‘Tis the Season

Well it is some sort of season. Always is something or other at any time of year. But now we face the excruciating wonder of the holiday, Holiday, “Holiday’ season. Some know it as Christmas. Others know it as Kwanzaa, while others make Hanukkah their festive choice. No matter the cultural pivot point, these are the holidays bandied about in the public voice over and over again throughout the year, not just between Thanksgiving and New Years.

I know it is a happy time for most people. But it is an unhappy period for many, and the juxtaposition of the two camps of people make it harder on the less fortunate among us. That is a simple statement of the facts.

When a gazillion people are making merry at holiday parties, drinking and eating the most fun food and beverages, there are many millions who don’t because they cannot. It is not a choice for them. They do not have the wherewithal to pay for such festivities.

And the gift buying and sharing? It makes it only worse.

We grew up with expectations and eventually were disabused of those expectations. Our hopes and dreams would not come true in spite of our wishing them so. The more we understood this, the more mature we knew we were becoming. At least emotionally.

I recall seeing my parents enter their senior citizen years and wonder about their lack of enthusiasm for this time of year. I thought they were being curmudgeonly.  Their lack of spirit for the holidays tended to pull my spirits down. Slowly I came to understand their reluctance to celebrate the holidays.

First, it was a lot of work to participate in it. Second, it was emotionally draining. Third, it was costly; the family grew by generational math factors and gift giving became a financial burden. But fourth, they came to realize the true meaning of the holidays had little to do with the trappings and customs most prevalent in public view.

The important thing is being together and sharing each other. With passage of time and changing relationships because of the passage of that time, older people become much more dissociative of the celebrations. A gap appears between them and the rest of the population – yes, even their family members. It is perfectly natural, I think. But it is uncomfortable just the same.

Perhaps that is why senior citizen communities are growing. They have their own age-related cultures to focus on. And they enjoy them. The camaraderie is real, sincere and expansive even while many of the older crowd fall by the wayside with illness, incapacity and death. It is inevitable but one does not necessarily wish to be reminded of it.

I remember the movie Cocoon. It was about death and dying with the twist that aliens could transport those who wished to an interplanetary site where aging was halted and death simply did not occur. Some chose to remain home regardless of the circumstances. And as good a film as it was, we young folk in the family delicately avoided talking about the movie with our parents. This was so because we thought they might find any discussion of failing health and death as unpleasant reminders of their own inevitable fate.

But it is our fate, too. Yours and mine.

Enjoying the time of the present is more difficult than people let on. Enjoying a good conversation among friends and family is an art. The spontaneous is best. Planned chat requires so much more art and effort to make successful. Until at least the alcohol kicks in and lubricates social interaction. Then the hilarity is allowed to happen.

If you are no longer a drinker or never were, you will wonder how the lubricating part works or why it ever did. Exposed are the frailties that inevitably exist. Then and now, there is no difference. Reality is what it is regardless of our efforts to disguise it.

Yes, our culture requires us to enjoy ourselves. We act roles. They are pleasant window dressing but they are fundamentally dishonest. And we know it is. Even as we carry on the act. It is polite, right?

Well, yes it is. But it can work only so far before the joy is lost and the fun encounters fail to appear. Best to use this only as an ice breaker and then jump in with abandon and truly feel, relate and enjoy each other. Not an easy task, but we perfect such images that the paradigms are impossible to recreate in real life.

For those of us beginning to be too old to care, we remain at home in our comfortable familiar surroundings and enjoy life that is left for us. It is good. It is a pleasure in its own way. And the fuss and much ado that is missing is part of why it is such a pleasure.

Hard to understand? Well your time will come when this makes perfect sense. I know it does to me.

Who would have thought it?

November 30, 2015

Taking A Breather

I’ve been writing this blog for over four years. I don’t think I missed a single day – one essay a day nearly 50 months. In the beginning I wrote daily but soon dropped Sunday, then whittled it down to a Thought for the Day item for the weekend, just a brief item at that. Still, it amounts to a lot of writing on a disciplined scheduled.

With the Holidays approaching and Thanksgiving tomorrow, I have decided to take a week or so off.  Hope you all don’t mind!

Thanks for following the blog. I look forward to picking it up soon.

November 25, 2015

Thanksgiving Week

This is a time we Americans set aside to count blessings. All of us have blessings whether we fully account for them or not. For some it may simply be the roof over our heads however temporary that is. Yet others will be thankful for a steady accessibility to food and warmth for much of the year.

Some will be very grateful for clean drinking water where so little of it is available. And long treks with a heavy pot carried over rough terrain to get a few hours worth of potable water. Home again the trekker and pot are united with the people of their lives and friends and family drink and sigh together for the refreshment.

They are thankful for the water, the gathering, the simple act of being together.

So too the American Thanksgiving Holiday – families reuniting and sharing time and space and food. Catching up with each other’s lives. Laughing over simple observations. Smiles of recognition and remembering the similar moments lived long ago.

Time may heal all things but time also builds memories of times long past. Magically remembered at key moments. Relived, even. Somehow that, too, is a blessing.

Concerns aplenty populate modern routines but still we are safe and fed and clothed in ways so normal we don’t even think of it. But the blessings are there counted or not. And that’s OK. We have time to be grateful for other things that give dimension and weight to our lives.

The small things, though, are the foundation of what we have. A time to be grateful for the small things is appropriate. It keeps us honest and humble. It is not riches we need for happiness. But others, yes. We need them to bless our lives.

In our very busy times we keep in touch but not in physical presence. That comes at gatherings – weddings, parties, funerals, celebrations, and the simple meals shared.

Thanksgiving allows us another of those celebrations but this one focused on recalling all that is important and valued.

This week, whether you travel far or only a block, think on the things that have built your life and be thankful for them all. Share this with your loved ones this week. Make this a special Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2015

Alternate Universe

I get it that people are on edge about terrorism. I get it that recent terrorist attacks in Paris bring the specter of this happening on American soil all too real. And of course our mind recaptures the horror of 9/11 in an instant. But I don’t get why people have given into their fear so much as to shut our nation off from the rest of the globe. We refuse Syrian refugees? We specifically label all Syrian refugees as potential terrorists and thus ban them from our borders?

Yet these same people, who ban refugees, do not ban foreign goods, sending our jobs to foreign lands, accepting internet orders for our goods to be delivered to foreign lands, or accepting foreign students to our universities and colleges. We even accept foreign workers with skills in short supply here at home.

So evidently not all foreign matters are taboo. Only those we are told to fear by politicians campaigning for public office or politicians who wish ill on sitting presidents and so brand him with the blame for the world turning sour. There are 54% of the republican party stalwarts who fall for this line. One wonders if they truly believe the propaganda or are merely following the dictates of their party?

This seems like what it would be like to live in an alternate universe! We can see them through the scrim but somehow they do not communicate with us or recognize our presence. We are somehow within visibility of sorts with them but not in contact. Yes, that just about explains the feelings of these days! The scrim of separation is but millimeters yet a world apart.

Others are living in a manner that simply does not compute or connect with the same manner in which we live. Being of different opinions is one thing but being polar opposites at the same time within the same context? How can that be?

