The NRA stands up for Latinos

Well, not exactly. But it is one way of looking at this:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is planning to increase regulation of gun sales in the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California with the objective of stemming the outward flow of powerful rifles which play a big part in drug-related violence in Mexico. Gun dealers in these states will be required to report any customers who buy more than one semi-automatic weapon within five days.

Now, the gun-lobby views any kind of regulation on rights of gun-ownership or purchase as bordering on state tyranny, so their opposition was predictable. The National Rifle Association's Chris Cox argued:

"This is nothing more than a political policy that seems to be based more on Mexico blaming the US for its problems. To focus the efforts on law abiding gun owners is not a serious approach. It won't do anything to disrupt a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise."

Yet, the decision to oppose the regulation was probably not an easy one for the NRA. The organization is as conservative as they come, and "law-abiding gun owner" is probably not the same as "Latino gun owner", in its eyes. Moreover, the four states affected by the proposed regulations are also the ones with the highest Latino populations in the nation. Indeed, had the NRA not opposed the regulations, this blogger would probably have cried racism, hypocrisy, double-standards, or something of that sort.

The parallels between this regulation and the divisive Arizona immigration law are interesting. Both laws are ostensibly meant to aid law enforcement, but have strong racial aspects just because of the location of where they are being enacted. I won't be surprised if ACLU also throws itself into this fray!

Irrational melancholy

The so-called Great Recession was led, arguably, by the collapse of a highly overheated housing market which in turn was egged on by low interest rates and lightly-regulated banking practices. The tumbling economy was reflected by the stock markets; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell from its October 2007 peak of around 14,000 points to almost 6,500 points at its nadir in March 2009.

There is good reason to believe that had the Fed controlled the post-2001 low-interest-rate orgy sooner, or if the orgy had not happened in the first place, housing markets and the economy by consequence would have stayed stabler.

Yet, stock markets tumbled worldwide when China increased the benchmark lending rates last week to stabilize growth and let the steaming economy cool off a bit. Well, hello, free markets! There are many who castigate the stock market for the woes it brings upon itself and the world via its short-term thinking; they couldn't be more right in this case.

Race in football

This year's BCS National Championship game, which matches the two best-ranked college football teams, will have University of Oregon playing against Auburn University. What is remarkable is that both these teams will have black men - Jeremiah Masoli and Cam Newton - as their starting quarterbacks. While black athletes dominate virtually every other position in the game (except another - see below), quarterbacking remains the white man's domain.

Newton also won the 2010 Heisman Trophy - the most-coveted honor for a college football athlete. Neither is this Heisman the first won by a black quarterback, nor is the BCS match-up between two black quarterbacks a first; yet one wonders if this signals a trend.

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Similar to quarterbacking, there is a small but not-statistically-insignificant number of black coaches in college and professional football. Some of the numbers in the NFL can arguably be attributed to the Rooney Rule which the league enforces on its teams since 2003 which requires teams to interview minority candidates when filling senior coaching positions.

Generally speaking, some affirmative actions can be classed as necessary evils. Others may be unnecessary. But the Rooney Rule is neither - it is plain bizarre.

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The one football position where black athletes don't seem even dimly poised to make a breakthrough in is that of the kicker. The lack of black kickers in college or professional football is quite inexplicable. As of today, none of the 32 NFL teams has any.

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Off-topic: This one promises to be a rather stray observation, but what is it with kickers having East European-sounding names? Here is a sampling: Janikowski (Raiders), Gostowski (New England), Czech (Pittsburgh), and Hauschka (Denver).

Barking up the wrong tree

Whichever way the tax debate goes, it is clear that the one objective that is on all sides' agenda, and which is likely to be met, is that of putting some extra cash in middle-class Americans' pockets. The underlying assumption and expectation is that they will go out and spend that cash, thereby stimulating the economy.

