Chronicles Newsletter of the UCSD Emeriti Association

November 2006 Volume VI, No. 2

Legacy Of Failure: The Meaning Of The Election In Mexico

By Ramon Eduardo Ruiz to open avenues of opportunity for dissi- In 1996, Salinas signed NAFTA, the free Professor Emeritus of History dents, mainly the Partido de Acción Na- trade agreement with the United States cional (PAN). This is a party launched and Canada, agreeing to eliminate all tar- Not since the 1860s, when the Lib- in 1939 by businessmen, the Catholic iffs, including duties on imports of corn, erals ousted the Conservatives from the clergy, and middle-class conservatives the life support of the campesinos – the National Palace, has Mexico held an frightened by land reform and particular- subsistence farmers. election as critical and revealing as that ly by Lazaro Cárdenas’s expropriation of The PAN did not contest the spuri- in July 2006. Although the challenge the petroleum properties of Standard Oil ous election of 1988, preferring a con- of Andrés Manuel López Obrador fell and Royal Dutch Shell. Beaten in every servative Salinas to Cárdenas, who, like short – by an eyelash – the campaign laid election until the 1980s, the PAN finally his father, championed the cause of the bare the utter failure of the ruling oligar- won the governorship of Baja California campesinos and workers. In Congress, the chy’s dogged efforts to impose the neolib- Norte, and from then on triumphed in PAN worked closely with Salinas and his eral economic orthodoxies of its imperial other northern states, the most conser- majority party. During his six-year term neighbor to the north. vative of Mexico’s provinces. Salinas not only showered benefits on This election can best be understood In 1988, to forestall a looming vic- business and the rich but also followed by recalling what led up to it. For a full tory by Cuauhtémoc Cardenas, the the lead of Washington in diplomacy. seven decades, one political party, the leader of a breakaway leftist coalition Under Salinas, poverty grew at an Partido de la Revolución Institucional soon to become the Partido de la Revo- alarming rate: half of Mexico’s 100 mil- (PRI), ruled the roost unopposed. Led lución Democrática (PRD), the Priistas lion inhabitants were officially consid- by a gang of politicos, the PRI handpicked simply stole the election. Through that ered poor, and some 20 million were the president, along with state governors, hocus pocus, Carlos Salinas, a neoliberal destitute, stalked by hunger. Especially the congressional deputies and senators, icon, became president and proceeded to hard hit were many campesinos, who as well as sundry municipal officials. This sell off nearly all the paraestatales (gov- watched helplessly as cheap corn from was the result of a pact concocted in ernment-run enterprises), among them highly mechanized American farms re- 1929 by the generals, state caudillos, and the national telephone system, to friends placed their home-grown product in the Plutarco Elias Calles, president from and cohorts for bargain-basement prices. marketplace. To make matters worse, Sa- 1924 to 1928, to put an end to turmoil linas and his henchmen, among them his caused by a bitter struggle to succeed him brother, were hardly models of rectitude. v v v v v v among his underlings. The pact stipu- Inside Official corruption flourished while the lated that presidential elections were to Mentoring Program . . . . . 3 narco-trafficking “capos” became mil- be held every six years. Until 2000, the lionaires. PRI won every one of them. So well did Preuss School ...... 3 Then, in 1994, just as Salinas was this balancing act perform that in 1976 Blowback Trilogy ...... 5 bragging that Mexico had become a first- no rival candidate even entered the race. world nation, the country went bankrupt, As the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Anecdotage...... 6 largely because of the foolish economic Llosa observed, it was the “perfect dic- Are You in Good Standing. 7 policies pursued by Salinas and his U.S.- tatorship.” trained technocrats. At the same time, Embarrassed by their own baldly dic- Mark Your Calendar . . . . . 8 the Indians of Chiapas, calling themselves tatorial lock on power, the Priistas opted – Continued on p.2

