Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Month: August 2008 Page 4 of 9

The Future of Pakistan

The piece below was written by a friend with deep knowledge of and interest in Pakistan’s politics. I’m reprinting it here, as I think it’s a good background piece for anyone who is under the impression that the coalition that ousted Musharraf can be relied upon to govern Pakistan in a transparent and democratic way.  Karachi, New Years Day Some may object to the relatively generous treatment afforded Musharraf, but I think it’s an honest view.  It’s been slightly edited (and, of course, if you’re reading this from the Pakistani Embassy and I’ve just applied for a visa, I totally didn’t write this).

With Musharraf Gone, Will the “Democratic” Leaders Deliver?

An interesting article from today’s NYT appeared here. One thing clearly missing from the discussions of Musharraf unpopularity in Pakistan, is a discussion of his ethnicity. The international media has completely ignored this factor.

In the past the three military dictators that have come and gone from the Pakistani political scene have belonged to Punjab and/or the North West Frontier Province. Except for Zia who was killed in a plane bombing, the others were given safe abodes within Pakistan. While what Mr. Musharraf did to the judiciary and the rule of law in Pakistan was wrong, three military dictators in the past and several democratically elected regimes in the past have done worse than him.

Bill Bolling: “A Downy-soft fist of wuv”

Waldo Jaquith just wrote the definitive analysis of what it means for Virginia if Obama taps Kaine for VP.

Get Your WAGBRAD On

Yeah, that title didn’t really work, did it?

Ah well.

This Saturday, I’m planning to join the Washcycle crew for a ride around DC’s perimeter (i.e., WAGBRAD – the Washcycle’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Around DC).  What’s that I hear, from the three readers that know I’m registered for the Page Valley Road Race on Sunday?  I’m being ridiculous, going out on a 50 miler the day before a 30 mile road race?  Alas, I have pulled the same idiot move this year that I did around this time last year – went and hurt myself in a real way in early August (tho’ this year’s strained back is waaay better than last year’s seperated shoulder).  I can still roll, but not with any power.  So if I can’t hang with the WAGBRAD, no harm – I’ll just hop on the Metro and go home.  If I *can* hang?  Well, that’ll show that I’m just being ridiculous about thinking Sunday’s race a bad idea, and I can pack my bags and head to Luray as soon as I get home.  In any event, if you’re up for a long ride on Saturday and have a few hours, drop by and say hi.  I’ll be the guy on the yellow GT ZR that’s pedaling like he’s 70 years old.

It’s a Southern Thing: Hitting Kids in School

The following conversation took place in the 80s, at Riverdale Junior High School:

“Well, Mr. Blacknell, you’ve got a choice.  Detention, or three licks.”

“Three what?”

“Three licks.”

“uhh . . . “

I was standing in the assistant principle’s office, at the time, probably because I’d told a teacher she didn’t know what she was talking about (true in 9 out of 10 cases, in retrospect).  I’d just moved to Georgia (from West Germany), and I was still having a bit of trouble with the accents.  But even putting aside the accent in this case, I didn’t know what the hell a “lick” was.  And as I came to understand that “lick” meant hitting me with a long wooden panel, I was . . . gobsmacked (not a Georgia word, btw).  Never in my life had any adult, aside from my parents, ever even *looked* like they would threaten me with physical violence.  Ultimately, though, I decided that three smacks to my ass were far easier to deal with than 60 minutes sitting in a quiet classroom after school. But it struck me then – as it does now – as an entirely ridiculous approach to discipline.

As in so many other things, it doesn’t seem that much has changed in the 20-something years since then:

Twenty-one U.S. states still permit the use of corporal punishment in schools. In Texas and Mississippi children as young as 3 are struck for transgressions as minor as gum chewing, the report says.

[ . . . ]

Citing U.S. Department of Education data, the report said 223,190 students nationwide received corporal punishment at least once in the 2006-2007 school year. This included 49,197 students in Texas, the largest number of any state.

And we wonder why we’ve got a problem with violence in this country.

Midweek Makeover: A Lighter Note

Some covers are interesting because they take a work originally filled with energy and just strip it away, leaving a previously unappreciated core.  I’ve got two examples of that today.

The first is Frente!’s cover of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ1c9ErCn7w[/youtube]

You know, I somehow missed this when it first came out, and only discovered it when I stole a CD from a friend a few years ago (thanks, P!).  And if that CD had been vinyl, I’d have worn it out by now.

