Chickens and rabbit show at San Anton gardens

Lovely day here. Also, it's Mother's day here as well as in the US. Visited a nearby garden and there was a rabbit/poultry/pigeon show. Not quite like a US country fair, but very well attended. Photos: a topiary horse, Not sure what the rabbit is, but he reminded me of the Velveteen Rabbit. The two chickens are a Siebert(?) Chamois and a Black Maltese.

Lake Michigamme photos-UP of Michigan

I took a drive to Marquette, Michigan, the largest town in my area (two hour drive, one way to get to a place with 25,000 people). Along the way one passes a very pretty small lake, Lake Michigamme. Michigan has two parts to it: The Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula (called the UP). Natives of the UP and, I suppose, adoptees like me are called Yoopers. There is friendly teasing between the two parts. Yoopers call those in the lower Peninsula "Trolls" because they live under the bridge that links the two regions.

Anyway, two photos.

I'm coming back, again!

I'm happy. I get to be back in Malta in May and early June.

Obama and the Democrats

The irony is pretty amazing. Sen Ted Kennedy tried for decades to pass health care and now a Republican has taken his seat who is swore to stop the bill. I figured Health care was pretty much dead last summer--a few small reforms maybe. I don't know if the loss in Mass. will light a fire under anyone in Congress (in either House), other than to make the Democrats worry about their upcoming elections in 2010. It's too bad.

Enthusiasm for Obama--we really wanted serious change--is waning for sure. My husband made the good observation that Obama can inspire, but he can't actually lead. This seems increasingly true. Yes, he had a giant mess from Bush plus the economic meltdown to deal with, but he seems unable to get his party in Congress to agree to anything. Presidents can't control the action of Congress, so it isn't like a parliamentary system. As one Speaker of the House once put it (I'm quoting from memory, so check this if you want to use it), "We..respect the president, but we don't work for the president." Still, he left too much to the (lack of) imagination of Congress.

It's not surprising that the President's party loses seats in the off-presidential election year. The question is how many will they lose come November. Democrats will have to look like they can get something done or the economy will have to improve for average Americans.

peace prize

I think a lot of Americans are puzzled by the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama. The typical interaction was "Really? What for?" I think it's nice our President got it and things do seem to be moving into a better direction than in the past, at least internationally. My gut tells me it will probably not be helpful to Obama's efforts here in the US on a range of matters and it will assuredly be used against him whenever diplomacy fails, peace does not break out in the Middle East, and so forth. I'll be interested to see what my foreign policy students make of it. As for me, I've decided to take it rather like Obama took it--a bit of encouragement to all Americans to remember our better selves so that all of us can have a bit more peace, security, and well-being.

Fall semester begins

Today is the start of orientation at Michigan Tech. I've taken on advising most of our majors in Social Sciences. We have a "meet the department" event this morning. Classes begin on Aug. 31. I have a first year seminar (required of all Tech students in what we call General Education). It's with our Honors students and my topic is Thucydides. Then there's US Foreign Policy. I also have two one-hour courses: Orientation to the Social Sciences for the new students and Senior Assessment for those who expect to graduate in the coming academic year. [Assessment in the US is not related to getting a grade, but rather to seeing what they have learned in general and getting them help in job/grad school hunting, and making sure they have completed all their requirements to graduate.

Two Tech students are trying for major scholarships (Rhodes and Marshall), so I'll be seeing them this week, too!

Obama and health care

I'm feeling perplexed by my country. We desperately need to reform our health care system, but I fear all that will happen before Congress goes into recess is some small thing. Some issues seem not clear to folks...maybe because they aren't. We should not charge by the procedure, for example. That is a money generator, leads to excessive treatment (and probably deaths). But it is also prompted by our equally dangerous rules on medical malpractice. Doctors do more than they should (a violation of their oath in my view) partly to avoid lawsuits.

Perhaps 7-14,000 people are losing health insurance every day due to the Great Recession. As a result, ur capacity for economic innovation, for small businesses, and for job creation is hurt. People lose their homes and what little fortunes they have to make family choices (ex: a home v health; food v insurance) inconceivable in Malta or in most other "advanced" (post)industrial states. Our capacity and often genuine desire to assist each other seems thwarted somehow.

We worry about the cost of the change, but not enough about the costs right now. Congress decides it is too extreme to add a bit of tax to those earning $300,000 and up and move the tax point 1 Million (and are they talking salary or wealth or both?). It's absurd. Our income inequality is starting to look positively third world, vastly different from how it looked in the 1950s and '60s. Even so, I'd be for everyone getting a tiny tax--rich and poor--a citizenship duty to protect each other tax.

I'm teaching about health care a bit in my summer US govt class, but in a distant, poli sci sort of way--how things get on the agenda, alternatives, get decided. I talk about how, probably, only some small change will be passed before Congress heads out and then, as everyone knows, the 2010 elections will mean inaction. I can show them this pattern going back decades and so on and so forth. But, I've gotta tell you, my heart is just breaking on this one. We surprised ourselves by voting for Obama another step on the road to heal an ancient wound. But now, in the world of public policy, we are too scared to keep trying to rebuild and rejuvenate our country. We are going to walk away from the single most important thing we need to do for ourselves and our future.