The only threat I see..

It's been 30 years since the Islamic Revolution when, in 1979, Iran transformed itself from a constitutional monarchy into an Islamic republic. While I know very little about the event and its long aftermath (still ongoing), it's pretty straightforward to discern that there have been many successes (ex. education and health care) and failures (ex. religious/political oppression and the economy) along the path to yesterday's rally in Tehran celebrating its anniversary.

It's been 30 years of cold-to-very-cold relations between Iran and the US; the countries have been headbutting most recently over the funding of terrorist organizations (ex. Hezbollah) as well as the development of a (civilian-only?) nuclear program.. nevermind last week's satellite launch. But with a new US administration in place (Obama! et. al.), there is potential for a subtle warming. Long overdue.

In a televised address, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "promised that if the United States was truly serious about changing the countries’ relations, then Iran was ready to respond in kind." Read more at the NYTimes..

Iran Offers ‘Dialogue With Respect’ With U.S.
By Nazila Fathi
Published: February 10, 2009

Who knows what will come of this sort of nice-talk (on both sides). But certainly we got to start somewhere..

~~~~

In any case, the lightening tone (too hopeful?) of Iran-US relations has put the country back on my radar for, um, vacation travel.. potentially later this year, or, more likely, next. (Traveling through Iran initially came up in discussions with a travel buddy during my sabbatical planning in 2007; we went to Russia and the lovely Kyrgyzstan instead.)

In an effort to bolster my general knowledge about traveling in the country -- I really know zero about Iran -- I borrowed the new Lonely Planet (5th Ed.) from the library last week; and I'm starting to ask friends/acquaintances if they have any contacts or advice. Plus -- conveniently enough -- Iran borders a couple of other cool places on my ol' international to-do list: Azerbaijan and Armenia.. so I could potentially knock off a couple (with the addition of Грузия, natch) on one big trip.

Wait. Wait.. wait! Stop the presses..

Who am I kidding?; this is the real reason why I want to go to Iran..

Iran So Far (video)
(An SNL Digital Short)

From Andy; to Mr. Ahmadinejad: "You can deny the Holocaust all you want, but you can't deny that there's something between us." Oh man.. hahaha.

~~~~

This may all end up being an exercise in daydreaming, but we'll see. I've been known to make shizz like this happen on occasion. ;) I mean, southwestern Russia and the Caucuses are still the tops on my international travel list, but Iran is a rising star (with respect to sparking my imagination). So, if you *do* have any experience with the country, especially in the northwest -- say, Tabriz, Rasht, or the surrounding areas -- let me know. Ultimately, though, I'm open to it all; any and all advice is welcome. ;)

In a capacity of praise, scorn, or, preferably, debate

One of my old roommates - Joe Felice - has been ramping up his own personal channel on YouTube the past couple of months, posting regular videos featuring his always-sharp political analysis; his delivery is full of wit and energy.. and even if you don't agree with him 100% - or don't even think you're into "politics" - he draws you in with on-point observations and enthusiasm.. and a flair for the, um, zany (in a good way!); you'll see what I mean:

Mostly Politics, by Joe Felice
http://youtube.com/JoeFelice

In a similar vein, Joe entered a contest a few weeks ago to be able to cover either the Republican or Democratic National Convention as part of the Broadcasting arm of Project Breakout. There, he posted a video explaining why he was interested in the opportunity, along with some clips from his YouTube channel.

I checked it out..

And you know what - and maybe this is because I know him personally and can't disambiguate those personal feelings; I am human after all (video) - I think Joe is the best of the bunch. I mean, there are a couple of other folks that are ok (although a little too "jokey" for my tastes; they be Daily Show wannabes), but I really, truly, believe Joe is the best political pundit in the contest.

No doubt.

So, without further ado, it's the final week of the Project Breakout competition and, in fact, Joe is one of the top contenders. As such, it's *now* that the votes really count.. so if you have a few minutes, check out his page below and make a few clicks to send Joe to either of the Conventions this summer. He really was born to do this, to be a fresh-faced and crazy-haired political pundit..

