Open Season: Part II

This second part of my election year opus started out as a look into the economy and the various promised approaches that each candidate has towards solutions for improving the current dangerous situation. But then I began thinking that no one office holder has enough influence to make significant changes. And then it occurred to me that the whole political process is out of whack and the economy, as big a problem as it is, is not the biggest problem we have.

So I scratched the economy article for now and I’ve decided to explore the bigger issue. And this, unfortunately, is not a joke. I’m just one moderately well informed individual in one small town in a very large country. As I listen and look around I sense that the nation is in deep trouble in a basic and essential way. It may be a collective mental illness. It may be a moral failing of massive proportions. It may be an apathetic attitude that is crippling the political process. Or it may be all of the above.

Just look at the craziness that we read about or see in the news every day. I used to think that the craziness was at normal levels (weird thing to say, I know) and that modern media was just disseminating the information more widely. But now I’m not so sure. It may be partially true that we’re more aware of the insanity but I think reporting on the incidences actually inspires more of the behavior. In fact I’m beginning to believe that there is a certain level of insanity in paying so much attention to the weirdness being reported.

When considering moral failing it would be difficult to deny the preponderance of evidence that hits us from every direction. We see case after case of people killing children. We read of child abuse of every heinous type. Normally responsible business people are committing thefts that are insidious in their scope and magnitude. Fraud is occurring at all levels of government and business. Millions of people are controlled by drugs and crimes related to addiction fill police reports. Even blatant disregard of traffic laws seems to point to societal breakdown.

Apathy is not only one part of our dilemma but it forestalls any movement to repair the breakdown. Voting statistics reflect this apathy. In the 2008 election 56.8% of the eligible voting population cast a ballot. And that was the best turnout in almost fifty years. Another measure of determining how interested folks are in important issues are periodic polls that compare answers to questions about various events in the news. I heard one recent poll result that showed that far more people were aware of Tom and Kate’s divorce than the Supreme Court decision on the Obama health care plan. A quick glance at any newspaper, online news source or television news program will show that much more time is spent on celebrity gossip than on real news.

All of this makes me very uneasy. As the election season rolls along I’ve seen more mudslinging by an incumbent candidate than I can ever recall. Even old Richard Nixon didn’t spend as much money on early attack ads as Mr. Obama and his team. Most real concerns are swept aside for pettiness and character assassination. The challenger’s side is at least focusing more on issues tied to the record of our incumbent president. But that will probably change, I’m sure.

Another facet of this election is more disturbing than in years past. It seems that facts can be disregarded as if they don’t exist or as if they mean the opposite of common sense interpretation. Are the unemployment numbers good or bad? Is the deficit increasing or decreasing? Will Obamacare cost the average taxpayer more or less than their private health plan? Will the cost of running the government, thus raising taxes, go up? Have jobs been created or are government payrolls being padded to approximate real job growth? Is the current administration trying to enact policy while abrogating the roles of other branches of the government? When we try to search out the answers to questions like this we hit a wall of confusing and conflicting statistics and opinions. It takes more than patience to find the answers. It often takes some common sense guesses to separate the fact from the fiction.

Now I’m almost done here so hang in there with me. This year we can see a clear division in the philosophy of governance between the two major parties. One side is clearly determined to bring governmental action into every facet of our public and private lives. From health issues, to parental issues, to economic issues and on and on, the progressive Democrats feel they have the obligation and the right to make policy that gets into our lives and that they believe is good and righteous. The Republican side sees the role of government in a different way. They feel that less government is better, individual responsibility should be encouraged, free markets will bring more prosperity to more people and everyone should have equal opportunity under the law.

If we have a free and open election and the people decide that the current path is one we should stay on then that’s okay. The people will have spoken and resourceful Americans will figure out how to deal with the situation. If they disagree with the outcome then they will start working towards change in the next election cycle. But if the election is choked by apathy, manipulated by media presenting only gossip and slander or distracted by ramped up reporting of irrelevant madness then we will continue on a path to national decay and dissolution.

Now try and have a fine day.

OPEN SEASON

The big election season has officially opened and the mudslinging, backbiting and out and out lying are in full swing. Yes, I follow this stuff. While I manage to avoid television news in all its various forms I do read some newspapers, magazines and internet articles. I try to balance things out by choosing from sources on both sides of all the questions. And I’m always trying to find the fabled unbiased source as well.

