A deficit in objective reporting

I opened up our local paper today to find on the front page, right-hand column, the following headline:

"CBO sees federal deficit shrinking from predicted size"

Underneath the title is the lead, in small font:

Deficit - The Congressional Budget Office projected that this election year's federal deficit would be a record $422 billion, a shortfall that would be smaller than analysts predicted earlier this year. The projection became instant fodder for both political parties. News 13

So I turned to page 13, where I saw the headline in even bigger type:

"Congressional analysts lower deficit forecast"

And then below it, the subheader: "However, the latest federal projection - a $422 billion shortfall - is still the biggest dollar amount in history."

It seems obvious to me that the most significant and newsworthy fact is that this deficit is $422 billion dollars, and that is a record deficit. After that, one can add that however, the new projections are lower than before. Certainly Alan Fram thought so. Fram is the Associated Press writer of this article. The headlines, however, were produced courtesy of The Orange County Register, probably the most conservative daily paper of its size in California, and certainly one of the most conservative in the nation. A reader can see that slant in the editorial pages, and come to expect that bias.

What once surprised and now just offends me, is the way the bias bleeds into the news and even the copy (headlines, graphs, placement of stories). It's fine to reflect one's opinion in the opinion section, but it seems unethical for a publisher to massage the facts like with the record deficit story, particularly in an election year. Of course, being who they are, that's even more reason for the Register folks to soft-pedal bad news for the Republicans.

Am I reading too much into the headlines? If I didn't, I would not have caught their sleight of hand. But let's test my hypothesis. Other dailies surely picked up this AP wire story. What do their headlines look like? I turned to Yahoo! News and searched for the article using deficit and Fram. You can even repeat my experiment. I posted the results below.

The top 20 hits come from 14 unique sources. Of those 14 unique sources, NINE mention $422 billion, TEN mention record deficit, and just TWO mention the lowered prediction. One of those two, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, said "Record deficit but less than forecast". The other mention comes from fredericksburg.com, a site that registered seven separate hits because it takes all AP feeds and does not produce any copy of its own.

No other news site crafted headlines like the OC Register, even though the article itself was virtually the same across the board. And to say that the CBO sees the deficit "shrinking" from its predicted size falsely implies that the deficit situation is materially improving. I mean, the CBO announcement is a prediction too. In fact, no "real" shrinking of the deficit has or will happen - especially not with the current administration. But that conclusion is exactly what the Register wants to obscure from plain view.

NEWS STORIES

Results 1 - 20 of about 183 for deficit fram.

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1. Analysts predict record deficit ALAN FRAM; The Associated Press
   Tacoma News Tribune - Sep 08 1:25 AM
   WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Congressional Budget Office projected Tuesday that this election-year's federal deficit will hit a record $422 billion, a shortfall that would be smaller than analysts predicted earlier this year.


2. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit By ALAN FRAM
   Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 8:15 PM
   The federal deficit will swell to a record $422 billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected Tuesday in a report that became instant fodder for both political parties.


3. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit By ALAN FRAM
   Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 8:15 AM
   The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that this election-year's federal deficit will reach $422 billion, congressional aides said Tuesday, the highest ever, yet a smaller shortfall than analysts predicted earlier this year.


4. Analysts Expect Smaller Budget Deficit By ALAN FRAM
   Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 5:16 AM
   Congress' top budget analysts still expect the 2004 federal deficit to set a record, though a smaller one than they and the White House anticipated earlier in this election year.


5. Federal Budget Deficit To Reach $422B This Year, Pressure on Medicare
   Medical News Today - Sep 08 4:14 PM
   The federal budget deficit will reach a "record" $422 billion, or 3.6% of gross domestic product, in fiscal year 2004 and is expected to rise to $2.3 trillion over the next 10 years, in part because of the rising cost of programs such as Medicare and Social Security, according to new figures released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, the Washington Post reports.


6. Federal deficit expected to be record $422 billion
   Miami Herald - Sep 08 12:22 AM
   Congressional analysts projected a record $422 billion deficit this year, a figure that falls short of earlier forecasts.


7. Federal deficit will increase to record $422 billion this year
   The Ohio University Post - Sep 08 6:45 AM
   WASHINGTON -The federal deficit will swell to a record $422 billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected yesterday in a report that became instant fodder for both political parties.


8. Record deficit projected
   Kansas City Star - Sep 08 12:48 AM
   WASHINGTON — The federal deficit will swell to a record $422 billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected Tuesday.


9. Deficit predicted to reach $422B
   Long Beach Press-Telegram - Sep 08 12:53 AM
   Parties seize record figure as political fodder. WASHINGTON — The federal deficit will swell to a record $422billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected Tuesday in a report that became instant fodder for both political parties.


10. Year's deficit to reach record $422 billion
    Denver Post - Sep 07 8:08 AM
    Washington - The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that this election-year's federal deficit will reach $422 billion, congressional aides said today, the highest ever, yet a smaller shortfall than analysts predicted earlier this year.


11. Deficit numbers still a record
    Albany Democrat-Herald - Sep 07 3:06 PM
    WASHINGTON - The Congressional Budget Office projected today that this election-year's federal deficit will hit a record $422 billion, a shortfall that would be smaller than analysts predicted earlier this year.


12. A record deficit but less than forecast
    The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sep 08 12:22 AM
    At $422 billion, the projection fell short of what had been expected. Each party had its own spin.


13. for
    SanLuisObispo.com - Sep 08 6:29 AM
    Parents, coaches and rec league officials are invited to submit their stars of the week. Please remember that kids can appear only once a month. And if your star doesn’t make it the first time, try, try again.


14. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit By ALAN FRAM
    Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 5:59 PM
    The federal deficit will swell to a record $422 billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected Tuesday in a report that became instant fodder for both political parties.


15. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit By ALAN FRAM
    Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 4:30 PM
    The federal deficit will swell to a record $422 billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected Tuesday in a report that became instant fodder for both political parties.


16. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit By ALAN FRAM
    Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 10:29 AM
    The Congressional Budget Office projected Tuesday that this election-year's federal deficit will hit a record $422 billion, a shortfall that would be smaller than analysts predicted earlier this year.


17. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit By ALAN FRAM
    Fredericksburg.com - Sep 07 7:31 AM
    The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that this election-year's federal deficit will reach $422 billion, congressional aides said Tuesday, the highest ever, yet a smaller shortfall than analysts predicted earlier this year.


18. Analysts forecast record $422 billion deficit
    The Olympian - Sep 08 5:28 AM
    WASHINGTON -- The federal deficit will swell to a record $422 billion this election year but fall short of even more dire forecasts, Congress' top budget analysts projected Tuesday in a report that became instant fodder for both political parties.


