I'm sorry, in advance, if I offend anyone's "delicate sensibilities" (Matt Damon in "The Departed")
The wrong kids were killed in Sandy Hook.
The children who died at The Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14th, 2012 were beautiful, cheerful, darling little babies just beginning their lives.
They were sons and daughters, grandchildren, cousins and friends.
There is an unfillable hole in their families now. Those youngsters will never again play in the backyard or wake up with a tummy ache or be thrilled with excited anticipation on Christmas morning.
They are gone. Forever.
I was in Sandy Hook for the 8 long days after the shooting, covering the story with ABC News. I was grateful for the assignment but hated the reason.
During that week we ended up in many conversations about what had happened and one recurring topic was the "media."
The media was certainly there in force. At least 1,000 journalists from around the world, accompanied by 100 satellite trucks and a lot of technicians, were everywhere.
In the local restaurants, at the firehouse, at the "downtown" crossroads. There was no place you could go where you didn't encounter a member of the press. We were ubiquitous.
And, to many local residents, we were an incredible pain in the ass and, some would say, the ultimate cause of the massacre. The "fifteen minutes of fame" argument against the broadcast media.
But let me tell you something that may be a hard truth to hear. Once we turned our cameras off, the story was over. Not for the people in Sandy Hook who lost so much. For them the story will never be over.
But for the rest of the world "Newtown" became a slogan and a reference to the bloody past just like Columbine, and Virginia Tech and Aurora and the countless other examples of gun violence, large and small (Chicago, Detroit, Oakland anyone?) that are a part of our collective history.
Sure there is chatter about gun control in some quarters and maybe a few minds were either changed or opened, but the problem of violence and gun control will never change.
The politicians and, so-called "leaders", we look to for guidance are too cowardly and self absorbed.
They don't care about anyone but themselves and their own narrow self interests.
Which brings me back to my original premise. The wrong kids were killed in Sandy Hook.
If they had been the children of the chairman of Smith & Wesson, or the children of the president of the National Rifle Association or the children of Congress, then we'd see action.
Had they attended Sidwell Friends or St. Albans or Deerfield then we'd hear an entirely different tune.
The unfortunate truth about our social structure is that the people we entrust to make the decisions that directly effect our daily lives are so disconnected from the realities that we face that they have absolutely no idea about the impact that those decisions have.
Men who never served this country send our sons and daughters to die in war.
Companies who don't use their own products foist those goods on us and turn the other way when we get sick or die from using them, disclaiming their way out of lawsuits.
And advocates against the myriad social issues that litter our consciousness, from abortion, to stem cell research to healthcare to gun control never seem to be the people directly affected by those "passionate" positions.
There's a big difference between an intellectual stance and the real world. Philosophy has its' place in the classroom and the café. The real world is what lurks just outside the door.
And it's tragic that the right kid's parents don't know that.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Middle School
The political establishment in this country is more akin to Middle School than it is to a serious legislative organization.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Sometimes this, purportedly, august body is reduced to game playing and name calling that you would be more likely to find on any schoolyard rather than in a world capitol.
Members of Congress act like they have never heard to the words "respect" and "compromise." Gone are the days when Senators and Congressmen would gather to discuss and debate an issue and craft laws that served the country.
Nowadays they get embroiled in hyper-partisanship and miss the bigger picture.
They have been elected to represent a given constituency. Stipulated. But that group of voters is a part of the larger whole we like to call The United States.
We decided, in 1776, to band together and create a nation that would go on, in the ensuing decades, to become one of the greatest democracies ever known.
But we are at risk of turning this country into a third rate affair. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Our education has gone from the best to not nearly so. Our economy, once the strongest, is, perpetually, on the brink of collapse. Our reputation in the world as kind and helpful global citizens has been shattered by unnecessarily protracted wars and incessant international meddling. And our popular culture, the envy of every society, is contributing garbage rather than artistic innovation.
What has gone wrong? What happened?
What happened is the systematic degradation of the moral fabric of this once great nation. I don't mean porn in prime time or violence in our schools, malls and churches.
I mean the almost total absence of heroes and real leaders. Instead of Jim Thorpe we have Lance Armstrong. Instead Chester Nimitz we have David Petraeus. Instead of Theodore Roosevelt we have George W. Bush.
The people who are celebrated are often the ones who have accomplished the least. We put all of our faith and hope in television and sports celebrities and couldn't pick the Surgeon General out of a lineup.
