Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

…and chicks for free?

Mark at Amaravati: Abode of Amritas talks about federal funds going for “research” at universities. Since he is a linguist, he takes aim at Chomsky.

I believe it is time for the government to put money where it will do the most good: translation.

Think of the benefits that would come from Arabic, Pashtun, and Farsi translations of such things as The Federalist Papers or John Locke, or even the old man himself, Sam Clemens. On my way to Kuwait last spring I spoke with several Iraqi American citizens who had volunteered to go to Iraq as interpreters. I wanted badly to give them some reading material and ask them to translate it in their spare time and pass it around.

Education is a wonderful thing. But the books you read in getting some of that education mean everything. And the people in Iraq have had nothing but Saddam for three decades. How many have grown up without any concept of what is in just twenty or thirty books we all take for granted?

I’d love to see Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations translated and distributed. Even something like les Miserables (are French books a bad choice just because they’re, well…, French?). I’d say anything that offers ideas to ponder and discuss would be of value.

The Bush Doctrine is to spread democratic ideals and practical implementation throughout the world. I believe it is the simplest, yet most profound goal in decades. What other people have ever tried to bring true freedom to those in the world who’ve never experienced it? Asking nothing in return.

I’m going to send this along to my senators and the President. Maybe something good will come of it.

Update: Dr. Cole at Michigan apparently has a project in the works to so something similar to what I’ve proposed. His web site is here with the opportunity to donate.