Artful Notes

Our Ship of Fools

2012-01-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

It is getting more difficult to even comment on thisincreasingly bizarre election season. We have Obama attempting to make a casefor the Nation’s betterment, while the royal, loyal opposition continues tomake its case that he must be stopped at any cost, really without regard to whatever it ishe is saying or proposing.

The republican party apparently has taken leave of itssenses, and seems no longer an American political party. I am uncertain who they represent, but itcertainly is not the American people. Perhaps they now belong—are owned by—that collectionof global financiers who fancy themselves Lords of the Universe. They succeededin bringing the universe to its economic knees, but continue themselves tobring in the big bucks. Romney thinks it’s just fine that he paid less(percentage-wise) in taxes than most blue collar workers. He says, correctlythat he should not be expected to pay more in taxes than the law requires. Butthen, of course, he and his fellow rich people lobby ferociously to block anyand all attempts to correct the tax code so as to require him to pay what manywould describe as his “fair share”. No,he isn’t about to let that happen. And he wonders why people find him a tad . .. “out of touch with reality.”

And speaking of out of touch with reality, we also have thedelusional sociopath, Newt Gingrich. He thinks nobody should care that, althoughhe preaches family values, he thinks he shouldn’t actually have to live them. And because he is a pathological liar, no onewill ever be able to understand when he is lying and when he speaks the truth.Remember that true sociopaths are so good at lying that they are even able tofool lie detector machines. And the Newtis very skilled. He seems even better at the lying game than Shrub. He was forced to resign for unethical behaviorthe last time he held public office and he seems to have continued on hisunethical path ever since. He may be the true danger to our American system,perhaps the most dangerous candidate we have ever seen.

Ron Paul wants to return to the gold standard, and RickSantorum thinks it’s just dandy that women should not have full control oftheir bodies, even if raped. He thinks it’s unfortunate, but, hey, treat it allas one of life’s grand adventures.

Yeah, what a great panel to oppose everything our presidentwants to do to right this ship of fools called America. They yell about his regulations, when in factwe need serious regulatory reform—meaning that we have an entire financialsystem that is seriously unregulated. The practitioners are now most closelyakin to mafia online gamblers, who are willing to risk the entire globalfinancial system if they can make a few more bucks at it. And they don’t mindrisking the entire global climate system as long as they can make a few morebucks. The problem is that it is by no meansclear that, even if Obama is re-elected he will be able to reverse the damagealready done to the world through these fools. I keep wondering, is this whatis being taught in the Stanford and Harvard schools of business these days???

The SC Clown Show

2012-01-21T15:56:00.000-05:00

It is now Saturday afternoon and the great South Carolinagame show called Clowns, Clowns, Clowns, is almost over. I look forward withgreat interest to see whether the mostly Christian Taliban voting bloc willdisplay its utter cynicism, by voting for Mr. Gingrich, our friendly neighborhooddelusional sociopath. Here is a man who changes his religion as often as hiswives—presumably when he tires of one or another and looks outward to themultitude of potential wives and religions he has not yet trashed. I published some time ago a listing of thecharacteristics of sociopaths. Let’s see, they included:

• Glibness and Superficial Charm
• Manipulative and Conning -- They never recognize the rights of othersand see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to becharming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim asmerely an instrument to be used.
• Grandiose Sense of Self -- Feels entitled to certain things as "theirright."
• Pathological Lying --Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almostimpossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and getcaught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremelyconvincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.
• Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt -- A deep seated rage, which is split off andrepressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, butonly as targets and opportunities.
• Shallow Emotions -- When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love andcompassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive.Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what wouldupset a normal person.
• Need for Stimulation -- Verbal outbursts are common.
• Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature
• Irresponsibility/Unreliability -- Not concerned about wrecking others' livesand dreams.
• Contemptuous of those who seek to understand them
• Does not perceive that anything is wrong with them
• Authoritarian
• Paranoid
• Incapable of real human attachment to another
• Unable to feel remorse or guilt
• Extreme narcissism and grandiose
• May state readily that their goal is to rule the world

Any of those seemfamiliar???

The Silly Season

2012-01-17T10:52:00.000-05:00

Ahh, the grand irony of the republican primaries keeps onrolling. Texas Christian Taliban bypassing their man, voting instead for thatgreat model of rectitude Rick Santorum. The man reeks of psudo-morality andfollows the word of the Nazi Pope and his cardinals who seem not to mindchild-rape by their priestly order. Apparently that great horde of boy-rapingpriests are all victims of Liberals. Yeah, the Liberals made them do it. Greatdefense, that! And just imagine. He's apparently against sex, even between consenting married adults--at least that's how I interpret his demand that everyone cease and desist using any contraceptives for any reason. What a great platform demand that would make, huh?

And Mr. Huntsman, the sole reasonable man in the hunt forpower, is now endorsing the other Mormon. He once thought Mr. Romney a man ofquestionable principles. Now, evidently, Mr. Romney has recovered all hisprinciples and is the man of the hour.

And lest we forget that delusional sociopath, the Newt, heimagines himself the eventual winner, regardless of the will of thevoters. He never actually wins anything,but he takes great pride in his ability to sting his other republican opponentswith his drivelocity. One reader of a column in Salon, or The Beast commentsthat the Newt was America’s Churchill and oh how we needed him. Newt may not beChurchill, but he brings to mind an old Churchillian comment about America—“Americawill always manage to do the right thing, after having exhausted all otherpossibilities.” That may be an excellent description of the Newt. The mainquestion is, could the world survive the Newt, as he tries all otherpossibilities?? Talk about Risky Business.

And what can one say about Ron Paul—he’s so . . . consistent. . .ly wrong.

And just think . . . we have another ten months of thisstuff . . .

The Money Game

2012-01-07T17:16:00.005-05:00

For a long time, I have been wondering why none of the intelligentrepublicans have been willing to speak out publically about the clown showsometimes called the republican presidential primaries. And why none of themwere willing to speak out during the obviously disastrous final days of theShrub administration. I understood whysome of them, idiots like Krauthammer, failed to speak—they are captive to theirown ideology and so, dare not criticize a fellow republican.

Then as I was reading something by George Will, it suddenly hitme. George “disclosed”, at the end of one of his right wing hit pieces, thathis wife is a consultant-adviser to the Ric Perry campaign. So, it finally hit me—Duh, you idiot. It’s allabout the money. Many years ago, George Will used to write speeches for Ronald Reaganand then go on TV as a political “analyst” to describe how brilliant Reagan wasand how great were his speeches. Ithought at the time that was a bit tacky, but never went the extra step anddecided that George Will was simply a right wing hit man who was for sale tothe highest bidder and republicans tend to have more money than democrats, so healways sells to the republicans. So, ofcourse people like Will cannot, speak out against the parade of clowns andmisfits. There’s too much money at stake.

And apparently, and sadly, there really isn’t anything else goingon in our political system. It’s always only about money and power—and poweronly because it begets more money and eliminates the threats to ongoing moneyaccumulation. The concept of America andwhat that used to mean has now disappeared from our current political landscape.America is apparently nothing more than a honey tree, and the guy who ends upwith more money wins. Nothing else is at stake—the “Give me your poor, yourhuddled masses, yearning to be free”, is basically just a joke at this stage.

In the old days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, some people (notmany even then) used to care about things like educating our people, establishingfair rules of the game, protecting the environment. Now, it seems nobody caresabout anything, except money. Our banks have basically turned into an organizedcrime ring, and evidently that’s ok with us. When was the last time you saw oneof the banker CEOs go to prison for financial malfeasance? Nah, when they screwup and lose a bunch of our money, we just give them more—so they shouldn’tfail, don’t you know. It occurs to methat the mafia could really take lessons from our financial institutions. There’sway more money and way less risk than screwing around with drugs.

So apparently, morality has disappeared from the political scene.When pols talk of “faith and family values” we know they are lying, just to getour attention and our votes. All they really care about is remaining in power,so that they can feed and be fed by the monied interests—our corporate CEOs—youknow, the 1% set.

That explains much. Like why the republicans seem to act in waysthat seem designed to destroy the middle class. I kept thinking . . . themiddle class is what made America great, and public education is what createdthe middle class. Why would they want to destroy those institutions? Well, partof the answer lies in the nature of an educated middle class—they tend to betroublesome to the 1%, the Koch brothers and all the CEOs who want to be ableto do anything they want , including destroy our environment completely. An educated class of people will argue withthe CEOs and question their motives, so getting rid of that class seemsimportant to the Koch’s (and their appointed representatives, like Romney,Perry, et al). So, first you hack away at the public education system, then youship all the middle class jobs to China. And bingo, the middle class begins todisappear. The 1% set is apparently toostupid to remember that old rascal Henry Ford, who thought that paying people adecent wage was good for him, because he would then have customers for hiscars. The 1% set no longer cares about that, especially since they don’tproduce anything for sale any longer. So, none of that stuff matters.

I’m not sure where this realization that nothing matters anylonger except money takes me. For one thing, I suppose I can now really justassume that whenever republicans open their mouths, they are lying. And thatwhatever it is they are saying, I should assume it has something to do withmoney and the accumulation thereof. Mainly, they are talking because they want to regain power, and theywant power so they can continue on their path towards more money.

One question remains at this stage, i.e., where in all this money swampare the Democrats and Obama? So far, it would appear that precious little separatesthe two parties. I do trust Obama more for reasons unclear, except that he hada different background, and seems less to be grounded in money. But we need to see some change in the way ourpresident approaches the world and us—ordinary citizens. We need to see our president embrace the kindof strategy we thought we were buying into when we elected him. We need tofollow a course such as the one below.

In economic matters,extremes do not work. Under Bush, we shifted dangerously in the direction of afascist state—that is, a state in which private owners of businesses dictategovernment policies. The inevitable result is Enron, et al, as well as the collapsedfinancial system. We have been drifting in that direction for quite some timenow, even under Clinton. Everyone has been so concerned with government regulationthey failed to notice that unregulated business isas dangerous as unchecked government. One gives you fascism; the other socialism.Private business interests must always be checked to assure that the public isprotected. So too must government overseers. Balance in everything is theanswer. But balance requires mental agility. The public has little patience—theywant the world to operate on autopilot. They need to be convinced that a worldin which competing interests are balanced is both an efficient world,and a world that is worthy.

We need to pay for whatwe need or want. The Republican Party has been, almost as a matter of policy,fiscally irresponsible. They practice “charge and spend” politics. We will nowhave to pay for their profligacy. The public—the thinking public—needs tounderstand that we cannot continue on the course they continue to follow.Mainly the rest of the world will not allow us to continue on this course. Theywill simply stop buying our debt and then it will end, badly. Taxes are the way we pay forour policies. Taxes are neither good nor bad, in the abstract. They representthe price of operating our country, or, perhaps, the glue of a civilizedsociety.

Organized religion hasbecome dysfunctional. For reasons I cannot comprehend, religious leaders have losttheir way on matters of intellectual thought. Science is now being posed assome alternative to faith—as though people of faith ought to be opposed torational thought. There is no conflict and there never was. The public must beconvinced that leaders who find conflict are charlatans interested only in enhancingtheir personal power. If God gave us this magnificent universe,God also gave us brains to ponder its majesty. Those who wish to stop science aretrying to return us to the dark ages, where they ruled through fear. We darenot return there, but the republicans and their coterie of 12th centuryleaders, opened the door to religious extremism, with all its fearful consequences.

Terrorism continues togrow, and we currently have no effective way to check its growth. It is nowclear that policies under Bush were a growth medium. We are breedingterrorists, and every time we kill innocents, ten terrorists take their place againstus. So generally, military solutions donot work well to end such desperate tactics as terrorism. We need differentstrategies.

We must pursue policiesthat are aimed at preserving the Earth. We need to conserve. We need to pursuealternative energy policies. We need to use economic forces to create a demandfor energy-efficiency and energy independence. Under republicans we are drivento pursue policies promoting wasteful energy consumption, mainly because republicansare paid by the extractive industries. We need to tax wasteful energyconsumption, so as to encourage wiser use of Earth’s limited resources.

We must pursue a policyof economic independence for all our citizens. During my career, I worked for sevenorganizations over a 45 year career. For 20 of those years, I worked forseveral large and small companies that contributed nothing beyond Social Securityfor my retirement. Republicans keep up their efforts to threaten that reserve.If indeed we wish to get rid of Social Security, we do not need to “privatize”it. We need to pass legislation that forces every economic entity in thecountry to pay into a portable retirement system. TIAA-CREF comes to mind—thesystem used by most universities and non-profits. If the private sector wouldbegin to live up to its responsibilities by a mandatory contribution system, wewould not need Social Security. Take the system used by universities and non-profitsand replicate it throughout the whole of the private sector. Do not allowcompanies to wriggle out by use of part-time workers. If they employ part-timeworkers, they still pay full retirement benefits.

Similarly, we must passa system of health care reform. Obama’sprogram only takes us part of the way towards such a goal. We need to continue to argue that, whilerepublicans do not appear to believe that all Americans should have access tohealth care, democrats do. We need a single payer system. We need to stand upfor what is right here – 40 to 50 million people who have no health care is notright.

Republicans, with their “no-Child-LeftBehind” Act, were attempting to scuttle public education. We need to beginworking with the states to remedy the currently deplorable state of publiceducation. In our area of North Carolina, they seem comfortable with a drop outrate of 35%. Think of that. We can do better. Indeed, we are losing ground tothe rest of the world,

and we are at risk ofbecoming a country of stupid people. Mainly, because of the current emphasis ontesting, and teaching to the test, the entire system has begun to be based onlies. We simply make up results that keep us out of trouble, whether the kidsare learning or not. That latter point seem irrelevant—child learning no longerseems to be the point of public education. Similarly, we need to stop blamingteachers for all the problems in our current system. Parents are as responsibleas the teachers.

We must examinecarefully the structure of government. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was anabsurd idea—a solution in search of a problem. Think of it. The CIA and the FBIwouldn’t communicate and were demonstrably inept, so we forced the Coast Guard,FEMA, and the rest to become one entity. An idea only a truly stupid person couldembrace. Structure is not the answer when the problem is an absence ofthoughtful consideration of available evidence. It is possible that Mr. Bushcould have, indeed should have anticipated 911. We still need to hold ourpublic agencies accountable for their failures, especially but not exclusivelythe security agencies. New structuresmight be required, but Homeland Security and the Patriot Act are not answers toany problem we currently have.

President Obama, you stillseem not to recognize that your republican colleagues continue to focus onzero-sum games. Apparently they do not understand the concept of win-win. Theydo not care about the effects of their actions, or inaction on the future ofAmerica, nor do they care about ordinary Americans per se. They care only aboutmoney and about ways to acquire money. That they are owned 100% by theircorporate owners seems not to trouble them. So you must act accordingly. Dowhat you think is right, rather than what you think they will approve. Stop catering to their whims and their emptypromises. Declare that game over.

We need to begin again,with a grand strategy that includes openness, an embrace of democracy through peacefulmeans, and an impassioned defense of rational policies that seek to better thisonce-proud nation and indeed the entire world. It is well to remember thatsocieties will be judged ultimately by their treatment of those less fortunateswho cannot care for themselves. We stand for that principle against the forcesof darkness unleashed and embraced by the republicans.

If in the end theirmoney wins out, at least let it be known that you tried to oppose their darkinstincts.

2012-01-01T16:22:00.000-05:00

OK, so New York strikes back on New Year's Eve. What'd ya think Oz, that we can't outdo that pathetic fireworks display?? Well, of course we can. Here, take this Oz . . .

Hah!!!
So, can you top this, Oz???
Ha . . . I thought not . . .

Oh . . . sorry folks . . . I just made that up . . .

But, hey, all in the spirit of good fun . . .
So, Happy New Year all. See you later alligator . . .

hahahahahahahaha.

2012 . . . it's going to be a truly funny year . . . what will all the clowns in Iowa and all.

Bring in the New Year Oz-Style

2011-12-31T14:32:00.000-05:00

December 31, 2011; 2:30 PM
Ahhh Oz, you really know how to bring in the New Year.
Take that New York . . . let's play, "Can you top this??"
More later . . .

The Ending of a Year

2011-12-30T15:55:00.000-05:00

And so another year ends. Not one of the great years onewould say—a dismal economic performance worldwide, and a broken US politicalsystem. Might we hope that it can only get better from here (despite the dismalforecasts for 2012)?

But, as I was in that half awake-half asleep mode thismorning, I thought of 60 years ago, as I was approaching the end of 1951 andlooking forward to my high school graduation that coming June. My excitement at the coming graduation and my plannedattendance at Stanford University in the Fall of 1952 made the closing out of1951 and the upcoming year look to be exciting.

The downer in all that excitement, of course, was theongoing Korean War. That war provoked considerable discussion and not a littleconsternation among my male friends, most of whom were either already 18 orsoon to turn 18. The magic 18 had nothing to do with conventional stuff likedrivers’ licenses or legal drinking, but rather the draft. Would the war continue and would we all,therefore, be drafted to serve in that war? My “coming of age” date was December 17, 1952. I would be at Stanford atthat point, so whether I would be drafted at all might depend on whether thewar turned into a larger conflict.

I was just becoming aware of politics and I was excitedabout the coming election, even though I could not yet vote. Eisenhower was thegreat father figure who had played a major role in World War II. Hopefully, we all thought, he would be ableto act in such a way that Korea would be contained, although China was widelyregarded as a serious wild card. Happily, for me at least, my student status prevailed and I remained outof the draft. Happily too, the Warfinally ground to a halt with an Armistice. The shooting stopped.

So, as we approach 2012, some 60 years has passed and westill have one ongoing shooting war. We really don’t seem to get it—we theWorld of adults I mean. It is difficult toescape the notion that adult males especially, love to shoot things, peopleespecially, and now, especially if it can be done at a distance, using somebodyelse’s son or daughter as the instruments of destruction. If it isn’t organized religion, it’s oil, orterritory, or to remove somebody we don’t like at the moment (see SadaamHussein and George W. Bush). We seem topossess an inexhaustible supply of reasons to shoot people. “Love thy neighbor” seems a passing bad joke.

And to listen to all the chest thumping going on amidstthose royal, loyal republicans running for that very high office, I remainconfident that one or more of them will dream up some argument for invadingIran, once elected (except for Ron Paul who, although terminally nuts on mostfronts, seems predisposed to stop getting us into wars). I remain hopeful that this parade of delusionalclowns will all self-destruct on election day 2012 and go back to their mainbusiness—getting really, really wealthy. If there were only some legal way we could imprison them, and the globalbankers, for their roles in crashing theworld economy. But alas, they will all go scot free and continue to grow theirfortunes. Such is life.

So, as the year ends, I am visibly older than the youngsprout anxiously looking forward to 1952, but I nonetheless continue to lookforward to the coming 2012. Who knows,maybe common sense will suddenly strike the world of adults . . . it couldhappen.

The Eve of Christmas

2011-12-24T14:14:00.001-05:00

December 24, 2011.

The table is set with dishes aplenty. The stockings hung bythe chimney with care. The fresh breadfills the kitchen air, while the meat cooks slowly and the red cabbage simmers,all adding to the aroma. Everythingbegins to be ready, awaiting children and grandchildren. The ghost of Christmases past hover about thehouse, but all the memories are sweet, the images warm.

We wish to all the good peoples of the world, “may you findpeace, and love, even a fraction of what we hold dear within our little home. May all the terrorists of the world stop and returnto their homes to consider a different future, one devoid of violence. Look upon the children, and smile; do what isright for them and all will be well.”

So, to one and all, have a safe, and happy Christmas Eve andChristmas. If you look to Hannukah, or to some other celebration, may yours toobe filled with joy and love.

Happy Days

2011-12-21T09:53:00.001-05:00

Well, I missed Beethoven’s birthday this year—December 16^thseemed to just come and go. But Ludwig,we love your stuff, especially that 9^th that you completed but neverheard yourself. Deafness in a composer is the definition of cruel irony, huh?

And then December 17^th came and went, and Iembarked on my 78^th year—78 . . . wow. What can I say? I ain’tmiddle-aged any more. Nice celebration, though . . . lots of family members,lots of hugs, a lot of love flowing about. Nice.

And now we approach Mrs. Schmidt’s 76^th—Thursday tobe precise. Wow! My child-bride turning near middle-aged. It’s amazing this one day at a time thing.Before you know it, serious history has come and gone. And it’s the history thing that grabs at us.Our grandson has been writing papers on contemporary history—you know, the NewDeal, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs. For him, ancient history; for usthe stuff of our lives. His paper on theNew Deal was a great piece, but the thing that struck us most is that he couldhave been writing about today, without the Roosevelt rescue team. I seerepublicans today playing the same role as the Hooverites did in 1930—“let’s donothing and maybe all this crap we brought about will just go away.” And when our grandson asks us questions aboutthe Cold War, or that JFK fiasco, the Bay of Pigs, or the mess called Vietnam,our memory banks tend to go into overtime, flooding us with that time—sitting arounddrinking martinis, after our work building deadly intercontinental missilesystems, and arguing about whether it would be better to head to the hills (theSierra’s) or head for the coast if the Russkies and the Americans got into afull-out pissing match involving nukes because of the Cuban mess. Yeah, thosewere good times, huh? Saber-rattling it was called, but when the sabers turnout to be hydrogen bombs that can reach cities within a few minutes, it seemsof a different order.

So, we hope for Mrs. Schmidt’s birthday, to get rid of allthose memories for at least the hours of celebration.—dinner at our splendidItalian restaurant, Gianni’s in Concord. It’s a place we hold dear as a specialcelebration venue—great food, hospitable company, great staff helping us toenjoy special evenings.

And then on to Christmas, where the sparkle in ourgrandchildren’s eyes is real, and their smiles sublime. On Dancer, on Prancer . . .

SOPA

2011-12-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

So, what are we to make of this Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA)?

On the one hand, who doesn’t want online piracy stopped? On the otherhand, many, many people believe that this Act is akin to destroying the villagein order to save it, to fall back on that old Vietnam War saw. One Twitterati whit noted that the currentCongressional debate is somewhat like a family gorging themselves on wine andrich food at a Thanksgiving dinner, while attempting to discuss String Theory. Not a bad analogy, I thought. And an addedproblem is the timing. It would be difficult to imagine worse relations betweenthe warring political parties than that which exists today. Every time the Dems want to pass some billbadly, the Republithugs attach some poison pill non-germane amendment. The Dems are apparently too timid, or perhapstoo stupid to do the same in return. So,really nothing rational is taking place and debates on any subject must besomewhat akin to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, with John Boehner playing the roleof the Hatter.

As with so many things, the Act seems well-intended. Weshould really do something to stop or at the least disturb the ability ofvarious people and companies to steal copyrighted music, and films. One mightimagine, in a “best of all possible worlds” (certainly unlike the one weinhabit currently) legitimate companies such as Google and PayPal wouldrefrain from providing financial cover to piratical firms. But apparently in today’s world of commercereally almost anything goes (which is of course why we are in the midst of thisGreat Depression II). However, as weimagine, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. And so it is with this SOPA.

The primary problem, according to its antagonists, is thatit would allow government to shut down any web site it (government) doesn’tlike. Could that be?? Oh, it soundsfamiliar. Oh, I know, isn’t that at least conceptually similar to thatrepublithug bill attachment that allows the executive branch to arrest andincarcerate for life without lawyer or trial any individual it deems aterrorist??? So, we know that at leastthe possibility for some such mischievous outcome is possible with SOPA,especially in the hands of the wrong President. It would seem we have another of those, “becareful what you wish for” things.

Perhaps we need to find some other way to shut down thepiracy.

And on exoplanet Congress, I wonder whether the Senate,instead of just passing or trashing the Boehner-inspired bill that adds thepipeline to the tax relief for the middle class, has considered adding aprovision that would pay for the bill, and then some, by, say, quadrupling thetaxes paid by the top 1%? Think of the blood pressure readings that would beexperienced by Mr. Boehner with that one.

Bookends

2011-12-10T14:16:00.001-05:00

It is getting increasingly difficult to understand the fervor displayed by some of the 99% for Republican candidates like the Newt. The Newt represents in the whole all of the folks whut brung us to this low state, the one we now lovingly refer to as The Great Depression II.

