My fellow suckers, er, I mean, Americans:
Wall Street does not need another bail out. It needs a massive rout out by the Orkin Man. Sadly, I am not sure if there is enough rat poison on the planet to get rid of the infestation of vermin that so determinedly resides there. Rats hate bright lights, so everyone grab a torch or flashlight. We can hunt them together.
Damnit.
The news a few hours ago is that A.I.G.'s government-appointed chairman, Mr. Edward Liddy (who can't seem to keep a lid-dy on the money pot) has been cowed by, and I am not making this up, a bunch of lawyers who have apparently told him that $100 million in bonuses must be paid to the very people who brought A.I.G., and part of our economy, to its very knees.
Here's the kicker.
Just a moment, though, it's more than a kicker, it's the umpteenth sucker punch.
Mr. Liddy tells us, woefully, that he must pay these bonuses in order to retain these people; people who might otherwise leave.
Memo to Mr. Liddy.
1. Planet Earth is calling. Wake the f*%$#k up!
2. Fire the lawyers. They, as usual, don't know J-A-C-K. Looks like they know Bill, though, as in Bill-by-the-hour (in six minute increments, of course).
3. Fire the people who got us in to this mess! Why, in the Lord's Holy Name, are these people still working at A.I.G.?
4. I want my country back. Please leave the keys under the mat.
We must get our heads screwed on correctly here, people. I wish no personal harm to the people at A.I.G. Many of them were likely following orders from some unknown lever puller who is likely enjoying Spring Break in Gstaad. Even so, they need to go take their talents elsewhere - and with haste.
I am sorry, but I simply don't believe that there are not enough brains in America to fix an insurance company. Hello! It's an insurance company! It's not a neuro surgery practice.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time to calmly assemble along West Side Drive and proceed, heads down in shame, to the southern tip of Manhattan, for a sit in. We might as well get used to sleeping outside, no need to delay. Please bring your own torch.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Dear Children: Make No Mistake. Rush Limbaugh is a Crypto-Fascist
Kids,
This past week in American history, a failed ballroom dancer and college drop out has become the de facto dictator of the Party of Lincoln in our nation. He's the kind of person who has an answer for everything, but understands the meaning of little.
In time he is either going to become an American Dictator (in some ways he already is) or he's going to fade into obscurity. In the mean time, he is dangerous and I hope as you read this you will not be victimized by his ideas or his comrades who are quite literally in arms.
The fact is, he is on record for expressing a hope that our popularly elected president, Barak Obama, fails as president. I should note that your father generally votes "conservative." So, he is no Obama agenda accolyte. President Obama has been in office less than two months and already Mr. Limbaugh is praying that his administration finds no solution to our nations problems - which are extremely difficult at this time. Mr Limbaugh's speech is not just wrong. It is morally bankrupt or worse.
For example, here's what he said to Sean Hannity in a recent interview on CNN:
"I said earlier I don't know about this guy (Obama). I really don't. I've got my — I've got my suspicions, and they're pretty close to convictions, but we're going to have to wait to see what he does." But you aren't "waiting," are you? You are simply increasing your own ratings and, byt extension, lining your own pockets, by attacking a man you admit you don't even know.
Oh, and here's the kicker. You say that the American public "think(s) he's an intellectual because of the way he speaks. And it's all about how he speaks. And I look at some of the facial expressions of people when they're watching the guy, and it's frightening."
Gosh, Rush, are you talking about President Obama or about yourself?
Mr. Limbaugh believes that "more government" involvement in our lives is the problem, not the solution, to society's many ills. On the surface that would seem correct and few people would disagree. But, what is "more government?" Or, "big government?"
When the citizenry is involved in government to the extent that they were in this last round of elections, then what's bad about that? The electorate has been stirred to act mostly in reaction to the failed policies of the former administration. Anyone who thinks that the last eight years were better than the previous sixteen, then please stand up -- and check yourself in to a mental clinic.
