Belize

The trip to Belize was everything we could have hoped for. A few days rest and plenty of time to clear our heads in an attempt to restore focus. For the Raptor Space, I debated on the type of entry to write. I'm not afforded the most time now, however, I have my doubts if I will return to writing any further expansive entries on the subject.

We landed in stunning Belize City (sarcasm) on the afternoon of Wednesday the 20th. From there, we cabbed it to a water taxi for a 30-45 minute fast boat ride to Caye Caulker. (Caye is pronounced as key.) For the first few nights, we stayed at Ignacio's beachside cabins, our proprietor Reuben Reyes. I might toss a couple of photos up, but it was nicer in description than in person. I won't waste time enumerating the problems, rather I'll allow the adjective "spartan" to describe the "rustic" lodging. That being said, accommodations weren't the justification for the trip. We wanted distance and a certain solemn tranquility, and that was precisely what Funky Reuben's Rumpus Rooms delivered. A fresh breeze almost always blew in from the ocean and the lapping tide and birds offered the majority of the ambient noise. For four days, we relaxed in the quiet, and departed Ignacio's with restorative clarity.

After Reuben's, we stayed closer to the center of town at Tina's Backpacker. It was the right move and it contributed a bit more social interactions to our lodging. Tina's is a standard hostile that is largely unremarkable outside of the palapa and vibe garden for reading and journal writing. No, I didn't fabricate the name vibe garden.

We took two day trips--snorkeling and cave tubing--and a couple of hours in San Pedro on bikes. The heat and humidity on San Pedro ended our hopes of a full day of biking on the north island. A short ride left me a sweaty, somewhat delirious mess. Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed a full day of snorkeling and cave tubing.

Ragamuffin tours, like many guides on Caye Caulker, offers a three stop snorkeling trip (including the Hol Chan park) with lunch, fruit, and conch ceviche and rum punch for the ride home at a reasonable cost. Rather than waste time with hyperbolic descriptions of coral and fish, snorkeling and the rich array of marine life was stunning. Our first stop was at a location known for manatees near the reef outside of Caulker. To our delight, we swam with a manatee for a short distance. Kate and I joked about the noble sea cow on the way down, and we discovered that it was a quick and fascinating creature. Outside of seeing two sea turtles and petting a sting ray at subsequent stops, the manatee was the highlight. We sailed back into Caulker drinking rum punch and nibbling on ceviche, serenaded by various reggae artists and one of our guides. If I was in the business of extracting a representative moment from the trip, the snorkeling day was probably our best single day. Kate was burned a bit, and my scalp was tender, but we didn't hop off the boat with lobster burns. If you know my skin tone, that's no mean feat for me and required a fair amount of sun block.

Cave tubing was exactly it sounds. We floated along a river that wound through a cave. We nearly missed our ride, but the owner of the company, Yoni, drove back, speedily I may add, to pick us up and shuttle us to their large palapa. From their, our guide, Elvin, drove us into the park and walked us through a short jungle hike. The river's cool and quick waters were a tonic to an already warm day. We glided along various stalactite and stalagmite formations rendered into familiar figures by the dark or, possibly, human hands. Next to snorkeling, this was one of the enjoyable excursions from the island and of the trip at large. It was brief, and the rocks at shallow levels distracting, but still relaxing and the distraction we needed.

The remaineder of our time was allocated to reading on a hammock or hanging out at the public beach at the Split. The Split and the beach itself resulted from two hurricanes which effectively divided Caye Caulker into two islands. Nothing more than a spit of a beach, but it offered ample shade under palm trees and was conveniently located near the Lazy Lizard bar ("A sunny place for shady people"--truer words haven't been spoken) and refreshing swimming. So, for me, it was ideal: beer at hand (Belikin) and the opportunity to swim a few feet away from my sun block lathered body.

The dining was the most disappointing aspect. In fact, the best meals we ate were located off of Front Street and were affordable. Unfortunately, we didn't discover some of those until the trip was essentially completed. Besides mediocre flavor and cooking, it was overpriced and our budget grew. Our Lonely Planet Belize didn't note the price as fully as we thought it could have, and our expectations of the book's accuracy were misplaced.

