Flagging....

I've been reading Richard Ellis' To The Flag while doing my morning "work out" at the local Y (reading on the cross training makes the time go much faster), and I am finding the history relatively interesting, but not perhaps for the reason that Ellis stresses. That was confirmed for me yesterday as I listened to an interview with Ellis on NPR's "Fresh Air".... Ellis rightly emphasizes the role that fear and xenophobia played in the history of the "Pledge of Allegience" and the US obsession with flag displays, but there is so much more to get from this history. My interest in the shifting pedagogies of civic education leads me to read the story of the Pledge as a reflection of the "folk theories" of education that held sway during the late 1800s, and in that sense it gives us insight into the social theories of the time as well. I will probably blog more on that point in the future. For the moment, however, I want to highlight the link Ellis makes between flag-displaying/flag-pledging and popular fears and anxieties. It is obvious to anyone with eyes open that the US flag a pervasive presences in public spaces -- not merely at court houses and town squares, but along highways where it is found on display on numerous overpasses, bumper stickers plastered everywhere, atop construction cranes, and just about any other place you can imagine. Now, considering that I live and drive around the Sate of Massachusetts -- that well-known bastion of US left-liberalism -- I can only guess that these displays are even more prominent in other parts of the US. Is this a reflection of growing fear and anxiety? When this public displaying behavior first began after 9/11, I think it was more an expression of grief and an attempt to honor the fallen, as one would do when using the flag to drape a coffin. At some point, however, it became a open display of patriotic pride and wartime defiance -- 'don't tread on us' was the message, although it is obviously one we are sending to ourselves more than to any 'enemy'. Which got me to thinking about a recent study by Dominic Bryan and others at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University Belfast. The issue of flag displays and their functions are quite different in Northern Ireland where flags and banners are used to mark boundaries and are often tools of intimidation. In that regard, the flag displaying behavior in the US might be regarded as quite different on an explicit level. And yet flag-waving in the US has also been a means for intimidating folks who might otherwise raise questions about the wisdom or effectiveness of US policies, something that clearly occured during the antiwar protests of the Vietnam War period. Interestingly that doesn't seem to be the case these days (at least it is not making headlines) -- which raises additional questions about the role of political symbols and patriotism.... Bottom line: context matters; but the empirical question remains, how does it matter? One or the more interesting historical twists raised by Ellis (in his radio interview, and I suspect somewhere in his book -- I just haven't read that far yet) is the major turnabout made by the US Supreme Court in 1943 when it decided that state governments could no longer require children to saluate (and pledge allegience to) the US flag. Just three years earlier the Court had upheld such mandates on the grounds that governments had a compelling interest in promoting patriotism. As Ellis indicates, it is not unheard of for the Court to change its mind -- but to make such a radical turnabout in three years was indeed quite unique. Context clearly impacted on both decisions -- in 1940 a US that is anxious about internal threats to its security seeks comfort in having children engage in the saluting/pledging ritual, while in 1943 a nation at war to defend freedoms finds it hypocritical to intrude on the religious freedom of families who find such rituals promote idol worshiping.... More thought on all this to come.... flagspatriotismNorthern Ireland

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After one week back in the US....

