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Fame comes to those that deserve it? Not in the 21st century where we have proven as And Warhol suggested "everyone is famous for ________ minutes
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Post Political "Activism"
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From "Prospect", a British monthly covering politics, economics and culture:
"The nihilistic grievance culture of the black inner city, fanned by parts of the hip-hop/rap scene and copied by many white people, has created a hardcore sub-culture of post-political disaffection. The disaffection is mainly unjustified. It’s as if the routine brutalities and racist humiliations of 30 to 40 years ago have been lovingly preserved to provide a motor of real anger for what is really just a kind of adolescent pose. But this disaffection is lionised in popular culture and feared and admired—and mainly simply ignored—by white Britain. It’s time the rest of the country took more notice.
The shooting of Mark Duggan does give the original rioting a link to the more political disturbances of the 1980s. There clearly was a problem with the handling of the Duggan case, and there is still a problem between young black people and the police with stop and search. But by all accounts relations with police are vastly improved on the 1980s, and Operation Trident, the police operation to combat the hugely disproportionate gun crime in the black community, was requested by the black community itself and is generally regarded as a success..."
From "Prospect", a British monthly covering politics, economics and culture:
"The nihilistic grievance culture of the black inner city, fanned by parts of the hip-hop/rap scene and copied by many white people, has created a hardcore sub-culture of post-political disaffection. The disaffection is mainly unjustified. It’s as if the routine brutalities and racist humiliations of 30 to 40 years ago have been lovingly preserved to provide a motor of real anger for what is really just a kind of adolescent pose. But this disaffection is lionised in popular culture and feared and admired—and mainly simply ignored—by white Britain. It’s time the rest of the country took more notice.
The shooting of Mark Duggan does give the original rioting a link to the more political disturbances of the 1980s. There clearly was a problem with the handling of the Duggan case, and there is still a problem between young black people and the police with stop and search. But by all accounts relations with police are vastly improved on the 1980s, and Operation Trident, the police operation to combat the hugely disproportionate gun crime in the black community, was requested by the black community itself and is generally regarded as a success..."
Thursday, August 04, 2011
The Games We Played
Back in the old days, when I was a kid...
Radio was our main source of “home entertainment” (the expression wasn’t even coined until more than 30 years later) It was News and “Arthur Godfrey”* in the morning, “Jack Armstrong- All American Boy, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow” et al in the evening. Late at night, (10:00) I’d listen to the baseball games and jazz on the portable in my bedroom until my mother turned it off when she checked on me on her way to bed.
; During the day, after school, we’d play in the yard outside the kitchen. My first playmates were mainly my cousins, Patsy, Kathleen and Billy.
We’d play School: I’ll be the teacher and you’re the kids...
Doctor: OK what’s wrong with you? Here’s a prescription, take it to the drugstore...
House: I’ll be the daddy. Kathleen, you’re the mom and Patsy you’re the daughter...
Store: Good morning Mrs. Smith, what can I get for you today...
War: (When Billy was playing with us or with some of the boys in the neighborhood)
Cops and Robbers (with Billy and /or neighborhood boys)
Cowboys and Indians (“Whoever heard of girl cowboys?”)
We gave our imaginations full workouts every day in our play and visualizing the people, places and action we heard on the radio. Saturdays we gave our imaginations a rest when we went to the Children’s Show at the neighborhood movie theater. Eleven cents for admission to a four and a half hour extravaganza. Three or four serials (Lone Ranger, Superman, etc.), a few cartoons like Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, “Stooges” or “The Ritz Brothers” and two full-length features. Plus a comic book and three cents worth of penny candy. Besides taking a break from our imagination-training, Saturdays gave us a chance to verify or modify our imaginative images of our radio heroes - sometimes. Or sometimes we thought “Tonto doesn’t really look like that at all”
In some ways, reading was my favorite entertainment. When I read, it was all in my imagination and I could return to important events in a book any time I wanted to.