As of now, I think that's the best I can offer as written summations go and this is long enough. In fact, I doubt anyone continued reading up to this point. We got a bit antsy to return on the second to last day, but I think that was representative of the positive nature of the trip. We wanted to return and get back to our lives here, no matter their unexpected and apprehensive states. Flying back to the US is always a positive experience, and I enjoy the greeting "welcome home" or "welcome back" at immigration.

One more note, the design of DFW's D Terminal and Immigration/Customs shocked us. It was clean, bright, spacious (it is Texas, after all), contained numerous dining options (ABP to Ben and Jerry's), and was a pleasant transition point.

GOP strategists fear the tone of rhetoric on the Sotomayor attacks.

Keep it up, there's nothing like insulting the fastest growing electorate. A few reasonable Republicans, especially Cornyn, are seeking distance from the rhetorical flourishes of Rush, Newt, Pat Buchanan, Wendy Long, G. Gordon Liddy, and Tom Tancredo, but Cornyn isn't the loudest voice even if all signs point to slander as a poor policy direction, as the LAT points out. I won't touch Michael Steele's "slamming and ramming" Sotomayor with the transparent sexual connotations.

My time is divided between a longer post on our Belize trip and a couple of other tasks, so this is a short one without much elaboration.

Gillette shows you how you to shave your naughty bits.

"trimming the bush to make the tree look taller." Gillette steps in with the comedy.

The Dixie Kitchen, a Hyde Park staple, to close on June 7.

The Dixie Kitchen is set to close on June 7 after the University of Chicago decided to close the quintessential Hyde Park eatery. U Chicago bought the lease last year, and has decided to replace the Dixie Kitchen and surrounding buildings with a modern retail center.

Ronald Takaki, 70, dies.

One of the fathers of ethnic studies took his life today after battling MS for almost two decades. Long a professor at Cal, Takaki's works commonly appeared in undergraduate history classes and graduate student reading lists.

Mancow Waterboarded and Declares it Worse than Drowning.

A decade or so ago, I listened to Mancow. I often forget that he's on the air. I think he's a blowhard jackass but I'm impressed with his willingness to undergo waterboarding. The video tells it all, and it's pretty good to hear his take on the process as he unequivocally declares the practice torture.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Conservatives shuffle for ways to block Sotomayor.

Today's LAT includes a small bit--"GOP Looks for Alternate Routes to Block Sotomayor's Path"--on how conservative groups are sifting through legal opinions in hopes of exploiting juicy wedge issues. At root of this dream will be a major issue that will provide the GOP with a logical core to define themselves and boost their image in prep for next year. Of course, the Bush administration's clear meddling in judicial appointment for political and ideological reasons should remove the hackneyed "activist judges" from the discourse, but it's doubtful that Republicans will abandon their traditional shibboleth.

CNN was blasting on most TVs at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport last night, and the ticker contained the headline "Sotomayor: Racist Rush, Gingrich" attack Sotomayor. Sure, it's politically advantageous to insult the fastest growing electoral block. If that was an accurate quote from Rush--and I'm not sure it was--it further reveals the GOP's obliviousness, despite what Alex Castellanos spouts from his mouth hole.

More later on Belize and leaving the department as I catch up on other tasks.

Update, it's now clear that Newty lead the way by calling Sotomayor a racist on twitter while at Auschwitz. He's certainly ramping up his push for the 2012 presidential nominee. And, of course, Rush also called her a racist.

bikesnobnyc blog

Funny, caustic reading at bikesnobnyc.

Trouble for EFCA

As the LAT reports, EFCA is in trouble. I presume EFCA won't die but will reappear in the fall or in a year. It could even wait until after the 2010 elections, should the Democrats continue gains. As the article spells out, pro-labor groups and congresspeople have a tough time ahead thanks to the persistence and organization of NAM, Chamber of Commerce, and a list of "merchants' associations" targeted the two senators who sponsored EFCA, Lincoln (D-AR) and Specter (D-PA).

"Labor Unions Find Themselves Card-checkmated"

The New GOP Line to Oppose Same Sex Marriages or Civil Unions: It Costs too Much.