Change may not be pefect, but it's needed and more government is what's needed now, not less, as long as the people remain as actively involved. Besides, the tree of liberty must be pruned occasionally. That's pruned, not chopped. Mr. Limbaugh seeks to chop the tree down in order to save it.
Democratically-elected governments are comprised of people, not automatons. Government management of issues is messy sometimes. Businesses suffer the same failings. But, it's not because governments - or businesses -- are inherently bad. They fail because the people involved in them failied for one reason or another, sometimes through no fault of their own.
In our country, the people make the laws. In Rush Limabaugh's bizarro world, he makes the laws. He is the only decider of what's right or wrong or correct or incorrect. And only he dictates how the entire Republican Party will act. He has is so feared by the current elected Republican Party leadership that they cannot publicly counter his arguments without fear of reprisal. Indeed, they make public apologies whenever he feels they have wronged him which when you think about is as funny as it is pathetic. I mean, you have Ivy League-educated leaders kissing the ass of a man who could not finish one full year of secondary education. His intellectual curiousity could be measured within the length of the pages in Mein Kampf. I'd go on, but I don't want to stray too far from my point.
This week, the chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, dared to suggest that Mr. Limbaugh was little more than an entertainer. For this, Mr. Steele was savagely attacked by Mr. Limbaugh on his nationally-syndicated radio program. Mr. Limbaugh has enough empathy to fill a sub atomic particle.
A side note: People who lack empathy are ultimately dangerous and you should resist their twisted logic always or our democracy is doomed. Mr. Limbaugh has achieved a special place in American society. He has chosen to use that high place as a pulpit to spout hatred, negativity and -- frankly -- stupidity. He is neither smart nor particularly talented. You must see him for what he is: a morally corrupt voice pretending to a throne of his design.
More technically, Mr. Limbaugh is a crypto-fascist, but that's a high-falutin term. He tries to obfuscate his true desires in language that makes most Americans feel comfortable. But, they should not be fooled. Rush is not interested in what's best for them, their fellow Americans -- or the world. He's interested in what's best for Rush. He's interested in his own power. And he has little fear in attacking savagely those who oppose him. Besides, what does he have to fear? When real leaders like Mr. Steele seek to bring him down to earth, he villifies them and uses hysterical rhetoric to rally his ill-informed legions.
Kids, I have practiced negative rhetoric on a small scale. It's distatesful and ultimately self-destructive. By the time you are old enough to understand this I hope that Rush is long-forgotten by the public. Having said that, I wish him personal comfort and peace. I also wish his followers the same. But, I also pray for their eventual salvation from his negativity, reclacitrance and poorly-considered brand of rhetoric. We need real leaders, not narcisssistic mouthpieces who would not know a days hard work if it hit them with a shovel.
This past week in American history, a failed ballroom dancer and college drop out has become the de facto dictator of the Party of Lincoln in our nation. He's the kind of person who has an answer for everything, but understands the meaning of little.
In time he is either going to become an American Dictator (in some ways he already is) or he's going to fade into obscurity. In the mean time, he is dangerous and I hope as you read this you will not be victimized by his ideas or his comrades who are quite literally in arms.
The fact is, he is on record for expressing a hope that our popularly elected president, Barak Obama, fails as president. I should note that your father generally votes "conservative." So, he is no Obama agenda accolyte. President Obama has been in office less than two months and already Mr. Limbaugh is praying that his administration finds no solution to our nations problems - which are extremely difficult at this time. Mr Limbaugh's speech is not just wrong. It is morally bankrupt or worse.
For example, here's what he said to Sean Hannity in a recent interview on CNN:
"I said earlier I don't know about this guy (Obama). I really don't. I've got my — I've got my suspicions, and they're pretty close to convictions, but we're going to have to wait to see what he does." But you aren't "waiting," are you? You are simply increasing your own ratings and, byt extension, lining your own pockets, by attacking a man you admit you don't even know.