The earliest reading experiences I can remember were comics. First, the “funnies” in the newspapers (we got the morning and evening papers every day and they all had “funnies”. ) “Lil Abner” “Dagwood” and “Donald Duck” were my early favorites and then I discovered comic books - that I devoured almost insatiably until one day, when I was about eight, I decided that they were a waste of time and money and I switched to real books. A friend of the family had given me her sons childhood library and I soon became obsessed with “The Boy Allies” Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities” , “Tom Sawyer”, Huckleberry Finn, later “My Friend Flicka”, “Call of the Wild” and more
>
> Whenever I think of my childhood reading, the book that comes first to mind is “Scaramouche” by Rafael Sabatini. The book opens with these lines “ He was born with the gift of laughter...and with a feeling that the whole world was mad... and this was his entire inheritance”
>
> The events that were taking place in Europe and the Pacific were frequently in the News and on our minds and many kids like me dreamed of being war heroes- fighting the Nazis in Europe and the “Japs” in the Pacific.
> Our uncles and cousins were in the Army or Navy and many of the kids were secretly disappointed when the war came to an end in 1945 and I was eleven. We hoped to join join up as soon as we were old enough but World War II ended before we had a chance. Little did I suspect that I’d have an opportunity to live out my fantasies before I was 20.
>
> The thing I’ve been wondering about for a long time is how do kids develop their imaginative muscles today when almost nothing is left to the imagination. They watch “Cops and Robbers”, “Doctor” “House” “War” etc. on 40 inch TV screens or play it on their Xboxes. When do they exercise their imaginations, flex their poers of visualization and build-up their mucles of creativity. Their grandparents, the baby-boomers or “flower-power” people as they were known in the ‘sixties, had at least one imagination-expanding exercise, they watched TV with the sound turned off, supplying dialogue for the images on the screen, frequently inspired by and facilitated through the use of recreational drugs i.e. marijuana and sometimes (rarely LCD or “acid”). Please note:
> “Don’t do this at home” or anywhere else for that matter. The side effects (including arrest and detention) aren’t worth the “trip”
> So please tell me, how do you insure that the imaginative/creative synapses are connected? What pratctices or devices can you think of that might help develop those intellectual and emotional qualities that will help make your creative juices flow and your empathetic feeling develop and thrive. Or doesn't that matter anymore?
On the Road with My Shadow
It was in the early forties, during WWII and somehow my dad got hold of a car with gas and we drove from “the City” (NYC) to Rockaway Beach, via the causeway that is now part of JFK. As we drove towards Rockaway, we had a panaromic view of a half dozen beaches. Each beach was known by the street that led to it.
116th St. was the main drag of Rockaway Park with arcades,Irish bars and custard stands lining both sides of the street. The Boardwalk separated the beach from the street and the wide, sandy beach was well-covered with bathers and condoms from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Dad and I approached the beach from Far Rockaway, whose center was around 25th St. about four miles east of Rockaway Park. As I looked at the beach from the car, I noticed that some of the beaches were dark blocks and others were almost pure white.
I asked my dad why some beaches were dark and others weren’t. He explained that the dark beaches were crowded with people and the others were empty. I wondered why so many people would choose the crowded beaches and avoid the empty ones. My Dad, told me that most people inevitably would gravitate towards places where other people were- that they felt “safety in numbers” he said. We found a great beach with plenty of space- away from the “maddening crowd”
Throughout the rest of my life, I have consistently avoided the crowds and rarely regretted it. If something, a beach, a book, a movie or place was “Top of the Pops” I found an alternative. As a result, I discovered some wonderful people, places and things and often found myself solitary in my explorations. Certainly no one can dispute the fact that man or woman is a gregarious animal but perhaps some are more gregarious than others.
In the time of our prehistoric ancestors, it was probably only after the emergence of agriculture that our ancestors begin to show a marked tendency towards what I’ll call “crowding” for want of a better term. Hunters might work in small groups to facilitate the capture and kill the larger prey but it was not carried over to other activities and the gatherers worked primarily on their own. Yet, there appears to be a genetic predisposition toward “crowding”: seeking out opportunities to commune with others, often complete strangers. None the less there are some of us who eschew large parties, stadiums, rallies and any congregation of more than twenty (‘is plenty”) individuals. Perhaps, we missed an evolutionary step?
Or perhaps as Emily Dickinson wrote: “The heart knows...”
In this, my second road trip of the 21st century, I have been a solitary traveller, going from place-to-place without much of a planned itinerary, on my own for the most part.
