I have been justifiably hard on the people who run airlines and their careless attitude towards the comfort and satisfaction of their customers. I have reserved the most bitter scorn for the overpaid executives who would prefer to layoff the working stiffs and cut service rather than take a cut in their own compensation.
So I must take a moment and recognize at least one CEO making a move in the right direction.
The new honcho at JetBlue, David Barger, has taken a personal pay cut of 50% for six months. $250K instead of 500k the article says. If my math is correct, that is actually more like a 25% cut in his annual pay. Still, it is a gesture worthy of note. These guys get huge bonuses when business is good. It is typical for a C-level manager to take full credit - and perks - when business is good. But when things are bad they blame slow demand, weather, sunspots, price of gasoline, seasonal trends, etc. I kinda like a guy who acknowledges that the boss should get dinged along with everyone else.
I doubt that this is going to spark a new trend in responsible CEO salaries, but you never know...
7/30/2008
7/04/2008
Independence Day Musings
IN an op-ed column published in yesterday's Wall St Journal titled "Why We Went to War in Iraq." Douglas Feith, unrepentant neocon who is incidentally humping a new book, lays out the 5 major reasons that Bush decided to invade Iraq.
I think many of us who regret what has happened in Iraq would have to admit that we shared the post-9-11 mood of vulnerability and outrage. While we were not persuaded that Saddam was a clear and present danger to the USA, we saw his behavior as immediately dangerous to our ally, Israel. He had thumbed his nose at UN resolutions for years, was misusing the oil for food program, and was openly claiming to have WMD's ready to use, and threatening to acquire nuclear weapons. It certainly was my opinion that something had to be done.
In the months following the Trade Center Attacks on 9-11, I had been reading books like Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations" and was influenced by "The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq" by ex CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack. By the time Bush started rattling the saber, I was ready to sign up myself.
How easy it is to forget that we were unified as a country on that score. Today we blame it all on Bush, but i think we should take a moment and recognize that if a few parameters had been changed (eg, control of the looting, more involvement by UN, discovery of WMD's) it might seem like a different game. We know he had the Chemical weapons because we gave them to him; even today no one knows where they went to.
Although Mr Feith still thinks we had no choice other than to bring Saddam down, he does not argue that the post invasion administration was done well. Those mistakes have ruined many lives civilian and military, has wasted billions of US treasure, and has also exacerbated an ideological polarization within our own country.
Today we celebrate Independence Day. We stand in awe of those brave men who signed that letter to the king, in full realization that they might be sacrificing everything for the concept of liberty.
Few of us today can claim to share that level of commitment to an idea. Who will stand in awe of us?
I think many of us who regret what has happened in Iraq would have to admit that we shared the post-9-11 mood of vulnerability and outrage. While we were not persuaded that Saddam was a clear and present danger to the USA, we saw his behavior as immediately dangerous to our ally, Israel. He had thumbed his nose at UN resolutions for years, was misusing the oil for food program, and was openly claiming to have WMD's ready to use, and threatening to acquire nuclear weapons. It certainly was my opinion that something had to be done.
In the months following the Trade Center Attacks on 9-11, I had been reading books like Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations" and was influenced by "The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq" by ex CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack. By the time Bush started rattling the saber, I was ready to sign up myself.
How easy it is to forget that we were unified as a country on that score. Today we blame it all on Bush, but i think we should take a moment and recognize that if a few parameters had been changed (eg, control of the looting, more involvement by UN, discovery of WMD's) it might seem like a different game. We know he had the Chemical weapons because we gave them to him; even today no one knows where they went to.
Although Mr Feith still thinks we had no choice other than to bring Saddam down, he does not argue that the post invasion administration was done well. Those mistakes have ruined many lives civilian and military, has wasted billions of US treasure, and has also exacerbated an ideological polarization within our own country.
Today we celebrate Independence Day. We stand in awe of those brave men who signed that letter to the king, in full realization that they might be sacrificing everything for the concept of liberty.
Few of us today can claim to share that level of commitment to an idea. Who will stand in awe of us?
7/01/2008
The Turnaround Begins Now
Fans and critics alike will be pleased to know that the check has finally arrived.
Today, I will go to Sears and purchase a new lawn mower, made (or at least, assembled) in the USA. We will fill our gas tanks and buy locally grown foods at the market. We will buy a book written by an American author. Perhaps a case of Sierra Nevada. A California Chardonnay or maybe a nice Zinfandel.
I think that should get the Economy kick started...
Today, I will go to Sears and purchase a new lawn mower, made (or at least, assembled) in the USA. We will fill our gas tanks and buy locally grown foods at the market. We will buy a book written by an American author. Perhaps a case of Sierra Nevada. A California Chardonnay or maybe a nice Zinfandel.
I think that should get the Economy kick started...
6/30/2008
Clark's Outrageous Comment
In logic, conflation is the error of treating two distinct concepts as if they were one. We witnessed a perfect example of this in the press treatment of the Wesley Clark statement regarding John McCain. Asked on the Sunday morning program Face The Nation, hosted by Bob Sheiffer whether John McCain's military experience qualified him to become president, General Clark (a pro military guy himself) responded that flying jets, getting shot down, being a POW were not necessarily presidential qualifications.
The aghast Sheiffer demanded an explanation, wherein Clark explained the differences between policy setting, planning and administration and following orders. He never disparaged McCain's courage, patriotism, or honesty.
McCain's people were outraged. How could anyone question McCain's military record? By yesterday evening, Obama was distancing himself from Clark.
I am perplexed. Why can't Obama (or some journalist) simply point out that Clark never attacked McCain's patriotism or courage? The comments about the qualifications for president were restricted to whether combat military service was pertinent to the job as commander in chief. (If so, maybe they should have nominated Colin Powell.)
But some conservatives have been very successful in raising conflation to a conversational art. Let anyone utter a word of dissention from the party line and their patriotism is called into question. This flap is proof that the mix of disinformation and moral clarity creates a potent brew.
The aghast Sheiffer demanded an explanation, wherein Clark explained the differences between policy setting, planning and administration and following orders. He never disparaged McCain's courage, patriotism, or honesty.
