MAP OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD, SHOWS GERMANTOWN AT THE NORTH END OF A PROPOSED TRANSIT LINE (green line) AND GOING SOUTH, GAITHERSBURG AND ROCKVILLE. SILVER SPRING IS AT THE SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE MAP, NEAR THE D.C. LINE.
Gaithersburg is the most diverse small city in America. Number One in diversity out of more than 300 cities, according to Wallethub.com! Continue reading
The demand for Good News far exceeds the supply. That’s the finding of an unscientific sampling of opinion from readers of this blog.
So I was surprised to see that newspapers and other mainstream media have recently reported several cases of honest-to-goodness, big-time, Good News among nations. Two Good News breakthroughs this week alone!
And more good news right here in the Western hemisphere! President Barack Obama recently decided to normalize relations with the island nation of Cuba. The U.S. and Cuba have been estranged from each other for nearly my entire lifetime (and I’m 67). Now, suddenly, unexpectedly, the two nations have reconciled, at least to the point of “normalizing relations.” They’re looking for embassy sites in Washington and Havana. Trade and tourism and family visits will be allowed, even encouraged. Economic benefits will flow to both countries, but most especially to Cuba.
To be sure, these breakthroughs have NOT been universally hailed as GOOD. It is quite possible that any of these forward movements could be knocked off the rails by opponents. Or they could have disastrous unintended consequences. There are no guarantees; only good reason for HOPE.
Recalcitrants and nay-sayers are everywhere; many have legitimate objections. But I’ll not enumerate them all because that might take the winds of Good New of out my sails. I believe that the great majority of the people in all nations involved see these world events as positive, qualifying to be cheered as Good News. It’s OK to have misgivings and still cheer for Good News. To accept Good News requires a measure of Hope and Trust.
In the case of these three steps forward among the family of nations, I confidently declare Good News based on a simple presumption. All the people of the world agree as follows:
PEACE = GOOD; FRIENDSHIP = GOOD
WAR = BAD; ENMITY = BAD
The agreements between U.S and Iran, Europe and Greece, U.S. and Cuba, all turn in the direction of friendship and peace. Some will disagree. Some will openly prefer enmity and even war. I will ignore them unless they present persuasive facts.
Case closed. Good news for Iran, Greece, Cuba.
What do you think? I tolerate differing opinions.
— John Hayden
IT’S NO SECRET. America has devolved into Red State/Blue State political apartheid. It’s based on geography, lifestyle and issues, not on race or color.
The Northeast and Pacific coast are Democratic Blue. The South, Great Plaines and Rocky Mountains are Republican Red. The problem is abetted within states by gerrymandering.
Development of political apartheid in America was accompanied by the hollowing out of the American industrial base, the demise of labor unions, and growth of the financial sector. A deepening divide between rich and poor is salt in the wound.
Red/Blue apartheid is largely responsible for gridlocking the government in Washington. Some states and cities are also experiencing gridlock and financial trouble. If not for the Great Recession and continuing economic decline, perhaps political dysfunction by itself would not be serious.
Now, the sputtering engine of taxation and government finance is running out of gas, as many American corporations scurry to abandon the sinking ship. The technical term for this particular form of treason is “corporate inversion.”
Bill Clinton, campaigning this week with Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky, a Red state, made the following comment, as reported by The Washington Post.
“It would be wrong to try and build a future for America that leaves rural America and small-town America out.”
That’s an understatement. If we Americans allow the pathology of political apartheid/ government dysfunction/ economic decline to fester, we will be inviting collapse of democratic government.
Remember, In our hyper-complex world, the speed of change is balls to the wall. We’re constantly vulnerable to black swans. Or if you prefer, Murphy’s Law.
“Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.”
Exactly what would replace democratic government, I do not know. I don’t want to think about it, but the words “fascism” and “communism” come too readily to mind.
In the next post, I’ll consider Red/Blue political apartheid in my own home state, Maryland.
John Hayden
Thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders for tweeting this quote from President Eisenhower:
President Eisenhower’s quote needs only to be updated to insert “billionaires” in place of “millionaires.”
— John Hayden
Once in a while, a sentence or paragraph in the daily news seems to capture the truth.
“America is a place where luxuries are cheap and necessities costly. A big-screen TV costs much less than it does in Europe, but health care will sink you.” — Joseph Cohen, Queens College, New York
Makes you wonder, why do so many Americans ridicule Europe, especially the European model of universal health care?
That paragraph is from a story in the April 27, 2014, edition of The Washington Post, under then byline of Carol Morello and Scott Clement. The headline is, “Less Dream, More Reality: America’s middle class is shrinking and is being squeezed by the pressures of diminishing opportunity, stagnant wages and rising expenses.”
