Rants, Ramblings, and Reports of Jennifer Hicks

Tue, 09 Mar 2004 23:49:41 GMT

Obesity May Be a Killer, but It Could Help Bush Create More Jobs

The U.S. Department of Health sounded a warning today: obesity will overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

I can't help but think back to the docs who told me to quit smoking and "not to worry" about gaining weight.

Fortunately, I didn't listen. Smoked more. Lost more weight. Obesity won't get me.

But... I do have an idea.

To combat the evils of smoking, we banned indoor smoking and forced us poor, kind, nicotine-starved people outdoors. We raised tobacco taxes. It worked in large part (no pun intended).

So, the simple solution to cut down on obesity? Keep the fat people outside.

This means they'll have to move around to stay warm - and thus lose weght. That's good for the health of the American population.

It also means, though, that corporate America will come to a screeching halt, unless the thinner smokers are willing to work indoors again.

What a way to create new jobs!

Sun, 14 Dec 2003 11:23:04 GMT

The Thrill of Rumor

"The scars on the body of this man match the scars of Saddam Hussein."

Talabani 'confirms' the arrest of Saddam Hussein."

High-ranking Pentagon officers began taking press phone calls as early as 4 a.m.

May have been; is reported to be; seems to be; would be; appears to be...

Amazing words from journalists trained to report observations, but apparently paid to proffer opinions.

So many different, cyncial scenarios can be invisioned. Saddam captured during Thanksgiving dinner while Bush ate Turkey in Baghdad. Saddam captured the day before Christmas, before Christmas eve, while people still watch news. Saddam captured at the beginning of the war, but 'capture' announced at a politically appropriate time.

One wonders.

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 02:02:09 GMT

Not Much to Say

Other than I believe.

I believe in individuals and individual ability and power. I believe in work. In research. In listenting to all sides.

And, I believe, that the conclusions I draw then - based on all the above - are founded in reality.

That's all.

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:13:31 GMT

Dean Just Lost My Vote

As soon as a policitician, who understands language and tone and innuendo, can say "those people"... sorry Governor. You just blew it.

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 23:35:52 GMT

Death of Idealism

I've known for a while now, not overly long, but certainly not just yesterday or last year, that idealism is for the young. And that's where it has the stongest chance of influencing our tomorrows.

Today, a colleague-friend committed a stupid act. He's a he and of course, the act was perpetuated against a woman.

Hard part is, I understand it. I understand the whys behind it; I understand the abhorence of it.; I see the grays.

A definite sign of age.

The story goes thusly:

An employer, an over-achiever, very smart, very multi-tasking guy is hosting a public event on a college campus that involves a guest speaker who's offered to autograph books. Near the end of the presentation, the book sellers, who happen to be his employees, move from the presentation room to the hall.

Not knowing why, and watching a line of prospective buyers queue where the booksellers were but now aren't, he jumps from the stage, finds the employee in charge, and in a hallway with only one witness (another employee), grabs her shoulders and gives her a shake.

Ohmigod.

I understand frustration. I understand parental desire to shake sense into someone. I understand.

I also understand thefeeling of being on the receiving end - and it is not pleasant, at all.

The main point is, I understand. My other colleagues, several decades younger than I, are outraged. As well they should be. Because if they remain outraged, maybe we all will - even as we approach advanced age. And maybe then, there will be no thought of ever using force to make a point... like no wars, no domestic violence, no bullies, ad infinitum.

Maybe.

In the meantime, some of us who have worked with idealism, who've envisioned better worlds, only to watch our dreams thwarted, can understand how idealism dies.

And we choose to go on, and make a difference in the minimal ways we can.

That's not enough. We need to encourage and nurture the idealism of the young.

But, it's hard when faced with realities.

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 15:28:28 GMT

Is the United States Paralleling Pre-2003 Iraq?