When Latrell Sprewell can attack his coach on national TV and become the hero of thousands of boys, old and young, then we have completely lost our way.
When Martha Stewart can go to prison for insider trading and emerge from her "country club" incarceration and be welcomed back into our kitchens with open arms, then we are in trouble.
And when Eliot Spitzer can violate our trust by hypocritically engaging in the very behaviors he campaigned against and then be awarded a lucrative cable contract...well then we are all doomed.
And let's not forget Richard Blumenthal's alleged lying and Lindsay Lohan's debauchery and Chris Brown's domestic violence charges.
We fall at the feet of people who have shown a patent disregard for the law and, more importantly, the concept of integrity.
So it is no wonder that our legislators act like little children at an assembly. They have no moral compass. They can't tell right from wrong. They are only out for themselves and are elected by a selfish and corrupt group of "base" (in all senses of the word...) voters whose only concern is for what serves them not the country as a whole.
Ultimately...shame on us. We put up with mediocrity and then complain about the results. We have abandoned excellence and settled for the easiest way in or out of any situation.
Do we demand to see the coffins as they pass through Dover?
Do we demand an accounting of the billions spent bailing out the Wall Street wealthy?
Do we demand the best in our educational systems?
No, no and no.
We sit passively by as our society slowly vanishes. This is not about "family values", the tired and disingenuous slogan of the Right.
This is about honor, integrity and morality of the highest kind.
Without those values it will soon be over.
"Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."
True then...true now.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Sometimes this, purportedly, august body is reduced to game playing and name calling that you would be more likely to find on any schoolyard rather than in a world capitol.
Members of Congress act like they have never heard to the words "respect" and "compromise." Gone are the days when Senators and Congressmen would gather to discuss and debate an issue and craft laws that served the country.
Nowadays they get embroiled in hyper-partisanship and miss the bigger picture.
They have been elected to represent a given constituency. Stipulated. But that group of voters is a part of the larger whole we like to call The United States.
We decided, in 1776, to band together and create a nation that would go on, in the ensuing decades, to become one of the greatest democracies ever known.
But we are at risk of turning this country into a third rate affair. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Our education has gone from the best to not nearly so. Our economy, once the strongest, is, perpetually, on the brink of collapse. Our reputation in the world as kind and helpful global citizens has been shattered by unnecessarily protracted wars and incessant international meddling. And our popular culture, the envy of every society, is contributing garbage rather than artistic innovation.
What has gone wrong? What happened?
What happened is the systematic degradation of the moral fabric of this once great nation. I don't mean porn in prime time or violence in our schools, malls and churches.
I mean the almost total absence of heroes and real leaders. Instead of Jim Thorpe we have Lance Armstrong. Instead Chester Nimitz we have David Petraeus. Instead of Theodore Roosevelt we have George W. Bush.
The people who are celebrated are often the ones who have accomplished the least. We put all of our faith and hope in television and sports celebrities and couldn't pick the Surgeon General out of a lineup.
When Latrell Sprewell can attack his coach on national TV and become the hero of thousands of boys, old and young, then we have completely lost our way.
When Martha Stewart can go to prison for insider trading and emerge from her "country club" incarceration and be welcomed back into our kitchens with open arms, then we are in trouble.
And when Eliot Spitzer can violate our trust by hypocritically engaging in the very behaviors he campaigned against and then be awarded a lucrative cable contract...well then we are all doomed.
And let's not forget Richard Blumenthal's alleged lying and Lindsay Lohan's debauchery and Chris Brown's domestic violence charges.
We fall at the feet of people who have shown a patent disregard for the law and, more importantly, the concept of integrity.
So it is no wonder that our legislators act like little children at an assembly. They have no moral compass. They can't tell right from wrong. They are only out for themselves and are elected by a selfish and corrupt group of "base" (in all senses of the word...) voters whose only concern is for what serves them not the country as a whole.
Ultimately...shame on us. We put up with mediocrity and then complain about the results. We have abandoned excellence and settled for the easiest way in or out of any situation.
Do we demand to see the coffins as they pass through Dover?
Do we demand an accounting of the billions spent bailing out the Wall Street wealthy?
Do we demand the best in our educational systems?
No, no and no.
We sit passively by as our society slowly vanishes. This is not about "family values", the tired and disingenuous slogan of the Right.
