A static, in country force

A static, in country force can have a variety of missions: reinforce, rebuild, protect, retrain...the moral quandaries arise when decisions are made whom and how exactly to retrain.

In the hazy, unprecedented, post-9/11 era, fear became our reigning philosophy. Fear still manages to override the collective of other emotional varietals all too frequently within the policy arena. Few things are as addicting and powerful. But fear had been the weapon of control for countries with far less sophisticated forms of governance than ours, or so we thought. The trend of instilling in a populace blind distrust and abject horror towards an entire other race had previously been the grounds upon which to stand our moral superiority argument (see also the Kurds, Ethnic Serbs, or the Hutu and Tse Tse clash).

We had never done this (in fact untrue) we celebrated our melting pot culture (though truly we didnt). Institutionalized racism and marginalization are hallmarks of this nation since it's earliest times as a republic. From slavery through suffrage, tenement houses to internment camps, to separate but not so equal, to the AIDS epidemic and LGBTQ rights to (the return of) union busting, and now the "War on terror". War in and of itself is a terror. And while we're at it, let's check in on how the "War on drugs" and the "War on poverty" are going.

By only one measure have these wars done phenomenally well and that is to compensate the already well compensated. Obviation of cultural groups is required for this to happen: noone can be at the top unless someone first is at the bottom. But in its current iteration, those at the bottom are consequentially blamed for all of society's ills (be they at fault or no.) Along the arc of human history, this has happened repeatedly, and to satisfy ourselves with the whimsical platitude that the very same arc shall inevitably trend towards justice is a likely fallacy.

Whenever an economically empowered class, weaponizes a militarily empowered class, and these become judge, jury, and executioner of the underclass without the due process of law, that is known as oppression. Ferguson happened. Eric Gardner happened. Kimani Gray happened. Sean Bell happened. Amadou Diallou happened. Rodney King happened. The pattern continues.

This is a watershed moment. We can maintain this culture of fear,  or we can exchange the current cohort of undesirables for people that look, feel, and speak like the fabric of America. We can perpetuate a system of rulership that is predicated on objectifying subjugation, or we can seek to design and implement new systems. But we cannot hope to obtain system-wide remedies from archetypes who refute the facts of system-wide dilemmas.

The issue remains that the system itself is purposefully designed for segregation, submission, and subservience. Democracy is not democracy if it is only democratic for the few. Consequentially, as has been asked many times in Congress, a careful review of our founding document - specifically the part where it clearly states that if our system of government fails, it should be dismantled and reconstructed - is plainly in order. The situation in Ferguson is a symptom of a lingering, untreated, much more nefarious societal sickness. One against which inoculation is no longer possible as it has become a defining characteristic of American society. Before this latest issue falls by the wayside like so many other acts of senseless violence, let us now awaken the sleeping dragon of intercultural might to lead us through to a truer societal evolution. Now is the time for us to envision, embody, and encarnate an entirely new Great Society.

The proof is in the putting (not the pudding.)

During the past week, I have been working steadily on an article expressly focused on the anti-vaxxer argument. I will admit here a predetermined bias, coming from a family deeply enmeshed in the medical field. However, benefiting from the self same type of study that promoted and disseminated the anti-vaxxer argument at the outset, utilizing highly focused search methodology and accessing social media realms where the scientific community directly discusses these topics, the collection which follows of peer reviewed research articles resulted. As they are generated by experts in the field with a pointed presentation of statistical information, it may be important to consult with professionals capable of translating some of the contained language into layman's terms if you should need it. Not everyone is a trained physician, or statistician, or trained researcher, and that, specifically, is the problem with this entire intellectual melee: untrained minds selecting blind belief over bona fide biology is indeed a choice. But not one we can afford to make. This, then, is returning science to its rightful place in the public administration structure, opting for the design of intelligence rather than intelligent design. Opinions are my own, research is from elsewhere.


