http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2009/01/scene-from-an-inauguration.html
It was going to be an "Obamoment" but the image of a blogger I like yelling out to Howard Dean... really, it seems funny to imagine anyone yelling out to the National Party Chair of either party "THANK YOU!" So really, it's an Obamoment.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Obamoment
I have been noticing surreal moments of Obama's impending presidency all around. From now on, I will due my level best to post the surreal Obamoments here, to capture what I mean.
Today's Obamoment: a Times Square flier-person trying to get people to come to a "100% Barack Obama Approved" comedy show.
Today's Obamoment: a Times Square flier-person trying to get people to come to a "100% Barack Obama Approved" comedy show.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
On Suicide Bombers
Just a short thought: part of the reason youth in Palestine in particular or Iraq might be willing to give up their lives for a cause is because of the scale of death in their own personal lives. After all, if you surround a human being by so much death and destruction, they're going to come up with some sort of rationale that protects them from mental harm. One being that whoever did this is monstrously evil, two being that it's not so important because the virtuous dead find themselves in a better place, and three being the quickest way back to the ones you've lost and assuring your place among the virtuous dead is to attack whoever did this, the monstrously evil.
Yet another reason why this bombing in Gaza is utterly counterproductive.
Yet another reason why this bombing in Gaza is utterly counterproductive.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Secretary Of The Arts
Barack Obama is going to put in place a new arts policy. Someone should oversee it. Hence, a Secretary of the Arts. Isn't that straightforward? For one of the first Presidents I've heard of with an actual arts policy, he should have a Secretary of the Arts. Or at least make the NEA chair a Cabinet-Level position.
As I've said before, this isn't a culture issue. This is an economic issue. Take this article, about how New York City's Broadway tax is allegedly going to hit AEA pensions. And not the billion dollar profits.
Now, one could argue that if the Department of Labor took arts issues to heart, a Department of Art wouldn't be necessary. But it clearly doesn't. Arts is a somewhat different industry--the way that Health and Human Services, or Agriculture are.
Also, what I like about the hypothetical Department of Art is what I like about the hypothetical Department of Food: although it's an economics oriented department, it keeps its goal in mind: producing art. If the FCC was made subject to this hypothetical Department of Art, it might behave differently. Or copyright law. The public radio/television organizations. They'd all be unified under one heading, working in conjunction with the Department of Education and the Department of Labor.
I think it's a good idea. And other than the increase in bureaucracy, there isn't much downside. Do it, Mr. Obama!
Sign this petition for a Secretary of the Arts.
As I've said before, this isn't a culture issue. This is an economic issue. Take this article, about how New York City's Broadway tax is allegedly going to hit AEA pensions. And not the billion dollar profits.
Now, one could argue that if the Department of Labor took arts issues to heart, a Department of Art wouldn't be necessary. But it clearly doesn't. Arts is a somewhat different industry--the way that Health and Human Services, or Agriculture are.
Also, what I like about the hypothetical Department of Art is what I like about the hypothetical Department of Food: although it's an economics oriented department, it keeps its goal in mind: producing art. If the FCC was made subject to this hypothetical Department of Art, it might behave differently. Or copyright law. The public radio/television organizations. They'd all be unified under one heading, working in conjunction with the Department of Education and the Department of Labor.
I think it's a good idea. And other than the increase in bureaucracy, there isn't much downside. Do it, Mr. Obama!
Sign this petition for a Secretary of the Arts.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Arabs Stripped Of Representation
Well, I've been saying that a country founded on religion will always have problems with democracy, with the even-handed treatment of its citizens. Israel has, of course, not been very bad with the treatment of its Arab minority... not a very good relationship, but good enough to avoid major social unrest.
That appears to have changed.
The idea that political parties will be rejected based on the religion/ethnic group it seems to represent is a major, major step backwards in a democracy. As Americans, we have an innate protection of this in the First Amendment ("Freedom of Assembly" and also "Freedom of Worship") and in the Fourteenth Amendment ("equal rights and immunities.")
In related news, one of my grandmothers in Israel has been forwarding me email from pro-government sources (not Haaretz; often IDF websites). I don't read them, because I already know what they say. Today's email, however, came from ArabsForIsrael.com. Do they know that they don't get to represent themselves anymore?