A few observations after one week back in the US.... First, damn it is hot! Not all the time, mind you, but for at least the past several days. Even if it isn't up in the 90s or low 100s (Fahrenheit, that is), as it was this past weekend, the mugginess of a New England 80s-type day is enough to make you move a bit more slowly than usual. Still, after experiencing a season or two of Belfast weather, I will endure the simmer of the New England summer for a bit before I complain too much.... Second, politically things are a bit more upbeat than I expected for us defeated 'liberals' (I guess I am one, although I am still trying to figure out what exactly that means these days). Even discounting the fact that I am reading the NY Times and the Boston Globe (which is owned by the NYT company), the top stories in most media outlets seem to reflect what a hard time the Bush Administration is having for its agenda and in keeping its supporters in line. The Social Security battle they have waged since the inauguration is all but lost, if not in Congress then at least among the public. The frustration with the war on terror, and especially with the news from Iraq, is so significant that the White House is launching a campaign to turn the public mood around -- or at least to halt the slide in attitude that is palpable. The Republican Party itself seems to be dividing on various major issues, with McCain for example taking a major lead in openly criticizing the White House environmental policy. As reflected in one article in the Times today, the message from within the GOP seems to be for Bush to stop campagning and get on with governing.... Third, economically and energy-wise, people in the US are as crazy as ever. The price of gasoline at the pumps is as high as I have ever seen here (still well below UK standards, I know), seeming to be 223.9 per gallon on the average in the Bostonarea. And yet I have never seen so many Hummers as I see now -- literally dozens in my area alone. At the same time, shopping at the car dealerships for a new vehicle over the past several days, I noticed quite a few folks taking the few hybrid vehicles on the lot out for a spin. Every Toyota Prius on the lot of one dealership I visited had a 'sold' sticker on it, but as amazing is the long waiting list for access to the new Toyota SUV hybrid (there is a contradiction for you) and the just announced Camry hybrid due out at the end of the year. (As for me, I put in my order for a Prius -- just so I can go bumper to bumper with those Hummers!) Fourth, US TV is as horrid as ever -- but then again, so was UK TV. I am getting back into the National Public Radio listening mode again, and I have to say that it semes to have gotten even better. Finally, made my first major bookstore visit yesterday since returning (I usually do this right off the plane...) and came across some interesting titles to read. Now reading two works -- Richard Ellis' To The Flag: The Unlikely History Of The Pledge Of Allegiance", an interesting overview of the US Pledge of Allegiance and what it tells us about American politics; and Daniel Dennett's Sweet Dreams : Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness", a book of essays to follow up on his work on consciousness.... Obviously there will be blogs posts generated out of both books.... More to come.... US politicsUS mediaDennettconsciousness

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Kelo and the 'end of liberalism'...

Friend Ciarán noted, from the other side of the pond, the general significance of yesterday's US Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London (CT). The ruling raises all sorts of interesting questions about the role and power of the modern state in liberal democracies, especially one so committed on an emotional level to private property as the US. Just as I was reading Ciarán's blog post on the issue and entering a comment there, some folks sitting in the table next to me at Starbucks (yes, I am in the cushy chair again) began discussing the ruling -- in rather heated libertarian terms, I might add -- and I (of course) added fuel to the fire by challenging their rhetoric. Within a few moments it was obvious that they were not pleased to engage in a conversation about something they they were certain was just another sign of the evils of government.... What is interesting about the case -- and what is likely to make it a watershed in the political discussions of constitutional law in the US -- is that it represents the irony found in the "end of liberalism" logic articulated by Ted Lowi more than thirty five years ago. Viewed from the traditional and (much too) simple view of left vs right politics, the decision is bound to be seen as confusing -- with the traditional liberals siding with local government powers being exercised on behalf of corporate and other business/private economic interests and the traditional conservatives putting forward an argument for rights based on equality rather than individualism. Very confusing indeed.... Central to the decision, however, was an issue rooted in the powers and role of the Supreme Court itself, and here is where a re-reading of Lowi's analysis of the emergence of New Deal "interest group liberalism" is in order. For most of the first half of the twentieth century (and dating back to the 1850s, actually, in the issue of Dred Scott's status as 'property'), a central debate in US constitutional law was over the Court's application of "substantive" due process to cases involving the expansion of government involvement in the economy. This was not merely a reflection of the growth of national government power, for many of the cases related to the exercise of state and local 'police powers' over economic activity, including child labor laws and other Progressive Era reforms. Through all its permutations over the decades, the issue (at least as it relates to property and government action in the realm of eminent domain) came to a head in the 1930s in the 'sick chicken case' (Schechter Poultry) which Lowi focuses on in his analysis, and the key question became (in its simplistic form) whether it was right for the Supreme Court to substitute its judgement of what was right or wrong (in terms of government action) for the political process (as reflected in legislation). As Lowi and others note, starting with a very subtle shift established in an obscure footnote in the decision in the 1938 Carolene Products case where the Court essentially held that its role was to defer to the legislated determination of what is proper for government to do in the public interest. Reading the news accounts of the Kelo decision, it is clear that such deference was central to the majority opinion, and that the Court was not necessarily taking a stand one way or another on the question as to the wisdom of the the New London city government's decisions regarding eocnomic development. Those who read the decision as an endorsement of the Court's 'liberals' of the the particular policy and program in New London are wrong and missing the more significant implications of the ruling for reflecting the nature and dilemma of American liberalism. Having long ago established the legitimacy and logic for sanctioning collective action through government decisions that might impact adversely on individual property rights, they find themselves indirectly in support of policies that adversely impact on values (equality, community sustainability) that are touted by the political left in the US. In contrast, we have O'Connor (and, by their joining in the dissent, Scalia, Thomas and Rhenquist) highlighting the need for the Court to reassert its long foregone power to render substantive judgements (on behalf of the poor and underrepresented, they claim) on the work of democratically elected bodies. This, of course, is a bit of a surprise coming from at least two justices (Scalia and Thomas) who vehenmently and consistently argue against the Court's past use of substnative due process to assert privacy rights that are not explicitly stated in the Counstitution... They (seem to) fail to see where the reassertion of substantive due process implied in their dissent would lead. (It could be, of course, that they opted out of that particular part of O'Connor's dissent or issued their own -- I have yet to see the decision itself...). Great stuff for us professional cynics.... Tags: Kelo Vs New London, US Supreme Court, Theodore Lowi, liberalism, End of Liberalism, Schechter Poultry case, Carolene Products case, constitutional law, property rights, accountabilitybloke, Mel Dubnick

