Goodbye

Goodbye, Boston. I'm moving out, really, and I'll be arriving in Washington, D.C. by the end of the day. It's been a nice 20-odd years. Have a nice life.

Blogging will probably continue, though this may look a little more like a journal as I will (at least for a few months) have little time to blog and (for the foreseeable future) will want to use this to update my friends on how life is.

Polite Society

Much is made in college-age Christian circles of "men being gentlemen". We, as Christians, are supposed to distinguish ourselves from the world by our exemplary conduct and respectfulness. Being a gentleman towards girls is definitely a worthwhile form of social politeness, and I think most guys, myself included, could do better in that regard. Young women are also prevailed upon to follow a set of social norms more respectful of both themselves and others than the norms of the world.

However, politeness should not stop at inter-gender relations. Guys who will open the door for a girl and give her a seat on the train but lack respect for older men, or are rude and pushy with kids, are not worthy of commendation. Likewise many similar scenarios. Politeness should not be reserved for select groups - in this case, members of the opposite sex our own age - but should be extended to everyone, regardless.

Ty'ing Records

Hears to Northeastern University's own Carlos Pena, who led the hit parade by the Detroit Tigers against the hapless K.C. Royals! His 6 hits, including two home runs, a double, and two singles, including one off of the pitcher's forehead, "leaving a clear imprint of the baseball". The pitcher is OK, and so is Ty Cobb's record for hits in a game by a Detroit Tiger, though Carlos Pena joins him as members of an exclusive club of just 4 Tigers ever to do so. The 27 hits tied a 76-year-old team record set against the New York Yankees, but fell one short of Boston's last explosion, which came against the Marlins last year. Perhaps this loss portends a change of fortunes for Kansas City; both the 1928 Yankees and the 2003 Marlins went on to win the World Series.

Supercilious/Smarmy

Conservative readers of InstantReplay will tell you that I am too far to the left, and perhaps that I am supercilious and smarmy. However, as "liberal" as I may be, it's a rarity that I agree with Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. Ms. Dowd is liberal; on the political spectrum she's situated halfway between Michael Moore and Fidel Castro.

Nonetheless, I must concur with her assessment of the Kerry campaign in light of Al Gore's "virulent attacks" on President Bush at NYU last night.

Couldn't the Democratic standard-bearer use a William McKinley front-porch strategy, talking only to those who bother to show up at his front porch? Mr. Kerry, once a critic of campaign financing abuses, had toyed with the idea of not accepting the nomination at his nominating convention so he could spend even more in contributions. While he announced yesterday that he had dropped that belittled idea, maybe he just didn't take the plan far enough. Maybe he shouldn't go down from his town house on Beacon Hill to the Fleet Center at all. The conventioneers may be more galvanized if they focus on vividly vivisecting Mr. Bush, instead of being dulled to distraction by Mr. Kerry, waving stiffly in his Oxford-cloth shirt, trying to be all things to all people all the prime time. Mr. Kerry has made a huge $25 million ad buy in recent weeks, believing that the better voters know him, the more they'll like him. But many Democrats fear he's one of those supercilious/smarmy candidates (like Al Gore) for whom the opposite is true: the more you know him, the less you want to see him.

Yesterday, in Coolidge Corner (aka liberal heaven) I was asked by somebody wearing a DNC jacket and holding a clipboard if I would like to help get rid of George W. Bush. I said, "Not really, but I'd like to get rid of the Democratic National Convention".

Wealth of Nations

I'm reading Adam Smith's Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. It's surprisingly well-written for an economic tome of the 18th century. Smith, as you know, was the first person to lay down modern economic theory, and parts of Wealth of Nations read like my first-year econ textbooks. Here are a few choice quotes from Book IV, Chapter 2:

To judge whether such retaliations [in import restrictions] are likely to produce such an effect, does not, perhaps , belong so much to the science of the legislator, whose deliberations ought to be governed by general principles which are always the same, as to the skill of that insidious and crafty animal, vulgarly called a statesman or politician, whose councils are directed by the momentary fluctuations of affairs... Humanity may...require that the freedom of trade should be restored only by slow gradations, and with a good deal of reserve and circumspection. Were these high duties and prohibitions taken away all at once, cheaper foreign goods...might be poured so fast into the home market as to deprive all at once many thousands of our people of their ordinary employment and means of subsistence. The disorder which this would occasion might no doubt be very considerable.

Anti-free-trade people would be quick to apply this to the case of underdeveloped nations in today's economy. However, I think Smith would point out that these poor countries are getting what they earn; the value of their produce is very low, and they can thus buy very little with their labor. They're no worse off than their ancestors - better, in fact, because of free markets - it's just that they're not keeping pace with the developed world.

It's more complicated than that, of course, and one part of modern economics that Smith doesn't know about is the problems associated with maintaining capital. He certainly makes the distinction between capital and non-capital money, but (because of the times he lived in) does not address the problem of capital flight that is so central to today's international economic policies.

Introducing: Eden's Dream

Eden's dream as dreamt by Eric is a compelling journal I found via Mute Troubadour. His last couple posts were both well-written and on relevant, even deep, topics. I encourage you all to swing over and check it out. He'll be in the Journals section of the links from now on.

In other news, if you have a free afternoon, check out Garrett's weighty and ticklish analysis of "Who was the greatest pitcher of all time?" It's a wonder to behold.