In comparison last year, I had a number of pre-set destinations: from Austin to Iowa where I picked up my new camper and from there to Madison where I picked up my youngest daughter who had completed her studies for her Master’s degree. Together, we travelled to Montreal for my granddaughter’s graduation from the University of Montreal. Then my daughter Amelie went back to Madison and I drove south to Hudson, NY to visit with my sister who I hadn’t seen in about 20 years and attend a reunion of her family including our brothers and assorted nephews.
Then, it was to Albany, NY to pick up my wife Danielle at the airport and drive to the Green Mountains where we spent a week together. Danielle then returned to Austin and I headed south to Okracoke Island, NC where I fished for bluefish, flounder and other fish for a week and then headed back north to Charlottesville, VA and then back to Madison where I picked up Amelie complete with furniture and her personal belongings and returned to Charlottesville where I deposited my daughter and her belongings, spent some time with my son Matthias and his family and drove west to the mountains of West Virginia where I did some white water rafting and then headed home to Austin via Nashville, Memphis Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. During my odyssey, I spent as much time in the company of family as I did alone, or perhaps more with family than alone.
Summer 2011 has been a very different trip. Aside from 1 week in July, with my wife in Wyoming (mostly in Yellowstone, National Park, where we ogled the elk and beheld a lot of buffalo.) I was completely alone in my travels and that was good - up to a point until I began to tire of my own company. Like the old song “Me and My Shadow” ... “And when we climb the stairs, we never knock ‘cause nobody’s there. Just me and my shadow- all alone and feeling blue”
I do believe that solitude is good for the soul - and the mind but even I, not the most gregarious of men, need a little company once in a while. In an email she posted to me at the start of my trip in late June, my elder daughter wrote to wish me “happy trails” and
said that she thought I’d meet some interesting people on the way. I’m afraid the interesting ones were few with hundreds of miles between encounters. If I hadn’t given up drinking a few years ago, I might have met a few in the watering holes along my route but “I quit, so I didn’t” and besides, they probably wouldn’t have proved truly “interesting” in the cold light of day.
So, here’s one [ice tea] for the road, hoping that there’s a cool fellow traveller at the next campground.
Nature, Nurture?
Thanks to recent breakthroughs in brain research and DNA technology, what has been until now a major controversy is no longer in serious dispute. As an example, brain research has identified a plethora of concrete indicators pointing to clear evidence of inherited indicators of many of the traits and tendencies that were previously concerned “learned” or somehow absorbed from the environment.
“_ _ _ _ _ _ are made not born” (Fill in the blanks with virtually any qualification or acievement: “musical genius, star athlete, creative writer, painter, serial killer, drug addict etc.”) and you’d probably be wrong. As an example, a 40 year study of Korean war orphans adopted by American parents at the end of the Korean war, indicated quite clearly that the effects of “enlightened or ‘serious’ “ parenting by college educated upper middle class couples who adopted one of a pair of Korean infant twins, produced no better results than the other twin who was adopted by a couple without advanced education who were fairly “casual” or “hands-off” parents. It is clear from the Korean Orphan Study and most other research on the subject, that it is our genetic inheritance, our DNA, that is the determining factor in potential success as a pro basketball player, a classical musician or composer , or sculptor. With the “wrong” DNA you might become a drug addict, a “gang banger” or a “serial killer” Your success will very much depend on the amount of time you devote to developing the skills you inherited, but without the necessary genetic predisposition, “practice, practice, practice” will not get you to
Carnegie Hall.
The implications of these findings has obvious effects in many areas, including philosophy, education and the law. In the area of moral philosophy, we are returning to a serious controversy that was raised by Calvin and became the foundation for the protestant sect that he founded. This was the concept of “predestination” the idea that from birth, your life and its outcome was already decided by God. Prayer, good works, sacrifice - nothing you do would change your destination. The successful merchants of early New England were obviously blessed by the almighty, the slaves they transported in their ships were not. So, perhaps Calvin and his followers were on the right track and those who questioned predestination were not.
Education? If a child is born without the intellectual equipment to indicate probable success in school, should the state spend funds on traditional academic training or should she be channeled into a vocational educational track?
The Law?
