Category Archives: Writing

Tucson Unified School District has not banned any books as has been widely and incorrectly reported.

Seven books that were used as supporting materials for curriculum in Mexican American Studies classes have been moved to the district storage facility because the classes have been suspended as per the ruling by Arizona Superintendent for Public Instruction John Huppenthal. Superintendent Huppenthal upheld an Office of Administrative Hearings’ ruling that the classes were in violation of state law ARS 15-112.

“Reports of TUSD book ban completely false and misleading”  Tuscon Unified School District

The largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States has come to a standstill. After four decades that brought 12 million current immigrants—most of whom came illegally—the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped and may have reversed, according to a new analysis of government data from both countries by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

“Net Migration from Mexico Falls to Zero—and Perhaps Less,” by Jeffrey Passel, D’Vera Cohn and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera

Among its many effects, the recession has slowed Mexican immigration to the United States to a crawl; it may even be reversing. Is that the reason that white reactionary forces in Arizona feel so empowered?  Or has immigration slowed, at least in part, because these same white reactionary forces have created such a hostile environment, especially in places like Arizona and Alabama and Georgia and Mississippi?

After all,  even George Bush felt he had to make an effort to reach out to the Mexican-American community. As long as the immigration numbers continued to rise  Republicans believed that they needed Mexican American votes.  The rise of the Tea Party shows that at least some sectors of the right believe these votes no longer matter, or matter less than they once did. It’s a notion that escapes all logic.

These same forces have long supported issues and policies– from militias at the border to deregulation– that have turned our culture/economy upside down. I’m certain that slowing immigration  is seen by many of them as the silver lining in the otherwise bleak economy. It’s the same ideology that created Jim Crow and retarded economic development in the South for nearly a century.  As my mom would say, it’s slapping your nose to spite your face.

Racism can trump economic self-interest.  Perhaps the fear that  authentic white culture may not exist, or that it’s under threat, or in fact that ethnic whiteness may not have ever existed, always a key component of  American white supremacy, has grown so acute that reactionaries are swinging wildly at any and all perceived cultural threats, even if the economic impact might be dire.  Apparently, in this environment even Shakespeare isn’t quite white enough.

I’ve been writing about the 1980’s lately and it’s served as a  reminder of just how many key problems have remained unsolved for most of my adult life. We were calling the tenure system a horrible mess then; it’s a horrible mess now, or an even more horrible mess. We knew Republican policies would lead to massive transfers of wealth; that’s why I voted against Reagan in 1980 and then again in 1984, and then against every Republican candidate since.

Obama is no dream progressive but Romney could expand the power of the oligarchs beyond all hope of reform. We were also talking a lot about global warming in the 1980’s, and energy, particularly in relation to reducing oil dependency and curbing the spread of nuclear power.  We largely failed at the former but, at least until recently, we succeeded at the former: no new Nukes were built for more than 30 years. That’s something, I suppose.

Remarkably, though, after more than four decades of scientific research and reporting, Americans, the National Association of Science Education reported recently, still don’t believe that global warming is either happening or, just as importantly, caused by human activity:

…35% of respondents agreed that most scientists think that global warming is happening — a slight decrease — 3% agreed that most scientists think global warming is not happening, 41% agreed that there is a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening, and 21% said that they don’t know enough to say.

You don’t need to convince everyone that the scientists are wrong. All you need to do is to use the ordinary vicissitudes of scientific debate– a process alien to everyone but scientists– to persuade people that “the jury is still out.” If the scientists don’t agree, after all, then why should we take any drastic measures? It’s a long-standing battle between responsible scientific reporting and mercenary anti-science advertising and the latter seems to be winning.

Interestingly, though, while all of our ruling capitalists are self-interested, not all of them are myopic. Some see commercial opportunities in our ever pressing need to shift away from a wasteful and destructive carbon fuel economy. As usual, I am coming to this well past the trendiness wave, but the “Reinventing Fire” folks (at the Rocky Mountain Institute) might have found a way to get around the apparent need to “win the debate” over global warming.

I am particularly impressed by the retrofitting of the Empire State building, which illustrates the dramatic energy savings that can be achieved using already existing technologies.   It’s a persuasive example of what Mikhail Bakunin once called “propaganda by deed.”   The RMI argues that these sorts of conservation methods, among other things. would allow us to end all use of oil by 2050.   It sounds too good to be true but the facts seem irrefutable.