Bombarding

I recently began reading Richard Rhodes' Pulitzer-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Even in paperback, it is a cinder block of a book. It's a pain to carry around, but I don't like to be without reading material in case I get caught out in a rainstorm and have to kill time.

Red like a fire engine, with a mushroom cloud on the cover and "ATOMIC BOMB" in extra-large type, the book never fails to make an impression, especially when dropped on a table or countertop. "Anyone have an opinion on Iraq? Anyone? You, in the corner, you got something to say? I didn't think so."

I'm just trying to do my part as an unofficial ambassador of the United States.

Unauthorized Migration

Here's another good article from the Wharton School's online business journal. This week's topic is "unauthorized migration" and its impact on the U.S. economy. It might not settle the issue, but it asks the right questions, like: do illegal immigrants depress the wages paid to low-skill workers? Do they take jobs away from Americans? And, how dependent is the U.S. economy on unauthorized migrants?

A Wharton professor is quoted as saying the U.S. needs legislation that "faces up to the real economic issues. If you allow more unskilled workers into the U.S., it will lower costs for employers. It will also lower wages for people who do those jobs. It's clearly a political question. If you want to benefit low-skill American workers, you reduce illegal immigration. It's important to have a very clear conversation on the choice we want to make. And we are ducking that by saying these are 'jobs no one wants to do' (emphasis added)."

Unauthorized migration is a bigger problem than the outsourcing of American jobs -- economically and morally -- and has resulted in an insourcing of appalling labor law abuses.

Encouragingly, the call for temporary work permits for unskilled immigrant labor seems to have fizzled. Could there be anything more un-American than the formal and legal granting of what would be, in effect, second-class citizenship?

Hot Wheels

Phuket's upscale mall, Central Festival, is hosting a small auto show this week. For some reason, unshaven and in my ratty t-shirt, ripped shorts, and flip-flops, the salespeople wanted nothing to do with me.

Japanese brands are at least as popular in Thailand as anywhere else, but I thought Ford stole the show. There was a Focus hatchback on display that turned a lot of heads, even mine, and that looks nothing like its U.S. counterpart. This is not a fluke -- three years ago in Beijing, my then-boss bought a Ford Mondeo that, based on looks and comfort, was the equal of a C-class Mercedes. No, I'm serious. Of course that begs the question why Ford sells such uninspired junk in the States. My guess is that they fear the average American simply wouldn't fit in their Asia-market models. If so, maybe they're right, but making these cars fat-friendly destroys their gorgeous lines.

The flagship Accord on display looked like what was marketed in the States two years ago, as did the rest of Honda's lineup. Isuzu had a pretty nice looking SUV on display, but otherwise took honors for having the hottest presenters. Yowie zowie, I said.

Vendors catering to custom-job and mod enthusiasts made up at least a third of the show. Custom kits, etc., are being pushed worldwide, but young Thai drivers are taking to the concept in a big, big way, as evidenced by the growing numbers of "pimped out" rides on the streets here, especially in Bangkok.

Unrighteous Trash

No one expects much from movies like Poseidon, but movies don't have to be perfect to be great summer escapism. I wouldn't have given it a chance in the States, but anything that costs $150 million to produce should at least be able to deliver 80-baht ($2) worth of frivolous entertainment. Do I need to tell you that I left the theatre feeling cheated?

I don't expect much from a disaster flick, but I do expect to be blown away visually. Poseidon's special effects are flat-out awful. The original was shackled by 70s technology, but its elaborate staging trumps everything in the remake. The climax is about as convincing as the opening to Land of the Lost. In fact, for sheer thrills, the five-minute airplane crash at sea in Cast Away blows anything and everything Poseidon has to offer right out of the water (pun intended).

The big wave capsizes the boat within the first five minutes, but incredibly that is not fast enough to spare the audience from some excruciating character development. A lot of "Extreme Love Boat" jokes have been made already, but they're apt.

It is not worth my time or yours to itemize the inanities in this movie, but here's one: lobby is upside-down and on fire, and one character asks of the situation, "Is it bad?"

Poseidon does not only dishonor its predecessor, but manages to dishonor tsunami victims, Latino Americans, and victims of the Titanic as well. It even fails at being bad enough to work as a guilty pleasure or sick curiosity. See the original, check out The Towering Inferno, you might even have some fun with the horrific disaster that was Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, but don't see this one -- not on DVD, not on TV, not ever.

Questionable Intelligence

If you have an opinion on America's involvement in Vietnam, if you have only a vague notion of Indochina's modern history, if you caught just five minutes of Missing in Action 2 on TV the other night and realized it was based on an actual war, then you must read Richard Shultz's The Secret War Against Hanoi.

I read at least two books of war narrative a year, but rarely do I recommend one. In casual conversation, war/espionage titles are generally perceived as being one of two types: 1) apochryphal derring-do looking for a movie deal, and 2) overdone conspiracy theory. Schultz's book is neither.

As early as 1961, JFK wanted to beat North Vietnam at its own game of covert tactics and guerrilla warfare. But when the CIA failed to deliver the expected results, the entire operation was transferred to the Pentagon -- with disastrous results. As the CIA was well aware, organizing covert activity within a totalitarian system is all but impossible, irrespective of any moral or political considerations. What was more problematic, however, was that the "mainstream thinking" of the Joint Chiefs saw little to no value in clandestine operations.

Shultz is not the first historian to make the point, but special attention is paid to the Geneva Accords, specifically their prohibition against foreign forces entering Laos. Washington, at least initially, honored the agreement; Hanoi did not. The result was the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the unfettered movement of Vietcong and NVA forces into South Vietnam. When the U.S. did finally act against the trail, its efforts were so limited and so predictable (and so late) that Hanoi easily devised effective counterneasures.

Published in 1999, the book makes no obvious connections to the war on terror, but touches on some difficult questions as to what a free society can and should expect of its intelligence agencies. And as a bonus, one comes away with a sense of the irony surrounding the nomination of a general as head of the CIA. Of course, General Hayden's most relevant experience comes from his years with the NSA, but such a pick would have been unthinkable in the wake of the Vietnam War.

More Symbiosis

Anything left out overnight in the tropics tends to be assimilated by the forces of nature. It's always a good idea to look twice before putting on your shoes. The guy pictured below camped out in my flipflop most of Monday morning, feasting on gnat-like insects that had been grounded by a heavy rain.

The guy above crawls up my shower drain almost nightly. I'm not sure what the attraction is, but I've never seen any bugs in my bathroom so I figure he's on the job. Roughly the size of your fist, he might be the only toad on the island that dislikes rain. While his brethren bellow happily, he hides under my sink.

All You Need to Know About Oil

Paying $3 a gallon for gas might seem like the end of the world, but thinking like an economist can lessen the sting. The Wharton School's online business journal has a great article on what it all means.

Symbiosis

My "kitchen" is a modest counterspace out on the patio, consisting of a single gas burner and sink and nestled among birds of paradise (I think). Perhaps because of its 'out of sight, out of mind' aspect, I tend to let my dirty dishes "soak" for a few days before actually washing them. But that allows nature to take its course. In the above photo, teams of ants are making off with my breakfast leftovers, one cornflake at a time. I think of it as an environmentally-friendly pre-wash.