A conversation outside my window

I'm listening to a man talk on his cell phone in spanish and the only words I caught were "Thanksgiving" and "dysfunctional family."

It's funny which English words get picked up in other languages.

On Confidence

I just finished Rosabeth Moss Kanter's book "Confidence, How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin and End." Like most books on an interesting subject written by an economist, it was disapointing. [Sometimes I wonder if economics education consists of learning how to wander around in circles picking up only the evidence that fits your theory.]

Her point is that winning and losing are spirals. I think that is a particularly American truism. On this election day, it is worth pondering if the Republicans would be anywhere if Americans weren't so attracted to winners. It is even possible for a political party to be successful by simply denying reality as long as they can protect the American people from that fatal sin of losing a war.

On learning to live with evil....

I was remarking to a friend the other day that I haven't felt mad about G.W. in like months. Coincidentally I haven't blogged in months. This is obviously a hate-fueled enterprise...

For anyone who hopes to emulate my apathy, I thought I'd offer a few quick pointers:

1. Fill up your time with your own personal concerns. Change jobs! Fall in love! Forget that the rest of the world exists.

2. Suspend judgment. Instead of thinking that somebody did something wrong when, for example, the middle east explodes into violence, observe from a distance as if there were no human beings involved.

3. Buy a video game system.

4. Don't be hard on yourself. If the American in cheif can ignore reality, you can too!

On Management

We are a political democracy, but in the United States, work life is made up of fiefdoms. Predictably the fact that the workplace is not a democracy is defended in the same way that the monarchies were. Through wealth, power, or education, some people are just more qualified to rule over the rest of us. Of course the peasants don't get a vote in who rules them--that would be mob rule and madness.....

I would be curious to know if there is such a thing as a democratic company--where management and owners regularly consult employees. Because that might be a very effective management strategy....

On Self-Censorship

So many of my blogs come from weird coincidences in my reading matter. Lately I've been reading a history of the 1970s, a lot of newspaper articles about the war in Iraq, and an interesting New York Times Sunday Magazine article on Google in China.

According to the (very sympathetic to Google) New York Times article, the Chinese government does set forth a list of banned websites, but rather asks companies to follow vague guidelines that are selectively enforced. This turns out to be a great way to enforce a censorship scheme because many companies will censor beyond what the government would require and the government doesn't have to weigh in and be the heavy.

The Bush White House does a pretty good imitation of the Chinese government in this respect. If you would like access to the President or an interview with Cheney, then you need to play ball. The White House doesn't have to say "Don't publish it" but can rather rely on journalists to realize it is not in their own best interests to publish criticism of the President.

The lead up to both Vietnam and Iraq provided further examples of self-censorship. In order to avoid being soft on communists, (or terrorists) journalists chose not to report the stories that would reflect badly on the war or the reasons for war.

Chron headline

The San Francisco Chronicle had a headline the other day... "San Franciscans say Earthquakes add spice to life."

Um.... yeah....

On Sick Cats and Sleeplessness

So, my other cat is sick now and at the vet hospital. So, I haven't slept well in a while and I've spent a really awful amount of money.... but I promise to start blogging again soon for all three of my readers.... :)

Of Federalists and Anti-Federalists

I never realized how fascinating the whole Federalist/ Anti-Federalist debate was until I read Gordon Wood's "The Radicalism of the American Revolution." I can't recommend this book enough.

Apparently, the Anti-Federalists were not just beany states-righters from the South, but also included a lot of the emerging non-gentry middle class.

The problem for the Anti-Federalists is largely that they didn't have a really good writer. (This is also a problem for the Book of Mormon, but I digress). So, in the high school history way that these things are taught, Madison always wins. It also probably doesn't help their cause that they are "Anti" something and that the States Rights movement can be traced back to them.

Of course the Bill of Rights is theirs too, so we're at least a little indebted....

Got Democracy?

I just finished Paul Farmer's book on Haiti. He points out that we have consistently not wanted Haiti to be democratic, just as we have not wanted most third world countries in our sphere of influence to be democratic. Other people's democracies are inconvenient. Other countries have different national interests than our national interest. Assuming that democracies express the will of the people and the national interest, it is much more convenient to have a benevolent or not so benevolent dictator.

It is also very convenient to have third world countries. They make cheap things. They allow capitalists in developed countries to accumulate more capital. In a world of might makes right, it is nice to have a few countries who are 98 pound weakling. It wouldn't be so much fun to be a bully if you could get a black eye yourself.

I read an editorial in the Economist recently where the author came down on the anti-interventionist arguments of the American left. The author pointed out that the idea that you shouldn't get involved abroad because the United States messes up other countries (historically--very true) is unlikely to be sympathetic to Am-ur-I-can patriots at home.

And that's true. It seems that the people who wave the flag are not the same people who work to make the flag something to be proud of. They don't want to do the hard work. So, why should the left have to try to appeal to this cheap and easy patriotism anyways?

Soju With A Really Expensive Feeding Tube

Soju has liver disease. But she is doing OK with the feeding tube. She looks grumpy on account of her collar makes her hair stick up.

That Quaint Revolution

So I'm reading this book on the American Revolution and it strikes me that the terms of colonial debate are once again shockingly relevant.

