I just read a wonderful definition of insanity, attributed to Albert Einstein. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By this definition, many of our politicians are crazy. We stick to the same old, same old policies and dogma that have not worked before and then keep repeating the process.
Take, for example, debt reduction without financial stimulus, a mantra of the Republican Party. It has not worked historically; why will it suddenly change now? Europe has been practicing this policy of debt reduction in the form of austerity and where are they? In the same old rat hole, up the proverbial creek with no paddle is the answer. European leaders are now beginning to consider measures to stimulate the economy.
The President is presenting measures---and has tried to do so in the past---to combine debt reduction with financial stimulus. The Republican Congress greets these measures like a colony of lepers invading their space.
Go back in history. When F.D.R. effected the New Deal in the thirties, the economy started to improve. When he gave in to Congressional pressure to slow these measures and emphasize only debt reduction, the economy faltered and nosedived. World War II restimulated the economy, which is not the ideal way to recovery.
And where are we today? The Republicans keep insisting on debt reduction alone---no “wasteful” expenditures on job programs like the infrastructure repair. If we stimulate the economy and get more people working, won’t that increase revenue; won’t that help to reduce the deficit when combined with sensible tax and entitlement reform?
Yes, sometimes I think we fulfill that Einsteinian definition of insanity. Could we try to be a bit less crazy?
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
HOT TIMES, HOT STUFF
I’m one of those crazies who love hot spicy food, especially Indian curries to blow your socks off. But, reading about the ten hottest peppers in the world on AOL recently, I have discovered that I am a piker, a real wimp when it comes to real heat. I can handle the lowly Jalapeno, the occasional Habanero or the Jamaican Scotch Bonnet, which have a heat index of under 200,000 SCHOs (Scovill heat index). But there are a host of others, ranging from a few hundred thousand to a new champion of over 1,400,000 called the Jamaica Moraga Scorpion, which sounds like the h-bomb of chilis. These will gag and hurt you seriously, and, I admit, I’m not macho enough to handle that much heat.
I came from a family of heat lovers. My dad was a good cook and specialized in spicy Indian curries---shrimp, beef or lamb---, and he passed these genes down to his siblings. I developed a taste that could handle the hot stuff readily, adding seeded jalapenos to hamburgers, munching on hot peppers as appetisers and asking for the really hot curry sauce at an Indian restaurant.
Then I met my future brother-in-law in the late sixties when he was courting my wife’s sister. Mike was in the British army, an officer attached to a brigade of Gurkhas, the Nepalese tribesman who fought against and then for the British from the late nineteenth century. They are a tough and hardy breed. One Gurkha won the Victoria Cross posthumously in World War II when he singlehandedly took on a Japanese tank and won, though dying in the process.
Mike took his future wife and my wife and me to a curry restaurant on the Brompton Road in London where a whole string of Indian curry restaurants are located, and he chose The Star of India. Mike asked if we liked hot curries, which we did, and he suggested we order the Madras lamb curry. It was great---and really hot. In those days, as some of you may remember, men wore long hair and sideburns. By the end of the curry, I was wringing out my sideburns and feeling the top of my head similar to a small volcano, plus I was sure my contact lens were fused to my eyes---but I loved it. I asked Mike what he was having, which he was munching on like a chicken wing, and he replied, “I’m having a Bangalore curry---just a bit hotter.” I asked for a taste. It was like a bomb going off in my mouth, and I soon was spluttering, and this time I was sure the top of my head erupted.
Mike had spent time with his troops in the jungles of Malaya in the mid-fifties when Communist insurgents were trying to control the Malay Penisula, and he had learned to eat what they eat; hence, the development of an asbestos mouth. In any case, I declared Mike the undisputed champion of hot food, and I slunk off in thorough defeat.
So, bring on the heat, but I’m not man enough to tackle the Jamaica Moraga Scorpion and its 1.400,000 bits of heat. Maybe I’ll buy one and send it to Mike. If anyone can handle it, he’s the main man!
