Mike's Noise

Quotes to live by

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life. - Henry David Thoreau

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.” –C.S. Lewis

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.  This is known as “bad luck.” - Robert Heinlein

Many of us are hoping that all those in power fail, because those in power have a grating habit of being annoyingly self-righteous, hopelessly corrupt, resolutely incompetent and completely apathetic about the freedoms that they have sworn to protect. - David Harsanyi

President Bush visits the Olympics

I don't normally blog about sports or post random photos of President Bush, but in this case I thought I'd make an exception --

President Bush talks with Misty May Treanor, left and Kerri Walsh as he visits the practice of the U.S. beach volleyball team at the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, China Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Scheimer-Prescott-orama!

If you are a late 30-something or early 40-something like me, you'll remember the live action 1970's Saturday morning TV shows produced by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott.  You remember, right?  With their names turning round and round in a little circle at the end of the opening titles?  Ah, 70's kids television!

Shazam!

Secrets if Isis (Many young boys, including myself, experienced their first pangs of puberty while watching the gorgeous Joanna Cameron!)

Aw, what the heck?  She deserves another look, don't you think?

Ark II

And of course there had to be a cheap Star Wars knockoff in here somewhere, right?  Jason of Star Command

Fate

Wow.  Who knew that Sarah Jessica Parker would end up with bigger biceps than Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Notable deaths - Bo Diddley and Harvey Korman

Two notable entertainers left us this week.

Comic actor Harvey Korman, best known for his role as Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles, and as Tim Conway's comedic foil on The Carol Burnett Show, passed away at the age of 81.

Here is a sample of Harvey in Blazing Saddles:

And here is the classic Dentist's Office sketch from The Carol Burnett Show.  Harvey never could keep a straight face around Tim Conway.

 

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Legendary pioneer rock 'n' roller Bo Diddley passed away yesterday at the age of 79.  Diddley was known for his energetic stage presence, square guitars, and heavy chucka-chucka-chucka "scratching" rhythm.  His first hit record was released in 1955 as a 78 rpm single for the Checker record label, which was a part of Chicago-based Chess Records, one of the most important early rock and R&B record labels.  Diddley's first single coupled two originals (credited to his legal name, Ellas McDaniel) entitled "Bo Diddley" and "I'm a Man."  "Bo Diddley" was a light-hearted take on the old nursery song "Hush little baby don't say a word, daddy's going to buy you a mocking bird ..."  And "I'm A Man" has been copied by generations of rock and R&B singers, most notably George Thorogood's "Bad To The Bone."

 

 

The Latin-flavored rhythm of "Bo Diddley" has been described as "shave and a haircut" rhythm.  But if you don't know the song, do yourself a favor and listen to it.  Here it is, from the original 78:

Download bo_diddley_bo_diddley.mp3

Download bo_diddley_im_a_man.mp3

 

"Amazing Grace" part 2: "We have our hell right here on Earth"

You who turn justice into bitterness
       and cast righteousness to the ground ...

... you hate the one who reproves in court
       and despise him who tells the truth.

You trample on the poor
       and force him to give you grain.
       Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
       you will not live in them;
       though you have planted lush vineyards,
       you will not drink their wine.

For I know how many are your offenses
       and how great your sins.
       You oppress the righteous and take bribes
       and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times,
       for the times are evil.

Seek good, not evil,
       that you may live.
       Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
       just as you say he is. (Amos 5:7; 10-14 NIV)

Mott Haven was described in 1991 by the New York Times as "one of the city's most forlorn neighborhoods."  An epidemic of drug trafficking, drug addiction, murder, assault, robbery, and HIV/AIDS had so ravaged the neighborhood that New York City officials tagged the area around Beekman Avenue as "the deadliest blocks in the deadliest district" of the city.  Police officers only drove around the outskirts of the neighborhood.  Social workers handed out clean hypodermic needles and free condoms in an effort to stop the spread of HIV.  In 1991 there were 84 murders in Mott Haven, one every four days.