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– Ruiz, from p.1 had promised to settle in fifteen minutes contin- Zapatistas (after the legendary Emiliano ued to fester: they were Zapata and his revolutionary followers) left to fend for them- revolted, capturing a small city and three selves, as abandoned as towns. The army put down the uprising, before. Fox even proved wantonly killing some 150 of the rebels. to be an inept politician, Foreign investors, their faith in Mexico’s a charlatan who never stability shaken, took their money home. tired of giving rousing Salinas, the darling of American media speeches but left the pundits and academics, left it to his suc- poor as neglected and cessor to clean up the mess – with the exploited as ever. As help of a $50 billion loan from Washing- for the labor unions, ton and American banks. their old corrupt leaders The economic crisis of 1994-1995 – baptized charros (liter- gravely jeopardized the investments of ally cowboys but Mexi- the country’s banks and devastated mil- can slang for sell-outs) Ramon Ruiz at the White House in 1998 on being lions of ordinary Mexicans, but Ernesto – went on being charros awarded the National Humanities Medal in recog- Zedillo, Salinas’s successor, bailed out the beholden to big busi- nition of an illustrious record of scholarship. bankers, who were equally responsible for ness and the politicos in the mess, and partially repaid the bailout the capital. posed economic blueprints faced each by a sales tax on food and medicines. Re- Grand economic nostrums, an Amer- other. López Obrador had the support of covery came slowly but left Salinas and ican pundit has observed, last no more millions of underdogs, particularly in the his technocrats with more than egg on than a few decades. Those programs in central and southern states, the poorest their faces. tune with technological or political de- of the Republic. Felipe Calderón, the That near debacle opened the doors velopments may make it to half a century, PAN candidate, had the backing of the to presidential power for the PAN in but others can only be sustained by force rich, big business, the TV monopoly, 2000. Its candidate was Vicente Fox of arms. Neoliberalism, with its market and much of the northern middle class. Quesada, once head of Coca Cola’s em- idolatry and technological determinism, Although Fox was banned by law from pire in Mexico and later governor of the has been held up as a panacea for thirty campaigning on behalf of Calderón, he small, conservative state of Guanajuato. years, but is now suffering death agonies, did so brazenly, using public funds to pay A charismatic candidate, Fox won the judging by its current rejection in much for TV ads depicting López Obrador as a presidency with the help of the voto util of South America. Only in Mexico does dangerous radical, an ally of Venezuelan – the hope that he would put an end to the ruling oligarchy, especially those of its firebrand Hugo Chavez, and warning seventy years of PRI chicanery – and the members with commercial and financial that his victory would bring tyranny. In support of big business and the middle ties to the U.S., continue to dance blindly a huge turnout, some 45 million voted, class. On the campaign trail, he held up to the tune of free trade and globaliza- and the official count showed Calderón democracy as the Holy Grail, and prom- tion, the gospel music of Western imperi- the winner by a microscopic margin. ised to clean up politics, reinvigorate the alism. Lopez Obrador and the PRD refused to economy, and settle the Zapatista prob- But the 2006 election has made it accept the result, demanding a recount lem in “fifteen minutes.” apparent that the oligarchy has altogeth- and declaring the election riddled with Unfortunately for Mexico, Fox and er lost touch with the goals of the Mexi- fraud, but the national electoral commis- his Panistas left things more as less as can Revolution of 1910 and the current sion rejected the challenge and declared they had been. The conservative PRI aspirations of millions of Mexicans. As Calderón the winner. was replaced by a conservative PAN. Octavio Paz, the poet and Nobel Laure- As a result, after being put into of- Fox’s cabinet even included a U.S.-edu- ate, mused some years ago, one Mexico, fice in 2000 to rid Mexico of the domina- cated Priista as minister of Hacienda, the the more developed one, “imposes its tion of the PRI and plant democracy, Fox key ministerial post that sets economic model on the other, without noticing leaves behind one of the biggest political policy. Under Fox, control over inflation that the model fails to correspond to our crises in the nation’s history, along with took precedence over spending for public historical, psychic, and cultural reality, a bloated informal sector, economic stag- needs. His school budget ranked among and is instead a … degraded copy ... of nation, and staggering social inequities. the lowest in Latin America, at a time the North American archetype.” Calderón, his hand-picked successor, when public education was on the ropes. In this election, for the first time, now takes office – and inherits the wind. As for the Zapatistas, the problem Fox two candidates with diametrically op- v v v

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Expanding the Emeritus Mentoring Program