I came from a family of heat lovers. My dad was a good cook and specialized in spicy Indian curries---shrimp, beef or lamb---, and he passed these genes down to his siblings. I developed a taste that could handle the hot stuff readily, adding seeded jalapenos to hamburgers, munching on hot peppers as appetisers and asking for the really hot curry sauce at an Indian restaurant.
Then I met my future brother-in-law in the late sixties when he was courting my wife’s sister. Mike was in the British army, an officer attached to a brigade of Gurkhas, the Nepalese tribesman who fought against and then for the British from the late nineteenth century. They are a tough and hardy breed. One Gurkha won the Victoria Cross posthumously in World War II when he singlehandedly took on a Japanese tank and won, though dying in the process.
Mike took his future wife and my wife and me to a curry restaurant on the Brompton Road in London where a whole string of Indian curry restaurants are located, and he chose The Star of India. Mike asked if we liked hot curries, which we did, and he suggested we order the Madras lamb curry. It was great---and really hot. In those days, as some of you may remember, men wore long hair and sideburns. By the end of the curry, I was wringing out my sideburns and feeling the top of my head similar to a small volcano, plus I was sure my contact lens were fused to my eyes---but I loved it. I asked Mike what he was having, which he was munching on like a chicken wing, and he replied, “I’m having a Bangalore curry---just a bit hotter.” I asked for a taste. It was like a bomb going off in my mouth, and I soon was spluttering, and this time I was sure the top of my head erupted.
Mike had spent time with his troops in the jungles of Malaya in the mid-fifties when Communist insurgents were trying to control the Malay Penisula, and he had learned to eat what they eat; hence, the development of an asbestos mouth. In any case, I declared Mike the undisputed champion of hot food, and I slunk off in thorough defeat.
So, bring on the heat, but I’m not man enough to tackle the Jamaica Moraga Scorpion and its 1.400,000 bits of heat. Maybe I’ll buy one and send it to Mike. If anyone can handle it, he’s the main man!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
BAD STATISTICS IN BAD TIMES
I read in the "New York Times" this morning that a recent study has determined that over half the women under thirty who have babies are unmarried. I knew the percentage had been growing rapidly, but this statistic still shocked me.
All kinds of reasons for this growth of unmarried mothers can be found, ranging from socio-economic issues to moral issues. Certainly, no one would doubt that the present economic conditions can only exacerbate this situation. When you don’t have a job and are dependent on the safety net you don’t want to rock the boat. With so many young men unemployed, a lot of young women don’t want to saddle themselves with more debt and problems by taking on a man who is not contributing to family welfare. Plus, let’s face it, irresponsibility for economic or social reasons is a fact of life today: a lot of young, plus old, are ducking commitment.
Statistics bear out that the children of the unmarried in poor economic circumstances have the dice loaded against them with less educational and job opportunities. The system helps to hold you down, preventing you from breaking out of the vise of poverty in bad times.
Without intending to preach, I believe that this problem of increased illegitimacy in the young is symptomatic of the moral decay prevalent in so many lives. Our values are under fire or frequently lacking. It’s hard to lead a moral life when your main concern is simply existing, getting enough for food and shelter, the basics of existence.
This moral decay is not confined to the lowest on the economic ladder but is rife throughout the strata of society. I just don’t see the same emphasis on leading a good and productive life that existed in earlier generations in my lifetime. Mind you, earlier generations screwed up big time with regularity; hence, so many problems of today prevail. A moral undertone, even if often ignored, was there in the background. I don’t feel that undertone today. A lack of responsibility, “a-let-someone-else-do-it” attitude often appears as the major philosophy, and I find that sad.
At my church we have a series of forums in between the services on Sunday morning, and this year’s theme is “Leading the Compassionate Life”. That is a key word, compassion, based on the Latin words, “com” (meaning with) and “passio” (meaning patience). We need to deal with each other WITH PATIENCE, taking time to care for and help others.