McCain's people were outraged. How could anyone question McCain's military record? By yesterday evening, Obama was distancing himself from Clark.
I am perplexed. Why can't Obama (or some journalist) simply point out that Clark never attacked McCain's patriotism or courage? The comments about the qualifications for president were restricted to whether combat military service was pertinent to the job as commander in chief. (If so, maybe they should have nominated Colin Powell.)
But some conservatives have been very successful in raising conflation to a conversational art. Let anyone utter a word of dissention from the party line and their patriotism is called into question. This flap is proof that the mix of disinformation and moral clarity creates a potent brew.
Wisdom of Age
Boy, the guy who said, "You should never cook bacon while naked," really knew what he was talking about.
6/29/2008
Rationalizing Happiness
Another birthday has rolled around on the two digit odometer of my life. I do not mention it to make you feel guilty that you didn't send me a card or a gift, honestly. It is not a big birthday, but one of those tweener anniversaries. Last year's birthday (my 65th) is probably the last one I will actually "celebrate" with any sense of party-worthiness. From here on I will simply "observe" the day as a reason to demand bacon for breakfast - with no feeling of celebration, rather a vague sense of doom as I mark one year closer to the ultimate afternoon nap. This is not morbid thinking; this is just Reality 101.
When my friends and I get together for lunch these days, we toast each others' health - and we really mean it! These days some of us are clinking iced tea and soda glasses instead of those heady steins of dark beer or martinis. Alcohol doesn't agree with some of our meds. But we are nonetheless happy to be alive and out in the company of friends to enjoy a meal and some conversation.
Frequently, at lunch the talk turns to politics. We are all tending to be argumentative in our old age (and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it.) Family members call us curmudgeons; we call them ungrateful little snots.
My conservative leaning lunch mates tend to be frustrated with the relentlessness of progress. The mainstream (Communists and anarchists) press reports are full of lies and spin; special interest conservative news outlets warn of perils and slippery slopes. Their gloomy effect is far-reaching - peaked by news of another hapless pregnant girl who elects to end an unwanted pregnancy, another proposed tax measure, or any effort to change things. They want to keep things as they were. Dissent is viewed as treason.
. . .
Conservatives have always seemed grumpy to me. So I was interested in a small piece in the Globe today that cited recent studies that found conservatives tended to think of themselves as happy. In summary:
"The conservative-happiness relationship was not explained by differences in demographics or thoughtfulness but was largely explained by conservatives' greater rationalization of inequality, including belief in a meritocratic world. According to the authors, such beliefs serve a "palliative function" or act as an "emotional buffer" when confronted with inequality."
Now this seems to make sense. If you believe in a meritocracy, you probably have deluded yourself into believing that you've earned everything you've got; you are not simply the beneficiary of a lucky DNA roll that permitted you to be smart, good looking and white.
When my friends and I get together for lunch these days, we toast each others' health - and we really mean it! These days some of us are clinking iced tea and soda glasses instead of those heady steins of dark beer or martinis. Alcohol doesn't agree with some of our meds. But we are nonetheless happy to be alive and out in the company of friends to enjoy a meal and some conversation.
Frequently, at lunch the talk turns to politics. We are all tending to be argumentative in our old age (and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it.) Family members call us curmudgeons; we call them ungrateful little snots.
My conservative leaning lunch mates tend to be frustrated with the relentlessness of progress. The mainstream (Communists and anarchists) press reports are full of lies and spin; special interest conservative news outlets warn of perils and slippery slopes. Their gloomy effect is far-reaching - peaked by news of another hapless pregnant girl who elects to end an unwanted pregnancy, another proposed tax measure, or any effort to change things. They want to keep things as they were. Dissent is viewed as treason.
. . .
Conservatives have always seemed grumpy to me. So I was interested in a small piece in the Globe today that cited recent studies that found conservatives tended to think of themselves as happy. In summary:
"The conservative-happiness relationship was not explained by differences in demographics or thoughtfulness but was largely explained by conservatives' greater rationalization of inequality, including belief in a meritocratic world. According to the authors, such beliefs serve a "palliative function" or act as an "emotional buffer" when confronted with inequality."
Now this seems to make sense. If you believe in a meritocracy, you probably have deluded yourself into believing that you've earned everything you've got; you are not simply the beneficiary of a lucky DNA roll that permitted you to be smart, good looking and white.
6/24/2008
Where's My Check Part 2
Ok, I got an official looking envelope from the US treasury, yesterday. It was addressed to both of us, with the last 4 digits of our taxpayer number, so there was no doubt what it contained.
I had just received the quarterly real estate tax bill the day before, and unexpected auto repairs last week had nearly depleted our discretionary expense account. The timing couldn't be better.
The government envelope had been wedged between sheaves of drenched junk mail, so, despite the torrential rains, it remained relatively dry. I rejoiced in anticipation of the long-awaited economic stimulus bonus check that would help turn our economy around to save our retirement nest egg.
Not that the mail carrier cared. He was one of those bitter, unfriendly civil servants who hate their jobs and spend most of their time on the job calculating the number of days to go until they can retire. Whenever it rains, I noticed that he never makes the slightest effort to keep the mail covered. He just walks a normal pace to each house on the street with the mail held out, unprotected, looking miffed because he was out slogging in the rain, hungry and cold, while we - the affluent residents of his route are probably languishing inside our pricey dry McMansions, not working, making grilled cheese sandwiches and watching The View.
Into each mailbox, he angrily stuffs the clutch of soggy catalogs and bills. Maybe he thinks he is living up to the Post Office credo of reliable, relentless service through rain, sleet, whatever.
Maybe he grudgingly feels he is doing a service, but I would rather wait for a nice day and get dry mail, instead of "[bleep] you - here's your [bleeping] wet mail!" But the excitement of getting my stimulus check wiped out any trivial annoyance over minor aggravations such as wet mail.
When I opened the envelope to find a letter and no check, my high expectations were crushed like a Corvair in a junkyard. Here's what the letter said:
"The check is in the mail" The letter was dated June 23 and it said that the check was scheduled for June 27 - but may take six weeks...don't call until then.
Now, I know most of you have given up trying to figure out why the government does what it does, but I still demand rationality. Was this letter supposed to give me some useful information? Or was it just another waste of taxpayer money?