That appears to have changed.
The idea that political parties will be rejected based on the religion/ethnic group it seems to represent is a major, major step backwards in a democracy. As Americans, we have an innate protection of this in the First Amendment ("Freedom of Assembly" and also "Freedom of Worship") and in the Fourteenth Amendment ("equal rights and immunities.")
In related news, one of my grandmothers in Israel has been forwarding me email from pro-government sources (not Haaretz; often IDF websites). I don't read them, because I already know what they say. Today's email, however, came from ArabsForIsrael.com. Do they know that they don't get to represent themselves anymore?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Waltz With Bashir
Saw the movie Waltz With Bashir with my dad. My dad was drafted into the Israeli military in 1978, and opted to become a radio mechanic in return for serving an extra year in the military. My mother spent nine months in the military as a psychometrist (the person who performs psychological testing for new tank crews, to make sure that they don't hate each other) before she married him, and was thus given an out from the army.
In other words, my father was still in the military when the war with Lebanon broke out. He didn't have to serve there because he was from the "central" division of the Military (the army was divided into three sections: north, central, and south). Had he been in infantry or tank divisions, he would have been deployed for certain; as it was, he served no more than guard duty once on the border after he was discharged--because after his discharge he was repeatedly called to serve in the reservists. Of course, most of those were one-day summons, and he ignored them with little retribution. Because he ignored the one-day summons', he was never assigned a reservist unit. He finally was assigned a reservist unit when he went to get permission to leave Israel finally, in 1988--so technically he finally served in a reservist unit, although in actuality he came to the United States and finally left the army permanently behind him.
I mention this because after having seen the movie Waltz With Bashir, we talked about his service. His service, of course, is incomparable to the men in the movie--the main character was present in Beirut, and saw the aftermath of the Sabra and Shatila massacre--indirectly aiding, by keeping flares lit through the night of the massacre. But at the same time, it put my parents' decision to leave Israel in context.
For me previously, I had a sort of naive wall put up between Israel's history and the personal lives of my family. Even my grandfather, who fought in one of the freedom fighter groups against the British, risking his life to blow the shofar on Passover, helping to blow up key targets, spending time in a British prison. Somehow there's no reconciling him in my head to the retired accountant with the great sense of humor that I know today. Partly this is because of his own life: he lives shut off from that past. It is incredibly difficult to get him to talk about it, and when he does talk about it, it's as though he's reciting history--not telling his own personal story.
So to think of someone as peacible as my mother--pacifist, with a strong dislike of war in all its forms--being one of the top sharp-shooters in her division in basic training, or to think of my father being lucky enough not to serve in Lebanon--but having his friends serving there. Even when I was there--I was once in Israel at the same time as a double-bus bombing that killed around fifty people, during the height of the Second Intifada, and it seems as remote to me as the violence in Sri Lanka. Just words, concepts, and not flesh and blood in reality. That's the luxury of having lived a life entirely and solely in a peaceful country.
I also remark this because of my father's bitter comment as we were driving home. "Things haven't changed." Considering the scope of the horror, the needless violence, the madness decending into genocidal massacres at Sabra and Shatila, I cannot imagine a more depressing sentiment to take away from it. After all, Ariel Sharon who was i charge during Sabra and Shatila, became the Prime Minister--what's more, he was one of the people who brought us closer to peace with the Palestinians.
My dad shook his head. "I mean that's how it started then! Rockets from Lebanon. And neither side learned anything. Anything at all."
In other words, my father was still in the military when the war with Lebanon broke out. He didn't have to serve there because he was from the "central" division of the Military (the army was divided into three sections: north, central, and south). Had he been in infantry or tank divisions, he would have been deployed for certain; as it was, he served no more than guard duty once on the border after he was discharged--because after his discharge he was repeatedly called to serve in the reservists. Of course, most of those were one-day summons, and he ignored them with little retribution. Because he ignored the one-day summons', he was never assigned a reservist unit. He finally was assigned a reservist unit when he went to get permission to leave Israel finally, in 1988--so technically he finally served in a reservist unit, although in actuality he came to the United States and finally left the army permanently behind him.