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Returning to the US media....

A full day back in the US and I am already impressed that all is not lost when it come to the US media. National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Srvice (PBS) are no BBC -- but then again, the BBC is no 'BBC' in the legendary sense of that image. Yet today I was reminded just how good they can be. Boston is lucky to have two major NPR stations -- WBUR, which does some terrific news production and intelleigent discussion broadcasts each day (otherwise it is really an extension of the BBC, especially BBC World); and WGBH, best know for its TV operations (more below), but also a superb classical/jazz radio station that dabbles quite well in the news arena. In the general New England region the other NPR stations are high quality operations, but mainly as music outlets. Driving along today I heard a number of excellent discussions of relatively 'hot topics', including the blog-led media rediscovery of the 10 Downing Street minutes that laid out the plan for initiating the Iraq war in 2002, as well as other stories that I say were well above the commercial radio norm. (If I have one complaint about NPR, and especially WBUR, is its constant badgering of viewers for money, especially since some congressional committee recently proposed a severe cut in the governmnet'smiserly funding -- oh, for the benefits of a license fee!). Still another discussion focused on the role of contractors in the war -- and that discussion was tied to a broadcast on PBS/WGBH's Frontline this evening on "Private Warriors'. Frontline is an excellent "news hour" that broadcasts some of the best documentaries on TV today. Nothing on BBC seemed to come close to their shows -- at least not while I was there (except perhaps for the "Power of Nightmares" trilogy which was more an intellectual history than a news program....) Tonight's show was significant on a number of levels -- not only for highlighting our moral bankruptcy as a nation at war and the absolutely impossible mess we've created in Iraq, but also for what the contracting out of the war effort is doing to our sense of governance and accountability. For those with bandwidth enough to watch the entire show, I highly recommend it.... media

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A day of goodbyes in Belfast....

I am only half kidding when I tell people that I've gotten to that point in life where I am the oldest person I talked to on any day. The fact is, as I head toward my 59th birthday this little jest is all too true, especially here in Northern Ireland and at the Institute of Governance where I am surrounded by a great many bright young scholars. The problem is, I often forget that I'm the old man in the bunch while they are all too conscious of it. I mention this because of the difficulty of saying goodbyes this week to some of my closest companions during the two-year stay in Belfast. High on that list is friend Ciarán who is often mentioned in these blogs and whose friendship has proven very important to me, especially since we began writing together -- or at least arguing about things that eventually turned into co-authored pieces. I do not play the role of "Senior Mentor" very well at all, and in that regard I prefer collegial relationships based on compatible intellectual interests rather than deference based on age (not that I got much of that...thank goodness...). Nor for that matter does Ciarán play the role of "Deferential Junior Scholar" very well. It was clear early on that Ciarán was able to see how some of my amateurish explorations of political theory and political philosophy tied into his own interests, and perhaps as a result of his capacity to tolerate my constant droning on and on about things I knew so little about that we finally developed into a co-authoring team that has now established a published record and will hopefully carry that forward along a couple of different fronts. Today was also a day to say goodbye to friends Bronagh and Patrick, two of the most interesting and generous people I think I've ever met. In fact, my only complaint is that I have yet to be able to beat them to picking up the 'tab'. I am really looking forward to their next visit to New England where I can play the role of host. Interestingly, however, they are far better connected than I am in the US, and so I also look forward to their visit so that they can introduce me to some of their many, many friends and acquaintances.... Finally, it was a day to say goodbye to Niaz and to hand over the keys and control of my flat which I will formally hold onto until late August. Niaz doesn't really say goodbyes, so after a dinner at a chat late this evening he took his leave.... What did make the process of saying goodbye to these and other folks a bit easier this week is the prospect of almost constant contact through e-mails, web sites, blogs, and even web cams. I am planning a trip back to Belfast in August (fingers crossed) and definitely in October, and the number of projects that will provide a constant reason for me to keep in frequent touch with people like Ciaran, Justin, Elizabeth, Istemi, Iqbal, John (the several of them), Barbara, Stephen, Trevor, et al. made it quite a bit easier to get through this last weekend in Northern Ireland. And so now to the last of the packing.... So long, Belfast -- at least for now.... [tagname]