By Mel Green, Professor Emeritus of Biology In over 40 years as Professor of Biology at UCSD, my greatest sense of reward and pleasure has come from close interactions with students. I believe that real teaching must extend far beyond the classroom. For me it often takes place at lunch, in the coffee shop, on the tennis court, and at times even in my office. The many letters and notes of gratitude from my students have made it clear that my efforts to provide some guidance have been greatly appreciated. I say this not to toot my horn, but rather to encourage all of my emeriti colleagues to join in this rewarding experience. The Emeritus Mentoring Program (EMP), initiated last year on a small scale, will be a major focus of attention this year. Because “mentoring” can mean many different things, we plan to leave the specifics of what is done up to each individual mentor. To become a mentor, a commitment for the entire academic year is required. In addition to undergraduate students, we plan to include junior faculty as mentees this year. Like a good marriage, a successful mentoring relationship is highly dependent upon mutual interests and compatible personalities. Allowing mentees to select their own partner (mentor) based on professional and extra-curricular interests is the best way I can imagine. We can always make changes (dissolutions) should things seem unacceptable to either partner. A difficult decision concerns which students to select for EMP. Last year, 12 students were selected as mentees from the Aca- demic Enrichment Program (AEP) directed by Dr. David Artis. My suggestion is to limit our mentoring to students in their first or second year at UCSD who have no other faculty advisor. We may also wish to serve only Regents and Presidential Scholars as a form of recognition of scholastic excellence. I am open to your suggestions, but please note that we would like to start the program by early November. Please see the link on our Website (http://emeriti.ucsd.edu) for an application to participate in the Emeritus Mentoring Program, or contact me either by e-mail ([email protected]) or phone (858) 534-9926. Our Board is unanimously support- ive of EMP; I’ll be looking forward to receiving your applications.

UCSD’s Preuss School: Making A Difference

Mary Corrigan interviews Doris That proposal was shot down, how- Dean) Paul Drake to reconsider the Alvarez, Principal of the Preuss ever, by the Academic Senate on grounds proposal. The committee recommended School that providing secondary education that the school be established on univer- would be an improper use of university re- sity property but that it be totally self-suf- When and why did the school get started? sources. Provost Lytle resigned in protest ficient and designed for grades 6 through The immediate trigger was the pas- and Chancellor Robert Dynes appointed 12. With these and other changes, the sage of Proposition 209, banning racial or a committee headed by Professor (later concept won approval from the Senate. ethnic criteria in admissions to colleges The university then negotiated with the and universities – or what had come to San Diego School Board to provide bus be known as affirmative action. Several transportation – for which, however, we faculty members, led by Cecil Lytle, Pro- had to get private funding after three vost of Marshall College, were concerned years – and the Unified School District that as a result, youngsters from ethnic agreed to provide operating funds. With and racial minorities would be denied ac- major philanthropic support, notably cess to higher education in the state un- from Peter and Peggy Preuss, for whom less they could receive preparation that the school was named, the school opened would qualify them for admission with- its doors in 1999. out special consideration. They decided Admission is open to students whose to try to take advantage of the new provi- parents did not attend college and who sion for charter schools by proposing the qualify as low-income under the federal creation of a small charter high school on the UCSD campus. Doris Alvarez Continued on p.4

