Truly Noted

Losing with Dignity and Sportsmanship

Throughout political campaigns the candidates, the pundits, the voter all use metaphors drawn from sports.  You will hear terms like “leveling the playing field” and “hit a homer.” Many fans will get angry if a coach does not cross the field and congratulate his opponent.  I am angry at Hillary for not showing such sportsmanship.  After the Potomac primaries, and now after the Wisconsin primary, Hillary strode onto the stage and failed even to acknowledge her loss, much less congratulate Obama on his win.  After uttering such a sentence, then she could launch into her speech.  Yet, her failure even further sours me on Hillary, who, I’m afraid I am viewing as a cold, narcissistic politician that actually has some resemblance to W. This is obvious, since by ignoring her loss she fails to even thank those who worked for her during those races. 

Stats Don’t Lie But People Do

The Bush administration is trying to argue that as the “surge” enfolds in Iraq there has been a decrease in violence. Now there are three things one should ask about this change.  First, how much of a decline has there been? Second, what numbers are being compared? Third, where is this decline taking place?  Consider the following graph:

If we consider deaths of American soldiers, there has been a decline since May. However, if we look at the deaths from 2006 we see exactly the same pattern.  In fact, the overall data shows the death rates decline each year during the summer.  Perhaps, even sectarians don’t like to be out and about in 110 degree weather.  Next, note that in every month this year the rate is higher in 2007 than 2006.  Clearly, if you use the correct statistics there is no evidence for a decline in violent deaths of Americans since the surge began, in fact, there has been an increase.  Finally, a report from the Department of Defense cited in a  NYT article indicates that the location of sectarian violence has shifted from areas in which we have increased our presence to other areas.  It would appear that for this strategy to work we would need to “surge” to around 300,000 troops---which we do not have.  No, the statistics do not lie, but, as always, Bush does.

Swift Boated by bin Laden

In his August 26, 2007 column Thomas L. Friedman wrote:

Dive into a conversation about America in the Arab world today and it won’t take long before the words “Abu Ghraib” and “Guantánamo Bay” are thrown at you.

He goes on to sarcastically speculate as to why Bush and the Rovians did not Swift Boat bin Laden rather than be “swiftboated” by bin Laden in the sectarian battles in Iraq.  Actually, if Bush had attacked bin Laden as the evil doer behind the horrors of Iraq, then he would have lost even more political ground.  Note that Bush dropped discussion of bin Laden shortly after we began pulling out of Afghanistan to attack Iraq. He did not capture or destroy bin Laden. If bin Laden is still the prime force for evil, then Bush is at fault for letting him escape in 2002.  No, Bush and the Rovians can do nothing to lay the blame for the sectarian violence in Iraq, and the looming failure in Afghanistan, on bin Laden without confirming what most Democrats have been yelling about since 2002: Iraq was not an issue in the battle with terrorists. That is why we hear the term al-Qaeda spit out by Bush with such nauseous frequency.  He can cite the group, but not the leader he did not eliminate or bring to justice.  Of course, the al-Qaeda of Iraq was effectively created by our invasion of Iraq.

Change Behavior to Change Disposition

Deborah Kotz has posted an article how how schools are dealing with health by placing the emphasis on  good health rather than obesity (link).    The Association of Psychological Science published a monograph on the role of self esteem in success in school and other aspects of life.  One conclusion of the review was that focusing on raising self-esteem does not result in better performance, but improving performance increases self-esteem.  There was some research suggesting that raising self-esteem occasionally results in better lifestyles. Obesity is linked to self-esteem at an early age.  Children will tease their obese peers.  Thus, we might hypothesize the talking  the "badness" of obesity might not reduce weight, but improving healthy behaviors might reduce weight without triggering negative self-perceptions.

Essentially, if schools had considered years of research on self-esteem they would have never focused on obesity but on behavior.  Another failure by professionals in education failing to use sound theory or research to change behavior.

Monograph: Baumeister, R.F., Campbell, J. D., Kruger, J.I., and Vohs, K.D. (May, 2003).  Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest (Supplement to Psychology Science). 4(1).

A Post-Katrina Bush?

George Bush visited Minneapolis Saturday and said,

“Our message to the Twin Cities is we want to get this bridge rebuilt as quick as possible. We understand that this is a main artery of life here (link)."

I’m pleased that Bush can tear himself away from the golf course, jogging track and Karl Rove’s side to visit a disaster site and promise aid to the city during a troubled time.  However, I must confess I’d also like to see evidence that he has restored the professionalism of FEMA’s leadership so that in times of a more serious crisis we do not have another post-disaster fiasco like Katrina.  Do you really think he is capable of appointing professionals who might not be blindly loyal? I don’t.  After all this is a president who dismisses every military leader who does not agree with him on the strategies and tactics of battle in Iraq.  Why should he behave differently about those who are to plan for a disaster and work to ease its aftermath?

