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Comparing Obama and McCain

Kent Porter has prepared a helpful website (Obama and McCain Compared), which presents Obama and McCain’s positions on taxes, spending, environment, and health care. It should be useful for any voter who wants some basic, well-sourced facts that go beyond the usual, impoverished discussions we see in the mainstream media.

The following information represents my attempt to cut through all of the divisive spin that our presidential elections have engendered. As a high school teacher who values information and facts over red herring issues that take our minds off of the ball, I have tried to provide details about four key areas–Taxes, Federal Spending, the Environment, and Health Care. I wanted to present factual information about where the two candidates stand on those areas.

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Gallipoli and Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi

oldest veteranI’ve been visiting Çanakkale’s Onsekiz Mart University the last few days, where I’ve met many wonderful people, including faculty, students, and even three-six year olds in the Children’s House (Çocular Evi), a university-based preschool.

On Saturday, my hosts Yunus and Martina took me by ferry to the World War I Gallipoli battlefield. It’s now a large national park, with more cemeteries than we could visit in one day. After seeing all of the deaths from fighting for “a good cause,” it’s especially moving to read Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s words.

Mustafa Kemal was the Commander of the Turkish 19th Division during the Gallipoli Campaign, the first President of the Turkish Republic from 1924-1938, and became known as Ataturk (Father of the Turks). Referring to the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who lost their lives during the Gallipoli Campaign, Ataturk said:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Ataturk had been commander of the 19th Turkish Division. He’s also famous for saying “I don’t order you to attack, I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die other troops and commanders can take our place.” Many died on both sides, but I don’t know whether the good cause was Turkey defending itself from the Allies or the Allies trying to conquer Turkey so they could invade Russia. In any event, the Allies lost, Winston Churchill was fired, and a new set of mothers began producing a new set of sons for the next World War.

The Anzac forces initially underestimated the ability of the Turkish army to resist, but in the end they developed a respect for not only the fighting ability, but the moral courage as well. An allied commander referred to Turkish soldiers in the following way:

He is a tough and brave soldier but when cease fire is called, he is gentle and humane; he will bandage the wounds of his enemy and carry him on his back to save his life. Such a soldier hasn’t been seen before on this earth.

Turkish memorialTurkish graves

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No-Nonsense Guides

I’ve been reading the No-Nonsense Guides. These are clear, concise, very readable introductions to complex topics, such as globalization, women’s rights, and world food. They’re a bit like articles in The Economist, but from a critical perspective and with more evidence to back up the analysis. Even if you feel you understand one of the topics, the corresponding book is a great summary and resource. I highly recommend them.

The Guides are published by New Internationalist, whose mission is

to report on the issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.

Based in Oxford, New Internationalist also offers a free online newsletter, a magazine, and other publications.

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What we do not know: The betrayal of our values

I returned to the US in June after living a year living in Ireland. Many people have naturally asked, “What was it like? How was it different? What did you learn?”

It’s hard to know where to begin. I may have learned as much about myself and my home country as about Ireland, or other countries I’ve visited. And, mostly, if I learned anything, it was how much I don’t know about other people and places. As Confucius says: “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”

Our Hollywood Self-Image

But one specific thing I’ve become more aware of is a gap between what most Americans conceive as their moral stance on the world and what many abroad see as our actual practice. I suspect that many of us in the US identify with Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He’s decent, naive, idealistic, earnest, fair, caring, and above all honest, embodying all the American small town values. He’s not sophisticated or slick, but he’s the kind of person you’d like to have as a friend or trust for political leadership. Mr. Smith asks us to adhere to “just one, plain, simple rule: Love thy neighbor” and reminds us that “there’s no compromise with the truth.”

What’s interesting today is that many abroad would also identify with Mr. Smith. And they admire the US for modeling his values, offering hope for other countries. They recall our promotion of the Kellogg-Briand pact, the struggle against authoritarian regimes, the Nuremburg trials, the United Nations, the Geneva Conventions, as concrete examples of how we have stood for truth, peace, courage, and justice, just as Mr. Smith might have wanted. Their values are our values; their people are our people.

