Sunday, July 30, 2006

De Novo Dahl

I know its been awhile since I recommended a musical ensemble. Frankly, I haven't had the opportunity to seek out new groups recently, much to my very distinct personal anguish - that said, last night I went with some pals to Barley's - a long time haunt of mine which I have, in the last year and a half or so, neglected. We went to hear music and drink yummy beverages. And did we ever.

Well, at one point during the evening several men and one red-headed woman climb up on stage. They calmly set up their instruments and then, well, they strip down. That's right. They take off their street clothes to reveal what I can only describe as 1920's-style swimsuits. You remember those, from all the Disney cartoons. Or from living in the 1920s. Yeah.

Come to find out, these people were a band, not roadies who had escaped early Twentieth Century Myrtle Beach through the manipulation of bicycle parts and a time-space interspersion. Not only that, but the Nashville rock band named De Novo Dahl, who seem to be going for the 1950s-1960s create-a-memorable-visual-impact-to-reiterate-the-auditory-impact-thing (their myspace page refers to the Beach Boys as a significant influence), kinda' rock. Okay, they don't kinda' rock. They friggin' straight up rock.

Let me describe the music. Hmmm. Well, for me, at least, they have the feeling of Modest Mouse or Franz Ferdinand blended with Weezer. No, no, that's not enough. Throw in pretty much everything awesome about the more poppy 1970s and 1980s super-groups, you know, when they were exploring what the synthesizer and electric keyboards could do without any self-restraint - energy over subtlety - not to say that they aren't capable of incredible subtlety, but their electric instrumentation has a kind of youthful exuberance, the feeling we all got when the synthesizer was new and warranted real experimentation, not just (sigh) sampling.

Okay, I'm not really getting where I want to get. Let me put this differently.

Listening to De Novo Dahl is like taking a class on the history of rock and roll. If you dig the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, the Doors, Queen, U2, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Nirvana, Everclear, Incubus, the Dave Matthews Band (circa Crash), Weezer, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, and OKGo all blended together with a hint of the blues and a little seasoning of Janis Joplin, well, get ready. Cause you will freak out and scream as soon as you hear De Novo Dahl. If you demand less cerebral musical experiences or rock that doesn't send your brain on a goosechase as you seek to pigeonhole them, well, tuff. Spelled with two "f"s on purpose.

Seriously though, this band is worth listening to - I personally have already ordered their first album, Cats & Kittens and I believe, without a single qualm, that De Novo Dahl is going to be huge. Their stage presence combined with the exemplary quality of their music and lyrics demand as much. I say, get in while the gettin's good, so you can brag to your friends about your music savvy once they start buying De Novo Dahl's albums in 2008. Listening to them play, especially live, is like opening your trick-or-treat bag as a kid - all bright colors and sugar rushes. So awesome.

But what am I saying? You don't want to read my blither-blather, you want want links. Well, let's see what we can do.

1. De Novo Dahl - Their homepage - it seems to be going through a renovation right now, but there is still a list of upcoming concerts and a small but downloadable collection of yummy mp3s.

2. MySpace.com - As with all myspace pages, the utility of this site lies largely in its music samples - all of which are, sadly, repeats of their homepage - except for "Be Your Man." Whichever of the above sites you hit, though, you should definitely lead this party off with "Subject of the Kill." Delicious.

3. theory 8 records - De Novo Dahl's publishers. Not the most dramatic site, by any means, but it has some stuff worth perusing.

4. WOXY Lounge Acts - A 23 minute interview/performance. Yummy.

As for reviews and interviews, well, I gott'm.

1. The Tennesseean
2. Rainydawg Radio
3. You Ain't No Picasso
4. MetroPulse
5. Dusted Magazine
6. Hybrid Magazine
7. Carrie Neumayer

Ahhhh. . . refreshing.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Sarah Vowell

So, there I was, checking the Technorati website to see who had and had not linked to us over at Hillbilly Savants - its been awhile since I updated said list, cause, you know. Dissertation.

Whatever.

So, one of the blogs I found was, bizzy-zizzy, this one - Jape's Japes. It is pretty cool - from what I can tell the author and his family have recently moved to Southwest Virginny - goodtimes. Well, that said, in a recent blog, he scrawled out this exciting quote:


Why I love Sarah Vowell.

I know. Nothing dramatic. But there was empathy, and has to count for something. Well, I clicked on the associated link and yes, it led me to a "letter" from Ms. Vowell to a dead Senator. Intriguing.

Here's the part where I go off. Sarah Vowell? Easily one of the best writers and storytellers alive. And, while I have written blog entries about the absolute best radio program currently in production, This American Life, well, Jape made me realize that yeah, I have been remiss. Ms. Vowell deserves her own, full-scale entry.

By the by, I should tell you what I love about Sarah Vowell. First, she is so cynical and sarcastic and caustic that it reminds me of Arab mythology. That's right. Arab mythology. According to traditional Arab beliefs (at least in some states - according to stuff I read once somewhere - probably) human beings were made, by the Deity, from the earth, the Jinn (Genies) were made from fire, and angels were made from light. Kinda' cool - vaguely alchemical. Anyway, if this is and/or were the case, I would merely say this: Sarah Vowell was made from acid. Like the Aliens.

Oh, and Abraham Lincoln's DNA.


Long story. Read enough of her stuff, or what the extra features from Disney's The Incredibles. Whatever.


Regardless, he is brilliant, hilarious, and simply cutting. When I finish my PhD, get a teaching job, and once more have the opportunity to write for the sake of art, well, I can tell you she is definitely going to be that person that people are all like, dude, you write like her. Which is nice. Her understanding of history and politics is equalled only by the degree to which she is in touch with American society - pop and otherwise. She writes, and speaks, with incredible sincerity. I have, quite literally, had to stop the car from laughing too hard at her monologues on multiple occasions, and I have cried, just a little, listening to the same artistic medium. Is she a raving liberal? Yeah, she is. But she was also born in Oklahoma. I don't know how that balances things out, but it does - quite enough that my moderate, fence-rail-sitting sensibilities are never rankled.

I do go on. Well, here are some links for you. First and foremost, you have to hit up This American Life (Wikipedia throws us this bone with a list of most of her appearances). Just scroll down through the list of old shows - you'll find Sarah's name coming up over and over again. Other samples of Sarah's storytelling include this excerpt from NPR, this Hearing Voices special,

Looking for essays and other written work? Well, of course you can check out her books, but if you're in the mood for something more immediate, I recommend this obituary from Timothy McSweeney's (for Tom Landry), a whole slew of essays from Salon, and her wry op-ed work at the New York Times.

As for interviews, dig this one from Identity Theory, great jonx from The Daily Show, this one from Survival Kit, a dollup from Powell's, and of course this one from Barnes & Noble's Meet the Writers.


[Pause for drama.]


You're addicted now, aren't you? Its just like Nancy Reagan warned us - you taste the good stuff and you'll sell your Aunt Flo to get more. That's a vague reinterpretation, of course. Anyway, you're gonna' want to know if she's coming to your town, right? Well hit her lecture agent over at Steven Barclay Agency. . . they'll tell you when she's coming to your town. If you're on the coast. Cause mainly, that seems to be where she goes. Big water.


This is just crazy.


