It’s difficult to deny this Christmas is something of a bah-humbugish Christmas. With sorry financial news everywhere around us, jobs lost and the U.S. turning into Bailoutistan, there is little to persuade any of us to break into impromptu caroling around what’s left of our neighborhoods.
Despite bad news at seemingly every turn, Christmas endures as more than just an opportunity for retailers to fatten up for the slow times and for each of us to engage in mass gift giving and subsequent cash refunds to said retailers. Christmas is the placeholder for memories we all carry, the reminder of what is good in each of us and the promise of hope in the love we share when we gather ‘round the Christmas tree and complain we didn’t get what we want (at least that’s what I do, not sure about you all).
And I do have renewed hope and faith that times will be better in the New Year and that the memories we’ll make this year will be something to remember and cherish always. We’re doing very little gift buying this year, but we are spending this Christmas a bit differently from others. Because the Girl is working in San Francisco, the Boy, the Ber, Mrs. Laz and I decided to bring Christmas to her and are staying at a lovely hotel that has a living room and a dinning room so we can share a Christmas Eve dinner together. On Christmas Day we will head to Sacramento to join our new in-laws and my brother and his family for their Christmas celebrations.
Like most people, I have a Christmas gift wish list. It’s doubtful someone will answer my request since I want one of those Air Force Drones so I can smite my enemies from 15,000 feet anytime I want. It would be a most useful gift, too, because this year I have collected a few more enemies worth smiting. But I would even go without such a practical gift for an evening with my family (and I think that’s the right thing to say here).
Sometimes we get so caught up in making sure we find just the right gift for our loved ones that we forget that just being with them is a gift in itself. To that end, we will be overflowing with what we all want for Christmas: peace and love. Can’t wait to unwrap it. May all your Christmases and various holidays be filled with the ones you love close at hand.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I'm Full Of Gas
As difficult as it is to believe, it was my pleasure filing up my gas tank today. It truly was. My car gets about 20 miles per gallon, has an 18-gallon fuel tank and requires premium gasoline (so they tell me). So just a few months ago, when premium gas was more than $4 per gallon, it cost me more than $70 to fill up the tank. Today it only set me back $31.30. It was a weird feeling to see such a small number on the pump screen.
With oil prices continuing to drop, there are predictions that we’ll be paying less than $1 per gallon in the not so distant future. All this is good news to everyone except to two classes of people; loudmouth politicians who still don’t understand that commodity prices fluctuate and those people whose entire economy is based on petrol-dollars.
There are some concerns for such a sudden drop in oil prices. The oil producing countries are by-and-large populated by people on the fringe between sanity and blowing up Western cities and the only thing keeping them in line is the gift of their share of the oil revenue. Since our gain is there loss, we probably ought to be switching colors on our threat codes soon. And, really, I would be thinking about this problem more and worrying about the cost to oil producing countries and the loss in oil companies’ revenue if I just wasn’t so happy thinking about that much smaller number that was charged to my gas card today. Please pass along my regrets to the Sheiks and stockholders of Exxon-Mobil.
With oil prices continuing to drop, there are predictions that we’ll be paying less than $1 per gallon in the not so distant future. All this is good news to everyone except to two classes of people; loudmouth politicians who still don’t understand that commodity prices fluctuate and those people whose entire economy is based on petrol-dollars.
There are some concerns for such a sudden drop in oil prices. The oil producing countries are by-and-large populated by people on the fringe between sanity and blowing up Western cities and the only thing keeping them in line is the gift of their share of the oil revenue. Since our gain is there loss, we probably ought to be switching colors on our threat codes soon. And, really, I would be thinking about this problem more and worrying about the cost to oil producing countries and the loss in oil companies’ revenue if I just wasn’t so happy thinking about that much smaller number that was charged to my gas card today. Please pass along my regrets to the Sheiks and stockholders of Exxon-Mobil.
Blago v Royko
Please don’t interpret this post as me backsliding on my earlier pledge to tone down the political commentary. This is more about missing a good newspaper columnist than it is about politics.
The abuse of power in Illinois by its governor Rod Blagojevich – and I’m having fun learning how to pronounce his name, Bla-goi-ya-vich – brings up some of the better Illinois political thieves of days gone by. Most notably this brings up former Mayor Richard Daley and, by extension, Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko. I don’t miss Daley so much, but I do miss Royko who died in 1997. His column always appeared in my local newspaper on Wednesdays and gave me something to look forward to. After he died, I stop reading the editorial page altogether.