Patience like they have never seen

The Lebanon Daily Star published a front-page report of an interview with Iraq's Association of Free Prisoners, a group that sought freedom for political prisoners under Saddam, and is now trying to uncover the crimes committed by the late regime. Iraqis who lived through Saddam's prisons are not, frankly, too concerned about the current scandal in Abu Ghraib.

"As a humanitarian organization, we oppose this," he says. "But these are soldiers who have come to Iraq to fight, not to be prison guards. It was to be expected. Of course, if there are innocent people in there ... it is possible, I guess, that some of them are innocent."

His tone comes across pretty clearly, and I think his point is well made: the U.S. invasion does not lose its merit based on the transgressions of a few. Considering how many times what is now Iraq has been conquered in the last 6000 years, we've probably seen the least loss of life despite having the most destructive technology. I think there's something to be said for that.

Of course, I opposed the war from the outset, and I think now the U.S. should be primarily concerned with an exit strategy, and Rumsfeld should be sacked, not only for the prison scandal (which is indeed atrocious by our standards) but for the power play that somehow allowed him to outflank Colin Powell and the Powell Doctrine and get the whole United States buried in a q***mire. (Far be it from me to be the first Republican to use the "Q" word)

Q***mires aside, this type of thing puts our problems in perspective:

"They called all the prisoners out to the courtyard for what they called a 'celebration.' We all knew what they meant by 'celebration.' All the prisoners were chained to a pipe that ran the length of the courtyard wall. One prisoner, Amer al-Tikriti, was called out. They said if he didn't tell them everything they wanted to know, they would show him torture like he had never seen. He merely told them he would show them patience like they had never seen." "This is when they brought out his wife, who was five months pregnant..."

The tragedy unfolds, but it's the type of story I can't bring myself to repeat, whether in person or online, so read it yourself if you feel the need.

Rooms to Rent

I'm searching online for accommodation in D.C., where I'll be moving in a week to take my new job (woohoo!). After going through a couple services that charge, I found Craig's List which is free (so far), and is much more free-form; people don't fill out little checklists for you. It works better, because you get a much better impression of who's on the computer opposite you trying to find a roommate. Some of the ads are real gems... or downright scary.

We have rooms or couches/sleeping spaces AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY which you do not have to pay anything ( just pay $40/Month only for phone & utilities ) No, if you are looking for a catch or any catches, we do not have that for you, sorry!!! We are looking for special roommates, not just anyone out from the street, and we do not need money because we have already made enough ends meet. We only want the right roommates, money means nothing to us. You can stay for FREE as long as you want at our places. Everything is up to you. No catches, no bulls, no strings, no lies, no obligations, no papers, no contracts, no nothing of anykinds or anything whatsoever. At anytime you want to move out just walk out at anytime, no questions asked... We must know exactly who you are before we call you and meet you. So please identify yourself and send E-mail to us ( Do not waste your time writing long letter, just tell us who you are, NOT what you do for living, not what you like or dislike ) today at: europe4567@yahoo.com And another one...current occupants: hot single chick, young couple (we are dj's), and seeking a fourth for living purposes... Sorry no pets, no country music, high maintenance princesses, or people who don't have their own lives. And yet another...I'm a 32 yo professional male. I just moved to a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath townhouse within 5 min walk to the Vienna metro. I am very busy and am looking for an attractive female to move in, that can help me clean the house, make dinner, walk the dog, etc.. In exchange I can offer free room and board or even pay a salary?? European descent a plus!

Resurgent Red Sox

I'll admit it - I've done my share of panicking already this season. The Sox haven't been pretty, they haven't been smooth. However, I checked the standing today, and guess what - we're not only leading the division sans Nomah and Trotsky, we have the second-best record in baseball! Only the Anaheim Angels, playing in the eviscerated AL West have won more games than the Red Sox's 25 W's. It's not a beautiful brand of baseball they're playing. Shoddy defense, suspect sinkerballer, red-eye flights and sometimes sleepy play. The way they look out there some days bespeaks a team that deserves to be 17-25, not 25-17. But they're winning. Guess I can't complain.

A few stats 1/4 of the through the season:
- Team batting average .264, 9th in the AL.
- Team on-base percentage .347, 5th in the AL.
- Team home runs 54, 3rd in the AL.
- Team runs scored 205, 6th in the AL.
- Team ERA 3.55, 1st in the AL.
- Team walks & hits per inning pitched 1.26, 1st in the AL.
- Record against now-above .500 teams: 8-7
- Record against now-below .500 teams: 17-10


Synopsis: it's the W's that count. Ugly baseball can turn beautiful with a little focus and a pennant race (and the return of two starters). The Yankees are below us in every one of the major pitching and batting categories - it's our last-in-the-league defense that's our Achille's heel. Our head-to-head games have been key, but we've played few of the same teams; the Yankees have played 19 games against the AL West compared to our 3. The unsung heroes of the early season are the Boston bullpen, who have slammed the door in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings - and always in the 9th - and given the batters an opportunity to come back in almost every game. If this post is disorganized and hectic, it's because it's 3am and I should be sleeping, and because it reflects the Sox, who are winning with some ugly baseball. Here's to October!

ODSIHTGFMH

There are a number of good ways to end boring Instant Messanger conversations. There's the classic gtg, "got to go". Some try to soften the ending with a ttyl or a ttfn. Some people have serious difficulty ending conversations, taking 4 or 5 consecutive messages to say goodbye in an effort to mimic the politeness that normally attends a face to face parting.

