Category: Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Caveat: The Land of the Morning Suicide

Life in Korea / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

So many people commit suicide in Korea.  They have a very high rate.  And famous people keep setting the example.  Today, it was the humuliated and profoundly unsuccessful former president, 노무현.  I'm of the personal opinion that he was at least somewhat better than the current president… that's largely due to ideological issues.  That there was corruption and gross incompetence in Roh's administration is undeniable.  But he entered politics as a human rights lawyer and activist, and I really feel that his intentions were genuine.  Somehow, I'm inclined to "read" his suicide as a confirmation of that.  Truly corrupt people (compunctionless types) feel no shame.  And no shame means no suicide.  The truly corrupt go and lurk in a fog of false righteousness.   But suicide is easy to "romanticize."  It can be manipulative, too.  So… who knows.

He threw himself off a cliff near his home village.  He left a note — no ambiguity.  He'd been in the midst of being investigated (or prosecuted?) for corruption charges.  I guess he just didn't want to deal with it anymore.

Caveat: Ellison’s Sun, Rising or Setting…

Databases, Smartphones & Computers / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

I've been contemplating Oracle's proposed takeover of Sun Microsystems.   As an erstwhile programmer, I'm concerned about Oracle's ability to be faithful to Sun's many relatively "open" software infrastructure undertakings:  the Java programming language, OpenOffice, and, most importantly, MySQL, which has been a direct competitor of Oracle's core database products.

I don't trust Oracle to stay committed to any of these product lines.  The best case scenario would involve them spinning them off, somehow, but if I'm guessing correctly, it was for these "periferal" lines-of-business that Oracle decided to take on Sun in the first place — the hardware line that most analysts view as the central part of Sun's business is both shrinking, and uninteresting to Larry Ellison's empire-building schemes. 

As a shareholder (I own a tiny number of shares in each company), I'm more sanguine.  It means I don't have to fear a bankruptcy by Sun (which seemed possible, especially after the failed IBM bid), and I can therefore recover at least some of my invested value  in that company.  And Oracle has a good record of profitably absorbing other businesses.

Oracle will struggle more with Sun than many of its previous acquisitions, due not least to that hardware business, but I expect there's a very good chance they will figure out how to make money from the whole deal, eventually.  Oracle is stunningly good at manipulating their long-term revenue streams and cross-selling products.

After all, it was my experience as an IT worker of a major Oracle customer that convinced me they were a good stock to own – those people sell some of the most well-marketed vaporware in the world of ERP applications.  And I don't really mean vaporware negatively – all major ERP systems are basically vaporware at the moment of sale:  those kinds of million-dollar sales are little more than a handshake that says, "we will build what you need."

Caveat: What Recession?

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

South Korea is definitely struggling a little bit.  But not a day goes by when I don't see some news item that seems to indicate that, at least so far, they're weathering things pretty well here, compared to many places.  Of course, many "developing" countries seem to be handling this thing better than the "developed" ones, which lends some credence to my periodic casual assertion that despite its apparent prosperity, its membership in the OECD, etc., South Korea is still, at heart, a developing country.

The evidence today was more direct, if entirely subjective.  I've been doing a lot of random-bus-riding.  Well, not entirely random.  But bravely just getting on buses to see where they take me.  Today I ended up in Yeongdeungpo on a #9706, and then after walking around some, I took a subway to Gangnam.  And there, lo and behold, there was a new Starbucks opening up, near the Nonhyeon subway station.  Here I thought Starbucks was closing hundreds (even thousands) of stores, worldwide, to try to survive the recession.  But not in Gangnam.  Brand new Starbucks… only blocks away from two other Starbucks I've been to.  I mean… as a shareholder, I have to go, don't I?  Hah.  Well, anyway.  New Starbucks.

I studied Korean for a while, and then I read the most recent copy of the Economist and finally took yet another random bus back home.  I had to stand the whole trip, which made me remember traveling in Mexico, where I remember at least once standing for an eight hour bus trip from DF to Morelia. 

