Here are the topics for this week's blog: a wonderful, unusual rain; non-fiction reading; education funding; immigration; ebola outbreak

Rain. This past Thursday was an unusual evening and night here in Denver. It began raining in the evening about 8 and continued on/off all night. We are not often lulled to sleep by gentle rains; if at all, it is more likely to be the sounds of intense rain, thunder, and lightening of a late evening thunderstorm. Barring unpredicted heat and hot winds, the greenery and lilly pond will need no attention for several days.

Reading, non-fiction. I continue onward through Exile from the Land of the Snows, the story of the 1950s subjugation of Tibet and the exile of the Dali Lama. The "roof of the world" ceased to be free as the People's Republic of China (PRC) sought to close off the avenues of attack from the west from either Russia (USSR) or India. As had been the case in Eastern Europe, the western world turned a blind eye to China's conquest. Consequently, by 1950 Russia had its Warsaw Pact buffer and by the mid-1950s China had secured Tibet.
     It is worth remembering that this was when the US officially viewed China and the USSR as friendly communist nations hell-bent on world-wide domination. Serious students of international relations with contrary views were summarily dismissed, even persecuted, as "commie pinko, fellow travelers." Senator Joseph McCarty (R, WI) was alive and well.
     Only later did Washington awaken to the fact that China and the USSR were deeply distrustful of each other. Not until President Nixon's 1972 trip to China did the US
venture to establish formal relations with the PRC.
     The Dali Lama, revered world-wide as a man of peace much to the displeasure of the Chinese government, has visited the US, the UN, met with the president, and other world leaders; he has even visited Denver for a youth peace conference.

Education Funding. As children head back to school, it is uncomfortable for me to remember how much spending on education in CO has decreased. According to the Pew Research Center’s analysis of 2010 census tract and household income data, residential segregation by income has increased during the past three decades across the United States and in 27 of the nation’s 30 largest major metropolitan areas. Robert Reich notes, "This matters, because a large portion of the money to support public schools comes from local property taxes. The federal government provides only about 14 percent of all funding, and the states provide 44 percent, on average. The rest, roughly 42 percent, is raised locally."

Immigration. This hot button political issue touches every state in the nation. President Obama's earlier pronouncements, made with so much fanfare, are now being summarily retracted. This story from Roll Call (9-8) contains an excellent example of a finely nuanced retraction on a politically loaded question. You know, "Well, we'd love to, but, you see, we can't because..." In August, the nation's business was held in abeyance during Congress's vacation; now the roadblock is the coming November election.
     Go back to the 1840s and ask, "Would the Irish and other Europeans have flocked to America if there had been no potato famine and/or they has wanted to escape the revolutionary violence that swept the continent?" Very probably not so much. Today, it is political violence (Mexico, Central America, and elsewhere) and America's relative prosperity that spurs immigration to our shores.

Ebola epidemic. This article from Foreign Policy draws comparisons between the world's response to the Asian tsunami and the current ebola outbreak in Africa.

Thanks for reading. I hope your week goes well.