The story follows a typical American family with two full-time wage earners and three children. They’re not exactly poor; they qualify as middle class. But as the story reports, they’re “masters at scrimping,” out of necessity.
As the headline says, it’s just a glimpse of reality. Makes me glad I still subscribe to a good daily newspaper.
— John Hayden
After the most horrible, bloody century of war in history — 1914 to 2014 — wouldn’t you hope that humankind has learned something about war and peace?
After all these years, we are still attracted to war like mindless, flying insects to a lightbulb on a dark night. In recent decades, we’ve certainly not hesitated to invade, shoot and bomb, using ever more-effective killing and maiming technology. But we’ve also perfected the art of economic war. Politely known as “Economic Sanctions.” At this very moment, the U.S. and Great Britain are threatening to unleash the equivalent of unlimited economic war on Russia.
The economic sanctions are intended to defend the “sovereignty” of Ukraine and Crimea, whatever “sovereignty” means in that part of the world, with it’s emotional history and artificial national boundaries. In the course of such defense, economic sanctions and/or military intervention might just as well destroy Ukraine and Crimea. Sort of like the U.S. destroyed Vietnamese villages to save them, and invaded Iraq to save it, instead ransacking and wrecking Iraq for ten years before abandoning it.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs the Ukraine reached the boiling point in recent days, I’ve engaged in discussion with Clarissa, a blogger who knows much more about Russia and Ukraine than I do. She’s posting daily about the developing situation. You can scroll through her many posts and interesting discussion threads at her blog.
I’ve been learning a lot, but also arguing a lot. I used to think I understood this kind of stuff. But as old age sets in, I find I no longer understand anything about the human obsession with war, both military and economic.
I guess I’m being blindsided. I read every story about Ukraine and Crimea in this morning’s Washington Post, including an analysis of the emotions and history involved by a former colleague of mine at the Baltimore Sun. I don’t give any credence to cable news speculation.
Forgive me, but I have read no credible evidence that this is anything but a civil war of WORDS involving Russia, Ukraine and Crimea. In fact, if it is a civil war, I’d put the emphasis on the word “civil.” There’s much hand-wringing about a Russian “invasion” of Crimea. Really? Has a single shot been fired? The Russian and Ukraine soldiers in fact seem quite chummy.
The main issues seem to be emotional grievances regarding the official language in Ukraine (reminds me of Quebec’s grievances against English-speaking Canada), “sovereignty,” and which paper money to use. I suspect the “crisis” might blow over if the U.S. would butt out and Ukraine simply decided to recognize both Russian and Ukrainian as official languages.
I do not understand what makes the U.S. and European countries so self-righteous that they must declare economic war on Russia. Yes, I see one blog report that one person has been tortured and killed. There are anecdotes about “volatile protests,” outside agitators and thugs beating up people. As a journalist, know the difficulty of confirming such anecdotes.
In the U.S. most of this would be called street crime, police brutality, or “the right to gather in public and express grievances,” protected under the Bill or Rights. How many confirmed casualties in Ukraine or Crimea? I’m serious. There are 500 murders a year in Chicago. Multiple murders every weekend in Washington and Baltimore. Is it more dangerous right this moment to be in Kiev or in Chicago?
The U.S. government “said the vote was rigged and discounted it as illegal.” (The Washington Post) I ask: How does the U.S. know that?
I’ve studied politics my whole life, and I have no trouble at all believing that a large majority of people in Crimea would vote allegiance to Russia, and did so on Sunday. Where is the evidence to the contrary? (Yes, 97% seems an obvious exaggeration. So what?) I cannot even verify the election results in my own state, Maryland, where we use a computerized voting system with no way to audit the results. If the computers have not already been hacked, they will be some day soon.
It seems to me that the U.S. and Great Britain foment wars and economic hardship by meddling in internal affairs of other countries.
Sorry, I know I sound naive, and maybe I am. I have a healthy skepticism about what is true or false or propaganda or posturing. — John
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“The main issues seem to be emotional grievances regarding the official language in Ukraine (reminds me of Quebec’s grievances against English-speaking Canada), “sovereignty,” and which paper money to use.”
– These are definitely not the central issues for anybody in Ukraine or Russia. Honestly, this is the first time I hear about paper money in this context at all. I get my news from Russian and Ukrainian media and people I know who live in these countries.
“In the U.S. most of this would be called street crime, police brutality, or “the right to gather in public and express grievances,” protected under the Bill or Rights.”
– If the Russian troops crossed the US border, would this still be called street crime and police brutality?
“I suspect the “crisis” might blow over if the U.S. would butt out and Ukraine simply decided to recognize both Russian and Ukrainian as official languages.”