Age at First Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination in Children With Autism and School-Matched Control Subjects: A Population-Based Study in Metropolitan Atlanta: Frank DeStefano, Tanya Karapurkar Bhasin, William W. Thompson, Marshalyn Atlanta Yeargin-Allsopp and Coleen Boyle, Pediatrics 2004;113;259-266 DOI: 10.1542/peds.113.2.259

ABSTRACT: Objective. To compare ages at first measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination between children with autism and children who did not have autism in the total population and in selected subgroups, including children with regression in development. Methods. A case-control study was conducted in metropolitan Atlanta. Case children (N   624) were identified from multiple sources and matched to control children (N   1824) on age, gender, and school. Vaccination data were abstracted from immunization forms required for school entry. Records of children who were born in Georgia were linked to Georgia birth certificates for information on maternal and birth factors. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs). Results. The overall distribution of ages at MMR vaccination among children with autism was similar to that of matched control children; most case (70.5%) and control children (67.5%) were vaccinated between 12 and 17 months of age. Similar proportions of case and control children had been vaccinated before 18 or before 24 months. No significant associations for either of these age cutoffs were found for specific case subgroups, including those with evidence of developmental regression. More case (93.4%) than control children (90.6%) were vaccinated before 36 months (OR: 1.49; 95% confidence interval: 1.04–2.14 in the total sample; OR: 1.23; 95% confidence interval: 0.64–2.36 in the birth certificate sample). This association was strongest in the 3- to 5-year age group. Conclusions. Similar proportions of case and control children were vaccinated by the recommended age or shortly after (ie, before 18 months) and before the age by which atypical development is usually recognized in children with autism (ie, 24 months). Vaccination before 36 months was more common among case children than control children, especially among children 3 to 5 years of age, likely reflecting immunization requirements for enrollment in early intervention programs. Pediatrics 2004; 113:259–266; autism, autism spectrum disorders, MMR vaccine, immunizations, epidemiology.

Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study
Mady Hornig, Kimberly Hummel Pickering, W. Ian Lipkin, Thomas Briese, Paul A. Rota, Timothy Buie, William J. Bellini, Margaret L. Bauman, John J. O’Leary, Gregory Lauwers, Orla Sheils, Ulrike Siemetzki, Errol Alden, Larry

Abstract
Background: The presence of measles virus (MV) RNA in bowel tissue from children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances was reported in 1998. Subsequent investigations found no associations between MV exposure and ASD but did not test for the presence of MV RNA in bowel or focus on children with ASD and GI disturbances. Failure to replicate the original study design may contribute to continued public concern with respect to the safety of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: vaccine side effects, adverse reactions, contraindications, and precautions—recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR 1996;45(No. RR-12):[inclusive page numbers]. [(Please keep in mind this article is from 1996, but its significance is prominent because of the historical basis of rejection of a premise relating to vaccines causing autism)]

This report provides updated information concerning the potential adverse events associated with vaccination for hepatitis B, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. This information incorporates findings from a series of recent literature reviews, conducted by an expert committee at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), of all evidence regarding the possible adverse consequences of vaccines administered to children. This report contains modifications to the previously published recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and is based on an ACIP review of the IOM findings and new research on vaccine safety. In addition, this report incorporates information contained in the “Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices: Use of Vaccines and Immune Globulins in Persons with Altered Immunocompetence” (MMWR 1993;42[No. RR-4]) and the “General Recommendations on Immunization: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)” (MMWR 1994;43[No. RR-1]). Major changes to the previous recommendations are highlighted within the text, and specific information concerning the following vaccines and the possible adverse events associated with their administration are included: hepatitis B vaccine and anaphylaxis; measles vaccine and a) thrombocytopenia and b) possible risk for death resulting from anaphylaxis or disseminated disease in immuno-compromised persons; diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine (DTP) and chronic encephalopathy; and tetanus-toxoid–containing vaccines and a) Guillain-Barré syndrome, b) brachial neuritis, and c) possible risk for death resulting from anaphylaxis. These modifications will be incorporated into more comprehensive ACIP recommendations for each vaccine when such statements are revised. Also included in this report are interim recommendations concerning the use of measles and mumps vaccines in a) persons who are infected with human immunodeficiency virus and b) persons who are allergic to eggs; ACIP is still evaluating these recommendations.