In conclusion, I would like to make one more point - Sarah Vowell the contemporary manifestation of the spirit-being that formerly was constituted in Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. Awesome.

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Best Dramas Ever Made

To deal with the angst of losing my laptop and all its data and the simultaneous boredom produced by my rush-job spreadsheet re-writing, I have turned to my truly excellent "DVD" collection and, specifically, to my collection of fine political dramas. I want to share them with you because, well, you deserve it. May my pain, coupled with my political genius, brighten your pitiful lives.

Figure 1. Delta Tau Chi House - intended, according to Director
Landis and Writers Ramis, Kenney, and Miller, to be a discrete
reference to Descartes


I. Animal House - A commentary on Machiavellian and Hobbesian politics, with a Marxian class-relations theory twist, set satrically on an early 1960s college campus - just before the full blossom of mid-Century American revolutionary and progressive movements. Some scholars have suggested that the chief antagonists are all based on historical figures - Dean Vernon Wormer, for instance, represents (depending upon the analysis) Louis the XVI of France, George the III of the United Kingdom, or Stalin, while Douglas Neidermeyer is manifestly a symbolic manifestation of imperialist lackeys of all variants (see in particular James P. Witherspoon's esssay "Neidermeyer, the Horse, and the Flounder: A Cinematic Analysis of Franco's Spain" in American Sociology) . As to Greg Marmalard, well, the simultaneous reference jelly in his name and his own inability to perform sexually, coupled with his function as a device for and of Dean Wormer can only be described as both Freudian and a commentary on pre-Reformation abuses of the Roman Catholic church.
As to the protaganists? I will only list in brief who they are usually compared with:

1. John 'Bluto' Blutarsky: This character is obviously a realization-in-the-flesh of the ubermensch, not to mention the Romantic archaetype of the heroic, unintentional artist. He has variously been compared with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Plato, and of course every historically significant messianic figure. A key essay? Simpleton's "Bluto: Liquor, Lincoln, and the American Dream."

2. Eric 'Otter' Stratton: Oration of this level is rare in any genre of art or literature - this magnificent performance is unquestionably a reference to Socrates, though others have compared it to the masterpiece speeches of both Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.

3. Donald 'Boon' Schoenstein: To quote William A. Reinholt's 1984 article, "Zionism and Animal House,":

Schoenstien is both the archaetypical American and Zionist. "Boon" is, of course, simultaneously "Boone," the trailblazer whose life, fraught with tragedy, assumes higher meaning through tragedy. But furthermore, Boon represents the tragedy of the Jewish people - the diaspora, the repression of the Middle Ages, the Holocaust, on and on - yielding, ultimately, a heroic volkgeist that leads to the establishment of Israel.

Beautiful words.

4. Daniel Simpson 'D-Day' Day: Probably the most unaccountable figure of the piece, D-Day most likely represents the dialectic between imperialism and libertarianism that defines modern, developed, democratic nation-states with their powerful military-intelligence-police establishments and legal systems that enshrine individual rights. Strong arguements, however, have been made asserting that D-Day is, in fact, a sort of Count of Monte Cristo figure, alighting on the scene, creating grand disorder, then disappearing. I am, however, disinclined to agree with that particular interpertation.

5. Robert Hoover: Hoover, the "House's" resident philosopher and fraternity president (read "philosopher-king") is unquestionably intended to represent the fundamental flaws attendent with political-economic schemes that lean too explicitly in idealist bents - Platonism and classical Confucianism, for instance.

To end, I would like to note one key fact - there remains some debate over where fictional Faber College was intended to be. The official line, never mentioned in the movie, is that the institution was the product of Pennsylvanian higher education. Yet, the substantial number of Southern accents throughout the movie, as well as the presence of the Tennesseean flag during the magnificent "trial scene" seem to indicate that this is not, in fact the case. The controversy among members of the academic community is tremendous.

Figure 2. "Droz" and "Gutter," played respectively by Jeremy Piven
and John Favreau, caught amidst one of their dialogues which have been
variously compared to the greatest performances of Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet
(Mercutio and Romeo) and Christopher Marlow's Dr. Faustus.


II. PCU: This film, set at fictional Port Chester University, Connecticut, requires far less discussion, not for lack of quality, but for lack of ambiguity. PCU is a barely covert reference to the phenomenon of "PC" or "Political Correctness." In essence, it is a classical Marxist analysis of the elite, dominating class (or classes) of all society's propensity to use formal and informal methods of domination, including propaganda (read as both liberal and conservative variations on PC) as methods of dividing the underclasses that they might be more easily exploited. To summarize, consider this Orwellian monologue by Droz:

Ok, now it's true, the majority of students today are so cravenly PC, they wouldn't know a good time if it was sitting on their face, but there's one thing that will always unite us and them. They're young. They may not realize it yet. They've got the same raging hormones, the same self-destructive desire to get boldly trashed and wildly out of control. Look out that window! That's not a protest! That is cry for help! They're begging us . . . please have a party! Feed us drinks! Get us laid! Aahhhhhh!

Touchingly reminiscent of Walt Whitman and Ghandi.

Figure 3. Van Wilder orates on the innate equality of all members
of our species physiologically and essentially, and on how our
worth as men and women can only be judged in terms of our service to the community.


III. Van Wilder: Another masterpiece - MASTERPIECE. Beautifully filmed, scripted, and edited, this film follows in the tradition of Animal House in another manner as well - it perfectly integrates contemporary music with a powerful story so epically that it can only compared with Yankovic's colossal UHF in terms of scope and raw emotion. Moving on.
My first several viewings of this film challenged both my intelligence and my grasp of political literature. I was nearly convinced, if you can believe this, that it was a comedy! Well, luckily I recently read, at my friend Doug's urging, Ayn Rand's Anthem, the libertarian tome which, mirroring Socrates' Allegory of the Cave, powerfully asserts the need for messianic leaders to force, yes force, the illiterate (literally and/or metaphorically) into the light of individualism and, dare I say it, the Weberian Protestant Ethic. Unlike many such works, however, this film grasps the need of the messiah to undergo a traumatic transformation, preparing him for the responsibilities inherent in his or her knowledge of the truth of individual rights and responsibilities.
Furthermore, Taj's exploration of himself and his sexuality, a Freudian correlation of his self-value and successful ego-expressions, is a powerful commentary on psychologically medieval puritanism of American sexual culture. Indeed, Taj's experience has been used by numerous authors as a metaphor for the experiences of minorities in every culture (Issac's "The Pump and the Pimp: Race Relations in New England"), not to mention its prominent role in feminist literature (Crutchfield's magnificent "Alien as Feminine: Feminine as Weak: Weak as Immoral; Van Wilder as a New Melian Dialogue").
As to the incredible symbolism of having the actor who played Eric Stratton in Animal House play Van's father, one must defer to the interpertation of John Hayes of Oxford University, who wrote, "Bringing Eric Stratton in as a representative of the establishment and ego-repression as the means of truly freeing Van Wilder from his own ego-repression can only be seen as groundbreaking. . . the propensity of every generation to rebel and rediscover what makes the individual the key unit of society is contrasted with the horrible truth that eventually every generation establishes, and seeks to enforce, a new puritanism, a new orthodoxy."

To say that tears fill my eyes as this film ends is to lie - I weep.

Further Suggested Viewing: Ferris Bueller's Day Off - A further exploration of Rand's individualist ethos.

