Foreign Affairs.... the Journal.

There are a couple essays in the current issue of Foreign Affairs that I think are worth a read.

The first, Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon, looks at the allegation that Iraq is like Vietnam. They are not the same. The author lays out how and why they are very different and then offers up some guidance on what he thinks the U.S. should be doing. It isn't pulling out...

The second, The Last Exit From Iraq, looks at the British experience in the region. The British took over governance of the region following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the close of World War I. What the author finds is a remarkable resemblence to events in the 1920s to those we face today. The British had too few troops and were all to quick to get out. The consequences of which bring us to Iraq today. [the second article is not online in it's entirety, yet]



An observation of sorts. We should bear in mind that Iraq is in a part of the world that never really had experienced any sort of independence. Mesopotamia, up until the end of World War I, has been ruled by various 'empires' for thousands of years; the Ottomans, the Persians, the 'Caliphate', the Byzantines, the Romans, etc. It is a part of the world where a multitude of ethnic groups and religions have intermingled for just as long. You read about some sorts of regional aspirations like Kurdistan but the whole idea of 'nationhood' is really something that only came about following the collapse of the Ottomans. The lines on the map are even arbitrary, set by London and Paris. They never truelly reflected the fabric of humanity on the ground. Like the Balkans, there is little homogenity in the people who live there. This is a stark contrast to Western Europe where homogenity is more pronounced. I think the reason for this has a lot to do with the differing histories. The Balkans and the Middle East weren't settled by singuler barbaric hordes. They remained under 'imperial' influences long before and long after Western Europe had fractured. People moved around some and peoples intermingled. It was normal. But after World War I, the notion that people should separate and form their own respective nations was a foreign concept. Dealing with that is part of the Middle East's history.

Louder than Bombs

A few days ago a bit surfaced in the news that the singer Morrissey had become a 'person of interest' and was questioned by the FBI and the British Intelligence. The man had the gall to question the war and government. Morrissey is the former front man to The Smiths, who later went on to make solo albums. The bit struck me. It seems every now and then another 'famous' person is questioned by such n such agency in an eternal lifting of stones in search of terrorist grubs. Cat Stevens got his turn at questioning. There have been others. We never hear about the ordinary folk who get questioned. Yet it seems that some in government have developed a sort of paranoia. Maybe there is one over here... or over there. Got to keep the water pure. The idea that Morrissey would be a terrorist strikes me as absurd. Not that I know the guy, I don't but still.

So.. this got me in the mood to listen to the Smiths again. I found I hadn't put them on my iPod yet, so I loaded them up. Went to fix gyros for dinner transfixed to the music. I love the Smiths. It is one of those defining bands that influenced so many, yet themselves remain largely obscure. I can't recall ever hearing them on a typical radio station. The music of the Smiths is of paradox and absurdity. It is fitting I suppose that Morrissey's run in with the FBI would reveal the absurdity that anti-terrorism has reached. Louder than Bombs.

The sweet and tender hooligan, hooligan
Because he'll never, never do it again
And ...
"In the midst of life we are in death ETC."
Don't forget the hooligan, hooligan
Because he'll never, never do it again
And ...
"In the midst of life we are in death ETC."

Spring Cleaning !!!

Yard waste collection resumes March 13th in Peoria.

Obama in O'Eight

Barack Obama keeps denying he is interested or that he would run for higher office in 'o8 but.....

The recent issue of Chicago Magazine has an in depth article on why Barack should or should not run in '08. They also go to lengths to point out that he is doing everything right, for a run in '08 (or later). He even has some of the traditional 'national' organizations in place quietly laying foundation.

Why should he run or not?

a) Because 2016 will be too late. Waiting one's turn is not a successful strategy as history has shown.

b) The "law of 14", all past Presidents have had less than 14 years of public experience in a major office before they sought the Presidency. The longer he is in the Senate the harder it will be for him. The more votes he has to cast the more of a liability his record will become.

c) While not a reason to run per se, many Presidents have had as little foreign policy experience as Obama has upon entering office.

There is more... buy the mag. The magazine does not have an online posting of the article. Inside there is an article on Ira Glass from This American Life.

My take is that he won't run so long as Hillary Clinton is in the game. It almost seems like a given that she will be the Democratic candidate. But then many thought Dean was a shoe in, until he howled at the moon.

History may force events in different directions as well. If we are in a shooting war with Iran come primary time, look for a Wesley Clark vs McCain fight. I have trouble thinking the public would want someone without deep military experience if another major conflict is underway.

Now if both parties continue to suffer from various corruption scandals, along with numerous indictments, Obama's star might rise for that too, as someone largely untouched.

Get the lead out

In the far away state of Rhode Island, a jury ruled against former makers of lead paint, in a landmark lawsuit filed by the state. The state of Rhode Island is seeking money for cleanup and lead mitigation. The state won.

