JarJar Nixon's Blues Kitchen

OK, some of you in my USG class asked for more extra credit assignments. Try this--

Go to www.FactCheck.org and read one article each on the Bush and Kerry campaigns. Explain the issues behind each article and how each campaign is choosing to 'interpret' (stretch? embellish? any other pleasant words we can think of?) the facts underlying their arguments.

Then, go ahead and speculate. As election day draws closer, will there be more frequent and more intense claims on either side of the Presidential campaign regarding the opponent?

Finally, is all of this campaigning a sign of a healthy democracy, or symptomatic of deep problems in the American electoral system?

There are no right or wrong answeres on this assignment...want to see how well you anlayze the problem and give your own interpretation. Good luck.

Just got back from my speech class. I assigned the students to make speeches of introduction, so today we heard pretty witty and informative intros of people such as:

Mother Theresa
The Backstreet Boys
Osama Bin Laden
Lam Truong
Bill GatesOprah Winfrey
Mr. Quang and Mr. Dat (our TA's)
Prince William
Paula Abdul
Saddam

..and others, including a Russian named Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller, the father of TRIZ, a Russian creative thinking method that no one else had ever thought of Google: http://www.triz-journal.com/archives/2001/08/d/

Got back from Hanoi yesterday. Stared at 300+ emails today. Eyes blurry but happy to be Blogging.

Look at today's NYT comparing Kerry's campaign with his failed 1972 campaign. Is the mood among Democrats really that glum back in the States? It certainly does not look that good for Republicans, either...an acquaintance who formerly worked for the White House bemoaned to me that the campaigns on both sides lacked any spark or vitality.

Hard for me to tell from over here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/24/politics/campaign/24journey.html?hp

Hi, going up to Hanoi again for a couple of days. Hope to say hi to the new Ambassador and to check in with my other bosses up there.

I just finished reading a lot of the essays from the US Government mid-term. I am very impressed with the student's grasp of pretty tough topics such as
First Amendment issues and the institutional roots of the USG. BUT not a single student discussed the exclusionary rule in their question on due process. A little disappointed there, but overall almost every student received at least a B on the essay. (The multiple choices, short answers and T/Fs are something we await our T.A. to judge.)

Away from email for nearly five days, and it sure did pile up. I was way down in Ca Mau on Wednesday, up in Can Tho and An Giang Thursday through Saturday.

The mighty Mekong was deep mud brown and huge chunks of trees flowed along in its swift current. The water was almost up to the road through much of our trip. Pretty heavy rainy season this year--wonder if it will be like the huge floods of 2001, when miles of rice fields were submerged in a sea.

CanTho seemed like a different city compared with the last time I was there in '02, and AnGiang was unrecognizable from my '01 visit. I just read that a Metro (a European, Costco-style) is coming to the Delta by the end end of the year. More cars on the road (last time there were virtually no private passenger cars), more construction, more smiles on people's faces.

I could hear Cambodian Radio close to the border. Many ethnic Khmers thrive in the area.

I'm going to CaMau, CanTho and AnGiang tomorrow...will be back on Sunday. If I am anywhere near email I will post!

Crazy birthday party for Calista last night at the Lion Pub. Dam Vinh Hung, the heart throb of all Vietnamese girls (including Callie), dropped by to sing a couple of songs. Lots of cake and soda for the kids and brewed-on-the-premises dark beer for the big, 21+ kids. Then the crazy M&M guy came in...he dresses like a huge M&M and throws candy at everyone.

M. from the West Coast writes about a great music festival:

We headed to the annual "alternative arts" festival, Bumbershoot, in Seattle this weekend. The line-up is at: http://www.bumbershoot.org/lineup.htm Always a great time -- a good chance to sample a lot of fresh sounds as well as some traditional ones, but much of the real action are by way of the impromptu performances in the nooks and crannies of the Seattle Center as well as the antics of many of those who attend.

