A Good End!

Beginnings start with an end to something else. So let’s start there.

2011 was a year of change for me. Health issues continued to have an effect but improved prognosis hinted at a better future. Financial issues came to a head and my mortgage was modified by Fannie Mae making it affordable on my Social Security income. As the lower mortgage payments came along, my credit union helped me get out of an expensive auto loan on my Mercedes, helped me sell the car and buy a used car (all through Enterprise) with low miles and excellent pedigree. This lowered my auto payments over $300 a month. Additional budget cuts allowed us to live within our means as business income dropped to near zero. Rocky sold his car and we converted half of the garage to become his ceramic studio; that saved $100 per month in art co-op studio fees. We were on a roll and living within our income, just barely.

Health expenses continued to spiral upward and that forced us to economize with household expenses, food and medications. Frank discussions with doctors helped us lower their fees and prescription costs, too. So we ended the year kind of OK.

Along the way the Village Chronicles newspaper completed another year of publication in fine style (I’m managing editor). We championed good local government and continued to support community health and enrichment. The local chamber of commerce (I’m on the board) was successfully combined with a neighboring chamber in a business plan designed to strengthen community economics and merger of other nearby chambers. One year later our new chamber is well positioned, financially sound and currently welcoming a third chamber into the fold. The Park District (I’m on the board) is doing well meeting the needs of the community while husbanding public resources intelligently. The church continues to flourish. The Warrenville Arts Council completed its second year of full operation and is well ensconced in its third season. Our major challenge will be weathering the loss of our president and co-founder as we enter the New Year.

And of course I began writing this blog in October 2011. So far I feel good about its progress. This posting is my 96^th consecutive post! So I have not run out of steam yet.

Actually the blog is an experiment for me; can I clarify my thinking so I can adjust my creative handling of a mass of topics? Can I make myself understood to others on these same topics? Is there a core of a book hidden in all of this? If so, will I write a book and actually get around to publishing it? Will it be any good?

Well who’s to know? The trick is to just take this whole process one day at a time, one topic at a time. And so far that’s working just fine.

Oh yes, 2011 ends my 6^th year of non-smoking. And shortly thereafter in winter of 2012 will be my 6^th year of sobriety. So far so good!

I guess a good summary of 2011 for George S is: It was a year of continued progress toward the future. Tough work was completed and started; good things are piling up!

I hope the same or better can be said of your 2011!

Now we can start 2012 fresh!!

December 31, 2011  

Book Review: Back to Work, by Bill Clinton

This is a book review. I am interested in Bill Clinton’s newest book because he has always been a very serious thinker about complex matters affecting our nation. There are big ideas he has championed. Those have been ideas that move us away from the little ideas that tend to draw us into debate and argument.

Big ideas. We tend to steer clear of them. Too bad because they force us to see the world differently, often more clearly. To help see what I mean, let’s take a look at his book.

An outline of the book Back to Work by Bill Clinton

Premise: we need to get into the futures business. Get away from the current problems by creating the future we need and deserve. Do so consciously.

Caveats:

1. A huge antigovernment political movement has been operating in America for at least 30 years; it has distorted our public discussion, policy setting and political functioning
2. Antigovernment ideology is not productive for the citizens. It is a political tool designed to win elections and amass power
3. The beneficiaries of antigovernment ideology are wealthy people and corporations. They increasingly gain larger ownership shares of the economy and earn a disproportionate share of national income
4. We need government for those issues that are universal to our needs:
1. National defense capability
2. National banking, finance and commercial system
3. National courts and justice system
4. National regulations to avoid fraud and misuse of power
5. Education standard setting; research, development and technology needs
6. National health, housing and quality of life issues (welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc.)
5. National debt should be minimized and fit our needs; not runaway and irresponsible; when and how to repair operating deficits and accumulated debt is a goal of financial system policy; not political system
6. Our comparable rank with the rest of the globe: it is poor, and declining among developed nations

How to turn this around: Focus on job creation. We can do this by building a smarter government.  Here is a list of the ways we can do that:

1. End the mortgage mess as quickly as possible
2. Let people with government-guaranteed mortgages who aren’t delinquent refinance their mortgages at the current low interest rate
3. Federal Reserve should give the banks an incentive to lend
4. Give corporations incentives to bring more money back to the United States
5. Let companies repatriate the cash now with no tax liability if it’s reinvested to create new jobs
6. Pass President Obama’s payroll tax cuts
7. Build a 21^st Century infrastructure
8. Speed up the process for approving and completing infrastructure projects

Use energy differently and more efficiently; make this an industry and:

9. Launch an aggressive, 50-state building retrofit initiative (comprehensive energy savings)
10.  States and localities should have their own retrofit initiatives
11. Get pension funds involved by investing in the retrofit projects
12. At the very least paint roofs white
13. Reinstate the full tax credit for new green-technology jobs

Additional job creation ideas:

14. Finish the smart grid with adequate transmission lines
15. Geothermal energy (using underground heat) should be increased
16. Turn more landfills into power generators
17. Develop our natural gas resources
18. Keep developing more efficient biofuels
19.  Keep the tax credits for producing and buying electric and hybrid vehicles

Further energy strategy supports needed:

20. The military can and should do more to speed our energy transformation; global warming is a national defense threat
21. Speed up the issuance of new energy efficiency rules for the most common household appliances
22. Spend the rest of the rapid-rail money, but spend it where it will do the most good
23. Support state and local innovations and encourage their adoption across the country
24. To speed up innovative process, we should pick one or two US states or territories and work to make them completely energy independent

Other ideas for improving American competitiveness:

  25. Concentrate on high-end manufacturing and get smaller companies into exports
  26. Negotiate long-term contracts to sell food to China, Saudi Arabia, and other
        nations facing food shortages
  27. Pass pending trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama
  28. Enforce trade laws
  29. Concentrate on increasing the export potential of cities, not just states

  30. Export more services

  31. Get to emerging opportunities before others do

  32. Sell, sell, sell. We say we do but don’t do the deals; close the deal!

A few other ideas to share:
  33. Increase the role of the Small Business Administration

34. Promote ‘crowdfinding’ to help small businesses raise needed capital (use of Internet to find small amounts of money from individuals to invest in small businesses)
35. Fill the three million jobs that are already open faster
36. Provide an extra incentive to hire people who’ve been out of work more than six months
37. Give employers an incentive not to lay off workers in the first place
38. “Insource” jobs we’ve been outsourcing
39. To support insourcing we need to increase the number of empowerment zones and expand the reach of the New Markets Initiative
40. Increase the preparation and recruitment of, and incentives for, more young Americans to get degrees and take jobs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields
41. Keep pushing for comprehensive immigration reform, and in the meantime grant more H-1B visas to immigrants in STEM fields until we have enough qualified citizens to fill the openings
42. Bring more tourists to the United States
43. Promote affordable opportunities to ‘buy American’
44. Support National Jobs Day
45. Offer an X Prize or its equivalent for ideas that promote innovation and job creation
46. Replicate the prosperity centers

To get more information on each of the numbered items, read the book! But clearly Bill Clinton has many ideas that will address the immediate and long-term needs of the nation. Each of these ideas is incremental. Some are revolutionary. Taken together they will support job creation and economic recovery in a manner that will fuel generations of continuing prosperity.

These are things we can do today. They are not pro-government or anti-government. They are means to manage our affairs with intelligence. This is the way to build smarter government. Will the elections of 2012 help this along?

December 30, 2011

Getting Ready for the New Year

Baggage. It’s heavy. It takes energy to drag it along. Then there are the uphill and curbs to be negotiated. You know what I mean. We go along in this life and we have to carry the baggage. It is part of our portability.

There are many types of baggage. One is the stuff we lug with us on travel. But there are so many other types! Here are some:

·         Relationships

·         Career hopes

·         Hobbies and special interests

·         Political ideology

·         Finances

·         Health

·         Spiritual matters, religion

·         Household chores

·         Fetishes: cars, clothes, appearance, oh go ahead, name the thousands!

·         Other?

Some of these are practical. Others are not! Some can be easily managed. Good Lord! Many are not easily managed! But manage them we must or life goes haywire! Here are some thoughts.

The major categories listed above in need of meaningful investment are:

1. Relationships
1. Self
2. Significant other
3. Family
4. Friends
5. All other
2. Career development
1. Education
2. Formative experiences; part time work, internships, etc.
3. Building a resume with goals firmly in place
4. Identifying a career path to fulfill your objectives
3. Health
1. Preventive health disciplines
2. Tracking current status over the years
3. Handling problems quickly for long term results
4. Realistic outlook that adapts to changing conditions
5. Being ready for end times
4. Making sense of the universe around me
1. Accumulating life knowledge

                                                            i.      Experiential and emotional

                                                            ii.      Science, fact and theory

                                                          iii.      History, the cause/effect/result of Man’s story

2. Merging knowledge with facts of life as we live it
3. Spiritual journey; religious contemplation; building one’s own theology
4. Understanding differences among our global brothers

All the rest fall into place if these four are being managed well.

What is the process that defines ‘managing’ these topics? I came up with these steps:

1.      What is my understanding of the topic itself (relationships, health, etc.)?

2.      What is my understanding of the sub topics listed?

3.      What research should I engage in to build a better understanding of #’s 1 & 2, above?

4.      Should I discuss this topic with a group of people likely to help me on this journey?

5.      Are there people affected by my understanding or lack of understanding I should build a better relationship with on this topic?

6.      Is it reasonable to expect improved relations with these people will make a difference in our lives? If not, perhaps we should forget this step?  If yes, work on a mutual agreement for managing differences of opinion

7.      Continue the journey toward full understanding on this topic; there is no end but death

A helpful suggestion might be working on item one, Relationships. These have a heavy effect on our self esteem and overall wellness. Take the topic in order of the sub topics:

          Self: how do I really feel about myself? Is there need for improvement? Do I   

                     have repeated problems with other people that may reflect on my own 

                     problems? Do I have a personal view of the future? Is it upbeat? Do I feel

                     confident about my abilities to adapt to other people?

Significant Other: do I find and develop a relationship with a significant other?

           Do I have issues with intimacy, sexual behavior? Is the relationship

           healthy and future oriented? Do we have fun? Do we laugh? Is this a two-

           way relationship?