This is about honor, integrity and morality of the highest kind.
Without those values it will soon be over.
"Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."
True then...true now.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
There's a First Time for Everything
I'm getting older by the day. I'm in my sixties now but it wasn't always so.
I was 5 once.
And the other day I was reminded of that fact. I was leaning over to tie my shoes and realizing that it was a bit of a chore.
My back hurt and I couldn't easily reach the laces because of a combination of factors; too much belly and not enough flexibility.
I've been working on the belly part trying to eat less crap and taking the stairs at a brisk clip rather than the escalator. It's working. I went down a pants size and I feel better but, nevertheless, the shoes weren't as easy as they used to be.
And that reminded me of the first time I tied my own shoes.
It was the spring of 1956. I was living in Woodmere on Long Island. Woodmere is one of "The Five Towns" (Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Inwood and Hewlett if you were wondering...) near New York City. It's a bedroom community and my parents and my late sister had moved there from Manhattan to escape the city on behalf of country living. My father was able to keep his boat in Macy's Channel near Far Rockaway and my folks had a vibrant social life. My Dad left his bike at the train station when he commuted into the City. That kind of place.
They had torn up our street, Brower Avenue, in order to replace the sewer and water lines so there were big (to me) piles of dirt everywhere. The perfect environment in which to get dirty and play.
One of the neighborhood boys, who was much older than I, probably 8 or nine, was in the street when I came out to play in my dungarees and Buster Browns.
He was very cool as I remember because, for one thing, he wore sneakers. They were black U.S. Keds and were the higher type with the round rubber label on the side. He alse wore dungarees (Dungarees...not Blue Jeans. Dungarees...!) and he had on a nondescript tee shirt.
But what made him especially hip, in my eyes, was the fact that he could tie his own shoes.
I was solely dependent upon my parents for this necessary task. Never mind food and shelter. Shoe tying was the thing I was fixated on at that moment.
So there we were. Two little boys sitting in a pile of dirt talking about our shoelaces.
He told me to pick up the two laces, one in each hand. I followed intently.
"Put one over the other and then pull the bottom one through the hole," he said.
I did exactly what he told me to do.
"Pull them tight."
I did.
"Make a loop with the left one and take the right one and swirl it around the loop and under the swirl and pull the loop of the second lace through and pull them all tight and even them out and make sure they aren't uneven so one will drag on the ground and you could slip on it or snag it on a tree and fall down."
What, I thought? What the HECK ("Hell" was not available to me then. My vocabulary has since expanded to include other, more colorful, words that I wish I had had at my disposal at that time...) are you talking about??
I did what he said and failed. He explained it all again and demonstrated on his sneakers. I tried again and, lo and behold, after a few mistakes, I succeeded!
Whoopee! I could tie my own shoes! I proceeded to tie and untie them a hundred times and
couldn't wait to show my mother.
She, no doubt, saw it as a triumph but certainly not as the liberating event that it was to me. Today, laces, tomorrow the MOON!
But the reminiscence about my shoelace tying Baptism made me think of other "firsts."
The first time I rode a two-wheeler (my father pushed me around the yard on my "new to me" blue bicycle with the skinny tires endlessly until I finally stayed up by myself. I had never had training wheels. I went from trike to bike in one afternoon!)
My first baseball glove. I was a terrible player but had a cool Red Schoendienst autograph model which I still own...
My first kiss...in the bullrushes at the beach while my mother played backgammon nearby. If she had only known...
My first movie...Disney's "Lady and the Tramp." C'mon...give me a break. It was in the 50s. Life was different then.
Etc. etc., ad infinitum.
There's a first time for everything and those firsts are priceless moments never to be repeated.
But be careful. Memory Lane is a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. As Don Henley famously sang, "Those days are gone forever. I should just let them go but..."
Yeah...but.
I was 5 once.
And the other day I was reminded of that fact. I was leaning over to tie my shoes and realizing that it was a bit of a chore.
My back hurt and I couldn't easily reach the laces because of a combination of factors; too much belly and not enough flexibility.
I've been working on the belly part trying to eat less crap and taking the stairs at a brisk clip rather than the escalator. It's working. I went down a pants size and I feel better but, nevertheless, the shoes weren't as easy as they used to be.
And that reminded me of the first time I tied my own shoes.
