Is Koolaid a sin?

In the article "Miracle Tax Diet" in today's New York Times, the author writes:

A starting point is to recognize that risky teen behavior these days can involve not just alcohol, drugs or sex but also extra-large Cokes.

Seriously, people.  I'm in public health. I understand that obesity is both a health and economic problem in the US, which is why it becomes a public health problem.  Ordinarily, government wouldn't care if you were fat or skinny.  But when your largesse goes from annoying the person in the airline seat next to you, to becoming a tax burden to everyone who has to pay for your disability compensation, then we begin to care.  

Nevertheless, I'd imagine parents have to pick their battles in trying to sway teen behavior.  For example, I was never taught about the perils of alcohol, drugs or sex.  Extra-large Cokes, Koolaid, and glorious refreshing Root Beer, on the other hand, were highly regulated. Did it work? Well - I'm not obese, and I don't do drugs. You decide. 

I think that we should devise some kind of litmus test for which issues merit public service announcements, billboards or sin taxes.  Let's weigh the options:

The author wants us to put Alcohol, Drugs, Sex and Sugary beverages in the same pot. 

Let's think of the members of that pot (ie: Alcohol, Drugs, Sex and Soft Drinks) as X

1. The AIRLINE SEAT test.  

Imagine you are flying coach from DC to LA, got to the airport late so you have to board in 'group 5' and are consequently stuck in a middle seat between two people. Would you rather be stuck between 2 drunk teenagers, 2 stoned teenagers, 2 teenage mothers or 2 teenagers having Cokes? 

Perhaps I'm not considering the full health consequences of my statement.  Fair enough.

2. The TIME WARP AIRLINE SEAT test

Let's imagine those two teenagers continued their risky behavior of choice (behavior X) for 15 years, and you have the unfortunate luck to sit between them once again.  15 years of alcohol or drugs could result in you sitting between 2 individuals who are not well kept, maybe having some unfortunate odor, perhaps in withdrawal during the 5 hour flight. They would be quiet, want a dark environment, and be skinny, because all of their money has been spent on booze and rocks. The teenage mothers, 15 years later,  - well, they'd be young mothers, maybe sporting some bling, maybe nursing a kid, but I don't think they'd bother you much. Ah, but 15 years of sugary drinks later, you'd be upgraded to business class because your middle seat would be occupied by the expanding laps of your two neighbors. 

I think so far, I've made a case for stopping the public service announcements on sex. But we know that is wrong, since sex doesn't just lead to babies [isn't that right, Sarah Palin?]. 

3. The RATIONAL INCENTIVES test

The sin tax. What a great invention. If you tax a product, it costs more. If it costs more, people will buy less.  It worked for cigarettes, booze costs more in Canada and I'll bet they have fewer alcoholics than we do in the US...

But wait - Alcohol is particularly cheap in Europe (all those stories about how beer costs the same as water in Germany are true!) but they are healthier than we are.  How does that work? Does it have to do with the drinking age, and not the tax? Could it be that teenagers are not rational, and when they are forbidden from something, they seek it out with greater passion?

Drugs - we could tax them, but first we'd have to figure out who sells them. So, I guess that's out.

Sex - hmm... a condom tax. Interesting idea. If you tax it, it costs more. If it costs more, people will use it less. More unprotected sex = bad. So, what if we gave them away for free? Just on the hunch that when being lectured to about the virtues of abstinence in high school, the impressionable young minds are wandering, checking out their neighbors, passing notes, or sleeping, it might not be a bad idea. 

I guess this is how the Gov. of New York has come up with the tax on sugary beverages. Let's call it the Koolaid tax.  Where do we draw the line? Do we tax all sodas? Just the non-diet sodas? What about "juice beverages"  like Hi-C and Fruit Punch (Does Hi-C still exist?). Do you tax those koolaid packets where you have to add your own sugar, or just the ones where you add water? Juice has sugar. Should we tax juice? What about chocolate milk?

I see a really slippery slope here. One where we have to redefine beverage to exclude juice, milk and alcohol. Or engage in an effort to make water more exciting. 

I know. Let's give it bubbles and make it sweet. 

Cuban Health System Presentation

After my trip to Cuba in July of 2007, my classmates and I organized a presentation at JHSPH to share our findings and impressions of the Cuban health system. There was some request for this to be made available more publicly, but I have only just figured out how to do so. Some photos had to be deleted due to the size of the presentation, but I assure you they were beautiful.

The conclusion: The Cuban health system has done impressively with few resources. It has better health statistics than the US, spends minimally on its citizens, yet each doctor in Cuba is in charge of less than 250 households, and is charged with managing their psycho-social well being as well as their physical well being, for a more holistic view of health.

Here is the presentation for your viewing pleasure:



I do not want to be presumptuous and think that someone might want to appropriate any of these slides, but just in case, please don't. They aren't yours.

To Secretary-designate Daschle

The Obama transition team, in its brilliantly technological effort to make all Americans with a computer feel involved, created the change.gov website. So, I was wandering the site, and discovered that I can write to the transition team for health care, and share my thoughts with them. I can also post them on the site for all to see and argue with, but I wasn't ready for that yet.

Here are my thoughts as of today. Help me refine them, or send Daschle your own email.

What we have today in the US cannot be called a health care system. It is not integrated, does not have stated goals, and does not serve the lifetime health needs of our citizens.

We badly need health care reform in the US, but it will have to be implemented incrementally, and with popular support. This support should be measured not in the number of dollars a particular industry or professional organization is able to muster, but in the number of citizens, academics and health professionals in favor of the measures.

In order to build a health system that allows everyone access to the human right of health, reform must address many sectors.
1. Health Education
2. Pharmaceuticals
3. Medical Malpractice Laws
4. Distribution of physicians and health services
5. Financial incentives for health professionals

1. HEALTH EDUCATION
The education of our doctors needs to be adjusted in two ways. First, preventive health and primary health care should be highly emphasized in the medical curriculum. Second, young doctors should not be burdened with so much debt that they are no longer able to consider going into primary health care and must consider specialty training.

Furthermore, health education should be promoted by the government through the use of public service announcements, rather than motivated by the producers of certain products or procedures. The food stamp program should be adjusted to make the purchase of fruits, vegetables and juices more attractive than various forms of corn syrup (soda, chips, cookies, etc.) Health needs to be recognized as not just the domain of the DHHS, but intertwined with agricultural policies and welfare polices.

2. PHARMACEUTICALS
It is clear that one of the major costs of health care today resides in drug prices, and drug prices in the US are higher than anywhere else in the world. Americans should no longer have to shoulder the unfair burden of subsidizing R&D expenses, nor should we be bombarded with advertisements for prescription medicines. The government should seriously consider creating a national list of essential drugs, and mandating that all of those drugs be available in their generic formulation.

3. MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWS
A cap needs to be placed on medical malpractice payouts, so that the insurance costs for physicians does not prevent motivated doctors from taking up certain specialties. Legal oddities such as the fact that the obstetrician can be sued for a child's disabilities until the time that child is 18 years old need to be revised. If physicians are better protected by the law, they will not feel obliged to order a myriad of tests in order to prevent their diagnoses from being questioned by lawyers, keeping medical costs down and morale up.

4. DISTRIBUTION OF PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH SERVICES
While physicians all over the world flock to urban centers, provisions need to be made to make health care, particularly high quality primary health care, available in an equitable fashion nationwide. Perhaps doctors need to render service to under-served communities as part of their medical training. Perhaps physicians receiving certain federal assistance repay their "debt" by practicing in less desirable locations. Once all Americans have access to health insurance, physicians serving in rural, poor, or remote communities will be assured of payment for services rendered.

5. FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Whether it is the medicare payment scheme, or incentives given by insurance companies, physicians and hospitals in this country are financially incentivized to do more procedures, more tests, and even change diagnoses to those which pay more. What if doctors were paid to keep people healthy rather than make them healthy? What if illness were seen as a failure of the medical establishment to have done something sooner, rather than as an opportunity to rake in money? Obviously, this does not apply to all illnesses, but considering the number of chronic conditions which are preventable, having the primary function of the health system be health rather than healing is not revolutionary.