19. Congressional analysts say deficit will be record
    Daily Bulletin - Sep 08 12:46 AM
    WASHINGTON - The Congressional Budget Office projected Tuesday that this election-year's federal deficit will hit a record $422 billion, a shortfall that would be smaller than analysts predicted earlier this year.


20. CBO Projects $442 Billion Federal Deficit
    Lebanon Daily Record - Sep 07 3:04 PM
    WASHINGTON - The Congressional Budget Office projected Tuesday that this election-year's federal deficit will hit a record $422 billion, a shortfall that would be smaller than analysts predicted earlier this year.

* Note: the San Luis Obispo headline, which does not show in the hyperlink, reads CBO Projects Record $442 Billion Federal Deficit. Check it out.

Charge of the Far-Right Brigade

Forward, the Far-Right Brigade!
Was there a man dismayed?
No, though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered
Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the Valley of Death
Drove the ten hundred.

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Reaches Grim Milestone

(Reuters) - The American death toll in Iraq topped 1,000 on Tuesday nearly 18 months after President Bush launched the war that has become a central issue in the November U.S. presidential elections. U.S. casualties in Iraq have surged in recent weeks, particularly among Marines, as Washington fights a guerrilla war that has no quick end in sight. Bush's Democratic rival John Kerry -- a decorated Vietnam War veteran -- called it "a tragic milestone." More

Today is the day I dreaded, and yet expected, would come. Expected, given the lack of international support for our invasion, the loss of civil order and resulting chaos in Iraq, our lack of a transition or exit strategy, and our abuse of the Iraqi people and destruction of their daily life. These reasons are known to all, and too well. But the thousand American deaths surprised a few. It certainly would have surprised the man who in May 2003 commandeered some real military pilot's jet and landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where he had ordered the unfurling of a banner that said "Mission Accomplished". I'm sure that George W. Bush hoped to shower us with photos of that day during the fall of 2004. Well, here we are.

Ironically, Bush said today that "We will be there until the mission is finished." If i were prosecutor cross-examining him, I might ask, "Were you lying then, or are you lying now?" Or, there's a third possibility. Perhaps under Bush's watch, we're simply moving backwards.

Only backwards thinking can explain their continued effort to confuse the "war on terror" and the invasion of Iraq, two events connected solely in the minds and plans of the neocons:

Bush administration officials sought to put the 1,000 deaths in Iraq in the context of the war against terrorism. "When combined with U.S. losses in other theaters in the global war on terror, we have lost well more than a thousand already," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing.

Rumsfeld's smug and cavalier (is there any other kind?) words are well past the "sell by" date for the fictional al-Qaeda connection. It only makes sense if we're going backwards in time. Personally, I don't blame the Bush administration for the events of September 11. Those attacks were probably unavoidable, given our resources and knowledge. But the deaths of 1000 Americans, and over 10,000 Iraqis, was totally preventable. By going to Iraq, we've made it another Ground Zero, another place for American suffering, a tragic connection of our own creation.

At the same press conference, AP News reported that Rumsfeld said "our enemies have underestimated our country, our coalition. They have failed to understand the character of our people. And they certainly misread our commander in chief." Like Bush, he seems to suffer from rhetorical dyslexia--mixing up his subjects and objects. It'd be more accurate to say that we underestimated their country and their coalition of Sunnis and Shiites. We failed to understand the character of the Iraqi people, proud and unbowing. And our commander in chief certainly misread them. Again, these administration folks have things...backwards.

This entry would not be completely meaningful if I just left it at that: my angry thoughts and my sadness at a country gone wrong. Even though it's not 1854 Balaklava and they're not the Light Brigade, our soldiers still obey and do and die because thats what soldiers do. I only hope we can recast our mission and trim our sails so that their brave efforts were not offered in vain. I try to contribute in some miniscule way, by pointing out where and how civilian leaders and citizens can be more responsible, and more worthy, of their sacrifice.

On June 19th of this year, Marine Pfc. Sean Horn died in Iraq. Before that he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, just south of Orange County. Before that, he lived right here in Irvine. He joined the Marine a year ago, just out of high school. He died of a single shot to the head, in his bunker. The military calls it a "non-combat incident". It wouldn't be right to say any more. I won't try to reason why, and in fact I don't know anything except what was written in the newswire, and at the Fallen Heroes Memorial website, where a fellow soldier wrote these words:

"sean
im so sorry i let this happen i never should have convinced you to join . i loved you like my own brother through all of it and theres nothing i can do now. but it haunts me and ill never forget you or the last time we spoke in kuwait.i love ya"

josh of al asad iraq

There's nothing we can do now, for Sean. But maybe for Josh, for the 100,000 soldiers there, for the millions of Iraqi men, women, and children, we can do something, something different. We owe them that much.

Salute what?

My Front Page Headlines Aug 30 9:29pm PT

Top Stories from Reuters	Aug 30 7:52pm PT
Republicans Salute Bush's Leadership After 9/11 Iraqi Cleric Calls Cease-fire After Bloody Uprising U.S. Guard 'Stomped on Fingers' in Iraq Jail

I think the nature of Bush's "leadership" after September 11th is amply illustrated by the next two headlines. Rather succinctly, they sketch the result of our president's decision to channel national grief and outrage into fueling his war of choice, and an occupation that was little more than a barely controlled atmosphere of violence, both American (bloody fingers) and Iraqi (bloody uprising).

The violence will dissipate and calm will return to Iraq, as the American presence dissipates among a larger international coalition and American soldiers return home. Now, that would be a win-win situation.

Congratulations, Ken Jennings!

Yesterday evening, Ken Jennings became the first person to win $1 million on "Jeopardy!" More impressive, in my opinion, has been his winning streak of 30 consecutive games. In the old days - before this year - "Jeopardy!" contestants who won five days in a row were rare. So rare that five-day champions were feted and given an early retirement.

I'm not a big Jeopardy! watcher. So I was surprised when I happened to catch the show, and hear Alex Trabek announce that the pleasant-faced blond-haired fellow who overwhelmed his competitors had won his 23rd game. That's when I learned the new rules, probably a response to the high-stakes gameplay on the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" But Jeopardy's new format makes for superior entertainment, because an outstanding contestant will potentially appear over and over (and over and over) on the television screens and by golly, he or she is just like the audience at home.

But Ken is not just like anyone. I know this from watching the 23rd episode. I know this from hearing excerpts on KROQ's usually inane "Kevin and Bean" show. In their rock-jock stupidity, they suggested half-seriously the game was rigged. But the very fact that two idiots were talking about Jeopardy! suggests that many other people are talking about the record.