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'Marking season' comes early....

Belfast in early July is somewhat of a risky business. From all outward appearances, it seems a time of celebration with all the banners strewn across various streets and the notable gathering of bonfire fuel at various locations. All that is quite deceiving, for it is a season driven by inward emotions that can come violently to the surface when the signs of celebrations take human form in the parades of "marching season." But just as summer weather is coming a bit late to Belfast this year, the marching season burst on the scene of his early this year with disturbances in the Ardoyne area as the Orangemen began their "Tour of the North" (North Belfast that is) yesterday. Last year, a close friend pointed out that the phrase "marking season" is a more appropriate name for this time a year as the Orange Order folks seem compelled to assert their heritage by parading throughout the region, but especially in those areas where such a celebration generates very negative reactions on the part of local residents whose equally powerful memories of defeat and subjugation are a trigger to reaction. The pity of it all is the damage done to the entire region by such events and the episodes of violence they generate. The outside world's image of Northern Ireland and Belfast is and will always remain tainted by the Troubles -- as it should be given the significance of what took place during that period. What these parades and the disturbances they invariably produce do is reinforce those images and give the misimpression that such is daily life in this part of the world. The localized nature of these clashes and the overall normalcy of life in Belfast will not make a difference. The image of stone throwers and clusters of heavily armored police vehicles will be what the outside world sees over the next several weeks. Such a real pity.... Belfast

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Drinking and thinking about Belfast...

I am not a heavy drinker by any measure -- and especially by the measure of some of the students at Queen's. Yes, I will do a beer or two every so often and feel a bit nice afterwards, but I rarely if ever get what I would term “schnockered”. But this was one of those days when it seemed appropriate to have a few drinks too many. My colleagues and friends at the Institute of Governance convened a bit of a farewell event for me, and I thought it was a fine opportunity for me to finish off a bottle of Scotch that's been sitting in my flat for about a year. I also brought along a slightly consumed bottle of Bailey's (left over from Randi's last visit) as well as an unopened bottle of wine. I don't know what happened to either of those, but with only the slightest of assistance from the gathered group I single-handedly did in a goodly portion of the 10 year old Laphroaig.... My incentive for this overindulgent behaivor was to keep me from letting my emotions get ahead of me at this event. I did not completely succeed, but the effect was to keep me reasonably intact through some rambling comments. These past two academic years in Belfast has proven not only productive for me professionally, but has had a major impact on my life in many ways. Most of all, it's been an experience marked by the building of very close friendships that I know will last a very long time. I'm still finding it difficult to deal with the departure in blog postings, although strangely enough I feel somewhat of an obligation to do so since so much of my previous posts have had to do with Northern Ireland and Belfast. Randi is helping things along with her recent posts of some pictures she took during her trips here. The unplanned ferry crossing from Greencastle in Donegal to Northern Ireland was one of several memorable adventures during our explorations last year, including a stopover at friend Justin's place in Fermanagh. Justin and I have spent many hours chatting over many cups of coffee (and his many cigarettes) about scandals, careers, writing projects, world finance, and life in general. We are on the verge of collaborating on a paper that will somehow mix his wonderful prose style and considerable insight into the realities of corporate shenanigans with my plodding analytic approach to research, but somehow doing this at a distance will not be the same. We are already scheming about opportunities to get together as he continues his world travels.... In another photo posted at Randi's site, one of the roses from the Botanic Gardens right next to the University is featured without some bothersome weed and a groundskeeper that she has eliminated with her Painter IX software. I've been strolling through and sitting around those gardens of late while going to and from the University Physical Education Center, and while the roses are now in bloom they have yet to reach that spectacular stage which I remember from last summer. I'm hoping that I will be able to convince Randi to take a little break and come back with me to Belfast for a short visit in August, but for certain I will spend about two weeks here in October. In either case her picture is a clear signal that a walk-through the Botanic Rose Garden will be in order.... **** After the drinking and dinner I went back to the flat a immediately fell asleep, but was soon up and about -- and sitting at the computer posting this blog. Despite the noted time and day of this posting, it is actually 230 am in Belfast and I am up -- quite sober by now -- remembering the pleasant times and great friends I have met in Belfast.... The emotions are coming to the surface.... In case I need it there is an unopen bottle of Oban Scotch sitting in the cupboard.... Belfast