The revolutionaries objected to a monarchs because they were corrupt and monarchies tended to have a bunch of ass-kissing sycophants collecting public money and giving no value in return.

The revolutionaries thought that men should own property in an ideal republic. People who are in debt to other develop servile personalities not suitable for voters and free men.

Finally, they thought that people should be able to rise on merit not just in science and art, but in politics, law, and other important offices related to the public welfare.

So today, we have a negative savings rate and a guy name George running the country as the most corrupt president in U.S. history. Kind of makes you wonder why we bothered with our little old revolution.

Where my Money Went:

PETROCOMMERCE ATM WITHDRWL 02-21 #000242245 CUSTOMER 6587 99900507 NIZHNY NOVGOR RU

Because I shopped at OfficeMax with my debit card, the Russian mafia got my ATM number and made a fake card.

Here is the bank where the mafia guys took my money out:

Nizhni Novgorod9 Sergiyevskaya Street, Nizhni Novgorod 603109, Russia tel./fax: +7 (8312) 37-68-88www.nnov.pkb.ru

In case you want to visit, here is a Nizhni Novgorod website:

http://www.unn.runnet.ru/nn/

I like this gem:

"Visitors are astonished at the abundance of snow and low temperatures that are so common in Russia during the winter season. It usually doesn't thaw until March in Nizhni Novgorod, and only in April does spring really begin."

Technically, Cheney shot the man in the face...

so I guess my comment about no one getting shot in the back as a result of the Bush administration still holds true....

The Road to Whatever

I'm just finishing "The Road to Whatever" by Elliott Currie. His thesis is that adults don't take enough responsibility for teenagers. I think he's absolutely right. It seems so weird to me that a parents can send their kids to horrible boot camps in third world countries and that isn't considered child abuse. It seems doubly weird to me that these parents who preach "personal responsibility" to their children who are in trouble are the same ones who ship off their kids and take no responsibility for how they ended up that way.

Secrets and Lies

Secrets will naturally lead too lies. Lies create a chasm between those who know the truth and those who are merely guessing.

And of course incompetence is a third issue. When half of a presidential administration is staffed by idiot children of the rich and powerful, secrets and lies become a necessary evil to keep the public from getting freaked out.

Its hard to compare our current reality to a totalitarian state because nobody (to my knowledge) is being shot in the back or "disappearing" in this country. Of course it may very well be that in other countries this is happening. At the same time, the very brazenness of the secrets and lies of this White House has created something that is not quite democracy. (a secretocracy? a totalitarian democracy?)

Frankly, impeachment (however remote a possibility) is the only thing that will lance this boil.

Is Bush playing politics with 9/11?

Duh.

Lies, Lies, Lies

I was home sick from work today so I got to watch James Frey on Oprah. I also got to see George W.'s press conference on the whole Hamas thing. James Frey pretty much just took it from Oprah. Given that he'd lied (a lot) about his memoir that seemed like the right thing to do. George W. refused to reveal what he's done with Jack Abramhoff but had a lot of weird enthusiasm for the Hamas electoral victory, democracy, and the ability of people to overthrow corrupt leaders. Which is weird, because we sent those corrupt leaders 2 million dollars to help them out in their election. So I guess losers are corrupt and winners are just powerful.

So, when did the truth become so malleable? As a good liberal I deeply believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I don't believe everyone is entitled to their own facts. And since an opinion without facts to back it up isn't very convincing, all the good liars of the world have to make up some of their own facts.

I had an interesting conversation with an opposing attorney who had written a letter to the court saying that we had settled the case when, in fact, he'd never even called me.

Me: So, it seems like you've misrepresented the facts to the court.

Ethically Challenged Attorney: Misrepresent is a little harsh, and I'm not sure whats so bad about that. I settled with the other party.

Me: But you didn't settle with me.

Ethically Challenged Attorney: But what does it matter exactly?

Me: You said something untrue to the court. (I'm trying desperately to avoid the word lie at this point)

Ethically Challenged Attorney: But it doesn't really matter because I settled with the other party.

By the end of the conversation I was actually slowing down my words like you do for a very stupid child. And the conversation went on like this for half an hour.

I also managed to get in some Jerry Springer today. Those people throw punches when somebody lies, although it seemed to me that they were all lying about being shocked (shocked) that their boyfriends had slept with their cousins.

It just seems dangerous that we're living in a world where no one can be counted on to tell you the truth and there's not even really the condemnation of the good people to keep the bad people from lying.

The Autonomy Myth

I'm reading Martha Fineman's "The Autonomy Myth." The basic thesis is that our current economic structure doesn't account for the value added by those who take care of dependents. Which is basically true.

The "Free Market" is not exactly value neutral. Some things cost money. Other things are free. In general, the market values things and not people. But its easy for market thinking to bleed over into personal relationships. Some people can command good wages. Other people are only able to earn minimum wage. People who can't earn money start to look like less valuable human beings.

A big reason why women want to work is that in our capitalist modern reality, earning money defines you as a valuable person. So, I'll reveal my hippie liberal socialist side and say: Money can't possibly be the only way to value things and it is certainly no way to value people.

sanctimonious but true.