The clouds have opened, and it seems that President Obama has an impending Supreme Court opening at the end of the current session. Granted, it won't because of someone who will change the makeup of the court radically. Justice David Souter announced last week that he will retire. It's too bad, but when you figure it's your time to go, why not go on your own accord? It seems, through what I've read, that he's not a big fan of Washington, and I don't blame him. But since his job required him to be there, you make the best of it for as long as you can.
But for Souter's replacement, of all the endless names that have been put forth... the four that I like are (in no particular order): Elena Kagan (current solicitor general), Judge Sonia Sotomayor (Federal 2nd Circuit), and Governor Jennifer Granholm (MI), and Pamela Karlan (professor at Stanford Law).
There was an interesting blog post that I came across today. It was about how the prison-industrial complex is expanding and the political opportunism of politicians of being "tough on crime".
And a little lighter note: George Bush's Presidential Librarium!
Thank you and good night!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Flu in the Trough
So I'm flipping the boob tube between MSNBC, CNN, and Headline News this afternoon when I realize they are all covering this "swine flu pandemic". I know I'm just adding my rant here, but really? Pandemic?
Not to take it away from the victims of this strain of influenza, but the media is fiesting too hard on this. It's like they have nothing better to talk about, like Iraq or the economy or god-knows-what. But so, as of this afternoon, there were approximately 100 cases of this disease in the US. To put into perspective, 100 people are sick with a MILD case of the flu out of 400 million people. That's what... 0.0000000025% ?
People all over the world are dying because of regular influenza to the tune of 1/2 million people per year. That's a lot of people.
Granted, the mainstream media really ticks me off normally because they just have way too much time to talk about the most minute details of things, while either not covering or minimizing other more important issue. I know this has nothing to do with ideological bias. I know it has to do with capitalism in general. The news is not journalism, it seems anymore. The news is ratings, the news is advertising, the news is.... sickening.
Not to take it away from the victims of this strain of influenza, but the media is fiesting too hard on this. It's like they have nothing better to talk about, like Iraq or the economy or god-knows-what. But so, as of this afternoon, there were approximately 100 cases of this disease in the US. To put into perspective, 100 people are sick with a MILD case of the flu out of 400 million people. That's what... 0.0000000025% ?
People all over the world are dying because of regular influenza to the tune of 1/2 million people per year. That's a lot of people.
Granted, the mainstream media really ticks me off normally because they just have way too much time to talk about the most minute details of things, while either not covering or minimizing other more important issue. I know this has nothing to do with ideological bias. I know it has to do with capitalism in general. The news is not journalism, it seems anymore. The news is ratings, the news is advertising, the news is.... sickening.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Struggling...
I must admit to myself that I am having a problem with writing. I know the best writing comes from when you are just relaxed and writing, but these days, I am having problems doing that. I expect too much from myself when I write. I expect that my writing will take me somewhere, instead of thinking that I'm writing for myself. Who am I to think that anyone reads this?
Also, I like doing a little bit of research into my posts. Sadly, that means a half-hour task turns into a two- or three-hour one. Granted, part of it is trying to learn something about what I'm writing about, so I suppose that in itself is not a bad thing.
I thought my last blog was pretty good. That's why I have been trying to imitate it. Maybe that's part of my problem. I need a fresh start. I need to make this blog into something. I just need to write and see what happens with it. But I don't want it to be... just... nothing.
Ambition is a weird thing, isn't it? I feel like I need to write, but when it comes to putting the pen to the paper, I get all knotted up. But yet, the drive to do it is still there. I think sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist. I'm so much of a perfectionist sometimes, that I just give up because it's not worth finishing, which is totally misleading. It's affected my life a bit. Mainly in school and stuff, doing papers were sometimes a struggle because I'd get ideas in my head about how I wanted them to be, and then they'd go in a different direction... so I'd procrastinate, thinking that the time difference would help change the outcome. But what would end up happening, is that I still have to do the assignment, so then I would rush it at the end, and ultimately impacted my grade at the end, probably not for the better.
Perfectionism, in itself, is not a bad thing. And hopefully, with acknowledging this, I am able to channel it and make it an asset.
Also, I like doing a little bit of research into my posts. Sadly, that means a half-hour task turns into a two- or three-hour one. Granted, part of it is trying to learn something about what I'm writing about, so I suppose that in itself is not a bad thing.
I thought my last blog was pretty good. That's why I have been trying to imitate it. Maybe that's part of my problem. I need a fresh start. I need to make this blog into something. I just need to write and see what happens with it. But I don't want it to be... just... nothing.
Ambition is a weird thing, isn't it? I feel like I need to write, but when it comes to putting the pen to the paper, I get all knotted up. But yet, the drive to do it is still there. I think sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist. I'm so much of a perfectionist sometimes, that I just give up because it's not worth finishing, which is totally misleading. It's affected my life a bit. Mainly in school and stuff, doing papers were sometimes a struggle because I'd get ideas in my head about how I wanted them to be, and then they'd go in a different direction... so I'd procrastinate, thinking that the time difference would help change the outcome. But what would end up happening, is that I still have to do the assignment, so then I would rush it at the end, and ultimately impacted my grade at the end, probably not for the better.
Perfectionism, in itself, is not a bad thing. And hopefully, with acknowledging this, I am able to channel it and make it an asset.
Is the American Dream Dead?
Few can say that there is not an entrepreneurial spirit about America. The idea of succeeding from meager beginnings is a story that is older than our country itself. But, there is too much placed on the economic aspect, and not enough on the societal.
Normally, when “the American Dream” is brought into discussion, it is followed by some amazing story of rags-to-riches, many times involving an immigrant. Now, these stories are very touching and inspiring, but are they still relevant in this down-turned economy?
The first time the term was coined was in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America.
