Where am I now?

This latest journey started with a taxi ride to the edge of the world- somewhere outside Tampa, Florida. My first impression was a grimy one: the ship, at the time, was unloading coal, with a portion of it coating the ship's deck and the surroundings in general. but the next several cargoes were cleaner, and the unloading operators more precise in their work. The short trips this vessel makes have all been in the Gulf Coast. At first, I thought that she, at 32 years of age, was past her deep-ocean days, (most US foreign-running ships are under 25 years of age, on account of subsidy program rules) , but she plans to go back to the deep blue- next year at the age of 33. in these past two weeks, we have taken her from Tampa to north of New Orleans, to Port Arthur,TX, and back to Florida. We were north of New Orleans, by some 40 miles. It was empty land, asides from a Catholic Church, and the bustle of river barge docks along the Mississippi. Other ports of call have been at vast industrial sites, located out of sight and out of mind from the towns. So this latest port, in Jacksonville, proved to be the greatest surprise. Within walking distance was a Kangaroo gas station and convenience store, as well as two bait shops and Chowder Ted's, a local restaurant. Being familiar with taking a 20 minute taxi ride from port to civilization (in the US or overseas, it's usually 20 minutes), the proximity of land-based trading posts was almost as good as the time I spent last year docked in Baltimore's Inner Harbor ( the Canton neighborhood, which still retains some of the blue-collar feel, despite ongoing gentrification) Having sailed for both the private and public sector, my impression is that MSC- Military Sealift Command- "the haze gray shipping company", chooses the best ports for morale and recreation.Think Saipan or Honolulu. Out there,it was usually a short ride to an Internet cafe, where I could watch youtube videos and blog extensively (as well as watch every development in the 2012 Presidential race- sent in my Ballot from Saipan.) Longer blog posts are more appropriate for writing on a laptop.

The Bag Tax Game

I've been wondering, if given the two choices, which is the more economical choice for the grocery consumer: A bag tax or a sales tax on groceries? Of course, a bag tax (or bag fee, as some newspapers put it) is avoidable-- just bring your own bag. So the following exercise is for those who don't want to change their behaviors: -I had the opportunity to test this idea when I went Chinese-grocery shopping in Fairfax, Virginia with Mother. Fairfax does not have a bag tax, and the State of Virginia charges a 2.5% tax on groceries, so of the $52.00 grocery bill, $1.30 went to the Governor's pot. And we got 12 plastic bags from the trip. -In the City of Washington, DC, there is no sales tax on groceries (soft drinks aside), but grocery bags (paper and plastic) are taxed at a nickel each. So 12 bags would cost 60 cents in all. --Thus, if the choice ever came up between implementing a grocery tax and a bag tax, go with the 5-cent bag tax. However, there are some cities that have chosen to be more "progressive" with the bag tax. At 10 cents per bag, as Los Angeles charges for paper bags*, a sales tax on groceries could be a better option for those refusing to part with their disposable grocery bags. The bag tax vs. grocery tax argument is pertinent in DC because our bag tax is applied only at food sellers, many of which fall under the tax-free grocery category. Therefore, your Neiman Marcus bag is still tax-free. (The purpose of the bag tax was to cut down on plastic bag litter; and grocery bags were the main culprits). The number of plastic bags you receive from a grocer is determined by the volume of the material; or weight, if double-bagging is concerned. Thus $2 of Ramen noodles can fill one plastic bag before $200 of caviar does (yes-- I once saw $50 small jars of caviar being sold on the shelf of Safeway in Georgetown, DC). In my example, we had a "well mixed" selection of groceries. Back to Fairfax, Virginia. Currently, the State doesn't allow cities to have a bag tax. If the green light was given, politically competitive Fairfax seems unlikely to start a bag tax. However, some politicians in Arlington, VA (across the river from DC) wish to start a bag tax on top of the existing grocery tax. Some of my readers may think that I'm talking about "crazy and radical ideas". In much of the country, talk of a "bag tax" is a moot and foreign subject. ("Seriously, that's the way the coastal people do things?") So what do I do in DC? Many of the groceries in DC offer "bag credits", that is, you get a nickel off your grocery bill for each of your own bags you use (CVS, Trader Joes', Whole Foods). By reusing one bag at the grocery store, and getting one new bag, I can continue to expand my 'stack' of plastic and paper bags at no cost, same as always. And if don't need more bags, then I can enjoy that nickel off the grocery bill. Thanks for reading. *Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gernot-wagner/la-plastic-bag-ban_b_1580707.html

