Bang Bang Maxwell

Well it looks like the constant police presence that surrounds my apartment on fortified Capitol Hill got a bit of action today. Within minutes of me leaving a Senate hearing (and spotting Vitter with his dry-cleaning), at 5PM U.S. Capitol Police shot and killed an armed motorist on the north (Senate) side of the Capitol. Sotomayor hearings briefly went into lock down.

Rural what now?

Rural economic development......

I came across an interesting article in BusinessWeek today that discussed former President (and Governor of Arkansas, a predominantly rural state) Bill Clinton's observation that little is done to help rural regions economically. I am actually doing an internship in a small town in a predominantly rural area in North Carolina and my observations have led to me to believe that Clinton is absolutely right in his view. The greatest poverty in America can be found in rural areas, where the labor force is often uneducated and unable to adapt to the rapid change from an industrial to a service economy. These people are often left unable to find work because of their lack of a formal education or if they can find work relegated to lower level service jobs that only pay minimum wage. After all, you can't work in an office if your highest level of education is 10th grade.

For many people it isn't economically feasible to return to school. After all, if you have a family to support working at Wal-Mart at least provides an income for your family. However, even 10 years ago, well-paying jobs would be relatively easy to come by. I know that my state (North Carolina) has been hard hit by the exodus of the textile industry, long a provider of well-paying jobs that require little education.

There are many jobs out there that could suit the needs of rural America. Clinton pointed out a basic means of creating jobs, investing in green energy. A solid investment in green energy requires almost an entire rebuilding of our energy infrastructure. Who better to do that than the predominantly blue collar labor force that exists in rural America?

We need to address poverty and unemployment in America. What better way to do it than to address the root of the problem? Will we continue our inadequate response to rural poverty? I hope not because like our former President said, to do so would be extremely ill-advised.

The stain that won't come out.

Apparently I have the same dry-cleaner as Senator David Vitter (R-LA). I ran into him while picking up a suit and was surprised he (1) looked so old -- that scandal really took its toll -- and (2) didn't have some intern to pick up all those shirts for him.

Apparently my local guy is frequented by other big wigs. I'll keep my eyes out for you all.

The Governor and the Restless

Who doesn't like a good soap opera? Long a guilty pleasure for many people, soap operas provide a form of escapism. After all, nothing that happens in it is real and no one is actually hurt. Soap operas keep us on the edge of our seats with twist and turns. You never know what's going to happen next!

You know what my favorite soap opera is? The one that had the Governor who met a girl at a dance party in Uruguay and then had an affair with her. The twist is that it was no ordinary affair, the Governor had finally met the love of his life. He was conflicted, his political career would suffer if he came out publicly and divorced his wife so the Governor decided to keep it hidden by making secret trips to her homeland of Argentina to see her. The two star-crossed lovers knew that their affair shouldn't happen but they followed their hearts and found a way to let their blossoming love grow.

Of course as you all know, the above does not actually describe a soap opera but a reality for the people of South Carolina. The Governor mentioned is Mark Sanford and the events described actually happened. Of course, unlike an actual soap opera, people were actually hurt and Sanford's actions had consequences.

Sanford behaved incredibly irresponsibly in his quest to live a real life soap opera. He never ceded power to his Lt. Governor prior to leaving the country, he misled staffers into believing he was hiking the AT when he was actually in Argentina and he refused to respond to the attempts of his staffers to reach him. What if his staffers weren't just contacting him to check in? What if something major was happening in the state? Turning on the news wouldn't update him. After all, Governors probably deal with issues that we as citizens never find out about. Had an important issue gone unaddressed, it could have had dire consequences for South Carolina.

At times though, it seemed like Sanford was aware that all of this was unraveling like a bad soap opera storyline. He gave interviews calling his mistress the "love of his life" and said that he asked for permission to see her but was denied so he went to see her anyway. He said that he would try to fall back in love with his wife, a revelation that again sounds like something a character on "As The World Turns" would say and not the Governor of South Carolina. How do you "try" to fall back in love with someone?

Since Governor Sanford didn't actually break the law, impeachment efforts have proved futile and South Carolina Republicans have largely backed off any attempts to do so. South Carolina Democrats are still behind impeachment efforts but since Democrats in South Carolina are an endangered species, it really doesn't matter.

All we can do now is sit back and continue to watch "The Governor and the Restless."

Nunchuckery: Today in Politics

The Judiciary Committee discussed ninja weaponry...


...Sotomayor remembered some comment or other she made about Latinos and wisdom...

