Squidbits

On this patriotic day, a look at a not so patriotic bill - The CARS Act

It doesn't take a genius to realize how flawed the recent Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act - i.e.: "cash for clunkers" bill - is. Let's break this down:

1. Environmentally friendly? Hardly. You get $4500 for buying a car that gets 10mpg better than the one you trade in, or 5mpg for a light truck. For $3500 you have to improve gas mileage by a measly 4mpg, or 2mpg with a light truck. The target is >18mpg but if your old light truck/SUV only gets 9mpg then you can upgrade to one with 11mpg and still get $3500. That is a joke! Really helping the environment there guys. Thank goodness California is out there pushing some regulations that make sense not just for the environment but also in the long run for our own pocketbooks. Efficient cars are better for consumers and reducing emissions. Plain and simple.

2. This bill is missing one big requirement: Buy American. Isn't the essence of this bill to stimulate the economy and help out our flailing American automakers? This bill clearly helps out the company with the most fuel efficient cars: Honda. I like Hondas, but when we're in the process pouring billions of dollars into two iconic American companies because of their idiotic decisions in terms of (not) building efficient and good looking cars, it seems crazy to not offer at some level a tax rebate for an American-made car.

The loss of newspapers and the loss of our democracy

Over the last couple of years it has become increasingly evident we are losing an important part of our democracy: the press. Our founding fathers knew that maintaining a transparent government and an educated citizenry was of the up-most importance for America to succeed. We are losing this part of the checks and balances system for many reasons, from consolidation and for-profit news reporting to the spread of free on-line news sources (ironically, blogs being one of them).

I started noticing these changes because we get two newspapers - The Houston Chronicle and The New York Times. Imagine my surprise when I started seeing that (a) about half of the stories in both newspapers were from the Associated Press (AP), and (b) usually around Wednesday several of the stories in The Chronicle would be the exact same stories I had read in the NY Times the previous Sunday. The Chronicle has become a sham of a newspaper. The fact that page 2 of Section A is filled with Hollywood and entertainment bullshit just points to the overall patheticness of the paper. I think the only reason we continue to get it is for the Sports and Business sections, the latter which will cover the oil and gas industry well. The local news from the Chronicle usually consists of reports on the weather, opinion pieces/columns, police shootings, apartment fires, and the like. This is not exactly digging deep into our local community.

Where is the investigative journalism? I'm not talking about columns or editorial opinions - I'm talking good, solid journalism that separates that kind of reporting from the likes of blogs and national news blurbs. I realize the corporate media has devoured local news organizations in order to make a profit. What do we do to evolve so that we can still get our national and world news, while at the same time maintaining quality local insight and journalists who know how to report and can bring us the untold stories that truly affect us - not some fluffy feel-good piece.

We citizens have become apathetic in being informed. For the most part we rely on 20-second news clips on television that serve more to entertain and wow than to inform. We developed into a culture that would rather be visually stimulated than read - and for a local newspaper that's usually reading at a 5th grade level. If we want to continue having true democratic rights, we need to stay informed and learn about the important issues in more depth. We cannot succeed as a democracy on 20-second sound bites.

So what do we do? I don't really know a good answer. Perhaps it is having nationally circulated news tied in with local papers. Maybe it is having papers be non-profit and distributed to everyone in order to take out the Wall Street component to reporting. Some newspapers have gone exclusively on-line, so it will be interesting to see how they succeed. Maybe on-line newspapers can give a short intro/summary/first few paragraphs and implement micropayments for the full article for instant gratification or an inexpensive yearly subscription fee (like $20). I imagine this would only work in very specific instances (local news/sports/etc. or a specific investigative journalism article).

If newspapers do end up a dying breed, I am sure something else will step in their place for investigative reporting. I hope that doesn't happen too late or that we go too far down the path of apathy to care its gone.