            Family relationships: this is more complicated because there are so many levels

                      of family involved: parents, siblings, grand parents, aunts and uncles,

                      cousins, in-laws throughout all of these, etc. How well do I handle these

                      relationships? Are there recurring problems? How do I respond to those?

                      Do I run from them, or debate them, or work on them positively?

            Friends: less is expected in these relationships but they are very important. A

“best friend” is often the most important person in your life, or could be. Do I allow that to happen? For non-‘best friends’, do I have a fun and productive time with them? Can we handle life’s disruptions without high drama? Do we feel each other’s presence in our lives? How do we handle problem relationships as they occur?

            All Others: this would include how we meet strangers, or pull into relationships

new people like expanded family, neighbors, organization members, etc. These are important people in our lives. They are help mates in times of trouble. They help us manage problems and issues arising in other facets of our lives. How do I use these people as healthy resources in other areas of my life? Are those relationships kept positive? When the relationship sours, do I know why that happened? Was it my fault in any way? If so, what do I do about that?

This is a blog not a workbook for life building skills! But if I can help do that, so much the better. Something tells me we all have a lot of work to do.

Peace and success to you as you work your journey. I need it too!

December 29, 2011

Hierarchy of Needs

To live we need basic things in our life. These include the following pretty much in the order presented:

            Food

            Shelter

            Clothing

            Safety/Defense

            Social connectedness and order

As time passes these basic needs shift. New needs are added as social life grows in complexity. Eventually life roles emerge for each person as specialization of tasks become finer and finer. From gatherer of food, to finer points of hunting and trade, to agricultural science, to carpentry, plumbing…and the list goes on and on. Ultimately we arrive to modern day where we find specialists in engraving, jewelry making, entertainment, law…and the list goes on and on.

The ‘ultimately’ term itself continues to grow towards infinity. What we will be doing as a people 100 or 1000 years from now is yet to be known. But specialization will continue as it is needed.

If a catastrophe occurs – an asteroid smashing into Earth, for example – we may slip backwards to an earlier time of basic needs, re-establishing them. But eventually life roles will return to an ever finer specialization.

To bridge the present to the future we confront a varying list of issues to manage. This list will shift in size and scope continually. At any given moment it will appear static. For the eve of 2012 the issues list would look something like this: 

Key Topics List 

Energy Policy Needed – A Key Issue for ecology, geopolitics, economics, more….

            Get off the oil standard
            Invent new, sustainable forms of energy
            Create entire new industries based on alternative energies
            The ecology of clean energy

Education – A Primary Utility of Our Culture

            Pre school: getting an early start, foundation
            Inventing effective methods of learning, all ages
            Transformative high school education; turning kids on to life-long goals
            Higher education: inventive methods, full access, life-long learning
            Graduate education adaptive to new technologies, problems and careers
            Research, development and technology
            Arts and Culture: connecting the dots (synapses)

Economics – The Engine that Sustains Us All

            Job creation for all ages, interests and cultures
            International trade that enables full global participation; shares the wealth
            Adaptive to changing demographics, cultures and technologies
            Quality of life spread to all; equal access to economic benefits
            Invest in creativity, innovation, technologies, sciences, etc.
            Broad understanding of economics and political policies

Political Ideology – What we Think and Why it Matters

            Government: understanding its role and utility
            Campaign finance reform: government does NOT belong to the highest bidder
            Ideology relies on education; refute opinion with fact
            Healthy discussions build strong nations
            Bigotry is not an American ideal

Technology & Science – How we Interconnect the Facets of Life

            New technology means new patterns of thinking
            New technology means new ways of acting, achieving, manufacturing
            Technology delivers the future to us today

Health Systems and Delivery – Understanding and Strengthening the Body

            Keeping us well
            Recreation and training the well body
            Connecting mind and body health
            Medical research and extending the quality of life
            Financing access to medical utility

Spirituality – Connecting Intellect, World and Belief Systems

            Great philosophies of mankind
            Great religions of mankind
            Unfolding the mind’s grasp of the world surrounding it
            Understanding the universe; what we know of it – science and history
            Understanding the universe; what we don’t know of it – faith

These seven issues will be added to and subtracted from over time. The sub-topics for each will also morph as we need them to. But this is the world view as we move forward from here – this point in time.

What additional topics should be placed on this list? What have I missed?

In the ‘comments’ section of this blog, please feel free to add your key issues. As you do be mindful that your issue may be a new key issue not listed above, or a sub-topic that needs to be added. Present your ideas to make this list as complete as it ought to be. Then we can begin to work with the list.

For what purpose? I’m not sure at this point; but certainly to better understand our world and ourselves in the world. None of us have all the answers. No one thing or topic will control all the others. What we do with what we have does matter.

Making the most of life matters. What will we do to fulfill that premise?

December 28, 2011

Open for Joy

A smile is a good thing. It says “hello, nice to see you;” add a grin with teeth slightly agape, and the smile turns into “Hi! It’s terrific to see you.” The difference? Animation, infectious goodwill, reaching out and touching someone.

It makes all the difference. One is polite. The other is enthusiastic. One is pleasant while the other engages. One is perfectly fine; the other invites you to join in!

Some cultures nurture calm facades. Their people come off as a little stiff, reserved, maybe even rigid. In turn that broadcasts a bit of distrust. Allowed to fester that may breed hostility.

