tHE pUBLIC sPHERE

Pardons in the news

2008-07-19T08:04:00.002-04:00

With George Bush's term winding down, it is not surprising to see that those seeking grace from the soon to be ex-president are sending in their petitions. Charlie Savage (of signing statement fame thanks in part to my friend Dr. Kelley) writes about the record level of clemency requests in today's NYT. It has been a while since my dissertation days and pardon research, but I still find the attraction fascinating. And now we wait to see who will receive a pardon and when will they be issued. My bet, not many and some time in January 2009.

Phil Gramm speaks...

2008-07-12T07:38:00.014-04:00

John McCain's top economic adviser is in the news, and McCain is quickly running away from him. Phil Gramm, who never saw a deregulation measure that he didn't support, has not shied away from sharing his rather unique view of economic conditions. Here are a couple of his more noted pearls of wisdom:

On reducing Social Security benefits..."Most people don’t have the luxury of living to be 80 years old, so it’s hard for me to feel sorry for them."
On welfare..."We’re the only nation in the world where all our poor people are fat.”
On current economic conditions..."We have sort of become a nation of whiners...You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession.”

In case you have forgotten, Professor/Senator/Lobbyist Gramm (R-Texas) is credited with writing the legislation that allowed Enron (a major campaign supporter and one of the companies where his wife Wendy served on the Board) to be exempted from regulatory supervision.

Say goodbye to "compassionate conservatism."

Changing times

2008-07-04T10:12:00.003-04:00

The NY Times has an interesting piece on the shifts occurring at U.S. universities as the cadre of professors from the 60's and 70's are now beginning to retire. Many of these faulty members entered the profession at time of great upheaval and brought their attitudes and experiences to the academy. But as the article points out, the notion of the "liberal" university faculty is rapidly becoming a thing of the past...despite incessant and inaccurate clammering from the talk radio crowd. As one who has spent the past 13 years on a university campus, I have seen this shift as it takes place. Although there are still some who enter the profession for ideological reasons (both from the left and the right), the days of the liberal old professor are definitely fading.

Happy Fourth of July.

The end is here

2008-05-31T09:21:00.003-04:00

The Democrats will finally have a presidential nominee some time later this week. Despite unfounded claims that a protracted primary season would tear the Democratic party apart, polls are already showing Democrats moving towards unification behind Obama. The pundit hysteria from the left and the right has been atrocious. Left-leaning pundits have decried Hillary and her stay-in-it-until-the-end approach. Right leaners have prematurely declared the end of the Democratic party and the coronation of John McCain. Expect an interesting summer as both candidates work up to their respective conventions and the general election this fall.

Who will tell the people?

2008-05-04T08:40:00.003-04:00

From his NYTimes column today, Thomas Friedman writes, "We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people...Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country." Could not have said it any better.

MIssion Accomplished

2008-04-30T20:47:00.002-04:00

May 1, 2003. Has it already been five years since the dumbest photo op in presidential history?

News Media Fatuousness

2008-04-20T08:47:00.003-04:00

Frank Rich lets them all have it today...good stuff.

Is the tide turning?

2008-04-19T08:43:00.004-04:00

Many, including me, have expressed concern over the style, tenor, and process of our political system. Partisan demagoguery, personal attacks, shameful pandering to special interests, and the corrosive effects of big money have paralyzed our political system. We are paralyzed because we can no longer debate the real issues and challenges facing us. We are partially to blame because we continue to re-elect the same representatives time and time again. Whenever someone tries to have a serious discussion, they are quickly attacked as an elitist. Do you really prefer to have the beer-swilling "C" students making our public policy? A hyper-media driven by out of context sound-biting also plays a role. This type of episodic coverage denies us the thematic coverage necessary to establish context and connections.

But there have been hopeful signs that our politics, albeit far too slowly, may be changing. The now well-chronicled "bitter" remarks of Barack Obama may be one indication of this change. Despite the non-stop and out of context reporting of his remark across all forms of media, the people of Pennsylvania have resisted the media interpretation and added context of their own.

More broadly, the outrage shown towards ABC following Wednesday's Democratic debate/debacle is perhaps another positive sign. While ABC is the target of much criticism, we need to be wary of other media outlets simply piling on. And although I too found the "debate" to be wholly disappointing, I doubt if any other network would have done much better. I am certainly not ready to declare that we have turned a corner and can now expect better political coverage. I am pleased to see so many speaking up including journalists themselves.

Shift Happens...

2008-04-10T11:40:00.000-04:00

A more perfect union

2008-03-31T20:52:00.001-04:00

Five Years

2008-03-16T09:44:00.003-04:00

Five years ago this week, U.S. forces began the war in Iraq. It is hard not to look back and consider the promises of a short, inexpensive war that would democratize the Middle East. None of these promises has been delivered. There is no end in sight to the U.S. occupation. The $50 billion dollar war has become a multi-trillion dollar war. And the very notion of democracy as we know it in the West developing in the Middle East any time soon is naive if not down right ludicrous. Leadership matters and our nation is in desperate need of it now.

Turn $50 billion into $3 trillion

2008-03-09T09:27:00.003-04:00

The costs for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars continue to soar out of sight. I wonder how Don Rumsfeld could make his now laughable prediction with a straight face. If only I could invest my personal savings and get this type of a return. On the bright side, our robust economy has shown it can absorb these costs without consequence...at least that is what the President has told us.