You know you're talking to someone from westawusta, however, when they end a convo with "ok dear salim...I have to go feed my horse". Yeah.

Race Discussions

I think that Ali Baba's comments on appearance (comment #8 on Guest Post:Parker) are right on. However, his last paragraph is exactly the point I've been trying to make all along, that there are things far deeper than appearance.

In a society where more than 50% of prison inmates are black complaining about the race of the winner of American Idol is perhaps the stupidest, most irresponsible thing to do.

Parker, it doesn't matter whether you can tell where someone is from by looking at them. They themselves know where they are from, and they also know the characteristics of their own racial group. If their group is undereducated, has low life expectancy, high incidence of single parenting, etc, they know it even if you don't. It's the reality of race, not the appearance, that needs fixing.

In my first post I criticized conservatives for claiming that colorblindness is the solution - that as long as we don't make assumptions about anyone in public, we've solved the problem of race. I think that is narrowminded; to pretend that race is a "random" incidence is sheer denial. Race is causally related to the historical conditions of someone's family, and has therefore enormous statistical impact on their chances of success in society. Parker says, I don't think can make very many accurate assumptions of culture based soley on the color of a persons skin. The only logical conclusion of this argument is a dangerous form of racism, however. Because if there aren't significant differences in the heritage of blacks and whites, then the only way to explain the discrepancy is to say that somehow the chromosome that makes skin dark also makes the person within that skin more predisposed to crime. That's not a road you or me or anyone wants to go down.

Colorblindness works when you're choosing who to sit next to on the T, but it doesn't work when you're defining educational policy. While an individual black teenager may be on his way to a Harvard education, the statistical facts are that most need some sort of intervention (governmental or not) to bring them to real equality with the white kid who was born in the hospital bed next to theirs.

Here's to us

I'm not sure if it's my having more free time, my readers having more free time, the quality of the posts going up, more regular readers, or more traffic from other sources, but readership at InstantReplay has spiked during the month of May. Already, we've surpassed the total number of visits for March, and with 50 hits on most weekdays, we're set to blow away IR's previous hit highs. Keep coming back - this place could get real quiet once I move to D.C. (where I'll lack a computer for a few months) to take my new job there. By the way, it looks like I'll be moving down on Memorial Day weekend.

Plan B

I didn't have the guts to post the lyrics to this Five Iron Frenzy song until after God granted me a job. Now I'm safe... so enjoy:

I fell asleep with my clothes on
Dropped my keys on the front lawn
Waking up I watch the drool a-gleaming
from my mouth to the carpet it is streaming

Giving up, it never felt so good
welcome to plan B
Giving up, what is the likelihood
life could be so free?

I'll eat some moldy bread
then I'm going back to bed
I know how this day will crescendo
I'll fall asleep while I play Nintendo

Up to now in my life I have failed
all I've tried, it's too hard
I think I've found my calling now
laying down, in the yard
Don't you cry Momma, don't you even weep
'cause you know your son excels at sleep.

Guest Post: Parker

Much has been discussed about race and American society recently. Equality of opportunity. Poverty breeding poverty. Melting pot vs. stew. When these issues were mentioned it was all within the context of race. And my position has been and continues to be that race (skin color) is not the determining factor. Gandhi has said that we shouldn't be color blind. I think we should.

How is skin color a determining variable in who a person is? Can you determine anything about who a person is by the color of their skin? Does being white predispose a person to thinking Garth Brookes is the greatest thing since sliced bread? Does everyone who is black like to listen to 50 Cent? Do all Asians excel in math and science and end up at someplace like MIT? My point is that the color of your skin is determined by a few chromosomes. Who you are is determined by much, much more.

So why would we care if the winner of American Idol two years in a row have the same skin color? There are many reasons for our hypersensitivity to race. A few of the more prominent ones:

1: Failure of many political leaders. There are some political leaders who have found a great way for getting votes: pitting one group against the other. How many times have you heard a speech where the audience was told they deserved something and that opposition wasn't going to give it to them? Seniors deserve free prescription drugs, and republicans are in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies. Every politician that disagrees with the NAACP policies is a racist. Some politicians frequently exacerbate tensions between groups and are more than willing to perpetuate stereotypes. All because it has been shown to garner votes.

2: Failure of the education system. History is constantly being re-written and re-colored with the glasses of modern society. Christopher Columbus who was once a great explorer (undeserved) is now a historical villain of the same magnitude as Hilter (also undeserved). Current history books write about all of the evils of every previous generation of Americans (but only the one of European decent) and the implication in class is often that current Caucasians still need to be held responsible for those events.

3: Fear and laziness. I'd be hard-pressed to define American culture. I'm not sure there is one. I think america is more like a high school with a bunch of cliques. Each of these cliques have a few common elements (and maybe those common elements are american culture) but each group is different. And people by nature like to be comfortable and that means congregating within your own culture. Never venturing out to meet someone of a different culture. And then making assumptions about people from other cultures. (But again a person's skin color tells you absolutely nothing about his culture)

So is there a solution to our hypersensitivity to race? I think that every element of our society needs to be colorblind. And to judge people on what they do. Maybe then nobody will care if the winner of American Idol is black, white or purple. (And out of curiosity how many IR readers have watched more than one episode of Idol from start to finish?)

Can this marriage be saved?