And, where the hell is my check?
I had just received the quarterly real estate tax bill the day before, and unexpected auto repairs last week had nearly depleted our discretionary expense account. The timing couldn't be better.
The government envelope had been wedged between sheaves of drenched junk mail, so, despite the torrential rains, it remained relatively dry. I rejoiced in anticipation of the long-awaited economic stimulus bonus check that would help turn our economy around to save our retirement nest egg.
Not that the mail carrier cared. He was one of those bitter, unfriendly civil servants who hate their jobs and spend most of their time on the job calculating the number of days to go until they can retire. Whenever it rains, I noticed that he never makes the slightest effort to keep the mail covered. He just walks a normal pace to each house on the street with the mail held out, unprotected, looking miffed because he was out slogging in the rain, hungry and cold, while we - the affluent residents of his route are probably languishing inside our pricey dry McMansions, not working, making grilled cheese sandwiches and watching The View.
Into each mailbox, he angrily stuffs the clutch of soggy catalogs and bills. Maybe he thinks he is living up to the Post Office credo of reliable, relentless service through rain, sleet, whatever.
Maybe he grudgingly feels he is doing a service, but I would rather wait for a nice day and get dry mail, instead of "[bleep] you - here's your [bleeping] wet mail!" But the excitement of getting my stimulus check wiped out any trivial annoyance over minor aggravations such as wet mail.
When I opened the envelope to find a letter and no check, my high expectations were crushed like a Corvair in a junkyard. Here's what the letter said:
"The check is in the mail" The letter was dated June 23 and it said that the check was scheduled for June 27 - but may take six weeks...don't call until then.
Now, I know most of you have given up trying to figure out why the government does what it does, but I still demand rationality. Was this letter supposed to give me some useful information? Or was it just another waste of taxpayer money?
And, where the hell is my check?
6/21/2008
New Brave World
I was moved (again) by Peggy Noonan's recent WSJ essay "Brave New World" which impressed me as an intelligent and honest analysis of the choices we have in the next election. If you read nothing else about politics, you should read this essay. http://www.wsj.com/article/SB121330247663568945.html
In November, Americans will go to the polls with a clear choice. McCain represents Old America; Obama represents New America. The individuals themselves do not matter, so we should not get hung-up on the personalities. The president is not the Emperor. If the congress has any gonads at all, the president cannot do anything that is contrary to the will of the people.
My liberal friends (most of the people I associate with) like to blame everything that has gone wrong in the last 7 years on George Bush. I find this a bit too simplistic. There are many conspiritors afoot.
Bush lied and people died, is a clever reduction, but it does not square with the real situation. The democratic majority could have voted against funding the war in Iraq and it would have been over long ago. But they didn't. They drove the getaway car, and that makes them accessories just as if they had committed the crime with their own hands.
My conservative friends are quick to point out that things are not as bad as they would have been under Al Gore or John Kerry. I am inclined to agree with them, and I will admit that I voted for Bush both times. In retrospect I think my vote for dubya was more against the other guys. I was voting against the guys who had spent their lives working in the Washington machine. I did not trust them to have the intestinal fortitude to stand-up against their powerful special interest sponsors.
Perhaps this is just revisionist. I am acutely aware of the human tendency to justify past choices, even when they turn out to be disasterous.
Back to Peggy's thesis. I think she has nailed it with her description of the issues and choice at stake - New America vs Old America.
Unfortunately for her camp, she has clearly made the case that guarantees an Obama victory. She romantically characterizes what Old America stands for, forgetting the inconvenient truths of Traditional America - which was fine if you were white, good looking, and lucky enough to have Ozzie and Harriet for parents. Most of the people who will be voting in the next election don't identify with that shining vision - or memory.
Do we still have time to impeach Bush for poisoning the tomatoes?
6/15/2008
A License to Annoy
Hmm. I'm reading the AP News bulletin with a distinctly non-newsy headline that shouts: " Companies get OK to annoy polar bears ." The story is a ruling by The Fish and Wildlife Service that allows seven oil companies to drill in the arctic without worrying about harassing lawsuits from tree-huggers that they are disturbing the habitat of a useless species of wild bear.
Such a headline is certainly disturbing because it violates the fundamental assumption that news is about facts. The headline should have said "Ruling allows oil companies to explore near bear populations "
The injection of the reporter's or some special interest spokesman's value judgements into the story (and indeed the lead) is an increasing annoyance to those of us who read newspapers hoping to discern the truth about events. Isn't there a section in the paper for Opinions, where it may be relevant to discuss how one measures the level of annoyance exhibited by bears.
Even more exasperating for neutral-leaning readers is the information:
The seven companies will be required to map out the locations of polar bear dens, train their employees about the bears' habits and take other measures to minimize clashes with them. In exchange, the companies are legally protected if their operations unintentionally harm the bears. Any bear deaths would still warrant an investigation and could result in penalty under the law.
Administration and industry officials said oil companies enjoyed similar status in the Chukchi Sea from 1991 to 1996 and in the Beaufort Sea since 1993 and there was no effect on polar bear populations.
There is no evidence of a polar bear being killed by oil and gas activities in Alaska since 1993, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Since 1960, when the hunt for oil and gas began in Alaska, only two fatalities of polar bears have been linked to oil and gas activities in the state, the service said.
Such a headline is certainly disturbing because it violates the fundamental assumption that news is about facts. The headline should have said "Ruling allows oil companies to explore near bear populations "
The injection of the reporter's or some special interest spokesman's value judgements into the story (and indeed the lead) is an increasing annoyance to those of us who read newspapers hoping to discern the truth about events. Isn't there a section in the paper for Opinions, where it may be relevant to discuss how one measures the level of annoyance exhibited by bears.
Even more exasperating for neutral-leaning readers is the information:
The seven companies will be required to map out the locations of polar bear dens, train their employees about the bears' habits and take other measures to minimize clashes with them. In exchange, the companies are legally protected if their operations unintentionally harm the bears. Any bear deaths would still warrant an investigation and could result in penalty under the law.
