Thailand

February 6. Thailand.
I had almost forgotten the thrill of being somewhere wholly new, somewhere entirely different from any place you'd been before. Bangkok is like nowhere that I have ever been.

February 8. I think. Chumphon, Thailand.
I realized, watching the astonishing stars out the window of our train, how radical the suggestion to love thy neighbor really is. Reading the brief historical summary of the region helpfully included in my guidebook convinced me that its past is much like that of most other nations. Land disputes and long cherished rivalries with neighboring peoples growing stronger over the years as each dominates and is dominated by it's neighbors in turn.

We took a ferry from Chumphon to Koh Tao, aka paradise.



there's some weirdness in the photo from the negative scans, but I think you can see why I am strongly considering relocating myself to this lovely little island.

Next post, Cambodia. Until then, be well and travel safe. -rachel

dispatches from february

Febraury, as everyone knows, is the perfect month to leave your office, apartment and winter clothes behind for some fun and adventure in southeast asia. I finally got my pictures back (note: it took me forever to take them in, the lab got them back to me right quick.) and i figured I'd put them up a city at a time. Possibly with some of my haphazard notes and random observations from the trip which could more or less pass for a travel journal.

First up is Hue.

Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam (back in the days when Hanoi was just "that town in the bend of the river"), is an amazing and mercifully under-visited place. Paul and I spent an afternoon exploring the place and, though I thought I'd had my fill of ancient capitals, were quite glad we did.

after the packs of tourists at Angkor and the sheer density of people and vehicles in Saigon, Hue was a welcome change of pace.

they are also really, really fond of dragons.
not that i blame them, dragons are awesome.

More dispatches to follow. In the meantime, be well and happy travels!

Woop, there it is!

health care reform passes the house. am i giddy like a school girl? I think we all know the answer to that. Hell yes, I am.

This clip pretty much sums up whats left of the Right. (http://www.politico.com/largevideobox.html?bcpid=15202024001&bclid=1201016315&bctid=73067590001) Tea party folks standing outside the Capital just shouting "No! No! No!" over and over.

Still, there are many battles left to fight. Republicans have been running all over town saying that this will cost people their jobs. Of course, they (and by they I mean Karl Rove) have also been running around making up all sorts of outrageous nonsense, like that the Whitehouse is tellling federal employees to call their congressmen in support of the bill. I'm pretty sure that this would be deeply illegal. I'm positive they have no proof becasue A) they haven't produced any and B) these "emails" were never sent and do not exist. But then if Rove has taught us anything its that the facts (or good sense) need not be on your side. An unsubstantiated rumor, repeated often enough, will convince some people better than facts or, you know, reality ever could. Remember the death pannels? Michelle Bachman sure does.

(Side note, that woman is really beginning to piss me off. Lets all move to her district and get someone sane elected! I could sleep better at night then. who's with me?)

But I digress. My point was this: if we want the people who take the fall for this to be those who stubbornly opposed the measure just to score poltical points rather than those who stood up and did the right thing by the millions left vulnerable by our old health care system and the rapid amount of debt it was putting both families and the country into, then we need to continue to be vocal about this issue. Long after Obama puts pen to paper on this thing (and that will be a very happy day for us formerly-uninsured twenty-somethings) we need to keep talking about the benefits (immediate and long term) of this historic legislation... and the ways we can continue to make it better.

We need to make sure that Americans know that those who opposed this bill all the way did so at the expense of their constituents and their country. They should be made to be feel some heat for this come election time. If enough of them loose seats over this, maybe the remaining Repubs will think twice about their current party motto: Just say no.

A healthy democracy needs a vibrant, active opposition of ideas. Just saying no doesnt make you an opposition force, it makes you a toddler with a temper. If the right can no longer provide any kind of intellectual or political substance, perhaps its time for the left to step in. The centrist Democratic path of the Obama administration would do quite nicely if they were being prodded on by the left instead of the far, far right. Just a thought.

On a side note, Rep. Capito from West Virginia wins honors for one of the worst metaphors i have ever heard. If you can find her anti-reform speech on youtube (shes currently live on CSPAN) its this extended ramble comparing health care reform to a blanket. A yuck, itchy democratic blanket. We apparently deserve an unspecified but decidedly better... blanket. oy.