I guess if a person trains their mind to be critical of everything they are positive about very little.

I can understand that. What I don’t understand is how a person can live with such negativism so much of the time? What gives them hope to arise in the morning? Or go to bed of an evening knowing all will be well? Such anxiety must be pernicious: moods, mindsets, outlook, making plans, and so much more.

The more I think of it the more pity I have for them. Such unhappy lives they live. So disconnected from the reality and joys of others where life truly resides.

I guess ‘the other’ and alternate universe are truly different dimensions.

Well. That’s a relief!

November 23, 2015

Thought for the Day

Being Grateful is a state of blessing. Knowing how our life is at this moment and being grateful for all that it is - large and small - allows us to appreciate the good all around us. Focusing on what isn't good amounts to nothing and takes a lot of energy.

Grateful is positive. Enjoy it.

November 21, 2015

Being True to Values

I must say that unfolding news challenges us to remain true to ourselves in unsuspected ways.  Here I am, a solid middle of the road person trusting in government and its mission to maintain order and yet build for exciting, creative futures. Some would argue I’m a flaming liberal, but I don’t buy that. I am for people, for what they are capable of that is good; I recognize they are capable of bad/evil and we must have answers for that to protect the good among us. I am willing to take risks in order to give others freedom to be themselves and to grow more fully into the capable human beings for which they have promise.

That promise is for them and for us. If they prosper and are happy, we have fewer problems and more strength with which to deal with other issues and problems. I see it that simply.

It isn’t simple of course. It is an enormous puzzle of competing policy and belief systems. But you see, at the very core of it all, if we fail, - we quite literally die or live in continuing misery. If we succeed, we live lives of accomplishment, intellectual excitement, purposeful achievement and success for the whole community of mankind.

Such a difficult prize to work toward. Well worth the effort, and filled with risks and challenges, but the reward; remember the reward.

Shirking the work because we are fearful of failure only dooms us to that failure.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would say democracy will make the decisions. The process will work. If we don’t allow it to then we don’t trust democracy.

I wonder which democracy he is talking about? The one in which each citizen has a vote and uses it? Or the one in which political skullduggery blocks access to the ballot box, miscounts votes, misleads voters, and allows financing of campaigns to be paid for by the highest bidder and special interest group.  Which one exactly, Mr. Scalia?

I know you have a reputation of strict intellectual process, but I detect a weakness toward political influence in your speech. Over and over again that bias is noted in your utterances. The intellectual armor you present to the world is not the true you, right? Would you believe in raw democracy if your position were to go down in defeat due to misleading information and distraction? Misinformation is ruling today’s political message. You know that. I know that.

My question is: Why doesn’t the Media know that? Aren't they the watchdog for us all? They are to report what is happening and why it is important. They are to watch for facts and misstatements and report those to us. They are to keep us balanced and on point with the factual basis of history in the making.

Does anyone see the Media actually being that for us today?  I don’t. NBC doesn’t do the job fully. They keep pulling punches – no conclusions; they keep reporting what gains ratings – the weirder the better, regardless of the truth; and precious little fact checking.

One wonders if NBC’s advertisers are telling the network how to report the news? And ABC, CBS, CNN. We already know about Fox News.

I basically trust democracy, but it works well only when the voter understands the issues and votes intelligently on them. That requires them to do some work: to know, to research; to question; to measure truth. Does the media help them or is it a part of the problem? How can we know? Who do we trust?

And when all is said and done, can people set aside political party labels and vote their conscience when there is still doubt?

Will we repeat our history and intern those foreigners among us (citizens or not) simply because we fear them and their ancestry? Will Syrian and Middle Eastern peoples among us be jailed or interned because we simply don’t trust them?

Who’s foreign band of newcomers was your family among? The English? The Irish? Germans? Italians? Poles? Hispanics? Africans? Which among us is truly native to America and is thus immune to such internment? Do you even know? Do we all even know?

Questions, folks. Lots of questions. Stop the fearing and begin the knowing.

Ignorance never informed governance intelligently. Ignorance almost always led us to mistakes we regretted deeply.

Please God don’t let us stumble yet again into a morass that will doom us for years!

If you find fear on your tongue, hold your speech. Find instead an idea that you would offer as a solution. If you don’t have that solution, keep your silence.

Keep your silence. Only then will you remain true to yourself and your values.

November 20, 2015

ISIS and the World Community

Well, well, well. Russia’s plane is bombed in flight; 224 souls killed immediately. Paris attacks slay 129 souls with 99 hanging on for dear life, and 253 more in hospital with injuries. Somalia reels. Syria reels. Deaths one at a time or enmasse. Terrorism takes its toll plodding onward, ever onward.

And now France feels threatened, so too England, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the USA.

Allies before. Allies against ISIS over the past few months. Now focused allies waging war against the lawless and unconscionable perpetrators of something the rest of us don’t quite understand. But that’s OK. We don’t need to understand just at this moment. What we need to do is protect and defend.

So, 118 fuel trucks have been blown up. Perhaps the ISIS headquarters town should be leveled? What is the proper response? Don’t know just yet, but we are working on it. Working on it.

Stop the flow of bombs, guns and bullets to ISIS. Where are they getting this materiel? Who is funding it? Two new targets: the weapons flow AND the money flow. How hard is this to find and block?  Not my field of endeavor so I don’t know this. Who does? Are they working on it this moment?

Meanwhile, where are ISIS camps, offices and domestic locations? Bomb these as they would do to ours. Have done, really. And their pledge to continue to do this. So, we must respond in order to defend our own.

Meanwhile, another step to take. Close down Syria completely. Russia, America and all allies stand together to stop Syria, Libya and the Sinai from being misused against the peace loving world. Our response must be relentless.

The refugees. What to do about them? Feed them, house them. Educate and nurture them. Find new homes. Monitor communications to track nefarious schemes by ISIS, but otherwise treat them well. Now is not the time to make martyrs of the already homeless. No nation understands this better than America. That is our history. So let us not shirk our duty in this department!

Presidential campaigns are noise and distraction. Only experience need apply, and agile minds focused on the largest of problems. That is governance. The rest is and has been useless window dressing designed to keep our eyes off of what others want from our way of life.

Surely we won’t be stupid at a time like this? Well, who knows? Who would have projected Trump being so popular or even Carson, a vacuous nonentity without any experience except in hospitals? That is not the hall of congress. It may be more civil than congress, but it doesn’t teach you how government works behind the scenes and needs to  transact the business of a nation of 330 million souls.

Yes, governing is hard work. It is blended history, philosophy, values, intellect and policy formation. It is hopeful while transacting the work we need to have accomplished for us. It is leadership. It is application of heart and mind intelligently.

So far republicans continue to argue for no Syrian refugees, all along party lines. Thirty two republican state governors; 26 of them claiming no refugees. They don’t have the constitutional authority to do this, but they do have the right to make political noise and they have done so in concert with their party. Shame on them. And now the presidential candidate puppets are doing the same.

