Sunday, February 29, 2004

on the edge of the inevitable civil war...

Palestinian Authority Broke and In Disarray

very good article...it looks like the predictions made so many years ago are on the verge of becoming the terrible and sad reality...

at least the french prosecutors are finally looking into arafat's diversion of millions of dollars to his wife in paris...there is at least a silver lining to the sorry tale.

the problem is that collapse of the pa and bloody civil war is not a good thing for anyone.

I am also troubled by the palestinians themselves wanting to thrust their problems on to the Israelis again..."making them pay the consequence of occupation..."

this tactic will ultimately backfire because after unilateral withdrawal, Israel would no longer be an occupying power and no longer bear responsibility.

yet another reason why the security barrier is a necessary evil.




Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Morocco Survivors Denouce Quake Response

the death toll is now up to 554, and rising because emergency response is slow.

this is problematic because the quake hit a predominately Berber region. Morocco is poor, but this region is even poorer because they are an indigenous minority in a Muslim country. They have been treated as second class citizens, not trusted by the government, and the fact they are not getting aid quickly enough is adding to their grief and helplessness.

As I blogged earlier, a lot of the death that is caused by quakes in these poorer countries is due to the inadequacy of their architecture. A 6.5 earthquake in los angeles or san francisco will cause some damage, but probably no one would die. firefighters and other rescuers would arrive within minutes. people are prepared with earthquake kits, extra water, flashlights, radios and the like.

Even if it were not possible to have the architecture student project I was proposing, at least it should be possible to ensure that governments in quake-prone regions have some earthquake emergency program and training so that people don't suffer for days on end waiting for relief from the international community.

a little pro-activity would save so many lives. Sure, not all poorer countries are run by "honest" governments, but if the red cross/crescent were to anticipate the needs, they could do a lot more help by taking pro-active rather than reactive steps to ensure there is adequate earthquake responses.

surely this makes sense since we have seen much more active earthquake activity in the last few years?




Tuesday, February 24, 2004

6.5 quake hits morocco...

Villages unable to withstand quake

yep, I'm back to blogging quakes.

so far the death toll is large, maybe 300, but at least it isn't as large as morocco's earlier quakes which killed tens of thousands.

For some interesting maps and actual details about this quake, see the USGS report.

the depth was only 2km, which is really shallow. not surprising since the gibralter straight is on a fault line...but shallow quakes usually generate intense shaking on the surface.

if the death toll remains fairly low, it may be because morocco has improved its building construction somewhat since the earlier quakes. but the country is poor and people living in villages aren't going to be running around retrofitting their huts.

the housing construction problem is widespread among the world's poorer and more rural countries. of course, you can't retrofit your tent or hut, but when there are large concentrations of people living in dense, un-earthquake safe housing, especially in regions prone to occasional strong quakes, there ought to be some way that the international community can provide funding and architectural assistance to prevent mass deaths when these quakes occur.

recent examples: turkey and iran. turkey has notoriously poor housing construction (in fact, when they do get around to condemning buildings, they don't tear them down, they let the US military move into them -- or at least that was the situation in the 60's).

anyway, it seems a good project for international aid groups. a little pro-active effort could spare tens of thousands of lives and improve the living conditions of millions. I'm sure there are plenty of architecture students who would benefit from an internship working on such a project. such a project would also provide employment for so many of the world's poor. the only problem is funding...as always.



The Governator calls in the Supremes...

Supreme Court in California to Get Case on Marriages

hmmm...interesting legal battle gets more interesting.

I'm very curious how the state supreme court can exercise jurisdiction on the matter when there has yet to be a lower court hearing?

is there a parallel in the california constitution which gives the supreme court "original" jurisdiction when the constitutionality of a law is called into question?

this is not an issue of the constitutionality of an amendment proposal, but rather a regular old law, in the family code. prop 22 added language to the code, it did not amend the constitution.

does the claimed "urgency" get one in the supreme court door?

Monday, February 23, 2004

Where are the millions?