A personal journey for understanding of a complex situation

Several months ago when the latest war in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict flared up, I found myself really trying to understand both sides of the situation. To be honest, at the time I really felt that we, especially in the United States, get an entirely Israeli-slanted view of what has been happening there over the last 60+ years and I was really *angry* about that. Yes, rockets were being launched into Israel, but I believed the cause of this latest event was the Palestinians' frustration with Israel's lack of follow through on their end of the then-current cease-fire agreement.

So let me stop here for an asterisk. *I had only the knowledge from news reports and was mostly angry because in general, the news reporting on this subject is very pro-Israeli, and you have to figure in a conflict like this that there are two sides to every story and that both parties have been the instigators at some time during the conflict. I decided it was time for me to get educated.

I checked out the book, "The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs" by Ahron Bregman and Jihan El-Tahri from my local library. I chose this book because it was co-authored by an Israeli and a Palestinian, and I wanted as much of an unbiased opinion in my first read as I possibly could. The book did not disappoint, and it left me wanting more (I read the first edition which ended ~1998, and obviously a lot has happened since then).

What did this book give me? It provided a foundational understanding of the beginnings of the conflict and went into details on why full resolution has still been so difficult to reach. It also went through the details of not just trials at peace between Israel and Palestine, but also with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. I suppose I had not paid that much attention to this part of the world as a child, because much of what I read was like a vague memory but I never really understood the intertwining of all of the peace processes (and meddlings of other countries in those peace processes) until now.

I have always conceptually understood that for many parts of the world, conflict continues for generations because people are unwilling to forgive and forget. For me, this is one of the root causes for the continuation of war between Israel and the Palestinians. It is very difficult to negotiate peace when both sides start off "negotiations" with recounts of past atrocities and fights.

The book also left me with a hunger to learn more. I have found Jimmy Carter's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict well thought out and pragmatic. I think he is one of the few people in influential positions in the U.S. who understands that having a dogmatic and blind approval for all things Israel is hurtful to the peace process and also underminds concessions from Arab countries and Arab groups.

This is obviously not a black and white situation. I am not "for" or "against" any one side, but I realize after starting down this educational journey that Israeli-Palestinian peace is a must for stability in the world, not just in the Middle East, and that both sides (and numerous other countries) are at fault for where we are today. I am ready for the Palestinians to resolve their internal differences and for a brave and forward thinking Palestinian and Israeli leader to step up to the plate and say, "enough is enough" (and do that at the same time). I am not convinced this will happen in my lifetime, but I can certainly hope.

A day of peace and thanks here, but half a world away it's a different story.......

Four years after moving back from Asia I am glued to nytimes.com this morning reading the latest from that region. Over 100 people killed in Bombay by a previously unknown terrorist group, and the Bangkok airport still closed due to PAD protestors. India is one of my favorite countries in the world, and to continue to see this kind of thing happen there is sad. Charlie and I ate at Leopoldo Cafe on one of our trips - it was one of the places targeted in this latest string of bombs. Yes, attacks between Muslims and Hindus happen frequently here. In fact, there was one time we went to Bombay and had to chill out in our hotel for a day because the transportation workers were on strike to protest a temple bombing earlier in the week. That doesn't make it any easier to accept this latest round.

Thailand is a different story all together but still dear to my heart. Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted from his prime minister role two years ago and since then there has been a silent war brooding pitting the poor and underprivledged rural Thais against the middle and upper class urban elite. Let's hope this gets resolved quickly. I keep asking myself: where is the Thai king? The people LOVE the king. I have never seen such love for a monarch in my life. If anyone can calm the masses, he can.

So today as an American I am giving thanks for all that I have, but I am thinking about my friends in Asia and the great people I met while I lived there - hoping they can find some peaceful resolutions to what's happening today.

Top photo: two Indian girls in a market near the Gateway of India in Bombay (2002).

Bottom photo: Charlie standing next to Buddha's feet in Wat Po, Bangkok (2004).