My life has begun resembling bookends. I was born into this odd place called Earth in 1934, the dreary middle of Great Depression I. My grandparents—the Scottish ones—had lost most of what they had accumulated since coming to this Great Nation from Scotland around the turn of 20th century. Their losses were a direct result of greedy bankers/investment brokers, and corrupt corporate CEOs . . . you know, the same sort of folks who have brought us to our current state of despair. So, it’s sort of, “been there, done that”. One major problem is that I don’t see an FDR waiting to produce a rescue plan. I guess the Newt is playing the role of Herbert Hoover, the guy who refused to do anything rational to get us out of the Depression, and who led fairly directly to the election of FDR in 1932. FDR, perhaps like Obama today, had to do battle with his republican foes in order to get anything done. Except that FDR wasn’t faced with the money machine that a corrupt and very republican Supreme Court has unleashed on the country.

When I see letters to the editor indicating that the writer would vote for the Newt, despite holding many reservations, because he would never vote for Obama, who, after all, has done nothing to bring us to full employment, I despair. The guy intends to vote for the guy who, along with his good friends, delivered us into this state. Excuse me, I am tempted to write, do you not understand who is responsible here? And when you all croak that the President cannot/does not produce jobs, only the 1% can produce jobs, does it not ever occur to you that, therefore, it is the 1% and their republican faithful, who are at fault . . . not Obama??? Do you people never engage your brains before speaking/writing? Ever? Know this republican faithful. The Newt represents one of the gravest dangers this Nation has faced in perhaps the past 50 years.

And on Planet Penn State, Mr. Sandusky has been arrested again, this time for Victims 9 and 10. Victim 9 testified that Mr. Sandusky’s wife was at home, while the boy-child yelled for help as he was being raped, but no help ever came.

All-State Strikes Again

2011-12-05T09:25:00.001-05:00

So, someone runs through a red light at an intersection with blind corners and hits my car. He accepts responsibility, and asserts that he never saw me until we collided. His insurance, All-State, claims that I am partly responsible under North Carolina's1% contributory negligence statute, so they refuse to pay my claim for damages. I assume, instead, that All-State adjusters get paid partly on the basis of how many legitimate claims they can deny.
"You're in Good Hands with All-State" is kind of liking assuring bank tellers,
"You're in good hands with Willie Sutton."

The Season

2011-11-28T16:21:00.001-05:00

The season is nigh . . .
Which season you might ask? The season of good cheer, highhopes, a touch of snow, and large credit card expenditures. Black Friday has passed and Black Cyber-Mondayis almost finished. We can only hope that Americans have gotten over theirgrief at being screwed by the Nation’s bankers, and have decided to buy moreChinese crap anyway. Apparently ourentire economic future depends on Americans being willing to suspend disbeliefand buy more stuff this month. Only then will weemerge from this dreadful thing called (by some) The Great Depression II. Let’s hope.

In the meantime, the Republican hopeless-hopefuls willcontinue battling amongst themselves for idiot of the month. This month, we areassured, the Newtster has regained the crown, having achieved the dubiousdistinction of being anointed by the New Hampshire Union Leader as candidate ofthe month. In their endorsement, they said, apparently without intending to befunny:

“We are in critical need of theinnovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich hasshown he is capable of providing... A lot of candidates say they're going toimprove Washington. Newt Gingrich has actually done that, and in this race heoffers the best shot of doing it again,"

Oh, yeah, I guess that’s when he shut down the government in 1995.

But maybe, said he hopefully, the Season can go on with onlyminimal interference from the idiot parade. Maybe Santa will still arrive onhis sleigh with his 8 tiny reindeer to treat the nation’s children to the goodcheer and happiness we used to associate with The Season in days of yore—it couldhappen. I do so hope. The little ones need this infusion of normalcy, and webig ones also need to be able to pretend again, even if for just a littlewhile. I know, I know, 2012 is then justaround the corner, and the parade of idiots will recommence, to even morevicious standards, to the extent they have any standards at all.

But in the meantime, let’s all turn on the lights, decoratethe trees, dream of snow, and buy, buy, buy. And if you have a neighbor in need, or seesomeone who needs a hand, lend yours. Our communities are filled with familieswho have little and are barely getting by. So, reach out and give a hand folks.Your gestures of good will may be just the ticket to turn a sad season into ahappy one. Even if you’re not abillionaire, try to make someone else feel happy.

Get in the spirit, folks, and stop thinking about politics,even for just a little while . . .

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-20T15:49:00.001-05:00

The season is upon us. That season within which we are givento understand that peace is near, or perhaps it surrounds us, were we onlysmart enough to understand.

Thanksgiving is a peculiar celebration. On the one hand, itis a celebration that the nation’s Pilgrim ancestors managed to survive, andperhaps even to prosper. The Pilgrims needed to survive the winters, potentiallyhostile critters, and the actual Native Americans who did not yet understandthe intent of the incoming European hordes. There were not yet bankers roaming the landlooking for ways to steal from them. But they survived, and led us to this landof plenty.

So, it is a time to give thanks for the plenty in our lives,and, in our case, we have much to be thankful for. Given the state of the world,we are fortunate that we live in a place that is based, sometimes, on law, and on civil values . . . sometimes. King Bloomberg in New York is trying his bestto stamp out such foolishness. For the time being, the police seem to be on hisside . . . for the time being.

But we do not live in the police state of Manhattan. Here inConcord, life for us is still peaceful. Despite the best intent of America’sbankers to rob us of our retirement assets, our financial planner has beendiligent, and some money still survives. So, we must also give thanks to Mr.Keith Riley for his due diligence.

We will enjoy a Thanksgiving meal worthy, at least, of thenation’s ancestors—the Pilgrims. Surely, our groaning board exceeds anythingthey enjoyed, for this is still the land of plenty.

Our children and our grandchildren are healthy and prosperin most useful ways. We give thanks forthat and we wish our friends and family all that is good in the world. May lifebe fair to you in this holiday season.

And to all, Happy Thanksgiving.

All the News . . .

2011-11-10T15:56:00.001-05:00

Opening the newspaper lately practically requires one to beeither stoned, or equipped with a large flagon of wine, preferably red. Thismorning, for example: Joe Paterno and his partner in crime, the President ofPenn State, have been fired. Well good,I thought. They most closely resemble those Catholic Bishops and Cardinals, andtheir Nazi Pope, who thought it Ok to ignore the sexual abuse of young,vulnerable kids.

Then there was Italy. Turns out that Mister Sarkozy and Ms.Merkel have been discussing Europe without the Italians. Yeah, Mr. Berlusconiand his buddies in Rome are getting to be, well, hmmm . . . unaffordable. Italyseems to be going the way of Greece . . . and Ireland . . . and Portugal . . .Except that Italy’s too big, so they could well bring down the whole show. So,maybe Europe could be a Northern thing, without the pizza and spaghetti.

Oh, and then there’s that little notice that the Dover Mortuary—that’sthe place where our dead serviceman arrive back into the US, after having beenkilled defending the US of A.—well that mortuary has been dumping remains ofour dead loved ones in a landfill. Yeah. . . a landfill. Oh and they forgot to tell anyone about their littlepractice. Nice huh? Nothing like the military honoring its fallen heroes.

On the environmental front, China is at it again: In the run-up tothe international climate negotiations in Durban later this month, China hasresponded to efforts to ban the trading of widely discredited HFC-23 offsets bythreatening to release huge amounts of the potent industrial chemical into theatmosphere unless other nations pay what amounts to a climate ransom. In a shocking attempt to blackmail theinternational community, Xie Fei, revenue management director at the ChinaClean Development Mechanism Fund, threatened: "If there's no trading of[HFC-23] credits, they'll stop incinerating the gases" and vent themdirectly into the atmosphere. Speaking at the Carbon Forum Asia in Singaporelast week, Xie Fei claimed he spoke for "almost all the big Chineseproducers of HFCs who "can't bear the cost" and maintain that"they'll lose competitiveness". Wow, what great guys. Walmart, aren’t youproud to be one of their biggest sponsors??

And then there’s that one about Rick Perry who had three major points tomake about Federal agencies he would immediately eliminate, except he couldonly remember two of them. Yeah, Texans must be so proud of their guy. And thatone makes me wonder whether it’s true that someone has invented a new game.Remember that one called, “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?” Well, the newgame will be called, “Are you smarter than a republican presidential candidate?”The game has been designed for third-fifth grade reading levels.

But I digress . . . maybe a big pull on the flagon will make all the day's stories blend together into some nice foggy short story - - - you know of the fiction variety . . . .
PS
Oh, but I neglected to include one of the biggest ones. You know how Pat Roberts and others of his ilk are always saying that God is displaying his displeasure at some part of America by tossing hurricanes, or an earthquake at us?? Well, I'm thinking that God must be really pissed at Alaskans, because she has now tossed one of the biggest storms on memory at Alaska . . . just to send them a message about their support for Sarah Barbie . . . Wonder whether Juneau will just sink into the sea like one of their glaciers???

Awareness of Today

2011-11-09T15:24:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, just before going off to the land of wink and nod, I thought about the day. What kind of a day had it been? Well, we went to our usual very early workout at the Y, We had voted earlier, so we didn't need to go to the polls. We managed to place the net over our pond, in advance of the coming big leaf drop from our oak trees. And I had printed a couple more artsy family calendars for the coming New Year of 2012. Not a bad day, I thought.
Increasingly, as I age a bit more each day, I have begun thinking more about each day, and how it is necessary to examine the day, to see whether it was in some way meaningful. I have become acutely aware, as part of the aging process, that life is just a sequence of days and that, if we rush through a day without paying attention, we are thereby not paying attention to our very life.
I don't really think we all need to do something big every day, just that we need to think about each day. Mostly, I observe people ignoring their days, perhaps always looking forward to something that will be happening later. But, since we are always in the present, it is now that we need to pay attention. Otherwise, we risk losing our lives to the future.
I often see a neighbor who seems to stand outside smoking, I guess because his partner does not allow him to smoke indoors. But I note also that he and his partner seem never to do anything. They seem to me to be "taking up space" on this planet, without ever contributing anything. And that seems a shame, because someday they will cease taking up space, and then what? What would their lives have meant . . . to them or to anyone else?
I don't pretend to any knowledge about what life is all about. Unlike some of our counterfeit republican presidential candidates, God has chosen not to speak with me directly. I guess I'm not special enough. So, on this big question of what life is all about, I plead ignorance. But I do know that we each have a finite number of minutes on this planet, and it seems wise not to simply waste them.
So, each day, I will think ahead and behind a bit to decide what kind of a day I had and will have ahead of me. Because thinking about it will increase my awareness of life and how precious it is. We dare not waste it, because we may not be back this way again . . . unless you're a Hindu and still somewhere in the middle of finding Nirvana.

Banking & Gambling

2011-11-01T12:40:00.000-04:00

See, it’s not so hard . . . MF Global has entered that hellcalled bankruptcy. And we the people are going to just let it be. No bailouts. No rush to stabilize thefirm. Just let it go the way of allthings. They were gamblers who gambled and lost. That’s the way the cookiecrumbles.

Now, it we can only let the others go as well.

Assume for a start that any “trading firm” is akin to theLas Vegas gambling organizations . . . sort of like the Mafia, but not asskilled. Force them to label themselvesas gamblers—you know, like Morgan Stanley Gamblers, Inc. Then the public willknow what they are doing when sending them money to “invest”.

Then establish rating agencies that rate the investmentvehicles these firms try routinely to flog. If the investment portfolios are too complex to rate, the ratingagencies have to declare, “We cannot untangle the mess they are tryingto sell to the public, so thisinvestment portfolio belongs in the category called “Caveat Emptor”. “ Therating agencies and all auditing firms would be financed by contracts with the government,paid for by fees charged by the government to the firms being rated/audited. Both the ratingagencies and the audit firms would have to be changed every, say, three yearsto avoid becoming corrupted by the gambling firms. It might also be a good ideato make it mandatory that the broker-gamblers (those trying to flog their dealsto the public) would have to buy into these same portfolios.

Then take all “banks” out of the gambling business. Wewould, of course, have to define what is meant by “gambling”. Loaning money toa couple who wish to buy a first home would not be “gambling”, strictlyspeaking. Also, loaning money to someonewho wishes to start a business would not be classified as “gambling”. I assume that smart people (people notworking in the banking industry) could define the difference between gamblingand investing.

Looking at the Eurozone mess that finally crashed MF Global,it might be smart to take private banks out of the business of financing othergovernments. Maybe it should be the casethat loans to foreign governments would be the province of governments. IfGreece wants a loan of $50 billion, maybe that should be debated in Congressand then the US Treasury would be the lender of last resort. MF-GlobalGamblers, Inc. should probably not be in that business.

Then finally, there’s the issue of banks “too big to fail.”We need to define that term carefully, Then we should divide the world ofbanking into two categories—“banks too big to fail” and “all other banks.” Allbanks in the first category should be “restructured”, i.e., broken up into,say, tenths. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about them failing—if they fail,well, they had a good run. Get me a beer hon . . .

And on exoplanet-Cain, we see that the current front runnermust have been studying the Clarence Thomas hearings carefully. And we know how well that has turned out forAmerica.

Corporations as Persons

2011-10-20T14:11:00.000-04:00

I keep thinking about our corrupted Supreme Court’s decisionthat corporations are now persons. Thatdecision was designed by the Supremes to allow corporations to donate unlimitedcash to the republican fat cat candidates. Never mind that it remains anabsurdity on its face. Justice Scalia cares not about such things as logic andsense. He cares only about electing republicans, as when he appointed arepublican, George W. to the presidency.

But I keep wondering how we, the non-fat cats of the world,could use his inane decision to benefit non-fat cats. Then it came tome. If banks that commit patent fraud against the people, or theirshareholders, or people buying investments designed by the bank to defraud, whycan’t we bring such corporate-persons to justice? You know, convene a GrandJury to indict, say Citigroup for its fraudulent one billion dollar investmentdeal that screwed a whole bunch of ordinary people. Yeah, I know, they havebeen fined $280 million for their dishonesty. But that means they’re still leftwith over $700 million in dollars that represent a fraud. Or how about thebanks and other corporate entities that, by screwing with their retirementfunds, have managed to rip off their retirees and future retirees, by takingmoney out of the retirement funds to pay very healthy payouts to their execs,while simultaneously claiming that their pension funds cannot pay out necessaryretirement packages for ordinary folks? Their actions there may also be fraud.

Now, as I best understand it, fraud can be a felony offense. And yes, fraud is not easy to prove. Still,it would be healthy were we to indict, say, a Citigroup for fraud and forcethem to defend themselves against a local or Federal law enforcement agent.Now, it brings me to wonder about who we might commit to the slammer, were weto be able to indict and then convict, say, Citigroup of major fraud. I would assume the agents of that “person”would have to stand-in, i.e., be incarcerated as the living incarnation of theCitigroup person. Otherwise, Citigroup could not be viewed officially as a “person”under any meaningful definition of person (not that Justice Scalia cares suchthings).

It is fun just to think about Citigroup facing time inprison. I assume, incidentally that,being convicted of a major felony, the Citigroup person(s) would lose their licensesto continue in the banking business. That in itself, might be useful outcome.

And on that other planet known as the Strange Land ofCain, the Godfather of lousy pizza, Mr. HermanCain has proposed a very basic tax structure, he calls the 9-9-9 plan. Heboasts that it is simple. Of such plans, H.L. Mencken once said, “For every complex problem, there is a solution that issimple, neat, and wrong."

Happy Birthday Bill

2011-10-19T10:09:00.000-04:00

October 18^th – that was yesterday of course. But October 18^th, 1931 . . . thatwas a while ago . . . 80 years to be exact. So, yesterday, my brother Williamwould have reached 80 years. We always joked that he was 4 years older than me. . . on his birthday. But he never madethat big number, 80, for he is now gone. But I think about him often. He remains the most important man in my life,since he was always forging a path for me to follow. Arguably, we had no fatherto do so, and Bill picked up that mantle.

When I see our grandchildren being fathered properly, Ismile, because whether they are girls or boys, a father’s influence will laterbe cherished, as a Mother’s. So,William, I don’t know whether you are simply forging another path for me orthat perhaps your energy has just been transformed into another form. We knowthat energy is always conserved, neither created, nor destroyed. So, yourenergy remains somewhere in our universe. And your life was full of yourenergy. That energy spurred me on, I continue to thank you daily William. Whileyou were a man, you were a good man. Now, I hold you fast in my own mind.

So, thanks Wiiliam for all you were and are.

Happy Birthday.

In Pursuit of Efficiency in the Private Sector

2011-10-11T13:47:00.000-04:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about this great debate going on inour nation about Capitalism vs. Socialism, and about the ostensibly greaterefficiencies achieved in having the private sector do stuff vs. the governmentdoing that same stuff. I should firstnote that the TeaBaggers and others of that ilk, who keep yelling that Obama isa Socialist really need to get a grip. I assume they keep yelling stuff likethat because, well they’re just not very smart. Most of them don’t really know what Socialism is in any meaningfulsense. Socialism basically means thatthe “means of production” are centrally owned, i.e., by a centralgovernment. In only a very few countrieshas socialism been tried in a pure sense, e.g. the Soviet State and a fewothers of that ilk. Generally, they have not been notably successful. A lot ofthe problems seem to stem from that old Russian adage, “we pretend to work, andthey pretend to pay us.”

In India, a mixed economic system operated. That is, Indiaemployed a “public sector” in which the government owned the plants—generally thissector had the heavy industrials within it. They had a private sector, in whichthe companies were privately owned, and they also had a mixed sector, in whichboth types of ownership existed. A number of European nations use a modifiedsocialist model in which many types of services are government owned andoperated, but the majority of commercial products and services remain private.

In the United States, we clearly use this mixed model, since much of our infrastructure, e.g., ourhighways, have been built by the government, some of our health care isfinanced by the government, much of our education is financed by thegovernment, and many other services are government financed, or run. But the vast majority of economic activity inthis country is privately owned and operated. Given that Obama has not made anyeffort to dismantle that system, it is at best inane to label him a socialist.

In economic systems, we often employ two concepts to assesshow well we are doing. One is “efficiency” and the other is “effectiveness”. Efficiency refers to the input-output ratio,or unit cost. We measure how much labor and material cost we employ to producea unit of output, and then we can use that measure to compare like economicentities on their relative efficiency. We need always to be careful when employing such comparative measures tobe comparing like output products. That is, we should not compare the unit costof production of, say a Mercedes Benz sedan, with a Chrysler PT Cruiser. One isclearly a luxury vehicle, the other an annoying little knockoff of a 1939 autodesign. We could of course compare two Mercedes plants, or even two plantsproducing PT Cruisers and measure their relative efficiency. The Republican advocates of capitalism arguethat the private sector is invariably more efficient than the public sector atdoing really anything. Yet, in a number of cases, for example, healthinsurance, the public sector in the form of Medicare can be seen to operate ata lower cost, i.e., at a greater level of efficiency. Mainly the differencehere seems to be in the form of relatively lower overhead in Medicare, becausethe upper levels of private insurance providers pay exorbitant salaries and bonusesto their executives relative to the government.

We can also see cost disadvantages in other forms of “privatization”of formerly government services, e.g., the military. When Shrub and his gang “privatized”parts of our military by giving very large contracts to firms such asBlackwater and Halliburton, the overall cost of providing the servicesincreased dramatically over what they would have been if run by the governmentitself. Again, the relative salarystructures explain the differences. So,although it remains arguably true that the private sector may well be moreefficient at producing many types of goods and services than the government, itis not axiomatic.

The second type of measure is effectiveness. By “effectiveness”is meant the relative achievement of the main purpose of an activity. For example, an immunization program might bemeasured on the extent to which it limits or eliminates the incidence andprevalence of specific diseases, e.g. measles. Measures of effectiveness are not always sorelatively straightforward, because the presumed cause and effect relationshipsare not always so clear. In education,for example, the “No Child Left behind” program has been translated into an increasingly simplistic model in whichteachers are viewed as the sole determinant of our children’s educationachievement as measured by standardized achievement tests. The entire program is aimed at test gains, andso the educational system itself is slowly being redesigned into a model inwhich we teach kids how to take the standardized tests. There are many obvious things wrong with suchan enterprise. First, “education” should be as much about critical thinkingskills as test-taking skills, but our current approach largely ignores thisissue. Second, our teachers are but oneelement in the learning process. Kids’ status on entering school, their homeenvironment, their parental interest and oversight, are all equal factors in determininghow well and how much kids actually learn. Teacher skills are but one factor.

On effectiveness measurement, because we have become intellectuallylazy, we mostly choose not to do the hard work of forging usable and theoreticallydefensible measures. We tend toward the lowest possible denominator, oftenelecting to measure that which is easily measurable rather than that which is important.

In many private enterprises, we used to compete on twobases, efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is relatively straightforward—unit cost. Effectiveness would be more complex andused to include the functional performance of the item, as well as itsreliability over time, i.e., its “quality”. For example, my McIntosh stereosystem (made in New York and not related to Apple-crap) that I purchased in1968 still produces superb music and hasexperienced no “hiccups” over its 40+ years of performance. Compare that system with most of today’s electronicswhich are dead within three years.

It would be interesting to compare relative effectiveness ofservices produced both by the private sector and the public sector. Forexample, we could compare the provision of services by Blackwater as againstsimilar services by the US military. Many would argue that, not only isBlackwater (now Xe) more expensive, i.e., less efficient, but that they areless effective at what they do—ergo, it would be better overall were the USmilitary (the Government) to provide these services directly.

Over time, I would argue that the private sector has changedthe nature of its game dramatically in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.Beginning in the early part of the 20^th century, one could see theprivate sector, in pursuit of efficiency gains, trying to reduce its unit costof production so as to become more efficient and, therefore, more competitive.Thus we saw a shift in production from the North to the South because of thelow labor cost in the South. That shiftnever really stopped as our business executives, always in pursuit of higherprofits kept moving the locus of production in the direction of lower laborcosts, eventually moving their enterprise production plants to other countries. Over time, less and less of ourcommercial production of goods and services is carried out within the UnitedStates—which explains in part our unemployment dilemma. If we do not produce anything here, why wouldwe need a labor force? When, forexample, housing collapsed, that was the last bastion of employment, leading tothe continued high unemployment rates, despite the theoretic end of therecession. There are no jobs because ourproductive capacity has been moved out of the country in order to gain low unitcosts of production.

I would also argue that over the last 20-30 years, not onlyhas our executive workforce been focused on efficiency, it has largelyeliminated the other measure—effectiveness. In pursuit of greater profits,efficiency has replaced all other measures. Seemingly, we no longer compete onquality.

Now, if that be true, I am wondering whether we still haveone more shift needed in pursuit of greater efficiency. Why not begin “offshoring” our executiveclass? Since they represent the last really large pool of cost to reduce, weshould think about ridding our companies of that executive staffing and movingthose functions to India, China, et al. Think of the savings we could achieveand think of how happy that would make our stockholders. We could shift all boards of directors, allsenior executives—say the top three tiers of every US Company. Wouldn’t that begreat?

Another great example of “Be Careful What You Wish For,Guys.”

Just thinking . . .

Our First Naive President

2011-10-05T09:12:00.002-04:00

If St. Ronald gave us a first brush with an intellectually challenged president, we can say with confidence that George W. Bush was our first truly stupid president. Unquestionably, Ric Perry would make Shrub fade into the background of stupidheadland, since Perry seems to be intent on demonstrating that Bush wasn’t so bad after all.

In olden times, Republicans might have had scary guys as President, for example, Richard Milhouse Nixon, but they never seemed terminally stupid. Now, for whatever reasons, Republicans seem to prefer their candidates either really stupid, really crazy, or both (see Michelle Bachman).

But Democrats have come up with an entirely new category -- naivete. Who would have ever considered a naïve president? Well, it would seem in President Obama, we have our very first naïve president.

Naïveté or naïve can be defined as:
Lacking worldly experience and understanding, especially, a. simple and guileless; artless as in a child with a naive charm; or perhaps, b. Unsuspecting or credulous.

How else should we characterize our current Democratic President? Somehow, he keeps thinking, "if I give them something nice, then perhaps they’ll play nice." Then they kick him in the nuts. Presidents such as Lyndon Johnson would smile just before he hit his opponents across the forehead with his ever-handy 2 x 4. Then, having gotten their attention, he would help them up, smile and tell them how things were.