Caveat: Unclear on the concept

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Teaching & Methodology / The Wonders of Work

I spent 20 minutes last night explaining the debate topic to my Eldorado 1 class.  I knew the topic was a bit over their heads, but I had no idea by just how much.

The topic is whether or not South Korea should join the US in a "proliferation security initiative" – basically, should South Korea join other nations in working hard to prevent the nuclear proliferation problem.  But it's a sensitive issue, here, since North Korea is the number one offender on the nuclear proliferation front, at the moment.  And the South has ambivalences about its other neighbors, too:  China is increasingly public about its military (including nuclear) capacity, and Japan is NEVER to be trusted in its non-proliferation commitments (for obvious historical reasons, from the Korean perspective). 

The consequence is that while many South Koreans clearly want to side with the US in the non-proliferation movement, there are just as many that would like to simply ignore the situation, either because they don't want to offend the North for fear of antagonizing it (typically, those on the left), or because they would like to see the South developing (perhaps secretly) their own nuclear deterrent (typically, those on the right). 

Anyway, I spent lots of time drawing maps and diagrams on the board, and explaining in as simple vocabulary as I could muster, the situation regarding nuclear proliferation.  And then, as the bell rang, my student Ann timidly raised her hand, and said, "Teacher… which Korea?"  I said that I didn't understand.  She elaborated, "Here, Ilsan.  Which Korea – North, South?" 

"This is South Korea," I said, bemused.  Her face brightened.  "Oh, thank you.  Good night."  Oops!  Sometimes you need to make sure basic concepts are clear.

In other news… my web-access problems at home are getting progressively more annoying.  I couldn't get into facebook, last night.  And unlike with my blog host, I was unable to "sneak" in using a proxy.  I may be better off trying to freeload wifi off my neighbors, and not pay the $25 a month to SK Broadband.  I certainly would never dream of trying to interact with customer service in Korean.  I remember vividly my shock and dismay when I realized that the person at the customer service call center at my DSL provider in the US didn't know what a Domain Name Server was.  Nothing is more depressing than trying to explain technical stuff to the technical helpdesk people.  And to try to do so across a severe language barrier might just cause my brain to self-destruct.

Caveat: All the world’s a stage…

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

In the latest Atlantic magazine, Hua Hsu replies to letters critiquing his article "The End of White America," which I mentioned once before.  And there is one thing that he says that bothers me (and he may have said something similar in his article, but at the time it didn't stick with me): "I am reminded of the commentary about Barack Obama's skill (and more important, success) at 'playing white.'"

This statement of Hsu's bothers me because in my opinion it underscores the problem with so much analysis of race, everywhere in the world:  it conflates the issues of physiognomy on the one hand and cultural background on the other.  You see, Barack Obama is not, in fact, skilled at "playing white," as Hsu says.  Culturally, Barack Obama is white.  He was raised by a white mother (and her white parents, his grandparents) in the multiethnic but mostly culturally "white" enclaves of Honolulu.  It doesn't require any skill on his part to "play white," because it's what comes naturally to him.  Being white is Obama's birthright.  If anything, Obama's skill is in "playing black," given that he had very little exposure to black culture during his childhood and adolescence (whether we're speaking of blackness of the American, slave-descended variety or of the African immigrant variety).

In fact, Obama's ability to navigate "alien" cultural spaces (such as Chicago's Southside African American world) is a great gift he has, and his success in "nativizing" himself contributed hugely to his political success later on.  And far be it from me to criticize his desire to "go native" — the challenges of cultural adoptees (where physical "race" doesn't match that of one's parents) is something I feel I have some small insight into, but in reality is far beyond my ability to empathize with deeply.
 
Nevertheless, Hsu's confusion of Obama's cultural background (white) and physiognomy (black/white), along with the inevitable overweighting of the latter vis-a-vis the former, is what I would term a central tenet of the "racist fallacy."  Obama demands huge credit for his ability to cross the cultural divides that permeate our society, and there's no denying that his physiognomy introduced complexities into that navigational process, both positive and negative, but to say that Obama is successful at "playing white" totally misses the realities of the way culture and ethnicity work, from an anthropological standpoint. 
 
Well, that's just my opinion.

