a few (unoriginal) thoughts on Palin

Since I grew up in Alaska (Seward from infancy to age 6, Chugiak until age 12, visiting my dad in Eagle River twice a year up to age 18, irregular visits since then) people have been asking me about the nomination. I don't know much, since I mostly follow AK politics via my dad's news of the latest corruption scandals. Prior to the nomination I didn't even know her name, though her primary victory in the governor's race made me happy because Young, Stevens and Murkowski had been in power as long as I could remember.

Firstly, I find it odd to hear Wasilla reffered to as "a suburb of Anchorage." Here is a map of where the two are in relation to each other:


View Larger Map

Following the map from Anchorage to Wasilla you pass through Eagle River and Chugiak. If you follow what it calls highway 1 to Palmer and Sutton you see there area where my dad has a "cabin" (12'x24'structure). Anyhow, back to my point.

It's a 42 mile drive according to Google Maps. The argument in favor of calling it a suburb is that many people do commute from Wasilla to work in Anchorage. The community has changed greatly from how I knew it as a kid, with massive growth. What feels wrong to me about calling it a suburb is that there is so much undeveloped space between Anchorage and it. I picture suburbs as being congruous with the city with which they're associated. As you can see from the map, that is far from the case. Many of the definitions in dictionaries agree with me.

Yesterday on NPR one of the news casters or commentators referred to it as "that small town." I was annoyed that he couldn't remember the name (or have it written in front of him).

In that news segment he also said that many Republicans feel the negative press will help them because people will think it's unfair. We shall see.

My main response to much of what I'm seeing about her (which tends to come from people to the left) is this: they didn't pick her to try to make you happy. It doesn't matter to them what the New York Times thinks about the choice. The people who decide elections don't read the New York Times. What matters is two things (1) how this helps them turn out the base and (2) how it plays to swing voters. It clearly helps the first and we'll see about the second. Their concerns and sources of information are quite different than the people going off about McCain's poor choice of running mate.

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC | CommonDreams.org

Scary stuff. Kouddous and Salazar are being charged with rioting, Goodman with obstruction. They were covering the demonstrations.

ST. PAUL--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar's violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, 'I'm Press! Press!,' resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman's arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

Man from Plains

I watched it on the plane to Calif. the new documentary about Jimmy Carter. Mostly focuses on his tour after Palestine: Peace not Apartheid came out. It's the first time I've used iTunes movie rental and I was pleased with it. As I saw the Secret Service men traveling with him I thought about how accompanying him must be a dream assignment since he's such a nice man. I was picturing one officer saying to another "Man, you get to travel with the Carters to interesting places as they do good work and I have to go to bars with the Bush twins! Not fair!"

BBC

Does anyone else find that listening to BBC news makes you want to get bloody smashed, curl up in bed and not get up until noon?

(no, mom, I'm not going to actually do it).

Time to tune it out and listen to some positive (but not sappy) music. Eric Bibb comes to mind.

An Open Letter to My Infant Nephew (my op-ed)

Dear friends,

I wrote the following op-ed around the time we were getting our stimulus checks. I have submitted it to a couple places for publication but had no luck, so I thought I would simply post it here and email it to people I know since it is losing its timeliness. Please forward it to others you think would like it. Obviously people who read this blog know the information in the bio at the bottom, but I put that there in case you forward it on to others.

Peace,
Russell
---
An Open Letter to My Infant Nephew

Dear Carson,

I really enjoyed meeting you over spring break--you are an amazing little person and few things help bolster a guy’s feminist credentials like learning to change a diaper. I look forward to watching you grow up all too quickly and will try to be there to see as much of this as possible.

I know it’ll be a few years before you will be able to read this, as much as your mother may brag about your above average development. Still, I want you to know why I’ve decided to use my $300 stimulus check to open a socially conscious mutual fund to help you save for college.

Its not about being a nice uncle (like the Carolina bib and so many gifts yet to come). I’m giving you this money because it’s rightfully yours--paid for by a debt you will have to repay.