Oh, and here's the kicker. You say that the American public "think(s) he's an intellectual because of the way he speaks. And it's all about how he speaks. And I look at some of the facial expressions of people when they're watching the guy, and it's frightening."
Gosh, Rush, are you talking about President Obama or about yourself?
Mr. Limbaugh believes that "more government" involvement in our lives is the problem, not the solution, to society's many ills. On the surface that would seem correct and few people would disagree. But, what is "more government?" Or, "big government?"
When the citizenry is involved in government to the extent that they were in this last round of elections, then what's bad about that? The electorate has been stirred to act mostly in reaction to the failed policies of the former administration. Anyone who thinks that the last eight years were better than the previous sixteen, then please stand up -- and check yourself in to a mental clinic.
Change may not be pefect, but it's needed and more government is what's needed now, not less, as long as the people remain as actively involved. Besides, the tree of liberty must be pruned occasionally. That's pruned, not chopped. Mr. Limbaugh seeks to chop the tree down in order to save it.
Democratically-elected governments are comprised of people, not automatons. Government management of issues is messy sometimes. Businesses suffer the same failings. But, it's not because governments - or businesses -- are inherently bad. They fail because the people involved in them failied for one reason or another, sometimes through no fault of their own.
In our country, the people make the laws. In Rush Limabaugh's bizarro world, he makes the laws. He is the only decider of what's right or wrong or correct or incorrect. And only he dictates how the entire Republican Party will act. He has is so feared by the current elected Republican Party leadership that they cannot publicly counter his arguments without fear of reprisal. Indeed, they make public apologies whenever he feels they have wronged him which when you think about is as funny as it is pathetic. I mean, you have Ivy League-educated leaders kissing the ass of a man who could not finish one full year of secondary education. His intellectual curiousity could be measured within the length of the pages in Mein Kampf. I'd go on, but I don't want to stray too far from my point.
This week, the chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, dared to suggest that Mr. Limbaugh was little more than an entertainer. For this, Mr. Steele was savagely attacked by Mr. Limbaugh on his nationally-syndicated radio program. Mr. Limbaugh has enough empathy to fill a sub atomic particle.
A side note: People who lack empathy are ultimately dangerous and you should resist their twisted logic always or our democracy is doomed. Mr. Limbaugh has achieved a special place in American society. He has chosen to use that high place as a pulpit to spout hatred, negativity and -- frankly -- stupidity. He is neither smart nor particularly talented. You must see him for what he is: a morally corrupt voice pretending to a throne of his design.
More technically, Mr. Limbaugh is a crypto-fascist, but that's a high-falutin term. He tries to obfuscate his true desires in language that makes most Americans feel comfortable. But, they should not be fooled. Rush is not interested in what's best for them, their fellow Americans -- or the world. He's interested in what's best for Rush. He's interested in his own power. And he has little fear in attacking savagely those who oppose him. Besides, what does he have to fear? When real leaders like Mr. Steele seek to bring him down to earth, he villifies them and uses hysterical rhetoric to rally his ill-informed legions.
Kids, I have practiced negative rhetoric on a small scale. It's distatesful and ultimately self-destructive. By the time you are old enough to understand this I hope that Rush is long-forgotten by the public. Having said that, I wish him personal comfort and peace. I also wish his followers the same. But, I also pray for their eventual salvation from his negativity, reclacitrance and poorly-considered brand of rhetoric. We need real leaders, not narcisssistic mouthpieces who would not know a days hard work if it hit them with a shovel.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Oh You Pretty Things
Dear Children,
I am sitting here this morning listening to the news tell me that unemployment has now hit a 34 year high (last week it was reported to be a 28 year high; we are heading in the wrong direction apparently).
So, as I sip ethiopian coffee on a danish table clacking this out on a chinese-made computer I am listening to a british singer belt out this tune. It seems to suit the mood of the morning.
