You can see the tumbleweeds rolling through the Raptor Space these days as the doldrums of summer saturate our lives with a heavy blanket of last-chance summer trips or regret for not eating that extra slice of pie at the state fair. But not here on the WCR, comrades. I've been doing my part for capitalism by cold calling, or what I refer euphemistically to as "business development." My consumption of meat is sky rocketing along with my hyperactive exercise regimen of swimming and biking.

There are big events on tap for the next couple of weeks: three nights of Phish at Red Rocks; Ding's wedding in Estes Park; surgical excisement of a mole; one to two weeks in a walking boot; and a trip to Chicago. As you can guess, my fellow birds of prey, I will blog it out on all of those topics and might throw a picture or two up here for your claws. I'm sure you can't wait to see how cranky I am with a plastic boot affixed to my leg! Who knows, maybe I won't be cranky? Possibly I can apologize to Stevie for failing to call her the last time when I was in Chicago? Maybe my boss will meet me for dinner and give me a raise! I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll adopt a position of pessimism for all future endeavors.

My goal is to review a couple of books on here for the next few weeks. As usual, though, I won't rip them apart like a good raptor should and spend time with self-aggrandizing book reviews. Blogging is pretentious enough, so I won't waste too much time on indulgent reviews in a vain attempt at self-reference to works that, in no way, relate to me or my immediate life. In the meantime, you can enjoy these videos of Beck, MGMT, and a few other talented folks covering tracks off of the VU's album The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "All Tomorrow's Parties" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Run Run Run" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Lewis Black on the GOP and the Spoooooooky Socialized Medicine

Kilcullen and Bacevich on Af-Pak Policy

Card Check is Gone. So What's Next?

Card Check is gone. Of course, EFCA never removed the uber American and democratic secret ballot. Now the question centers on what will replace card check and voting for unions. I think there's a place for the secret ballot. However, through a skillful propaganda and scare campaign, conservatives and business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and a bevy of other anti-union organizations turned the secret ballot into something inviolable and under attack by insidious, freedom-stealing unions and their Democratic allies.

The truth is that companies routinely call on un-democratic methods to crush unions and organizing drives. Pro-union employees are fired, wages or hours are restructured, employees are forced to attend anti-union seminars at work, and a host of implicit and explicit threats are levied in the workplace. What did unions get? Organizers could not enter the work place, unions waited for two months (sometimes longer) until an election, and they were lucky if their representatives in a work place didn't face harassment or firing. Card check was created to remedy the harsh disparity in favor of management.

As Nathan Newman of TPM and others argue, Democrats should refashion the bill into one based on speedy elections and "cracking down on illegal corporate behavior during union elections." SEIU, AFL-CIO, and Democrats could launch a fusillade on how companies devise and initiate a host of unfair tactics and strip employees of their rights. If "democracy" doomed card check, it should be flipped on its head to reverse the attack as a cudgel against NAM, Chamber of Commerce, Wal Mart, Starbucks, etc. What solutions exist in the wake of card check? Strict standards for elections that occur within a few days, protections for pro-union workers from firing or disciplining, presence in the work place in the midst of an organizing drive, and the ability to share its message with workers in an equal footing with company seminars that attack unions.

It's not uncommon for people to contend that unions were useful when the US industrialized, but they have no place with our modern economy. The fact remains that unions are crushed or impeded by employers' tactics that ramped up in the 80s, and were met by an antagonistic or indifferent Department of Labor that had little interest in disputing the status quo after unions faced government and business assaults from the 1970s until today. Further, that line of argument hinders any discussion of what comprises today's working-class and opens the door for the continued blurring of the poor and working-class into an amorphous body that doesn't warrant representation in government, the work place, and domestic and foreign policy decisions.

Those Arabs and Their Shoes

Yesterday's NYT featured an article on pilgrimages in Iraq and the death of five Iraqis, which is considered a relative success. Juan Cole dubbed it a big win for Obama and his attempt to withdraw the bulk of American forces from Iraq in a peaceful fashion. The annoying part is the accompanying photo: a pile of shoes - the continuing obsession we have with Arab shoes. One could say that it represents a mass of people. On the other hand, one could easily comment that it reveals the dearth of understanding of the Arab world (or Muslims, for that matter), ritual purity, as well as a realiance on facile assumptions that sell well.


If American churches were depicted solely by the parking lots (be they filled or empty), people would howl about the misrepresentation. What's wrong with examining the abundance of cars and naked consumerism devoid of any context or links to the issues at hand?




In other news, the NYT also ran a brief story on Shabab's troubled finances and their turn to kidnapping in attempt to finance their resistance operations. The US dropped forty tons of weapons and ammunition into the Islamic Courts Union government's hands in June.