This really is your money, borrowed in some odd time-travel economics from your future earnings. This is not just deficit spending. Deficit spending is a good idea if it lets a family buy a car to get to work, or buy a house to live in, or let a business expand. Governments often need to borrow money to build schools or roads. Even those these borrowings create debt, the debt lets us educate our people, lets them travel in safety, and creates a better society. What all these things have in common is that their benefits exceed their cost.

But this time, the government is borrowing your money not to invest in repairing deteriorating bridges and levies, nor to research alternative energy. It will not go to improving healthcare or to create new jobs. It won’t even give people new job skills, the way the Civilian Conservation Corps gave jobs to at least two of your great-grandparents during the Great Depression.

Instead, President Bush is sending me your money to try to stimulate the economy. He thinks that I should use it to buy half a dozen games for my Wii (a video game system that was popular around the time you were born which your mom forbade me from buying you) or improving my wardrobe. He thinks that, if I buy things, it will help our country. But most of the things in our stores were made in other countries like China, so that won’t help our economy that much (though the Chinese are kind enough to loan it right back to us so we can buy even more of their stuff). And encouraging me to keep on buying more and more consumer stuff I don’t need seems economically irresponsible and ecologically unsustainable. This kind of spending obviously isn't going to get us out of debt. It just adds to the huge debt the President borrowed to give massive tax cuts for people who already have too much money and to illegally invade and occupy a country that never attacked us (which, incidentally also made the world to be a less safe place for you). This kind of spending isn’t going to address the reasons the U.S. economy is less competitive (which, surprise, include education, health care, and infrastructure)

So it seems like a small thing, Carson, saving that $300 for you. I’m sorry I can’t offer you more right now, and I’m even sorrier that the world you were born into is less just and more brutal than it should be. But my love for you, my new nephew, is another reason to work harder than before to make it fairer and more humane. Some day, I hope, we’ll work on it together. This repayment of your money is a small act of resistance, but we have to start somewhere.

You see, I still I have faith--a belief without sufficient evidence--that I will leave you this world a better place than I’ve found it. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that it is the culmination of small things that changes the world. Even seemingly big things (MLK giving a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial) are only possible because of the countless actions of others (the people who organized the march and took the time to attend). In our small acts of hopeful resistance we quietly proclaim that another world is possible and take small steps toward making that world a reality. And that is why I’m giving you this money.

Love,

Uncle Russ

Russell Bither-Terry is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of North Carolina, studying Latin American politics. He keeps blogs about U.S. policy in Latin America and solidarity activism at www.bither-terry.org/latinamerica. He is also a singer-songwriter and recently released his first album, Going Away. See www.bither-terry.org/goingaway for more information.

death of Utah Phillips

When I read the news I almost cried. I listened to the two albums he did with Ani and bought We Have Fed You for a Thousand Years (which I'd listened to before) on iTunes. I know he'd have preferred I pirated it, but I wanted it right then and like supporting Philo (the label).

I disagree with on a number of things, but I appreciate his dedication to the good fight and his wit often succinctly laid bear truths about politics you'll not find in the pages of most political science journals.

Lisa has a post here. Democracy Now! has an interview here.

I saw him in 2001 as part of Winterfolk I think the festival was called. I also saw David Carter and Tracy Grammer play: he died of a heart attack the following year.

I think the first time I ever heard the song "Joe Hil"l was Utah's recording. It's about how Joe lives on in song and struggle. The same is of course true of Utah. As another great folk-signer/agitator said "take it easy but take it."

disowning Honest Abe?

Just saw Romney give a speech where his trinity of great Republicans was Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Bush I. The PBS pundits noticed that he skipped W (which makes since given his low popularity even among Republicans). But I scratched my head as to why those three beat out the guy who freed the slaves and kept the country together... I mean, it annoys me when the Republicans do the "we're the Party of Lincoln" thing ad nauseam, but it seems weird to have Romney not do it.

