Dowbrigade

They are called "Sea Cucumbers", but actually resemble more burnt,
black gurkins. They are found in depths of 30 or 40 meters, in the
Pacific waters off of the world-famous Galapagos Islands. As recently
as ten years ago they were ignored or trashed by Ecuadorian fishermen
as worthless
bottom
feeders,
but
thanks
to
a bizarre Japanese conviction that they have aphrodisiac properties,
they are in great demand and command high prices.  So much so
that harvesting them is like scraping dollar bills off of the sea floor,
and they are in danger of extinction.

As a result, and spurred by technological organizations, the Ecuadorian
Fishing Minister has declared a limited three-month harvesting season
this year, and a total prohibition on sea cucumber harvesting
during 2005 and 2006.

In those ten short years an entire industry has grown up around
the sea cucumbers, and now close to a thousand Ecuadorian Indians,
residents
of the Galapagos Islands make their livings harvesting them for Japanese
buyers. These native American fishermen quite logically see their livelihood
threatened by the government measures, and as a result have taken control
of the national park with occupies most of Galapagos,
effectively shutting them down to the international tours and environmental
groups that study
and preserve them.

The economics of sea cucumber fishing is astounding. It is actually
more like sweeping five dollar bills off of the ocean floor. The actual
divers who go down to about 100 feet with thin rubber air hoses get almost
nothing; the owners of canoes and light craft they operate from are the
first group to really make some serious money off the trade. They sell
bags of 100 pepinos for prices ranging from $80 to $250 dollars, depending
on supply and demand.

The fishermen can earn $80 to $100 a day; the boat owners can get up
to $1,000.  This is far more than any other occupation could bring
in.

The problem is that the sea cucumbers, which recycle sea garbage, aerate
the sandy sea bottom, and form a vital link in the marine ecosystem,
are in danger of being harvested into extinction. The many powerful environmental
groups active in the Galapagos are unanimous in their opposition to the
harvest.  And lately, the Ecuadorian government, dependent on the
money and fame the island tourism brings in, are listening, leading to
the prohibition on the trade.

In response, the Indian fishermen have largely shut the Islands down
as a tourist destination.  Tours from Europe, Asia and the United
States have been hurriedly canceled. Hundreds of tourists already in
Ecuador or on boats are unable to visit the Islands themselves. And rumors
abound that the enraged Indians, who consider the Environmentalists foreign
buttinskis, have taken activists and scientists hostage.

In most cases, environmentalists and indigenous inhabitants are on the
same side in these controversies.  However, in this case, it seems
clear to the Dowbrigade that the good guys are the Environmentalists
and the Ecuadorian government, rather than the get-rich quick Indians
and the sex-mad Asians. Not to mention the cute and non-aggressive cucumbers
themselves…

from El
Universo (Spanish)

from Reuters (English)

The current administration, in fighting the advances of fundamentalism
abroad and godless science at home, seems determined to blur the separation
of Church and State.  So why not trash it altogether, and accept
what is increasingly the clear diving light streaming from the White
House…

from Bush is Lord

Frank Gehry’s almost
finished Stata
Center has been called "the ugliest building in Cambridge"
and "an eyesore on the MIT campus." Appearantly, beauty is in the eye
of the beholder, as the controversial architect has just been hired to
head the overall design team responsible for Harvard’s next-generation
expansion into the Allston riverfront property it is currently developing….

Harvard University chose a team that includes Frank Gehry, the architect
behind MIT’s much-lauded Stata Center, to create a long-range planning
framework for the development of a new 200-acre campus in Allston.

Gehry is world-renowned for such projects as the Guggenheim Museum in
Bilbao, Spain, and Disney Hall in Los Angeles (pictured above). Last month,
the $300 million Ray and Maria Stata Center debuted at the Massachusetts
Institute
of Technology;
it will serve as MIT’s home for computer, information, and intelligence
sciences.

from the Boston Globe

Dowbrigade photo

Jeffrey D. Sachs at Columbia has an insightful commentary in today’s
New York Times, concerning the US Government’s inability to understand
or deal with problems in the world’s poor countries, home to over hald
the population of the globe. The tragic irony is that while these
countries may not be major players in world financial circles, their
problems, if unattended tend to spread and burst open like infected boils,
inevitably involving US troops and resources in cleaning up the resulting
bloody messes…

The undoing of American foreign policy is captured in the budget numbers.
Long gone are the Marshall Plan times, when we dedicated several
percent of our
gross domestic product to European reconstruction. The United States will
spend about $450 billion this year on the military but only $15 billion
on official development assistance. The 30-to-1 ratio is mirrored
by a similar
imbalance in our thinking. Our military expertise is undoubted. Our ability
to understand what exists before and after wars in low-income countries
is nearly nonexistent.

from the New York Times

Brooklyn-based artist Cosimo Cavallaro covers a bed with sliced ham
at a gallery in New York Thursday, June 3, 2004. Cavallaro, 41, the son
of immigrants from southern Italy, said the ham he was using is "a
pure form of America: all kinds of parts, boiled and pressed together." Despite
his Italian heritage and training in an Italian art school, Cavallaro
said he had rejected Prosciutto because "It would have been pompous." (AP
Photo/Tina Fineberg)

from AP

Norma Yvonne,
aka Mrs. Dowbrigade, has a heart as high as the Andes and as deep as
the Pacific Ocean. Upon seeing first hand the neglect and cultural decay
which has set in in her home town, the agricultural market town of Chone,
Ecuador, she decided she had to do something about it.

