I want out

Classes start on Monday and, unlike my other terms, I'm not looking forward to being back in school. I've gotten what I wanted and I'm ready to leave. I just want out. My experience as a grad student has been valuable but I no longer want to be immersed in talking about and defining problems. Even though I'm working on ways to keep some emotional distance, it's all too easy to fall into that negative place.

I want to work with people, have wonderful and positive conversations, and feel that I'm actually *doing* something to transform all these negative systems and behaviors we talk about so endlessly. That's where I belong, that's what I need to be doing. These final couple of terms are just work I need to do to get there.

Response to Tracinski

Here's my response to an article by Robert Tracinski published in The Intellectual Activist. I find articles like this challenging to respond to - lagely because I can remember thinking this way once and feeling the "rightness" of that opinion. However, my thinking and feelings have changed a lot since then and even though Tracinski may have some points, I think he's sorely lacking in compassion for human suffering and the systems that perpetuate such suffering.
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It's hard to know how to even formulate a response to something as lacking in compassion or understanding of some of the bigger issues impacting these people. I Googled the author and he calls himself "The Intellectual Activist." To me, that title alone makes a profound statement about this man's perspective, as I view activism as something prompted by compassion for the people and the cause I support. Aside from what seems to me to be a very cold and heartless analysis, he makes any number of statements and offers no evidence to support what he says. I heard him repeating quite a bit of the hardline, conservative Republican rhetoric (rhetoric that's been in place at least since Gingrich was Speaker) but he offers little proof that what he says is true.

I think that responding to people like Tracinski is difficult because there may be some truth to what they say and none of us (especially we bleeding heart liberals) want to admit that. That said, I also think it's a twisted and maimed version of the truth. Do the circumstances of extreme poverty prompt really bad choices and behavior from people? Of course. Should we condone those behaviors, not acknowledge them, or fail to implement consequences? Of course not. Should we also find a way to have compassion for these suffering people and alter the consequences if appropriate? I think so. It doesn't help poor people for us to romanticize them and their circumstances and expect some sort of "noble suffering" and "heroic sacrifices" beyond what all people are capable of. People are not necessarily any more ethical, moral, or socially responsible simply because they suffer or are oppressed.

In any case, I found many of his statements outrageous and his claims downright ludicrous. I'm offended that he makes unfounded connections between people on welfare and people in prisons (not even mentioning the racism & classism clearly evident in our criminal justice system). I think his statements about some of the problems with public housing are probably true but to condemn people because they live there is inexcusable. That's the old line of blaming poor people for being poor. Thanks to Barbara Bush for her "sympathetic" statements in that regard also. Another aspect of poverty that Tracinski fails to even consider is the plight of the working poor. We're talking about people who hold down two or more jobs and still can barely make ends meet. Those people are probably part of the "project populations" he excoriates and they certainly aren't "welfare parasites."

People who think along these lines (some of my family included) aren't interested in finding out what is really going on and throwing "our" numbers/information at them doesn't help. You can find numbers and facts to back up any crazy statement you want to make. A friend of mine predicted that some of the news channels and media outlets would try to spin the story this way and it looks like she was right. As usual, instead of looking at why these people are so desperate and (according to one man's statement) "throwaway people", let's continue blaming them for being poor, think they're animals because they're not white, and send in the military to shoot down US citizens. The entire governmental response was criminal but the ongoing refusal to admit that classism and racism played an enormous part in extending the suffering of these people is a bigger crime still.

Loss of prevailing wages in Katrina rebuild efforts

In the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, yet another unfortunate and ill-advised event has occurred: Bush and all our fabulous Hill politicians have decided to suspend the prevailing wage laws on federal jobs related to Katrina rebuild efforts.

Prevailing wage was established by the Davis-Bacon act which is "...U.S. federal legislation which established the requirement for paying "prevailing wages" on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000 must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits paid on similar projects." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis-Bacon_Act)

I think this is a terrible precedent for a couple of reasons:

1. It sets a bad precedent for suspending prevailing wages "if things are bad enough"
2. Why would we want to cut workers' wages at a time when those workers need money so desperately? What better way to bolster a devastated economy than pay people a decent amount of money?

