John Kerry for President: The CleverBlog endorsement

(Geneva, Switz.) - Long timers readers of this page know that we of the CleverBlog^(R) editorial staff have no qualms expressing our political views in writing on matters of dire importance and great human impact (see for instance N.P. Armitage et al. Superconducting Gap Anisotropy in Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4: Results from Photoemission). That's why we here at the CleverBlog^(R) editorial board are happy to strongly and emphatically endorse John Kerry for President.

We have been impressed with John Kerry ever since we first saw him interviewed on Charlie Rose last fall and thought to ourselves "what a thoughtful interesting guy, too bad that screaming Dean fellow is going to get the Dem nod." Fortunately, that didn't happen and after getting to know him better over the last year we are still impressed with John Kerry both as a individual and his potential to be a great president.

He hasn't been perfect. And sure he's made us crazy at times ... like that day at the Grand Canyon when he took Bush's obvious political bait and said he would have voted to invade Iraq even if he knew then what he knows now about WMDs. (He wouldn't have, because noone would have. The votes only happened because the case had been made that Iraq was an immediate and overt threat). Despite these blips, nevertheless, we have been impressed with his willingness to look at changing circumstances and access to new information and not be afraid to change course. His detrators call this flip-flopping. We feel that this is an adult and mature reality-based approach to public policy and life in general.

However .... In the interest of full-disclosure we here at the CleverBlog^(R) will freely admit that the thing we find most attactive about John Kerry is that he is "not-George-Bush".

The Bush 43 presidency has been a disaster. He came into office, after questionable elections goings-on in Florida, pledging to be uniter not a divider. Although offended by his affected faux-country Texas slang, ties to corporate crookery, self-professed anti-intellectualism, and his "soak-the-poor-while-I-clear-brush-in-Crawford-and-pretend-to-be-a- regular-guy"-attitude we at the CleverBlog^(R) really thought 'how bad it could it be?' Bad.

Although suffering from the lack of a strong public mandate, we had clues early on that the Bushies had an extreme agenda somewhat at odds with mainstream attitudes of foreign policy (remember that downed recon plane in China... those were cute times) and fiscal responsibility. This agenda though was somewhat stymied by moderation in their own party and overall public opinion. 9/11 changed all of that. He took his new effective mandate from 9/11 and the sympathy of the world and ran with it. As our collegues at the NY Times have written, he found himself with the"unparalleled opportunity to ask for almost any shared sacrifice. The only limit was his imagination. He asked for another tax cut and the war against Iraq."

What has been most amazing about the Bush presidency is not the explicit disasters of policy themselves, but instead the recalcitrance to changing course even in the face of overwhelming evidence that what is being done is not working. There has been a continueing obsession with various solutions as cure alls for all problems no matter the changing circumstances.

-Economy doing well. "Taxpayer, you've been overcharged. You get a tax cut."

-Economy not doing well. "Economy needs a boost. You get a tax cut."

-Iraq has WMD. "We need to invade Iraq".

-Oops. No WMD, but we had to take action after we were attacked. "It was right to invade Iraq".

-Ooops. No connections to Al-Queda, but a secular democracy in Iraq will be an freedom beacon to the rest of the Middle East. "It was right to invade Iraq"

-Iraq is a slow-motion disaster and the second we look away the country is going to rip apart into a civil war. "It was good to invade Iraq"

-"Ummm ... there world is better off without Saddam and uhhh... It was right to invade Iraq?"

It may be just the bubble he lives in and Bush may be seeing the world through rose-garden colored glasses for those reasons. The rest of us though live in a reality-based world. One size fits all solutions to complex nuanced problems don't work. Calls to "stay the course" should not be heeded if the course is taking you off a cliff.

So... so far not so good. What would a second term Bush presidency look like? Bush's refusal to admit to any mistakes doesn't bode well to pulling ourselves up out of the current muck. But what else? Adam Cohen recently waxed philosphic on a coming storm in a Bush 2nd term:

"Abortion might be a crime in most states. Gay people could be thrown in prison for having sex in their homes. States might be free to become mini-theocracies, endorsing Christianity and using tax money to help spread the gospel. The Constitution might no longer protect inmates from being brutalized by prison guards. Family and medical leave and environmental protections could disappear."

Lest you think he's being hyberbolic read on....