Other cultures teach people to be friendly, talkative, and helpful. A stranger feels welcomed and embraced instantly. This portion of a culture, though, comes from the heart. It grows in time and enables others to feel it and adopt it as well.

Travel exposes us to these things. As our own culture continues to diversify we have the chance to embody these positive changes. One wonders if some cultures just won’t allow that adoption, or will dampen it.

Joy and jubilation. Feeling good about things and looking on the bright side of it. That’s what I’m talking about. So many people come by this naturally. Others do not.

There have been many times in my life when joy was distant if not totally absent. Depression does that, at least in part. Sometimes it’s a point of view or perspective on life. Other times it is a painful period of struggle that sidesteps joy altogether. Whatever its cause it is well if we find a way to move beyond it.

Slipping into a non joyous state can sneak up on you. You fall into it unawares. Little snippets might warn you of the condition. Others may tell you point blank. But at some point we become alert to the fact that joy is either absent or getting blotted out by something. It pays to find out why.

This blog, this journal, is really my way of discovering my own internal blockages to joy. This process has helped restore joy in my life. It is an internal thing; not external. We either let joy in from the outside world, or we block it. Wittingly or unwittingly. Sometimes we find joy inside; letting it out gives joy to others. It is part of jubilation. And it is infectious.

Wherever it is found, whatever its cause, Joy is worth pursuing. Like love, it is the gift that keeps on giving.

May we enter the New Year with both this quest and reward!

December 27, 2011

Ending on a Good Note

We begin a new year with hope. An uplift in our mood that the New Year will bring good things into our lives. Usually it does. Even if shockers happen, travails and challenges pop up; we move on. We adjust.

Those happenings may seem ‘bad’ at the time but they are actually the seed of good things if we look at them in the right light. Challenges have a habit of helping us see the good things we took for granted. Tragedy provides perspective to the routine. Value comes from loss. Lots of counter-intuitive experiences provide lessons.

Here are some reflections on 2011:

• Gained a beautiful daughter in law
• Gained awareness that my son is alright in the world; his partner in life will provide the right balance he has needed
• Granddaughters are delightful; so different yet so seeking….
• Health is transitory; mine and others; not all bad
• Death is with us always; friends succumb to disease when least expected; others journey on valiantly only to be the eventual silent sojourner
• Bad weather is expected; but it does make the good weather sweeter!
• Family traditions give anchor to our rapidly changing lives
• Family interpersonal dynamics are mysterious; some gross; others wonderful, and everything in between!
• Travel allows a peek into ordinary lives in other cultures; that helps us live in our own diverse culture; or does it?
• Honesty with others builds the basis to communicate with them
• Honesty with self allows inner communication of value to form
• Growth is not automatic; it must be worked for
• Dogs really are man’s best friend. They work their magic with unconditional love
• A dirty carpet is not really so bad; the freedom of letting the stain be! Gad!
• Having one car does reorder your priorities; having more than one is convenient but doesn’t help with the job of thinking
• If you ask for help you often get it. In abundance!
• Hot weather makes me indolent, lazy; cold weather keeps me alert
• Feet hurt more when not used much
• Dirty cars are always with us; clean cars aren’t
• People want much the same thing I do; we just say it differently
• Attitudes improve with others around; not alone
• Bigotry exists whether I practice it or others do; pointing out theirs makes it mine
• Exclaiming on the failings of others is a waste of time; and injures me
• Inventing solutions to common problems is not a waste of time
• Struggling with the enigmas of life is proof we are living
• Asking a question is the first step to understanding
• Wisdom comes with pain and struggle; never with ease
• Peace occurs in moments; recognizing those moments is special
• Absorbing the peace, using it, gives growth; and more peace

Use your moments wisely.

December 26, 2011

Happy Holidays ~ Merry Christmas

This is the day with roots 2000 years old. It is the age old yearning of mankind to seek –and reach – peace,  or at least a moment of calm; tranquility.

It was not always so. There was prehistory of at least 3000 years, maybe much more. Legend foretold the later moment, not with accuracy, but with hope and certainty.

But it lasted for a short time and only for those who were then aware of it. The Christmas Story grew more encased in Biblical clothing. Traditions emerged to birth a tradition that remains 2000 years later.

The trappings of the story take center stage divert our attention from the central meaning of the story: peace on earth, goodwill toward all mankind. God wants that of us and for us; recognition of this will give mankind the peace he wants and needs.

We get the message. At least some of the time. Too bad the rest of the time we go back to the old ways.

The Christmas Story may have come from the Middle East but it is a western civilization tradition. It is not Oriental, nor African, or even South American. Long held traditions from those regions were and are different. Some adoption across cultures has taken place. But the overwhelming remainder is that Christmas is of our western civilization.

The lesson, however, is ‘Peace on Earth’ comes from ‘goodwill toward all mankind’.

The lesson is transformative. To achieve peace on earth, we have to have goodwill toward all other peoples. The question is: do we do that? With all sincerity and energy? Do we really do that? Do we even believe it?

There are many religions, creeds, faith traditions. They are not all like our own. These faiths came from their own seminal truths and legends. If we can grasp that understanding of man’s journey on the planet, I think we can proceed on the path toward peace with better hopes of success.