I’m most disappointed with Jeb Bush who I thought was more intelligent and thoughtful. But no; keep out strangers! Don’t trust anything Obama does or has done. Don’t provide any helpful suggestions on what to do. Don’t give us your policy template and direction for the future. Just complain and gripe about what the other party has done. Even when they did not create the policy nightmare that has given rise to ISIS and its horrors.

Let’s remember what we are about and keep on track. We must defend, nurture and build a fresh generation of tomorrows.  Will noise keep us from this most important task? Will America remember who she is in time not to make really stupid emotional mistakes like the Japanese internment camps of the 1940’s?

Let us pray not!

November 19, 2015

You or Us?

Gaggles of commuters with heads tipped down toward their phones. News being read but not on paper. Fewer ads on the tiny electronic windows on the world. But plenty of images and messages.

Clothing styles and fashions of the day are on parade. So too the shoes, eyewear and chic. It permeates the routine anonymously. We know it but we don’t pay attention to it. And the music as well. Ever present in our days just like the electronic beeps and flashes of our hand held devices. No more guessing on what is going on in the world, or the stock market, or what’s on sale nearby.

So too our accessibility to others. The phone rings, computer dings, and text messages flow. We are in demand and being informed of something.

The train into the city is alight with advertisements and posters. Some lit, some dark. But messages incessantly promoted and sent to eyes and minds not alert to surroundings.

Cars are automatic. We drive them to work and to the store and to our homes. The radio blares its music and messages, also incessantly unless we turn to I-pods and CDs, or private satellite radio stations with few marketing interruptions. Sometimes we turn the sound system off and just think our thoughts in private.

Surrounding cars are shaped, fluid, sporty, flashy. We notice and wonder what it would be like to pilot. We ‘feel’ the reticulated seats supporting our body just so. We breathe in the smell of the rich leather interior, and try to imagine the hushed interior of a well constructed cabin sound proofed against the world.

Neighborhoods run past our windows, too. High rises glittering with glass and balconies and twinkling lights suggesting interiors too rad to imagine. Another life, another style of living, another role we might try on for ourself?

And homes, mansions really, even the Mc-mansions that draw our attention to a life we don’t now have. What is this allure to what we don’t own, don’t have access to, may never have. Or need?

We are pulsing through life in an ocean of messages. Do we conform? If we do, for how long? Is it a life-long fascination or just a passing fancy? When do we awake to a reality that has always been with us and begs our attention?

The ‘you’ generation is really the ‘me’ generation, or something like it. One does not pretend to know precisely about this, or else we demonstrate our own attention to such fancies? The trouble with all this is the big distraction.

What is important? What kind of things matter to me? Why do they? Are they because they define me in some way? Or are they a pattern, a template I can use to fashion my own life so I feel full and complete? Or maybe the things that matter are pulling me outside of myself toward something larger. Does that larger thing hold a promise to me, a meaning that fulfills an inner ache?

The ‘me’ is shifting to ‘we’?

Hope throbs with the thought.

In time we become bored, not because no one listens, that is for the younger youth among us. We become bored most likely because the wanted thing no longer holds our attention. It has become passé. It is now old and out of fashion.

We are bored until ‘we’ crashes into our lives and brings with it purpose and value and future. It has always been there beckoning to us. The we of existence is all of us yearning for similar things that truly matter.

Such things as smiles, appreciation for sounds, sights, and people bustling toward the needs of others. We cannot understand that until we listen, feel and reach out to touch others so we can know them more fully. The mysteries of life are not so hidden. They are in plain sight for us to see – so we can become we.

You or Us? Your land or mine. Or ours? What shared religions and philosophies do we have, and do they matter? Maybe we make this too difficult.

We arise from bed in the morning. We sit up and shake out the stiffness. We stretch legs and feet, pull on sweats and shirt, clamber up and make the rounds of rooms turning on lights, opening drapes, starting the water to boil. Off to the bathroom for refreshment and then to the computer to start the day.

We check the news, the personal messages, and then our routines to pursue for the next 16 hours. We find the needs of others and focus on them. We are not aware of ourself until the tea kettle whistles. But soon after, sipping the fresh brew, we are off on a trek of the mind once again.

The us is fuller than me. Us embraces and fulfills.

Us of all age groups need this. It pulls us out of bed in the morning. It forces us to shut off the TV and pick up a book. Or a nap to rest and refresh the mind.

Hmmm. I’ll have to think of this a little more.

And you?

November 18, 2015

Investing in Youth

Not just us, but globally. The next Einstein is living among us. Maybe several! And master musicians, physicists, engineers and thinkers in new and exciting realms. They are there. You know they are. But will we meet them? Will we see what they can do? Will their power of intellect and invention be unlocked for the benefit of mankind?

We cannot know this. But we can invest in them so the probability of their development and nurture will yield the results we need. In fact we yearn for this.

The future will happen one way or another. It would be a better future if we helped it along. That takes believing in our kids and the neighbor’s kids, too. While we are at it, let’s believe in the kids of Africa, South America, Europe, Asia and every corner of the global community. Each child is a wonder of possibility. Alone he or she might make it; but more probable of this happening is because we all cared enough to help each child develop as fully as he/she can.

We can well imagine what this could mean for the world. But can we imagine what the world would be like if we didn’t make this investment? Now that’s a heavy question!

For one thing our educational institutions would score low results from their students. Many schools may even become glorified day care centers (many think this has already happened!). Wars of tiny cause will begin and fester for generations, or centuries – like Somalia, Sudan, the Middle East as well as countless tribes throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan. Ignorant masses with little to live for and thus the draw to exciting war games with deadly results.

What other results might we expect? Masses of growing poverty, underachievement economically throughout major regions of the globe, and enormous advantages being taken by power mongers. Yes, the latter is quite easily accomplished on the heads of poor people who have little to protect let alone drive them to survive. Millions upon millions of starving people suffering awful deaths from malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water, and runaway health problems.

Are we our Brothers’ Keeper? Yes and no; but certainly the ‘yes’ eases the problems we will face to build a world of future for all people. The ‘no’ answer dooms us to unending work, problems, and peril.

Peace among us all comes when we have something to live for, protect, and imagine even better futures. The feeding of the mind pays dividends too large to calculate. The opposite is also true.

We must decide. Nations with resources have a duty bound honor to educate their own youth. If those same nations hope for peace they will also share their wealth with less fortunate nations so their youth are nurtured to the pinnacle of their abilities.

I know this sounds Pollyannaish. Still, it is logical and positive. If the world is to get along it must respect all peoples, classes, religions, philosophies and points of view. Respect does not require that we all agree with one another. Respect means we value the other person. By doing so we hope they value us as well.

By helping others excel we help the global community excel as well. Besides, if we teach others to be self sufficient they become able to build their own nations, feed their own people, and press forward with an agenda of peace and hope for all of us.

We have much to lose by not supporting this way of living and thinking. We have much to gain by adopting it. Double the dividends of the investment – avoid the horrors on the one hand while also gaining the good from the other. What could be better?

November 17, 2015

The World Weeps

Another tragedy born in minds of religion and politics. Again in Paris, but played out in many corners of the globe. Paris is not alone. New York City is not alone. Spain, Germany too, have had their moments of this illness. London comes to mind, too; now Russia, and of course the Middle East is rife with murderous minds twisted by confusion in interpreting God’s will.

