Politics, Politics

Posted on January 25, 2011 by 40andover

Ok, the rant is building, building, building . . . here it comes!!

I liked the State of the Union address. The President could have touted that he saved the car industry, that he kept the country from economic free-fall, that the US and Israel disrupted Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but he didn’t. I think he should have because America needs to remember all that he has accomplished. But that is because I am partisan. I think he struck the right tone as willing to make principled compromises. Besides, he had one hour to say all things to all people. Hey, now that’s a reasonable expectation.

The sign that he did a good job was that he was being pilloried by MSNBC, CNN and, even without watching it, FOX.

Oh, and, apropos of nothing, Speaker Boehner has a bad body colorist.

In the GOP retort, Paul Ryan said investment is a code-word for spending. It is not. There is no code. Investment is spending. When I invest in real estate, stocks, etc., I am spending money, with an eye toward making a good return on my investment.

So, the three things that distinguish the GOP and the Democrats is who should do the spending, on what and how much.

I believe in spending on education and innovation. I believe that these will provide a good return on the money invested. The GOP believes that investment should be made by private enterprise. How private enterprise would have developed the Internet and GPS or will develop high speed railways and clean energy without government grants is beyond me. And should we abolish public education? No, but the GOP wants to starve it so that the little money spent on it would be a waste.

We pay the least amount of taxes of the industrialized nations. Before WWII, tax rates had some people paying 80%. So everyone, chill out on taxes. Remember the GOP spent willy-nilly (not a usual phrase for me) on two wars and kept it outside the budget so that the American people wouldn’t know. So, now, NOW, we have to worry about taxing the top 2%? Did you ask me? If you did, I would tell you to keep my tax cut and buy some muzzles for the Tea Party legislators. Now, that is a good investment. Do you think it is really tea? It is a dry weed-like substance. We should try rolling that “tea” and seeing if smoking it give us delusions of intelligent impact on the national discourse, too.

Paul Ryan seems like a lovely guy but I was distracted by his perfect hair and a little freaked out by his Biblical references. And why is your part half way between the middle and one side? Isn’t that radical?

Rep. Ryan said something like our regulations were fine, it was just the corporate and governmental evil-doers that stole our prosperity. But, wait, that happened BEFORE President Obama was president. Remember, that Decider guy? Yeah, that one. He was running the show. And, wait for it . . . he is a Republican!!! Omigod, how embarrassing, Paul. Still, with that gaffe extraordinaire, your hair did not move.

And, will you stop about small government? There are 300 million of us. We need hordes just to pave roads and administer social security and Medicare, run the military and veterans benefits. You don’t mean to scrimp on these things, do you Paul? You even referred to the days of Lincoln as an example of small government. Those crazy, high energy, innovative days when were no fair labor laws, children worked 14-hour days, no food or product safety laws and, oh, yes, no truth in advertising or disclosure by companies. So we could die in the factory, die from rotten food or poisonous products or lose our life savings to corporate con men. And, as a student of history, you know that our nation went through boom and bust cycles every decade because of the inability to regulate the unbridled greed of speculators and market makers.

Oh, yes, sign me up, Paul, for your vision of America. Or I guess I could just go to a third world nation for the same experience.

a Day in the Life

Posted on January 18, 2011 by 40andover

This morning, I got on a plane to Chicago for a meeting. The plan was, that after the meeting, I would take a cab from potential client back to the airport for a plane to take me home.

I hear they have these new-fangled things called telephones and video conferencing that makes one-day round-trip travel less necessary. Actually, most times, the older and ever more quaint tradition of meeting someone and shaking his or her hand is really the best approach to sealing the deal that turns a potential client into a new client. But I still need all of the gadgets and technology to meet somewhat far flung potential clients in real time and in the flesh. So neither alone works as well as both do together, in the right proportions. (If we are talking about teenagers and adult email/text junkies, then you need to send them to a monastery to start a 12-step program before even talking rationally to them.)