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Corrigan from p.3 twelve of internship. One team, for ex- speak for themselves. This year, all our ample, started an organ donation club graduating seniors will go on to college free school lunch program. We read all and even got a $1,000 donation from – 81% to a UC campus, 10% to presti- 800-1,000 applications and consider grade State Farm Insurance. Another taught gious private schools. When you consider point average, especially in mathematics art in an elementary school in Mira Mesa the background of these students, that is or “language arts,” teacher recommenda- because the students felt that pupils were no small accomplishment. The 2004/05 tions, and other relevant considerations. being deprived of art education because demographics were 59.5% Hispanic, Applications must be handwritten be- of cutbacks in such programs. 12.9% African American, 21.7% Asian, cause we want to minimize the possibility Another very important difference is 6% White. Some 91% of our students that a parent will write the student essay. our stress on parental involvement. We come from Southeast San Diego or from When we winnow down the applicant require that all parents devote 15 hours Chula Vista and San Ysidro, yet when pool, we then use a lottery to pick the of service a year per child, and since they graduate they compare favorably incoming class. Counting all classes, cur- some have three children in school, that with those of schools like Bishops and La rent enrollment is about 770. amounts to 45 hours. They work as lan- Jolla Country Day in winning admission guage tutors, in the library, or they talk to top colleges and scholarships. How did you get to be chosen its founding about their careers in class. This year we principal? had 93% parent participation. That is Would you like emeriti faculty to become in- For twelve years previously, I had unheard of in public schools. volved with the school? been principal of Hoover High in the And thanks to UCSD’s CALIT2, we We would love to have them! One mid-city area. Hoover had such a di- now have a truly 21st Century teaching UCSD emeritus professor, Jamie Lyon, verse, immigrant-heavy student body tool: a 3-D, large-screen visualization donates books to the library all the time. that the kids spoke 38 languages! Partly system that until now has only been de- We would welcome help from emeriti. because of its ethnic and racial diver- ployed at universities. The “Visualization They could give pointers to our teachers sity and also because of the area’s high Center” gives teachers and students a of what is expected in university programs poverty and crime rate, it had been se- dynamic and engaging tool for teach- or how best to teach certain subjects. lected for special attention by the UCSD ing Earth sciences, biology, and other Some might want to serve as mentors Teacher Education Program under Hugh subjects. It will be linked to a high-per- – perhaps to meet with a student every so (Bud) Mehan, Professor of Sociology. formance information network that will often for 30 to 40 minutes. Faustina So- Bud worked closely with Provost Lytle permit students to interact with univer- lis has been a mentor and is thrilled with and Professor Drake and suggested that I sity faculty and graduate students and the students. Our Mentor Program is apply for the job. work collaboratively with them on re- run by a volunteer coordinator. Anyone search projects. interested should get in touch with Eva Is there anything especially unique about the Mejia at (858) 658-7473 or by e-mail at Preuss School curriculum? I remember seeing a report that Prof. Mehan [email protected]. We have nineteen more days of did a study finding that students who didn’t schooling than public schools provide. make it into Preuss have been just as suc- v v v Class size is reasonably small – 25 to 27 cessful academically as your kids. What do on average – and we do more advising you make of these findings? and faculty preparation than most other This study was done on the class Emeriti Website schools. of 2005, for which we had good data. It Every high school in the area requires showed that ninteeen applicants who had The UCSD Emeriti Association that each student produce a “Senior Exhi- not been chosen in the lottery did as well maintains a website: bition” – a project that demonstrates spe- after high school on standardized tests as http://emeriti.ucsd.edu cial achievement. In some schools, how- those who had attended Preuss. But there Clicking the News, Programs ever, it is enough that a student does well was a significant difference. At Preuss, & Meetings button will allow in some particular field of study or shows 91% of our graduates gained admission to you to view past issues of this that he or she can discuss it. We start exhi- college, whereas only 45% of the “control newsletter. The website also pro- bitions starting with the sixth grade. The group” planned to go on to college. Bud vides the constitution and by- Senior Exhibition is the culmination. For estimated that if all those who didn’t make laws, lists of members, and min- that we require a research paper, an in- the lottery had been tracked, perhaps as utes of meetings. ternship, and a service learning experience many as 60 to 70% would have qualified done in teams working in the community. for admission to college. We emphasize Webmaster: Marjorie Caserio Students rotate through twelve weeks of preparation for higher education, work- [email protected] research, twelve weeks of service, and ing closely with parents, and the results