I think it’s our duty to be informed and to exercise our voting privilege. And I’m not above trying to influence folks to vote along with me. That’s called “grass roots politics”. So now and then I’ll post an opinion piece on my blog site which will hopefully be a reasoned attempt to look at an issue or a candidate. In truth, these pieces are as much for me as for my faithful readers. It helps me if I write things out as I ponder voting decisions.

Today I’m thinking about the presidential race and one particular issue that seems to have disappeared this year. This one issue spreads out into others but I’m already losing readers so I’ll try to stay focused. Let’s think about the “War on Terror” and America’s military position in the Middle East, Afghanistan and neighboring areas. During the 2008 campaign this was a big deal. Mr. Obama was making some big promises and some big claims. He claimed to be a peacemaker, a negotiator and a broker able to bring all the warring factions to the table. He claimed that he understood the issues and the people involved. He promised to reduce American presence in that area in a victorious and honorable way. And he promised to do all of this in a transparent, open way without the “usual” bullying tactics of previous American administrations. It seemed that Obama was saying that he was smart enough, wise enough and persuasive enough to end war over in that part of the world. So, let’s think about how that has worked out.

On the plus side the Obama administration has reduced American military presence in the areas mentioned. My research shows that there are about 85,000 troops in Afghanistan, a substantial reduction. It has been announced that all military forces have left Iraq, though the American embassy in Baghdad has about 10,000 troops assigned there along with about 20,000 private security personnel (military outsourcing) in the employ of the government. There are two aircraft carrier battle groups, one in the Mediterranean and another in the Indian Ocean. Each of those involves about 20,000 sailors and airmen. There are also smaller naval contingents in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. So while the numbers are down overall we’re still there and the war goes on. Terrorism continues to be a threat throughout the world with atrocities being committed every day. This includes attacks and threats here in the USA.

How do the folks waging war against the United States, democracy and the other facets of the free world feel about us now, after four years of Obama’s efforts at diplomacy? Do they like us better? Do we have more allies? Have new and enlightened attitudes and leadership come to the fore as old dictatorships fell during various uprisings? And didn’t the US supply arms and advice in some of those revolutions? Are those nations that experienced the “Arab Spring” more receptive to peaceful co-existence or are they on the same radical Islamic path of imposing clerical regimes with an stifling set of twelfth century laws that dissolve eight centuries of civilized progress?

Answers to all of those questions will show that the Obama administration did no better than the previous leadership. In fact in some areas they have done worse, allowing a wider sphere of influence for the truly radical people who have no intention of getting along with western nations.

Well, my personal opinion is that the promises for hope and change in foreign relations have done nothing for the stability of the planet or for the good of America. The administration has been apologetic and ready for concessions. They have snubbed our real allies and made ineffective overtures towards our enemies. I’m not a foreign policy expert but I don’t see any successes. And when it comes to positive American influence in the economy of the world things aren’t looking any better. But that’s another issue.

In future postings I’ll try to examine other issues of interest. Meanwhile, I encourage all of you good and sincere folks to do your own research. Don’t just depend on Fox News, CNN or the big networks to inform you. Dig deeper and examine how things look measured against your own personal values. Then make your choices for candidates at all levels of government. Okay. I’m done for now.

Have a fine day.

Politics As Usual

The political world is on fire these days. Burning questions about who shoved who back in prep school. Other burning questions about the evolution of a stance on a social issue of some significance to a small portion of the population grabbed media attention for forty-eight hours or so. Yes the presidential election open season has begun. Time for sniping, time for mud slinging and time for full blown political opportunism is here and will be with us for the next six months.

Most of you folks who know me know that my political views are somewhere to the right of our president. In fact my views are probably somewhere to the right of G. Gordon Liddy. Well maybe not that far right. But I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy when it comes to hoping for civility in political discourse. And yes I am a very naïve person. As each big campaign season comes along and gets into full swing I expect the candidates and their supporters to stick to important issues, avoid cheap and tawdry distractions and to keep the rhetoric away from innuendo and un-proven personal crap. I’m always disappointed of course.

