Health Care Debate

The health care debate in the Senate is soon coming to an end one way or another, and I'm not optimistic about the final package. If the Senate does pass something, it will be so watered down that it will be nothing more than a gift to the insurance companies and will do nothing to contain costs. The already weak "public option" in the Senate version of the bill will probably not survive the filibuster threat of four so-called Democratic senators. If there is no public option, the insurance companies will have no competition, no incentive to contain costs, and a whole new pool of 45M people who are mandated by law to buy insurance from them. The process and the debate haven't made a whole lot of sense to me.

This isn't change I can believe in.

Afghanistan Policy

It looks like Obama is going to announce his long-awaited decision on his Afghanistan policy, and if rumors are correct, he'll be sending something approaching the 40,000 troops McCrystal has requested. I think this is a huge mistake. I can't see how Afghanistan is anything approaching an existential threat to the US, and I can't see any way to justify the costs of an open-ended campaign to pacify the country. Going back to the time of Alexander the Great, no country or empire has been able to control Afghanistan. What makes the USA so special?

If you want to see and hear someone far more articulate than me give his strategy for the area, watch this video of Andrew Bacevich and David Frum debating Afghan policy. Andrew Bacevich is a very thoughtful and intellectual conservative and author of the book, Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. David Frum is the former Bush speechwriter who coined the phrase, "axis of evil." Canadian readers might know that he is the son of the CBC broadcasting icon Barbara Frum. David Frum is not a whacko conservative, and he styles himself as an intellectual conservative, but I think he was out of his league in this debate with Bacevich.

Israeli Slide Show

In my last posting, I said I admired Caroline's teaching qualities and had seen her in action. Yesterday, I saw her in action in the classroom again when I gave a talk and slide show on my travels in Israel to four of her classes. The talks I gave went alright, and the kids were polite and reasonably engaged, but I doubt that I really connected with them. Caroline has a way of connecting with the students that I don't have, but I enjoyed the talk and I'd do it again. I hope that the students got something out of it too.

Congratulations Caroline!

Caroline is a good teacher. She takes it seriously, works hard at it, and connects with her students. I know. Having been in her classroom several times, I've seen her in action. After putting in a bunch more hard work, she got notification yesterday that she passed the National Board Certification exams that she wrote months ago. That puts her in the elite 0.4% of teachers in the nation who have that certification as a "highly qualified teacher". This means that she can teach virtually anywhere in the country, it looks good on her resume, and if Washington State doesn't declare bankruptcy, an extra $5k per year in pay.

Way to go!

Kindle Review

I bought a Kindle just before I left for Israel and read 3-1/2 books on it while I was gone. So here are my expert thoughts:

-Overall, it works pretty well. I got into reading it just like a paperback.

-The 5-way controller, a bit like a joystick, is cumbersome to use. Rather than just using my thumb, I'd end up using a fingernail to make sure I was engaging it.

-It's not as user-friendly and intuitive as I'd like. I had to reference the user's manual several times to do simple things like setting a bookmark.

-The screen is easy to read, even in bright sunlight.

-It doesn't handle some fonts very well. The italics in Brotherhood of the Rope were almost unreadable at times due to parts of the letters missing.

-It doesn't handle pictures very well. The fonts on the picture captions in Brotherhood of the Rope were so small I couldn't read them even after using the one level of zoom available.

-Sometimes the pagination and paragraph breaks were weird. In one case, a capital letter "O" was split between two lines. It looked like open and closed parentheses.

-It's hard to flip a few pages forward or back. Even if you hit the "turn page" control several times in rapid succession, it will only turn two pages at a time.

-The rudimentary 3G web access built into the Kindle is truly rudimentary and really not useable.

-It doesn't use page numbers in the traditional sense. It uses "location" numbers instead. If you totally lose your place, like I did a couple of times, it's hard to get back to where you were.

In spite of these complaints, I did like the machine overall.

If you are considering buying one, take a close look at the competition. Barnes and Noble came out with one just after I left on my trip, and on paper it looks like a better deal. That's mainly because they have true WiFi and 3G internet capability built in.

The Sony Reader is also worth a look. They cut a deal with Google, and all of the books in the public domain that Google has digitized are available free of charge. The only issue I see with the Sony Reader is that it needs to be hooked up to a computer to download books.