Here are some words from the man himself:

My final entry in the convention competition is up and I would deeply, madly, turgidly appreciate your vote in the final week of this endless frigging marathon to the prize (a paid trip to cover one of the political conventions and $2500).

I hope some folks will watch the new video too because it's a good summary of what I've been up to, including my appearance on Al Jazeera last week, and the recent video that got me a shout-out in the official YouTube blog, as well as the old tape of when NPR read my letter.

To watch and vote you just go to this link:
http://broadcasting.projectbreakout.com/media_page/entry_id/197

That's my page. Sign in at the very top (or register as a user if it's your first time). Click the big red vote button 15 times in a row, once a day if possible, until Sunday. Phew! And that will really be the end, win or lose.

I know it sounds like a (minor) hassle, but I've done the clickity-click-deed every day to help get Joe through this last push; once you've signed up, it literally takes less than a minute to vote for him. If you can, do it daily until the contest ends on Sunday (but even if you check it out just one day, the help is appreciated).

In short, Joe brings an erudite spice that would rock the the RNC or DNC. Let's send him there!

And let me know if you have any questions or comments on this whole thing. Or contact Joe directly through his YouTube channel; he would love to hear from you in any capacity of praise, scorn, or, preferably, debate. Word is up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ps. A little more about Mr. Felice: "I have political experience at Dean for America (Iowa Field Staff) and Music for America (San Francisco nonprofit). Now I work a desk job in the entertainment business in NYC (Eric's note: Joe does some pretty cool stuff - involving fresh and still-evolving copyright law - with some pretty big entities in the music industry). Politics aside, my other favorite things are Scrabble, road trips in the desert, and running the lights at local rock shows."

Keeping the tradition of mutual trust, and head-splitting

Unless you specifically pay attention to this sort of thing, I think the presidential election in Russia this past Monday (or Sunday, here in the US) flew under much of the international radar. As expected, Дмитри Медведев (Dmitry Medvedev) - hand-chosen by Владимир Путин (Vladimir Putin) - won easily, with 70% of the vote.

The news comes with mixed reviews at home (Russia) and abroad (mostly US and Western Europe). In fact, The Economist - in this past week's issue - questioned the real impact of Vladimir Putin's iron-fisted policies.. which are slated to continue under Menvedev. The short version is that Putin came to power at just the right time for an economic boom, given three factors: "a revival of private initiative, oil prices that have risen fourfold during his presidency and macroeconomic stability." And so, his crippling of the democratic process and human rights abuses - both in the name of "stability" and "nationalism" - have little to do the country's current success. Read on:

Smoke and mirrors
From The Economist print edition
February 28th, 2008

That said, I can only imagine that the average Russian will be happy with the consistency of power (and therefore still able to ignore the ugly underside of political business). The NYTimes puts it nicely:

"Most Russians do not love Mr. Putin per se, but they love Mr. Putin’s Russia. They love being middle class. They love planning for the future. It is no comfort to the politically persecuted, but average wages in Russia are leaping 10 percent a year, in real terms."

(full article here)

And you know what, that just makes sense. I think it's hard sometimes to understand that day-to-day issues - putting food on the table and making mortgage payments - are common concerns for everyone around the world; it's easy to be an outsider and criticize another society's whole system of governance (especially when you don't plan on improving the situation yourself, and there are no unpleasant consequences for offering your unsolicited opinion). It's the same story for other folks talking about the US and its problems, without acknowledging its successes. I'm just saying that we all got some things we do right and some things we do wrong in our respective societies; and there's always room for improvement.

That will be an especially important lesson for Russia's next president (and our own, for that matter) to keep in mind during the next couple of years. Those who question the government in public and practice civil dissent seem to be in the minority right now, given the aforementioned awesome increases in the average person's personal wealth (not to mention the chances for harsh penalties). But if oil prices flatten out and the economic engine at home loses a little steam, there will be more and more people who will join the internal/external cries for better individual rights, checks on government, and so forth.

Regardless, it seems to be exciting times for the country, and George Bush and I wish Medvedev the best.

