So now there’s some dirt on ACORN, and what dirt it is! It’s like an episode of Law & Order; the kind where you shake your head at the TV and say, “This wouldn’t happen in real life.” ACORN leaders (and Nancy Pelosi, FWIW) claim the nastiness was only a few people in low positions, and that the organization itself would never condone such slimy tactics. Exactly like the response of the military and Presidency in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse debacle, actually.

The ever-vigilant GOP has demanded (and the Democrats are on the bandwagon almost as fast) that ACORN be punished. One of our great American traditions is to punish organizations by taking away their federal moneys. And I think that works. For organizations, money is like food and water; removing it gets them where it hurts. Awesomely, however, some overzealous Republicans, who apparently didn’t realize they were not supposed to upset the status quo, drafted a bill that would withhold funds from ALL federally-funded organizations with fraud complaints against them.

As anyone who pays attention might have predicted, this broad criterion turned up a nearly comprehensive list of military industrial contractors (i.e., Haliburton, Lockheed-Martin, Northrup-Grumman, and so on). Some of them have literally dozens of fraud charges against them There’s an unofficial list here, created at the behest of a freshman Congressman from Florida named Grayson.

Naturally, I don’t believe any of those massive, multibillion-dollar corporations will have any of their money cut, even if their fraud amounts to thousands of times more than ACORN’s. The Republicans will howl, and the Democrats will get all conciliatory, and everyone will work out a deal whereby the corrupt community organizers are cut off from the Federal teat, while the corrupt weapons manufacturers will get a maternal nip on the nose and then be ushered back to the privileged sucking spots. The military-industrial complex is implicated in the careers of quite a number of our congresspersons on both sides of the aisle, and (in a not-unrelated note) we Americans, by and large, are more tolerant of organizations that build bombers than of those that build communities, all frauds being equal.

Still, even if the consequences of this little drama are painfully predictable, stupid human tricks like this give me unwholesome giggles of political amusement. It’s nothing more sophisticated, really, than the thrill of watching a 5-year-old get pwned on the playground when he realizes that for every finger pointing at the other kid, three more are pointing back in his own face.

It has been a lovely few days for web joy.

1. If you only watch one video today, this should be it. Some sheep farmers strap LED vests to their sheep, then herd them all over a hillside at night, making awesome animated art! SQUEEEEE!

2. ….and a great picture of a boy holding a cat almost as big as him.

3. The recipe for the awesome (and pretty easy) whole wheat bread I made yesterday. It’s delicious.

4. An exam (I hope not fake) and the prof’s email (also I hope not fake, but who knows) wherein the student answered “C” to every test, apparently unaware that all questions were T/F.

5. This is nearly too ridiculous to believe, so I hope it’s fake, too.

6. A yearly festival in China, dating back 500 years to a time when the locals couldn’t afford fireworks, in which locals fling globs of molten metal at a high wall. If I ever get to tour China, I would love to see this in person. Seriously.

…and now to church.

The Times Online reported that Pres. Bush has given yet more good vibrations to the idea of air strikes on Iran, if Iran is seen as an imminent threat to Israel. The article included this little snippet:

Iran’s state-run media reported that one of them was a modified Shahab-3 ballistic missile, which has a claimed range of 1,250 miles and could theoretically deliver a one-ton nuclear warhead over Israeli cities.

If they had any nuclear warheads! Does anyone even remember the fact that they almost certainly do not?!? Certainly not the author of the Times Online article.

As a kid, I readily swallowed the Israel-must-be-protected-at-all-costs line my Republican culture fed me. But now… Here are some points that speak very loudly in my head:

• Iran, as far as everyfreakingbody knows (including the American intelligence community) … repeat after me … HAS NO NUKES! Also, it is believed that they stopped even trying to get them, a few years ago.
• ISRAEL HAS LOTS OF NUKES!
• Our last involvement in a preemptive war is now generally seen as a large mistake.
• This would be not even be a classic a preemptive war, but something one step worse: a preemptive war on behalf of somebody who is not us. Since when do we care about attacking countries suspected of posing a threat to someone else?
• Also not helpful, though not directly related: recent revelations that Israel has active spies in the U.S., sending state security secrets back to Mossad or whoever. What the Heck, So-Called Allies?
• Also also not helpful, and slightly more related: Israel uses some very questionable tactics in its dealings with suspected terrorists and other threats to its security. When North Korea does similar things, our President wastes no time calling them evil. There’s just a teensy bit of a double standard here.

I’m currently sensitive to the view that Israel has followed a somewhat bellicose foreign policy for many years, apparently confident that Big Brother America would bail it out of any serious problems it might get itself into. I think we need to temper our support. Israel can take care of itself, and even if it couldn’t — this is key — we have no responsibility to fight its battles. Like pretty much everybody else on the planet, Israel might even benefit from having some motivation to pursue diplomatic channels before resorting to saber-rattling and unilateral shows of force. But that’s another issue; it’s really Israel’s business.