It's like your wife says, 'I'm going to get rid of you for a new husband.'[Long pause] 'Damn it! I couldn't find anybody in time! I thought I had one, but you know what, on second thought, we couldn't come to terms. Darn it! [Another long pause] Um, I want you back now. I want you back now to take care of our kids. We're all right, right? OK, good. Everything's cool, right? I know I said you were a bad husband, but I didn't mean it.'

That's Nomar Garciaparra, quoted in the Boston Globe Magazine referring to his relationship with the Boston Red Sox. I'm thinking we might be in the market for a shortstop soon.

And hope does not disappoint us

I applied for a job in D.C. - "the perfect job" - doing what I love (running Model Arab Leagues for high school and college kids). I knew a few others who had applied for it, and the week they told us they would make a decision, word spread through the grapevine that it had gone to Jeff from Berry College. He's a good guy and well qualified, so I didn't feel unfairly passed over, but it was still a bit of a blow.

I spent the past week searching diligently for jobs in Boston. I sent out resume after resume and cover letter after cover letter, and I don't know if people will be offering me jobs with titles like "Staff Assistant", but if they do I'll have to disappoint them, because I got a phone call this morning from D.C., and the first words out of her mouth were, "We'd like to offer you the position". Praise God!! I feel like I'm walking on air, and I'm about to go give my 2 weeks notice at my part-time job (which has been a huge blessing itself).

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:5

Salim is dead

InstantReplay is unhappy to report that Salim was killed today. British and American authorities say that the transfer of power will go as planned. Unfortunately, Salim won't be around to use that power to his nefarious and suspect ends. The Salim is dead, long live the Salim!

Sons of Kevin Youkilis?

The Boston Globe suggests that after Kevin Youkilis' impressive major league debut last night, Tim Wakefield should consider naming his newborn son 'Kevin' (Kevin Bronson, for that matter, given Arroyo's ace-like performance on the mound).

Youkilis could become a folk hero in this town... with nicknames like "The Greek God" or "Atlas", perhaps. And who knows - maybe the next 'Sons of Sam Horn' will be 'Sons of Kevin Youkilis', after all Youkilis became the first Sox player to homer in his major league debut since Sam Horn July 25, 1987. You heard it here first!

Guest Post: Gandhi

This post was penned as a response to my comments in "Winning the Race" below. Gandhi is a friend and loyal reader, and has the honor of being the only person to ever redesign InstantReplay in my absence. I'd also like to take a moment to congratulate him on his family's victory in the recent Indian elections.

Diaries of an Interracial Racist I have had a number of arguments with people over what the terms “racist” or “prejudiced” actually mean. I generally hate it when people give me dictionary definitions for words when I am in a debate with them. This is mainly because the intent of the person giving the definition is to demonstrate that they are not biased in their use of the word, while twisting its meaning to suit their arguments. However, everyone has biases and biased people write dictionary definitions; one can easily find two very different definitions for a word and choose his favorite to punctuate his “unbiased” opinion. Having said that, I am going to give a dictionary definition for the word “racist”. I tried to be as objective as possible in doing this, so I typed “dictionary: racist” into Google and hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button to pull up the first match. This is what I got: “a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others”. This is not an adequate definition without having properly defined the word “prejudiced”, which is “being biased or having a belief or attitude formed beforehand. [example: ‘a prejudiced judge’]”. From these two definitions I will now extrapolate a new definition for the word “racist”: A person who has a bias [formed by 1) the media, 2) gossip, and 3) his personal history of direct and indirect interactions with people of other races] that influences him to perceive different tiers of likeability among people based on their varying features and skin color. I grew up in an interracial family. My dad was born in Bombay, India and my mom was born in California – complete opposite sites of the globe; to date I have only met three people in the world who share my ethnicity. From the time I was young, our home was often a haven for single mothers and international students. I can rarely remember a time that there wasn’t someone from another country living with our family, and my babysitters included people from Kenya, Sri Lanka, Germany, India, Japan, and England. By the time I was 14 I had visited India five times. My best high school friend was a Russian immigrant. I still remember meeting an English man who had spent probably the better part of his live as a missionary in South Africa. Although I don’t recall his name, I’ll never forget the words he gently said while talking about the reason for Apartheid in his country. “We’re all a little bit racist”, he said. Despite all the exposure I have had with people of vastly different cultures, I will be the first to admit that I am a little bit racist. I still have a hard time relating to black people. I absolutely hate it when white people ask me, “Do you speak Indian?” (There is no such language). I make ethnic jokes about Chinese plastic, French snobbery, Russian mail-order brides, and arrogant Americans (like me). I make assumptions about new people I meet based on my previous encounters of others who looked somewhat like them. A certain amount of stereotyping is normal, but we have control over the attitudes we form from those stereotypes. As Salim said, liberals want us to become “more race-conscious” and “more quota-based” as a way to solve this problem. In a way, they are not so far from the truth. We should be conscious of other people and their needs, though quotas are a bad way to handle this. But rather than being “more race-conscious” (which could mean a number of different things), we need to start by being more conscious of our own racism. That’s one reason I absolutely despise liberals like Jesse Jackson, who takes every opportunity to make race a political issue. He can get away with calling a white person a racist because his color makes him immune to the accusation. I suspect that privately he’s more bigoted than Strom Thurmond was. Should we endeavor to “become colorblind”? The answer to this is beautifully illustrated by the story of a little American boy walking with his mother though an Arab market, who says “Mommy, why is everybody brown?” One of the great things about young kids is they don’t yet have all the biases that we have, and they’re candid about any differences they see between people. This is not a bad thing, and if the colorblindness test is a measure of how racist we are, then we would inaccurately call that little boy a racist. I live in New Hampshire, where blacks account for less than 1% of the population. If I was really colorblind in the friends I chose, statistically all my friends should be white. On the contrary, we should actively seek to make friends who are different, and the body of Christ should reflect diversity in every way. When Paul writes in Galatians 3:28 that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, because you are all one in Christ Jesus”, he is not saying that men and women aren’t different, or that we should pretend they aren’t different – he’s saying that gender difference does not have an effect on God’s love for us. Since race is an innate characteristic just as gender is, we can extend this to say that whites and blacks (though often different in many ways due to the culture that accompanies each race) have equal value before God as individuals. Regarding the government’s role in fighting racism, I believe a libertarian approach would be best in most circumstances. (Even laws providing extra penalties for “hate crimes” can cause problems, since there is enormous pressure to implement these penalties any time there is a crime involving two races.) Historically, immigrants and minorities have ultimately done better for themselves in America with intuition rather than government help. Although individuals should not be colorblind, this way of thinking might make a lot of sense for the government. Government aid should be directed at specific social, cultural and geographic areas rather than at specific racial groups. This solution may sound oversimplified, but it is a good way to start replacing the current system that exacerbates racism in America.

