It’s Fantasy Time again.
No, this isn’t a posting about Fantasy Baseball teams. Nor is it a posting positing how Republicans will solve all our problems by easing taxes on the rich while reducing health care for women, children and minorities, and in general socking it to the disadvantaged (for a pithier description of the “cruel” plans of the GOP, as depicted in their new federal budget proposal adopted by House Republicans this week and endorsed by presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney, read today’s lead editorial in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/opinion/a-cruel-republican-budget.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.
No, this is a blog about dreams, of expectations waiting to be fulfilled, of freedom from want beyond one’s wildest imagination. All at a price of...$1.
You can’t win it, if you’re not in it. So I’ve got my Mega Millions ticket. I’ve got more than 640 million reasons why I should win the Mega Millions drawing tonight. Of course, so do millions of other wishful thinkers. It only takes $1 to walk away with a prize, as that man who recently won hundreds of millions in a lottery found out when he impulsively bought one ticket during a stop at a Long Island supermarket during a visit from out of state with his family. The machine picked his numbers. I let the machine pick mine as well.
I’m not piggish. I don’t need to win it all. I’d be more than happy to share the bounty with several winners. I just want enough to be “comfortable.” Naturally, one person’s perception of comfort differs from another’s. As I’m already retired, comfort for me won’t mean retiring from full-time work. Gilda, on the other hand, probably would, though I dare not speak for her. At the very least, she’d work fewer hours, take longer vacations. She’s always wanted a home by the water, so I could see us indulging her longtime dream. We’d set up trusts for our children and grandchildren. We’d set up charitable trusts. We’d work hard not to forget that being rich carries responsibilities.
Which brings me back to reality and a retraction from what I wrote four paragraphs ago. Republican politicians are engaged in fantasy thinking, believing as they do that trickle down economic theory works. They are to be chastised for their insensitivity, yet I can understand their adherence to their version of an entitlement society where the wealthy are the entitled. They just want to ensure their status quo.
What I cannot understand is how and why Americans who are purposely kept down by the Republican elite support them. There have been several articles recently on the thought process behind this phenomenon, but the rationale escapes my comprehension. What’s more, I cannot fathom how dumb the electorate is, that voters cannot remember it was Republican policies that got us into the economic mess we are in and the two disastrous wars we have fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Republicans harp on the growing deficit, and voters don’t remember it was Republican foul-ups that swamped us in red ink.
In his response to President Obama’s last State of the Union speech, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Indiana) said the GOP believes in possibilities. “We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves,” said Daniels. Tonight’s Mega Millions drawing offers one version of that road to have-dom.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Trayvon (and George), We Hardly Knew Ya, But We're Learning More and More
So far we've learned the following from the death of Trayvon Martin:
1. No story no matter how seemingly clear and simple it seems from the outside, no incident is black and white. Like an onion that is peeled, there are hidden layers of nuance and fact. Take, for example, the pictures of Trayvon and his killer, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s initial picture showed a heavyset, brooding person. He looked like an enforcer from “The Sopranos,” while Trayvon, even in his football uniform, looked too small to tackle a peewee player, hardly physically able to challenge someone of Zimmerman’s demeanor and girth. Subsequent pictures show Zimmerman smiling and friendly, while Trayvon’s cherubic face has elongated and matured, shrouded inside a hoodie. The visuals provide a very different storyline our minds fill in until all the facts are known.
2. Have you noticed that the deceased is often referred to by his first name while the shooter is called by his last name? Is it a not so subtle way of inferring guilt and innocence as well as conveying boy status on 17-year-old Trayvon ?
3. In any alleged crime the victim as well as the alleged perpetrator will lose all semblance of privacy. Their pasts will become part of the story, either adding to their sainthood or demonization, depending on who is commenting.
4. Police will be challenged no matter their response, more so now that video of Zimmerman’s arrival at the police station apparently shows little to support the claim his nose was broken and bleeding and the back of his head was bashed.
5. Stand Your Ground laws invite vigilante justice or avoidable harm. When the only witness for the deceased cannot provide living testimony the law is a prescription for unacceptable remedies of suspect behavior.
6. Neighborhood Watch programs should be advisory arms of the police. Its members should adhere to police instruction. As the name implies, the volunteers are there to watch, not confront.
7. Politicians, especially presidents, would do well to refrain from commenting on criminal cases until all the facts are known. Doubtful Trayvon’s parents and George Zimmerman would want to smooth things out over a beer in the Rose Garden of the White House.
8. Our culture responds to symbols. That includes clothing. Gangs identify through colors and particular garb. A hoodie has come to symbolize non desireables. Not everyone who wears a hoodie is a hoodlum, but when the media always shows criminals in hoodies an impression is bound to be created. Geraldo Rivera was onto something when he cautioned parents not to let their teenage children roam the streets in an outfit that invites suspicion and fear. The hoodie didn't kill Trayvon, but the gang culture that has adopted the hoodie as part of its uniform surely contributed to the mindset that led his death.
1. No story no matter how seemingly clear and simple it seems from the outside, no incident is black and white. Like an onion that is peeled, there are hidden layers of nuance and fact. Take, for example, the pictures of Trayvon and his killer, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s initial picture showed a heavyset, brooding person. He looked like an enforcer from “The Sopranos,” while Trayvon, even in his football uniform, looked too small to tackle a peewee player, hardly physically able to challenge someone of Zimmerman’s demeanor and girth. Subsequent pictures show Zimmerman smiling and friendly, while Trayvon’s cherubic face has elongated and matured, shrouded inside a hoodie. The visuals provide a very different storyline our minds fill in until all the facts are known.
2. Have you noticed that the deceased is often referred to by his first name while the shooter is called by his last name? Is it a not so subtle way of inferring guilt and innocence as well as conveying boy status on 17-year-old Trayvon ?
3. In any alleged crime the victim as well as the alleged perpetrator will lose all semblance of privacy. Their pasts will become part of the story, either adding to their sainthood or demonization, depending on who is commenting.
4. Police will be challenged no matter their response, more so now that video of Zimmerman’s arrival at the police station apparently shows little to support the claim his nose was broken and bleeding and the back of his head was bashed.
5. Stand Your Ground laws invite vigilante justice or avoidable harm. When the only witness for the deceased cannot provide living testimony the law is a prescription for unacceptable remedies of suspect behavior.
6. Neighborhood Watch programs should be advisory arms of the police. Its members should adhere to police instruction. As the name implies, the volunteers are there to watch, not confront.
7. Politicians, especially presidents, would do well to refrain from commenting on criminal cases until all the facts are known. Doubtful Trayvon’s parents and George Zimmerman would want to smooth things out over a beer in the Rose Garden of the White House.
8. Our culture responds to symbols. That includes clothing. Gangs identify through colors and particular garb. A hoodie has come to symbolize non desireables. Not everyone who wears a hoodie is a hoodlum, but when the media always shows criminals in hoodies an impression is bound to be created. Geraldo Rivera was onto something when he cautioned parents not to let their teenage children roam the streets in an outfit that invites suspicion and fear. The hoodie didn't kill Trayvon, but the gang culture that has adopted the hoodie as part of its uniform surely contributed to the mindset that led his death.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Etch A Sketch Draws Memories
The intense renewed interest in Etch A Sketch reminded me that Gilda and I knew the owners of the Ohio Art Co. that manufactures the toy that has come to symbolize Mitt Romney.
We met Bill Killgallon, chairman, and his brother, Larry, president and chief operating officer, a little more than 30 years ago, at the annual conferences of the Association of General Merchandise Chains every October. The AGMC was mostly a networking, social gathering of old line variety store executives from companies such as M.H. Lamston, McCrory, Winn’s, G.C. Murphy, Kresge, Rose’s, T.G.&Y. and Woolworth. Some of them had diversified with a discount store division under such nameplates as Murphy Mart, Kmart, Woolco and even a little company at the time called Wal-Mart. Don’t feel too ignorant if you don’t recognize some of those retail companies. Most of the AGMC membership of regional retailers have vanished under the weight of competing with Wal-Mart and Target.