I'm reading NPR correspondent Ann Garrels' book, Naked in Baghdad. At one point, after discussing how continuing sanctions combined with a lack of news, entertainment and hope seems to have increased attendance at the mosques, she writes:

"Though once emphatically secular, Saddam launched the so-called Faith Campaign in the '90s to boost his legitimacy at home and in the rest of the world... Professor Muhammed al-Sayed [president of Saddam University] says the Faith Campaign has helped Iraqis withstand difficult circumstances. He believes it has also given the once strictly secular Iraqi government greater authority... What he doesn't say is that mosques under tight state control have become another vehicle to proclaim Saddam's policies."

Then I think about Bush's faith-based initiatives where the administration has eliminated more and more regulatory and policy barriers in an attempt to enable faith-based organizations to partner with the federal government. Changes have occurred in the departments of HHS, HUD, ED, DOL, DOJ, and VA.

And I wonder about our own populace's increasing concern about economic conditions, failing schools, distrust, etc and have grave misgivings about where we are headed.

This, combined with a quote from George H.W. Bush this morning (see below) puts my thoughts in harmony with this savagely-windy, overly-gray day.

---

"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in Ômission creep,' and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."
George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (1998), pp. 489-90

Sun, 14 Sep 2003 23:53:44 GMT

Stepping into Near Reality... and Away

Four hundred yards from the back of my house is the ocean - not the beach, but the ocean. The beach part is about a mile away.

It was a hot summer here. For a variety of reasons, I haven't been to the beach in nine or 10 weeks.

Today I went.

It was cloudy, breezy, beautful and quiet.

As I sat there, I realized what others likely know. I was basking in the silence, salt, sea, and sand, and it dawned on me that soldiers are dying, Jews and Palestinians are being blown up, children are dying, women are starving, families are homeless, HIV is infecting.... and I couldn't sit there anymore.

I'd been there 20 minutes.

Information overload.

For months, between dealing with family health and wellness issues and being Internet-connected 15+ hours a day, I realized there's only so much that can be taken in.

Information overload is overstated and little understood. We all know how to scan though our essential readings, delete spam with a keystroke, and go about our lives. But there are times...

There are times when the ways of the world spin so far out of control, that one becomes more plugged in, more aware of something other than self. And if s/he who becomes aware actually processes the information, the findings are staggering.

So more is read. More is listened to. More is processed. And the brain expands. And expands. And expands.

Then, it eiether works itself into a frenzy, explodes and ends up in a nut house, shuts down, or shares.

And when there is no sharing, as is the case for many million of people who live alone or live alone with very young children, there's a problem.

No matter what one's skills or talents, they are needed in this troubled mess we've created. But with all intake and no output, the soul can implode.

Mon, 08 Sep 2003 02:20:20 GMT

$87 Billion and Wherever Else It Leads

...But, I know children kids who help support their families, so they can all eat hotdogs... I work in educational settings that merely perpetuate the old ways - "the proven methods" - that no longer apply or work... I have a president that I become increasingly convinced is intent on being dictator of the world...

And, I shudder.

He says we shall destroy the terrorists "wherever that may lead us;" we'll work to enlist the support of other nations to help free the Iraqis; and we'll "help" allow them to run their own country....

For an additional $87 billion dollars. The "average" American last year earned $25,633. She'd need to work 3.4 billion years to earn that amount of money. Or, she'd need to stack single dollar bills, face-to-face, on the drive from Boston to Los Angeles and almost all the way back.

Or, she'd need a new-age rocket ship, not yet designed and lay them end-to-end, from here to the sun and back. Almost five times.

And a kid a few doors down has trouble getting to school, because the education budget's been hit and there is no school bus - unless he can pay for it. And I pass many homeless - vets, discharged pyschiatric patients, fathers holding their children - each day I travel to the city. And I wonder what we are doing and why.