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Personal -- Belfast views

Randi has been posting some Belfast pics to mark my last week of living on this side of the pond. Using my phonecam, I have been taking some of my own and thought it time to post a few here. This is a shot of "Roast" -- the coffee shop where I have spent many hours over the past two years both alone and with my closest friends. There have been other places to sit and chat over coffee -- Renoirs, Clements, and (more recently) Common Grounds, all located around the Queen's University campus. But Roast has been rather special for me for a number of reasons. Of course, there is location. Nothing quite like just getting up in the morning and heading out for a cup of coffee in some cushy chairs or to bask in the infrequent sunlight. And then there are the late night outings for hot chocolate, usually with friend Niaz. On weekends friend Ciarán would sometimes sit around chatting or reading the paper at Roast. I think most of our co-authored work was spawned at Roast. Generally nice place for lounging about and thinking out loud. Then there are the memories. When I first came to Belfast I spent many hours at Roast with Masood Kahn, a judge and Commonwealth Fellow from Pakistan who introduced me to Cricket (I still don't get it) and Niaz. His time here was all too short, but I regard it as a friendship for life. Then there is Colm, the former owner of Roast who I still see about town. An entrepreneur whose very presence in a room seems to set off energy fields -- I keep thinking of the "Tasmanian devil" cartoon character that was mostly a whirlwind. For all the hours of attempted conversation, I don't think I have understood more than a few sentences of what he has said -- but I do know that this is one of the more treasured acquaintances of my stay in Belfast. More on Belfast and friendships to come.... Belfast

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Testimonials, post-static dyskinesia and dancing...

Yesterday was my last opportunity to engage in the weekly faculty football game, and thus the event was designated as my "testimonial". From what I gather, the testimonial game in soccer is played upon the retirement of a player, and while the tradition includes allowing the honoree to select the team to be fielded as well as a charity to benefit from the income earned at the gate, mine was a nice symbolic gesture by a group of good mates. The 2 pints I consumed afterwards at the local bar was sufficient celebration. Not that I came away from the game without some new injury. Actually, it's an injury I developed over the past three weeks and has only gotten worse with each attempt to work it off through football. At some point over the past month I must have injured my heel, or did something to bring about what I now know to be the case of "plantar fasciitis" (heel pain) that oddly enough only hurts after long periods of sitting or resting. There is even a phrase for this: post-static dyskinesia (pain after rest). (Ain't google wonderful -- now I can use fancy words to tell someone that my heel hurts like hell!). This is aggrevating enough for the first five or ten minutes as I start to stand up and walk, but then Randi tells me of her scheme to get me into ballroom dancing again upon my return to the US next week. It's kind of hard to use this injury as an excuse since the solution to the pain seems to be physical activity, especially walking and dancing.... pain

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More coffee and thoughts on departures....

As it happens, my extended stay at Roast yesterday was not my only coffeehouse experience for the day. Friend Niaz stopped by and we were soon off for a work-avoiding visit to Belfast City Centre which, in turn, led to a two hour or so stay in the cushy chairs at Starbucks. We obviously needed the break.... This is especially true for Niaz who is on the verge of defending his dissertation. On Friday a couple of us put him through a mock “viva”, which is what they call the defense before your Ph.D. committee. Niaz's dissertation in law argues for the compatibility of Koranic law and the provisions of international conventions on the rights of women. Pretty interesting and somewhat controversial stuff, and he puts forth a convincing argument for that compatibility if one renders a rather "liberal" interpretation of the Koran. Having watched Niaz develope this thesis over the past two years, I must admit to being pretty impressed with the logic and coherence of his argument. My friendship with Niaz over the past two years has been one of the more interesting consequences of this two-year stint in Belfast. In many respects, it is a very odd friendship, characterized by vast differences in age, cultural and religious backgrounds, social and "lifestyle" tastes, and indeed differences in political views. What began as a very cold relationship has turned rather warm over the months not only through frequent contacts at the Institute (where we both have our offices), but also through some rather intense discussions that get pretty animated at times. Niaz is Pashtun and truly a 'Shah' who exudes a sense of pride mixed with interpersonal skills that make him stand out among others at Queens. If he lived in the US, I would be describing him as a Damon Runyon type character -- and in the most positive sense. His friendship is of the kind that will make it extremely difficult at departure time next Monday. Having achieved the status of Babba among his friends, I'm certain this will be a long-standing relationship. But that won't make next week in easier.... friendship