Goodbye civil strife, into a neat little bundle

Just to "tie up" some of my posts on Kenya over the past couple of months - as much as one can tie up civil strife/violence in a neat little bundle of online text - let me point you to yesterday's announcement on the power sharing agreement between the current President (Mwai Kibaki) and the opposition leader (Raila Odinga):

Kenya Rivals Sign Power-Sharing Deal
By REUTERS (posted on the NYTimes)
Published: February 28, 2008

Kenya rivals agree to share power
By BBC News
Published: February 28, 2008

The agreement - in basic terms and, for now, in theory - sets the stage for an overhaul of the current government structure (based upon Kenya's 45 year old constitution). In fact, the constitution will actually have to be modified in order to effect yesterday's deal into law, a process that will begin this coming Thursday (and hopefully acted upon as soon as possible, thereafter) when parliament reconvenes. On a side note, doesn't it seem remarkable that the constitution of the United States has been going strong for over 220 years (with the occasional hiccup, of course)?

In any case, the biggest change in the Kenyan system seems to be that the main opposition leader will assume the position of Prime Minister (a newly created post), but there are myriad details to be worked out - including exactly how much power the Prime Minister has in the overall government; Kenya's political parties will also be jostling for new deputy prime minister and other cabinet positions.

Uncertainty of execution aside, the agreement is certainly a step forward (back) towards societal stability. And - again, according to the Western media sources that I've tapped for information about the situation - the average Kenyan person welcomes the potential to get their lives back to normal (even as some happiness is tempered with skepticism). In fact, hopefully the country takes this opportunity to improve the overall infrastructure of government and society at large; it's a time when people are ready and open to change, and they've got support and attention from the international community. For sure, it's still a long road, but a worthy one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a related note, my sister decided to come home to the US around the start of this month, just two weeks after she was officially discharged from the Peace Corps. She found it impossible to get back to her village in the Western portion of the country, given the levels for violence at the time. So, in-person goodbyes with the people she lived and worked with the past year and a half were never said, and I can only imagine that added to the surreal nature of her Kenyan experience.

Unstructured or not

Well, my sister's time in Kenya was officially called to a close on Tuesday - at least from the Peace Corps perspective. In her own words..

They're having us all take Interruption of Service and flying us from Dar (Tanzania) to the States beginning on Sat!!! Got this tonight and we're all full of emotions that are very hard to describe. They're asking us to give them one month to figure out stuff here in Kenya. so I'm Done, for the most part..

(since my sister's Peace Corps service was done in August anyway)

The news is very hard to take for myself and mentally I don't know where I am with this whole situation. I left thinking I would go back home to Matayos and continue the life I made for myself for the next few months; obviously, that's not going to happen.

As I mentioned earlier, my sister was evacuated - via motorcycle, then car - from her village, Matayos, about two weeks ago due to the violence that erupted over disputed presidential elections.

In fact, the NYTimes reported yesterday (with updates today) on new protests and killings in Kisumu (the closest city to where my sister was stationed), as well as in other large cities like Nairobi and Mombasa. The article itself is a little all-over-the-place, touching on a lot of subjects related to the current violence and potential for continued political and civil unrest, but not really getting into any details on any one aspect. In other words, it's not a good article to "start on", but if you've already been following the action, it does provide a little view into the latest scene. Check it:

Protests Bring New Violence in Kenya
By Jeffrey Gettleman
Published: January 17, 2008

And the BBC fills in a little more:

'Seven dead' in Kenyan protests
BBC News, January 17th, 2008

In any case, I read these stories with a bit of amazement (and a grain of salt); I really don't have any practical experience to call upon when I try to empathize with any of the players involved, from native Africans - especially from the native African perspective! - to international workers (ex. from NGO's, foreign governments and so forth).

You see, I've never lived in a place with such a level of uncertainty with respect to its everyday societal constructions.. from transportation infrastructure to general rule of law (including the expectation to NOT be hacked with a machete). These types of things should just "be", right? I, of course, say that with a wink-wink and a nudge-nudge: these things are *hardly* simple in their implementation, maintenance, and, later, evolution with the times. But that fact is easy to forget because while they are all intrinsically complex systems - built layer by layer, and tweaked infinitely (and, many times, slowly) - they can have a seemingly-simple interface.. as least when viewed by a given individual.