Hit It (WaPo) Hit it (Reuters) How about another (Jurist)

Why does this matter? Well, according to NPR, this is the FIRST time any company that had made lead paint has been found liable. All these years (since 1978), court case after court case, has been decided in favor of the lead paint manufacturers, until earlier today. The grounds? A public nuisance !!!

Can you feel the love !!!

Perhaps Peoria ought to look into this.....

UAE buying up port management

You all have heard it on the news, the United Arab Emirates is wanting to buy management rights for some U.S. ports. A simple business deal right? Well it would seem the public is a bit alarmed at the idea of an arab nation buying a point of access that requires security. So why exactly is the President so gung ho to go forward with the deal? Speculation abounds in various locations on the net. It seems some people think there is more to this deal than meets the eye. Perhaps.


Lets open up that atlas !!


Let me draw your attention to the little narrow strait on the right side of the map. The Strait of Hormuz.



Millions of millions of barrels of oil pass through that strait every day. A few years back it was noted that Iran had deployed Chinese Silk Worm anti-ship missiles overlooking the strait. As recently as December, Iran was test firing these missiles, you know to make sure they still worked n all.

If a conflict were to break out with Iran, the straits would be a critical strategic position. Note the UAE straddles the penninsula there. Oman owns the tip but we don't have as cozy a relationship with Oman as we do with UAE.

So... I guess I am saying, making nice with the UAE could be of interest to U.S. policy when a larger conflict with Iran is looming. Basing rights anyone? Obviously going public with such a deal would be bad if such a deal exists. We all know how well the basing rights in Saudi Arabia went over with the arab public. There is no reason to believe the UAE would be any different.

Do you really know how well your kids are doing in school?

Seriously ! All the talk about percentiles and standings versus national scores but nothing in plain english as to what that means. The parents in Germantown hills thought, 'Hey our kids are doing great!!' until they looked around. Last Friday the Journal Star covered this: The New New Math. Just because your kid's grades are top notch doesn't mean junior is measuring up for the long haul. This has been a deep concern of ours too.

We send our kid to a private school. It was a tough decision because there is a top notch District 150 public school in the same area. But we have to weigh in the long haul, the middle school and the high school are much less stable and certain. Stability, drugs, crime all outweighed the religious affiliation of the school that we don't share. Peoria Academy would be a better fit, but they have an 'exclusivist' mentality to their admissions. I can't say we are 100% happy with our decision but for now it is the best we can get short of moving to Dunlap. Still the uncertainty is there. Our child took the Terra Nova standard assessments and scored below average in math and science. This surprised us because math and science are his strongest subjects. We were told by the teacher in conference that the entire class scored below average in math and science. What!!? For the most part, the material tested simply was never covered the previous year.

Forget the numbers. What you really need to focus on is what your kid will be taking from 7th grade on. The farther behind your child is by high school graduation, the fewer doors of opportunity they will have afterward. Not everyone wants to be an engineer or a doctor but if you want to ensure your child has the opportunity to be one then you really need to pay attention. The parents at Germantown Hills are doing just that.

This leads to Mahkno's curriculum. This is what I would like to see and what I think should be taught as a minimum. If kids can go faster and farther, absolutely allow it !!

Mathematics

7th grade: Pre-Algebra
8th grade: Algebra
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Trigonometry
11th grade: Advanced Algebra
12th grade: Calculus (Every kid should take this, it is easier than algebra. Really!)

Science

7th grade: Biology
8th grade: Chemistry and Intro to Physics
9th grade: Biology II
10th grade: Chemistry II
11th grade: Advanced Biology or chemistry
12th grade: Physics I (Reinforces calculus)

Foreign Language

Choose 2: Spanish, Chinese, French

Foreign language 1, proficiency by 8th grade
Foreign language 1, mastery by senior year, could pass the equivalent of TOEFL exam.
Foreign language 2, proficiency by senior year.
Foreign language 3, option should be available for introductory skill.

English

I believe in the philosphy that every class is an english class.

By senior year,

1 year grammer
2 years composition, other classes constitute additional composition
2 years literature

Social Sciences (papers and written examinations standard!)

7th grade: World History
8th grade: U.S. History to civil war, Constitution exams
9th grade: World History again
10th grade: U.S. History, reconstruction to present minus 10 years.
11th grade: Civics, geography
12th grade: Advanced topic.... economics?

Miscellaneous

1 semester Consumer Economics... how to manage your personal finances.
1 semester Home Economics... how to manage a home.
1 year Computer Science, focus on scripting and program structure.
Physical Education every semester the kid is in school until graduation
1 year Business Economics... teach kids how to start and run a basic business.