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Rebates, Freemasons and a bit of drama...

As predicted in my previous post, the sun did peek through the Belfast clouds by late morning and I was able to carry out my plan for heading down to Roast for a large cappuccino and my usual "bagel melt" lunch while I read the Sunday Observer. An observation on my reading of the Observer: it takes a little more than a cursory reading of the news these days to see that accountability remains so central to the public perspective on governance -- both public and private. Consider, for example, just the headlines on pages 6 and 7 of the Observer news section. Four stories, completely unrelated (so it seemed), were found there. One is about the current headline grabbing dispute between the UK and the EU over the British rebate that was negotiated by Thatcher a couple of decades ago in which now amounts to a 3.1 billion GBP return on what the UK puts in each year. The net effect seems to be that the UK contributes something around 3 billion GBP a year to the operations of the EU. This compares with a net inflow of about a billion GBP from France and 5 billion GBP from Germany. The rationale for all this was an issue of equity raised by Thatcher back in 1984, for while the formula applied for contributions to the EU were consistent across-the-board, the expenditure side of the EU budget tended to favor France and other nations. While the French have obvious political reasons for raising the issue at the moment (to distract attention from the failure of the recent referendum and to give Jacques Chirac some political wiggle room in the postelection crisis), it has generated quite a bit of positive support from others (including some prominent Brits) who find that the equity shoe is on the other foot in 2005, especially in the newly expanded EU. The rebate has always been a bit of an issue in the background, and both Blair and Brown cannot have been surprised that it would eventually emerge from time to time. This is, after all, an age of accountability where everything and anything can be revisited -- especially 20 year old agreements. The beauty of their response (although it seemed to take a while for them to come up with one beyond Blair's adamant refusal to negotiate the rebate announced last Wednesday) was to raise the issue of accountability for the entire EU budget, and especially as it relates to France. We will reconsider the rebate, they argue, if you will reconsider the way funds are spent, particularly the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which seems to be so lucrative for the French. The result is we now have a stalemate that will probably result in little or no change in the short-term.... Two of the other articles on those pages highlight perhaps more politically trivial matters that are no less a function of the current obsession with accountability in its "transparency" form. There is a piece about the delay in the release of ministerial diaries sought by the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act that recently went into effect in the UK. The Observer asked for the diaries six months ago under the pretense that it wanted to see what contacts ministers had with lobbying groups and others. This article was probably a reminder to Lord Falconer who heads the Department of Constitutional Affairs that the paper was still waiting... The other small item was a story about a Commons motion that will be tabled on Monday asking that all MPs and peers be required to openly declare their membership in secret societies -- something presently required of police officers and judges according to the article. It seems as if underlying the sanity of British government is a bit of paranoia about the conspiracies being hatched among the Freemasons.... Last and certainly least, it is the rather hot topic (it must be to deserve so many column inches) of Kevin Spacey's departure from the London stage so he might engage in a bit of filmmaking (something about playing "archvillain Lex Luthor in Superman Returns"...). Now what does this have to do with accountability? And why is it on one of the main news pages in this otherwise semi-respectable British broadsheet? Well, it seems as if the folks at Old Vic have been a bit slow in announcing and advertising the change in stars of current play, The Philadelphia Story, and this says generated quite a reaction from folks who bought tickets on the assumption that they were going to see Spacey perform. They want their money back, but the theater is unwilling to comply (they have been in rather tight financial straits of late). After all, the patrons argue, why would they go see some badly reviewed play if it wasn't for the celebrity featured in all the adverts. Theater management is apologetic but unwilling to admit that this was done on purpose or that it was different from any other situation when an actor has suddenly been replaced (they give you the impression that the Superman role was some sort of last-minute arrangement, or even an emergency). It looks like the intermediaries in this little drama -- Ticketmaster -- will provide the refund demanded by angry theatergoers, but I'm sure that will see some new law or regulation emerging out of this episode. After all we do live in an age of accountability.... accountability

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Virtual migrations....