Caveat: Education

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Teaching & Methodology

So I read in Newsweek an editorial by Jacob Weisberg, entitled "What else are we wrong about?"  The observation that caught my eye:  "Homeownership encourages longer commutes.  And at least one study says it makes you fat and unhappy."

I've had less-than-glowing sociological intuitions about America's homeownership-as-secular-religion for some time.  And the recent subprime mortgage crisis points up some of the instabilities, although it mostly seems the blame lies with exploitative financiers.  The point is, a homeownership "religion" can can be exploitative.  At the least, it becomes a form of social control:  keep your citizens in sufficient debt that they can't challenge the underpinnings of the economic system.

But as I reflected on the homeownership question, this morning, I had a curious new insight.  One of the sociological factors that seems to drive US homeownership trends is the "problem of public education."  Which is to say, families in search of "better schools" search out "good school districts" which are inevitably "farther out" – leading to overleveraged mortgages and longer commutes, etc., etc.  Look at the recent immense movement of lower-middle-class and working-class hispanics into California's Inland Empire, to get away from the "city problems" and "city schools," among other things.

All of which means that, at least indirectly, the US "public education problem" could be viewed as a root cause (I said a root cause, not the root cause) of things as diverse as the current global financial crisis (via the subprime mortgage problem) and global warming (via the excessively long, automobile-dependent commuting pattern of American workers).

Maybe that's just my biases at work.  I really believe that the single thing that needs to be "fixed" about the American polity is the education system.

Caveat: Pirates!

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Pirates are all over the news.  On the one hand, Obama is facing off against pirates, not far off the coast of his father's homeland.  See this somewhat silly article in Mother Jones.  On the other hand, the Swedes have convicted the leaders of The Pirate Bay (a torrenting website that I have confessed to using on occasion) of copyright infringement, unexpectedly granting a huge boost to a Swedish Piratpartiet (really!), propelling them past even the Greens, at least temporarily, in the polls.  And meanwhile, Lars Ulrich (of the rock band Metallica, notorious for having essentially sued his own fans for piracy in the past) has now announced that he's siding with Trent Reznor and Radiohead and believes major record labels are no longer necessary.

So… which pirates are the real pirates?  What does all this mean?  What ties them together?  I would speculate, for both best and worst, that there's a sort of libertarian ideal that provides the linkages.  It was the example of Somalia that has caused me, in recent years, to reconsider my own libertarianism.  And it is movements like Sweden's Piratpartiet that make me think libertarianism still has something to offer, ideologically.  I'm offering no answers… just meditating on things.

Caveat: Wealth Evaporation

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

So, I saw a graph somewhere recently that showed how all the world's stockmarkets have gone down, everywhere.  And I began to ponder how much the cumulative global market capitalization of all companies had gone down.  And after some googling, I found a figure for global "wealth evaporation" that documented $40 trillion and hinted at $70 trillion, in a blog called My Budget 360. 

Gone.  Disappeared.

Interesting.

Caveat: Too much of a good thing?

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

"Back in the early stages of the financial crisis, wags joked that our trade with China had turned out to be fair and balanced after all: They sold us poison toys and tainted seafood; we sold them fraudulent securities."  So says Paul Krugman, in an editorial in the New York Times, April 2, 2009.  And he goes on, very interestingly.  Imagine having so much of some thing that you effectively can't sell it — because to do so would drive down the price and turn your remaining holdings of that thing into a net loss.  That sums up China's relationship with the U.S. dollar, in particular, that form of the dollar known as U.S. Treasuries.

So all the doom and gloom about China taking over the world economy is much exaggerated, but that doesn't mean the U.S. (or Japanese or European) position is any safer.  It's ALL messed up, everywhere.  I had a negative income last year, at least on paper.  I have arranged my life in such a way that that is not a tragedy for me — it hardly affects my decisions or lifestyle at all.  Nevertheless, it's annoying and painful in an abstract sort of way.