A dose of compassion could lead to justice and fair play for a lot of disadvantaged people, among which are many of these unmarried mothers. And a lot of other unhappy and unlucky people.
All kinds of reasons for this growth of unmarried mothers can be found, ranging from socio-economic issues to moral issues. Certainly, no one would doubt that the present economic conditions can only exacerbate this situation. When you don’t have a job and are dependent on the safety net you don’t want to rock the boat. With so many young men unemployed, a lot of young women don’t want to saddle themselves with more debt and problems by taking on a man who is not contributing to family welfare. Plus, let’s face it, irresponsibility for economic or social reasons is a fact of life today: a lot of young, plus old, are ducking commitment.
Statistics bear out that the children of the unmarried in poor economic circumstances have the dice loaded against them with less educational and job opportunities. The system helps to hold you down, preventing you from breaking out of the vise of poverty in bad times.
Without intending to preach, I believe that this problem of increased illegitimacy in the young is symptomatic of the moral decay prevalent in so many lives. Our values are under fire or frequently lacking. It’s hard to lead a moral life when your main concern is simply existing, getting enough for food and shelter, the basics of existence.
This moral decay is not confined to the lowest on the economic ladder but is rife throughout the strata of society. I just don’t see the same emphasis on leading a good and productive life that existed in earlier generations in my lifetime. Mind you, earlier generations screwed up big time with regularity; hence, so many problems of today prevail. A moral undertone, even if often ignored, was there in the background. I don’t feel that undertone today. A lack of responsibility, “a-let-someone-else-do-it” attitude often appears as the major philosophy, and I find that sad.
At my church we have a series of forums in between the services on Sunday morning, and this year’s theme is “Leading the Compassionate Life”. That is a key word, compassion, based on the Latin words, “com” (meaning with) and “passio” (meaning patience). We need to deal with each other WITH PATIENCE, taking time to care for and help others.
A dose of compassion could lead to justice and fair play for a lot of disadvantaged people, among which are many of these unmarried mothers. And a lot of other unhappy and unlucky people.
Friday, February 10, 2012
OF RACE AND PREJUDICE: A REMEMBRANCE
I watched a program on P.B.S. a few nights ago---I’m a real P.B.S. junkie---called “American Experience”, a series documenting important people and events in our history, about the Freedom Riders of 1961 who dared travel by bus to the deep segregated south, subjecting themselves to injury, abuse and arrest for the cause of Civil Rights. Interviews fifty years later with participants were fascinating and frightening,and I was amazed at their courage and resoluteness. Their whole approach, as you may recall, was inspired by Martin Luther King’s passive resistance and nonviolence, which, in turn, was spawned from Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent revolution in South Africa and India. Coincidentally, the same week I also watched Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning “Gandhi”, starring Oscar-winning Ben Kingsley.
My wife asked me after the documentary on the Freedom Fighters if I could have done that, and I quickly and instinctively answered, “Hell no, I’d have been scared to death.” I wish I would have had the courage, but I had to be honest. How many of you out there in cyberspace would have had the guts to do it? It took a special breed of devotion to the cause and of willing martyrdom to be a Freedom Rider.
We have come a long way in the last fifty years and made significant improvements in overcoming prejudice and racism. If you had asked me fifty years ago if we would have had a black President in my lifetime, I would have scoffed at the possibility. Yet here we are…
Looking back over my life in terms of prejudice and racism, the two major area of conflict have been Civil Rights for blacks and Anti-Semitism. I grew up in southwestern Ohio, and Ohio fought, obviously, for the North, the Union, in the Civil War, but that did not guarantee tolerance. I grew up in an era where prejudice against blacks was rife. No, we did not have Jim Crow, but the attitude about blacks was neo-southern. Snickers and racial jokes were common and the use of the N-word, Jigaboos,Jungle Bunnies, Night Fighters and the like were everyday pejoratives.