Wake up you sleepy head
Put on some clothes, shake up your bed
Put another log on the fire for me
Ive made some breakfast and coffee
Look out my window what do I see
A crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me
All the nightmares came today
And it looks as though theyre here to stay
What are we coming to
No room for me, no fun for you
I think about a world to come
Where the books were found by the golden ones
Written in pain, written in awe
By a puzzled man who questioned
What we were here for
All the strangers came today
And it looks as though theyre here to stay
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the homo superior
Look at your children
See their faces in golden rays
Dont kid yourself they belong to you
Theyre the start of a coming race
The earth is a bitch
Weve finished our news
Homo sapiens have outgrown their use
All the strangers came today
And it looks as though theyre here to stay
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the homo superior
So, children, as the day begins I flip to Eric Clapton's "Let it Grow." A happier note to leave you on and begin my work...
Im standin at the crossroads
Tryin to read the signs
To tell me which way I should
Go to find the answer
And all the time I know
Let your love and let it grow.
Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow.
In the sun and in the snow
Love is lovely, let it grow.
Lookin for a reason
To check out on my mind.
Its so hard to find a
Friend that I can count on.
Theres nothin left to show,
Plant your love and let it grow.
Let it grow...
Time is gettin shorter
And theres much for you to do,
Only askn you will get what you are needin,
The rest is up to you.
Plant your love and let it grow.
I am sitting here this morning listening to the news tell me that unemployment has now hit a 34 year high (last week it was reported to be a 28 year high; we are heading in the wrong direction apparently).
So, as I sip ethiopian coffee on a danish table clacking this out on a chinese-made computer I am listening to a british singer belt out this tune. It seems to suit the mood of the morning.
Wake up you sleepy head
Put on some clothes, shake up your bed
Put another log on the fire for me
Ive made some breakfast and coffee
Look out my window what do I see
A crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me
All the nightmares came today
And it looks as though theyre here to stay
What are we coming to
No room for me, no fun for you
I think about a world to come
Where the books were found by the golden ones
Written in pain, written in awe
By a puzzled man who questioned
What we were here for
All the strangers came today
And it looks as though theyre here to stay
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the homo superior
Look at your children
See their faces in golden rays
Dont kid yourself they belong to you
Theyre the start of a coming race
The earth is a bitch
Weve finished our news
Homo sapiens have outgrown their use
All the strangers came today
And it looks as though theyre here to stay
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Oh you pretty things (oh you pretty things)
Dont you know youre driving your
Mamas and papas insane
Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the homo superior
So, children, as the day begins I flip to Eric Clapton's "Let it Grow." A happier note to leave you on and begin my work...
Im standin at the crossroads
Tryin to read the signs
To tell me which way I should
Go to find the answer
And all the time I know
Let your love and let it grow.
Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow.
In the sun and in the snow
Love is lovely, let it grow.
Lookin for a reason
To check out on my mind.
Its so hard to find a
Friend that I can count on.
Theres nothin left to show,
Plant your love and let it grow.
Let it grow...
Time is gettin shorter
And theres much for you to do,
Only askn you will get what you are needin,
The rest is up to you.
Plant your love and let it grow.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
D is for Dodd, Daschle, Dumb and Dumber
Dear Senator Dodd,
You were treated as a VIP by Countrywide when you were also charged with overseeing them. You should acknowledge that your behavior in securing a loan through them does not pass the smell test at the very least.
You claim your wife provided the loan documents? Please. When -- for God's sake -- are any of you so-called leaders going to simply say "I am sorry. I recognize that this could have been handled differently. I will seek to do better. Please forgive me."
Is that too much to ask?
The American public has proven over and over that it can be forgiving and patient. Why bury us in legal briefs and third-party verifications after the fact? Why not just pledge to act transparently from the beginning?
Perhaps you've been in the Senate too long.
As for you, Senator Daschle...
I applaud you for stepping aside and for recognizing, ultimately, that you made some poor decisions. Good for you.