It was the spring of 1956. I was living in Woodmere on Long Island. Woodmere is one of "The Five Towns" (Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Inwood and Hewlett if you were wondering...) near New York City. It's a bedroom community and my parents and my late sister had moved there from Manhattan to escape the city on behalf of country living. My father was able to keep his boat in Macy's Channel near Far Rockaway and my folks had a vibrant social life. My Dad left his bike at the train station when he commuted into the City. That kind of place.
They had torn up our street, Brower Avenue, in order to replace the sewer and water lines so there were big (to me) piles of dirt everywhere. The perfect environment in which to get dirty and play.
One of the neighborhood boys, who was much older than I, probably 8 or nine, was in the street when I came out to play in my dungarees and Buster Browns.
He was very cool as I remember because, for one thing, he wore sneakers. They were black U.S. Keds and were the higher type with the round rubber label on the side. He alse wore dungarees (Dungarees...not Blue Jeans. Dungarees...!) and he had on a nondescript tee shirt.
But what made him especially hip, in my eyes, was the fact that he could tie his own shoes.
I was solely dependent upon my parents for this necessary task. Never mind food and shelter. Shoe tying was the thing I was fixated on at that moment.
So there we were. Two little boys sitting in a pile of dirt talking about our shoelaces.
He told me to pick up the two laces, one in each hand. I followed intently.
"Put one over the other and then pull the bottom one through the hole," he said.
I did exactly what he told me to do.
"Pull them tight."
I did.
"Make a loop with the left one and take the right one and swirl it around the loop and under the swirl and pull the loop of the second lace through and pull them all tight and even them out and make sure they aren't uneven so one will drag on the ground and you could slip on it or snag it on a tree and fall down."
What, I thought? What the HECK ("Hell" was not available to me then. My vocabulary has since expanded to include other, more colorful, words that I wish I had had at my disposal at that time...) are you talking about??
I did what he said and failed. He explained it all again and demonstrated on his sneakers. I tried again and, lo and behold, after a few mistakes, I succeeded!
Whoopee! I could tie my own shoes! I proceeded to tie and untie them a hundred times and
couldn't wait to show my mother.
She, no doubt, saw it as a triumph but certainly not as the liberating event that it was to me. Today, laces, tomorrow the MOON!
But the reminiscence about my shoelace tying Baptism made me think of other "firsts."
The first time I rode a two-wheeler (my father pushed me around the yard on my "new to me" blue bicycle with the skinny tires endlessly until I finally stayed up by myself. I had never had training wheels. I went from trike to bike in one afternoon!)
My first baseball glove. I was a terrible player but had a cool Red Schoendienst autograph model which I still own...
My first kiss...in the bullrushes at the beach while my mother played backgammon nearby. If she had only known...
My first movie...Disney's "Lady and the Tramp." C'mon...give me a break. It was in the 50s. Life was different then.
Etc. etc., ad infinitum.
There's a first time for everything and those firsts are priceless moments never to be repeated.
But be careful. Memory Lane is a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. As Don Henley famously sang, "Those days are gone forever. I should just let them go but..."
Yeah...but.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Tax This!
I'm sorry but I will just have to weigh in here.
For a long time now we have been hearing and talking about taxes. Grover Norquist (hard to take a guy with a name like that seriously but he's got legislators by the cojones...) has said that we don't need new taxes and many Americans agree. "Leave my money alone!" they cry.
But the problem really isn't taxes. It's corruption.
We are taught at an early age that there "ain't no free lunch." That's not quite true as many kids get lunch for free in school when their parents pay no taxes at all. But that's an entirely different matter.
The fact is that we, as a society, have decided that we want a lot of stuff.
We want roads and bridges and clean air and safe food and a military that is prepared to protect us from "all enemies, foreign and domestic."
We want good schools and libraries and a host of other things that make our lives better.
And all of that costs money. A lot of money.
Our problem is not with the fact that we have to pay for what we get but that an inordinate number of people have either figured out how to game the system and/or have found the myriad loopholes in the labyrinthian tax code and end up paying little or no tax while enjoying all of the benefits.
If you are rich you can hire a shrewd accountant who can devise schemes by which you avoid taxes through shelters and trusts and complicated investments.
If you are poor or middle class you just pay what the government says and just keep going, paycheck to paycheck in some (most) cases.