Suppose the motivations of the health system became realigned so that primary care physicians prevented heart disease by counseling over-weight individuals, or so that a great deal of kidney failure was prevented because a primary care doctor ensured that a poorly educated patient was able to monitor and control his insulin levels. Unemployed cardiologists and un-used dialysis machines could then be viewed as a sign of success.

Think about it.

And while you are thinking, do not forget to make use of those experts who are not funded by special interest groups.

Do we need the big 3?

The last time we were in recession, (2000-2001), it could be attributed to the collapse of the dot com bubble, the scandals with Enron, Anderson, and other accounting companies, and, of course, Sept. 11. However, the official word was that the recession actually was over by the end of 2001, indicating that little blame can be placed on our reduced propensity to travel, and much more on speculation in companies that didn't actually make anything, or a company that bought, sold, traded and managed a product that it created. Why does that history matter?

The major argument of the big 3 automakers is that they cannot meet their financial obligations because they cannot borrow money. And they need to borrow money because they are operating in the red. But according to economists, the state of Michigan has been in recession since 2001. It never came out of it, because for the last 8 years, it has continued it's stubborn reliance on the backwards economic ways of US automakers. In order to keep their stock prices up, US automakers boosted sales by offering one stop shopping at the dealerships - pick a car, get your loan, hug your warranty while you pay minimal insurance.

So now, GM and Ford want taxpayer money in order to turn their financing arms into commercial banks. They want taxpayer money to pay their workers, suppliers and no doubt, their executive salaries. Chrysler, a private company owned by a venture capital firm, wants taxpayer money because it can't admit that after being rescued from the dead by Lee Iacoca, it is again going to die.

And, to top it all off, lawmakers aren't asking for any guarantees from the car companies. There is a lot of rhetoric being spewed about "how do we know you'll pay it back" and "how do we know you won't come back for more dough in six months" and even some petulance because they did not get to ask the same questions to AIG and Citigroup since those deals went directly through Treasury. But no beef. No conditions, no demands, no muscle.

Today, the Dept of Labor reported that unemployment is up again, and more people are out of jobs. Ok - it is a recession. What do they expect. In fact, if the definition of a recession is a contracting economy, how is it possible for the economy to get smaller while the workforce gets bigger. We aren't the Soviet Union. We haven't nationalized our industries. YET.

I predict that despite the consternation and disfavor of large swaths of this country, the wise old fools in Congress will give money to the car companies. Because they fear that somehow, the lack of new jobs, and the loss of current jobs will put them out of a job. They have 2 years of job security. They shouldn't worry about their own skin, and should concern themselves instead with making the automakers :

1. Consolidate - 3 to 2. Get rid of GM.
2. Go into bankruptcy, so that they can renegotiate their contracts with the UAW
3. Get rid of the UAW. This union is worse than the mafia. A group of a few hundred thousand, or maybe a million members is holding all of America hostage by equating our economic well being with the well being of the only 3 car companies which will hire them.
4. Close their car dealerships. Tough shit for the car salesmen. We can use their large lots to create more parks, which will help the car companies with their pollution problems which will no doubt be the next reason they will come begging to Washington when they can't meet cap-and-trade requirements.
5. And finally, disassociate the well-being of the overall US economy from the fate of the car companies.

Yes, they indirectly control many jobs and industries. But we forget that all of the foreign automakers also buy parts from various US companies for their US plants. What if we increased the import duties on cars and car parts? We already flount the WTO when it serves our purposes. Why gain a conscience now? Raise import duties, make it more economical for foreign car companies to build their entire cars in the US, and keep the majority of those suppliers in business. Even better, while raising import duties, create tax credits for specific energy efficient goals - factories, cars, fuel. All of this will build an alternative industry, which the US car companies may not be able to keep up with. Again. Tough shit. Maybe they will grow again in the future. Maybe Henry Ford's internal combustion engine will suffer the same fate as Watt's steam engine.

Congress needs to calm down. We've yelled fire too many times in the last 6 months. And none of those fires have been properly put out by blanketing them in greenbacks. So perhaps, instead of using the same poorly functioning extinguisher, we should do a little controlled burn, and build a nice deep fire line which we can construct over a few months instead of a few days.

The revenge of trivia

It was my first trivia night in Baltimore, and probably my first trivia night in a very long time. I recall one other time, at that great pizza place on the corner 4th year - I want to call it Magic Mushroom, but I have a feeling that isn't right. At any rate, trivia had its dark revenge last night, not allowing me to sleep for hours, being the fodder for some truly bizarre dreams, and no - there were no mushrooms and very little beer involved.

Trivia's categories:
Secret identities
Wrestling managers
Dead irish writers
Wu Tang Clan
Ku Klux Klan

Clearly, going home with thoughts of the Klan in my head did not bode well. In fact, as I tossed and turned, I dreamt of protests on the national mall against the display of the confederate flag. But these protests were conducted - literally conducted - by Leonard Slatkin. However, the protesters were surrounded by civil war soldier types, and in a great denouement, a counter protest began, led by a white sheeted freak galloping down the mall on a horse. There was more, but it has lost its clarity in my head. Thankfully!

As for future adventures in trivia...we'll have to see.

Planes, trains, and AUTOMOBILES

The passenger train system in this country survives because of the federal government.
No major airlines have been allowed to fail since PanAm and TWA curled up and died.
So, I suppose that the boards and CEOs of the most quintessential of American industries feels it is their birthright to receive a bailout.

And apparently, prominent economists such as Jeffery Sachs, are on board with that plan. It is a national industry, they say, with world-wide implications if it is allowed to collapse.

What they fail to mention is that not all of those world-wide implications are bad. If the American auto industry can't get its act together, and, pardon my saying so, can't remove its head from its ass, then why should we the taxpayer take on the role of proctologist?

If the American auto industry receives the cold shoulder from the bailout angels, and it cannot raise capital from bond issues, then perhaps it should hold out its hand to the Saudis who were instrumental in "fueling" the assembly lines of SUVs and pick-up trucks.

As Tom Friedman so nicely says, giving Detroit a loan/bailout/handout/ in order for them to retool their lines for the new demands of the American consumer is ludicrous. Ludicrous because while Europeans were embracing the Smart Car, Americans were drooling over the Hummer H3.




In order to be a viable player worldwide, the American auto industry realized long ago that smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles are the ones that sell abroad. I suspect that the only Europeans who own pick-up trucks are the ones in the construction or agriculture industries, and that Africans feel that SUVs are very useful in places where the roads are little more than dirt tracks with large potholes.

So, yes, part of the fault of the lackadaisical attitude of Detroit carmakers toward more efficient vehicles lies with the American consumer. But the car manufacturers are by no means stupid. They have figured out how to bring down the cost of production and increase the efficiency of their assembly lines for the vehicles they do make. Foreign car makers lead our market in smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles. But American manufacturers have stubbornly hung on to the bigger is better theory of innovation.

Lack of foresight goes beyond the blueprint table, however, to unsustainable pension and health coverage schemes. As their workforce continues to retire, huge sums of money will be spent on giving them 75-100% of their salary and health benefits. If the auto makers aren't making as much money, have to re-vamp their factory lines and supply chains for smaller and greener vehicles, and have to pay retired workers, then what is to assure us, the procotologists, that the bailout money will be used for something nationally productive, and not simply to ensure retirement lifestyles in Michigan?

The Living Goddess

Until May or June, Nepal was the last (only) Hindu Kingdom in the world. Now, of course, King Gyanendra, who (did not officially) murdered his brother and family in 2001 to become the King, is no longer allowed to live in the palace. And the Maoists, who have been waging a several year long insurrection across Nepal, burning tires, having protests, poaching rhinos and tigers and killing people are now in power.

Despite all of these political changes, one Nepalese tradition - an odd one if you ask me - has remained intact. This tradition appears to have its roots in the Rana dynasties of the 1800's. In the Nepalese form of Hinduism, the sitting king or leader has a personal deity (this is not unusual. Families often have personal deities. Except this deity is ALIVE!). So, this living goddess, or Kumari, is ensconced in a home which is neither temple nor palace, but more of a square building with the center cut out, so she can look down on the people within the building on the ground floor.