Royko dogged Mayor Daley, calling him on every misstep, misdeed and overt illegal act he ever did. He even wrote a book called “Boss” about the mayor, perhaps the best book ever written about local politics. As antagonistic to the mayor as Royko was, when Daley died in 1983, Royko wrote what you would call an appreciative column detailing the mayor’s immigrant beginnings and how that played into the Machine Politics still practiced today in Chicago. In that column Royko wrote: “The people who came here in Daley's lifetime were accustomed to someone wielding power like a club, be it a czar, emperor, king, or rural sheriff. The niceties of the democratic process weren't part of the immigrant experiences. So if the Machine muscle offended some, it seemed like old times to many more.”
One could only wish Royko was around today writing about the new Machine in Illinois led by Governor Blagojevich and in Chicago by Daley’s son. He’d be having a field day and would have likely known more about the governor’s offenses than the special prosecutor. It’s also a safe bet that Royko’s writings would have been so devastating that Blagojevich would have already resigned.
If anyone has an interest in reading some old columns by Royko, if for no other reason than to understand there is no journalist like him today, you can buy a collection of his columns. R.I.P Mike, we still miss your steely eye, sharp wit and dogged determination.
The abuse of power in Illinois by its governor Rod Blagojevich – and I’m having fun learning how to pronounce his name, Bla-goi-ya-vich – brings up some of the better Illinois political thieves of days gone by. Most notably this brings up former Mayor Richard Daley and, by extension, Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko. I don’t miss Daley so much, but I do miss Royko who died in 1997. His column always appeared in my local newspaper on Wednesdays and gave me something to look forward to. After he died, I stop reading the editorial page altogether.
Royko dogged Mayor Daley, calling him on every misstep, misdeed and overt illegal act he ever did. He even wrote a book called “Boss” about the mayor, perhaps the best book ever written about local politics. As antagonistic to the mayor as Royko was, when Daley died in 1983, Royko wrote what you would call an appreciative column detailing the mayor’s immigrant beginnings and how that played into the Machine Politics still practiced today in Chicago. In that column Royko wrote: “The people who came here in Daley's lifetime were accustomed to someone wielding power like a club, be it a czar, emperor, king, or rural sheriff. The niceties of the democratic process weren't part of the immigrant experiences. So if the Machine muscle offended some, it seemed like old times to many more.”
One could only wish Royko was around today writing about the new Machine in Illinois led by Governor Blagojevich and in Chicago by Daley’s son. He’d be having a field day and would have likely known more about the governor’s offenses than the special prosecutor. It’s also a safe bet that Royko’s writings would have been so devastating that Blagojevich would have already resigned.
If anyone has an interest in reading some old columns by Royko, if for no other reason than to understand there is no journalist like him today, you can buy a collection of his columns. R.I.P Mike, we still miss your steely eye, sharp wit and dogged determination.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Movin' On
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately because, well, I've had a lot of time to think.
The weeks since the presidential election, I have been getting dozens of e-mails ranging anywhere from urging me to make calls on behalf of both Senate candidates in Georgia, to dire warning of financial collapse because Obama is in the driver's seat on the Good Ship Recession, to even e-mails that explain in great detail how Obama is the Anti-Christ.
Enough!
So I don't feel like that Japanese soldier who gets stumbled upon in 1958 on an outer island still fighting World War II, I have decided to stop paying attention to these e-mails. I've also decided no more conspiracy theories and no more conservative talk radio for a while. I think it's time to move on politically and just have fun with the process of living. As one of our leading modern philosophers, Rodney King, once said, "Can't we all just get along?" Hope so.
The weeks since the presidential election, I have been getting dozens of e-mails ranging anywhere from urging me to make calls on behalf of both Senate candidates in Georgia, to dire warning of financial collapse because Obama is in the driver's seat on the Good Ship Recession, to even e-mails that explain in great detail how Obama is the Anti-Christ.
Enough!
So I don't feel like that Japanese soldier who gets stumbled upon in 1958 on an outer island still fighting World War II, I have decided to stop paying attention to these e-mails. I've also decided no more conspiracy theories and no more conservative talk radio for a while. I think it's time to move on politically and just have fun with the process of living. As one of our leading modern philosophers, Rodney King, once said, "Can't we all just get along?" Hope so.
Better Than Me
Well, as usual, someone said it better than I did. What hurts about this is, it has come from someone who doesn't live in the U.S. and is not written in her native language. To make matters worse, she is not living in her native country and therefore has at least three languages rolling around between her ears (I also think she speaks French, so maybe four).
