Enough Polling, Please

Posted on November 18, 2009 by 40andover

What I have learned by being sick at home watching news shows in between naps and flu-induced coma like behavior:

There is a “just released” poll for everything nowadays. There are instant polls and twitter polls. There are online polls and telephone polls. While the actual number crunching may be scientific, there is nothing scientific about the responses.

Let’s say my commute took twice as long as normal and my boss was angry that I was late to a meeting and all of a sudden because of the economy I am a little more nervous about job security than I might have been two years ago. Now someone calls me tonight and asks, how am I feeling about the economy. My answer may be “lousy”. The day before I might have said, “stabilizing”. The poll measures how you feel at that moment which isn’t right or wrong — it just isn’t the whole picture.

Also the way the question is asked often leads to a more optimistic or pessimistic answer. “Do you feel the country is on the wrong course?” “Do you think that President Obama is indecisive on Afghanistan?”

Or if you use a measure of 100 days or 1000 days or 5 minutes, it gives immediate legitimacy to the notion that these are relevant time measures for progress on incredibly complicated and pervasive issues. Go figure.

Maybe a better poll would ask, “over the past 6 months, has your outlook changed on [insert crisis du jour]? And how has your outlook changed?” And even that can be corrupted if you use a benchmark date. “Since Labor Day, how have you been feeling about [insert crisis du jour]?” Chances are that that question will elicit a negative response because end of summer is bittersweet. Ask people on Thanksgiving Day and the answers may be more philosophical.

I am of course exaggerating, and I must confess that I am unencumbered by fact, information and background in poll taking. But I can’t imagine that these things don’t have an effect.

The biggest danger is that instant polling, first 100-day polling and second 100-day polling cement these arbitrary time frames and in a time where instant gratification and diminishing attention spans are prevailing social disorders, this is frightening indeed.

Imagine Peace

Posted on November 11, 2009 by 40andover

Imagine peace.

That was Yoko Ono’s ad in the journal for last night’s benefit supporting New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (NYAGV).

My mother helped found the organization. I remember vaguely that she would go up to Albany to lobby for tighter gun laws, coordinate the silent marches (the sea of empty shoes for those killed by gun violence) and generally be a nudge for the public welfare. She was unassuming about her efforts for this cause.

I sat at the benefit and I was both stunned and brimming with pride at the flourishing my mother’s “seed” work, about which she was very quiet and very determined. A young woman spoke about her work for the organization, doing outreach to youths at risk. She spoke from the heart. My eyes welled up. I went over to her afterward to tell her how I was so taken with her words and her work. I mentioned that my mother helped found this organization and she looked at my name tag, and then hugged me, saying “I have heard stories about your mother.” Then a board member came over and said, “I knew your mother and we still talk about her and use her catch phrases.”

My mother has been dead for nearly seven years. And she is remembered by both colleagues and people who never actually met her. A life well lived.

My sister is standard bearer for our generation. Her wedding registry was composed of two charities, one of which was NYAGV. When same-sex marriage is legal in NY, I am going to follow my mother’s and sister’s examples and make it part of my registry.

My mother’s legacy is a challenge to me to leave this world a better place than it was when I was born. Not fix everything, just fix or enhance something.

Imagine peace. I hear her saying, “now go and make it happen”. Mom is a tough lady in death as in life. And an inspiration. May she rest in peace. Her memory is always a blessing.

Imagine peace.

The tragedy at Fort Hood

Posted on November 10, 2009 by 40andover

Brave men and women lost their lives at the hands of one of our own.

Yes, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is one of our own.

Just as much as Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, is one of our own.

We can make all the shallow distinctions but radicalism creeps person by person, as it did with McVeigh and, as we are told, with Hasan. The horror and the responsibility begin and end with the person.

There are always signs in retrospect. And, they allow for a useless free-for-all for Monday quarterbacking pundits.

Yes, let’s look closely at this tragedy and learn its lessons. But, first, let us bury our dead with honor and with thanks of a grateful nation.

Just a few days ago, President Obama stood ramrod straight with a crisp salute as the fallen soldiers were carried off an army transport to be buried by their families.

It is tragic that he must do so again so soon and under these circumstances.