Administration and industry officials said oil companies enjoyed similar status in the Chukchi Sea from 1991 to 1996 and in the Beaufort Sea since 1993 and there was no effect on polar bear populations.
There is no evidence of a polar bear being killed by oil and gas activities in Alaska since 1993, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Since 1960, when the hunt for oil and gas began in Alaska, only two fatalities of polar bears have been linked to oil and gas activities in the state, the service said.
Seems to me like a rational approach to minimizing the impact on the indigenous wildlife while moving ahead with progress. Yet the headline shouted the opinion of a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, who called the ruling "... a blank check to harass the polar bear in the Chukchi Sea."
So, even if the trade-off is between annoying a few bears and $6 a gallon gasoline, I think it should be arcticly clear which side I am on.
6/13/2008
Another Reason to Stay on the Sofa
The recent news that the food services at Fenway Park could be dangerous to your health comes as no surprise to your faithful, germaphobic hellhole escapee. See this link for story.
I just hope the baseball workers (aka: players) dont eat the food that is sold to fans. We wouldn't want yet another reason for them to go on strike.
Your frugal, germaphobic, escapee blogger has been priced-out of the professional entertainment market for many years, not just since becoming a fixed-income pensioner. Not to mention that his widening posterior has been sized-out by the tiny seats in Fenway coach class.
There was an op-ed piece in the paper the other day, calling for a cap on the price of "resold" tickets. The writer thought that scalpers should be prohibited from selling the ticket at more than twice the face value of the ticket. I do not see the logic of such an arbitrary position. Either the price should be enforced exactly at face value or whatever the market will bear. And do we really want the government to nationalize and regulate the resold ticket industry?
If some wealthy moron wants to pay $10,000 for a ticket to watch a bunch of spoiled, overpaid baseball workers, why should we care?
==============
Speaking of the risk of plagues killing multitudes of people, I recently saw the Sci Fi (Will Smith) movie "I Am Legend" which has been out on DVD for a few months.
Based on the book by Richard Matheson, it is an updated remake of the excellent 1971 Charlton Heston movie which was titled "The Omega Man."
The story is about survival and loneliness after a catastrophic man-made plague. In the original story the world population is decimated by the results of a biological warfare conflict. In the updated version, a genetically tweaked virus becomes a cure for cancer, but mutates into a form of human rabies.
Those who survive become light-phobic vampires. OK, I didn't think I would like it either, but I am mentioning it here, because I did like it. And the special effects are stunning. And the fresh prince has come a long way since "Independence Day."
Not that you should give a crap what I think, but I give it four stars.
I just hope the baseball workers (aka: players) dont eat the food that is sold to fans. We wouldn't want yet another reason for them to go on strike.
Your frugal, germaphobic, escapee blogger has been priced-out of the professional entertainment market for many years, not just since becoming a fixed-income pensioner. Not to mention that his widening posterior has been sized-out by the tiny seats in Fenway coach class.
There was an op-ed piece in the paper the other day, calling for a cap on the price of "resold" tickets. The writer thought that scalpers should be prohibited from selling the ticket at more than twice the face value of the ticket. I do not see the logic of such an arbitrary position. Either the price should be enforced exactly at face value or whatever the market will bear. And do we really want the government to nationalize and regulate the resold ticket industry?
If some wealthy moron wants to pay $10,000 for a ticket to watch a bunch of spoiled, overpaid baseball workers, why should we care?
==============
Speaking of the risk of plagues killing multitudes of people, I recently saw the Sci Fi (Will Smith) movie "I Am Legend" which has been out on DVD for a few months.
Based on the book by Richard Matheson, it is an updated remake of the excellent 1971 Charlton Heston movie which was titled "The Omega Man."
The story is about survival and loneliness after a catastrophic man-made plague. In the original story the world population is decimated by the results of a biological warfare conflict. In the updated version, a genetically tweaked virus becomes a cure for cancer, but mutates into a form of human rabies.
Those who survive become light-phobic vampires. OK, I didn't think I would like it either, but I am mentioning it here, because I did like it. And the special effects are stunning. And the fresh prince has come a long way since "Independence Day."
Not that you should give a crap what I think, but I give it four stars.
6/11/2008
More Reasons to 'Grow Your Own'
Killer Tomatoes
The latest assault on our health and wallets is salmonella and tomatoes. Shades of last year's spinach contamination - if everyone is like me, you probably don't feel the same way about spinach since fall of 2006. How would you like to be an ex-spinach farmer who borrowed heavily to shift his crop to cultivation of tomatoes?
Not a Farmers Daughter Joke.
It could be worse: In Afghanistan, many of the poppy farmers are complaining that the recent government crackdown on poppy growing has cost them dearly. With no crop, they have no way to pay back the money they borrowed from the Taliban. The Taliban - much like the Mafia - tells them "It's just business" and makes them an offer that they literally cannot refuse. "Give us your young attractive daughter and we'll call it square." See Opium Brides
The latest assault on our health and wallets is salmonella and tomatoes. Shades of last year's spinach contamination - if everyone is like me, you probably don't feel the same way about spinach since fall of 2006. How would you like to be an ex-spinach farmer who borrowed heavily to shift his crop to cultivation of tomatoes?
Not a Farmers Daughter Joke.
It could be worse: In Afghanistan, many of the poppy farmers are complaining that the recent government crackdown on poppy growing has cost them dearly. With no crop, they have no way to pay back the money they borrowed from the Taliban. The Taliban - much like the Mafia - tells them "It's just business" and makes them an offer that they literally cannot refuse. "Give us your young attractive daughter and we'll call it square." See Opium Brides
6/08/2008
Fathers Day Gift Planning
I am seeing all these absolutely dumbass ideas about what people ought to get for their dads on Fathers day. Most of these are written by staff writers who were told "write something for fathers day" so they came up with "The ten best Fathers day gifts" or "what dad really wants on fathers day." It's all crap and any one who gets their ideas from these lame-assed ads should be embarrassed.
No kids, I do not want "the Beer of The month" for fathers day - nor does anyone who really likes beer. To me, it would be the same as sending dad a pair of socks every month. Don't other dads like to pick out their own socks? I do. And I prefer to select my favorite beer - which is technically an ale - Sierra Nevada. Why would I want randomly selected beers picked by some skinny Gen-X dude who thinks Green Day is a good band? Or worse, some millenium shavetail with a taste for Belgium wheat beers and bleeding heart tattoos snaking up their necks.