Let me reiterate that phrase. It’s their business. Not ours. Keep us out of it. Yes, they’re an underdog in some ways, but it’s also true that they could obliterate Iran at the push of a button. We are an overextended empire, slogging through at least one too many foreign military commitments. We need to just chill out with the preemptive military strikes and related rhetoric. Especially on behalf of a whole other nation, whose intentions toward us are not so certain as we used to think.

Let Israel fix its own problems, at least until someone actually attacks them. We’ve got problems of our own, and they’re going to take a long time and a lot of money to fix.

Apparently some armed Canadian forces stormed a Dutch seal-hunt protest vessel and arrested people. The head of the organization behind the ship called this an “Act of War.” Just between you and me, I suspect the Dutch government might not back him up all the way on this.

In other news, I listened to audio study materials for the EPPP exam while I walked to the grocery store today, with my big backpack. Google says it’s 1.6 miles each way. I shopped too much. In the future, I should probably remember that a good rule of thumb seems to be: $1 = 1lb. $50 is too much.

zo-ombie. zo-ombie. zo-ombie ee ee ee…

a) We re-applied for the pittance that was once our DHS grant, today. I knew a guy back in Montana (at the School for the Deaf and Blind) named Paul. He said he used to play singer-songwriter gigs in Seattle (this was when I was 13; I had never seen Seattle). He told me a story about entertaining himself as a child in the 1950s under some bridge or other in the city. He and his friends would toss pennies and nickels to the bums, and watch them fight for the coins. Well, I can imagine the struggle with one’s pride, then deciding that, yes, I still wanted the coin, after all, enough to fight for it. I mean circa-1955 homeless people no disrespect in comparing my plight to theirs.

b) I just read an irreverent, funny, occasionally offensive essay about gender. The thesis seems to be that if women ran the world, it would look remarkably like it currently does. Not that I agreed 100% with everything, but I had some favorite moments:

I’m not trying to say men are any better, because they’re not. They commit most of the murder and mayhem on this planet but frankly, I think that’s just because they have more time on their hands.

A little more thoughtfully (and thought-provokingly):

The exact same testosterone-fueled drive that makes men fight wars also makes them build bridges and tall buildings and computers.

And the slam-dunk to get me all righteously indignant:

I’d really like to know just what in the hell makes Sally Field think women love their children more than men do.

and finally, the piece of resistors:

Even if the best mother EVER was Queen of the Planet, someone somewhere would still need to have their ass kicked, and she’d have to send somebody’s child to do it.

Over at Mother Jones, there’s a highly informative article revisiting 18 of the more egregious inconsistencies and blunders the mainstream media in the U.S. have been responsible for, since the start of this whole “war on terror” thing¹.

I freely admit that my views of the U.S. political machinery and the war itself have changed, as things have gone along. But the Mother Jones article was a wake-up call, nevertheless. How quickly we forget the weasely words of the people in the magic box.

Second favorite:

The day before the invasion, Bill O’Reilly said, “If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it’s clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation; I will not trust the Bush administration again, all right?”

As if we needed more evidence that Bill O’Reilly was an especially heinous, right-wing-ratings puppet. And, though it’s more of a mockery of the media, rather than a media blunder, per se, here’s my favorite:

Stephen Colbert’s routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April 2006 is remembered for the in-his-face mockery of President Bush—but he also spanked the press, perhaps one reason his mainstream reviews were mixed at best. Addressing the correspondents directly, Colbert said, “Let’s review the rules. The president makes decisions; he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell-check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know—fiction.”

Yeah.

The democratic machinery of the nation, by its very nature, is always “broken” to some extent, but there are functional measures of how much it’s broken. Currently, I think a strong case can be made that it’s more broken than it’s been in ages. Mainstream media organizations have often been the Bush Administration’s willing minions in this process.

It will take a long time to fix what we’ve broken in the past couple of decades (especially the last 7 years). Assuming we ever get around to fixing things.

1. It just occurred to me… is a “War on Terror” pretty much the same as “Attacking the Darkness?” Surely someone else has seen this parallel of meaningless abstraction in nomenclature before now [↩]

Another year has come and gone, and here I am writing another online Christmas letter to everyone instead of sending cards like considerate people do. Oh well. I married Alex so she could compensate for such deficits in my personality. (Note: Since writing this, I have migrated my photos to Flickr, so the photo links are all broken. Maybe I’ll fix them, someday).

Here’s how this newsletter works (feel free to skip sections that do not interest you):

1. Christmas Message
2. Things that have happened this year.

Note that you can click the text links or the pictures for extra information. Clicking names of places usually takes you to a map. Clicking pictures will take you to the large version of the picture. Pictures will open in a separate browser window.