If you are rich and connected you go to the head of the line in the bidding process and by virtue of your influence, through campaign contributions, you can charge $1,000 for a $10 hammer and the "oversight" committee "concerned" with your industry will look the other way.
So what we should be talking about is not taxes, because we need the money for all of our desired services, but corruption and special interest influence peddling that takes the money we pay in and distributes it to a very rich and influential few.
Term limits, sunshine laws, bi-partisan and/or civilian oversight groups and citizen pressure will help turn this foundering ship around.
Without a real change in the way that government conducts our business, going over the "fiscal cliff" will seem, in nostalgic hindsight to have been a sunny day at the beach.
George H.W. Bush (hope he's recovering comfortably) had it half right;
"Read my lips...NO MORE BULLSHIT!!"
For a long time now we have been hearing and talking about taxes. Grover Norquist (hard to take a guy with a name like that seriously but he's got legislators by the cojones...) has said that we don't need new taxes and many Americans agree. "Leave my money alone!" they cry.
But the problem really isn't taxes. It's corruption.
We are taught at an early age that there "ain't no free lunch." That's not quite true as many kids get lunch for free in school when their parents pay no taxes at all. But that's an entirely different matter.
The fact is that we, as a society, have decided that we want a lot of stuff.
We want roads and bridges and clean air and safe food and a military that is prepared to protect us from "all enemies, foreign and domestic."
We want good schools and libraries and a host of other things that make our lives better.
And all of that costs money. A lot of money.
Our problem is not with the fact that we have to pay for what we get but that an inordinate number of people have either figured out how to game the system and/or have found the myriad loopholes in the labyrinthian tax code and end up paying little or no tax while enjoying all of the benefits.
If you are rich you can hire a shrewd accountant who can devise schemes by which you avoid taxes through shelters and trusts and complicated investments.
If you are poor or middle class you just pay what the government says and just keep going, paycheck to paycheck in some (most) cases.
If you are rich and connected you go to the head of the line in the bidding process and by virtue of your influence, through campaign contributions, you can charge $1,000 for a $10 hammer and the "oversight" committee "concerned" with your industry will look the other way.
So what we should be talking about is not taxes, because we need the money for all of our desired services, but corruption and special interest influence peddling that takes the money we pay in and distributes it to a very rich and influential few.
Term limits, sunshine laws, bi-partisan and/or civilian oversight groups and citizen pressure will help turn this foundering ship around.
Without a real change in the way that government conducts our business, going over the "fiscal cliff" will seem, in nostalgic hindsight to have been a sunny day at the beach.
George H.W. Bush (hope he's recovering comfortably) had it half right;
"Read my lips...NO MORE BULLSHIT!!"
When I Was Your Age...
I received a cheerful email from Verizon yesterday that informed me that I am eligible for an upgrade (Yay!) and, therefore, a new iPhone (um, uh Yay...?)
That made me think of the my childhood. When I was a kid I, like every other kid, wanted the newest and the latest.
The newest bike, the latest record, the neatest and coolest sneakers.
But I have come to, in my senior years (ha!) to see "new" as nothing more than advertising baloney.
I understand that the iPhone and it's ilk can do amazing things. Like pretend to be a beer or popcorn or be a flashlight. It can also, incidentally, be a phone and a letter writer.
The touchscreen is a pain for those of us with larger, fatter fingers. It is very easy to misspell any word by simply hitting the wrong key. I confess to owning a Blackberry. My teenage daughter has informed me that nobody really emails anymore, they all text, and that Blackberrys are so, well, so very "elderly." Thanks for that.
So here goes for those of you over 60.
When I was a kid we had:
Black and white television
Black and white photography
78 rpm records
One, black, rotary dial telephone
Manual typewriters
Carbon paper
The word "gay" meaning "happy"
Compromise in Congress
Heroes
We didn't have:
The Beatles
The Internet
Cell phones
DVDs
iPods
Bottled water
McDonalds
Labradoodles
Flat screen televisions
Cable
The Kardashians
I'm just sayin'...
That made me think of the my childhood. When I was a kid I, like every other kid, wanted the newest and the latest.
The newest bike, the latest record, the neatest and coolest sneakers.
But I have come to, in my senior years (ha!) to see "new" as nothing more than advertising baloney.
I understand that the iPhone and it's ilk can do amazing things. Like pretend to be a beer or popcorn or be a flashlight. It can also, incidentally, be a phone and a letter writer.