Peace. Loathing. Resentment. Love. Hate. Pain. Fear. Wanting.

Are these the only things ruling our lives? It seems so. Like children at play someone presses to rule the scene. But consequences seem distant then. Later they are very real. Whether a bully, a mistaken ‘want’ or an inner urge uncontrolled by whatever power in the personality. Will this play become a real horror scene later in life?

And then where will this drama explode?

America has plenty of its own internal explosions of mental illness. School yards and school buildings, concert halls and shopping malls. Offices, too, along with post offices and banks and factories. People killing others for whatever reason. Not healthy people acting but sick people driven by uncontrolled and uncared-for pathologies.

It is not difficult for us to project our experiences to the world scene and extrapolate what has become historical, cultural, anthropological and religious – all run amok by unchecked currents of sickness. Who is to cap another’s pursuit of happiness? When do we intercede for the good of the community? For each other?

Each nation has its own tilting point and understanding of the festering wound that bodes ill in outbreaks of violence. It is not always the criminal mind, just the sick one. And the sick is often driven by distorted sense of history, religion which somehow boomerangs on the person telling him/her to act and kill, to hurt and maim, to make a mark before he dies. Someone must pay for this travesty he lives internally. The tortured emotions must be horrible.

We can guess about these emotions. We have them as well but controlled and civilized for some reason we value. Order, peace, love, caring, knowing that who and what we are are all wrapped up in our shared humanity. It is what makes love possible in the first place. Also peace. We yearn for this even when we have it!

It is that worthy of our value.

Spiritual well being and religious sentiment – belief, theology, systemic living based on those belief systems – all make peace and love accessible. Until challenged by a belief system that does not fit with the others.

Sheer political power, unfortunately, strides to center stage in personalities who seek power and will have it from whatever source available. In the Middle East it is religious fanaticism. Easily turned into political power via violence. All in the name of Allah. But not really; not really. This has nothing to do with Allah, God, Yahweh or any other godhead adored by millions or billions.

This has to do with power, pre-eminence. Personality enhanced and empowered by some puller of strings. The marionettes are avid and readily become suicide bombers in the name of Allah-cum-veiled leader. It is important to know this in order to combat it.

This is a scourge on all our lands. It is a terror of spirit that stains mankind’s history upon the planet. It is up to us to battle it together. Hand in hand. Shoulder to shoulder. Russia and the Middle East and America and France and Germany and Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Israel and Turkey and Greece and Italy and Spain and all the world. It is our job to do this. Together.

There is no one culture alone that stands. Only all of us together. Because we hold each other up in good times and bad.

This is true in neighborhood and nation. It is also true throughout all the globe. Who we are is what we are together. We don’t have to agree to be caring and cooperative. We do have to give up a tiny slice of independence to ensure we do and can stand together.

Is this tired world ready for cooperation? Are we yet tired of violence to really battle it and all of its causes?

If so, take a deep breath and resolve to act accordingly. Who will help?

Meantime we all weep with Paris.

November 16, 2016

Thought for the Day

Peace comes first to the heart, then to the mind. It is from within. Be one who is peace.

Only then can we have peace.

November 14, 2015

Another Weighty Issue

Shutting Down the Government – Again!  It seems republicans think shutting down the government is the only way they can get attention on the things that matter to them. Unfortunately, they haven’t really identified what those matters are. There are so many of them they gripe about. Spending? Entitlements? Illegal immigration? Government regulations? The list goes on and on.

The frustrating thing is each of these issues has been in republican control for many years. They funded them endlessly. Then they claimed they were over the moon and needed to be reined in. To do that takes administrative budgets for manpower and implementation. But budgets are not provided to do that, so they continue to complain. They made the problem; they point out the problem; they block the work to fix the problem.

The party of can’t; or won’t. That about sums it up!

Meanwhile, government services and operations which cannot be shut down continue with a lick and a promise that the salaries and expenses will be paid for sometime in the future. We are talking about things like: air traffic control; FEMA safety and security at airports and other hot spots throughout the land (border patrol, immigration regulations); police, medical emergency and fire protection; national defense systems and the standing military forces; social security check printing and distribution; and so forth.

And the cost? Last time the government shut down the net cost was calculated at $24 billion for lost revenues and costs to run the country on a back burner of an old camp stove; and lots of overtime. What we lost in opportunities is not calculated in this total expense. Just think of it all!  What a waste of effort, intent and purpose.

No one wins in this tactic of political gaming.

I guess for many people shutting down the government is fun to watch on the news. The world turned upside-down is entertainment for them. Clearly it is not governance; rather it is non-governance, something the republicans are turning into an art form.

They think their antics will get attention on problems so they can be fixed. But wait! That requires them to offer up their own solution to the problems. Where are these solutions? When was the last time you heard a cogent presentation from them on how to fix a problem?

All they do is throw a tantrum and hold their breath, turning blue.  Perhaps we should let them continue with that until they pass out and expire. Treating them like the kids they are might just turn the tide. After all, kids eventually quiet down and come to the table for a meal!

Meanwhile I think we should dock the pay of all congressional people – elected and hired – to reflect the downtime of the government. That means they have to do without as well. While we are at it, their government provided benefits ought to be removed and replaced with those the rest of us get from the premiums and taxes we paid for all our lives. Congress needs to live on what they feel is fair and abundant for us.  It won’t take long after that happens for them to fix what obviously needs fixing!

If congress acts like kids voters should treat them like kids. Time outs; corner time; early to bed; no treats; and no TV or computer time.

I wonder how long it will take them to come to their adult senses? Or perhaps they lack these? We shall see.

November 13, 2015

Installment # 5 on Weighty Issues

GOP Power Struggle: Sixteen candidates are running in the republican presidential primaries bidding for being the party’s nominated candidate following next summer’s convention. Sixteen. There are more but they dropped out. Others may still enter the contest before this is all over.

So the party is struggling to find its voice. Its leader. A front runner that somehow personifies what the party stands for. That is a difficult task. It has been a difficult task for many years. This is so because the party includes several ideological camps that are ill at ease with one another. This condition, too, has been with the party for a long time. I personally observed it in the 1980’s. That internal struggle of the party is the reason I left the republican fold. And they only got worse from there in my opinion.

The party simply doesn’t know how to accommodate different mindsets. Conservative? Progressive or liberal? Middle of the road? Tea Party starkly drawn, or Tea Party casually defined? How about Hate Government of all kinds? Or libertarian republicanism. Or anarchists?

You see there are all sorts of republicans. I have friends and family members who are republican and they wonder how I can be so harshly critical of the party when they don’t feel they represent the harsh elements I’m uncomfortable with.

Well it is easy for me to be critical of republicans because they have not lifted a finger to organize, sort out, or in any way structure the party so it can embrace diversity of thought. Republicans have always tended to the position that ‘if you don’t agree with them, get out of the party’. And I did. I did not feel at home. Meanwhile, which ideology are you supposed to agree with in their party? It is pure chaos. Anarchy really.