What does one do with kids who can't keep up? Thats a tough call. Tracking is illegal last I recalled. But if a kid isn't destined for college then there needs to be an alternative track toward trade skills. Kids should be allowed to follow whatever goal they want to pursue but they should go forward with their eyes open.

I don't know how best to approach this, but 8th graders need to be getting some sort of career advice. I remember back in school, no one really took school too seriously until the SAT/ACT exams came along. By then, for many, it was too late. GPAs were squandered, class progression was insufficiently advanced. No one ever talked to me about what I wanted to do and how best to get there. It was the blind leading the blind.

So the city wants to enforce jaywalking.

So the city wants to enforce jaywalking. Fair enough. But in all fairness, how about some support for the pedestrians too!! What do I mean? How about ticketing the asshats who fail to respect the pedestrian right of way, preventing predestrians from crossing during the designated walk cycle, forcing pedestrians to ... um ... jaywalk? How about ticketing the asshats who stop right in the middle of the designated pedestrian right of ways, forcing pedestrians to ... um... jaywalk?

This is a big problem at Main and University and certainly downtown as well.

Blago gets interviewed by the Daily Show

The Daily Show tackles Illinois's pharmacuetical issues. Blago gets interviewed.

Enjoy!


If the link dies, look for "Pill of Rights".

Guns guns everywhere.

And another one was found in a Peoria high school.

What to do?

Naturally the knee jerk reaction is more police and more metal detectors. Let's lock down the high schools. Turn them into virtual prisons. This is not good for education. Yeah, guns aren't either. A good education requires an open campus. I am sure those who want to lock down Peoria's high schools would say the same thing, once everyone was sure there were no guns. In the meantime locking down the school is just as ruinous, maybe even more so, than knowing there might be guns at school. That a gun showed up on campus is not the school's fault. It really is an isolated incident in the greater scheme of things. Thousands of kids go to school each day with little incident. If some kid down in BFE Southern Illinois, showed up with a rifle in his car, at high school, I doubt many would blink an eye. They might not even sweat it if he stored in his locker to keep it safe. Context matters. Why? Well... bear with me here.

In my extended family (like so many families) on both sides, learning to fire a gun is a virtual rite of passage. I missed this little rite but so what... About aged 10-12, it seems every kid learns how to fire a gun. They learn how to care for it. They MOST IMPORTANTLY learn how to respect the gun. This is done by role modeling of the father in the care and use of that gun. If the kid should ever so slightly mess up in the proper behaviour with regard to that gun, you could be sure that pain would be set upon you that would not be forgotten. With my kid, if I ever see him mishandle a gun, you can be certain that that is one incident that will pull the belt off my waist. I am not one for corporal punishment but with regards to guns, it matters greatly. And so... well everyone in the family is very good about the care and respect of guns.

A few years back I used to occasionaly deliver pizzas on the south end of Peoria, I was the manager at the time. I remember well a house I went to. Normally, drivers are instructed to never ever enter a customer's house. But as most drivers know, sometimes it is good service to do so, and thus the advice gets fudged. Same was true with me. So there I was inside while mom was looking for her money. On the couch were three kids. A toddler, a 6-7 year old, and one around 10-12 years old. The middle kid was happily playing around with an air pistol. Waving it around, goin bang bang. The other kids were laughing.. the kid points at me and smiles sort of menacingly. Trying to be 'intimidating' as sometimes kids that age try to do. The other kids laughed along. Mother was utterly indifferent to the behaviour. Air pistols, can still hurt mightely at close range, and even kill if you get a lucky shot.

Several emotions swept over me. One, I broke my own advice to my drivers, very stupid. Two, are these kids really playing? Is it loaded? Three, where the fuck is the father!? Four, I really wanted to take that gun out of the kids hands, smack em, and lecture them all (mom included). Clearly NO ONE ever showed them how to respect a gun. There was no role model for these kids, save the video games they were emulating in their play.

Time and again, it seems there is a vacuum in the public with regards to the proper use and respect for guns. Time and again, the incidents involving guns stem from those who never were educated in their proper handling. The recent events at the Peoria high schools only reinforce this.

Here is a radical idea... make a gun class manditory for all 7th graders and up. The instructors must absolutely be male. They must be given some latitude with regards to 'touching' of their students. If joey starts waving the gun around like a moron, the teacher should be allowed to put the kid in his place. Knock the arm down, whatever. The proper care, use and most importantly RESPECT for the guns will be taught. They will be able to shoot them in a controlled shooting range. Understanding the gun requires experiencing its power.

Like sex education, like drivers ed., you play with guns irresponsibly, someone may get hurt. It is just as important, like sex, like driving, that kids learn ALL the facts and are instructed in the 'right' behaviour.

Hopefully, fewer incidents will occur and we will get better citizens for it.