2006 - %3, May

Chaos in Afghanistan

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| Thu May. 18, 2006 5:25 PM PDT

In the World Policy Journal, Carl Robichaud warns that the United States—and, for that matter, the rest of the world—is letting Afghanistan slowly slip into chaos. Insurgents have been gaining strength in recent months, and violence is on the rise. The country needs an estimated 200,000 peacekeepers to provide security, and it's about 80,000 short. And the international community has failed to bolster the central government's legitimacy by spending the money to rebuild the country—11 times as much has been spent on military operations as on reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and economic assistance.

Everyone knows the history here: After the Soviet Union left Afghanistan in the face of U.S.-backed resistance in the 1980s, the United States let the country go to hell. A decade later, among other things, it had to go invade Afghanistan. One would think this is a pretty good argument for not letting the country go to hell. Apparently not.

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Who's "Taking Our Jobs Away"?

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| Thu May. 18, 2006 2:12 PM PDT

One of the oft-cited arguments against allowing increased immigration is that all those immigrants will take jobs away from Americans. In the abstract, that's a somewhat misguided point. Immigration growth is very similar to having rapid population growth because of higher birthrates—both increase the number of working-age people in the United States—and we rarely hear calls for people to have fewer kids on the theory that all those youngsters will "take our jobs away." There isn't a fixed number of work in this country, and population growth means—again, in theory—more jobs for everyone.

Anyway, Mark Thoma has more on this point, and there's a good debate in his comments section (including people that don't agree that the two are exactly the same) that's very much worth reading.

Appeasement Watch

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| Thu May. 18, 2006 1:02 PM PDT

I remember when this sort of thing was denigrated as "John Kerry's foreign policy," but frankly, I'm glad to see the Bush administration acting like a bunch of grown-ups:

President Bush's top advisers have recommended a broad new approach to dealing with North Korea that would include beginning negotiations on a peace treaty, even while efforts to dismantle the country's nuclear program are still under way, senior administration officials and Asian diplomats say.
Why, it seems only a few years ago that Dick Cheney's approach to North Korea was "We don't negotiate with evil, we defeat it.'' Of course, refusing to negotiate didn't really accomplish anything, apart from giving Kim Jong Il time, opportunity, and reason to further North Korea's nuclear program. It's at least worth trying to talk (after all, if nothing comes of it, what's been lost?). Maybe Cheney finally figured that out. Hopefully he'll realize the same thing about Iran sooner or later.

Fade-Out: Jazz Fest and the African-American Future of New Orleans

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| Wed May. 17, 2006 7:10 PM PDT

Following Tuesday night's contentious debate between incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin and white challenger Mitch Landrieu, yesterday's Washington Post had a disturbing story about the changing face of New Orleans: whiter, richer and with far fewer blacks. African-Americans' neighborhoods are still devastated and too often they can't afford to return. It's not only a personal tragedy for those who lost their loved ones and for those who now can't return home, but a cultural and economic tragedy for our nation as well.

Just over a week ago, I returned from Jazz Fest, and all the infectious music in the clubs and at the festival couldn't hide the ongoing ruination of New Orleans. Yes, the reviews are in for the New Orleans Jazz Fest that finished on Sunday May 7th, with the media arriving at a consensus story-line: "New Orleans Jazz Fest emerges triumphant," as USA Today reported. But even as the musical outpouring from stars ranging from Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon to Irma Thomas and other local treasures provided a sense of joy and hope to enormous crowds, the memory of the lost lives and devastation of Katrina was never far from the surface. The glorious music or the crowds of young revelers packing Bourbon Street with their beers and hurricanes in hand couldn't mask the underlying desolation of a city with large swaths still in ruins, whether it was the crushed roofs planted atop cars in the Lower Ninth Ward or the block after block of abandoned and ruined homes, eerily quiet with a few white FEMA trailers scattered among them, even in the more affluent, recovering Lakeview area.

Outside of a few tourist sites, parts of the city were like a ghost town, having lost more than 60 percent of its population, mostly African-Americans – from 455,000 to about 150,000 people. Even in the once-bustling Jackson Square section of the French Quarter, where brass bands, solo musicians and street-vendors once plied their trade (and where George Bush promised to "do what it takes" to restore New Orleans), the place was nearly empty. Hotels and restaurants, the backbone of the city's essential tourism industry, were severely understaffed, scrambling to find workers because potential employees – and those who want to return -- can't find a place to live.

"Make Levees, Not War" was a slogan featured on T-shirts and buttons at Jazz Fest, but it was a viewpoint that hadn't had any impact on government policy or the city's fortunes. Less than half of the city's 3,000 restaurants have reopened. Convention business has plummeted, and the lost revenue won't be recouped by the new Gray Line tour, "America's Worst Catastrophe," that takes busloads of tourists through lakeside areas devastated by Katrina – although they're barred by city law from touring the wrecked black slums of the Ninth Ward. And even if the Army Corps of Engineers manages to repair the levees to a pre-Katrina level in time for the hurricane season that starts in June, there's no assurance that it will be enough to protect the city from future flooding.