Figure 4. Frank "The Tank" Ricard - an advocate of the gradualistic
"evolving" revolution advocated by Adam Smith and, of course, David Ricardo -
essential to the theories of both, however, is that the system
continue to functionfor the betterment of its participants as
a whole, rather than as a plutocracy


IV. Old School: Hedonism, apparently for the sake of hedonism, is in fact a reinterpertation of the themes first explored (in the medium of film) in the masterpiece Fight Club. Modernity's tendency to alienate and isolate is manifest from the beginning of the film - Frank, ultimately "Frank the Tank," one of our everymen, bares this point clearly - he is surrounded by wealth and the accoutrements thereof - a huge wedding with a beautiful, wealthy woman; a conspicuous automobile; indeed, he even defines his days and nights in terms of consumption ("Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.").
Coincidence, a deus ex machina cross-reference of timing and trauma, set off the explosive mix which American consumerism has prepared, and three men begin a revolutionary movement. Variously compared in the popular press to the Freemasons and Illuminati, their fraternity is far more radical - a libertine (or, arguably, anarchist) expression of discontent and rage. When their rebellion is detected by the ruling elite, the result is a standoff that leads them to argue over whether they should opt for violence or merely accept the orthodox paradigm. Instead, reflecting their American discomfort with both terrorism and guerilla tactics, they opt to lead a "revolution from within." Their inevitable victory calls to mind the great bloodless revolutions of the the last fifty years - specifically the collapse of the Soviet empire, the Ukrainian Orange Revolution, and the American Civil Rights Movement.
It should be noted that Frank's "running scenes" were intended by the director to emulate a more violent series of events - specifically the history of Washington's Army of the Potomac. When Frank nakedly runs through the streets of the college town, wearing only green shoes, he represents the chaos of the Valley Forge winter, while his cross-country chase of and ultimate fight with Dean Gordon 'Cheese' Pritchard is reminiscent of the Yorktown campaign. When pressed why he elected to use this imagery, director Todd Phillips stated that he felt Washington's use a guerrilla techniques against conventional targets only demonstrates better than any other historical episode that excessive force in the name of liberty is never an answer, even when force is the only option.


I hope you've enjoyed my informed and brilliant analyses of these movies. Feel free to faun. Please be sure to e-mail me your credit card numbers as soon as possible, that I might buy more DVDs and therefore write more world-changing critical literature.

Cheerio.

Lamentations


My computer of three and a half years, my most heavily customized and personal object, has died. And taken with it my spreadsheets. Curses, tears, and wild lamentations.

I will miss you, H@lloween. I will miss your barely functioning keyboard, your incredibly loud and whining fan, my extensive collection of mp3s, and most of all, your delicate, comforting hard drive hum, like a heartbeat on my lap. Sigh.




Okay, enough. I am getting to be like Strongbad. With his "Compys." And such.


Anyways, if you want to be all morbid, look at this website. It is pretty cool, I guess. And stuff. Whatever. I think I'm going to become a goth.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Updated NCAA Football Predictions


Not too long ago, I laid out all the various major preseason, NCAA top-25 forecasts. Cool stuff, right? Well guess what time it is. That's right. Its time for an update.

First, let me drop two more significant ranking sets:

CBS Sportsline Poll

1. Ohio State
2. West Virginia
3. Lousiana State
4. Notre Dame
5. Auburn
6. Oklahoma
7. Texas
8. USC
9. Florida
10. Oregon
11. Georgia
12. Florida State
13. Virginia Tech
14. Iowa
15. Louisville
16. California
17. Clemson
18. Penn State
19. Michigan
20. Miami
21. Boston College
22. Nebraska
23. Texas Christian
24. Georgia Tech
25. UCLA


And, the one I've been little girl giddy about, the EA Sports Ranking from NCAA Football 2007


1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Notre Dame
4. USC
5. Louisiana State
6. Florida
7. Auburn
8. Oklahoma
9. West Virginia
10. Louisville
11. Miami
12. Florida State
13. Penn State
14. Michigan
15. California
16. Georgia
17. Iowa
18. Tennessee
19. Arizona State
20. Nebraska
21. Virginia Tech
22. Texas Tech
23. Clemson
24. Alabama
25. Georgia Tech

Some interesting little changes, eh? From what I can tell, the EA poll is based more on the composite skills of the players - other polls tend to take into account the peculiarities of coaches, strength of schedule, etc. . . I dunno'. That said, I entered these rankings into my previous poll spreadsheet and have updated my composite ranking - ahh, the assimilation of the wisdom of the (highly informed) masses. Note that I'm including the weighted scores so you can see where the rankings are hmmm. . . edgy?, and where consensus is much stronger. Oh, and if your wondering how I did it, I just assigned each ranking a score (a rank of #1, for instance becomes 25, of #2 becomes 24 and so on), then simply averaged them for the mean. The system isn't perfect, by any means, but it is something. And yes, it biases in favor of those states which appear on all the polls (or nearly all) - what of it?

1. Ohio State (23.86)
2. West Virginia (21.43)
3. Notre Dame (21.29)
4. USC (21)
5. LSU (20)
6. Auburn (17.57)
7. Florida (17.29)
8. Oklahoma (14)
9. Penn State (12.71)
10. Virginia Tech (11.86)
11. California (10.43)
12. Georgia (9.29)
13. Michigan (8.14)
14. Florida State (7.286)
15. Miami (7.2857)
16. Alabama (6.714286)
17. Texas Christian (6.7142857)
18. Louisville (6.57)
19. Iowa (6)
20. Oregon (5)
21. Texas Tech (3.57)
22. UCLA (3.43)
23. Arizona State (3.42)
24. Clemson (3.29)
25. Wisconsin and Boston College (tie at 3.142857)

And, of course, other schools mentioned in at least one top 25 poll: Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Georgia Tech.

Dig the colored sections - they aren't the only close calls, but they definitely drew my eye. So I colored them. So they'd draw your eye. Eyes.

My thoughts? Well, I have a couple, now that I've read quite a bit and played a couple games with the ol' NCAA 2007. Let me tell you what I think. First, I believe OSU is the most distinct and definite frontrunner of pack - they deserve their number 1 ranking. West Virginia, well, I think they'll get a major bowl, but I think that hopes may be a little high - though I would flip out awesome style to see them in the National Championship. Notre Dame, yeah, they're on their way back, and they'll almost definitely pull a top-10, but top five? I just don't think so. . . they have the makings, but with their schedule, well, I think they may be in for a bad way. Underrated teams (by at least say, five places): I am gonna' call, for the time being at least, Clemson, Louisville, and Penn State. Here is the gig - Clemson, I think, looks tough on paper, Louisville, I think, looks tuff on paper, and Adam Kennedy, well, he could kill me with a mere look - and I refuse to catch the death from offending his Penn State-loving sensibilities.

God I'm excited. And its just July.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Pigs as Ironic Public Relations Mascots Advocating Their Own Species' Consumption by Members of the Species Homo Sapiens

Fact.
This is the best blog entry EVER by anyone ever who isn't a deity or TV's LaVar Burton.

I was running through my standard set of non-news links, the ones I hit around midnight every evening, and I found this entry on Yahoo's The Spark! blog. Okay, vaguely interesting, I know. Then I noticed the link to this - The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. That's right. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. I have little doubt I'll be spending hours on that site. Seriously. No fooly. Compelling literature.