Barack Obama, after having been kicked in the nuts, smiles, gets himself up and then asks what else he can do to help his opponents. Jon Stewart showed an interesting clip of a talk by The NRA’s chief sociopath, Wayne LaPierre. His talk took place after the Feds gave up some more goodies to the gun lobby. But, not appeased, Mr. laPierre instead spoke about how the President was trying to sucker them into believing he would play nice, but he was really all about taking their guns away and imposing his own nightmarish police state on all the nice gunners in the country. Talk about paranoia.

But the NRA rant was really just one small part of the larger republican strategy whereby they will never "play nice", regardless of what our president says or does. And our president doesn’t seem to get that. He keeps thinking that he is dealing with rational people who have the good of the country at heart and so will act accordingly. Instead, he has the equivalent of terrorists who no longer care whether their actions damage the country -- they don’t care Barack!! They might as well have dynamite strapped to their middle.
But our president keeps on, thinking, or maybe just pretending, that good will is just around the corner.

I guess this first term has been instructive to our president, and to the nation in general. It is now clear to one and all that republicans who created that house of cards and then brought it down, now wish to return to their glory days of the George W. Bush era, when War was on, and corporations could do anything they wished. Or maybe they just wish to return us all to that late great era when robber barons roamed the earth and we had just two classes the very rich and everyone else.

So, President Naïve, maybe it’s time to awaken to our real world. We need help. Republicans are out and about trying desperately to crush everything that is/was good about this nation. Wake up, man, and smell the roses, before they’re all dead. And, by the way, how about this? So long as the republicans plan to say no to anything and everything you say or propose, then why not begin saying and proposing what you really think is right? Quit trying to play nice. Perhaps they (and we) might grow to respect you more.

In Celebration of Chutzpah

2011-09-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

Chutzpah: Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts,' presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to." In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and a grudging admiration. In the same work, Rosten also defined the term as "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan."

So, that's you Brian, Mr. too-big-to-fail Bank of America. Five bucks a month for a debit card? You little shit!

So, Bryan baby, I suppose this $5 per month fee is your wayof saying thanks to the American people for saving your ass?? I’m not sure Iquite get your message. I assume it’s something like,

“Well people, the government keeps strangling us withregulations and now we can’t even charge companies fees for these damned debitcards. We’re losing so much money here that I personally will not be able toafford the fourth home I purchased in the Bahamas. And don’t even mention my sailboat. So look people, I understand your pain, withno job and all that crap. I get it. Really, I do. But, you have to be reasonable. Unless Icharge you the five bucks per month, I just won’t be able to support the HummerI was going to buy my kid. So, take it or leave it people. I need the dough.Oh, and speaking of dough, if you’re having trouble scraping up the dough tobuy bread (hahaha, get it . . . dough . . . bread??) I suggest a nice cakeinstead.”

So, here’s my suggestion to you Brian, baby. I think thegovernment should take away your gambling license. See, instead of you taking all of our moneyand pissing it away on gambling, something you’re obviously not very good at bythe way, we think you should go back into the banking business. What’s that?Well, it’s something like this. See, people take their cash and place it inyour care. You charge them a small fee for handling it, and then, if they leaveit with you long enough, you invest it in actual loans—you know, like whenpeople want to buy a car or a house, or maybe start a small business?? Rememberthose kinds of loans? And you alsoprovide people with a thing called a checking account and you can charge themanother small fee for that.

But that’s it Brian. You can’t do anything else. Oh, and onemore thing, Brian. We’re not going to let you operate in more than one state—sopick your state carefully. Yeah, no more global banking shit. That’s for smartpeople, not people like you Brian.

So, that’s all for now Brian. Oh, and one more thing. If youever stray off the reservation again, we’re going to put handcuffs around your wristsand place you in a small jail cell for a really long time.

Ta ta Brian. Have a nice weekend.

Colleges as the Minor Leagues

2011-09-22T11:21:00.000-04:00

Reading the Observer this morning about how the Universityof North Carolina is taking a fresh look at its academic offerings, especiallythose preferred by its “student-athletes” brings me to a sense of sadness andwonder—wonder that we can go on playing this game of “Let’s Pretend” regardingathletics and money in this country.

I began thinking about this subject a long time ago. When Iattended university, we used to refer to one of the schools in our conferenceas a “football factory”. The term wasintended to denigrate their academic program, which we thought had lost out totheir athletic programs. Then, overtime, the Olympics started to come into focus, especially the notion that thegames were somehow pure, i.e., the athletes had not yet been tainted by money—theywere all “amateur athletes.” The more Ipaid attention, the clearer it became that Olympic athletes were really “amateur”in name only. Most were sponsored by some group or another and the ones thatweren’t had commercial sponsors who paid them one way or another. When professionalbasketball invaded the Olympics, I conceded that the amateur athletics notionhad just been buried for good.

Then over time, onecollege after another got stung by its own stupidity and greed. Money began to dominatecollege athletics. The TV rights togames alone made the “amateur” notion of collegiate competition a joke. So, why would we continue to play “Let’sPretend”? Well, apparently nobody iswilling to stand up and state the obvious—college “student-athletes’ are paidminor league athletic employees. Unlike baseball, where the major league teamsown their own minor league franchises to train their upcoming athletes, infootball and basketball (the so-called “revenue sports”) colleges provide theminor leagues. A recent controversyregarding the true nature of college athletes (are they paid employees?) has been brought into the daylight via anarticle in the Atlantic by Taylor Branch—“TheShame of College Sports” –The Atlantic,October 2011. The true controversyis whether we should consider college athletes as paid employees of the university,in which case they would be entitled to workmen’s compensation when they becomeinjured. Apparently, the powers that bedo not want that, because it would leave them liable. The NCAA “Let’s Pretend”they’re just student-athletes allows everyone to escape such liability.

But the potential damage even goes beyond that done to theathletes themselves. The college academic programs are also damaged, as when weused to refer to that “football factory”. Real students who graduate from the “footballfactories” of the country are not treated as seriously as they should. See,even “football factories” have serious academic study programs and realstudents. If the “student-athletes” manage to trash their school’s academicstanding because they are joke students, many real students are thereby potentiallydamaged.

So, why not just admit the truth—college football andbasketball NCAA conferences are the true minor leagues of the NBA and the NFL.The participating athletes are minor league professional athletes—paid employees.Whether they go to classes is largely irrelevant. Maybe we even need to go theextra mile and declare that these athletes don’t actually have to attendacademic classes, since they are not real students.

Now the problem with such an approach is that it may punishthe real student-athletes, i.e., the students who happen to be both giftedacademics and gifted athletes. Surely weare clever enough to manage such a reality so as to not harm the real student-athletes.

And while we are on the subject of truth in athletics, whydon’t we deal with the taboo subject of “performance-enhancing drugs”? Talkabout “Let’s Pretend”. We demand that athletesmeet higher and higher performance standards, and then we wonder and are “shocked. . . shocked” when we find that high performing athletes actually cheat by injectingthemselves with various Illegal substances in order to become better at theirgame. But in the end, who really caresif Lance Armstrong used illegal drugs to gain his mastery over the field ofbikers? If professional athletes wish toscrew up their bodies in exchange for gaining mastery (and a great deal ofmoney) why not let them? Nobody is forcing them to choose that path to glory.

The GOP as a Cult

2011-09-14T13:28:00.001-04:00

Ina recent article in truthOut (http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779)arecent defector (retiree) from the ranks of the GOP MikeLofgren, a former professional republican staff member wrote:

" A couple of years ago, a Republicancommittee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was toall this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructingthe Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's genericfavorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation ofan institution of government, the party that is programmatically againstgovernment would come out the relative winner. A deeply cynical tactic, to besure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both ofthe voting public and the news media.”

Mr. Lofgrenincludes in his article a quote from John P. Judis, an editor at the NewRepublic, “Over the last four decades,the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into aninsurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority andthreatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate andIran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachmenttrial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today's RepublicanParty, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatenedto nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who laterled the fight to secede from the union over slavery."

It seems to methat anyone with even a shred of objectivity left cannot but be dismayedwatching the cast of characters who currently pose as actual or potentialleaders in the GOP, including most especially the people acting as candidatesfor the highest office in the Land. Itseems equally clear that republicans in general now are more than simplyopposed to Obama policies and program proposals. They oppose almost as areligious experience. They oppose as theIslamic extremist with dynamite strapped to his middle opposes as he detonateshimself in a marketplace of innocent people. They seem no longer to care whatresults from their opposition. And thatmakes them truly dangerous to the future of our republic.

When I observedthat New Yorkers, seeking to replace the idiotic Anthony Weiner as their Congressman, voted for aconservative republican instead of his democratic challenger, I gasped. Whatcould they be thinking, I wondered? You are voting to install yet anotherperson to oppose any ideas of our president to minimize the economic damagedone to our country by, guess who, conservative republicans? Really . . . youreally imagine that you are sending a smart message to our president? A messageto be sure, but the message is, “well we’re just a bunch of ignorant,low-information voters who are unhappy, so we’re installing another of the idiotswho got us into this mess . . . as a way of telling you we want someone to getus out of this mess . . . that we’re helping to keep us in . . .” Yeah, that’llsurely work to invigorate the president. Nothing like making his work harder as a way of hoping he can worksmarter.

So this comingelection in 2012 may well settle both our economic future, and our future as ademocratic society. It is hard to behopeful, when visions of America as Iran keep appearing in the rear view mirror.

The GOP Anti-Enlightenment

2011-09-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

It is one the world’s true wonders that current republicancandidates can be so wrong on so many issues, and how they label our presidentwith the worst of their own faulty positions. Their main smear against Obama is that he just wants to do “more of thesame thing”, which has not worked, and will not work in the future.

On that point, it is hard to label Obama as a “more of thesame thing” kind of guy, since, aside from rescuing the banks, he actually hasn’tdone much on the economic front. Some ofthe things he says he wants to do—spending on infrastructure for example, arehotly resisted by all of the candidates. In fact, it seems not to matter what Obamawants to do—republicans have said No to everything. They do so want him to be a one-term president.

So, what is their prescription?

Repeal “Obamacare”– now there’s a big job creator. Take away health care from the 40+ million whohave none, thereby further reducing their spendable income. Yeah, that’s awinner. The main fear of republicans about “Obamacare” of course, is that itthreatens one of their core financial supporters, the health insuranceindustry.

Roll back allregulations – they talk of an ‘explosion” of regulations, “smothering”American job creators. In fact, the near absence of regulations is what got usinto the current financial mess to begin with. Their most current bitch wasabout some proposed EPA regulations on emissions, which Obama just killed. Butthe fact is, our skies were cleaned up with no obvious deleterious effects onemployment some 40 years ago. Republicans are simply lying about it. What weneed is to reinvigorate EPA, not kill it. Bush almost succeeded in killing it,and in fact killing all regulations. That worked out real well, huh?

Cut more taxes oncorporations, especially on profits earned overseas—oh yeah, that’ll createmore jobs, huh? The main net effect offurther cutting corporate taxes, already at a low point, is to fatten theprofits flowing to the wealthiest Americans. No new jobs are created by these taxcuts, but they do exacerbate the already perilously high and climbing nationaldebt.

Substitute the Biblefor the Constitution – sounds far fetched, except that one of the core constituenciesof current republicans is the country’s Christian Taliban. They are a scary bunch who want to gut publiceducation and replace secular law with religious law (e.g., Sharia). Currentcandidates cherish this bunch of ignorant miscreants.

Get rid of whatremains of the Nation’s Middle Class – this is one of the most baffling oftheir platform planks. They seem bent on killing the Middle Class, which is thegroup that made America great, while it was still great. Republicans seemintent on destroying that class and its institutions, including unions, publicschooling, Medicare, Social Security and the minimum wage. They seem not to realize that, if we lose theMiddle Class (a serious possibility) we lose much of America.

Talk about repeating the same thing over and over, whileexpecting different results (one definition of insanity). That platform more orless describes the course charted for America by George W. Bush. I believe weare in the middle of Great Depression II mainly because of those republicanpolicies held so dear by the current crop of candidates. If Obama hasn’t yet even begun the job ofsolving the enormous problems of our Nation, willed to him by republicans, itis because republicans continue to resist solutions. Some of them, Bachman for example, wish toreturn the Nation to the 18^th century, without the enlightenmentpart, of course. Call her crazy.

Buying the GOP

2011-08-30T10:26:00.000-04:00

So Michelle Bachman says now that she was, “just joking”when she commented that God had decided that she needed to send a message tothe heathens, and so she ordered both an earthquake and hurricane. Did seem a bit like “overkill”. I mean she couldhave done one or the other, but both?? But it’s good to know that God is stillok, or so Michelle now tells us. What a kidder, huh?? I Mean, she talks to her almightiness everyday, so one could assume that Michelle would know whether the Godster was makingangry noises at us Dems and libs. Why isit, that I get this uneasy feeling whenever Michelle laughs—she’s so . . . creepy. But I suppose all batshit crazy folksare like that, huh?? Maybe she was off her meds when she made the joke. Ialways wonder whether Michelle and Glenn Beck are on the same meds.

But my really big wonderment is how much the Koch’s andtheir allies-in-crime had to pay when they bought the Republican Party, orpossibly what the rent is, if all they did was to rent the party for a decadeor so. And how was the sale advertised. Imean, I never saw it in TV, or the radio (of course, they were unlikely to advertiseit on PBS or NPR, huh? I guess the Faux News Network carried the ads. Ienvision an ad something like that below, with a banner –ALL SALES FINAL! Maybeit was put up for auction on E-Bay. Whoknows, but I’ll bet those wily Koch Brothers brought home the bacon, so tospeak. It does seem clear, doesn’t it??

Political and Religious Terrorism

2011-08-24T17:29:00.004-04:00

When Rick Perry sponsored his great prayer-in and asked the “Dominionistas”to basically help him to organize and run the affair, many wondered about himand what such an event signified for his campaign. Who are these people who assisted in this event? According tovarious sources, Dominion Theology is a grouping of theological systems withthe common belief that the law of God - as codified in the Bible - shouldexclusively govern society, to the exclusion of secular law, a view also knownas theonomy. As of 2010 the most prominent modern formulation of DominionTheology is Christian Reconstructionism, founded by R. J. Rushdoony in the1970s. Reconstructionists themselves use the word dominionism to refer to theirbelief that Christians alone should control civil government, conducting itaccording to Biblical law

In the early 1990s sociologist Sara Diamond and journalistFrederick Clarkson defined dominionism as a movement that, while includingDominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope,extending to much of the Christian Right. In his 1992 study of DominionTheology and its influence on the Christian Right, Bruce Barron writes, “In the context of American evangelicalefforts to penetrate and transform public life, the distinguishing mark of adominionist is a commitment to defining and carrying out an approach tobuilding society that is self-consciously defined as exclusively Christian, anddependent specifically on the work of Christians, rather than based on abroader consensus.”

Dominionists assert a Christian duty to take "controlof a sinful secular society."The following characteristics are shared byall forms of dominionism:

1. Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in thatthey believe that the United States once was, and should once again be, aChristian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of Americandemocracy.

2. Dominionistspromote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect theequality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.

3. Dominionistsendorse theocratic visions, insofar as they believe that the Ten Commandments,or "biblical law," should be the foundation of American law, and thatthe U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblicalprinciples.

Some, hopefully not all, view this religious movement as amandate to assert control of what they view as the seven main elements ofauthority in the United States – (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4)Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion. They speak of creating “martyrs” among theyouth, a term some, me included, associate with Islamic Mideast terrorists withdynamite strapped to their middle.

It seems increasingly clear that this group(s) seeks todominate the United States, and then the world, just prior to their destruction—theEnd Times.

At what stage, I wonder, do these people make it onto theFBI’s terrorist watch list? They seem to me to be advocating the violentoverthrow of the United States, in that they disagree and wish to change ourbasic Constitution, in fact our entire way of life. They promote intolerance ofother religions, and other cultural values. Of course, they hate and wish todestroy Gays and eliminate abortion.

And now we have at least one (Rick Perry) and perhaps others(Bachman and Palin), potential candidates to become President, who not onlyassociate with these potential terrorists (could we not say they are “pallingaround with terrorists”?) but actively promote their values. We already knowthat Perry has advocated breaking up the United States (seceding is a form,surely, of breaking up the US).

Since this group of potential religious terrorists seems to have now joined forces with themainstream of the Republican party, I am left wondering how we should now labelthis Grand Old Party? Have republicansnow become party to a terrorist organization, seeking to overthrow the nation?

So, I ask again, when will the FBI begin labeling as potentialterrorists the Domionistas, and everyone who associates with them, includingthose republican candidates for president who seem to openly espouse their views? Perhaps Mr. Perry should be on a "No-Fly" list?

Or perhaps such a drastic action could be avoided, if the few remaining rational republicans ever decide to reclaimcontrol of their party from the crazies who seem now so firmly in control.

Oh, and one more thing. People this extreme clearly need to be taken seriously. We trivialize this group at our peril.

Market Woes and Other Jokes

2011-08-19T14:38:00.001-04:00

Tumbling, tumbling, tumbling, down, down, down. EvenBorowitz is making fun out of the present mess. He reports, in a recentarticle:

“In whatstock market analysts are pointing to as a rare bright spot in an otherwisegloomy period for Wall Street, manufacturers of downward arrows posted recordprofits this week.
While makers of cars, computers, farm equipment and practically everything elsesaw their fortunes plunge this week, producers of downward arrows notcheddouble-digit gains, inspiring investors to snap up their shares like neverbefore.
Companies like National Plunging Arrow Corp and Consolidated Downward PointyLines saw their shares rocket as investors rushed to participate in thesuddenly red-hot red-arrow sector.” (BorowitzReport.com, Aug. 19, 2011).

The big question in my mind these days is whether I should join inthis amusing game and continue making fun of our bankers and investment brokers, or torun screaming around the room, shouting that the sky really is falling thistime. After all, I was born during thefirst great depression, brought to you by the same folks who have manufacturedour current financial disaster. My grandparents went broke during that period,and we survived partly by skipping from one apartment to another, just ahead ofthe rent collectors. So, while it’samusing to make fun of the current group of thieves who are in charge of theworld’s money, it does give me pause. We are, after all on a serious retirementbudget. We are no longer adding to our asset pool, and, given the mess made byour bankers of the real estate market, our main asset, our home, is likely asnot worth less than what we paid for it 15 years ago. So, how funny is that?

And all I hear coming from the current crop of fools masqueradingas presidential candidates on the right is, Cut Government Budgets, Give usMore Tax Cuts. One doesn’t really need a PhD in economics to discern that moregovernment spending, especially in infrastructure (currently falling apart inthe USofA) and energy might well reap both current and future benefits to thenation’s economy. Yes, more spendingwould add to our deficit woes, but increased taxes, especially on the upperincome groups (see Warren Buffet) will reduce those deficits. Our currentdeficits spring from the Bush tax cuts, his unnecessary war in Iraq, and themassive illegal and certainly corrupt practices of the nation’s bankers. Reversing the tax cuts, and moving our tax ratesto what they were, say, 15 years ago), and getting out of both Iraq andAfghanistan will go a long way to reverse our economic decline. To those who argue that we cannot just up andleave Iraq and Afghanistan, I would say, why yes we can. Both countries will of course go on killingone another, just not us. They will emerge, eventually, as Islamic dictatorships,probably on the model of Iran. And thenthey will continue to operate as 12^th century oligarchies, withwarlords, or Ayatollahs running them. Like the Brits and the Russians before us, we are incapable ofpreventing such an eventual outcome, regardless of how long we remain.

We need to leave, now. And we need to pass substantial taxincreases, so we can invest substantial sums in employment-based research andinfrastructure development. We need to put the people back to work, and stopcoddling the Murdoch’s and the Koch’s of this land. They are poisoning ournation. So stop catering to them . . .Now!

By By Bankers

2011-08-13T12:39:00.002-04:00

With the BofA stock price tumbling to the point where itwill soon be worth bupkus, it leaves me wondering about the future ofCharlotte. Charlotte is nothing if not the home of big banking. So what does Charlotte become if Moynihan andcompany dribble off into the miasma. Where do dead banks go, I wonder? Is theresome bank hell where the old banks and their accompanying bankers live on,mumbling about their lost opportunities??

I don’t see Charlotte becoming another silicon valley.That needs people with energy and imagination . . . oh and some serioussmarts, characteristics not normally associated with banking. Manufacturing??? Hmmm, whatwould we manufacture? I suppose we could build a paper reprocessing plant toconvert all those old bank deposit slips into, say toilet paper.

How about call centers??? With all the unemployed bankingpeople wandering the streets of Charlotte, maybe we could bring back some of thatbusiness we shipped off to Bangalore. Ex-bankers would be great at tellingcallers to “please remain on the line, your call is very important to us, sokindly listen to our Muzak while we attend to real business.”

But then I thought out of the box. I thought about Italy andall its attendant debt problems, and then it came to me. The Mafia.

Yeah, that’s it. What a great fit. We could contact somefolks in Sicily, ask them if they would be interested in setting up business inCharlotte. They could move into the same offices vacated by Mr. Moynihan &Co. I mean, the Bank of America building has got to be better than what theyhave in Sicily, especially with those nasty IMF folks breathing down everyone’sthroat.

And the mafiosas’ wouldn’t even have to be retrained. They’re already in the two main businesses runby the BofA—loan sharking and gambling. So, they could just move right in andtake over the Countrywide crap that’s choking the country. And, you know, itmight be refreshing to have the customers able to deal with real professionals whenthey default on their home mortgages, and someone is needed to kneecap them. Imean BofA guys were such amateurs at the game . . .

Always thinking . . .

And on another exoplanet, it is rumored that Governor RickPerry has declared that all income taxesare patently illegal and unconstitutional, and that, when he is electedPresident, he will finance all federal government operations by holding bakesales. He’s hoping that Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin will serve asco-chairs of his bake sale committee, them being, you know, persons of the female persuasion.

Adam & Eve and Other Fairy Tales

2011-08-10T11:27:00.001-04:00

It’s hard to imagine how things could possibly go more astrayin this nation than it has already. Recently, we learned that the religiousright wing, aka Christian Taliban, have been arguing about Adam and Eve, andwhether the geologic evidence, coupled with genetic evidence, would support ordeny the Adam and Eve Fairy tale. Really, folks, you’re discussing this fairy tale, as though it has areality base???

Can we next discuss the alternate universe in which SantaClaus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny are real?

We could discuss, forexample:

1. Does Santa pay his elves union wages, and doeshe supply benefits, including especially health care? Elves, it turns out, havespecial medical needs associated with traveling in an oxygen-deprivedenvironment for such long time period, and then having to waiting around onfreezing roof tops while the old jolly guy jumps down chimneys and does histhing.

2. How big is the tooth fairy, and how does she knowenough about international exchange rates to keep track of her paymentschedules? Does she maybe have financial advisory fairies?

3. Does the Easter Bunny dress up before visitingthe homes of little boys and girls and hiding jelly beans all over the place? Wouldn’t want to think of our precious littleones awakening and seeing a naked bunny running around their house. And, also,does the bunny now buy her jelly beans from China like everyone else?

We have never to my best understandinghad a serious debate among the fairy scholars of our land of these issues. I’m sure they are discussed in closed quarterswithin such eminent academic establishments as Jerry Falwell’s LibertyUniversity, but it would be good for the main ranks of the fairy believerpopulation to see serious people engaged in these serious intellectualpursuits.

Lessons from the Appalachian Regional Commission

2011-08-06T15:21:00.003-04:00

A long, long time ago, I worked on a consulting project,creating an evaluation system for an organization called the AppalachianRegional Commission. The Commission had been formed when Bobby Kennedy visitedthe region and discovered abject poverty, a demonstrably ineffectivetransportation network, poor health care, and low economic activity. Mainly,the region covered the South, although its reach extended from rural New Yorkdown to Mississippi. Its geographic coveragewas mainly a matter of politics. TheCommission was a Federal-State compact aimed at social and economic developmentthroughout this region. Highway construction, health care and other social andeconomic activities characterized the work of the Commission.

In looking at the Commission, I was impressed that statescould actually work together on common problems, and that federal assistance(read money) could be put to work in an attempt to uplift a whole region. States had a role, but only when workingtogether.

I now look back at that period with some wonderment that athing such as a regional pseudo-government could actually function effectively. With the recent S&P downgrading ofAmerica, falling on the heels of the worst political act in modern times, makesme wonder about America as a single entity.

