Category Archives: Text

Trial That Sould be Center Stage

“If the Corps didn’t do its job, somebody should be held responsible. Somebody’s got to answer to something.” – The words of a former Lower Ninth Ward resident who lost a daughter to the flood waters that would swallow up his entire house.

The lawsuit filed by New Orleans based Katrina victims against the Army Corps of Engineers has begun, the slow quest for answers and accountability all these years later, has finally landed in the courtroom. The specific grievance, the Army Corps’ failure to maintain the MR-GO channel who’s 20 breaches were largely the cause of flooding in the lower ninth ward following Hurricane Katrina.? Between 10 billion and 100 billion $ in damages hang in the balance, but well beyond the money, for victims of the federal flood, this case is about holding government accountable, and breaking the long held assumption that the Army Corps is immune from any legal action for their actions.

I can remember in 2007 when I was in NOLAContinue reading “Trial That Sould be Center Stage”

Stats can lie

David Simon, creator of The Wire, was on Bill Moyers journal this past week.? Before getting into the world of writing and directing television, he was a journalist in Baltimore for many years. At that job he got to watch how the police force, city government, and school system work, or perhaps we could say, don’t work.

At one point in part 1, Simon touches on a topic that says alot about how our world works – the use of statistics to justify some plan or political goal.?? Specifically he says:

You show me anything that depicts institutional progress in America… anything that a politician can run on, anything that somebody can get a promotion on, and as soon as you invent that statistical category, 50 people at that institution will be at working trying to make it look like progress has been made when actually no progress has occurred.

Simon gets into how when the mayor of Baltimore wanted higher arrest numbers and the police department wanted to show those stats, they would go around arresting anyone they could including people sitting on their front steps (loitering in a drug-free zone). But he points to how the same logic applies in the school system where students are taught only what they need to get test answers right and increase the test scores. Or how the media are more concerned about winning awards and pleasing managers rather than doing difficult investigative reports and connecting those reports to the bigger picture.

As Simon mentions, this same way of thinking can be found in the current financial crisis… showing good numbers to please investors even if those numbers are based on toxic assets and loans that people can’t pay back.

Its enough to make a person think twice when they rely on the old logic “Just the facts m’am”, as journalists so often have throughout history. Stats can be , and often are,? used and abused. It takes alot more than stats to tell a story and understand an issue.

Shipping Carbon Dangers

Back in 2007, following my trip to New Orleans, I did a podcast with my friend Damian who works down there, on the topic of emission from the shipping industry.? In case you missed that one, here’s the link.

The basic concern that led me to do that podcast was that much of the climate change talk at the time was focused on emissions from automobiles, energy producing facilities, and to some extent, air transport.? Yet so much of the world’s trade and transport is done via the sea and those massive container ships pulling into the world’s ports, day and night.? So my question for Damian was of course — What about the carbon that boats produce? Shouldn’t we be concerned?

I haven’t listened back to that podcast in about a year, but his words I still remember,Continue reading “Shipping Carbon Dangers”

Sephardi Istanbul

In the past I’ve made frequent references to the Sephardi jews that in the 15th century fled the Spanish inquisition and Portuguese King’s policies and settled in Amsterdam. I like to refer to that group in history as a clever ancestral anicdote as to why I like living in the Netherlands.

But then I find myself in Istanbul surrounded by some of the finest guides and friends a boy can ever wish for, and when I bring up the sarphatic jews and my long lost possibly jewish roots back many generations, Mr. B turns to me and says — you know where else they settled? – Istanbul.? The Ottoman empire, for various reasons, decided to give them a place to settle, right here in this city. (actually one of two places in Turkey)Continue reading “Sephardi Istanbul”

The Streets of Chisinau

The first messages came in via twitter, a confrontation between young protesters and police in Moldova.? Then, more clicking and a few more messages, live video feeds from Chisinau via Romanian television, reports of 1 young protester dead, 2 cops also killed. No confirmation.? Watching the video feed: scenes from the streets, sometimes just huge crowds standing around talking to each other, other time lines of riot gear police pushing back-and-forth against protestors.? Cut to the presidential palace, where the light exterior paint job has turned to a sllight shade of dirty, with many eggs and assorted garbage being thrown at the building.? More pushing, more police, more people from both sides falling out of the crowd clutching their bloody heads.

Twitter friends report that it all started among the Moldovan Youth, with a fewContinue reading “The Streets of Chisinau”

MBA Bamboozle

There are likely to be a few people reading this who have an MBA (Master of Business Administration). Over the last 10 to 20 years MBA programs have seen a huge spike in demand as well as universities offering such a program.? This is very true here in Europe, where it seems every country has a few MBA programs aimed at international or domestic students.

Popularity may be one thing, but this says nothing of why an MBA has become so sought after and so frequently offered.? Beyond that, what about the quality of the education MBA’s get and how do they perform as a result of this instruction.

ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing had a great program over the weekend focusing on the global impact of the MBA and how it rose to its current importance. It pays special attention to the role of MBA’s in the current global financial crisis.

Among the points I found especially poignant: the emergence of the MBA in the 70’s and 80’s, as being a manager was only beginning to be seen as a career. Prior to that, managers were those who had worked various positions and worked their way up with a company eventually getting the managerial post.? They also get into the creation of an elite based on what MBA program you graduate from, schools like Harvard which pride themselves in allegedly preparing people not only to manage companies, but to manage basically anything, including a government.

Recommended listening, whether you’ve got an MBA or not.