But then, we part ways, because of something many Americans do not know. Continue reading →

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“The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun”

I walk by a wonderful video rental store, called That’s Rentertainment, on my way to and from work. It has an amazing collection of foreign and independent films, anime, TV, and documentaries, as well as knowledgeable staff. The prices are good, too, so it often makes sense to take a chance on a movie I’ve never heard about before. One of these was director Pernille Rose Grønkjær’s, The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun (Slottet, or The Castle in Danish).

The description won’t appeal to everyone, and at times it may seem slow or disjointed. But it’s an unexpectedly good movie.

The true story is about Jørgen Laursen Vig, who lives alone in the derelict Hesbjerg Castle near Odense. His lifelong dream has been to create a monastery. Nearing the end of his life he turns to Russia and invites the Russian Patriarchate to use his castle as the site. They send Nun Amvrosija and a few others to assess the situation and begin the process of creating the monastery. As anyone might suspect, there are good intentions in the beginning, but problems arise as it becomes more a reality.

Through these events the film explores friendship, and what Allan Berg Nielsen describes in an excellent essay as The Manifold Nature of Love. It’s about life dreams, loss, and the challenge of opening up to others. Grønkjær (see photo), the director, is the interviewer, and becomes entwined at times in these questions.

At one point, Vig becomes frustrated with Nun Amvrosija. They argue about trivial things, while not addressing the larger issues. Perhaps he feels he’s losing control of the project. Referring to her, he says:

Vig: It’s hard to argue with people who are always right. Who don’t …
Grønkjær (interviewing): What if she came here just as much for you as for the monastery?
Vig: For me? I don’t know how to react to that. It’s the project we’re talking about, not me. Because that’s not what is needed.

A little later he grows discouraged, and puzzled:

Vig: I can’t solve all the problems.
Grønkjær: It’s not a problem, Vig.
Vig: Perhaps they’re problems you women have.
Grønkjær: We haven’t any problems.
Vig: You have feelings, or whatever. Things like that are not my business. I stay out of it.

That excerpt suggests the movies is about gender. It is, but one could also say that it’s about age, religion, nationality, language, and more than anything, about people trying to come together about things they both want, but struggle to achieve.

Nun Amvrosija writes to Mr. Vig:

Dear Mr. Vig, We were together for almost five years. We were very different, yet we were doing the same thing. We often disagreed with each other. But the Lord directs everything in His wisdom. Our Lord laid this gift in your hands. A gift which I believe opened the gates of paradise to you. I wish for the kingdom of heaven and eternal peace. Dear Mr. Vig, servant of Our Lord.

Vig is not only a fascinating character in the movie, but must have been throughout his life as well. See his East-West Seminar at Hesbjerg, 1995.

Today the monastery is run by Nun Amvrosija. A Russian Orthodox priest comes from Copenhagen to carry out the services. The Russian Patriarchate and the Hesbjerg Foundation now set the future plans for the monastery.

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“The Cucumber Season”

Just read an amusing, and ironically, informative essay in ACM Ubiquity, called “The Cucumber Season: Reflections on the Nature of Information When There Isn’t Any,” by Espen Andersen:

I would like to introduce a new term to the English language: “Cucumber season”. The term, from Norwegian, refers to the period from sometime in early June, when Parliament and the public schools recess, until mid-August when the schools start up again and people return from their summer holidays. The name of this season comes from the observation that during this period, newspapers have little to write about – since nothing much happens – and so are forced to report on non-news, such as outsized and/or weirdly shaped vegetables such as cucumbers. By extension, the term refers to newspaper articles as well – a padded-out news item of dubious importance and inflated headline is referred to as a cucumber.

ACM Ubiquity – The Cucumber Season: Reflections on the Nature of Information When There Isn’t Any.

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Liberating Voices

Liberating Voices: A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (MIT Press), edited by Doug Schuler will appear this coming December. The book contains 136 patterns designed to meet challenges of communication in a world of new communication systems and global connections. Patterns integrate theory and practice to address social and environmental problems through citizen activism. Each describes a problem and its context, a discussion, a solution, and links to other patterns.