And tail-gating advice.


Ahem.

Regardless, the NHDSC (acronymrific) made me think of something from my childhood that, frankly, after years first in Charlottesville and then in Knoxvegas, I had almost forgotten about.

(Singing)

B - A -Double L - A - R, D, S spells Ballard's . . . Ballard's is the JONX for me. . .


Okay. I don't remember the song exactly. But Ballard's products (straight out of Wayne, WV) dotted meals of mine for the better part of my childhood and their advertising campaigns dominated my evening television experiences on WVVA - I mean, in between the actual shows (specifically Cheers and The Cosby Show . . . sigh). And seriously, check out the packaging - its like, wow, you know it is good, because those pigs wouldn't lie. Dammit.

Speaking of trustworthy swine . . .


This in turn reminded me of another major producer of pork and pork by-products, those irrepressible folks from Salem, VA (kinda'), Valleydale Farms. Their website is worth exploring if for no other reason than their small but pimped out collection of archived commercials. Featuring pigs. Playing instruments. In celebration of the purchase and consumption of their less talented kin.

I mean other pigs.


Okay, now that I'm pretty darn deep into this blog, does the fact that our species uses cartoon images of the animals we're eating to advertise the animals we're eating freak anyone else out? Not bad, just a little, like, maybe while you read this blog? I dunno' - its just kinda' sadistic. I mean, we're basically using Porky Pig's illegitimate kids to advertise the sale and consumption of other illegitimate kids of pigs, though these have neither readily observable entertainment value nor good representation.



Whatever. Cancel.




When the war comes, let no man question whether or not I, Eric Drummond Smith, am still, and forever shall be, Big on the Pig. Peace in the Middle East.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Yee-Haw Industries

One of my favorite things about Knoxvegas is that so much of its advertising straddles the line between art and commercial design effectively -this includes, of course, a high-quality poster making establishment known as Yee-Haw Industries. While most towns' local businesses are relegated to nothing more than photocopied Microsoft documents or handdrawn psuedo-grafitti, or, if they're really lucky, that one, pseudo-Jamaican style of print with three, vaguely blurred colors (yellow, red, and green) overlain with black ink, we here in the Orange City have an alternative. Knoxville has artisans.

Oh, how delightfully "guildish!"

Yee-Haw Industries has been pumping out fine linotypes and woodbock prints for ten years. By the by, a linotype is a print made by using carved linoleum as a plate. I did some in college, though I was substantially better at drypoints or monotypes - somewhere, though, I hope my friend Michelle Lester is still making linotypes. Damn skippy she had a gift.

Regardless, I won't bore you with details about Yee-Haw (there homepage has all the details you could possible want), except to say that if you're looking for something to hang in the old living room, why settle on a photograph of original art when you can order one of Yee-Haw's prints for close to the same price (well, in some instances at least).

No, ghosts of the Vienna Secession, the poster is not dead.

Dig:








Impressive stuff, eh? Functional, beautiful, art-deco with a frontier twist - Yee-Haw's work is incredible. And, all of these works are, by the way, available for sale on the Yee-Haw website.

As for other links, well, I suggest this EconoCulture interview, or this blurb from the Knoxville Museum of Fine Art (which is a helluva' small museum, frankly), where, coincidently, the folks at Yee-Haw have a show going on right now. Other neat blurbs include this one from Ptelevision, and this one from the Savannah College of Art and Design (where my pal Ahart Powers went - I need to call him - he and Christopher are the guys who went with me to see Young Guns II in the movie theater that time - you know, with the JujuBees).

Fun on the bun.
Sweet Jumping Moses -

I am not a man to make fun of political leaders (ahem) but dammit. George. Seriously. Check the microphone before cussin', quit making suggestions to the president of Russia that he should submit to American hegemony, and for the love of Pete DON'T GIVE MASSAGES TO WORLD LEADERS WHO AREN'T TONY BLAIR (its not an office Christmas party circa 1954, dammit). Or maybe the Koizumi. I dunno'.

I know, Trivia Doug. I know. There are wars, there's another tsunami, there's global warming, the national debt, and Pam Anderson is engaged again. But I couldn't hold it in anymore.




George. Please. Its the friggin' G8. You're not there for fun.

Oh, and if you get angry at anyone who critiques the president, sorry. Let me just say this. Don't just say, "screw those Europeans." Maybe they aren't "fun" and maybe they can be "jerks" but they have most of the other key economies and they share 95% of our political, economic, and social values. We. Need. Them.





PS - That look on Merkel's face is pretty hilarious.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

John Henry

One of the best blog entries I've ever written, at least I think, is this one on Hillbilly Savants. I dunno'. John Henry is one of my heros, and well, I just hope I did him justice.

I hope.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Batman: Dead End

Okay, I'm sick as heck, so I'll make this brief.

Damn.


Oh, and darn.

Enjoy.
(Thanks Transbuddha)

Friday, July 14, 2006

The Glass Armonica

Here is the story - its really pretty incredible.

Once there was a man named Benjamin Franklin - that's right, the womanizing, Euro-loving, scientist, agnostic, Yankee who is easily one of the five most important political leaders in our nation's early history (along with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton). This man designed many, many things (along with being the primary advocate of a federal system of government way before it was cool - like Frank Sinatra, sorta'. . . kinda'). One of these is the glass armonica.

First Metaphor: If ghosts could sing, they would sound like a glass armonica.

Second Metaphor: If whales could fly around on summer nights in the Smokey Mountains, they would sound like a glass armonica.

Third Metaphor: If either Phillip Glass or Incubus invented an instrument that has already been invented by, hypothetically, had never been invented, it would be the glass armonica.

I could go into tons of detail as to the history and nature of this instrument but heck, everything I know I got off the net anyways, so I might as well just link you up. For some general background, well, there is always the Wikipedia entry on the subject - one of the better written, I might say, that I've yet come across. Nothing fancy, mind you, just straight to the point. The Bakkan Museum has an article as well, though it is more specific to the piece found in their collection. PBS provides a bit too, including a Mozart piece composed for the instrument which, sadly, I don't recommend. Not because the piece is inferior, mind you, but because it demonstrates just how difficult of an instrument this is to properly play.

William Zeitler, who apparently is a glass armonica professional, has his own site (which does, of course, have the requisite history) and, I should add, some great music - dig on, for instance, "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" or his own "Contemplation of the Grail" (which was on NPR) or Mozart's "Adagioa in C for Glass Armonica." And Mayling Garcia's site is a little troubling, but she does have this lovely rendition of "Amazing Grace."

I love this teaser from Dean Shostak - its quite good enough that, as in the case of Zeitler, I am tempted to break down and order some digital fun. Also, yeah, that's right, there are fish.

Not post-mod enough for you? Dig on Jan Erik Mikalsen's recording of "Weeps and Ghosts." I like it, but I know not everyone will.

What'd ol' Eric save for last, you're wondering, what is the zinger at the end? Hmm. . . check out this site called, simply, the Glass Armonica. It has all the basics (including a vague reference to the disappearance in 1999 of the guy who single-handedly began the glass armonica revolution - wow), but it also has these - some truly beautiful, haunting pieces that you're probably going to want to download or bookmark or something (especially the Oror piece)- I mean, if you have a soul.

