Obsidian Wings

Treason against family; UPDATED

by Doctor Science

A couple of weeks ago I happened to catch a couple of minutes of the Fresh Air interview with Frank Calabrese, Jr., who testified against his own father in Chicago's Operation Family Secrets mafia trial.

What if what I was doing was wrong? How could I live with myself? I loved my dad dearly, and I love him to this day. But I was repulsed by the violence and his controlling ways. I had to decide between doing nothing and cooperating with the Feds, two choices I hated.

I went to the NPR site to listen to the rest of the program and get more information, and read the comments there.

I'm reluctant to make sweeping generalizations about humanity based on news site comments. However, I was surprised at how many of the comments expressed the feeling that Frank Jr. was a "traitor" or "rat" -- I make it about 1/3 of the comments that evaluate his actions (praise or blame). For instance, commenter "J C (JC1530)" wrote:

I have strongly ambivalent feelings about this. On the one hand, his father was a criminal and deserved what he got, on the other hand, nobody deserves a son like this. He committed treason against his family, and however noble his intentions were, that is not something I can see as honorable or forgivable.

I would expect this attitude in a lot of traditional cultures -- including the Mafia -- but I'm surprised to encounter it in general American culture, if that's what the NPR comments represent.

I've actually seen quite a few discussions of family secrets/family betrayals, including ones where someone is struggling with the decision to turn a relative in to law enforcement. But in the circles I travel, the issue has always been child abuse (present or past). Traditionally, abuse has been the kind of secret families keep, "dirty laundry that you don't air in public". That has changed enormously in the last 4 decades or so, and I now expect people in general to agree that children do not owe loyalty to their abusers.

It was clear to me, listening to Frank Jr. and reading the excerpt from his book, that Frank Sr. was at least emotionally abusive to his children, and that his murders and other crimes were of a piece with the abuse. He was a murderer and an abuser for the same basic reasons, they both came out of the same basic personality and way of dealing with other people: ruthless, self-centered, and fundamentally cold. Sociopathic, in fact.

Do you-all find it surprising that a significant number of people think Frank Jr. is a "traitor"? My gut reaction is that those comments are from, well, the Mafia, and *highly* unrepresentative of the population at large, but I'd like to triangulate with your reads on the situation. I also don't know whether the fact that the relationship is father/son is important for people's expectations of loyalty -- my unscientific guess is that people would be more shocked at "betrayal" of a mother than of a father, and less shocked by the disloyalty of a daughter.

The underlying question I'm chewing on is to what extent we expect family ties to override the law or fundamental morality. How much damage does a first-degree relative (parent, child, full sibling) have to do to a stranger before you tell the authorities? (abuse and injury to other family members is always weighed differently) How do you-all think this is weighed by people you know?

UPDATE: Can any of you-all think of a movie or TV episode which revolves around a conflict between loyalty to first-degree relations (parents, children, full sibs, spouse) and damage to a stranger? (Except for Hawaii 5-0 1.18, which is part of what prompted this post.)

GOP's Radical Breakage Continues

by Gary Farber

Who is "Wisconsin's most dangerous professor"?  He's William Cronon.  Who he?  He's this incredibly threatening man:

[...] In 1991, Cronon completed a book entitled Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, which examines Chicago 's relationship to its rural hinterland during the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1991, it was awarded the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize for the best literary work of non-fiction published during the preceding year; in 1992, it won the Bancroft Prize for the best work of American history published during the previous year, and was also one of three nominees for the Pulitzer Prize in History; and in 1993, it received the George Perkins Marsh Prize from the American Society for Environmental History and the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award from the Forest History Society for the best book of environmental and conservation history published during the preceding two years. 

[...]

In July 1992, Cronon became the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin ­Madison after having served for more than a decade as a member of the Yale History Department. In 2003, he was also named Vilas [pronounced "Vy-lus"] Research Professor at UW-Madison, the university’s most distinguished chaired professorship.

Cronon has been President of the American Society for Environmental History, and serves as general editor of the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Series for the University of Washington Press.  [...]  He has served on the Governing Council of The Wilderness Society since 1995, and on the National Board of the Trust for Public Land since 2003. He has been elected President of the American Historical Association for 2011-12.

Born September 11, 1954, in New Haven , Connecticut, Cronon received his B.A. (1976) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He holds an M.A. (1979), M.Phil. (1980), and Ph.D. (1990) from Yale, and a D.Phil. (1981) from Oxford University. Cronon has been a Rhodes Scholar, Danforth Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and MacArthur Fellow; has won prizes for his teaching at both Yale and Wisconsin; in 1999 was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society' and in 2006 was elected a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He is obviously a Maoist of the worst Marxist-Leninist sort! 