Caveat: 이명밥

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

pictureHahaha. Anna sent this cartoon to me. She said in class today, “I think maybe you don’t like our president Lee Myeong-bak very much.” I answered, “He’s Korea’s George Bush.” From there, each listener or reader may draw his or her own conclusions.
The last syllable in the cartoon has been changed from his name (-bak) to (-bap) which is how Koreans write Spongebob’s last syllable, too. Not only that, but -bap means “rice,” as in my latest favorite dish, 해신볶음밥 (haeshinbokkeumbap = spicy seafood fried rice).
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Caveat: Detroit crashing… Detroit triumphant

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

GM stock dropped 25% on Monday, as the Space Emperor (or his staff) forced Wagoner out of the CEO slot.  Things are looking grimmer than ever for America's Detroit.  But meanwhile, I also read this bit of news about a Netherlands-based company that seems to have elected to call itself "Detroit Electric" unironically.  They're going to be contracting with the normally Detroitesque (meaning perennially loss-making) Malaysian state-owned carmaker Proton to make all-electric cars for the EU and eventually US markets. 

Wouldn't it be weird and historically ironic if, ultimately, the name "Detroit" became associated not with America's failed car industry but rather a future-oriented European company manufacturing cars in Southeast Asia?  Can you imagine, say, 30 years from now, people saying "Detroit" and forgetting that it used to be a major American city noted for automobiles, and referring instead to the latest model from the Dutch-Malaysian enterprise?

Caveat: 主體

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Life is a Dream / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

I had this weird dream the other day, right as I was waking up. The dream had this unidentified guru-like person, who was advising me to practice “Juche” as a means to personal growth and salvation. He was pointing to a page with the Chinese characters for it (see title-line).

But then Ken interrupted (Ken is the archetype interrupter, in Jared’s dreamland), and I lost dream-traction… vaguely.

“Juche” (주체) is the Korean name for the official ideology of North Korea, as formulated by Kim Il-sung and his son, Kim Jong-il. It’s 2 parts Stalinism, 2 parts fascism, 1 part maoism, and 1 part feudalism.  Well, that’s my own take on it.

Kim’s folly. Literally, it means something like “corism,” as in, “the ideology of core” or “ideology of the main subject.” But generally it’s translated as “self-reliance,” as it is strongly autarkic in character.

Interestingly, when I looked in the naver.com dictionary, I discovered that 주체 can also mean “indigestion caused by drinking” and also “a burden.”  Nice bit of homonymy. Courtesy naver.com:

주체(主體) the subject;the main body;【중심】the core;the nucleus;『법』 the main constituent
주체(酒滯) indigestion from[caused by] drinking
주체 a burden;a bother;a handful ―하다 cope with[take care of] one´s burden

It was strange that it was the Chinese hanja that were in the dream, since North Korea no longer uses Chinese characters – their banning was, in fact, part of the culturally self-reliant practice of Juche, as it was developed in the 60’s in reaction to the Sino-Soviet split.

Speaking of weapons of mass destruction (we were speaking of weapons of mass destruction?), check out this “fake 404” from the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It made me laugh.

Other notes from studying Korean:

시(時) o´clock;time;hour (I recognized the hanja for this on a sign, recently.  It was a cool feeling.)

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Caveat: Obamiconography

Found Online / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

pictureI saw the photo of our Future Space Emperor at the Telegraph (.co.uk) website. It looks like some weird Orthodox Jesus icon, with the presidential seal behind him exactly just so…
Don’t get me wrong… I’m really not trying to be sarcastic when I call him Future Space Emperor. I think, first of all, that it just sounds funny. It captures the weird Obameschatology that grew up around his campaign. But also, what if he really does turn out to be Space Emperor, at some point?
Really!  It could happen!
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Caveat: Black or White or What?

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

In a recent article that appeared in The Atlantic magazine (January 2009) by Hua Hsu, "The End of White America?" the historian Matthew Frye Jacobson asks "Why is it that in the United States, a white woman can have black children but a black woman cannot have white children?"   This has always bothered me.  And it makes glaringly obvious the arbitrary nature of "race."

True post-racialism necessarily must lead to the elimination of such facile and artificial categories as black and white.  Ethnic difference will, of course, persist.  But that's not the same thing at all.

