Fire

The hills are burning west of Oaxaca. A band of fire has been aggressively advancing along the mountainside since midday. So far it's on the sparsely populated part, as best I can see. Perhaps there are homes in jeopardy on the other side, the side we can't see and never think about. Farther south, and closer to the city, there are definitely homes that could be in danger if the blaze blows the other way. Flames were visible in the daylight, even. I cannot even venture a guess at the distance between our apartment and the hillside, but I would not be surprised to learn that it is 10-20 miles. Then again, maybe it's only five. How can you tell these things from the porch rail?

My friend Santiago says it's not an accident. There are two villages up there in the mountains that have political differences; this is one of the ways these things get settled. Somebody started the fire with a specific purpose, and probably due to the extreme dryness and steady winds today it has spun out of control. Maybe tomorrow, Santiago says, we'll hear about the gang battles between the village politicians. In the meantime we watch fire consume the night, we stand back, we wonder, and we worry for the desert and the homes that dot the hillside.

Your Daily Science Brief

Science in the news today:

This is sort of sweet, and seems, by all outward appearances, a pretty good way to get students' imaginations involved in the sciences. Plus Antarctica is involved, and I hear people love that sort of thing.

And this is just strange. We are not worried enough about the unintended consequences of meddling in the name of science, specifically the risk of creating micro black holes which could present the potential to swallow the earth or turn it into a chunk of dead rock. The article is worth a read, if only to consider the possibilities.

Creative Sentencing

From Yahoo News: "Judge orders Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail."

The headline choice is pretty outrageous, since it smacks of racism and nationalism and anti-immigrationism and all that. Yahoo probably could have done better, but they want us to click on it and follow through, so it's hard to get too worked up over that (though I did recently beg the news industry to please quit over-sensationalizing all things political).

Despite my initial misgivings, however, I'm pretty impressed by the judge and his choice of sentencing.

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.

The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.

It's good all around, actually. Get these guys degrees, language skills, and jobs, and (hopefully) they won't be as likely to shake down strangers on the street for drugs and money. They have all served or are serving jail time for their crimes, and then they get a chance to make good. I like that idea a whole lot more than locking them up for 2-5 years, or whatever the sentencing norm is on something like this, especially in a time when our penal system is more overburdened than ever.

Plenty of folks will be up in arms if one of these guys goes on to commit a serious felony in the next 24 months, but let's face it, prison doesn't cure people of wanting to commit crimes. Everybody but the most grievous offenders gets out eventually--unless you're in California, where plenty of non-grievous offenders may never get out, thanks to current, 3-strikes sentencing rules--and as a society we've got to face the fact that our corrections system doesn't have a very good reputation for correcting much of anything.

I say let's see a little more of this creative sentencing, where possible and appropriate, and see how it all pans out.

"The Tonya Harding Option"

I hadn't heard it put this way before. Jake Tapper at ABC News quotes an unnamed, Democratic Party official as saying that the Clinton campaign, in order to secure the nomination, has only one option.

She will have to "break his back," the official said. She will have to destroy Obama, make Obama completely unacceptable.

"Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the 'Tonya Harding option.'" the official said. "Is that really what we Democrats want?"

After reading speculation on whether Camp Clinton is hoping for a McCain presidency, just so the former first lady will still have a shot in 2012 (which I don't buy into but I'm also not prepared to guarantee is not the twisted shape of things), I can actually see the "Tonya Harding option" as being not that far from the mark. Which just makes me wonder how much uglier the Clinton campaign stands to get before this is all over.

Shaking the (Family) Tree

This is why I love the information age:

This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

Kudos to the AP for digging up one of the least consequential, yet more interesting, tidbits to come out of this year's historic Democratic primary. More good stuff to come, I hope.

Update From Oaxaca

Things are quiet in Oaxaca, if you don't count the heavily armed police helicopter circling the city, presumably looking for culprits or clues as to the daylight disappearances of two wealthy politico/empresario (politician/businessman) types over the long weekend.

Nancy Davies posts the following:

A helicopter has been circling overhead for three consecutive days with
armed (armed with what? I don't know what weapons but surely either high powered arms or tear-gas launchers) [sic] Abductions took place on both Friday and Saturday, and I assumed that the chopper was trying to locate a car (Is that silly? Yeah.) The kidnapped men were taken by the same m.o., which was that hooded men entered on Friday a restaurant and on Saturday an auto sales place, and simply hauled away their targets, both of whom are men with money (why kidnap a poor person, eh?) but I do not know if they are wealthy by the sweat of their brows or by some other method -the first one was a former PRI legislator and the uncle of former governor Diodoro Carrasco, so that's a clue.

I don't actually know anything about the kidnappings, so I pass all this on without comment.