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Additionally, there is an entire page from the CDC's website dedicated to vaccine safety and a potential causal relationship between vaccines and autism. It should be read carefully, and realized that not only does the CDC support the results of the research, the research itself is mostly done by agencies and entities outside of the CDC. 

American Fall

Every year I make sure to travel upstate and photo-document the autumnal changes to the scenery. In taking the long view of my history, and a quick tour through my external hard drive, I have gigabytes of space dedicated to pictures of trees from prior years. The shot above is from the Katonah Reservoir, a town in upper Westchester county where I used to teach at a private school early in my career as an educator. The picturesque clouds reflected in mirror-smooth water are like something out of a fantasy, and it's part of why I do this. Back when I still had my motorcycle, the ride was very nearly religious - crisp New York air, smells of earth, and leaves, and the bike. There's a really funny story about how on Sunday afternoon ride came to a sudden halt due to a family of wild turkeys quite literally, crossing the road. It's a great motivation for me to get back to a different financial paradigm. But late-year nostalgic musings are not the reason for the title, however it may be tangentially related.

Insofar as this blog is frequently a study of topics related to Public Administration, I will follow a suggestion put forth by the Rachel Maddow show that the reliable theme to use for parsing the national conversation is the Occupy Everything movement. I have spent a considerable amount of time following it, and even been on site, interviewing participants, following the action for my news column. But of late, Michael Moore - despite emphatically refusing any responsibility for leadership of the movement - has become something of a celebrated representative for media outlets far and wide. Whether this is good or bad is still subject to speculation and your own preferences. However, one thing did come up as Moore visited even greater numbers of demonstrations and talk shows along the way: he decided his was an expert voice for the revolution, and even decided that he had the proper ideas for parenting a living, breathing, global political imbroglio successfully towards adulthood. Where this falls apart is in the direct purpose for formation of the Occupation to begin with yeah these many long months ago. Initially, Occupy Wall Street was a movement that included all viewpoints, all idealogical convictions, all regions of the nation. It was also definitively leaderless.

Moore's positioning of himself in the interview spots on the massive slew of talk shows in which he appears fails the movement on both counts: in being a recognizable, frequently seen celebrity in relation to this movement, he drives directly against his own messaging to the movement, which has regularly been 'do not allow yourselves to be coopted by any political party.' Moore's extreme leftist leanings, and his almost ubiquitous appearance at as many OWS rallies as humanly possible alongside his television appearances creates the risk of his face being quickly associated with leadership of the movement. Secondly, this past week he made an egregious error: for some unknown reason, and in accordance with the demands of mainstream media outlets (the New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN among them,) have all habitually called for the dedicated list of demands to which the Occupation adheres as reasoning for their continued unrest. This is fallacious in the extreme. Part of the genius of the Occupy movement was the fact that no such list existed, and that the occupiers existed as a repository for the frustrations and discontent of the American people towards a non-functional political class, and a well fleeced elite playing the stock market as if it were the nickel ante table somewhere in a forgotten corner of Las Vegas where the edges of neon lights no longer reach. But the crucial piece was that no set list of demands existed for the simple reason that the second a list of demands exists, the moment a central core document listing the movement's ideals crystallizes, an opposition can be created, and in the same moment begins the chilling denouement of a once powerful and growing, impassioned drive for social change.

So, how does this become resolved? While Moore's appearances, and celebrity do in fact draw greater attention to the movement, organizers would do well to caution him to not be so visible in terms of talk shows, interviews, or the like lest the media establishment erroneously begin to equate his characteristic Detroit hat and fair figure with representing the movement itself. Also, they should remain adamantly devoid of a central core set of demands upon which politicos, the pundit-tree, and legions of naysayers could glom on and declare "these are un-American." Lastly, and this is perhaps the most crucial piece, the direct action portion of the movement - that which facilitated Bank Transfer Day, which is organizing around voting and the campaign season, - must continue with their plans and endeavor to create many more direct actions. The exact extent of the power of the people has yet to be proved, thought recently, in direct correlation to this movement, ever greater numbers of citizens are awakening to the idea that the governments and corporations exist to serve us, not the other way around.

Whatever dreams may come, this is certain to be quite an adventurous time. A time for us to break free of feeling like just another brick in the wall.