The party is anti-intellectual, anti-academic, anti-historical, anti-science and anti-government. In short republicans fall into that class of debaters who don’t believe in facts. And when they feel facts are important to make a point, they make up the facts so they don’t have to do the research and provide the proof of their arguments. It has become the party of the Big Fib. Don’t know something? Make something up. I guess they figure no one will check it out! But we do.

I think it is pretty clear the party cannot govern itself let alone the nation.

They have power of criticism. Attack, too. They love to make fun of other people, bully them, and use sound bites to represent their beliefs. It is easy for them to do this. And because far too many Americans don’t vote, or don’t pay attention to the issues, they let republicans win elections without fighting them.

Thirty two states have republican governors. The House of Representatives have more than 247 republican seats of the House total of 435, and 54 senate seats of 100. Clearly they have grass roots power. And they enforce party policy and voting records strictly. This is the secret behind their power to obstruct congressional progress. So they stop progress from others without offering their own programs. They are the party of NO.

Republicans generally agree that they don’t like or trust government. Of any kind. And that is an easy position to make and defend against all others. The strategy wins elections.

Today, however, things have become messy. The party has become unmanageable. There are too many ideologies included in the party for there to be much harmony among the leaders. Winning an election by blaming the sitting President is not a leadership coup. Blaming the president for everything your own party engineered from day one also does not represent a winning strategy let alone a leadership development objective.

The world is a dangerous place with many opportunities to pursue for the good of all mankind. To do that leaders have to lead by defining problems, focusing on the really important ones, and then working towards solutions. The solutions have to be talked about enough so masses of people can get behind the ideas and solutions. The solutions have to be decided and then implemented. They cannot work if this work isn’t done.

Blaming other people for problems real or imagined is not leadership. It is complaining. We get enough of that at home! Its time to take the republican party out into the fresh air and demonstrate what it can do. We know they can start wars. We know they can misread intelligence reports. We know they don’t understand how the economy works and thus how to manage it. They have deficit spent the nation into massive debt while crippling the economic engine that makes it all work.

And no, cutting taxes and ramping up expenses for unbudgeted wars and benefit programs is not leadership or economic management. It is disaster. It is the recession we experienced from 2007 to present. The recession is payment for two wars ($3 trillion dollars of expense and debt) and massive tax cuts ($1 trillion annually). Is it no wonder the economy has been struggling?

That’s what we got from republican leadership. They know it. But now they have to do something about it. When do you suppose they will do so?  If not in present campaigns, one wonders if they even understand these issues? Maybe that’s their secret. They don’t make suggestions about fixing things because they don’t know how to.     

Well, well, well.

November 12, 2015

More Weighty Issues Discussed

If you need to, return to Friday, November 6^th’s post of this blog for the initial discussion on weighty issues. Monday and Tuesday of this week I continued the chat on this subject. The bottom line is this: many of our most important topics are simply too complex to bat around in news articles or on-air news programs. There simply isn’t enough time to do the issues justice. They are too complicated for short discussions to make a dent in understanding the issues. Much more involved programming is needed to help consumers of news programs understand the issues under discussion.

The Pacific Rim trade agreement known as TPP is one such topic.  It is important. It is a huge agreement. Much to read, research, and then discuss. After all of that we can begin to understand both its intent and calculate probable outcomes. Until then we truly need to withhold criticism. 

The same respect for complexity is needed in many other arenas currently popular topics of news programmers and pundits. No wonder the average news reader and consumer feels lost at sea!

So far we’ve identified the TPP, Senior Citizen Cost of Living Adjustments, Suicides and Family Murders, and Power Among Nations. Next we will take a look at…….

Understanding Economic Policy: In the four years I’ve been writing this blog I must have talked about economics 50 times! Still, it is a major topic that most Americans do not understanding. They get balancing their check book, taking out a car loan or mortgage, but they don’t understand the policy formation process required to make economic policy. And why the policy is made in the first place is a mystery to most folks.

Micro economics is basically about you and your household’s finances: income, expense, savings, debt management, acquiring asset values that outweigh liability values over many years. That’s micro economics. Also included in this field of study is the operation of firms and businesses, normally small ones. Like households, they also generate income streams from their activities and support expenses including salaries and wages of the people involved in producing the income stream in the first place. Those businesses acquire over time steady revenues, controlled operating expenses and stronger net incomes (hopefully!) which lead to equity value in the business. That is an asset value that far outweighs any liabilities incurred to acquire the operating pieces of the business. Not all such pieces are paid for at acquisition; loans are involved, and such pieces also depreciate and require replacement. Thus loans are a normal part of doing business and the balance sheet reflects this.

Micro economics is economics at the cellular level of America’s financial operations.

Macro economics, however deals with how a nation manages its economic activity.  It takes a national government to set macro economic policy that gives rise to success and growth for everyone living in the micro economic world of the country.

Why? Because money and banking create currency and currency value. The government prints money, but for it to have value, how much money is printed or created in any manner, is important.  National debt creates money. So, printing T-bills, T-bonds, savings bonds and the like, is a form of currency. The supply of currency in use in the economy is a major macro economic issue to manage. And the activity of that currency (or money) is important; how often and at what speed does the currency supply circulate throughout the economy? The same dollar bill may be used 20 or 100 time in the course of a year. Each time it is used it counts as an income or an expense. Taxes are paid on those transactions. Asset values of people and businesses accumulate on the basis of those transactions as well.

So, currency and banking policies affect the currency supply. Interest rates affect how active the currency speeds through the economy doing transactions. If the transaction speed is slow, lethargic, individual incomes and cash flows for businesses are reduced or recessed from normal patterns. So too are tax collections by the governments involved.

How difficult or easy it is to get a loan from a bank, is also a matter of public policy as well as enterprise policy by the individual banks. They are governed by government policy so they have rules to follow. But they also have capital accumulated by investors in the bank and don’t want to lose that capital by making bad decisions on loans. So enterprise policy is a real arena for management to deal with.

Taken together, government policy and enterprise or industry policy, money flows and money supplies are affected and effect financial outcomes. These are mathematical calculations and thus are projectable, malleable, and programmable. Mathematical modeling can also be performed with these numbers. But remember this – CAUTION – math calculations here are not empirical. They do not reflect fact. They do, however, reflect the probabilities of people in households and businesses to react to certain policy threads that produce economic changes.

Remember that economics is a social science. People do not always act or react to things in the same way each and every time. Sometimes money causes happiness, even elation. Sometimes it causes unhappiness, greed, crime and misery. Policy is used to maximize the good while minimizing the bad.

You and I do not set national policy here. But our elected officials and professional staff do set policy in our name.

Now do we see a bit more clearly why economic discussions are not merely a matter of opinion? There is real fluidity involved in this topic and the art and science used to manage economic policy is not readily understood by masses of people. We must trust in the system. We must trust in our government. We must rely on reasonable people to react reasonably to economic circumstances, too!  A lot of trust and assumptions involved here! No wonder it is such an arena of political shenanigans!

Global Warming: Well, if you think economic policy is subject to political game playing, just imagine what is involved in changeable weather patterns and the science behind those changes.

