Health care: now on everyone's agenda?

It's encouraging that Bush wants to make expanding health coverage a significant part of his State of the Union, and plans to introduce a new plan.

Not that his proposal is good; the reviews I read seem quite negative, as do the (smarter) observers in the NYT article, and suggest that the main burden of this would fall on the middle class. Of all the issues in politics today, I probably know the least of the intricacies of health care, and I can't claim to know whether or not this will affect the disproportionately large expenses of our country on health care, or the inefficiencies, duplications and price-gouging that plague our private sector. But it's good to see that (thanks in large part to state plans like in Massachusetts and California) the issue is now on everyone's national agenda as an action item of perceived importance to voters.

Now, if we could just achieve that for the environment, like they've done in Canada...

Venezuela careens faster toward disaster

And now, who will step up for Chavez? Democracy in Venezuela is about to die, officially, by act of the National Assembly. A moment of silence, please.

I don't think economic ruin is on the horizon--Chavez's policies might not be sound, but oil is still doing well. Unrest will develop when: (1) oil stops doing quite so well, and/or (2) the social tensions finally boil over.

I actually couldn't find many opinion pieces from Venezuelan papers either way on the new legislation, but I found a couple in El Universal of which I translated parts. I will be looking around in the next few days for more:

In fact, it is the world of diverse thought and the world of free social organization that are in the most danger, more even than the political opposition in the strict sense. For a regime of total control, more fearsome than some political parties in opposition, in the end few, identifiable and predictable enough, is the free and vibrant activity of individual people, thinking things and organizing themselves in an unpredictable manner. …

We must formulate a proposal that unites, embraces, and coordinates this diversity of interests [of opposition] and democratic and pluralistic values. The personalities and organizations most emblematic are known, with their own relationships and possibilities of calling for action, to which we must direct ourselves soon. Contacts must be made, conversations maintained, agreements and compromises reached, that will allow the net to be cast the most broadly and widely possible. They must be made at all social levels, above all, in everything possible, at the lower levels, from below.

--Diego Bautista Urbaneja, in El Universal

I do not want dispersion. Disrespect, insult, and intolerance are not what make a better country. It requires the contributions of all. The extant capacity of professionals, businessmen, artists, creators in many fields cannot be rejected and devalued, for not sharing the vision of the “new socialism."

I want to continue being a part of the Venezuela that has made possible the most important system of youth orchestras in the world. From where Santana and Cabrera came. Of the country where every day, very early, thousands and thousands of women and men begin the day with the idea of achieving good things for themselves and their own.

I do not want anguish and uncertainty. I want those close to me dedicated to what they know, with seriousness, but here. That the terrible corruption end, that we return to being a land of inclusion.

We are at the hour. We are capable of defending our ideals, our way of life, the possibility of harmonious coexistence. It is the epoch of necessary, consistent, brave leadership.

It is not time to give up.

--Manuel Guzmán Blanco, in El Universal

Which Gulf is that again?

The New York Times published an editorial on the progress of rebuilding in New Orleans (not much) and how many people may get evicted from temporary housing because 18 months have elapsed.

The last sentence:

"Our grand plans were never laid, our brightest minds were never assembled, our nation’s muscle and ingenuity were never brought to bear in any concerted way to overcome the crisis of the Gulf."

Targeting democracy education

Last spring I was in D.C. for some discussion on what I would be doing, post-college, and I was privileged to speak to some people at a few democratization places about what, exactly, their organizations do. One of them is the National Democratic Institute. It's a group funded by donors and (in large part) by the National Endowment for Democracy. Essentially, their job is to advise national political players on how democracy functions, educate citizens on democracy if called for, help establish strong political parties, etc., etc.

Don't take my word for it; from their website:

NDI provides practical assistance to civic and political leaders advancing democratic values, practices and institutions. NDI works with democrats in every region of the world to build political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and to promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

I believe in this mission; I believe in democracy. The far left would accuse them of imperialism, or whatever tired old phrase they can bring out. I don't believe the NDI people are guilty of any sort of hubris or inflation of self-importance. This is not forcing democracy; this is education in creating institutions.