So you say you want a revolution....

I'm always shocked, slightly unnerved, and a little dismayed by the amount of time that passes in between posts here. Perhaps because I spend so much time elsewhere writing, I suppose that through some manner of digital osmosis that a measure of writing will find its way here. Unfortunately, despite my fancy for Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Laura Esquivel, I have not been sufficiently infused with the flavor of cybernetic magical realism to achieve such a feat. However, if none of that last sentence made any sense to you, I suggest watching Tron: Legacy - for the combined illusory/illustrative effect.

Since the middle of the month, I've been steadily following the Occupy Wall Street protest, and even visited and written a related article. The first time I visited the occupiers, it was slightly after my visit to the 9/11 Memorial site (pics below) and I must say I was incredibly impressed. The mainstream journalistic coverage of the movement has been entirely plagued with misinformation and doomsayers warning of a maleficent dystopia if these activists are permitted to continue what in many venues is being called lambasted as adolescent, fleeting hysteria. But after two weeks of constant occupation, 66 other cities getting involved, and scheduled appearances of union backing on the schedule for the near future, the truth of the matter is that the mass media's portrayals of this "tiny, insignificant rally" can no longer be ignored. Thousands of protesters showed up for the Brooklyn Bridge incident that took place on Saturday, and it grows exponentially by the day. I expect I will have at least one more article out in the next few days, and that in the offing, it might actually be more.

In other news, I've been asked to report for a linguist exam this coming Tuesday (as in, in two days.) This normally wouldn't be a concern, though, for the past year I haven't actually been doing the work of a linguist, save for minor conversations here and there, and during the past two weeks, my brother's been in town, so there was truly no opportunity for studying of any kind. Talking with another interpreter colleague who knows my skills rather well, I asked what I should do given the extremely tight turn around time. She suggested I go with a 'Zen mentality' to the exam, and try to be as calm as possible. That may just be what I need to do, right after I spend all day tomorrow reviewing all of my notes.

Today was rather interesting, one of the NUF 2011 class members showed up as part of a trip for her new position, and half a dozen of us appeared to share brunch with her. It's always interesting hearing what everyone is doing in the interim, and how many folks have moved on to something new and interesting, or have taken a left turn at Albuquerque, etc. There are many of us that came out of the program and walked straight into positions, but there are a group of us that are still searching for the proper fit, or the right opportunity, and frustrations run high at times. Frustration echoed in the protests by placards reading "Overeducated, underemployed" or similar slogans. In many corners of the internet, this is being called our 'Tahrir Square moment.' Odd that this singular theme has seemed to usurp whatever other message I'd been trying to convey.

In my next post, which first I'll have to be sure to make in the very near future, I shall have to talk about my volunteering at the VA Hospital, and how that has all gone. But for the time being, it's late, and I must sleep.

Good night!

A public administration exam.

This past week has been all about public administration field tests. First, with and entirely unprecedented earthquake in the middle of the week trembling the very ground upon which we walked, and then a strong - although not as much so as we had originally believed would be the case - hit from a slowly spinning down Category 1 hurricane, the leadership and governance systems in the great State of New York were sorely tested. But New York State, as well as the City have experienced both of these types of adverse conditions before, and not nearly as far back as you might believe (but long before it was discovered that oversized - even for New York - rats of a separate genus from our usual Norwegian brown rats are now scurrying the tunnels below the City streets. Where might all these Herculean rodents escape to once their underground havens become inundated with spillover from a storm surge at high tide?). So, as photos of damage and videos of rivers rushing through rural (and not so rural) America populate the previously unseen corners of the interwebz, let us explore some of the more pertinent questions from, even for New York City, what amounts to a really wild week.