As I am floating along in a technology-induced empowerment daydream (it is early for me, remember), I realize that this morning’s trip is on a put-put plane. The gangway doesn’t go all the way to the plane. We have to step outside in the sleet and the rain and jump over puddles (that could qualify as rivers) in order to climb the thin (as in one-at-a-time only), small staircase into our claustrophobic airplane. So much for my earlier comments on the power of technology. I am no longer dreaming. I am awake to the reality of a cold, wet, snowy day with wet feet and barely two inches separating me from my fellow passenger.

There is an woman in row 7 indirectly trying to get the attention of the flight attendant who is attending to things behind row 22. The woman is being very passive-aggressive about it all — telling everyone that the flight attendant is avoiding her. Clearly, the flight attendant doesn’t hear her. Finally, I ask the woman if I could help get the flight attendant’s attention. She responds, “it’s her job to notice me!!!” Ok, forget the personal touch. Get me the hell out of this plane. What is wrong with video conference? I bet a new rainmaking tactic could be handwritten letters (in crayon, of course) sent by snail mail. No. No. I will not let this woman ruin my dreams of global domination by charming and cajoling and pleading with potential clients far and wide. No. No. So I motioned to the flight attendant that the woman needed her. Had it been an hour earlier, I would have left the plane and took a cab home and hid under the covers.

It seems that the woman — an oversized person — was promised a seat in an exit row because of the extra leg room but she was seated in row 7 — not an exit row. The flight attendant couldn’t re-seat her until everyone was seated. The woman was not pleased and she showed it by griping and grousing at an anger level and amplitude that was just criminal at 8am.

Ultimately, she was able to be re-seated in an exit row. But the seat didn’t recline because there was a second exit row right behind the first one. (The put-put plane that had more exits than windows.) Sooooo, slowing our departure further, Goldilocks had to try the seats in the second exit row. Those seats reclined. Ah, she found the one that would do ju-u-u-ust fine. [sigh] Wait, uh oh, the seatbelts don’t fit. A cruel joke engineered by Papa Bear because he hates when Goldilocks comes, tries everything and leaves a mess.

So, in the end, she moved back up to row 7, opting for a reclining seat over leg room. I would have opted for leg room with no reclining seat. Ultimately, I am glad she was not in charge of the exit doors. I didn’t agree with her judgment call.

Goldilocks caused us to miss our place in take-off and we sat for one hour on the runway. No wonder Papa Bear hates when she comes by, which happens many times, every night, given how many times the story is told on any given day around the world.

Back to my business meeting. It went well. Groveling in person is often effective. Then I got in a cab to start the journey home.

I was able to get an earlier flight, at a cost of $75 (which I bet would have been $50 if I had checked luggage for $25). Regardless, getting home earlier is priceless and I did, in fact, use a MasterCard so I lived that commercial.

As I headed toward the gate, there was a plane boarding to JFK Airport at the next gate (I was flying into LaGuardia Airport). I wanted to switch again because it was another opportunity to get home even earlier. Unfortunately, the two airports, although 10 miles apart, are considered different destination cities and there is a big cost differential to change destinations. The plane had been delayed for three hours and there was a line of disgruntled people waiting to board. I decided that if JFK was that backlogged, that I would save money and not be on a plane ride from hell.

But recognizing the potential for delays and angry hordes, and even though I was assured that LaGuardia was running on time, I decided that an upgrade to first class (not too expensive) was in order, as a mental health prophylactic measure. Sanity, priceless . . . Another MasterCard commercial. I am living the dream. And we were delayed on the tarmac before take-off and we circled before landing, so it was totally worth it. I had plenty of room and I couldn’t smell anyone’s perfume. Now, that the Sniffer (see prior blog entry) made me aware of perfume, I really appreciated only have that slightly nasty airplane smell we have come to expect.

So this all started on a put-put plane sitting on a runway on a cold, snowy, sleeting morning. And now I am in my jammies, having kissed my son before he fell asleep and then crawled into my cozy bed and smiling at my beloved.

Another day on the road to Utopia.

President, pundits and Palin

Posted on January 13, 2011 by 40andover

I watched the President’s speech last night. He spoke as our nation’s leader, as a parent, as a person and as a professor. He clearly choked up when talking about the young girl who was killed. In that moment, he was a father who couldn’t imagine losing one of his daughters.