If someone lacks the DNA that creates the synapses for moral judgement or conversely a predatory “killer instinct”, can we convict him of homicide if he kills. If the argument is “My genes made me do it” how can we incarcerate the perpetrator? Or execute the serial killer?
How should society deal with this truly revolutionary information?
It could just ignore it and hope it would all go way
Accept some of the implications and “stonewall” those that conflict with our Judeo-Christian ethical system
Leave it all to individual choice and provide no official guidelines.
Control reproduction by “ carriers of anti-social genes”
What do you think?
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain and Stress - Lifehacker
Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain and Stress - Lifehacker
Recent reports from several different sources clearly indicate that sitting whether on a chair at your desk or on a cushion in an ashram for more than 15-30 minute intervals can be dangerous for your health (Surgeon General take note). So I now try to do most of my meditating in an upright position, usually in motion. My favorite and most profitable is while playing tennis. I concentrate my total attention on the seams of the tenis ball and as Emeril might say "wham" I'm in the zone and my inquisitive, questioning brain is temporarily "off-line". My tennis game has improved dramatically as a result of this innovation. Now I'm looking for opportunities to apply the principle to other endeavors.
Recent reports from several different sources clearly indicate that sitting whether on a chair at your desk or on a cushion in an ashram for more than 15-30 minute intervals can be dangerous for your health (Surgeon General take note). So I now try to do most of my meditating in an upright position, usually in motion. My favorite and most profitable is while playing tennis. I concentrate my total attention on the seams of the tenis ball and as Emeril might say "wham" I'm in the zone and my inquisitive, questioning brain is temporarily "off-line". My tennis game has improved dramatically as a result of this innovation. Now I'm looking for opportunities to apply the principle to other endeavors.
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Mind, Brain & Meitation
“The brain has a fixed location. The mind has no such definitive location, mainly because it can't be ascertained what it is. Though some might say the mind is around the head area, but then there is a question as to what is there. Absent content what is mind? The brain needs nourishment. Does the mind? The mind doesn't have blood flowing through it.”
“We have no experience of what it's like to be a brain, unless this is what it's like. Though I don't feel wet in the head.”?
“If mind is equated with consciousness then mind is the aware aspect of being. This aware mode may be an epiphenomena or the foundation of all that is
It has been commonly accepted by the majority of experts in the fields of neuroscience, brain research and other related fields that the mind exercises significant influence over the brain and also can affect actions and behavior independent of the brain.
In her book “Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain”, Sharon Begley provided a clear and well-researched description of the mind and it’s potential. More recently, Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Ms. Begley have greatly expanded on the topic and related it to many facets of quantum physics and the latest developments in brain research in their recently published “The Mind & the Brain”.
The fact that we are endowed with a mind as well as a brain isn’t exactly hot news. There is a clear differentiation between the two dating back hundreds of years. In Latin we have “mens” as name for the mind and “cerebrum” for the brain. Although up until very recently, the scientific community ignored the existence of the mind and its functions, my father explained how the mind was the only source of answers when it came to complex, non-mathematical problems over fifty years ago (he said the brain was just a calculator or adding machine) .
My own exploration of the mind, its functions and capacities began with my study of Buddhism. Then, a few months ago after my wife suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, I started reading everything I could find about the brain and the mind. In parallel with this, I had almost accidentally discovered a way to use my mind to sharpen my tennis game. The major problem most club players experience in tennis sooner or later is a failure to watch the ball and like many others, I recognized my weakness but couldn’t correct until I started focussing my attention on the seams of the tennis ball rather than the ball itself and this simple maneuver put me straight into “the Zone”, an experience very similar to meditation exercises I’d practiced in India two years ago. Suddenly the brain dropped into a passive secondary position and the mind took over. As a result, I was hitting the ball with the center of my racket (the “sweet spot”) getting to the ball much faster and making shots I never before had even attempted.
Now, the big question is “If I can do this with a tennis ball, what else can I do to focus the amazing power of the mind?
“Mind is much bigger than brain. Mind includes talking to other folk, it includes typing stuff, reading, and doing things generally. To think is to do.
If so how do you measure the mind?By intelligence? From what I understand, the mind is abstract, more or less like our consolidated experiences since birth. Perhaps at death it is the mind that lives on. Maybe the mind is the soul.