The whole issue of Global Warming is not that weather is variable, but that the swings, highs and lows of weather patterns are somehow affected by how people live on the planet. We know people must deal with the weather as they live on the planet, but the REAL question is if how people live affects adversely the patterns of weather.

That question has been researched for many decades. The enormity of the scientific field alone makes conclusions difficult to assemble. But it is becoming clearer that how mankind uses the planet does in fact affect weather patterns and the variety and speed of change.

The trouble appears on the scene when we attempt to determine what we could do differently as people living on the planet that would lessen negative weather patterns that we may cause. We don’t even know much about this yet, so how we can change how we live to effect a better outcome is even more difficult to project. Besides, if we sacrifice a living style or pattern to improve the earth’s climatological health, we must calculate what this sacrifice will cost us. And if all nations on earth are going to do the same? Or are we the only nation who will suffer the sacrifice.

Well, this discussion only gets more exciting and bloody as it goes along! But at some point we need to advance our understanding and commitment that global warming is something to be concerned about and take action about. We aren’t there yet but we are getting close. Earning commitment and agreement is a totally different challenge still ahead!

These are the weighty complex issues that deserve our attention and understanding. They also require a huge professional expertise to manage them. Meanwhile, are we prepared to be patient until we understand what we truly don’t know?

Hmmmmm!

November 11, 2015

More Weighty Issues

Senior Citizen Cost of Living: In the past couple of months it was announced that Social Security benefits would not be increased to cover cost of living increases. The calculations indicated that little inflation drove up the cost of living for seniors. At the same time Medicare was requesting a hefty premium increase or a budget subsidy. If the latter did not arrive in time, Medicare said it would implement a 50+% increase in its premiums deducted from Social Security checks. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these matters, our Medicare premium is  $105.50 per month. An increase over 50% would amount to $52 per month or more being deducted from SS checks. That is a huge cost of living increase. 

Average SS monthly benefits are currently about $750 or $800. You see the problem here? Later retirees (younger) receive much higher benefit checks, but still $50 per month on a net check of $1500 to $1700 is not insignificant.

Then there are other current events issues that need consideration here. Transportation costs are driven by purchase price of cars, repairs to same, and insurance costs on top of all of that. If anyone thinks these costs are staying the same or going down, what planet are they living on? And food costs?

But the corker is medical costs. These rise incessantly for drugs, doctor visits, co-pays, insurance premiums in addition to Medicare coverage (all required) and hospital stays. Medical costs are one thing seniors cannot avoid unless they die. Period. Now do policy makers and politicians strutting upon the stage get the point? 

We haven’t even contemplated living costs – utilities, rent (yes, more seniors are renting now because they could no longer afford their homes, maybe even lost it in the last recession, and so forth?)  With the collapse of the housing market, so did the equity stash that most seniors were counting on.

Policy, folks. Policy. When it is made it must look at all the factors it is supposed to cover. For senior citizens, cost of living is a very complex issue unless you are well fixed financially.

I now want to shift attention to suicides and family murders. Although mass public shootings capture the headlines quickly because of their awful size and coldness, there is another kind of violence in our land that seems ever present. That is murder-suicides wherein one person in a relationship gone sour kills the love object person and them himself. It is usually a man doing the violence against women and kids. Entire families are slaughtered by a father or divorced dad who then kills himself on top of the mayhem.

I don’t know if this violence is picking up momentum or just my imagination. I think it is more frequent these days; if I’m right I suspect finances gone awry may be a trigger to the dissolution of the family anchorage and thus despondency grows and leads to murder and suicide. If failing finances is the cause as I suspect, then the recent recession (and hanging on recession!) may be the culprit of an increase in frequency of these tragedies.

There are many families which are visiting the recession repeatedly. These are the ones with wage earners in marginal jobs that disappear soonest and earn the lower rates of pay. No wonder such families feel the economic strains again and again.

To add to this woe is the growing underclass of aging and retired people who have had financial disaster visit them on top of the economy, their health, and failed retirement plans laid out in healthier times. These millions are very susceptible to murder-suicide pressures.

I think much needs to be researched. The questions should include these:

1. What is the history of murder-suicide in America over the past 50 to 75 years? Is it on the increase? Are their fluctuations observed to coincide with financial cycles of recession/boom/bust?
2. What programs are designed and offered by the public sector to combat murder-suicide?
3. What are the other contributing factors to this problem other than finances? Is gun ownership a related issue or not? 

Add your own research questions and ask a local university or college to go to work on these if they haven’t already.

Meantime, pray for the victims of these crimes, and especially pray for the doers of the deeds; their pressure and mental chaos must be overwhelming!

November 10, 2015

Weighty Issues – Continued

Is Obama an effective President? Is he one of the good guys history will smile upon?

I think the answer is a resounding yes. Here’s why.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact is hugely complex. Its reason for being, however, is even more important. Of course politicians with sound bite mentalities will jump on the trade agreement as a bad deal for unions and special interest industries. My point on the matter is a bit more simple: first, the deal has much to do in balancing international political power between the East and West. The need to do this is a very big deal. The TPP recognizes standards of ethics, intellectual right protocols, and currency valuations. These three areas of international trade are not recognized by China in the main. Russia is another loose cannon on this front. So the TPP balances the playing field by establishing industrial standards, trade standards, and rules of engagement in economics that the other players refuse to recognize. Who do you think will win such a battle?  The TPP is essential in managing this issue.

Who would know this? Who among voters really gets this? In the final analysis will the electorate in America understand and not let TPP shadow their voting behavior?

First off, no, I think the average voter doesn’t even have a clue about his topic. And that’s precisely my point in Friday’s blog post. If TPP is to be discussed by anyone – candidate or not – they’d better be well versed on what the TPP includes and why. The agreement took years to accomplish. It was done in private so the parties involved could explore all the aspects of the negotiations openly and understand them. Yes; they are that complex. And because of that the rest of us must provide room for negotiators to talk, probe, research, understand and ultimately make compromises so the larger issues are addressed fairly and work in a complex agreement.

No politician or pundit ought to hold forth on this issue unless they truly understand it. Poking at it in tiny pieces does not do justice to the issue.

Second, read Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. Being a citizen of the global community requires us to be responsible, involved and understanding of the many complexities of the world-wide community. We are all players. We are all workers and investors. We are all beneficiaries as well of the global community. So we had better act in concert with all of that.  I think the TPP in the long run will prove we are doing just that. Time will tell. Research will need to be performed to prove the point. But short term ill informed talk is rubbish at this point.

Patience. TPP is too important and too complex to make light of at this moment in history.

Evaluating the historical value of President Obama based on the TPP would be a mistake at this point in time. I think it will prove to be of far flung value for all of us. But we won’t know that for some time yet. To attempt it is courageous and necessary. It is what leaders do; it is what historical Presidents do.

Who has the power among world leaders? Pundits and journalists are saying Putin does because he has the guts to rattle military hardware and shake things up. Obama is third in this ranking because he doesn’t rattle sabers. To many others he seems calm and perhaps a bit detached? 

