Back to the Balkans

(Hvar, Croatia) - Well because I am a lamo, I still havent gotten those remain pictures up yet. I have been a little too busy recently to post much. Luckily this week I am a conference in Hvar Croatia. This is my 3rd trip to this beautiful little island in the Adriatic off the coast of Split, Croatia. A physics conference is held here every three years and I have been lucky enought to get invited each time they have held it.

It is interesting getting these snap shots in time of the country every 3 years and therby being able to judge development etc. When I came first in '99 the economy was still realing from the effects of the recent war, 50 years of capitalism and so prices were low and shops were somewhat empty (but it was beautiful). Three years later, prices were higher and shops were a little fuller (and the islands were still beautiful). Now in 2005, development has continued, Croatia is advertised all over Europe as a tourist destination, the main promenade in Split is starting to fill with all kinds of shops, and it is still pretty cheap (and still beautiful). What is not to like? Cheap and beautiful are my two favorite things and so I really like it here and am looking forward to having a fun filled week at my 'conference' with some swimming, a few good hikes, lots of Croatian red wine, and, 'oh yeah' I have to give a talk or something.

I could go on an on about how beautiful it is here, but instead I will just leave you with a picture or two.

A view of the harbor: Physics is hard

The harbor from the bird's eye view of the fortress

Activist Legislatures?

First we had the social reactionaries decrying the "activist judges" (and here), and now we learning about activist legislatures.

Schwarzenegger is going to veto the new gay marriage legislation in California. This is legislation debated, modified, and voted upon by that most democratic of governing bodies, a legislature. If Schwarzenegger wants to derail that for a desire to pander to the hysterical right that is his prerogative as executive. What I find amusing (sad) about this is the spin that is surrounding it from his handlers and supporters.

"We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote," the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said in a statement.

and

"I'm encouraged that the governor is going to stop the runaway Legislature, and he's going to represent the people," said Karen England of the Capitol Resource Institute, a Sacramento group that lobbied against the bill.

Hmmm... runaway legislatures.... represent the people....

Good talk. Good talk. I guess this has become the fashionable knee jerk slur in the public sphere ..."Activism." Anytime another group is the public sphere does something you disagree with one labels them as 'runaway' or worse ... 'activism' (...shudder...). Do these people even know what a legislature is supposed to do? It is supposed to make laws. And sometimes these laws supercede directly voted upon propositions. Big Whup.

Has Schwarzenegger finally jumped the shark with this one?

In which I title this entry by "In which" again

(Varna, Bulgaria, 5 weeks ago) - So then it was across Bulgaria by train to the Black Sea Coast. The Black Sea! Haayzuess almight! Never did I think I would see such things. We were supposed to visit with Nicola's Bulgaria collegues who have a flat there and spend a a few weeks a year there when they are not in Geneva singing... but alas as it turned out they would have to go to Burgas for a family emergency. We ended up spending the 1st two nights in the only hotel in town they could find for us - a monsterous communist era affair that hadn't seen a rehab since at least 20 years before the last Politburo meeting.

Varna was only OK. In principle it was beautiful and the water is warm and clear, but capitalism isn't being kind to most places like this and it was starting to become overbuilt. The beach strip thumped to hiphop until 6 AM and reeked with swarms of drunk teeny boppers and all the restaurants were by an large touristy and greasy (With the exception of the one night that we ate at the best place in Bulgaria $40 total bill. Cool). It was like a tackier Slavic version of the Jersey shore. We still had a good time though at the beach itself and walking around town. And we met up with Alexander and Marianna after 2 days on our own and visited with them before jetting for Turkey...

Nicola on the Black Sea

Another huge Stalin era statue... also slated for demolition

In Alexander and Marianna's elevator after an evening out.

The view from their balcony. The Black Sea is to the left and Lake Varna (haunted by vampires in older times) is to the right

In which Krugman nails it.

(Fridays New York Times Op-Ed page) - In Friday's nytimes, Paul Krugman gives the most succint summary that I have seen of what the administration's problem with governance is.

In regards to the unfolding tales of woe in the Big Easy. He writes ...

"I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice."

I think that basically sums it up and all the rest is details. The people calling the shots are so obsessed with shrinking the size of government, taking it out of the sphere of public life, looking for 'free market' solutions and have told people for so long that "the guv'ment" is the source of their problems that they have started to believe their rhetoric extends to basically all governmental functions... even essential ones.

The rhetoric of finding 'free market' and efficient solutions ignores the fact that efficiency in things like wars and natural disasters will have to be predicated on incredible human suffering.