“We have no experience of what it's like to be a brain, unless this is what it's like. Though I don't feel wet in the head.”?
“If mind is equated with consciousness then mind is the aware aspect of being. This aware mode may be an epiphenomena or the foundation of all that is
It has been commonly accepted by the majority of experts in the fields of neuroscience, brain research and other related fields that the mind exercises significant influence over the brain and also can affect actions and behavior independent of the brain.
In her book “Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain”, Sharon Begley provided a clear and well-researched description of the mind and it’s potential. More recently, Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Ms. Begley have greatly expanded on the topic and related it to many facets of quantum physics and the latest developments in brain research in their recently published “The Mind & the Brain”.
The fact that we are endowed with a mind as well as a brain isn’t exactly hot news. There is a clear differentiation between the two dating back hundreds of years. In Latin we have “mens” as name for the mind and “cerebrum” for the brain. Although up until very recently, the scientific community ignored the existence of the mind and its functions, my father explained how the mind was the only source of answers when it came to complex, non-mathematical problems over fifty years ago (he said the brain was just a calculator or adding machine) .
My own exploration of the mind, its functions and capacities began with my study of Buddhism. Then, a few months ago after my wife suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, I started reading everything I could find about the brain and the mind. In parallel with this, I had almost accidentally discovered a way to use my mind to sharpen my tennis game. The major problem most club players experience in tennis sooner or later is a failure to watch the ball and like many others, I recognized my weakness but couldn’t correct until I started focussing my attention on the seams of the tennis ball rather than the ball itself and this simple maneuver put me straight into “the Zone”, an experience very similar to meditation exercises I’d practiced in India two years ago. Suddenly the brain dropped into a passive secondary position and the mind took over. As a result, I was hitting the ball with the center of my racket (the “sweet spot”) getting to the ball much faster and making shots I never before had even attempted.
Now, the big question is “If I can do this with a tennis ball, what else can I do to focus the amazing power of the mind?
“Mind is much bigger than brain. Mind includes talking to other folk, it includes typing stuff, reading, and doing things generally. To think is to do.
If so how do you measure the mind?By intelligence? From what I understand, the mind is abstract, more or less like our consolidated experiences since birth. Perhaps at death it is the mind that lives on. Maybe the mind is the soul.
Friday, May 06, 2011
MORE ON BIN LADEN'S ASSASSINATION - THE NONSENCE OF AL-QAEDA WEB SITES MAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS - THE NONSENSE OF AL-QAEDA - BACKGROUND ON BIN LADEN - CHUCKMAN'S CHOICE OF WORDS
MORE ON BIN LADEN'S ASSASSINATION - THE NONSENCE OF AL-QAEDA WEB SITES MAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS - THE NONSENSE OF AL-QAEDA - BACKGROUND ON BIN LADEN - CHUCKMAN'S CHOICE OF WORDS
The pond is murky indeed and it looks like we may never get to the bottom of the Administration's "virtual reality show". The valiant force of 12 (or was it 37?) Seals or was it really the Pakistan Army who breached the Bin laden Compound. No pictures?
Because we don't want to offend the sensibilities of the guys who brought us 9/11?
To say that the whole story raises far more questions than it answers would be a huge understatement.
Could it be that Obama's "Shining Hour" may turn into his Waterloo a deja vue of the Carter disaster?
The pond is murky indeed and it looks like we may never get to the bottom of the Administration's "virtual reality show". The valiant force of 12 (or was it 37?) Seals or was it really the Pakistan Army who breached the Bin laden Compound. No pictures?
Because we don't want to offend the sensibilities of the guys who brought us 9/11?
To say that the whole story raises far more questions than it answers would be a huge understatement.
Could it be that Obama's "Shining Hour" may turn into his Waterloo a deja vue of the Carter disaster?