Let others be with their beliefs. Let all of our differences inform each other of our common frailties. Not one of us knows with certainty what the one true faith is. There are many that hold to be the one and only. But they cannot know. That is one of the big mysteries we must live with.

Letting others be is a start to building bridges of understanding with other peoples. To respect their lives and traditions. To give them the ‘space’ to be themselves. Hopefully they will return the favor. And if so, we can coexist in peace. Believers and non-believers side by side; Muslim, Jew, Christian and all the rest. We are not alone. Neither are we the one.

Peace can be ours if we let others be.

In the short term, may peace be yours at this very moment. May you allow it to seep into your life at least a little.

Now take a deep breath. And let the new day begin!

Shalom!

December 25, 2011

Holiday Reverie

Such personal times. Memories and expectations jumbled together. Impossible to sort out; improbable to make real. “Hope from reality” is an extreme lesson pervading life.

Yet we continue to address each holiday season with fresh expectations, for ourselves and for the young ones near and dear. We want for them the special magic of the season. We hope for their memories to be recalled years after. We hope to redress the failed holidays of yore and somehow make them better; repair them. But we can’t.

It is times like these when so many people – our neighbors and families – are struggling with financial realities which crimp the season’s spirit. Yet we try. We gather. We share mirth and warm reunions. We share special foods, themselves a memory blanket of many years aweaving! And the gifts are shared, too, but now they are of lesser importance. What remains high on our list is the value each of us brings to the roles we play in each others’ lives. The communion of family and dearest friends.

Hardship makes this message much more meaningful.

May this be a special time for you to reconnect to the loves of your life. That is the center of this season. Love. Peace. Hope. For now and the future.

May it all be yours!

December 24, 2011

Passing an Imporant Date

Last evening (Dec 21) I recalled what I was doing 43 years earlier. Ann and I got married in the Palos Park Presbyterian Church. Being close to Christmas the church was decorated with green boughs, red ribbons, candles aglow in all the windows. A scent of pine filled the sanctuary. The music was Bach richly played; even a Bach-like treatment of traditional Christmas Carols. Two hundred and fifty guests filled the church well on this evening of dreams and happiness. The reception was a wonderful full dinner served by the ladies of the church in Fellowship Hall. Mingling of guests was constant and animated. A festive mood was present. Outdoors a soft snow was falling that would eventually blanket the community in a fresh coat of white in celebration of Christmas.

After the ceremony we headed off in the snow toward New England and a mini reunion with my parents and brother and his family in time for Christmas. The entire trip was dreamlike and a winter wonderland of snow. Driving conditions were another topic entirely!

Forty-three years have passed. Our marriage lasted nearly 26 years. Then the reality of my being gay could no longer be suppressed without doing further damage to both of us.

We have each gone to new futures with new partners/spouses. Ann and Howard are well on their way to a long marriage (17 years+), and Rocky and I have been together 12 years+. Writing that one sentence embraces a world of change, very personal and intimate for each of us. A very difficult journey of exploration and fulfillment. But journeys which are ending happily. Rewarding. Purposeful in the end.

Without meaning to cause any further hurt to anyone, I remember this 43^rd anniversary fondly and respectfully. And still with love.

December 22, 2011

Catching Up

I dedicate this posting to Larry F. who has suggested answering my own questions. I have tried to do that over the past two or three weeks; but I find I used some thoughts to make a point or pose a reality check while making another argument. I think some of these deserve a little more treatment. Here they are:

· Sanctity of marriage; should it be restricted to a man and a woman?

Sanctity is the key word; it relates to theological roots. But marriage is used in other contexts as well. Churches define marriage in their own way as they should. They should treat the marital contract consistent with their faith traditions. I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, the state issues licenses for these marital contracts; they call them by the same name, marriage. However, religion is not the governing tradition. Hence, a marriage license is a contract to create a union between two people. Although civil law may define what the characteristics of those two people are, it need not do so. Thus two women or two men can be eligible for ‘marriage’. There is no sanctity involved in the state sanctioned contract. Only in a religious context is marriage definable by traditional faith standards. Those may or may not hold sanctity.

· Wealthy taxpayers create new jobs and should be taxed less

Only if they consciously invest in job creating activities. Buying someone’s pre-existing bonds or stocks does not create a job except for stock brokers and bankers. Capital investment firms create jobs by funding start ups or expansions of firms creating new products or technologies. Research and Development create jobs. Inventiveness creates jobs. Lying on a beach soaking up the sun does not create jobs other than the tips paid to wait staff. Or some hotel builders. The trickle down theory of economics does not work. It didn’t in the Reagan years or anytime since. It’s a theory that failed. It’s time to build things: roads, bridges, economic goods which support broader economic activity, new schools, new technology, new fuels, more research and development. Those activities create jobs. Leave copying old technology and products to the Chinese. Return America to the job of creating new ideas, higher standards of living and quality of life. Those produce reliable jobs that matter.

· Illegal immigrants are lawless, and keep unemployed Americans from jobs

The entire history of America is based on immigration other than native Indians. And they are believed to have immigrated over the land shelf between what is now Russia and Alaska before the Ice Age. America as we know it is totally derived from immigration. It is what makes us strong. Diversity has its own reward. And it builds peaceful, tolerant cohabitants of our land. By definition immigrants are not lawless. If you question that, scan the prison population and see how many are immigrants. They are 99% American-born peoples. Does that define Americans as lawless?