Ken's not just like anyone. But he does resemble a number of people I know. In fact, he looked vaguely familiar to me. Turns out, he played quiz bowl in college around the same time I did. Now he helps run National Academic Quiz Tournaments, or NAQT, a main engine of the collegiate quiz bowl circuit. I played in the first NAQT National Tournament in 1997, for Berkeley. Upon returning to school at Oregon, I led that team to its first Nationals berth in 2001. Ken played quiz bowl between those years, which is why I remember him vaguely.

After a bit of research, I found that Ken and his Brigham Young University team played at the first Caltech summer tournament, nicknamed Quesadilla. Ken finished 5th in the singles tournament, but the record shows he lost only to Peter Freeman and Jesse Molesworth, an astrophysicist and a English literature grad student, respectively. (Summer tournaments allow participants to be "alumni", which I was in 1999.) Ken also finished behind 4th place Dave Farris, the wizard from Edison High/Harvard/Berkeley, and my good friend, Michael Bennett, now a grad student at Chicago. Michael, if you're reading this, here's an idea to pay your way through grad school... Incidentally, 6th place finisher Pat Friel (UCLA) was the minor celebrity then, having been on Jeopardy! in 1997 and winning twice. He lost to Berkeley professor (and eventual five-day champion) Art Malia. Yes, I watched a bit more back then.

I didn't play in the singles portion of the tourney. Instead, I was driving myself and Rob Hentzel from the Bay Area that afternoon. Rob, Peter, and I won the team competition. Incidentally, individual-champion Peter was the 3rd scorer on our three-man team. Rob averaged about 8 questions, I averaged about 4, and Peter about 2.5. The overlap in knowledge between Rob and Peter skewed the team results. Still, if I was better than Peter, and Peter beat Ken... Well, that was five years ago. Mr. Jennings definitely appears a stronger player now. Yet looking back at this seemingly insignificant Saturday in my life, five years ago, definitely inspires me to try out for Jeopardy, as many friends have urged me.

But you don't have to be a nerd to be inspired. I think it's great a young person is rewarded with fame and fortune because of his knowledge, rather than his or her ability to drink snake blood or cast someone off the island. And if it takes a nice Mormon computer programmer to show America that, more power to him, and bully for us.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch some TV.

"Lately, it's occurred to me..."

About ten years ago, Jennine told me her writing instructor suggested that improving one's writing involved doing it every day. It was something the instructor heard from Alice Walker. Or was in Ray Bradbury?

I was reminded of this advice when I saw Amy Tan at Cal Day a few years later. She also stressed the importance of writing daily, and first thing in the morning (though according to Oscar Hijuelos, she added, one should make an exception for conjugal purposes).

Concurring is Tan's bandmate in the Rock Bottom Remainders, Stephen King. After I read On Writing, a Christmas gift from Katy, I restarted my old journal and wrote every day. For about two weeks. That was three or four years ago.

Day is the key word. I'm finding that 1:00 AM is often NOT the best time to write. Fatigued and cluttered mind aside, one's best writing conveys a sense of joy, passion, precision. Extra stuff. When I write, sometimes something will happen - a turn of phrase, perfectly placed - that never could be otherwise planned.

During the day, I am more likely to ponder aloud the thoughts swirling in my head: my 5K training regimen, the last settlement I mediated, a missing recipe for gazpacho, the current New Yorker with David Remnick's article on the prospect of Islamist politics in Egypt and Tad Friend's report on turning SF's Lusty Lady into a worker's utopia, the disappointing portrayal of native Hawaiians in entertainment media, and my thoughts on the omission of Adrian Beltre from the National League All-Star team.

I wish I could say something pithy tonight. Hmm, guess I just did.

in a democracy, there are means which no ends can justify

In the process of unifying China over 2200 years ago, its first emperor Qin Shi Huang Di attempted to crushed all dissent and debate. The great Chinese historian Sima Qian records the Qin Emperor's chief adviser, Li Si, saying thus:

"Now the August Emperor has unified all under heaven, distinguishing black from white and establishing a single source of authority. Yet these adherents of private theories band together to criticize the laws and directives. Hearing that an order has been handed down, each one proceeds to discuss it in the light of his theories. At court they disapprove in their hearts; outside they debate it in the streets. They hold it a mark of fame to defy the ruler, regard it as lofty to take a dissenting stance, and they lead the lesser officials in fabricating slander. If behavior such as this is not prohibited, then in upper circles the authority of the ruler will be compromised, and in lower ones cliques will form. Therefore it should be prohibited.

"I therefore request that all records of the historians other than those of the state of Qin be burned. With the exception of the academicians whose duty it is to possess them, if there are persons anywhere in the empire who have in their possession copies of the Odes, the Documents, or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall in all cases deliver them to the governor or his commandant for burning. Anyone who ventures to discuss the Odes or Documents shall be executed in the marketplace. Anyone who uses antiquity to criticize the present shall be executed along with his family. Any official who observes or knows of violations and fails to report them shall be equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn such books within thirty days of the promulgation of this order shall be subjected to tattoo and condemned to 'wall dawn' [convict] labor. The books that are to be exempted are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Anyone wishing to study the laws and ordinances should have a law official for his teacher." An imperial decree granted approval of the proposal.

Ah, the good old days. While Li Si's doctrine may be abhorrent to modern minds, his rhetoric is clear and uncomplicated. That's because in the ancient world, the idea of absolute rule was accepted and desired. That emperors could have banned the different schools of philosophy is not questioned, only its desirability.

Of course, since the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the individual has displaced the ruler at the center of government. Governing required consent of the governed, and hence, appeals to the interests of the governed. So political philosophers and the rulers who employed their ideas (and sometimes them) have had to invent schemes to increase their power using the language of individual liberty and political equality. So they invented doublespeak.

Starting almost three years ago, however, many Americans have been made to feel such fear that they "freely" expressed a desire to give up some individual rights. In this timorous climate, certain members of our government dropped their coded language and began to speak frankly about the desirability of certain speech. They would spout atavisms like:

to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty; my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists - for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends.

And later, they objected when anyone questioned their authority to denigrate those who questioned anything at all:

Anyone who reported this morning that he criticized anyone who opposed him was absolutely wrong and in doing so became a part of the exact problem he was describing.

The first quote is from John Ashcroft, and the second comes from his spokesperson, Mindy Tucker. The second in some ways scares me more than the first, because through his mouthpiece Ashcroft moved beyond targeting certain criticisms of the war on terror, to denigrating anyone who questioned him.