...Republicans also apparently nominated a Latino to be a federal judge, but he was rejected on the grounds of having "no judicial experience"...

... most republicans (and Americans) don't think Caribou Barbie is ready to be the Commander in Chief...

... a solider claims that he cannot be sent to war because Obama is not the President...

... and best of all -- this clip of must-see TV -- a CNBC anchor demonstrates extreme ignorance of law and science and general dickishness.

Oh, yeah....

What ever happened over there?


Mr. Ahmadinejad as Cookie Monster snacking on Mousavi's votes. (thanks to trendpiece)

Funny, I can't seem to remember what were talking about before Michael died....

New York Harbor is filled with a lot of neat stuff.

Your bizarre news for the day:

1. Making scumbaggery a little greener: discounts to brothel patrons who arrive on bicycle.

Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a 5-euro (4 pounds) discount from the usual 70-euro ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Goetz told Reuters. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working.

2. Television advertisement showing Israeli Soldiers and Palestinians playing soccer over the West Bank barrier is "disturbing" because "in reality, if a Palestinian comes close to the fence to return a football ... he is likely to get shot."

3. The bottoms of New York City's harbors still house 1,600 bars of silver, if you can find them amid the junk and the 4-foot-long, wood-eating worms.

4. CLASSIC: The Rubber Room- Where naughty New York Teachers go to wait and die.

The room in question was about 1,100 square feet and on blueprints submitted to the Fire Department was designed to hold 26 people. On this day, it contained upward of 75. It had no windows, no land phone, no Internet access, no wall decorations, not even a clock. Any personal belongings left overnight were removed by custodians.

The Tuck Bridge to No Where

It looks like the Bridgers are not making friends in Hanover, but then again such is impossible if you insist on playing Beirut. From The Dartmouth...

We’ve all seen them around — the girls who wear handbags in frat basements, the guys who try to set up games of Beirut. They come into our social world, drink our alcohol, never say “thanks” or “sorry,” and are occasionally unruly. You know who I’m talking about — the Tuck Bridge kids. Keep Reading

From Our Honduran Correspondent...

For the last decade our national attention in foreign policy has been scattered across the Eurasian Continent, but not trouble is brewing in our own backyard. At the moment, Honduras is in crisis. The military has ousted the elected president Manuel Zelaya, removed him from the country, and replaced him with the President of the National Congress Roberto Micheletti. The Organization of American States has suspended Honduras and the World Bank has halted all future loans to the country, leaving it in dire straits and its leadership uncertain.

President Obama and Secretary Clinton have vowed to support the ousted Zelaya and have declared the "coup" to be illegal. The role America plays in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere, ever since Mr. Monroe gave us dominion over it, is critical and any action we take now will have vast repercussions in events yet to unfold. To analyze the proper course of action, let's do a quick recap of what happened.

-In November 2008, Zelaya announces his intention to put a fourth box on the upcoming ballot allowing for the creation of a National Constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution. While the wording of the proposition was vague, only 7 of the constitution's 375 articles cannot be modified by a constitutional majority. Because these 7 exceptions concern the limits of the terms and powers of the president, Zelaya's intentions are obvious.

- The Honduran Supreme Court found that the referendum was illegal because it would modify unmodifiable articles of the constitution. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, chief of Honduran armed forces, followed the ruling and refused to aid Zelaya in distributing referendum materials (which were printed in Venezuela), so Zelaya fired him. The court found that firing unconstitutional as well.

- The Attorney General and the National Congress each concurred with the court that the referendum was illegal and in the lead-up to the referendum date, the National Congress, including Zelaya's own party therein, began to consider ways to impeach Zelaya.

- On 28 June 2009, the day of the referendum, after anti-Zelaya protesters marched on Tegucigalpa, the armed forces seized Zelaya and extradited him from the country. Zelaya's attempts to return to Honduras have been unsuccessful and mediation between Zelaya the newly installed President Micheletti by Costa Rican President Óscar Arias have been unsuccessful due to both sides' unwillingness to compromise.

For my work in Washington D.C., I attended the nomination hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the U.S. Ambassadors to Brazil, Mexico, and Haiti and the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs. Honduras came up, and here are the transcripts (as best I could produce at the time).

Q13: Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Returning to Honduras: some dictators use democracy to legitimize a power grab instead of bolstering democracy. The people of Honduras were concerned that a person would install themselves permanently in the presidency. Zelaya was trying to change the constitution to continue his term in office. Zelaya used mobs to distribute ballots created in Venezuela. Zelaya’s own party said his move was illegal. I have here the order from the supreme court of Honduras to arrest the ousted president. The military was ordered to do this by the unanimous opinion of the court. They followed the Constitution to prevent a president from destroying the constitution. Their constitution says that not only are presidents term limited, but if they attempt to extend their reign, they automatically resign.