Caveat: Love with no need to preempt grievance

Banalities & Journaling / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Elizabeth Alexander's poem that she read at the Space Emperor's inauguration has received some unkind reviews.  But I found the text of it, and despite its reception, I think I rather like it.  At the risk of annoying a copyright god somewhere, I will reproduce it.

Writing a poem for such an event, in an era when poetry, especially poetry for public reading, is largely moribund, and for such a diverse audience as "all of America"… well, this is no small challenge.  She could have done much worse.

"Praise song for the day."
by Elizabeth Alexander
[2009 Obama Inauguration]

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky. A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; we walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign, the figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self." Others by "First do no harm," or "Take no more than you need."

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.

 

Caveat: “We bought their stuff, now they have our money”

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Above, is a quote I heard on NPR, explaining the current macroeconomic situation between China and the U.S.  I rather thought its simplicity was beautiful, and yet explains it better than many much more complicated accounts.  And I realize it doesn't mean that China is rich — all that money is really in the hands of the narrow elite that runs things in China, and specifically in its huge reserve of foreign exchange held by the government.  So it will require changes in policy on the part of China's government to "free up" that money to aid in the recovery from the current economic crisis.

Caveat: Perennial Peripheria

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Teaching & Methodology

I noticed that California’s perennial water politics controversy, the Peripheral Canal, is in the news. It’s actually been on my mind, on and off.  The reason is complicated.
Since I came to Korea, some of the aspects of the EFL curricula I have been provided with to teach from that I have most liked have been the various “debate programs.” I think debate is a great way to teach not just language skills, but also to address important, related issues such as critical thinking and general confidence.  And when I think about debate, I always think about the debate class I had at Arcata High. It was in 10th or 11th grade, I think. Funny that I don’t remember that.  Nor can I recall the teacher’s name.  But, what I remember with great clarity and vividness was that the topic I ended up with, back in the beginning of the 80’s, was the Peripheral Canal:  to build or not to build? I remember trudging up to the Humboldt State University library repeatedly to study such archana as tracing the lobbying money being spent by the MWD (Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a semi-private institution despite its name, kind of like the Fed of water politics), and feeling like I was uncovering some scary scandal, like in a movie.
The issue has always been interesting. I view it as the sort of archetype of the typical exceedingly complex environment vs human debate.  It has always had sincere environmentalists positioned on both sides.  On the one hand, the current extent of ongoing environmental degradation in the California Delta is unsustainable without some major change or human remediation. This has been recognized and essentially uncontroversial for 30 years (i.e. since before I was debating it in high school!). But other people fight the idea of building a canal to help “save” the delta, because the same canal will be able to support even further and faster degradation, unless properly managed for the benefit of the Delta ecosystem instead of simply to slake the ever-growing thirst of California’s cities.
pictureOne interesting feature of the current push is that some groups are pushing for an amendment to the California Constitution to make sure that the Delta (meaning its ecosystems) get representation of some kind on the board that oversees the management of any canal that is built.  Meanwhile, the governator, with characteristic recklessness, is pushing beginning of actual construction very hard.  Wanting it to be part of his legacy.  And, arguably, with the economic crisis creating a positive political environment for big public works spending (stimulus!), there’s some brilliant tactics on display there.  The canal would be the largest water-related public works project since the California Aqueduct was completed.
Some things have changed.  It’s no longer South vs North — Sacramento, lurking right on the eastern edge of the Delta, is thirstier now than L.A. was 30 years ago.  And many locals who opposed the canal in years past are now so desperate to see something done to save the Delta that they are more in a mood to compromise.  At least, that’s my perception.  I still don’t know what the right answer is… I think the Delta is doomed, regardless, at least as it is….  Canal or no canal, rising sea levels (global warming) will push salt water farther and farther inland (people forget that the Delta area between Sacramento and Vallejo is at exactly sea level… and Sacramento is the U.S. city most vulnerable to rising sea levels after only New Orleans, despite being 150 miles inland) unless other steps are taken that dwarf the canal both in terms of ecological impact and cost:  some kind of barrier will have to be built, a la Netherlands’ giant seawall, to keep San Francisco Bay from invading the Valley.
Anyway, all of which is to say… as I teach kids debating skills, I think back to that class.  I hated the teacher… probably it’s a good thing I don’t remember him.  But it was my first real academic-style “research” experience, and it generated what appears to have evolved into lifelong interests in a) the issues of the California Delta, and b) formal debate as a pedagogical method.
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Caveat: 200% return?