The quotes, which I've cut and are analyzed in full here, are from December 2001. But the same people still run the Department of Justice, and their views have not changed. In fact, those views have not changed in over 2000 years.

taking the fourth

Tonight, I took my parents to see the fireworks from the panoramic outlook just north of Dana Point Harbor. It's too bad Vicky couldn't be here - she heard about a place along the south county coast where a 360-degree view was possible. I found such a lookout point on my San Clemente ride. Just a bald clearing, flanked by the ocean on the southwest and PCH on the northeast. And walking a few yards to the south, you'll overlook the harbor and the marina. Perhaps you'll see a replica of the Pilgrim, which carried Richard Henry Dana as a seamen on a hide-gathering voyage from Boston to what was then Alta California.

That was then. This is now. But "then" reminds us that not all the land was America at once, nor all Americans. But this - who and what we are now, and have come to be - is what counts only. In first or second grade, I learned the words to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and every time the words "land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride!" I shuddered a little. They were serious words. But my ancestors did not die here, and they definitely weren't Pilgrims. We only sang one verse. I never learned those lines in the third, "Let mortal tongues awake, let all that breathe partake."

For all my political passion and cultural angst, I do believe America is different from every other place that came before. There is no literal "American race" or "American language". Here, citizenship confers nationality, not the other way around. The poet Shirley Geok-Lin Lim wrote that "If you come to a land with no ancestors/to bless you, you have to be your own/ancestor." That instruction confronted my parents even more than it affected me. Sometimes I forget the distances they travelled, and chasms they leaped, in so many ways, to have American children. And the person who has American children, they're Americans too.

Here's a poem by Ms. Lim which I really like.

Learning to Love America

because it has no pure products

because the Pacific Ocean sweeps along the coastline
because the water of the ocean is cold
and because land is better than ocean

because I saw we rather than they

because I live in California
I have eaten fresh artichokes
and jacarandas bloom in April and May

because my senses have caught up with my body
my breath with the air it swallows
my hunger with my mouth

because I walk barefoot in my house

because I have nursed my son at my breast
because he is a strong American boy
because I have seen his eyes redden when he is asked who he is
because he answers I don't know

because to have a son is to have a country
because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them

because it is late and too late to change my mind
because it is time.

the far side of the world

My sister arrived in Australia yesterday. She will be studying biology at the University of Tasmania for a semester. Vicky called us on her first morning in Hobart, which has made a pleasant first impression. Apparently, it's a bit like Sausalito: a laidback, resort town. She went grocery shopping at Salamanca Market, a bustling public market which reminded her of Pike Place in Seattle. She had not seen the university yet. We got an email from her today, sent out to all her friends. I'll take the liberty of sharing a part with you.

Hobart, Tasmania is very nice. It looks like a new england town that
people visit on holiday-- a little too quaint for my lifestyle but small
enough that I can walk around. It is at the foot of Mt Wellington,
which doesnt seem that high, but right now it is snowcapped. Hobart is a
30 min drive to the top, and also a 20 minute drive to the bay, which i
think is pretty cool. It's wintertime here, which is comparable to so
Cal's winter, about 9 degrees Celsius, but way more sunlight. Damn
hole in the ozone layer. It is also windier so you'd have to wear 3
layers instead of 2. and gloves. and a hat.

The people have been pretty friendly so far, but I havent met my
flatmates yet, or any other students. my room has a nice view of the river
and the city, and I will post pictures on my geocities or livejournal
when i have the means.

(to her housemate): i wish i had gone to see a rugby match with you
because the aussies are really into "footy" which i gather is sort of like
american football and soccer and rugby.

...I am glad i got to hang out with most of you before i left. it was
good times and I miss you already. for those i whom i did not see, well,
it sucks to be me.

lost in translation:
give way = yield (traffic sign)
rubbish = trash
toilet= restroom
chemist = pharmacy
take away= takeout
no worries= no problem = ain't no thang

hope to hear from you!
vix

I'm sure she'll soon write more about her Tasmanian adventures in her fabulous journal. A moment's glance through it makes me realize that she's become her own adult person. My parents and I are thrilled for her. No, Vicky, it does not suck to be you...

Open House

I would like to welcome everyone to my new weblog. You may notice a link to February 2004, when I wrote my first entry, but today is the first time I am promoting it. Besides, if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears, does it really make a sound? Or as NBC executives cynically advertise their reruns, "It's new to you!"

Why the long wait? I wanted to make sure that I was inviting my friends and interested strangers to something worth their while. To meet that threshold, I needed to find subjects and ideas that were worth my while to write about them consistently. At the same time, I hoped to develop a way of approaching serious issues and significant moments without letting myself become too heavy, dull, or both.

My favorite novelist, Italo Calvino, dealt with a similar problem as a young writer:

When I began my career, the categorical imperative of every young writer was to represent his own time. Full of good intentions, I tried to identify myself with the ruthless energies propelling the events of our century, both collective and individual. I tried to find some harmony between the adventurous, picaresque inner rhythm that prompted me to write and the frantic spectacle of the world, sometimes dramatic and sometimes grotesque. Soon I became aware that between the facts of life that should have been my raw materials and the quick light touch I wanted for my writing, there was a gulf that cost me increasing effort to cross. Maybe I was only then becoming aware of the weight, the inertia, the opacity of the world -- qualities that stick to writing from the start, unless one finds some way of evading them.

He goes on in his essay "Lightness" to champion writing with a light touch, with agility, to countenance the weight of the world. That's my rough summary. You can find that essay among his Six Memos for the Next Millenium, which he composed for the 1985-86 Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. Before Calvino could deliver them, he died suddenly.

It is hard to write the things of this world, sometimes harder to write about one's own life. The word petrify doesn't seem out of place, both in striking fear into your soul (can I really do this?), and silencing you with weight (will I ever read this?). I've been told that I write well, but I don't know if that's true. However, it's also true I have few other talents. So why don't we get this party started?

Hello, my name is Philip. I grew up in Orange County. I live in Irvine, which promises to be the setting of many amusing stories. Often, I'll write about current events, from the tragedy in Madrid to this year's elections to the infant formula lobby. News can get too heavy to write or even think about. Sometimes I'll talk about favorite music or my adventures in mediation. And once in a while, I'll reflect on a life well lived. I hope such a life can be mine.

Please, add your thoughts in the comments section. Make suggestions, requests, and of course, comments. This journal, like my writing, my career, and my life, is a work in progress. Unlike certain leaders of the free world, I am quite glad to recognize certain aspects of life as team work. Wrote Emily Dickinson,

A sepal, petal and a thorn
Upon a common summer's morn-
A flask of Dew-a Bee or two-
A Breeze-a caper in the trees-
And I'm a Rose!