"Don't let nobody fool you," a cab driver warned me. "After Jazz Fest, everything will be dead."

But for now, the still-struggling city could put on its best musical showcase, the French Quarter tourist mecca remained largely unscathed by the flooding, and there were oases of life and music scattered throughout the city that could make you believe, at least for a few hours, that New Orleans was back. Here are some snapshots from New Orleans you may have missed:

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Sex, Swedish-Style

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| Wed May. 17, 2006 3:28 PM PDT

The Washington Post has a good article about how European countries with healthy attitudes towards sex—or, let's say, the sorts of attitudes that least resemble Focus on the Family's—have fewer problems with STDs and unwanted pregnancy than, say, we do here in the United States:

A 2001 Guttmacher Institute report, drawing on data from 30 countries in Western and Eastern Europe, concluded: "Societal acceptance of sexual activity among young people, combined with comprehensive and balanced information about sexuality and clear expectations about commitment and prevention childbearing and STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] within teenage relationships, are hallmarks of countries with low levels of adolescent pregnancy, childbearing and STDs." The study cited Sweden as the "clearest of the case-study countries in viewing sexuality among young people as natural and good." …

In Sweden, compulsory sex education starts when children are 10 to 12. Without parental consent, teens can get free medical care, free condoms, prescriptions for inexpensive oral contraceptives and general advice at youth clinics. Emergency contraceptives (the so-called morning-after pill) are available without a prescription.
Shocking! Think of the children! But then again, lower rates of pregnancy and STDs… Hm, tough trade-off. Of course, this sort of thing would never fly in the United States, where 35 percent of schools teach abstinence-only and don't so much as discuss contraception. Here's why:
Religion tends to insert itself less in government policy on sex education, contraception and abortion in Western Europe than in the United States, says Michaud. The Catholic Church exerted minimal influence in Switzerland's AIDS prevention campaign, he said. "All in all, the church has been very tolerant and does not really get involved in sexual matters," Michaud wrote in an e-mail.
The article also notes, interestingly enough, that European parents don't really have to worry quite as much about their children seeing sex and nudity on TV, partly because "[s]traightforward messages on how to prevent STDs and teen pregnancy help offset the impact on teens of sexually explicit ads, movies and other mass media." Wow, just think, with better education we could halt the country's long march towards total moronification. Wouldn't that be nice.

Do Immigrants Assimilate? Yes.

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| Wed May. 17, 2006 12:26 PM PDT

Tyler Cowen links to a useful study looking at how well Latino immigrants are assimilating. Pretty well, it turns out. Economists tend to agree: First-generation Latino immigrants are poorer than their native counterparts (no kidding: they've just arrived, they speak little English, and they tend to work for the most exploitative companies this country has to offer), but their kids and grandkids do much better:

In a 2003 study by the RAND Corporation, economist James P. Smith finds that successive generations of Latino men have experienced significant improvements in wages and education relative to native Anglos. According to Smith, "the reason is simple: each successive generation has been able to close the schooling gap with native whites which then has been translated into generational progress in incomes. Each new Latino generation not only has had higher incomes than their forefathers, but their economic status converged toward the white men with whom they competed."

[Read more]

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Barefoot and "pre-pregnant"

Tue May. 16, 2006 6:43 PM PDT

The Washington Post reports (somewhat belatedly) that the CDC is asking all to women treat themselves as "pre-pregnant," regardless of whether they're currently trying to conceive.

Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.

Set aside, for a moment, the incredibly offensive implication that all women are nothing more than incubators who should remain healthy not because it's good for them, but because it makes for healthier babies. And note that even though the report's first recommendation is that "each woman, man and couple should be encouraged to have a reproductive life plan," it never calls on the government to encourage contraceptive use. Which is, uh, pretty important for family planning.

Funding for Title X family-planning clinics, which serve more than 5 million women, hasn't kept pace with inflation. And a growing uninsured population means the demand for Title X services is likely to increase. It's not surprising that unplanned pregnancies are on the rise among low-income women. The report's authors do acknowledge that many women lack access to adequate reproductive health care, but they tell women to "manage risk factors" rather than admonish government officials who have cut funding for these programs.

Just a guess, but maybe we'd have healthier newborns if the government spent more time reducing unplanned pregnancies and less time telling women to stay away from lead paint and cat feces.