– In 1994, Ukraine, Russia and the US signed the Budapest accords in which the US promised not to butt out in case Russia violates the territorial wholeness of Ukraine in its 1994 borders. Out of these 3 countries, Ukraine is the only one that fulfilled its part of the agreement by handing over its entire nuclear arsenal to Russia, the country that has invaded right now. If the US didn’t want to have anything to do with what is happening in that area, it shouldn’t have signed the agreements. Wouldn’t you agree that you can’t enter into a contract, get everything you wanted from the other party, and then refuse to fulfill your part of the obligations you freely undertook?
” Is it more dangerous right this moment to be in Kiev or in Chicago?”
– If you look at the map, you will see that Kiev lies pretty far from the Russian border, there are no Russian troops there. Yet. The invasion is taking place in the Lugansk, Kharkov, Mariupol’, Kherson and the Crimea areas. Tragically, these are, indeed, highly criminalized areas. 😦 However, now on top of the street crime and the mafia, there are foreign troops there.
“It seems to me that the U.S. and Great Britain foment wars and economic hardship by meddling in internal affairs of other countries.”
– Russia has been invading Ukraine long before the US even existed. This is not about the US and definitely not about the UK, which has been selling itself to the bandits from Russia for years.
“Sorry, I know I sound naive, and maybe I am.”
– I’m very grateful to you for trying to understand.
end of Clarissa’s reply
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“- If the Russian troops crossed the US border, would this still be called street crime and police brutality?”
AND
“- Russia has been invading Ukraine long before the US even existed. This is not about the U.S. and definitely not about the UK.”
Both good points! And you can see the absurdity when you place the above two statements side-by-side in historical and geopolitical context. I’m not an expert on any of this, so I hesitate to make the following analogy, and I welcome more knowledgeable observers to correct me:
Doesn’t it seem that Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea have a long history of marriage of convenience and breakups? Tumultuous relationships, to be sure, trial separations and divorce, friendly or otherwise. But they are geographically intertwined; they HAVE to live near each other over the long run, and so they do. As you point out, this love-hate affair has been going on since LONG BEFORE the U.S. existed. I agree, it’s NOT about the U.S. or the UK, so what gives the U.S. and UK the right to declare economic world war?
Regarding the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which the U.S., Britain, and Russia reaffirmed their commitment to Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty, and Ukraine agreed to return its nuclear weapons to Russia. Well.
The salient point here is the nuclear weapons. You could keep an international courtroom full of lawyers busy for a century, arguing what the wording of the Budapest Memorandum (contract?) means.
Would the world be a better place if Ukraine had those nuclear weapons at this moment?
A few Ukrainian NATIONALISTS would say “Yes,” but they would be crazy. Everyone else, especially Russia, Crimea, U.S. and UK, understands, in retrospect, the wisdom of the nuclear weapons accord made at Budapest. After the past century of European and Russian history, can’t we all agree that emotional NATIONALISM is not sufficient reason to start a shooting war?
And thank God the U.S. and UK commitment to the territorial “sovereignty” of Ukraine is definitely not a “mutual defense treaty” requiring the U.S. and UK to defend militarily the sanctity of the region’s artificial boundary lines.
What exactly does the word “sovereignty” imply in this case? Can anyone untangle the history and mythology behind these lines on a map? Let Russian, Ukraine, and Crimea work this out in divorce court. — John
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Let me repeat that I respect Clarissa and her knowledge of Russia and Ukraine. I appreciate her willingness to engage in informative discussions with me and others on her blog. I recommend her blog for anyone following developments in the Ukraine.
Is there any conclusion? Is history ever over? When will we ever learn?
— John Hayden
Every state in America will hold congressional elections in 2014, and most will also have gubernatorial, legislative and local elections. A deadline for candidates is approaching in all the states, just as it is where I live, in Maryland. But you never hear about it.
Why beat the drum for candidates? Two reasons. First, it’s important. Americans have gotten in the habit of holding our politicians in extreme low regard. The reputation of government and politics is tarnished by corruption and inefficiency. The understandable reaction is disappointment and apathy. Some citizens at the extremes view government with fear and loathing.
The way we choose our leaders is called democracy, and democracy is withering away while we fiddle. What do you need for a functioning democracy? Two things. Voters, obviously. And candidates. What good are voters without candidates? And you must have more than one candidate. When you have one candidate or one party, that’s not democracy. Isn’t it obvious that we need more and better candidates?
I said two reasons, didn’t I? The second reason I’m talking about candidacy on this blog is, you never hear about it anyplace else, do you?
You’ll see reminders about registering to vote at your library or the MVA. You’ll probably have opportunities to register to vote at your house of worship and your high school.