Another Black Eye

2008-03-01T09:14:00.003-05:00

Once again, my community suffered a black eye at the hands of one of our elected officials. The County A uditor plead guilty to bank fraud and tax evasion and resigned her position in disgrace. It is just one more example of why one-party rule is incompatible with a healthy democracy. Statewide, voters tossed out a notoriously corrupt executive branch last year. I am not hopeful this trend will continue at the local level. Party insiders are already lining up to replace the newly confessed felon to insure that what happens in Butler County government, stays in Butler County government.

Anti-Intellectualism

2008-02-17T09:31:00.004-05:00

As a school board member, a fellow board member has attempted to cast dispersions towards me and others by branding us as "elitists" and an "edu-crats." Susan Jacoby's 2/17/08 column in the Washington Post describes this insidious and dangerous movement towards "anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations." It is critical that we stop this creep towards the bottom and challenge ourselves and our students with high expectations. While our goal should be to leave no child behind, I have no qualms leaving adults who actively pursue dumbing down America behind...way behind.

Independence Revoked!

2008-02-16T19:16:00.002-05:00

Great stuff from John Cleese... Letter to America

Barack on faith and the public sphere

2008-02-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

Compelling thoughts...

Disappointing News

2008-02-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

As someone who has given both time and money to the effort to find effective AIDS vaccines, it was very disappointing to see the failure of these clinical trials. I remember speaking to researchers in 2001 who were realistic but very optimistic about the future of their research. Hopefully these very bright people will continue their efforts and find vaccines that will work.

Finally

2008-01-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

Perhaps this means the American electorate can no longer be reduced to pathetic and malleable mush through the shameful use of 9/11 as a campaign scare tactic. Goodbye Rudi.

Voting Machines

2008-01-07T09:49:00.001-05:00

Much is being made of the recently released federal report indicating potential problems with the electronic voting machines being used around the country. Here in Ohio, the Secretary of State has put forth a proposal to eliminate the use of all touch screen machines before the November election. The NY Times ran an interesting article on the many issues with electronic voting. We have to figure this out and quickly.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

The new year has arrived and I expect 2008 to be an interesting one. Too bad we have to spoil a perfectly good year with a presidential election!

Deja vu

2007-12-30T09:24:00.000-05:00

Christmas break provides me with some much appreciated time to relax and read. In my previous post, I commented on David Halberstam's book, The Coldest Winter, America and the Korean War. Halberstam writes of the egotistical, dictatorial, and out of touch leader (Douglas MacArthur) surrounded by sycophants who never question their leader. He describes how MacArthur (and many others) knew little about Asian cultures and had little respect for them as adversaries. He also describes the media manipulation and the effort to manage all information coming out of MacArthur's Japanese headquarters. This all led to poor and overly optimistic planning, unrealistic expectations placed on the military in the field, a disconnected and less than supportive public, and tragic consequences for those placed in harms way. Of course, we learned from our mistakes and would surely not repeat them.

My second read this week was Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. This is the story of the Coalition Provisional Authority which ruled occupied Iraq following the U.S. invasion. In this story, we learn about the egotistical, dictatorial , and out of touch leader (Paul Bremmer) surrounded by sycophants who never questioned their leader. They knew little about Iraqi culture nor were they interested in learning. Much effort was placed on managing the media and all information coming out of the Green Zone. Poor planning, unrealistic expectations, tragic consequences...you get the idea. Once again proof that those who forget or choose to ignore history are destined to repeat it.

Despite the parallel tragedies captured in both books, their power lies in the stories of the people who participated in these historical events. There are many heroes in both stories. Unfortunately, very few of them were in positions of senior leadership.

The Coldest Winter

2007-12-28T10:09:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading David Halberstam's final book, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. Halberstam was a gifted writer who brought history to life in his work. His last book was on the forgotten war, the Korean War. It is a detailed look at the people, the times, and the tragic consequences of the early Cold War strategies. If you enjoy history and want to learn more about how we got to where we are today, I highly recommend this book.

Anti-tax often means anti-truth

2007-12-24T10:08:00.000-05:00

Having dealt with the anti-tax zealots in my community (Fairfield, OH) for years, it is great to see one of these groups finally being held accountable. Many of these groups, who claim to be anti-tax, are really anti-public education. They often share a common and purposeful approach to mislead and deceive through the selective presentation or exclusion of information. Of course they will deny they intentionally mislead, but one need only look at prior campaign "literature" to see this tactic being used in election after election. My advice is to be very wary of any group that puts "accountability" in their name. My experience is that they demand accountability from everyone except themselves. Hopefully, this decision puts all of these groups on alert. Intentionally misleading the public will not be tolerated.

On the bright side, "anti-tax" candidates were soundly defeated in every local school board election last November including two in Fairfield. Looks like the voters were one step ahead of the Ohio Elections Commission this year!

No Leadership

2007-12-24T08:36:00.000-05:00

Congress continues to pass the buck on the AMT. When faced with having to answer to the 23 million taxpayers who would have been hit with this tax this year, Congress instead pushed the issue out yet another year. And again demonstrated their complete inability to deal with difficult financial decisions, they just rolled the lost revenue onto the deficit. Why should they make these tough decisions? Moronic voters will send all those who choose to stand for reelection back to Washington in 2009...we get what we deserve from this bunch of cowards we call representatives.

Tilting left or just center

2007-12-23T15:09:00.000-05:00

Both Democrats and Republicans should read this. Any bets on which party is able to respond most effectively? Get Ready for a Democratic Era...