I have thought for some time now that all of our “too big tofail” banking institutions should be immediately dismantled and broken up,perhaps down to the state level, i.e., no bank should be permitted to operatebeyond its state borders and no bank should be allowed to gamble with thepublic’s money (I.e., investment management).

But then I thought about America, and whether it needs restructuring of the same kind. The level of hate spewingback and forth in the country makes me think of what the nation must have beenlike during, say 1860, or 1861. Theradical right really appear to hate anyone not associated with their party.Some hate all non-Christian Taliban. Some hate Blacks and Latinos. Most on the righthate anyone identified as a Liberal or Progressive, or simply as a democrat. They all appear to hate that “uppity Black manin the White House”. I note that theirextreme concern for deficits and the national debt only dates to 2008, with theelection of a Black man to lead the nation. The really radical fiscal irresponsibility that characterized the period2000 through 2008, when our economy collapsed, seems to have been missed entirely byour Astroturf Teabaggers. And theywonder why people think they are racist. But the republican party appears to havecleverly scooped up all these hate groups and made them the core of the party.Apparently all non-radical republicans have gone into hiding. It’s interesting that people of the ilk ofGeorge Will never seem to comment on this radical group, yet he continues tohammer away at profligate Liberals and their irresponsible president. He and his colleagues remind me of theCatholic Church’s inability to comment on their priests who rape little boys,or the Mullahs of the Islamic world who seem incapable of commenting adverselyon the terrorists among them who blow up innocents in marketplaces. Thatrepublicans are now defined as radical cannot come as a surprise, given theabsence of public debate within the party.

So, perhaps it is time to revisit our nation, much asYugoslavia had finally to deal with its own divided country, or as the Britshad to deal with a divided Indian subcontinent. Perhaps we are no longer one Nation, underGod, or not. Which brings me back to theRegional Commissions of old. Maybe we need to subdivide ourselves into peoplewho hate one another a little less. Itis already clear that two of the contenders for the republican leadership havementioned secession of their respective states. Maybe they are right. Maybe weshould have a Northeast Region, a Northwest (or West) Region, a Southeast region,a Middle Region, a Southwest region, and a Northern Tier Region. Perhaps the Rockies might forge a coherentRegion. We would, of course, have todivide the national debt, the National Treasury (empty at the moment), theMilitary, and a few other trinkets currently belonging to the entity formerlyknown as America.

Perhaps some of the regions could join other entities (saythe Northeast might ask Canada if they would be interested, and I am sure thatthe Southwest region would be comfortable joining Mexico). Alaska and Hawaii area bit of a problem, but perhaps we could sell Alaska back to Russia, or to Canada.Maybe Hawaii could just stay Hawaii, and bring back the king.

Just a thought.

And on another exoplanet, the Governor of Texas has declaredthat the Empire State building is obviously a huge phallic symbol, and istherefore anti-Christian and should be torn down immediately (or sold to the French wholike that kind of thing).

Sacrificing for the Common Good

2011-08-03T12:48:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess the battle royal is now over for the moment.The Democrats gave the Republicans their balls, and the Republicans agreed tokeep them indefinitely. I think that’scalled political compromise.

So now comes the hard part—the common folk will be asked todo their part for the common good—that’s defined as the Murdoch’s and the Koch’sdon’t have to pay their taxes, and nobody gets to see what they might be doingto pollute our environment—that common good.

But what will our elected leaders ask of the common folk(defined as the 90% who own 10% of the Nation’s wealth, i.e. the serfs)?

Well, the old folks (me) may be asked to give up part or allof our Medicare-driven health care. Maybe we’ll be asked to pay more, or maybe we’ll all just have to wingit. Our conservative brethren (those who read and believe George Will) thinkthat we Liberals have gotten too uppity and are spending too much of theGovernment’s money on silly things, like open-heart surgery, cancer preventionand/or treatment, etc. So, we may just have to do more with less. And clearly, we the people can’t really affordSocial Security, so the old folks just coming on-stream may have to rely ontheir own savings (oh, I forgot, the Boomers mostly don’t have any savings . .. rum go, huh?).

We know now that all those Liberal-inspired regulatory programssuch as FDA, EPA, FAA, et al, will just have to be curtailed (read, Eliminated). They all are jobs killers, as weare told. So, if your air gets a bitfunky, or the salmonella on your food products gets a bit too much for you, youmay just have to cut back on food. Mostly, we’re all getting too fat anyway,right? And if you can’t breathe, well just stay indoors. Should our bridgesstart collapsing and our roadways get a bit bumpy, we may have to use detoursmore than we might like, but it’s all in a good cause.

Now, the Tea Party folks will also be expected to sacrifice,along with everyone else. Since we really have no money, we will have to beginseriously reducing our military. So that will probably mean that we won’t beable to move around the world shooting at brown people, and we know what thatmeans to the teabaggers. We know how they love guns n’stuff, especially if they’repointed elsewhere. I mean, Sarah has provided the example for all teabaggers.Sarah has never met an endangered species she didn’t lust to shoot, especiallyif she can do it from an airplane. So, this business of reducing our military andmaybe eliminating our wars will be hard for the teabaggers, but everyone has tosacrifice.

And our President also is expected to sacrifice. He will be asked to give up on his mindlessquest for a second term in office. I mean, Mitch and John (Orangeman) Boehnerhave devoted themselves to eliminating his chances, and we can’t ask them togive up on that. But, you know, he’s had a good run. The fact that his presidencywas totally screwed from the beginning by Shrub’s fiscal mess, and by teabaggerracism is just one of those things we all have to accept in this best of allpossible countries.

And on another exoplanet, the Faux News Network announcedthat it was nominating Rupert the Magnificent to be President. He wasn’t nativeborn, but then we all know that Obama wasn’t either, right??

Government is the problem, not the solution.

2011-07-27T15:29:00.001-04:00

“Government is the problem, not the solution.”

Dear old St. Ronald. He got so much wrong during hislifetime that one wonders when he began slipping away into the fog of Alzheimer’s.But that particular canard has proven most damaging over the years since heslipped away, even more so than his disastrous fiscal policies. It paints “Government” somehow as the enemy ofthe people. The truth is that Government is the people. We the People simplymake up the government and then ask it to do our bidding. It is a creature ofthe people of America, invented by us to protect ordinary citizens, and toresolve problems that we create ourselves, or that others create for us.Because Government is just a group of people—other Americans-- we pay throughtaxes to handle problems.

Ever since St. Ronald, republicans have gone round the bendabout how Government is the problem and how, even, Government is somehow theenemy of the American people. But thetruth is, Government is Us. It doesn’teven begin to resemble an enemy.

See, when we (collectively) don’t like something thatGovernment is doing, we can change it. That’s the basic truth that republicansprefer to ignore when they demagogue about the evils of “Big Government.” It is arguably true that Government today isbig, but then so are “we the people.” America today is a bit larger than it wasin 1776 when we created ourselves as the US of A. Our government has grown along with us. Itgets larger as we add more functions we wish it to carry out. And, as it getslarger, the bill to pay for it increases, so our need for taxes increases.That’s the other thing. See, taxes are an unpleasant reality of life in themodern world, not just here. My view oftaxes is that, whether I like sending out those checks quarterly or not, taxesrepresents a kind of glue that binds us together as a civilized society. They’re neither good nor bad in the abstract,despite what republicans would have you believe. The arguments today about the debt seem to beabout taxes, but they are really about the central question of what kind of civilsociety it is we wish to create and maintain. Over time, we have created acomplex society that has within it features that would please most, andfeatures that displease many. But that’s the bargain we need to understand if we are to livetogether. Current republican arguments suggest that they really no longer wishto live together with non-republicans, even to the rather bizarre talk bypeople such as Perry and Palin that perhaps some states should considerseceding, i.e., we should literally break up this country that so many foughtand died for to preserve.

I think that we need to sit back and think a bit harderabout all this inflammatory rhetoric being tossed about by our republicanfriends. Increasingly, they are soundingmore like enemies of the republic than friends and countrymen who simplydisagree about some things in the country. What am I to think when it turns out that the bankers of the land simplydefrauded the American people . . . bilked us . . . asked for and received ahandout from the dreaded Government, and then went back to business as usual as thoughnothing had happened. They aren’t even chastened. And these people, along with thesoil and air polluters like the Murdoch’s and the Koch’s are currentlyfinancing the republicans in their quest to destroy the basic agreements underwhich we live together as Americans.

Who I ask is the enemy here?

It sure as hell isn’t the Government.

The Recovery?

2011-07-23T10:25:00.000-04:00

Good news as of this morning. The koi's seem ok. No fish bodies floating on the surface, and they all came eagerly to our morning feast for them.

The air stone may have saved the day. Turning it on yesterday, after we saw them all gathering at the waterfall, in search of oxygen we believed, may have re-oxygenated the water sufficiently to give them what they obviously needed. With koi's, you can not be certain for a while how well they have accommodated to their near demise, but we are hopeful.
The pond again looks normal, and they are acting normal.

Let us hope.
And on another front, the Faux News Network now reports that God is really pissed at the righteous for presuming to know her. She has thrown this massive heat wave, especially at the South and West, where the righteous tend to congregate. Unfortunately, her aim was a bit wonky and she hit Newark as well.

2011-07-22T16:22:00.003-04:00

Heat, heat, heat. Are you aware that, on checking, ourConcord heat is worse than that being experienced by the folks who live in NewDelhi, India. Amazing, at least to uswho used to live through the New Delhi heat and monsoons. Concord, North Carolina is hotter than New Delhi.Wow, who’d a thunk???

And as we were running around town yesterday, getting hotterby the minute, we were really running down physically. Around 6:00 PM or so, wewere changing our clothes upstairs in our bedroom suite, ready to begin ourevening rituals, one of which involves sitting by our lovely pond sipping aglass of wine, and feeding and watching our fish and our various flyingcritters fitting about in our back garden. It’s a pleasant way to begin the eveninghours.

So, as I was changing, I happened to look out our windows.And what to my wondering eyes did appear, but . . . a pond rather lacking inwater. It looked to be around ¾ empty. We rushed downstairs and ran outside franticallyto look at the horrible mess. The pondhad maybe a foot of water in it, tops. The lilies were splayed all over theplace. All the plants looked topsy turvy. The fish were only dimly visible,with the remaining foot of water firmly in the grip of its algae cover. A couple of our large koi’s were occasionallyvisible, looking in distress. Koi’s don’t take kindly to changes in theirenvironment.

We looked about for some sign of the cause of the problem. Carolspied the problem—someone or some thing had caused the hose from one of our twopumps feeding our filters to pull away from the filter. The pump was madly pumpingthe pond dry.

We shut off the pumps, as they both were gasping for water,since the water level had finally dropped below the pump level. Not a prettysight. I re-attached the hose and then, desperate measures, used duct tape to keep the hoses in place--mind you they are kept in place with clamps and screws. Something pulled really hard to separate the hose.

Our task was then to refill the pond, which we began doing.A major problem with this task, however, is that tap water is heavilychlorinated and fish can’t tolerate chlorine—it’s quite toxic. So we added whateverdechlor we had remaining, plus some stress coat—an additive that helps top coattheir skin and helps them to cope with the stress. Then we ran out to PetSmartto get some more of both.

It took totally about five hours of water filling tocomplete this task.

The final step is to wait. What do you wait for?? Well, to see who lives and who dies. Koi’s reallyhate it when you mess with their environment, and many will not make it.

We thought we were home free, since the pond looked on bymidday, and no signs of distressed koi’s. Then we went out to the pond ataround 4:00 PM. All of the fish were gathered at the waterfall, where theoxygen level of the water would be higher. Sad, very sad. That’s the firstsign that they are in extreme distress.

In the past, when we had the pond cleaned, we lost one of our favoritekoi’s, Harry. He followed that same pattern of behavior—first gasping near thetop of the pond, then finally giving up. We will await the bad news tomorrowmorning, when the situation should have stabilized. Hopefully, we will still have some of ourstable of koi’s left. They give us much pleasure.

More later . . .

Lazy days of Summer

2011-07-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

Ahh, those lazy summer days . . . when one drifts, halfawake, as in a canoe, drifting downstream gently. In our case, i.e., the goodold US of A, we are drifting downstream, somewhat lazily , but we seem to beheaded downstream in the direction of Niagara Falls. You can sort of hear theFalls from here, but the roar is not yet deafening. By that time, of course, it is too late, andwe will plunge over. The Fallsrepresent, to me, any of the several catastrophic landings, after the Fall.

The Nation has already undergone a dramatic change since2008. The republican party was captured by extreme right wing forces, acombination of religious fascists, borderline criminal commercialists (i.e.,the Koch’s and Rupert), and old fashioned racists. Those groups represent thecore of the republican party at this stage. One can tell both from the leadership and their proposed policies, suchas:

1. The anti-Gay & Lesbian, and anti-abortionstand;

2. The anti-regulatory stand, ignoring the growingevidence of man-made global warming, and the specific demonstrated harmful practices and effectsof their own leadership, e.g., the Koch bothers industrial pollution practices;

3. The anti-tax stand;

4. Continued attacks on the middle class; and let us not forget,

5. The stated policy of the leadership that willoppose anything President Obama does or proposes to assure that he will be aone-term President.

They effectively have no other policies. That their ownparty brought us to this point of near economic insolvency, through their inanetax and regulatory policies, is dismissed as mere rhetoric. All currentproblems are labeled “Obama problems.” Their willingness to allow the countryto go into default rather than to negotiate in good faith suggests that theyhave crossed over into some new territory that at least borders onAnti-American (at least as we understand America). It is hard to forget things such as GovernorPerry’s suggestion that his state should secede, and Sarah Barbie’s husbandarguing the same case for Alaska. Does this make them proud Americans?? I thinknot.

So, as we approach our economic Niagara Falls moment, I willbe watching, along with many millions of people, to see both how therepublicans react at this end-game stage, and how our President negotiates anend to the crisis. I am less than positive about any outcomes. The Presidenthas shown himself too willing to cave under pressure to republican extremistdictates. Perhaps he really does believe in compromise always and under allconditions. That he has caved early on in such negotiations does not bode wellfor the current demand set from our republican black knights, who operate understrict orders from their dukes—the Murdoch’s and Koch’s of the land. It’s really a shame that republicans forgotthat they are Americans first and Murdoch-republicans second.

Texas

2011-07-18T12:45:00.001-04:00

Texas . . . I have been thinking about Texas a lot lately. I know, Iknow, why would anyone think about Texas a lot?

Well, the news reports about the weather have set me tothinking about the good Governor’s suggestion that maybe Texas should secedefrom the Union (that having worked out so well the last time). And what does the weather have to do withGovernor Perry’s wish to be rid of us?

Well . . . the latest blast of fiery weather afflicting thegreat southwest has been accompanied by discussions about water, or the lackthereof. See, it has been very, very hotin Texas—well the entire southwest—and it hasn’t been raining much. The long range weather forecasters are nowsaying that Texas may be headed for, say the Sahara. See, we’re still talking about the Southwestdrought in the context of their current weather. But, it is pointed out that noone uses the term “drought” when speaking of the Sahara. It’s just a bigdesert. And apparently, Texas is headed in that direction. Our great grandkids may someday refer to thegreat Southwest as the Great Southwest Desert.

So, that sets me to thinking . . . maybe, just maybe, it’stime to cut Texas loose. I mean, do wereally need another Sahara, right here in our midst, especially with all thosewhiny republicans, armed to the teeth? Perhaps we should let Governor Perry go, while he can still cut a dealwith Mexico. At first I was thinking, “hey, why don’t we just sell Texas toMexico?” But that wouldn’t be kind. I mean what has Mexico ever done to us??

So, if we just let the good Governor of that great southwestdesert state cut his own deal, we might all be able to sleep better at night.We would probably have to negotiate whether Texas democrats would be able tosidle over to our side of the border before the deal is consummated. Then, we would have to begin fairly quicklybuilding that Great Wall of Texas that the southwesterners have been whining about. Only, in this case, the Great Wall would sealoff our southern border, i.e., it would separate the Great Southwest Desertfrom the US of A.

And besides getting rid of a lot of sand, it would seem thatlittle else would be lost by cutting them loose. George W (aka Shrub)apparently tried to find oil in Texas and couldn’t find any, so I assume allthe oil is gone. And there really isn’tanything else there . . . well there’s a lot of cowboys and a lot of guns, butI doubt we would miss those. And think of all the whining that would disappear.

Oh, oh, and a really big bonus . . . the Bush’s, well Shrubat least, would be left behind in that Great Southwest Desert, along with hislibrary and the book deposited there. Now, that’s a really big plus, huh??

See, I’m always thinking . . .

Viewpoints . . . Other

2011-07-15T16:00:00.002-04:00

So two bright and shiny young men, dressed identically—dark pants,white shirts, dark ties, shiny faces—showed up at our front door and rang thedoorbell. I answered. “Yes, may I help you?”
“I’ll bet you never saw missionaries like us.”
I thought, “hmmm, what is different about them? Oh, oneis white and one is black.”
“Um, well, yes I have, thanks.”
“But I should tell you that I find missionaries profoundlydisrespectful, and we don’t engage with them.”
“Oh, and we don’t play church.”
They looked at me baffled, the smiles frozen on their faces.The taller young man asked, “may I give you a card?”
“Well, no, I don’t need or want one. Thanks. Bye.”
Now what I didn’t tell them was why I found missionaries profoundlydisrespectful. Around here, in the Concord region, many people refer casuallyand with great enthusiasm, to the whole notion of missions. Whenever someonediscovers that we lived in India, the first question asked is, “Oh, did you goon a mission?” When I say no, theirrelative interest quietly disappears. But back to missionaries. Think of the concept. First, I only know ofChristians going on missions. I have never heard of or encountered a Buddhist missionary,or Jewish missionary, or a Muslimmissionary. Think about that. What would their reception be, were a Buddhist orHindu missionary to wander about Concord, NC , knock on doors randomly andinquire whether they would like to talk and could they pray for the personliving therein? I’m thinking . . . borderline hostility.
So, why do Christians believe it to be useful or necessaryto traipse around the world trying to convert other non-Christian souls? Aren’tthey really saying, “Look I know you’re not a Christian, and that’s why I’mhere. You are profoundly lost and I will save you if you let me.”
Now, isn’t that the definition of disrespectful?
Well, I find it so.
Oh, and we were interviewed by a reporter for the localIndependent Tribune on the subject of my agnosticism. The resulting article (http://www2.independenttribune.com/news/2011/jul/08/can-faith-and-uncertainty-co-exist-ar-1190825/) was entitled, “Can Faithand Uncertainty Co-Exist?” It was areally fine article about my agnosticism, and how I arrived at that belief (ornon-belief).
Within an hour of the paper arriving at people’s doorsteps,we had our first telephone call. A pleasant woman expressing her sadness at ourplight. She offered us solace, and said she would pray for us. The next day, along note in a card arrived in the mail, expressing the same sentiments, andsuggesting that we should consult a minister and she had just the man for us.She felt sorry for us, especially since we seemed to have such a nice pond.Poor souls. That same day, yet anothertelephone call, telling us that we clearly needed help and should consult aminister about our plight. We thanked him and hung up.
See, that’s the missionary thing writ large. The articleindicated quite clearly that we thought it was ok for people to believewhatever they wished, but that people really ought to respect the beliefs (ornon-beliefs ) of others. In short, theyreally should respect us, by essentially leaving us to our beliefs. We neitherneeded nor wanted their consolation and ,frankly, the last thing we need is a consult with a local minister. I regardpriests (that includes ministers) largely as charlatans, even the nice ones.So, why would I want to consult a charlatan, or a local Ponzi master?
Um, I don’t think so.
But we survived, and the community at large seems to havesurvived this assault on the belief system at large. The world goes on. If onlyeveryone would understand that life really is a journey, and there may be no “there”there at the end. So, the best thing isto try to enjoy the journey without harming anyone along the way.

Morons for Bachman

2011-07-06T17:08:00.001-04:00

I wonder whether Michelle Bachman could really be as stupid as she sounds. I mean, she makes Sarah Palin seem like a deep thinker.

Michelle’s latest is her proclamation that EPA is a job killer. Apparently Michelle prefers living in a polluted world in which Exxon gets to say how much oil in your drinking water is really ok, and smog from polluting cars is just the product of the overactive imagination of liberal-terrorists. Michelle, let me say it. “You’re a world class idiot, an asshole of the first order. I assume that you are on the payroll of the Cock Brothers, your very own Lords of the Manors. “

Thinking of this dimwitted Minnesotan/Iowan as President is enough to bring back all the dark thoughts from the darkest days of the Shrub. No, he doesn’t look good by comparison, but I am reminded of the old “bottomless barrel” theory, in which it is held that each incoming administration is intended to make the last look good. It didn’t work with Obama. No he didn’t make Bush look good, but Bachman just might. Remember . . .

Or even that classic . . .

We really need to begin thinking again in this country, and I don’t mean wishful thinking, because then we would need to:

“be careful what you wish for folks.”

Happy 4th

2011-07-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

Everyone please enjoy the 4th celebrations. May yours be filled with joy . . . and a few night-time boomers in your very own son et lumiere. Last year we celebrated the 4th with our daughter and son-in-law. Kathy and Denny took us out on their boat off the coast of Virginia and we saw, from a fair distance some lovely celebratory fireworks. may yours be as beautiful . . . and as safe.
So, a Happy 4th of July to one and all.

56 Years

2011-07-02T17:09:00.002-04:00

July 2, 1955. A year to remember. "Why, I remember it well", he thought. "Why might that be?" he answered to himself. Well, it was the specific day and year that I committed myself, to my best friend and lover, to become married . . . "til death us do part." A lot of people speak that phrase. Fewer mean it.

But mean it, we did. It was a very hot day, close to 100 degrees in Spring Valley, New York. One of our favorite people, Mr. Z (aka Reverend Zeltner) oversaw the procedure, looking resplendant in white Episcopal gown. Below, he is looking a bit more ordinary, with that sweet, boyish smile he always displayed.

We were young, oh so young, when we committed to each other. People like Newt Gingrich probably utter these same words, but, since they are older and think themselves smarter than everyone else, they don't really mean any of it. See, we were young, and sweet, and we meant every word. And so, we cut the cake and waltzed into our adult, married life..

We stayed the night at the LaGuardia Hotel, at the airport, because we were flying out the next night, to California, our home for a while, so I could finish college. The next day, July 3, 1955, much of New York City seemed closed, because it was the Fourth weekend. So, we took in a movie--The Seven Year Itch". Funny film for newlyweds.

Then we had dinner someplace in Manhattan. Don't remember where, except that I ordered shrimp cocktail and shrimp creole--exotica. We just wandered around the city, trying to look married and adult.

And then we flew out very late that night on World Airways. We flew on a Lockheed Constellation to San Francisco, departing New York at midnight and arriving 14 hours later in San Francisco.

After a year spent finishing my studies, we moved briefly to the LA area, so I could work at Firestone at the first of several aerospace jobs. My first company, at which I earned the grand sum of $5100/year, was making a thing called the Corporal Guided Missile, a slight improvement on old Werner von Braun's V2 missiles, with which he beguiled the Brits during WW II.

Then, being unable to tolerate the lifestyle and the smog of LA, we moved back to Northern California. We eventually bought a home in what is now Silicon Valley (then just Sunnyvale).

We were still really, really young. We produced a couple of kids. I worked at Lockheed. Carol cared for our kids. That's the way it worked in the 1950s. I worked for a while, until I grew tired of secret stuff, and working on things that would go boom in someone else's night. I went to work for a small consulting company.

Then in 1964, our company asked us if we wanted to go to India. "India?" we asked. We thought about it for a few minutes, then said, "Sure, why not?" And we prospered there, and grew there as a couple. Carol took to this exotic place (that was before India handled all of our telephone tech support) .

She wore saris all the time, and looked, well . . . spectacular, if I might say so. We were happy.

Then we decided to add to our modest family of two children. We tried for a bit and then produced another health baby girl. Indian friends were disappointed it wasn't a boy. We were delighted.

Now we felt complete. After another couple of years (four total) we returned home to find much of the US in chaos--Martin Luther King shot and killed. Bobby Kennedy shot and killed. Later, in Chicago, the protesters tried to burn down Chicago. What is going on??? Well Vietnam was going on. And a lot of ordinary folks didn't like this war in Asia.

But we kept on truck'n. We had moved to Washington, center of a lot of the craziness (before all of Congress turned terminally crazy). Our family enjoyed Washington.