The Palestinian 'day of rage' that never happened.

surprisingly, the above story came from the independent, which is usually extremely slanted in its pro-palestinian views.

worthy of note is the apathy toward 'peaceful' protest. when only a few hundred show up, the cry turns to 'go use terrorism to accomplish your goal.'

this also reveals a dangerous matter: that most palestinians have turned from supporting arafat to supporting hamas and other terrorist organizations. I'm not convinced they have become wholly apathetic, they just aren't going to follow a corrupt dictator.

but unfortunately, these dimensions won't be heard before the hague.

Hedgehogs on hiatus...

well, its been quite some time since checking in!

the hedgehogs have been married!!!

hence, the lack of blogging.

but we're back!

interesting news developments that are worth noting:

the gay marriage debate: so much going on here. most notably the SF mayor's issuing of licenses "under the authority vested in him by the California Constitution," and New Mexico chiming in.

the difference between SF and NM is that NM does not have an equivalent to Prop 22 saying that marriage is between a man and a woman. Therefore, it appears that NM can do whatever it wants.

but CA has such an amendment, and it is claimed to be unconstitutional -- denying equal protection as provided for in the CA constitution.

From what we have been learning in Con Law, it is necessary for the SF mayor to issue the licenses, and for gay couples to marry, in order that there be "standing" before the court. I'm not entirely sure if the same rules apply in state court when challenging the state constitutionality of a state law, but it certainly improves the standing of the city and the married couples when confronted by "generalized grievances" of the anti-gay groups.

Interesting to note is the governator's stance: he is toeing the republican line, but this is going to be a dangerous political position in a state like California. Yea, sure, the "voters" passed the proposition, but that doesn't ensure that the proposition is constitutional. Most propositions are so poorly drafted and not well thought out, the only way they get on the ballot is by proposition, rather than through the legislature. The worst kinds of laws are passed by this process -- which opens up another debate: whether the proposition system is a good thing for California. I'm generally fine with it, but for the fact that so many of the propositions are so poorly written that they don't pass constitutional muster.

perhaps we should amend our proposition laws to require constitutional review before posting them to the ballot? This would hold things up in the courts, but would ensure that only constitutional laws are put to the people for consideration. "The people" are not adequately trained to analyze the constitutionality of a particular proposal, and they barely understand the proposition process itself. This is a recipe for legal disaster.

the ICJ and the Israeli protective barrier: The Hague began its hearings this morning.

hedgehog's position: the security barrier is necessary, as long as it follows the green line as close as possible.

near as I can tell from the news, the international concern is not that Israel is constructing the security barrier, but that it veers off the green line to enclose some settlements, and cuts off access of palistinians to other parts of the west bank.

it is a good point. I think some veering off the green line is to be expected because of the reality of the situation on the ground, but some of the veering is weird and will only serve to outrage already outraged people.

but, in light of yesterday's suicide bombing, it is clear that the barrier is a necessity. If it had been constructed, it is very likely the bombing would not have happened and children would not have been murdered on their way to school.

sure, I recognize this position as pretty right-wing, and typically I am middle of the road to left, but when it comes to protecting against the murder of civilians, the right wing is right.

the reason I support the barrier is that it is a temporary measure that will ensure that the bombings cease so that peace can go forward. The US position has always been that we do not negotiate under fire...and Israel cannot and should not be made to negotiate when there are terrorists running around trying to thwart the peace process at every turn.

once the bombings are stopped, with the barrier in place, then the two sides can come to the table and begin to discuss a settlement to the conflict. In the end, when the official line is drawn, the barrier can be removed. But it is important to keep in mind that the barrier is not the line -- it is simply a security measure designed to make it easier for both sides to get back to the table without all of the unnecessary b.s. (suicide bombings and military invasions) that keeps getting in the way. With a barrier, it won't be necessary for the IDF to invade as often as it does, and it will be less likely that suicide bombers will be able to murder children and succeed in thwarting the peace process.

Doubtful the ICJ will see the matter in this light, but there is a sliver of hope.