Memorial Day at Poplar Forest

Photo of Poplar Forest from a nearby Baptist conference center's tourist info.

Tomorrow Barry and I will make our fourth trip to Poplar Forest for Memorial Day. Here's a poem I wrote on the first visit.



MEMORIAL DAY AT POPLAR FOREST for C.B.A.

Thomas Jefferson
rode the ninety miles
two days on horseback
three by carriage:
this octagon villa
his retreat from public life
at Monticello.

Sated on soda bread
a magnum of wine
we stretch out under the farthest surviving poplar
watch cumulous clouds dock and disolve.
One evokes a falcon
its swoop of wings, its talons.
Above us, the bough trimmed severely,
the poplar's leaves crowd in along remaining wood
as if to compensate for phantom limbs.

On the house tour we learn
Tom's slaves cast and laid a quarter million bricks
according to his design directly to clay
with no foundation.
After one hundred eighty-seven years
the skeleton of bricks remains intact
paint scaled off a coat at a time
then plaster, all stored to stoppered test tubes:
archeology essentially a deconstructive process.

Ghost marks on bricks
reveal a mantel here
a chair rail there,
let us glimpse the future restoration.
I prefer this bare brick:
strained backs of men and horses
beneath the great man's surfaces.


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And speaking of Memorial Day, here's a baker's dozen from NewsTrust on the Iraq War, something to keep in mind as we mark the day tomorrow.

1. The Sergeant Lost Within NYT--Reviews
2. Book Review - 'Standard Operating Procedure' NYT --Reviews
3. Soldier-Brothers See All Sides of War AP Reviews
4. Feeling safer, Iraqis come home APReviews
5. As soldiers fill Sadr City, militia fighters wait LA Times Reviews
6. Iran 'paid Iraq insurgents to kill UK soldiers' Daily Telegraph Reviews
7. The Return of Iraq's Ayatollah Time Reviews
8. U.S. Teams Start Work Of Restoring South Iraq WaPoReviews
9. Iraq Vets Get Poor Health Care, Americans Say in Harvard Survey Bloomberg
   Reviews
10. War and service: Remembrance and debate Balt Sun Reviews
11. Controversial Contractor's Iraq Work Is Split Up NYT Reviews
12. Congress declares budget war LA Times Reviews
13. Pentagon public relations program investigated AP Reviews

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U.S. Digital Divide Redux

According to some figures, 10% of the U.S. is still uncovered for basic internet access, but the majority of the 90% are behind the times , too, according to "Fiber Optic's Digital Divide: Only a Slice of U.S. Homes Will Have Access to Super-Fast Lines" by the AP's Peter Svensson.

while access to cable and phone-line broadband has spread to cover perhaps 90 percent of the country in the space of a decade, next-generation Internet access looks set to create a much smaller group of "haves" and a larger group of "have nots."

Svensson identifies a problem, but not much more. And I find it interesting that Svensson thinks that 10% of folks not even having the current lagging technology means the problem of the digital divide has been solved.

An interesting look at the ramifications of high speed internet not just for entertainment but civic engagement and business competitiveness can be found in this Speed Matters pamphlet by the Communications Workers of America, as well as at OMB Watch.








Some other stories of interest:

• China's Rush to Dispose of Dead Compounds Agony--New York Times
• How the "good war" could fail--The Economist
• Controversial Contractor's Iraq Work Is Split Up--NYT
• Why the Burmese Junta Failed to Respond to Cyclone Nargis--Irrawaddy
  

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Post Global on the Internet in the Middle East

Post Global has an interesting panel talking about the internet as a political tool. Yesterday, a reader posted this question:

Egypt has detained a number of its citizens for using the social networking site Facebook to organize anti-government protests. What online sites are most effective in influencing politics -- and is the impact positive?

Mona Eltahawy answered in a piece, "Arab Bloggers Keep Watch Over Government. And Each Other." She writes,

In Saudi Arabia, which fuels most of the world's cars but bars half of its population from driving, women's rights activists used Facebook and emails to collect petitions against the driving ban which they then sent to the king. One of the activists, Wajeha al-Huwaider, further protested the ban by getting behind the wheel as her sister-in-law filmed her, and posted the video on YouTube on International Women's Day as an open letter to the Saudi interior...

Eltahawy is a syndicated columnist and lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues has lived in Egypt, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, and is currently based in New York since 2000. She was a reporter in the Middle East, including in Cairo and Jerusalem for Reuters,The Guardian and U.S. News and World Report.

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Stanford Prof B.J. Fogg Promotes Peace through Social Media

Graphic from an April 5 blog entry at Pebbles from Paradise, English author, photorapher and family therapis Stephen Bray (profile), now living in Turkey.

*

Experimental Psychologist B. J. Fogg's (email), blog) Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford studies computing product design "to change what people believe and what they do." In 2008 he wrote a scholarly paper indentifying what he called "mass interpersonal persuasion" which includes

persuasive experience, automated structure, social distribution, rapid cycle, huge social graph, and measured impact.

Usually Fogg looks at mobile phones or the psychology of companies such as Facebook (interview, review on NewsTrust, call for articles), so I was was intrigued to read about his Peace Innovation Project to help folks "use technology to invent peace."