· Nuclear energy is dangerous and should be eliminated

Not any more dangerous than other energy sources. Oil depletes substrate structure which leads to cave-ins, land subsidence, earthquakes, disruptions of water well sources, etc. Those problems are dangerous, and that doesn’t even consider the air, water and soil pollution created by the use of oil products. Natural gas is much cleaner than oil but still produces fossil fuel pollutants. Clean energy is less dangerous: geothermal, wind and solar sources. What makes Nuclear energy scary dangerous is the refusal of our society to do the hard work of neutralizing the negative effects by way of particle research. Each time promising research projects have been proposed they have been dashed by political bickering over funding priorities and deficit management!

POINT: research and development is not deficit producing; it is deficit reduction in the long run. It creates jobs, tax revenues and new wealth which obliterates the deficit funding should that be used to fund research in the first place; and that is not a given.

· Urban areas contain the users who drag down our ability to expand the economy

Nonsense. Urban areas contain the rich mix of people needed to produce ideas, processes, wisdom, and research and development. This is the stuff of the future. In Illinois there is the constant friction between ‘down state’ and ‘Chicago Metro’; not understanding the milieu of the metro area, downstaters tend to think of metro people as rich and users of the state’s resources. Quite on the contrary, the denizens of the metro area create the economic and wealth dynamics which pays for itself and funds the rest of the state. It’s time the entire state of Illinois understands this and stops whining.

· China is buying the American economy; how do we stop this?

We’ve covered this before. China owns some of our national debt, about $2.2 trillion of it. But America is China’s largest global market, the market with the money in the first place. We are not selling our nation to China. Now, in the past we did sell a massive part of our nation’s wealth to Japan. Remember that? And did that make us a slave to Japan? Huh?

· Liberals are tax and spend monsters

Really they are not. Rather they are research and development people, education supporters and anything that is good for feeding the brain and emotional base of mankind with the nuggets of life that will propel us all into the future with more common sense. Holding all of that activity back dwarfs ability, wastes talents, and focuses on the greed that is a natural component of mankind’s makeup.

· Unemployment is the fault of the unemployed; they managed their affairs badly

It can be argued cogently that unemployment is the price of a society in change. Old jobs disappear as their need disappears. New jobs come with new products and technologies and new needs. Workers fill those jobs when they have the talents and skills to fulfill the jobs. The time spent getting those skills and talents are often periods of unemployment. Another cogent argument: unemployment is the wasteful byproduct of an economy working outside the borders of efficiency and equilibrium.

· Homosexuality is the curse of the modern age

Only if you believe in the Tooth Fairy. If someone is afraid of homosexuality they simply don’t understand it and are too afraid of confronting their own ignorance. It’s time for them to open some books or do some Google searches!

Larry, I hope these meanderings help!

December 22, 2011
 

Needed: Energy Policy

Current Congressional brouhahas continue on the deficit management, jobs creation and tax policies the politicians just love to diddle with. And for no productive end.

Example is the current argument about building an oil and natural gas pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. A job-ready infrastructure project for sure, but who owns it? Who is benefiting from it? Who is paying for it?

An argument can be made that Americans will benefit from this project. But it will not be owned by Americans. It is a Canadian project. Moving Canadian fuels.

Those fuel stocks will be gladly consumed in our country for ever increasing prices. But it only sates a temporary need. As all of our short term thinking does, it feeds the immediate needs, not the long term.

Rather than touting the project as a ready made jobs creation project, why don’t we invest instead in real job creation and long term capabilities of our nation? Those ends will prove to be vastly more valuable and globally competitive for our nation than the short term projects.

Here’s why: alternative fuels are the future. Wind, solar, thermal, natural gas; and some oil products, but on a declining basis that befits its declining reserves.

Building a new energy industry based on diverse fuels and technology is much smarter, and in the long run, much better for our ecology, global competition and geopolitical power balances. Along the way we will invent new technologies that will make cars even more safe, fuel efficient, less polluting and better engineered for our social use of them.

Then, too, housing alternatives and new technologies will likely squeeze more value from our housing dollars: higher efficiency, smaller ecological footprint, better use of materials, and better use of land.

None of these long-term effects will be available to us if we constantly look for short term fixes to long term problems. That is a simple fact of life. We ought to accept it and live with it.

We need to focus on the future and live toward it. Investing in future capabilities and technologies allows us to move beyond current problems to a time where we can envision a time without those problems. Sure there will be new problems to wrestle with, but solving the old ones hasn’t been easy for us as we increasingly politicize those issues.

Since when is fuel efficiency a republican or democrat ‘thing’? Why isn’t it an American thing?

We will not get anywhere if all we do is argue political ideology over common problems which deserve solution. Failing that, we should consciously build the future where those problems don’t even exist. Just engineer and invent our way there!

Now there’s an investment I think our government policy should get behind.

We have the smarts, the inventiveness, the need and the resources. Why are we not doing this?