The touchscreen is a pain for those of us with larger, fatter fingers. It is very easy to misspell any word by simply hitting the wrong key. I confess to owning a Blackberry. My teenage daughter has informed me that nobody really emails anymore, they all text, and that Blackberrys are so, well, so very "elderly." Thanks for that.
So here goes for those of you over 60.
When I was a kid we had:
Black and white television
Black and white photography
78 rpm records
One, black, rotary dial telephone
Manual typewriters
Carbon paper
The word "gay" meaning "happy"
Compromise in Congress
Heroes
We didn't have:
The Beatles
The Internet
Cell phones
DVDs
iPods
Bottled water
McDonalds
Labradoodles
Flat screen televisions
Cable
The Kardashians
I'm just sayin'...
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friends, Romans, Countrymen...
Friends, Romans, Countrymen! I have come to praise Willard, not to bury him.
Well, not really. I wish him no ill. I hope he goes off into his gilded retirement and we never, EVER, have to hear his name again. I will confess that I still wake up and remind myself that he lost and smile and thank the good Lord above. He would have been an atrocious president and we had the good, collective, sense to see that and to reject him and his little friend Paulie Ryan. Well done America! Well done.
But that's not why I'm here today. I'm here, at long last, and for the absence I do apologize, to talk about two things.
Number One: I spent 8 days in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, recently and I came away with one overriding feeling. We will never escape tragedies such as that which happened at the elementary school there until we fix the way in which we resolve our conflicts.
It's less about the guns then it is about the national tone. We resolve our disagreements with various degrees of violence. When a football or baseball team meets before a game they say, about their opponents, "Let's kill 'em!"
When one stock broker makes a great deal he "wasted" the competition. When a movie is a success it is a "smash hit."
Our language is full of words that we use to invoke victory. And so when one guy swipes a parking spot from another guy an argument can turn violent and, if a gun is present, fatal.
We yell and scream and we don't listen to each other in an attempt to find common ground. We resort to violence to solve our familial, local, regional, national and international problems.
This dovetails into Number Two.
What the EFF is going on in Washington? We have two parties who are at odds about what to do with the country and neither is really listening to the other. The members of congress claim to have the best interests of the country in mind but they act in an opposite manner.
We all understand that we live in a representative democracy. Stipulated. What is good for Rhode Island may not be good for Oregon. Got it.
But the ultimate truth is that what is good for the country, as a whole, is good for Rhode Island and Oregon...and Wyoming and California and New Jersey and so on.
Our congressional representatives, both in The House and in the Senate, are so busy trying to get reelected and/or satisfying the needs of either their benefactors or their constituents, or both, that they have completely lost sight of the welfare of country at large.
Not every bill nor piece of legislation will positively effect the citizenry. Some will win and some will lose. But if our "leaders" were to think of the good of the entire United States instead of their narrow, selfish desires, then maybe we would enjoy the growth and prosperity that they, and we, so desperately need.
But Number One and Number Two are pies in the sky.
I was a member of the oft-maligned media that was in Sandy Hook. I said then, and it is true now, that once we turned our cameras off the story would be over. We have returned to business as usual. We are now fixated on the "Fiscal Cliff" and the playoffs and are just waiting for the next great tragedy.
For the people of Sandy Hook the story will never be over but for the rest of the country, we have all moved on.
Nothing will ever change. And once Congress has gone over the cliff and then passed legislation to fix the problems that they have created, they will be on to the next great debate and the next edition of brinksmanship that they know so well.
We have to change the tone. We have to learn to compromise. We have to learn to think of what's good for all of us in the long run in the big picture.
Otherwise we are doomed. Otherwise we are Rome. And we know what happened to them.
Happy New Year...
Well, not really. I wish him no ill. I hope he goes off into his gilded retirement and we never, EVER, have to hear his name again. I will confess that I still wake up and remind myself that he lost and smile and thank the good Lord above. He would have been an atrocious president and we had the good, collective, sense to see that and to reject him and his little friend Paulie Ryan. Well done America! Well done.
But that's not why I'm here today. I'm here, at long last, and for the absence I do apologize, to talk about two things.
Number One: I spent 8 days in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, recently and I came away with one overriding feeling. We will never escape tragedies such as that which happened at the elementary school there until we fix the way in which we resolve our conflicts.