How do we know?  Because the Republican Party of Wisconsin wants him investigated.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin has made an open records request for the e-mails of a University of Wisconsin professor of history, geography and environmental studies in an apparent response to a blog post the professor wrote about a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Professor William J. Cronon, who is the president-elect of the American Historical Association, said in an interview Friday that the party asked for e-mails starting Jan. 1.

The request was made by Stephan Thompson of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. In his request, Thompson asked for e-mails of Cronon's state e-mail account that "reference any of the following terms: Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell."

Most of the names are Republican legislators. Marty Beil is the head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union and Mary Bell is the head of the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

Cronon said the university had not yet complied with the open records request. The e-mails would be subject to the state's open records law because they were written on an university e-mail account.

The university has an e-mail policy that states, "University employees may not use these resources to support the nomination of any person for political office or to influence a vote in any election or referendum.”

Cronon said he did not violate the policy in any way. "I really object in principle to this inquiry," Cronon said of the party's open records request.

Thompson was not available for comment. But in an statement, Mark Jefferson, the party's executive director, said, "Like anyone else who makes an open records request in Wisconsin, the Republican Party of Wisconsin does not have to give a reason for doing so. [...]"

What was Cronon's offense?  He wrote an Op-Ed piece for the terrorist-loving New York Times.

Your comfort food open thread

by liberal japonicus

Well, my month back in Mississippi is wrapping up and it's been nice to have to opportunity to go out an eat a lot. My high end experience was going to Cochon, by the NOLA convention center for crawfish pie, smothered greens, wood roasted oysters and a brisket sandwich, accompanied by a Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan (draft!). And while I could have happily driven down there for lunch any number of times, I didn't have to, as my small Mississippi town now has so many dining options that a month of lunches with my dad, (and, when not too busy, my brother joining us from work) hasn't exhausted them all. Po' boys and crawfish, catfish and hush puppies, pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ ribs, gumbo, jambalaya and red beans and rice with real boudin. My town also just voted to allow restaurants to serve alcohol with meals this year, so I was occasionally able to wash it down with one of the aforementioned Lazy Magnolias or something from Abita. Amazing. 

the laboratories of democracy

by russell

Folks with a federalist bent often refer to the various states as the "laboratories of democracy".  Let policy initiatives begin at a local or state level, where the issues are often more tangible to folks, and where the costs and risks are lower.  As thing get sorted out there, the best of breed ideas will bubble up to the national level.

It's not a bad idea.

Here in Massachusetts we've been conducting a laboratory exercise in health insurance provision for about five years.  Begun under Mitt Romney, who now can't run away from it fast enough, the high points of the MA plan are as follows:

• everyone has to have coverage
• if you're under 150% of poverty level, the state will provide it
• If you're under 300% of poverty level, the state will help you buy it
• if you don't acquire coverage through one means or another, you are hit with a tax penalty

Five years in, how's it working out?  Today's Boston Globe finds as follows (heads up - link may require registration):

• Lots folks are opting for high-deductible, low-cost plans, because they're cheaper
• Due to the high deductible (typically $1000 per year) folks are not getting preventive care
• This happens even when deductibles are waived for preventive care, because most people don't read the fine print on their insurance policies

Some of the results:

But the percentage of young children receiving vaccinations dropped as much as 8.5 percent in the first year their families were covered by the high-deductible plans, while vaccination rates for children in standard plans rose slightly. And use of cancer screenings was two to three percentage points lower among families with high deductibles.

The takeaway quote:

“These plans are reducing costs substantially, but it’s not clear that they can maintain quality, and that’s the real concern,’’ said Amelia Haviland, coauthor of the RAND Corporation study.

So - as is often claimed, when folks are required to pay for services out of their own pocket, they often go without.  In fact, even if they *think* they may have to pay for them, they often go without.

Cost savings - win!

But the savings come at the expense of their actual health.  Lower vaccination rates, fewer cancer screenings, etc.

Not so much of a win.

If "Obamacare" survives the various conservative assaults being made on it, we're likely to be looking at a national experience somewhat like MA's.  For good or ill.

If it does not, the MA experiment, with all of its shortcomings, is probably going to be among the more generous regimes available.

Economic impacts of the Japanese disaster

by liberal japonicus

I know there are a number of folks here who are, by training, interest, and/or inclination, interested in economic questions, so this interview with William Grimes entitled Japan's Post-Quake Economic Outlook: Recovery and Reconstruction might be of interest. It's short and the main points are

1. As the area affected only accounts for 4% of the GDP, the overall economic effects will be limited
2. Reconstruction spending will have a favorably impact on the economy
3. The post disaster period will hopefully allow some political consensus to emerge on the medium term

I'd be interested in what folks have to say about this. 