The living goddess must be a pre-pubescent girl. She is of a low caste family, and I think it is a buddhist family, although I didn't know the buddhists had castes, so it doesn't make a lot of sense. In trying to understand this tradition, I got a lot of different stories. What is consistent is that a new girl was recently selected, in order to match with the astrology of the new Maoist leader, since the king has been deposed. She is only 3 years old, and when one hears about the selection process as a non-believer in living deities, the sanity of the child does come into question.

So, the prospective goddess is brought to Kathmandu, to the Durbar (Royal) Square where the Royal palace used to be, and is locked up in an ornate building opened only for this purpose:



Here is where things get positively weird. She either has to:

Remain there all night in the dark, alone, and somehow find and choose some special jewelry. If the correct jewelry is selected, and she does not get scared during the night, she is the chosen one.

OR (from a more reliable source)

In the selection process, the sacrifice of 108 animals are made, including 1 buffalo. The heads of all of these animals are placed in the special building, and she has to remain there all night with 108 bloody heads, and not be frightened.

See why one must wonder if the child is right in the head?

As Hindus, Hemant Kaka and I tried to go and pay worship to the living goddess, but we were told that only Nepali Hindus were allowed to do so. Once she reaches puberty (or a new leader comes into power), she is no longer a goddess, but remains kept by the state like a nun for the rest of her life. And once a year, she is paraded around town on a human powered chariot.

Entrance Gate to the selection building:

vanquished obstacles

What a fantastic feeling it is to be happy to be an American abroad! People of all nationalities were congratulating me, as if I had suddenly morphed, from a representation of ridiculousness and stupidity, to the embodiment of hope and change. President-elect Obama...thank you! I heard of the victory via short-wave radio, translated from Nepali, in the Chitwan jungle. I'm still catching up on all of the coverage, speeches, and pictures of spontaneous celebration, but am glad to be back, and know that I'll be at the inauguration.

It was not an easy journey back, however. After illness, altitude sickness, and exhaustion, the airport authorities the world over decided to make my journey a little more "interesting". In Nepal, I was frisked a total of 3 times. As if, in between one pat-down and the next feel-up, I'd be hiding things in between the cups of my bra. But most ridiculous, the Nepalese government has a rule that 500 and 1000 denomination Indian rupee notes are illegal in Nepal. Ok - it isn't legal to try and pay with them, no problem. But it is also illegal to possess them. A fact that you only discover upon entering Nepal. So, I didn't use the Indian rupees that I had, because it was illegal to try and convert them. In trying to get out of this beautiful country with absurd security procedures, my handbag was checked - after being through 2 x-ray machines. And then, my wallet, which was inside my handbag was checked. And the 500 rupee notes were discovered. "These are illegal to have in Nepal, madam."
"Yes, I understand that, but I am leaving now and going to India."
"But you cannot have them in Nepal. It is illegal."
"Ok, but I did not find that out until I arrived in Nepal. What was I supposed to do then? Where was I supposed to keep these notes?"
"It is illegal."
"Ok, sorry. But you can't have them. Now let me out of this country!"

I was frisked once more, on the runway before climbing the stairs to the plane.

And as if this was not arduous enough, in Delhi, when I try to enter the airport to board my 15 hour flight to NYC, the over-eager police man standing at the door will not let me in. Because my paper ticket has the wrong flight time on it. So, can I go to the airline counter to fix the problem? No. I must go to some outdoor Air India outpost, stick my head into a small hole in a concrete wall that is about chest height, and try and convince the poor schmuck who is working the midnight shift in the concrete box that my ticket had been changed.

After 15 hours, can I just get off the plane and enter the US, already? Please? Alas. No. Life cannot be that easy. The customs officials wanted to inspect the shoes I wore in Nepal. Because I was in the vicinity of YAKS. They had not been cleaned (because who cleans their hiking boots in a hotel bathtub before going on an international flight?). And they had yak poo on them. Or some other unidentified dirt. He offered to clean them in a 3 hour, government sponsored disinfecting process, unless I promised to go home and clean them right away. The government cleans your shoes? Who knew.

One would think that this was enough. After 3 friskings in Nepal, 2 more in Delhi and a 15 hour Air India flight, how many more obstacles can be put in my way to Baltimore? 3 more, apparently. First, the TSA officer did not think my passport picture was me. Then, she did not think that my second form of ID was me either, because both have a Nirali with long hair. So, she wrote some codewords on my boarding card, that caused the next TSA officer to ... wait for it... Frisk me! Again! Then, I was placed in a "holding area", also known as a glass box, and an announcement was made. "Female Houseguest". This is code for check a woman out, in the anti-terrorism sense. Jeesh! Don't they have more interesting people to frisk at JFK?

Despite it all, it is good to be back in the New America. I just hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as New Coke.

North Face knock-offs and momos

These are the principle delights of Kathmandu, in my humble opinion. I mean, I could mention the innumerable scooters, motorcycles and dirt bikes that whiz through every street, sidewalk, and alleyway around and have nearly de-nose-itated me a few times already, or the crash course in buddhism that i'm receiving, but that's just not fun.

However, if you wander down the streets of the Thamel district, as I've done for the last 2 nights, you can find the retail outlets for Mountain Hardware, North Face, Vaude, and Marmot. Which is pretty amazing. But you can also see about 1245 small shops selling the fake versions of everything, from sleeping bags to gore-tex gloves, and those fancy Sigg metal water bottles to ice axes. Personally, if my life were depending on an ice axe, I'd want an authentic one.

Luckily, I don't need an axe for this adventure. So, instead, I bought some Nepali gaiters, and things made from yak wool. Hey - if they stay warm up there, surely I will too.

Up where, you may ask. Well. Let me tell you. The Solo-Khumbu region of Nepal, which is home to Sagarmatha/Chomolungma/Mt. Everest Yup. That's where I'm headed.

But before I go there, I'll eat some more momos. They are mighty tasty.

Born again democracy

Four years ago, with a sentiment that was more anti-Bush rather than pro-Kerry, the democratic party prided itself on its grassroots get out the vote campaign.  It did not work, because the republican movement was stronger. Is it possible that this year, with a republican candidate struggling to distance himself from a wholly unpopular president, an impending recession, increasing unemployment, and the 6th year of a war that was started based upon falsehoods, we have the perfect storm?  

I was listening yesterday to reports of voter fraud around the country, of people being purged from electoral rolls, and of campaigns of mis-information which caused college students to rescind their voter registration.  Has it become necessary for us to invite international observers to our elections?  Has it become time for national ID cards, so that multiple systems of identification are not used, and we can tell the difference between citizens and non-citizens, ex-convicts and others at the polls?  It is ludicrous that discussions around the elections in the United States of America, a world champion of the right to vote, free and fair elections, a free press and racial equality remind me of:

• Voter intimidation in India
  
• Suspended elections in Bangladesh until everyone gets a national ID card
  
• People dipping their thumbs in that purple ink in Iraq so that it is apparent they already voted
• Guttural, irrational fear of black people clouding the judgement of voters in South Africa

Where are we?

If we are champions of democracy, then why do we have such low voter turnout rates? Why do so many people feel disenfranchised, when their forefathers gave their lives for the right to vote?

I do not believe that either of the men on the ballot represent THE great hope for our country. But I do believe that if John McCain is elected, we will have lost our country's greatness. Barack Obama's candidacy has re-invigorated American democracy. Voter registration has shot up, web 2.0 is buzzing with opinions, and people feel invested. They care. And, for a country as apathetic as ours, that is an achievement in and of itself.

The first time I ever wrote an editorial, it was published. 2 weeks ago, angered by the tunnel vision of the White House, I chose to put my money where my mouth is and say something. And I can tell you that I will do it again. Because it made me feel powerful. And that feeling is a formidable motivator. I hope that the Obama presidency (**cross your fingers**) will retain the energy and saavy that his candidacy has had.  I hope that it will allow citizens to feel as though their opinions are heard, and that they matter.

And I hope that I will continue to hope.

And that you will too.

oh. the french.

Ah - les francais.

On sait bien qu'ils sont un peu...eh, beh...un peu comme ca. Mais ce recit est vraiment fou.