You may be wondering where I stand on certain issues. Well, maybe not. And it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I’d like to see real discussion of what is truly important to the well being of the nation. Let’s hear real discussion about the economy with as honest a display of factual information as can be gathered. Let’s hear about proposals for energy policy that are not couched in terms of scare tactics or feel good speeches that use hundreds of words to say nothing of substance. And maybe most importantly let’s hear how each of the candidates for every office feels about the role of government in our personal and private lives. We probably should hear about their views on education, defense, government waste, health care and a host of other things more important than the questions of same sex marriage or bullying.

Those last two issues may have some relevance to a few folks and that’s fine. But somehow I don’t believe those issues will define the future of our country as much as the truly frightening national debt levels. In fact I don’t believe they are more important than the problems of gross negligence on the part of people elected to serve in good faith who have worked so very hard to strengthen their holds on their offices while corrupting and abusing the system they should be reforming. And the number of corrupt politicians is probably the most troubling of all of our problems because until the corruption is driven out the reforming will never really start.

Crap, this blog isn’t funny at all. That’s the problem with politics these days. Outside of Joe Biden there’s nothing funny about it. So I guess it’s up to us to try and sift through all the baloney that will fill the airwaves and print media over the next months. It’ll be up to us to go to town meetings and try to ask questions that mean more than the celebrity junk the so called news professionals will ask. And it’ll be up to us to make our choices at the end of the process. Then it will be up to us to live with the results.

Have a fine day.

Good Music Done Right

What is it about hearing good music in really small venues that is so satisfying? On Saturday, April 14th, my wife and I had the pleasure of seeing a fine performance by the Manhattan Valley Ramblers at the Orchard House Café on the east side of New York City. Bluegrass in the Big Apple? Yes it does happen. And when MVR is on the bill you’ll get good solid old time picking, soulful vocal harmonies and one of the best fiddle players this listener has ever heard. John Saroyan – guitar, banjo and mandolin – and Bill Christophersen – fiddle and guitar – make up this excellent duo.

The two set program leaned heavily on songs of earlier eras. We heard covers of the Stanley Brothers, Louvin Brothers and, impressively, the Everly Brothers. There were fiddle tunes bowed with what seemed like wild abandon. And that only shows how skilled the fiddler really is. I won’t do a song by song review but here are a few titles that stood out for one reason or another. “Turkey Buzzard” “Wild Hog In the Woods” “Big Tiger Special” “Single-Footing Horse” and “Three Thin Dimes” all showcased Mr. Christophersen’s inspired fiddling. The vocal work on “Down, Down, Down” “Summertime is Past and Gone” “Devoted” “Making Believe” and a particularly fine rendition of “Childish Love” exemplified the deep feelings so evident in Bluegrass music. All of the songs selected display the respect and affection that this duo has for all the compositions.

Now back to the first rhetorical question that I posed. A small venue like the Orchard House Café provides an intimate and friendly atmosphere that is so difficult to duplicate in larger concert settings. Here the musicians can look into the eyes of the audience and gauge how the songs are being accepted or rejected. They can change their set list to alter the mood and they can engage in friendly banter with their listeners, and between themselves, which can also get folks loosened up or ready to appreciate a serious point about the origin or story behind a song. It’s a great way to hear music and the Manhattan Valley Ramblers maximized their setting.

The duo has a fine CD of their music available. The title is “Ballads and Barnburners” and I believe if you check out their website you can obtain this item. John and Bill each have their own CD’s from a few years back and they’re also very good. Go to www.manhattanvalleyramblers.com to learn more.

Let me add one more personal note here. John and Bill are two very kind, friendly and personable fellows. Get out to see them and you’ll see very quickly that these are genuine musicians, dedicated to their art and constantly working to improve their already formidable skills.

Being Different: Thank you Aimee

When I was shopping in that big box store that we're all familiar with the other day I noticed, as I usually do, lots of young people wandering aimlessly about talking on cell phones, sending text messages and having inane conversations. Watching and listening to these people causes us certified old folks to think that there's not much hope for America. We worry that the pervasive influence of a dumbed down educational system is creating a whole generation of youngsters that can only speak gibberish. But then along comes a glimmer of hope. That glimmer for me was the appearance of an essay by one of my very young cousins out in Texas. Her name is Aimee and she has graciously allowed me to reprint her essay here. Aimee is a middle school student and a very bright young lady. She is also a musician and this essay was written for a competition sponsored by the Texas Music Teachers Association. In the essay Aimee explains in a clever way some of the differences between music of different eras and along the way she teaches us a little about differences in people. She won the competition which isn't too surprising considering the quality of the writing. She's a talented kid, one that offers us old folks some pleasant reassurance. Thank you Aimee, for being different.