Ok, ok. Now that the biggest hurdles are over I can stop obsessively blogging about health care reform and get back to my excellent but completely insane life in korea. Like how its currently snowing outside even though it is late March, and how this afternoon there was a fight in one of my classes complete with tears. (I marched the perpetrator down to the office and felt like a real teacher doing it.) But all that is for another day.

Au revoir, mes amies.

politically induced insomnia

It's late sunday night here, and so its sunday morning in the states. I'm almost afraid to go to sleep with such a crucial vote going on, but alas I will have to teach in about 8 hours regardless of the fate of American Heath Care Reform.

Making one last sweep of the breaking news, I came across something Michael Moore wrote. Moore tends to make some good points, although he also tends to drive people away before he can make them. Not everyone likes his style. But the substance here was worth sharing. Turns out that Bart Stupak is Michael Moore's Congressional Representative. Turns out, Moore had a few words for the congressman.

If Stupak were truly pro-life then he'd vote for this bill. Right now, a mother in the U.S. has a ten times greater chance of dying in childbirth than a mother does in Ireland. If you really wanted to reduce abortions, you'd have to ask yourself this question: Why does godless France, where abortion is nearly free (it's covered by their universal health insurance), have 20% fewer abortions per capita than we do? What's even more amazing about that statistic is that you can't even get an abortion in America in 87% of our counties because there isn't one single doctor in those counties who will perform one! 87%!! The Right has scared them to death -- sometimes literally -- out of performing an otherwise legal, safe procedure. So, you can say women have "choice" in this country, but the reality is the "choice" doesn't exist in the majority of the nation.

the rest is at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/my-congressman-bart-stupa_b_506649.html

Is anyone else really pissed at Stupak and his posse of 5 (formerly 12)? I say your tax dollars can stop going to abortions when my tax dollars stop going to the purchase of weapons. Guess which one costs more?

I Can Haz Health Care? Part 3: Return of the Reform

On the eve of the (knock on wood, hold your breath and cross your fingers) passage of heath care reform in the United States, I was reading this excellent article by Bob Watcher (which I highly reccomend, if you've got the time).

Watcher's post mentioned an exciting provision in the bill that I have somehow literally heard nothing about before now: FREE PREVENTATIVE CARE.

This is huge. This is fantastic. This will do great things for our nation's health. The media spends all day long rebroadcasting wild claims about how this bill is evil and will kill your grandma (and probably puppies too!) but somehow we never got around to something which will have a serious, beneficial effect on people's lives? sigh.

The long, long road to get us to tomorrows vote has certainly brought us many unpleasant scenes. But, in the long run, this legislation is going to save money and save lives. That's a win in my book.

Its nice to know the dems can still manage to get things done every once and a while. Well done, folks! Hopefully DADT will be next...

on music, popular and otherwise.

oh jay-z, how i love thee. let me count the ways.

Blueprint 3, upon closer inspection, is one of those rare albums where I like almost ever song on it. Empire State of Mind is just a ridiculous track. The fact that I can dance my little new yorker heart out to that particular jam in basically any asian country, and have, is so bizarre that I can't even comment on it properly. also, the man raps about HOV lanes and makes it sound cool. insane.

And, alright, I'm just gonna say this. Although its incredibly cheezy, I kind of like Michael Buble's "Just haven't met you yet." Phew, feels good to get that off my chest.

In other news, I'll be seeing Bob Dylan live at the end of this month. Maybe front row. Eeap!
I love my life in Korea. So, so much. That's one thing I can cross off my life's to-do list. And if the rumors are true, I can cross seeing Simon and Garfunkel off as well. we shall see.

i can haz healthcare?

Down, but not out: the public option resurfaces once again. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/the-public-options-last-s_n_495383.html  you can almost hear my little progressive heart pitter-pattering with glee. We seem to be in the home stretch of (part one of) this whole healthcare reform effort. lets see how things play out...

how do you measure, measure a year?

my life connects itself in the stangest ways.

 

today, while making a yearlong english curriculum (which mostly means copy and pasting vague lesson objectives into graph form) the broadcast system, which has replaced the class starting bell with a short musical clip, kicked up with RENT. Hearing "Seasons of Love" (a song which I deeply loved when I was in middle school myself) made me smile-- and I don't usually smile this early in the morning.

 

Given my compulsive wandering and increasingly unusual life path, its comforting to recieve those occasional cosmic reminders that I'm really not quite as far gone as I think.

 

Or maybe I'm just in a good mood becuase I finally found a place where I can get my much needed before-school coffee in under 20 minutes. (hint: its definately not paris baguette.) 