Israel recap

Megan left at 4:30 this morning to catch a 7AM flight back to the real world. My flight doesn't leave until 11 this evening, so while I've got some time to kill and a decent internet connection, I figured I may as well do a blog posting. As usual, it's annoying to try and get pictures and text lined up, but here goes.





We rented a car when I arrived in Tel Aviv and spent the first night in Jaffa. The next morning we hit the road, heading south. We got about as close as you can get to Gaza at this border crossing. This used to be a busy crossing with people going to Israel to work and truckloads of fruit and vegetables crossing every day. But since the Israelis closed the border, it's pretty dead. While there, we talked to a group of Israeli veterans who were demonstrating for the release of an Israeli soldier who's been held by militants inside the strip for over three years now. We heard gunshots while we were talking to the demonstrators. They were unconcerned, saying that the border guards were firing warning shots to keep Arab sheep and shepherds away from the wall.



This is the view from our window at our overnight stop at the "hostel" at Masada. I put hostel in quotation marks because this has got to be the creme de la creme of the hostel world. It's an absolutely gorgeous hostel in a gorgeous setting overlooking the Dead Sea and underlooking (?) the ancient fortress of Masada, and comes complete with a half-size Olympic pool! You may recall that Masada is where something like 900 Jewish Zealots committed suicide in 73AD rather than surrendering to Roman forces in the aftermath of the Second Jewish Revolt.
























This is the Israeli flag at dawn over Masada.

During the climb down the Snake Path, we were treated to the sight of this Nubian Ibex and his harem.

After we left Masada, we drove through a sandstorm that reminded me of a snowstorm on the prairies, complete with crappy visibility and drifting sand across the road. It was neat to see a storm like this, but the lousy weather prevented us from stopping for a swim (float?) in the Dead Sea.

And we got so see some camels!

The separation of Israel into Israeli areas wasn't really all that apparent after we left the Gaza border. It was evident on our road map, and was physically evident on this main road to Jericho, a Palestinian controlled area. The road was bulldozed shut. No need for a checkpoint, I guess.

There were lots of Israeli war memorials, both large and small on the roads we travelled. This is one of the bigger ones on the road north into Galilee.

In Galilee we passed signs pointing out the site of the Sermon on the Mount. (Remember the Beatitudes and all that from Sunday School?) Well, apparently it happened here.

After spending the night in a pretty grubby hostel in Tiberius, we continued north to the Golan Heights. The scenery and the roads were good, except for the occasional abrupt zig-zags surrounded by minefields.

We didn't venture too far from the car, just in case the signs weren't kidding.

Believe it or not, there is a ski resort in Israel at Mt. Hermon on the Syrian border!

It has five lifts, and actually looks pretty interesting. By the look of it, I've skiied in worse areas.





I wish I would have had my camera at the breakfast we had at at the Beit Shalom hotel restaraunt in Metula, on the northern border with Lebanon. We had loads of freshly made bread, homemade cheeses, olives, dips and jams. This was the best meal we had in Israel!

As for views from our hotel room windows, what could possibly top this view from the St. Gabriel Hotel in Nazareth? This is a converted convent, and either the nuns lived in the lap of luxury, or someone did one hell of a job on the renovations.

This is the interior of the Bascilica of the Annunciation. It was commissioned in 1969, and has got to be one of the best examples of modern religious architecture in the world. It has an austere interior of bare concrete walls and pillars, but for whatever reason, it works.

This isn't really the view from our window, but it is the view from the kitchen of the hostel we stayed at in Jaffa. It is right in the middle of the Jaffa flea market, which goes on for blocks and blocks. If my flea-market friend Hal ever goes there, it will takes weeks to drag him out. We turned in the rental car, spent the night in Jaffa, and then took a sherut taxi to Jerusalem.

We arrived in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, in time to wander over to the Wailing Wall at the foot of the remains of the Jewish temple that was destroyed in 69AD. It was quite a sight to see mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews praying at the wall.

All sorts of strange headgear were evident everywhere in Jerusalem.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. It was beautifully and movingly done, covering the rise of Hitler, the Final Solution in Europe, and the emigration to Israel.