Grimes also mentions the Fukushima disaster, and NBR is offering some publications free as downloadable pdfs. One of those is Charles Ferguson's The Implications of Expanded Nuclear Energy in Asia. Written before the disaster, it is free until 31 March, so people who want to get a look at the view from before the disaster should get it now.

triangle

by russell

Tomorrow, March 25, marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

In brief: Triangle Shirtwaist was a garment shop that occupied the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of a building just off Washington Square in NYC's Greenwich Village. It employed primarily immigrant women in their late teens and early twenties.

On March 25, 1911, an accidental fire broke out. One of the exits had been locked to prevent theft. The other was inaccessible due to the flames. There was a fire escape, but it was in bad repair, and it collapsed. Some folks escaped via the elevators, but the remainder were faced with dying either by immolation or by jumping.

146 people died, mostly young women. Triangle is, to this day, one of the worst industrial accidents in US history.

The owners of the factory were themselves there that day, and escaped by fleeing to the roof. They were charged with first and second degree manslaughter, but were acquitted. They lost a subsequent civil suit, and were required to pay $75 to the family of each victim. They received insurance payments worth about $60K more than their losses, about $400 per victim.

One owner was arrested two years later for, again, locking the doors of a factory he operated. He was fined $20.

Triangle is often cited as providing a strong impetus to workplace safety regulation and to the labor movement.

Some personal notes:

It's convenient now for folks to say that organized labor has outlived its usefulness. I find myself unconvinced. The fact is that, in many cases, we have eliminated conditions like those found at Triangle by sending them offshore. In other cases, people in this country still work under conditions that are unsafe. Where they do not, it is because either the law or negotiated contracts make that so.

In this country, we operate under the model of a "labor market", where people who work for a wage or salary compete with each other to secure jobs and the best possible compensation. It's an interesting market, because for most people it is one that they cannot opt out of.

The last victims of Triangle were finally identified this year.

Their urge to betray - and ours

WRITTEN BY Thomas Nephew, of Newsrack, NOT BY Gary Farber

Until recently, Peter Benjamin was the chairman of the Washington, D.C. area Metro transit system's Board of Directors. A former mayor of Garrett Park, he brought an avuncular personality and long experience with Metro affairs to the table. While in correspondence with us about the bag search issue I've written about before, he dismissed some of our assertions about the program's drawbacks -- for example, he didn't believe it would cause much decline in ridership. But he seemed to take seriously the civil liberties issues involved.

Still, sometimes I think if I had a dollar for every time I've heard or read "I'm a supporter of the ACLU, but..." I could afford the richer, more refined lifestyle I truly deserve.

 

And sure enough, when push came to shove at a February 10 discussion of the bag search issue, Mr. Benjamin delivered what may be the new low standard in that genre. Beginning with the heart-sinking words "I am a long term member of the American Civil Liberties Union. Many of my friends consider me a civil liberties nut," Benjamin was giving the lie to those words within roughly twenty seconds. Even though asserting that the rights we have as citizens are "why we are the great country that we are" and personally believing that "bag checks are a violation of those rights, and ...the beginning of a process that moves towards us having fewer and fewer and fewer of those rights," Mr. Benjamin continued:

Further thoughts on helping in Japan

by liberal japonicus

In the previous post, I suggested that Felix Salmon's original post (which he followed up here and here) was shallow and poorly thought out. In the comments, Turb suggests that this case has not been made. Also in the comments, commenter LKT notes the givewell blog and the goodintents blog and suggests that they give a more nuanced viewpoint.

I'm going to try and identify why I think the Salmon posts are shallow, but I'm not denying that people should carefully consider the ramifications of either donating to an organization that is pledging to devote those monies to Japan and those that refrain from doing so.

disaster in Japan and thoughts about helping

by liberal japonicus

There has been stories about a comparison of donations given to Japan versus Katrina and Haiti, and suggestions that because Japan is considered a rich, and developed country, donations are much lower. From the article:

As of Wednesday, the American Red Cross had raised $47 million for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. At the same point after the Haiti earthquake, it had raised $92.3 million. World Vision, a Christian humanitarian aid group, said it had raised $3 million for Japan from American donors as of noon Thursday, compared with $15.8 million within the week after the Haiti earthquake.

I don't know if that is the case, it may be possible that because opportunities for donations have been spread out so much, the gap might not be as great as reported. The Miyagi prefectural government has received many checks, but has no way at this time to convert them to yen, and there seem to be a plethora of other opportunities, so I'd like to think that the money totals are similar, just not as easily accounted.

I had hoped to write a post that listed all the major donation possibilities and portals, but a few days of searching convinces me that it is an impossible task. So I thought that I would try to talk a little bit about giving and give some thoughts to help folks find where they want their money to go, along with some thoughts about what your aid is getting, which I place below the fold.