Je presente:

L'histoire des gnomes disparu


[don't worry. The article is in english. And it will have you rolling!]

thanks to my office mate for showing me this madness

My friends...and Tommy

My friends - I have been around the block. Many times. I am an old, grizzled veteran. Did I mention that I was in Vietnam? And when I knew Herbert Hoover, I was against his tax increases at the start of the depression. But we forget that the free market system that we know today was unknown in Herbie's time. And that guy, the one who doesn't look like me, he wants to increase your taxes. He voted 84.24 times in his 2.35 years in the US senate for tax increases.

Tommy - I won't go over the time you want me to. I'll just talk to my friends a little longer. I like to make bad jokes about needing hair transplants.

MANDATE: A new bad word that mavericks don't use.

Can someone please explain why Maverick McCain needs to keep telling us that we are great? It kind of sounds like telling a middle schooler who is upset over his bad grades that he really is smart, and that he is just going through a bad time.

ok- after 55 minutes of this nonsense, I can't handle any more. I welcome your comments and cynical remarks.

Dagnabbit!

Soccer moms.
Piano moms.
Football moms.

Stand up and be heard. You are not second class citizens to hockey moms. Your minivan guzzles just as much foreign oil as theirs does. You need energy independence gained from drilling within sight of your beach vacation spots. You need to make sure that when your taxes go down because you are forever stuck in the middle class, you can go out and buy that Hummer on credit, and fill it with fuel that comes from places where the people like us. Gosh darn it. When your husband, Joe Six Pack, complains about the fact that he just doesn't have gas in his tank anymore, you can rest assured that someone is out there, making sure that we are ramping up, heating up, and creating jobs. Bless their hearts, but the evil people over there in "Eye" "Ran" are so busy making Nuc U Lar weaponry that they don't have time to sell us oil. So we just have to roll up our sleeves, pull on our muckrackers, and go north to that energy producing state of Alaska, where climate change is melting the permafrost, making it that much easier to get at the oil underneath.

So it doesn't matter that your children are perfectly healthy.
Don't feel bad that you live in the American heartland, where there is no oil.
Because there is an outsider who wants to come to Washington.
She'll be bringing her first dude, her 5 kids, and her 17 year old daughter's baby daddy with her.
Because she is a maverick.

Doggonit.

I have a plan

From an academic standpoint, this is a very novel time in economic theory. It looks like the traditional schools of thought are not well equipped to come up with coherent responses. The debates taking place are not just interventionist vs laissez-faire, or Chicago vs Austrian schools of thought, but some bizarre combination of everything.

Some people want to plug the hole in the dyke while we figure out if we can fix it more permanently. Others want to let the hole relieve the pressure on the dyke, while we decide what caused the hole in the first place. Still others want to first decide who made the hole, before figuring out if it is worth paying to plug it. There may even be some who want to outsource the whole operation, and see if we can't find a good chinese patch for the hole while waiting for the Arab 'engineers' to come and shore up the entire dyke.

And then there is the Main Street vs Wall Street debate. I am not sure if we even have a good definition of Main Street and Wall Street.

Does Main Street mean people who are not rich, such that they make less than $5 million, or people who are not rich, such that they make less than $250k? Does Main Street refer only to primary residences, or do people foreclosing on their 3rd home also count?

And what about Wall Street? There are only a limited number of true Wall Street institutions left - but do we regard all the publicly traded companies as "Wall Street"? Because they are owned, in part, by the residents of Main Street. Does Wall Street refer only to the financial big dogs, or does every mutual fund, insurance company, credit union and small town bank also count?

I think some basic clarification on these points would help immensely in crafting whatever plan is put forward.

But, in case the members of congress are too busy arguing over terminology, I have a plan:

Given
● both residential and commercial real estate in the United States has been through an extended period of unusually buoyant prices
● regulatory oversight of lending practices in the United States has been extremely lax
● financial companies around the world have taken advantage of lack of Government oversight to exploit a situation of information asymmetry inherent in the real estate market since time-immemorial
● no one likes to lose money, but people like to lose their homes even less
● the Government is not an efficient mechanism for dealing with market failures
● any large scale, hastily designed Federal program will be prone to fraud and exploitation by the morally corrupt

Be it resolved that
● Congress, voters and stock holders need to acknowledge that many different actions are required to set the ship on course again
● We may have had too much of a good thing
● giving people cake when they don't have bread didn't work for Marie Antoinette, and it will not work for George Bush and Henry Paulson
● people are going to lose money, but no one should lose their shirt

Be it further resolved that
● Bankruptcy judges should be permitted to modify the terms of a mortgage or write down the value of a loan for primary residences not yet foreclosed
● Extraordinary effort should be made by financial institutions owning bundled mortgages to identify each and every physical property owned to minimize fraud and demand accountability for asset ownership
● Government assistance in the form of assuming asset ownership should be offered at a rate below the face value of the asset so that financial institutions also assume a burden for their poor judgement, and Government assistance should only be offered when the physical properties can be identified
● the physical properties transferred to Government ownership must be made available for immediate sale to any buyer willing to purchase the property at a price that ensures a net profit to the Government, taking into account the cost to the taxpayers of creating new Government programs as well as the costs associated with the increased budget deficit due to the initial assumption of the asset
● an immediate and transparent system between the Government "real estate office" and Government mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must be established so that credit can be extended to credit worthy buyers of newly acquired Government property
● State and Federal Government agencies should be given the option of purchasing newly acquired government property for their various programs and office space needs, or leasing newly acquired government property for office space needs at a fair value
● specifications of all property owned by the Government "real estate office" should be made freely available on the internet
● Government assistance should be offered to all institutions, large and small, on the same terms or at the same point in their financial insolvency, such that larger institutions with a large number of vocal stock holders are not at an advantage over community banks and real estate developers

It's your money too

It is a sad state of affairs when "We the people" feel that our questions, recriminations, hesitancies and outrages are nothing more than rhetorical opinion. When our portfolios and retirement accounts, our mortgages and mutual funds are no longer regarded as assets and liabilities belonging to households, but as third tier derivatives, credit-default swaps and other financial ballyhoo, surely it is not unexpected that the average joe should feel cheated.

It is obvious that in our global age of interconnectedness, financial systems around the world are also interconnected. That the epicenter of these financial systems remains Wall Street after 150 years does not necessarily mean that Americans are the only ones who have something to lose should the old boys' network of institutions collapse. Not only are simple securities purchased by individuals all over the world, many nations have substantial stakes in these institutions - either through equity positions, or because if the institutions fail, the buyers of their national bonds also disappear.

The last six months of the Bush presidency have seen a series of unprecedented maneuvers in the financial sector. My age precludes me from a clear memory of the S&L crisis, but this crisis, also precipitated by a republican drive to deregulation, did not result in such a stratified beneficiary pool. Today, we see that the inhabitants of "main street", as you and I have been called by the presidential candidates, are mentioned as lip-service, but nothing more. The result of too many years of lobbyest control over Capitol Hill is that the immediate fate of the large banks and insurers takes precedent over the long term reality that such a large increase in our national deficit will bring. Ours is a reactionary government, passing the Sarbanes-Oxley act after Enron collapsed, and now likely passing a bill to "regulate" the financial industry that pressed for deregulation through 3 recent Republican presidencies. A financial bailout by the US government, purchasing the bad debt that the banks and other institutions failed to do their due diligence upon, will saddle US taxpayers with greater economic hardship. More money will have to be borrowed from abroad, and another slippery slope gets greased.

The bottom line is this: Americans are not the only ones suffering under the grossly shortsighted and profit grubbing decisions of mortgage companies, banks, and the people who sit around thinking of ways to get around federal financial regulations. So why are Americans the only ones paying for the bailout?

Evidence of CHANGE, pt. 2

The word from Wasilla, AK, care of the NYT:

She said she’s never voted, and was a teenage mom “like Bristol.” She likes Sarah because she’s “down home” but said Obama “gives me the creeps. Nothing to do with the fact that he’s black. He just seems snotty, and he looks weaselly.”

Why do our leaders need to be "down home"? Why do our leaders need to be just like you and me? I do not want to relate to my leaders? I want them to be much more intelligent, ethical and moral than I am. And if I can't get all of that, I certainly want them to be better educated that the average voter.

