Obama Is Black and I Am White:

During the 2008 campaign, some people tried to claim that then Senator Barack Obama was not an African American because—and this might be difficult to understand for some Americans—his father was a Black African while his mother was a white American.

It's a matter of heritage. Obama doesn't carry with him a personal heritage of his family members having suffered the same indignities as most African Americans do. Nevertheless, we have recently been told that when he filled his census questionnaire out he marked the racial category as "Black, African Am., or Negro."

Throughout his life—and Stephen Colbert will appreciate this—President Obama has been treated like a Black American.

Humorist Colbert has for several years joked about the fact that he "doesn't see" race or color, that people tell him he's white and he believes them. Like much of Colbert's humor, the joke, while it provokes giggles from his audience, has a sharp point. Race is not a matter of biology, it's a matter of class.

Thus, even though my forefathers are of a diverse ethnicity, including some being members of "races" other than western European, and I have cousins who are African American and some of Mexican descent, I am a "white" person because all of my life people have told me that I'm "white" and they have treated me as if I were "white." That is, I have been accepted as a member of a class. (Although often enough not at its highest levels.)

Note: Beware of those who accuse you of initiating class warfare; they mean "class rebellion." The war has existed for a very long time, and they simply want you to "remain in your place."


Doctors Just Wanna Be Rich:

In Florida, a doctor has posted a sign on his door that states if you voted for Obama he doesn't want to treat you. The good doctor is upset about the new health care law. Evidently he fears that he may not make as much money in the future as he has in the past. According to The New York Times, the doctor claims that he won't actually turn away any patients, but he just wants those who voted for Pres. Obama to seek care elsewhere.

Next up, teachers to post signs on their doors that state, "If one of your parents voted for Obama, seek education elsewhere."


Hey, techies, so you're wondering why Apple's iPad is so restrictive:

The major complaint about Apple's new iPad computing device is that users are severely limited by what they can do with it. Apple is notorious for this practice for marketing reasons, but there's an added consideration.

The iPad is positioned to become an eBook killer device, and the whole eBook business model exists on a slippery slope. It's all about "rights."

The "killer" moment in eBook production will be when textbooks can be marketed as electronic transmissions/files. And that moment appears to be a long way off. Books, especially textbooks, are far more heavily laden with copyright issues than music. And we know what happened with that industry. For one view on the quagmire, see Marc Aronson's op-ed in today's New York Times.

eBooks Maturing:

Electronic books are finally moving into the key area of textbook publishing. The big bucks in book publishing are derived from those massively expensive texts that students need for classes, especially the ones that employ color and large images.

Anne Eisenberg reports in today's New York Times on the current advances in this sort of publishing, including the new eDGe ebook reader that employees two screens, one to handle standard black and white eBook printed word material and the other that addresses color with an LCD screen.

The real issue, however, that is not addressed in the article is copyright. These sorts of textbooks often have multiple rights issues well beyond those of novels and the like. Usually this is what drives their printed costs up so high ($100 to $350 per printed copy). Currently, the biggest advantage of the eBook is that it eliminates the costs of warehousing and moving the texts. That in itself is also a major cost.

The Knowledge Base:

Publishing is in the news this morning with two important stories in The New York Times. Motoko Rich takes a look at how the economy is affecting the publishing industry; however, publishing has been undergoing a revolution ever since the PC hit the market place. First it changed how books found their way into print, from the writer to the publisher, and then how books, magazines, and newspapers reached their audiences.

Rich also reports on Google's moves into making all printed matter that exists into searchable commodities. The lawsuits seem to have been settled to all parties' satisfaction so that both copyrighted material and ancient and obscure texts can now be available to anyone with an Internet connection. The effects of this still remains highly speculative, both in regards to economics and knowledge aquisition.

This Day in History: Henry Ford introduced the $5 per day minimum wage for workers at the Ford Motor Company. At the time, my grandfather was working in the coal mines for $1 per day.

Finally, Real Progress in Education:

Today's New York Times reports on some real progress in education. Karen Cullotta quotes one parent as stating, "'My daughter is learning that the teacher is not responsible for her learning. [She] knows that she is responsible for her own success'."

The story is about a movement in the Midwest to bring children into the parent-teacher conference, instead of leaving them at home. Sounds like the right idea, and a rarity in education where the professionals have tried to make education all about themselves for the past few decades.

The Good News and the Bad:

No one knows what's going to happen to book publishing. The signs are both good and bad. Oprah can create a best seller with her TV show, and the Internet is wreaking havoc with the book selling business. Houghton Mifflin, long considered America's leading publisher, has chosen not to accept any new manuscripts from new writers. David Streitfeld addresses the dilima in today's New York Times. To date, no one has spotted the light at the end of this tunnel.

A Peek at the Publishing Industry:

Those of us who love books can benefit from as much understanding of the publishing world as is made available to us. Motoko Rich reveals a bit of what's going on in this week's "Books" section of The New York Times. While the eBook phenomenon and the Internet have garnered most of the press space over the past several years, the business of turning publishing into cash streams for conglomerates that began over a quarter of a century ago is still the most dominant force.