It is something that is remarkable about this President. He has young children and he often talks about the world he wants to pass down to them and their generation. They are our future. Last night, as President and father, he asked us to live up to the ideals of that young girl who was killed. Let’s move beyond the cynicism and the vitriol. Let’s make our kids proud. This wasn’t fake rhetoric or soaring oratory; this has been his message and his example since the campaign days.

(And yes, he is professorial, so sometimes you have to struggle through the abstract and long-winded parts.)

I noticed how naturally his and Mrs. Obama’s hands intertwined when he was seated. Theirs seems a relaxed affection that belies his stoic and Mr. Spock-like reputation. That comforted me although I am not yet sure why.

It was startling that it was a rolicking good time at the auditorium. I think those tuning in expected something more somber. But, having been in mourning more than once, I know it is the start of a personal journey and not something to be judged by outsiders.

Then I watched portions of Sarah Palin’s podcast. I am not sure what I would do if people blamed me for the deaths of innocent people. She is who she is: an agitator but not a leader.

The conservative, liberal and middle-of-the-road pundits were out-doing themselves last night. They must get paid by the word and get bonus dollars for picking things apart in ways that become senseless. And I think there is an even bigger bonus if you say something really inane and it gets repeated by another pundit on another show.

All in all, I think we and our democracy are best served when we, as citizens, go to sources — reading the books and listening to the speeches and debates — and making the decisions, rather than relying on talking heads to tell us what we ought to think. They get paid to incite controversy. If we just listened to each other, maybe the tone of the rhetoric would naturally tone down.

Zero sum game.

Posted on December 23, 2010 by 40andover

The lame-duck Congress finished a busy month that had me on the edge of my seat. Really. I believe in New START, DREAM Act, 9/11 First Responders Bill, and the repeal of DADT. I was glad for the middle class tax cuts, but enraged over the need for tax cuts for high-income earners (and I am a high-income earner) because it contributes to the deficit that faces a fast-approaching day of reckoning.

Think what you will about these initiatives and deals, but one thing upon which I hope people of good will can agree is that the passage or defeat of any legislation is not a “win for Obama” or “win for the Tea Party” or win for [fill in the blank]”. It is about us, our country and our future.

Someone told me something transformative years ago. In a loving relationship, it should not be about who is right, but rather about whether both people are happy (or okay) with the outcome and remain committed to each other. A loving relationship is not a zero-sum game.

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Sens. Reid and McConnell, please consider our national interest ahead of ideology, what is best for our country rather than best for your political futures. It is okay to have an “evolving” view; I promise I won’t call you a “flip-flopper”. Stagnant views are short-sighted and doomed to defeat.

Most of us learned not to throw mud in the sandbox when we were five. Time you all learned, too.

Excuse me, did you just call me a whore???

Posted on November 29, 2010 by 40andover

Ok ok ok ok ok ok .

I was nearly getting beheaded on the subway by the Grizzly Adams-sized backpack being wielded by a tall, outdoorsy-looking tourist (why is he in NYC, do you think?).

Then I take a cab and after repeatedly asking the cab driver not to talk on his cell phone, because my head was pounding (concussion?), and having him slam the divider shut, I got angry. I opened the divider and told him that as a matter of law, he had to stop talking on the phone. He denied he was talking on the phone. Maybe he was talking to his demons, but I am not a shrink. He started speeding to my destination because he was angry at me. I yelled “Stop!!” followed by a heart-felt “WHAATTT IS WRONG WITH YOU???”

He called me a whore. Ok, no one has ever called me a whore (or at least not in such a dismissive, contemptuous tone). I started yelling that he needs to learn how to drive, etc., but no cursing. I was being as polite as possible under the circumstances. He jerked the car forward and started to call me things related to my womanhood in a very condescending way. Such denigration of women was so foreign to me that I was a little gobsmacked and so I didn’t end up denting the car.

I believe that people can find common ground, but right then I wanted to haul him over to the police and have him stripped of his hack license (assuming he had one). I think I would still want to kick him you-know-where even when I calm down.