Being Different
by Aimee Bourey

“Normal is not an option!” Lizzie glared at me in defiance as joggers slowed down to stare at us. She stuck out in the small park with her loud voice, bright blue hair, neon green clothes, and ruby red nails dotted with little black hearts.

“What?” I sighed. We were walking through the park on our way home from school. Today I gave a speech in Social Studies titled “How Teens Try to Fit In.” Of course there were repercussions. Lizzie continued on as only she could.

“You’re so normal Lauren! Even your name is normal. Do you know how many normal girls, and possibly even some very abnormal guys, share your name? You could be the queen of normal, with your normal brunette hair, and your normal brown eyes. Is it your goal to blend in with every other person?”

Lizzie rambled on and I let my attention wander. We walked by an amphitheater and I caught a glimpse of a theater company rehearsing Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King. I heard Lizzie conclude her complaints, so I turned my attention back to her.

“You could at least go by India, your middle name; it’s pretty and different!”

I paused with a smile. “Well, if you think about it, you’re the normal one. Since the early 1900’s everybody has tried to be different! We’re a strange generation, where being different is pretty much normal. The music we listen to and create today would probably be unimaginable to early composers. Today composers frequently use unpleasant-sounding, dissonant chords, like sevenths, and unusual time signatures like 5/8 and 7/8. For example, Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird is written in 7/4 time.”

She looked at me with a confused smile and we walked down the amphitheater steps to watch the rehearsal. I tried to follow the horridly pitchy voices and the bizarre cacophonous orchestral music that was Eight Songs for a Mad King. Climbing chromatic scales played with a whimsical air while the vocals screeched and plunged from high notes to low growls. Dog walkers all around us tried to settle down their antsy dogs while they wondered what in the world this was.

“See?” I said. “This song is exactly what I am talking about!” This is the strange, jarring music of our era. I think that this just shows you—” Lizzie interrupted; of course.

“This just goes to show that in this era, all musicians are nut-jobs. But I see what you mean. I think. Everyone is trying to stand out nowadays. So technically I’m pretty normal!” She laughed to herself.

I kept on talking. “Contemporary composers seem to follow different rules than everybody else. They use modal scales, which most people stopped using after Bach’s time, but…well, I guess we’re just a strange kind of people. Contemporary music can also have different key signatures in the melody and harmony. That was probably not even thought of until the contemporary era.” As I went on, my voice rose in excitement. “Though this song may be a little wild even for the contemporary era, it helps give you the idea. A lot of songs almost sound like people are playing wrong notes! If you ever listen to some of Bela Bartok’s work, you’ll see what I mean, like in Six Dances in a Bulgarian Rhythm. In those songs a lot of the chords sound like mistakes, but his music is a whole lot easier to listen to than this one. ” I winced at a weird screaming part in the song.

“Well,” Lizzie said, wincing as well, “it’s nice to know that some music written in our time is listenable.” She looked around. “Hey, there’s a music store! You wanna go see if we can find some different music?” She said with a smile. I knew that she was through with calling me normal. At least for now.

Health Care

I’m a diabetic. Now hold on, don’t go all mushy with sympathy for my degeneratively diseased old self. You can direct that towards the celebrities in those medicine advertisements. No, I’m a type 2 case who fortunately doesn’t need to stab my body with insulin filled needles throughout the day. My treatment consists of frequent visits to the doctor’s office for lectures about weight loss and healthy living, watching my waistline (it seems to be easier to see all the time), walking two or three miles a day and taking a nice white pill with breakfast. Since I was already taking a couple pills for my hypertension (high blood pressure for you medically un-educated folks) one more tablet didn’t seem like a bad idea. Of course about a year ago the doctor told me some of my medicines were lowering my potassium level so he prescribed a couple of chunky pieces of that mineral to add to the pill pile. But all in all, I’m in okay shape and certainly hoping that I won’t be a burden to you all when I go on Medicare in a couple weeks.

Of course my medical insurance will still be supplied by my dear wife as she continues on her quest for more money and benefits in the world of employment. Some day we’ll be looking at those Plan B, D and other alphabetical supplements that are designed to bankrupt old people on fixed incomes. But for now we’re doing okay. In fact (And here’s what I really wanted to talk about instead of Mr. Obama’s health care utopia) I even have a service where a registered nurse calls me on the phone every six weeks or so to check on me.