Right around that time, in the early 1970s, it seemed as though we were the only ones who stayed married. Our friends began divorcing, as though it was some disease suddenly afflicting our whole population of friends (this was before Facebook, when friends were actual . . . friends).

But, we worked. Carol finished her college degree and joined the working class (she had worked her whole life, but we don't count being a full-time mom and caregiver as work. Dumb us).

We stayed married. Mostly, though, we stayed happy. See, we liked one another, as well as being in love. We were best friends.

Then as we aged, our kids aged also. Our first, Karen, took off and lived in a commune for a while. She produced a baby and so we became grandparents at a very early age. Our second, Kathleen, decided to become married, and, guess what, she and her hubby are still married . . . going on 26 + years now. Our first, the rebel, also got married, and guess what--she and her hubby just completed 25 years together.
Then, our baby, Erika by name, went off to college, became a doctor, got married and, after 20 years, she and her hubby remain happy together. Hey, the whole family has now been married 56+26+25+20 years. You do the math--a lot of happy years together.
And then we turned 65 and retired.

Yeah, it happens when you aren't looking. One day, you're a young sprout, full of piss and vinegar. The next, you're 65.
So, we retired. We moved to North Carolina. We bought a 1920's bungalow, similar to the kind of house we had seen in India during our years there. We stayed up to bring in the new millenium.

We continued our habit of traveling to celebrate stuff. For our 49th together, we took a 9000 mile road trip out west. For our 50th, wow . . . biggie . . . we traveled to one our favorite places--Niagara on the Lake in Canada. We dined at the Peller Estate Winery, outdoors, and we toasted each other, as we do every day--"To us" we say.

And we mean it. It's one of our daily rituals. In the morning now--every morning--, we have a cappuccino, beside our pond, and we toast each other--"To Us" we say. Then we just relax and watch our koi's cavort and the birds play and eat what we feed them.

See, we still like each other. We're friends and lovers, the best of all possible worlds.

So, tonight, we will dine for our 56th at Giannis, our very favorite Italian restaurant in Concord. I will update this saga a bit later, by adding a picture of us at Gianni's, toasting each other--"To Us" we will say, before we begin our sumptuous meal prepared by Heather, our very favorite chef. Gianni's not only serves wonderful Italian food, freshly prepared and savory. But the owner, John Goode, greets each customer during their meal. And his maitre de, Kathy, greets each customer. They treat us as though we are a member of their family . . . and that is nice. It makes each meal memorable. And of course, our 56th anniversary meal, will be special.

So, "To Us" I say. "To Us."

As promised, an update. Our anniversary dinner at Gianni's was wonderful, with the hosts, John Goode, the owner, and the chef, Heather, greeting us as members of their family. The meal, as always was extraordinary. Heather really is a master chef. And John is a true Restaurateur. Together, they combine to create special evenings for their guests. So, to us again. A memorable conclusion to a very special day.

Pay As You Go

2011-06-29T09:19:00.001-04:00

Given that our current crop of neo-republicans seem opposed to paying for anything out of general revenues (i.e., tax revenues), I infer that their preferred model is a pay as you use system of (non)government. Such a system might work as follows:

1. Central Premise: you only pay for the government services you actually use.

2. Education: if you have no kids enrolled in school, or you are not yourself enrolled, you would pay no local/county property taxes associated with education, and no federal or state taxes associated with education. All costs of education would be borne by the users. And for those who hate the idea of public education, we could even consider eliminating all public education, relying on that old standard, private schools. For those who cannot afford such schools, educate your kids at home.

3. Health care: We only pay for the health care we actually use. That means, of course, no insurance, private or public. So the Aetna’s and Blue Crosses of the world would cease to exist, as would the Health Care Financing Administration and its central program Medicare. If you get sick, go to a doctor’s office, or the ER and pay for the services rendered out of pocket. If you can’t afford to pay, don’t get sick.

4. Health Research: Leave it to the drug companies. Eliminate NIH.

5. Drug and Food Safety: Buy from your friendly neighborhood farmers. Stay away from drugs. Have you ever read the side effect notes on these things???

6. Environmental Protection: The environment will take care of itself, thank you. So, eliminate all EPA functions at all levels of government.

7. Workplace Safety: Gone. If your workplace is unsafe, go somewhere else to work.

8. Unemployment Insurance: Gone. Get a job, you slackers.

9. Business Regulation: Gone. Regulation of commercial entities is un-American. All business owners have the welfare of Americans in mind in all decision-making. What’s good for GM is good for America. Your friendly mega-banker is clearly a saint, and should be accorded such status by all you peasants.

10. Rich people are good by any definition: The IRS and all tax codes will be eliminated. Taxing rich people especially is un-American. To compensate for the loss of tax collectors, ATM machines will be placed in all homes and on all street corners. If you want something, whip out your debit/credit card and pay for it first. Example: if your home is being burglarized at 3:00 AM, there will be no police to call. Instead you will insert your ATM card into your home machine, hit 911 on the machine, enter your PIN code, and your friendly neighborhood vigilante group will be over shortly to take on those nasty burglars. Alternatively, just take out your AK-47 and spray the house with bullets.

11. Traffic controls: there will be no police/sheriff/state highway patrols, so all drivers will have to control themselves. We will adopt the system of driving popular in Rome: ignore all vehicles behind you, focusing instead exclusively on the car in front of you. If you cut off someone behind you, that’s their problem.

12. Immigration: We will have no INS agents patrolling the borders. Instead, those living near our borders, will have to pay someone to build a big fence . . . or learn Spanish.

13. Military: We will eliminate our military (there’s a big savings), so nobody can go and start any wars. If someone looks to be invading us, those who are in the way, are allowed to privately contract with Blackwater (Xe??) to counter the threat.

14. Climate Controls: Climate is the work of God. It cannot be controlled. Anyone who says different is a liar, and a Liberal.

15. Flooding, etc.: Move your house.

So, that’s the general idea. Everyone can do whatever they please. That’s Amurrica. Oh, except for those nasty gay and Lesbo types. We’ll just have to dump them at sea I guess.

Oh, and there won’t be any voting nonsense, because there won’t be any voting. The neo-republicans, aided by their Christian Taliban allies will decide who is in charge, whenever someone needs to be in charge.

Fiscal Sanity

2011-06-24T15:07:00.000-04:00

So Eric Cantor and his neo-republican buddies couldn’t deal with reality any longer and decided to head for the hills. That’s the way with these fellows. They love charging stuff; they just can’t deal with paying for anything. They’re the original “charge and spend” pols. Apparently, if you raise the subject of taxes with them, like the wicked witch of the west, they threaten to dissolve into a pool of liquid dung.

I have concluded this gang is un-American, if not downright anti-American, since they care not a whit whether the nation crashes and burns as a result of their actions. Default on our obligations? We don’t care. This strategy is fairly standard for republicans. They first create a crisis. Then they bail out. Then they try to blame the democrats. All in the name of getting themselves re-elected to power, because power is their one and only principle.

Apparently the collective lords of the manor—the Koch’s and other of their ilk, have decreed—“No New Taxes” So, Mr. Cantor and the rest of the black knights of the realm, are implementing the Koch’s royal decree. They are willing to fall on their swords rather than cross the dukes of the land—their owners. Should the Americans default on its public debt, causing the economy to crash and burn, so be it. Should everyone not currently unemployed suddenly join the ranks of the great unemployed, tough—stuff happens. The Koch’s won’t be unemployed and nothing else matters.

America really needs to turn out this gang of thieves—for that’s what they are. They are stealing America’s future. Americans need to awaken from its current stupor and begin to understand that republicans have turned into enemies of the Land.

And I have a suggestion for our collective pols. How about if we take the current national debt and divide it into two parts—the debt created under republican presidents and the debt created under Democratic presidents. All registered democrats assume responsibility for paying down their debt. Republican voters assume responsibility for paying down their debt. Uncommitted voters get to choose whose part of the debt they wish to assume.

Then they cast their ballots for the future.

Crazy America

2011-06-17T17:42:00.000-04:00

I confess that it is getting absurdly difficult to write a blog about American politics these days. I mean, how can any rational person write anything in response to "Weinergate" as but one example. In the old days, I had thought Anthony Weiner was a rational person who represented some part of the good folks in New York City. He seemed OK, or as OK as Congresspeople ever get. I mean we do tend towards the bottom of the barrel when we seek out citizens for Congress. But Tony baby, you shot past all low-grade expectations for stupid behavior by a member of Congress. You claim you "made mistakes." No, Tony, it's not a mistake when you shoot pictures of your penis and then broadcast them for all the world to see. It is simply stupid. So, from now on, you have joined the legions of Mr. Stupidheads all over America.
And the Republicans . . . hard to imagine how they could be any worse, or any more extreme in their attitudes toward ordinary Americans. You all seem to despise government, yet, like St. Ronald, you seem crazed to head up this noxious beast. That's because you're phonies. You espouse ethical beliefs, but you're phonies. The only thing in which you believe is power--power apparently at any cost to America. You even have a southern Governor of that now unmentionable state in the southwest who believes his state should secede from the Union, that having worked out so well last time. Maybe he's hankering for yet another "Reconstruction."
I guess the most rational course for the near term is to obtain all my news from Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert. Like the Faux News Network, they too just make stuff up, but at least they're funny.

America of Your Dreams

2011-06-05T12:26:00.000-04:00

So, it turns out that Americans are angry. Mainly, they’re pissed about the absence of jobs in America. I guess a few are angry about the state of our fiscal mess—you know, the continuing deficits. Mostly, though, Americans only really care about themselves. I have long believed that republicans adopted a “Let’m eat cake” philosophy, with their official motto, “Hoist up the ladder, Jack. I’m aboard.” But apparently, it’s more than the douchebag republicans and their teabagger serfs. Turns out that many, many people are angry that nobody, including especially Obama, has fixed the economy, mainly jobs. And it’s clear that, while few really like republicans, Obama is getting more than his fair shareof criticism for not making sure everyone in America has a chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage.

The big question in my mind is, “Why Obama?” I thought these same people rebelled at the idea that the Prez and government in general create jobs. Whenever he does anything, they’re always yelling that only the private sector creates jobs. OK, so then why not yell at the private sector, as in the bank CEOs who refuse to part with any of their trillion dollar holdings to give out some loans to get some businesses moving? Well, apparently, it doesn’t work that way. In fairyland, where most Americans seem to live, we applaud the private sector when jobs are created, and yell at government when the economy stalls. For example, I really love the round of arguments about the debt ceiling.

Republicans want to avoid raising the debt ceiling unless Prez agrees to do something about the deficits. OK, but then when he suggests doing something, like raising taxes to reduce the deficit, they scream—no, no, you will kill jobs. Huh?? But, guys, in, say 1996, when the economy was booming (remember those good old days??) we had a (marginally) higher tax rate, a full economy, and budget surpluses that were leading to paying down the debt . . . until George II and his neo-con stupidheads took over.

Then there’s the real jobs issue, also not created or really solvable by the Prez. See, our collective corporate CEOs thought it would be just grand if we shipped most of our manufacturing enterprise to China. We’d keep the gambling casinos (Wall Street), mining, and housing. Everything else could go.

Well, go it did, with a vengeance. Then our banking CEO’s all decided to pull the plug on the housing bubble and the economy crashed—not just tumbled, but it flamed out and crashed big time.. Then the banks began failing, cuz there was nobody left to pay back those dumbass loans they had manufactured.

So, then what are we left with? Well, we have no industrial base remember. And since nobody has a job, or realistic chance at one, the housing market, the last remaining manufacturing entity left in fairyland, has nowhere to go but down, and it is continuing its downward death spiral.

So now, the residents of fairyland are yelling at our Prez, as though he had any control over any of this. He can cut government spending, of course, but that will surely exacerbate the unemployment problem. Or he could raise taxes, say back to the 1996 levels. But then the “hoist up the ladder” boys would begin whining about how jobs will be killed. Huh! What to do, what to do?

Well, the solution of the clamoring hordes in fairyland, seems to be to elect more of the guys who created the current mess—you know. . . Republicans.

Then what do they expect will happen? Well, republicans are telling them what to expect. Under the Ryan plan, the economic quick fix of choice for republican deep thinkers, the plan is to rid the country of poor people and old people—they’re so messy. Get rid of health care for both so they’ll . . . die more quickly. Then drop the tax rates below even current levels, so the really rich (the 1% who own 90% of the current wealth) will smile more (a new kind of Smile Train). Then eliminate all pretense at environmental control—just get rid of all those laws and the pesky regulators and let industry (what’s left) do whatever they want.

Then everyone in fairyland will be happy.

Just in time for the Fall Rapture.

Making Republicans Vote

2011-05-26T08:53:00.001-04:00

Word has it that Senate democrats are not playing fair. “They are trying to scare seniors” suggests a prominent Republican. How? Well by forcing republicans to vote on their own plan to eliminate Medicare. Imagine that—forcing republicans to vote or shut up is unfair, if not downright un-American. Voting . . . how awful.
Rep. Ryan, much beloved by republicans because of his plan to eventually eliminate the deficit by eliminating Medicare and Medicaid, is aghast at this turn of events, wherein he might be held accountable for his proposal. He loves speaking about it, especially for a large fee. He just isn’t too keen on having anyone actually vote for it. All those touchy old people, who may be paying attention.
Someday, when China decides that it has bought enough of our debt—and that could happen sooner rather than later should republicans live up to their promises by refusing to vote on the debt ceiling extension—they may decide that German, or Irish debt looks more appealing. Then, we would have no way of financing purchases by the Treasury—you know, stuff like the military, Social Security, Medicare. Rep. Ryan thinks we can escape our debt by reducing cost. Most sane people believe the representative is a doofus, and probably flunked third grade math.

I really hate writing checks to the US Treasury. I really do. However, I actually believe that revenue is the main source of our current debt crisis (thank you George Bush), and that both companies and the middle to upper income classes in America have enough money to float our collective boats. We desperately need to increase income taxes. That’s the long and the short of it. I know, republicans will insist that our economy will stop functioning if we raise taxes. But they always say that. For republicans, the sky will always fall with a tax increase, and companies will cease being able to function if they are regulated and taxed both. But they have proven themselves incapable of rational thought on these issues. The entire republican establishment apparently believes the moon is made of green cheese, the rapture is just around the corner, and the earth really is flat. After they created the greatest economic debacle since the 1929 crash and the following 1930’s depression, we should not take republican commentary seriously on any economic issue. They are not believable. More, they are a joke on most serious issues.

And on republican planet McHenry’s Hell, Elizabeth Warren was treated to the republican version of The Big Bang. She was treated as a serf by Mr. McHenry, accused of lying, and then reassured that he really, really, thinks she is a worthy citizen. Mr. McHenry is not known for subtlety . . . or truth-telling.

Thinking and Rethinking About Stuff

2011-05-22T14:12:00.000-04:00

So, the candidates are dropping like flies. Getting so, we will need a program to tell us who’s left and who's next to go. I wonder what’s going on? It would seem that, just as a candidate wannabe get’s rolling, someone out there snarls and the candidate drops out, generally whining about how they are doing it for “family reasons.” Can’t help noticing that they never drop out of Fox News for “family reasons.”

Pretty soon, we’ll be left with a lapsed Catholic who serially cheats on his various wives, a Mormon who thought it was principled for people in his home state to have health care, but socialism if the broader American public is to have health care, and that crazy lady from Minnesota. One assumes that Sarah Barbie is simply making too much money on the lecture circuit (soon she’ll be making as much as our failed President Shrub). The Republican convention promised to be a lot more entertaining a few months ago. This is going to make comedians all over the country have to work a lot harder over the coming months. Well, so long as the Newtster is in the ring, we will have high comedy all the time.

But on another less comedic front, a recent article by Noam Chomsky on the assassination of Usama bin Laden caused me to rethink my sheer glee at his death. Chomsky is not opposed to bin Laden being brought to justice, but he argues strongly that neither bin Laden nor we got justice. Instead, we got an assassination. Given our past stance on war criminals, i.e., the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal after “the last good war” our current rush to judgment seems at best at odds with our own history. Like many, I applauded the attack on Pakistan, and the killing. Now, Chomsky makes me doubt the wisdom of such an approach. It does in fact resemble the George Bush cowboy approach to international diplomacy—“shoot first and ask questions later.”

I’m still glad that bin Laden is dead, much as I was glad that Hitler was dead. Still, we need to be mindful in such matters, that we haven’t become the very people we despise.

Rapturous

2011-05-18T08:55:00.003-04:00

So the rapture is coming soon to a universe near you. You could be among the first to be snatched away to your friendly neighborhood heaven. Just be sure you leave your home, bank account and car to me before you go.

As I best understand it, this Saturday, the world gets divided into heaven and hell. One group of guys gets snatched off the earth to someplace else, and the rest get to remain behind to watch the greatest son et lumiere since time began. Wonder whether the Faux News Network will be around to capture it all on film for the nightly news hour? Oh, no, I forgot, Rupert and his entire wrecking crew will be among the snatchees, so they won’t be here to tell us about it all.

So, let’s see . . . the pope, Franklin Graham, Mike Dingleberry, the Newtster, obviously Sarah Barbie and her companion in crime Michelle Bachman, and all the people rendered stupid by religion will be zipped off to their respective new homes, and assigned harps. But we must remember all those martyrs—you know, Usama Bin Laden and his various buddies who managed to blow themselves up in crowded marketplaces. They will also be there, with their assigned 71 virgins each. So, the tea party guys will all have to meet and greet with Usama and all the Islamist bozos. Hey, that would be fun to watch . . . and I guess Glenn Beck and Rush will be there to tell them all about it.

So, what does that leave? Well, all the rest of us will have to stay here to watch the show. Now this presents an interesting scenario. Let’s see—the world is divided into heaven and hell. The pope, the republicans, the Faux News network, and all the Islamic martyrs go together in one direction. All the rest remain behind. It’s sort of an Ikea-like do-it-yourself heaven thing. The question remaining in my mind is, “so which is heaven and which is hell?”

So, keep your smart phones handy, ready to text your buddies, as you get snatched . . . or not. I wonder . . . do they allow twittering in heaven?

And on another hellish planet, it is rumored that the current FCC Commissioner, Meredith Attwell Baker who voted to allow the Comcast takeover, and was rewarded with a big job at . . . Comcast, is pissed at the Rapture, since she hasn’t even had an opportunity to settle on the big house she was planning on buying as a result of her sellout.

Dreaming Dreams

2011-05-15T15:36:00.000-04:00

I was listening earlier to that wonderful source of intelligent humor, Garrison Keillor, making fun of graduation speakers, who often drone on endlessly. And it caused me to begin wondering what I might say to graduates, were I to be a chosen speaker –since there is precious little chance of such an occurrence, my speculation is really more of a fun game than anything real.

And Garrison of course included, “I have a dream . . .” by MLK in his set. It caused me to think back to my own college graduation some 50+ years ago (I stopped counting at 50 a while back). And I thought . . . really, I had no dream. Graduation was simply another day, much like all the others. I had a wife, a baby on the way, and, importantly, I had a job. What more did anyone need? A dream??? That’s for others. How would my life have been different had I a dream?

Dreams are a bit like life plans. Some folks have such plans; others, like me, don’t.

I went hunting for a job midway through my senior year. Everyone did. The 1950s. Everything was booming and jobs were available. The aerospace industry was especially attractive for engineering graduates. The Cold War was a good thing for us. I know, I know. How could a war, hot or cold be described as a “good thing?” Well, at the moment, nobody was dying in that war (Korea was finished for the moment, Vietnam had not yet begun.) But, that “war” created thousands of jobs making things intended to kill lots of people, with the fond hope that, once produced, they would never be so used. That was the deal—MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) was our last, best hope for mankind.

So, our jobs in that industry (high tech death machinery) were, in the final analysis, just jobs, like working in a supermarket, or Wall Street. It involved no dreams.

Periodically, we engineers would get together socially, drink martini’s and discuss potential scenarios—like where should we go if the Cuban Missile Crisis got out of hand—the seacoast or the mountains, the issue being, where would we least likely get killed or maimed when they began shooting off all those weapons of mass destruction?? But we never really thought it would happen.

Then after a time, during which I began getting tired of the WMD industry, an opportunity came across my horizon, to quit what I was doing and move, as part of a team, to India.

To India????

And that’s what I was thinking. Huh?? Hey, why not?? And that’s what my wife said, when asked. “To India??? Why not?”

Now, that would never have been part of my dream, or my life plan. I simply would never have thought of such a thing . . . and that’s what’s wrong with a life plan, I thought. Many dreams/life plans foreclose options by giving strong preference to things you think about in advance. Real plans include goals, and a plausible path for reaching that goal. But, it all depends on how you phrase the goals I assume. If you think, “hmmm . . . in 25 years I intend to be a partner in a law firm, or a high level officer in a technology company”, or something similar, you may in fact achieve that goal, but you may also foreclose several other optional courses that might have proven more exciting, or simply more interesting.

Alternatively, I think about people who entered school without anything in mind, but simply bumping along taking courses because they were fun, or interesting. They graduate and then what?

So, there should be some kind of life planning that is beneficial.

So, what to do, what to do? I have always had one major objective—try to keep options open. Finishing high school (or worse yet dropping out) with no thought to college is to foreclose all options associated with college. It is to limit oneself unnecessarily--it closes doors. So, getting as much education as seems reasonable (and that almost always means going beyond high school) is always a good course, mainly because it opens more doors.

Then, when one moves into “real life” always being open to something new seems to me a good course. Never foreclose options without first at least trying to understand the options in front of you. That was our India decision. India was never in my dream set; it just happened, and we had open minds.

So, maybe that’s it. Get educated to open as many doors as possible, and then keep on learning (read actual books). The world is very large, complex, and fascinating. There’s more to life than what can be seen in Spring Valley, New York.

Look around. Stay open to new ideas.

Oh, and one more thing.

Stop watching the Fox News Channel. It closes the mind, and corrupts the brain.

Threats to the Institution of Marriage

2011-05-12T15:48:00.000-04:00

With all the recent discussions and debates about Gays in the US, and their perceived threat to the institution of marriage, I began to consider whether Gays are really the biggest threat to the institution of marriage in our nation. I guess it’s arguably true that providing alternative models of any kind to our youth will make them consider those alternatives more seriously (although all scientific evidence points to homosexuality as a genetic trait as opposed to a lifestyle choice).

However, once we open that door to our thinking about marriage, we need to consider all the alternatives that are available as models to our children. The most recent to cross my mind is the Newt Gingrich model. Here we have a man who fantasizes that he should be President of the United States. Let’s accept for the moment that the President, whoever he or she might be, really fits almost any definition of a role model. So, what kind of a role model is Newt, specifically with regard to that sacred institution we like to call marriage?

Let’s see, Newt was married to one woman. She became quite sick. Newt dissed her, while she was in the hospital, taking off with another woman, who soon became wife number two. After a time, Newt became aroused by yet another woman, engaging in extramarital sex with her. I guess the Newtster has a different attitude about sexual relations with people not your spouse than most of the people now engaged in discussions about Gays and marriage—you know, the Teabaggers and other good Christian Taliban. So, the Newt switched spouses yet again, taking up with another woman who assumed the temporary guise of wife number three. Makes one wonder where wife number four will come from.

So, here we have a true role model wannabe who seems to believe that marriage is a sometime thing, perhaps even a casual thing. Whatever will our youngsters think about marriage, when the Newt is on the tube daily, yakking to us, and trying to convince us of one policy or another? I for one, would continue to think, “why would I believe anything this bozo says? He’s not sincere about anything, and can’t keep his dick properly housed.”

So, I’m supposed to believe that Gays make more of a mockery of marriage than Newt Gingrich?

Somehow, I think not. I wonder what percentage of Gays, once they commit to a “permanent” relationship, flit about as much as the Newt, and others of his ilk? Think hard Mr. and Mrs. America about who you want as role models, and be very careful what you wish for.

And this train of thoughts made me wonder how long it will be before Rupert hires Newt as the resident pseudo-intellectual for the Faux News Network.

Pakistan & Osama

2011-05-10T12:48:00.000-04:00

Ever since our special forces team sent Osama bin Laden off to Never-never Land, we have been inundated with speculation about Pakistan’s role in sheltering him and what that might mean for our relationship with Pakistan. What did they know, and when did they know it, is the repeated theme of our news commentariat.

In my mind, there is no great mystery here, but perhaps I am jaded.