When reading the "GOP Jihad" article I discuss below, Sanford claimed that the federal and state governments cannot afford the tax breaks for same sex marriages or civil unions. Michael Steele dropped similar logic bombs in a recent GOP convention in Georgia:

"'Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for,' Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. 'So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.'"

Seriously, you're going to sell opposition to same sex marriage based on those lines? That's ridiculous and I think they'll have a hard time selling that to the country without being seen for what it is: veiled crap.

The GOP Jihad Targetting Moderates

Typically, I would discredit Rolling Stone and claim it has no redeemable value to society. After reading it for the past couple of months, I'm willing to reverse course. The current issue features articles on Steve Earle, Cornel West, and a dandy piece, "The GOP Jihad," by Tim Dickinson. Dickinson examines the purge of moderates from the increasingly-adrift GOP who cling to shrinking hope of a 1994 reconquista of Congress. As the article points out, the conditions in 1994 and 2010 are wholly different and a 1-2-3-Contract with America replication is unlikely to occur, despite Eric Cantor's and Newt Gingrich's star-eyed dreams, based on flagging number of registered Republicans and the general downward trajectory for Republicans in the past four years. As the NYT reports today, the GOP is betting on a robust fight against Obama's dreaded liberal, activist judges to reinvigorate the party ahead of the coming fight on health care, energy, and defense spending.

Dickinson rightly highlights how moderates such as Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist, soon to be Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, and The Governator are maligned from within the Republican Party by pearls such as Grover Norquist, Club for Growth, and Dick Armey's American Solutions--the latter of which organized, advertised, and managed the "tea parties." Of course, Bobby Jindall, Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford, and Mike Huckabee are plotted as the dream future. All of which, along with Newty, will run for the 2012 spot for president.

Dickinson's notable strike is on the romanticism of defeat coursing through the GOP. His final quote displays this ridiculous sentiment with a emblematic quote from Mark Sanford:

"I ask Sanford if the retrat to the core--at a time when Americans are looking for, if not a handout, at least a hand up--threatens to relegate the GOP to political irrelevance for the foreseeable future. 'I suppose it does,' he says simply. 'And I can live with that.'"

Wow. He's also the responsible governor who wants to refuse stimulus money to help schools and out of work South Carolinians. The head in the sand and scorched earth mentality of these people is not only disturbing, it's downright appalling. I could care less if he's willing to consign the GOP to the dustbin; what this amounts to is a wholesale desire to let the system and people fail. Everyone knows that Rush's comments regarding his lust to see the President fail meant more than President Obama's agenda failing. It would require the destruction of this country--a cataclysmic event that would ruin the working- and middle-class (not to mention the poor) but also set the US and world back decades in hopes of constructing a conservative utopia.

Tomatoes, etc. in the Ground.

Kate and I took a trip to the nursery and purchased a few plants:
2 Cherokee Purple Heirloom
2 Brandywine Heirloom
1 Black from Tula a Russian variety Heirloom
1 Green Zebra Heirloom
1 Cilantro/Coriander
1 Parsley (I believe Flat Leaf)
2 Sweet Basil
And three rows of green beans

Over the past week, we, along with our downstairs neighbor Jen, cleared a postage-stamp plot near our porch. After pulling all of the weeds and ivy we could, we bought and spread four cubic feet of enriched compost. Turning the soil wasn't a thrill, by any means, but it allowed us to mix the topsoil with compost. I'll provide pictures and updates as new developments arise. Most of the tomatoes are 80 day varieties. The enriched compost provides a layer of food that should sustain the plants for a month or two, long enough to help the plants strengthen their roots and build a foundation for continual growth and yield. Kate and I bandied around the idea of boosting the soil in mid- or early July before the fruit starts exploding--nothing more than a standard NPK fertilizer. Our philosophy is to avoid pesticides, and to use commercial or organic fertilizers when necessary.

Welcome any tips you might have. I noticed a lack of earthworms in the soil when I turned it, which has me a bit uneasy considering some of the soil smelled...weird. That might be a deficiency I address when we return from Belize.

Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Selected as US Ambassador to China

In a move that will burnish Jon Huntsman's foreign policy bona fides for a potential presidential run later, President Obama is ginned up to nominate Huntsman to one of the most prominent US emissarial positions. Like Crist, the administration is courting moderate Republican governors and congresspeople. Not in hopes of unleashing a wave of Specter turnovers--that would be a foolhardy gesture--but to build a coalition that appears to welcome Republicans/Conservatives. But not those Republicans who now consider themselves "libertarians." You folks are posers to the max.

Update: After speaking with my Mormon friend (look at me, I'm diverse), he reminded me that Huntsman served in a few diplomatic positions in the past. I checked up his resume, and was pleased to see that he was ambassador to Singapore and held a few trade rep spots. That being said, the ambassadorship to China isn't in the ballpark as Singapore or piddling trade appointments. Hell, it isn't in the same league. It isn't the same fucking sport considering the level of US-China relations.

Chicago Art Insititute's New Modern Wing Opens Today

One of the first stops Kate and I plan to make in a few weeks is at the Art Institute's new modern art wing. Blair Kamin at the Trib appears to be the primary commentator of the space, and I'm pasting a paragraph with links to his stories and a video tour. I'm quite excited to see the new Renzo Piano room (that's the architect's name) overlooking Millenium Park.

"In case you are looking for a quick aggregation of things I've written about the Modern Wing, here it is: first, a review of the building; second, a review of the pedestrian bridge that joins it to Millennium Park; third, a print version of a tour of the building that I took with Piano last year; fourth, a video version of that tour; and fifth, a profile of the architect."

Economist: Obama must play hard ball with Binny.

Rather than summarizing this, I will copy a few passages of the strong words from the Economist.

FOR the first time in many years, an Israeli government is scared stiff that an American administration may squeeze it until its pips squeak. That is surely a good thing, if it makes the Israelis more amenable to giving the Palestinians the fair deal—in essence, a proper state of their own—that might bring peace to the two peoples and to the wider region of the Middle East. So when Barack Obama meets Binyamin Netanyahu in the White House on May 18th, he must be tough with him.

Mr Obama must tell Mr Netanyahu that he is flat wrong on all those counts. No more settlements can be built or expanded—on pain of a reduction in American aid. On Iran, Mr Netanyahu’s logic is back-to-front. For sure, sensible leaders the world over, including Arab ones, want Iran to forgo the bomb. But how much easier it would be to persuade the Iranians to drop their ambitions if they were unable to invoke the unresolved conflict over Israel as part of a holy nuclear cause.

It is not just for the Palestinians’ sake that Mr Obama needs to take a tough line. Being too kind to the Israelis, as American administrations have been in the past, does them no favour in the long run either. Israel’s long-term security can be ensured only by America cajoling and even threatening its leaders in the hope that they will accept that the Israeli state’s safety depends overwhelmingly on the viability of a Palestinian one.

Glenn Beck's attack on the UAW and "The Guv'ament" running GM fails.

I took this from HuffPost. GM CEO Fritz Henderson appeared on Glenn Beck's supa dupa program to discuss the future of GM. Beck launched into his typical anti-government and anti-union harangues, but Henderson wasn't playing ball.

"When Beck claimed that the unions are "strangling" GM, Henderson shot him down:

'They've been more part of the solution than the problem... yes, we have significant legacy costs that we're trying to address. Frankly, they're trying to help us address those issues at the same time... I view the unions are more part of the solution than the problem. Me personally.'"

Part I


Part II (the wheels fall off)

Nike ABM Batteries in Chicago and the surrounding areas: Cold War Legacies

The Trib section "What Ever Happened To...?" explored the brief history of Nike missile sites in Naperville and Addison in "Old Missile Sites are Silent Reminders of A Tense Time." The article mentions one installation appeared near Argonne National Laboratory, but the spots were converted into parks (Nike Park in Naperville) or purchased for public works facilities.

As part of Cold War preparedness for a potential Soviet nuclear assault during the Eisenhower administration, several were built in and around Chicago, not to mention nearly all major cities. Downtown Chicago hosted one where Belmont empties onto Lake Shore Drive and a radar station at Promontory Point in Hyde Park with an accompanying missile battery in nearby Jackson Park. Those links provide more than you ever wanted to know about the brief, yet odd, history of Nikes in Chicago.