It would be well for us to consider saber rattling as unnecessary and event foolish. And calm? That is precisely what cool heads do in times of pressure. Keeping cool while considering the issues is a strength, not a weakness. And detached? Too often this behavior is perceived rather than known. Considering options and issues to balance well with one another takes logic and calm. Some mistake this as detached. They would be wrong.

Where is the public sentiment for peace among nations? Are Americans hawks on all things international? Do they believe that might makes right in all cases? Vietnam didn’t prove that way. Neither did Korea. Neither did Iraq. Neither does Afghanistan. And Russia has its own examples of this as well, including Afghanistan.

Power, especially military power, has its limits. It is to be used sparingly and very carefully. It can unleash chaos too horrible to contemplate; just review what has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. Successful? No! Effective? No! cheap? Decidedly not, in materiel costs AND military lives! Iraq was a war that need not have been. Afghanistan, yes; but then we drained resources from that worthy task to wage a dumb war in Iraq and we lost both nations.

If anyone thinks Iraq and Afghanistan wars are or have been successful, please describe in detail your logic to support this conclusion. The Taliban still rules Afghanistan. ISIS is unleashed throughout the middle east. And Al Qaeda may be a shadow of what it once was but its threads live on in the Taliban and ISIS. The killing continues. The disruption continues. All that was evil was not focused solely on Saddam Hussein. Removing him was an ego bucket list item and none other.

Discussing the relative historical value of Obama to the rest of the Presidential pack of history is easy. Obama is an intelligent, strategic thinker. He is extraordinarily well versed in the US Constitution. He understands governance. He understands policy formation. He understands the give and take of leadership and agreement. The art of compromise.  When pitted against stubborn non-compromisers, who then is the controller of the non-deal? The President or the opposition? Well, the opposition. Republicans have kept congressional power at the obstacle level to that of the White House.

Rather than circumvent it via executive orders as George W Bush did, Obama has resisted that temptation. Very few executive orders have been issued.

Sometimes leadership means letting the opposition make fools of themselves. And that, my friends, is what I think history will conclude for President Obama. He did the right things for the right reasons. And he let the chips fall where they may. While he, of course, continued on the course to get the right things done on many, many fronts.

Yes. I believe Barack Obama will end up being one of America’s most effective presidents in history.

November 9, 2015

Thought for the Day

If all religions teach ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’, why then is there so much hate in the world? The great commandment does not read – ‘love those neighbors like yourself as thyself’. No. We do not choose neighbors. They are there by happenstance.

We are to love them as we hope they will love us.

We have lots of work to do!

November 7, 2015

Weighty Issues

Here are some topics encountered in today’s news. Just scan the list! I’ll make some comments on each of them and set up more discussion for later days of this post.

• Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact
• Senior Citizens Cost of Living Calculation
• Power Among Nations – Who’s On Top Globally & Why?
• Understanding Economic Policy – Formation and Priorities
• Political Power Mongering
• Global Warming & Politics
• GOP Power struggle
• Shutting Down the Federal Government – Again
• Suicides & Family Murders – Rates Rising or Not?

Of course some of these are related. Some are not related. Each, however, offers up pressures that affect each other in particular or at least in the sense of a larger environment.

First, I want to ask a question: How does issue complexity affect public understanding and the resulting political power derived from the issue?

I think complexity is a major factor in politics. Those who have something to gain from the public’s understanding or lack of same on any specific issue are free to manipulate perceptions precisely because the issue is so complex it cannot be readily understood without major educational effort or research.

Our society is complex. Its daily concerns are layered in complexity and association with other areas of interest and functionality. We can discuss all day long (and for years after!) what we should be doing to improve public education, but if our ability and resources don’t match our objectives, nothing much will happen. At least nothing much that is good will happen. The same old gridlock will remain.

The same is true in understanding the intricacies of international relationships. They are complicated by differences in language, culture, history and perspective. How do we get along with people who are fundamentally so different from us? How do we learn to cooperate and collaborate with them for common goals? What do we have to learn to make these relationships profitable for all?

It takes a major investment in time and effort to build international understanding and functioning, profitable relationships. Lifetimes have been consumed doing this work. And in very short moments much can be destroyed. That is why statecraft is such a special field of work. Careers spent building bridges to China, Russia, North and South Korea, and the same in South America, Africa and other regions of the world, are each valuable and irreplaceable. And yet George W. Bush in a matter of a year or two destroyed generations of work in the American Foreign Service establishment. Hundreds of valuable career personnel simply quite or retired out of sheer frustration. The damage then and now is incalculable.

So, to recuperate we will need a staggering investment of time, talent and effort to rebuild understanding and collaborate functionality throughout the global community.

Same with the American public as it attempts to understand the listed topics at the outset of this post. For now, let me address a few of them to get us started on a week-long examination of the topics.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an international agreement designed to balance political power and influence among America, its partners and China and its partners. Recall that this pact is focused on trade issues, but the value of the pact extends to many power calculations affecting defense, global economics, and humanitarian life standards. The agreement was hammered out by specialists over a prolonged time. Their work was necessary secret so the parties could speak boldly and honestly among themselves. This work was not for public consumption then. Policy development is rarely an attractive process – much like the process to manufacture sausage!

Once the pact is complete and unveiled, then everyone can study it for strengths and weaknesses. Rarely will such a pact have universal appeal or agreement because it is addressing disparate points of interest in the first place. It is a process that brings different interests, peoples and interests to the same table so they can begin to work together creatively in the future. It is the nature of the process to be unwieldy and difficult to understand.

It is easy to criticize but very difficult to bring one’s own position forward for adoption. Remember that sentence now and going forward. It is the core of what makes it easy to be an arm chair quarterback on Monday following the Sunday game. Always has been. Those critics don’t have skin in the game, nor do they have intellectual skin in the agreement. Only personal misgivings and shortcomings can they identify in any agreement. If only they were there for the birthing process of the agreement! Only then would they understand.

So, caution please while the TPP is dissected by political gurus and politicians. Interest groups will have a field day. But where will they be when new contracts and trade results from the breakthrough agreements?  Will they return those gains in order to obtain a more pure product of agreement?

I doubt it. Besides, a bird in the bush may actually be worth more than two birds in the hand!

More later on the entire list of topics.

November 6, 2015

Positives

I write this blog for my own mental health. I expose myself to a lot of news. Most of it upsets me because I have doubt it is presented appropriately.

There are many considerations related to appropriate handling of news items. Here are some of the larger concerns:

• Is the item of timely importance?
• Is the report detailed enough to properly inform the reader?
• Is the report balanced?
• Is the report based on fear, loathing or some other strong emotion?
• Is the item informing or educating or both?
• Does the item provide logical extensions for the readers to pursue on their own? 

These will do nicely as a start!

The importance of timeliness has more to do with completeness of facts than with speed of breaking the news to an unsuspecting audience. The latter has shock value and maybe only that. The former is more appropriate because it attempts to fully report what happened, who is involved, where it occurred and why it is important. The consequences of the event should be suggested not concluded unless such is clearly observable.

Jumping the gun on other reporters may be worthy for the reporter but most likely is an incomplete and unworthy news item for public consumption. We see a lot of these with ‘breaking news’ banners everywhere on TV and internet news services.

