Parabasis

A Potential HIV Vaccine

News reports are in that an HIV vaccine has been tested in Thailand and found effective but not effective enough. In order to show a "clear benefit", a vaccine has to prevent the illness in more than 50% of cases.  In the HIV vaccine's case, the vaccine was effective 31% of the time.

This is a big deal because in the past, vaccines have been 0% effective. In fact, the search for an HIV vaccine has been seen by some (most notably Andrew Sullivan) as a highly expensive multi-decade canard.  That it's borne some fruit is a good sign. Of course, it'll probably take a long time (and a lot of money) to cross the clear benefit line.  

AP story here. I guess this might sound weird, but my first thought was what would American Theatre be like if 31% of the theatre artists and professionals who died of AIDS... didn't?

Double Standards

When the Palestinians formed a post-Arafat government they were told by the US they had to embrace a two-state solution and non-violence in order to be viewed as legitimate. When Hamas was elected and they refused to do either, the US refused to recognize them as legitimate and prodded Fatah in the West Bank to go to war with them.

Now in Israel, a far-right government is coalescing lead by a man who has repeatedly repudiated the idea of a two-state solution and refuses to do anything to stop settlements (the closest equivalence I can think of to the idea that the Palestinians should embrace non-violence). And yet the response from the West to this is? Nothing. According to the BBC this morning, Ehud Barak has signed on with the government and supposedly gotten some token reassurance from Netanyahu that- despite his past record on these issues- Likud will at least tacitly support a two state solution, but if Netanyahu ever says anything openly to that effect, the far right parties in the coalition will bolt. 

But if the leaders of the Palestinian Authority have to publicly renounce violence and embrace a two state solution, why doesn't Netanyahu's doing neither put our large bundle of aid to his country in jeopardy?

That there is a double standard here in the US regarding the issue of Israel and Palestine is nothing new. I just think it's worth highlighting when it comes up in ways that are totally blindingly obvious.

Israel, Nation of Peace

Or maybe not:

 The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, repeated Tuesday his demand that Israel allow significantly more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip, and he announced that he would send a team to investigate the bombings of United Nations facilities there.

[snip]

Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said that researchers had found compelling evidence of war crimes and other violations of international law committed during the three weeks of fighting that ended Jan. 18.

Quick Media Point Vis-a-Vis Israel

And then I'm outta here until this afternoon as I've got to go out of town for a meeting.

Anyway... did you notice how seldomly US Newsmedia outlets interview Israeli Arabs? It's really bizarre.  I mean, their very existence is a pretty hot button political issue over there. They make up around 20% of the population of Israel. 

It's especially weird given that their parties have been banned from participating in today's election (a fact that hasn't been mentioned in most of the news stories I've read).  It's ever stranger given one of the parties gaining steam in today's election wants to make Israeli Arabs swear loyalty oaths!  You'd think someone could find one Israeli Arab or Israeli Arab politician and ask them a few questions once in awhile.  What's up with that? I mean... NPR had a story today where they interviewed an Iraqi Insurgent who had killed US soldiers last week. Surely if they can find an Iraqi insurgent to interview they can find one Israeli Arab who wants to talk to them. It can't be that hard.  

Don't Mourn, Organize

I'm not sure where exactly the phrase "Don't Mourn, Organize!" originates. It might be in the song by Joe Hill, but either way it's a slogan that's kind of fallen by the wayside in politics lately.  A friend of mine wrote a book (now out of print) by that title back when she was a community organizer in the 70s, and that's where I learned it.  The meaning is pretty self-explanatory.  And now, in the wake of the Coburn amendment, I'm thinking about it again.

Don't Mourn, Organize!

It's stuck me this morning while walking Ramona that many of the readers of this blog are in fact used to frequently organizing groups of people, whether it be casts, musicians, designers, audiences etc.  There are a lot of event planners and social entrepreneurs out there. One of the things we can be doing if we want to see better arts support in our governments is using these skills and these events to help bolster support for the arts.

How?  Well, here's a really simple idea of one small thing we could be doing.

Many of you out there are theatre professionals; many more of you work in the theatre with some regularity but do not make your living at it. At this point in time, we need to very specifically make the economic argument for the arts.  I know there are people who don't support such an argument but it is the argument that needs to be made at this particular moment. An arts job is a job the arts help build communities and generate economic development. This is extremely important at a time when we need to be creating jobs, bolstering communities and generating economic development (three key goals of the stimulus package).

So howabout this:  

1) Make a program insert for your next show. One of those 1/4 page inserts that go to thanking sponsors, or announcing a cast change or begging for money. You all know what I'm talking about here.