The next day, we got another view of the State of Israel with and "alternative" tour to Hebron. We got our first look at the walls that Israel is building to separate the Israeli areas from the Palestian controlled areas. It was an eye-opening day.

Here's Megan and some of the other women in the garb they had to wear to get into the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the Palestinian controlled area of Hebron.

The mosque itself is quite modest in comparison to the Christian controlled cathedrals and churches.

The mosque is divided in two - with Jewish access on one side and Moslem access on the other. We came in on the Moslem side. This is the view of the Tomb of Abraham looking at the Jewish side.

There is a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn living in Old Hebron. They moved in illegally in 1967,a nd have been there ever since. There are about four Israeli soldiers for every settler, and are stationed on rooftops and intersections everywhere.

There are checkpoints everywhere restricting the movement of Palestinians to the Old Town which supposedly is under joint Palestinian-Israeli control.

Humiliation of the Palestinians is a daily occurance. Here the Palestinian shopkeepers have installed a wire mesh to protect shoppers from the pelting of garbage they get from the Jewish settlers living above them.

Then, it's back to Tel Aviv, which seems devoid of the divisions elsewhere in the country. Tel Aviv is a modern European-style city, with highrises along its gorgeous beaches. You'll rarely see an ultra-Orthodox Jew or hear the Islamic call to prayer here.

There is lots of interesting Bauhaus-style architecture here, but unfortunately most of it isn't in very good shape.

The water and beaches, even at this time of the year are fabulous.

We had a great trip!

Tel Aviv

After failing to find an easy way to get from Jerusalem to Jordan, we decided to spend the last few days of our trip a block off the beach in Tel Aviv. The weather here is still good, with clear skies and highs in the upper 70's, so we are getting a bit of beach time. Tel Aviv is very different from Jerusalem - more modern and more European in feel. It's unusual to see an ultra-orthodox Jew on the streets.

And here's a bonus tip for anyone trying to figure out how to walk around the labyrinth of streets in Israel (or anywhere else for that matter), Google Maps has turn-by-turn walking directions! We went and saw Julie and Julia last night at a theater about a half-hour's walk from here. We would never have found the place without the directions from Google. And yes, we both loved the movie!

Jerusalem

It's early morning here in Jerusalem, but the bustle and street noise are pouring through our hostel windows on Jaffa Road. We got here on the Friday in time to go to the Wailing Wall to see the thousands of people lining up for Sabbath prayers. It was quite a sight with all the ultra-orthodox in their black suits and strange headgear. We met an American couple that evening at the Armenian Tavern, and ended up having dinner with them. Interesting folks. He works in Gaza for the UN, and commutes every weekend to their apartment in Jerusalem.

The next day we took a walking tour of the Old City, and then yesterday went to Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem. So now that we've had a couple of days of immersion in Jerusalem, we're off to the Palestinian city of Hebron. It will be an interesting contrast, I'm sure.

Israel continued

We've spent nights in Jaffa, Masada, Tiberius, Metula, and Nazareth. Tonight, we're back in Jaffa and will be heading to Jerusalem tomorrow. Here are a few first impressions:
- Israel isn't cheap. If you come here, expect to pay US-type prices
- Swarmas (sp?) are great street food! They're gyros with French bread or pita bread. I love them!
- Israel has been a friendly place. It's interesting to me that the friendliest so far are Arab Christians. I'm surprised there are so many of them.
- Israeli drivers tailgare only slightly less than Greeks.
- I didn't realize you can ski in Israel. We were at the slopes and saw the lifts!
- Israeli sunflower seeds are amazing! Spitz better look out. They have competition!
- It takes some getting used to seeing Israeli soldiers in coffee shops and malls with their guns casually slung over their shoulders.
- I didn't know that Israel grows huge amounts of bananas!

We'll spend a few days in Jerusalem and do some excursions to the Palestinian areas. Later next week, we'll probably go to Jordan for a few days.

One of these days, I'll try and do a post with photos, but so far, I'm too lazy. A good long post might have to wait till I get back

Israel

Sorry folks. It's been a while since I've done a posting, but a lot's been going on. I'll fill y'all in with a future post, but suffice to say that right now I'm in Tiberius on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, having a great time.

I get back to Seattle on November 14th.