Why you needed to go through the process of trying to move your appointment to HHS along as far as you did is troubling. You did not pay your taxes. There is no way that you could not have known, from my view, that using a car and driver as often as you did was not taxable. If that is your excuse, then you are naive at best.
Drive your own car from now on. Simple.
To all Members of Congress:
We the people want you to lead us and we want you to succeed. We want to celebrate your talents and your hard work to reach such a position of responsibility. We want you to protect us and serve the greater good. We want you to believe that by working with other smart people you can solve the problems of the world. We elected you to a place we hold dear under a flag that many before you have died for -- many under horrendous conditions. Each time you make decision that is designed at its base to enrich yourself or your friends over the needs and necessities of the greater good, you spit in the face of the dead who helped build our democracy.
So, ask yourself:
Am I in Congress to serve the people, or myself? Be honest. It's a simple question. If you can't answer this question correcly, then what are you doing there? It is unethical and immoral for you to run for public office if your driving motivation is to serve your own ego. Illinois' disgraced former governor, Mr. Blagojevich may not have done anything illegal, but he made clear in plain language that he held the democratic process in contempt.
Am I in Congress to be a participant in a great democracy or a player in a small autocracy?
If you achieve a leadership position among leaders in the Congress, will you use your power to help people or to punish those who do not believe in your ideology?
Am I in Congress to practice the art of compromise or are you there to defend the dogma of the day served up by talk radio critics far from the "sausage factory" every day?
Finally, your legacy will depend on the small actions and kindnesses you take each day, not by large leaps of legislative action. You are the sum of your decisions, not your individual decisions no matter what cynical media pundits might suggest.
You were treated as a VIP by Countrywide when you were also charged with overseeing them. You should acknowledge that your behavior in securing a loan through them does not pass the smell test at the very least.
You claim your wife provided the loan documents? Please. When -- for God's sake -- are any of you so-called leaders going to simply say "I am sorry. I recognize that this could have been handled differently. I will seek to do better. Please forgive me."
Is that too much to ask?
The American public has proven over and over that it can be forgiving and patient. Why bury us in legal briefs and third-party verifications after the fact? Why not just pledge to act transparently from the beginning?
Perhaps you've been in the Senate too long.
As for you, Senator Daschle...
I applaud you for stepping aside and for recognizing, ultimately, that you made some poor decisions. Good for you.
Why you needed to go through the process of trying to move your appointment to HHS along as far as you did is troubling. You did not pay your taxes. There is no way that you could not have known, from my view, that using a car and driver as often as you did was not taxable. If that is your excuse, then you are naive at best.
Drive your own car from now on. Simple.
To all Members of Congress:
We the people want you to lead us and we want you to succeed. We want to celebrate your talents and your hard work to reach such a position of responsibility. We want you to protect us and serve the greater good. We want you to believe that by working with other smart people you can solve the problems of the world. We elected you to a place we hold dear under a flag that many before you have died for -- many under horrendous conditions. Each time you make decision that is designed at its base to enrich yourself or your friends over the needs and necessities of the greater good, you spit in the face of the dead who helped build our democracy.
So, ask yourself:
Am I in Congress to serve the people, or myself? Be honest. It's a simple question. If you can't answer this question correcly, then what are you doing there? It is unethical and immoral for you to run for public office if your driving motivation is to serve your own ego. Illinois' disgraced former governor, Mr. Blagojevich may not have done anything illegal, but he made clear in plain language that he held the democratic process in contempt.
Am I in Congress to be a participant in a great democracy or a player in a small autocracy?
If you achieve a leadership position among leaders in the Congress, will you use your power to help people or to punish those who do not believe in your ideology?
Am I in Congress to practice the art of compromise or are you there to defend the dogma of the day served up by talk radio critics far from the "sausage factory" every day?
Finally, your legacy will depend on the small actions and kindnesses you take each day, not by large leaps of legislative action. You are the sum of your decisions, not your individual decisions no matter what cynical media pundits might suggest.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Eugene O'Neill Said It Best in 1933 in the Play "Days Without End"
"I listen to people talking about this universal breakdown we are in and I marvel at their stupid cowardice.