In any case, I'll let the news speak for itself.. before I get too off track and start philosophizzizing without hard data to back me up. Besides, as I write, more updates are pouring in, BBC-style:

Kenya 'turned into killing field'
BBC News, January 17th, 2008

Alas, the who's-at-fault-hype coming from both sides, it seems, is strong (and conflicting). But that is the way of the world, unstructured or not..

UPDATE: My sister will be discharged from the Peace Corps on January 19th, but will be sticking around Africa until at least the end of February; there are belongings to collect and goodbyes to be said.

Hope too late for the 600 already dead

"The only way to restore the Kenyan people's rights and confidence in the (social and political) system is that the political leaders have to stop the violence, because innocent people are dying." - Jendayi Frazer, the top US official for Africa.

True that.

And, so, it seems like (minor) progress is being made in Kenya to address the stalemate between the presidential contenders and their supporters as they try to resolve questions around "fair elections" (amid a backdrop of ethnic tensions). The sitting president, Mwai Kibaki, has invited the main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, to participate in face-to-face talks in order to discuss the disputed election results. While the exact goals of the meeting seems to be a little vague, the gesture is enough that violence seems to have, um, died down a little over the past day or two. Read more, courtesy of the BBC:

Kenya leader invites foe to talks
BBC News, January 7th, 2007

For those of you that have asked about my sister Megan, she's been fine, spending this past weekend in Kampala, Uganda with another Peace Corp Volunteer (PCV) from Kenya. The two of them will be flying out to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania tomorrow for the next two weeks; we'll see where she goes from there. Megan is itching to get back "home" - to Matayos - but seeing her current day-to-day living in unfamiliar places as an opportunity to explore new territory.. physically and emotionally.

Back to thinking about the country (née, the world) at large, I'd like to have faith in the triumph of reason and order over chaos (the second law of thermodynamics notwithstanding); and everyone displaced will be able to go home and work towards a more stable existence, now and into the future.

As I've mentioned before, I really don't have any background in African politics, but I am willing to listen to folks who do and would like to tell me about it - in whatever way that means, given your personal expertise; it's a big continent.

UPDATE: Easy come; easy go. No talks for now:

Kenya Opposition Leader Rejects Talks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 8, 2008

They are counting on your arrival

What an odd turn of events in Kenya over the past couple of days! But maybe I say that because I really don't know that much about Kenyan culture - or any African culture, really; maybe this was all to be expected. It seems the country has devolved into a bit of chaos, with old ethnic rivalries springing into modern-day violence..

Kenyan Riot Police Turn Back Rallying Protesters
By Jeffrey Gettleman
Published: January 4, 2008

The *extremely* short version is that many people, including some independent observers, are questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election results from a few days prior. The existing president has unequivocally declared victory with 52% of the vote, and, in fact, has already sworn himself in for this next term (hasty, indeed!); on top of that, he refuses to negotiate with the opposition in any capacity.

You might think that that this sort of situation would be manageable in a civilized manner, but add in tribal allegiances (something I have no internal notion of), under-developed social infrastructure, and general trappings of a poor nation (even if it is one of the most successful in Africa), and you start to approach an understanding of how a society with a veneer of stability can so quickly fall from such grace. But, still, yeah, you can only just *start* to approach such terrible understandings..

Continue your contemporary Kenyan education with another article from the NYTimes, written by the same journalist:

Kenya, Known for Its Stability, Topples Into Post-Election Chaos
By Jeffrey Gettleman
Published: January 3, 2008

Again, start your journey here in newspapers like the NYTimes and in general Western media, but take it all with a grain of salt. One of the main ideas that I came away with after reading "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families" last month is that, like I mentioned before *for myself*, many international players who have a hand in the African condition (governments - continental and beyond, NGOs, foreign industry, journalists, general travelers) do not know the history of the people that they are observing and/or interacting with; they can hardly tell who is who sometimes. In other words, when they are giving commentary, passing judgments, or making decisions related to the African world, they are doing so with assumptions about "how people/societies work" that many times do not hold true there for one reason or another. And, hence, the place sometimes seems to be random and doomed to its failure after failure after failure.. even to people who should "know better".