I'll be getting in touch with Dr. Fogg to see if I can provide readers with more information, but he admits that he's swamped and doesn't always answer his email. So until then, I wanted to point you to the webpage for the Project which asks,

For example, can you imagine a new way to use Google Maps to promote greater harmony? How about Flickr? or Twitter? or perhaps a combination of these?

It wants to bring the Silicon Valley process of innovation to the undefined task of "global harmony."

Many people test lots of ideas. The insights are shared. And then more trials begin....We believe that a good innovation process will make world peace possible in 30 years. But we also believe that today no one person has the answer. And no single solution will change the world. We must work together to test and create many solutions.

So, if you are a teacher or part of an organization who wants to join the quest, write Dr. Fogg. He's currently running a new course at Stanford and you can keep up on what's happening through joining his Facebook group. (natch)

Interestingly, while the Facebook class had a series of sponsors including Amazon and Social Media.com, there are none listed as of today for the Peace Innovation Project. Also interesting, is how Fogg himself uses Facebook in addition to making his classes accessible. He writes,

Friending me on Facebook isn't really so helpful. I "friend" people I know in real life but not strangers. Yeah, I know that's not how many do Facebook, but that's my mode right now.

Yeah, my mode, too.

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Prison Project Teaches Introspection and Mindfulness

The Seattle Post Intelligencer had an intersting story today, referred to NewsTrust by Bruce Brown, "Zen toolbox offers path to peace for prisoners ."

Robert Jamieson, Jr., reports that Dow Gordon has received the "Volunteer of the Year award for his work at Monroe Correctional Complex." Convicted for drugs, he spent time inside and came to appreciate the value of meditation and other techniques in curbing his anger and growing in self awareness. Now he works for the Freedom Project in Seattle and volunteers additional hours.

I worked in corrections and I'm glad to hear the story of someone who turned his life around and works to help others do likewise. I would have liked some information on the costs of incarceration, the recidivism rate for folks who participate in this project v.s. others and a link for the project. The information at the site is anecdotal. The reporter could have provided his readers with more facts, or barring that explained why those facts are unavailable. There was also no input from the other side of the argument, except in the comment section. If the reporter had raised these questions in his column he coudl have also provided Gordon, his organization and the prison an opportunity to address them.

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Housing Deal Struck in Senate

Tomorrow, at 10:30 a.m. in Room538 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building,
the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will consider the “The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008.”

Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL) issued a joint news release about their ageement to create a multi-billion dollar mortgage rescue fund with losses to be paid by the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE's) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bill also establishes a new regulator for the GSE's.

Reuters didn't even a have the name of the bill and referred to a CNBC story which should have been attributed to Politico's Crypt, which provided the wording of the news releasewithout a link. At first I couldn't find a copy of the release, looking on the sites maintained by Dodd and Shelby. It turned out to be posted on the Committee's site, along with a copy of the bill and the manager's amendment. This is basically the Senate version of Barney Frank's Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2007, H.R. 1427, (report, bill summary) which passed the House on May 22, 2007 by a vote of 313-104, but is the rewrite of the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act (H.R. 3221), Passed May 8.

Meanwhile the news sources were saying that the details were fuzzy. Go figure. I continually find it sad that as a blogger with an hour or so to write an entry after putting in a full day at work, I can scoop paid journalists who seem to be hiding public information from citizens, rather than providing it.

Said Dodd in the release,

This legislation is good news for both the markets and homeowners. The bill addresses the root of our current economic problems – the foreclosure crisis – by creating a voluntary initiative at no estimated cost to taxpayers which will help Americans keep their homes. The bill also establishes a new fund that will help create more affordable housing for millions for Americans. Finally, this legislation takes a balanced approach toward reforming the GSEs, creating a world class regulator with enough authority to help these vital institutions operate in a safe and sound manner, while better fulfilling their important mission of providing affordable housing for Americans. Americans are looking for leadership and solutions – I am hopeful that the Banking Committee will deliver both by passing this legislation tomorrow. I appreciate the constructive participation of Senator Shelby in the development of this legislation, as well as the bipartisan efforts of our fellow Committee members, Majority Leader Reid, and Republican Leader McConnell.

Shelby added,

I'm proud to join Chairman Dodd in announcing this agreement. My primary consideration during negotiations on this package has been to protect the American taxpayer, and I believe we've made significant progress toward that goal on each component.

In my judgment, the new GSE regulator created under this legislation would be granted much needed authority and flexibility to regulate the GSEs appropriately. Ultimately, a strong regulator will better serve the interests of homeowners and taxpayers for years to come. I'm also pleased that the Hope for Homeowners proposal is paid for. I've long said that we should do what we can to help struggling homeowners, short of asking the taxpayer to foot the bill.

I appreciate the Chairman working with me during this process, and I look forward to helping him move this legislation forward.

Dodd had written an op-ed which the Connecticut Post published Saturday.

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Loudon Wainwright III at Lyric in Blacksburg Last Night

5/17 the master singer/songwriter (bio) was in great voice and spirits and after dishing out the popcorn, I actually was assigned to sit at the stage's edge as a "bouncer." I'm happy to report that no one seemed interested in rushing the stage : )

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