Tue, 26 Aug 2003 01:46:38 GMT

A Day's Events

And, although this is not a normal one, I've come to understand that there are no such creatures in my life. Nevertheless, here is part of today:

My son needed to go to the emergency room at 3:00am for asthma treatment.
Hundreds were wounded; dozens died in a bombing in India
I met a remarkable young man, recently graduated from MIT, with a brain that sees possibilities, who also understands how to make those possibilities real
I worked two full-time jobs
I was offered another
North Koreas still has nuclear capabilities
My daughter couldn't tape 'General Hospital' at school because I don't understand VCRs
CNN interviewed a 12-year old medical student
I had two cyber friends and colleagues offer me their shirts (figuratively)
My dad didn't yet die from multiple myeloma
Mars is orange and not red - at least through plain eyes, viewing from Cape Cod
The kids a few towns over got interviewed because they made it into (but lost) the Little League World series
No one at work mentioned Daniel Pipes
38 people (unbenounced to them) tried to infect me with the SoBig virus
2 tried to tell me how to avoid the virus
I use a Mac
I didn't kill anyone driving the 92 miles home (alhtough a few choice words escaped in the privacy of my car)
I heard interviews with prison officials about the hows and whys and what-nots regarding the killing of a prison inmate convicted of 150+ counts of child molestation
I learned more reasons not to believe in God's benevolence and omnipotence
I didn't get too many emails about Arnold- the Terminator - Shwarzenager (apologies for any gross misspellings)
I learned I will never, no mattter how much I desire, learn all there is to learn...

And I realize that most people live similarly fragmented disjointed days. And the puzzle we each need to solve lies (I think) in understanding ourselves, the world we live in, and our relationship with those we know (and don't) that inhabit the same space... and...

And tomorrow, the fun begins again.

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:12:00 GMT

Something Worth Considering

Soul meanders...

Then, as a reader, whether one agrees or not with the passage, a self-analysis of why follows - that is, if one can think and envision, imagine, feel empathy...

The fact that a few scribbled words can provoke this is the marvel of the mind. And, sometimes, certainly, a constraint. But for all the times it is a constraint, the fact that such words have emanated from a wo(a)ndering mind, brings to the forefront the wonders of the world and those who live here.

Life is very short for some, too long for others. And for others, it is consumed by a burning desire to know - even if the questioner has no idea what (s)he questions. The questions themselves are the life support.

And then, once in a rare while, the silence (after reading such words) comes and lets us breathe - for a bit - and process (also for a bit)... before we commence again.

Where is the silence I now need?

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 19:50:20 GMT

Two Political Notes

I got an email for Senator Orin Hatch today. Why he has my email address is beyond me since we have very different perspectives on the way the world should be,

Earlier in the day I received a contract with a government agency - their addition was wrong. They needed to add two whole round numbers. somehow that was a bit too much, I guess. I laughed, albeit a bit wryly.

In any event, what accompanied Senator's Hatch's email, turned the laughte to astonishment. The SoBig virus - which of course, since I'm using a Mac and have religiously updated all my security and virus patches on my PC - didn't really matter. But I quickly began to wonder if the goverment had any clue at all what it was doing.

Well, the contract is real - and the math still wrong (I wonder if government officials should take the standardized high school graduation tests now required all over the place?). But, of course, Senator Hatch hadn't really emailed me - unless he's using TerraWorld. Then again... who knows?

Mon, 28 Jul 2003 02:30:24 GMT

An Ending

Screenplay #1

Act 1
[Curtain rises]
[Actor 1] Talk. Converse. Talk, talk.
[Stage fades to darkness]
[Dim lights rise]
[Actor 1] In summation: ah, shit.
[Curtain drops]

Act 2
[Curtain rises]
[Actor 1, looking into a dark distance] Hope the trips were good ones.
[Curtain falls]

Epilogue
[Curtain rises on empty stage]

Applause.
People leave the theatre.