Bits and Bytes are Silver; Paper is Gold

Until now, my blog has only existed in digital format, a series of 1's and 0's on a drive somewhere in California (or wherever Google keeps its data servers). But over the past few months, I've been looking for ways to make a hard copy of this blog, which has covered the past half-decade of my life. I wanted a back-up, lest in some parallel universe Google should fail me, and hundreds of thousands of other bloggers, perhaps by an act of God (electromagnetic solar storms, for example). I looked at some of the blog-to-book sites. They'll "slurp" your blog and put it in a coffee-table type book. But this would be no quick fix- If I was going to shell out $19.99, then I'd want to do a decent job with the editing and formatting. Something that could be on my family's own kitchen table. That editing task could be formidable... But by fortune and chance, I came across Blogbooker . It's a free service, supported by donations. And it's fairly simple to use. To me, it's that type of discovery that gives you a thrill-- (just like how I found Youtube for the first time some years back). The result? A complete PDF. Not just that, but it auto-assembles a Table of Contents based on chronology. I chose oldest to newest. The book is an utilitarian product; with a PDF creating/editing program, I'll be able to jazz up the cover, write a dedication, and so forth. I know that question will be asked: can I get a copy of the book? Sure! Email me at atticussawatzki (at.) gmail (dot.) com. In like spirit, I'm offering this as a free service. Check out blogbooker at www.blogbooker.com

At sea again

I am not typically one to leave readers dangling, but it appears that I went to sea again without letting you all know. It is my second sea voyage, and there are a few things I intend to do differently: Sea projects- basically correspondence courses- work on the drawings early, so that there is time to add details later. Solitude of the seas- last voyage, my ship had some Internet access- as long as it was Fox or MSNBC news; or a .org/ . Gov site, you were good to go. I stated in touch with the world, but spent a lot of time for the satellite connection to load. This voyage, there is no Internet- I am in port in Corpus Christi right now. The ship, however, receives news headlines, and text-based email service is available. I have been, and will be, soon, enjoying the conveniences of modern life, asides from an Internet connection. Shore leave- this is what you call getting off the ship in port. My last ship would typically stay in port for a week or more (government cargo). But on a commercial ship, port stays are shorter- usually under 36 hours for a tank ship( which is longer than the 12 hours container ships average in port.) - and there is often work to be done- port stays are the business of making money on cargo. Delivering the product. So shore leave is lived to the fullest, whether it is the evening in Malta or an afternoon in Amsterdam. Writing this from my phone. What a surprise it was to have the Internet at my fingertips again!