A song of experience

In my Blakean year
I was so disposed
Toward a mission yet unclear
Advancing pole by pole

Fortune breathed into my ear
Mouthed a simple ode
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road

In my Blakean year
Such a woeful schism
The pain of our existence
Was not as I envisioned

Boots that trudged from track to track
Worn down to the sole
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road

by Patti Smith

There's a record store called HEAR Music in Santa Monica. It started in Cambridge, and popped up in Berkeley during the late 90s. I spotted one at the Metreon in San Francisco during the boom days, but now it's gone. Relatively few people have ever set foot in HEAR Music. But more than a few have heard their Artist's Choice compilations (Ray Charles, Lucinda Williams, Sarah McLachlan), courtesy of the frothy caffeinated juggernaut and its owner Howard Schultz, who now runs it.

My wanderings around 4th Street's HEAR Music figure prominently in my post-graduate Berkeley days. Sometimes after running to the Marina, I'd stop in and listen to a record I'd never heard before. I believe that store held the record for most listening stations per square foot. That's where I first heard albums by Lucinda, Belle and Sebastian, Nick Drake, Townes Van Zandt, Pink Martinis, Billy Bragg, Caetano Veloso, Art Blakey and the Messengers... This eclectic array of musicians ensured that my adult tastes did not calcify at 22, nor grow bland with radio.

I didn't buy a lot of CDs during those Bay Area boom years. After all, I was a teacher. My road was just a road. Or so it seemed. Those exciting tech jobs held by many friends and acquaintances don't exist anymore, nor in many cases do the companies. But the institutions where I worked are still around, and still needed. My biggest regret? That I virtually stopped writing for an audience, or a cause. I suppose I am trying to, ahem, start up again.

Yesterday afternoon, Jukka and I ran the east-west length of Santa Monica and strolled down the 3rd Street Promenade. HEAR Music's appeal hasn't faded with time and taste. If anything, SoCal's cultural shortcomings make the record store even worthier of a visit. And so I was rewarded with a new discovery, Patti Smith's "Trampin".

This is not a CD review. I and my slight Manichaean tendencies in writing are not suitable for aesthetic criticism. (See what I mean? Not suitable!) I will say a little about why I like her lyrical writing, and what her example means to me.

A look at her discography shows the Patti Smith Group made four albums in five years, the last (1979) capped off by a stadium concert of 70,000 cheering Italians. I knew none of this when I heard "Because the Night" as a college freshman, almost fifteen years later. Or when KFOG played "Dancing Barefoot" or her version of "Gloria", with its defiant opening line torn from her early poem, "Oath": "Jesus died for somebody's sins/but not mine." Or when I discovered her Early Work, and one of my favorite lyrics about being American, "Notebook". Or when I saw her at the Bridge Concert, leading Neil Young and Pearl Jam and the Bridge School children in a rousing rendition of "People Have the Power".

I did not know that she had spent a decade and a half as a housewife in suburban Detroit, with her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith. The godmother of punk and guitarist of the proto-punk MC5, playing house and raising two kids. Imagine that. What is true of most people is also true for most artists: the most fruitful or personally rewarding life may not always be the most ambitious or artistically productive. "I never did miss fame," she has said. "What I really missed was a good cup of coffee."

Or to quote "Oath": "I can make my own light shine/and darkness too is equally fine"

We can take that line to mean confidence in one's ability to choose the good and the "sinful". Or perhaps also, comfort in choosing the path of fame and fortune or a life of obscurity. And not regretting the choice of either. But it is either. And many people are not comfortable with that, because they think they can have both, when in reality not many can live with either well.

If I consider the quiet and fairly happy life of obscurity that was Patti Smith's life, or that William Blake earned a living from engraving in order to support his poetry habit, then I scorn to change my state with kings, or Supreme Court justices. And for a moment I cease to regret that I didn't write in 1999 or whenever, because hey, I was teaching kids algebra in a neighborhood the New Economy forgot. I can make my own light shine, and darkness too is equally fine...

So. What I like uniquely about Patti Smith, is that her voice, her energy, is neither male nor female. Like many 70s icons (David Bowie, for one), her image is essentially androgynous. But I'm talking beyond image, about the music itself. Her voice and lyrics pulse with intelligence and passion. And those qualities are neither male nor female. Often you can read a poem or song lyric and say, oh a guy wrote it, or a girl wrote it. And many fine lyrics are like that. But what a feat of the universal to transcend the experience of gender, how pure is that? How pure is white light? Or the human heart? Or grief? Or being American? And to transcend it in popular music, with a voice both wise and vigorous and kind.

Formula 1, Babies 0

A friend of mine gave birth to her second child last month. She would not be pleased with the following story, which I found on Motley Fool:

According to an ABC News report published last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first postponed, then watered down, a series of TV ads promoting breast-feeding of infants -- at the request of the infant formula industry.

The ads, slated to air six months ago, originally conveyed in stark terms the increased risks of bottle-feeding: respiratory, urinary tract, and ear infections during infancy; asthma and diabetes during childhood; high blood pressure and obesity in adulthood. Most notably, the ads reported that infants who were not breast-fed were more prone to leukemia than breast-fed babies.

To make a long story short, executives in the $8 billion dollar industry of infant formula manufacturing became alarmed. They sent their reps to lobby Washington, where Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson gave them a private audience. Halliburton, anyone?

Breast-feeding advocates - you know, people like mothers and doctors - sought to meet with Thompson, but they were turned down. You can read more at the full ABC News article, which also provides a link to the "thank you" letter written by Clayton Yuetter, formula lobbyist and former GOP chair. "Dear Tommy", the letter begins. Rather curdling, I think.

At least several of the public service ads aired, at the beginning of June. But the watered-down versions may not be enough to counter the millions of dollars spent promoting infant formula in hospitals and doctor's offices, something that formula mankers Abbott Labs and Bristol-Myers Squibb honed into an art form while pushing their pharmacuetical products. Can we educate a new generation of mothers and give newborns a healthy start? We don't know, not until the babies grow up either granted or deprived of the substantial protections that evolution has bestowed on human beings through mother's milk.

Speaking of protections, I think this sad incident exemplifies a weakness of democratic capitalism. First, in cases of public health the benefits are often great but diffuse. Clean air, clean water, breast milk, etc. However, in our economy the man-made sources of damage are often controlled by a few or at least organized very well. So the organized few can act to preserve their flow of profits, at the expense of the diffuse many, who in a democracy should win. Until very large groups can organize around their common interests (parents, immigrants, skateboarders) and transcend internal differences, the many will not prevail over the few.