A big part of the problem, symptom and source as well, is the rampant
unemployment, over 50% among teenagers and 20-somethings.  And since
there is no real educational or edifying entertainment in Chone, these
young people hang out on all of the street corners, whiling away the
hours drinking, smoking and gossiping.  Norma decided what they
needed was some good books to read!

What passes for a public library in Chone is a sad joke – no acquisitions
in the past 20 years and a physical plant more rundown than the local
dogcatcher’s kennel.  So she decided to sponsor and create a private,
free, lending library.  Her mother, the Dowbrigade mother-in-law
(at this moment snoring away in our guest bedroom, here in Manta for
a visit) has a lovely apartment on the second floor of a large building
right at the crossroads at the entry to the "downtown" area.  Actually,
she owns the whole building, and rents the 4 storefronts on the first
floor to a variety of local businesses; an ice cream shop, corner store,
and a weird Metaphysics office/store that is never open.

The fourth storefront is currently unoccupied, and Annie (strangely,
a not uncommon first name in these parts) has offered the space to her
daughter for the library.  Now all we need are some books!

The Dowbrigade has started things off with about 100 tomes we sent down
from Boston via US postal mail bag (the cheapest way to send books and
printed materials).  We would like to solicit right now, any old,
used, unneeded books you all might have or be able to get your hands
on, in ENGLISH or SPANISH, for a very worthy cause.

This is a chance to help some deserving dead-end kids cop a little culture
– a charitable donation which will go directly into the hands of the
people who need them – no overhead or diverted resources at all.  If
any of you, loyal readers, have books you no longer need, don’t throw
them out, send them to:

Guadalupe Moreira de Intriago (Norma’s sister, acting as chief librarian
in absentia)
Correo Central
Chone – Manabi
Ecuador – South America

Anything at al will be appreciated – fiction or non-fiction, hard cover
or paperback, magazines or encyclopedias. We will try to acknowledge
all contributions – you might even get a shelf named after you!  And
if you ever happen to be in Chone, Ecuador, you can drop in and visit
your tomes.

Do a good deed – sponsor literacy and give some idle youth a chance
to auto-educate. A good book can change a life.

We suspected that the blogging revolution had penetrated even to
this dynamic but out-of-the-way corner of South America, and a few days
ago we confirmed it. We are now in contact with a fellow blogger here
in Manta, Joselias Sanchez, whose very interesting Blog "Dialogs
with Joselias" is available on Blogspot.

In addition to posting on the importance of maintaining alive the history
and culture of Manta and the province of Manabi, from its pre-Colombian
origins to the present panorama, Joselias is the director of the Journalism
program at the local university, and has invited us to address his students
on the burgeoning Blog phenomena.

As we have noted in the past, the day is fast approaching when whenever
and wherever something interesting or important happens in the world,
there will be the authentic voice of a Blogger nearby…..

check out "Dialogos de Joselias"

Notorios
right-wing newshound Matt Drudge yesterday prominently featured a candid
photo of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in which the Senator
appears to be sucking his thumb. In the name of Fair Play, notorious
left-wing news mutt Dowbrigade would like to share with his readers the
accompoanying candid shot of President Bush clowning around in the White
House "Green Room".

No, actually this is a shot of the original Bozo, who we are sure
was one of the President’s role models during his idle youth. The legacy
of Bozo is embroiled in a wicked dispute between the heirs of Vance Colvig,
the first Bozo, and Colombia Record executive Alan Livingston, who claims
to have created Bozo in 1946. A dubious honor, to say the least, but
we are sure the residuals and marketing rights are no laughing matter.

Vance "Pinto" Colvig
portrays Bozo the Clown in this undated file photo. For years Larry Harmon
claimed to have created the character, and said he was the original.

Now the International Clown Hall of Fame in downtown Milwaukee is formally
endorsing a different version: Capitol Records executive Alan Livingston
created Bozo for recordings in 1946, and the late Colvig was the first
person to play the clown. On Friday, May 28, 2004, the hall is posthumously
inducting Colvig as the first Bozo. (AP Photo/Photo courtesy International
Clown Hall of Fame)

Kerry photo from Drudge

Bozo photo from AP

Like
a shiny jewel in a crap-encrusted crown, the city of Manta stands out
as one of the few spots in a country mired in underdevelopment which
is showing multiple and obvious signs of growth, development and progress.  While
Ecuador in general, and particularly the agriculturally-dependent towns
and cities of the province of Manabi, are stuck in poverty and neglect,
and in some cases clearly backtracking and decaying into a morass of
crime, corruption and chaos, Manta keeps growing more robust and beautiful,
attracting investment, tourists and modern infrastructure.