Background Noise / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

I can't find the link or article now, but I really did see this:  apparently the Argentine government recently paid $3 (yes, 3 dollars) to nationalize Aerolíneas Argentinas (apparently in bankruptcy).  The previous owner was upset, although he´d acquired the bankrupt airline sometime previously for only $1.  I don´t see why he should be upset… that´s a 200% return on his investment, which is damn good, in these difficult times.  I´ll keep searching and post a link it if I can find it.

Soundtrack:  Moody Blues'  "Blue World"

[Embedded youtube added later, as part of Background Noise.]

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I1x2JnoRF-4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Caveat: Spain surpasses Italy in per capita GDP

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

We are mostly accustomed to thinking of Italy as the strongest of the economies of Southern Europe, but I have always suspected they were losing ground to the more dynamic Iberians.  Now an article I found today in El País confirms this suspicion of mine.  The Spanish, at least on per capita terms, are in fact richer than the Italians, and closing in on the French.  I think that's interesting, especially in this time of alleged global economic crisis.

 

Caveat: “self-inflicted ideological wounds in a largely ideological struggle”

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Michael Gerson, writing about the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” summarizes many of the difficulties with the phrase “self-inflicted ideological wounds in a largely ideological struggle.” I think this is an excellent description the Bush administration’s overall effect on U.S. global image and identity, too. But I also wonder how different it will be possible for the up-and-coming Space Emperor to be: with Gates and Clinton as his representatives, it’s clear he’s not straining for a radical change or departure from the status quo. If he manages change at all, it must be something he hopes to effect gradually. Is he planning to do so? Or is it all smoke and mirrors? Is there any germ of ideological commitment of any kind, amid all the packaging? I’m disturbed by the recent mess in the Illinois statehouse, involving Blogojevich attempting to “sell” Obama’s seat in the Senate. How could the future Space Emperor not have been aware of these shenanigans? If he wasn’t, that seems nearly as criminal, from the standpoint of negligence, as if he had been aware of them but wasn’t addressing them. I’m unhappy… not that I was ever really wholly drawn into the Obamania in the first place. I’ve had reservations that it was all packaging and fluff around something less pure than people seem to have been hoping. Yet I still feel uneasy to find that I’m seeing those reservations confirmed.

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Caveat: Government

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

Regarding the desirability of government:  "We have been through some hard times, but the worst was when we had a government." – Somali businessman Abdirizak Ido, as quoted on the National Geographic website.  A true libertarian disciple, wounja say?

Meanwhile, a columnist named Chris Haire, writing for the Charleston City Paper today, says of Bill Kristol (conservative commentator), "[h]is dreams of a Benevolent Global Hegemony turned out to be a malicious worldwide clusterfuck."  This comment made me laugh for a while.  Especially appearing in a fairly mainstream-seeming blog.  I went on to discover I don't agree with a lot Mr Haire has to say.  But I enjoyed the moment of humor, anyway.

Caveat: Space Emperor Obama, Quoting Lincoln

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

Space Emperor Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, gives clear evidence of his dangerous socialist tendencies… as, for example, when he quotes that proto-communist, Lincoln, on page 188.  The future Space Emperor writes:

But our history should give us confidence that we don't have to choose between an oppressive, government-run  economy and a chaotic, unforgiving capitalism.  It tells us that we can emerge from great economic upheavals stronger, not weaker.  Like those who came before us, we should be asking ourselves what mix of policies will lead to a dynamic free market and widespread economic security, entrepreneurial innovation and upward mobility.  And we can be guided throughout by Lincoln's simple maxim:  that we will do collectively, through our government, only those things that we cannot do as well or at all individually and privately.