A13: Arturo Valenzuela, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs
As far as I know, the Honduran congress did not issue a declaration of unconstitutionality prior to Zelaya’s removal. The solution is not for the military to exile the president without charge; judicial processes should have been used. If a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court orders the U.S. President to be removed from the country by the military, that justice is breaking the constitution….

Q14: DeMint
…the congress voted almost unanimously, the court did vote unanimously, the attorney general issued charges, Zelaya’s party was in Washington to lobby against US supporting Zelaya. He resigned as soon as he attempted to extend his power. The military had to be used due to corruption of the police forces by Venezuela.

A14: Valenzuela
The disagreement is that the military used this option. The U.S. is not the only one to see the facts and say that it was illegal.

Demint (cutting in): Castro, Chavez, Ortega… all good friends of ours… (muted laughter)

Valenzuela: There was a unanimous declaration that a disruption occurred in the constitutional order. In my study of military coups, this is a textbook example of a coup, though I would not call it a coup because the military did not take power. I will call it a “disruption in the constitutional order.”

Q15: DeMint
There is no question that Zelaya was going to use the referendum to extend his term of office. Should we allow dictators to legitimize themselves?

A15: Valenzuela
We need to use constitutional means to protect democracy.

DeMint: But he was trying to change the constitution! And constitutionally he removed himself from office. When we find ourselves on the side of Ortega, Castro and Chavez, we need to reevaluate our position.

Needless to say, I don't agree much with Senator DeMint, but he seems to hit the nail right on the head here. I see five reasons why the U.S. should be more critical to Zelaya and supportive of the ouster:

1. There is no realist U.S. interest in keeping an anti-U.S. leader in power in Honduras.
2. It seems clear that in this extra-constitutional crisis, the constitutional order was followed as best the Honduran government could. Zelaya forced his own ouster.
3. Regardless, what happens in Honduras is the Hondurans' business. The proper order might not be followed 100% of the time (when is it in America?), but that is certainly not grounds for U.S. intervention, especially when we consider how well intervention has worked elsewhere in the world.
4. For the good of democracy in Latin America, we should not be complicit in allowing dictators to hijack democratic processes. Democracy is not about voting or majoritarianism, it is about the protection of civil rights with sovereignty vested in the people. If the democratic tradition in Latin America continues to be colored by such misconceptions, then it is doomed to continually produce similar results.
5. Perhaps the biggest thing missed in this whole process is that Zelaya is wildly unpopular in Honduras. His party has abandoned him and his countrymen don't want him.

Obama needs to explain why he is so supportive of Zelaya, because there are plenty of reasons why he shouldn't be.

Success!

Admin privileges have been granted. Thanks to Mr. Shah. I'll get the staff assembled and the writing wheels turning again. Blitz me if you'd like to contribute.

Keep checking back for updates. I hear the weather in Hanover has been rain for a month straight. Can anyone confirm? Juicy sophomore summer gossip also welcome.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Hello Little Green Bloggers, Nathan Bruschi here.

I've been trying to wrestle this blog from the cold, dead, graduated hands of one, Niral Shah '08, and thus far with little success. It strikes me tragic that such a storied center of campus debate as this one would whimper in to the forgotten shadows of history. With Wheelock as my witness, I intend to forestall its demise!

You may have noticed the emergence of a fascinating little organization, The Dartmouth Political Union, which some colleagues and I started a few terms back. The DPU aims to become a nexus of student political interaction by promoting and organizing political ideologies on campus and then pitting them together in constructive debate. Until we can get back on our feet here, and baring something better to do, I see LGB's place as an online community surrounding Union activities. Don't worry, we'll still give DartBlog and DartLog a run for their money with campus gossip, but I thought I'd make our bent clear from the get go.

So here we are. Hopefully someone will give me admin privileges so I can invite the other contributors waiting in the wing. Keep checking back to see if they ever do.