December 21, 2011

Foreign Versus American Cars

A number of years ago my wife and I traveled throughout England. We rented a car and drove 2100 miles in two weeks. Other than getting used to right hand steering, and left hand standard shifting (I don’t know which was worse!), we were impressed with the car. It was small to our standard, but a medium sized vehicle for England. Made by Ford in England, the four-door sedan was roomy and comfortable. The engine packed enough zip but got great gas mileage. Good thing because gas was nearly 4 pounds or about $6 dollars. Then again the gallon was 5 quarts. High octane gas only. Oh, and the car was a little noisy; not as much sound insulation as American makes have.

At the time we wondered why Ford could make a car this good in England while in the US we had large cars with oversized engines and poor fuel efficiency. If they could do it there why not in the States?

Indeed. Why not?

Seems Ford, Chrysler and General Motors had been manufacturing vehicles around the globe for those markets for generations. Higher efficiency ratings. Smaller in size. Good value. At the same time those same manufacturers were touting their inability to make cars like those in America and still make money. Turned out to be rot, didn’t it?

The manufacturers had dominated foreign markets for generations and were then still doing it and making strong profits. But in the US they continued to make cars the old fashioned way and boosted their profits saying they just couldn’t compete with the other manufacturers in foreign markets.  They owned those markets! So it was a lie, flat out.

Then Japanese cars came to America, and to ease their entry they promised to make or at least assemble a portion of their product line here. And they did. And over the years they continued to do so to the point that much of Japanese autos are made in the US. And they beat American auto manufacturers at their own game! In quality, price and fuel efficiency.

So much so in fact that the American taxpayer was asked to bail out the auto industry. First with Chrysler. Then all three most recently. And they are on the mend, finally.

I don’t mean to be a curmudgeon about this, but Americans do not need behemoth cars and trucks. For those who need large vehicles, fine; make them and sell them. But to produce enormous quantities of them and boast they reflect our success and status is hubris of high order.

We need to right size our cars as well as our homes. We simply don’t need the space in either to live comfortably and authentically. Fully featured is OK, but size and meaningless glitz? Nope.

A recent trip to Curacao proved the point admirably for us. Almost every car in that island nation is small to tiny. Very few full size American cars on the scene. Gas costs a little more there than in the Chicago region, but the cars sipped gas, took up less space, and provided excellent transportation. Simply put, no one needed the larger inefficient cars.

And neither does America. Smaller is better unless you are hauling a large family or commercial loads of cargo or trades equipment. Those utility vehicles do exist and rightly so. But passenger vehicles sized large for no good reason should be the butt of our jokes. The rest of the world is laughing at us. We should be, too.

Luxury cars are fine for those who wish to splurge and show off. But most are not needed for utilitarian purposes. They are fun to drive. I had my share of fine cars, but I look back on those years as a waste of money. Fun and Posh, yes; good sense, no!

With that balanced thinking in place, we can do much better on fuel efficiency and auto pricing. As a nation. As responsible citizens of a global society. As humble authentic people.

Closing statement: if we want our cars to be made in our own country, then we should demand our manufacturers meet global standards and build those here to compete as much at home as they do abroad.

December 20, 2011

On the Death Penalty

From New York I came to Illinois for college over 50 years ago and I’ve become a fixture! During those decades I’ve observed the ebb and flow of judicial temperament. From a time of light sentences for crimes committed, to times of retributive justice. Harsh sentences imposed to keep society safe from violent people. Death penalties handed down often and for increasingly lesser crimes.

Then doubts sprang up. Public debate continued to favor death penalties for heinous crimes but society was building toward a collective cringe of the severity of taking a life.

They knew it was in their name that a criminal was put to death.

And then the pendulum swung away from the death sentence as a few convicted felons were found to be innocent. DNA science became more common; finally DNA testing results became available more quickly. And much more reliablely. Yes. Innocent people had been condemned to death. The horror swept over us, numbingly real.

Death sentences were still imposed, but appeals took more time just to be sure, and these sentences were used less frequently, too.

We were becoming nervous of the finality. Of the certainty of guilt. But we weren’t. We were not certain at all.

A moratorium on implementing death penalties was declared by Governor George Ryan. As years went by more innocent people were discovered on death row and removed. Finally the governor made the death penalty forbidden.

Innocence projects continue unabated. Now our horror is saved for those who have languished in prison for 20 years or more for crimes they did not commit. So in Illinois justice is still pursued; and the weight of the death penalty has been removed.

Not so elsewhere in our nation, especially Texas. But they too are imposing the sentence less frequently; and they too are implementing the death sentence more haltering.

I believe the death penalty is a just penalty in certain cases. These involve horrific crimes of victim death and other cases where evil has scarred victims for the remainder of their lives. And these cases must be iron clad in the finding of truth. No doubts whatsoever.

Such cases are rare. Thank God! But they do exist. And in them the death penalty is appropriate.

All else is not, however. Plain and simple. Bringing the death penalty to the brim of extinction should prove to us that its use should be very rare. Or we become as bad and vengeful as………; Oh please, let us no go on with any more excuses!

December 19, 2011

Remembering Jim Guter

Note: Jim Guter’s funeral service was held Saturday, December 17, 2011. This poem was shared at the beginning of the service. Several people asked this to be shared on the blog for others to access.

Thoughts bubbling up. Moving out and away. Is there a direction, a point?

Loss of a friend to death. Inevitable in time, but shocking in the moment.