One of the conversation topics when I was there was the cost and danger of working in Iraq. Security consumes a huge part of the budget of any organization in Iraq because they are, of course, all targets. One unfortunate young woman has lost her life in a pretty brutal attack (possibly with rocket-propelled grenades) that also killed three bodyguards. She'd been in Baghdad longer than she'd been with NDI, according to the NYT article, so she was certainly accustomed to the dangers. Apparently she'd just left the headquarters of a Sunni party a few minutes earlier (the article seems to imply it was the Iraqi Islamic Party). Obviously (why do I say it?) this was deliberate.

This may be just another "drop in the bucket," considering 34,000 civilian deaths last year. But it's a death that resonates in a way with me personally, and my condolences go to the family of Ms. Parhamovich.

Bush on 60 Minutes

Good questions.

My favorite quotes:
"I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude. That's the problem, here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq."
"I think I'm a flexible, open-minded person, I really do. Take this policy. I spent a lot of time listening to a lot of people."
"[Saddam] was a significant source of instability."
"A unified Iraq, a young democracy will provide the stability we are looking for."
"Sometimes you're the commander-in-chief, sometimes you're the educator-in-chief, and sometimes you're both when it comes to war."

Afghanistan, then and now

Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is a novel that achieves some good things, and is an admirable effort for a first-time author. While Hosseini certainly could have done some things better, the book is gripping enough that I finished the entire thing (371 pages) in one sitting, a rare feat for me with any book.

Film critic James Berardinelli, who (as many of you know) is one of my favorite reviewers, divides the books he reads into three categories: "filler," which he doesn't really like, but keeps reading because he compulsively finishes; "page turners," which keep the momentum going with a good story; and "immersive," which are satisfying on many levels. I guess that I would divide those up somewhat differently, but the difference amounts more to a content issue than a categorizing one, with the additional note that I probably would never finish the "filler" books.

Hosseini's book falls somewhere between "page turner" and "immersive." The book is an easy read, written on a fairly basic level, but brings up important issues. At its best, it shows scenes from Afghanistan that one can easily imagine are from the author's memory or those of his friends and family. The depiction of prewar Afghanistan is sad and illuminating, as is that of Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Perhaps the most memorable descriptions were those of persecution of the Hazara, and an execution at the soccer stadium under the Taliban.

When it comes to the action, Hosseini is uneven. He has convincing characters and an excellent dilemma as regards the main character, Amir, and his childhood friend(?), Hassan. The weaknesses and strengths that Amir shows are traits that affect all of us to some extent. Amir's illusions about many things are shattered as he learns, at great length, from his mistakes and tries to right the wrong. At the same time, he must live with the fact that he cannot escape his past actions regardless of what he does later.

Being someone who tends to focus more on the negative, I had two principal complaints. First, the amount of space dedicated to some parts of the story seems unbalanced to me--I don't have a problem with great lengths dedicated to developing plot, but some parts seem less relevant and too great an expense of time. Second, the foreshadowing is sometimes clumsy and the story too predictable, taking some of the air out of the action. The most successful part of the story is the initial background-building in Afghanistan between Amir and Hassan, and because of that, the reader's investment in the two characters is high. Indeed, some of the faults are chiefly noticeable and regrettable because the two characters and their story are so well-depicted.

That said, for anyone interested in Afghanistan, or not at all interested in the country but interested in the effects of past actions, the desire for redemption and the haunting of the past, I can recommend The Kite Runner without hesitation. It is an excellent effort (no need to add "for a first book"); Hosseini has since received a Humanitarian Award from the UN Refugee Agency and is a U.S. goodwill envoy. I am interested to see what Hosseini's book coming out in May, A Thousand Splendid Suns, has to offer.