When we lived in New Delhi during the 1964-1968 period, we experienced one of the several Indo-Pak wars. It’s a bit iffy to refer to them as “wars’ actually, since the encounters never seem to last very long. In our case, Pakistan began their incursions into India, and had their nose bloodied for the effort. I still remember sitting on our bursatti in New Delhi during a blackout. The Paks were equipped with US jet fighters, and the Indians were equipped with Russian SAM missiles for air defence. I remember thinking, “god, I hope the Russians know what they are doing with these SAM missiles.” I also remember thinking, “man this is a really screwed up world, with us aiding the Pakistani’s and the Russians, our enemy, assisting the Indians. How did we ever get into such a f___ed up relationship?”

The wars never last very long, and Pakistan always comes out the worse for wear. After a time, I began thinking, “hmmm . . . these Pakistani war efforts resemble something. Oh, I know, they resemble the Arab obsessive-compulsive behavior toward Israel. Every now and again, the Arabs, singly or in combination, get it into their heads to attack Israel. So, they mount their attack, the Israelis get pissed, and shoot back, generally with devastating results, and the Arabs withdraw, sometimes with less territory than they had before (see the Golan Heights). Ditto with Pakistan.

In the case of Israel and the Arabs, it was always at least clear what the Arabs were about. They wanted to “drive Israel into the sea”, i.e., to destroy Israel. That they kept doing the same thing over and over, while hoping for a different result seems to suggest a form of insanity, but maybe it is simply stupidity . . . perhaps too much time in the hot sun. But for Pakistan, it has never been clear what they want. They’re clearly not intent on pushing India into the sea. I know, I know, they really, really want Kashmir. But they ain’t gett’n Kashmir. Seems as though they would have gotten that message by now. They’re like an obsessive-compulsive crazy person.—ok, once more with feeling . . .

But given their history, why is anyone unclear about Pakistan sheltering bin Laden? The ISI has been a rogue agency within Pakistan for decades. They do what they want and the Pakistani military doesn’t interfere. Seems clear that the ISI has been the responsible real estate agent for bin Laden and that the Pakistani military has known about it. The Pakistani government isn’t really in control of the country—their entire northwest provinces are semi-autonomous regions, assisted probably by the military and/or the ISI as needed. The “democratic” government of Pakistan is tolerated by the military and the ISI.

Maybe someday Pakistan will turn to democracy seriously, blow up their ISI and rein in their military. Until then, we should always expect the worst from our good friends, the Paks. And until then, the Pakistanis will have to contend with eating Indian dust, as the Indians roar into the 21st century as one of the world's super-powers.

And on another planet, it is rumored that the Republican party has decided that Jeb Bush is their favored candidate for President, since the Bushes worked out so well for them last time.

Good Hunting

2011-05-02T15:36:00.000-04:00

So, they finally did something right . . . the CIA that is. Osama bin Laden, finally captured and killed. Too bad they shot him in the head. Might have been more fitting to have dropped him from a helicopter into his unmarked watery grave somewhere out in the vast ocean, while still a thinking being. But, you can’t have everything, I guess.

The most interesting aspect of this action, well aside from the fact that we finally got him after almost 11 years of not chasing him, is the role played by our good friends, the Pakistani’s, especially the Pakistani ISI. Last I heard, the old man of 911 fame was living in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan, or maybe in the wilds of Pakistan, but definitely in a cave. A multimillionaire living in a cave with his various wives and kids for ten plus years. Wow, what a concept.

Well, no. Turns out he’s been living in a proper multimillionaire’s palace next door to a Pakistani military academy in the capital. The ISI (their CIA) didn’t have a clue he was there; nor did the military academy. I guess they’re just not curious about their neighbors, huh? Seems like it would have been just neighborly, after he moved in, to bake him a pie, and maybe bring over a bottle of a nice (non-alcoholic) wine. But I guess military folks are a little standoffish in Pakistan. Apparently, it just isn’t done to get too cozy with the neighbors.

But it makes me wonder how long the Bin Laden’s have been in residence, and who knew about it? I mean, did the local schwarma takeout delivery guy ever meet the old guy? Didn’t Osama and his various wives ever attend a local concert? And of course, what about the tax collector? They know everything, don’t they? So, did Osama pay his tax bill every year, like a good alien resident?

And then, you have to wonder whether he sends out e-mails, writes a blog, texts his kids, or even, tweets. I mean, the guy sends out videos to the faithful periodically. Does he use U-Tube??? Does the local Al Jazeera gang know where to send his royalty checks on all the great stuff he’s been sending them?? And doesn’t the guy have, like, 57 wives? Don’t they ever get out for a pedicure, for heaven’s sake? I don’t know, but it seems pretty suspicious to me. Nobody really hides out in a multimillion rupee mansion in the capital of Pakistan, next door to a military academy. You’d think someone knew he was there all these years. And it took a courier to finally do him in???

So, I guess the CIA can now relax again. They got their man, sort of like the Mounties, only ten years too late. So, I wonder who’s next on their list . . . maybe the head of Goldman Sachs???

Birther Blather

2011-04-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

I’m disappointed . . . along with a bunch of other people. The President has released his birth certificate . . . again. He wants to make the issue go away. What issue is that, you ask? Oh, the fake issue of his birth status—he’s not American, remember?? So, anyway, the Prez is trying to make the Birthers shut up. But, how is he doing it?? By releasing facts!!

Hahahahahahaha. The Prez thinks the issue lacks facts. Hahahahahahahahaha.

Prez, the Birthers don’t employ facts. They make stuff up, remember?? Like the Faux News Network, whose motto is, “We make stuff up, so you don’t have to.” Rupert never let a fact get in his way.

The Birthers are (take your pick) terminally stupid, charlatans, racists, terminally crazy, all of the above. But Mr. Prez, if you actually stopped them from debating your non-existent Kenyan birth, they would have to dream up something else to debate. And someday they may stumble across real issues, like the national debt, deficits, George’s wars, your war, global warming, health care, the failure of free-market economics, unemployment .. . you know, real problems. And we do not want these people anywhere near real problems. We need them to remain fixated on your birthplace, The Donald’s hairpiece, Sarah bimbo’s kids, and Mike Dingleberry’s belief that the earth is really flat and at the center of the universe. So long as they are debating that crap, they won’t be able to damage actual thinking/debating of reality.

So quit trying to bring them into our universe, Mr. Prez. I’m sure that the aliens in their alternate universe really like them.

And that’s a good thing.

And on yet another exoplanet, the Bank of America has announced that it has contracted with the Italian Mafia in Sicily. The full terms of the contract have not yet been released, but we are told that Mafia hit-men will break your kneecaps if you fail to pay your credit card bills on time.

Technology Rules

2011-04-23T15:02:00.001-04:00

The other night, we attended a play at the Actors’ Theatre. The play was “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”, by Sarah Ruhl. The play is about a woman who has to confront today’s technology through a cell phone of a man who dies next to her in a café.

As we awaited the beginning of the play, three 30-something boy magpies behind us were chattering excitedly about their coming weekend events and about their cute I-Phones, which co-located them at the theatre by name. Wow, another I-Phone App by Apple, the company specializing in really, really cute solutions in search of a problem. As the trio of guys chatted on endlessly, sort of like a group of 8-year olds might have done, the play began and they all quieted. The play is a comedy of sorts, about dead people and technology that lives on after death. Where do all those cell phone conversations go, if not into the ether? Do they vanish, or do they keep going forever?

The same day, someone announced that Apple’s cute I-Phones all keep secret information about your whereabouts, hidden within the phone. Wow! Who’da thought Apple would keep data on its customers without telling/asking them? Amazing.

But the play and the chattering class behind us set me to thinking about today’s technology and what it is about. What troubles me is that it seems to be about less than it used to be.

My working career, after obtaining my engineering degree, began in the aerospace world—helping to build complex missile systems that could destroy whole cities in the blink of an eye—terrible things they were indeed. But they were part of that period we now refer to nostalgically as “the Cold War.”

It seemed to me that technology in the days just after dinosaurs roamed the earth, i.e., when I was young, was founded on that old saw—“necessity is the mother of invention.” That is, when we encountered some problem, sooner or later we would figure out a solution to that problem. That was the heart and soul of the industrial revolution. At some point, maybe it was during the 1980’s, with the advent of the personal computer, that technology principle seemed to change. Technologists began inventing things for which we had no problem identified. We invented, because we could. In short, technology began to lead needs, as in "Invention is now the mother of necessity."

Now, how does one market new technology, when the public is not even aware that it needs the technology? Well, you market it the way we market new clothing designs. With clothing, we have various Spring fashion shows, when the designers show off their latest line of clothing. The idea of the shows is to produce a “must-have” mentality among the buying public, at least that part of the buying public that cares. In technology, they have the same thing—Spring/Fall fashion shows that market the latest, coolest, hottest, tech gizmoes, along with the Apps you never realized you needed. That pretty much defines Apple, and Apple pretty much defines the world of technology.

So, now what do we have? We have millions of people, most of whom aren’t even geeks, walking around with these fashion-plate tekkie gadgets, which they consult every minute or two. We have Facebook, a pseudo-social network, where the young go to whine, or to tell us about their latest triumph. We have twitter, we have texting, we even have sexting. We have pseudo-communications gobbling up all the available space in our public airwaves, just so everyone can feel “connected”.

We can observe people sitting in restaurants, ostensibly engaged in social contact with other humans, but not quite connected with the humans in front of them. Instead, they stay pseudo-connected with all their other pseudo-friends on Facebook, all of whom are twittering/texting/sexting continuously. Everyone is walking around, driving, sitting in a permanent state of social disconnect, or perhaps semi-connected. Bodies that are almost disembodied, permanently. Nothing is real. Everyone is connected, but nobody is connected. Pseudo-conversations go on endlessly, with no actual information going back and forth. The ether fills up with babble, and one wonders whether all this electronic goo continues to float out into the ether, traveling on forever into some future time and place.

It is all pretty amazing stuff, and would be wonderful, I suppose, if any of the world’s current real problems somehow became solved, or even addressed. Here we have people all over the world blowing up themselves and others on a daily basis. Children go hungry, people are sick without respite, other people are dying for no good reason that anyone can articulate. And yet, the adult 8-year olds of the world go on chattering to one another, without ever actually communicating, or seemingly caring about all the crap going on about them.

Amazing.

Is this a great world or not??

I wonder what our great grandchildren will make of this stuff?

War by Other Means

2011-04-21T17:06:00.000-04:00

Libya Who?
So, does anyone out there know what we are all doing in, by or for Libya???? I see now that we have just approved the use of armed drones . . . you know, those flying thingies that swoop out of the blue, fire rockets at things and people, and then disappear, all without human hands at the helm. But, we will not put “feet on the ground.”
Huh!
Why not, pray tell? Someone might get hurt?
First we (the UN) said that Ghadaffi should go, and that we (the civilized world) declared a “NO-FLY” zone, keeping Ghadaffi from dropping bombs on civilians. Ok. Then we started rocketing his tanks, until we discovered that the rebels (remember them??) got their hands on some tanks.
Then it all started getting really ugly and complicated, as wars often do, with Ghadaffi adapting and pushing the rebels back all over Libya. As Ghadaffi became more aggressive, and more effective against his opposition civilians, we seemingly became more confused. So we finally declared that our goal, in addition to protecting civilians, was to have a “regime change” (remember those??). We wanted Ghadaffi out.

Except that the man steadfastly refuses to go. He is patently refusing to pay any attention to our invitations to get him to depart post haste.

So, what’s our collective response? Well, the Brits are sending “advisors” (ahh, for those of you who remember Vietnam, that’s how we began there).

I don’t get it.

We decide collectively, that Libya should be freed from its murderous ruler. But, we need to obey some rules. Mustn’t send in troops. That’s a no-no in UN-speak. Huh??? We are apparently relying on the local population to pull off another Egypt or Tunisia thing. They do the work, and we applaud in the background. Except this time, it doesn’t seem to be working.

I guess I have never really understood these rules by which we declare goals and then refuse to act so as to achieve them. War is nasty business. One should not engage in war unless you are sure that the end justifies the means. War-means are inherently deadly. That’s why it’s’ not called peace.

Maybe we need to back off, unless we are clear about what we are doing., and what will happen as a result. Maybe the UN just isn’t up to this regime-changing business.

Maybe NATO isn’t either.

Pearls before Swine

2011-04-11T09:37:00.000-04:00

As seen in today's Charlotte Pamphlet:

Pearls Before Swine:

Hmmmm . . . I wonder . . .

Mad Hatters

2011-04-10T16:08:00.000-04:00

So, crisis avoided for this week. Our royal, loyal opposition, the republican-madhatterteapartiests, decided to move around the shutdown thing, I guess because that 1995 shutdown thing didn’t work so well for them. But they have more crises up their sleeves than Carter has pills. I guess that next up on the docket is the debt ceiling. The Madhatters claim they won’t extend the debt ceiling until the Dems cave on . . . something. Maybe it’s the EPA greenhouse emissions thing. Their owners, the Cocks, really hate EPA, cuz EPA keeps them from totally destroying whatever environment they touch. So, the Cocks want to gut EPA—maybe just phase it out of existence. And they will stop at nothing in order to get what they want. They’re a bit like Islamic terrorists in that regard, only instead of strapping on dynamite vests, they are willing to push the entire nation over a cliff to get what they want—see they don’t care what happens, and that’s why the Dems keep caving.

And, after this latest sham crisis, they will still have the actual budget issue awaiting in the wings. See, after they get all of their social and regulatory goals achieved, they may even turn their attention to actually dealing with the debt and the annual deficits. The Madhatter party has been using the same strategy for decades. It goes something like this:

1. Once you are in power, create a fiscal crisis by spending waaaay more money than you have—it’s called “republican charge and spend” politics.

2. Then, when people begin to get alarmed at the imbalance between income and expenses, you attack something you don’t like, like taxes on the wealthy, or EPA regulations, or banking regulations, or family planning, but . . . you get the point.

3. And you link your attacks to the budget problem—“oh, we can’t fund that. We have to rein in our debt.”

4. Then, after the public votes you out of office because of your insane policies, you link the Dems to the budget problem you created. That strategy has been working for 30-40 years now. For the last two years, Obama has been trying to deal with the Madhatter-inspired economic collapse, and the budget imbalances caused by the Shrub’s huge giveaway to his rich friends, coupled with his wars (Madhatters love wars).

This cycle really has little to do with actual fiscal policy per se. The Madhatters seem not to care a fig about such things. Mainly, they want to limit the power of the Dems to solidify their voter base. They want the power. That’s all they ever want—power. And what do they want to do with the power? Why, use it to advance the cash positions of their owners—the Cocks and others of that ilk.

It’s all a giant game to them, where they can win only if they can cause the Dems to lose. They don’t know about win-win scenarios, nope, only zero-sum games. So, they intend to gut the main power sources of the Dems—middle class programs. Thus, they intend killing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (see Paul Ryan). They intend to continue whittling away at all programs valued by the Middle Class, because they see them as a source of power for the Dems. Hang on, folks, it’s going to be a really bumpy ride over the next several years.

And on yet another republican exoplanet, Mike Huckabee announced that he actually believes that state governments, being closer to the people and all that, are more effective levels of government and should have more power than the feds. Hahahahahaha . . . Yeah, Mike, who’dja get that one from—the Alaska bimbo???

Games People Play

2011-04-06T08:48:00.000-04:00

So, the big budget game begins with a shot over the bow from the right, as the Paul Ryan cannon fires its big budget, cutting four trillion dollars in ten years. The right wing, some of it, is delighted because at last the right wing is doing more than just shouting at our pinko-commie-fascist president. The left wing is . . . silent.
As I best understand it, Mr. Ryan proposes to eliminate Medicaid, give Medicare to the Insurance Industry, and reform the tax code, without actually increasing any taxes, especially on corporations or the über-rich.
How does he eliminate Medicaid? By converting it into a block grant. While the states now largely control Medicaid, they do so within the limits of Federal regulations. The Feds pay half, the states pay half, but the states are not free to do what they want. Under Mr. Ryan’s plan, as a block grant, the states will be freer to work their will. As I see it, a block grant will largely kill off Medicaid, since states notoriously drive to the bottom when it comes to spending on the poor.
On Medicare, whereas Mr. Ryan exempts current recipients of Medicare from his changes (thereby nullifying their political interference, he hopes) he converts Medicare for future seniors to a voucher, allowing them to buy insurance from the industry. Whatever the merits of his voucher plan, it will never improve on a single payer system that eliminates the industry altogether. He characterizes his plan as taking the decisions away from 33,000 bureaucrats and giving it to 330,000,000 Americans who will then use the wonders of modern free capitalism, with all its competitive advantages, to buy the best health care at the least amount of money. Oh, if only that was the way today’s health insurance market worked. Alas and alack, it doesn’t work that way. Instead of 33,000 bureaucrats, we have several thousand private sector insurance executives and stockholders making the decisions, mainly so as to enhance their bonus and payout opportunities.
And on taxes, Mr. Ryan punts on the subject of raising taxes to pay for the current debts, largely brought to us by the Republican Party. While he proposes reforming the tax code, to do so without increasing the tax revenue base converts his effort to the level of farce.
So, we now have one proposal from the serious right wing. It is the turn of the serious left wing to bring in their proposal and lay it on the table. We need to bring down the deficits and the National debt. We began that promise under, oh let’s see, it was Mr. Clinton I think. Then we reversed course under the Shrub and have been drowning in debt ever since. So, let’s get serious. We need both expenditure cuts and tax increases. Otherwise we are doomed.
Mr. President . . . Mr. Reid . . . Ms. Pelosi??? Your turn.

Schools Without Schools

2011-04-05T13:54:00.000-04:00

More great news from the Charlotte Mecklenburg school system. According to Emperor Pete Gorman, we don’t need, are you ready for this . . . Teachers!!! Yeah, is that great news or what? Pete has introduced a brand spanking new program that allows students to complete their high school years without setting foot in an actual school. Well, not quite. The kids will need to occasionally meet with a counselor. According to Pete:
“This Fall, CMS students who wish to take 100% of their classes online will have the opportunity to do so by enrolling through the newly created e-Learning Academy at Hawthorne High school. Qualifying students will be allowed to work from home with weekly face-to-face check-ins at Hawthorne High School. To qualify students must be currently enrolled in a CMS school, have an unweighted GPA of 2.5 or higher, be on track for graduation and have previously passed at least 1 online class. Students will receive their degree from Hawthorne High School, not Myers Park.”

So, we don’t need any teachers. Think of the savings. No teachers, assistants, principals, or princely assistants. Not sure whether the kids will need actual books, since E-learning is often carried out without any. Now, Pete may have outdone even himself in his zeal to can teachers. See, if we don’t need actual teachers in this hi-tech version of learning, it is by no means clear that we need Pete and his high-salaried minions. See, maybe we can just bypass Pete, buy our on-line learning from some E-learning establishment in Bangalore, India, and then have the ETS in New Jersey conduct the E-Learning EOGs.
Is this a great country, or not?
And on yet another exoplanet, Republicans have announced a new plan to shut down government. It having worked so well for them in 1995, John Boehner and his Cockserfers have decided to try, try again. Better get your visas before Friday people.

Moammar and the CIA

2011-03-31T08:32:00.003-04:00

Ohhhhh , be afraid Moammar . . . the CIA is on the case, and “on the ground” so to speak . . . Man we are really moving mountains to get rid of this guy. Think of it . . . putting the CIA into the game. Wow! What’s next, I wonder? Maybe sponsoring a Justin Bieber concert in Benghazi to support the rebels?? Hah! That’ll scare the crap out of Moammar.

Really, guys, you’re telling us, and presumably Moammar, that the CIA is now engaged and walking the walk in Libya. So, what’s that all about? I assume this announcement is supposed to terrify Moammar, and maybe get him to reconsider his next moves? And we’re told that it was, after all, the addition of the CIA into Afghanistan that led to the defeat of the Taliban. Huh! I wonder when we defeated the Taliban? So I guess we can bring all of our troops home from Afghanistan??
The CIA seems to me to be the most inept agency in the US government. They really seem to get almost everything wrong. They missed the Decline and Fall of the Russian Empire, including the collapse of the Berlin Wall. They appeared to have no clue that we were actually losing the war in Vietnam. They told us that the Iraq WMD thing was “a slam dunk”. I guess arguably, they were at least aware that Osama Bin laden (remember him??) was trying to wreak havoc in the US of A, but George W. was too busy dismantling the US government and reducing taxes for his wealthy friends to pay attention. But really, they don’t get much right. So, why the announcement?
Could it be a throw-away line to placate our own radical right, who continue to fuss and fume at every Obama pronouncement? I assume they love the CIA, so telling them that the CIA is engaged is perhaps a way of telling the hard right to back off—their guys are on the ground, so shut up and “support our troops.” But for the rest of us, it’s not great news. First of all, the announcement means that they are not actually doing anything important, or we would not be told about it. I mean, they never tell us anything important about the CIA, so I assume this announcement means that maybe they’re already done, or that they aren’t actually on the ground. Ohh, I know . . . they’re “on the ground” sort of like the way the Jon Stewart cast of comedy journalists are always “on the ground” somewhere, when actually they’re just standing in front of a green screen with a film projected behind them. That must be it. Yeah, the Intel guys are still sitting at Langley drinking their giganto latte’s, while pretending to be “on the ground.” Ohm yeah, I feel so much better now . . .
And on yet another exoplanet, Newt Gingrich is telling us that he doesn’t understand why Obama is messing with Libya. Were he President, he wouldn’t be messing with Libya, unless of course he was messing with Libya . . . but you know the Newtster. He’s such a joker. Maybe he’s readying himself for a new wife, and he’s practicing his particular form of “truthiness”.

Alien Life, Coming Slowly Into View

2011-03-27T12:14:00.000-04:00

I guess I need to get out more. I saw the headline, above, in the New York Times, an article by Ray Jayawardhana, and thought, “Oh, an article about the recent invasion of the nation by Republicans." I assumed the article was going to describe the Grand Vision of our newly elected barons . . . you know, eliminating decent public education, elimination of all social safety nets, and returning the Nation to third world standards, where we have two classes—the rich, and everyone else.

But, no, it was instead an article about actual alien life (no, you doofuses, real aliens, not Mexicans) , that might exist on what are known as exoplanets—planets that sort of resemble the earth in ways that suggest at least the possibility of life. Then it made me wonder whether alien intelligent beings on some other planets are doing the same thing—scouring the universe looking for other intelligent life forms. And, on what they might be saying to each other if they stumbled across us. I mean, would they think of us as intelligent life forms?? Seems unlikely huh? I guess it depends on your definition of “intelligent”. I assume they might wrestle with this issue a long time. Would actually intelligent life forms act this way—blowing themselves up, destroying the very planet on which they depend for their future existence? Surely not they would think . . . So they might be forced to conclude that, while we might have begun a while back (some would say 6,000 years ago) as intelligent life forms, something must have happened along the way to corrupt the genetic pool, turning out this collection of moronic, highly destructive savages. They might even conclude that we are a highly dangerous species, toxic one might call us, and that we need to be eliminated, sort of like kudzu, or those nasty Asian carp threatening our rivers. Wouldn’t that be too bad?

On the other hand, perhaps they’re right.

And on yet another of those alien planets, Donald Trump—you know THE Donald, decided that he will probably toss his hat into the presidential aspirant ring. It is said that, as soon as he heard that Michelle Bachman had just declared, he said, “hell, if we’re that desperate for talent, I might as well give it a whirl. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

The Great Dumbing Down

2011-03-22T13:30:00.000-04:00

The more I read articles about current events, made available on the Internet, the better I feel about my ability to understand and interpret the news of the day. But a counter phenomenon has begun entering my consciousness—the rapid commentary on the various articles. And the commentary has begun overwhelming the actual news reporting and interpretation by the various journalists and officials who are responsible for most of the articles.

In olden days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we all gathered our news and interpretive writings from our newspapers, reinforced at a later stage by radio and television reporting. Television was often a series of quick-takes on local, national and global events. One could, of course, learn something of what was happening “out there” from television, but the absence of deliberative thought behind much of the reporting, and the press of deadlines has always made television somewhat less than coherent. I say this, realizing that some of our television news was a fairly widely respected source of news and interpretation. Edward R. Murrow on radio and TV gave us a reasoned understanding of world events, largely unduplicated in today’s news media. Today, only the Public Broadcasting system even attempts to provide the kind of careful analysis and discussion of world events we used to expect routinely from Murrow. Bill Moyers was one of the last great sources of intelligent news programming on the air.