Caveat: Space Emperor Obama, Chasing Cars…

Banalities & Journaling / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Peggy Noonan (former Reagan staffer), writing for the Wall Street Journal (a decidedly right-leaning newspaper if ever there was one) about Barack Obama: “One wonders if in the presidency he’ll be like the dog that chased the car and caught it: What’s he supposed to do now?”
This actually very concisely sums up some of my own misgivings about Obama.  But… the alternative is worse.  I keep repeating that to myself, like a little mantra.   I believe that.  McCain is erratic, and he has no chance of (or seeming interest in) behaving moderately in the realm of foreign policy.   Further, his age and health combined with the Republican’s choice of Palin for the vice-presidency is utterly terrifying, and actually calls to mind Heinlein’s prediction that the U.S. would become a religious dictatorship sometime in the early 21st century.  Anybody willing to concede the possibility that a rapture-believing yet undeniably charismatic Christian fundamentalist Sarah Palin in the White House would work to accelerate America’s move toward an undemocratic, imperial presidency with an inflexible, Bible-prophecy-driven agenda?
Therefore, with Noonan’s caveat firmly in mind, I nevertheless reiterate my endorsement of Obama.  For what it’s worth.  So, at the risk of seeming vaguely partisan, here are some supporting quotes. Or… are they?
Jon Stewart, a few nights back (and this is totally a paraphrase, since I didn’t see the transcript): “Update from the Future:  Space Emperor Obama has now successfully spread communism to the Zykon Galaxy.”
And, in an interview Obama had with Stewart, after his infomercial on Wednesday night, Obama said, melancholically: “it’s not very funny:  cooperation.”  Why does Barack remind me of my father? He’s more my age, than my father’s.  But his manner, his cool affect (and/or eerie lack thereof) definitely remind me of my dad, sometimes.
Obama’s accent is my dad’s, too: generic Western American (as befits a man raised in Hawaii, right?). The very complex vowel clusters of westcoast English, but none of the southern and britishish diphthongs that make my mother’s accent so distinctive, for example, nor the upper midwestern level vowels that have tinged my own accent at least somewhat (although I still probably sound more western than midwestern). Obama can “talk black” if he needs to, kind of the way I can talk Minnesotan if I want to: years of immersion can give one a facility for switching accent-codes. But his fallback accent is very western and profoundly “white,” and that’s probably partly why this black man may soon be our next president.
pictureLastly, while cruising Second Life the other day, I found a political “lawn sign” that I thought was subtle and hilarious – see picture at right. It was attributed to Comedy Central (which is what sent me fishing around Comedy Central’s website in the first place and led me to the Jon Stewart quotes above), but a bit of googling yielded zero results for phrases like “vote fossil” or “dirt first.” So I will have to settle for a screenshot of the sign, since I can’t find/verify the source for a proper attribution.
It’s a funny moment, too, when Bill Kristol (editor of the very conservative Weekly Standard) channels Jesse Jackson (“Keep hope alive!”) in support of John McCain.  A bit earlier, Kristol said (again, I’m paraphrasing), “If you’re a liberal, vote for Obama. If you’re conservative, vote McCain. It’s not a psychodrama, it’s an election.” I would basically agree with that… except, does that make me a liberal?  Am I comfortable with that label? Seems like, only sometimes.
Speaking of the Comedy Central website, I also enjoyed the tiny informational message at the top of the page – see the center of the screenshot below:
picture
In unrelated news, I think this is very interesting. It is now possible to get the Chinese Internet Experience (i.e. censored) outside of China [UPDATE 2020-03-27: link does not work]. I’m not sure what this would be for, but it seems to fit with the tagline of one of the people who commented on the article: Hack the Planet. I like it, though I doubt I have any use for it whatsoever.
picture

Caveat: Viendo el debate presidencial en vivo en español

Español Aleatorio (Random Spanish) / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

Esta mañana, me dediqué a mirar en vivo en el web el tercer debate, ¡en español!  ¿Porqué en español?  En parte, sólo por la novedad de poder hacerlo, pero, también porque brinda una cierta frescura a los mensajes ya tan aburridas de los candidatos.  Es interesante como oír los argumentos de Obama y McCain en voces de traductores (en voces femininas los dos) me enfoca mejor en sus contenidos, y permite olvidar las personalidades en cierta manera.  