Fri, 30 May 2003 08:08:41 GMT

Nightime on the Coast

It's a small coastal community I live in; quiet for most months of the year. It's 3:00 a.m and everything has been closed for the equivalent of a standard U.S. workday. The black skies envelope the silence... even the coyote and skunks are quiet.

Imagine what it's like away from here... where the barrage of gunfire still sounds; where the screams of injured might be heard; where women submit to beatings quietly; where children die of hunger...

It is time to move on.

Sat, 17 May 2003 03:20:32 GMT

More Media

I hope a few people hear.

" If successful, Powell's push could, in the words of dissident commissioner Michael Copps, "dramatically [alter] our nation's media landscape without the kind of debate and analysis that these issues clearly merit."

Yah? So? What else is new.

My country is changing... I am becoming patriotic. And all wil soon be lost in a sea of fear and voicelessness...

Anyone home?

Sat, 17 May 2003 03:05:03 GMT

Simple Note

Never settle. Learn. Grow. Move past and on.

Fri, 16 May 2003 00:03:08 GMT

Another Good Reason to Vote American

We've learned how to sacrifice humans and save inanimate structures. Thus, our population will never explode... and we can decrease such in overpopulated countries... along with simply annihilating people we don't care for.

(AP) - U.S. tactics in the war with Iraq - including use of a new kind of missile that kills people without destroying buildings - demonstrate why the military must evolve into a lighter, faster force, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.

Sun, 11 May 2003 13:44:35 GMT

Shh, Don't Say a Word

Freedom of speech isn't exactly free. You can't yell "fire!" in a crowded room and you can't threaten the president of the United States - whether in anger or jest. But, what constitutes a "threat"?

Last month the Secret Services descended on a California high school to interrogate two students who, in an English class discussion, said "Bush is whacked." The students' teacher had called the SS.

A month earlier, other SS agents asked an American-Arab student if "he had ever dreamed or hallucinated about President Bush, and if he wanted to kill him."

There's more, too. Look at Houston's tiny Art Car Museum. The FBI showed up, looking into anti-American activities when Secret Wars, "an exhibit on US covert operations and government secrets, opened.

Lest we think this is all a result of our new need for a secure homeland, consider what occured before Septemeber 11.

The Secret Service investigated a college student "who wrote a satirical editorial asking Jesus to 'smite' President Bush.

They also questioned a man in Georgia whose truck has bumper stickers that say "hell with Bush" and suggest that Bush is a "two-faced murderer."

The Supreme Court, through myriad rulings, has said that U.S. government restrictions on free expression are valid if:

"the regulation furthers an important or substantial government interest,
the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression, and
the incidental restriction on alleged First Amendment rights is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest."

Too bad we don't have much say in what the interests of our government are.

Sat, 10 May 2003 15:08:35 GMT

Maybe We Could Try This, Too

People visiting Gaza must now sign waivers, exempting Israel from responsibility of their death or maiming that might result from military activity.

We could ask those entering Iraq to do the same - one way to deal with the recently arrived Ayatollah al-Hakim who stirs memories of Iranian rule. That way a missile could accidentally land on him with no repercussions.

We could do it for people entering the US, too. Might cut down on lawsuits brought against the government for invasion of privacy - which seems to be an action that results fron our war on terrorism, which is certainly a military action.

Maybe even ask parents of newborns to sign waivers for their kids too. We could even tie it to healthcare benefits. No sign, no insurance. Then we'd have a whole generation of people who would have no recourse if something happened as a result of our military.

Think of the possibilites...

Fri, 09 May 2003 02:30:22 GMT

Where We Are Headed?

Along the path of a political philosopher whose views were "elitist, amoral and hostile to democratic government?"

Given the dearth of voices, could be.

In which case, we have worked hard to earn it, I suppose.

Someday, pehaps, strong minds will co-opt, rather than mere might.

Maybe not, too.