How are they doing it? The common wisdom is that these positive developments
are largely due to the efforts of Manta’s two-term mayor, Jorge Zambrano.
While there is no such thing in Ecuador as a completely honest politician
(does this rare breed exist anywhere in the world), Mayor Zambrano has
a well-deserved reputation for effective action and ingenuous escapes
from the traditional traps of graft, influence and cronyism.

How did he manage it? The Dowbrigade has always believed in the lifelong
value of a good education. In the course of graduating from a public high
school in Manta, Zambrano was an exchange student for a year at – St. Patrick’s
High School, in Boston Mass! He later attended the Autonomous University
of Mexico City, where he graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering.

He continued his educational career here in Manta, where he was Director
of the School of Industrial Engineering (1985-86) and Dean of the Faculty
of Engineering (1986-88) at the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manta. He
remained on the faculty of the ULEAM until 1996, when he was first elected
Mayor. Re-elected in 2000, he has announced his intention, and is a virtual
shoo-in, for a third term later this year.

Mayor Zambrano’s entered the convoluted and contentious world of politics almost by chance. Shortly after graduating from college he took over his father’s construction supply business, selling concrete, steel and other supplies to builders and construction engineers. Like many ordinary citizens, he was frustrated and inconvienced by the poor state of the local roads here in Manta, full of potholes and cracks which constantly damaged cars and trucks. However, unlike the majority who were limited to carping and complaining, he decided to do something about the problem. Quietly and without expecting any reward, he began using some of the supplies from his store to fill in holes and make much-needed repairs to important urban roads. Soon several of the major political parties had approached him to suggest that he run for office. Reluctant at first, he eventually gave in and affiliated with the Social Christian party, where he remains something of an outsider for his stubborn independence from the national headquarters in Guayaquil.

Beyond his academic and business background, Jorge Zambrano has been an effictive mayor because he understands the grain
of truth behind the old apocryphal story we first heard back in graduate
school. Two engineers from humble backgrounds, one from the U.S, and one
from Ecuador (or Peru, or Brazil, or practically any third-world country)
met
at the
Graduate
School
of Engineering at the University of Ohio (or Massachusetts, or North Dakota,
or Georgia).  They became fast friends. Several years after their mutual
graduation the Ecuadorian engineer came north on vacation and stopped in
to visit his American friend, who was now living in a beautiful ranch house
along a river, with a swimming pool in the backyard and a Lexus in the the
driveway.

"How did you get all of this in just a few years," the Latin engineer
asked his American friend.

The gringo pulled back the curtains covering the huge picture window in
his living room and revealing a soaring suspension bridge crossing the river
that ran behind his property.

"See that bridge?" he asked his slack jawed Ecuadorian friend, "40% of
the total budget for that bridge ended up right here." And he patted the
pocket of his designer jeans holding his wallet.

A couple of years later the American engineer took a vacation, and flew
south to visit his Latin Classmate. When he found the address his friend
has sent, he discovered it was a gigantic mansion on the outskirts of Quito,
complete with an olympic pool, heli-pad, tennis court and separate guest
house. Parked in the driveway were a BMW, a Hummer and two Porsches.

After greeting his friend and congratulating him on his obvious success,
the American engineer could not refrain from asking, "How did you manage
to get all of this in such a short time?"

"Easy!" replied his friend, pulling back the drapes from HIS picture window,
"See that hydro-electric dam?"

The American stared in vain at a wild panorama of rushing river, cascading
waterfalls and undeveloped nature.  There was not a road or construction
in sight.

"Uh, no, actually…." he replied.

"Well," confided the Ecuadorian, smiling and patting his pocket, "100%
of the budget of that project ended up right here!"

The lesson, obviously, is that while corruption may be universal, it comes
in different degrees.  While it is tempting to conclude that the consistent
lack of progress in the third world is due to endemic corruption, it may
be that their corruption is just cruder, more visible and closer to the surface
here than in the sophisticated power centers of the rich countries. When
mid-level military officials, legislators and police chiefs with public salaries
under
100K are ensconced in multi-million dollar fiefdoms which rival the Kennedy
compound in Hyannisport, it is hard to convince the man in the street to
pay his taxes.

But the occasional success of hard-working regular-guy politicians like
our tennis buddy Jorge Zambrano prove that intelligence and relative honesty
can still rise above self-interest and crass commercialism. If he manages
to resist the insidious interests pushing him to try for national prominence
Manta will be the beneficiary, and should continue to develop.  If
not, Ecuador may benefit, if Zambrano doesn’t lose his soul, or his life,
in the process.