And of course, this whole article brings up a topic that really makes me quite sad - the fact that entire types, nay, genre of musical instruments will sometimes go extinct, as surely as the poor dodo or great auk. I mean, composers wrote orchaestras for instruments that simply don't exist anymore, or that exist on such a limited scale as to be virtually a nonfactor. So I say this - sure kids, the guitar is awesome and we all love Nirvana. But maybe, just maybe, you should choose a different instrument, something that stands out as extraordinary. The accordian, the harmonica, some long, crazy, 17th century horn, you know? Ah heck, I'm just rambling now. But seriously, if you hear of any glass armonica concerts coming our way, drop me a line. Players.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

The Drunk and Chinese Political Philosophy

Tonight, this every evening, my friend Mr. Armbrister called me. He was, um, not so much drunk as much as very un-sober. Which is cool. Cause its Wednesday.

Regardless, as he always does, he makes fun of me for studying China at Emory & Henry and UVA. Ah, some jokes just never die. Even when they are incoherent. And stuff.

Which made me start to think - I have probably not talked enough about the Middle Kingdom in this here blog (pronounced "bù luò gé" in the tongue of the Han folk - according to the "internet").

What to say, though, what to say?

I paced. I paced and I paced and then I paced some more. I went through two Diet Mountain Dews. I cursed my television for having inferior programing options. Rage was my mantra.

Then I thought of it. I will give the great works to you that my old mentor at Virginny, the great Dr. Ronald Dimberg, gave to me.
Backstory: The single best course I had at Virginia was my first semester of my first year, a course on Chinese political philosophy of the Zhou (pronounced "Joe") and Qin (pronounced "Chin") Dynasties. We read a host of works from this period, all of which fascinated me as intellectually powerful alternatives to Western political philosophy. It was, frankly, like the first moment I used a blade to scrape and shape paint on a canvas - everything was familiar, but alien at the same time - the effect was vaguely intoxicating. I dunno'. Regardless, I sat and read for hours on end in the various libraries, reading and, frankly, re-reading these works and, I believe, they were the single most important contributors to my understanding the differences between Western and Sinic political thought. Perhaps I'm wrong.

If you liked Buddhism, you'll like -

Taoist Works:


If you liked the non-racist, cool parts of the South, you'll like -

Confucian Works:
The Doctrine of the Mean:
James Legge's Translation
Charles Muller's Translation

The Great Learning:
Charles Muller's Translation
The Classic of Filial Piety:
James Legge's Translation
Kungfuzi (Confucius):
James Legge's Translation
Charles Muller's Translation

Mengzi (Mencius):
James Legge's Translation
Charles Muller's Translation

Xunzi:
(Unfortunately, no complete translations are available on the web. Sorry.)
Patricia Ebrey's Presentation

If you liked Jesus then you'll like -

Moism:


If you liked Machiavelli and Hobbes, you'll like -

Legalism:
Hanfei Zi:
(Sadly, no one seems to have a complete version online, so the following are mere selections)
W.K. Liao's Translation (Mis-cited?)
Assorted Translations


Enjoy.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Surname Mapping

Wow. On Blogger's Blogs-of-Note page, I found a blog that, frankly, I am now addicted to - the Canadian Cartography Association's weblog. So neat, so many maps. That said, the CCA then, in its own turn, dropped me knowledge about websites that allow you to map the frequency of certain surnames in a number of countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Sexy.

Check this part out. . . I did searches for my Momma's surname, Gatherum, and I got the following results:


Gatherums in Great Britain
Circa 1881
(The Highlighted Area is around Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, and St.Andrews - all in Fife)

Gatherums in the United States
Circa Today

And, as to Great Britain - present- no Gatherums show up on the map - that means there are less than 100 in the entire country.

Damned, "extra-Eurasian Great Celtic Diaspora?"

Jordan Crane

As I surveyed the vistas and hills of Transbuddha, well, I found this entry. Its on an artist/commercial artist whose work I think is completely, utterly beautiful. Legitimate art that harkens to pop art and cartoons without bending over entire to them. I dunno'. Anyway, check out this website, reddingk, and dig on Crane's fantastic prints in particular. . . they are completely within the average human being's price range, which is awesome. And they ain't no Moss-style photographic reproductions. Yummy.

Ant Poem (Sorta')

I found this on CSL's blog - she doesn't have permanent link set-up, so I am just going to cut and paste - CSL, if you read this, I hope you don't mind, and if you do, well, damn.

(Because some lists are just worth repeating.)

Attracts and kills all household ants including: Argentine ants, Ghost ants, Cornfield ants, Pavement ants, Acrobat ants, White footed ants, Little black ants, Odorous house ants, Crazy ants, Big headed ants, and other sweet eating ants.

Weird, eh? Okay, then just dig the title -

Found poetry

Yeah, now it makes more sense - in terms of "why the hell would this be a blog entry," eh?


[This will be one that Vaughn loves and Papaw posts a hilarious and mildly insulting comment to, given their relative perspectives on postmodernism]

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Joel A. Friesen

Joel's attempt to keep a woman from leaving him like Cher left her Muppet-like husband Sonny. He failed. She stole one of his appliances. If only he'd compared himself to a manatee.

The Bubble Project

I have been fascinated by this site for months - then, I quit being fascinated and started being not-as-fascinated. Then the maker of said site came up with a new fascinating idea. Take avant garde art and make it available to the potty-mouthed masses of the net who are too damned cheap to spend the money to print out their graffiti. Sigh, today's youth.

Also, I, personally, am a huge fan of Ms. Angelina Jolie. But that little girl? Oh, she #@%$ing hates her. She has no significant feelings, however, towards Ms. Ann Curry.

Vanishing Point

To quote this site's description of itself:

Vanishing Point consists of a map of the world connected to a database fed by news coming from several international newspapers. The visibility of each country on the map results from the quantity of media coverage the country receives, so those countries that do not make the news disappear progressively.

I'd be interested in contrasting it with a map in which states experiencing wars, plagues, pestilences, droughts, natural disasters, genocides, corruption, autocracy, or even just failed political-economic development (you know, newsworthy events) show up more obviously. . . it wouldn't be exactly the opposite, but it damn sure would be different.

A great heuristic. Honeys.

Pandora

Granted - Pandora was a Greek woman who personified every trait that sexist men use to justify discrimination against the "ladies." And she is the metaphor for every jerk who ever ignored long-term consequences for short-term benefits, like that time Rob Schutt bought us that damned Sambuka.

And every plot ever on SciFi network.

That's right. It radio stations. My radio stations. One for thinkin' and one for drinkin'.

Dig this.


That's right. My radio stations - one for thinkin' and one for drinkin'.

Regardless, that's the gist of Pandora Internet Radio - free, personalizable music with just enough randomness that you get that little, suprised, "I love this song," feeling.

I think you'll like it.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Snow Domes

When I was a kid there were few things more awesome than clear molded plastic filled with shavings of other differently colored plastic which, when aggitated, would, inevitably, rain gently down on figures of unusual fish, or perhaps endangered waterfowl, and 1:1000 scale geographic landmarks. Which were also molded plastic.

Well, by accident the other day I found this site. So kitschy, so awesome. So symbolically representative of the hyper-sanitized life we thrust upon our children. And old people. And everyone else.