McCain: Bachelors degree from the USNA. Class rank: 894/899
Palin: Bachelors degree from University of Idaho, passing through 4 other colleges on her way.

Obama:Bachelors degree from Columbia University, with 1 stop along the way
JD from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude
Biden: Bachelors degree from University of Delaware. Class rank: 506/688
JD from Syracuse University. Class rank: 76/85

Personally, I've had it with leadership of questionable intelligence. Haven't you?

ps:


And...weaselly? It is better than Bush who has very simian like qualities, and McCain who kind of looks like a bull-frog.

Evidence of CHANGE pt 1

According to my calculations, the change that has occurred in the last month involves the US taxpayers taking on an additional $5,085,000,000,000 in debt, due to poor decisions made by a select few in order to extend the idea of the American Dream to many millions more Americans. However, I know that the American Dream did not involve massive foreclosures, duping of well-meaning families who don't understand the basis of a variable rate mortage and extending loans to people who don't have the means to repay them.

So now, according to these same highly technical calcuations, each US taxpayer is now an additional $49,977 in debt.

You know what. That sucks!

I am confused - is the GOP changing their very principles? Free market? Low government interference? Low debt? Balanced budget? Because, I know that not even "new math" can make it so that lower taxes can help erase the debt. Which either means higher taxes for all, or higher taxes for some.

Do you remember, 3 years ago, when all we saw on every tv station and newspaper was the continuing evidence of destruction in New Orleans? How come, when there appears to be quite severe destruction in Texas, we are not seeing pictures of it? I don't have a good explanation, except to note that during Katrina, the governor of LA was a democrat, and now, after Ike, the governor of Texas is a republican. Coincidence?

The folly of the GOP

"Drill baby drill"

"If we lost the war in Iraq, who won? Al Qaeda? Bin Laden?"

Why do the Republicans believe that chanting USA makes them more American? Why do they believe that chanting "Drill baby drill" is the answer to our energy crisis. Since when did we decide, and confirm, that Al Qaeda and Bin Laden had anything to do with the reason we went to war in Iraq?

How is Sarah Palin the most popular governor in America, when she governs a state with fewer people than New York City, or Los Angeles, or Chicago, or Houston, or Philadelphia, or Phoenix, or San Antonio, or San Diego, or Dallas, or San Jose, or Detroit, or Indianapolis, or Jacksonville, or San Francisco, or Columbus, or Austin?

Let us reflect. Sarah Palin was mayor of a town of 6000. She believes that the Alaskan Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be tapped for our energy needs, when Alaskans themselves, with all of their wind and water resources, are not energy independent. She thinks that women, even in the cases of rape and incest, should not be given the option of choosing whether or not to have a baby. She thinks that sex education isn't important. Abstinence only, she teaches. Ah - it seems to have worked well within her family. She believes that creationism and intelligent design deserve a place in the science curricula of the schools.

Oh - and can we turn to the names of her children? Track. Bristol. Piper. Willow. Trig.
Is she on crack? Is that what they taught during her renowned educational pathway to the governorship? Hawaii Pacific College, North Idaho College and the University of Idaho?

Did she just say, on national television, that her husband is quite a package? Did she just compare herself to a pitbull?

Sarah Palin is against tax increases. In fact, in her large and prosperous state, she reduced taxes. But then, they receive federal subsidies and oil revenues. So, really, she was governor of a frozen Dubai.

Barney Smith!

Ah, America. Where DID they find this guy?




Barney Smith before Smith Barney!

Is it still funny if it concerns our very LIVES?

Yes. I'd have to say that even the deepest darkest forms of political "satire" - those instances where you aren't even really sure it is satire, but you hope it is - even those are funny.

Maureen Dowd - I don't usually like your columns. But this was a good one.

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Two Against The One

Can snails swim?

I know that snail mail moves along at its own pace. But I wonder, do these snails have to swim across open water, in the event of severed political relations between 2 countries? Specifically, is there any rational explanation for the fact that in my mailbox yesterday, I received a postcard from Cuba...which was sent to me by a travel companion while I was still in Cuba 385 days ago? If it takes this long for a card with 8 words, how long would an actual letter take? Can't they send bags of mail periodically with the Americans who come to Cuba via Mexico, Jamaica or Canada? Since there is no postmark, perhaps the snail had to evade the coast guard and sneak ashore in Georgia or something.

"social Darwinism as sport"

It is NOT just a game. The beautiful game is, in fact, allegory for so many of the world's problems, foreign policies and love affairs that it baffles me as to why the US uses ping-pong diplomacy in the 70's and wrestling diplomacy in the 90's as yardsticks of innovative statecraft.

The Chinese are in crisis. Not because of the pollution threatening to "tarnish" their image during the Olympics, but because their very essence is in question. This is the country that is the driving force behind much of the world's illegal poaching - Tigers for their bones; Rhino for their horns; Buffalo for their testicles. And now, they are questioning their manhood because of their dismal performance on the soccer field. The recent elimination from 2010 World Cup competition, due to a defeat by Iraq, doesn't help.


If only India took athletics a bit more seriously...

Disclaimer: What you can find on my bookshelf

LOL, LQTM or ostrich pose?

I am so flabbergasted, I don't even know what reaction to have. I'm normally a proud Marylander. Its public schools have done me well; all hospitals are required to accept any patient, insured or not; everyone wants to Save the Bay; that old ship permanently parked in the Inner Harbor served to interdict slave ships before the Civil War. Good things, right?

But, all good things must come to an end. Or, at the very least, be tarnished beyond the repair of the bar-keeper's friend. Such is my reaction to the recent news that the Maryland State Police spent 2 years in covert operations against its own citizens, in an effort to root out terrorist threats. As a fact, that wouldn't be too bad. Until you ask...which citizens? Well, the citizens targeted were members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, protesters against the death penalty, and other pacifists. PACIFISTS. Who is the last Quaker terrorist that anyone has ever heard of?

Imagine, if you will, the undercover MD Police officer...crew cut, wide brimmed goofy looking hat, swagger...attending meetings of the non-violent war protesters at Red Emma's. Yes. This really happened. More than once. Learning, wisely, that the male officers perhaps weren't the most covert operatives, they sent a female - named "Lucy" - who attended meetings, said nothing, and reported on the proceedings of the next organic food bake sale to raise money for bus transport to other non-violent anti-war protests.




Seriously. And, if anyone knows the Quaker pacifist with whom I have the most interaction...you can understand why I find this so darkly humorous. What happens if a member of your dissertation committee is impugned for pacifist activities?

A climate change conspiracy

Conspiracy theories are always fun, aren't they? One imagines a group of over-intoxicated flannel wearers sitting around comparing pistol sizes, and wondering why the ice fishing season has shortened to a week, or whether the fact that Brittney got ugly is a plot by American Idol to up viewership. I mean, do people really have time to sit around and think about UFOs and who killed JFK?

Apparently, some people figure that conspiracy theories can work towards the greater good. This clip is about a recent law suit filled by a village in Alaska against 20 major oil companies, led by Exxon-Mobil. The village of 400 native Alaskans is being washed away, because the rising temperatures are resulting in more fierce storms that sweep across their island, without being broken by ice. The ice isn't forming anymore.

And, according to this lawsuit, the oil companies are liable...not because they caused the increase in the atmospheric temperature...but because they engaged in a conspiracy theory to block evidence of climate change.




Does anyone think that the legal system is going to solve our problems? Has suing big tobacco for health care costs incurred by the various state medicaid programs really changed American risk behaviors? And if it has had a minor effect here, what about the rest of the world?

the goofy white dude

Really? Someone sponsored a goofy white dude to dance around the world? And I can't get someone to sponsor my research? Where is the justice?



I suppose I should have thought of it first. Kind of like modern art. I mean...would Mondrian be famous if someone didn't decide that squares and lines were revolutionary?

Really? A philosopher? Clearly modesty is not one of your virtues

Perhaps these are your thoughts when viewing the transition. Perhaps not, since you don't look at the blog unless I harangue you into it, like I do with my parents. But, a little justification is in order.
1. I like my title, and am looking for ways to make it fit.
2. An Aristotelian philosopher, according to that great source of Wikipedia, is a way of looking at things scientifically - where you develop conclusions based upon facts and observations. Fitting, isn't it?
3. Apparently, Aristotle liked to walk around while he pontificated - some of my most random ideas occur in this way as well.
4. There is a peripatetic axiom. Also discovered at Wikipedia. My inner nerd appreciates being associated with an axiom.