Chinese Journalist Gets 12 Years in Jail

Tue May. 16, 2006 3:10 PM PDT

On the 40th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, censorship of the media in China continues. Today, Yang Tianshui was sentenced to 12 years in prison for speaking out against the government—or, in official terms, the "subversion of state power." This is familiar territory for Yang, who has already served ten years in prison for the supposed crime of "counter-revolution," resulting from his public condemnation of the military's assault on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

The latest charges, which Yang did not appeal, stemmed from several essays that he posted on the internet in support for the "Velvet Action of China," named after the Velvet revolution that successfully defeated communism in Czechoslovakia. According to Reporters without Borders, "the arrest and trial of the cyberdissident did not respect Chinese law. Yang was picked up without an arrest warrant by Security Bureau agents in plainclothes and his trial was rushed through in three hours." Not a surprise, considering China jailed the more journalists in 2005 than any other country—the seventh consecutive year they've been on top.

Carol Fisher case suggests pattern of law enforcement/judicial irregularities

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| Tue May. 16, 2006 11:54 AM PDT

Here is some additional information on the Carol Fisher case, supplied by the Cleveland Indy Media Center. Apparently, the usual time between arrest and indictment in Fisher's county is two months, but the time for her was eight days. Also, Ohio law requires that service of an indictment must be made at least 24 hours prior to arraignment; Fisher's notice was served to her attorney the morning of her arraignment (the attorney decided to waive right to protest). Though these facts in themselves are not particularly newsworthy, the existence of such irregularities--one of them illegal--only serve to strengthen the argument that Fisher was treated unfairly because of her political beliefs and her unwillingness to be quiet about them.

Fisher was accused of attacking police officers. She agrees that she was in a physical struggle with them, and she says it is because they were hurting her with the cuffs. This type of incident happens rather frequently; the person in question is then charged with either resisting arrest or assault on a police officer--or both.

At this point, there is still no reason to question the veracity of Fisher, especially since Cleveland Heights is a known hotbed of "liberal trouble-making" in the city. A group of Cleveland Heights citizens went to the Cleveland Heights City Council to protest what happened to Fisher, to vouch for her character, and to testify that they saw her brutalized by the police.

These witnesses, referred to earlier by this blogger, were not identified because I could not find their names and their individual statements, only a general statement in the Cleveland press that there were witnesses. I have now found them, and their statements can be read here.

Bush's Immigration Speech

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| Tue May. 16, 2006 11:35 AM PDT

I didn't bother listening to Bush's speech on immigration last night, but Kevin Drum's got a handy summary:

Beef up the borders with troops and high tech wizardry but insist that it's not "militarization"; start up a guest worker program that's not called a guest worker program; introduce an amnesty program but insist that it's not an amnesty program (it's not, it's not, it's not!); and crack down on employers who employ illegal immigrants while pretending that they're actually victims of highly sophisticated fraud rather than willing coconspirators aided and abetted by the business wing of the Republican Party.
Well, let's see. He wants to deploy 6,000 National Guardsmen to the border. Let's do some counting. The United States has approximately 7,500 miles of remote and often rugged land border, plus miles of coastal and Caribbean border to patrol. The agents have to work in shifts. So… um… well, the TRAC project estimates that even 11,000 patrollers would come to one agent every four miles. This could be the most futile game of Red Rover ever devised. Maybe the guards can use those handy "motion sensors" to help out. We'll just hope they don't get tripped by wandering deer.

Bush is also expanding detention facilities for immigrants. If you want to see inhumane, check out this old interview I did with Mark Dow about immigrant detention facilities. "[E]xtreme forms of physical abuse are common." Seems like something the president could really get behind. And then there's this "guest worker program" business. Conservatives hate it, because the last time it was enacted, back in 1986, lots of illegal immigration ensued. Liberals should hate it because it's a way for businesses to import a captive labor force, one that won't complain about low pay or poor labor standards for fear of deportation.

So those proposals are all ludicrous. Now if either the president or Congress really wanted to crack down on illegal immigration, they'd institute a national identity card and levy steep fines on employers that hired illegally. If the supply of jobs dries up, presumably fewer immigrants will come here. So that, plus a path to citizenship for current immigrants and realistic (i.e., larger) quotas for legal immigrants would help "control" the flow of people coming in. And to his partial credit, Bush did also propose something along those lines. It's not nearly as liberal as I would have liked (Bush's is a business-friendly approach rather than a liberal approach, hence the guest-worker programs), but I guess it's a start. But seeing as how conservatives are now on suicide watch over Bush's speech, it seems quite unlikely that any sort of immigration reform will pass this year.

UPDATE: The Christian Science Monitor has a good critical take on border enforcement here. I'd also note that border enforcement is often better at deterring immigrants from returning home rather than preventing them from coming in the first place. Keeping people in rather than out. So it can actually lead to a greater immigrant population than would otherwise be the case.