In my small town in Ohio, at the Greyhound Bus Terminal was a lunch counter, and even after World War II, blacks could not eat there, until in 1946, our cook’s son, a brave soul named Darrell Taylor, led a sit-in resulting in the opening of that lunch counter to the black community.
As for anti-Semitism, I even have some personal experience there. My grandfather was the American-born son of German Jewish immigrants from Bavaria. My grandfather Leo married a woman in 1889 of English ancestry named Gertrude Smith. He told my grandmother, “Gertrude, your Christian religion is more important to you than my Jewish faith, so raise the children any way you want”; hence, my father and his siblings, as well as my generation (since my father also married a Christian) grew up as Christians in the Episcopal faith.
When I went away to prep school, The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, for the first time in my life I ran into anti-Semitism. One of my classmates from Cincinnati, a supercilious ass named Gary, with whom I did not get along, knew of my family background and used to comment on it to his friends and make snide allusions to my Jewish background. I was puzzled, somewhat hurt, and had never run into such personal prejudice before, as my grandfather was deeply respected as a successful businessman and philanthropist in our area. I remember being home on spring vacation and mentioning these slurs to my mother. She looked surprised and said to me, “Gary said that? Why, he’s got more Jewish blood than you. His father is Jewish, and his family changed their name from Schlumberger.”
When I returned to school, one Saturday I was walking down my dormitory hall, and Gary saw me passing by and shouted, “Hey, off for the synagogue?” I put my head in the door and said, “Yes, Schlumberger, care to join me?” He looked visibly shaken, and one of his friends said, “What the hell does that mean?” “Ask Gary”, I replied and went on my way. After that, Gary was very quiet around me. This was in 1945 and even with a war winding down where Jews were victims of horrific tragedy this kind of anti-Semitism was out in the open in certain snotty Waspish circles
Don’t delude yourself that racism and anti-Semitism have gone; they are simply better camouflaged today with code words and flanking attacks. Look at the right-wing kooks and our President. I’m sure a large part of the hatred out there is racially inspired. And Jews have enough enemies in the Islamic world, not to mention envious and resentful Christians who grouse about and envy rich Jewish bankers and merchants. Too many narrow minds resent the success of American Jews who have set high standards of accomplishment under trying circumstances.
I must add, we are doing better and improving in our understanding and acceptance. We have come a long way in my lifetime on both racism and anti-Semitism, but have no illusions: those dragons still breathe fire in the dark areas of our lives and souls.
My wife asked me after the documentary on the Freedom Fighters if I could have done that, and I quickly and instinctively answered, “Hell no, I’d have been scared to death.” I wish I would have had the courage, but I had to be honest. How many of you out there in cyberspace would have had the guts to do it? It took a special breed of devotion to the cause and of willing martyrdom to be a Freedom Rider.
We have come a long way in the last fifty years and made significant improvements in overcoming prejudice and racism. If you had asked me fifty years ago if we would have had a black President in my lifetime, I would have scoffed at the possibility. Yet here we are…
Looking back over my life in terms of prejudice and racism, the two major area of conflict have been Civil Rights for blacks and Anti-Semitism. I grew up in southwestern Ohio, and Ohio fought, obviously, for the North, the Union, in the Civil War, but that did not guarantee tolerance. I grew up in an era where prejudice against blacks was rife. No, we did not have Jim Crow, but the attitude about blacks was neo-southern. Snickers and racial jokes were common and the use of the N-word, Jigaboos,Jungle Bunnies, Night Fighters and the like were everyday pejoratives.
In my small town in Ohio, at the Greyhound Bus Terminal was a lunch counter, and even after World War II, blacks could not eat there, until in 1946, our cook’s son, a brave soul named Darrell Taylor, led a sit-in resulting in the opening of that lunch counter to the black community.