That said, I stand inspired. Dig.

The-Family-Business.
Mielke.
Miriam.
Random-French-Person-or-Persons.
Random-Japanese-Person-or-Persons.
Zito.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Music for Writing

For those of you who know me, you know that when I write for any length of time, I listen to the same song for hours at a time - it helps me go "Zen," you know, find my rythym and really settle in, and it helps me keep a lyrical rythym that (sometimes) makes my work flow just a little nicer. Unless it has to be edited forty-five times at the behest of four other people.

But I digress.

Just below this entry you can see, no doubt, two things. One is a tapir. Pay no attention to that. Second is what I have written over the last two days. Its painful, isn't it? Yeah. I love political science. Anyway, since I haven't been online for awhile, well, I figured I should post something, though admittedly my list of influences is low, to say the least. Then I thought, hell, why don't I tell people what I've been listening to. So here it is:

1. Jake Jones and the Gold Front Boys: "Southern Sea Blues"

Honest answer? I don't know anything about Jake Jones, and I know even less about the Gold Front Boys. But this song, wow. It makes me happy - like I'm in the car, going 60 miles an hour on a sunny day through backwoods towns where Cheerwine and unusual ginger ales can be got on the cheap at stores where people still have accents.

2. The Bare Naked Ladies: "Too Little, Too Late" (All I can find is a clip - for $0.10 you can buy it. Cheap b@$#@%&s.)

Wow - one of the greatest albums of all time, BNL's Maroon is chock full of the kind of music that makes you have faith in the ability of rock and roll to produce music you can appreciate both for its quality and its toe-tapping, um, -itude. This song, wow, every break-up since Maroon came out I cranked this one up, and, of course, whenever I found myself generally depressed, etc. . . ah, meloncholia.

3. Citizen Cope: "The Son's Gonna' Rise"

This one, from The Clarence Greenwood Recordings, wow, fantastic. Another uplifting, beautiful, tune, though not one with as much history as the old BNL piece above. And no, the spelling isn't wrong - this song is, at least in as far as any bluesy, jazzy, not-preachy piece can be, a Christian song. That's right. I know, I know. Everyone is surprised, saying things like "Eric, what about Deinonychus?" Whatever. Its all cool. I am still your favorite non-literal interpertist, I just like good music that actually gets at the real meaning of the religion: you know, hope, faith, universal (non-racist, sexist, nationalist, etc.) love, and service to humanity. Regardless, back to the song, I like to think of it as a contemporary Pilgrim's Progress sort of piece - with as many personifications so much as a sort of wierd reverse personification.

Nevermind.

4. N.E.R.D: "Rockstar"

Yes. I listen to techno-rock-rap-a la-Linkin Park. You go to hell.


Also, there's a deinonychus.

Dissertation: Namibia and Botswana

Dudes and Dude-ettes:
Honestly, I don't have much for you today - I have to apologize, I know I've been giving you precious little to mull over, chew on, etc. My dissertation work has shifted from the stage of data acquisition to the stage of writing, at least for the near future, and that means I shift from marking up spreadsheets and browsing the web to writing, as I do, for eight to twelve hours a day. That means I don't have much time to interact with the world in such a manner, shape, and/or form as to really blog much. As the say in Argentina, lo siento.

You don't believe me, do you? Well, dig this - after I read and annotated the complete constitutions of both Botswana and Namibia (and they are way longer than that of the good ol' US of A) I wrote the following (useless to you, probably) mess:

Institutional Arrangement of the Branches of
Government and the Legislative Process

Contrasting and comparing any two states’ formal institutional arrangements is a problematic task in the contemporary age – the American constitutional model, with its complex system of checks and balances has made its mark on the institutional systems of many states hoping to avoid slipping from republic or democracy into tyranny. Namibia and Botswana are, as shall shortly be made clear, no exception to this rule. In order to deal with the inherent complications in this task, I have divided this section of my study into three subsections. First, I will review the formal institutional arrangements of Namibia. Second, I will review the formal institutional arrangements of Botswana. Finally I will list and explain the fundamental differences between the two, commenting on the theoretical implications of each.

Also, in an additional note, for the first two subsections below, citations are to the relevant elements of the various nation-states’ respective constitutions.

Namibia

Namibia’s political system is divided into three independent branches whose relation to one another is very similar to that of the United States of America. One corner of the Namibian political pyramid, that of the executive branch, is built around a president. (Chapter V, Article 27, Paragraph 1). The president attains office through direct election by at least 50% of the voting population – failure to achieve 50% in the final vote necessitates additional, succeeding ballots (Chapter V, Article 28, Paragraph 2, Sections a, b, and d). The president’s term of office is five years (Chapter V, Article 29, Paragraph 1) – originally there was a two-term limit, but recently the National Assembly amended the Constitution to allow a third term (First Amendment). The president of Namibia is ineligible for prosecution during office, but if impeached by the National Assembly (Chapter V, Article 31) is eligible for criminal (but not civil) charges with regards to the basis of the impeachment.

Namibia’s president has a number of key responsibilities. Not only is the president the commander-in-chief of the Namibian military and police forces, he or she is additionally the head of government, that is to say the head of the bureaucracy. He or she is also responsible for reporting the state of the nation at least once a year to the parliament, specifically during the budgetary process. On the international front the president also has the power to accredit (or fail to accredit) diplomatic personnel and is responsible for negotiating and signing (though not ratifying) interstate agreements. The president also has the ability to establish new agencies and appoints the Prime Minister (the chief of parliamentary procedure in the cabinet), the various ministers and deputy-ministers (that is to say the administrators of the various ministries and members of the Cabinet), the Attorney-General, and so on, as well as the members of the various courts and other commissions (including the heads of the military and police forces and prison system) (Chapter V, Article 32).

Aside from the ability to write and submit new legislation to the parliament, the president has two other key legislative powers. First, he or she can nominate up to six ex officio members of the National Assembly and, quite significantly, has the right to propose legislation to the parliament directly (Chapter V, Article 32, Section c and Chapter VII, Article 46, Paragraph 1). Second, and far more significantly, the president has the ability to veto (that is to say “withhold assent”) from any piece of legislation passed by the National Assembly by less than two-thirds of its full membership (Chapter VII, Article 56). An interesting alternative to this, in some cases at least, is the president’s ability to send the legislation to the High Court (discussed below), for consideration in terms of constitutionality (Chapter VII, Article 64, Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4) – the effect is definitely not an abject veto, but potentially a way around the 2/3rds override rule in at least some cases.

The cabinet, it should be noted, beyond merely being an advisory and administrative tool, also has the power to initiate bills for submission to the National Assembly (Chapter VI, Article 40) – though the significance of this point in light of the president’s similar power is easy to overstate.

The National Assembly of Namibia constitutes that nation’s legislative branch and primary budgetary-approval organ (Chapter VII, Article 63, Paragraph 1). Specifically, it is a unicameral body made up of seventy-two members whose membership is elected directly by the public using a proportional system (Chapter VII, Article 44 and 46, Paragraph 1 and Article 50). Voting in this body is done, for everything save constitutional amendments, using a simple majoritarian method (Chapter VII, Article 67). Members of the National Assembly can only be removed from office either due to unfitness or through a sentence or commission of guilt in a felony case, or if they take a conflicting position in another assembly or body of government, if they miss sittings of the Assembly for ten consecutive days without having received special leave, or, of course, if they are voted out. The chief of parliamentary procedure in this house is a speaker chosen from among the their numbers (Chapter VII, Article 51).