It's less about the guns then it is about the national tone. We resolve our disagreements with various degrees of violence. When a football or baseball team meets before a game they say, about their opponents, "Let's kill 'em!"
When one stock broker makes a great deal he "wasted" the competition. When a movie is a success it is a "smash hit."
Our language is full of words that we use to invoke victory. And so when one guy swipes a parking spot from another guy an argument can turn violent and, if a gun is present, fatal.
We yell and scream and we don't listen to each other in an attempt to find common ground. We resort to violence to solve our familial, local, regional, national and international problems.
This dovetails into Number Two.
What the EFF is going on in Washington? We have two parties who are at odds about what to do with the country and neither is really listening to the other. The members of congress claim to have the best interests of the country in mind but they act in an opposite manner.
We all understand that we live in a representative democracy. Stipulated. What is good for Rhode Island may not be good for Oregon. Got it.
But the ultimate truth is that what is good for the country, as a whole, is good for Rhode Island and Oregon...and Wyoming and California and New Jersey and so on.
Our congressional representatives, both in The House and in the Senate, are so busy trying to get reelected and/or satisfying the needs of either their benefactors or their constituents, or both, that they have completely lost sight of the welfare of country at large.
Not every bill nor piece of legislation will positively effect the citizenry. Some will win and some will lose. But if our "leaders" were to think of the good of the entire United States instead of their narrow, selfish desires, then maybe we would enjoy the growth and prosperity that they, and we, so desperately need.
But Number One and Number Two are pies in the sky.
I was a member of the oft-maligned media that was in Sandy Hook. I said then, and it is true now, that once we turned our cameras off the story would be over. We have returned to business as usual. We are now fixated on the "Fiscal Cliff" and the playoffs and are just waiting for the next great tragedy.
For the people of Sandy Hook the story will never be over but for the rest of the country, we have all moved on.
Nothing will ever change. And once Congress has gone over the cliff and then passed legislation to fix the problems that they have created, they will be on to the next great debate and the next edition of brinksmanship that they know so well.
We have to change the tone. We have to learn to compromise. We have to learn to think of what's good for all of us in the long run in the big picture.
Otherwise we are doomed. Otherwise we are Rome. And we know what happened to them.
Happy New Year...
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Hello?
"Hello?"
"Governor?"
"Yes"
"My name is Ichabod Scmaltz and I am the president of Citizens Responsible for Appropriate Punditry.
May I ask you a few questions about your loss in the presidential race?"
"Certainly"
"Sir, why do you think you were so unpopular with most everybody who is walking upright in this country depsite the faux displays of excitement and adoration manufactured by the Republican Party and, in some cases, your very own family?"
"I think it is because I appeared to stand for nothing in particular with any real conviction,
seemed to say anything to anyone in order to get their support and didn't convey any sense of empathy for any of the voters with the exception of the members of my country clubs, worldwide."
"Fair enough. And why do you think the voters were unimpressed with your background given your success as an alleged bully in private school, having been born into a wealthy family, giving the impression that you dodged the War in Vietnam by taking a missionary position in France, creating a great fortune by buying companies, laying off thousands and shipping their jobs overseas and having several houses around the country including one with a car elevator?"
"It is probably because most folks don't understand the efficiency of having several houses. Whenever Ann and I travel we save hundreds of dollars on hotels by being able to stay at home. And the elevator saves wear and tear on my cars as well as creates fuel economy given that I don't have to drive as far. I just pull into the elevator and Presto! I'm home!"
" I see. And sir, you have been an advocate of a strong military. Several years ago you said, in response to a question about your five son's military service at the height of the Iraq War, that they were serving the country by helping to try to get you elected president. Was that a mistake?"
"No, not at all. I was fortunate to have a rich, connected father during the Vietnam era. That gave me options. My sons have the same advantage as do their children. I feel that it is the reponsibility of all parents to provide their kids with every advantage. If a parent is on welfare, for example, then they are on a first name basis with their case worker and can introduce their child to that worker so that the child gets every advantage that the welfare program can offer. That is all I was saying about my wonderful boys. They were simply using the options I was able to give them as a loving father."
"Hmmm, I think I understand. One last thing Governor. Now that you have been resoundingly rejected by a majority of the American people and by many in the hierarchy of your own party, will you retiure from politics or will you follow the example of another revered Republican, Richard Nixon, and come around again in four years and mount another campaign?"