Historical Preservation and Chicago's Judge of History

It has come to my attention that the University of Chicago plans to demolish a childhood home of Ronald Reagan to build a parking garage. As a kid, my Dad would take the family off the main road, up winding and dirt roads to former Presidents' houses, usually a log cabin with a flagpost and a sign (a la President Buchanan). So that's why I took a little bit more than a cursory glance at the issue. While it makes for a sensational headline that Obama intends to clear Reagan's house out of the way for his own Presidential library, this is absolute fiction. But Reagan's house may be short lived. It just feels a little uncharacteristic that a University like U. Chicago would contemplate tearing down this tasteful looking building, especially since gentrification and adaptive reuse are in vogue. And when the building is gone, perhaps there will be a 4-by-6 inch plaque reading “On this site…”, and maybe a little flower garden. Some would say that the inconsideration given to this century-old building is because Reagan’s politics were incongruent with Chicago machine politics. Although the machine may have had beef with the Gipper, it’s a fact of history that he won the hearts of the majority of voters in states with granola, bookish reputations (I mean this with positive connotations), like Oregon and Vermont (In fact, Minnesota is the only state Reagan did not win). And who in academia is to judge history? After putting disgraced Vice President (and former Maryland Governor) Spiro Agnew’s painting back up on the statehouse wall in 1995, then- Governor Parris Glendening, once a school teacher, stated: "It is not up to us to alter history. This is not an Orwellian future where history can change. We learn from history, warts and all." But in Chicago, there probably is nothing to do with politics; rather, Reagan’s childhood apartment is a low-rise building that can be knocked down with a few swings of the wrecking ball. Profit can be maximized by building a high-rise parking lot. Universities are businesses, too. Throughout my childhood, I watched as my neighborhood university, George Washington University (GWU), buy townhouses and build large buildings. Some townhouses they preserved; others were demolished to make way for premium-rate dormitory towers. In the most recent case, GWU had a hand in the construction of a 12-story commercial office and luxury apartment building. One might call this mission drift, but the University had the interest of students in mind: the Whole Foods in the basement provides students’ kitchens with organic food on days when the farmer’s market across the street is not open. As for the University of Chicago and Reagan, the city government of Chicago is standing on the sidelines, allowing laissez-faire to take the day. Perhaps it’s just my DC bias to find tearing down buildings as unusual. DC is the city where just about every building is defended fiercely by the Preservation Board. Not particularly Reagan’s values. So maybe it’s an expected end for the home of a pro-market advocate. Then again… “You don't know what you got till it's gone They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” Reference: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-04-14/news/1995104008_1_agnew-glendening-portrait