She decided to be long-winded on a comment to my post What Is Wrong With The World?, and wrote her response on her own blog. It's worth reading and poking fun at her misspellings and getting her to explain her yoghurt and soup metaphor. I will also link to her blog on the right column because she always has something to say and, occasionally, it is interesting and usually well-written.
She decided to be long-winded on a comment to my post What Is Wrong With The World?, and wrote her response on her own blog. It's worth reading and poking fun at her misspellings and getting her to explain her yoghurt and soup metaphor. I will also link to her blog on the right column because she always has something to say and, occasionally, it is interesting and usually well-written.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
In Memory Of My Grandma (and others)
Seven years ago my grandmother died and three years ago I wrote this about her. I would write about her again, but what I wrote a few years ago seems to sum it up best.
This year, the anniversary of my mother's death and the day my mother-in-law passed went without notice. I'm not sure, but I think it is a good thing that we eventually forget such solemn days. Maybe it's a sign we're moving on, if that's possible, with losing people we cared about so deeply.
In any event, I wanted to remember my grandmother on this day and it made me look back at what I wrote earlier and I know I liked reading it again. I'm not sure if you will but, what the heck, this is a vanity blog.
Editor's Note: I originally had this planned to post on December 3, the actual anniversary of her death but my friggin' Dell piece o' crap computer froze up and I lost the post.
This year, the anniversary of my mother's death and the day my mother-in-law passed went without notice. I'm not sure, but I think it is a good thing that we eventually forget such solemn days. Maybe it's a sign we're moving on, if that's possible, with losing people we cared about so deeply.
In any event, I wanted to remember my grandmother on this day and it made me look back at what I wrote earlier and I know I liked reading it again. I'm not sure if you will but, what the heck, this is a vanity blog.
Editor's Note: I originally had this planned to post on December 3, the actual anniversary of her death but my friggin' Dell piece o' crap computer froze up and I lost the post.
Bailing Out The Big Three
Just a quick thought on hypocrisy and perception. Last month, CEOs of the Big Three automakers came to Washington in private jets to explain why they should be able to gobble up a big share of taxpayer largesse. All had received multi-million dollar bonuses for losing billions (I’m sure their bonuses were minor in comparison to the cost of the mistakes they all made) and each came with what seemed like a chip on their shoulders as they appeared to be demanding money.
They offered Members of Congress little more than threats of the imminent demise of the domestic auto industry and the loss of potentially millions of jobs (and, by implication, millions of votes). At no time did they offer a concrete plan on how they would rebuild their companies to turn or profit or even produce a product Americans want.
Since they were asking the taxpayer to take a stake in their company – and I’m still a taxpayer (for the moment) – it would have been nice for them to be a bit better prepared and give us more of a plan and fewer overt threats. I certainly couldn’t go to a bank and ask for a bailout on the basis that I would go out of business without their help. In fact, because of the actions of companies like the automakers, I can’t consider asking the bank for even a free toaster anymore.
Predictably our representatives in Congress used the Capitol pulpit to preach austerity to the CEOs, chiding them on wasteful spending, lack of leadership and poor planning. Just to be clear, weren’t these lectures coming from the same people who tacked on $160 billion in pork to the “bailout” bill and who seemingly have a blank check to spend our money buying up every industry that hasn’t moved to China? Isn’t this the same group that built the Capitol Visitor Center because Senator Reid had difficulty with “smelly” tourists visiting his office with an original price estimate of $71 million and a final cost of $650 million? Who are they to lecture, and who do we complain to when they blow our money like an alcoholic on pay day?
Eventually the automakers were shamed enough that they regrouped, huddled with their lobbyists, and went through a crash course on how to grovel with panache to elected officials who think they own the country. Two of three CEOs promised they would take only $1 in salary next year, which would leave them to have to live on the $30 million in bonuses they received the previous year (memo to self, let three of the maids and two butlers go to make it through the pay cut). On the second visit to beg for money, the CEOs chose not to fly their private jets – even went so far as to say they would sell them – and instead drove to Washington from Detroit (no details yet on whether or not they were chauffeured and if they ate breakfast at Perkins along the highway heading south).