Yesterday was one of those nearly ideal weather days in Belfast, and thanks to my perch atop the apartment building (only the fourth floor, but high enough by Belfast standards) I was able to enjoy most of the blue sky as it passed (quite literally) by my window. That is, whenever I bothered looking up from the computer.... I did get to spend about two to three hours sitting outside Roast drinking coffee and reading the Saturday Guardian, but the rest of the day was devoted to completing the move of my web site from Rutgers Newark to the University of New Hampshire. I don't start officially at New Hampshire until the first of July, and there is little else I have to move in the physical sense since my US residence is actually much closer to UNH than to Rutgers. In that sense this web site move was the equivalent of packing things up in one location (and deciding on what to discard in the process) and unpacking at the other (and deciding how to arrange the furniture in the process). Over the past several weeks I've been doing some preliminary work. First was the issue of finding a reasonable location. This is a story in itself given the bureaucratic maze established for getting onto university servers; UNH offers less generous server space than Rutgers, and for security reasons the accommodating but ever vigilant computer folks give you some bizarre address which just won't do for web site. It took a few days to get the powers that be to provide me with a functioning "alias", but in the end it was all so simple, and I had my 99 MB of space on their web server under the new address of http://pubpages.unh.edu/dubnick/contact.html. Second was the issue of how to organize the webspace. When I constructed (so to speak) the Rutgers web site, I applied a logic that that made sense at the time but was soon completely ignored if not forgotten. The result was quite a messy bunch of folders that somehow gave the impression of a well-organized web site when viewed on the surface (or at least I thought so). This time I followed the advice found on the Web itself, with the result that the site can be certified as a possible means for maintaining my sense of identity as I enter the age of possible senility. At least now I'll be able to recall what I wrote and when I wrote it.... Third was the move itself, which was actually started about two weeks ago as I attempted to make the transition incrementally by doing one or two items a day. By Friday it became obvious I would have to just dig myself in and do the deed, and so Saturday (with the exception of the Roast break) I did the job -- or at least did most of it. Now if you visit any page on my Rutgers web site you will be "rerouted" in about three seconds to the home page on the UNH site. It still has some rough edges and "dead link" problems, but I'm pretty confident that this 20 hour effort (yes, that is how much time I spent in front of the computer yesterday) did the trick.... Well, almost. A couple of those hours was spent trying to figure out how to move my blog which I stupidly established at the Rutgers site last November. I should have just gone with “blog*spot” knowing that I was in search of a new position, but all that is spilt milk and I am now facing the problem of "migrating" the blog to a server in anticipation of Rutgers reducing (or terminating) my server allocation in the near future. An attempt to move it to the UNH site didn't quite work -- and I am not that savvy to figure out why. A search of the blogger.com knowledge base and a general search of Google has not been helpful in figuring out how to either migrate to 'blog*spot' or some other service. What I have learned is that none of the options are easy. Almost all of those bloggers who comment on migrating -- some of them obviously much more technically sophisticated than I am -- note that the process is filled with all sorts of barriers and problems. It seems I am likely to lose easy access to almost all the posts in my growing archive if I make too radical a change of blogging services. Nevertheless, I am tempted to go with a major move that would involve learning new software and making a monthly financial investment in this blog project. I think I'll give this a good deal more thought over the next few weeks.... Fourth, and actually after the move was made, I put some time into redesigning the look of the site itself. For the past two or three years I've been stealing ideas for web design from a colleague whose approaches to this kind of thing I've found to be very sensible. I started this thievery while Al Roberts was still situated at Queens University in Canada, and he was kind enough to help me along with some advice on font faces, etc.. Since that time now has moved on to head the Campbell Institute at Syracuse University, and every so often I will visit his personal web site to get ideas. A lesson learned from following Al's lead is that subtle and simple is best. Over time he has headed more and more toward gray and white as the basics for designing a professional looking personal web site, but of course I've always stepped over those boundaries and added stark reds and yellows and blues that make my site a bit too garish and busy. This time I did the same, although trying as much as possible to avoid the sharp yellow backgrounds with red text. In terms of simplicity, my site is quite a bit scruffier than Al's, but hopefully it's navigable for anyone seeking an article or information. It is now early Sunday morning and I am starting my day once again in my perch, but this time the view out the window is of a more typical gray sky with clouds rolling by rather quickly. As is the case with most Belfast days, it is possible that I will get a view of some blue sky and at that moment I will scurry down to buy a copy of the Sunday Observer and spend what might be my last opportunity for a quiet weekend morning at Roast. By this time next week I will be frantically packing up for the trek back to the US on June 20. That move will probably be less demanding -- and perhaps less time-consuming -- than the one I just completed.... blogging