I lodged a complaint with the Taxi and Limousine Commission. I am ready to appear at the hearing.

Who am I; What am I?

Posted on October 28, 2010 by 40andover

For over 46 years, I was an American. I was one of us — even though I am Jewish, an unrepentant liberal, and gay. There was room in the tent, even if a few people called me unpatriotic for opposing the Iraqi invasion.

But this year, things are different. Was my grandmother a citizen when my mother was born? Yes. Does it matter? Maybe I get dispensation because I pay in taxes what most people earn in a decade. I thought that in this country, one no longer had to buy freedom or the right to be protected from government interference. But if neo-fascists get their way, birthright citizenship goes away. If that happens, hell, I am moving because I am not paying my tax dollars into a system that makes me prove my mother’s citizenship. I bet that America would find that most of their tax dollars comes from second generation Americans and not the Tea Party Express members who fear that their status as descendants of European conquerors doesn’t buy a loaf of bread.

Then there is this talk about the oppressive Atheists who deprive Christians of their right to pray in schools. News flash: it isn’t just the Atheists. It is every mainstream of every minority religion that wants breathing space from fundamentalists — of whatever religion. As religious as were the founders, they believed, and the case law of our nation’s highest court supports, that there be a separation of church and state, mostly for the protection of the minority against the tyranny of the majority (thank you, Thomas Jefferson). Chew on that, Christine O’Donnell.

Protest is the hallmark of our nation. We were founded upon the belief that we had a right to protest the edicts of King Charles of England. So when video captures a campaign aide stomping on the head of a protester, one has to wonder who has hijacked our nation. I disagree with the campaign aide’s candidate on more things than I can count but I support his right to campaign on his ideas. If his staff cannot support the right of the opposition to protest, then they are totalitarian thugs. They don’t belong in the great experiment in democracy that is America.

Also in this election cycle, we learned that there are those who believe that if this nation were to allow gay marriage, it would be tantamount to allowing a person to marry a piece of furniture. No joke. Try telling that to your girlfriend.

Where did the ideals and dreams of America go? I am a stranger in my own land.

A puzzlement

Posted on October 11, 2010 by 40andover

How can we call ours a civilized society if politicians, pundits and preachers gain support and power for demonizing Muslims and gay people?

I would appreciate hearing any thoughts on this.

Sanchez and Stewart

Posted on October 2, 2010 by 40andover

I feel bad for Rick Sanchez and I feel bad for Jon Stewart.

I think Rick Sanchez was wrong about Jon Stewart’s sense of entitlement or paranoia as a Jew. I think Jon Stewart’s cultural Jewishness infuses his humor with that contrarian-isn’t-the-world-crazy approach, but that’s it.

But Rick wasn’t really talking about Jon Stewart. He was talking about how he — Rick Sanchez — feels about his place at CNN and the things that have kept him down. I don’t think one tirade should cost him his job. That only cements the anger. More famous people get to hire a spiritual adviser and keep their jobs or move onto the speaking tour. So, I say, CNN needs to listen to him and figure out whether or not his anger is justified.

As for Jon Stewart, I am sorry that he felt the need to change his name, although it is show business. And Leibowitz doesn’t really flow well. And Jon Stewart may have issues with Judaism — hey, he works (or at least new shows air) on the high Holy Days. Even the most lapsed Jew in the world finds a synagogue or stays home from work for self-reflection and contemplation on these holy days. So, he has baggage, too.

I have baggage. We all have baggage. Rick Sanchez should get his job back and he should go into therapy.

I will say it is odd that some bullying assistant attorney general who is targeting a gay college student gets to keep his job on a “free speech” argument and Rick Sanchez gets tossed for a short rant that he probably regrets.

Burning the Quran is bad for all of us

Posted on September 7, 2010 by 40andover

General Petraeus commented that burning the Quran is dangerous for US troops. (See below.)

It is dangerous for all of us.

The Nazis burned books. The Communists burned books. The McCarthy-ites burned books.

Is this really what America stands for?

And just a little side note: and these Quran burners call themselve the DOVE WORLD OUTREACH CENTER? Really? Really?