Sense of loss. A hole to feel; a hole to fill.

But how much time will this take? Does this take? 

Onward to tasks. Keep busy. Which ones to focus on?

What would Jim say? Which would he insist we do, now?
To what effect, he’d say; do X to get Y; but Z in time is served, too.

Focus on feeling; let images form. Our secret language of inner self?

What meaning needs expression? What must we share with another?
Is this the stuff of art? The work that needs doing? What is being said?

The play in three acts, or two. The poem in 10 stanzas or 22. The sculpted pot.

The drape of fabric, and its color, too; and yes, its texture!
Musical line, tempo, lilt, mood. It moves us in ways words cannot tell.

Ears and eyes. Breath held. Anticipation. Images before us, in front of eyes, inside ears;

Unfolding senses of movement of ideas, shapes, sounds…….
Aha! Breath released. Idea formed. Message received. The connection of ‘art’

Audience. Group. Community. Self alone.

Our interaction draws us out of inner recesses. Into presence of others.
The magic of social awareness, messaging, understanding. Seeking connection?

Understanding feeling; sensations. Inner urges.

Messaging among unknown partners. Communicating. Something.
Is this the task of art? Is this what we are about?

Jim would know. He did.

December 18, 2011

What American Voters Believe

Interesting political season. Lots of talk. Lots of media coverage. Sort of like a circus atmosphere: entertainment, light hearted banter, oohs and aahs but no Pow! No substance. Noise but empty gestures.

Do Americans really like this hoopla? Do we really get anything out of this?

Overheard a conversation the other day. One fellow asked the other what he thought of the presidential candidates so far? Of course he was only referring to the Republican candidates because they are the only ones in the news.

The other fellow said, “they’re all unimpressive and don’t really say anything of

   value. Just posturing.”

 But the other fellow insisted: “which candidate do you think will wind up with

   the nomination?”

And the other fellow said: “not one of them deserves the nomination; but

   Romney will probably get it by default.”

So the other guy says, “well that means Romney will be the next president?”

The other guy said, “no! The Republicans don’t have anyone to actually solve

   national problems; Obama is a shoe in for re-election.”

The other guy said, “really? Wow. I thought for sure Obama was a dead duck.”

Well, go figure! The polls we hear about in the media only poll a narrow group of Republicans who are most likely to vote in the Iowa caucuses, or in primaries in other early voting states. These people don’t really reflect the opinions of the general public.

When asked recently, both Republicans and Democrats supported these issues (53% or more; still close but….):

• Prochoice abortion policies; they are not comfortable with abortions, but feel women have the right to decide; we don’t hear that from the politicians!
• The public supports equality of marriage rights for gay people; no equivocation. Again, we don’t hear that from the politicians
• The public does not want the federal government to shut down operations over the deficit issue in Congress; but the congressmen threaten repeatedly to do just that!
• The public recognizes problems and wants congress to fix them; we hear solutions presented by mostly Democrats, and few if any from Republicans; but the problems remain unsolved and the public allows this to happen

I could go on and on in this vein. We have problems. The people know this. So do politicians. But instead of fixing the problems, politicians keep fighting seemingly over ideologies while nothing gets done. Gridlock. What they’re really fighting for is power: votes and more money to get more votes.

This situation concerns a lot of us. But what do we do about it?

In the slow cycle of elections, we vote people in and out of office hoping to have an effect. Rarely does this occur. So what do we do about this? What can we do that will fix problems before they get any worse?

I think we have the following actions to choose from. Perhaps one, some or all should be implemented by each of us.

1. Protest to elected officials; if enough of us do this it will have an effect!
2. Provide visible protests for public media coverage; lame I know, but the attention sometimes gets authorities to act in the desired way
3. Get people to run for office who will represent our views and desired actions; a very slow process; requires good people to interrupt their lives to do the public’s work; and we make it more difficult for them to do that as time goes on.
4. Recall elected officials who are not doing what we ‘hired’ them to do; also slow, hard work and not always successful; then again, who replaces the ousted?
5. Create an action group to actively organize our public problems in priority order so we know which ones to begin work on; this is easily done; but getting the right people involved is the hardest part! And who takes the lead?
6. Create action groups to work on the priority problem areas and produce workable solutions to choose from; once step 5 is accomplished, step 6 is easier to do
7. Educate the public on the available solutions and pick one for each problem area; this will only happen if media outlets are open to reporting what’s happening and why
8. Lobby appropriate government units to adopt the selected solutions and monitor progress of those implementations; slow but effective if media involvement from step 7 is present
9. Keep the pressure on elected officials and continue to be visible in pressing the public agenda based on our own understanding and priorities; this is more helpful than most people realize

Our governments are not responsive to our needs given the current incumbents. We will need to work around them until we install those we can work with.

Here are some long term objectives we should be working toward and insisting our representatives dedicate themselves to:

• Raising household incomes
• Access to life-long affordable education; help shift to new careers
• Plentiful job creation in healthy industries
• Vibrant personal inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit
• New energy sources to replace oil
• Competitive American auto industry
• Responsive representative governance

Each of these items is interwoven with the others. If we make strong inroads on each of these items I bet we will come close to creating a self-sustaining economy that is both healthy and internationally competitive.

Any one interested in helping get these steps started?

December 17, 2011