Fri, 02 May 2003 00:58:46 GMT

Conversations with Colleagues

For the past year, I have spent some time at a nearby university teaching freshman English. I sent my colleagues the following question:

Hello all people nearing the end of the semester:
First, I am not instigating a fight, although I would like to perhaps restart the once pretty interesting conversations that occurred here. And I have a question I am hoping you can help me with.
In the course of some research for a paper I'm writing, I found an interesting quote from Prime Minister Sharon from October 2001: I want to tell you something very clear: Don[base ']t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it. - Knesset, Tel Aviv, October 3, 2001.
Relatively inflammatory, yes? It's also been reported to be a hoax.
This, combined with the message of today's noontime library browsing area speaker, Maryknoll Fr. Ray Bourgeois, of the School of America's Watch, the watchdog who founded a grassroots organization to keep tabs on a school which has recently been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, made me question what I am doing.
I teach part-time because I love teaching and I love learning from students. I am fortunate in that I can indulge that love. But, I also teach because I thoroughly enjoy the interchange among those who so love learning that they've dedicated their careers to furthering their own along with that of their students. And it is to you, I address my question.
I am stymied. I think we've entered a very serious era in our culture - one that can influence generations to come and yet I find the vast majority of my students do not care about much going on in the world - as long as they are "trained" to be employable. So my question is what role does awareness of (notice I did not say (dis)agreement with) international events and policies have in an academic institution> An, in particular, what role, if any, does this play in my teaching - as a teacher of (more often than not) first-generation college freshman?
I have been both educator and corporate trainer and find the lines getting very blurred. Whatever ideas or suggestions you have, I would like to know and would appreciate them greatly. I would really like to know...

...from anyone....

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 14:00:13 GMT

Creating Alternative Reality

We've just participated in a war, fought for shifting reasons, designed to bring freedom to a people now gunned down for protesting.

We've learned of Iraqi "news" for the past 12 years from a television station that admits to reading government propaganda and not reporting reality so it could retain access to the area.

Last October, Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services, received a letter from several House members which read, in part:

"...a pattern of events at the Department of Health and Human Services suggesting that scientific decision-making is being subverted by ideology and that scientific information that does not fit the Administration's political agenda is being suppressed... Scientific information that does not serve the Administration's ideological agenda is being removed from HHS websites."

We have a department of education that apparently removes content from its Web site if it does not support the current administration's policy, which includes initiatives such as: the No Child Left Behind campaign and faith-based initiatives.

We have a department of defense that purchased exlusive rights to images of Afghanistan from a privately-operated satellite. After reports of heavy civilian casualties near Jalalabad, the department shut down access to those satellite images.

The mottoes of Big Brother's part in George Orwell's 1984 appear prophetic: war is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength. Beware the Thought Police.

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 14:33:00 GMT

The Problem With Words

Remember all the "bad Syria" talk of recent weeks? It's making news again.

Reuters reports Rumsfeld as saying today, "I think it's a mischaracterization that we threatened Syria. We are not in the business of threatening. It was a fact, not a threat and that's all I have to say."

Here are some of the things that have been said. Are these facts? Threats?

Ari Fleischer said Syria is a "terrorist state" and a "rogue nation."

Colin Powell says Syria should "review its action and behavior" and the US will "examine possible measures of diplomatic, economic or other nature."

Jack Straw says Syria must prove it's not a rogue state and explains that "given the changed reality," Syria must understand and cooperate.

More recently, "Israel's ambassador to the US called for 'regime change' in Iran and Syria yesterday as players in the Middle East staked out their positions before a crucial Palestinian vote that is expected to trigger publication of the American-backed 'road map' to peace."

When does a fact become a threat? Or, do we just assume now that threats are part of all facts?