Sin embargo, la negatividad de McCain, su postura defensiva, sobresalía en los fragmentos que escuché.   Y, mirándole, con su cara de viejito enfadado… difícil de aguantar.

En otras noticias, nótese como McCain sigue algo confundido respecto al siglo en que se encuentra, mirando como parece querer cambiar las reglas (que el mismo ha ayudado en crear) bajo las cuales operan las nuevas medias.

Otra pequeña observación: nunca antes me había fijado en que McCain es un zurdo.  ¿Significa algo éso?

Cita:  "While America remains a center-right country, this may well be a Marxist election in which economic realities are determining the political superstructure."–Michael Gerson, in op-ed column.

Caveat: 미국무부, “북한은 긴장 높이는 행동 중단해야”

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

Headline-du-jour: US State Dept, “N. Korea-TOPIC tension high-TOPIC [again?] behavior interrupt-do-OBLIGATION… [and then what?]”.  Not sure quite how to parse this, in detailed terms.  But the idea seems relatively clear, given current events.  I didn’t realize -야 (=[grammatically subordinate obligation]) could terminate a non-subordinate clause, however.   Or that there could be two TOPIC markers in the same clause, for that matter.   Perhaps it’s some journalistic shorthand?  Or perhaps since it’s the rather incoherent US State Department, being quoted?

Caveat: Mexico Still Independent, Sorta

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Monday and Tuesday were Mexican independence day.  Two days, yes.  They put the event of declaring independence right at midnight, as that way they can party two days in a row each year.  But this year, the celebration was marred by grenades being lobbed into crowds in Morelia (which is the place in Mexico where I've spent the second-longest amount of time, after only my "#3 hometown," Mexico DF).

Mexico has always had a strong undercurrent of violence and anarchy, but lately I'm beginning to wonder if my time in Mexico in the mid-to-late 80's was maybe exceptional in being relatively tranquil, or whether in fact it was just as violent as now but I was simply being oblivious to it.  I know that the murder rate in Mexico City was very high even in the 80's, but it's even higher now.  Back then, murders were out of hand in the U.S. as well, so maybe it didn't seem so alarming.  Nowadays, the rate in Mexico City is the among the highest in the world, while notorious death-dealing U.S. cities like L.A. or NYC have improved substantially.

My run-in yesterday with Korean private-sector bureaucracy had me thinking about Mexico, too.  Obviously, any run-in with bureaucracy can cause me to wax nostalgic for those interminable hours standing in lines at banks or government offices in Mexico.  Though the DMV in California isn't disimilar.   Superficially, Korea has leapfrogged into the developed world.  But the undercurrent of thirdworldism (as pat and offensive and cliche as that really sounds) is still there, to be found, lurking under the surface of things.

Now that I work for a large, much-more-faceless corporation, perhaps I'm seeing that more, too.  Anyway, it's on my mind. 

But back to Mexico.  I'm worried.  When I surf the news articles on the grenade incident, I detect a certain institutional despair over the increasingly out-of-control situation vis-a-vis the drug violence that seems to be sweeping the country.  And, like any vaguely liberal American, I blame the American "drug war," at least partly, for the problem.   But Mexico's ambivalence about genuinely enforcing rule of law is saddening.  It's depressing to observe its tendency to allow money of all varieties (thus including narco-money) to seep into and quietly control all political processes, in ways that makes U.S. money-driven politics look profoundly transparent, humane, and fair.  Calderón seems as weak and aimless as any old boy priísta in his day.  The congress, supposedly more under the panista´s control than during the Fox term, stil seems to resist any efforts whatsoever at reform.  The PAN, far from offering anything genuinely new, just seems to be a new PRI with a sexy neoliberal headdress but nothing really new, and the left (PRD etc.) remains as chaotic and self-absorbed as ever. 

In other notes:  "These are your father's parentheses."  LISP programming language humor.

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