I will comment on another statement she makes, however:

I truly believe that Oaxaca is ungovernable. My own opinion, for what it is worth --and I think that what has happened, is that the APPO and the
teachers opened the lid on what has been underneath simmering along. It is total corruption, free impunity to break all laws, repression and/or authoritariansim over the distant pueblos, buying votes, etcetera. Once the lid was off, although URO has done all he could to break Section 22, break the PRD, break the social movement --in other words, to regain control, I believe it is a hopeless task. Although he can destroy more, and install more repression, the box is open, the cows are out of the barn, whatever metaphors you choose, violence and agitation are rampant. Some of it is instigated by people who see a chance to improve their situations, and some of it is instigated by "bad guys" who are threatened with loss of control (and hence loss of income).

I generally turn to Nancy's writing first for a clear idea of events that take place in Oaxaca. Her politics are quite left-leaning, as is evidenced by the appearance of her work almost exclusively on the Narco News website, and in her characterizations of the beautiful struggle in her book, The People Decide. Her politics generally figure secondarily, for me as a reader, to the informational content of her writing. As a friend of mine recently said to me about other news outlets, "These newspapers agree with my prejudice." I can let the rest go by because Nancy Davies offers consistent, English language analysis of issues in Oaxaca and, while I am not a leftist and certainly not an anarchist, I can more or less accept the tone of the work that comes out of the Narco News mill.

Today however I have to take issue with Nancy's perspective and ask what, exactly, she means when she says that "Oaxaca is ungovernable." Does this mean there is a failure of governance, law, and order in Oaxaca? Because except for the run of the mill Mexican political corruption in the state, I fail to see this. Certainly, the people who control the city appear to be above the law. And that's about par for the course, since they control, if not how the law is written, then certainly how it is executed and enforced.

I do not share Nancy's view that because the APPO and the teachers' strike of 2006 opened the lid on issues that have been simmering beneath Oaxaca´s surface, then Oaxaca therefore is at present devolving (or evolving, depending on your perspective) to a state of ungovernability. Yes, that lid appears to have been cracked, but by all accounts the unresolved problems are happily stuffed back inside to roil and ripple beneath the surface, likely not to rear their heads forcefully again until the next gubernatorial election in two or three years, when the PRI plots how to retain their hold on the Governor's Palace and the various groups of the broad people´s movement--or of the APPO, if you prefer--unite once more under the banner of hatred for a common enemy.

By the accounts of those I've spoken with (people whom, I must confess, by and large agree with my particular prejudice), the majority of Oaxacans identify neither with the teachers nor the APPO nor the government. This majority simply wants the city to be tranquil enough to attract the tourists who fuel Oaxaca's economy, and thus maintain the availability of work in the city. No work equals no security, and that comes across as the biggest factor on most people's minds.

So will Oaxaca's "ungovernable" nature lead to another round of skirmishes in the streets in 2008? Friends here suspect that when the teachers of Section 22 rally in May to renew their annual list of demands, the demands will not be outrageous and the government will be quick to oblige a much compromised version of whatever list is submitted, which the teachers will in turn be quick to accept. In this way both sides of the unresolved conflict will walk away quietly. APPO remains the wild card, potentially, but I repeat: without a common cause or enemy to unite all the wildly divergent groups represented across the pueblos, there is little to suggest that the leaderless APPO can inspire so many parties to agree upon and rally around any common message.

I will not go so far as to make my own predictions. The one thing everybody here will bet on is that you can't bet on anything. I imagine it a flight of fancy, however, to suggest that Oaxaca is out and out ungovernable. That, to me, suggests Oaxaca is also unpoliceable, and anyone here to witness the state's aggressive police patrols would likely argue the opposite. I simply find myself saying, again as many times before, "Vamos a ver." We will see.

Accidental Cockpit Shooting

Was it Chekhov who said if there's a gun on the wall in Act 1 it must go off by Act 3?

This was bound to happen eventually, and you can bet we'll never know the exact circumstances of the discharge.

Semana Santa

I should mention that Semana Santa, the holy week before Easter, is a hopping good time in Oaxaca and is generally regarded as the spring holiday (read spring break) in Mexico. I'm off work, Jenna submitted a draft of her thesis, and today we're headed to the mountains. Blogging will be light (even lighter, one could reasonably point out) as I enjoy my vacation to the fullest.

It's a little early, perhaps, for many, but happy spring all around.

Sweet Mama J´s Great Alaskan Cakery

UPDATE: 1 pecan pie delivered, 9 photos to put smiles on countless faces.

__________


More good work from the genius of Janice Kidd:

I am launching a new Facebook application called “Drive Thru Sweet Mama J’s Cakery.” To use this application, post a request on my wall, indicating any type of dessert you would like me to bake. I will bake the dessert and deliver it to any organization in Anchorage that serves people in need. You will receive a photograph of the dessert plus a photograph of me giving the dessert away. All desserts will be presented with a card that reads “From the Lusty, Inspired, Generous Heart of P.J. Bojangles [or whatever your name is]. Eat up.”