American Grand Strategy & Defeating Al Qaeda: The Obama Admin's Full Court Press with Arabs and Muslims

Michael Slackman reports on the pitfalls President Obama should side step when he's in Cairo, in "Memo from Cairo - Egypt to be Center Stage in Obama's Address to Arabs." Obama is the first president since Carter to speak in Cairo, I believe. One of the major stumbling blocks he faces is the US tendency to preach about democracy and freedom while it aligns itself with repressive Arab authoritarian governments and Israel which occupies and constricts Gaza. Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy asks "Why Cairo?" due to the very dilemmas that Slackman's article considers. "Why Cairo" probes issues of Egyptian foreign and domestic policy with much greater depth than Slackman reaches.

The Obama administration is making a full-court press at this point with Arabs and Muslims in an attempt to defuse the catalysts that precipitated the rise of Al Qaeda and anti-Americanism throughout the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. In other words, BO & Co. are targetting the fruits of instability that threaten--directly and indirectly--American national security. The word on the street (sorry, poor joke) is that they are pushing a 57 state solution that would foster a massive peace wave with Israel and Arab and predominantly Muslim states. Along with the Iran initiative and Obama's speech in Turkey, they appear to be discarding gradualism in favor of a sudden, sweeping remapping/restructuring of regional politics. Gates' dismissal of General McKiernan and promotion of General McChrystal prior to the influx of the surge troops could stem from the Obama team's approach to decapitate the still viable Taliban and Al Qaeda infrastructure and network of fighters in the garden spot of central Asia. (If you're curious about McChrystal, check out Abu Muqawama's post on this topic.) So was it a coincidence that Zardari and Karzai were in DC last week? Unlikely. I don't see these policies as disconnected. It seems as though the approach to the Muslim world and assault on the foundations of Al Qaeda are decisive elements to American grand strategy at this juncture.

Will it work? It's hard to say, and it has the markings of a utopian policy move. And you know where utopian visions often end up. Either way, it will be display a measurement of US power and clout throughout the world. The US won't be going this alone; China, Russia, the EU, et al will have their hands in this pie.

In case you forgot: Beck's "Debra"

Here's why I advocate for Libertarianism, or "Now You have Cholera"

Let the market work, folks. It helps us all when that insidious government stays out of my way (as long as I get all the entitlements I want, the roads stay repaired, the mail comes, the water isn't polluted, etc.).

Christina Klein, Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945-1961

I finally completed my skim of Christina Klein's Cold War Orientalism. I bought the book two years ago and never read it for a class with my adviser on the state of the field (US foreign relations history). This won't be a long, drawn-out review like the others. Klein, a professor of English at Boston College, examines cultural artifacts (such as Reader's Digest, Saturday Review, The Ugly American, "The King and I," and others) to chart how producers of knowledge endeavored to destroy barriers that separated the US from Asia. Klein highlights how authors and playrights engaged in a liberal program to link the US to Asia to foster support for the Cold War through the creation of sentimental books, articles, tracts, plays, and films.

Klein's introduction lays out her improvement on Edward Said's concept of Orientalism. Similar to Melani McAlister, she argues that the American variant isn't as strict as the European form Said first chronicled. Her focus on the sentimental revealed how middlebrow Americans "must be seen...as working through a logic of affiliation as well as through one of difference" (16). Her treatment of this throughout the book is well done and contributes a much-needed level of nuance to the US' interactions with the developing world after 1945. I am left to wonder, however, if one can trace the genesis of a particularly American brand of Orientalism without first discussing whiteness and the concept of race and races prior to 1945. By doing so, it would shed light on the steps by which foreign others were categorized and placed in a hierarchy of races. The American notion of whiteness itself was fluid prior to the 1920s and never as simple as seeing non-white people as the Other. I also believe that concepts of Orientalism cannot be divorced from material culture or production in a longer view of American history.