Writer Jonathan Kozol visited the neighborhood in 1993 and 1994, and soon after published his interviews and observations in his powerful memoir Amazing Grace.  Kozol chronicled the hopelessness that suffocates the neighborhood's residents.  Most of the families living in Mott Haven's housing projects were headed by single mothers or single grandmothers (if the mothers were in prison) and the suffering endured by these women is heartbreaking.  The combination of depression induced by the gloom of their environment, anxiety from the constant gunfire and killings, asthma fueled by anxiety and the vermin and insects that infest their apartments, and AIDS contracted from using contaminated needles or from sexual partners, had utterly devastated their lives.

"You have to struggle to get through the afternoon.  You have to drink a lot of coffee and you smoke too much to keep from crying or exploding at somebody.  You feel nervous all the time and can't calm down."

"Nothin' works here in my neighborhood ... Everything breaks down in a place like this.  The pipes break down.  The phone breaks down.  The electricity and heat break down.  The spirit breaks down.  The body breaks down.  The immune agents of the heart also breaks down.  Why wouldn't the family break down also?
"If we saw the people in these neighborhoods as part of the same human family to which we belong, we'd never put them in such places to begin with.  But we do not think of them that way.  That's one area of 'family breakdown' that the experts and newspapers seldom speak of."

"... Keepin' a man is not the biggest problem.  Keepin' from being killed is bigger.  Keepin' your kids alive is bigger.  If nothin' else works, why should a marriage work?  I'd rather have a peaceful little life just with my kids than live with somebody who knows that he's a failure.  Men like that make everyone feel rotten." (Kozol, Amazing Grace, pp. 180-181)

The only sign of optimism witnessed by Kozol in the Mott Haven projects was in the eyes of its children, who nonchalantly spoke of murder and drug dealing and prison in the same manner that a suburban child might speak of pizza or cheerleading or Thomas The Tank Engine.  The concepts of good and evil strongly resonated in the minds of these kids, along with the deep conviction that their circumstances were clearly the result of the evils done to their people by the wealthy elites who lived on the other side of the island.  Their belief in God, deeply instilled in them by mothers and grandmothers, was also strong, particularly their hope in the promise of Heaven.  Sadly, these children had little else to hope for.

"What do you do with some of these realities?  ... Here is a city in which nine out of ten children born with AIDS are black kids or Latinos, many of their mothers or fathers IV users.  You have 14-year-old girls who are crack users.  If you don't believe in God and don't believe in family or society , and don't believe you'll ever have a job, what do you have?  Even when a good political leader speaks to them, his rhetoric has no effect.  It's like walking into an intensive-care ward in a hospital and saying, 'Rise!'" (ibid, p. 174)

"Amazing Grace" part 1: Mott Haven then and now

(Author's note:  After I wrote this first short essay about Mott Haven, I realized that there was much more that I wanted to say.  So I wrote a second essay inspired by Amazing Grace and the poverty of Mott Haven.  Both essays were conceived and written independently, so there is some redundancy between the two pieces.  But I hope you will read them both.)

My JustFaith study group has been reading Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol, a harrowing account of life in New York City's most poverty-stricken neighborhoods during 1993 and 1994.  Kozol centers the book around Alice Washington and her son David, who represent the most exploited class of victims in the South Bronx slums.  Alice separated from, and eventually divorced, her unfaithful and abusive husband; his parting gift to her was the HIV virus.  She survived cancer, but her illnesses left her too sick to work.  She and her son became wards of the City of New York, and ended up in its poorest ghetto.

Much of Kozol's narrative takes place in Mott Haven, a community once known for its striking turn-of-the-century architecture and iron work.  But the Mott Haven in Kozol's book is infested with prostitutes, drug dealers, junkies, violent crime, and rundown, overcrowded public housing.  The hopelessness, despair, and powerlessness of the residents of the South Bronx is heartbreaking and, at times, difficult to absorb without shedding tears.