America

The Redskins were slated to win that game. The Carolina Panthers, a team with a 1-5 record in the football season to date, were going to face the Redskins in their last home game before Election Day. The ‘skins had lost the last two games, and were looking to turn this streak around. But anyone who defied the predictions and put their bets on the Panthers won a potload of cash. Online, one Redskins fan vividly recalled the 2004 election-predicting Redskins game that was not: “In 2004…there were bad calls… they took points off the scoreboard…” (This was the first anomaly after 16 correct election calls, the Redskins lost the game, but Bush won a narrow reelection). This victory for the Panthers was one attributed to the god of the elections; the game was fated to reveal who would win the election: when the Redskins lose, the party controlling the White House changes. Based on this predictor, Romney was going to win this one. Other signs included the unemployment rate (no incumbent since FDR has won with a higher unemployment rate than what it was at his first election) and the incumbent’s job approval rating (no incumbent can win with a rating under 50%-- Obama had 49% at the end of October). But, as 99% of us know, Obama pulled it off. In my circle; our America; the student body of the US Merchant Marine Academy, Romney's loss left us young voters with mixed feelings; and deep philospophical questions. Romney performed well in our America-- This is to say the America that consists of the military, of those making (or envision making) $50,000 per year, and a higher-than-average proportion of Caucasians. This America was Romney's America, and seeing how well he was performing in our America, he was confident in his chances for victory- it will now be a minor legend that he had only prepared a victory speech for Election night in Boston. Just a glimpse into my circle is is the kitchen table on the ship where I spent the three months prior to the election: The 26-year-old son of an Army officer from Virginia concerned about Obama’s relation with the military, and of the income tax rate (“They’re milking me and my girlfriend!”). The 28-year-old libertarian who left California for Nevada because of taxes and restrictions on gun ownership (“ There’s no income tax in Nevada—my mortgage now is what I was paying in taxes in California”). The gold-buying, gun owning 60-something from California who is disturbed by the increased activism of the federal government over his lifetime—and by how his state destroyed itself politically (“The problem is the young sheeple, their colleges, and their shoebox apartments—but you give me hope”). The well-read 50-something moderate from Vermont who thinks the Obama agenda is the wrong track for the country. And, speaking in a whisper… the NPR-listening liberal from DC… That’s the Captain they’re referring to. With so many reasons to vote for Romney, how did he lose? Simply put, Pro-Romney America made up a smaller part of America than it thought it had. It was Romney's lack of connection with the reality of changed voter demographics that cannot be understated. Young (white) voters under 30 went for Romney: Forget the preconceived notions of liberal youth: Romney won with young caucasian voters. That's all and well: In a survey of students at the USMMA, where I attend college, At least 80% of students consider themselves white. (White males make up 73% of the student population). But the prevalence of young caucasians at my college is an anachronism: between 35 and 40% of young voters under 30 are Black or Hispanic. Not to forget our Asian-American young voters. Given that the nationwide median age of presidential election voters is 44, it will become statistically unlikely for a presidential candidate in the future to win an election by the strength of the white vote alone. Despite winning 56% of the young white vote (McCain carried 42% of these voters in 2008), Romney won only 38% of the youth vote overall. (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/todays_median_age_voters_grew.html ) The white vote won't win you the winning ticket anymore: Obama is the first president to be elected without the majority of the white vote. He achieved that distiction in 2008, when McCain won 53% of the white vote. It made news fairly soon after this recent election that Romney won 59% of the white vote, and swept 90% of the white vote in Misissippi and Alabama. Many commentators whose articles I read pointed out that whites in "liberal" states were responsible for re-electing our President. But according to a grid from www.dailykos.com, Obama won the "white vote" in just seven New England states and Hawaii. States where Obama won the white vote in 2012: Vermont—66.4% Rhode Island—58.9% Massachusetts—55.9% Maine—54.8% Hawaii—53.5% New York—51.9% Connecticut—51.8% New Hampshire—51.3% It's no secret that Romney banked on high voter turnout among whites for his re-election. Indeed, Romney fared as well among white voters as George H.W. Bush did in 1988 when he swept 40 states. The simple truth is that voter demographics have changed, and banking on the white vote for victory is not a solution anymore in a good number of states. Take into account the states Obama won in 2012 with low support among white voters: Virginia-- 34.4% Florida-- 37.4% Nevada-- 37.8% Ohio-- 41.8% New Mexico-- 42.2% (If Romney had won these states, he would be the 45th President of the USA). There is a small tidbit of good news: we don't really live in a Red State vs Blue State America. The divisions are not as stark as the state line: Red Americans live among Blue Americans. They may be neighbors. But the circles we affiliate ourselves with, or are put into, may define our view of what is happening around us. As much as my circle put our belief in the "Big Mo'" Romney was riding after his October 3rd primary; another circle, say, liberal-arts college students, saw an Obama win as inevitable. The results, however, draw into question how integrated our society actually is. If America is really post-racial, how does the vote split so cleanly on ethnic lines, including among young voters? They (mainstream media and intellectia) talk about "multicultural America". How young people of my generation, of different ethnicities, interact seemlessly with each other. Says David Burgos for the industry magazine Ad Age, "Kids and young adults, for example, are more open to diversity in advertising because their world is already majority-minority". This talk of a "multicultural America", a diverse (and politically liberal) Obama-era America, is manifested in local listings of "most diverse elementary schools", parents going out of their way to ensure their children grow up in multicultural environments, and in the diverse crowds at Obama rallies that you see on TV. Perhaps, the mainstream media and intellectia shares the slim worldview that my cicle had. As seen by how the vote split, their view of America is not as wide as it ought to be. "Multicultural America", where racial tension of any degree no longer exists, is relegated to just parts of the country-- frankly, the Northeast. Elsewhere, votes were cast along racial lines. And as the election results turned out, my circle of America, consisting of those who benefit, or think to benefit, from a Romney presidency was not quite as large and encompassing as we had envisioned it to be. With the customability and subjectivity of news sources, credible and not, it became easy this election cycle to hear and see the news you wanted to hear. The danger, of course, is that the world view of members of each camp will devolve further from reality and objectivity. That is if there is nothing to ground a person in the reality of multiple ways of thinking about the world. And what about the young adults today? Between liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning youth how dissimilar are our growing-up experiences and our youth? And what does it take to reconcile these differences? *( http://adage.com/article/the-big-tent/role-whites-a-multicultural-america/229483/)