Confused? Just click some stuff and see what happens.

Christmas Message

As most of you know, Alex and I are Christian, so Merry Christmas! But if you’re celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Pagan Winter Feast, or just Many Days Off Work, we wish you fondest and warmest times, as well.

Although we recognize that Christ was probably not born in December, and we are skeptical of the reality of elves, we are happy for the opportunity to join with others in celebrating Jesus’ life and acts. And we’re glad, in general, for the chance to just pause with the rest of the world, Christian or not, and enjoy a few days with friends and family.

So, Happy Holidays. If you’re reading this, we love you. Lots.

Year In Review

The year has been busy, and full of bad news, good news, and just news. Some of the bad news is that Alex and I still do not live together. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario (just north of Buffalo, NY), and I live in Edinburg, TX (just south of everything). We are working very hard to get in the same place this year, but jobs, education and citizenship issues make this a sticky business. We’ll try to keep you informed. For updates (inconsistent, sometimes incoherent, but often with pictures), just check this website from time to time: www.bobbyfiend.com. It’s my personal blog and I try to give some sort of account of what’s happening in my life, on a semi-regular basis. Of course, if that’s not the kind of thing you want to read about, I recommend staying away from this website.

Winter and Spring

January is always a little depressing, as Alex and I have to separate after a month together. We got to see each other a couple of times before May, and I was even in Quebec City for a conference, but that was without Alex (it’s surprising how far apart some of these cities are). I was as sick as a dog the whole time, so it’s just as well. Alex got to go to St. Johns, Newfoundland (which is a million miles from anything) for a different conference, and brought back enough pictures and stories to make me want to go back with her, someday. During the summer. Not the winter.

The semester kept me busy. I seemed to be traveling every other weekend. I made about half a dozen trips, what with visiting Alex and academic responsibilities. In between, I tried to keep my classes and research moving, which is not as easy as I had always imagined it would be. My sweetie, during this time period, was working on her dissertation, (a process I can sympathize with) and also c0-starring in two plays: The Night of the Iguana and Oedipus Rex. Later, in the summer, she and I both helped out (she as an actor and I as a stagehand) in a community production of Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet.

At the end of Spring, I flew up to Canada (as is my wont), breathed a huge sigh of relief, and settled in for a summer of teaching and hanging out with my wife–something I’m not taking for granted, quite yet (give me another year or two…).

Summer

Summers for the last two years have been my relief periods. Not because of the work load, although it’s reduced somewhat, but because I get to spend three months with my wife. This year, like last, we hung out in her un-air-conditioned third-floor apartment while the temperature inside climbed to about 100 degrees sometimes. Odd that I’m hotter in Ontario during the summer than I would be in my fully-air-conditioned apartment in Texas.

We both enjoyed our academic work (I was teaching an online class and doing research; Alex was still slaving away on the dissertation), and enjoyed just being around each other. We even played some hockey, which was a definite first for me. Good times.

The last half of the summer was a crazy round of travel. We spent a week at Alex’s parents’ lovely cottage, about 3 hours north of Toronto, with our friends Amanda, Scott and Brad, as well as Alex’s brothers, sister, their significant others, her in-laws, niece and nephews, and parents. It was a wonderful time, and it’s hard not to fill this entire page with photos from that experience. While we were there, we played disc golf (hooray!) at a course in South River, and spent a day paddling a canoe in Algonquin Park. I’d go back in a second.

After Northern Ontario, we drove quickly back to Southern Ontario, then flew to the wedding of my friend Scott and his bride, Lisha, in the mountains near Pike’s Peak, Colorado. It was gorgeous up there! Alex and I are keeping an eye out for academic jobs in the area ;).Directly on the heels of this trip–meaning we didn’t even go home first–we flew to Washington and visited my delightful cousin Sharon and her family, then headed to Idaho for the Rogers Family Reunion. We were, honestly, a little concerned at the somewhat low attendance, but within an hour we were enjoying ourselves immensely. Especially fun was playing with our nieces and nephews, most of whom Alex had never met, and all of whom had grown up tons since the last time I saw them. I love them all dearly, and hope to get to hang out with them more, in the future. So, my siblings need to visit me in Texas more often. And bring your kids.

As you might have guessed, after the Colorado-Washington-Idaho trip, it was back to Ontario, whirlwind unpacking-then-packing, and down to Texas to start the school year once again, and lose my wife for another semester.