What it may be like in various places in Japan and why it's so hard to tell

by liberal japonicus

This is a shorter post to give some interesting links, preliminary to writing a post about helping. These aren't related, but they are worthwhile.

This is a great article about why the US TV news fell down so badly on this crisis and why they continue to have problems. It is from the SF Chronicle but is originally from by Tim Goodman and appeared in the Hollywood Reporter, which is strangely ironic. Here's a pull quote

How is it possible that on Monday evening (Tuesday in Japan), with the earthquake, tsunami and worries about radiation poisoning engulfing Japan, a CNN reporter can ask this question: "How scary has this been for you?"

Let's see, my daughter was ripped from my arms in the tsunami, I almost died, I lost my home, my belongings, family, friends. There are constant aftershocks, new tsunami warnings and apparently we're about to have a nuclear meltdown. I don't know, dumbass, how scary does that sound to you?

The article notes that CNN has been the best of a very bad lot, but I should note that the longer piece that I'm watching on CNN is a bit better, noting the difference between Tokyo and the areas up north and putting together a little better picture, it seems, though it has been interrupted by reports from Libya. So it goes.

Here is another interesting site, a blog by a documentary maker living in Tokyo, Ian Thomas Ash. He's gone out and interviewed people and there are subtitles, so it's a great look at what is going on in the capital.

 

There is another point that I will be talking about more in detail, but I'll mention it because I suspect it will have the TV anchors sputtering about it. Death totals from the disaster are going to be very accurate, but there will be this huge discrepancy between informal missing figures and official figures. This is because informal figures, like the one in Minami Sanriku of 9,000 people of the town of 18,000 are estimated by finding how many people are in shelters, and subtracting it from the population. Official missing totals require that a family member officially report the person missing, and so there are going to be whole families that have disappeared. I'm not sure how close the person has to be related, though I wouldn't be surprised that it is limited to relatives in the same household register. This was a problem in the Kobe earthquake, but ameliorated by the maps which locate families. Still, news outlets were baffled when the Kobe earthquake total was in the low hundreds at the end of January, 2 weeks after the earthquake and then jumped to 5000+ a week into February, because private hospitals reported their deaths. It underlines that 'official' means 'we have triple checked this and we know this for certain'. This can be seen with the statement of government officials about Fukushima. Eliot Spitzer was frothing at the mouth because the government official (who was from the embassy, so not actually in Japan) didn't 'come clean' about the nuclear accident and admit to information that could be found on the website of the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency. Somehow, talking heads have difficulty understanding that an 'official' announcement requires everyone up the chain to approve it. This can be maddening and at my university, there have been times when the simplest of things cannot be announced because they are not official. While I have banged my head against it, official is official, and it makes sense if you stop to think about it. Which I supposed is asking a lot given why he moved to CNN. 

This feature from the NYTimes is also amazing and totally heart-breaking. Use the slider to move back and forth. 

I haven't seen this video, but it is much more subtle, and in it's way, much more frightening, when you think that at the moment that was filmed, tsunami alarms were sounding up and down the coast. It shows a Japanese Coast Guard vessel, 3 miles from the coast, turn its bow to head into the wave.

I've mentioned about the tsunami warning system a bit. I met an English teacher who was in Miyagi with me and worked in one of those small seaside towns near Kesennuma and she reminded me of how the speakers all over town would wake everyone up at 6 or 7 am with announcements like 'Good morning everyone! Please be careful today!' and other phatic communiques. In my neighborhood, far from the sea, the chonaikai (neighborhood association) has announcements every other weekend at 6 or 7 in the morning. Here is an article from the Hindustan Times (which is obviously concerned about tsunami warning systems) that talks about the automated warnings. 

This is a good article about the demographic challenges that Japan will be facing. It points to another reason why nuclear plants were "popular" in Japan.

For job-hungry workers, Mr. Aldrich says, the government took another tack: it promoted the construction of nuclear power plants along the coast. Two reactor complexes were built in Fukushima Prefecture; one in Miyagi, near Sendai.

“There’s really no economic engine in these communities,” said Mr. Aldrich, whose 2010 book “Site Fights: Divisive Facilities and Civil Society in Japan and the West” details the government’s strategy for locating reactors in struggling areas. “These facilities bring $20 million or more to depopulating, dying towns. Many people saw these power plants as economic lifelines at a time when their towns are dying.”

Funny how that works. This is the Time article about earthquake prep in Japan, which can give you some ideas to look into further or ask about. And given my handle, I need to point out that the GOP budget calls for cutting half a billion from NOAA, which runs the Pacific Tsunami Warning system. 

That's all, until there's more. Stay safe everyone.