Along with the retailers, the AGMC attracted key suppliers, Ohio Art among them. If any business travel could be considered a perq, attendance at the AGMC conference would fall under that rubric. By long-standing tradition of my publishing house in recognizing that a spouse could be an essential contributor to forging business relationships, the editor’s wife was permitted to attend on the company dime. I can truly attest that Gilda opened as many or even more contacts than I did during those AGMC meetings, oftentimes through her association with the spouses of the retail executives. It also didn’t hurt that from the time they were toddlers we brought our children to these conferences. One of the first words Dan learned to say was “croissant” as he and Gilda enjoyed breakfast on the patio of our room at the Arizona Biltmore when he was just two years old. One of my favorite pictures, hanging on our den wall, shows me wearing a straw cowboy hat while carrying Ellie asleep on my chest, a bandanna covering her head, during a cocktail reception two months before Ellie’s second birthday.
Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee, but I don’t want to pay for it.
It’s not surprising to me that a NY Times/CBS News survey has found widespread opposition to all or parts of the health care measure, the legality of which is now being debated at the Supreme Court. The survey found 47% disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, with only 36% approving it. Why wouldn’t our lemming-like public have negative opinions when they’ve been bombarded for the last year by Republican presidential candidate after candidate trashing the law (without offering a realistic alternative, mind you) and with hardly any aggressive defense mounted by President Obama (perhaps he’s waiting for the official re-election campaign to begin his counter-attack)?
Of course, the public shows its selfishness by also telling The Times/CBS News poll it favors coverage of pre-existing conditions (85%) and the extension of insurance to children until they turn 26 (68%) but not wanting to support a mandate to require everyone to buy insurance or be fined (51%). Just how do those people think the added benefits can be funded? Do they think insurance grows on trees?
“Nothing discredits religion quite like the gap between what believers profess and how they live.” I liked that sentence in a column (“Tebow in Babylon”) by Ross Douthat in Sunday’s NY Times Review section. But what I really liked from that section was Frank Bruni’s essay, "Rethinking His Religion," about the transformation his former college roommate has undergone over the last 30 years. I won’t ruin it for you. Here’s a link, with my suggestion to read it all the way through. The ending is priceless: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/bruni-a-catholic-classmate-rethinks-his-religion.html?_r=1&ref=frankbruni
On another spiritual note, did anyone else think it slightly incongruous that the National Geographic cable TV network chose to air “Only for God: Inside Hasidim” on a Friday night? Not that any Hasidim would be watching regardless of the night, but it did show a lack of sensitivity to broadcast the program last Friday night, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath.
We met Bill Killgallon, chairman, and his brother, Larry, president and chief operating officer, a little more than 30 years ago, at the annual conferences of the Association of General Merchandise Chains every October. The AGMC was mostly a networking, social gathering of old line variety store executives from companies such as M.H. Lamston, McCrory, Winn’s, G.C. Murphy, Kresge, Rose’s, T.G.&Y. and Woolworth. Some of them had diversified with a discount store division under such nameplates as Murphy Mart, Kmart, Woolco and even a little company at the time called Wal-Mart. Don’t feel too ignorant if you don’t recognize some of those retail companies. Most of the AGMC membership of regional retailers have vanished under the weight of competing with Wal-Mart and Target.
Along with the retailers, the AGMC attracted key suppliers, Ohio Art among them. If any business travel could be considered a perq, attendance at the AGMC conference would fall under that rubric. By long-standing tradition of my publishing house in recognizing that a spouse could be an essential contributor to forging business relationships, the editor’s wife was permitted to attend on the company dime. I can truly attest that Gilda opened as many or even more contacts than I did during those AGMC meetings, oftentimes through her association with the spouses of the retail executives. It also didn’t hurt that from the time they were toddlers we brought our children to these conferences. One of the first words Dan learned to say was “croissant” as he and Gilda enjoyed breakfast on the patio of our room at the Arizona Biltmore when he was just two years old. One of my favorite pictures, hanging on our den wall, shows me wearing a straw cowboy hat while carrying Ellie asleep on my chest, a bandanna covering her head, during a cocktail reception two months before Ellie’s second birthday.
Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee, but I don’t want to pay for it.
It’s not surprising to me that a NY Times/CBS News survey has found widespread opposition to all or parts of the health care measure, the legality of which is now being debated at the Supreme Court. The survey found 47% disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, with only 36% approving it. Why wouldn’t our lemming-like public have negative opinions when they’ve been bombarded for the last year by Republican presidential candidate after candidate trashing the law (without offering a realistic alternative, mind you) and with hardly any aggressive defense mounted by President Obama (perhaps he’s waiting for the official re-election campaign to begin his counter-attack)?
Of course, the public shows its selfishness by also telling The Times/CBS News poll it favors coverage of pre-existing conditions (85%) and the extension of insurance to children until they turn 26 (68%) but not wanting to support a mandate to require everyone to buy insurance or be fined (51%). Just how do those people think the added benefits can be funded? Do they think insurance grows on trees?
“Nothing discredits religion quite like the gap between what believers profess and how they live.” I liked that sentence in a column (“Tebow in Babylon”) by Ross Douthat in Sunday’s NY Times Review section. But what I really liked from that section was Frank Bruni’s essay, "Rethinking His Religion," about the transformation his former college roommate has undergone over the last 30 years. I won’t ruin it for you. Here’s a link, with my suggestion to read it all the way through. The ending is priceless: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/bruni-a-catholic-classmate-rethinks-his-religion.html?_r=1&ref=frankbruni
On another spiritual note, did anyone else think it slightly incongruous that the National Geographic cable TV network chose to air “Only for God: Inside Hasidim” on a Friday night? Not that any Hasidim would be watching regardless of the night, but it did show a lack of sensitivity to broadcast the program last Friday night, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Delaying the Inevitable
To what lengths would you go to delay doing your taxes?
For me, it meant engaging in two of my less desirable activities—exercising and outdoor home maintenance.
Today’s warm weather—it’s still 71 degrees outside as I write this at 4:30 pm—beckoned me away from any thoughts of firing up Turbo Tax to complete my filing. So at 2:30 I laced on my sneakers, hauled out my Heavyhands, and power-walked around our neighborhood for 40 minutes. When I returned I noticed the area of our brick walkway near the front porch was rather slick. Because it doesn’t get sufficient sunshine, it gets infested with a mildewy moss.
Ah, goodie, another reason not to do my taxes. I hooked up the power washer and prepared to blast the mildew away. Prepared is the right word, for you just can’t stand there and hose down the crud, unless you don’t care about getting wet. I do, so I exchanged my jeans for a pair of waterproof pants, my sneakers for a pair of waterproof boots. Appropriately attired, I washed away for about 20 minutes.
The only problem is once you start a home maintenance project there’s always another task to be done. For example, when I went outside to check the thermometer on the porch a few minutes ago to provide an accurate reading, I noticed the power washing of the walkway sprayed dirt onto the storm door. Yes, I could have left the shmutz there for another day, but there’s no way Gilda would not have royally reprimanded me for being lazy.
This early spring weather is taxing my resolve to live up to the no socks credo of this blog. I actually hate not wearing socks, but you can’t imagine how many people ask me if I’m wearing socks when they see me. You’ll be happy to know I’m sans socks as I write this. I’m even sans shoes—Gilda is enthusiastic about a new discipline that promotes shoeless feet whenever possible. When she reads this blog I’m sure to score at least four points with her for exercising, powerwashing, cleaning up and walking around without shoes. Now, if I could only earn some points with the IRS...
For me, it meant engaging in two of my less desirable activities—exercising and outdoor home maintenance.
Today’s warm weather—it’s still 71 degrees outside as I write this at 4:30 pm—beckoned me away from any thoughts of firing up Turbo Tax to complete my filing. So at 2:30 I laced on my sneakers, hauled out my Heavyhands, and power-walked around our neighborhood for 40 minutes. When I returned I noticed the area of our brick walkway near the front porch was rather slick. Because it doesn’t get sufficient sunshine, it gets infested with a mildewy moss.
Ah, goodie, another reason not to do my taxes. I hooked up the power washer and prepared to blast the mildew away. Prepared is the right word, for you just can’t stand there and hose down the crud, unless you don’t care about getting wet. I do, so I exchanged my jeans for a pair of waterproof pants, my sneakers for a pair of waterproof boots. Appropriately attired, I washed away for about 20 minutes.
The only problem is once you start a home maintenance project there’s always another task to be done. For example, when I went outside to check the thermometer on the porch a few minutes ago to provide an accurate reading, I noticed the power washing of the walkway sprayed dirt onto the storm door. Yes, I could have left the shmutz there for another day, but there’s no way Gilda would not have royally reprimanded me for being lazy.