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Let's Make it Easier on the Rich
How about a one-time "Emergency Surtax" for the uber-rich. 1% of income for the disaster victims in Japan and libya
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Ode to My Mind
In the wee small hours of the morning is the time I miss you most of all
At 4:30 AM in the middle of my 76th year, it seems as if the world is imploding around me. Memory is slowly fading - yesterday was a low point. Forgetting stalked me at every step I took and later I woke about an hour ago - in that time when we are completely disconnected. Alone with our thoughts and memories, searching for something or someone to relate to. Perhaps this is some sort of post-traumatic reaction. I have survived the events of last December when my wife suffered brain injuries and lingered on the edge of life for a few days. She has survived and is now sufficiently recovered to return to work, drive a car and resume most normal activities.
At 4:30 AM in the middle of my 76th year, it seems as if the world is imploding around me. Memory is slowly fading - yesterday was a low point. Forgetting stalked me at every step I took and later I woke about an hour ago - in that time when we are completely disconnected. Alone with our thoughts and memories, searching for something or someone to relate to. Perhaps this is some sort of post-traumatic reaction. I have survived the events of last December when my wife suffered brain injuries and lingered on the edge of life for a few days. She has survived and is now sufficiently recovered to return to work, drive a car and resume most normal activities.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
TSA, DHS plan massive rollout of mobile surveillance vans with long-distance X-ray capability, eye movement tracking and more
TSA, DHS plan massive rollout of mobile surveillance vans with long-distance X-ray capability, eye movement tracking and more: "mobile surveillance technologies at train stations, stadiums and streets."
Maybe the DHS is worried that our unemployed young people might start protesting the government's failure to do anything about the unemployment situation, even going so far as to eliminate a lot of the government jobs that might be open to recent graduates
Sunday, February 20, 2011
C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Egypt’s Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor
C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Egypt’s Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor: "As a septuagenarian FB and Twitter user and someone who has participated in the growth and development of the internet about 30 years, I am thrilled and excited about the newest developments in cyberspace. The birth and meteoric development of the social media have taken many of us completely by surprise but the author's generalizations concerning the post-thirty somethings misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the significance and portent of these new developments is unfortunate and misleading.
What is truly significant is not just their contribution to the cause of real democracy today but what it could mean in the future.
The majority of politicians in the U.S. and the rest of our global village will shudder to learn that their days are indeed numbered. These middlemen of democracy are already redundant, perhaps archaic. With the further development and growth of social media, real democracy without the interference of incompetent go betweens, dedicated exclusively to the enhancement of their own personal power, influence and wealth, can be replaced with direct vote of the people.
Real 'Power to the people'!"
What is truly significant is not just their contribution to the cause of real democracy today but what it could mean in the future.
The majority of politicians in the U.S. and the rest of our global village will shudder to learn that their days are indeed numbered. These middlemen of democracy are already redundant, perhaps archaic. With the further development and growth of social media, real democracy without the interference of incompetent go betweens, dedicated exclusively to the enhancement of their own personal power, influence and wealth, can be replaced with direct vote of the people.
Real 'Power to the people'!"
Friday, February 18, 2011
WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?: Why Obama's Budget Sell-Out to Republicans Threatens Our Economy
WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?: Why Obama's Budget Sell-Out to Republicans Threatens Our Economy
Dr. Reich's comments are salient but a bit "over the top" (as usual)
Dr. Reich's comments are salient but a bit "over the top" (as usual)
It would be wonderful if the occupants of both houses of our national legislature would try to discuss the current fiscal crisis like mature, intelligent adults instead of posturing and lying like the overpaid and under-informed politicians that they are.
Their total disregard for truth and real facts is truly remarkable, their continued power over the fate of our country is unacceptable.
When are the American people going to wake up and throw the bums out?
Monday, November 22, 2010
JFK - Murdered 47 Years Ago Today
The team from my advertising agency was making a major presentation to the regional managers of Alitalia airlines who were meeting in Cincinnati. I was point man for the team, responsible for MCing the presentation. I spent the night at the Hilton and delivered our presentation at 10:00 AM on the morning of November 22, 1963.
The presentation was well received and we could count on the Alitalia business-at least for a while. (In advertising like the restaurant business, you're only as good as your last meal or campaign). The team and I headed to an upscale Italian restaurant for lunch to celebrate our victory. It was a two martini eventl that lasted over two hours, just at coffee, a waiter came to our table and told us that the President had been shot. I left the restaurant and returned to the Hilton where I picked up my bag, checked out and headed to the airport. I don't remember the flight back to New York but I do remember going home and watching the news on the TV for several hours seeing Caroline "John John" and Jackie, Johnson and Oswald. I saw Ruby shoot Oswald and I knew that Camelot was over and that it had all been a fantasy - a dream.