I mention this because after having seen the movie Waltz With Bashir, we talked about his service. His service, of course, is incomparable to the men in the movie--the main character was present in Beirut, and saw the aftermath of the Sabra and Shatila massacre--indirectly aiding, by keeping flares lit through the night of the massacre. But at the same time, it put my parents' decision to leave Israel in context.
For me previously, I had a sort of naive wall put up between Israel's history and the personal lives of my family. Even my grandfather, who fought in one of the freedom fighter groups against the British, risking his life to blow the shofar on Passover, helping to blow up key targets, spending time in a British prison. Somehow there's no reconciling him in my head to the retired accountant with the great sense of humor that I know today. Partly this is because of his own life: he lives shut off from that past. It is incredibly difficult to get him to talk about it, and when he does talk about it, it's as though he's reciting history--not telling his own personal story.
So to think of someone as peacible as my mother--pacifist, with a strong dislike of war in all its forms--being one of the top sharp-shooters in her division in basic training, or to think of my father being lucky enough not to serve in Lebanon--but having his friends serving there. Even when I was there--I was once in Israel at the same time as a double-bus bombing that killed around fifty people, during the height of the Second Intifada, and it seems as remote to me as the violence in Sri Lanka. Just words, concepts, and not flesh and blood in reality. That's the luxury of having lived a life entirely and solely in a peaceful country.
I also remark this because of my father's bitter comment as we were driving home. "Things haven't changed." Considering the scope of the horror, the needless violence, the madness decending into genocidal massacres at Sabra and Shatila, I cannot imagine a more depressing sentiment to take away from it. After all, Ariel Sharon who was i charge during Sabra and Shatila, became the Prime Minister--what's more, he was one of the people who brought us closer to peace with the Palestinians.
My dad shook his head. "I mean that's how it started then! Rockets from Lebanon. And neither side learned anything. Anything at all."
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Milk And Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein was in the news earlier this week; first she was upset that Obama named Panetta to CIA without consulting her (she's on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which did a very poor job of oversight of the CIA and NSA during the Bush administration), and then she broke with Democratic leadership over whether to seat Blagojevich's pick for Obama's Senate seat, the incomprehensible Roland Burris (she's on the Senate Rules Committee, and therefore it's her decision whether the Senate has the power to eject Burris)
But she also was very briefly in the movie Milk, which I saw this week (the day after she had come out in favor of Burris). She plays a minor, minor role in the movie even though she played a slightly larger role in real life--in real life, [spoiler alert] she was the one who found the bodies of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk after they were shot by former city supervisor Dan White.
For some reason, on a human level, I feel like that explained to a certain degree her decision to side with Burris. Something about being in the front row of watching a sidelined politician lose out because of the larger political atmosphere... well, that's where Roland Burris is right now.
Of course, I don't think Dianne Feinstein is backing Roland Burris because she thinks if she doesn't, he's going to shoot Harry Reid and Dick Durbin. That would be ridiculous. But her decision to stick by the rules (of which Harry Reid is aware and feels less bound by) may partly be her role on the Rules Committee, but it may partly be a sense of personal compassion for the man.
It's just some speculation, for if one day we decide to make a movie about this AWESOME Blagojevich story. Trust me, it'll make a great movie.
But she also was very briefly in the movie Milk, which I saw this week (the day after she had come out in favor of Burris). She plays a minor, minor role in the movie even though she played a slightly larger role in real life--in real life, [spoiler alert] she was the one who found the bodies of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk after they were shot by former city supervisor Dan White.
For some reason, on a human level, I feel like that explained to a certain degree her decision to side with Burris. Something about being in the front row of watching a sidelined politician lose out because of the larger political atmosphere... well, that's where Roland Burris is right now.
Of course, I don't think Dianne Feinstein is backing Roland Burris because she thinks if she doesn't, he's going to shoot Harry Reid and Dick Durbin. That would be ridiculous. But her decision to stick by the rules (of which Harry Reid is aware and feels less bound by) may partly be her role on the Rules Committee, but it may partly be a sense of personal compassion for the man.
It's just some speculation, for if one day we decide to make a movie about this AWESOME Blagojevich story. Trust me, it'll make a great movie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)