P.S.: ONLY C-SPAN and CNN carried live the interfaith press conference denouncing the burning of the Quran. Fox News Channel had no coverage and MSNBC did not carry live coverage. WHAT DOES THAT SAY???

****************************************************************************************************
By KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press Writer Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press Writer Sept. 7, 2010

[Truncated; excerpt only]

KABUL, Afghanistan – The top U.S. and NATO commander warned Tuesday an American church’s threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.

Meanwhile, NATO reported the death of an American service member in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

The comments from Gen. David Petraeus followed a protest Monday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center — a small, evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy — to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States that provoked the Afghan war.

Our day today

Posted on September 5, 2010 by 40andover

POB (partner of blogger) had a great idea this morning — go to Governor’s Island for a picnic. Governor’s Island is a decommissioned military base island in New York harbor (right next to Ellis Island and Liberty Island) that has been turned into a park and fairground. It is an easy subway ride followed by a ferry ride. Ok, “easy” refers only to the directness of the route. When on the subway or in line for the ferry, a person is subject to the sea of surrounding humanity and their insipid conversations. (For the record, our (i.e., this blogger community) conversations are never insipid — too revealing? Maybe. But insipid? Never.)

First, there was a more-unsteady-than-elderly lady for whom POB gave up her seat. (I was already standing.) POB asked if she wanted a seat and the woman turned to her friend and said, in a cartoonishly nasal voice, “Oh, see!! A seat opened up!!” Poof, like, magic. Really? No, because a well-mannered person got up (in contradistinction to the mopes and slouches around us). Her friend started to talk about food processing in a loud, screeching voice.

What the woman said was important and true — that if you saw how fast food is made, you would never eat it again and that most processing is bad for humans in both nutrition and the environment — but did we need to hear it in outrageous volume with a holier-than-thou tone at 11am on a holiday weekend? And, just across the aisle, a scary-looking, tattooed dad with a beer gut (who was playing with his child by pretending to strangle him — really) was giving the child huge helpings of Pepperidge Farm flavor-blasted gold fish (hmmm, salt, chemically reconstructed “cheese” and polysorbate 60, anyone?). Our son loves them, too, and we know we are going to a special place in hell for parents who let their kids eat this junk. None of the kale or broccoli or grass-fed beef that our son eats will save us from this punishment.

And why DO men need to sit so wide that they take up nearly two seats? I note that the smaller the shoe size of the man, the wider he sits. Is this some psychological melodrama playing out?

Fast-forward to the line waiting to get back on the ferry to Manhattan. A group of women and one man was behind us. The man, who was overweight, and a bitchy effete garden gnome, was commenting to women passersby, “hey, do you think you could have tighter clothing?” or “do you think you could be any fatter?” All I wanted to say to him was, “come out of the closet and stop being bitter with baggage”. But I didn’t. I could take him down in a minute. The women, however, would lay me out. One of the women had a son who was going to grow up to be the bully of his neighborhood. He dropped a juice carton on the street and someone picked it up and handed it to her and said, “I think your child dropped this.” I thought it was an elegant way to force the woman to deal with the litter. She got all huffy, with heavy hip and neck action, saying to her friends, “the baby drops this and he gives it to me?” Ok, who else? She is his mother for G-d’s sakes. And the baby? BABY? Try 6 years-old, going on 12. And mean.

Too much humanity. I wanted to take a private water taxi followed by a cab. I couldn’t handle any more. But we did continue on the public transportation route. On the subway, three 20-somethings were talking and POB and I were transfixed by the car wrecks that were their conversations and their outfits. One was falling out of her skimpy outfit and had used eyebrow pencil to highlight her auburn eyebrows into a Groucho Marx effect. I think she thought I was admiring her instead of not being able to take my eyes off this mobile crashing unit, so when she got off, she shimmied at me and smiled. I was sooooooo grossed out I could barely breathe.

I took to my bed for a nap. Oh, I forgot, once you get to Governor’s Island, it is perfectly lovely.

40 — oh wait, yikes!! 50 — andoverblog

Aging and living in urban US

Category Archives: THE AUDACITY OF . . . STUPIDITY