However, unless these patriot-consumers buy from a very slim range of goods that are made in America, it is likely that their purchases will end up creating new jobs somewhere else in the world - in spite of high retail markups (see Note 1). Further, the deficit in the state's budget as a result of the tax cut will be filled by borrowing from foreign lenders.

Somehow, these actions are supposed to be good for the American economy.

I spoke to a partner of an architectural firm recently about his outlook for business next year. He didn't see any construction activity picking up locally, but mentioned that their design projects in China are keeping them afloat. "The Chinese are still building", said he. Why not, when they have American policy-makers on their side?

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Note 1: Recovery hawks are quick to point out uptrends in retail sector jobs. Celebrating retail jobs for the lack of any other strong indicators is like saying "We have no money for groceries. But thats OK, because the kids have now gotten used to the taste of cardboard.".

One man's hero...

NPR ran a story today comparing China's restriction on Liu Xiabo's attendance at the Nobel ceremony to the Nazis restricting peace activist Carl von Ossietzk from doing the same in 1936. Besides the obvious comparison between China and Nazi Germany, the narrator uses the phrase "growing German militarism" as if underlining the fear rising in the West about China's growing militarism (the Economist titled its lead editorial in the Dec 4 issue The Dangers of a Rising China).

The story goes on to report that one of Carl von Ossietzk's acts which impressed the Nobel committee and pissed off the German government was that he ran an expose of Germany re-arming its air force in violation of the post-WW1 treaty. He was sentenced to prison for "giving away state secrets".

The timing of this comparison could not have been better. As we speak, someone else who gave away state secrets is being persecuted/prosecuted (take your pick). Wikileaks has been forced off the air, its funding has been throttled, and Julian Assange is under arrest on a possibly valid charge but facing a bleak future nevertheless. It is hard not to compare Assange to von Ossietsk and Liu (terms like 'non-violent activist', 'government critic', 'whistleblower', 'rapist' come to mind), but NPR's high-minded editors missed it. Apparently, criticism of the government and non-violent activism to expose its actions are admirable qualities only when directed elsewhere.

NPR may miss the obvious; the Nobel committee may miss it too; but guess who will not.

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China has called the selection of Liu for the Nobel Peace prize an attempt by democratic nations to humiliate the country. While rejecting the everyone-against-me playground conspiracy theory, I agree with China on the humiliation bit, but insist that fewer words describe the idea behind the Nobel for Liu: ऊँगली.

Drivers of knowledge

I usually don't use taxis when traveling, instead favoring public transit because of the overwhelming sense of place that it provides (of course, in many places in America, rental cars have to do for lack of a choice). However, in a certain Midwestern town that I frequent for work, I do find myself riding taxis a lot for one reason or the other.

As with any successful conversation with a stranger in a new place, chats with taxi drivers are often very interesting and informative. But, in this particular town, I have always been struck with how extraordinarily knowledgeable the drivers have been.

On one occasion, the driver gave me a field geology lesson as we drove through rolling hills and cornfields to my destination; pointing out different formations and sharing interesting agricultural facts he had learnt as a part-time farmer. On yet another (this time sharing the taxi with 2 stranger co-passengers - it was the only cab available at 1'o clock in the morning), the discussion veered towards the economy and property prices and the driver proceeded to rattle economic statistics for the county and gave us a schpeel about what the region was not doing right in terms of attracting industrial enterprises.

During my last trip there, I was driven by a woman who had graduated from college, trained as a teacher, spent a few years teaching at a Native American reservation in the Southwest, returned to the Midwest when she got "homesick to her bones", and took up taxi driving because of the flexible hours it offered. Our conversation ranged from the home construction methods to the Palestine-Israel issue.

Pretty impressive (to my sappy genteel sensibilities, at least).

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The last Midwest trip coincided with the opening of the deer hunting season. I have some strong views about hunting (if I write a post on that subject, it will be called Manly Pussies) yet cannot be but amused at the scale of excitement among Midwesterners about this annual ritual. Hunting is serious business, or it is made out to be, in any case. The ado is something to be seen to be believed.