Interesting bit on politico today (aside from Gabe's peice on the crazy amount of money being thrown out against bank reform, of course). I'm copying it below in full, since its not too long and its impossible to get directly to it on the politico page.

 

Check it out:

 

SCOOP -- On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough said RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart "should be fired" over the PowerPoint that rocketed around the blogosphere yesterday after POLITICO posted BEN SMITH's story, "RNC document mocks donors, plays on 'fear'":

"The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on 'fear' of President Barack Obama and a promise to 'save the country from trending toward socialism.' The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how 'ego-driven' wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and 'tchochkes.' The presentation was delivered by RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart to top donors and fundraisers at a party retreat in Boca Grande, Florida on February 18, a source at the gathering said. In neat PowerPoint pages, it lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party's donors that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political operatives. … 'What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate...?' it asks. The answer: 'Save the country from trending toward Socialism!' … One page, headed 'The Evil Empire,' pictures Obama as the Joker from Batman, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid are depicted as Cruella DeVille and Scooby Doo, respectively. The document, which two Republican sources said was prepared by the party's finance staff, comes as Chairman Michael Steele struggles to retain the trust and allegiance of major donors, who can give as much as $30,400 a year to the party. …

"The 72-page document was provided to POLITICO by a Democrat, who said a hard copy had been left in the hotel hosting the $2,500-a-head retreat, the Gasparilla Inn & Club. Sources at the event said the presentation was delivered by Bickhart and by the RNC Finance Chairman, Peter Terpeluk, a former ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush. The RNC reacted with alarm to a question about it Wednesday, emailing major donors to warn them of a reporter's question … The most unusual section of the presentation is a set of six slides headed 'RNC Marketing 101.' The presentation divides fundraising into two traditional categories, direct marketing and major donors, and lays out the details of how to approach each group. The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under the heading 'Visceral Giving.' Their motivations are listed as 'fear'; 'Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration'; and 'Reactionary.' Major donors, by contrast, are treated in a column headed 'Calculated Giving.' Their motivations include: 'Peer to Peer Pressure'; 'access'; and 'Ego-Driven.' … A major Republican donor described the state of the RNC's relationship with major donors as 'disastrous,' with veteran givers beginning to abandon the committee, which is becoming increasingly reliant on small donors."

Ben's story, with links to seven slides from the RNC's "Tools for Success" PowerPoint presentation "The Evil Empire" slide

EXPLAINS THOSE NPR TOTE BAGS: Slide saying that low-dollar and major donors are both by motivated "Tchochkes!!!!!!!!!!" (correct spelling is "tchotchke," btw: "an inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament."

--Slide saying a major-donor motivation is "Wall of Fame" (grip-and-grin shots with pols)

--RNC Communications Director Doug Heye, in an e-mail to Ben: 'The document was used for a fundraising presentation Chairman Steele did not attend, nor had he seen the document. Fundraising documents are often controversial. Obviously, the Chairman disagrees with the language and finds the use of such imagery to be unacceptable. It will not be used by the Republican National Committee – in any capacity – in the future."

--"Statement from DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse on RNC Fund Raising Document: 'If you had any doubt, any doubt whatsoever, that the Republican Party has been taken over by the fear-mongering lunatic fringe, those doubts were erased today. … This revealing document proves what the Republican party has long denied. But now, by their own admission, the express strategy of the Republican party is not to offer new ideas, but "fear." Republicans can no longer deny that they are peddling fear when they are literally selling it as their path back to power. It is a sad commentary on the state of the Republican Party that, devoid of ideas and solutions to our nation's problems, problems created on their watch, that they would resort to these type of tactics. It's sad. But true."

 

I'm unsurprised at the content, but this level of sloppiness is new. How many times do the repubs have to massively screw up before they start loosing whats left of their support? we may just find out...

 

hey, a girl can dream.

 

 

back to reality

just got back from vacation today and I'm still a bit jet lagged. Its early to bed for me tonight because tomorrow I have work once again. *sigh*

Yesterday, I was swimming in a bay. Today, I can see snow covered mountains out my window. I'll miss flip flop weather and the rowdy, international hostel set but its good to be back.

I will try to remind myself of that at 8am tomorrow. :/

Pictures (and video) from my vacation will be up, eventually.

Oh, and I'm officially on IMBD. How cool is that? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1590220/