Fall

Fall is exciting and depressing at the same time. Academics like Alex and I tend to have a hopeful, happy feeling at the beginning of every school year, but we also have to leave each other after three months spent getting used to living together (almost like real married people!). So, to ease the pain, Alex goes down with me to Texas and hangs out for a couple of weeks or more, and we get to be a normal husband and wife for a little longer. This time, we got adventurous (her idea) and camped on the beach at South Padre Island. It was a wonderful experience, although I’ve heard since that it may not be entirely safe, despite the fact that it’s a state park. So, deep sigh, we probably won’t be doing that again any time soon, at least just the two of us. But we enjoyed the experience immensely, and we love the beach. We found great peace in putting our folding chairs in the shallow breakers and zoning out for hours while the waves tickled our feet.

It seems that right after Alex left I got a new cat. Sigh. Not that I needed one. His name is Moses (because he came out of the reeds), and I found him near a reservoir outside Edinburg. The whole story is explained if you click here. Anyway, now I have two cats. And they both live with my sweetie in Canada, because it’s impractical to get care for them when I leave for a week or a month or a summer. Despite his unplanned appearance, I still like Moses. Good cat. And I miss both my feline monsters when I’m in Texas.

Work is work. I’m finally collecting data on a project that should have been done half a year ago, and I’ve applied for two more grants–one small and the other very large (10 universities, about 100 investigators, and tens of millions of dollars from the Department of Homeland Security). I keep busy with our little Psychology Department’s hopes for a PhD program, advising students, teaching classes, and working on my research. It’s a little more than your average full-time job, but I don’t mind. I’m trying to build up some momentum that will carry me a while when Alex and I finally live together and I feel like having true 40-hour work weeks for a bit.

In October, I was invited to be part of a university expedition to Monterrey, Nuevo Le�n, M�xico. About 20 of us met with some officials of a couple of universities down there, and that is turning into an interesting collaborative experience. I hope I get to do some cross-border research, cause Monterrey is a very cool place. I’m looking forward to going back.

Alex and I are on the job market, and it’s an unpleasant experience. Academic politics are active, sometimes irritating, and often confusing. I’m reminded of my father, quoting Napoleon, telling me not to assume malice when incompetence is the more likely answer… We don’t know if Alex will get the job she has applied for at UTPA (where I work), or if we will both be offered jobs at one of the half-dozen places we both applied to, together. I love my work, but I’ll give it up if I can be with my wife. If none of our plans pan out, we’ll be thinking fast. Plan C might be a bit creative. We’ll have to wait and see.

Alex has stayed busy, trying to regulate her very disobedient sleeping schedule, working tirelessly on her dissertation, playing hockey, and even rehearsing for another play (she’s Lady MacBeth). I think she’s at her best when she’s got a few irons in the fire. We have kept in touch as much as possible, visited once or twice this semester, and are now together for nearly a month, which is lovely. Phone calls and seeing each other once a month don’t really cut it, sometimes.

It’s the winter holiday season, now, and that has always been a time to try to reconnect with family and friends I don’t talk to very much. I’ve always been terrible at keeping lines of communication open, so I hope you’ll forgive me for the generic flavor of this message, and know that I still care about you. Happy Holidays.

A couple of nights ago, my friend Brad and I had a discussion. It got me thinking, as I often do, about mi patria (the United States), its role in the world, and its future on the international stage. This morning, while trying to find a citation for homicide rates as (lousy) indicators of overall crime rates, I ran into a 2005 article titled “The next 50 years: Unfolding trends,” in what appears to be a good peer-reviewed academic journal.

The article has a section titled “America’s Retreat.” He predicts the end of U.S. international dominance by about 2050, with clear signs starting a few decades ago, and becoming more apparent very soon. He cites a lot of economic indicators, such as national debt, increasingly weak currency, and huge (and increasing) trade imbalances. He has graphs (pretty ones) and apparently rigorous data analysis. Some nifty excerpts from the article, after the jump. Continue reading →

Roof puppies in Oaxaca also like the sun

It was sunny outside! For only a few hours, true, and now it’s back to an overcast thingy, but at least it’s a bright overcast thingy. I got up late (7:45), fooled around with stuff, then finally left the apartment at 9:00, got to work at 9:30 (I took the extremely long way; my commute is actually about 7 minutes if traffic cooperates), and didn’t even mind all the mud on my bike. And on me. It’s been lead-dark and cloudy for 2 weeks, now. And ridiculously cold for this part of the world. maybe we’re starting to have a normal winter again (i.e., sunny and warm).

In other amazing and excellent news, I went into the locker room in the gym, where I have a locker in the non-faculty area (menos cool). I shower, however, in the faculty lockers, because it’s a much better shower experience. So, I browsed around the locker area (as is my wont, from time to time) and saw what I was looking for: a free locker! I’ve waited for a year and a half. So, I snatched it. With the requisite paperwork, of course. I now have a faculty locker. No more wandering the length and breadth of the undergrad locker room in nothing but the way-too-small university towel, on my way to and from the shower. Yay! Plus, if your gym shorts are really stinky, you can hang them on the outside of your locker without worrying that the staff or the other students will trash them.