The Peripatetic axiom is: "Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses" (Latin: "Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius in sensu"), care of Thomas Aquinas, who believed that the existence of God could be proved through reasoning.

5. If what I say provokes you to argue with me, I will be pleased.

thoughts in May

I've never really thought of Mumbai as a clean and orderly city, but arriving from Dhaka, it was a liberating experience. Wearing jeans, having drinks, going out dancing, and not being stared at just for being a woman - what fun. Alas, it was short lived. After some fun and family time, and two nights out living the high life care of a native who is in the scene, I returned to Dhaka to wrap things up.

Considering the fact that I have had to leave the country each month due to my retarded visa, it was incredibly ironic that upon my return to Dhaka, the customs officer chose to only speak to me in Bangla, and told me that I didn't even need a visa. He figured I was coming to visit my family or something, and my poor Bangla could be explained by my American passport.

American or not, being brown has made my experience in Bangladesh very different from any other foreigner. For one thing, I am not continually hounded by beggars, who flock to the white skinned like moths to light. Men, for the most part, do not try their luck with me, since being brown, I am clearly not a part of the "free sex" culture that characterizes all foreigners in Bangladesh. And by and large, I think I can bargain effectively.

All that aside, my trip would not be complete without some final adventures. In this last week, I have been given the opportunity to nap at someone's house after lunch (is this normal? do you go to lunch at someone's house, and then proceed to nap afterwards? It seemed highly suspect to me). When I didn't take up the offer, the brother of my host thought that he might like to talk to me about Islam. This is ironic, because he was a strict religious guy, who did not look at women (except his mother and sister) in the eye. But I was not privy to such treatment. I don't know whether to be flattered that I could be considered his equal, or offended that he didn't consider me woman enough to pose him temptation...but whatever it was, he did try to convert me. This type of muslim - the one who goes around to people's houses and tries to get them to go to the mosque, and be more religious, is apparently called a 'talib'. hmmm...

I had to start seriously screening my phone calls, because boys were calling me and texting me for no good reason. One of them I knew, and he just didn't get the message that I was not going to hang out with him. The others got my number from who knows where. They would just call. When I asked them if I knew them, they said no. Why would I talk to random people I don't know?

A pretty naive young woman who worked for my contractor professed her love for me. Her colleagues and I had a lot of fun, because as women, we could make jokes with vague sexual connotations (think middle school) and have a good laugh. But she would be shocked at each occurrence of this - such as when they told me that on my next visit I must come with my husband, and I replied that I'd just rent one, if necessary. But, at least someone loves me.

I got some interesting gifts upon leaving. Such as a little clay box, with a bride and groom teddy bear on top. And a mug, with all of the names of the family members where I was dining written on it. I politely declined that one. And I hid the box in my apartment. Sorry Becky!

As amusing as my time was, it was more than just a barrel of laughs. It was an opportunity to learn a new language, to see, first hand, the life of an expat - a life that I may have de facto chosen for myself. It is a lonely life, and although I think that people should do their best to mix with the local culture, it is very difficult. The bad rep that Americans get when living abroad...well some of it, of course, is earned. But a great deal of it - the isolation, the journeys to McDonalds, may be a result of the excessive attention they get whenever they leave their home.

I felt guilty when people asked me if I drank. Why should I feel guilty? It is legal, acceptable, and I imbibe with control. Yet, when asked by a person who views drinking as a sin, it made me feel as though I was committing the sin as well. One cannot live like this for long. Similarly with the lack of outlets for socializing, exercising, and enjoying open spaces without being bothered. This was possible at the American Club, so elitist though it may be, I found myself there a fair amount. It is good to be able to have a conversation with some guy without it eventually turning to the fact that American is a 'free sex' country.

Alas, this is the end of unequal treatment for now. No more separate frisking booths for women, separate lines for women, and deferrential treatment as a single woman travelling alone. Alas - I suppose, i will survive.

The cultural divide

April 14 was the Bangla new year - called the Pohela Boishak (or the first day of the Boishak month). Rather than ringing it in at midnight, or celebrating with parties, the local tradition is to greet the rising sun with songs. So, many thousands of people gather together to sing at 5:30 am. I did not make it then. But, I did participate in the festivities later in the day. It is important to wear red and white, and to show your national pride. This is done with the "onusthan". Offices, schools, and all kinds of groups put together cultural programs.


I went to one such program at a school. It was cute, - small children singing and dancing and such...but often, the over eager (and probably repressed) mothers took over - hogging the mic for all of the songs, and, as seen below, even getting up on the stage uninvited. This shocking video, taken by yours truly, shows the modern dance teacher at this school, giving a performance as a promotion for his new classes. The person sitting next to me thought the performance was beautiful.

This is also my first You Tube post, and it is very exciting to be so technological!



For more stories about the cultural divide, you'll have to buy me a beer and ask for entertainment.

which title should i choose?

There could be so many different titles for this post. I just don't know how to encapsulate all of my adventures into 1. For example, I could call it:

They killed a chicken for me

or

The men have all the fun

or even something more serious, like

Seeing the link between US consumerism and hungry villagers

Maybe I'll settle on a pun.

Remember the C&C Music Factory?

I have been on a pilgramage of sorts - In the last 10 days, I have gone and spent time with every one of my interview teams. Me and my nalgene are tromping through dusty fields in the west, through rice paddies in the east, and have seen the Bangladesh-India border on both sides - West Bengal/Bihar and Tripura/Meghalaya. I've crossed the Ganges, Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna rivers, although I have yet to go on a boat. And, knock on wood, I've survived all of these kilometers of travel on roads that have certainly increased my blood pressure. In fact, I think that instead of warning travelers to Bangladesh about malaria (which the CDC does, but which is not, in fact, a big problem here), they should caution travelers with heart conditions from coming, for risk of heart attack when your car is overtaking a slow moving truck, who is not in his lane because an even slower cycle rickshaw is near the shoulder, and you face 2 buses barrelling directly at you - one trying to overtake the other while rounding a curve, all on a road that is barely 2 lanes wide (1 each way.)

Forget the east africans - I bet that if Bangladesh tried, it could find the next olympic marathoner. Imagine the inherent heart and lung strength of a man who makes his living pedaling a cycle (laden with all sorts of nonsense) on the polluted streets of Dhaka while facing all of these much larger vehicles trying to run you off the road. I guess the only problem is, they aren't used to hills. Human rights concerns certainly wouldn't be a barrier.

I saw a hill 2 days ago. I stopped and took a picture of it. Mostly because the driver got so excited, I felt I had to. A land so flat, a hill is something to photograph. hmmmm....

Some of you have, no doubt seen a chicken go from yard to table. I had 1 opportunity in the past, but I remained blissfully oblivious, or otherwise amused. But as I was staying in the house of a random woman whom I had just met, and her various landlords and other renters, I observed such a delight. The only think about this chicken was that it arrived to the house with its neck already broken. But, everything else was intact - feathers; beak; feet. There is one kitchen implement that is required in Bangladesh. It is a large curved knife, like a sickel or a machete, with a tripod like base that you set on the ground, and stablize with your foot. Then, with the curved blade pointing towards your eye, you may proceed to dice an onion, scale a fish, or, in this case, prepare a chicken.

It wasn't the blood that bothered me. Or the sawing required to get the wings off, followed by the violent ripping of the skin/feathers from the body. It actually came off in one piece, which is kind of cool. I was ok with seeing the innards,and relieved to see that they went into the garbage pile. Not much else did.

Just a few days before, my roommates and I were sharing gross and wierd food stories. Scott talked about how he had to draw the line at the chicken feet, ceremoniously presented to him one meal. Becky talked about the children fighting over the chicken head, then ripping off the beak to expose the brain, and slurping it out. Imagine my horror when both the feet (declawed, luckily) and the head went into the pot of chicken parts. Was I, as honored guest, going to be presented with these treats? Thankfully not, and I demured when given the option of trying my hostess' favorite dish of greens and the head of the Hilsa fish.