"It hardly sounds like a winning platform, and of course President Bush isn't openly espousing these positions. But he did say in his last campaign that his favorite Supreme Court justices were Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and the nominations he has made to the lower courts bear that out. Justices Scalia and Thomas are often called "conservative," but that does not begin to capture their philosophies. Both vehemently reject many of the core tenets of modern constitutional law.

When the court struck down Texas' "Homosexual Conduct" law last year, holding that the police violated John Lawrence's right to liberty when they raided his home and arrested him for having sex there, Justices Scalia and Thomas sided with the police.

A Louisiana inmate sued after he was shackled and then punched and kicked by two prison guards while a supervisor looked on. The court ruled that the beating, which left the inmate with a swollen face, loosened teeth and a cracked dental plate, violated the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. But Justices Scalia and Thomas insisted that the Eighth Amendment was not violated by the "insignificant" harm the inmate suffered.

A Scalia-Thomas court would dismantle the wall between church and state. Justice Thomas gave an indication of just how much in his opinion in a case upholding Ohio's school voucher program. He suggested, despite many Supreme Court rulings to the contrary, that the First Amendment prohibition on establishing a religion may not apply to the states. If it doesn't, the states could adopt particular religions, and use tax money to proselytize for them."

It goes on. Any conservative of a libertarian bent (less government is better, which is at least a consistent world view IMHO) should be in horror at world presided over by Bush judicial apointees and John "I have a major terrorist arrest to announce" Ashcroft. I don't think many people who are planning to vote for 43 this 1st Tuesday in Nov. have really thought through exactly how reactionary this junta is and what their ideal world looks like.

So on to John Kerry. First and foremost, we feel that this is a good and moral man who seeks out opinions that don't necessarily rubberstamp his own. He is commited to international cooperation, is strong on the environment, and not extremely vested with corporate lobbies. We have impressed with his large knowledge base and wide and varied interests. He is a longtime advocate of deficit reduction and social services reform. He favors protecting social security. And although the press and the Bush campaign have pilloried him for it, we agree with his opinion that one can't win a "War on Terror" as it -"Terror" - is a tactic not the enemy itself. As such, the fight against such tactics is better recast as a criminal matter. We also don't forget that he owns and rides a Serrotta.

So with 4 days to go, we are confident. The Bush campaign claims the wind is at their backs and they'll be victorious. There may be something on Bush's back, but it is not the wind. The polls show a statistical dead heat, but we think the aggressive get out the vote efforts by Dems will carry the day. Fingers crossed.

We like John Kerry and enthusiastically endorse him for president of the United States of America... Here's to hoping for a presidency built on more than a tinfoil-hat foreign and domestic policies.

-your CleverBlog^(R) editorial staff

i have a huge poetry credential. and as a widely published poet, i deserve RESPECT.

Came across this re: Vicki Chang's website. It is always interesting (and funny) when you can tune into the haughtiness and hubris of another field.

This is good stuff. Particurally some of the follow up comments. Sometimes a gun is just a gun. And sometimes people just want to publish a book of Asian poetry because they already have to much stuff on their plate.

Hasn't anyone told these guys that Derrida is 'dead'?

This needs no explanation to some - everyone else can forget it.

I saw the following while grocery shopping this morning.

That's Mr. Proper (or Meister Proper, if you like) to you!

Euros always take it to the next level. Proper.

Is that a ship?

(36,000 ft. somewhere over the North Atlantic) - Whew! That was a worldwind trip. I am sitting on a plane out of Newark heading back after a worldwind tour from Geneva to Palo Alto and back. I had a miniconference and some other stuff to attend to on short notice. I'm always amazed that you can go from there to there and back again with such little fuss and muss.

I left Geneva early last Tuesday. In a rare Swiss moment of inefficiency and ineptitude the train broke down at the Gare Coravin canceling it. I just barely made my flight and then took the opposite of the great circle route: Schipol, Amsterdamn - Houston - SFO. Almost 24 hours of constant motion going the slow way through the tropics. Uggh.

More thoughts on the trip later, but I had a good visit, a good conference, and got to see alot of folks that I had missed for awhile.

"I believe that anyone who flies in an airplane and doesn't spend most of his time looking out the window wastes his money," - Marc Reisner in 'Cadillac Desert' about flying over the western United States

... which I always thought even before I read him say it so I am always amazed at what other people do on planes. Most of them just sit and stare at the seat in front of them.