Brown v. Brown

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, probably the single biggest and most recognized landmark of the civil rights movement. Besides celebrating the victory of human rights, journalists are noting the role reversals that are occuring in the "post racism" climate prevalent in the U.S., which has been the main topic here at IR for the last few days. The NYTimes reports on situations where black parents are fighting against integration orders; in some cases it's just to get their kid into their favorite school, but in many it's to regain a lost sense of community. This, I think, is the embodiment of the risk of racial disintegration in the U.S., that each race seeks to create its own ghetto and subculture, rejecting the melting pot which has absorbed so many of our diverse ancestors.

Know-it-alls

Ali Baba and I were reminiscing today, as fellow social scientists, of the good old days when people knew everything. Not many people, mind you (most were dumb as toast), but folks like Pascal, Kant, and DesCartes; brilliant in all the fields of knowledge. Kant, it is said, is the last man who knew everything.

So how would one of us, or another modern man, go about learning everything, and becoming a true "Learned Man" for our time? Obviously, a strong base of philosophy, mathematics, physics, biosciences, social sciences, and a large knowledge of the world. At least a few languages - English, French, a major Asian language, and then Russian or Arabic or German or something, plus a couple related or niche languages. Computer programming is also a must, and hardware knowledge as well. Beyong that, a strong cultural appreciation for art, music, wine, literature, and nature. You'd have to then have a few key disciplines with post-graduate degrees. I'd say one social science, one pure science, and one art. The important thing is not having broad technical, but broad theoretical knowledge, that can be applied to anyone discipline. The Learned Man should be able to pick up some type of engineering in a few weeks, based on his unimpeachable knowledge of the highest mathematics. At the same time, he should be able to take control of a city government and use his political and managerial understanding to ably run the city and solve otherwise intractable problems. He should publish papers on subjects such as the frontiers of physics, historical analyses of original material in ancient languages, and how to address the "revolution of rising expectations" in the developing world.

One person I know does come to mind while writing this depression-inspiring piece. None other than my dad, who has a Ph.D. in civil engineering from MIT, speaks five languages, has strong historical and social science knowledge, educates his students most vigorously in writing and social impact, and can discuss any subject on earth intelligently. It is perhaps this last - the ability to quickly master any subject and to form intelligent, balanced opinions that makes the Learned Man a possibility in part if not in full even in our modern society. Let such men rule us, said Plato, and all shall be well.

Winning the Race

I had a short but thought-provoking conversation with Kevin Mac today about race in America. He was struck by the hyper-sensitivity to race, which has been noted in the American Idol competition. Mac maintains that if they'd picked two competitors of the same race (white or black) in both runs of the show, it would've prompted cries of racism from the other side. Are we really that Balkanized? Does a sample size of two become statistically relevant in our twisted scheme of equality? Apparently, yes.

Then, does that make us racists? No, not in the sense that the term is commonly used. Yes, we use race as a factor in someone's selection - whether for a victory in American Idol or for a cabinet-level position in the White House - but we don't use race consistently for some and against others. We're becoming a little like Canada, Nigeria, India, Jordan and a host of other countries where equity is based on representation of many groups, not solely on individual merit. This, of course, runs counter to American tradition, the Horatio Alger myth, and Dr. M.L. King's famous hope that his children would be judged by the content of their character. King did not ask for representation as much as he asked for equality.

My conservative readers are already frothing at the mouth - how can a truly equal society recognize race?! The answer, I firmly believe, is that it doesn't. The racial differences between Irish, Italian, Yankee, Jew, Scottish, etc, have basically disappeared in modern Bostonian society. Those were a big deal not so long ago. However, I equally firmly believe that ours today is not an equal society, and that to see racial differences and semi-conscious "quota-ing" go the way of the dinosaur, we have to see the differences in equality between black and white (principally) eradicated just as the inequalities between Irish and Yankee and Jew have all faded into the background.

Liberal elitists don't have the answer. They push society to become more race-conscious, more quota-based, and more punishing of overachievers. This will achieve nothing beyond race-consciousness, quotas, and punishment of overachievers. Notably, it will not achieve equality or ease of relation between races.