My first stay in a Muslim country has been another eye opener. Sometimes coworkers ask me what I do for fun. I have to bite back a sharp retort, since there is not much I have found. Mostly, they watch tv, gossip, and go shopping if they have extra money. In the villages, life is much more difficult. Women rarely go anywhere. They don't shop. Not because there are financial troubles. Those exist, of course, but here all groceries and other daily necessities are primarily purchased by men. So gossiping with your PTA friend about your neighbor's risque clothes in bread aisle is not an option. That and the fact that the only thing in the last sentance which exists in Bangladesh is gossip.

My travels put me in the company of men, however. Men get to eat out. It's nothing special food wise, but it does mean getting to eat beef when the rest of your family eats it only once a year. Or eating parotha's when you never buy white flour for home use. They can gab over the daily cups of tea, or wander around the streets of the local bazar after dark. They can spend their hard won money on cigarettes and bidis, which women do not consume, or have some tasty fried snacks. They can shop for new clothes, which I have observed they buy with more frequency for themselves and their sons than for their wives, mothers and daughters. But most importantly, they can spend money on their hair.

In my research observations, I have found that men spend between 500 and 3000 taka per year on sprucing and primping. This is, by comparison, roughly what is spent per year on school expenses for their kids. There are 2 cultural reasons for this irony that I have been able to determine. The first is that women never cut their hair. The second is that the men, even the more devout ones with beards, must be shaved. This ritual is done in the "Shaelon" (spelled, to my great amusement, as Saloon), and involves a straight blade, and some kind of facial like action. The shaving is usually done weekly, with a haircut every 3-4 weeks for the younger guys, and maybe every month to 2 months for the older ones. More opportunities for social interaction. Not to mention the trips to the mosque, the group bathing I have observed (ie - many men bathing in the pond at the same time) and the games of cricket that take place in every open space, that the girls do not participate in. Basically, it appears that fun for a girl stops at the age of 8. I find it truly distressing.

People are hungry. My target research group are poor and rural. They engage in agriculture for a living, on their own land (rarely), on rented land, as day laborers or in another form of employment that requires physical labor, such as a cycle rickshaw driver. The have to eat, to acquire, if nothing extra, replacement calories for daily expenditure. Rice, then, is consumed 3 times a day...and since there isn't much else with the rice, because these other products, such as meat, vegetables and fish are costly, a family of 4 can eat 2 kg of rice per day. You have to eat a lot of rice to get 2000 calories. Just think - that is 1 pound per person per day, and if you throw 2 kids into the picture, then it is more like 1.5 pounds per adult per day.

In my visits to their homes, and in discussions with my interviewers, I find that they are agitated. Sometimes, they cry. Other times, they yell. Always, they ask me for money. The military government is providing 2 staple goods, rice and cooking oil, at subsidized rates if one goes to the distribution points and stands in line for hours in the heat. The price of both has doubled in the last year. The economist in me tends to reflect on this, and the activist to get angry. There is, in my opinion, a fairly robust link between their tears and our SUVs.

In response to price increases throughout South and South-east Asia, governments have banned exports of rice. This helps to keep the prices lower in India, Vietnam and China, but puts a severe supply crunch on Bangladesh, which does not produce enough to meet population needs. It is also before the harvest season, so even those who farm rice are buying it now, having run through their stores from the previous harvest. For your $1/day family, rice prices of 75 cents per kg are crippling.

There is also the issue of planting more valuable commodities, such as soyabean and corn. Land conversions are occuring worldwide, including the US as I read in an article today. The US govt, which pays farmers not to plant, is also encouraging the production of corn based ethanol. If food is converted to car fuel, then clearly the price of grain will rise. Why do we need corn based ethanol as a response to global warming and climate change? Why can we not instead invest money in sustainable fuels, hydrogen, or synthetics? What about cow farts? Do the lavish contributions of oil companies to political campaigns play a role? Is it because the folks on K Street who work for the auto companies are paid much better than those who work for the global poor?

In a valiant attempt at chivalry, my interviewers insisted that I sit the other evening, as I came out of the clinic where I was staying to see where they were, and if they were ready for dinner. The electricity was out, so the street was a good place to be, as it was cooler than the inside, and many of the shop keepers had lamps or lights. I tried to say that I was fine. They suggested that I sit in the car. I tried to say that it wasn't necessary. They suggested that I go upstairs. I asked about dinner. Then one of them gave up their chair for me, but did not let me sit in it right away, near where the conversation was occuring. That might be unseemly. He moved it to a dark alcove, away from everyone else. So I sat. Alone. In the dark.

When I write my book, I think that I will title it:

Things that make you go hmmmm

Photo fun - A look at what I see

About 2 blocks from my house, there is a rickshaw stand. Rickshaws generally travel a distance that would take a bit too long to walk, if you need to get somewhere without being covered in grit and sweat, but that an auto-rickshaw will not go, because it is too close. Transportation in Bangladesh could be a topic all on its own. Below are two pictures of the "roads" in one of the rural areas I visited for work last week. Note the fact that if you veer off the road, you also go off the embankment the road is built on. The muddy road is a result of one night's rain. Imagine what the road must look like during the monsoon.





I exhibit a very strange fascination for transport. I wish that I could explain it, but alas - not even searching into visions of previous lives allows for an explanation. Nevertheless, I could easily put together an amateur photography exhibit of all of the photos I have taken of vehicles. Here, transport runs the gamut. It is dictated by budget and travel conditions. In Dhaka city, short distances can be covered on foot, or by cycle rickshaw. Longer distances can be traversed by bus (I will not try it, as I cannot read the route names or numbers), a "Laguna" which is a converted pick-up, that seats 10 in the back, and a few more hanging on the outside, a "Maxi" which is slightly larger than a Laguna, seating 15, CNG - the compressed natural gas 3 wheeled auto-rickshaws, a non-A/C taxi car, or an A/C taxi car. Of course, those who have their own car and driver need not worry about such things. Imagine, now, all of these types of vehicles, as well as bicycle carts and human pulled carts carrying various random items (from steel pipes and 30 foot bamboo to refrigerators and chickens) on the same thoroughfare.

Elsewhere, one may choose between a flat bed cycle cart (multipurpose for human, animal or grain transport), boat or the most trustworthy bipedal option.


Walking through and around these quiet, vast rice paddies and fields is a very welcome change from Dhaka's noise and pollution. Now, if only I didn't have to risk life and limb during the journey there...

Tribulations

14 hours; the abridged version

Yes, I boarded the bus for Kolkata. And, to my dismay, the trip took 14 hours. I departed from my house around 8pm, to catch an auto rickshaw to the bus station. This endeavor, a distance of perhaps 3-4 miles, took 1.5 hours. So, my bus journey began after I had inhaled a great deal of exhaust. No worries, though - the bus was a luxury bus. Large, imposing, with clean, assigned seats and no evident rust. I was worried that as a woman travelling alone at night, maybe I'd be harrassed. So I learned how to say : "Hey. Don't touch me" but it was not necessary.
(In case you are curious, you can say: Hey. Amake dhoro na.)
It was a very comfortable ride...except that at midnight, they began a movie very loudly. At 2 am, we were in line to board a ferry, which took us and the bus across a river. Around 4:30 am, we reached somewhere near the Bangladesh-India border at Benapole. Then began the excitement.