This program is called DelaWell, or something similar to that. I call it the “Medical Service for People Who are too Stupid to Be Alive” feature of the insurance policy. The program is provided by our health insurance as a preventative measure for people with diabetes. The very nice nurse from the service will ask questions and pretend to listen to the answers. Then she will deliver a little lecture repeating the stuff that the doctor tells me when I go see him. These nurses assume that a diabetic patient has never read anything about the condition. They assume that we have no access to computers, libraries or the literature that litters the doctor’s waiting room or the little waiting area in the pharmacies where we get our prescriptions filled. I don’t know about other people but when I was informed that I am diabetic I did a little research. It didn’t take a whole lot of checking to see that I’d need to make some changes to my cheese steak and french fries lifestyle, which I did. Mostly.

When the nurse calls she (usually it’s a she) asks the same set of questions about weight, diet, exercise and so forth. Since she asks the same questions every time I figure I can give her the same answers, so I do. Then she asks if I’m depressed, tired, having trouble sleeping and if I’ve checked my feet. Those are all valid questions but, again, if she listened at all, or consulted her computer screen which has all the answers from almost two years of this crap, she’d see that her time would be better spent with a patient who wants to let the disease destroy his or her body. I’m not on that plan. But I suppose there are medical protocols that have to be followed. And I’m sure that these nurses, sitting in their call centers or home offices, are sincere in their desire to help people and not just make a few bucks charging the State of Delaware some exorbitant fee for their service.
Well I’ve shared enough of my personal opinions about this stuff. The phone’s ringing again. It might be somebody from DelaWell, somebody selling diabetic supplies or an estate planning telemarketer. How all these companies learned I was diabetic and on my last legs I can only guess. I’m sure a reputable health and wellness advisory service provider would never give away their client lists. No, I’m sure they’d sell it for a tidy sum.

Have a fine day. I will.

Government vs. Catholics

The news of the day has found its way into my usually unbreakable bubble of resistance against any unpleasant emanations from Washington, New York City or the West Coast. Most days, most weeks actually, I can meander through my days without any political conflict or dopey bureaucratic pronouncements marring the pleasant landscape of my life. But once in a while I look at stuff on the Yahoo! (such an appropriate name) news page which sends me into either fits of rage or spasms of disbelief. Before you know it I’m at the keyboard banging out a blog that will tick off at least eighty percent of my eight readers. And here I am again.

And what I’ve been reading today has to do with the battle between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church. What the heck is the president thinking about by picking this fight? I’m not talking about the moral issues. I’m not talking about the Affordable Health Care act. I’m not even talking about how dweeby Harry Reid sounds when he talks. No, I’m talking about nuns. And to a lesser degree I’m talking about other kinds of clergy.

I went to Catholic schools for a few years. It’s true that when I went to those schools things were tougher. Fear was part of the curriculum. A lot of that has been toned down over the years but I’ve got a feeling that if you rile those folks up too much then there’s no telling what can happen. The nuns might get back into those ninja looking outfits they used to wear. New strings of beads may appear and they may be made out of heavy ball bearings that could crack a skull before you could offer up a “Hail Mary”.

And if the male clergy starts wearing cassocks again you never know what they’ll be carrying under those skirts. Sawed off shotguns or even assault rifles would be easy to hide.

Back in my school days the nuns could intimidate with stares and glares. In the lunchroom I saw those brown metal trays (plastic ones hadn’t been invented yet) smacked on the heads of unruly boys with speed and accuracy. Even our parents knew enough to fear the authority of the Church.

It’s been a long time since Catholics have lined up behind the hierarchy and set off on a crusade. But Mr. Obama has rattled a lot of cages with his latest silly idea. I read some of the stuff his press secretary was spouting off today. It seems, and maybe I’m simplifying things just a little, that the administration really does think that religious folks who don’t believe in abortion are ignorant dullards. And maybe they do believe that a large percentage of Catholics don’t care at all about the Church tenets regarding that issue. But there’s a crowd of folks who do care and there are a lot of members of other churches that see a constitutional problem with the policies that are being pushed into practice. Those government geniuses better watch out. The knuckle beating rulers are coming out of storage and they’ll have sharp edges this time.

Now have a fine day and leave me alone.