Honesty the Bush Way: It's Dishonorable

Sidney Blumenthal has captured the essence of the Bush administration:

Omertà (or a code of silence) has become the final bond holding the Bush administration together. Honesty is dishonorable; silence is manly; penitence is weakness. Loyalty trumps law. Protecting higher-ups is patriotism. Stonewalling is idealism. Telling the truth is informing. Cooperation with investigators is cowardice; breaking the code is betrayal. Once the code is shattered, however, no one can be trusted and the entire edifice crumbles. Slate August 2, 2007

I hope that our historians and the American people will see Bush's years with this same clarity.  I never want anyone to be successful in whitewashing the horrors of this man and his administration to do so we need to constantly collect and use pointed observations such as this.

 

Summertime and the livin' is ....

On Huffington Post today, Thomas B. Edsall (link) discusses the plans by Democratic congressional leaders to fully expose the hypocrisy, lies, and incompetence of the Bush administration over the last six years.  Now DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin certainly described the time of summertime that Bush and Cheney would wish for, but this summer the livin’ won’t  be easy because there is no “daddy and momma standing by.” The GOP majority (daddy) is long gone and the die-hard loyalists (mamma) are disappearing. However, I fear that given the degree of narcissism shown by these two that they will not understand that their legacy will begin to be written in red ink this summer.

A Moral Candidate?

Would you support a candidate for president who:

• Failed participate in an ongoing investigation of a national disaster in order to attend paid appearances to private groups.
• Failed to obtain, and insure, safety requirements for employees working to deal with the results of destruction of one of his primary plants.
• Nominate a former employee for national position with responsibility for an entire community, while he knew the person had misused company resources for his marital affairs and was under investigation for criminal activities.
• Hired the aforementioned employee to work as a consultant in his new corporation.
• Failed to follow-up on recommendations for equipment needed to allow employees in different departments to communicate on disaster prevention efforts.

Well, if you support Rudi Giuliani, then you are supporting such a candidate.  He failed to insure workers on the World Trade center debris piles had, and used, appropriate protective breathing equipment.  Failed to participate in the Iran Study Group meetings while he attended public speaking engagements (he claims he is Mr. Anti-Terror yet dif not available himself of the opportunity to take action against a repeat of the disaster).

He nominated Bernard Kerik to head the Homeland Security Agency while he was already under investigation by the federal government of criminal actions and had used the apartment designated as a retreat for workers on the World Trade Center debris for his romantic liaisons.

He did not obtain the communication equipment needed to allow police and firemen to communicate during a disaster or major crime though it was recommended as essential to safety and effectiveness of the services during crises.

Sounds like man who can plan, take action, and advance the safety and integrity of his organizations.  Oh, now we know he still employ a Catholic priest suspended over allegations of abuse.  A victim's advocacy group has appealed for Guiliani to dismiss the suspended priest.

Sounds like he more knowledgeable than Bush, but no more effective in providing for the common good or delegating authority.

1984 versus 1968

Yesterday two events took place that chilled my heart and gave me hope for America.  First, I was terrified to read of the Supreme Court’s rulings which proved we are facing a court which accepts the basic tenets of Authoritarianism and a blind devotion to big business.  First, they ruled against campaign finance laws which open the door to some of the most disgusting advertisements in politics, yes, by conservatives and liberals.  Second, they limited students’ freedom of expression outside the school as well as inside the school.  Third, they essentially gutted the basic core of environmental protection laws. Fourth, they ruled that a citizen of this country cannot sue the President’s office for pushing, and funding, faith based grants.  These four rulings essentially bring us one leap closer to the prediction made by George Orwell in the novel 1984.

As Keith Olbermann’s Countdown played out as we read the papers, we were presented the contents of a letter by the 50 Presidential Scholars visiting the White House.  The handwritten letter included this statement:

"We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants. . ." (link)

If such brilliant students are willing to step forth with such courage, then can we not have a rebirth of the idealism Americans showed during the civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and humanitarian efforts during the War on Poverty?

Autocratic Hypocrites or Republicans

Ok, Cheney holds that he is not an entity within the executive branch rather he is primarily a part of the legislative arm of the government. Thus, he is not bound by the president’s executive (his quasi-boss) order on procedures for protecting classified information and is, therefore, exempt from an audit by the Information Security Oversight Office. If one accepts this unique view of our triad of government, then he should not be privileged to executive privilege. Yet, did not Cheney argue that he did not have to disclose a list of names of those who met with him to develop his (or Bush’s) oil policy? Clearly, what we have is another prototypic instance of the autocratic view of this administration, as well as its consistent hypocrisy.

Check out Waxman's letter to the President