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Causa mea...

From RandiArt I am just not capable of passing up the opportunity to take advantage of a pun, so with apologies.... Randi posted the above pic in honor of our cousins' visit to the Giant's Causeway today. I believe that eventually Bob and Evan would have visited Northern Ireland (they are truly world travellers), but the fact that I am here in Belfast has probably had much to do with their decision to visit at this time -- so I cannot avoid thinking that they are treking to the Causeway causa mea. Okay, I know that is really pretty lame -- but then Randi goes ahead and eliminates two poor tourists from the above pic in order to make it seem otherwise. So there I am at the Causeway all alone -- causa mea.... As if that kind of strange thinking isn't bad enough, have you considered that given Randi's talents with her Painter IX, that might actually be a picture of me leaning up against some building in Beverly.... Giant'sCauseway

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Visitors, security and packing....

From RandiArt Randi posted the above pic to mark the visit of our cousins to Belfast. In my time here I've had two or three visitors, and I've enjoyed showing off my home away from home. This is actually quite a wonderful area to visit, but hardly anyone does and I'm happy that my presence here has given at least a few people the excuse they needed to visit Ulster. And to a person they are all impressed not only by the beauty of the surroundings, but also by the surprising (given recent history) lack of obvious security measures which almost everyone expects. This is especially true for those who are making visits from the US where the growing obsession with Homeland security seems to the point where there are more police and security in more places with more scary weapons than anyone could remember. What is most obvious to the visitor to Belfast is just how little there is in the way of a police presence. I noticed the same thing in my trip to Brussels and Leuven this past weekend. As we took our bus tour of Brussels on Sunday, the guide pointed out that you can easily tell which buildings along to the US, UK and Israeli governments by the use of concrete barriers and newly constructed entry points for their facilities. Belgium, like Northern Ireland, is not a place without its deep divisions that can often lead to confrontations, violent and otherwise. And yet the possibility of problems has not brought on the kind of police state atmosphere that I now feel in mid Manhattan or other places in the US. Maybe over time the US will develop the same sense of either safety or resignation about potential terrorist attacks. While cousins Bob and Evan continue their exploration of Northern Ireland, I will be busy with my preparations for leaving Belfast. I'm currently packing books that I will send ahead to the US, and in the process toss out a great stack of accumulated papers that have landed in my office and flat over the past 20 months. It has finally dawned on me that I am actually within two weeks of departure and there's a lot to do. Among other things, I am also packing in my web sites at Rutgers as I make the change to the University of New Hampshire. Each day I tried to move a paper or two over to the new site, but this is a slower process than I imagined. Ultimately this blog will shift as well. As with the rest of the web site move, I'm going to treat this more as a learning experience than as a problem. Let's see what happens.... BelfastBrusselssecurityManhattanNewHampshire

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Off to Leuven....

In September 2002 I made my first "working" trip to Europe on a Fulbright Senior Specialist program assignment arranged with universities in Leiden and Leuven, and a pleasant two weeks it was. Leuven was an especially nice surprise, especially the great beer and the nice views in the "town square." One of the results of that trip was a plan hatched over dinner with colleagues from the Public Management Institute of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for a joint "transatlantic" (actually ASPA-EGPA) ethics conference for 2005 to be held at Leuven -- and the time has finally arrived. Tomorrow I head out to join my colleagues for three days of workshops, plenaries and beer all around in that wonderful Belgium city. The call for papers drew a great response, and there will be 100 participants working in five distinct groups. I will be chairing a workshop on theories and concepts with Richard Chapman from Durham, and friend Ciarán and I will also have a paper to offer the group on Saturday. All this is to say that there will be less blogging than usual on this site -- but then again the trip is likely to generate more material than I have had to work with lately.... Leuven

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