The downward spiral of New York's ghettos is not traced by Kozol, but here is their sad history. New York City's controversial urban planning of the 1950's, managed in an almost totalitarian fashion by architect Robert Moses, resulted in entire neighborhoods being razed in order to build expressways and highway overpasses.  The displaced populations of those neighborhoods were crowded into old tenement apartments that were already in poor condition before they were leased by the city.  Mott Haven was darkened and isolated by the massive bridges of the Major Deegan and Bruckner expressways, which were designed to safely bring throngs of suburban workers into and out of Manhattan.  Middle class families and small business moved out.  Building owners turned to arson in order to reclaim the remaining equity in their properties.  Mott Haven became the thriving center of New York City's ugly crack epidemic during the 1980's.  Its residents became deeply impoverished and drug-addicted, with no realistic opportunities for jobs and no foreseeable way out.  Sadly, the drug business was the only source of revenue to move into Mott Haven over the span of nearly three decades.

Also, as a result of decreasing city revenues and rising civil unrest, the city reduced the number of police officers patrolling the streets in the South Bronx and adopted a "see no evil" approach to prostitution, street corner drug dealing, and other misdemeanor offenses.

In 1997, Mott Haven was rezoned in order to encourage small businesses to begin populating its outskirts once more.  Crime fell considerably (PDF file in link) throughout New York City in the late 1990's, and today Mott Haven's parks and street corners are generally free from drug dealers and prostitutes.  Many housing projects still occupy a good deal of Mott Haven, but real estate bargain hunters have discovered the neighborhood's scenic hundred-year-old brownstones, and have begun buying them up and refurbishing them.  Construction is slated to begin soon on a new $235 million school for the neighborhood.

Long-time Mott Haven residents are fearful that the influx of white, urban, middle-class residents will push rent and other cost of living expenses out of their reach.  There is also resentment from the borough's predominately minority residents, who wonder if their new white neighbors are just exploiting the neighborhood's current low cost of living, only to move out again when living in Mott Haven is no longer chic.  But more rezoning is slated for the neighborhood, and soon more of the old industrial and warehouse district will be converted into more residential and retail areas.

Still, life in NYC's housing projects is difficult.  Residents are continually plagued with mold, lead paint, rodents, and roaches.  Asthma is far more prevalent among children who live in public housing, and recent studies show that heart disease, cancer, and diabetes also claim a higher number of victims in these neighborhoods.  Environmental problems, particularly pollution stemming from the disposal and recycling of hazardous materials that occurs in facilities rejected by wealthier and more powerful neighborhoods, are still painfully evident.  And even though crime has been drastically reduced, NYC's housing projects still see appreciably more murders and robberies than surrounding neighborhoods.

Perhaps the fundamental lesson that we can learn from New York City's problems is that poverty and isolation often result from a long series of policy decisions and events that, individually, seem insignificant.  But as the effects of these decisions incrementally build up over time, the results can be devastating. 

Where do we build the expressways that carry us from comfortable suburbs into our cities?  Where do we build waste incinerators?  Where do we build landfills?  Are we concentrating public housing, and are we building these concentrations in isolated locations?  Are these locations poorly served by public transportation?  Which neighborhoods have the greatest number of police patrols?  In which neighborhoods are the police more or less likely to make arrests?  Which neighborhoods have the best public schools?  Which neighborhoods have the worst public schools?  Are students given the opportunity to attend schools other than the ones in their neighborhood?  Which neighborhoods have the best city council representation?

Humanity seems to be absorbed in the pursuit of luxury.  We strive to build societies that continually offer more and more "value" to their residents.  Often these values are embarrassingly superficial: designer clothing, cutting-edge technology, exclusive neighborhoods, access to the cocktail party scene, celebrity status ... yet we continue to believe that the more of this stuff we have, the greater our relevance becomes, and the more entitled we are to belong to the ruling class.

It is natural for those with the most money to be the ones who pay the most taxes, and it is natural for the top taxpayers to expect the most in return for their contributions.  But the Bible clearly teaches that when we forfeit the quality of life for others in order to create a luxurious community for ourselves, we spit in the faces of those whom God loves.  We will be held accountable for these choices.