Still, in those olden days, if we were driven to comment on world events, or the analysis/reporting that appeared at our breakfast table, or our nightly news programs, we had to sit down at a table and put pen to paper. Then we had to place the paper in an envelope, place a stamp on the envelope and send it off in the post to our friendly neighborhood newspaper, or TV station, hoping that some editor might find our musings interesting enough to publish or broadcast. The effort required to create our own commentary probably made us at least pause before even deciding to sit down and write. We might even think about what we wanted to convey. We wanted our opinion to matter, so we thought before we wrote.

Enter the Internet. The Internet is both a marvel and a nightmare at the same time. We subscribe on-line to the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian. These news sources also require you to comment via E-Mail, or actual snail mail. In either case, there is no guarantee that your comments will find their way onto the screens of your PCs. Editors still exercise judgment on what is published, and of the many submissions, only a few make it into print or onto the screens of these news outlets.

But we also subscribe to many Internet news sources that are collections of articles from many sources, usually aggregated around some theme or point of view. Most of our subscriptions represent the middle to the political left. For these sources—both of the Left and Right persuasions-- instant commentary is possible: All one need do is to trail down to the end of the article to the comments section, and write your own commentary on the article. It is a form of instant gratification; since one can see one’s own words appear magically for the entire world to see. Little forethought is required for such commentary, and even a casual perusal of the extensive commentary suggests that indeed little forethought characterizes most of it. It is akin to all of the other forms masquerading as modern communication—texting, tweeting, Facebook postings, even blogging. It is as though speed actually is of the essence, brevity is important, and forethought largely irrelevant. What matters mostly in these commentaries is your vote on the subject, cast in the harshest terms possible. Some even use the all caps approach—equivalent to yelling. Reasoned comments are largely drowned out by the flood of verbal abuse heaped on one another and on the article writers. The great middle or indeed subtlety seems not to exist in these communications venues. It represents, to me, a form of the great dumbing down of America.

It seems doubtful that people in America are actually growing less intelligent over time, although the continued 35-40% dropout rate from our high schools might contradict that optimistic view. But I think what is happening is that the Internet allows and even encourages group-think, and also allows anyone to voice their opinion in open forums.
We now have organized social and political venues on-line that allow like-minded people to collect and “talk” with one another, as though they were in the same room. Since like-minded people tend, over time, to support the views of their chosen kind, the views seem to be moving to one side or the other of the spectrum of social/political thought. This group-think is amplified heavily by entertainment media such as Rupert’s Faux News Network, in which actors or actual delusional sociopaths dominate the airwaves, pounding home the view of the opposite party as “the enemy”, or as inherently evil. The continued, and indeed expanded, financial support of the largely right wing groups—think venues by such groups as the Koch Brothers-- gave rise to such phenomena as the Tea Party, an entirely Astroturf political group, but a potentially dangerous one for our Republic.
How to counter these growing forces driving the Nation into two camps is a problem we ignore at our peril. Our elected representatives in Congress are supposed to find ways to forge solutions to our Nation’s problems, solutions often based on compromise. What we see instead is the same movement to the right or to the left by our representatives, and actual problem solution has disappeared, replaced by attempts to Defeat the Other. Increasingly, the President is faced with the equivalent of two warring camps. Where are the adults in the Nation? Perhaps they all migrated to Canada?

Our Japanese Neighbors

2011-03-13T14:16:00.000-04:00

10,000 lost souls . . . what can one say in the face of such a natural calamity? Certainly Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell would have a ready answer . . . something to the tune of, “ this is God’s way of punishing . . .” To idiots such as these religious fascists, their mean little god is always about punishing someone, just for the hell of it. To the rest of us, you know, just normal people, we have a less corrupt, distorted view of god and/or nature. “Shit happens” seems to capture it nicely. Our natural world is not perfect, and stuff seems to just happen every now and again. You can prepare for it, and by all accounts, the Japanese prepared perhaps better than anyone else on this globe. But a quake of over 8 magnitude??? Hard to prepare. And I am just beginning to understand the true power of a tsunami. That much water rushing at you at 30-40 miles per hour exceeds any definition of “awesome” power.
But we can try to empathize with the Japanese people and to understand that they really are our neighbors on this spinning globe. We should try to do everything we can to assist, and to let them know that we care. In such situations, we really are our brother’s keeper. We can and should mourn with them their loss of so many mothers, fathers, sons, daughters.
And when tomorrow comes around, and their recovery is assured, and that day will come, we might want to think about the other living souls on our planet, and how we can begin to live together without trying to kill one another so frequently. I realize that those to the right seem to like killing things, people and animals. But maybe a natural catastrophe such as this in Japan should make us pause. Perhaps in the face of this disaster, when so many earthlings died, it would be appropriate to ask whether there aren’t alternatives to killing as the dispute resolution of choice. Isn’t that why we invented the United Nations?
Can we at least give it a try folks?

NPR & Federal Funding

2011-03-09T08:21:00.000-05:00

So, what do we know? Well, we know for certain that Ron Schiller is an idiot, at least as big an idiot as the teabaggers and other right wing repubs he accuses, with some justification, of being radical racists. Whatever Schiller believes, and however true or false are his beliefs, he demonstrated that he did not deserve being in a position of authority at NPR. “Loose lips sink ships”, it was once said, and it as true now as it was in WW II. NPR is a national treasure, but a treasure under attack by the right wing. The right wing does not need more ammunition. It is enough for them that the only “Fair and Balanced” news program on our airwaves is NPR. The right wing specializes in media control. The Faux News Network is their idea of balance—i.e., to the right of Attila the Hun. So, Schiller handed them a gift. I guess he thought nobody was listening—he was talking “to the choir” so to speak. But, as in WW II, the enemy is always listening, and we need to be clear—the right wing in this country is the enemy of true American values. They value only corporate money and its ideologues. Rupert, the Cocks and others of their ilk now run the right wing of this nation, mainly the republican party. They will stop at nothing to destroy a balanced approach to any subject.
So, maybe we don’t need federal money. Perhaps the right wing is correct. If Rupert Murdoch doesn’t need and can’t get federal tax dollars, perhaps NPR should not get such funds either. Maybe this is a test. Sometimes bad things happen for good reasons. Perhaps this one of those times. If NPR is as good as we think it is, and as valuable to the American people, perhaps we should put our money where our mouths are. Maybe this is a time for the American people who listen but never contribute, to step up to the plate and pay for what they value. Maybe it is time to end federal support for NPR and PBS. The extreme right wing has its Glenn Becks and the other acting stooges of the Faux News Network. The rest of the country—the great middle—needs its daily fix of real news, and reporters who actually think for a living. I am firmly convinced that Americans will pay for real value, and that NPR provides real value. It is a quintessentially American institution—thoughtful, quiet, fair. We need NPR. The goons on the right want to kill it. But ending federal funding is their only vehicle. We cannot, must not let them succeed.
We need to stand up and pay for what we value.
We all need to denounce the enemies of NPR . . . BY PAYING OUR FAIR SHARE.
If you believe in the concept of NPR, send them a check.

Oh, and one more thing. Maybe we need to do the opposite of what the right wing is yelling about. Maybe we need to rethink the corporate advertisers who support the extreme right wing, via Rupert's PR outlets. Perhaps we can live without the products being advertised on the Faux News Network.

Teachers

2011-03-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

Oh, those awful teachers. They’re lazy—they only work 9 months a year, you know. And they make so much money; plus their benefit packages are insane . . . Oh, and to top it off, they don’t really teach our kids very well. Nope.
That’s the Scott Walker-Teabagger-republican party-Cock Brothers-Rupert the Magnificent party line.
Huh??
Why would they adopt such an incredibly preposterous attack on teachers? Hey, you idiots, those are the people who are helping to produce the next generation of Americans. And you’re sliming them?
It’s hard to imagine what sewer system the republicans claim as their home base. How pathetic really to base your whole fiscal policy on attacking teachers. They seem to think it’s ok for investment bankers to take home millions in bonuses, just after having trashed the entire global financial system through their own incompetence. That’s ok, huh? But teachers acting collectively. That’s not ok.
I continue to wonder when and why the republican party got so off the main American rail system that they are now like a bunch of right wing goons, acting robotically to satisfy the richest two percent of our population. And, now Wisconsinites are saying through polls that they disagree with their governor. So, how come you elected the idiot then people?
I have worked with teachers off and on over a very long period of time, watching them with our kids, talking with them about the problems they experience in trying to give their kids the best they can. Almost without exception, I have found teachers to be dedicated to the kids in their care. When the kids don’t/won’t learn, the teachers are as frustrated as all their critics. Lately, in conversations with teachers, it seems they are as demoralized as I have ever seen them. The attacks are telling on them. Their job is getting harder over time, as we cut budgets and thereby increase class sizes—the opposite of what common sense suggests. As we increase testing, forcing teachers to teach testing rather than the substance of learning, the kids are probably learning less and less about the basics and more about how to take tests. We continue not to deal with the uninvolvement of many parents in their kids’ education.
In short, many of the “solutions” (e.g., No Child Left Behind) are solutions in search of a problem. Charter schools, which experience suggests are not a solution, while sucking more money out of the public system, are simply a way of walking away from the real problems of our educational system. Focusing on “bad” teachers, i.e., let’s find all the bad teachers and fire them, is yet another mindless solution in search of a problem. Undoubtedly, there are bad teachers in the public school system. Having worked for 50 years in both for-profit, non-profit and government jobs, it is clear to me that there are bad workers everywhere. They aren’t generally the problem, when something goes seriously awry. Sometimes, as in the financial industry, it is the entire leadership combining greed and incompetence in major displays of the Peter Principle. Sometimes, as in the case of the Iraq War, it is monumental incompetence or corruption at the top of government.
But we don’t go around yelling about how awful the bank tellers are, or how incompetent are our troops on the ground. But that’s what we are doing with our teachers.
I realize that the Koch Brothers hate unions, as do all royal-loyal republicans. But really guys, is this your solution to the Nation’s very real economic problems??? Can the unions and fire bad teachers???

How pathetic.

Bureaucrats at Work

2011-02-28T10:05:00.000-05:00

We’ve become a wimpy lot. Yesterday, Sunday, as my wife was showering, the power suddenly failed. It was perhaps 6:30 in the morning, almost light. She quickly finished her shower and we checked outside to determine whether it was us (we do live in an old house, circa 1920, after all) or it was a larger power outage. The stoplight at the end of our street was out, so we assumed something bigger had occurred.

I collected our newspapers and returned indoors, where it was now light enough to get about. My first instinct was to go to our coffee maker to begin preparations for our daily cappuccinos. But no, the espresso machine is electric, as is the normal coffee pot. I could turn on the stove and light a match to get some fire to heat water, but that isn’t how we make our cappuccinos. I stood there thinking, “man, we are so totally reliant on electricity, it’s a bit pathetic.” I suppose we could have gone to Starbucks to get a couple of cappuccinos, but Starbucks doesn’t really make a decent cappuccino. Mine at home are way better than anything they can make. I mean, Starbucks probably makes a totally awesome giganto caramel mocha frappuccino, with extra whipped cream, and chocolate on top, in the 72 ounce cup, but what would I do with that? I mean, nobody actually drinks those things, do they???

So, we stayed at home and awaited the inevitable city fix-it crew. In about an hour, the fix-it crew had the power back on. And I thought, “you rock, guys.” I know you’re just poor, inefficient, lazy, city bureaucrats, sucking up our hard-earned tax dollars (the Republican-Faux News characterization), but I’ll bet no republican banker from Citibank could have fixed the power outage that fast. They would have been sitting in their office, sucking their thumbs.

So, we got our power back, I could make our coffees, and our smoothies, and we could relax again, knowing that there are guys out there who actually work for a living, and who actually know how to fix things.

I wonder what our friendly neighborhood bankers were doing to fix things in their world???

Teabagger Fiscality

2011-02-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

I noted the other day how the media keeps referring to the Koch brothers as the Coke brothers. Hey guys, their name, spelled Koch, is pronounced COCK, not COKE. I realize that they would rather be referred to as a caffeine-ridden bottle of brownish sugar water than as, you know, a flaccid penile implant. But I’m going to continue pronouncing their name correctly—the Cocks.
But I digress. The Cocks are really getting their money’s worth out of their serfs, the Teabaggers (hereafter to be known as the Cockserfers). This Astroturf bunch keeps yelling about the deficits and cutting spending, almost as though they were serious about fiscal matters. I note that, when the Shrub and his gang of thugs were running up record deficits, after giving away vast sums to their rich friends, the Cockserfers were silent. Nope, it was only after we elected a (Black) Democrat that they suddenly became fiscally pious. So, why the sudden interest in fiscal sanity?? Well, one explanation is that the Cockserfers (mostly white) are simply racist. While likely accurate, there is a larger truth here. See the Cock Brothers, and Rupert the Magnificent, are all about two issues—money, and money. Mainly, they don’t want any interference in making money. Taxes are one form of interference. The Shrubbers gave away the farm, and our Prez failed to let the tax cuts expire last December. So, largely, they still don’t pay their fair share of our national tax burden. But the second money issue is regulations. They want no federal interference from the likes of EPA, the FCC, the SEC or any of those other nasty Federal regulatory agencies. Again, the Shrub and his gang largely gutted the regulatory agencies, allowing the Cocks and others of their ilk to do whatever they wanted, without any federal interference. But unlike the tax cuts, they faced potentially serious interference from a Democratic President and regulatory agencies run by Democrats.
So, what are the Cockserfers trying to do??? Why dismantle the regulatory agencies (when they’re not gutting things like Planned Parenthood, or Child Health). Now the regulatory agencies represent chicken feed in terms of the federal budget. But they represent a real threat to global polluters like the Cocks, known mainly for their efforts to destroy the global environment. See, they’re just not a serious crowd when it comes to Federal budget matters. To be fair, they’re a singularly ignorant lot, so what can we expect??
So, we will need to watch carefully to see what other agencies the Cocks hate, by following the trail of Cockserfer protests. Whatever they try to defund will be something their Lords of the Cock Manor want to kill. We are really rushing back to the 19th century.
And on another planet somewhere in Catholicland, we note that the Newtster has become a devout Catholic. Having dumped two wives, (the Newtster apparently never bought into this “Until death us do part” thing) the Newtster is not only married again, but he is a now a pious Catholic. We assume his conversion has nothing to do with the fact that the Republican Party is composed mainly of right wing Christians, of course. It’s just something he always wanted to do. It’s comforting to know that the Catholic Church continues to have no principles worthy of the name.

Republican Strategy

2011-02-21T15:00:00.004-05:00

It has become increasingly clear that republicans are now following a playbook written during the time of the Gipper. Who should be given credit for the authorship is not entirely clear, but it actually matters little. The pattern has now been repeated numerous times, so the current mess should come as no surprise to anyone.
The strategy begins with the major Goal of Republican ideology: Shrink government to the minimum consistent with the national defense and the underlying conservative aim of world dominance. All other elements--repeat --ALL-- of our national government must be eliminated—one diehard quipped that he wanted to reduce government to the point that it could be flushed down the drain.
This strategy eliminates all elements of a caring, empathetic social system. All people must care for themselves, regardless of their ability to do so, and regardless of the blocks placed in their way by our economic or social systems. Those who can’t stay afloat in such a system, will necessarily drown.
The basic strategy seems to have several parts.
Part One: Create a Crisis – Republicans understand that if life is normal and times seem good to the American people, there is little enthusiasm for major change. So, it is necessary to create a crisis, and not just any crisis, but foremost an economic crisis. The most expeditious way to create such a crisis is to reduce the inflow of revenue, generally by tax reductions. If one can subtract the revenue base through tax cuts, then we quickly create a major crisis. Reagan created such a crisis through his adherence to the absurd Laffer Curve, through which tax reductions were supposed to increase Federal revenues—an absurdity quickly revealed and which led to huge federal deficits, and a rapidly escalating national debt. George W. Bush is probably the dominant adherent of crisis-creation in this regard. Starting from a budgetary surplus created by Clinton’s policies, Bush enacted massive tax cuts for the wealthiest of his supporters, leading to the largest federal deficits in the nation’s history. He was ably assisted by the nation’s bankers, who, in pursuit of even greater profits, embarked on a series of what can only be described as Ponzi schemes, beyond even the wildest dreams of people such as Charles Ponzi, or Bernie Madoff. As with all such schemes, the bank Ponzi’s eventually crashed, bringing ruin to millions of people, without seriously affecting the personal wealth of the banking Ponzi-masters, equivalent perhaps to a trifecta.
Part Two: Use the crisis to reduce the size and scope of government. It is revealing to observe republican strategists who vowed to bring back jobs, but acted first to eliminate social safety net programs. If we have massive deficits caused by tax reductions and illicit banking practices, the most obvious way to reverse the damage would be to increase taxes and more tightly regulate the banking thieves who perpetrated these legal crimes. But, no. Republicans are engaged in eliminating programs serving the middle and lower classes. In Wisconsin, the Governor there began with a budget balance, created a budget shortfall, and is now using that shortfall to boldly eliminate unions in his state. We can see across the board, republicans gunning for social programs, leaving untouched the military—necessary to secure their aims of global dominance—and leaving untouched the shredded regulatory framework aimed at controlling their 21st century robber barons.
Part Three: Secure their gains by using recent electoral gains to game the electoral system such that more republicans will be elected in future elections by controlling the districting maps. Once they secure both houses, their gains can be made permanent.
Part Four: Continue their assault on our third branch of government—the courts-- to secure a solid republican controlled judiciary. They have already made major advances in corrupting the Supreme Court, and have managed to block Obama appointments to lower courts to the point that many lower court systems are being damaged seriously.
This strategy is well advanced and could result in another government shutdown, creating yet another form of the same crisis. What then happens during these artificial crises is that democrats are forced to yield, and begin arguing on republican turf. One can see that occurring for example, in the December session in which Obama and the democrats yielded to republican demands to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest of their patrons, thus perpetuating the economic crisis.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, ordinary Americans seem oblivious to what is happening in this once great nation. We remain engrossed in the turmoil in the Middle East, as one regime after another comes under assault by people who are fed up with the status quo of their own robber barons. We sit watching our TVs, drinking our beer and ignoring the fact that the reverse is occurring here—an outright assault by extreme right wing robber baron forces that now control a very large part of our nation, and seek to control all of it. One wonders what the Middle Eastern protest crowds would think about America if they could but observe what is happening here. What is most ironic here is that, as the Middle East protesters strive to achieve what we already have, we seem to be striving to move back to that 14th-17th century system they are trying so desperately to leave.

I Wonder When . . .

2011-02-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

I wonder when the Republican Party lost its independence. The interesting thing about American politics is that sometimes you can’t tell when a coup d’état has occurred. Because Republicans represent American Bidness, as opposed to the American people, every once in a while the “bidnessmen”, whom I now call The Dukes, get it into their heads that they want to run things a bit more directly. So, they start writing scripts for their employed sword-carriers, whom I sometimes call The Barons, such that their employees appear a bit . . . well crazy. That is generally the first sign of the coup d’état. The next sign is that the words tumbling out of the mouths of the employed sword-carriers suggest something so antithetical to our American values that one must assume the employers, the Dukes, have become unhinged.
While the royal Republicans and their crazed teabagger serfs continue to speak about becoming fiscally responsible, something one does not normally associate with republicans, their only actions so far, as the loyal opposition now recently in charge, are to propose severe limits on personal freedoms, i.e., attacks on abortion policy, responsible family planning policies, and, of course, their old favorite Gay and Lesbian couples wishing to marry. They seem oblivious to the plight of ordinary working people currently seeking in vain for employment. Of course, they also are not normally associated with caring about ordinary Americans.
Since our current economic plight was brought about through republican policies, e.g., huge tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens, coupled with complete freedom of action for our greediest and least mentally competent citizens—bankers—one might have thought they would lay low for a while. But no, they are now all about reducing taxes further and eliminating any and all programs that benefit the American Middle Class. It’s interesting to observe the change in philosophy between the old robber baron days, and now. In days of yore, people of the ilk of Henry Ford understood that, in order to have any customers willing and able to buy his products—Ford automobiles—he would have to help create a middle class. People would need decent paying jobs so that they could afford not only a place to live and some food, but also one of his cars. Now, the robber barons, people like the Cock Brothers and Rupert the Magnificent, seem not to understand that the great American Middle Class is what made America the powerhouse it has been for the past fifty years. At one level, they seem intent on destroying the educational engine that helped create the Middle Class—the public school system in America. And at another level, they are doing their best to reverse Henry Ford’s policies by sending jobs abroad to China and other undemocratic societies. Their focus on low cost as the sole criterion of American Bidness, eliminating criteria such as quality, seems aimed at eliminating the Middle Class.
You have to ask yourself . . . what the hell are they thinking? Are they that stupid, that short-sighted, and that greedy???
We’ll have to watch and wait, I guess, to see how the next chapter in the great republican coup d’état plays out in this best of all possible worlds.
In the meantime, I plan to continue getting my News from Stewart and Colbert. At least, they make me laugh. It’s safer for my TVs also. I’m less likely to throw a rock through the TV screen.
Meanwhile, let’s enjoy the coming Spring . . .

Revolution Stuff

2011-02-12T11:22:00.000-05:00

Very interesting, this revolution stuff. So, the people actually caused a dictator to leave office, without killing him. It remains to be seen, of course, what the Egyptian army will do to bring about a real democracy, wherein real people vote for candidates of their choice to run things. A hopeful sign for the Middle East, a place where democracy has never been high on the list of things to do. They seem to prefer 14th century rulers, whether kings or presidents. So, who's next . . . Saudi Arabia would be on my list, followed by Syria. Iraq, of course, is still up in the air, presumably awaiting a decision by Donald Rumsfeld as to whether he would like to be president for life.
I can't quite tell what our own teabaggers think of this situation. They of course have been told by their bosses, the Cock Brothers, that whatever happens, it is Obama's fault, unless whatever happens is good, in which case the neo-cons caused it to happen, and they can congratulate themselves. And Rupert's acting ensemble, Glenn, O'Reilly & the Fat Drug Addict have all been told that Obama is wrong, whatever he does.
So, maybe now life will return to normal, and America can resume our preoccupation with Bud Lite, NASCAR, and eliminating the Middle Class. Spring is almost here . . . and that's a good thing.

The guys, below, are soon to join our garden again, and we can for a while forget about the teabaggers and that old anarchist Ron Paul.

Revolutions

2011-02-07T09:11:00.000-05:00

I guess I don’t quite get the “revolution” thing. Most folks (well not Hosni and others of his ilk, but) seem to agree that a nice peaceful transition from the Mubarak regime and a democratic government in Egypt would be preferred. A lot of people seem to think that Obama should be doing more to push out old Hosni, but what’s a guy to do? I mean, we’re not exactly in charge, are we? I’m sure the protesters aren’t really keen on allowing anybody remotely connected with Mubarak to remain in power. The appointment of his head of Intelligence services as the new VP couldn’t have been received as a good sign by the protesters, huh?
But the thing is, what should we really expect, say in the best of all possible worlds? If Mubarak fires all of his extensive political heads, shitcans his cabinet and dissolves his government, what happens next? Is there anyone standing there waiting to assume control, or do we think that anarchy is the best Plan B? Maybe we ought to send over to Egypt Rand Paul and a few other teabagger anarchists to consult with the Egyptian crowds on their next best steps to a successful anarchy. Alternatively, does a new government of human rights activists and democratic thinkers mysteriously appear and take over automatically, say like what happened in Iran? Oh, right, they actually had a government in waiting—theocratic terrorists.
The Egyptian bankers seem to be getting nervous, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but are they now poised to move in? A government run by bankers; now that might be interesting. Oh, wait, that would be the United States. Not such a hot idea, then.
So, is there someone, an Egyptian Thomas Jefferson standing by in the wings, ready to write up a new Constitution and Bill of Rights for the Egyptians? Somehow, I doubt it. More likely, is a guy backed by a lot of guns who is hankering to be President, and that doesn’t seem reassuring. Say, has anyone seen old “Shock und Awe” Rumsfeld lately???