The second one came to me just yesterday via one of those often (and rightly) maligned Facebook applications.  Despite the means, the end is good – Jenny Owen Youngs’ take on Nelly’s Hot in Herre:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwuIIsDjgZg[/youtube]

Let’s Get Swinging, Obama

Robert Arena, following a rundown of a negative polling trend for Obama, notes:

Not all is lost folks, Obama has time and money to make a shift. But if you thought that somehow this year was going to be different – something would change and somehow the American electorate would look completely different this year than any other year, the numbers today just don’t show that. This isn’t a transformative election, it’s another hardscrabble, claw out each and every vote, election. To win that kind of election, you need to fight for every vote and fight hard. That’s why you hear the concern you hear from Josh Marshall, John, Joe, etc. And it’s backed up by years of experience watching the Republicans make Democrats look weak – Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry. That line of attack works when not countered and we were defeated. None of us want that in 2008.

Hope alone will not win this election.  Obama – and his supporters – need to daily illustrate that John McCain is a man without principles, who will do and say anything to win.  And that should he win, it will be to the great detriment of this country.

Mining the Memory Hole for Olympic Gold

Stryde Hax makes an interesting run at determining the true age of some of the Olympic gymnasts, and gives a quick tutorial about burying information in the process.

Rachel Maddow Gets a Teevee Show

I don’t spend any time watching cable (or network, for that matter) television for political commentary, but I am still happy to see that Rachel Maddow has picked up her own time slot on MSNBC. And I’m not just pleased to see a real live liberal show up on television, but to see a smart, measured, and thoughtful voice added to mass media.

More like this.

Mark Warner in Alexandria on Friday

Passing this along:

Friends of Mark Warner, the Arlington County Joint Democratic
Campaign, and the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia…

INVITE YOU…

To a reception with Governor Mark Warner this coming Friday, August
22, 2008, at My Bakery Café, 3839 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Alexandria VA,
from 6 PM to 9 PM.

*This will be the last event Governor Warner does before he goes to
Denver to deliver the Keynote Address at the Democratic National
Convention.  Please join us to give him a rousing Virginia send off!!
*
While donations are welcome – *this event is FREE to the public.

If you go, be sure to stop in at MOM’s – My Organic Market, which is right next door to the venue.  Excellent shopping, especially for vegetarians.  I’m ashamed to say that I just discovered it this year, and regret not having checked the place out sooner.

Unnoticed Wars

Every once in a while, in communities of which I consider myself a part, I come across something that makes me wonder whether I was ever a part of the community in the first place. This post over at Boing Boing directed me to a debate over at io9.com, on whether or not “Young Adult” sci-fi was . . . well, I’m not sure what the debate is over. As best I can tell, one side thinks that YA sci-fi is a good introduction to the larger sci-fi genre, and the other thinks that it is threatening to all but hollow sci-fi out from the inside and collapse it.  Now, I’m sure anyone involved in that argument who reads my summary would be appalled.  They’d probably say that I’m oversimplying the sides, misunderstanding the participants, and lack appreciation for the ultimate importance of the problem.  And to an extent, they’d be right.  But mostly I’d just say that I don’t really care, and that I enjoyed Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in 6th grade and Scott Westerfeld’s So Yesterday just a couple of years ago.  Good sci-fi is good sci-fi to me, and it’s something I’ve enjoyed all of my reading life.  Thus these epic arguments over what appears to be a lot of nothing just seem a little silly.  Sure, it matters quite a bit to those engaged in the argument, but in the bigger scheme?  Not so much, I think.  It’s easier to see that when you’re not all that involved with the community.

What’s my point?  Well, it’s not just the sci-fi lit community that can waste a lot of energy navel gazing.  It’s a point that I think a number of us who spend a lot of time talking and acting on and worrying about political races would do well to remember, too.  We tease meaning out of every movement, angle, and word.  And while each of those movements, angles, and words may actually have been intended to impart some meaning, the vast majority of the people out there will miss it.  And even if you point it out?  They won’t care.  Obama to Hawaii?  Don’t care.  McCain’s cross in the dirt?  Don’t care.  Former-Abramhoff-business-partner-and-failed-candidate-Ralph-Reed-was-going-to-attend-a fundraiser-for-former-Abramhoff-investigating-committee-chair-McCain?  Don’t care. We can spend our time spinning over the details.  And perhaps that’s even useful, from time to time.  But we’d do well to remember that it’s the big picture that matters to most.  If it even matters to them at all.  Try not to lose sight of that.

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