This early spring weather is taxing my resolve to live up to the no socks credo of this blog. I actually hate not wearing socks, but you can’t imagine how many people ask me if I’m wearing socks when they see me. You’ll be happy to know I’m sans socks as I write this. I’m even sans shoes—Gilda is enthusiastic about a new discipline that promotes shoeless feet whenever possible. When she reads this blog I’m sure to score at least four points with her for exercising, powerwashing, cleaning up and walking around without shoes. Now, if I could only earn some points with the IRS...
Monday, March 19, 2012
Game Change, True From the Heart
Gilda and I watched a very good but very disturbing movie over the weekend. It made us angry and distressed. “Game Change” is a HBO film based on the book of the same name about the 2008 presidential campaign, specifically about the decision by Sen. John McCain to pick Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate and the consequences of that selection.
No doubt, Palin lit up the campaign trail. She electrified the conservative Republican base. She performed well in the vice presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden. But, as the movie revealed, her appearances were performances, staged answers to conceal her almost complete lack of knowledge about the federal government, the economic crisis enveloping the country and foreign affairs. It was disturbing and distressing to think this woman could have been a heartbeat away from being president. It angered us that political hacks put party, not country, first. It disappointed us that so many of our fellow Americans could be hoodwinked into believing she was qualified.
It’s almost four years later and the level of deceit—even outright lies—politicians are willing to engage in taxes our ability to believe in them. Last year about this time, when Planned Parenthood was under attack as it still is, Arizona senator Jon Kyl asserted on the Senate floor that 90% of Planned Parenthood’s money is used to provide abortions. When the truth was revealed, that the figure is really just 3%, Kyl did not see fit to issue a retraction or apology. Rather, his spokesperson said the “remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”
Before losing the Puerto Rican primary last weekend, Rick Santorum said while campaigning on the island that before it could attain statehood it must comply with federal law, “that English (not Spanish) needs to be the principal language.” Trouble is, there is no such law. Santorum tried to contain the damage of his remark, but it is becoming painfully obvious from other statements the former Pennsylvania senator has made that he rarely thinks through how his comments will be received or perceived (for example, his statement that he almost puked when reading a copy of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the separation of church and state).
He speaks from the heart, his handlers say. At least that is how his press secretary whitewashed the following Santorum explanation as to why he opposes socialized medicine:
“In the Netherlands people wear a different bracelet if you’re elderly and the bracelet is, “Do not euthanize me.” Half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10% of all deaths, in the Netherlands, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are old and sick.” (Here’s a clip of his comments: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/dutch-puzzled-by-santorums-false-claim-they-practise-forced-euthanasia/)
As the article with the clip states, Santorum’s claims are highly inaccurate. Perhaps Stephen Colbert summed it up best last Thursday when he opined, “Yes, in Rick Santorum’s heart, Dutch doctors push old people up to windmills and let the blades chop their heads off. And then they grind them into a paste and use that paste to plug cracks in the dikes, and turn their skulls into wooden shoes.
“The point is, as long as it’s in your heart, it is true.”
No doubt, Palin lit up the campaign trail. She electrified the conservative Republican base. She performed well in the vice presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden. But, as the movie revealed, her appearances were performances, staged answers to conceal her almost complete lack of knowledge about the federal government, the economic crisis enveloping the country and foreign affairs. It was disturbing and distressing to think this woman could have been a heartbeat away from being president. It angered us that political hacks put party, not country, first. It disappointed us that so many of our fellow Americans could be hoodwinked into believing she was qualified.
It’s almost four years later and the level of deceit—even outright lies—politicians are willing to engage in taxes our ability to believe in them. Last year about this time, when Planned Parenthood was under attack as it still is, Arizona senator Jon Kyl asserted on the Senate floor that 90% of Planned Parenthood’s money is used to provide abortions. When the truth was revealed, that the figure is really just 3%, Kyl did not see fit to issue a retraction or apology. Rather, his spokesperson said the “remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”
Before losing the Puerto Rican primary last weekend, Rick Santorum said while campaigning on the island that before it could attain statehood it must comply with federal law, “that English (not Spanish) needs to be the principal language.” Trouble is, there is no such law. Santorum tried to contain the damage of his remark, but it is becoming painfully obvious from other statements the former Pennsylvania senator has made that he rarely thinks through how his comments will be received or perceived (for example, his statement that he almost puked when reading a copy of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the separation of church and state).
He speaks from the heart, his handlers say. At least that is how his press secretary whitewashed the following Santorum explanation as to why he opposes socialized medicine:
“In the Netherlands people wear a different bracelet if you’re elderly and the bracelet is, “Do not euthanize me.” Half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10% of all deaths, in the Netherlands, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are old and sick.” (Here’s a clip of his comments: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/dutch-puzzled-by-santorums-false-claim-they-practise-forced-euthanasia/)
As the article with the clip states, Santorum’s claims are highly inaccurate. Perhaps Stephen Colbert summed it up best last Thursday when he opined, “Yes, in Rick Santorum’s heart, Dutch doctors push old people up to windmills and let the blades chop their heads off. And then they grind them into a paste and use that paste to plug cracks in the dikes, and turn their skulls into wooden shoes.
“The point is, as long as it’s in your heart, it is true.”
Game Change, True From the Heart
Gilda and I watched a very good but very disturbing movie over the weekend. It made us angry and distressed. “Game Change” is a HBO film based on the book of the same name about the 2008 presidential campaign, specifically about the decision by Sen. John McCain to pick Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate and the consequences of that selection.
No doubt, Palin lit up the campaign trail. She electrified the conservative Republican base. She performed well in the vice presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden. But, as the movie revealed, her appearances were performances, staged answers to conceal her almost complete lack of knowledge about the federal government, the economic crisis enveloping the country and foreign affairs. It was disturbing and distressing to think this woman could have been a heartbeat away from being president. It angered us that political hacks put party, not country, first. It disappointed us that so many of our fellow Americans could be hoodwinked into believing she was qualified.
It’s almost four years later and the level of deceit—even outright lies—politicians are willing to engage in taxes our ability to believe in them. Last year about this time, when Planned Parenthood was under attack as it still is, Arizona senator Jon Kyl asserted on the Senate floor that 90% of Planned Parenthood’s money is used to provide abortions. When the truth was revealed, that the figure is really just 3%, Kyl did not see fit to issue a retraction or apology. Rather, his spokesperson said the “remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”
Before losing the Puerto Rican primary last weekend, Rick Santorum said while campaigning on the island that before it could attain statehood it must comply with federal law, “that English (not Spanish) needs to be the principal language.” Trouble is, there is no such law. Santorum tried to contain the damage of his remark, but it is becoming painfully obvious from other statements the former Pennsylvania senator has made that he rarely thinks through how his comments will be received or perceived (for example, his statement that he almost puked when reading a copy of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the separation of church and state).
He speaks from the heart, his handlers say. At least that is how his press secretary whitewashed the following Santorum explanation as to why he opposes socialized medicine:
“In the Netherlands people wear a different bracelet if you’re elderly and the bracelet is, “Do not euthanize me.” Half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10% of all deaths, in the Netherlands, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are old and sick.” (Here’s a clip of his comments: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/dutch-puzzled-by-santorums-false-claim-they-practise-forced-euthanasia/)
As the article with the clip states, Santorum’s claims are highly inaccurate. Perhaps Stephen Colbert summed it up best last Thursday when he opined, “Yes, in Rick Santorum’s heart, Dutch doctors push old people up to windmills and let the blades chop their heads off. And then they grind them into a paste and use that paste to plug cracks in the dikes, and turn their skulls into wooden shoes.
“The point is, as long as it’s in your heart, it is true.”
No doubt, Palin lit up the campaign trail. She electrified the conservative Republican base. She performed well in the vice presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden. But, as the movie revealed, her appearances were performances, staged answers to conceal her almost complete lack of knowledge about the federal government, the economic crisis enveloping the country and foreign affairs. It was disturbing and distressing to think this woman could have been a heartbeat away from being president. It angered us that political hacks put party, not country, first. It disappointed us that so many of our fellow Americans could be hoodwinked into believing she was qualified.
It’s almost four years later and the level of deceit—even outright lies—politicians are willing to engage in taxes our ability to believe in them. Last year about this time, when Planned Parenthood was under attack as it still is, Arizona senator Jon Kyl asserted on the Senate floor that 90% of Planned Parenthood’s money is used to provide abortions. When the truth was revealed, that the figure is really just 3%, Kyl did not see fit to issue a retraction or apology. Rather, his spokesperson said the “remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”
Before losing the Puerto Rican primary last weekend, Rick Santorum said while campaigning on the island that before it could attain statehood it must comply with federal law, “that English (not Spanish) needs to be the principal language.” Trouble is, there is no such law. Santorum tried to contain the damage of his remark, but it is becoming painfully obvious from other statements the former Pennsylvania senator has made that he rarely thinks through how his comments will be received or perceived (for example, his statement that he almost puked when reading a copy of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the separation of church and state).
He speaks from the heart, his handlers say. At least that is how his press secretary whitewashed the following Santorum explanation as to why he opposes socialized medicine:
“In the Netherlands people wear a different bracelet if you’re elderly and the bracelet is, “Do not euthanize me.” Half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10% of all deaths, in the Netherlands, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are old and sick.” (Here’s a clip of his comments: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/dutch-puzzled-by-santorums-false-claim-they-practise-forced-euthanasia/)
As the article with the clip states, Santorum’s claims are highly inaccurate. Perhaps Stephen Colbert summed it up best last Thursday when he opined, “Yes, in Rick Santorum’s heart, Dutch doctors push old people up to windmills and let the blades chop their heads off. And then they grind them into a paste and use that paste to plug cracks in the dikes, and turn their skulls into wooden shoes.
“The point is, as long as it’s in your heart, it is true.”
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Spring Thoughts Mean Only One Thing
If near-40-year-old Andy Pettitte can attempt a comeback to the rigors of major league baseball with the NY Yankees after being retired one year, perhaps there’s reason to believe I can return to the pitching mound after a three-year hiatus from Sunday morning fast-pitch softball.
I’m not sure our temple team needs a 63-year-old pitcher, but our 64-year-old hurler jumped ship, signing with another squad. So there may be an opening if none of the younger arms proves reliable. Over my near 30-year softball career, reliable would be a good descriptor of my performance. I wasn’t the best pitcher in the league, but I was among the most consistent, almost always keeping our team competitive. Before I joined, the team would lose by double-digit scores as the pitcher, Mike, simply lobbed the ball over. While we still lost most of our games during my first season, the scores were much closer. Mike, however, was not a happy teammate. He protested his demotion to the bench, appealing to the leadership of the temple Brotherhood, the sponsor of the team. Sadly, they suggested to Mike it was time to hang up his spikes. He chose, instead, to switch temples, though his misfortunes continued on his new team and it, too, told him to ride the pines.
I retired three years ago when I was no longer the starting pitcher and couldn’t justify waking up early Sunday mornings from April through October. I’m still not sure the warmth and comfort of our bed won’t seduce me into staying home (this morning, for example, I rolled out of bed at 10:30), but I’m getting that old excitement back. Yesterday I even bought new cleats (just in case) and tried on my old uniform; it fit perfectly, with no tugging at the waist of the pants. Actually, I rarely wore baseball pants, preferring to pitch in shorts. To say my “chicken legs” weren’t a distraction to batters would be disingenuous, but hey, you’re allowed to try any legal means of changing the focus of the opposition. I also checked my glove to make sure the lacing was in good order. In short, I’m ready for a season with players almost all of whom are closer to my son’s age (33) than mine. First practice is in a week or two, first game April 22. Hopefully, I won’t get hurt.
I ventured back in time in a different way on Thursday, attending a luncheon of the Society of the Silurians at the Players Club on Gramercy Park in Manhattan to hear the featured speaker, Gail Collins, Op-Ed columnist for The NY Times, and an acquaintance going back more than 35 years to our days in New Haven when her husband, Dan, and I worked at the New Haven Register. (The Silurians, by the way, is an organization of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924. As previously mentioned, I’m 63. With very few exceptions, I was the youngest in the room of 150, a record attendance, there to hear Gail talk about her career and her thoughts on politics of the day. Even society president Tony Guida, distinguished looking at 70 with a full head of coiffed, silver hair, couldn’t avoid noting the age of the assembled when he asked for all cell phones, beepers, pagers and pacemakers to be turned off prior to Gail’s presentation.)
Gail didn’t disappoint, regaling all with stories of her days as a Connecticut state capitol reporter before coming to New York in 1980. We took a few minutes before and after her talk to catch up. The only disappointment was Dan and another New Haven alum, Trish Hall, now Op-Ed editor of The Times, weren’t in attendance. But I did sit next to Times reporter Robert D. McFadden, a spry 50-year veteran of the paper, whose main assignment these days is writing pre-obituaries of the noteworthy and famous.
By the way, anyone who has followed Gail’s columns on Mitt Romney knows she always includes a reference to the star-crossed family trip to Canada when Mitt boxed the family Irish setter, Seamus, in a crate atop the station wagon as he, his wife and their five boys rode inside. Seamus eventually developed diarrhea, forcing Romney to make an unscheduled stop to hose down the dog and crate but not allow any of the humans to relieve themselves. Gail maintained Romney’s behavior provides insight into his character. Nevertheless, she indicated when the primaries are over she will retire Seamus from her columns. I’m not so sure, if Romney winds up securing the Republican presidential nomination. We’ll just have to wait and see.
After the luncheon and a quick stop at Gilda’s office on Union Square, I was off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the “The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini,” an exhibit I highly recommend but alas is closing today. One thing struck me among the painted portraits—several of the 15th century profiles of men looked vaguely familiar in their headdress. It was not until later that evening when watching the evening news that I realized the turbaned men hanging on the walls of the Met bore a striking resemblance to the millinery styles of the men of present day Afghanistan.
Saturday was Gilda’s birthday, her 63rd. Don’t worry. Gilda has no qualms about revealing her age. Indeed, she is vastly amused when people guess she is 20, even 30, years younger. Not wanting to jostle the crowds of St. Patrick’s Day, we spent a peaceful day together. Today we will tour the annual orchid show at the Bronx Botanical Gardens and then head off to Brooklyn where Ellie and Donny will prepare a birthday feast of one of Gilda’s favorite foods—fried chicken.
I’m not sure our temple team needs a 63-year-old pitcher, but our 64-year-old hurler jumped ship, signing with another squad. So there may be an opening if none of the younger arms proves reliable. Over my near 30-year softball career, reliable would be a good descriptor of my performance. I wasn’t the best pitcher in the league, but I was among the most consistent, almost always keeping our team competitive. Before I joined, the team would lose by double-digit scores as the pitcher, Mike, simply lobbed the ball over. While we still lost most of our games during my first season, the scores were much closer. Mike, however, was not a happy teammate. He protested his demotion to the bench, appealing to the leadership of the temple Brotherhood, the sponsor of the team. Sadly, they suggested to Mike it was time to hang up his spikes. He chose, instead, to switch temples, though his misfortunes continued on his new team and it, too, told him to ride the pines.
I retired three years ago when I was no longer the starting pitcher and couldn’t justify waking up early Sunday mornings from April through October. I’m still not sure the warmth and comfort of our bed won’t seduce me into staying home (this morning, for example, I rolled out of bed at 10:30), but I’m getting that old excitement back. Yesterday I even bought new cleats (just in case) and tried on my old uniform; it fit perfectly, with no tugging at the waist of the pants. Actually, I rarely wore baseball pants, preferring to pitch in shorts. To say my “chicken legs” weren’t a distraction to batters would be disingenuous, but hey, you’re allowed to try any legal means of changing the focus of the opposition. I also checked my glove to make sure the lacing was in good order. In short, I’m ready for a season with players almost all of whom are closer to my son’s age (33) than mine. First practice is in a week or two, first game April 22. Hopefully, I won’t get hurt.
I ventured back in time in a different way on Thursday, attending a luncheon of the Society of the Silurians at the Players Club on Gramercy Park in Manhattan to hear the featured speaker, Gail Collins, Op-Ed columnist for The NY Times, and an acquaintance going back more than 35 years to our days in New Haven when her husband, Dan, and I worked at the New Haven Register. (The Silurians, by the way, is an organization of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924. As previously mentioned, I’m 63. With very few exceptions, I was the youngest in the room of 150, a record attendance, there to hear Gail talk about her career and her thoughts on politics of the day. Even society president Tony Guida, distinguished looking at 70 with a full head of coiffed, silver hair, couldn’t avoid noting the age of the assembled when he asked for all cell phones, beepers, pagers and pacemakers to be turned off prior to Gail’s presentation.)
Gail didn’t disappoint, regaling all with stories of her days as a Connecticut state capitol reporter before coming to New York in 1980. We took a few minutes before and after her talk to catch up. The only disappointment was Dan and another New Haven alum, Trish Hall, now Op-Ed editor of The Times, weren’t in attendance. But I did sit next to Times reporter Robert D. McFadden, a spry 50-year veteran of the paper, whose main assignment these days is writing pre-obituaries of the noteworthy and famous.
By the way, anyone who has followed Gail’s columns on Mitt Romney knows she always includes a reference to the star-crossed family trip to Canada when Mitt boxed the family Irish setter, Seamus, in a crate atop the station wagon as he, his wife and their five boys rode inside. Seamus eventually developed diarrhea, forcing Romney to make an unscheduled stop to hose down the dog and crate but not allow any of the humans to relieve themselves. Gail maintained Romney’s behavior provides insight into his character. Nevertheless, she indicated when the primaries are over she will retire Seamus from her columns. I’m not so sure, if Romney winds up securing the Republican presidential nomination. We’ll just have to wait and see.
After the luncheon and a quick stop at Gilda’s office on Union Square, I was off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the “The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini,” an exhibit I highly recommend but alas is closing today. One thing struck me among the painted portraits—several of the 15th century profiles of men looked vaguely familiar in their headdress. It was not until later that evening when watching the evening news that I realized the turbaned men hanging on the walls of the Met bore a striking resemblance to the millinery styles of the men of present day Afghanistan.
Saturday was Gilda’s birthday, her 63rd. Don’t worry. Gilda has no qualms about revealing her age. Indeed, she is vastly amused when people guess she is 20, even 30, years younger. Not wanting to jostle the crowds of St. Patrick’s Day, we spent a peaceful day together. Today we will tour the annual orchid show at the Bronx Botanical Gardens and then head off to Brooklyn where Ellie and Donny will prepare a birthday feast of one of Gilda’s favorite foods—fried chicken.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Springtime, Sounds and Fury
I heard today that most beautiful sound of spring—the whining and rattling of my snowblower peeling off the gasoline in its tank as it prepared to hibernate until late next fall.
Actually, despite temperatures in the 70s, I was reluctant to store the snowblower. I still believe we might get hit with heavy snow sometime in the next two-three weeks. But I couldn’t resist my wife’s entreaties, so I pulled the ripcord and ran the machine for more than 90 minutes until it drained. I surely hope Gilda was right and I was wrong.
I’m close to admitting defeat. The squirrels will not be denied. Despite raising the feeders higher than a four foot vertical jump, despite the conical shields said to guard against squirrels scampering down from above, the rodents, as Gilda not so lovingly reminds me are what they are, have repeatedly breached my defenses and gorged themselves on birdseed. Today’s attack was airborne. From a distance at least six feet away, a squirrel hurled itself at one of the feeders. Once or twice it bounced off the conical shield, but then managed to land under it, along a tall cylinder feeder. The other day another squirrel pushed the top up on a house-shaped feeder and jumped inside. I’ve stopped that ploy by fastening a bungee cord around the house. But a third squirrel (perhaps it’s the same squirrel; I haven’t been able to mark them) catapulted itself to another feeder and managed to push the top up to reach inside. The birds, not even the large grackles, meanwhile, show no interest in defending their feeding rights.
The media are full of springtime news: brush fires because of the dry winter, tornadoes earlier than normal because of the warm winter, worries about summer droughts because of the shallow snow bank on the mountains, and rising gas prices because Obama is a lousy president. Wait. Do people really think the president has anything to do with the cost of gasoline? Emotionally, for sure they do. Intellectually, probably not. But we’re in no danger in this country of letting our intellect trump our emotions. Heck, that’s why some nutcases supported Donald Trump in his Quixotic quest to be president last year and some still see him as a font of reason and political possibilities.
Getting back to Obama, he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t do something about gasoline prices as his popularity plummets from a month ago. His detractors (mostly Republicans) ingenuously assert drilling for more domestic and off-shore oil would reduce prices. Perhaps, but that’s no short term solution to our current crisis. I do wonder, though, why Republicans have a problem with higher gas prices. Higher prices, after all, are simply a response to market forces (greater demand in China, India and other developing countries, plus oil speculation by financial market profiteers). Doesn’t the GOP endorse a free market? Wouldn’t it be against their laissez-faire principles for government to intervene to artificially lower the price of oil? And even if we drilled for more oil, who’s to say the oil companies wouldn’t export it? Surely Republicans wouldn’t endorse a restraint on their ability to freely trade their oil to the highest bidder?
How tiring it must be for Obama to be blamed for everything. Speaking of being tired, I’m tired of receiving emails that purport to be true and accurate reflections of the thinking or experience of real people. The latest example of misleading and inappropriate material was commentary attributed to Bill Cosby espousing social views so repugnant to what he has always stood for that he had to repudiate it on his personal Web site. Why don’t people check the veracity of these insidious emails before sending them out? It’s easy enough to do. Just pick a few key words, Google them and you’ll probably be directed to Snopes.com or some other Internet site that will authenticate the contents.
Actually, despite temperatures in the 70s, I was reluctant to store the snowblower. I still believe we might get hit with heavy snow sometime in the next two-three weeks. But I couldn’t resist my wife’s entreaties, so I pulled the ripcord and ran the machine for more than 90 minutes until it drained. I surely hope Gilda was right and I was wrong.
I’m close to admitting defeat. The squirrels will not be denied. Despite raising the feeders higher than a four foot vertical jump, despite the conical shields said to guard against squirrels scampering down from above, the rodents, as Gilda not so lovingly reminds me are what they are, have repeatedly breached my defenses and gorged themselves on birdseed. Today’s attack was airborne. From a distance at least six feet away, a squirrel hurled itself at one of the feeders. Once or twice it bounced off the conical shield, but then managed to land under it, along a tall cylinder feeder. The other day another squirrel pushed the top up on a house-shaped feeder and jumped inside. I’ve stopped that ploy by fastening a bungee cord around the house. But a third squirrel (perhaps it’s the same squirrel; I haven’t been able to mark them) catapulted itself to another feeder and managed to push the top up to reach inside. The birds, not even the large grackles, meanwhile, show no interest in defending their feeding rights.
The media are full of springtime news: brush fires because of the dry winter, tornadoes earlier than normal because of the warm winter, worries about summer droughts because of the shallow snow bank on the mountains, and rising gas prices because Obama is a lousy president. Wait. Do people really think the president has anything to do with the cost of gasoline? Emotionally, for sure they do. Intellectually, probably not. But we’re in no danger in this country of letting our intellect trump our emotions. Heck, that’s why some nutcases supported Donald Trump in his Quixotic quest to be president last year and some still see him as a font of reason and political possibilities.
Getting back to Obama, he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t do something about gasoline prices as his popularity plummets from a month ago. His detractors (mostly Republicans) ingenuously assert drilling for more domestic and off-shore oil would reduce prices. Perhaps, but that’s no short term solution to our current crisis. I do wonder, though, why Republicans have a problem with higher gas prices. Higher prices, after all, are simply a response to market forces (greater demand in China, India and other developing countries, plus oil speculation by financial market profiteers). Doesn’t the GOP endorse a free market? Wouldn’t it be against their laissez-faire principles for government to intervene to artificially lower the price of oil? And even if we drilled for more oil, who’s to say the oil companies wouldn’t export it? Surely Republicans wouldn’t endorse a restraint on their ability to freely trade their oil to the highest bidder?
How tiring it must be for Obama to be blamed for everything. Speaking of being tired, I’m tired of receiving emails that purport to be true and accurate reflections of the thinking or experience of real people. The latest example of misleading and inappropriate material was commentary attributed to Bill Cosby espousing social views so repugnant to what he has always stood for that he had to repudiate it on his personal Web site. Why don’t people check the veracity of these insidious emails before sending them out? It’s easy enough to do. Just pick a few key words, Google them and you’ll probably be directed to Snopes.com or some other Internet site that will authenticate the contents.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Arise Sleeping Beauties
It is finally dawning on some women that a Republican in the White House backed by GOP control of Congress would set back women's rights by more than 50 years, perhaps even to a time when women lost their jobs after World War II in favor of returning GIs. This time our veterans are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan to a still dismal labor scene. I can just hear Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney vying to be the first to proclaim Marabel Morgan was right, a woman's place is in the home, not the office or factory and, heaven to Betsy, for sure not on the construction site or in a police or fireman’s uniform. They should be home baking cookies and meat loaves, not writing legal briefs or news stories.
The NY Times reported Saturday women are squeamish about the prospects of Republican control of their reproductive rights (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/us/politics/centrist-women-tell-of-disenchantment-with-gop.html?_r=1). Excuse me, but were they Sleeping Beauties during the last 18 months when newly elected Republican state governors and legislators rolled back social, educational, health, welfare and labor laws? What did they expect people like Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Santorum and Romney to do if elected? Hadn't they been listening to Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and the other right wing crazies tell us they preferred a country of the past?
This sudden awakening by Republican and independent women really ticks me off. Had they rallied before to the reality of a conservative mindset on social and cultural issues, perhaps we wouldn't have been subjected to the spectacle of candidates trying to out-Neanderthal each other. Perhaps we wouldn't have tolerated during the debates applause for the death penalty, calls to let a sick person without health insurance die, and the Dark Ages idea that higher education is for snobs.
Seriously. I know Obama has lots of faults. But seriously, how can any thinking person truly consider voting for candidates with so radical a view of our future that they would take us back to our past and beyond?
The NY Times reported Saturday women are squeamish about the prospects of Republican control of their reproductive rights (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/us/politics/centrist-women-tell-of-disenchantment-with-gop.html?_r=1). Excuse me, but were they Sleeping Beauties during the last 18 months when newly elected Republican state governors and legislators rolled back social, educational, health, welfare and labor laws? What did they expect people like Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Santorum and Romney to do if elected? Hadn't they been listening to Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and the other right wing crazies tell us they preferred a country of the past?
This sudden awakening by Republican and independent women really ticks me off. Had they rallied before to the reality of a conservative mindset on social and cultural issues, perhaps we wouldn't have been subjected to the spectacle of candidates trying to out-Neanderthal each other. Perhaps we wouldn't have tolerated during the debates applause for the death penalty, calls to let a sick person without health insurance die, and the Dark Ages idea that higher education is for snobs.
Seriously. I know Obama has lots of faults. But seriously, how can any thinking person truly consider voting for candidates with so radical a view of our future that they would take us back to our past and beyond?
Friday, March 9, 2012
Sanitizing Santorum
I'm getting tired of always hearing about Rick Santorum’s humble background, that his grandfather was a coal miner, so he can easily identify with working class voters.
Why is it never brought out that his father was a clinical psychologist and his mother a nurse? (Both worked for Veterans Administration hospitals.) D’ya think it's because coming from educated, decently well-off parents might shatter Rick’s working stiff image?
Pundits were quick to point out Santorum has three higher education degrees and his older children attend college, even as he mocked President Obama for advocating post-high school education or training for everyone. But I’ve yet to hear anyone talk about his parents.
Santorum’s choice to ignore for the most part his parents’ background in favor of his grandfather’s is just the latest Republican camouflage of not so presidential behavior. Ron Paul disavowed bigoted newsletters that went out under his name for years. Newt Gingrich twice cheated on wives, even as he now professes to be religious and a faithful defender of marriage.
Santorum and his wife of 21 years, Karen Garver, are hyped as a model couple, with seven living children, all home schooled. But imagine, if you will, what Republicans would say about Michelle Obama if she had had an affair with a doctor 40 years her senior. And not just any doctor. This physician not only was the obstetrician who delivered Karen as a baby but also, during their six year relationship, was an abortion provider. GOP leaders and pundits would be excoriating Michelle if this had been her. But nary a word is said about Karen Garver’s years-long flirtation with Dr. Tom Allen of Pittsburgh.
Aside from policy, politics is an industry built on image. Newt may truly have loved each wife during her time with him, but his callousness in tossing them aside underscored his political treachery when he was a leader of the House Republicans. He gave his word to support a tax increase compromise under George Bush 1, then reneged on the deal when it came up for a vote. Ron Paul can’t say he was unaware of the newsletters, that they went out just once. His failure to stop their continued distribution spotlights his latent, true feelings. Santorum, and his wife, can claim to be straight-arrow Catholics. But let’s not be ready to superimpose their values on the rest of society.
Why is it never brought out that his father was a clinical psychologist and his mother a nurse? (Both worked for Veterans Administration hospitals.) D’ya think it's because coming from educated, decently well-off parents might shatter Rick’s working stiff image?
Pundits were quick to point out Santorum has three higher education degrees and his older children attend college, even as he mocked President Obama for advocating post-high school education or training for everyone. But I’ve yet to hear anyone talk about his parents.
Santorum’s choice to ignore for the most part his parents’ background in favor of his grandfather’s is just the latest Republican camouflage of not so presidential behavior. Ron Paul disavowed bigoted newsletters that went out under his name for years. Newt Gingrich twice cheated on wives, even as he now professes to be religious and a faithful defender of marriage.
Santorum and his wife of 21 years, Karen Garver, are hyped as a model couple, with seven living children, all home schooled. But imagine, if you will, what Republicans would say about Michelle Obama if she had had an affair with a doctor 40 years her senior. And not just any doctor. This physician not only was the obstetrician who delivered Karen as a baby but also, during their six year relationship, was an abortion provider. GOP leaders and pundits would be excoriating Michelle if this had been her. But nary a word is said about Karen Garver’s years-long flirtation with Dr. Tom Allen of Pittsburgh.
Aside from policy, politics is an industry built on image. Newt may truly have loved each wife during her time with him, but his callousness in tossing them aside underscored his political treachery when he was a leader of the House Republicans. He gave his word to support a tax increase compromise under George Bush 1, then reneged on the deal when it came up for a vote. Ron Paul can’t say he was unaware of the newsletters, that they went out just once. His failure to stop their continued distribution spotlights his latent, true feelings. Santorum, and his wife, can claim to be straight-arrow Catholics. But let’s not be ready to superimpose their values on the rest of society.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
As Time Goes By
After almost an hour of watching everyone but me win, with only one white, 25-cent chip of my original $20 stake in front of me, I finally won a hand during last night’s birthday poker game. My friends tried to treat me with rachmanus (pity, compassion), but someone forgot to tell the god of poker to smile on my cards throughout the evening.
For a while I did have a string of good fortune. At one time I was ahead by almost $20. But the last round of seven hands during our three-hour session was not pleasant. By game’s end, I managed to hold onto just $2.75 in winnings. As they used to say about sports contests that ended in a tie, it was like kissing your sister—nice, but not really exciting (at least it’s not supposed to feel exciting).
Today’s mail brought an unexpected present from Jane and Ken G., a copy of a new book edited by Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)—New American Haggadah. Imagine my delight then when I turned on a recording of Tuesday night’s Colbert Report and discovered Stephen Colbert’s guest was none other than Jonathan Safran Foer. Here’s a link to the interview: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/410087/march-06-2012/jonathan-safran-foer
Two weeks ago while riding home listening to an NPR report on the Iran nuclear crisis, I learned about SWIFT, The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a clearinghouse used by most countries and large corporations to expedite foreign transactions. The report said SWIFT was considering expelling Iran, a punishment that could severely cripple its economy even swifter (pun intended) than the economic sanctions already imposed by Western powers seeking to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Here’s a background article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-24/swift-may-expel-iran-s-central-bank-hindering-oil-payments.html.
Short of outright military action, expulsion from SWIFT seems to offer the most powerful means of convincing Iran it is not prudent to continue its nuclear program. There are, of course, consequences, as Avi Jorisch, a former U.S. Treasury official, explained—“We need to choose at this point if we want Iran to get a nuclear bomb or take the chance that oil markets will spike.”
Oil prices already have spiked and will go higher. But that’s a shared sacrifice, not the personal and forever endowment a death or injury would consign to military families who serve our country or any other that would raise arms against Iran. Two weeks later and I’m still waiting for SWIFT action.