Taking Candy from Your Baby

Posted on November 5, 2009 by 40andover

So, here I am at 7:25pm on Thursday after Halloween and I am eating candy that my son gathered on his trick-or-treating extravaganza. I am feeling guilty, but only a little. My son is 7 years old so it isn’t exactly like taking candy from a baby (she writes defiantly).

Halloween was its usual hell-ish experience. As I have written before, I don’t like the holiday because of, among other things, the ghoulish costumes and behaviors, and I didn’t know what to do with the carved pumpkin except put it in the refrigerator where one would normally put ripened or cut fruit. Leave it out for the bugs and the vermin? Now, that’s not a plan for an urban dweller who likes to keep both nature’s jungle and the urban jungle at bay.

A major issue was my son’s costume. He did not want to dress up and wanted a general pass on the occasion (that’s my son!!). POB (partner of blogger) had long ago convinced me that Halloween was important (as were scooters and other toys of potential death and dismemberment) because we should stress social inclusion (but not assimilation or group think).

As you can tell POB is the intellectual in the family because I am still trying to apply these principles to daily life and parenting. Realizing that I was still struggling, she recently restated her position in words I can understand: having two moms will be tough enough when he is a teenager, do you want to add the deficit of Halloween? Because we are two women, our son’s societal acceptance depends on celebrating Halloween. Ok, I get that thinking. Sort of. My straight parents were dismissive of some societal norms and my college friends thought I was a Soviet spy. It was lovingly meant as weird and kooky, I think.

So, Halloween it is. It took some cajoling for our son to agree to a costume: “why can’t I be ME?” he asked. As part of the inclusion model, I did not say that a transitive verb takes a subjective pronoun and the question is “why can’t I be I?” which, while non-sensical, is grammatically correct. But I digress.

He loves the Natural History Museum which was founded by early 20th century President Teddy Roosevelt. So, he decided that he would be Teddy Roosevelt in the age of the Rough Riders. We got a rough rider hat, bandana, round spectacles and I taught him to say, “bully, bully!!” just like Roosevelt. But it was a little — how shall I say — cerebral for a 7 year-old.

Mindful of inclusion model, I tried to get him to think more commercially — work with me on the inclusion part here — and I asked, wouldn’t you like to be a Power Ranger or an X-Man? Nah, not so much. Teddy Roosevelt it was.

My parents would have beamed with pride and joy if I wanted to dress up as Eleanor Roosevelt for Halloween. One generation later, I am begging my son to be an X-Man. There is a PhD thesis in here somewhere but not now.

Needless to say, in No-Where-istan, there is no Halloween.

Funny how soon they forget . . .

Posted on November 2, 2009 by 40andover

Dick Cheney is laser sharp in his criticism of the current Administration and in his trumpeting of his initiatives during his 8-year Reign of Terror. His memory for his accomplishments is uncanny.

Oh, wait, there is that inconvenient incident in which he outed an intelligence officer because her husband was critical of Cheney’s intelligence gathering and evidence supporting the Iraq War. What was her name again? He couldn’t remember anything when pressed by federal prosecutors. He couldn’t “recall” 72 times.

Dick, let me help you.

Her name is Valerie Plame. She worked for the CIA defending and protecting this country.

But, her husband doubted on your fabricated evidence for war, so you exposed a patriotic American, a defender of our safety and way of life and, by extension, you put in harm’s way ALL OF THOSE AGENTS WITH WHOM SHE WORKED.

And, you can’t remember. Is it because you did it so often?

***********************************************************************************

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer – Mon Nov 2, 6:34 am ET

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that “there is a cloud over the vice president.” Last week’s release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney’s answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.

The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame’s CIA identity were orchestrated at the highest level of the White House and carried out by, among others, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff.

Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?

Libby’s own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney’s reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes — notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI — the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.

Sharing the information with Cheney was in itself an unusual step at the outset of a criminal investigation in which potential White House witnesses were being ordered by their superiors not to talk to each other about the Plame matter.