On Friday of last week, I published an article in my Examiner.com column asking a whole range of difficult questions about the operation of the State, whether our infrastructure is prepared to handle two natural disasters in one week, and what we could possibly do about it. In the interim, I've managed to rediscover this page documenting New York's share of the 2009 stimulus funds (referenced in the article) which offers a clearer picture of what the former governor's office identified as areas where he should dedicate spending, which, if I remember correctly, met with some changes after he was ousted. That minor detail is now more crucial than ever since, in a recent Wall Street Journal article that drew direct relationships between reactor safety and their geographic location in earthquake prone areas the author said:


"Last year, the NRC produced an updated assessment as part of the seismic review, which found that many of the 96 reactors east of the Rockies faced higher earthquake hazard levels than previously thought. The assessment found 22 reactors where a rough estimate showed a potential hazard higher than several important metrics, including the level of shaking the plants were originally designed to withstand."


Asked to react to these sorts of statements, industry officials tended to repeat the same message as Alexander Marion - Nuclear Energy Institute's VP of Nuclear Operations: 


"I'd caution against reacting too much to the data since the hazard analysis is still under way and the industry already is looking for ways to increase the safety margin."


Which is closely akin to a collective thumbing of the industry's nose at the American public. Population security be damned, there's money to be made. Following that inherently faulty logic is the Aleberta Canada Tar Sands debate. Here we have an entire portion of another country's province specifically dedicated to the production of a type of crude oil that is expensive to extract, rips up the environment in the process, and threatens people, wildlife, and the global climate as a result, all in the name of, as the Manhattan Institute's Robert Bryce said: "cheap, abundant, reliable energy." Later on in the PBS interview where he made the statement, he clearly says that the tar sands project will produce energy that is 'abundant and reliable,' the subtext being that economic exclusionary principles will undoubtedly apply. 


The very well known and possibly overused statements are recycled as he cites unemployment rates and reduced dependence on foreign supply. That is an argument, however, that presupposes there is only one conceivable solution to the problem at hand - fossil fuels. With the variety, breadth, and quantity of unemployed, high achieving, highly educated individuals in the country at this moment, there simply has to exist the possibility that alternatives can be produced. Bryce's position throughout the interview is that despite environmental costs - the potential for a spill underneath the largest freshwater aquifer in the middle of the country, the potential for terrestrial leaks similar in scope and effect to the BP Macondo blowout, the fact that greenhouse gas emissions (read: contributing factors to larger storms that will effect the coastline) are all allowable costs to be paid for an energy solution that is outdated, expensive, and dangerous. So dangerous and unsavory the potential consequences that protesters have begun risking jail time in the nation's capitol  for the cause. 


This century, it was promised - from both the current administration and the last - would be all about alternatives to oil and renewed interest in clean, renewable, profitable energy sources. If you have any doubts about the fierce urgency of now, and whether we can actually afford the environmental costs, you should definitely view this slideshow, and read its accompanying text. Possibly one of my side projects may become researching this line of thought and attempting to cobble together some form of policy paper which could be exported to those with sufficient clout to make a change. Anyone out there have any ideas of where to start?


Lastly, there was quite a bit of messaging, movement of people, administering to the public, and distribution of resources in preparation for, and in the wake of Irene. Many in the regions that were not utterly destroyed are vociferously complaining about their minor inconveniences due to forced evacuations. I still have difficulty fathoming this concept. Had there been catastrophic devastation, and the government either not been prepared, nor issued these warnings, those same people - given their unlikely survival - would be the same mugging the camera to complain on any available news source that they had been slighted. All reports point to the fact that there is more flooding yet to come,  a smattering of information for which can be gleened from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website dedicated to Irene's after effects.


And just because I can't leave you without a little music - 

Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well...

As this blog has evolved, it has been equal parts expressions of catharsis, elation, surreptitiousness, serendipity, and lollifying loquaciousness. I am reticent to disrupt the pattern. The remaining weeks in July after my last post were precisely the unrelenting parade aux folles one would expect when confronted with 12 graduate credit hours to complete in six weeks. Still and all, I often felt the comfort and familiarity that I had developed over time in the Division, and spoke about my experience there frequently during my classroom experiences. We all did everything we could to make the stress of the perilous trek that much less, but, inside of the pressure cooker, there really is only so much you can do. I worked with different groups, directed as I could, offered help where it was needed... and I think that went well. I was selected to help deliver the address to faculty at graduation, something for which I had originally imagined volunteering when the opportunity arose whilst still in Washington, DC, though I never actually raised my hand (virtually), I suppose because I was too caught up in 'productivity.' But, a second chance is always well received, and the speech seemed well received.