• 4:30 am -- Arrive at the Green Line office. Exit bus sleepily. Look confused. Watch others stretch out to sleep, wash for prayer, or go in search of tea.
• 4:50 am -- Receive a boxed snack, containing 2 suspicious sweets, a cold and rubbery roti, and a plastic baggie filled with some oily spicy vegetable. Proceed to drink coffee instead.
• 5:20 am -- Still confused, decide that it might be good to wash face and brush teeth. Go to ladies room.
• 5:24 am -- Exit ladies room, and find that my bus companions are no longer in the office. Get a little afraid, grab my bag and wander outside.
• 5:25 am -- see people getting on the platforms of cycle rickshaws with their bags. As I am travelling alone, I don't merit 1 whole rickshaw, but they are quickly pulling away as I decide what is happening. I ask 2 men if I can just sit on the platform with them...they ask me if I have a confirmed ticket. I say yes. They say that I have to go in the car. I turn to look for the car, see none, but then they are gone. A van pulls up, I get in, and wait. I am attacked by the most vicious mosquitos you've ever imagined.
• 5:30 am -- Drive 1 kilometer down a road, pull up to the actual border near lots of large trucks, and get out of van. Am herded into a line in front of the immigration office. Get in line, and am then told that I must go to the ladies line.
• 5:30 - 6:00 am -- Stand in line, fending off 10 beggars who have materialized out of no where. Watch women fight about cutting in line. Hear some guy shout...my interpretation: "If you need taka, go stand in line over there." Well, I didn't need money, so I stayed put. Realize that I need to fill a border tax, and go stand in another line.
• 6:00 am -- Attach myself to a family so that people don't cut infront of me. Am told to go stand in the (much shorter) ladies line. Do that, while being viciously attacked by pre-dawn mosquito monsters. A door opens in front of the men's line. Men barrel forward shouting and waving money. Men blocade the door, so people can't exit and make space for more people. Someone asks if the door infront of the ladies line will open. It turns out there is no seperate ladies line. Men decide to let us in. The the ladies push and shove each other. I am sandwiched between the door and 2 people. I get into the little hot room, where people are waving passports and money. I join in, pay my money, and get a piece of paper. Fight my way out of room.
• 6:15 am -- Go back to ladies line, which is longer now. Am still holding passport. There is a 3rd line forming, for people with Indian passports. Then, someone tells me to stand in it...it is a multipurpose foreigners line, and is not segregated.
• 6:30 am -- Immigration office opens. Ladies are told to go one way, men another and foreigners to follow ladies. Go into a building that says "Arrivals". Am confused. Give passport to some official. He walks away with it. Wait for him to return with passport, while being shoved.
• 6:45 am -- Go stand in another line for customs. Am near front of line. Watch despondently as people just walk up to the front of line and push others aside. Watch angrily as people claim that their family member is waiting in line for them, and then insert 5 people. Attach myself to another family. Literally. We are now standing so close together, no one can enter the line. I am pressed up against strangers. The beggers come to harrass us.
• 7:30 am -- Customs officials FINALLY arrive. All thought of lines are erased as people begin mad dash for door. I push forward, give tax form to a man who puts a (very official) 2 inch tear in it. Go in another direction. Get another tear in form...very officially perpendicular to the first.
• 7:45 am -- Look confused again. Go through a gate with a machine gun toting guy in wierd blue and yellow fatigues. Stand in an immensly long line to enter into India. Watch dejectedly as 1 solitary Indian official checks each person's passport and visa maddeningly slowly.
• 8:10 am -- enter India. Go wait in a Green Line office.
• 8:30 am -- Finally get on an Indian Green Line bus, headed for Kolkata. Traverse 85 kilometers in 4 hours. Decide to fly back.

Potato Farms

Yesterday, I went to observe one of my teams of interviewers. They were working in Chainpara village near the Malkhanagar health center, in Munshiganj district. I was to meet Shahinur, team supervisor, at the Chainpara primary school.

I reached the school first, so I got to be an object of show and tell. The kids could not sit still in their rooms, and kept wandering out to peek at me. Some random guy who spoke english decided he wanted to ask me lots of questions. He had no apparent affiliation with the school. Then a teacher paraded me from class to class, telling me to speak english, so that the kids could hear what it sounded like. How do you respond to such a request? I thought about saying the pledge of allegiance or singing a song, but decided instead on: "What are you studying? Do you like school?" and received in return blank little smiling faces.

This area is currently in the midst of a potato harvest. Hundreds of people are involved in harvesting potatoes. Some are turning over the earth to reveal the tubers. Others are on their hands and knees, putting each tuber in a basket. Others still are moving them from basket to sack, and then their are chains of men with bicycles, loading 2 or 3 sacks onto each bike, and then very slowly walking the bikes to the potato depot. I have never seen so many potatoes. I was flabbergasted.

A potato depot is a large 5 story building, about the size of 1/2 a city block. It is where the potatoes are stored, until they are needed around the country. I saw at least 3 such buildings in and around this village. We walked from the school to a house where one of the interviewers was working. There aren't really roads... so we walked on a dirt path, which lead to a 3 bamboo pole wide bridge over one of many gullies (treacherous for the unaccustomed!), to a 2 person wide embankment between 2 fields (lower than the road, so that roads stay drier in the monsoons), over another bamboo pole bridge (this one had a railing on 1 side, thankfully), past mounds of potatoes, to a 1 person wide embankment around another field, ... over the hill and through the woods... to a 1 shoe wide embankment where missteps would land you in a nasty green pond, and finally up a steep slope to the house. Process repeated several times throughout day. Remain in awe of potato mountains. I am clearly not a farm kid.

Peace TV and Empathy

There is a Bangladeshi tv channel called Peace TV. It comes right after CNN in my line-up. Peace TV is often entertaining for 30 seconds or so, because it often has small children re-enacting islamic parables, or giving speeches to a room full of bearded and topi-ed men. Yesterday, however, it grabbed my attention for much longer than that.

The program's name was:

Should Rushdie Die
The Judeo-Christian Verdict

And, the man giving the lecture, to a large room full of bearded men and ladies with their heads covered, was, I believe, a South Asian muslim who grew up in South Africa. His principle argument rested on the prevalence of the word F*(%ing in The Satanic Verses. According the Ahmed Deebar, who has offered to give $50,000 to any charity if PBS or ABC will give him 5 minutes to tell the real story about Rushdie, this word is used in conjunction with 55 other words, one from every letter of the alphabet.

But, it isn't enough that the word is used, it is how it is used. See, if the phrase read "fucking women", then this man would very animatedly say:

Father Uncle Cousin King - ING women

So, throughout the program, he kept on saying Father Uncle Cousin King ING americans and

Father Uncle Cousin King - ING barbarians. And then, he would go on to make some convoluted argument about how Rushdie should die.

Didn't we put that argument to bed years ago?


Riding a Camel
No, there are no camels in Bangladesh. But yesterday, I took a cycle rickshaw from the "Diarrhea Hospital" towards my home...and was quickly reminded of the careful balancing act needed when riding a camel. The rickshaw chose to travel through some back alleys, an extremely narrow market where 2 rickshaws could not pass, and men being bullheaded, we had a standoff, over brick paved roads (Really Bumpy!) and other choice locales. The upside to this ride was that we avoided the polluted major roads, where the buses are blowing black soot at you. And, I got to see how they sell fish... basically, on a burlap sack, with a boy half-heartedly waving at the flies.

Empathy towards aliens
It has taken many years, but I finally have some grasp over the tribulations experienced by my many green, web-footed friends. :) I mean, of course, the aliens, who have to contend with our Immigration system.

In a few hours, I will depart on an overnight bus for Calcutta. This trip out of the country has been made necessary because some surly visa officer at the Bangladeshi embassy in DC chose to give me a visa that allows me to stay only 30 days at a time. I thought I was on top of things...I approached someone at the ICDDR,B who is used to helping the many foreigners who pass through there with their visa issues. He first thought I was Indian...and very kindly told me that although the countries pretend to be friendly, it will be very hard for anything to happen. I then said - well, I have an American passport. His demeanor changed instantly. He said "No Problem. We will get you an extension for 2 months. You must pay me 7000 taka for the visa fee, and 3000 taka for miscellaneous expenses. You won't get a receipt for the miscellaneous expenses, but I have to manage the police, when they come to make an inquiry. "

Then, 2 days later, he tells me that the visa fee has been raised to $130, so I have to pay him an additional 2100 taka. I do, and he returns my passport to me, with a copy of a receipt that he says is from the government, indicating that the extension has been filed for. Then he tells me that I can't leave the country until I get the permit. And my old visa, which allows for multiple entries to Bangladesh, is void. So, I'm basically hostage here, because my return flight to the US is from Dhaka... if I want to see family in India, then I'll have to apply for a new visa to return to Dhaka.

Why didn't he tell me such things initially? Alas, the best solution appears to be that I leave the country every 30 days for 24 hours at least. So, I'm off to Calcutta tonight, since tomorrow will be my 30th day in Bangladesh.