Here is a suggested list of organizations that do good up here:
http://www.assetsinc.org/
http://www.covenanthouseak.org/faqs.htm
http://www.awaic.org/
http://beanscafe.org/

Please note that your requests may take a week or more to fulfill. I bake from scratch, people.

Janice is doing great community service in a time of great need. I am, frankly, more excited about the overall benefits of this pecan pie for the folks at the animal shelter then I am the prospects of another Democratic debate. Here´s a preview of how lives will be touched:

Hi, everyone. Corey has launched Sweet Mama J's Cakery by requesting a pecan pie to be made for an Anchorage animal shelter. Please see the creation of this pie by following this link.

The pie is baking right now, filling the house with sweet rummy goodness.

Stay tuned for the next installments: The pie comes out of the oven. The pie is delivered. Ecstasy of the mouth. Anchorage animal workers drop to their knees, gazing heavenward.

Seriously. Can Clinton and Obama really match that? Good work, Sweet Mama J. Keep the good-karma dessert wagon rolling.

Could There Be a Trend?

A quick run down of the headlines, courtesy of Google News:

• Clinton apologizes to black voters

Can Sen. Hillary Clinton stem eroding support from black voters in the wake of racially controversial remarks by former congresswoman and Clinton fundraiser, Geraldine Ferraro?

• Could Pastor Bring Down Obama?

If people are looking to find flaws in Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, perhaps they need to look no further than the man who married Obama, and his wife, Michelle, in 1992.

• Could woman in Spitzer scandal become a star?

Could Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the aspiring singer embroiled in the prostitution scandal that toppled New York governor Eliot Spitzer, have a music career?

Could the sensationalist, news-infotainment industry please stop pandering to and promoting rhetorical speculation?

Section 59 Hunger Strike

A couple days ago I posted an update from Nancy Davies on the efforts of Section 59 of the teachers' union to recoup backpay promised by the government since 2006 when the teachers of Section 22 went on strike. The irony, as Nancy pointed out, is that the strike-breakers are now every bit as disillusioned with the governor as the original Section 22 strikers were back in '06.

Today Section 59 is at it once more. I've just come from the zocalo, where two dozen or so teachers from Section 59 are encamped on the stone plaza, lying on sleeping bags, blankets, and cardboard boxes amid a raft of signage announcing their hunger strike in the face of a lying and unjust government.

Just so everybody understands: Section 59 teachers were recruited by the state government--promised money, school improvements, and what have you--to report to work and to denounce Section 22, in 2006, when Section 22 protested against the government's tactics of first ignoring teachers' complaints and then committing human rights violations amid the escalating, state sanctioned violence as the government attempted, repeatedly, to break the strike over a period of five and a half months. (See here and here for background.) As the situation in the capital deteriorated, Governor Ruiz needed some friends from the teachers' union on his side; thus Section 59 was given plenty of incentive and public visibility. And now they don't feel they've been dealt with squarely.

Their demands include immediate payment of all promised salaries, an opportunity to buy lands on which to develop schools (I have no idea where this comes from; perhaps it was mentioned at one point as an incentive to get them to work when their brethren were striking), and, if I understand correctly, which is never a guarantee, immediate action by the government to resolve the current condition of a government "held hostage" by the political maneuverings of Section 22. I mentioned all this to Jenna today, and her response was "They're gonna starve!"

It's true, too. There's something preposterous and beautifully ironical to Section 59 teachers camping out in the zocalo to demand their due. This is exactly how the conflict of 2006 began. First the teachers camped out and were ignored. Then the government laid the early morning bum-rush on the encampment, and the teachers fought back. Then* the governor called up Section 59 to help save a little public face and maybe put a good spin on things, which didn't really happen. And now Section 59 is crying foul?

Seriously. You couldn't make this up any better. If the two dozen or so teachers of Section 59 who are in the zocalo tonight are serious, then they better get ready for the long haul. All this reeks of a publicity stunt, but who knows. Maybe they've finally seen how Ruiz treats his people, and they're determined to protest the abuse. I'm not saying that's how it is. Just maybe one explanation.

*A dramatically stream-lined version of events

Gulf War Vets & Chemical Illness

This was bound to be corroborated eventually.

A third of veterans of the 1991 war experienced fatigue, muscle or joint pain, sleeping problems, rashes and breathing troubles, the research found.

. . . "Convergent evidence now strongly links a class of chemicals - acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors - to illness in Gulf War veterans," Dr Golomb told Reuters.

. . . "Psychological stressors are inadequate to account for the excess illness seen," said Dr Golomb, of the University of California, San Diego.

As Dr. Golomb points out, ground conflict during the Gulf War was measured in days. U.S. troops have now been on the ground in Iraq for six years. You do the math.