Leadership has become an interesting topic of discussion of late, with presidential hopefuls from the opposition party beginning their erstwhile campaigns for the vaunted office. How they shall fare remains to be seen, though the whirling dervish of bravado and politicking currently monopolizing all possible media outlets. Much is at stake, and the field of contenders shows the potential for the country to drift dangerously towards versions of the future that inevitably would prove disastrous for us.

At the same time, this is a period of both great opportunity and great peril. I've begun donating some time to the VA Medical Center, if only to keep busy and gain exposure in a public service position as I search frantically for the next big step. I am making some interesting connections, and I'm certain this won't be the last I write of it. Also, I now have a broad network with a variety of connections, we shall see how that goes. But as August draws to a close, so do the remaining funds that I received from the NUF experience, and the very stark reality of a very limited safety net. Trying to keep things in perspective - balancing opportunity with cost, and cautious optimism with a slippery slope of aggravation. However, my current status is not entirely depressing, there are some prospects on the horizon, and this feels like my time. To quote one of my classmates: "You can master the universe..." and given the amount of obstacles I've managed to overcome just over the summer, I'm inclined to believe him.

A very real an tangible way...

The past three weeks of the NUF experience have been entirely different than any other point in the past year. We returned to New York the last week of May, and for me, there was the added difficulty of being injured. Complications between the insurance company and my orthopedist's office impeded the process of my recovery, but after finally getting everyone to talk to each other (it only took two weeks to get an MRI done) the actual process of discerning the difficulty took far too long (the results of my MRI didn't arrive to the doctor's office until several days after the scan was taken) all of which left me dealing with a level of pain that, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would assess at 20.5. Fortunately, the day that the scans showed up at my doctor's office, I was also able to get in to see him, and to his credit, he prescribed the best option (an anti-inflammatory medication) which reduced the swelling of the disc and allowed it to move off the nerve, relieving a great deal of the pain.

Fortunately, classes started after I started taking the medication, and had already started on the way back towards being whole. The outlink for this post is to the organization run by one of my professors for this semester, and it is to him that I credit the title. We were having quite an in depth conversation regarding the Human Resources frame in an organization, and how the language in memos, though the requester of a feedback memo might be asking for valuable feedback, might not land just right when it reaches their ear once they've actually begun to read said memo. Truer words were ne'er spake, and as I frequently communicate to the class of 2012; you can redo a budget, you can ask for another strategic plan, you can even reshuffle the organizational chart, but you cannot, cannot, cannot pull back a message.  Especially if it's on the internet. There's a leadership lesson to be learned here.

The past three weeks have been a complete test of endurance: 12 graduate credit hours in 6 weeks, several days out of the week where we are in class for a total of about 9 hrs a day, trying to squeeze in a few workouts in between piles of reading, writing effective papers, statistical analysis, and economic theorizing. As I commented to one of my classmates this morning, I feel as if one of the widely destructive tornadoes that blew through the South last month continues to rage unrelentingly throughout my cranium. So far, we've received back our Stats and Econ midterms, and papers from each of the classes where we need to submit them. Everyone has a clear idea of where they're standing, and is feeling incredibly worn and as if their reserves of motivation are running a bit low. We all do our best to keep each other up, but it's like the last mile of the marathon, where you feel your body on fire, and there's still a climb to the crest of a hill to cross the finish line...

In the midst of all the coursework is the need to find my way into a new position, something which - to quote a classmate, - is renting a lot of space in my head. But, several opportunities are beginning to show up, and I'm confident that something will solidify shortly.

However, these past few weeks have not been devoid of fun, and I'll have to follow up this post with a write up of the scavenger hunt that I designed and led, a couple weeks ago for the incoming cohort of NUFfies. As always, I intend to leave you with a bit of music, but of a different sort: One of the most amazing things in NYC is a program called 'Music Under New York' where the MTA actually pays artists to perform in the subway stations, turning the entire affair into a form of public art (see also Jerry Mitchell). To that end, the video below was one such artist that really reminded me of the spirit of New York the first weekend after I was back in class: