Category Archives: privilege and wealth

Tea Party-ers in Revolutionary Get-Ups

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Ok, I don’t get what was so great about the pre-Revolutionary War period.

Milk and water had deadly bacteria, “medicine” consisted of bloodletting and leaches, and the economies of the colonies went through more boom and bust cycles than we have in the 20th and 21st centuries combined.

Also, women didn’t vote, slavery was legal and an education was a luxury.  Life expectancy was short and infant mortality high.  You were either born into poverty or great wealth — no in-between.  There was war and its unspeakable human carnage.

In case the tea party-ers are not students of history, they are in the costumes of either the unofficial American aristocracy who made incredible fortunes from smuggling and the slave trade or those who were the impoverished masses and were controlled by that unofficial aristrocracy.  And the Boston tea party was a Samuel Adams’ instigated mob riot intended to rile everyone against the king of England.  All engineered by the wealthy colonials, not the “common people”.

If you are looking for grass roots democracy, try the Native American tribes on which Jefferson based his vision of government.

So, tea party-ers, what is your point?  If you want to go back to that time, well, have fun but count me out.  I would rather deal with a spoiled society on the verge of global devastation, but with the brain power and ultimately, I hope, the conscience and the technology and intelligence, to figure out how to save our earth and our humanity.

But if you just want to dress in knickers and wigs, then knock yourselves out.

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Weave these threads into your reality

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In one city, Costco takes tomatoes off its shelves because Sarah Palin is scheduled to appear.  I am sure that Costco wanted to protect the tomatoes from an ignoble end.

In Copenhagen, 193 nations are trying to agree on something — anything.  When was the last time you got consensus in a family of three members? 

Did you know that the food industry is responsible for 1/3 of all of the world’s carbon emissions?  Give up grapes in winter and the save the world.

We are trying to agree with China on important things — North Korea, carbon emissions, sanctions for Iran.  How about we start with something small, like, “it’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

Now, no one likes the health care reform bill.  The Congress behaved so badly, but of course it is Obama’s fault.

A Republican senator wanted to run out the clock on health care by requiring the reading of a laborious and largely symbolic amendment to the health care legislation.  Debate, I get.  Screaming and yelling, sure.  Stonewalling?  Outrageous.  That senator ought to be in the penalty box for the rest of his term.

I can drive my Hummer, but Obama, Obama, needs to save us from Waterworld (I really can’t handle that horrible 1980s/90s movie turning out to be prophetic).

If Obama doesn’t fix health care, lower carbon emissions, balance the budget, reduce the deficit and increase jobs, ALL IN ONE YEAR, he will have failed.  If I remember my anniversary, I am golden for 12 months.    Wow, his job really sucks.

Being a pundit or a talking head must be great.  Sanctimony with no responsibility.

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Health Care Debate — in diagram form

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Whether or not to reform the health care industry comes down to some basic ideas:  what is our collective expectation of our health care options, and how can we lower costs and increase caliber of service over the long term?

1.  Do you think health care is (a) a privilege, (b) a right or (c) regardless of whether it is a right or a privilege, it is a broken system that needs fixing?  If (a), then skip to the bottom.  If (b) or (c), then go to the next question.

2.  Do you think AFFORDABLE, adequate, health care is (a) a privilege or (b) a right or (c) regardless of whether it is a right or a privilege, it is a broken system that needs fixing so those who have it can benefit from it?  If (a), then skip to the bottom.  If (b) or (c), then go to the next question.

3. Do you view health care reform as essentially a political issue?  If yes, then skip to the bottom.  If no, then go to the next question.

4.  Do you agree or disagree: companies should not be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, impose annual or life time limits, or drop coverage for those who develop illness? If you disagree with all or part of the statement, then skip to the bottom.  If you agree with the statement, then go to the next question.

5.  How do you think it is best to keep premiums down? (a) a best practices safe harbor from malpractice claims; (b) cooperatives; and/or (c) public option.  If none of the above, then skip to the bottom.  If any of the above, go to the next question.

6.  How do you reduce the costs to the taxpayers of uninsured people? (a) refuse medical attention to anyone without proof of insurance; (b) require all persons residing in this country to have insurance, (c) tax those who don’t get coverage and/or (d) some other option that induces people to get coverage or at least takes the burden off of taxpayers for those who cheat the system.  If (a), then skip to the bottom.  If (b), (c) or (d), go to the next question.

7.  If you are at this question, then grab a seat at the table and start negotiating.  Let’s assume that the polls are correct and that the overwhelming majority of Americans want some kind of reform.  FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, ARE YOU LISTENING? 

 Bottom:  Here you are at the bottom.  It is a dog-eat-dog world, huh?  Just some follow-up questions: 

  1. Did you ever see Glenn Beck’s iReporting after his botched hemorrhoids surgery?  (Now he is a raging you-know-what.)  You might not trust his currently analysis after viewing the video. 
  2. Or maybe you are invincible, lucky or just too rich and selfish? 
  3. Or maybe you are delusional, like the actor Craig T. Nelson, who said no one helped him when he was on food stamps and welfare (yes, idiots can be actors). 
  4. You are a patriot, right?  So you aren’t going to leave the country when the deficit rages out of control because health care costs are ballooning out of control and the taxpayers will have to pay a large percentage of their incomes just to meet interest payments on the deficit?   
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Why I should run a major bank

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Why should I run a major bank?

  1. I have no pre-existing alliances to the current regimes. 
  2. I will learn how things ought to be run and make that the way things are done, instead of cleaving to entrenched viewpoints or defending previous stupid acts. 
  3. I don’t need to earn as much as the current big guys because that is not how I measure my worth. 
  4. I believe that there should be nothing in the fine print that undoes the agreement in the big print. 
  5. I believe that bonuses should depend on a banker’s track record of success. 
  6. I believe that common sense must prevail and paper profits are meaningless unless they reflect real profits. 
  7. The bank’s portfolio should be a healthy mix of low, moderate and high risk deals. 
  8. Kick me out in 3 years, even if I do a good job.  And give me a nice cake at my going-away party.
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David Letterman, Senator Ensign, Roman Polanski

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There are no parallels among these men.

David Letterman did get out in front of the “scandal”. That was smart media.  As long as the women with whom he was intimate were consenting adults — that means without fear for their jobs or career advancement — then it is just another philandering person.  What makes it news is that he is a TV star.  What is sad is that sexual harassment happens everyday and there is no famous star to blackmail to make it stop.  David Letterman has a lot of heartache ahead of him.  But he doesn’t need to apologize to me.

Conversely, Senator Ensign needs to apologize to his voters because he is a fraud — he is not the “family values” candidate that his constituency elected and he broke the public trust in the cover-up. His extra-marital affair was not criminal or actionable — consenting adults without any specter (so far) of harassment in the workplace.

Roman Polanski is, based on the information available, a scoundrel and a sexual predator.  A thirteen year-old is a child and is not capable of consent in sexual circumstances.  Justice delayed is justice denied.  Lock him up and throw away the key.

Let’s not lump these men and their actions together.  None is a shining star, but in only one case was there a sexual criminal.  In another, it was the cover-up that is criminal.  The third, well, unless we hear more, is just disappointing and ooky.

There is one guy, whose handle is TheFlaCracker on Twitter, who refers to all Libiots (liberal idiots) as defending Roman Polanski.  That’s unfair.  I am a G-d damn Democrat and liberal and a Hillary-lover.  I am proud of it.  But, child abuse is not a liberal or conservative issue.  It is solely about our expectations and demands for the safety of society’s and our children.

The true measure of our society is how we treat the children others have “cast off”and those who abuse them.

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People forgive mistakes but not lies

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To err is human, but to cover up inane.  Haven’t we learned that time and again?

Senator John Ensign promoted himself as Mr. Family-Values, which — must I say it? —  precludes extra-marital sex. Now, he is faced with three problems: (1) he had an illicit affair with a staffer; (2) he abused his office to give this woman’s husband access to corridors of power and decision-making in order to keep the affair quiet and (3) he breached the public trust.  In short, he is a fraud who broke the law and sold out his constituents to preserve his fraudulent image and, if karma is a boomerang, he will get hoisted on his own petard.

Compare Senator Ensign with former President Clinton.  No one had any illusions about Clinton’s lechery. People were angry that he lied under oath.  But, the GOP made the impeachment proceedings about sex and morality and, because of that, Clinton avoided conviction.  If the GOP had been less mesmerized by the salacious details, the outcome might have been different.  Clinton squeaked by because we elected him knowing about his infidelity and his morally-challenged ways and, right or wrong, his lie was in a private lawsuit.  He did not sell out his office.

What did Clinton pollsters say at the time?  The public will forgive mistakes but not lies.  Clinton told one lie; Senator Ensign IS a lie.

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Karma is a boomerang

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When all financial hell started breaking loose last year, fear was the prevalent mood.  Then, fear turned to despair, turned to anger, turned to dog-eat-dog mentality.  It seems to me, unencumbered by knowledge, information or expertise, that instead of working together toward the common good, we are scrambling to get ahead of the pack. 

Now, it is acceptable to demand unconscionable discounts on things because vendors and service providers are struggling financiallyand will make the deal even at a loss because they are cash-strapped.  There is a word for this behavior: stealing.  Shame on those who do this. 

And for those of you who do this, be forewarned, Karma is a . . . .

boooomeraaaaaaang! 

 

 

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Obama’s Detractors will come up with anything

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Now someone says President Obama is gay.  It is clearly meant as an insult even though I thought that we had made strides in that regard. 

Because any man who is an intellectual, loves his children and seems to have a good relationship with this wife (at least from the outside) must be gay?  And, who cares?  Should we start talking about George Bush and his drinking?

So, you can’t fight him on the issues so you go for heckling and “disparaging” comments?  So, what if he is? So, what if he had blue skin or purple eyes? 

The right wingers can’t fight fair because they have no good arguments.  They only have their prejudices.

I hope Americans see through all of this and are disgusted by the absence of decency and fair play and calm discussion of the ISSUES.

President Obama, if you are gay, have blue skin or purple eyes, I don’t care.  I’m with you.

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Random Thoughts

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I realized that I was talking to someone on her cell while she was in the office bathroom.  I heard people talking and flushing.  I need to sterilize my ear.

I am for universal health care coverage, but I will not pay for hearing aids or ocular implants for people who blast music in their ears.  Especially on my subway car.

I saw a man standing just outside the employees entrance at a funeral home looking at the traffic going by.  Was he waiting for something to happen?

My partner promised to handle a matter but left my cell phone number.  Lesbian merger or dumping it back into my court?

How nice do I really have to be?

Would I get away with driving a person off a bridge if I promise to devote my life to public service (even though that wasn’t the quid pro quo for Teddy)?

If a bald, portly nerdy guy doesn’t see that he is lucky to have the girlfriend he has, will a baseball bat knock sense into him?

How come men think they are way better looking and way more desirable than they really are?

If you are blasting Karla Bonoff or The Pousette Dart Band and dancing around thinking you are cool, should you be entitled to social security benefits out of pity?

Did Sarah Palin drop off the face of the earth or was that just a fantasy I had?

Does Dick Cheney sometimes crawl back into his secret bunker for old time’s sake?

Do I have to go to the gym or can I imagine just how gross it is?

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The irony of Dominick Dunne’s and Ted Kennedy’s contemporaneous deaths

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Dominick Dunne was a writer of some repute early in his career. A career which careened out of control from drugs and alcohol, if I remember correctly.  A person of power and privilege was the main suspect in his daughter’s murder and the suspect eluded conviction, as Mr. Dunne maintained, precisely because of his power and privilege.  He then became a TV personality doing exposés on the “unsolved” crimes committed by the rich and powerful.

Dominick Dunne’s death has gone relatively unnoticed, more unnoticed probably because Ted Kennedy died hours earlier.  What a strange juxtaposition.  One man, a TV personality driven by never having gotten justice for his daughter; the other, a child of our American aristocracy and leader of a political dynasty who was responsible for a woman’s death and at the scene of another’s rape. 

In these last few days, our leaders have gently referred to Ted Kennedy’s “transgressions” as they eulogize the liberal lion of the Senate.  I keep thinking of Dominick Dunne.

I loved Ted Kennedy’s politics, but I am still working through my issues with all of these days of mourning.  Was the nation better served by his service in the Senate or would his being held to account for his behavior have made us the more perfect union we desire?  I keep thinking about the pledge of allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation [under G-d] with liberty and justice for all.” 

I just don’t know.

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