In any case, the subject of "how to help Africa" - whatever that means - is a HUGE subject in itself and beyond the scope of this entry.

Admittedly, I would have probably glossed over these articles on "Kenya's problems", except for the fact that my sister has been living there for the past year and a half (in a village called Matayos, near Busia), working for the Peace Corps. In the weeks leading up to the election she had mentioned to us folks back home that there would be some precautions related to the election time, mostly in the form of travel restrictions. But I don't think that anyone imagined the scale of violence that has erupted.. although, again, it's hard to tell the true scope of the violence without being there first hand.

However, she did send an email yesterday describing a fairly dramatic evacuation out of Kenya:

"Hey all!!! Here's the update. Yesterday, the 2nd of Jan, another PCV and I were moved into Uganda. Peace Corps called me in the morning, then my supervisor came with his motorcycle to come pick me (first time I left my compound in a week and as we were just going there were fire burns in the roads and rocks for road blocks (hoolagans from diff places are stopping vehicles and making people speak their mother tongue and if they're kikuyu they're killing them):also, there's NO public vehicles running)) and brought me to Busia to this volunteers house. (Also, there's NO petrol/gas so it was a good thing I left when I did because his motorcycle was on LOW). Got to her house, and the Father from the Catholic Church, where she stays, took us across the border in his car where we met with 2 Uganda PCV's who live on the busia side of Uganda and we came up to Tororo, UG(27km from Busia, UG) for safety. TODAY: 13 PVCs in Kisumu are supposed to be leaving with the CDC via police escort and coming to meet us. We may stay here for another night or two or go to Kampala... we will have to wait and see. KNOW that I'm safe and thinking of everyone back in the States. It's quite surreal... Take care. Miss you, Love, Megan"

So, my sister is safe and sound, and just waiting in Uganda for things to cool out, hoping to return to her village in Kenya sooner rather than later. Luckily, Megan can roll with the punches, so I know she's been keeping high spirits throughout this unplanned adventure.

At this point, all I can say is that I hope for the violence to stop and some sort of reconciliation process to begin - within the national government, within local communities, and within each individual.. intellectually, spiritually or otherwise. And to all of you on that delicate, and sometimes terrible, journey - especially those in positions of power and influence: Godspeed. The path to peaceful resolution might be long, but your first steps must start now; the lives of a lot of people, in Kenya and beyond, are counting on your arrival.

Abstractions of François al-Hajj

There are bombings of some capacity everyday - somewhere in the world, someone is disgruntled enough (or the pawn of those that are) to manifest it through extreme violence.. and apparently it is pretty easy to create and deploy an exploding device that can do a fair bit of damage.

However, the psychology of such folks, the societal conditions surrounding such events, and other such heavy subjects are things that I will not get into right now. Still, a front-page article in the NYTimes today about a bombing in Lebanon has me mentioning this topic to you:

General Killed in Bomb Attack in Lebanon
By Nada Bakri and Graham Bowley
Published: December 13, 2007

Again, I will leave the real analysis and discussion for later (and, perhaps, to folks more learned than I), and so will stick to the superficial. The target of the bombing - and main victim (there were several) - was a senior Lebanese Army officer; his name was François al-Hajj. I know nothing about the man, his politics, or his military record (besides what I gleaned from the article above); but I know he had a badass name.

Please excuse the flippancensical attitude that would allow me to focus my attention on the poetic appeal of the victim's name, while disregarding the whole terrible circumstances surrounding his death. To that, I will just say that it is an odd world that we live in, and the human mind - similarly strange - makes such abstractions so possible, and, further, so accessible.