The book was inspired by Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language, and is part of the Public Sphere Project. You can get a preview of the book and explore the network of patterns online.

a visionary manual rich in insights and directly useful in any attempt to connect people and information technologies in the quest for real democracy. This is a crucial book for our time. —Langdon Winner, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

a pattern language that can be used as a framework for rethinking how we build community and create a more humane, equitable future. —Nancy Kranich Former President, American Library Association, author of Libraries & Democracy

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Pylori paradox

Heliobacter pylorisAre we beings who pass through a natural world, or are we part and parcel of it? Arthur Bentley asks that question in his 1941 essay, “The Human Skin: Philosophy’s Last Line of Defense.” He suggests that philosophers position the person on one side of a boundary (the human skin) and nature on the other. This artificial separation leads to confusion about cause and effect and about our place in the natural world.

Recent biomedical research supports Bentley’s rejection of the human skin boundary as an artificial distinction. One such set of findings has been called the “Pylori paradox.”

Robin Warren and Barry Marshall were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work showing that Helicobacter pylori, causes inflammation of the stomach lining, and potentially ulcers and stomach cancer. The bacterium, H. pylori has been a resident of the human stomach for thousands of years, is still common in the US, and up to 90% of adults in developing countries may be infected.

Improved living conditions and increased antibiotics use have led to a decrease in H. pylori infections. this sounds good, but as fewer children carry the bacterium, asthma incidence has risen. Recent research has also shown that while H. pylori harms the stomach, it protects the esophagus: Continue reading →

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Predictable teaching

flowersA colleague writes about a workshop she co-presented recently, in which participants generated their own questions and engaged in guided inquiry. The workshop went well and generated plenty of debate (one of its goals), but “some liked it more then others.” Knowing the presenters, I’m confident that the workshop was a big success, but there was clearly variation in how successful it was for different participants.

That kind of variation, or unpredictability, is what leads some teachers to prefer methods with clearly-defined objectives, carefully-orchestrated procedures, and techniques for keeping everyone “on task.” Methods like that, are seen as more predictable, hence easier to measure, repeat, and guarantee results.

But things are not always as they seem. When the emphasis is on the procedure, and not on the student’s own inquiry, one can ensure that the procedure is executed faithfully. The formal lecture is the epitome of that, with the timing and mode of delivery all specifiable in advance. But the student learning can actually be far less predicitable. When students are in a lecture hall, or even going through a highly-structured exercise, their minds can be far away. The predicitability for the teacher is matched by unpredictability for the learner.

On the other hand, when students are supported in their own inquiries, the teacher’s job can feel very unpredictable, and because of that scary, and even unprofessional. It can be unpredictable for the students as well, because true inquiry can lead into unknown territory. But what goes on in the interaction among students and teachers becomes more visible and manageable. Collaborative inquiry allows engagement with the student’s thought and action, while the so-called “structured lesson” may obscure what students really think and feel. When students’ work is highly constrained, we’re left with little insight into their learning; teaching becomes totally unpredictable.

Our quest for certainty in teaching thus leads us to adopt methods that actually increase the uncertainty. But there is no way to ensure predictable teaching and learning. As Amos Pettingill says in The White Flower Farm Garden Book (referring to a zone chart for planting):

As a guide for the experimentation we so freely encourage, the table opposite will be helpful. We must caution, however, that it is rife with half-truths–despite our best efforts at disclosure. We are dealing here with living things whose colors, habits, and general constitutions will vary with locale and with the skill of the individual gardener. This unpredictability, which strikes terror into the heart of the beginner, is in fact one of the glories of gardening. Things change, certainly from year to year and sometimes from morning to evening. There are mysteries, surprises, and always, lessons to be learned. After almost 40 years hard at it, we are only beginning.

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The whole world is watching?

The US employed a “pre-emptive strike” in Iraq in March 20, 2003, which didn’t go so well, not to mention being a crime against humanity. But at home during the conventions, so-called “pre-emptive strikes” have done a good job of stifling protest and minimizing media coverage. These occurred during marches and even before the Convention began.

One of the protestors at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul said, “the whole world is watching,” but that’s just not the case today as it was in 1968.

[Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6al8Q7pRK8%5D
Mainstream media coverage:

Police raid RNC protest sites in Twin Cities
Mass show of peaceful dissent soon makes a violent descent
Police fire chemical agents, projectiles at RNC protesters