No thanks. I spent a lifetime in a costly and far reaching search for the beer that would become my brand. You want to give me beer, give me my favorite brand, not some trendy boutique brew.
No kids, I do not want "the Beer of The month" for fathers day - nor does anyone who really likes beer. To me, it would be the same as sending dad a pair of socks every month. Don't other dads like to pick out their own socks? I do. And I prefer to select my favorite beer - which is technically an ale - Sierra Nevada. Why would I want randomly selected beers picked by some skinny Gen-X dude who thinks Green Day is a good band? Or worse, some millenium shavetail with a taste for Belgium wheat beers and bleeding heart tattoos snaking up their necks.
No thanks. I spent a lifetime in a costly and far reaching search for the beer that would become my brand. You want to give me beer, give me my favorite brand, not some trendy boutique brew.
6/07/2008
A Toast To the Voters
Peggy Noonan doesn't like the Clintons, and figuratively raises her glass to salute the Democrats for rejecting her as the nominee for President in this article which appears in today's WSJ.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121269958227749853.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121269958227749853.html
6/05/2008
Where's My Check?
Here it is the first week in June and I want to know: where's my check?
Has anyone got their so-called economic stimulus money yet? What did you do with it?
I had originally thought I would use the money for a new lawnmower - made in America and all that. I figured it would be a win-win deal.
They say that Gods laughs at our plans. (Meanspirited of him, don't you think?) Perhaps you think it paranoid of me to suggest that God has driven the price of sweet crude to record heights for the sole purpose of thwarting my intention to buy a new lawnmower, but I'm just saying it looks pretty suspicious to me. The cost of almost everything is suddenly higher. (The one bright light: the cost of my favorite product - K-Y Warming Jelly - has stayed stable.)
But you cannot run a Grand Caravan on personal lubricant. And those rip-off artists at the dealer service center have reamed me to the tune of $900.00 (USD) to fix my brakes, a vacuum hose, and to install front-end anti-sway bar bushings. A fill-up now costs $65.00.
I hear some metaphysical chuckle in my inner-ear about my new plan: to use the government money to pay my Visa bill. Now, if the government goes belly-up before I get the check, I will know for sure that God is out to get me.
Has anyone got their so-called economic stimulus money yet? What did you do with it?
I had originally thought I would use the money for a new lawnmower - made in America and all that. I figured it would be a win-win deal.
They say that Gods laughs at our plans. (Meanspirited of him, don't you think?) Perhaps you think it paranoid of me to suggest that God has driven the price of sweet crude to record heights for the sole purpose of thwarting my intention to buy a new lawnmower, but I'm just saying it looks pretty suspicious to me. The cost of almost everything is suddenly higher. (The one bright light: the cost of my favorite product - K-Y Warming Jelly - has stayed stable.)
But you cannot run a Grand Caravan on personal lubricant. And those rip-off artists at the dealer service center have reamed me to the tune of $900.00 (USD) to fix my brakes, a vacuum hose, and to install front-end anti-sway bar bushings. A fill-up now costs $65.00.
I hear some metaphysical chuckle in my inner-ear about my new plan: to use the government money to pay my Visa bill. Now, if the government goes belly-up before I get the check, I will know for sure that God is out to get me.
5/28/2008
Reasons Not To Buy Scott McClellan's Kiss and Tell Book
The former Press Secretary has written a book. I am not going to buy it and you probably shouldn't either.
Anyone that could write the following paragraph deserves to be ignored:
"Our lack of candor and honesty in making the case for war would later provoke a partisan response from our opponents that, in its own way, further distorted and obscured a more nuanced reality. Another cycle of deception would cloud the public's ability to see larger, underlying important truths that are critical to understand in order to avoid the same problems in the future. "
Huh?
Any half-decent editor would have simplified the wording:
"When the Democrat-America-Haters realized that we had lied about the threat in Iraq, they were really pissed. It forced us to react as if they were the enemy. It was all their fault. "
As President Bush might have said, "Helluva job, Scotty."
Anyone that could write the following paragraph deserves to be ignored:
"Our lack of candor and honesty in making the case for war would later provoke a partisan response from our opponents that, in its own way, further distorted and obscured a more nuanced reality. Another cycle of deception would cloud the public's ability to see larger, underlying important truths that are critical to understand in order to avoid the same problems in the future. "
Huh?
Any half-decent editor would have simplified the wording:
"When the Democrat-America-Haters realized that we had lied about the threat in Iraq, they were really pissed. It forced us to react as if they were the enemy. It was all their fault. "
As President Bush might have said, "Helluva job, Scotty."
5/24/2008
Beware The Ides of June
Hillary Clinton may have revealed her real strategy yesterday when she attempted to justify her perseverance in the presidential campaign, despite the virtual mathematical certainty that she cannot get enough delegates to win:
"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California Primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. "
This remark was not well received. There was a furious round of outrage by the Obama camp. Later in the day, Hillary sort of apologized - to those who chose to misconstrue her remark.
When I first heard this quote, I wondered, what's the fuss? She is just saying "It ain't over until the real votes are counted."
Naive me. After listening to the nuance police on TV, now I realize that this was actually a very subtle RFP for a hired hit job on Barak. People who hate the Clintons believe them to be capable of any, I repeat any, act, however ruthless, in order to fulfill their ambitions. Imus calls Hillary Satan. And Bill has already proven that he would risk everything for Oval Office blowjobs from a talkative young intern.
I did not initially find Hillary's statements to be inflammatory because I had already heard the same rationale from more than one talking head using the Bobby Kennedy example: Stuff happens, they say. It may be unseemly for her to make the point, but the context was in answer to a question during a round table discussion, not a rhetorical call-for-action in a stump speech.
Logic has no authority in this matter. The jar is open, and whether she meant it or not, the spectre of political assassination is floating in the air. Now she (and we) will have to endure another month of shukking and jiving in the spotlight about what-she-said and what-she-meant. Conspiracy lovers will have a(nother) field day.