Suspending the Davis-Bacon act for the rebuild efforts has ramifications that could echo for a decade. What it means (as far as I can tell) is that contractors proposing jobs related to a Katrina rebuild that has federal money (and that'll be the vast majority of them) are not required to pay the prevailing wage but can pay minimum wage if they want to. This is one of the most shortsighted and profit-driven decisions I've seen in quite a while. Instead of putting money into the hands of those who need it most (the workers), the government has effectively put lots more cash into the pockets of large (and possibly corrupt) contractors.

Yesterday, I received a letter written by three strong unions expressing their disagreement with the decision to suspend Davis-Bacon as I've described. I posted a comment to Moveon.org to try and raise public awareness of the issue, but I wasn't clear in my explanation of prevailing wage or why I think the government's decision is wrong. The letter itself is posted on my website.

Right

We all know how those Democrats simply LOVE going out of their way to make sure people suffer. That's the Democratic politician's entire purpose - making sure that people in her/his constiuency are specifically in the line of fire when disaster strikes.

Thanks for pointing out (Grover Norquist) that it's the fault of the Democratic city and Democratic politicians (alone, mind you) that all those people in New Orleans are suffering. We all know that Republicans had NOTHING to do with budget cuts, racist priority setting, lack of emergency planning, and so on. Because the pResident of the country (a Republican, if I'm not mistaken) doesn't appoint the head of FEMA (who, by the way, has the credentials you get when you have a college roommate with connections that you then ride into a job for yourself)

F*cking asshats. Of all the times to continue the partisan backstabbing and maliciousness. Can you really sink any lower? Did the sight of all those suffering faces fail to strike any spark of humanity or compassion in your Grinchly soul? Get a grip, you shithead, and do something to help. We ALL know that ALL the politicians hold some reponsibility for the inexcusable lack of resources, the incredibly slow response time, the unforgivable neglect, and the overall lack of anything resembling organized effort to aid all those suffering US citizens.

Not only

did Rehnquist not step down, he died. Leaving not one, but two vacancies on the court and one of them the chief justice position. Shouldn't the chief justice come from an already sitting court? That's got me a bit confused. Roberts doesn't seem to have all that much experience on the bench anyway and now Bush is proposing that he be the next chief justice of the highest court in the land.

My court ignorance is showing but this situation looks worse and worse. Not only is Bush now having to contend with more and more people demanding answers and decisions about getting out of Iraq, he's having to attempt to deal with one of the biggest natural disasters ever here at home and now there's another Supremie down.

If his complete incompetence and tunnel vision weren't so fucking frightening and didn't have such enormous impact on so many people, it would be entertaining to watch him stumble around.

Only one step

The terrible destruction and devastation that are rampant in New Orleans is proof that most of us are only a step or two away from descending into madness and chaos - despite what we like to think about ourselves. Are we a civilized nation? Possibly. Are we immune from the madness and crazy fear-inducing behaviors of a disaster? Nope.

Those poor, poor people. What they're facing, what any disaster victims and refugees face is beyond my comprehension. It's really easy for us to pass judgement on the people who are looting, beating, raping, and committing all those horrific crimes but we need to also remember that they've been thrust into a situation so far outside their scope of reality that it's probably incomprehensible. Does this make it ok for them to act out in these ways? Absolutely not. But should we still try to have some compassion for them? Yes.

It breaks my heart that so many of these people, already so affected by their life circumstances have been dealt such an enormous and overwhelming blow. I read one man's statement that they are the "throwaway" people and I almost broke down in tears because I know that's how so much of our society views the very poor and very needy. Many of those who stayed behind didn't stay by choice. They stayed because they had no way to leave. The elderly, the handicapped, the poor, the sick - they were not provided for by their government.

If there is no other result from this horrifying disaster other than people are forced to face the terrible state our domestic relief and social & human services organizations and institutions are in, then that's something. We simply cannot continue spending money in other countries and neglecting those in our country who need our help. We cannot continue spending billions on war when we could be doing so much to help the needy here (and elsewhere).

Once again, consequences of the ill-advised decision to go to war rear their ugly heads in the form of cut funding, low levels of National Guardsmen, less money for aid, lack of necessary equipment for evacuation and rescue, lack of trained personnel to operate such equipment, and so on. The list is probably much, much longer.

Please, give what you can. You can donate through the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Daily Kos has a liberal bloggers alliance that's trying to raise money, you can offer your extra rooms as housing for refugees (through Moveon.org), and I'm sure there are many, many more things going on. The important thing to do is help.

Help now, discuss accountability later.