Despite their new etiquette, it looks like it won’t be enough. Predictions by Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi indicate they don’t have the votes for a bailout of the domestic auto industry. It should be noted that Speaker Pelosi, who spared little sarcasm in her attack on the wealthy CEOs, doesn’t drive to out-of-town meetings or take the Metro to work. She flies on a taxpayer-funded Gulfstream G3, the same make and model flown by the automaker CEOs. Her reasoning is that the president and the vice president get their own planes to shuttle them around and, since she’s third in line to the presidency, she can’t be bothered going through security and sitting on JetBlue to fly between San Francisco and Washington. I’ve seen plenty of Congressional Members sipping wine with me in first class to Washington and even saw Janet Reno stuck in economy. I think Pelosi will be fine flying like the rest of us, and even picking up some frequent flyer miles for a really cool vacation!
In some way, I am interested to see what happens if they don’t get the money. It may tell us a lot about the use of taxpayer money to bail out any industry, including the banking industry. There are no visible signs that the financial services bailout has done anything for the average person and it would likely be a safe bet that the world will continue to spin on its access if the Big Three were forced to shut down or reassemble in a leaner, meaner fashion. It may tell us that the financial services sector should have been forced to do the same thing. I say, Let ‘em squirm.
They offered Members of Congress little more than threats of the imminent demise of the domestic auto industry and the loss of potentially millions of jobs (and, by implication, millions of votes). At no time did they offer a concrete plan on how they would rebuild their companies to turn or profit or even produce a product Americans want.
Since they were asking the taxpayer to take a stake in their company – and I’m still a taxpayer (for the moment) – it would have been nice for them to be a bit better prepared and give us more of a plan and fewer overt threats. I certainly couldn’t go to a bank and ask for a bailout on the basis that I would go out of business without their help. In fact, because of the actions of companies like the automakers, I can’t consider asking the bank for even a free toaster anymore.
Predictably our representatives in Congress used the Capitol pulpit to preach austerity to the CEOs, chiding them on wasteful spending, lack of leadership and poor planning. Just to be clear, weren’t these lectures coming from the same people who tacked on $160 billion in pork to the “bailout” bill and who seemingly have a blank check to spend our money buying up every industry that hasn’t moved to China? Isn’t this the same group that built the Capitol Visitor Center because Senator Reid had difficulty with “smelly” tourists visiting his office with an original price estimate of $71 million and a final cost of $650 million? Who are they to lecture, and who do we complain to when they blow our money like an alcoholic on pay day?
Eventually the automakers were shamed enough that they regrouped, huddled with their lobbyists, and went through a crash course on how to grovel with panache to elected officials who think they own the country. Two of three CEOs promised they would take only $1 in salary next year, which would leave them to have to live on the $30 million in bonuses they received the previous year (memo to self, let three of the maids and two butlers go to make it through the pay cut). On the second visit to beg for money, the CEOs chose not to fly their private jets – even went so far as to say they would sell them – and instead drove to Washington from Detroit (no details yet on whether or not they were chauffeured and if they ate breakfast at Perkins along the highway heading south).
Despite their new etiquette, it looks like it won’t be enough. Predictions by Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi indicate they don’t have the votes for a bailout of the domestic auto industry. It should be noted that Speaker Pelosi, who spared little sarcasm in her attack on the wealthy CEOs, doesn’t drive to out-of-town meetings or take the Metro to work. She flies on a taxpayer-funded Gulfstream G3, the same make and model flown by the automaker CEOs. Her reasoning is that the president and the vice president get their own planes to shuttle them around and, since she’s third in line to the presidency, she can’t be bothered going through security and sitting on JetBlue to fly between San Francisco and Washington. I’ve seen plenty of Congressional Members sipping wine with me in first class to Washington and even saw Janet Reno stuck in economy. I think Pelosi will be fine flying like the rest of us, and even picking up some frequent flyer miles for a really cool vacation!
In some way, I am interested to see what happens if they don’t get the money. It may tell us a lot about the use of taxpayer money to bail out any industry, including the banking industry. There are no visible signs that the financial services bailout has done anything for the average person and it would likely be a safe bet that the world will continue to spin on its access if the Big Three were forced to shut down or reassemble in a leaner, meaner fashion. It may tell us that the financial services sector should have been forced to do the same thing. I say, Let ‘em squirm.
Monday, December 01, 2008
What Is Wrong With The World?
It’s an old cliché but maybe it’s so old because the question is still on the table: What is wrong with the world?
Recently we’ve been witness to vicious attacks on innocent civilians in Mumbai, perpetrated by hate-filled and cold-blooded killers. Of course these attacks are more noticed because the international press is all over Mumbai and we were able to see graphic photos of the attacks and read even more graphic details as the killers methodically picked their targets throughout the city.