Conservative reactionists (yeah, that's you Gandhi) also lack the answer. They wish that we could become totally colorblind - it works, after all, for half-Indians. The case of Asian-Americans is often pointed to as evidence that if people are just treated as people, they'll do fine. However, the reason there is so little tension between Asians and whites is that their grounding is equal. If an Asian youth does well for himself and gets a good job, he isn't accused of betraying his race and acting white.

The real solution to 'race' in the U.S. is to equalize people, and then treat them as equals. Treating them differently based on race (the liberal solution) won't solve anything; nor will treating them the same and ignoring glaring differences. While the means of affecting change in our society is another discussion, I think we ought to be able to agree that racial inequality of opportunity is as un-American as racial quotas.

Pac-Manhattan

Wow. Who's up for a game of Pac-Manhattan (in Boston, of course) on Saturday? This has got to be the coolest idea ever!

"One thing that happens that I really like is the tension that occurs when our "real world" sense of our surroundings starts to overlap our "game world" sense of our surroundings, said player Mattia Romeo. "Your mind is flickering back and forth between a world composed of ghosts and power-pellets and a world where you're standing on the corner of 3rd and Mercer wearing a pink poncho with the word 'Pinky' emblazoned on your chest."

Hat tip to Dave C.

Sox Dump Seoul Power

Rarely do I yell aloud for joy when I read about guys getting shipped to Pawtucket. But I'll make an exception for Byung Hyun "Hung Slider" Kim. The official website says, Kim struggled mightily in Monday night's loss to Cleveland, lasting just 3 1/3 innings for his second consecutive start. See, that's the problem. He didn't struggle, he rolled over and died. Struggle indicates that you tried, that you worked, that it meant something to you. Kim just sucks. He sucks and he dies. He sucks and he dies and he flips off Red Sox Nation.

It's not just the flipping-off either. Mo Vaughn did that to me (and a few thousand others who waited through the rain delay) when we were chanting "Foxy Lady" at one of his return visits from Anaheim after he left the Sox. He smiled, flipped us off, and deposited the next pitch into the screen. There's no shame in that (Foxy Lady aside). But when you suck and then get mad at the fans who demand non-suckiness... that's just shameful. Take a lesson from Bronson Arroyo: he's chill, he works hard, he keeps his head down, he doesn't get mad. And he doesn't blow leads to the Yankees in October, which is another reason I think BK needs to go somewhere far away.

Creeping Costs

Maybe it's just me. Or maybe it's just music. But I've been noticing a lot more costs associated with using internet services lately. Radio@Netscape, which used to be a free service you could access from anywhere, first went to a downloaded-program-only setup, and then to a semi-subscriber-only basis. As a non-subscriber, I can listen to Radio@Netscape - which used to be Spinner.com - for free, but only for a few hours a day. After that, it turns off. If I want complete access, I have to be an AOL member, and use Radio@AOL. The reason they give is that the music companies are making them pay for music. This may be a new development, or it may be a guise to cover a desire for more revenues. The new service I've switched to, Live365, isn't as neatly organized or commercial-free as Radio@Netscape and it has popups, but at least it's free. Well, it's mostly free. If you pay to become a V.I.P., you can access some specially reserved stations and you can override the blocks that occur when too many people are listening to a station at once, and you get rid of the popups.

Meanwhile, advertising revenues are way up all over the internet, so I doubt it's a loss of ad dollars that's fueling the apparent rise in cost of internet services. It may, however, be a number of other things. To look at it positively, it may reflect the rising quality of services available. It certainly takes some manpower to offer some of what they do, and it takes tons of bandwidth, especially for music. We may just be paying to cover the cost of what we use (perish the thought!), when before it was offered free at a loss to get us hooked. It could, alternatively, reflect a change in management away from the geek culture of the 1990's as more traditional management takes over the tech sector in the wake of its stock collapse.

Either way, it's obvious that I'm pretty vacuous these days, since I'm reduced to blogging conjecture on an inane subject.

Horrible

Don't make the mistake I did and read this article before breakfast. One of the seven accused MP's, the one who took most of the photographs, spoke to the Washington Post about her unit's mission and lack of training. She managed a Papa John's Pizza place near D.C. before being called up in the reserve; soon she was taking photos as her friends "softened up" suspected insurgents for interrogation. She realized it was wrong, but she wouldn't listen to her mother when told to get herself out of there ASAP.

The moral of the story is respect human dignity and listen to your mother.

Still We Believe

It's worth seeing, and the genre, if you're wondering, is regional sports tragi-comedy. Or something like that. Anyway, watching Angry Bill and the two trashed girls from East Boston is hysterical.

Ortiz in '04

David Ortiz is better than Kevin Millar. Unfortunately, Millar is on the All-Star Ballot instead of 'Tizzle. So Sox fans, do the right thing, and join a growing movement of Boston fans who are writing in Ortiz as All-Star First Baseman for the American League. Vote early and vote often - the sooner he gets a good number of votes, the more the media will pick up the cause. MLB.com lets you vote 25 times online, and after the first time, it saves your settings so it's just 9 clicks to vote every subsequent time.

Why the U.N.?

Some of my readers have questioned in comments below why the U.S. is in the UN. I'd like to just write a quick primer to educate the masses.