Second, the people who lack political resources are the vulnerable elements of society, and hence the ones who need it the most. And I cannot think of anyone more vulnerable, or less blameworthy, than an infant. Obviously the infant has an interest in his or her own health, but in most political systems the infant has no voice. Congressional districts count infants. Why not elections, at least in such child-relevant areas as health care and education. Yes, a parent votes, but those issues concern both parent and child. Parents manage their children's money and lives, why not their votes too?

Finally, has anyone noticed that there's no breast milk lobby? Yes, doctors, scientists and parents advocate for it, but nobody will spend big money to do so. That's because there's no money in winning an argument for a product that is, essentially, free. You don't have to be a socialist to acknowledge that the best things in life are free. A socialist might say that good things and services should be free, or at low cost to everyone. But what I mean by free things are gifts of nature, like air and water and seeds that won't Terminate. Rather than adding to things we want, some folks try to take away what we already have and sell it back to us. Wouldn't the latter be detrimental to human health and welfare? And isn't that just the sort of job where a Secretary of Health and Human Services would lead the way? Dear Tommy . . . do your job!

Until we start fighting for those things that are free, we'll keep losing them, and the loss will feel very precious indeed.

Oregon Trails

On Friday, I dusted the cobwebs from my bike and rode along PCH to San Clemente. I hadn't planned to make it there, but I felt like going after reaching Laguna Beach, and then Dana Point. The weather was unusually cool for June, and the cloud cover was helpful. I made a number of short detours, the first at my friend Albert's place in a new development, Oak Creek, near I-405 and Jeffrey Rd. His neighbor Rory spotted me, and when he saw my bike, showed me the three he owned and talked up a storm about local trails and such. He handed me a bunch of maps from his car, mostly Southern California stuff but there was one of Central Oregon.

"Why Oregon?" I asked him, curious. I knew he was a LA native.

"Oh, I went to Mt. Batchelor." For skiing, of course.

I was about to close the map when I saw in the small sectioned-off, right-hand corner, a map of the Mackenzie River Trail - without question, the most beautiful place I've ever biked, in the most beautiful state I've ever been.

Here's one of the last letters I wrote in Oregon, to one who had left recently.

"I am glad to see that you are alive and well! Tanya and I were a bit worried. We were Portland this past weekend and met up with an old friend of mine, Linda. We saw elaborate sand castles in Pioneer Square. Walked around Saturday Market. Drove along the Columbia Gorge, which Linda had never seen. Visited Hood River for the Cherry Festival. It was late-afternoon but the farmer at Alice's, a third-generation Japanese American, took us in his cart for a tour of the pear and cherry farm. Had no idea so many varieties besides Bing and Rainier existed. We sampled extra-large Lapins, and slightly bitter Black Republicans. (Wonder why they call 'em that.) The sky was clear blue, except for the giant clouds massing around Mt. Hood. I'll miss Oregon."

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right..."

Today I returned to my main job-like activity for the past two plus months: working as a small-claims mediator at Orange County Superior Court. It's nice to be active again, using the Alternate Dispute Resolution skills I learned during law school, and providing a needed service to the community.

I have mediated or co-mediated about 30 cases, reaching a settlement in all but one. Business disputes, landlords and tenants, creditors and debtors, ex-boyfriends and girlfriends - I've handled the whole range. I like the business cases most (contractors, credit unions, etc). That may seem counterintuitive for a "fuzzy" like me, but in fact such disputes only involve money and are the least stressful, for the parties, and hence for me. Those people tend to be nice and are almost always professional. Today a man agreed to repay several hundred dollars mistakenly deposited into his bank account - the second time this mix-up has landed on my lap. Apparently, he spent this money by the time the bank caught its mistake.

Since mediation is voluntary, almost everyone who participates is civil - as they chose to negotiate an agreement with my help, rather than argue their case before a judge (like they had intended). In fact, roughly half of my "successful" resolutions are worked out in principle by the parties in the hallways before they talk to me. That happened today. So my awesome success rate has little to do with my abilities as a mediator, which are just adequate enough not to impede them from helping themselves.

Even though I've chosen the path of law, I believe that the law often interferes with justice and fairness - not only in its "objective" meaning, but also in its shared "subjective" meaning. The former is easy to understand. By the latter, I mean that the law may take a dispute out of the hands of the two parties. Mostly for the good of society, which wants to discourage a plaintiff or victim from resorting to "self-help" (i.e., me and a few buddies). And if the original act was criminal...

However, in some cases, two people or organizations might want to resolve their dispute without going through civil litigation. Neighbors, family members, parents sharing custody of children, people with long-term business relationships benefit from sitting down and resolving their argument without the time, cost, and emotional strife that lengthy litigation or even small-claims court, can bring. Even a small formal step such as being served by a stranger is off-putting to many people. And personally, I enjoy being the neutral, the third-party who brings people together, helps them realize what their shared interests are, and leaves them on friendly terms with each other, sometimes even a hug between former friends.

Mediation holds natural incentives for both plaintiff and defendant (if you're wondering why they'd show up). For the defendant, it's a way to resolve their situation without a court judgment. They may not owe the whole amount, but most of the time they owe something - and if a judge enters that "something" against them, it will damage their credit rating for years to come. For the plaintiff, payment is more likely if the defendant helped fashion the payment plan himself, as the court does not assist plaintiff in collecting judgment.

For myself, I need to purge from my system the emotional traces from the more complicated cases. Sometimes I don't realize how a certain defendant or plaintiff or broken relationship has stayed in my mind. And I could do better to find ways to find release - other than reading, which if it involves the news does the opposite! Even something simple like treating myself to ice cream, or catching an afternoon matinee alone - I can't recall the last time I did either. Sounds fairly pitiful, no? Striking a steady balance between extremes: if I can help others do it, surely I can help myself.

Weenie Roast notes

My homeboy Will Farrell (Class of '86) made a surprise appearance at the KROQ Weenie Roast and spoke to the nubile masses last night:

"I'm Will Farrell. (Loud cheers.) I'm...one of you. I grew up in Irvine, beautiful Irvine, California. (Scattered cheers.) I remember all the times I used to sneak in here... I have some bad news. Our next guest couldn't make it tonight. That's right, I'm sorry to say you won't be able to see Crazytown. Come, my lady. Come come, my lady. You're my butterfly, sugar, baby..."

Then he introduced the scheduled performers, the Beastie Boys.

Weenie Roast is an ten band, 11-hour affair... So I will not try to sum up.

The afternoon kicked off on the side stage with Story of the Year, a young and spirited five-member band. Oh, how young they were!
They were followed by Yellowcard, New Found Glory, and Hoobastank.