Grandpa graduated from high school in a borrowed suit

My mom reminded me of this when I asked her if he'd be proud of me and it's really stuck in my mind these last few days. It may be the start of a new song. He was the first in his family to finish high school. My mom and uncle both have masters degrees. In a few years, God willing, I'll be the first to get a PhD.

He graduated from high school in a borrowed suit, but in a few hours I'll defend my MA thesis in a suit I bought at Men's Warehouse. I've been thinking of all the hard work of other people that lets me be where I am, something I did a post about when I started graduate school.

I've been reading Homegrown Democrat by Garrison Keillor, and it has probably prompted some of this reflection. I think that acknowledging the nature of our social inter-dependence (and in many cases simply acknowledging its existence) gets at one of the key divides between left and right ideology, but, as a scholar I can't in good faith pigeon hole those with whom I disagree into a reductionist version of their position, so I'll expand on that point in the future.

The eighth lap was always the hardest...

I ran track in high school. I did the mile and the two mile. With seven down and one to go I would always just want to be finished and the last lap really hurt. As yesterday made seven down one to go for another ordeal [EDIT 1/24/08: I'm talking about W], I'm bracing myself for a long, painful year. I should be more optimistic, but I'm mostly just tired and want the clown to go back to his ranch so we can attempt to pick up the pieces of the mess he's made. Having a nephew makes all the more real my obligation to future generations--what kind of world are we going to leave them? The alternative to hope is despair, so I try to go with hope. But it's hard sometimes. Sort of like finishing a two mile race.

UPDATE: In the spirit of this post I'm installing this widget.

Lisa's s-chip rant

My friend Lisa, who is in my program, has a good rant about the Bush s-chip veto here.

No Defense Against Persecution (TomPaine.com)

Link

A great piece by my girlfriend's mom. Dr. al-Arian is on a hunger strike and it's important to take action promptly.

Dr. Sami al-Arian has now spent four years in jail, three of those in solitary confinement while awaiting trial. In December 2005, despite years to prepare the case against him, and an estimated $80 million dollars of American tax money to pursue it, Dr. al-Arian was acquitted of eight of the 17 charges against him, including conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to murder and maim people abroad, conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization (two counts), mail fraud (two counts) and obstruction of justice (two counts). After agreeing in a plea bargain to a single charge in exchange for being released and deported, more than a year after his acquittal he is still imprisoned. We visited him at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, where he is being held for contempt of court for refusing to testify in an unrelated matter.

Saw Cornel West speak

Was lucky enough to get to see Cornel West speak at UNC (for Free) on Wednesday. Keith sums it up quite well here, though he needn't call himself a moocher. The speech made me feel good and that I need to be more engaged in justice work.

Phyllis Bennis on Hussein's execution

Talking Points on the Execution of Saddam Hussein

Good, as usual. She's a fellow at IPS. Here first point, about how different this is from Nuremberg is very good, as is this one:

Some ask "if the trial had been fair, would the results have been different?" The conviction of Saddam Hussein for huge crimes against the Iraqi people would almost certainly be the same. The key difference would have been that a fair trial would have allowed -- insisted on -- including evidence implicating those who enabled those crimes: the U.S. for providing military, financial and diplomatic support for the regime, as well as providing the seed stock for biological weapons; the Brits for providing growth medium for biological weapons; the Germans for providing chemical weapons; the French for providing missile technology... etc.... Also, in a "new Iraq" the convictions after a fair trial would have led to life imprisonment -- not the death penalty.

Revolution Rock at Wendy's

I was eating lunch at the Wendy's in downtown Carrboro today (and, yes, I should know better) when The Clash's "Revolution Rock" came over their system. The absurdity struck me but also how few people would notice or care. It reminded me of this experience from earlier this year.

Bush = history major

According to the Biography of President George W. Bush on the White House website, Bush "received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1968." [my emphasis]. Interesting. I'd never heard what his degree was in.