UCSD Emeriti Association Chronicles v November 2006 Page 

The Blowback Trilogy

countries. It refers to retaliation for the of George Bush’s administration and that numerous illegal operations we have car- we had not put him in office. In 2000, ried out abroad that were kept totally secret Bush lost the popular vote and was ap- from the American public. This means that pointed president thanks to the interven- when the retaliation comes – as it did tion of the Supreme Court in a 5-4 de- so spectacularly on September 11, 2001 cision. In November 2004, regardless of – the American public is unable to put claims about voter fraud, Bush won the the events in context. So they tend to popular vote by over 3.5 million ballots, support acts intended to lash out against making his wars ours. the alleged perpetrators, thereby most Whether Americans intended it or commonly preparing the ground for yet not, we are now seen around the world as another cycle of blowback. having approved the torture of captives at After Blowback and as a continuation Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Bagram Air of the analysis started there, I began doing Base in Kabul, at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, research on the network of 737 American and at secret prisons around the world, as By Chalmers Johnson military bases we maintain around the well as having seconded Bush’s claim that, Professor Emeritus of International world (according to the Pentagon’s 2005 as a commander-in-chief in “wartime,” he Relations official inventory). We now station over is beyond all constraints of the Consti- half a million U.S. troops, spies, contrac- tution or international law. We are now In 1992, after I retired from the tors, dependents, and others on military saddled with a rigged economy based on Graduate School of International Re- bases located in more than 130 countries, record-setting deficits, the most secretive lations and Pacific Studies, I formed a many of them presided over by dictato- and intrusive American government in small independent research organization, rial regimes that have given their citizens memory, the pursuit of “preventive” war called the Japan Policy Research Insti- no say in the decision to let us in. This as a basis for foreign policy, and a potential tute (www.jpri.org). I did so because I was research resulted in my second book on epidemic of nuclear proliferation as other convinced that academic political sci- the growth of American imperialism and nations attempt to adjust to and defend ence, then and still today dominated by militarism, The Sorrows of Empire: Milita- themselves from our behavior, while our something called rational choice theory, rism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, own, already staggering nuclear arsenal was losing its ability to make any mean- which was published early in 2004. expands toward first-strike primacy. ingful contribution to analyzing interna- I never intended to write a third In Nemesis, I present historical, politi- tional politics. book about the decline and fall of the cal, economic, and philosophical evidence In 1999, JPRI published a book of es- American empire, but our occupation of of where our current behavior is likely to says about America’s sixty-one-year-old oc- Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq turned lead. Specifically, I believe that maintain- cupation of the Japanese island of Okinawa out to be major fiascoes, discrediting our ing our empire abroad requires resources and our thirty-seven military bases there. military leadership, ruining our public and commitments that will inevitably In 2000, I followed this with a book called finances, and bringing death and de- undercut our domestic democracy and in Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of struction to thousands. The president the end produce a military dictatorship American Empire because my research on assumed powers specifically denied him or its civilian equivalent. The combina- East Asia indicated that our policies there by our Constitution, and Congress ab- tion of huge standing armies, almost con- and elsewhere around the world would dicated its responsibilities to balance tinuous wars, our economic dependence have serious future consequences. The the power of the executive branch. This on the military-industrial complex, and book got good reviews, but not until after led me to write the third volume of my ruinous military expenses are destroying 9/11 did “blowback” become a household inadvertent trilogy – Nemesis: The Last our republican structure in favor of an word and my book a best-seller. Days of the American Republic, which will imperial presidency. We are on the cusp In this book, I set out to explain why be published in February 2007. Until the of losing our democracy for the sake of we are hated around the world. The con- 2004 presidential election, ordinary citi- keeping our empire. Once a nation starts cept “blowback,” a CIA coinage, does zens of the United States could at least down that path, the dynamics that apply not just mean retaliation for things our claim that our foreign policy, including to all empires come into play – isolation, government has done to and in foreign our illegal invasion of Iraq, was the work Continued on p.6