In Defense of Root Beer Floats and Simple, Unsophisticated Pleasures

I'm fond of sophisticated cooking, even though it's not something that I'm talented at executing close to professional or, frankly, novice levels. You can spare me a description of the proper employment of six types of sea salts, which has happened in the past. I don't know anyone who has the palette to distinguish between Hawaiian Black or India Tree Coarse sea salts, and I'd doubt the veracity of claims to the otherwise. Simple cooking without a front loaded list of spices and convoluted preparation techniques suits me, and can illustrate someone's technique without relying on frivolity to dazzle diners. That's not to say that I don't feel like Thai basil and plain, sweet basil offer the same flavors and don't have specific utilities, nor that pairing ingredients and a cheese can't change a dish. I simply find pretentious cooking to be a waste of time unless the cook can nail it without producing a good, yet not superior meal. To be honest, I think I have fallen victim to this silly pursuit a time or six, so I shouldn't be too preachy.

Nevertheless, I enjoy summer and the opportunity to savor a refreshing root beer float for dessert. Root beer floats are often a product that is relegated to people's childhoods, or the idea of a treat that is tailored for children. On the contrary, I find them playful and a touch light hearted and ideal for a hot summer's evening after grilling. We aren't swilling floats all summer long, don't get me wrong. I admit that a root beer float, unfortunately, isn't the healthiest option. However, they break up the monotony of ice cream and other standard summer desserts. If the idea of a root beer float invokes a feeling of comfortable nostalgia, why not give an oldy a second go around with all of your adult eating?

In the above photoed floats, you'll notice the absence of ice cream. Katers and I had a heavy meal and decided to go easy on the ice cream. I touched up the photo's contrast and hue to bring out the best in the floats' swirling browns and frothy head. (Notice the clever product placement. Who needs google generated ads?)

The CIA and the Super Spook Fantasy

Films condition how we interpret culture and society. Movies can open new doors to how we visualize foreign cultures, even though they have a tendency to portray them falsely as oriental or exotic. In American film and popular conception, the CIA and similar intelligence services often are depicted as omnipotent agencies staffed with brilliant and deadly spies who traverse cultures, languages, and geographies with little hesitation as they flip through their multiple passports, currencies, and dialects. The recent flap over secret CIA assassination teams points to another reality: the CIA couldn't manage the logistics and implementation. The CIA is powerful and can wield a tremendous influence abroad. Nevertheless, analysts and agents are people with normal limitations.

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Garden

When I first posted about our garden, it was orderly and the tomatoes and beans sat petitely in our postage stamp plot. After Phish, we returned to an unruly, yet impressive, garden. Three of our tomato plants exploded. Two stand nearly five feet with a third that isn't far behind. We never, in our wildest dreams, expected the plants to skyrocket. As a reminder, we cleared the area of vines and ivy, turned the soil, and spread enriched compost that was then worked into the soil.

Our cilantro never amounted to much. Possibly the direct sun killed its chances. The basil and parsley took well, and our beans grew to our expectations and taste even better. Our heirlooms are our pride and joy, even though the best they've shown are a few green fruits. Where we planted three tomato plants (two cherokee purples and one black from tula), the pre-existing soil smelled funny and looked slightly ashen, causing us to express some doubts about its quality. To our surprise, that area has, by far, produced the most growth. One of our brandywines was pummeled by hail and the other is tall but with few flowers. The jury's still out on green from zebra. We used a poor cage and the plant bent despite our efforts to straighten its tines.

So here are a few pictures of our unruly garden. There's no easy way to take photos due to its size and the tomatoes' sprawl.

Andrew Bacevich, COIN, and the Direction of US Warfare in Afghanistan and Beyond

Think tanks and administrations have a traditionally porous border, which in and of itself isn't too surprising considering the nature of policy experts in think tanks such as Heritage, Cato, Brookings, Council on Foreign Relations, and the newly formed Center for a New American Security. CNAS, formed in 2007, is picking up some of my favorite bloggers and assembling them into an exciting institution: Abu Muqawama and now they poached Marc Lynch from foreign policy. They've assembled a fine list of experts and academics in this fledgling organization that has sent its members to the Obama administration. CNAS is known for fancying counter insurgency (COIN) theory and warfare as it plays out in the laboratories of Iraq and Afghanistan, and focuses on Asia and the Middle East. I'm curious to see what they produce and if they can survive in the long-term.

As one could expect, Andrew Bacevich, one of favorite contemporary thinkers and historians, is moving in similar circles even though his message rejects the Bush and Obama administrations' diplomacy and direction, and he seems wary of any approach that treats COIN as a panacea. Rob at Arabic Media Shack condensed Bacevich's recent LAT op-ed "Obama's Strategic Blind Spot" and his several points that center on one aspect: there is no change in strategy, rather one in tactics that avoids reevaluating America's role in the world. Bacevich's "Best Intentions: An Appreciation of Graham Greene" in World Affairs is also enlightening, sharp read. According to the folks at The American Conservative, Bacevich's recent talk at a CNAS event leveled the crowd with the lack of his triumphalist COIN glossolalia and his advice that the US should lessen its international prominence. As you can guess, he apparently was the contrarian who spoke uncomfortable truths that didn't jive with the tenor of previous discussions on how COIN is going to save the world. I should mention that I have some doubts about TAC's reporting and how their bias influencs their conclusions on CNAS considering they exist on opposite sides of the political aisle.