Me, when I'm on my plane, I can't help but spend most of my time with nose pressed to glass. How one can waste such an opportunity by inspecting the contours of the upholstery of the anterior seat is beyond me. On the way out, since the plane was going to Houston, we flew tighter down the east cost of Canada than I have before. It is fascinating to see how civilization encroaches by bit and piece into the frame of the window. First one only has ocean, which is not so exciting (although on my way west we flew over a storm in the North Atlantic and trhough a break in the clouds white caps were visible below. A swell that you can distinguish from 35,000 ft. is one big wave), but then you make landfall, which as the shadow of the plane crashes onto the coast always seems dramatic to me. Next below is some little NE Canadian Inuit village, probably only accesible via boat, then a 1/2 hour later a little road, then a bigger village, we're then over the countours of the northern maritimes, and before you know it you realize you've entered the mouth of the mighty St. Lawrence seaway that drains the Great Lakes and points beyond to the Rockies. To see such features from the sky first hand that you have only seen on maps before, gives them a sense of realness that is enthralling. So much to see! What a view! How could anyone miss it?

When I fly, I never waste my money and I always choose a window seat.

The Diet of Worms was not something Luther had for lunch

Having taken the bus downtown (and escaped arrest) I found that, it being Sunday, everything was closed. This is a reoccurring and contentious issue with myself and old Europe. I wanted to buy a digital camera, but the electronics store was closed. I wanted buy a trail map, but the outdoors store was closed. I wanted to get a book, but the... you get the idea. So I decided to hike to the top of the hill to the old town and see what was going on there.

The old town of Geneva is atop of steep hill. The stairways and cobbled paths make their way under and up through the old city walls. The Genevois now comemorate with a town holiday the day that they repelled the Duke of Savoy from these walls. My ascent was noticeably easier than the Savoyans who tried to do it with ladders, but it is still work nonetheless getting up there.

At the top I realized that the one thing that was for sure open was the old Romanesque cathedral (started contruction in about 1150 and more or less completed over the next 50 years. This being Geneva it was Jean Calvin's cathedral. It is at the highest point in the old town in the middle of a small square. I still haven't been able to find the spot where Calvin had Michael Servetus burned at the stake [more on this is a future entry], but perhaps it was here?

The inside of the cathedral is virtually bare of all ornamentation. The strictures against idolatory of the Reformation being what they were - those years were not good ones for the cathedral's interior and it had been essentially stripped clean. I didn't even see a crucifix. Interestingly, the stainglass windows are all still intact. Perhaps this is a recent addition of the last 450 years? The bare stone of the interior cathedral walls does allow one to see something of the construction of the place though and why it might have taken 50 years to build it. There are also some displays and information on the chronology, issues, and events of the Reformation which I found quite interesting.



For the bargain deal of 3 CHF I was able to climb to the top of the cathedral. The very narrow staircase took one to the top of the first bell house and then an almost impassibly tiny winding stone stairway led finally to the top of the south tower with nice view out in all directions. The picture below is looking back towards the city center and the French side of the lake. One can again see the ever present Jet d'Eau in the background. All the recent rain has dumped a ton of snow in the high country and as the rain cleared I could see the tremendous Alpine ranges out towards Morizine and beyond to Chamonix.

The appearance of confidence is more important than its possession?

(Geneva, Switz.) - It is raining today and I needed to get out of my place. Not wanting to ride my bike in the rain nor lock it outside for a longtime I decided to take Geneva's much vaunted public transportation system to the city center to see what's doing on a Sunday afternoon.

I consult my map. I will take a bus. 'The 9.' 'The 9' will take me downtown. I leave my apartment and walk to the stop.

I walk around the corner and it's 'The 9.' 'The 9' rolls by. It is a big big bus. So big that it pivots in center and the back of the bus can be going in a different direction that the front. I have seen these buses. In town. Before.

I panic. The bus is stopped ahead. The right rear door is open. I run. It has been stopped for awhile and is about to leave. I run. I slide through the door as it closes and the bus pulls away from the curve. But wait. I haven't paid. I have no ticket. How did I get here? I should have bought a ticket at the machine at the bus stop and entered through the front of the bus and given my ticket. The bus driver should have noticed. He didn't. Why did he let me get away with this? He shouldn't have. I wasn't thinking. It was instinct. I am feeling guilty. I may get off the bus at the next stop.