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Johnson from p.5 overstretch, the uniting of forces opposed Anecdotage to imperialism, and bankruptcy. History is instructive on this dilem- ma. If we choose to keep our empire, as By Sandy Lakoff sponding to a heckler who accused him the Roman Republic did, we will certainly With congressional midterm and of not being a true Marxist: “We both lose our democracy and grimly await the follow the same master; you in your way, eventual blowback that imperialism gen- state elections at hand, herewith our own non-partisan voter’s guide: I in his.” Congressman Charles Rangel erates. There is an alternative, however. on President George W. Bush: “Well, I We could, like the British Empire after On Democracy: In democracy it’s really think he shatters the myth of white World War II, keep our democracy by giv- your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s supremacy once and for all.” ing up our empire. The British did not do your count that votes. a particularly brilliant job of liquidating Ethnic Log-Rolling: On Israel’s Inde- Campaign Finance: “There are two their empire, and there were several clear pendence Day in 1948, Edward Clark, things important in politics. One is mon- cases where British imperialists defied the Irish mayor of my home town in New ey and I forget the other.” (Mark Hanna) their nation’s commitment to democracy Jersey, came to the celebration and urged “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty in order to keep their foreign privileges. the Jewish audience to “keep the faith!” soon you’re talking real money.” (Everett Kenya in the 1950s is a particularly savage In appreciation, the cantor at one of the Dirksen) “I just received the following example. But the overall thrust of postwar city’s synagogues sang to the crowd at a wire from my generous Daddy – ‘Dear British history is clear: the people of the “Jewish night” in the next election cam- Jack, Don’t buy a single vote more than British Isles chose democracy over impe- paign: “Er is a mensh fein un shtark, vote is necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to rialism. For this reason, I can only regard far Mister Edvard Clark!” pay for a landslide.’” (John F. Kennedy) Britain’s willingness to join the U.S. in its Retorts: Jean Edward Smith, who Political Strategy: After Elliott Rich- invasion of Iraq as an atavistic response. did visiting stints at UCSD, has written a ardson had been fired by President Rich- Britain’s closing down its empire for the new biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt ard Nixon in the Watergate scandal “Sat- sake of its democracy is one of its most to appear in the spring of 2007 in which urday night massacre,” he and his sidekick admirable legacies. he recounts many a delightful FDR story, Dick Darman became Fellows at the Unfortunately, our government is including these: On learning that his Woodrow Wilson International Center tending in a Roman direction, and Nem- Vice President, John Nance Garner, had for Scholars. One morning late in 1974, esis – in Greek mythology the goddess of decided to compete against him for the as they both entered the building, Rich- vengeance, the punisher of hubris and presidential nomination in 1940, FDR ardson – normally a proper Bostonian arrogance – is already present in our remarked: “I see that the Vice President – was roaring with laughter. “What’s so

country, simply biding her time before she has thrown his bottle – I mean his hat v funny?” I asked. Darman explained that makes her presence known. – into the ring.” . . . Graffiti in the same Richardson had just addressed a breakfast campaign: “A horse’s tail is silky, lift it meeting of the Tuesday Club, composed of up and you’ll find Willkie.” . . . In 1940, Poet’s Corner Republican congressmen, all fearful that FDR promoted his decision to give de- Watergate would cost them their seats in Injustice the midterm election. “Somebody asked stroyers to Britain by comparing it to Elliott how they should handle the issue lending a garden hose to a neighbor One mutant jellyfish – a thing in their campaigns,” Darman said. “He whose house was on fire and who would I’ve never seen before – thought for a moment and finally came return it when he no longer needed it. up with an answer: ‘Sit this one out!’” Senator Robert Taft was not persuad- Has six great gonads in a ring, ed. “Lending equipment is a good deal Instead of merely four. Partisanship: “I don’t belong to any like lending chewing gum. You don’t To be this multiply endowed organized political party; I’m a Demo- want it back.” . . . In 1942, Winston Is really quite unfair crat.” (Will Rogers). “Waddya mean, Churchill stayed at the White House. While I am only just allowed there’s no difference between the two One morning FDR wheeled himself into political parties? They’re in, we’re out!” To have a single pair. Churchill’s bedroom just as the Prime (Hard-boiled pol tutoring the proverbial Minister emerged from the bathroom dumb blonde in Garson Kanin’s Born stark naked and gleaming from a hot Ralph Lewin, Blue Green Yesterday.) bath. Roosevelt apologized and turned (Kluwer, 2003) Put Downs: Prof. Harold Laski cam- around to leave when Churchill pro- paigning for the British Labor Party, re- tested: “The Prime Minister of Great