"I believe in 'never say never.' I will take some time off now after this exciting, yet grueling, campaign, spend time with my family either in New Hampshire, California or Massachusetts, take the dog for a car ride and then evaluate my choices going forward. I may decide to get back into the business buying business because their are so many opportunities, right here in the good ol' US of A, especially in Detroit, which, at one time I called home. I hear that they are selling everything there. I might even bid on the city itself and then I could send it to China. Imagine. The Shanghai Pistons or the Beijing Red Wings or the Hong Kong Tigers. The Tigers might go all the way again next year and that would finally create a true World Series which then, in turn, I could run if I were to be appointed baseball commissioner which I would love. I love baseball. I love the uniforms and the Cracker Jacks and the seventh inning stretch.Going to games makes me feel like a real American. Just like George W. Bush. He loves baseball too, you know. He wanted to be the commissioner as well, back in the day."
"Thank you Governor. Good luck and give my best to Mrs. Romney."
"I will and thank you Mr. Scmaltz for a wonderful interview and fair questions. But may I ask you one question?"
"Certainly"
"Did you vote for me?"
"Never..."
"Governor?"
"Yes"
"My name is Ichabod Scmaltz and I am the president of Citizens Responsible for Appropriate Punditry.
May I ask you a few questions about your loss in the presidential race?"
"Certainly"
"Sir, why do you think you were so unpopular with most everybody who is walking upright in this country depsite the faux displays of excitement and adoration manufactured by the Republican Party and, in some cases, your very own family?"
"I think it is because I appeared to stand for nothing in particular with any real conviction,
seemed to say anything to anyone in order to get their support and didn't convey any sense of empathy for any of the voters with the exception of the members of my country clubs, worldwide."
"Fair enough. And why do you think the voters were unimpressed with your background given your success as an alleged bully in private school, having been born into a wealthy family, giving the impression that you dodged the War in Vietnam by taking a missionary position in France, creating a great fortune by buying companies, laying off thousands and shipping their jobs overseas and having several houses around the country including one with a car elevator?"
"It is probably because most folks don't understand the efficiency of having several houses. Whenever Ann and I travel we save hundreds of dollars on hotels by being able to stay at home. And the elevator saves wear and tear on my cars as well as creates fuel economy given that I don't have to drive as far. I just pull into the elevator and Presto! I'm home!"
" I see. And sir, you have been an advocate of a strong military. Several years ago you said, in response to a question about your five son's military service at the height of the Iraq War, that they were serving the country by helping to try to get you elected president. Was that a mistake?"
"No, not at all. I was fortunate to have a rich, connected father during the Vietnam era. That gave me options. My sons have the same advantage as do their children. I feel that it is the reponsibility of all parents to provide their kids with every advantage. If a parent is on welfare, for example, then they are on a first name basis with their case worker and can introduce their child to that worker so that the child gets every advantage that the welfare program can offer. That is all I was saying about my wonderful boys. They were simply using the options I was able to give them as a loving father."
"Hmmm, I think I understand. One last thing Governor. Now that you have been resoundingly rejected by a majority of the American people and by many in the hierarchy of your own party, will you retiure from politics or will you follow the example of another revered Republican, Richard Nixon, and come around again in four years and mount another campaign?"
"I believe in 'never say never.' I will take some time off now after this exciting, yet grueling, campaign, spend time with my family either in New Hampshire, California or Massachusetts, take the dog for a car ride and then evaluate my choices going forward. I may decide to get back into the business buying business because their are so many opportunities, right here in the good ol' US of A, especially in Detroit, which, at one time I called home. I hear that they are selling everything there. I might even bid on the city itself and then I could send it to China. Imagine. The Shanghai Pistons or the Beijing Red Wings or the Hong Kong Tigers. The Tigers might go all the way again next year and that would finally create a true World Series which then, in turn, I could run if I were to be appointed baseball commissioner which I would love. I love baseball. I love the uniforms and the Cracker Jacks and the seventh inning stretch.Going to games makes me feel like a real American. Just like George W. Bush. He loves baseball too, you know. He wanted to be the commissioner as well, back in the day."
"Thank you Governor. Good luck and give my best to Mrs. Romney."
"I will and thank you Mr. Scmaltz for a wonderful interview and fair questions. But may I ask you one question?"
"Certainly"
"Did you vote for me?"
"Never..."
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