The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.1
Between this usage and the modern, the translation has been lost about “not a dream of motor cars and high wages...” Where is that American Dream where we collectively pull up our bootstraps and lift each other out of trying times? Our society has become extremely cynical over the last three decades, and not without reason. But is our American dream dead?
The current economic situation begs us to act with bold and brave measure. On the other hand, we as Americans have not endured this kind of hardship in at least one generation. More and more people are finding they will have to subside on less and less. But it could be worse.
Let me describe that life I envisioned. The adjustment to it will not be easy. The hours we may work at our usual jobs may actually decrease, but our workday will easily double. We may have a conventional job, but also a community job that will pay us not in cash, but in trade and barter.
I know what many of your community jobs will be. I went and perused the auction catalogues from years past. I know who the cooks will be. I know who will bake and who will brew and who will quilt and who will design the gardens and who will fix things. Some of you will create pottery, others poetry. And the writers and musicians and jugglers and storytellers will be needed as well. With a 14-16 hour workday, television sets will be useless. We will have no time to watch. The golf courses will be repossessed and turned into community gardens and cow pastures. Doctors returning home from their shift at the hospital will make rounds in the neighborhood. Industrial chemists will transform their basements into apothecary laboratories.
And perhaps none of this will come to pass, but it could. And, if it did people would find some way to survive. This picture that I am painting is far from utopian by the way. What would cause a situation like the one I’ve described to come to pass is a kind of apocalyptic economic shifting that would make 1929 seem tame. Such an event would leave the widest conceivable gap between the ultra-rich and the lowliest of the poor. And there will be 21st Century Robin Hoods. Pharmaceutical workers will post instructions on how to create the newest drugs on-line. Hackers will steal Wi-Fi signals and tap into the power grid. The black market will rival the free market.
History is not without stories like the vision I am projecting: While some forms of radical religion left England to come to the colonies in the form of Puritans, Pilgrims, and Quakers, England had many other radical religious groups that decided to stay including groups known as the Diggers and Levelers that aspired to take back the land from royalty. There was the French Revolution. But, we can also look to countries across the globe where the ultra-rich live alongside extreme poverty. I doubt few in this room would happily trade places with a Saudi Arabian prince or an African general in a country under military rule. I will admit to not knowing much about those lives, but it seems to me that if you owe your security to armed personnel on your payroll, rather than to the safety found in common prosperity, you are living a type of life that I would not like to live.2
The American Dream is actually more about ALL of us succeeding together. So band with your neighbors and volunteer your time. Despite all the gloomy news coming at us from the talking box, we are still the masters of our own destiny. Our collective destiny. The American Dream is not dead.
Sources:
1http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/97/dream/thedream.html
2http://revthom.blogspot.com/2008/09/sermon-future-of-american-dream.html
Normally, when “the American Dream” is brought into discussion, it is followed by some amazing story of rags-to-riches, many times involving an immigrant. Now, these stories are very touching and inspiring, but are they still relevant in this down-turned economy?
The first time the term was coined was in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America.
The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.1
Between this usage and the modern, the translation has been lost about “not a dream of motor cars and high wages...” Where is that American Dream where we collectively pull up our bootstraps and lift each other out of trying times? Our society has become extremely cynical over the last three decades, and not without reason. But is our American dream dead?
The current economic situation begs us to act with bold and brave measure. On the other hand, we as Americans have not endured this kind of hardship in at least one generation. More and more people are finding they will have to subside on less and less. But it could be worse.
Let me describe that life I envisioned. The adjustment to it will not be easy. The hours we may work at our usual jobs may actually decrease, but our workday will easily double. We may have a conventional job, but also a community job that will pay us not in cash, but in trade and barter.
I know what many of your community jobs will be. I went and perused the auction catalogues from years past. I know who the cooks will be. I know who will bake and who will brew and who will quilt and who will design the gardens and who will fix things. Some of you will create pottery, others poetry. And the writers and musicians and jugglers and storytellers will be needed as well. With a 14-16 hour workday, television sets will be useless. We will have no time to watch. The golf courses will be repossessed and turned into community gardens and cow pastures. Doctors returning home from their shift at the hospital will make rounds in the neighborhood. Industrial chemists will transform their basements into apothecary laboratories.
And perhaps none of this will come to pass, but it could. And, if it did people would find some way to survive. This picture that I am painting is far from utopian by the way. What would cause a situation like the one I’ve described to come to pass is a kind of apocalyptic economic shifting that would make 1929 seem tame. Such an event would leave the widest conceivable gap between the ultra-rich and the lowliest of the poor. And there will be 21st Century Robin Hoods. Pharmaceutical workers will post instructions on how to create the newest drugs on-line. Hackers will steal Wi-Fi signals and tap into the power grid. The black market will rival the free market.
History is not without stories like the vision I am projecting: While some forms of radical religion left England to come to the colonies in the form of Puritans, Pilgrims, and Quakers, England had many other radical religious groups that decided to stay including groups known as the Diggers and Levelers that aspired to take back the land from royalty. There was the French Revolution. But, we can also look to countries across the globe where the ultra-rich live alongside extreme poverty. I doubt few in this room would happily trade places with a Saudi Arabian prince or an African general in a country under military rule. I will admit to not knowing much about those lives, but it seems to me that if you owe your security to armed personnel on your payroll, rather than to the safety found in common prosperity, you are living a type of life that I would not like to live.2
The American Dream is actually more about ALL of us succeeding together. So band with your neighbors and volunteer your time. Despite all the gloomy news coming at us from the talking box, we are still the masters of our own destiny. Our collective destiny. The American Dream is not dead.
Sources:
1http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/97/dream/thedream.html
2http://revthom.blogspot.com/2008/09/sermon-future-of-american-dream.html
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