UCSD Emeriti Association Chronicles v November 2006 Page 

Britain has nothing to conceal from the Jokes at Politicians’ Expense President of the United States.” Q. What’s the difference between Playing to the crowd: Adlai Steven- Dan Quayle’s head and a Jack-o-Lan- Are You son in Cambridge during the 1956 cam- tern? A. A light goes on in a Jack-o-Lan- in Good paign: “I have just been to MIT, where tern once a year. I tried to humanize the scientists. Now v v v Standing? that I am at Harvard, I will try to simo- nize the humanists.” Dear Abby: My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the be- Membership Dues: Geopolitics in North America: One ginning, and when I confront him, he de- Lifetime $300 day, while I was teaching at the Uni- nies everything. What’s worse, everyone Ten Years $200 versity of Toronto, the doorbell at our knows he cheats on me. It is so humiliat- home nearby rang and I was solicited by ing. Also, since he lost his job nearly eight Annual $30 an “enumerator” – a canvasser paid fifty years ago, he hasn’t even looked for a new Complimentary to cents a head to register voters. “Sorry,” one. All he does is buy cigars and cruise I said, “but I can’t vote in a Canadian around and bullshit with his pals, while spouses of regular election because I’m an American citi- I have to work to pay the bills. Since our members and widows zen.” “No, no,” he said insistently, deter- daughter went away to college, he doesn’t and widowers of former mined to make that half-a-buck, “that’s even pretend to like me and hints that I members and those of OK – you can be from anywhere in the am a lesbian. What should I do? Senate members who British Isles!” “Ah,” I said, somewhat Signed, Clueless taken aback, “I think that matter was died in service while settled differently sometime ago!” Dear Clueless: Grow up and dump eligible to retire, and to Ethnicity and Diplomacy: When him. For Pete’s sake, you don’t need him Associate Members. Henry Kissinger, America’s first Jewish anymore. You’re a United States senator Voluntary contributions Secretary of State, met with Israeli Prime from New York. Act like it! appreciated. Minister Golda Meir, he is reported to v v v have told her solemnly to bear in mind that in his dealings with her he was first Q: How many women does it take to Please make checks of all an American and only secondly a satisfy Bill Clinton’s sexual appetite? A: payable to UCSD Emeriti Jew. To which she is said to have replied: It takes a village! Association and send “I understand, but you should bear in v v v to the Academic Senate mind that in this country we read from Office, Mail Code 0002, right to left!” Four United States Presidents get caught up in a tornado and off they UCSD, La Jolla CA The Party Punch Line: In the old days whirled to the land of Oz. They finally 92093-0002. of the Soviet Union, a worker asks his made it to the Emerald City and went to local Party secretary: “Comrade, what find the Great Wizard. “What brings the should we do if the Americans launch four of you before the great Wizard of a nuclear attack?” “Simple,” the Party Oz?” he asks. Jimmy Carter stepped for- Secretary replies, “you wrap yourself in a ward timidly and said: “I’ve come for some sheet and make your way slowly to the courage.” “No Problem!” said the Wizard. cemetery.” “Why slowly, Comrade?” the “Who’s next?” Richard Nixon stepped worker asks. “Simple again,” the Party forward: “Well, I think I need a heart.” Secretary replies, “so as not to cause “Done!” says the Wizard, “who comes panic.” (From a book on civil defense by next before the Great and Powerful Oz?” Lawrence J. Vale.) Up stepped Dubya and said: “I’m told by v v v the American people that I need a brain.” “No problem!” said the Wizard, “consider Bumper shtick: it done.” Then there is a great silence in “Don’t Vote. It Only Encourages Them.” the hall. Bill Clinton is just standing there, “Invest in America. Buy a Congressman.” looking around, but he doesn’t say a word. “I never thought I’d miss Richard Nixon.” Irritated, the Wizard finally asks, “Well, “Avoid Unintended Presidencies.” what do you want?” “Is Dorothy here?”

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Chronicles November 2006

r C You alen rk da Chronicles a r Newsletter of the UCSD Emeriti Association M Gary C. Jacobson ! and Sam Popkin Nationally renowned UCSD experts on congressional politics and voting behavior

Sanford Lakoff Editor Jeff Calcara Layout and Design

Officers Jack Fisher President Don Helinski Vice President/President Elect Colin Bloor Secretary-Treasurer

will speak to the Emeriti Association on Executive Council Helen Anderson, Mary Corrigan, Peter Farrell, Mel “The People Have Spoken: Green, Joseph Gusfield, Bob Hamburger, Sally Ledden, What Exactly Did They Say?” Helen Ranney, Avrum Stroll An early look at the election returns Please report all address changes to our administrative officer in the Academic Senate Office: Gloria J. (Missie) Jacobs Wednesday, November 8, 4:00 p.m. (858) 534-3640; [email protected]; mail code 0002. The Green Faculty Club