The naive among us think that political assassinations are events that happen in other, primitive societies. The realists among us realize that it can (and did) happen here. The darkly imaginative anti-Clintonistas among us might be thinking: first strike.
"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California Primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. "
This remark was not well received. There was a furious round of outrage by the Obama camp. Later in the day, Hillary sort of apologized - to those who chose to misconstrue her remark.
When I first heard this quote, I wondered, what's the fuss? She is just saying "It ain't over until the real votes are counted."
Naive me. After listening to the nuance police on TV, now I realize that this was actually a very subtle RFP for a hired hit job on Barak. People who hate the Clintons believe them to be capable of any, I repeat any, act, however ruthless, in order to fulfill their ambitions. Imus calls Hillary Satan. And Bill has already proven that he would risk everything for Oval Office blowjobs from a talkative young intern.
I did not initially find Hillary's statements to be inflammatory because I had already heard the same rationale from more than one talking head using the Bobby Kennedy example: Stuff happens, they say. It may be unseemly for her to make the point, but the context was in answer to a question during a round table discussion, not a rhetorical call-for-action in a stump speech.
Logic has no authority in this matter. The jar is open, and whether she meant it or not, the spectre of political assassination is floating in the air. Now she (and we) will have to endure another month of shukking and jiving in the spotlight about what-she-said and what-she-meant. Conspiracy lovers will have a(nother) field day.
The naive among us think that political assassinations are events that happen in other, primitive societies. The realists among us realize that it can (and did) happen here. The darkly imaginative anti-Clintonistas among us might be thinking: first strike.
5/23/2008
Post-Vacation Blues
Actually, I never noticed this before, but after a month in paradise, real life seems – well - disappointing. I feel like the classic dipsomaniac who is trying to recover from a month-long bender. The overload of sensory delights, followed by sudden withdrawal, has created a type of post-traumatic stress.
You are probably saying to yourself, other than the air travel experience where is the trauma? Well, my friend don’t you think it’s traumatic to know that you are more than 6,000 miles from Paradise? Who knows, maybe shrinks have a syndrome that describes the feeling (post-euphoric-stress?) that betakes people and imprisons them in a back-to-earth funk.
Or, maybe these blues are the natural reaction of a fixed-income retiree - who may, or may not, live another 20 years (God only knows) and who must subsist on the meager dole from Unka Sam - plus anticipated interest from investments in a volatile economy. Gas is going up, the value of my mansion is going down, my chances to find part time work are diminished and (according to spammer e-mails) my love-muscle is too disappointingly soft. I planted a dozen marigolds three days ago. Some varmint has beheaded 8 of them. I mowed the lawn last week and here it is again looking shaggy. I search for seeds of hope, but crows have eaten them.
This morning it occurred to me that life is like a job. God is the boss, and even he has a manual to tell you what to do, and especially how to feed his big ego. You need to show up every day and try to look good. A few basic rules: Be nice to others (unless you are serving in the military) and stop dreaming about shtupping the neighbor’s wife/donkey. I can go along with that. It’s the requisite level of ego gratification that troubles me. Kneeling, chanting, supplication. And the performance review…pretty intimidating.
Ah, perhaps I will find cause to Hope in the morning paper: Oprah is going on a 21 day vegan detox diet. Like that will somehow make her eternally thin. We all know that when you are fat, you will always be fat until you get sick and die. Diets are God’s way of making you stop eating the stuff you like for a few months. It’s like the boss - jerking you around for entertainment.
And here: Annotated color graphic of Ted Kennedy’s inoperable brain tumor spoils my breakfast. The suddenness of this dark diagnosis stuns us all – even the pundati on the radio who love to hate him. He looks thinner already.
Then there are the Hurricanes and tornadoes and Earthquakes. We are once again reminded of human impotence. Natural forces and perhaps even supernatural powers hold sway over us, sneak up on us, and devastate us. Some people call this type of universal suffering “God’s will.” Such thinking cannot help but depress us. What kind of eternity are we in for, if our God thinks it’s a good idea to devastate our lives to prove his existence?
You are probably saying to yourself, other than the air travel experience where is the trauma? Well, my friend don’t you think it’s traumatic to know that you are more than 6,000 miles from Paradise? Who knows, maybe shrinks have a syndrome that describes the feeling (post-euphoric-stress?) that betakes people and imprisons them in a back-to-earth funk.
Or, maybe these blues are the natural reaction of a fixed-income retiree - who may, or may not, live another 20 years (God only knows) and who must subsist on the meager dole from Unka Sam - plus anticipated interest from investments in a volatile economy. Gas is going up, the value of my mansion is going down, my chances to find part time work are diminished and (according to spammer e-mails) my love-muscle is too disappointingly soft. I planted a dozen marigolds three days ago. Some varmint has beheaded 8 of them. I mowed the lawn last week and here it is again looking shaggy. I search for seeds of hope, but crows have eaten them.
This morning it occurred to me that life is like a job. God is the boss, and even he has a manual to tell you what to do, and especially how to feed his big ego. You need to show up every day and try to look good. A few basic rules: Be nice to others (unless you are serving in the military) and stop dreaming about shtupping the neighbor’s wife/donkey. I can go along with that. It’s the requisite level of ego gratification that troubles me. Kneeling, chanting, supplication. And the performance review…pretty intimidating.
Ah, perhaps I will find cause to Hope in the morning paper: Oprah is going on a 21 day vegan detox diet. Like that will somehow make her eternally thin. We all know that when you are fat, you will always be fat until you get sick and die. Diets are God’s way of making you stop eating the stuff you like for a few months. It’s like the boss - jerking you around for entertainment.
And here: Annotated color graphic of Ted Kennedy’s inoperable brain tumor spoils my breakfast. The suddenness of this dark diagnosis stuns us all – even the pundati on the radio who love to hate him. He looks thinner already.
Then there are the Hurricanes and tornadoes and Earthquakes. We are once again reminded of human impotence. Natural forces and perhaps even supernatural powers hold sway over us, sneak up on us, and devastate us. Some people call this type of universal suffering “God’s will.” Such thinking cannot help but depress us. What kind of eternity are we in for, if our God thinks it’s a good idea to devastate our lives to prove his existence?