Then it moved to the main stage, which was nice as it allowed you to hear all the bands, with The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Cypress Hill, The Hives, Velvet Revolver, Bad Religion, Beastie Boys, The Strokes.

I'd write more, but I must return to life as a (relatively) responsible adult now and turn in early.

Devil's advocate?

I interviewed with the Orange County Public Defender's office on Wednesday afternoon. They asked me the same eight questions they posed to every other applicant, which seems fitting for an employer concerned with procedural fairness and substantive justice. Believe me, that structure is highly unusual for interviews in the rest of the legal world. Which, in its own way, makes sense too. The last question the two senior deputy public defenders asked me: how do you justify defending people who often do not have the law or facts on their side (who, in effect, probably committed the crime with which they are charged)? Why, that's a very good question I said.

I also said a few other things. A public defender is someone that our system provides to represent the accused's interests, just as we have prosecutors in the District Attorney's office to represent the interests of society at large. Yes, many people accused of a crime are in fact guilty of some wrongdoing, and most of the time it's pretty obvious. But the PD's job is also to see the defendant fairly treated in his sentence, as well. Because someone has committed a crime doesn't mean he gives up his rights, or that society can throw the book at him. The prosecutor isn't looking out for the defendant, that's not his job. That's the public defender's job. If the PD couldn't do that, the DA's role would be incredibly unfair. Instead, in our adversary system, the prosecutor pushes with all the resources of the state. And the defender is ethically bound to push back.

For two years I taught and tutored students in Oakland public high schools. I wanted to work there because those were the kids who lacked the money, education, and family background to do well in math. Hence, they were the kids who needed my able services the most. I would say the same with public defense. Individuals who need public defenders can't afford to choose their own lawyer. They often come from the same socioeconomic groups as my students, and deserve the same degree of help we believe those students ought to have. Mind you, my students weren't all angels - sure you've got poor neighborhoods and mediocre teachers and lack of family help but many kids are just lazy or unfocused - as at any other school. Let's not hold their poverty and background against them too.

The public defender defends not just the person but also the rights of the accused, and those rights belong to us all. And when those rights are threatened, so are we all. In fact, since indigent criminal defendants are the most vulnerable elements in society (without friends or wealth), indigent defense is the most likely area where the state will cut corners to a "just result" and in the process short-circuit our system of rights. Democracy is a cloth that frays around the edges, and affects those who live on the edges of society first and most often. We see examples of fraying today not only in murder and rape cases, but also in the area of terrorism and war crimes.

And so I ask you... Would you ever work for the public defender? Why or why not? If so, would you ever draw the line at representing someone? A murderer? Rapist? Child molester? What do you think?

Houston City Limits

In the summer of 2001, I chose to take an internship in Houston, Texas, rather than travel to China with my friends.

Looking back at that summer, I realize it was the last time I could really choose where I wanted to be. Shanghai or Houston? The comparative merits of each city aside, I didn't realize the key word wasn't either. It was the word in the middle. Or. I had to choose one or the other. Instead I chose one, thinking I could have Houston now, and save Shanghai for later. Well, later is now. And now my horizons seem to be the four walls of my room, and soon the four carpeted panels of my cubicle. What a thing to have hoped for!

But while in public I express regret at my choice, in my heart there's no other place in the world I'd rather explore than my own frontiers, this land made for you and me. And so I drove from the Redwood forests to the Gulfstream waters, because Texas is a big part of America, and in the courts, clubs, and strip malls of Houston I would learn a little bit about how things worked, or why they didn't.

What did I learn that summer?

I learned that muffalettas are the best-kept, tastiest secret in American sandwiches. I learned that bourbon and coke is a great drink. And then there's Mexican food and barbeque and country fried steaks... Houston, you have a weight problem!

I learned it IS the humidity - oh, the humidity! I learned to fear mosquitoes. I learned to love the Gulf of Mexico, which is warm and teeming with fish.

I learned to say "y'all" and "a little sumpin' sumpin'. I learned to do the electric slide... I learned that some people still fly confederate flags, but even rednecks call those people rednecks. I learned that Houston loves a good bookstore more than Orange County, and young Houstonians like pot every bit as much as their counterparts in Oregon.

I learnedthat a judge is a very nice thing to be. I learned that immigrants still come from France and the Netherlands as well as India and Mexico. I learned you can major in animal science and still become governor of Texas.

I learned to love the songs of Robert Earl Keen and Kelly Joe Phelps. I learned that "King of the Hill" is reality TV. I learned there still exists in spirit, such a thing as the "Republic of Texas".

Elsewhere in the blog world

I read far more than I write online, which isn't saying much. But the blogs I choose to read do say a great deal worth reading. Here are some of this week's sightings:

From 1982-1984, the White House spreads a new infection: the AIDS joke.

Thanks to Insomnia for bringing this callous, irresponsible behavior to my attention. I'm old enough to remember the atmosphere of permissive ignorance about AIDS and HIV, but too young to have recalled these comments firsthand. The 1980s seem to be a forgotten decade in terms of what really went down. Statements like those by Larry Speakes should wake Gen Y types to our recent history. We often take the tolerance and pluralism of the 1990s for granted.


Josh Marshall follows up on his observations about Republican attempts to denigrate the non-white vote. I discussed examples of this sorry behavior yesterday. Today, Marshall responds to the WSJ "Best of the Web's" attempt to pooh-pooh the significance of the racial voting gap. Marshall correctly notes that the WSJ site ignores the real question, "Why do blacks vote so disproportionately for Democrats?" It's not as if Republicans could win over half of the black vote. If they did, it would be the result of changing policies and attitudes, which might alienate a huge chunk of the Southern white vote (on which the modern Republican Party depends for its margins. Anyways, Josh Marshall says it better so read him!


Finally, a shout-out to Haggai's Place: Mr. Elitzur keeps tabs on both American and Israeli politics with similar detail and insight. I came across the blog of my fellow quiz-bowl alum last fall, in trying to find an old New Yorker piece on Wesley Clark.

One down, more to go...

For those who haven't heard: Stephanie Herseth was elected to Congress in South Dakota. Herseth, a Democrat, defeated Republican Larry Dietrich by 3,000 votes in this statewide race. (South Dakota has only one seat in the House.) I'm impressed by her performance, considering that: 1) South Dakota went for Bush 60%-38% in 2000, 2)the Republican Party and Dietrich spent $2 million to win about 125,000 votes, or roughly $16 per vote, and 3) Herseth is just 33 years old.