This leaves us to meditate on the syllableistic pleasure intrinsic in the words - again, nevermind the man for now: François al-Hajj

Right off the bat, the exotic sounds roll of my tongue like a fancy magical spell (eye of newt!); in full, it is an invocation to conjure up (romantic visions of) faraway lands and times that may-or-may-not have actually existed in reality. No matter, no matter, of course; we are more interested in fodder for the imagination; and I am surely inspired to dream, to dream and write. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, close your eyes and chant "François al-Hajj" (pause) "François al-Hajj"; there is no other. And, in doing so, indulge in the fantastical episodes that unfold before you.

How green is your candidate?

During any Thanksgiving downtime this week/weekend, you might want to brush up on the environmental positions of your your favorite, or yet-to-be-favorite! - candidates for the upcoming 2008 US Presidential Election. And the best place to do such a thing is at grist, yo.

If you haven't been the grist.org before, it is, basically, a superb site to find lots of "independent environmental journalism" (and it's non-profit, to boot). They write most, if not all, of the content themselves; and it's top quality. Besides, what I really appreciate is that they take a grounded approach to the issues (ex. Farm Bill, public transit, climate change); if they were too, ahem, hippy-dippy, I wouldn't be able to read them, much less recommend them. ;)

Yes, so check out their "How Green Is Your Candidate?" section, which contains interviews and stat sheets on the energy plans and environmental positions of all the current presidential candidates. While those aren't the *only* issues that should be important for the upcoming election, they *are* pretty big ones in my book.

And while it's still a few months away, the Presidential Primaries will be here before we know it; in fact, California is holding theirs on February 5th, 2008 (aka Super Duper Tuesday) along with 22 other states. Find the full schedule at opensecrets.org.

War is a force that gives us meaning

Will you miss the days of the occupation?

I know *I* surely will. You see, it was a time when everything - at least on *our* side of the social equation - was pure and just and right. And I could see the gleaming-white outlines of a most glorious future, as it was set against the blackest-of-black circumstance of oppression. The in's and the out's of the world were *so* clear to me that I could have navigated through a sea of them with my eyes closed and my sails at half-mast. In this way, our long-lost and deep-sea(ded) fortunes were just around the corner (yet still, as always, out of reach).

Yes! Oh-my-god, it hurts just to think about it; why can't we go back?:

The rear seats of the dusty white sedan were tight with passionate bodies (some bloodied), and in such a grimy and restrictive space - physically AND philosophically - instinct kicks in more powerfully than you've ever known. The primal rush is on, and, as a result, I will push you, and I will punch you; my lust for overpowering my wicked opponent - again, you - is insatiable. The cameras were on (they are always on these days) during this otherwise hidden fracas, so I thrust a peace-sign through an open window for the benefit of posterity; the world has a right to know how we toil for legitimacy of cause (and for effect).

I look back, and while it didn't occur to me at the time (there is no room for real-time reflection when blood is boiling), I know it now, and I will know it forevermore: I am defined by who I am not. OH, oh-I-know-it from the top of my manic crown, down to the bottom of my boots (quaking), so it's worth saying again: I am defined by who I am NOT.

So here, in this time and place of struggle.. of *personal* struggle, I am surrounded by those who would restrain me, by those who would keep me here in this purgatory of political engagement until the end of our republic (if such a time hasn't arrived already). And this, THIS.. IS.. UNACCEPTABLE!

My conscience is clear;
There is no other way.
I am destined for a life of
(Pure) action and certitude,
Onwards and onwards..

We will march ourselves, willingly, into a great white light - as the ultimate expression of our hope for a better life; never mind the violence required - it is besides the point (of execution). Yes, it is an act of *love* and the world will understand from where it rose up in due time; it *must* understand! And as such, my path was (and is) preordained.. and unequivocal in constitution: escape by any means necessary. I cannot be held from my date with destiny.

Or, at least, that is how I felt at the time; years have passed "in peace".

Life now, as order is restored in town and country (or so we're told), doesn't seem to have the same urgency as before, and the crisp lines of purpose have bled into a gray mess as I go about my daily - and frighteningly mundane - business. And in such an environment, how can we find solid direction (for living) again? During the uprising, I was a virtuous and enthusiastic mechanism for revolution: things needed to change - we *all* knew it; and I was there to be part this brave new world order. This much was obvious and, again, this much was pure and just and right. Let me fade into nostalgia one last time..