But the 60 hours of fighting in Mumbai is just the tip of the iceberg in other parts of the world. Untold numbers of people have been killed and displaced in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since hostilities between government forces and rebels broke out in 1998, more than 5.8 million people have been killed, the most in any war since World War II. Following a brief break in the fighting, the killings began anew in September and there are no good estimates on the number of people killed recently.
In Nigeria, as many people were killed last week – and the week before – as were killed in Mumbai due to ethnic and religious struggles that have plagued the region for decades. We hear little about the all-too regular Nigerian violence unless it interrupts the flow of oil.
Just 30 miles to the south from where I am writing this, sensational murders between rival Mexican drug gangs are in the dozens each week. Police have also been targeted and many executed in recent months. All of this is due to the fact that Colombian drug lords decided to outsource drug sales into the U.S. and now it’s probably safer for an American to take a stroll down a street in Baghdad than it is in most Mexican border towns.
But this is the macro. Evil has been present in some form since the first bite of the apple. We in the U.S. don’t often meet the face of such evil that those in the rougher neighborhoods of the world do. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were a rare exception. Instead we have to look at a more civilized evil, if you will, one that can turn perfectly well-adjusted people into self-preservationists with a kill or be killed attitude.
The recent financial meltdown is an interesting sociological experiment. How people are responding to it says more about who they really are than how well they behaved when money and toys were piling up. This recession is scary, don’t get me wrong. But will it be remembered for a store clerk being trampled to death so shoppers could save a buck, or will it be remember for how millions handled pressure with grace and charity? The jury is out still, but it doesn’t appear we have come close to finding our bottom and so many people seem so restless one must wonder how long before they all begin to snap.
Tough times have come to people I love and cherish and there is one thing I know of them: they are the kind of people who will face the challenges that lie ahead with perseverance and a respect for the needs of all. I believe their Judgment Day, if there is such a singular day, will be kind to them during this time of uncertainty and maybe they will lead us to the point when we’ll no longer have to ask the question, What is wrong with the world?
Recently we’ve been witness to vicious attacks on innocent civilians in Mumbai, perpetrated by hate-filled and cold-blooded killers. Of course these attacks are more noticed because the international press is all over Mumbai and we were able to see graphic photos of the attacks and read even more graphic details as the killers methodically picked their targets throughout the city.
But the 60 hours of fighting in Mumbai is just the tip of the iceberg in other parts of the world. Untold numbers of people have been killed and displaced in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since hostilities between government forces and rebels broke out in 1998, more than 5.8 million people have been killed, the most in any war since World War II. Following a brief break in the fighting, the killings began anew in September and there are no good estimates on the number of people killed recently.
In Nigeria, as many people were killed last week – and the week before – as were killed in Mumbai due to ethnic and religious struggles that have plagued the region for decades. We hear little about the all-too regular Nigerian violence unless it interrupts the flow of oil.
Just 30 miles to the south from where I am writing this, sensational murders between rival Mexican drug gangs are in the dozens each week. Police have also been targeted and many executed in recent months. All of this is due to the fact that Colombian drug lords decided to outsource drug sales into the U.S. and now it’s probably safer for an American to take a stroll down a street in Baghdad than it is in most Mexican border towns.
But this is the macro. Evil has been present in some form since the first bite of the apple. We in the U.S. don’t often meet the face of such evil that those in the rougher neighborhoods of the world do. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were a rare exception. Instead we have to look at a more civilized evil, if you will, one that can turn perfectly well-adjusted people into self-preservationists with a kill or be killed attitude.
The recent financial meltdown is an interesting sociological experiment. How people are responding to it says more about who they really are than how well they behaved when money and toys were piling up. This recession is scary, don’t get me wrong. But will it be remembered for a store clerk being trampled to death so shoppers could save a buck, or will it be remember for how millions handled pressure with grace and charity? The jury is out still, but it doesn’t appear we have come close to finding our bottom and so many people seem so restless one must wonder how long before they all begin to snap.
Tough times have come to people I love and cherish and there is one thing I know of them: they are the kind of people who will face the challenges that lie ahead with perseverance and a respect for the needs of all. I believe their Judgment Day, if there is such a singular day, will be kind to them during this time of uncertainty and maybe they will lead us to the point when we’ll no longer have to ask the question, What is wrong with the world?
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