[rest of article omitted]

It’s The Great Pumpkin

Posted on October 30, 2009 by 40andover

Ok, so my son’s babysitter and he carved a pumpkin LAST Friday because she is away this Friday. So, we have a candle-less jack o’lantern in the house. To me, it looked like a fruit that was poised to rot if left out. (Maybe you are getting the idea that I hate Halloween.) What am I to do with a carved-up piece of fruit that will attract every manner of vermin and insect into my kitchen? Throw it out? An excellent idea, except that would not be a good thing in my son’s eyes. So, I put it in the refrigerator, where one puts stuff that would rot if left out.

My partner comes home and sees the pumpkin in the refrigerator and thinks I am an alien who came fully sprung from a pod and never experienced Halloween or any other quaint Americanism that our society holds dear. She thinks it is even a little charming. Then she realizes that I grew up in NYC and I am (allegedly) a non-pod person, so now she thinks I am crazy and a little ooky.

People dressing up in scary clothes, eating candy that rots out teeth, carving rotting fruit. What kind of holiday is this anyway?

A very Merry Chanukah To You

Posted on October 29, 2009 by 40andover

http://www.jewishsource.com

You have got to check out this site because there is a Chanukah hat that is out of a Santa Claus catalogue. Ok, let’s just give up all pretense about Chanukah being anything other than the well-to-do Jews’ answer to Christmas. My Bubbe and Zeide would just say, “oy, vhat a strange country, America”.

As a second generation American, this is NUTS!!! Celebrate Christmas but don’t turn a minor holiday into a commercial extravaganza. Ok, at least not a Christmas-lite extravaganza. Let’s not dilute Christmas and let’s not spoil our kids.

Minnesotans should move to NYC for safety.

Posted on October 27, 2009 by 40andover

People wore weapons to pick up trash on a stretch of highway in Minnesota. People in New York City aren’t even that crazy.

Love thy neighbor as thyself, but pack some heat just in case your neighbor isn’t as loving or lovely as you are?

Man, between Texas and Minnesota, I feel safer in New York City. How does THAT make sense?

**********************************************************************************

AP – Mon Oct 26, 9:24 pm ET

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – Motorists in Mendota Heights might have seen a group of residents picking up trash while packing heat this weekend. About a dozen people spent nearly three hours picking up litter Sunday along a 2-mile stretch of highway. All legally carried guns on their hips. It was the inaugural trash cleanup event for the group that calls itself the Minnesota Carry Permit Holders [remainder deleted]

Mr. President, please let me see you sweat

Posted on October 21, 2009 by 40andover

Mr. President, I am sweating. I am sweating the outcome of the healthcare reform votes. I am sweating the outcome of financial system reform. I am sweating the recession. I am sweating Iranian nuclear proliferation. I am sweating global warming. I am sweating more troops in Afghanistan, which just seems to be a quagmire. In short, everything on the micro-level of my life seems still as precarious as it was when you were elected.

We elected you in part for your No Drama Obama comportment and you words of empowerment and calm assurance. But now I want to see you sweat, too, Mr. President, in a take charge way. Twist some arms to get the reform you promised. Support the process of stripping health care insurers of the anti-trust immunity if they are bad players.

LBJ was not Mr. Nice Guy when it came to getting Medicare passed. And generations of Americans are in his debt.

Mr. President, be principled, be honorable and please be ready to rumble in order to get things done.

It is time for us to make things again in this country

Posted on October 16, 2009 by 40andover

Toxic drywall? Lead in children’s toys? Poison in toothpaste? US souvenir shop trinkets “made in China”? Disposable furniture?

This is not economic protectionism. This is health protection and consumer protection (Ok, not the trinkets in the souvenir shops or the furniture.) These are valid reasons to make the products here, subject to our health and safety standards. (Which could use some updating — new recall of beef today.)

Yeah it is cheaper to import the stuff, until the first child died, and then the price was too high. And that was years ago and still we import this stuff.

I am not advocating tariffs, because that is not the point.

Let’s make things again in this country. If it costs a little more then we will think twice before we toss it out for the new model. We will actually save money by investing in quality things that last awhile. And it is good for the economy and environment, too.

**********************************************************************************

Insurers dropping Chinese drywall policies

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 15, 10:45 am ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory’s dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida’s Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they’ve been told their entire policy won’t be renewed.

Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys’, in which insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall, will become rampant as insurance companies process the hundreds of claims currently in the pipeline.

[rest of article omitted]

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