-wealthy CEOs (who donate handsomely to Senators and Representatives who serve them). The truly dispiriting aspect of all this? Voters had such a short memory, and so little interest in really informing themselves about the issues, that they'll likely swallow the conservative bait, as if they had not already tasted that barbed hook before.

A MILESTONE. I began posting on this blog on 13 February 2008. Yesterday, for the first time, the number of daily visitors reached 100 !!! Small potatoes for many widely-read blogs, but an encouraging achievement for this modest e-epistle. Thank you, gentle readers. Spread the word, and please feel free to click on "comments" at the end of each post to leave your remarks or questions. Below you will find graphs showing (as of this hour) the number of daily visitors for the past month, and the number of monthly visitors for the past year. Click on the image to enlarge.

WAR DISSENTERS / BOOZY FRUIT

WAR DISSENTERS. Here is an odd trait of the Presidency -- whether one is elected as a hawk or a dove, inevitably new Presidents feel the urge to show their cojones by starting, perpetuating or escalating a war. Had John F. Kennedy lived, chances are Lyndon B. Johnson would not have been forced to seek the counsel of his military advisors, and this nation would not have been sucked into the Vietnam quagmire. (Click on the above image to enlarge the quote.)

A new book by Washington Post Reporter Bob Woodward documents another President who turned to military advisors for guidance -- Barack Obama. Sad to say, the opinions of General David Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates prevailed, and Obama approved the deployment of 30,000 additional troops to combat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Our military presence in that feudal, sectarian and politically corrupt country has almost no effect on the stabilization of the country or the suppression of terrorism. Quite the opposite -- the U.S. is seen as an infidel invader, provoking ever-increasing numbers of recruits into the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Like the Soviets before us, we are caught in military quicksand, and withdrawal is the only sane option.

Woodward notes that the military advice to Obama was not unanimous, however. Three generals assigned to the White House and the State Department were "the military's toughest, most persistent and most skeptical critics." It is refreshing to note that for some in the military, truth and honor take priority over career advancement and walking in lockstep. Their reasons are crystal clear. There is not shortage of published books (not to mention classified military intelligence) which clearly map out the history of the region, and the tactics which are most successful in defeating insurgents. Jon Krakauer's Where Men Win Glory is a comprehensive starting point. What a shame that young men and women are dying daily in that harsh geography, simply because the top brass stubbornly choose to pursue more conventional, counter-productive military tactics. A much more effective approach would see us using special forces units as military advisors to friendly tribal leaders, in combination with providing the means for locals to take charge of maintaining roads, hospitals, schools, food supplies, clean water, and a stable economy. Conventional military forces, no matter who technologically well-equipped, do more harm than good -- we kill innocent civilians, and we assume that our way of life and form of government holds universal appeal. They do not. We are, indeed, intruders. There are much more effective ways of defeating fundamentalist terrorists.

BOOZY FRUIT. This one tickled me. Like many who grew up in rural areas, I have clear memories of my mother canning fresh fruits and vegetables -- a laborious project involving macerating, simmering, and sterilizing jars. Melissa Clark presents an easier alternative -- simply preserving fruits and vegetables in the appropriate alcoholic libation. After a time, "you can sip the liquid as a cordial and eat the sweet, spiked fruit over ice cream or cake." Yummy.

IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK ........

Hats off to Garrett Baer for his essay "Yes, Mr. Kristof, This Is America." Subtitled "Why Are We Surprised at Our Own Bigotry?", Baer points out with eloquence and clarity the disconnect between this country's founding ideals and our consistent failure to live up to those ideals. As this writer has frequently noted, racism, religious and gender bias and xenophobia are the rule, rather than the exception.

Baer notes, "Unfortunately, contemporary Islamophobia is not a stain against the otherwise spotless canvas of American history. If anything, that canvas is filthy and should be acknowledged as such .... Rather than viewing the shameful interning of Japanese Americans during World War II, or the disgraceful refusal to accept Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe as rare, exceptional tests in American history, we need to view those events as constitutive elements of the American experience. Was America not America prior to the abolishing of slavery? Was America not America prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, during the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the Zoot Suit Riots, or the pursuit of Manifest Destiny? Anti-miscegenation laws were belatedly toppled in the '60s, but today 37% of Americans would not approve of a family member marrying outside of his or her race. Are those people not American? ....

"We have to stop treating American bigotry as a series of exceptions, and finally deal with it as a chronic condition. America, I have a diagnosis, and you do not look good. If it looks like racism, feels like racism, and sounds like racism, then I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Let's stop reacting with disbelief, as if someone pulled the multiculturalist rug out from beneath our feet, only for us to land on our surprised asses in an America we'd never seen before ....

"When this country does manage to get beyond its narrow-minded bigotry, it's not by insisting that racism is a rare aberration and gasping in surprise, but by openly ackowledging the utter depravity of our condition and doing something about it. Our great civil rights movements -- against the majority's delusions about race, gender, and sexual orientation -- have always known this. By pretending as if Islamophobia, anti-immigration, or the Tea Party are odd and temporary, we excuse ourselves from taking them seriously, and from seriously fighting against them."

The above exerpts are only a portion of Baer's thoughtful essay. In response to his query ("Maybe we need to redefine the fringe?"), I'm increasingly persuaded that the answer is yes. In the Declaration of Independence, the signers pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor" in support of independence and in opposition to tyranny. Sadly, these educated and forward-thinking men would not recognize the distortions visited upon our democratic republic during the past 234 years. They, like those few of us today who insist on rational discourse and tolerance toward all races, religions, and ethnicities, would find themselves among the new fringe. Welcome to America, 2010.

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND CREATIVITY

From brilliant behavioral therapist, essayist and blogger Andrea Kuszewski -- "The very traits that make someone creative, passionate, and likely to achieve a high degree of success in their domain, are the same traits that define psychological disorders such as Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and ADHD. So what is the difference between creativity and psychopathology? Where do we draw the line between functional excess of extreme traits and the point at which they define a psychological disorder? Is there a discriminating trait that separates these two groups? The answer is .... "

I invite you to read her article to learn more about the fascinating commections, and how they function (or malfunction). She goes on to explore the essential truth of creativity, creativity across different domains, and why we need psychopathology if we want geniuses. The comments thread is almost as stimulating as the article itself.

As an entertaining aside, here is singer Joni Mitchell's musical take on creativity and mental health. Joni's prodigious talent has inspired awe in audiences and fellow musicians alike.

SCORE !! Now this is the man we elected to be President. In a discussion on the economy, President Obama responds to two questions from a wealthy hedge fund manager -- clearly, calmly and placing the issues in perspective. If our public and political discourse were conducted with more mutual respect and restraint, and less mindless ranting and raw emotion, the problems we face could be solved quickly and very nearly painlessly. ALL politicians and ALL political extremists, please take note.