5/04/2008
No Country Redux
You probably think that you are one of the two or three people who read this blog. But I have news for you bucko: there are at least four people who read it, not counting me.
I know this because I have received anecdotal evidence from one of the "regulars" that he was talking with a female friend who read my "No Country for Old Men " post of last week.
She thinks I should stick to writing about work issues and leave politics to the pundati. As I understand it, she is a supporter of John McCain's creaking campaign, and she wishes that I would just STFU about how old McCain is.
It makes me happy to imagine that someone would read my musings and actually be annoyed because they are worried that my pearls of wisdom and insight might actually change someones mind - or vote.
Someone should tell her that this wisdom is lost to most surfers, so she needen't become distressed that wandering bubbas might find truth via the Google search engine. I think Google tends to "find" Internet postings that have a lot of commercial appeal. This is a problem for me, since, like John McCain, I do not believe in pandering to special interests. I do not "sell" ad space to gain revenue. I know what you are thinking: No one would advertise on a site that only gets four clicks a week. Maybe so.
Exploring the Internets can be harrowing. We writers frequently attempt to back-up our opinions with actual facts. In the old days, I suppose writers actually went to the library and looked stuff up. Hah, what a waste of time! Nowadays, professional opinionators need go no further than their handy desk top search engine. All Truth is out there on the Internets. If there isn't a Wikipedia entry on something, it probably isn't worth knowing - or believing.
The other day, I tried to see if Google would find one of the blogs that I posted with "tags" I searched "McCain, No Country for Old Men" and when I did not find my blog in the top 200 listings, I lost interest. Instead, I found this obvious ripoff of my previous entry which, remember, was dated two days earlier:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/no-country-for-old-men_b_99342.html
I would consider a plagiarism lawsuit against this Robert-sheer fellow, but that would involve talking to a lawyer. My daddy always said " Boy, don't never have no truck wit no lawyers. You gots to make you own justice." Well, sometimes justice is trumped by a desire to keep things simple. Besides, as my mother used to say, imitation is the highest form of compliment.
I know what you are thinking: The Sheer piece is so much better, well written and researched. Well, I think my mother would have said mine was better. Nah nah.
Speaking of Mothers, my wife tricked me into making breakfast this morning, suggesting that it was Mothers day. Hey, since I became an orphan, I don't pay any attention to the Hallmark Holidays. By the time I realized that it (Mothers Day) was actually next Sunday, my wily coyote bride of 40 years had already consumed the Land O Lakes Omega3 eggs, Banquet brown-and-serve sausages and buttered Arnold Oat Bran toast, and was sitting like a princess on the Sun-Shield screen porch quaffing her Starbucks Verona with that Mona Lisa smile on her face. (Maybe that will get me some Google hits).
editorial note: After pithy commentary on grammer and pronoun agreement by yet another faithful reader/commenter, I have re-written the earlier version. The comments have been removed to avoid confusion.
I know this because I have received anecdotal evidence from one of the "regulars" that he was talking with a female friend who read my "No Country for Old Men " post of last week.
She thinks I should stick to writing about work issues and leave politics to the pundati. As I understand it, she is a supporter of John McCain's creaking campaign, and she wishes that I would just STFU about how old McCain is.
It makes me happy to imagine that someone would read my musings and actually be annoyed because they are worried that my pearls of wisdom and insight might actually change someones mind - or vote.
Someone should tell her that this wisdom is lost to most surfers, so she needen't become distressed that wandering bubbas might find truth via the Google search engine. I think Google tends to "find" Internet postings that have a lot of commercial appeal. This is a problem for me, since, like John McCain, I do not believe in pandering to special interests. I do not "sell" ad space to gain revenue. I know what you are thinking: No one would advertise on a site that only gets four clicks a week. Maybe so.
Exploring the Internets can be harrowing. We writers frequently attempt to back-up our opinions with actual facts. In the old days, I suppose writers actually went to the library and looked stuff up. Hah, what a waste of time! Nowadays, professional opinionators need go no further than their handy desk top search engine. All Truth is out there on the Internets. If there isn't a Wikipedia entry on something, it probably isn't worth knowing - or believing.
The other day, I tried to see if Google would find one of the blogs that I posted with "tags" I searched "McCain, No Country for Old Men" and when I did not find my blog in the top 200 listings, I lost interest. Instead, I found this obvious ripoff of my previous entry which, remember, was dated two days earlier:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/no-country-for-old-men_b_99342.html
I would consider a plagiarism lawsuit against this Robert-sheer fellow, but that would involve talking to a lawyer. My daddy always said " Boy, don't never have no truck wit no lawyers. You gots to make you own justice." Well, sometimes justice is trumped by a desire to keep things simple. Besides, as my mother used to say, imitation is the highest form of compliment.
I know what you are thinking: The Sheer piece is so much better, well written and researched. Well, I think my mother would have said mine was better. Nah nah.
Speaking of Mothers, my wife tricked me into making breakfast this morning, suggesting that it was Mothers day. Hey, since I became an orphan, I don't pay any attention to the Hallmark Holidays. By the time I realized that it (Mothers Day) was actually next Sunday, my wily coyote bride of 40 years had already consumed the Land O Lakes Omega3 eggs, Banquet brown-and-serve sausages and buttered Arnold Oat Bran toast, and was sitting like a princess on the Sun-Shield screen porch quaffing her Starbucks Verona with that Mona Lisa smile on her face. (Maybe that will get me some Google hits).
editorial note: After pithy commentary on grammer and pronoun agreement by yet another faithful reader/commenter, I have re-written the earlier version. The comments have been removed to avoid confusion.
4/28/2008
Cacophonous Effusions
I really don't want this to turn into a political blog, but I have been distracted from my mission (to examine the meaning of work in our lives) by events that cannot be ignored. A faithful reader has written an e-mail actually complimenting me on the previous entry. This is seductively encouraging for a writer. Lucky for the rest of you that I shot my wad on that piece so now I must go back to reading the paper for ideas.
I enjoyed this Opinion column by Joseph Epstein in the WSJ today .