Money and power

Recently I've been thinking about the relationship between money and power.  "Money is power" is the proverbial saying.  (So are "time" and "knowledge", but that is not what I am concerned with here.)

Those who control vast amounts of money are either given power, or they assume that power, presumably because their "worth" is great, since multitudes people can literally starve or prosper based on their decisions.

When we speak about "empowering" people, we usually speak in financial terms.  The most notable examples are "empowerment zones," communities that encourage small business ownership and entrepreneurship through tax breaks, loans, and grants.

And our advanced financial and economic systems are designed to create new wealth in proportion to service sector, manufacturing, retail, technology, and energy growth.  They are purposefully designed to provide opportunities for hard workers to obtain wealth by creating it, not by taking it from the poor.  And those who are wealthy are encouraged to give their excess wealth away in the form of charity.  We even have entire economic systems based around the redistribution of monetary wealth.

But I find it very interesting that power within social structures, particularly political power, is viewed almost primitively.   Instead of an unlimited commodity that can be created and shared, political power is considered to be a scarce commodity.  It is pursued at great cost.  It is hoarded.  Wars are fought for the right of political power.  There is as much -- perhaps more -- deceit and evil present in the acquisition and use of political power as there is in the acquisition of money.

The acquisition of political power is treated as a zero-sum game; that is, whenever the game is played and the winners receive their share of the bankroll, there is nothing left over, and no way to make the bankroll larger during the next game.  A man with great political power has that power only because someone else has little power.  Sharing political power is considered to be suicide, because you can never trust the other side not to betray you and monopolize your goodwill.

I have often wondered if those in elitist circles, whose solutions to our current social ills always seem to involve transferring large amounts of money from one group of people to another, would ever dream of likewise sharing their political power with others, particularly those with whom they disagree?  Is ideology so important to us that we will do anything to justify it and impose it upon others?  Do we crave the perceived  "above the law" lifestyles of those in power more than we crave love and justice, or even wealth?

Perhaps this is one of the primary areas of brokenness that permeates humanity and its institutions.

"Bush Derangement Syndrome" explained

For some time now, I have been searching for a practical, yet non-canonical, illustration of Bush Derangement Syndrome. 

Everyone knows about Ted Rall cartoons, the Dixie Chicks, Margaret Cho, Kanye West, etc.  I wanted to find something different, yet something that perfectly encapsulates what I call "Bush Derangement Syndrome."

I have finally found it, in a Democratic Underground post by "Demgurl," linked some time ago by Arthur Chrenkoff:

I Did Not Stop To Help A "W" Supporter Today

I had no idea how deeply my hate for that man ran. My lack of an interaction, with a "W" supporter is still haunting me a couple of hours later.

I was on my home and was on the ramp getting off the highway. I saw a mini-van on the side of the road. There was a lady standing next to the van and in her arms she held her child. I can only assume her mini-van had broken down. I don't know, perhaps with so many gad stations being out of gas, she had also run out. I slowed down and started to pull over to offer her a ride. At the very last second I noticed a "W" sticker on the back of her vehicle and I sped up and drove off.

I feel really bad as a human being. That child is not responsible for their parent's belief system. They are innocent and do not deserve to be out in the heat. (It is warm but not so bad that they would even break a sweat) I try not to punish people for what they believe.

On the other hand, so many hateful thoughts went through my head. I wondered how a person could see what was going on in NO and still have one of those awful stickers on their car. How could they support an awful excuse for a human being that has let our country down and is letting Americans die after they have made it through the storm? How can someone be so blind and so stupid?

I thought that if she loves "W" so much, maybe he would come along and help her the same way he is rescuing all of those poor people in the weather stricken part of our country. Let's see what her hero can do for her.

I never did go back. I was so upset with that sticker and with the fact that someone would support an idiot who is so clearly running our country into the ground.