What is the UN? Contrary to conservative rumor, the UN does not exist as a political body on its own. Liberals like to believe that corporations exist and are trying to bilk the "little guy" out of his hard-earned cash; the truth is, economically, there is no such thing as a corporations. Likewise, science fiction addicts imagine that computers will try to take over the world when they get "smart" enough. The UN is similar to a corporation or a computer: it does not wield power on its own. Rather, it organizes and enhances the power of those who use it - the states of the world. One of the biggest (and least noticed) effects of the UN is that it adds to the power of states, and thus relatively weakens non-state entities (e.g., ethnic groups, MNC's). Conservatives think that the UN is somehow going to infringe on U.S. sovereignty against our will. It is true that ever-extending international law infringes more and more on the sovereignty of the U.S. (and every other nation) every year. However, this is either consensual or by the extension of international legal norms, both of which could occur without the UN.

Why do we need the UN? The primary purpose of the UN is to prevent World War III. World War I occured because of a system of alliances - coalitions of the willing - that were based on mutual interest and common enmity, not on a commitment to peace. The League of Nations failed to prevent World War II twenty years later because the most important nations in the world were not included in the League and for that reason and others, the League failed to enforce its ambitious demands. The UN was formed as a reaction to these two failures. By acting not only outside the UN parameters, but with open contempt for the rest of the world (remember, it's not contempt for the UN, it's contempt for Germany, South Africa, China, Argentina, Canada, Japan, Morocco, and about 150 others). While comparisons of Bush and Hitler are ridiculous at best, the Iraq war has borne a certain amount of similarity to the beginning of World War II - the United States has acted almost unilaterally in taking land for reasons that make sense to us and no one else. The crisis of legitimacy of the UN - brought on equally by Franco-Russian unwillingness to enforce resolutions and American willingness to disregard the body altogether - is not dissimilar from the crisis of legitimacy that crumbled the League of Nations as World War II drew close.

I'm not suggesting that we are facing a war of mass destruction. I am suggesting that we are facing a chaotic breakdown of the international system as we know it, likely characterized by the collapse of weak, pro-US governments and the resurgence of pissy non-state entities. Without a unified front to address challenges, our carefully wrought sphere of influence - the largest and deepest in history - could take some serious hits. Rather, it could take further serious hits - we've already done the equivalent of emptying both barrels of a shotgun into our proverbial feet.

Parker suggests that we ditch the UN and move to an embassy-by-embassy approach to international cooperation, much like the system we had right before World War I. However, I can't blame him - as a rocket scientist, low-scale world war for a generation would guarantee him a job for life.

Man of the Hour, Person of the Year

The Garrett Logan Awards for 2003 were announced recently (Logan, as in Logan Airport). I had no idea these even existed (but then, I didn't know the Morris Horowitz Award or Sears Condit Award existed, and I won those), but I was pleasantly shocked when Mr. Logan himself (!!!) contacted me and informed me that I had been selected from among a competitive pool of nominees to receive not only an award, but the highest honor, the Garrett Logan Person of the Year Award!!

Tonight I received the first half of my prize - dinner with Mr. Logan at an upscale location in downtown Boston. We had an excellent meal, and talked economics and sabermetrics for a couple of hours over nice food and drinks. The second half of the award - an honorary degree from the Logan Institute of Elevator Logic - is yet to be printed out on Garrett's laserjet. The announcement is quite complimentary:

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for. The GL person of the year award! The nominees are... Luke, Jon, Brittany, the 2003 Boston Red Sox, Mary, Salim, and John Kerry. Except for John Kerry, who is on the ballot due to a bit of a technicality, everyone had a positive impact on my life. I want to thank all the friends in there for being my friends, and wish the best of luck to the Red Sox, who will win it all this year, (already a half-game above the Yankees!!!). But, one person stands out more than anybody else. And that one person is......... Salim Furth. Now, this is by far the most controversial GL award yet, as it has been awarded to Sailm for two reasons, both of which occured not in 2003, but in 2004. But, the voters have spoken, and Salim won. Anyway, he won for two major reasons. First, pity. Yes, I am truly sorry for all those rejections, so here's something that might cheer you up. Secondly, your mustache. You have this ability to have quite daring looks, without crossing the line (like, say, Seth Burton does). Anyway, congratulations on your win. And here's encouraging you to try out for the World Beard and Moustache Competition to be held in London in 2005.

I'm quite tickled, and I want to thank Garrett for being quite thoughtful. I'm curious to know who the electors were; it must have been stacked with the quadrant of Garrett's friends who actually know who I am :-). As a return favor, I'm giving him the notable prestige (insert snicker here) of a link to his blog in the Journals section of InstantReplay. Cheers!

Is it just me, or is there an echo in here?

Now, I'm not accusing him of plagiarism (I should be so lucky!), but I'd just like to associate myself with the words of the sage Sir Thomas Friedman, in his article today. If you'd like to see why I'm brimming with pride, compare what he says to my post and comments of yesterday.

That overhaul needs to begin with President Bush firing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld — today, not tomorrow or next month, today. What happened in Abu Ghraib prison was, at best, a fundamental breakdown in the chain of command under Mr. Rumsfeld's authority... the secretary of defense is ultimately responsible, and if we are going to rebuild our credibility as instruments of humanitarian values, the rule of law and democratization, in Iraq or elsewhere, Mr. Bush must hold his own defense secretary accountable. Words matter, but deeds matter more. If the Pentagon leadership ran any U.S. company with the kind of abysmal planning in this war, it would have been fired by shareholders months ago. Mr. Bush needs to invite to Camp David the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the heads of both NATO and the U.N., and the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. There, he needs to eat crow, apologize for his mistakes and make clear that he is turning a new page. Second, he needs to explain that we are losing in Iraq, and if we continue to lose the U.S. public will eventually demand that we quit Iraq, and it will then become Afghanistan-on-steroids, which will threaten everyone. Third, he needs to say he will be guided by the U.N. in forming the new caretaker government in Baghdad. And fourth, he needs to explain that he is ready to listen to everyone's ideas about how to expand our force in Iraq, and have it work under a new U.N. mandate, so it will have the legitimacy it needs to crush any uprisings against the interim Iraqi government and oversee elections — and then leave when appropriate. And he needs to urge them all to join in.