In the face of Namibia’s strong presidency some, though limited, checks were established in the Constitution. For instance, any person or persons appointed to any position in the government and/or Cabinet may be terminated from their office by a 2/3rds vote of parliament (Chapter V, Article 39). Also, the National Assembly has the right review, consider, and criticize any action of the president if 1/3rd of representatives desire to do so, and further they have the right to overturn any action of the president that is otherwise within his or her prerogative with a 2/3rds vote (Chapter V, Article 32, Paragraph 9). The National Assembly furthermore has the power to ratify (or fail to ratify) any international agreement negotiated and signed by the president (Chapter VII, Article 63, Paragraph 2, Section d).

One of the most interesting elements of the Namibian political arrangement is the ability of the president to dissolve parliament, ostensibly on the advice of the cabinet (Chapter VII, Article 56). This constitutes a sort of executive no-confidence vote. In essence this process allows the president to, potentially, take advantage of changing political circumstances, but not without consequence to his or her person – should the president dissolve parliament, his or her term comes effectively to an end and the president must, along with parliament, stand for reelection immediately. While this principle is relatively common among traditional parliamentary systems, it is far less common among presidential systems in which the legislative body is, as in this case, more than a mere rubber stamp.

The Namibian judiciary is a fully independent judiciary composed of three key levels – the Supreme Court (which has original jurisdiction on constitutional matters and is composed of a Chief Justice and at least three other presiding justices – the number of presiding justices may change over time and in response to unique necessities), a High Court (which is, in essence, a sort of national appeals court and which consists of a Judge-President and an indeterminate number of other presiding justices), and the various lower courts of Namibia which are nothing more than simple district-based courts (Chapter IX, Article 78). As discussed above, justices are appointed by the president of Namibia and may be prevented from attaining or remaining in office through a 2/3rds vote of parliament.

The boundaries of regional and local governments in Namibia (again, a unitary state) are delimited by a body known as the Delimitation Council, an inter-branch organization consisting of a judge from either the Supreme or High Court and two presidential appointees. Each region is then afforded a regional council whose composition is determined by election (one representative per constituency in the region, with each region being made up of no less than six and no more than twelve constituencies). Each regional and local government has the right to both raise revenue and exercise whatever powers are designated to them by congress and the members of these various units are elected democratically by their inhabitants (Chapter XII).

Namibia also has an interesting consultative body known as the National Council that acts as a go-between agent between regional and national organs of government. Members of the National Council are appointed by the various regional councils for a period of six years – a Chairperson, elected from within their numbers is their head of parliamentary procedure (Chapter VIII, Article 71, Paragraph 2 and Article 73). This body has four primary functions. First, it reviews all legislation passed by the National Assembly and comments on it before it is formally provided to the presidency. Second, it reports on the conditions and opinions of the various regions as bodies to the National Assembly. Third, it has the power to recommend legislation to the National Assembly, and, finally, the National Council may conduct research and investigative efforts if so empowered by the National Assembly (Chapter VIII, Article 74). In the process of reviewing legislation, it may recommend to the president that said legislation is unconstitutional or should be vetoed and, alternatively, it may send the legislation back to the National Assembly with one or more amendments recommended.

Botswana

The executive power of Botswana lies in the president and his or her cabinet. Rather than, as in the case of most presidential systems, being elected by the general population, the president of Botswana is elected by the National Assembly (the lower house of the Botswanan legislature) (Chapter IV, Part I and III). The president, it should be noted, may serve no longer than an aggregate of ten years and, should any circumstance arise that would make him or her no longer a valid candidate for parliamentary service, must withdraw from office. Also, in the event that parliament dissolves for any reason, the president must stand for reelection at the hands of the new parliament (Article 34, Paragraphs 1, 2, and 3).

All this said, in the exercise of power, the president is functionally independent of the parliament which appoints him (Article 47, Paragraph 2) – though, it should be said, parliament may transfer any executive powers it wishes to other offices (Article 47, Paragraph 3). Two key and fundamental exceptions to this parliamentary prerogative, however, exist. One is the president’s exclusive right to the supreme command of Botswana’s military forces (Article 48). The other is the president’s exclusive right to introduce bills having to do with taxation, revenue creating, budgetary payments, and debt (Article 88, Paragraph 1). The president of Botswana also has the “prerogative of mercy”, that is to say the right to pardon criminal offenses and/or to substitute a less severe form of punishment than that imposed by the criminal process (Article 53).

Of course, the Botswanan president cannot be presented with criminal while serving in office, yet upon the cessation of his or her office, the president may be charged accordingly with crimes of which he or she is accused of committing during the period of his or her tenure (Article 41, Paragraphs 1 and 2).

Botswana’s presidential veto power is particularly unusual – it exists not to prevent the passage of legislation so much as to force legislators to reconsider legislation. In the event a particular item is passed, the president may withhold his assent. Should parliament not revisit and once more pass the bill within six months, the bill fails, but if parliament passes the bill once more during that time and the president does not, within 21 days, dissolve parliament, the bill passes (Article 87).

The ministers of the various cabinet-ministries are appointed by the president (with National Assembly approval) from members of the parliament in general, though the president has the right to nominate up to four ministers who are not members of parliament who have skills or qualifications uniquely preparing them for the position (Part II, Article 42). The cabinet’s functions are, simply put, to advise the president with respect to policy matter and to further fulfill the will and orders legislated in the National Assembly – that said, the powers of the ministers are to be specifically detailed by each president (Article 50).

The Botswanan legislature is, at least ostensibly, bicameral in form, though the vast majority of power resides in the lower house, that is to say in the Parliament. Parliament is composed of 57 publicly elected members who constitute the National Assembly, four “specially” elected members (chosen by the parliament itself), the President, and the Attorney-General (who is ex officio)(Article 58). The head of parliamentary procedure for the body is the Speaker of the National Assembly, an individual elected for this purpose by the National Assembly either from among its members or, if it so chooses, from among qualified persons outside that body (Article 59). Each member of the National Assembly is elected from a constituency that is delimited and defined by the Delimitation Commission, that is to say through direct district elections (Article 62). The Delimitation Commission is composed of a high member of the judicial branch (who is chair) and a series of other persons chosen by the National Assembly who are not (and have not been for at least five years) involved in politics in either an electoral or appointed fashion (including running for but failing to acquire office)(Article 63). Members of the National Assembly must stand for reelection if Parliament is dissolved for any reason (Article 68).

The president, it should be said, may dissolve the parliament whenever he or she wishes and, in the event the president does not dissolve parliament, the the members of parliament must stand for reelection at least once every five years (Article 91). The key exception to this rule is that, during periods of declared war the parliament may delay elections for periods of a year at time, though they may do this no more than five times. In the instance of a dissolution the president himself or herself will stand for election by that body again. Alternatively, the parliament may at any time, with a simple majority vote, declare that it has no confidence in the president and his or her government (cabinet), forcing just such a reelection process. That said, four days after a no-confidence vote parliament itself is dissolved and must stand for reelection (Article 92).