Getting the details is important. All of the needed details to support some understanding and reasonable conclusions for the short term is not only helpful for the audience, but a reasonable standard of performance for the media. More data is better as long as it is relevant.

An example: A northern Illinois policeman was killed on duty. A massive man hunt was organized for nearly a month to find the two suspected attackers. Ballistic analysis began to raise questions early on; the policeman was killed by his own gun. Signs of struggle did not support defensive circumstances. A suggestion began that the death might have been a suicide. And today we learned that is what the conclusion is. Death by suicide. At this point we do not know the why, just the tragedy that a decorated, courageous former military hero turned police hero ended his own life.

The glimmers of what this story would turn out to be were present in early reports. But news handling led the public to a different conclusion for weeks – now months – before a better, more logical conclusion was made.  [Note: turns out the victim had appropriated public funds for personal use and was about to be found out so he took his own life disguised as on-duty for whatever reason.]

Balanced reporting is another issue. Is the presentation of facts skewed at all by ideology, political warp or personalities? How do we recognize such? And when do we see it?

Speaking only for myself I had suspicions about Brian Williams long before it became a known fact that he had embellished his reporting and in fact misled the public. His posture was too well modulated for me to believe he was reporting the full facts. I felt he was massaging reports to feel better to his audience, especially those who bought ad space or provided access to news pathways he could use later.

Fox News has been attacked enough that I think they are beginning to alter how they write and present the news. Identifying as a republican or conservative news outlet may be good for their profits, but it is not good for their professional standing in the news community. Their public will abandon them quickly if they lose their credibility. And most people think that has already happened. They are struggling to right their ship. It might be too late.

But alternative news outlets are not a lot better. MSN is much too democrat and liberal to be labeled objective. One watches their reports knowing about their bias and then makes adjustments.

I usually avoid all reports based on fear – “Huge Fire Envelopes Entire Block Downtown; Many Lives Lost!” or “Horrendous auto crash snuffs out teen lives; details at 11 pm.”  You know all about this sort of thing. It took me years to finally understand these news leads were actually attempts to build ratings for news shows.

If it is really shocking and important, news reports will break into programming and inform the public of the event. Earthquakes, forest fires, tsunamis, plane crashes in populated areas, spectacular film coverage of catastrophes – all are examples of break-in news items. So are reports of deaths of significant leaders or icons of public adoration.

How a news item is handled is another dimension to consider. We all need to be informed of what has happened. But our education as to why this is important for us to know is maybe more important than other considerations. Of course full understanding takes time, sometimes generations. But if news organizations feel an event is critical to understanding our world, then it ought to be brought forward and its importance shared. Those conclusions are always open to interpretation, so the reporting needs to suggest caution and open minds to consider other options. This is healthy handling of the news.

And finally, does the news story provide helpful leads for the audience to research on their own? Helping the public start healthy discussions with others is always a good result of good reporting. Ask yourself when you last encountered such a thing?

When I view a news program, interview or panel discussion, I expect some rigor in the proceedings. Presidential debates (one can hardly truly call them that!) should have intelligent questions with appropriate follow up. Also, if a responder is flim flaming that needs to be pointed out and the participants held accountable. It is not gotcha news gathering, nor is it biased. It is educational for the audience. Is this candidate or responder handling facts responsibly and accurately?

The media ought not be a handy accomplice to political nonsense.

As an audience do we feel educated by the news program or used? That is the test we should focus on. My hunch is the tests will fail all too often. That would explain why I don’t watch much TV news programs!

So I write my doubts. Here. For all to see. Dumb or not, this is my mental health aid as I continue to encounter sheer nonsense on public air waves.

November 5, 2015

Vulnerability

Is our nation at risk from outside enemies? Is it at risk from within? What risks are we speaking of here?

Well, if you are conservative, you will complain endlessly on external threats wishing us disaster, and those from within who make us vulnerable to ‘attack’ from outside our borders. The boogie man figures large in their sense of the world. I know this because I was once one of them.

But then I learned a lot about the world, how it works, its stories and histories throughout most regions of the globe. And different cultures, religions and philosophies. An open mind was the result. Also a mind willing to research and study what was not usual for me. Now the usual and unusual are one and the same!

I have been impressed by how outside cultures and political ‘unfriendlies’ push and pull at us on various issues. They seem intent on testing us and our resolve. Most likely they end up frustrated because officially America does not react to such irritations. They are minor. Outsiders probably don’t understand this about America, but it is a true trait of ours.

China is pressing its desire to expand its borders into shipping lanes that are clearly in international waters. Russia doesn’t care about this but they do support China’s move if it pushes America’s buttons. The problem, though, is not America, China or Russia. It is the international global community. If one nation bullies itself into cowing other nations, we all lose. So the United Nations (ever slow to act!) will get its interests served by America’s military machine. Our navy will push back at China’s illegal assumption of territory in international waters. Someone has to push back; only those with the might can. So we step into the issue.

Russia sweet talks the global community while hosting the Olympics, and then takes over the Crimea (its only the citizens of the land, folks, who wish to be included in Russia’s borders!). Or so they would like us to think. But the veil of truth is quite thin here and Crimea fell to violent overthrow. Russia’s position on this issue is naked. We see it clearly.

And so, emboldened, Russia claims the same or similar movement in Ukraine and attempts to take it on. But the world community once again steps into the fray and balances the power struggle to keep the status quo until cooler minds can sort it all out.

Push and push back. Struggle over power and realm. Political or not? International game playing?

What about Russia’s play in Syria? To prop up a tyrant or to edge into a power vacuum they can play upon later? In cahoots with Iran and Syria to make a larger play elsewhere? And when? What is this game of chess Russia plays? Is it serious or only a toying with America’s influence in the region.

One must always ask what the benefit of any strategy is to the players. For America it is stability, open trade in and out of the region, peace and its benefits, and stable oil production and flow. It is not power and might against anyone. ISIS is an enemy of everyone. It is a narrow violent sect/cult that has no authority other than its bilious religious extremism. It has no theological authority. Or political authority. Or moral authority for that matter. Its violence alone is its power. That’s it. So America and other nations rally around to protect the rest of the global community from ISIS. Does Russia?

Well we don’t know that at this moment. Putin says it is so but his actions are quite dubious. 

Well, the world stage is outlined above and its struggles. What concerns me most is the inner decay of our own social order and its inability to maintain strength in common so the world community doesn’t get the wrong idea. America is not weak. Far from it. But international adventurers might think otherwise if they witness the fall of John Boehner, the do nothing status of Congress, and the gridlock Congress has embedded throughout the nation. The White House fights its lonely struggles for the good of the nation. But to outsiders they may get the mistaken impression that the President is weak and cannot muster the strength to fight off outsider threats.

They would be grossly mistaken. But then they do not know us well. Nor we them.

It is the danger of adventurism. One thinks the world too simple than it is. And then falls into a pit of miscalculation easily.

Beware China and Russia and ISIS. You do not know thine enemy well enough to toy with such miscalculation.

November 4, 2015