As for anti-Semitism, I even have some personal experience there. My grandfather was the American-born son of German Jewish immigrants from Bavaria. My grandfather Leo married a woman in 1889 of English ancestry named Gertrude Smith. He told my grandmother, “Gertrude, your Christian religion is more important to you than my Jewish faith, so raise the children any way you want”; hence, my father and his siblings, as well as my generation (since my father also married a Christian) grew up as Christians in the Episcopal faith.
When I went away to prep school, The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, for the first time in my life I ran into anti-Semitism. One of my classmates from Cincinnati, a supercilious ass named Gary, with whom I did not get along, knew of my family background and used to comment on it to his friends and make snide allusions to my Jewish background. I was puzzled, somewhat hurt, and had never run into such personal prejudice before, as my grandfather was deeply respected as a successful businessman and philanthropist in our area. I remember being home on spring vacation and mentioning these slurs to my mother. She looked surprised and said to me, “Gary said that? Why, he’s got more Jewish blood than you. His father is Jewish, and his family changed their name from Schlumberger.”
When I returned to school, one Saturday I was walking down my dormitory hall, and Gary saw me passing by and shouted, “Hey, off for the synagogue?” I put my head in the door and said, “Yes, Schlumberger, care to join me?” He looked visibly shaken, and one of his friends said, “What the hell does that mean?” “Ask Gary”, I replied and went on my way. After that, Gary was very quiet around me. This was in 1945 and even with a war winding down where Jews were victims of horrific tragedy this kind of anti-Semitism was out in the open in certain snotty Waspish circles
Don’t delude yourself that racism and anti-Semitism have gone; they are simply better camouflaged today with code words and flanking attacks. Look at the right-wing kooks and our President. I’m sure a large part of the hatred out there is racially inspired. And Jews have enough enemies in the Islamic world, not to mention envious and resentful Christians who grouse about and envy rich Jewish bankers and merchants. Too many narrow minds resent the success of American Jews who have set high standards of accomplishment under trying circumstances.
I must add, we are doing better and improving in our understanding and acceptance. We have come a long way in my lifetime on both racism and anti-Semitism, but have no illusions: those dragons still breathe fire in the dark areas of our lives and souls.
Monday, February 6, 2012
SUPER BOWL AND SUPER COSTS
We stayed home last night and watched a good part of the Super bowl, or at least I did; my wife is not a fan of American football, considering it barbaric. I tell her it's good for male gladiator instincts. Then "Downton Abbey" came on P.B.S., and we are hooked on that soap opera of upper class life in England before and during World War I (or "the Great War", as it was known). I willingly switched over during the Super Bowl halftime show, which was much ado about nothing. I also knew, if I missed part of the second half, I could turn on another TV or later switch to ESPN and catch the major highlights, which, sure enough, I was able to do.
It was obviously a good and exciting game, and Eli Manning showed that he is definitely among the elite quarterbacks in the league. Brady looked good, too, under considerable pressure, and a couple of missed passes, especially one by the always reliable Wes Welker, spelled doom. You can be sure with little time left that Eli inevitably finds a way to pull a passing miracle out of the hat and will win.
I still gasp at the cost of Super Bowl ads, which are now in the three million range. I guess it's worth their while, but sponsors have to gulp occasionally at the prohibitive cost. With a couple of exceptions and noting that I may have missed a few when I switched channels after Madonna, I did not think most of the ads were exceptional. I can't remember which company it was (I'm an adman's nightmare!) had the funny ad about the kid dying to go to the bathroom who ends up back in the pool creating Lake Urine. I believe it was some Tax service, but I'm not sure. I realize it is a huge audience, and it must be cost-justifiable for some companies like Bud, Pepsi and Coke, but my parsimonious soul shudders at the cost.
My luck as a prognosticator held up: I predicted it would be the winner of the 49ers-Giants game and said it would be the Giants. That and ten bucks will buy me a Starbucks super deluxe latte and cookie.