Mr Epstein has the perfect way of keeping sane - trying to find literary parallels while trying to make sense of the sound and the fury of the political campaign. I hope he won't mind if I quote a few lines, (since you probably are to lazy to click on the link and actually read it without a tease).
"So enraptured have I become by the political morality play of the Democratic primaries that, with much shame, I have returned to watching the McLaughlin Group on PBS on Saturday nights. This shameful recidivism has occurred after a rigidly self-imposed, three-year absence from the cacophonous effusions of Eleanor Clift, Pat Buchanan, Mort Zuckerman and the rest.
"The barking of these dogs as the caravan passes should be beneath a man who prefers to think himself cultivated. What do I care what they think, especially when I already know what they think? Like so many of the punditi of our day, they are all, as E. M. Forster termed it in his "Aspects of the Novel," "flat characters," by which he meant characters utterly predictable in their opinions, behavior, character – characters from whom one should expect no surprises. "
I wish I'd said that.
I enjoyed this Opinion column by Joseph Epstein in the WSJ today .
Mr Epstein has the perfect way of keeping sane - trying to find literary parallels while trying to make sense of the sound and the fury of the political campaign. I hope he won't mind if I quote a few lines, (since you probably are to lazy to click on the link and actually read it without a tease).
"So enraptured have I become by the political morality play of the Democratic primaries that, with much shame, I have returned to watching the McLaughlin Group on PBS on Saturday nights. This shameful recidivism has occurred after a rigidly self-imposed, three-year absence from the cacophonous effusions of Eleanor Clift, Pat Buchanan, Mort Zuckerman and the rest.
"The barking of these dogs as the caravan passes should be beneath a man who prefers to think himself cultivated. What do I care what they think, especially when I already know what they think? Like so many of the punditi of our day, they are all, as E. M. Forster termed it in his "Aspects of the Novel," "flat characters," by which he meant characters utterly predictable in their opinions, behavior, character – characters from whom one should expect no surprises. "
I wish I'd said that.
4/26/2008
No Country for Old Men
Why is every primary hyped by the media as "crucial"? Does anyone really think that the Indiana popularity contest between Obama and Clinton will settle anything?
The answer, of course, is: No.
The media creates issues to keep us interested, but, personally, I am zoning-out, the way you do when you have heard a radio commercial 100 times.
The conservative radio talk show guys are predictable and devious. They keep up their anti-Obama rants, hoping that Clinton will pull-off the nomination. They don't want to run against the Obama phenomena. They believe that Republicrat McCain - can beat Hillary in the general election.
Conservatives fear that Obama is "too liberal." Somehow, he will imperially decide to turn us all into godless communists or worse - to cancel the Bush tax cuts!
Maybe they are afraid that he is inclined to nominate Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to the supreme court. Maybe Oprah as his Secretary of State. Mya Angelou as Poet Laureate and head of the CIA. Issue a presidential decree to guarantee reparations to all descendants of slaves... scary stuff, indeed.
This deeply rooted fear of the unknown scares the bejesus out of them. The TV guys keep running old clips of the pro-black pastor, as if he was running for office. Fact is, all three are unknowns: senators who don't have real jobs and who have never run anything.
The problem for the anti Obama republicans, is that they have a candidate who is said to be a nice guy (when he is not flying in a PTS rage), but who really cannot be counted upon to stick to any platform or agenda. Once a formidable man (who I voted for during the 2000 primaries), he is helpless without cue-cards and handlers these days. Watch him is one on one interviews, he is like a robot. He is being handled and managed by a team of lobbyists who make the trilateral commission look like a comic book invention. He gives me no confidence as a leader.
Undoubtedly, McCain will be swift-boated (remember the Keating 5?), skewered and battered. The Democrat nominee will destroy him in free for all debates. By the time we get to November, I think he would lose to either Hillary or Barak.
The presidency may be a power trip, but it sucks the life out of those who serve. Compare the pictures of past presidents on inauguration day and then a few years later, if you don't believe me.
At age 72, this guy is just too old and tired to be up to the job. John, we salute you for your service. Now it is time to get thee to the beach and stay there.
The only chance for Repubs to win in November is to have McCain bow-out for health reasons and for him to hand the torch to Romney.
The answer, of course, is: No.
The media creates issues to keep us interested, but, personally, I am zoning-out, the way you do when you have heard a radio commercial 100 times.
The conservative radio talk show guys are predictable and devious. They keep up their anti-Obama rants, hoping that Clinton will pull-off the nomination. They don't want to run against the Obama phenomena. They believe that Republicrat McCain - can beat Hillary in the general election.
Conservatives fear that Obama is "too liberal." Somehow, he will imperially decide to turn us all into godless communists or worse - to cancel the Bush tax cuts!
Maybe they are afraid that he is inclined to nominate Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to the supreme court. Maybe Oprah as his Secretary of State. Mya Angelou as Poet Laureate and head of the CIA. Issue a presidential decree to guarantee reparations to all descendants of slaves... scary stuff, indeed.
This deeply rooted fear of the unknown scares the bejesus out of them. The TV guys keep running old clips of the pro-black pastor, as if he was running for office. Fact is, all three are unknowns: senators who don't have real jobs and who have never run anything.
The problem for the anti Obama republicans, is that they have a candidate who is said to be a nice guy (when he is not flying in a PTS rage), but who really cannot be counted upon to stick to any platform or agenda. Once a formidable man (who I voted for during the 2000 primaries), he is helpless without cue-cards and handlers these days. Watch him is one on one interviews, he is like a robot. He is being handled and managed by a team of lobbyists who make the trilateral commission look like a comic book invention. He gives me no confidence as a leader.
Undoubtedly, McCain will be swift-boated (remember the Keating 5?), skewered and battered. The Democrat nominee will destroy him in free for all debates. By the time we get to November, I think he would lose to either Hillary or Barak.
The presidency may be a power trip, but it sucks the life out of those who serve. Compare the pictures of past presidents on inauguration day and then a few years later, if you don't believe me.
At age 72, this guy is just too old and tired to be up to the job. John, we salute you for your service. Now it is time to get thee to the beach and stay there.
The only chance for Repubs to win in November is to have McCain bow-out for health reasons and for him to hand the torch to Romney.
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