Hug a CEO -- 2012 is coming

2011-02-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

As the nation remains fixated on Hosni Mubarak’s public nightmare, John Boehner and his GOP monsters are coming out from under your bed. Applicants for Obama’s job are appearing everywhere magically, sort of like the wee people in the Wizard of Oz. They foresee a golden road leading to the palace owned jointly by the wicked witch of the west and the Wizard behind the curtain. And ladies and gentlemen, they are beginning to let us view their platform. Let’s see, what’s on their “To-Do” list for us?
1. Well, obviously, first on their must-do list is to take away health insurance for some 40 million men, women, and children. Some say it’s 40 million, some think it may be 50 million, but, hey, who’s counting? The key is, if you didn’t have health insurance before Obama, you won’t have it when they take control. The health insurance industry will once again feel perfectly safe to deny you coverage.
2. Then, although they decry government when it concerns the general welfare of the American people, they desperately want government to control (read “say no”) whether women can have an abortion. Dear John Boehner is even redefining rape, so he can have his way.
3. Reducing income taxes for their über-rich overlords, you know the Cock Brothers, the banking CEOs, and, of course, let us not forget Rupert the Magnificent. And how will they pay to reduce the taxes of the wealthiest? Well, by eliminating Medicare and Social Security—they do so want to get rid of those two legacies of a humane society.
4. Now this one is complicated and I’m not sure I understand how they plan to accomplish it, but they seem intent on eliminating America’s Middle Class. Their vision of that shining country on the hill seems to be a two class society—the über-rich and everyone else. This democracy stuff is complicated and messy and they appear to be obsessive-compulsives regarding neatness. So, they would like to see a return to an oligarchy, where dukes rule the land and act collectively as a sort of super governing council. They, of course, see themselves as the barons of the land – Baron John has such a nice ring, don’t you think?? The recent meeting of the dukes in Rancho Mirage (what a great name for a meeting of the über-rich) could be seen as a sign of things to come—instead of Congress and all that mess, the dukes would simply meet in fancy-schmancy places and then tell us what they decided via Twitter.
5. Lastly, they really want to change their beloved Constitution, some might say just eliminate it, by inserting a provision for states to opt out of any laws they don’t like, and even to leave this blessed Union to form their own country. Yeah, both the Governor of Texas and Sarah Barbie think that they could do just fine on their own thanks.
So, that’s it folks. I’m sure they will issue a few more boffo planks (making unions illegal??) in their platform for 2012, but that’s probably enough for now. Oh, I’m just so excited at the prospect of a Republican oligarchy replacing this old mess we call America.
Oh, and I forgot, Baron John wants to replace that old saw, "In God We Trust" with "Let'm Eat Cake". He thinks it has a nice ring to it.

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

2011-01-31T12:06:00.001-05:00

Everyone is currently sitting around second-guessing our President regarding the messes in Tunisia, and now Egypt—our great and good friends the Egyptians. Mainly, it would seem that Egypt was the only reasonable actor in the Middle East, in signing a peace accord with Israel. Anwar Sadat, that ultimate pragmatist looked for peace as a solution to Egypt’s economic woes, and seemed to have succeeded in 1979 with the Camp David Accords and the final peace treaty in 1979. So, Egypt became a “friend” in Middle Eastern terms, as distinct from say, Syria, Iraq or Iran. Well, to be fair, Iraq was our buddy when they attacked Iran—again the “enemy of our enemy is our friend.” The Donald even got caught shaking hands with Sadaam in those olden days.
So, now, President Obama is befuddled. Mubarak, a terrorist to his own people, has been our best buddy for lo these 30 years. What’s a guy to do, now that his own people despise him and desperately want him ousted? Obama is trying to be cool, advising tolerance and peaceful adherence to rules of law. I’m guessing our Prez wants Mubarak out almost as much as the Egyptian people, but under what conditions? In the Middle East, Islamists are always hovering like vultures waiting for some dead bodies to appear, so they can move in to “restore the people’s trust in Islam”. Mainly, the Ayatollahs of the world always want to come in to take over so they can be the next terrorist in line to rule the people with an iron hand—see Iran 1979.
So, while he doesn’t need another Iran next door to Israel, one, i.e., Lebanon, is quite enough thank you, he probably cannot continue to stand by and watch the bloodshed in Cairo. The far right extremists in this country (The Faux News Network, et al) who are anxious that he fail at anything and everything want him to do something, anything almost, so they can pronounce his actions, or inactions, incorrect.
Mubarak, meanwhile seems clueless, as I guess he has been for pretty much the past 30 years. He has appointed his head of Intelligence as Vice President, thereby next in line. Wow, that should thrill the protesters. Why not go all the way and appoint the head of his Police force? Bet they’d love that. I wonder what he is saying about Mohamed AlBaradei, his very own Nobel Laureate comrade in opposition? A lot of muttering under his breath I suppose.
This all leaves me wondering . . . is Obama simply the unluckiest guy in the world? I mean, wow!. He runs a magnificent campaign to head our government, after eight years of disastrous rule by Shrub and his gang of neo-con thugs. He doesn’t even manage to get into office before Bush’s economic house of cards collapses, leaving Obama to pick up the pieces, and it’s all just pieces. Then just as the Bush Middle East mess begins to calm down, governments there begin falling—Tunisia, Lebanon, and now Egypt. I suppose the Saudis can’t be far behind, seeing as how they run such a fine democratic government. I’m sure the Saudi people are thrilled with the king’s rule. Oh, I forgot—Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi. Hmmm.
All this makes for a fine argument for us to get the hell out of oil. Anyone for a natural gas-powered car??? See T. Boone Pickens on that front.

Americans Divided

2011-01-27T08:55:00.000-05:00

So, it would seem that the President’s State of the Union speech went about as one might have expected, given the divided state in which we live. Happily, the loyal opposition was at least civil, with no cries of “liar, liar, pants on fire” from the rabid ranks. The “responses” from Ryan and Bachman were predictable, although Bachman is not exactly predictable. Maybe if one accepts that she babbles on, with some peculiar disconnect between brain and speech, then one can say she was “as expected.” Perhaps what most amazes me about Bachman is that Minnesotans elected her. I mean, were she from Texas, one could sigh and say. “well, yeah but she’s from Texas.”

And on another front, the commission examining the causes of Great Depression II, brought on by our republican friends, was a mixed bag—the banks were irresponsible and greedy (duh). Alan Greenspan was an idiot (duh) and Ben Bernanke performed as he always does—protecting his friends in high places. The loyal opposition is publishing its version of that grand old party. Its conclusion? It was the Government’s fault. Yep, greedy, inept bankers played no role. It was all the fault of those nasty government people, who sucked the bankers into giving out bad loans. Ahhhh, really, guys? "The government made me do it” is the best you got??? It never ceases to amaze me how the republican footmen, baggage carriers, and bellhops for the Nation’s wealthy continue to treat all Americans as idiots. Oh, I forgot. Americans apparently like being treated as idiots. Perhaps in 2012, Americans will act predictably to elect Jared Loughner as President. He’s honestly crazy, probably hears voices, and loves guns.

The Speech

2011-01-24T10:42:00.000-05:00

I have concluded that there is way too little news being chased by our full-court press “News” media. We have been given fair warning that, whatever President Obama says during his State of the Union speech is largely irrelevant. What matters almost exclusively, is what the “pundits” say (we really need a new term here, perhaps “bobble-heads”).

They have been telling us for a week now what they think the President will, or should say. Some have been telling us for a week what they intend to say in response. Again, since they have already drafted their “responses” in the absence of information about what he will actually say, we need a new term—“response” isn’t accurate, since the word means a reply or an answer. Their comments on the President’s intended speech are more in the nature of, “what I would do or say were I the ruler of the world”. The key here is, they aren’t, so why do we actually care what the bobble-heads say?

Now journalists have been speaking their minds for a very long time—as long as there have been journalists. Some people are paid to report to us the “news”, i.e., the factual goings-on in the world. Others are paid to tell us what they think the facts mean. But, because of people like Rupert Murdoch, and others of his ilk (the Koch brothers come to mind), the news business has been debased along both dimensions, the factual reporting, and the “telling us what it all means”. We now understand that journalism, as we once knew it, is dead. What we now have is a set of PR outlets that are intended to sway public opinion one way or another. And, we need to be clear, there is no ethical dimension guiding these PR outlets. These are entirely business propositions aimed at increasing the coffers of gold of those who own these PR outlets. In the case of the “responses” to the President’s address, we will hear how each bobble-head believes the President has deviated from what the bobble-head would have said. In a few cases, Michelle Bachman and others of her ilk, we will hear what they would say, were we to elect any of them President (Bachman, ugh . . .makes one want to vomit, huh?).

It would be nice to know where the people went who used to care about the common folks, and about the concept of community. I wonder whether any of them will show up. Tune in to discover what shocking revelations the bobble-heads have uncovered.

Efficiency and the Private-Public Sector Debate

2011-01-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s difficult to characterize the distortion of reality that masquerades as a debate about public-private management as a real debate. There appear to be fixed opinions, remarkably like those occurring around the subject of religion. In some recent blog (there are so many) someone wrote in to say, “would you like to have things run by the Post Office, or Medicare, or the EPA, or the Federal Reserve?” He expected, I suppose, that everyone would be horrified at such a possibility. “Heaven forfend . . . the Post Office managing our private businesses . . . I would be shocked, shocked to see such a dastardly turn of events . . .”
Actually, as I read the comment, I was thinking, ‘Hmmm . . . who would I rather see running things . . . the Post Office, or the Bank of America (or choose your own—Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, etc.)? Let’s see, my mail is delivered to my door six days a week, more or less regardless of the weather. The Bank of America, and the other financial geniuses, on the other hand, managed to crash the entire economy of the world, because they didn’t bother to check whether the securities they were selling were actually worth anything, or whether the mortgages they were issuing could actually be repaid?? Yeah, they're the guys I want to run everything.
And almost every time I think of private sector management, I think of The Peter Principle, and the Greed Principle at work, guiding our largest private sector institutions. Maybe the person who reflexively prefers private sector to public sector management has never actually worked in any of those domains. Or maybe, that person is just brain dead.
I have worked in both the public and the private sectors—large and small for-profit companies; large and small not-for-profit companies; and of course the government itself . . . that would be large government I suppose. Oh, and I have also worked with (in a consulting capacity) small to medium sized governments—local, county, state, and regional.
Also, like most people, I interact with big and small “Bidness” as a consumer, and as a recipient of public sector largesse—Social Security, Medicare, the IRS (I’m a payer-in there).
And frankly, my interactions with these various public or private sector entities convinces me that the distinction between goodness or badness, efficient, or inefficient, effective or ineffective is NOT public vs. private, regardless of St. Ronald’s contention to the contrary. Large organizations tend to be less efficient and less effective than smaller organizations. So, large government agencies probably do tend to be less efficient than smaller private sector entities. But large private sector entities are also inherently less effective and efficient than smaller private entities. I remember Hewlett Packard in the old days (when dinosaurs roamed the earth). I studied them as an engineering student and they seemed to me to be the epitome of an advanced technology company. And when they turned to making printers, they produced wonderful printers. If I needed advice or help, I called them. I would actually speak to an HP engineer, who invariably solved my problem. Then enter Carly Fiorina (remember Carly?). She wanted them to grow, so she could earn bigger bucks. So, she arranged to merge with Compaq, a maker of mediocre PCs. The net result was a disaster for HP, which has now morphed into a very large mediocre technology company, one of many.
If we examine industry after industry, we find ineptitude growing as the companies grow in size. Most of the problems can be attributed to greed and the Peter Principle. Some as in the financial industry seem to be more than that—it may be that some industries are inherently prone to ineptitude when they lack some rudder to keep them on track. In finance, there apparently is nothing guiding/restraining them, short of federal regulation to keep them from eventually doing monumentally stupid things.
So as the jackasses on the right in our Nation continue to chatter on about the wonders of capitalism and the private sector, and the evils of government, I wish more people would weigh in to provide some balance. Because balance is what is sorely needed at the moment. But as I have noted in earlier posts, balance is always hard to achieve and harder still to maintain. It requires intelligence and patience, two things in especially short supply in America today.
And on another planet, the Governor of Alabama has pleaded guilty to being an offensive asshole as a public official.

Republican Gambling

2011-01-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

Today in the Washington Post, Mark Thiessen, a right wing columnist from that bastion of right wing thinking, the American Enterprise Institute, wrote a strong argument in favor of the Republicans in government challenging Obama to a duel regarding the debt ceiling limit. He argues that republicans should put on a full court press, daring the president to call their bluff—another Gingrich-Clinton duel, with the stakes being the potential economic demise of the United States. Although Gingrich and his republican allies lost big time when he challenged Clinton to a game of Government Shutdown, Thiessen argues that republicans cannot lose this time, precisely because the stakes are so high. In other words, republicans are willing to gamble the entire financial credibility of the United States on a political bet—in short, they do not care about the outcome for the Nation. If we go down the tubes as a Nation, so be it—they will then blame Obama. That is their chosen political strategy for the future—bet the farm on anything and everything. If they lose, it isn’t their fault—“Obama made me do it.”

Essentially, this is exactly how they got Obama to cave on his health care system legislation, and on the insane issue of extending tax cuts for the űber rich. When republicans challenged him—extend the tax cuts and gut your health care public option, or we won’t extend unemployment benefits. He caved. They knew he would because he cares about the American people, and they don’t. And that is key to their chosen strategy. Republican leaders basically are sociopaths. They make decisions adversely affecting millions of Americans, because they do not, perhaps cannot feel their pain. They do not care.

So, now, with the need for a higher debt ceiling, they may play the big bet—do as we wish, or we crash the economy. They are now most closely akin to the hijackers on the 9/11 airline flights that crashed eventually into the World Trade Center, except this time, it won’t be two huge office buildings that come crashing down in New York City. It will be the entire US economic system.

How does one negotiate with political sociopaths, I wonder??

Death Panels Republican Style

2011-01-16T11:28:00.000-05:00

My wife and I, being in our later years, not too long ago attended a meeting at which was being discussed the utility of stating our “end of life care” wishes. First, the stress was on us stating what we wanted done, or not done. Second, the speaker noted the utility to our children of removing the need for them to have to make such decisions at the worst possible time. So, we wrote our documents, had them notarized, and gave them to our children.

This, republicans have characterized as the “death panels” under what they term as “Obamacare.”

But recently, in Arizona, we can see in action actual death panels, being overseen by its governor Brewer. In her zeal to save money in a state besieged by debt, the governor has cut off Medicaid recipients from a long list of organ transplants, without which the intended recipients will surely die. Some have already succumbed. The governor rationalizes her decision to cut off poor people by mentioning the possibility that many would die anyway, even with the transplants. She is not entirely wrong, of course. Some transplant recipients will die, but not all. The ones who might make it, will now die as certainly as the ones who might not make it.

So, it seems, once again, republicans have put into practice the very thing they accuse the president of intending to do. By now, this is standard Republican Party policy—first denounce the president for something he has no intent of doing. Then do it themselves. And as they begin reconvening, the republicans in charge of the House of Representatives will be working on their first order of business-denying some 40-50 million people health insurance. Surely, as night follows day, another republican death panel objective is being debated.

And on another planet, one of the past leading lights of the Republican Party, Tom Delay will be shipped off to a Federal prison, as he mutters, “I did it, but I didn’t do anything wrong . . . I did it, but . . .”

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

2011-01-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin are out on the hustings dismissing the charges being flung at them by liberals and progressives that placing gunsight crosshairs on maps of a Congressional district with a Congressperson named thereon, or telling your supporters to reload, or yelling that second amendment remedies are available if voting fails to achieve the desired results are all explosive charges waiting to be detonated by crazy people.

I think most people by now agree that Mr. Loughner can fairly be described as a “crazy person,” even a "dangerous crazy person". His history, his incoherent ramblings appear to demonstrate a person unequal to the tasks of normal daily living and discourse.

That much is not in doubt. However, it seems to me that the ranting of Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Bachmann and others of their ilk can also be dismissed too easily as just normal political discourse. Mr. Krauthammer especially seems to think that War rhetoric is normal in a political contest. That may be right, but when your supporters begin shouting, “traitor” and “kill him” and you do nothing to quell the obvious, uncontrolled rage, you are at the least enabling, if not outright condoning crazy behavior.

I think one can get carried away by Messrs Beck, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, et al. They are, after all, simply actors being paid millions of dollars to say crazy things. To take them too seriously would be akin to thinking of The Onion News as a serious newspaper. Mr. Murdoch’s hired writers write their scripts at The Faux News Network, and the actors speak their lines, even crying on cue as needed. (makes me wonder whether John Boehner ever took acting lessons with Mr. Beck).

So, the extreme right wing is offended by the fingers of accusation being pointed their way.

Ahh, guys, maybe you need some more testosterone shots to grow your cajones, at least to the size of Sarah’s.

Grow up.

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Rep Gifford: We’re Sorry

2011-01-09T17:04:00.000-05:00

What can we say to Rep. Gifford, her family and the families of those killed in the latest episode of mindless violence in America? I am confident that Sarah Palin will be “shocked . . . shocked” to learn about this latest outburst of crazy people. Sarah, in case you were unaware, had the following rally promo displayed on her web site:

"SATURDAY 06/12/10, 10:00 AM

Get on Target for Victory in November

Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office

Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly"

Sarah chooses not to connect her words with actions that follow, as night follows day. But Sarah is all about violence. She apparently is so intent on proving her “cajones” in what she perceives to be a man’s world that she goes well beyond the careless in her choice of words. Sarah and her guns—her guns seem to define Sarah. Placing crosshairs on an image of someone on a prominent national web site is simply sick.

But our national problem goes beyond Sarah and the other mindless political opportunists who support and emulate her. We have probably several million people who seem to love this kind of thing. They worship Sarah, and Glenn Beck, and Rush, and their crazed colleagues—why does John Boehner cry so much? That suggests to me a man who is profoundly troubled, which is not a promising sign for a man who is the leader of the right wing in America.

I’m not sure where this takes us, but it is not a great beginning to the New Year.

The Great Unraveling

2011-01-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

What to say, what to say?
It’s the beginning of a new year, maybe a new era.
Whoa . . . a new era? How come? Just because the hard right has taken over the House of Representatives, and we now have neo-anarchists roaming the halls of Congress??
No, although that’s pretty bad too.
No, I think maybe 2011 may define the beginning of The Asian Era. We had a good run at the American Era thing—we lasted from the 1940s to the end of the 20th century. We out-built everybody, our educational system was transcendent, our middle class, that great engine of democracy, out-produced any other nation on earth. Everyone wanted what we produced. Then, sometime after St. Ronald began leading us to our Morning Again Feel Good period, we began the process of morphing from a great producer to a great consumer, and thence to a nation of . . . well what are we now, now that we lost the financial capacity to out-buy everyone? Maybe the Great Stasis?
I suppose John Boehner and his corporate overlords will change all that. I expect great things of them. Their first order of business, as I understand it, is to kill the health care law—you know, that bill that promised health insurance to the 40 or so million people who couldn’t afford health insurance. John and his buddies in the corporate insurance boardrooms of the world really, really didn’t like that. So, he is going to try to overturn the bill. Now, that will really jump start our moribund economy, huh?
But, really, we’re all just awaiting the official beginning of the Great Stasis—perhaps we can mark it from the election of President Sarah Palin. I mean, we’ve had cheerleaders before—mark George II. And we’ve certainly had dumb presidents before—remember St. Ronald, George I, and his doofus son, George II. But we’ve never really had anyone quite as dumb as Sarah. Too bad, she’s not blonde—at least we’d have some explanation of her mental incapacity, and would be able to make the usual dumb blonde jokes. But, no, she’s a definite brunette (could she be dying her hair just to fool us??).
So, I will just wait and watch to see how all this unravels—hmmm . . . maybe our new era could be The Great Unraveling, and the republican party that has helped to bring it about could morph into The Great Unraveling Party—or GUPs (guppies for short). How’s that Hopey, changey thing working out for you America?? Sarah’s coming . . .

Hello 2011

2010-12-31T17:41:00.000-05:00

We are beginning our New Year's Eve welcoming ceremonies. We have our little rituals by which we welcome the morning, or the evening. And for New Year's Eve, we have followed a ritual for about the past 30 years.
We begin our nibbling at around a standard dinner hour. But our dinner this eve follows a common theme:
1. A platter of baby clams in their shells, sauteed in garlic buter until they open. We consume these with a generous helping of wine.
2. A plate of cold shrimp.
3. A plate of Swedish meatballs.
4. A Caesar salad . . . again with some wine to help our digestion.
5. A sweet delicacy from our local Chocolatiere--always wonderful.
While this is going on, we will at some appropriate time, put on our standard movie--Casablanca--the most romantic movie ever made.
This year Casablanca will run until about 11:15, at which time, we will go in to our hot tub and soak for a while. Feeling properly relaxed, at around 11:45, we will don our night clothes, and go to the fridge for a bottle of champagne.
We will pop the champagne a few minutes before the ball begins dropping in Times Square.
Then we will issue our standard toast--"To us babe", and we will watch the people milling about in Times Square for a few minutes, then head off to bed, relaxed and ready to greet the New Year next morning.
So, to all of our family and our friends,
Happy New Year.
May yours be wonderfully fulfilling and safe.
And may the coming year include more happy moments than the other kind.
Stay well . .. stay happy . . . stay healthy.
Happy 2011!!!!!!!!!
And below, since they start early is a picture from Oz, where they always have spectacular fireworks over the Sydney harbor bridge The Aussies know how to bring in the New Year. Click on the picture to see it enlarged. Wonderful.

2011: A Wish List

2010-12-29T13:16:00.014-05:00

The year looms ahead. Many days in which to revel in the joys and blessings of life, or to despair of mankind’s continued unwillingness to be kind. Which will fulfill our coming year? I hope . . . I hope for:

1.      The Pope – Since the pope continues to believe, or act, as though he still had some moral authority in the Christian world, it would be nice to hear him begin to utter words about his priests doing penance. Maybe they need to do a bit more than say a few Hail Mary’s. Perhaps the more
morally degraded among them might be asked to spend the rest of their days working in leper colonies (do they still exist?), or feeding the poor in soup kitchens, and never again uttering a word to anyone. And also. Mr. Pope, could you kindly butt out of other people’s business, and stick to Christianity? I know that Muslims are always blowing things and people up, but really, you have enough to do to keep Christians on the straight and narrow. So, chill out on the other folks, huh?

2.      The President – I voted for you, I worked door to door to help get you elected, and I continue to believe that you are the brightest, most thoughtful guy we’ve had in a long, long time as the Prez. But, maybe in 2011, it’s time to move beyond the community negotiator thing. The PERPs who are trying to run you down (you know who they are) have no interest in compromising on anything. So, start acting as our President, and Commander in Chief. If they are able to prevent accomplishing things that are right for the Nation, continue to try, but be sure the American people understand who is acting against their interests. We know that the PERPs are owned, lock, stock, and barrel by their corporate Lords, so they can’t really act differently. Their Lords wouldn’t permit them to act like civilized people. Perhaps you need to go to the source—the Lords of the land-- and begin working with them. Maybe invite the Koch Brothers to lunch.

3.      Haley Barbour, Sarah Barbie, Joe Miller, Newt Gingrich – put a sock in it for a while guys. I realize you will come out of your crypts during 2012, but give us a break for the coming year. Take up knitting or something, but please, just shut up.

4.      Our Military Command – Please, please, spend the coming year figuring out some way to get out of Afghanistan. If there is no way to “Achieve Victory” so as to make Old Man McCain happy, that’s OK. The Afghan’s intend to continue living in the 13^th or 14^th century, so let them. Bring our treasure and our guys home. Just leave a note as you leave—if they let Osama Bin Laden loose again, you will level the Himalaya’s, and turn it into a radioactive desert.

5.      The Democrats – Guys, it’s time to begin acting as though someone is in charge. You can’t continue acting like a bunch of dingbat frat boys and expect to win friends and influence people. So at least pretend that you’re about something of value to America. Oh, and a little discipline please? When you decide to do something, get your guys on board first. Say, here’s a thought. Ask Jon Stewart to come aboard periodically (part time, please, cuz we still need him to make us laugh) and tell you when it’s time to act like adults. Maybe a monthly lunch with Jon where he gets to yell at you would be good.

6.      There’s probably more, but that’s enough for now. Don’t drink too much . . . oh, why
not? New Year’s Eve is made for acting foolish, just do it at home, so nobody gets hurt. Ta ta . . .