So why am I writing this? It is not to boast, I really feel bad about passing this child and not picking up their mother. Perhaps it is for a catharsis of sorts? That would be an educated guess. I suppose it is because I feel conflicted and I am writing this to try and sort through what I am feeling. There are two emotional sides, for me, on this incident and neither seems completely right or wrong to me. Even writing this, I am still not able to work through what happened. I feel like I am floating between right and wrong and am unable to grab either side.

Thanks for listening.

I have to wonder if Demgurl's car is plastered with stickers that say "Visualize World Peace," "Coexist," and "Who Would Jesus Bomb?"

And it gets even better in the comments:

The Left's racism problem

America's political Left has a serious problem with racism.  If you don't believe me, then read on.

Last year, a group of six Muslim imams was detained in Minneapolis because they acted suspiciously after boarding an airplane.  The group of imams, backed by the Muslim advocacy group CAIR, is suing US Airways over their treatment -- and they have also filed a "John Doe" lawsuit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior to the airplane crew.

Fast-forward a few months.  House Republicans introduced language into a bill that would make anyone who reports suspicious activity immune from civil liability.  Not a bad idea.  Of course it received a knee-jerk opposition from House Democrats.

In response to this, several conservative bloggers led by Michelle Malkin introduced The John Doe Manifesto.  You can read the whole thing there.  It's a little over the top in my opinion, particularly the way it drifts off into immigration and border security at the end, but the idea behind it is solid.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with picking up the phone and reporting suspicious behavior to the authorities, regardless of the appearance of the perpetrator.

Of course the typical liberal response is predictable: racism!  racism!  racism!  If you take a second look at someone who appears to be up to no good and who also appears to be Middle Eastern, then you are a racist.  Period.

But look at the insane rant that a Wonkette commenter directed at Michelle Malkin, just for posting the John Doe manifesto on her blog:

Michele Malkin is like a cheap Filipino cleaning lady (Dimestore literary simile :))but, alas, the worst kind, the self-loathing variety. Earth to Michele: you're not a country club, LNS Republican and despite all your inane columns, these folks will still look at you as the geisha who should be doing their laundry and fixing them a big bowl of noodles or giving them a rubdown after a long game of golf. I suspect if you had been a Jew in Auschwitz, you'd be the one throwing your bunkmates into the ovens. So give it up and go fuck a terror detainee you big stupid rightwing patsy.

I'd bet real money that the person who wrote this probably has "Say No To Hate" and "Visualize World Peace" bumperstickers on their car.  It also seems fairly obvious to me that this person has far more prejudice against orientals than virtually any conservative.  I believe that psychologists call this phenomenon "projection."

Of course stooping to the level of vulgar racial slurs is a common modus operandi for Michelle Malkin's critics.  Likewise, white liberals have no difficulty at all tossing racial slurs at Michael Steele, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, J. C. Watts, Clarence Thomas, or virtually any black conservative in the public eye today.  And liberal blacks have no difficulty hauling out the slavery and Holocaust metaphors when speaking of whites they despise.

Last year, James Lindgren, a professor of law at Northwestern University, presented research that busted a number of sacred assumptions about racism and charity among groups who supported capitalism versus those who supported planned economies and government redistribution of wealth.  It is generally assumed that capitalists are racist, because capitalism flourishes in societies where poverty and racism allow the bourgeoisie to exploit the working class.  Incredibly, Lindgren argued that "the data are consistent with racism and intolerance continuing to play a significant role in explaining the support for income redistribution and anti-capitalism" -- just the opposite of what social justice advocates have traditionally taught.

I don't deny that conservatism has its share of racism and exploitive beliefs.  But liberals are flat out lying when they flaunt their supposed universal tolerance and love for all mankind, and pin hate and racism solely upon conservatives.  How can we have an honest dialog about racial problems when this kind of idiocy is masqueraded on a daily basis as "truth."  Everyone just needs to take a good, long look in the mirror.

ADDED: LGF has another great example of racism by "anti-racist" liberals, this time directed at Israel.