The upper house of the Botswanan legislature is the House of Chiefs. The House is composed of fifteen members: the eight Chiefs of the primary Tsowana tribes (who serve ex officio), the four sub-chiefs of Chobe, the North East, Ghanzi, and Kgalagdi, and three persons elected by the other twelve members who, it should be noted, have not been active in politics for at least five year (Part III, Articles 77, 78, and 79). If parliament dissolves, the House also dissolves, though upon reconstitution only the Specially Elected Members are necessarily up for reelection. The other chiefs are up for election according to schedules set up among the various peoples and/or districts the represent, and therefore are not considered in the constitution.

The function of the House of Chiefs is elementary enough. It exists, primarily, to consider bills on the powers of Chiefs, Sub-Chiefs, and Headmen; the powers and organization of traditional courts; and the organization and/or communal property of the various tribes. The House then develops resolutions that either support, protest, or recommend amendments to legislation on these matters and provide these to the National Assembly for consideration before their final votes. Additional responsibilities of this body include to advise any ministers who might seek its opinion with regards to any subject and to discuss the implications of any executive or legislative activity in terms of its possible effects on any of the tribes or the tribal system as a whole. In other words, the House of Chiefs exists only to guarantee that the government is not ignorant of the implications of these particularly influential and powerful interest groups (Article 83).

Aside from this “presidential” system that is really a variation of the parliamentary system, one finds that Botswana has a fully independent judiciary. The judicial system of this state is composed of a High Court and Court of Appeal which, intriguingly, seem to be nearly coequal in many regards, and those various lower courts which parliament deems necessary to for the execution of justice.

The High Court is the supreme court of the land and has original jurisdiction over literally any case it cares to accept (Chapter VI, Article 95). The head of the court’s parliamentary procedure is the Chief Justice who has the power not only to determine where the court shall sit, but further the rules by which the court shall operate, though with the advise of an advisory committee. The president of Botswana appoints the Chief Justice and other members of the High Court, under advice of the Judicial Service Commission from among persons who have already held some other judgeship or position as an attorney or magistrate, or is a professor of law (Article 96). Judges of the High Court may only be removed by the president upon the recommendation of a tribunal of at least three members, all of high judicial office (current or previous), in which they are found either incapable or unsuitable (Article 97. Additionally, in questions of whether or not any election or appointment has been properly conducted, the High Court has the power to adjudicate the matter (Article 69).

The Court of Appeal is also chaired by the Chief Justice; all other justices are appointed or duly removed in a manner indistinguishable from those listed above for the High Court (Articles 99,100, and 101). It exists, specifically, as a high court, though not the court of final appeal, to rehear cases in which there is compelling evidence that error may have been made at a lower court. The constitution, interestingly, asserts that the Court of Appeal may hear cases from the High Court dealing with constitutionality, save in the instance of the constitution question dealing with the election of members of parliament (Article 105) – this in spite of earlier constitutional assertions that the High Court is the supreme court.

The constitution of Botswana makes little or not mention of the nature by which local or regional governments are established. Rather, the form and function of local and regional governmental bodies are dictated by the National Assembly, often through the guise of the Ministry of Local Government (formerly part of the Ministry of Local Government and Housing). In general, local governments are democratically elected or are the product of traditional mechanisms of election, districts are administered by central government appointees, the Ministry and its various organs coordinate between these levels.

Institutional Variations and Similarities

To begin our summation of the institutional differences between Namibia and Botswana, I would like to discuss the key point that both states are unitary in nature. Despite the fact that both states are multicultural, multinational, and ethnically diverse and despite the fact that both states are geographically large and diverse in terms of regional specialization, founding elites in both chose the unitary model – their concern, in other words, was more about retaining political stability and territorial integrity than it was about guaranteeing representation of minorities and ethnic or regional interests. Furthermore, both states have dealt with this inevitable concern through the construction of constitutionally mandated bodies – the National Council in the case of Namibia and the House of Chiefs in the case of Botswana – that have sweeping consultative powers, but virtually no ability to legislate in and of themselves. Though the former draws its membership in a geographic fashion and the latter directly from tribal elites, the effect is the same – to allow regional and ethnic interests (given that minorities in both states tend to live not only alongside majorities in municipalities but also have their own rural, ethnic enclaves) to be heard. In other words, both states guarantee the power of particular political-economic-cultural interests without a meaningful power of veto from minority political-economic-cultural interests, but with a built-in valve for allowing these minority interests to vent themselves.

As to the legislative bodies, regardless of the claims of Botswana, both states are functionally unicameral – their primary difference lies in the method by which their constituent members are chosen. Namibia’s proportional representation, on the one hand, and Botswana’s direct election system on the other, while having the potential to yield substantial policy variances, probably, in all likelihood, have not due in large part to the fact that neither state has truly competitive elections. This is not to say that the elections are flawed, but rather that both states’ legislatures have, since their inception, had only one majority party (in both cases with overwhelming majorities) – SWAPO in Namibia and the BDP in Botswana. Variance in behavior, thus, may largely, at least unto this point, be described more as a product of variance between these parties than variance between their states’ legislative institutions.

With regards to executive power, the situation is simple: Namibia has relatively strong, independent presidency; Botswana a parliamentary system in which the head of government has the title “president” and is, in effect, is a slightly stronger than usual prime minister. Institutionally this is the most important variance between the two states.

Most specifically, this is highlighted by Namibia’s president’s strong veto power and Botswana’s presidents relatively weak veto power and the direct election of the Namibian president virtually the “election” of the Botswanan president from the National Assembly. Of course, in both states the president is both head of state and head of government, not to mention commander-in-chief, and in both the president has the ability to dissolve the legislature and has sweeping powers of appointment, both in the bureaucracy and the judiciary. Also, presidents in both states are immune to prosecution during their presidencies. Ultimately, then, we must state that the fundamental variance between the power of the two executives lies in the ability of their legislatures to see them off – if the Namibian National Assembly dissolves the government, the president has a good chance of returning by popular acclaim. If the Botswanan National Assembly does the same, the odds that the president will return are slim to none (without a substantial change in that same body’s make-up).

Beyond some relatively minor variances in terms of appellate jurisdiction, the institutional arrangements of Botswana and Namibia’s fully independent judiciaries in both states, with fluid membership structures are virtually indistinguishable. Both are founded definitively in the English-Dutch legal tradition, utilizing both common law precedent and Roman code style law (though Botswana’s constitution explicitly forbids the use of common law on capital cases). Also, both states employ relatively fluid judicial institutions, assuming that special instances will inevitably arrive and unique judicial solutions should be available for dealing with these situations.


And of course both states afford both the parliament and the president the right to dissolve the elected/appointed state, though only at the cost of their own position. The result is a system in which both branches of government have a powerful threat to wave at the other, but an equally powerful reason to use this power only in the most significant of circumstances.


fin.


Pretty boring, eh? Yeah. I know. But then, I bet you get didn't even read the whole thing, so no harm, no foul, eh?

Oh, if there are typos, it is cause I haven't edited yet. Geez. This is a blog. Anything political is required to be full of errors and misleading, unresearched crap.

(Eric smiles aside at the camera, having pointed out that people who get their news only from ideologically-slanted, underresearched blogs are making a horrible, horrible mistake)

Also, there's a tapir.