I also wonder about her use of the term middlebrow. She never articulates who was the target for this cultural output. Of course, the immediate response is to say, "hey, dummy, it's middlebrow. Get it?" But American conceptions of class and what was middle-class went through significant shifts following the Second World War. I have some doubts about the widespread acceptance and viewing of the products she interprets by a steel worker in Pittsburgh or an oil worker in Kansas. Do you think they were dog earring their copies of William Lederer's and Eugene Burdick's The Ugly American? While that audience could be considered low brow, that is somewhat at odds with American history and class relations at that time. I also have questions regarding the long-term effect of "The King and I" and how one could illustrate the permanence of the ideas expressed in the representations she analyzes.

As a final critique, there are points where I tire when reading about Oscar Hammerstein, James Michener, Norman Cousins, Thomas Dooley, etc. Certainly, it feeds her analysis and is relevant for her argument, but I found myself skimming those sections speedily and with no remorse for the oversight.

Jay Bennett sues Jeff Tweedy over Wilco appearances

Per the Trib, Jay Bennett is suing Tweedy for failing to pay him. Only fifty grand. I thought it would have been more.

The Obama image difference in foreign policy

Roger Cohen's op-ed today addresses President Obama's personality and image in altering the calculus of US foreign policy and international affairs. "The Mellow Doctrine," as Cohen dubs Obama's foreign policy, has gone a far way in disarming some critics of the US. In some ways, this is a heartening moment as it becomes clear that Americans believe in their president's policy direction (according to polls) and allies want the US to stand up and lead again from a position of respect and strength. Marc Lynch's blog at Foreign Policy points how the US has engaged Syria and Hamas realistically rather than talking at each other with no hope of reconcilliation. Although issues linger, there is at least the promise of steps in a positive direction after the past few years of the US high horse.

Cohen states "In Israel, I understand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to drag his Likud party kicking and screaming to acceptance of the idea of a two-state solution because he knows the cost of an early confrontation with Obama." Uh, I don't know about that reality. Ethan Bronner's article--"Israel Faces a Hard Sell in Bid to Shift Policy"--in today's NYT seems to contradict Cohen's claim. Bronner's article maintains that Binny is going to push back against the Obama direction and the two state utopia.

It's unlikely that the dynamic duo of Binny and Avigdor will cease settlement building or enter into any agreements that the Obama team might want. It's up to Obama, Clinton, and Mitchell to strong arm them and avoid their suasion on the dire threat posed by Iran. A nuclear armed Iran is a horrible thing, but attacking Iran won't have the same result as Osiraq in 1981.

Zombieeeeeeesssss!!!

A friend, Shannon Gallagher, posted a facebook status update regarding Chicago's Zombie Readiness Task Force. Turns out, as she posted, students at U Chicago created Chicago's first ZRTF, and they even got a panel on the risk of a zombie outbreak at a recent Mock UN conference held in Hyde Park. The Trib ran a story detailing the ZRTF and how zombies are the zeitgeist. It's a funny read.

Tom Colicchio's home in the NYT's Domains Section

A periodic feature in the NYT Magazine is "Domains," which examines various stars', thinkers', or significant personalities' homes and the quirky or mundane side of their living space. The peek into their lives can be fascinating or boring. This week's "Domains" focused on chef Tom Colicchio, the host and critic on "Top Chef." It's not as adventurous as I would like, but it's neat nonetheless. Who knew that Colicchio doesn't allow bananas on boats?

Why? Why not.

Here's Stonewall Jackson singing "That's Why I'm Walking"

Hot Chicks with Douchebags

I live on the internet. Kate tolerates my singular obsession of staring endlessly into this plastic machine which I prefer to call "internet box." That's not to say that I know of every phenom occurring in the outermost nooks and crannies of the internet. Dee Snyder informed me that he was unfamiliar with the site hotchickswithdouchebags.

I'll return to some semblance of regular posting soon. Grading, withdrawing from my PhD program in favor of an MA, and the cumulative effect of several issues has taken its toll. But, don't worry, I'm still planted in front of the internet box.

Internet Weirdo Peter Pan married

If you've wasted enough time on the internet, you've most likely seen Randy Constan's pixy land page where he dons Peter Pan garb. I'm not going to waste any more time on this, but he got married recently.