The Strokes, The iPad, and Inequality in America…

1. The Beach – Arrived at the beach yesterday for the final leg of the Jenna Gottlieb Cambodian marathon. 48 hours here and then its back to America for Jenna and back to the village for me.

2. Gadget Envy - While it has been fun having Jenna in Cambodia, it’s been even more fun having Jenna’s iPad here.

You would think that two years in the Peace Corps, material possessions would have become less important to me. You would with think..

3. Beach Photos - Sunset in Kep…

4. Creative Marathon Training – Still haven’t run a step, but I did get a massage and a (fish) pedicure this week. I figure that’s gotta count for something. Right?

(I was going to post pictures from the fish pedicure- but they were on Jenna’s camera, which mysteriously flew off the back of the tuk tuk while we were in Siem Reap.)

5. I Better Watch What I Say – “According to the Freedom of the Press 2011 report, released by United States-based watchdog organisation Freedom House, Cambodia’s press freedom ranking plunged to 141 for 2010 out of 196 countries and territories rated, compared with a ranking of 134 for 2009.” (Phnom Penh Post)

Two months- then I’ll tell you how I really feel about my boy Hun Sen.

6. National Pride – I saw this picture a few days ago in an art gallery in Siem Reap. I don’t even know what it’s supposed to mean, but something about seeing a picture like this in a foreign country really pisses me off. It’s not just because it’s Obama either, I think a similar picture of Bush would make me just as angry.

7. Two Articles – Jerry Brown tackles America’s toughest job and Junot Diaz writes a MUST READ on what we can learn from disasters…

Jerry Brown’s Last Stand in California by Adam Nagourney (New York Times Magazine)

Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal by Junot Diaz (Boston Review)

If I know anything it is this: we need the revelations that come from our apocalypses—and never so much as we do now. Without this knowledge how can we ever hope to take responsibility for the social practices that bring on our disasters? And how can we ever hope to take responsibility for the collective response that will be needed to alleviate the misery?

How can we ever hope to change?

Because we must change, we also must refuse the temptation to look away when confronted with disasters. We must refuse the old stories that tell us to interpret social disasters as natural disasters. We must refuse the familiar scripts of victims and rescuers that focus our energies solely on charity instead of systemic change. We must refuse the recovery measures that seek always to further polarize the people and the places they claim to mend. And we must, in all circumstances and with all our strength, resist the attempts of those who helped bring the disaster to use the chaos to their advantage—to tighten their hold on our futures.

We must stare into the ruins—bravely, resolutely—and we must see.

And then we must act.

Our very lives depend on it.

Will it happen? Will we, despite all our limitations and cruelties, really heed our ruins and pull ourselves out of our descent into apocalypse?

8. Inequality – Two crazy charts and one interesting quote from Think Progress (probably the best progressive website out there)…

A. Income inequality in the United States is actually higher than at any other time in modern history since the Great Depression. Using data from the CIA Factbook based on the Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality within a society — ThinkProgress has assembled the following graph, which demonstrates that the United States is now about as economically unequal as Uganda and more unequal than countries like Pakistan or the Ivory Coast:

B. All told, the Fortune 500 generated nearly $10.8 trillion in total revenues last year, up 10.5%. Total profits soared 81%. But guess who didn’t benefit much from this giant wave of cash? Millions of U.S. workers stuck mired in a stagnant job market. [...] Nevertheless, we’ve rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans.

C. In the wake of their successful assault on Osama Bin Laden’s hideout, ABC News did a short feature on the Navy Seals. The report tells us that the people who hold this highly demanding and dangerous get paid about $54,000 a year. It then adds that:

“The base salary level [of Navy Seals] is comparable to the average annual salary for teachers in the U.S., which was $55,350 for the 2009-2010 school year, according to the Digest of Education Statistics.’ That is one possible comparison. There are other possible reference points. For example, the CEO The s of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan both pocket around $20 million a year.

9. The Strokes – For the last two days I’ve been listening to the new Strokes album Angles on repeat. I’m obsessed with the song “Under the Cover of Darkness”, but the whole album is solid.

10. Hilarious - Will Ferrell breaks out the old GWB impression to bring you a very special announcement: (Funny or Die). It’s great stuff. You gotta watch it.