Keep it chill, Dartmouth, and let everyone know we're back.
Nathan Bruschi

Barack Obama Is A Rockstar

As the event ran yet later and later, the sun beat down on an increasingly restless crowd, and still, no sign of Obama. The crowd had endured the strange choice of location (off the side of the Rocky overhang), being herded together with the usual masses of geriatric townies, the searing heat, and a few rounds of live easy-listening music. Finally, a respite. The Aires took the stage. As every delightfully un-instrumented melody drew to a close, one could see the crowd tensely anticipate what might follow. "What? Are they going to stop singing? No! I don't want politics. I came here to listen to a capella!" Soon, it was obvious Obama would be upstaged before even making an appearance.
Seriously, even for those of us that might still have a soft spot in our hearts for a capella (and after three years of college, I don't), there is a time and a place for it, and this was not it. Perhaps they were just stalling for time, but about an hour deep into listening to the Aires, even the toddlers around me looked bored.


Still, if the College Democrats were trying to prove that Obama is a rockstar, they did it. Though the crowd dwindled a bit during the sing-a-thon, an impressive number stuck it out to hear the man. Freshman Congressman Paul Hodes stepped up to reinvigorate the crowd and introduce Barry, who was in full form. Obama did what he does best, saying very little, yet somehow being inspiring. Obama spoke largely in platitudes, but without sounding like a politician. Though he may not have touched on anything more controversial than Hillary has in weeks past, he left the audience with the impression of a no-nonsense, above-the-fray, charismatic leader. In the months leading up to the primary, we'll get our fair share of political celebrity facetime, but I doubt any candidate can come close to matching Obama's appeal. I guess we'll find out next time the spectacle rolls into town. Until then, back to the library with me.

Student Governance Task Force

So I'm a little late on the uptake, but yesterday, the Student Government Review Task Force issued its recommendations. The full version was blitzed out to campus, and if it becomes available online, I'll update with a link. In the meantime, DartWire has a pretty comprehensive guide to look at, and Dave Nachman '10 chimes in on his new SuperDartmouth blog.

While Nachman pines for the radical Shpeen-revolution that never was, the strength of this report actually lies in its painfully boring pragmatism and attention to bureaucratic nuance. It calls for streamlining and coordinating funding allocation, changing voting and candidacy requirements, instituting campus referenda, direct election of certain committee chairs, and an overall reorganization and redistribution of responsibilities and committee structure. In it's most ambitious proposal, instead of pushing for a young trustee (an unsuccesful campaign of numerous SAs past), they advocate a formal liason and gradual re-evaluation and, ideally, expansion of the significance of this role.

Of course, it's still SA, and so painstaking research doesn't always equate to reasonable expectations. The centralized online calendar thing has been tried before, and though making funding contingent on its use could force groups to post, it's not going to make campus use the thing. The plan to "Advertise happenings every fortnight in The Dartmouth and send out campus update blitzes every full moon," besides being absolutely bizarrely phrased, gets to the point. SA, as I have opined, is at its best when dealing with campuswide minor issues. For SA to fulfill this purpose more efficiently and visibly might decrease our collective disdain for the organization, but its pretty unlikely to stir up more interest.

So, once again, no revolution will appear to save the day and shake us all from the terrible apathy in which we disregard the great things SA has done for us. Still, while it's hardly inspiring, we probably will all benefit from an SA that is more introspective, realistic, and marginally more efficient each year.

On Sleep Deprivation

I apologize for the brief hiatus here on LGB. Seal, unfortunately, has insisted on finishing his thesis, and with the whole graduation thing coming up, he's got all these plans to move on to bigger and better things. As for myself, eh, I've had a couple of late nights getting work done. It's the sort of thing that can really take the wind out of one's blogging sails. Sleep deprivation is nothing new to most of us, however, and we're all familiar enough with the resulting haze and delirium to avoid such situations whenever possible.

Tony Wright, apparently a sleep researcher of some kind, lacks our aversion to the masochistic. He is currently attempting to break the world record for sleep deprivation. He's got a website and, if you can get it to work, even a webcam. Wright is trying to best the record of Randy Gardner, who, in 1964, at the age of 17, stayed awake for 264 hours, or 11 days. Gardner was himself trying to beat an earlier record, Peter Tripp's 8 day session in 1959. (In an aside maybe yet more familiar to some of our readers, Tripp's 'wakeathon' was apparently entirely fueled by Ritalin, and ended in psychotic hallucinations and paranoid delusions).

Anyway, consider the hiatus over, and good luck in all your insomniac endeavors.

SA Elections: Travis Green Wins

Travis Green will be Student Body President, with his "running mate" Ian Tapu serving as Vice President. The full results, in somewhat messy form (all 12 "rounds" of runoff), can be found here.
Overall, Nova had a far stronger showing and broader appeal than I think many expected, coming in second place, benefiting about as much as Green from Carlos being eliminated, and being the largest beneficiary of Raj's elimination. For VP, Tapu pretty much dominated off the bat.