The mise en scène was set as such; I knew my part, and I did not - I could not! - doubt the director for a moment. It did not even matter that I did not know who was running the shadowy production; the show must go on! My god, I will always believe in the myth of war and in the myth of success (through violence); what else do we have to believe in?

I wish I was the first one to say it because it's so true: we are a people lost; and war is a force that gives us meaning. It's obviously true as I look back through wistful gaze into the past, and I *know* it will continue to be true forward into eternity. God help us as we wish, again, for days so strong, so horrible.. and so wonderful.

It's your, like, god-given right

If you're wondering if you're supposed to vote on Election Day (TODAY), the answer is yes. Please vote, especially if you're into better public transit for San Francisco (and better quality of citylife in general)..

Vote YES on Prop A! And NO on Prop H.

Here in SF, Propositions A and H are the biggies this election. For more information on these two, find it on SF Bike Coalition's Bike Vote 2007 page. But there are also 9 other Props to consider; check what these (generally progressive) folks have to say about them:

SF Planning + Research Association (SPUR)
The League of Young Voters
SF Bay Guardian
SF Chronicle

...and me

The short version is, again, (YES on A) and (NO on H). Polls are open until 8pm tonight; find yours here.

Ideas do not necessarily work forever

Did you see last week's The Economist article about it being time to dismantle Belgium because "its job is done"? The article title - Time to call it a day - certainly got my attention and made me question (again) what it really means to be a country. Yeah, so how do you define a country; what is a country, really?

As a cursory glance (into my mind's dictionary), I think of a country as a very static entity, and not just a political device on paper. People live in countries! And they work, and play there too (unless their government says otherwise). But, thinking more about it, I do understand that the notion of a "country" is one of human organization and, effectively, one of hierarchy for dividing the world into chunks manageable for us as individuals. The world is too big for it to just "be" without the creation of many mental bins.

The article also implies - again, to my surprise - that Belgium does not currently have a properly-elected government, which seems odd given that Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union - you'd think they would at least want to set a good example at home. haha. In fact, it seems like a state of politics that is more common in less developed nations, nations in turmoil; of course, Belgium is still quite civilized in all other respects. Still, it was the first I had heard of this sort of thing, but apparently this has been the case since the last elections (June 2007, I think). But I can't find confirmation; Belgium seems to have a complex system of government as a result of its 60/40% split of Flemish (Dutch) and French-speaking citizens. I assume The Economist has done its research, but, still, you take these things with a grain of salt without first-hand knowledge.

So where does that leave us? Guessing, for sure: Belgium, born 1831 and dissolved 2007? Or 2008.. or 2800? Whenever (if, sil vous plait) the political entity known as Belgium does finally call it a day, what will its citizens do? The Economist muses:

No doubt more good things can come out of the swathe of territory once occupied by a tribe known to the Romans as the Belgae (like Magritte, Simenon, Tintin, the saxophone and a lot of chocolate.. also frites). For that, though, they do not need Belgium: they can emerge just as readily from two or three new mini-states, or perhaps from an enlarged France and Netherlands.

My first comment is that the author forgot - forgot! - to mention Belgian beer.. but I digress. ;) It still blows my mind (a little) that none of this makes any real news; at the least, it's a good reminder of where political systems come from (people!, like Soylent Green) and why we have established them in the first place (to help us solve problems of daily life). More importantly, it also reminds us that sometimes ideas and constructs that worked in the past do not necessarily work forever, and so we periodically need to reassess our ultimate goals as a civilization and, if necessary, tweak our institutions; we must adapt.

Here, in the specific case of whether Belgium should break up, I don't have enough knowledge about the country to say whether it is a good idea, that is, one that is appropriate for their current conditions. But, again, just bringing up the notion that a country can serve a purpose (or fail to do so), then be turned around into another political entity (or entities) to work better in new conditions, speaks to the humanity of these institutions and to the fact that we are therefore in control of our own destiny. Even whole civilizations - supercountries! - have ebbed and flowed throughout history; we can read books about our successes and failures, and remember to do better.