It is so obvious that they deliberately cheat themselves because their fear of change won't let them face the truth. They don't want to understand what has happened to them. All they want is to start the merry-go-round of blind greed all over again.
They no longer know what they want this country to be, what they want it to become, where they want it to go. It has lost all meaning for them except as pig-wallow. And so their lives as citizens have no beginnings, no ends. They have lost the ideal of the Land of the Free.
Freedom demands initiative, courage, the need to decide what life must mean to oneself. To them, that is terror. They explain away their spiritual cowardice by whining that the time for individualism is past, when it is their courage to possess their own souls which is dead — and stinking!
No, they don't want to be free. Slavery means security — of a kind, the only kind they have courage for. It means they need not to think. They have only to obey orders from owners who are, in turn, their slaves!
◦ John: Act 3, Scene 2
It is so obvious that they deliberately cheat themselves because their fear of change won't let them face the truth. They don't want to understand what has happened to them. All they want is to start the merry-go-round of blind greed all over again.
They no longer know what they want this country to be, what they want it to become, where they want it to go. It has lost all meaning for them except as pig-wallow. And so their lives as citizens have no beginnings, no ends. They have lost the ideal of the Land of the Free.
Freedom demands initiative, courage, the need to decide what life must mean to oneself. To them, that is terror. They explain away their spiritual cowardice by whining that the time for individualism is past, when it is their courage to possess their own souls which is dead — and stinking!
No, they don't want to be free. Slavery means security — of a kind, the only kind they have courage for. It means they need not to think. They have only to obey orders from owners who are, in turn, their slaves!
◦ John: Act 3, Scene 2
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Day 2008
Dear Children:
Today is election day 2008. As time goes by, some will want to cast this election as the most important in a generation or more. I want you to know that as I sit here this morning, I don't agree with that. Every election is important in its own way. One is no more critical than another. Whether its an election for mayor, sheriff, water district representative or president, what matters most is that you participate and vote.
If anything, what made this election important is that voters are paying more attention. And that's exactly what you need to do, pay attention. We have all seen what kind of leaders we get when do the opposite.
You need to vote because:
1. It's how you demonstrate that you are a responsible citizen.
2. It's respectful to the candidates who have sacrificed time with their families, friends and their own personal time to step into a hot spotlight to lead.
3. And, voting is how you pay homage to the millions of people over the past two hundred years who have bled, suffered and died so that you might have the legacy of freedom to vote as you see fit.
It matters not a wit whether the next president of the United States is Barack Obama or John McCain or Barney the Purple Dinosaur. What matters most is that your voice is part of the chorus. It's fine to be frustrated or even cynical about the process we go through in this country to elect our leaders. It's very chaotic and dynamic, multivariate and even maddening. It can also make you want to just ignore it and cloak oneself in apathy. And, many do.
Your father must confess that he waited until the last possible moment to vote in this particular election. At one point, I was so disgusted by the volume of vacuous media coverage, that I actually considered not voting at all. For someone who has been politically active and aware since the age of eight, that was a bit of a surprise.
Our media decided a year ago that the country needed Barack Obama, so it seemed that if I voted for Obama I would be a just one more tool of the manipulators in the media. If I voted for John McCain then maybe I'd be throwing my vote away. After careful consideration, I made a decision to consider one simple issue first before all others. That issue for me was/is my own subjective measure of each candidate's honor and integrity. Honor to himself, his family, and his country. Honor to something bigger than himself. Integrity in his ability to sacrifice himself repeatedly for a higher purpose.
None of the candidates could reach the high bar that your grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles set long before you arrived in this world. Those people put their families before themselves time after time and gave me thousands of reminders of the value of honor and integrity and sacrifice. Political candidates more often than not consider themselves over their families. Running for and holding a political office is extremely time-consuming and requires a significant sacrifice. Ambition is not the best trait for leading and nurturing a family. So, it was challenging to pick through what was left.
