Items this week: travel hiatus; November 2014; space & time; Crimea; nation's poor; a great deal for parents; NCAA; March Madness; the Republican mind?

A short hiatus. I will be “on the road,” enjoying another European trip with Viking River Cruises, “Tulips and Windmills.” I'm hoping for good weather and the spectacular colors that come only with veritable “fields” of tulips! I have been treated to such scenes in the past, Holland (1965) and Washington, D.C. (1982).

     In 1965, I was stationed in (then) West Germany with the USAF.  The tulips that spring in Holland were sensational. In 1982, I was in Washington, D.C. with students on a government studies trip.  Happily, this trip was on the occasion of the 200^th anniversary of Holland's recognition of American independence. To celebrate this bi-centennial, Queen Beatrix, had had 500,000 tulip bulbs shipped to our nation's capital. You have to understand that is ½ million extra bulbs! (To commemorate our mutual, long-standing friendship, Netherlands ships ½ million tulip bulbs each year to Washington.) Even my high school government studies students, not easily impressed, were taken aback.

     That spring the blooms carpeted most of the open areas up and down the National Mall and quite literally filled the foyer in the National Gallery of Art, where Her Majesty was formerly received by President Reagan. Ever the showman, the president was clearly thrilled to be in the midst of such a glorious and historic display. Each year Holland's tulips provide a “show” second only to Japan's annual Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin.

November 2014. Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, deemed the “inter-mountain west” by Politico and other election-watchers, will certainly be in the advertising forefront as the Democratic party seeks to retain and increase its share of the growing Hispanic vote. Here in CO the ads, part of the Republican effort to unseat Democratic Senator Mark Udall, have already begun to blanket our airwaves. Ready your “mute” buttons.

     A look at the “Rothenberg Political Report” map in Roll Call can be disheartening, especially if you wonder about the possibility of any replacing any of the 435 current denizens in the House. The map shows varying shades of blue (Democratic) or red (Republican), with just four yellow seats rated as tossups. Congressional redistricting following the 2010 census have rendered “safe” the vast majority of seats. (4 of 435 amounts to 0.009%) So, whether you love or hate your current representative, barring some unforeseen scandal or untimely passing, you are likely to be “stuck” with whomever you now have.     
     Similarly, the current map for the Senate shows only LA (Louisiana) as a tossup, though the race here in CO is already heating up. Among the nation's governors up for re-election, there are only three now rated as tossups: MI(chigan), IL, and FL.

Wondering......? About who, why, where you are in the universe? Try Alan Lightman's newest book, The Accidental Universe. Where are Plato, Aristotle, and Newton when you need them, with their ordered world vs. the chaos of quantum mechanics. Even Einstein was uncomfortable with quantum's chaos. The reviewer of Lightman's book began with this 50 year-old quote from the eminent physicist, Richard Feynman, "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." The reviewer then plunges into Lightman's discussion of today's even stranger world of theoretical physics, where the idea of an ever expanding universe is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. You are in for a strange, wondrous (unsettling?) trip, even if you are a follower of Sheldon and Leonard, those lovable, supposed theoretical theorists from the “Big Bang” TV program.
     For the layman, there is also an insightful article in National Geographic (March 2014), "Star Eaters," about so-called black holes.  "Mind-swallowing" to say the least; if that characterization makes no sense, read on.

Crimean secession. Crimea is now Russian territory, just as it was before Nikita Khrushchev (for whatever reason) "returned" it to Ukraine. However, the situation remains uncertain, to say the least. 
     Like him or not, Ron Paul, former congressman and three-time presidential candidate, has rightly observed there are other notable, less newsworthy areas with secessionist tendencies, e.g. Scotland, Catalonia (Spain), and Venice. Residents in these areas view their current national governments as insensitive to their special needs.

     Another article from the Wall Street Journal notes the presence of nationalistic groups of all sorts: “Behind their hands, the critics of resurgent nationalism murmur that it is nothing but xenophobia, authoritarianism or even fascism, in folkloric drag. They see Europe's rising nationalist parties as the preserve of bitter losers or those in the grip of nostalgia.”

     
The nation's poor.  Who are they? Congressman Ryan (R, WI) conveys the feeling -- that the poor are largely in the cities and mostly African American. However, census statistics say differently. From Cynthia Tucker's recent column: "As American Prospect writer Paul Waldman noted recently, 41 percent of the nation’s poor people are white [a plurality and not concentrated in the cities]....Waldman pointed out that blacks make up 23 percent of the nation’s poor, while Latinos account for 28 percent." She goes on to say that anti-poverty programs must be honestly discussed and tailored accordingly.  

Heard on National Public Radio.  Here is a important monetary note for parents of students at the University of Baltimore, where fewer than 20% of students graduate "on time," i.e. in four years. But, wait! Now, if Suzy and Johnny puts their noses to the grindstone and finish in four years, the last semester is free. Such a deal! Take that extra class and by all means consider summer school.

"March Madness" So you didn't win $1B from Warren Buffet. Consider that in a perfect world there would be no NCAA; students would go to university (as the Brits say) to be educated, not to be mere student-athletes. NO chance, you say? Well, then in an only slightly less than perfect world, the NCAA would exist, but no sports coach would be paid more than the institution's most highly paid professor. Wrong again! 
     Legend has it that President Theodore Roosevelt once called in a some of the most prominent university presidents and suggested that they simply pay the best players in the nation to wear their schools's jerseys -- and be done with it. We wonder what is wrong with American education today? Time out, please! 

Republicans wonder?  In their "other world," Republicans are puzzled about what is so troubling about their party?  They might want to look no further than Jim Brown. No, not the Jim Brown of football fame. This Jim Brown is the white guy in AZ's 2nd congressional district, who, on his Facebook page devoted to federal spending, opined that modern day entitlement programs are much like slavery and, anyway, slave owners did not treat their slaves all that badly. Duh?

Thank you for reading and I hope your coming week is good.