Pick and Choose

I started writing this blog post in Korea. Since then, I've sailed out to Saipan. And I've gone for two weeks or so without most of the internet, though I've been able to access wikipedia aboard the ship (and spent quite a few hours on that informative website). I have not been around blogging much, but I've been thinking about politics at home. Here are some of my picks and explainations for those choices in the upcoming election in DC. Charter Amendments Expulsion by council on 5/6 vote (or 11 of 13 members) for gross misconduct. I voted Against, since “gross misconduct” does not appear to be defined, at least as presented in the proposed amendment. Although unlikely today, 20 years ago, it might have been a possibility that such an amendment would be used to expel members who “didn’t fit in” with the group. On barring councilmembers convicted of a felony while in office from holding that position again. On barring Mayors convicted of a felony while in office from holding that position again. I am For these amendments. Talk about crooks in government, DC has had its share over the years. Passing such an amendment could make it easier for minor party or independent candidates to take office. Some of the larger names in DC politics have had their share of legal troubles, to mention the least, Marion Barry (he might have been charged with a misdemeanor only, though). Chairman of the Council Phil Mendelson, Democrat He is competent in his current job as chairman of the DC council. While much of the city's political power lies east of downtown, he fares from the Northwest part of the city (where I live). He was elected from within the council to fill in for Kwame Brown, who resigned over the all-too-common-in-DC ethics scandal. At-large Councilmember Mary Brooks Beatty, Republican Her major opponent in this election is Vincent Orange, who has been on and off the DC political scene for at least the past decade. Orange most recently ran in an April 2011 open-ticket special election to fill a vacancy in the city council left by the newly-elected mayor. His major opponents, resulting in a 3-way split of the vote, were Patrick Mara, Republican, and Sekou Biddle, the placeholder and a Democratic candidate. Mara lost by about 1,200 votes (4%) and attributed it to Biddle competing for the same demographic of voters. But Orange was not a shoe-in. He had lost his past three campaigns in the city, but I recall him being quoted in a newspaper saying (this is not verbatim): “I was discouraged, but God told me to run again”. Given Orange’s recent indecisive victory, without a strong third name on the ballot, Beatty might stand a chance in a city where only 2 or 3 Republicans have won elections in the past 40 years. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, Democrat Without him on the DC Council, the City might have looked as bleak and blighted as it did 20 years ago, when he was first elected to this position. Since then, he has raised a family with three children in Georgetown; sadly, he lost his wife to cancer, and then remarried to have a large stepfamily. He has been reported by newspapers such as the DC Examiner and the City Paper as being the most fiscally conservative member of the DC council, and being very enthusiastic about new development projects, including getting a stadium built in the Chinatown area. His district includes downtown DC, and he seems to be a good match for this special duty. He also happens to go to the same barbershop as I do, and works at Patton Boggs, a legal firm just across the avenue from my place. US Senate (Shadow Seat) Nelson Rimensnyder, Republican His view on things? No taxes. That’s right, no federal taxes on DC residents until we get two voting senators and a voting representative. He is running against the incumbent Michael Brown, Democrat. While on an insiders’ tour of the Capitol, my classmates and I got to see what DC’s shadow senators do: When in the Senate chamber, they sit in chairs alongside the wall (without desks), and make comments when welcomed to. It happens that the Rimensnyder family was present at the Congresswoman’s Service Academy Send-off this past June; they have a child attending a Service Academy in the Class of 2016 (didn’t hear which Academy). US Representative G Lee Aikin, Statehood Green Party She hits out some clear points on what she would improve with the DC tax code. From the Washington Post: "My son, District-born, now in special forces, said it best: 'Mom, you have two important things. You are honest and you care." (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/2012/dc/city-councilor/2368/g-aikin/) State Board of Education At Large Mary Lord Should research more. Ward 2 Jack Jacobson He has no opponent on the ticket.