2)  Have the program insert include key points of data that bolster the economic case for the arts. The HUD memo I wrote has some good data points on it, complete with a citation, you can check it out here. Make sure that whatever you cite is (and appears to be) reputable. I did not include the "every dollar spent on the arts generates $7.00 of economic activity figure" because that sentence (a) sounds like bullshit (how do you determine that?!) and (b) has no citation.  You want to look like you know what you're talking about.

3) Know your audience.  This might sound like preaching to the converted but the point of doing this is not to convince audience members but to inform them.  The idea is to arm them with data.  You want your audience to come away with Talking Points. Why? Because you are organizing them to make the case for the arts to their friends and family in everyday conversation. When I care about an issue, I talk about it with people. You're just trying to get the information out there so people will talk about it.

4) Include a take action section if you think it's appropriate. If you think it's appropriate, also include the phone numbers of your elected representatives on the insert and encourage your audience members to call them.

Now you've taken the audience for your show and given whatever percentage of them might care some new facts and figures and one concrete step they could take.  Not bad for five minutes work.  Plenty of people won't read it. Plenty of people won't care.  They don't matter, they won't do anything positive or negative so they literally don't count.  What matters is taking advantage of the opportunities you do have to get people fired up.

This is one very small thing you can do.  I'm sure there are a lot of others. If you have ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Not. Okay.

The AP reports:

The most contentious issue surrounding a revamped White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will undergo a thorough legal review before President Barack Obama makes a decision.

The issue concerns potential restrictions on the hiring practices of religious groups that receive taxpayer dollars.

A religious leader with knowledge of the plan says Obama intends to sign an executive order Thursday that would direct his administration officials to work with White House lawyers and the Justice Department to develop a plan for the hiring question. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been released.

The idea that an organization can take federal tax dollars and then discriminate in hiring (and not hire gays or Jews, for example) is so obviously beyond the pale that Obama said repeatedly on the campaign trail that it was (a) unconstitutional and that (b) he'd reverse it.  

There's some chance that this legal review crap is about giving him cover instead of delaying a campaign promise.  But that's still pretty weak tea as far as I'm concerned.  If something is wrong you shouldn't have to hide behind your legal department. Obama's a lawyer. Who has principles. I think he could apply both things here.

I'm fairly sure... or at least hopeful... that at the end of the day, the Federal Government will stop allowing people to discriminate simply because they're religious.  I just wish that day were coming sooner.

I Have a Feeling This Zombie Meme Won't Die

There's a zombie meme out there that the New Deal made the depression worse instead of better. Lots of this is fueled by Amity Shales' new book.  Just to be clear, I'm going to quote Ezra's takedown in an effort to help put this meme out of its (my?) misery:

There is, of course, nothing more powerful than an idea that is suddenly convenient, and for Republicans, Shlaes is certainly convenient. She argues that the New Deal made the Depression worse, that it prolonged unemployment and stifled recovery. This is, as Eric Rauchway says, a sort of weird argument. "Except in the 1937-38 recession, unemployment fell every year of the New Deal. Also, real GDP grew at an annual rate of around 9 percent during Roosevelt's first term and, after the 1937-38 dip, around 11 percent." But Shlaes manages the trick by, well, not using those statistics. Ever. Instead of GDP, she watches the Dow. And instead of the standard measures of unemployment, she uses a creative measure that doesn't count jobs created by government relief programs. It's a bit like proving the failure of the stimulus by using a measure of GDP derived by subtracting stimulus money, and stimulus-driven growth, from the total.

Israel, Truly a Nation of Peace

After all, it's obviously in the best interests of the entire region for them to continue building new settlements on Palestinian land.

The Human Cost of War

This is just plain sad, there's no two ways about it:

Stressed by war and long overseas tours, U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, the toll rising for a fourth straight year and even surpassing the suicide rate among comparable civilians. Army leaders said they were doing everything they could think of to curb the deaths and appealed for more mental health professionals to join and help out.

At least 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008, the Army said Thursday. And the final count is likely to be even higher because 15 more suspicious deaths are still being investigated.

"Why do the numbers keep going up? We cannot tell you," said Army Secretary Pete Geren. "We can tell you that across the Army we're committed to doing everything we can to address the problem."

I've got very little else to say about this. It's just deeply sad.

Congressional Arts Caucus

Did you know there is such a thing? Something to remember when you want to write a letter to the appropriate congresspeople about arts advocacy.  The list of current members can be found here. It's co-chaired by Louise Slaughter!