Had I planned to gamely slip in through the doors as they closed moments before the bus pulled away as the busdriver looked to merge with traffic I wouldn't have been able to do it. I would have loitered. I would have been nervous. I would have screwed-it-up. I didn't. Now I am on the bus.

Channeling Machiavelli, Ron Suskind writes in today's NY Times magazine:

"(the) oft-cited line about the adequacy of the perception of power prompts a question. Is the appearance of confidence as important as its possession? Can confidence -- true confidence -- be willed?"

Not by me. For me, confidence -- true confidence -- comes from being blissfully unaware about what I'm doing.

Emergency! Please email immediately!

(Geneva, Switz.) - Anyone out there who has moved to a new culture knows that certain things come up that no amount of pre-planning, research, or guidebooks could anticipate. One has to just learn to deal with these things as part-and-parcel of the experience and just hope that things don't turn out too poorly. So... here goes...I've gotten myself into a bit of a jam...a bit of a sit-yu-a-shun and I need help.

I opened the lid without thinking and now I need to know - does Nutella need to be refrigerated? Seriously. Honestly, I'm working at a loss here. Can one of my readers email with some info - right now. Maybe a european or barring that a shopper at Trader Joe's.

It kinda seems like it should be in the peanut butter food group (not refrigerated). But....

...one might make a peanut butter AND Nutella sandwich... which seems to indicate to me that it is should be in the jam/jelly/apple butter food group. This would mean it should be refrigerated. You see? - It's confusing. All the usual tests don't work.

Google is no help.

I'm gonna refrigerate it until I hear differently. Serious suggestions only please.

Shocked... shocked

(Geneva, Switz.)- I hate to make every post about something I did or found while out running/biking, but as congenital exerciser I spend alot of time doing it and it is also a good way to see the world...

... I went out for a run last night about 9-ish. Consulted my map first and decided I'd head straight toward the the Palais des Nations (UN HQ) and then take the backroad around it, which starts up into the hills, then turn, down to the lake and back into town on the bike path.

Went out past the UN, made my turn, and started up what turned into really nice windy little road that went up and up, past the Red Cross HQ... past a few other buildings and I got into a nice rythmm. Getting lost in my thoughts was aided by the quiet foggy night air and the vague bits of mist coming down. The road was wet and dark and there were little cars.

Towards the top I suddenly came around a bend and was startled to see a fortified compound right in front of me, the lights of which had been muted by the fog. A half dozen uniformed guards with assault rifles started to their feet and kleig lights burned into my face. I stopped in my tracks and stood facing them. They relaxed in moment as they saw I was just a runner. I guess I had startled them at least as much as they me. What was this place?!

There were bright lights cutting through the fog, a half-dozen armed commando types, 3 succesive razor wire fences, a large concrete wall (also topped with razor wire) and 3 or more anti-ram batteries on the main gate. The razor wire fences were of temporary construction, but ran the length of the road and to have room for them they actually went onto the tarmac a little. The bright lights everywear and lighting up through the fog made a pretty intense scene. See Checkpoint Charlie circa 1962 below. Gary Powers could have walked out of the mist. Behind all of this up on the hill was a large building, the details of which I could not make out.


Cold-War Checkpoint Charlie East Berlin - It looked like this.

The guards studied me warily as I stood dumbstruck in the bright lights trying to take it all in. I decided it was in my best interest to keep moving and I resumed my direction albeit at a slow walk... looking sideways. Moving out of the path of the klieg lights, revealed the details behind and ahh ....I realized where I was. A huge stars and stripes flew behind the main gate. It was the US consulate at the UN.

The sheer scale of the fortifications, at least in my quick estimation, was shocking. I realize that in this day and age, the US is a special target and special precautions need to be taken, but this was truly amazing, particurally in what was otherwise an idyllic and somewhat rural scene.

I knew the US consulates had been fortified post 9/11; coworkers tell me this is the way it is everywhere. But certainly the climate that begats such necessity cannot go on. A country's consulates are its public face to the world and there will be whole generations of people growing up who only know the US as the people behind these amazing walls. Clearly something will eventually have to give.