But how often to you see anything about the process of becoming a candidate, or the filing deadline? Not in the mainstream media.
It’s almost a conspiracy of silence by the media.
Political organizations are worse. Most individual politicians hate competition. It’s so easy to skate by if you’re the only candidate. But my, how it complicates things when you have an opponent, or two or three opponents!
Political leaders, party organizations, and even special-interest groups often actively discourage candidates. If the party or the special interest has a malleable office holder, they don’t want to rock the boat. They want to see their guy or gal cruise to reelection, time after time.
Not in Montgomery County, the land of “good government?” Please don’t be naive. The late Sen. Margaret Schweinhaut once recalled that in the bad old days (read 1940s and 1950s) anyone wanting to run for office in Montgomery County had to receive permission from the Lee organization. (Schweinhaut served in the House of Delegates, 1955-1961, and in the State Senate, 1961-1990.)
In modern times, it’s more likely for a candidate to need the equivalent of permission from fund-raisers and special-interest groups. Also in modern days, it’s not uncommon for an ambitious member of the House of Delegates or School Board to be counseled (to put it gently) by party elders to wait until it’s their time before running for a higher office.
It never occurs to most normal, ordinary people, that they could hold public office, be a public servant. (That’s why normal people are normal.) OK, you’ll never be president, or even governor. But you’d be surprised how lowly and ordinary a state legislator or county council member can be.
I think many ordinary citizens would be shocked to know that there are no special requirements to run for the General Assembly. If you’re a U.S. citizen and 21 years of age,* you qualify. That’s it. No experience required. You don’t have to be a college graduate. It helps to have a thick skin and tolerance for rejection.
I can hear readers thinking: “If it’s so important to have more candidates, why doesn’t the SOB do it himself?”
Been there. Done that. Twice.
And in unfriendly red Republican territory, in other parts of Maryland. Now that I’ve retired and consolidated back here in my home county, it’s ironic that I can’t participate as a candidate. Too bad. I might at least get a few relatives and people I went to school with to vote for me.
Truth is, there are good reasons why I can’t run for office this year. I wish I could, but I can’t. All I can do is write about it.
But YOU might be a person who could run. Win or lose, you’d be performing a service for Democracy. The deadline in Maryland is Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014. Find out more at the Maryland Board of Elections.
— John Hayden
(*Slightly higher age requirements for some higher offices.)
The scene in Atlanta last night and today is worth talking about.
Thousands of children stranded overnight in schools. Or worse, stranded for hours on schoolbuses!
Thousands of adults (and children too) stranded for hours, or all night, in traffic that’s frozen in place on icy highways. No food, no restrooms. When the car runs out of gas, no heat. Thousands sleeping in any big-box store or impromptu shelter that will open the doors.
It’s chaos. Now, imagine such conditions continue for a few days. A few weeks? I suppose that’s what the early days of Dystopia will look like.
The temperature will rise in Atlanta in a day or two, and the ice will melt. The chaos will be short-lived, not much harm done, hopefully. A week from now, Atlantans will look back on it as a great adventure. A generation from now, it will be legendary. Grandparents will tell grandchildren about it. The grandchildren will think the old folks are exaggerating.
Atlanta last night and today is a wakeup call, a teachable moment.
Millions of people are always skating on the edge of chaos in our complex, interconnected metropolitan areas. We depend on responsible governments and private organizations to maintain function and order. All it takes is one or two wrong decisions (no need to salt the streets. no need to close the schools), one technical breakdown, one storm, one neglectful agency or public official, and . . . chaos.
How many weeks of chaos would it take before . . . Dystopia?
— John Hayden
So a rich guy and a homeless guy walk into a bar . . .
Sorry, let me start over. So a rich guy and a homeless guy walk into a dumpster . . .
One more time. A rich guy and a homeless guy walk into The Washington Post . . .
America is officially a “Tale of Two Cities,” as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says.
The grand canyon between extreme wealth and abject poverty has grown so wide and deep that we have lost all perspective. We have become indifferent and uncaring.
It’s common for the rich, especially, to believe that poor people choose to be poor. The rich imagine the poor are HAPPY.
ALICE WATERS (Photo credit: Andy Ciordia)
Alice Waters, a leading light in the movement for nutritious, organic, and local food, was interviewed in the Washington Post this week. One quote would be a good meditation for all who are concerned about the human condition in America, as we approach the 2014 midterm elections.
“I’m in this very political place right now and feel like we have to collaborate in different ways to make a big impression, to change the way that we are living our lives, which is destroying our health and the planet. I certainly want to feel like I have tried to take care of this planet for the kids of this world. I really have to do something.”
Please focus your attention on the word “collaborate.”
Politicians have oversized egos. Continue reading
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 