Another interesting Bumbershoot year -- though the line-up was a little weaker than in past years. The festival was established 34 years ago as an "alternative" arts (mainly music) festival, but it's not clear right now just what "alternative" is. They recycled quite a bit of old reggae, including a Toots and the Maytals set, devoted a chunk of a couple afternoons to Nas and Public Enemy and then to Seal, and headlined a Pixies reunion. A bit odd, and maybe lacking in certainty, the program seemed to me. We enjoyed the ethnic food and as always, the country stage: saw Mindy Smith, a newcomer with a spectacular plaintive voice (imagine Alison Kraus and Dolly Parton), and a scorching set by Drive-By Truckers, who seem determined to keep Southern rock alive. Sampled lots of other acts, including almost a half-hour with dear old Koko Taylor, who is not what she used to be -- though she's still the Queen of the Blues -- and also heard some of the most pretentious New Age/arty stuff that Seattle has to offer. The highlight of the day was Thomas Mapfumo and Blacks Unlimited, who played just about the most perfect set I've ever heard --- only an hour, but moved from one song to another seamlessly and had an internal logic that was understated but absolutely engaging. Really interesting rhythms and a couple of high stepping back-up dancers who were spectacular. Really a nice festival -- I always enjoy myself, and Lan enjoyed her first -- at a good time for a break from our work.

http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html

When I was at the Republican Convention in Philly in 2000, web-based politics was a new-fangled thing, and several ambitious sites promised to transform the way elections were covered, interpreted and understood. A good deal of those web sites have since died, but the rise of Bloggers in the last two years seems to be a lot more permanent. At the Democrats' July 2004 convention, more than 35 Bloggers were credentialed as working journalists--something that would have been completely ignored just four years earlier. This shows the new importance of Bloggers like David Weinberger, who works for the Boston Globe, but also freelance Bloggers like Patrick Belton (www.Oxblog.com).

And, if you are interested in reading one of the most important predecessors of Bloggers, try www.drudge.com. If you remind me in class, I can explain more about who Matt Drudge is.

More extra credit questions for my USG students----

NIMBY

Wall of separation

Selective incorporation

Prior restraint



Define each of these terms using examples that you find yourself (i.e. not from the textbook). You can try www.cnn.com, www.FindLaw.com and other web sites.

Mr. Dat will generously give you extra credit for your hard work.

For my USG students--

Look up these terms in a source OTHER than the textbook and give examples that are NOT in the textbook:


NIMBY

Selective incorporation

Prior restraint

Wall of separation


Hint: for #2, 3 and 4, try http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/index.html#federal

Extra credit will be 'generously' meted out by your ever-kind T.A., Mr. Dat.

Just got back from three glorious days in Nha Trang. We flew in to Cam Ranh Bay's airport, then hopped in a friend of a friend's Land Cruiser for the 20-mile drive up the coast on a new highway to the port. We went by an area where farmers harvested a special kind of bird's nest that fetches up to $5,000 a kilo in China. Took a a 20 minute speed boat to the island of Hon Tre, where the VinPearl Hotel is its only occupant.

The following day we went snorkeling around the reefs, saw rainbow fish and had lunch on a floating restaurant. My friends coaxed me into trying a local elixir...the restaurant owner stuck a knife into the heart of a giant prawn (the size of a lobster, really) and juiced out the poor creature's clear, coagulating blood, and then the owner mixed it with a bottle of potent rice wine. I sipped it gently. Good thing there were cracks in the flooring in case any accidentally got spilled.

Had dinner up on the hill overlooking the hotel. Two Philippino guys serenaded us with John Denver and Freddy Aguilar covers, but then they did a really unusual acoustic version of that old Spandau Ballet song, "True."

Yesterday, our last day, a car dealer friend drove us around town. New hotels are going up along the corniche, and our friend says he will have the first Toyota dealership in town (he imports Kias and Daewoos now, but he says the market is ready for more upscale cars)

Next time we will try staying on the main shore...need to get around to the local restaurants and sights some more.