For the 43 years I ignored politics completely. I had worked hard on JFK's campaign but after that, politics was a fool's game as far as I was concerned. In 2007 I saw Obama at a rally here in Austin and I thought that maybe JFK had a successor. But Camelot ended a long time ago and Obama is no JFK.
The presentation was well received and we could count on the Alitalia business-at least for a while. (In advertising like the restaurant business, you're only as good as your last meal or campaign). The team and I headed to an upscale Italian restaurant for lunch to celebrate our victory. It was a two martini eventl that lasted over two hours, just at coffee, a waiter came to our table and told us that the President had been shot. I left the restaurant and returned to the Hilton where I picked up my bag, checked out and headed to the airport. I don't remember the flight back to New York but I do remember going home and watching the news on the TV for several hours seeing Caroline "John John" and Jackie, Johnson and Oswald. I saw Ruby shoot Oswald and I knew that Camelot was over and that it had all been a fantasy - a dream.
For the 43 years I ignored politics completely. I had worked hard on JFK's campaign but after that, politics was a fool's game as far as I was concerned. In 2007 I saw Obama at a rally here in Austin and I thought that maybe JFK had a successor. But Camelot ended a long time ago and Obama is no JFK.
Friday, November 19, 2010
TIME GOES BY | Social Security and President Obama
During Steve Kroft's interview with President Barack Obama on 60 Minutes, here's what the President said about the budget and Social Security:”You’re still confronted with a fact that the vast majority of the federal budget are things that people really think are important. Like Social Security and Medicare and defense.
“And so, you then have to start making some tough decisions about how do we pay for those things that we think are important. And you know, we're not gonna be able to balance the budget just by slashing the National Parks budget... “I mean, we're gonna have to, you know, tackle some big issues like entitlements that, you know, when you listen to the Tea Party or you listen to Republican candidates they promise we're not gonna touch.”
Richard Eskow, writing at Campaign for America's Future on Monday, commented on Obama’s remarks on 60 Minutes:
“That doesn't just sound as if he's preparing to cut the Medicare and Social Security 'entitlement' programs,” wrote Eskew. “It almost seems as if he's taunting the Tea Party and the GOP for not being tough enough to cut them.
“When a Democratic President sounds like he wants to outflank the Tea Party by running to its right, we're in deep trouble.”
“And so, you then have to start making some tough decisions about how do we pay for those things that we think are important. And you know, we're not gonna be able to balance the budget just by slashing the National Parks budget... “I mean, we're gonna have to, you know, tackle some big issues like entitlements that, you know, when you listen to the Tea Party or you listen to Republican candidates they promise we're not gonna touch.”
Richard Eskow, writing at Campaign for America's Future on Monday, commented on Obama’s remarks on 60 Minutes:
“That doesn't just sound as if he's preparing to cut the Medicare and Social Security 'entitlement' programs,” wrote Eskew. “It almost seems as if he's taunting the Tea Party and the GOP for not being tough enough to cut them.
“When a Democratic President sounds like he wants to outflank the Tea Party by running to its right, we're in deep trouble.”
Thursday, November 04, 2010
TIME GOES BY | REFLECTIONS: On Conflicts of Interest
TIME GOES BY | REFLECTIONS: On Conflicts of Interest: "During a broadcast of 'Open End' a TV panel show moderated by David Suskind in the late 1950's, Susskind tried to divert the panel's focus away from some very parochial gossip about the (mis) behavior of New York's 'litteratti' by broaching the subject of the Soviet Minister of Trade's unprecedented visit to the heartland of America. The panel appeared almost stunned by Susskind's non-sequitor, but then Norman Mailer responded by saying 'Mikoyan's just another poiltician and politicians are all whores. We're not discuss whores in front of a family audience are we?'
Like they say 'politics make strange bedfellows' and it looks like the political whores and the media whores are now sharing the same mattresses."
Like they say 'politics make strange bedfellows' and it looks like the political whores and the media whores are now sharing the same mattresses."
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