It was obviously a good and exciting game, and Eli Manning showed that he is definitely among the elite quarterbacks in the league. Brady looked good, too, under considerable pressure, and a couple of missed passes, especially one by the always reliable Wes Welker, spelled doom. You can be sure with little time left that Eli inevitably finds a way to pull a passing miracle out of the hat and will win.
I still gasp at the cost of Super Bowl ads, which are now in the three million range. I guess it's worth their while, but sponsors have to gulp occasionally at the prohibitive cost. With a couple of exceptions and noting that I may have missed a few when I switched channels after Madonna, I did not think most of the ads were exceptional. I can't remember which company it was (I'm an adman's nightmare!) had the funny ad about the kid dying to go to the bathroom who ends up back in the pool creating Lake Urine. I believe it was some Tax service, but I'm not sure. I realize it is a huge audience, and it must be cost-justifiable for some companies like Bud, Pepsi and Coke, but my parsimonious soul shudders at the cost.
My luck as a prognosticator held up: I predicted it would be the winner of the 49ers-Giants game and said it would be the Giants. That and ten bucks will buy me a Starbucks super deluxe latte and cookie.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
GOT A MAGIC PILL?
It would appear that Mitt Romney is moving closer to nomination as the Republican candidate for President after his resounding victory in Florida; that is, if he can remove his foot from his mouth long enough to accept the nomination. The man is gifted for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. I don't really think he intended to say he does not care about the poor, but it came out that way.
I'm fed up with the whole political process, which, as I have commented many times, takes too long and is unnecessarily redundant. Why do we need nineteen debates for the Republican candidates to make their positions clear? We don't, and now what happens is that the last campaign in Florida---and, I suspect, a few future campaigns---will be mud-slinging vituperation.
Newt Gingrich rises phoenixlike from the ashes of defeat and keeps fighting. i just read that "the Donald" Trump is endorsing Newt. That should be the kiss of death. As long as Sandy Adelson's millions keep flowing, Newt will keep talking. How many more Super-Pacs would you like to see?
On the other side of the political coin, the President keeps amassing his war chest and is spending an undue amount of time running, which takes time away from governing. I wish we had an impartial refereee who could call "Time Out"so that time could be spent in working through the economic problems besetting this country and the world, but that's simply my fantasy.
And Europe keeps fiddling while Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal burn. Explain to me how pure austerity solves the problems of southern Europe without financial stimulus to these moribund economies. Yes, belt-tightening is a necessity, but so is job creation.
My worldview has a dose of the flu, and it would appear to be an epidemic. A helluva lot of us are unhappy and hurting and need a global Alka-Seltzer. Or maybe Viagra, to stiffen our resolve!
I'm fed up with the whole political process, which, as I have commented many times, takes too long and is unnecessarily redundant. Why do we need nineteen debates for the Republican candidates to make their positions clear? We don't, and now what happens is that the last campaign in Florida---and, I suspect, a few future campaigns---will be mud-slinging vituperation.
Newt Gingrich rises phoenixlike from the ashes of defeat and keeps fighting. i just read that "the Donald" Trump is endorsing Newt. That should be the kiss of death. As long as Sandy Adelson's millions keep flowing, Newt will keep talking. How many more Super-Pacs would you like to see?
On the other side of the political coin, the President keeps amassing his war chest and is spending an undue amount of time running, which takes time away from governing. I wish we had an impartial refereee who could call "Time Out"so that time could be spent in working through the economic problems besetting this country and the world, but that's simply my fantasy.
And Europe keeps fiddling while Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal burn. Explain to me how pure austerity solves the problems of southern Europe without financial stimulus to these moribund economies. Yes, belt-tightening is a necessity, but so is job creation.
My worldview has a dose of the flu, and it would appear to be an epidemic. A helluva lot of us are unhappy and hurting and need a global Alka-Seltzer. Or maybe Viagra, to stiffen our resolve!
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