The Best A Man Can Get

President Bush performed a damage control operation by appearing on Arab TV today. Of course, it's too little too late, but I think it's the best thing he could do in this situation. Ignoring it wouldn't make it go away, and while most Arabs, who are way more cynical of government statements than we are, won't believe a word Bush says, at least it's showing some respect to appear before them.

Regarding the whole abuse scandal (dare I call it "Torturegate"?), the word that comes to mind is "dumb". Dumb, dumb, dumb. It doesn't seem, from what we know, that the abuses were intended for interrogation - professional interrogators know enough to follow our laws. However, the dumb, dumb, dumb officers and soldiers who perpetrated these crimes should be brought to real and serious punishment. Furthermore, Rumsfeld or someone else in the high administration should take the axe. I know it wasn't their fault, but unless the U.S. government shows by serious actions that this is really a problem for us, the Arab street won't believe it's a problem either. They know as well at us that discharging a few disobedient MP's is not a big sacrifice, and if we act like it's a small problem, nothing we say will outspeak our actions.

InstantReplay Reader Arrested for Murder

Astute IR reader 'Princess' found this important piece of information on heretofore liked and trusted IR reader 'Dubya', aka David Hill. Hill was apprehended by police in a major U.S. city for murdering a police officer. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, is using this case as a political megaphone, calling for the death penalty and - absurdly - prosecution by the U.S. Attorney General's office. I say we raise a fund to pay for Hill's legal counsel and to buy the Senator a copy of the U.S. Constitution wherein she can read up on the federal system of government.

Interview

I just had a job interview by phone for a position in D.C., where I would be running the Model Arab Leagues in which I participated as a student. As always, it was a harrowing experience, but I settled down, didn't misspeak, and got some nice softball questions. Getting the job is another story, but I'm confident that I remain among the qualified applicants for the position.

Philosophers Without Chests*

I finished Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man. All in all I would describe it as an easy read. His writing style is pleasantly accessible, and his brand of political philosophy is unobtrusive and relativist in form, if not in content. In that way, he exemplifies the Last Man who he describes in the last section of his popular volume.

Like the Last Man, Fukuyama lacks the megalothymia (egotistic drive) that would push him to promote his theories strongly. Rather, "The End" has a bit of the flavor of a textbook, explaining others' philosophies, but not systematically explaining his own or firmly rejecting some of the competing visions of others like Marx, Hegel (whom Fukuyama worships), Kojeve, Locke, Nietzche and Bacon. The best parts of "The End" are when Fukuyama does challenge or debunk modern liberal thinking. The mushy centrism popular in today's media, professoriate, and political establishment makes very little philosophical sense.

I recommend "The End" for those who are interested in a lite introduction to political philosophy and with a bit too much time on their hands. It's not a bad read, and it's not too hard to get into, it's just not quite as good as a lot of other books.

*The inspiration for my title, and for one of Fukuyama's titles, comes from Nietzche (who talked of hollow chests) by way of C.S. Lewis, who was an eminently solid-chested philosopher. In The Abolition of Man Lewis writes, "such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful".

If you want to read some good social commentary, skip Fukuyama and the library, and click on over to Lewis' essay. It starts slowly, but it's a scintillating rebuke of 20th-century liberalism once you get into it.

Experimenting

The green & beige InstantReplay that many of you know and love is going by the boards. I thought about going with Gandhi's old template, which would have provided a nice counterpoint with the content...

My biggest obstacle is the lack of image support at Blogger. I came across all kinds of beautiful layouts involving architectural masterpieces or ripe fruit, but none of these can be coded in HTML. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the results - comments and suggestions are welcome.

Hat tip to "The Mother", who has colors beyond number. "The Mother" didn't name the colors herself, but some of these colors are pretty creative, like Murky Mint 11, Karma Kulture, Scratch 'n' Sniff, Tacky Love Scene, Lilaxative, and Lemon Rawhide. I'm settling on Grit for the background and BostonBlue (presumably named for the clay) for the text.

All Quiet on the Western Front

There's a reason this blog has been pretty quiet of late: it reflects my life. Besides graduating from Northeastern over the weekend (theoretically; I didn't actually attend graduation), I haven't accomplished a whole lot the past week. I'm tired, the weather is wet, the Sox are losing, and I don't have a job yet.

International news is dominated by the war in Iraq, which looks more like Vietnam every day, and the foreign media is just as ridiculous and biased as the American media, so there's not much that's good to read. Bush and Kerry seem to be running into the hard facts of early campaigning: people just don't care yet. Not until summer vacations are over and the leaves start to fall will swing voters pay any attention to either candidate. Most who have not already passed judgement on the Iraq War are reserving it for after the June 30th deadline. I have to put myself in that same category - not that my vote counts, but I know I can't vote for Kerry, and I'm having trouble convincing myself to vote for the current Big Spender.

I've got the next two days off from work; hopefully I'll get some quality reading done.