Slumdog - go see it

We saw Slumdog Millionaire last night. Wow! What a movie!
It is not for the faint of heart - there are some pretty brutal scenes about the main character's childhood, growing up an orphan, living on his wits in the slums of Bombay/Mumbai. Jamil goes on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and because he does do well he's accused of cheating. After all, how could a tea boy from the slums know anything?

I've been to India twice, but this certainly was not the India that I experienced being whisked from one fancy hotel to another by a private driver.

Not sure he gets it (on religion)

One blind spot Obama seems to have is in his choice of religious leaders, from hanging out with Rev. Wright to now picking Rick Warren for the Inauguration prayer. Why would you pick a guy who compares same-sex marriage to pedophilia and incest?!

He gets it (on energy & climate)

I'm delighted to see that Obama has created a special office for climate change, along with not putting oil and politics at the forefront for the Dept. of Energy and the EPA. Here's a nice summary:

Dominated by lobbyists for the oil industry, the task force Vice President Dick Cheney convened early in the Bush presidency laid the groundwork for the administration's dangerously antiquated approach to meeting the nation's energy needs.

Its core recommendation -- to open more federal land to oil, coal and natural-gas development -- largely led officials for the next eight years to ignore conservation efforts and the need to develop clean, alternative energy....

Finally, though, the winds are changing. This week, President-elect Barack Obama named his top energy and environmental team. And fortunately, its members signaled their intention to reshape the nation's energy market so it can kick its dependence on unstable, U.S.-hating, oil-rich countries. They spoke of the urgency to invest in green technology and infrastructure projects to help rejuvenate the economy. And they promised that science -- not political expediency -- will drive their efforts.

Belize - The Blue Hole

We just returned from a week in Belize. As a tourist destination it's known primarily as a diving destination. Belize has the longest stretch of the Mesoamerican Reef, which is shares with Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. This is the 2nd largest reef in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.


The most famous dive site in Belize, explored by Jacques Cousteau, is the Blue Hole. The fish life there isn't actually the main attraction. Cousteau discovered that it is a collapsed cave. The bottom is at about 400 feet of depth, which is far too deep for recreational divers. We went to about 130 feet down (plenty deep) where there is an overhang of the original cave ceiling. There you swim among 30 foot long stalactites. It is positively otherworldly.

"Staggering... even by Illinois standards..."

Wow! That's right, Blago was trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. In a state where we half expect our governor's to end up in the Big House, this takes the cake. From a press release by the US Attorney's Office:

Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009.

Right, definitely want to do this before any new pesky ethics laws come into effect.

At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

• a substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;
• placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;
• promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and
• a cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Can you really blame him for trying to line up his next job when he gets booted from the Governor's mansion? It's a tough job market out there.

Slough cuts climate change emissions

The town of Slough cuts climate change emissions. Should TV's The Office be concerned?: Scientific American Blog

OK, this angle on this article isn't terribly serious, but I'm amazed that Slough (the Scranton of the UK, or perhaps the Schaumburg) has emissions targets for itself, even if they are making them less ambitious. Does Scranton? Does Schaumburg? Will non-major towns in the US keep up?

Guano?

Here's some great commentary on the current suit questioning Obama's status as a natural-born citizen from Huffington Post:

WILLIAMS: The question is what is a natural-born citizen? That's never been legally defined.

Yes! That's because the founders didn't envision the totally batshit citizens we have now!

Clean Coal Ad

This ad is from Al Gore's Reality Coalition. Do you think it's effective? I'm not so sure. It asserts there's no such thing as clean coal, without giving evidence. I just saw it while I was watching This Week. I may not disagree, but I feel like the ad and the accompanying website talk down to the reader/viewer, not trusting we can handle actual information.

Knowing a bit about coal-fired generation, building new coal plants that would allow older ones to be shut down would help the environment. Given that a full one half of US electricity is produced through coal and that we have a lot of coal in the ground, what is Gore's suggestion as an alternative? The US needs a short term solution to its power issue, which can not be satisfied only through alternatives.

20,000 troops on our streets

This makes me uncomfortable. This makes me think also of the on-going issue in Iraq on the different roles for the military and the police.

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

Thoughts? Wade? Ron?

Floods in Venice

George and I were in Venice for our honeymoon about a month and a half ago. Now, it's having near-record-breaking floods - more than 1.5 meters of water (that's 4.5 feet.) Here are some pictures.

UNESCO has been warning for some time that due to rising water levels and subsidence of the land, Venice could be subject to daily floods in the future.

There is always talk of a major project in the lagoon which would consist of barriers that would rise out of the water to keep the flood waters out. It is very controversial and I'm not sure if it is moving forward or not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

There are so many things to be thankful for today:

• Friends and family.
  
• My friend Dhruv was not in Mumbai yesterday.
• The yummy deliciousness of Thanksgiving dinner.
• My new husband (almost 2 months!)
• My mother's return to health.
  

Things to acknowledge about the world's imperfection:

• Your family gathering will not be all harmony. It is simply not human nature for everyone to get along all the time.
• It makes me sad to think of the 100 families that are grieving today in India and wondering where this will lead.

Morning Brief

I'm going to tell you my secret source for valuable and important news: The Morning Brief by Foreign Policy magazine. You can sign up for a daily email here.

My only concern with spreading the word is that now you'll know where I get my material and I'll have to be more industrious from now on. ;-)

Iran Pictures

We don't get too many images of Iran other than political or religious leaders looking stern. I ran across this album of stunning pictures, primarily of architecture and women. It is beautiful.




Visiting Iran

New Projects

Today is a big day!
I gave my notice 2 weeks ago to the job that was sapping my strength and energy. Today is my first (week) day of freedom.
Part of my reason for leaving was that there are so many other things I want to get done which were impossible when my day was filled with doing things I didn't want to do.