Herseth's victory in South Dakota follows Democrat Ben Chandler's February election to Congress in Kentucky. Since both were special elections, they'll have to run again in November, albeit with the power of incumbency. South Dakota? Kentucky? It seems Democrats are showing some clout in these alleged "red states". Both Herseth and Chandler are familiar family names in their home states (like the Browns in California or Udalls in the Southwest), so their triumphs might be anomalous. On the other hand, it does show much politics is local. Gain trust and affection locally, and you can counter national party affiliation. At the same time, some folks will turn out largely due to disgust at Bush's policies. Call it a form of negative coattails.

Josh Marshall notes the Republican Party is full of excuses for their losses, suggesting that minority voters who provide the margin of victory aren't quite real Americans. Consider this statement by Congressman Davis, following the Republican defeat in South Dakota:

“If you take out the Indian reservation, we would have won,” said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), former chairman of the NRCC.

I'm not sure what his point is, or even what he thinks it is. Yeah, if you take out Arkansas, Gore would have won. But my example makes little sense, because Arkansas counts as much as any other state's six electoral votes. Are Republicans implying that folks on the rez shouldn't count as much as white voters? Maybe three-fifths, perhaps?

Herseth won the special election to the seat vacated by Bill Janklow, who resigned following his conviction for second-degree manslaughter. Janklow served 100 days in jail and was released in May.

On the side of angels: Reginald Zelnik

Reggie Zelnik, professor of Russian history at Berkeley, died last month. He was 68. I found out a week ago, through the alumni grapevine. I knew he was respected and liked by colleagues and students. What I didn't expect is how widely he was recognized, not only for his scholarship, but also for his advocacy on behalf of the political and academic freedom of students. Both his historical work and his role in the Free Speech Movement is remembered, not just in Berkeley, but also in dailies from The New York Times to The Scotsman.

I was never his student, but I heard him give public speechs on two occasions. The second time was at my history graduation in 1997. As chair of the history department that year, he persuaded Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park and Bay Area resident, to give the commencement speech. Smith was one of Zelnik's favorite novelists, and a sign that his love of Russian culture was deep and abiding.

The first time was in 1996, when he delivered a eulogy for Mario Savio. I don't remember much about his I remember he quoted from the "little known" (his words) Russian political theorist, George Plekhanov. I forgot his words, but from time to time I would try to recall what they were, because they had made an impression on me eight years ago. Well, today is as good as any to actually look them up:

"A great man is great not because his personal qualities give individual features to great historical events, but because he possesses qualities which make him most capable of serving the great social needs of his time."

I think the idea embodied here is a wonderful antidote to the culture, and cult, of celebrity. And from reading the obituary, it seems like Plekhanov's words describe Zelnik himself, much as it did his friend.

Professor Zelnik could have mined a narrow, comfortable path in academic life. But he recognized one could not divorce the life of the mind, from life in our world. And our world, our nation, began to experience painful yet necessary changes during the 1960s on many fronts. The most important front was the battle for racial equality.

During the summer of 1964, many students from Northern campuses went to Mississippi to register African-Americans to vote, open schools and community centers for its poorer citizens, and organize alternative to the white racist Mississippi Democratic Party. It was known as Freedom Summer.

Many students were beaten by local thugs and local police. Three Northern volunteers - Schwerner, Cheney and Goodman - were killed. Three local blacks were lynched. Thousands of people were allowed to vote for the first time in their lives. Students returned to school that fall, filled with a sharpened sense of racial injustice and a passionate commitment to protecting civil rights.

When students returned to Berkeley to organize, the administration attempted to prohibit them from advocating political causes. All summer they had organized for civil rights in Mississippi and encountered harsh resistance - and now they discovered resistance and denial of their own political rights on the Berkeley campus!

The rest, they say, is history. You can read the chronology to learn how events unfolded, how five thousand students staged a sit-in, how Savio stood on an abandoned police car and gave his famous speech:

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!

As a young faculty member, Reggie Zelnik was scarcely older than the students themselves. He understood what they were fighting for in Mississippi, and why they were fighting this battle against the University. He also understood the faculty and administration, and the political pressures upon the university president, Clark Kerr. (Kerr was persecuted by reactionary political forces and eventually fired in 1967 by then-governor Ronald Reagan.) A majority of the faculty eventually sided with the students, whose right to organize and advocate on campus were recognized. Some senior faculty had been persecuted under the Loyalty Oath cases of the early 50s. Due to FSM's victory, neither blanket infringment of academic and political freedom would ever repeat itself at Berkeley.

The consequences of the Free Speech Movement extended beyond college campuses, which one by one conceded to students their inalienable rights. It signified that political discourse had freed itself from straitjacket of the Cold War. The changes wrought by a bunch of ordinary, ideologically diverse professors and students, also helped broaden the scope of history as a discipline. Social historians began to discover peasant movements and worker revolts, and investigate their impact. In 2002, Zelnik himself co-edited The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s, whose essays examine these perspectives. His own essay is entitled "On the Side of Angels", examines the role of faculty in supporting the students.

Anyone who reads this little essay of mine is probably literate, politically informed, and interested in the world around us. The question is, do we have the qualities which make us capable of serving the great social needs of our time? Do you possess the passion, imagination, and ethical outlook that demands nothing less than service in the interests of good, and refusal in the face of evil? That's a question only we can answer for ourselves.

Go with the angels, Professor Zelnik.

Ronald Reagan, revisited

Ronald Reagan is dead. He became President when I was five, and left office when I was thirteen. During his second term, from 1985-1989, I had my first lessons in the politics of ecology, foreign policy, human rights, and economics. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt, he utterly transformed American politics and the political language we now speak, for better or for worse.

The media blitz has already begun. Personally, I don't mind the amount of coverage. He was our President, and a historic figure on the world stage. I respect him for reversing course and transcending his conservatism on taxes and the Soviet Union. His eloquence and ability to comfort the American people, as during the Challenger tragedy, was real. But I mind the overwrought and often inaccurate manner with which every media outlet is tripping over themselves to out-eulogize Reagan, concluding that "he tore down the Berlin Wall and ended the Cold War."

Um, excuse me? I think the German people had a hand or two in the former, and Gorbachev and Eastern Europe did much to foment the latter. Those pro-peace and anti-nuke activists whom the Republicans love to hate? The ones who practice mass demonstrations and civil disobedience? They helped end the Cold War.

Last February, I wrote a column on this subject, Cold War and Peace, Revisited. I wanted to affirm the relationship between mass democracy and world-historical change, in light of the vast anti-war protests then sprouting around the world. I wasn't thinking about Reagan per se when I wrote the essay, but it's a healthy antidote to propaganda blitz we'll endure over the next week. I hope that he rests in peace, whomever we credit with restoring it, momentarily, to our troubled world.