Also worth noting, three people writing in our beloved DFP chief Travis Mushett for '08 SA Class Rep was enough to get him elected. Thanks, whoever the other two of you are, Travis is thrilled to serve alongside his fellow luminaries. My consolations to Carlos for not getting the spot, despite having the same exact number of votes.

So, another year, another SA. Let us all rejoice.
(More election results in the comments section).

New Dartmouth Group Blog

Three '10s have started a group blog called Dartwire. I know one of them, Adi, and have been impressed by his measured writing and eagerness to look at things squarely. I imagine (and hope) his friends are similarly minded.

Click on over to check them out.

The DFP Isn't Much Better at Endorsements

I kid, I kid. There's a difference between lacking the chutzpah to brave political controversy and acknowledging the relatively inconsequential nature of an election. Or maybe The D was on the right track the first time, choosing not to endorse someone over choosing someone thoroughly unqualified and incapable just for the sake of endorsing someone. Or maybe this is all self-serving justification. But you all know I'd never speak poorly of the DFP, and so with that, I present this year's DFP Student Assembly Elections Issue, and the Editorial Board's (non)endorsement.

The D Sucks at Endorsements

After a weak and equivocating failure to endorse anyone in the Trustee race, The D editorial board summoned up its consensus-building powers (political fallout be damned, because SA matters!) to make a laughably idiotic suggestion: Voting for Jaromy Siporen.

Clearly swayed by the polished rhetoric of a candidate who advocates massive, radical change, but lacks a plan more substantive than the restoration of crosswalks, The D wants you to vote for Siporen. Or maybe The D is just incensed by the consumer-gouging injustice of Sunja's sushi monopoly. In hopes of restoring a competitive free-market in locally produced, northern New England mock-Japanese food, they are willing to endorse someone who is the (maybe 2nd) least serious and (by a hair) the most toolish candidate in a crowded field of sub-par options.

One might inquire, "Why do this?" Having made their distaste for Carlos evident (the editorial is as much an anti-endorsement of Carlos as it is an endorsement of J. Sip), the D was still left with a few respectable options. But passing up Travis Green as too SA status-quo in favor of Siporen, the defender of inane rules and arcane practice (he was SA Parliamentarian for three years), would suggest this isn't really about who The D thinks is best. For reasons completely beyond me, Siporen has managed to play well with the freshman crowd, and sadly does have a reasonable shot at winning, especially when one considers that Raj and Nova will be splitting votes out of the same demographic. (Can you actually split votes in IRV?) Failing a convincing rationale to endorse anyone, The D just wants to bet on a winning horse.

Well, way to make a well-reasoned decision guys. As SA continues to become yet more of an irrelevant joke, you can all be comforted in knowing that The D gets to march down that road right alongside its candidate.

Old White Men Love Reagan, Fetuses

In tonight's GOP debates, the ten candidates waxed patriotic about the state of our union. Ronald Reagan was mentioned 16 times, strict constructionism was applauded, and Roe v. Wade was derided. With the notable exception of Rudy Giuliani, the candidates were unanimous in their condemnation of the landmark 1973 abortion ruling.

Some quotes from tonight's debate:

McCain: I Think The War Is "On The Right Track"...

Huckabee: I Would Have Fired Rumsfeld "Before The Election"...

Giuliani: A Nuclear Iran "Is The Worst Nightmare Of The Cold War, Isn't It?"...

Romney: Bin Laden Is Going To Pay And "He Will Die"...

McCain: I'll Follow Bin Laden "To The Gates Of Hell"...

Brownback: Banning Roe v. Wade Would Be A "Glorious Day Of Human Liberty And Freedom"..."The Life Issue Is What Separates Us From Islamic Fascists...

Tancredo: "Karl Rove Would Certainly Not Be In The White House
That I Inhabited"...

Thompson: "Several Thousand" Injured In Iraq...

Romney: Fitzgerald Was "Outrageous" For Going After Scooter
Libby...

Farewell Pending

I've realized that I have about two weeks left before my thesis is due. After that, I won't want to do anything. I definitely won't want to blog, and for the next two weeks I almost assuredly won't be blogging (or shouldn't, at least, if I want to get my thesis done). And I hope you all will ridicule me if I blog here after I've graduated.

So that leaves me sort of saying goodbye. I may post intermittently over the next few weeks if something strange or terrible happens, but I hope I'm pretty much done. There will definitely still be posts coming from the others, of course; Niral and the other 08s will see to that.

Thanks for reading.