In the end, the candidate I chose was deeply flawed, but their honor and integrity had been long-tested, is consistent and more substantive than their rivals and their record shows that they are willing to consider the greater good over their own ambitions a good deal of the time. I'll let you determine who that was. In America we have the right to keep our vote private and I intend to do just that. Who I voted for is not nearly as important as voting itself.
Our country is not perfect. It is the sum of its parts; imperfect people generally all striving in cumbersome unison for a few noble ideas. Those ideas include protecting freedom and free choice and the need for humans to maintain a voice in how their lives are organized, managed and led. It's your job to stay involved in your democracy no matter how much you might find the effort inconvenient, irritating or even insulting. Your vote does matter and it counts.
Today is election day 2008. As time goes by, some will want to cast this election as the most important in a generation or more. I want you to know that as I sit here this morning, I don't agree with that. Every election is important in its own way. One is no more critical than another. Whether its an election for mayor, sheriff, water district representative or president, what matters most is that you participate and vote.
If anything, what made this election important is that voters are paying more attention. And that's exactly what you need to do, pay attention. We have all seen what kind of leaders we get when do the opposite.
You need to vote because:
1. It's how you demonstrate that you are a responsible citizen.
2. It's respectful to the candidates who have sacrificed time with their families, friends and their own personal time to step into a hot spotlight to lead.
3. And, voting is how you pay homage to the millions of people over the past two hundred years who have bled, suffered and died so that you might have the legacy of freedom to vote as you see fit.
It matters not a wit whether the next president of the United States is Barack Obama or John McCain or Barney the Purple Dinosaur. What matters most is that your voice is part of the chorus. It's fine to be frustrated or even cynical about the process we go through in this country to elect our leaders. It's very chaotic and dynamic, multivariate and even maddening. It can also make you want to just ignore it and cloak oneself in apathy. And, many do.
Your father must confess that he waited until the last possible moment to vote in this particular election. At one point, I was so disgusted by the volume of vacuous media coverage, that I actually considered not voting at all. For someone who has been politically active and aware since the age of eight, that was a bit of a surprise.
Our media decided a year ago that the country needed Barack Obama, so it seemed that if I voted for Obama I would be a just one more tool of the manipulators in the media. If I voted for John McCain then maybe I'd be throwing my vote away. After careful consideration, I made a decision to consider one simple issue first before all others. That issue for me was/is my own subjective measure of each candidate's honor and integrity. Honor to himself, his family, and his country. Honor to something bigger than himself. Integrity in his ability to sacrifice himself repeatedly for a higher purpose.
None of the candidates could reach the high bar that your grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles set long before you arrived in this world. Those people put their families before themselves time after time and gave me thousands of reminders of the value of honor and integrity and sacrifice. Political candidates more often than not consider themselves over their families. Running for and holding a political office is extremely time-consuming and requires a significant sacrifice. Ambition is not the best trait for leading and nurturing a family. So, it was challenging to pick through what was left.
In the end, the candidate I chose was deeply flawed, but their honor and integrity had been long-tested, is consistent and more substantive than their rivals and their record shows that they are willing to consider the greater good over their own ambitions a good deal of the time. I'll let you determine who that was. In America we have the right to keep our vote private and I intend to do just that. Who I voted for is not nearly as important as voting itself.
Our country is not perfect. It is the sum of its parts; imperfect people generally all striving in cumbersome unison for a few noble ideas. Those ideas include protecting freedom and free choice and the need for humans to maintain a voice in how their lives are organized, managed and led. It's your job to stay involved in your democracy no matter how much you might find the effort inconvenient, irritating or even insulting. Your vote does matter and it counts.
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Subprime Mortgage Crisis - A primer
Thanks to my friend, Bryant, for sending this clever presentation on the subprime crisis.
http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1
http://docs.google.com/
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