Edible Politics

Don't really feel like spending the evening on the computer, so I'll just post a plug for my food politics site. I don't post to it as often as Rulablog, but I hope to gradually build a good list of good links. Leave me comments if you have stuff I should add.

Bring Democracy Home

Ten suggestions from Katrina Vanden Huevel on how to improve our elections. Worth thinking about as we follow the results from Tuesday.

After the Election

The Nation has good coverage of the election, as is to be expected. Not as shallow as what you'll get some other places and willing to ask some hard questions.

voting machines = bad

Guardian of the Ballot Box (The Nation)

Killer Voting Machines (The Daily Show)

I Don't Understand Willie Nelson

I like his music and his politics (environmentalism, campaigned for Kucinich, Farm Aid). His song What Ever Happened to Peace on Earth? is great. Worth reading the entire thing, but here's a segment:

So I guess it'’s just
Do unto others before they do it to you
Let'’s just kill 'em all and let God sort em’ out
Is this what God wants us to do

(Repeat Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we'’ve been told from our birth
Hell they won'’t lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

Now you probably won't hear this on your radio
Probably not on your local TV
But if there's a time, and if you're ever so inclined
You can always hear it from me
How much is one picker'’s word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth?

When I heard about him getting an award for Beer for My Horses a few years ago, which he recorded with Toby Keith that seemed weird to me given Toby Keith's politics. In Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue he sings:

Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage:
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.
An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.

Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.

I recently quoted this as the introduction to a paper I gave in my graduate history seminar on the (mistitled) Spanish-American War. I compared it to jingoistic songs from that era (the assignment was to analyze the lyrics from a stack of sheet music from around 1898).

Last night I was driving and the local country station played Beer for My Horses. I'd never heard it before. The title sounds like maybe it's a nice gentle song. So I was surprised to hear this:

Grandpappy told my pappy, back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street for all the people to see that

(Chorus)
Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'll sing a victory tune
We'll all meet back at the local saloon
We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
We've got too much corruption, too much crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send 'em all to their maker and he'll settle 'em down
You can bet he'll set 'em down 'cause

Kucinich voters for capital punishment and frontier justice?

Sometime I'll write about why I listen to the country station.

Blog Juggling

My post for today is merely to say please read my Urgent Nicaragua Stuff post from Rulablog. Sometimes when I post on one of my other blogs my post-of-the-day-for-November on this blog will pretty much just be to link to it. It's too late to call, but Ortega will most likely make it into the run-off (if he doesn't win in the 1st round) so we need to watch U.S. meddling.

I've often wished I had a way to post to several of my blogs at once. Like when one clicks categories, there'd be a place to click multiple blogs. That way when someone with multiple blogs needs to post something like "I'm going fishing for a week and will be totally unwired" s/he need only do it once. Off course I doubt there will ever be a way to do that with some blogs on Blogger and others on WordPress...

One thing I've been thinking about doing is putting together a feed digest of my blogs on the sidebar of this bar so people could see my most recent posts in once central place.

P.S. Others have commented on this, but will Blogger add the word "blog" to its spell-check already?

Just Voted

We have early voting, so I took advantage of that today. (Being as this is not Chicago we may vote early but not often). This is the first time voting has ever made me feel good. Mostly because I'm really angry and this let me feel like I have a little bit of power...

On the subject of voting, be sure not to miss last Sunday's FoxTrot.

Yahoo owns Del.icio.us

I just found this out, but Yahoo! bought it last December. In light of my previous comments about ditching Yahoo! because of their actions in China it seemed I should ditch del.icio.us, too. But I find the online set of bookmarks are very useful for my research and I've come up with a creative solution which I think is better: tag lots of sites and articles about Yahoo! and about human rights in China...

Edible Politics

I started yet another blog. This one mainly serves as a place to post links to articles about food politics and to accumulate sidebar links to good organizations and books. If it sounds interesting to you please check it out. Comments are always appreciated. That especailly goes for my most loyal reader, Harry, who hasn't left me a comment in years and has a lot of wisdom and insight to share with the world (or rather, my small pool or readers)...