For a while I did have a string of good fortune. At one time I was ahead by almost $20. But the last round of seven hands during our three-hour session was not pleasant. By game’s end, I managed to hold onto just $2.75 in winnings. As they used to say about sports contests that ended in a tie, it was like kissing your sister—nice, but not really exciting (at least it’s not supposed to feel exciting).
Today’s mail brought an unexpected present from Jane and Ken G., a copy of a new book edited by Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)—New American Haggadah. Imagine my delight then when I turned on a recording of Tuesday night’s Colbert Report and discovered Stephen Colbert’s guest was none other than Jonathan Safran Foer. Here’s a link to the interview: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/410087/march-06-2012/jonathan-safran-foer
Two weeks ago while riding home listening to an NPR report on the Iran nuclear crisis, I learned about SWIFT, The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a clearinghouse used by most countries and large corporations to expedite foreign transactions. The report said SWIFT was considering expelling Iran, a punishment that could severely cripple its economy even swifter (pun intended) than the economic sanctions already imposed by Western powers seeking to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Here’s a background article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-24/swift-may-expel-iran-s-central-bank-hindering-oil-payments.html.
Short of outright military action, expulsion from SWIFT seems to offer the most powerful means of convincing Iran it is not prudent to continue its nuclear program. There are, of course, consequences, as Avi Jorisch, a former U.S. Treasury official, explained—“We need to choose at this point if we want Iran to get a nuclear bomb or take the chance that oil markets will spike.”
Oil prices already have spiked and will go higher. But that’s a shared sacrifice, not the personal and forever endowment a death or injury would consign to military families who serve our country or any other that would raise arms against Iran. Two weeks later and I’m still waiting for SWIFT action.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Special Day(s)
Let’s see now. Here’s a story with possibilities. The Jewish people are threatened with annihilation by a mad man from Iran. He’s building a weapon to take them out. All appears lost until...
Wait. Today’s reality is co-mingling with ancient history. Tomorrow night, Jews the world over will begin celebrating the holiday of Purim, the day chosen by Haman, a minister to the king of Persia, the historical name of Iran, to wipe out his mortal enemies, especially Mordecai, cousin of Queen Esther. Through guile and bravery, Esther heeds the urgings of Mordecai and is able to convince King Ahasuerus of the treachery Haman wants to exact against her and her co-religionists.
As the law of the land did not permit the king to rescind his permission to wipe out the Jews (sort of like not being able to call back a nuclear missile once launched), Ahasuerus did the next best thing—he granted Jews the authority to fight back, which they did, killing more than 75,000 across the 127 provinces of his realm, from India to Ethiopia, according to the Book of Esther.
How ironic and potentially unnerving that such a story coincides with the modern-day drama of Iran vs. Israel. Jews lived (a few still do) in Iran from around 586 BCE (before the common era) when they were brought there in exile by the king of Babylonia (modern day Iraq). Some 70 years later a Persian king, Cyrus, permitted Jews to return to the land of Israel where they built the Second Temple. It’s not a stretch to say that without Iranian help, Jesus would not have grown up in Nazareth. There’d be no Christianity.
As talk of an Israeli pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear installations grows louder, I’ll feel a lot more comfortable once Purim is over.
My zany mind also couldn’t help but wonder if Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a Seinfeld fan. Speaking to reporters with President Obama seated next to him Monday, Bibi stressed Israel would be “master of our own fate,” phrasing that was oh so very similar to the Seinfeld episode wherein Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine had a competition to see who best could be “master of my domain.” Here’s a highlight clip for those who need a refresher on this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAvANRCgCDM&feature=related
Finally got around to looking through the November 15, 2011, magazine section of the NY Times. I began by reading the Lives feature at the back, “Confessions of a Tweeter, How Twitter took over the life of one middle-aged convert” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/magazine/confessions-of-a-tweeter.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=larry%20carlat&st=cse).
As I started to identify with the author, I glanced again at the byline—Larry Carlat. Wait a minute. I know that name. Sure enough, after Googling him, I confirmed Larry used to work at Lebhar-Friedman. He wasn’t on my staff, but we talked often enough. He was a funny guy. It's rewarding to see the name of someone you know in print, or on the air, in a good way.
It’s Super Tuesday today, not because of the 10 Republican party primaries. Rather, because it’s my birthday. I’ve chosen to host the monthly poker game tonight, hoping my “friends” are true and let me win. Lloyd says, "Now if you win, you'll never know if we let you or if it was your superior skill and guile." I don’t really care. I just want to win.
Wait. Today’s reality is co-mingling with ancient history. Tomorrow night, Jews the world over will begin celebrating the holiday of Purim, the day chosen by Haman, a minister to the king of Persia, the historical name of Iran, to wipe out his mortal enemies, especially Mordecai, cousin of Queen Esther. Through guile and bravery, Esther heeds the urgings of Mordecai and is able to convince King Ahasuerus of the treachery Haman wants to exact against her and her co-religionists.
As the law of the land did not permit the king to rescind his permission to wipe out the Jews (sort of like not being able to call back a nuclear missile once launched), Ahasuerus did the next best thing—he granted Jews the authority to fight back, which they did, killing more than 75,000 across the 127 provinces of his realm, from India to Ethiopia, according to the Book of Esther.
How ironic and potentially unnerving that such a story coincides with the modern-day drama of Iran vs. Israel. Jews lived (a few still do) in Iran from around 586 BCE (before the common era) when they were brought there in exile by the king of Babylonia (modern day Iraq). Some 70 years later a Persian king, Cyrus, permitted Jews to return to the land of Israel where they built the Second Temple. It’s not a stretch to say that without Iranian help, Jesus would not have grown up in Nazareth. There’d be no Christianity.
As talk of an Israeli pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear installations grows louder, I’ll feel a lot more comfortable once Purim is over.
My zany mind also couldn’t help but wonder if Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a Seinfeld fan. Speaking to reporters with President Obama seated next to him Monday, Bibi stressed Israel would be “master of our own fate,” phrasing that was oh so very similar to the Seinfeld episode wherein Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine had a competition to see who best could be “master of my domain.” Here’s a highlight clip for those who need a refresher on this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAvANRCgCDM&feature=related
Finally got around to looking through the November 15, 2011, magazine section of the NY Times. I began by reading the Lives feature at the back, “Confessions of a Tweeter, How Twitter took over the life of one middle-aged convert” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/magazine/confessions-of-a-tweeter.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=larry%20carlat&st=cse).
As I started to identify with the author, I glanced again at the byline—Larry Carlat. Wait a minute. I know that name. Sure enough, after Googling him, I confirmed Larry used to work at Lebhar-Friedman. He wasn’t on my staff, but we talked often enough. He was a funny guy. It's rewarding to see the name of someone you know in print, or on the air, in a good way.
It’s Super Tuesday today, not because of the 10 Republican party primaries. Rather, because it’s my birthday. I’ve chosen to host the monthly poker game tonight, hoping my “friends” are true and let me win. Lloyd says, "Now if you win, you'll never know if we let you or if it was your superior skill and guile." I don’t really care. I just want to win.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Bill"s Not So Gay Anymore
In the speakeasy-cum-saloon-cum-restaurant where a year or so before my company feted my magazine as the most successful of our publishing properties, I found myself sitting across a table from the president’s son. It was 4 pm. Our meeting had been postponed for most of the day. I knew what he was going to say. I’m not clairvoyant. Just a perceptive tea leaf reader.
By mid 2009, the world of publishing newspapers and magazines had been tossed topsy-turvy and every which way, as if a tornado had blown through the heartland. The Internet had intermediated news distribution and sucked out classified advertising. The economic crisis of 2008 cracked the display advertising foundation. Conference sponsorships dried up, while travel budgets of attendees shrunk to a trickle. No, it was not a good time to be a publisher.
Our company had laid off hundreds as we squirmed to pay off a loan for an ill-fated acquisition. Our publications struggled to keep red ink from overwhelming the ledger.
I knew what Randall wanted to tell me. I made it easy for him. I told him I was willing to accept a buyout.
A few weeks later, in late June 2009, the staff of Chain Store Age, along with a few of my company friends and Randall’s father, Roger, gathered with me for a final drink at that same, favored watering hole a block from our office, across Park Avenue.
Now comes word that Bill’s Gay Nineties will close March 24 after operating at 57 E. 54th Street since 1924, a year before Chain Store Age published its first issue (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/nyregion/bills-gay-nineties-is-set-to-close-at-its-longtime-location.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=nyregion).
Truth be told, I didn’t spend too much time in Bill’s. Most night’s I’d go straight home to Gilda (and the kids when they lived with us). I rarely ate lunch there. The food was okay, just okay, and not too inexpensive at that. Service was slow, but haimish (a Yiddish word meaning friendly or homey). Still, the loss of another link to my past is reason enough to be nostalgic. This weekend, the staff of Chain Store Age is in Orlando hosting and producing the 48th annual SPECS conference for store development and facilities executives. One more reason to think about the past.
I have no regrets about retiring when I did. I do miss the everyday excitement of Manhattan. I miss my friends at work, though many suffered a fate worse than mine when they were let go. I miss the thrill and anticipation of putting on a conference that attracts some 1,200 retailer and supplier participants. I miss creating a new magazine every month, new Web site coverage every day. Perhaps that’s one reason I blog so often.
I even miss Bill’s Gay Nineties.
By mid 2009, the world of publishing newspapers and magazines had been tossed topsy-turvy and every which way, as if a tornado had blown through the heartland. The Internet had intermediated news distribution and sucked out classified advertising. The economic crisis of 2008 cracked the display advertising foundation. Conference sponsorships dried up, while travel budgets of attendees shrunk to a trickle. No, it was not a good time to be a publisher.
Our company had laid off hundreds as we squirmed to pay off a loan for an ill-fated acquisition. Our publications struggled to keep red ink from overwhelming the ledger.
I knew what Randall wanted to tell me. I made it easy for him. I told him I was willing to accept a buyout.
A few weeks later, in late June 2009, the staff of Chain Store Age, along with a few of my company friends and Randall’s father, Roger, gathered with me for a final drink at that same, favored watering hole a block from our office, across Park Avenue.
Now comes word that Bill’s Gay Nineties will close March 24 after operating at 57 E. 54th Street since 1924, a year before Chain Store Age published its first issue (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/nyregion/bills-gay-nineties-is-set-to-close-at-its-longtime-location.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=nyregion).
Truth be told, I didn’t spend too much time in Bill’s. Most night’s I’d go straight home to Gilda (and the kids when they lived with us). I rarely ate lunch there. The food was okay, just okay, and not too inexpensive at that. Service was slow, but haimish (a Yiddish word meaning friendly or homey). Still, the loss of another link to my past is reason enough to be nostalgic. This weekend, the staff of Chain Store Age is in Orlando hosting and producing the 48th annual SPECS conference for store development and facilities executives. One more reason to think about the past.
I have no regrets about retiring when I did. I do miss the everyday excitement of Manhattan. I miss my friends at work, though many suffered a fate worse than mine when they were let go. I miss the thrill and anticipation of putting on a conference that attracts some 1,200 retailer and supplier participants. I miss creating a new magazine every month, new Web site coverage every day. Perhaps that’s one reason I blog so often.
I even miss Bill’s Gay Nineties.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Casting a Political Line to 2016
Let’s cast our political line a little deeper than November of this year, all the way to the Republican nominating convention of 2016.
(For the record, I’m assuming Republicans reluctantly will embrace Mitt Romney as their standard bearer this year. The rest of the country will not see the wisdom of the choice. Barack Obama will be re-elected.)
After another grueling primary battle in 2016, Republicans will pick...Rick Santorum, first because their hard core members will turn even more right wing following Obama’s presidency, and second, it has been Republican practice, for better and worse, to place the mantle of leadership on the next in line. They did it with Reagan after Ford, Bush 1 after Reagan, Dole after Bush 1, McCain after Bush 2 and now Romney after McCain. Unless they break the mold, the GOP will anoint this year’s runner-up, Santorum, as the favored son four years from now.
During these next four years, rather than soften his rhetoric, Santorum will stiffen his resolve to remake America into a Christian nation in law as well as custom. He will seek to reduce personal privilege when it conflicts with his dogma, in areas such as gay rights, contraception and abortion rights. It’s been widely reported the former Pennsylvania senator said he almost puked when recently reading the text of John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech outlining the separation of church and state that he, Kennedy, would follow if elected president. Though Santorum apologized for his graphic, insulting language, he did not recant his distaste for the doctrine Kennedy espoused.
It is interesting to note conservatives often cite the Founding Fathers when they look for foundational support for their beliefs. Yet when the Founders offer contrary evidence, they ignore them. So it is with Santorum’s failure to embrace Thomas Jefferson’s clear call in 1802 for a “wall of separation between church and state.” Perhaps Jefferson wasn’t of sufficient Founding Father status for Santorum to abide by his words.
Let’s be clear—no one is suggesting clergy of any faith cannot voice their opinions on issues confronting the country. Indeed, we have a long history of involved, though not always wise, clerics speaking out. In the 1930s, Father Coughlin spewed anti-Semitism from the airwaves; Reverend Falwell rallied a moral majority 40 years ago; the Berrigan Brother priests protested the Vietnam War, to name a few examples of religious leader involvement in the national dialogue.
A line must be drawn, however, when a religious leader seeks to impose his or her values on the rest of the nation. While polls show 98% of American Catholic women use some form of contraceptives, how disingenuous is it for the Catholic hierarchy, and Santorum, to want to curtail their use and to demean those who want to practice responsible family planning?
Many are quick to demonize Islamic countries for basing their laws on the Koran. How different would we be if we adhered to civil and criminal codes locked into the teachings of religious leaders instead of the rule of law we have followed since the inception of the republic?
Yes, it will be an interesting four years. Rick Santorum is only 53 years old (he’ll turn 54 May 10). He’s going to be with us a long time. He’s not going away.
(For the record, I’m assuming Republicans reluctantly will embrace Mitt Romney as their standard bearer this year. The rest of the country will not see the wisdom of the choice. Barack Obama will be re-elected.)
After another grueling primary battle in 2016, Republicans will pick...Rick Santorum, first because their hard core members will turn even more right wing following Obama’s presidency, and second, it has been Republican practice, for better and worse, to place the mantle of leadership on the next in line. They did it with Reagan after Ford, Bush 1 after Reagan, Dole after Bush 1, McCain after Bush 2 and now Romney after McCain. Unless they break the mold, the GOP will anoint this year’s runner-up, Santorum, as the favored son four years from now.
During these next four years, rather than soften his rhetoric, Santorum will stiffen his resolve to remake America into a Christian nation in law as well as custom. He will seek to reduce personal privilege when it conflicts with his dogma, in areas such as gay rights, contraception and abortion rights. It’s been widely reported the former Pennsylvania senator said he almost puked when recently reading the text of John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech outlining the separation of church and state that he, Kennedy, would follow if elected president. Though Santorum apologized for his graphic, insulting language, he did not recant his distaste for the doctrine Kennedy espoused.
It is interesting to note conservatives often cite the Founding Fathers when they look for foundational support for their beliefs. Yet when the Founders offer contrary evidence, they ignore them. So it is with Santorum’s failure to embrace Thomas Jefferson’s clear call in 1802 for a “wall of separation between church and state.” Perhaps Jefferson wasn’t of sufficient Founding Father status for Santorum to abide by his words.
Let’s be clear—no one is suggesting clergy of any faith cannot voice their opinions on issues confronting the country. Indeed, we have a long history of involved, though not always wise, clerics speaking out. In the 1930s, Father Coughlin spewed anti-Semitism from the airwaves; Reverend Falwell rallied a moral majority 40 years ago; the Berrigan Brother priests protested the Vietnam War, to name a few examples of religious leader involvement in the national dialogue.
A line must be drawn, however, when a religious leader seeks to impose his or her values on the rest of the nation. While polls show 98% of American Catholic women use some form of contraceptives, how disingenuous is it for the Catholic hierarchy, and Santorum, to want to curtail their use and to demean those who want to practice responsible family planning?
Many are quick to demonize Islamic countries for basing their laws on the Koran. How different would we be if we adhered to civil and criminal codes locked into the teachings of religious leaders instead of the rule of law we have followed since the inception of the republic?
Yes, it will be an interesting four years. Rick Santorum is only 53 years old (he’ll turn 54 May 10). He’s going to be with us a long time. He’s not going away.
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