Just yesterday, I had recommended Jaipur as a “breath of fresh air” to a friend considering traveling there. Jaipur was, in fact, the highlight of a trip through India a couple of years ago. My impression of the place was one of refuge, of education, of being apart from it all. And then today I see that there was a multiple bombing of this city. This doesn’t change any of those impressions, but it does cast a sad pall over them.
Category: Society Page 49 of 69
I really have no idea what to say about the latest obstacle to the completion of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the Mall:
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thinks “the colossal scale and Social Realist style of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries,” commission secretary Thomas Luebke said in a letter in April.
[ . . . ]
Commission members said the sculpture “now features a stiffly frontal image, static in pose, confrontational in character[.]”
I attended the ground breaking for the memorial couple of years ago, and had been looking forward to getting to the installation stage. But the Commission has the capacity to grind things to a halt until it’s happy. Frankly, I find the criticisms really strange at this stage, and looking at the sculptor’s previous work, I think it was pretty clear what they were getting. And let’s not even touch on the use of the loaded term “confrontational” in the criticism. I hope we’ll get a little more reporting on this, so public pressure can be applied if necessary, as I’m not particularly inspired by the quotes from Commission members:
“My image of Dr. King is of him leaning forward in anticipation, holding his chin or raising his arm,” rather than standing with his arms folded, Commissioner Michael McGill said.
Yeah? How about a raised arm and a closed fist? I should probably stop before I write something inappropriate.
One thing I hadn’t realized was that when they selected sculptor Lei Yixin last year was that this meant the memorial would actually be made in China. While I thought the criticism surrounding his selection was mostly sour grapes and silly nativism (and still do), I’ll have to admit that it does seem a bit strange that what may be the last memorial on the Mall will be made in China.
I saw two headlines at the newsstand, this morning. The first was “60,000 Dead or Missing in Burma“. The second was “Aid Trickles In To Myanmar”. There’s nothing we can do about the first headline, but we can each individually do something about the second. It’s hard to overstate what a mess Burma is, even aside from the cyclone. The military government there will be completely incapable of caring for its citizens in this situation. So please join the rest of the world in its efforts to provide at least some basic level of assistance to the Burmese people.
One organization on the way is AmeriCares, a nonprofit international relief and humanitarian aid organization. A representative working with AmeriCares told me that they have “assembled life-saving medical and other humanitarian supplies at their Stamford, CT and Amsterdam warehouses to be shipped immediately to their partners on the ground in Myanmar. AmeriCares staff are also en route to the region.”
If people would like to donate to AmeriCares efforts they can do so by visiting www.americares.org or by calling 1-800-486-HELP.
Another reputable organization is Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders., and they are also active in the efforts in Burma.
Without getting too personal about it, I’ll say that I try (and prefer) to live my life in a way that presumes the decency of others. I’m always thrilled to see this approach benefiting another.
The news of Deborah Palfrey’s suicide struck me as terribly sad, last week.  I couldn’t quite describe why, but a recent article by Susannah Breslin captures it well. From one of the women she interviewed for the story:
“The first thing I thought about was the incredible isolation that both of them probably felt,” she said. “Because you’re doing something that’s perceived to be so morally wrong that you’re immediately outside society, as a prostitute or a madam. You’ve got this secret life or a compartmentalized life, and then to be pushed out there and villainized — I can only imagine the incredible isolation they must have felt.”
While the body of Deborah Palfrey was hanging from the rafters (her 76 year old mother was too frail to take her down), Palfrey client David Vitter was enjoying life as a United States Senator, having recently headlined a fundraiser with President Bush.
What the hell is wrong with us?
When I saw the reports over the weekend, that state radio was saying 3,000 dead, I thought that it was probably underreporting. But I had no idea that it would get this bad:
Myanmar state radio says the cyclone death toll has risen above 22,000.
A news broadcast on government-run radio said Tuesday that 22,464 people have now been confirmed dead and thousands more are missing.
Cyclone Nargis tore through the country’s heartland and largest city, Yangon, early Saturday.
I don’t know where the most effective aid is coming from right now, but if I do find an appropriate place for contributions, I’ll be posting about it.
The comments section to this Boing Boing post about pint glasses provides a short & useful cultural primer. Personally, I’d like to see more Imperial pints in the U.S. One (U.S.) beer is rarely enough, and a(n Imperial) pint often is.
Another of the “worst of the worst” from Guantanamo, a television cameraman, is released without charges after six years.
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Did you know that U.S. Customs officials can stop you at the border and go rifling through every little file on your laptop, for no better reason than because they feel like it? According to them (and the 9th Circuit), they can. Here’s what you can (try to) do about it.
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Read this Ta-Nehisi Coates story. An intelligent treatment of subject that really brings out the stupid in people.
David Kurtz points out that it’s Law Day, U.S.A!  Putting aside the question of why U.S.A. is tacked on (perhaps it’s a form of Clapping Louder?), we’ll get straight to the amusing part. President Bush proclaims that:
“The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity,” recognizes the fundamental role that the rule of law plays in preserving liberty in our Nation and in all free societies.
Heh. I suppose this is a perfect follow-up to George’s recent Pope-visit-inspired speech about the sanctity of life.
I think this Washington Post article on the Federal government’s inability to secure convictions in its “terrorism” cases misses the mark. The problem, as I see it, isn’t the “early prosecution” strategy taken by the FBI/DOJ, but calling them “terrorism” cases in the first place.  For example, one of the guys recently escaped conviction in Miami had:
confided [to his grocer] that he wanted to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, which would then fall into a nearby prison, freeing Muslim prisoners who would become the core of his Moorish army. With them, he would establish his own country.
Certifiable lunatic? Probably. Real live terrorist? Hardly. Over and over again, we get fantastic announcements about big busts of scary terrorist plots. And then we later find out it was a bunch of incompetent idiots who couldn’t shoplift, nevermind pull off an actual act of terrorism.