Mon, 28 Apr 2003 20:27:09 GMT

Please, Someone Say We Didn't Do This

A recent article at MemoryHole begins:

'On 25 April 2003, the newspaper Dagbladet in Norway published photos of armed US soldiers forcing Iraqi men to walk naked through a park.
On the chests of the men had been scrawled an Arabic phrase that translates as "Ali Baba - Thief."
A military officer states that the men are thieves, and that this technique will be used again.
No word yet from the newly liberated Iraqi people about some of them being summarily found guilty of theft, forced at gunpoint to strip, having a racist phrase written on their bodies, and then made to walk naked in public. No doubt the Arab/Muslim world is impressed by this display of "democracy," "freedom," "due process," and "no cruel or unusual punishment." '

Odd. I heard President Bush today say "we are the Iraqis' friends." And I haven't heard about this lovely incident from Rumsfeld, CNN, or anything else.

In fact, a Google news search right now, supplied only this:

Amnesty International concerned over news report suggesting US ..
Boston Globe, MA - Apr 26, 2003
... newspaper report that included a photo ... showing US soldiers escorting three naked ... based Dagbladet newspaper said four Iraqi ... man with the words ''Ali Baba - thief ...
Amnesty blasts naked parade - Edmonton Sun
Report suggests US soldiers mistreated prisoners - WHNT

That was it. Nothing else. No other coverage. Why? In fact, theh piece from the Edmonton Sun has already been pulled. (I didn't link to the WHNT piece, which is still up, because there are so many pop up windows it feels like a porn site.)

I have heard that misjudgements occur. I can understand that. None of us is perfect. I cannot understand how in the world a civilized culture can treat fellow human beings in such an atrocious way. It makes me ill.

Sun, 27 Apr 2003 03:13:18 GMT

Separation of Church and State

I believe in everyone's right to worship as they see fit (or not). At the same time, I firmly believe in separation of church and state.

I am listening to my president at this moment cite scripture while addressing an American journalist conference tonight.

No more. No more god, buddha, allah, jehova, whom-the-fuck-ever in political speeches. I am not a part of a fundamentalist society ( on bended knee, praying to a pagan)...

There is a reason for this. We (my country) is a vast conglomeration (not amalgamation) of people with varying beliefs. We all deserve respect - especially from he whom governs.

Mr Bush, I actually admire your ability to hold onto your beliefs; however, do not dare to presume that those whom you rule (word was chosen carefully) share your viewpoint. There are some who do share that, of course. There are, of course, others who do not. Those of us who do not are still Americans (well, at least for now we are, till the next absolutely stupid regulation comes down... then I suppose I could move to Cuba and feel reasonably at home since they don't like dissidents either).

Is this the direction Americans want America to go>

Sat, 26 Apr 2003 21:18:01 GMT

On a Related Note

After the debacle at American Airlines, where top execs ensured their bonuses and parachutes while the drones gave up wages to keep the company afloat, CEO Don Carty has been ousted.

He should have been, no matter how well or poorly he had done to that point. One should not expect sacrifices of others without willingly sacrifice himself. It's called principles, morals, compassion, humanity.

But Carty is not alone. We have Enron, Worldcom, Halliburton... yes, I know Halliburton is not defunct... far from it with their latest rebuild Iraq contracts. Hmmm.

Walter Shapiro, in USA Today, writes:

"In recent decades, the nation's corporate leadership has lost any sense of what constitutes fair play. At some companies, workers are seemingly viewed as interchangeable parts that can be jettisoned at the slightest hint of a profit squeeze. But corporate executives apparently regard themselves as a mandarin class who are entitled to all the benefits of the free market with none of the risks. The question is, when do these glaring inequities emerge as a full-fledged political issue?"

Perhaps now. Particularly when one considers "corporate personhood" and reads what General Smedley Butler had to say about war and corporations - even a long time ago. Mike Ferner, of the Programs on Corporations, Law, and Democracy quotes Butler:

"'I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested." Ferner continues, "Butler acknowledged that he'd spent most of his 33 years in the Marines as 'a high class muscle man for Big Business, Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.'"