I don't think of Bacevich as an historian who mines archives, sifting through dusty memcons and telcons for the truth of the matter. His works investigate contemporary or recent history. As I've posted before, Bacevich is an acolyte of William Appleman Williams, Charles and Mary Beard, and what is referred to as the Progressive School in foreign policy history and American history. So it was no surprise that Bacevich wrote the introduction to the newest edition of Williams' Tragedy of American Diplomacy. Despite my extreme admiration for Bacevich and his work, I don't know that policy retrenchment or shrinking is the solution nor is it compatible for international affairs. Who will take over the US' role as hegemon? Could chaos ensue? Who is going to guarantee that Wienerschnitzel remains one of the strongest multi-national corporations?

The US needs the world, but the worlds needs the US even if the Bretton Woods order is dead and the American security umbrella is in a poor state. Before Bacevich espoused his grand dream for a conservative (in the true sense of the word) diplomacy and military role, another historian advocated for a similar tack. Michael H. Hunt--emeritus professor of American foreign relations history at the University of North Carolina--rejected American gallavanting in the wake of Vietnam. In an afterword to the newest edition of his classic Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy, Hunt admits that he was wrong.

The US is not implicated in world affairs in such a deep and complex fashion that a retreat is hard to imagine and if attempted might produce dire consequences overseas, notably a breakdown of global integration, with international anarchy a likely prospect. Moreover, an assertive US nationalism is so important in providing social glue for a diverse, mobile people that a repudiation of the country's leading role on the international stage might well prove deeply divisive at home and spawn bitter cries of betrayal. Finally, pressing domestic problems are now inextricably entangled with international trends and pressures, ranging from climate change to global finance and trade to resource scarcity to immigrant pressures generated by failed states and stagnant economies. (216)

So what are we to do? The US could afford to drop its military adventures, as everyone acknowledges, and it should welcome the rise of a multi-polar world while encouraging allied states and easing immigration standards. In the long run, the US needs a positive birth rate for the country to remain thriving. It's an uneasy fact, but it's true, folks. Diplomacy is a zero-sum game, but that doesn't mean we can't make way for the rise of equal powers, especially if the US wishes to preserve a legacy of its worldview even if there are serious contradictions and dilemmas inherent to neo-liberalism or neo-conservatism.

Teach for America on the News Hour

I'm preparing to apply to TFA in a month or so, so I was particularly interested in watching a segment on several TFA teachers in DC and New Orleans that ran on last night's News Hour. (OK, we love the News Hour and try to watch a few nights a week, time permitting.) Near the end, the video touches on the all important question of the value of novice teachers learning on the fly at the expense of their students. The teachers point to their enthusiasm and desire to improve their students' education. Another answer is this: if TFA doesn't do it, who will sign up to surrender two years of their life to teach at a high needs school when some newly minted teachers avoid such service? Some altruistic people will, of course. As anyone who has been through public school can attest, a teaching degree doesn't qualify one to be an excellent teacher. The same can be said of well-intentioned TFA teachers, as is demonstrated on the video. Nevertheless, it's still better to try and help someone's education than to say "such a pity."

Banksy exhibit in Bristol

Banksy is a street artist who uses forms and hierarchies of art to lampoon consumerism, militarism, fetishizing art, and a host of facile assumptions of how Western society operates. His criticism stings much more than one of his peers, Shepard Fairey. Here are some photos (gallery) from the Bristol exhibition to rock your dome piece

MJ and Bubbles Photo Retrospective

Cold calling is sapping me of my will to blog, and I wanted to have something that could be considered entertainment instead of shoddy attempts at analysis. I posted these on my facebook profile, but I felt like tossing them up here, too.



Jeff Koons' sculpture of MJ and Bubbles



Bubbles doesn't seem too thrilled by the constrictor.


High tea with the King of Pop!


MJ and Bubbles in Lego form.


Bubbles lives on, but we'll miss you, MJ. Well, I don't know about the latter.

I did acid every night of summer tour '98. And every night watched 4 am Sports Center. Seemed pretty real to me.

I can't tell if this is a pro-acid and drug abuse video. Either way, it's funny.

"The only chance we have as a country is for bin Laden to detonate a major weapon in the US"

I thought Michael Scheuer (aka Anonymous and author of Imperial Hubris) had valuable criticisms on US policy and terrorism. Watching this clip of Scheuer on the Glenn Beck show reversed any of those preconceived notions. He's marching to Dick Cheney's tune of hoping the country gets attacked so they can be vindicated and that hateful Obama will fail. Of course, the Bush administration failed when they were needed most: preventing 9/11. Pleading of "they prevented another attack" doesn't pardon them for neglecting their duties.

Anyway, Scheuer is nuts.