So, the new mission:
Get a capital campaign going for my charter school
Write some articles exploring energy and policy
Explore some options of what I want to do in the next chapter of life
Get the body into shape - it's not getting any younger

And the difference is that all of these things sound exciting, interesting, like they'll give me energy rather than draining it all.

Illiberal Democracy

To borrow the title of Fareed Zakaria's book, the passage of Proposition 8 in California was a textbook case of what he called Illiberal Democracy. Direct democracy is usually not better democracy, especially when the majority is voting on rights for a minority. That is, instead, the tyranny of the majority.

Liberal democracy puts safeguards into place for the rights of minority groups. The State of California has failed its gay and lesbian citizens.

Confidence over Competence

I was always taught that if you don't know something that the best response is, "I don't know, but I'll look into it for you." And on the other hand, I've recently been told by my boss that I don't come across to the client with enough certitude about our solutions. I know enough to know that I don't know everything.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the crisis of too-much-confidence in our country and culture. It seeps into every corner of life, from business culture to politics.

Perhaps the greatest manifestation of this is George W. Bush, who didn't need to ask questions, get intelligence or see the other angle because of absolute confidence. Sarah Palin perhaps took this to such an extreme of Confidence over Competence that we'll pull back from this madness. When did confidence become the supreme virtue?

Well, here are a few words from a BBC news article, as well.

[L]ife's not like that and people know that. We know in our heart that it's not black and white ... and yet we pretend with the public that it's absolutely this policy and it will deliver what we want. Politics needs to change in that respect." But will it? Is it imaginable that a prime minister could stand up one day and say: "Look, I think this will work, and I'm going to give it a try, but frankly, I'm not sure."

Some parts of public life also function, less noisily, with subtlety and honesty about the real dilemmas. But we tend to hear less of them than the trumpet blasts of self-assurance. Is it the public that demands certainty, craving bedtime stories to help us sleep soundly rather than face up to the rather obvious fact that the future - and to some extent the present - is unknown? Or is it the fault of journalists who would rip into any minister who confessed to being unsure?

Some years ago, the former Archbishop of York John Hapgood suggested - with one eye on the politics of the time - that the lust for certainty could be a sin.

Slide show of Honeymoon pictures

Obama gets it!

There's speculation that Obama may appoint a Climate Czar, someone based at the White House who will be responsible to pulling together energy and the environment, as well as seeing the bigger picture on how this relates to the economy.

Hallelujah!

In no other country...

The fact that we elected Barack Obama last night is amazing, but let us also remember the magnificence of the American system of government.
As Obama has said from the beginning, "In no other country would my story be possible." And in addition, in very few other countries is a peaceful handover of power possible.

In an article discussing Kenya's declaration of a day of celebration (hey, how come we don't get a day off?), the following:

Tendai Biti, an opposition leader in Zimbabwe, said Obama's victory was inspiring and so was the concession by John McCain, whose fellow Republican George W. Bush will leave the White House on Jan. 20.
"If in Africa, incumbents would accept defeat and would graciously depart from the seat of power, this would be a different continent, and indeed Zimbabwe would be a different place," said Biti, whose party is deadlocked in power-sharing talks with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

 

Obama-mercial

I missed the Obama 30-minute piece last night and I can't really find any scoop on it. Did anyone watch it? How was it? Please enlighten me.

The Candidates on Energy

This article from Wharton compares the energy priorities for both Obama and McCain. As you can tell from their advertising, they are not that far away from each other except for the Palin-inspired "Drill, baby, drill" part.

U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barak Obama clash over tax and foreign policy, but their energy proposals are more alike than their campaign rhetoric suggests. Both offer to reduce global warming with a cap-and-trade program, "clean coal" technology and expanded use of wind and other renewable energy. But no matter who wins, energy prices are likely to climb.

There are some differences: Obama emphasizes renewable energy to reduce dependence on foreign oil, while McCain puts more faith in drilling. Obama is less enamored of nuclear power than McCain. Obama supports subsidies for ethanol production while McCain would cancel them and open the market to foreign competitors. Environmentalists tend to favor Obama, while business groups favor McCain.

Whoever wins, it will be nice to have an energy policy that wasn't drafted behind closed doors by Cheney and a secret list of oil cronies.

Honeymoon Pictures

Ah, here we are overlooking the Grand Canal.

Can you believe the Bridge of Sighs has been turned into an advertisement for a car?

George having a coffee in our neighborhood.

It's our honeymoon - how could we not go on a gondola ride at sunset?

A giant glass abacus in Murano - how cool.

Arctic Trade

There's so much news and analysis of both the economy and the elections that I'm not going to compete, but find for you, my faithful followers, other interesting stuff.
There's an article in the Atlantic Monthly talking about the new trade routes that are/will be opening up across the Arctic. It's being compared to the Suez or Panama Canal in terms of allowing ease of trade and transport.

Of course, this will also lead to enormous changes in the economies and ecologies of the entire Arctic.

Venice was marvelous

The honeymoon was wonderful. Venice was wonderful. I had have loved Venice for ages, but I think that George really fell in love with the place.
Typical day in Venice:

• Get up late
• make some coffee, think about what to do for the day
• stroll over to the vapporetto to take us somewhere marvelous
• find some lunch, maybe grilled fish with a half carafe of wine
  
• wander around, look at buildings, glass, the canals
  
• have an aperitivo, a spritz with Aperol
• home for an afternoon nap?
• decide which neighborhood to hit for dinner
• stroll around

I suggested to George that I should stay in Venice while he flew home to teach his class and then return. Alas. This part of the honeymoon is over. I know the honeymoon phase will last much longer.....

We're on our way to the honeymoon.....