Weekend Update

(Geneva, Switz.) - Among other things this weekend, I went out for a nice ride on Saturday afternoon with the Velo Club Lancy folks.

http://www.vclancy.ch/

These guys really seem to have a nice good set up for their juniors. More on this later. Anyway we had a small group out for a ride. Below is a Madden-like schematic of where we went. We crossed into France and took the easy road up the back side of the Saleve, before crossing over and plunging down the front side. 'La Saleve' is the kinda mascot mountain for Geneva even though technically it is in France. Some would consider it to be the first of the Alps, although purists might claim that distinction for the next range south. The top is about 1380 m (4500 ft.) which is not a bad little hill to have in your back yard. In the below picture which I shamelessly stole off the web, you can see the route we took. The famous Jet d’Eau and the city of Geneva can be seen in the foreground. La Saleve is part of the cliffs in the back.




The one below is from the top of the Saleve looking out across the Haute-Savoy region towards Mt. Blanc which is ~80km away.




And finally below is a look back towards Geneva again from the top of Saleve. This shot is almost exactly 180 degrees from where the first one was taken.

Finally I am doing something about it.

(Geneva, Switz.) - I have nothing interesting to report other than it's Friday and I am about to go home. I'll be out and about this weekend and perhaps have something to say about that upon the weekend close. Perhaps a trip to Chamonix will happen.

The weather has been kind blustery and rainy recently. My Dutch officemate and I were comparing notes on what we had heard the weather was 'supposed' to be. I had always a more dire prediction that he. Perhaps this comes from the fact that I was getting all my info from...

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/SZXX0013.html

based in sunny Santa Clara CA and he was getting his from...

http://www.weeronline.nl/Zwitserland/Genf.htm

I've been looking over the last week and Weer is always a much better forecast than Yahoo. I guess what looks bad to someone in Silicon Valley, can still look pretty good in the consistent drip-drip-drip of Amsterdam.

As Mark Twain said everyone is "always complaining about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it." Well now you can... just check it on Dutch websites.

Rumors of my demise ...

(Geneva, Switz.) - Well I am getting started on blog-thing a little later than I wanted expected. I left LA on Saturday midday 9/11 pointed my car east and driving out across the desert. It was my first cross country trip since moving to California 9 years ago. I was also looking forward to it as I had never been in the section of the country east of palm springs and west of Phoenix. The desert was really cool and it makes me wish I had time to do more long distance road trips.

Anway... I had thought I would send updates along the way as I made my way to Nashville with bylines like....

September 11, 10:50 PM - in the desert 50 miles east of Los Cruces NM

... which would then follow with some cutting commentary on the state of human affairs, but it didn't happen. I was too frenetic upon leaving LA to have much mental space for meditations on human nature and too anxious to get where I was going as I was already a few days late. Anyway I drove basically straight through to my Mom's place in San Antonio TX, spent a few days there, then straight to Nashville, a few days there, then plane to JFK, and then direct to Geneva... and I've been here ever since. Lot's has happened and I will fill in the stories as we go along.

Recently... I just got back from a little conference in Brugg, which is towards German speaking Zurich, so I got to see some more of the country than the French part I am in now. Funny thing happened when making reservations with a very enthusiastic and strongly accented Swiss-german concierge. He didn't want to hang up afterwards... very funny... something like....

Me: OK. Thanks alot.

Him: Thank YOU alot for making reservation with us.

Me: Your welcome.

Him: We will see you tomorrow.

Me: Ummm .... yep.

Him: thank you again.

Me: Sure

Him: We look forward it.

Me: Uhhh.....

Him: The room will be ready when you get here.

Me: Riiiiiight.

Him: see you then.

Me: OK. see you then.

Him: see YOU then.

Me: (....laughing now....) Yep. Good night.

Him: Good night to YOU.

Me: Goodbye

Him: Good bye to YOU.

Then I hung up quick 'cause I was starting to get a little freaked. So so far all I know about Swiss-Germans are that they seem to want to talk or have easily placed seperation anxiety or something. Perhaps I seemed funny and brusque to him. Anyway it was interesting to see the contrast between the two areas. More on this later. I would be interested to know what it is like on the border between regions. Are there just French families and German families or is it more like people speak Grench or Freman? I dunno... and nobody I have asked has given me a straight answer.