See it in your mind as I see it in mine. It's just after 9PM in Cairo, and a curious ten year old child, for these purposes we'll call him Abdul, is being settled into bed and is staring at his parents' index fingers, or more accurately, at the indelible purple ink which will be staining those fingers until it finally washes off completely . . .
Happy Purple Finger Day. With smiles on their faces, as you could judge by the camera images broadcast around the world, Egyptians are working slowly through the process of choosing a new government for themselves, a government they earned the right to choose by standing up and requesting it at the top of their lungs until the government in place read the writing on the wall and gave up the ghost of their regime. It wasn't easy, and as anyone on this side of the Atlantic will be glad to tell you, it isn't going to be easy. Down the road in Iraq, another group of smiling, purple fingered citizens could tell them that just as easily . . . Although the threat of being locked in a cellar with a reasonably psychotic gentleman with various painful implements for putting an "X" in the wrong place is no longer an issue.
They're taking there time with the process; watching it closely to make sure there's no cheating and telling the rest of the world it should take until mid-January until things run their course and a Parliament is chosen. It sounds like a plan to me, and someday, when little Abdul starts turning his finger purple on a regular basis, they'll probably be able to do it faster, all things progressing as the people want it to.
The boy is looking to his mother and father, and asking about the what the purple fingers mean. What they might be able to tell him is that the idea is simple. The image of Egypt is not to be what Pharaoh decrees, or the King demands, or what the current corrupt head of state arranges to have happen while he strips huge chunks of the country's riches from it. It is to be what they decide it will be. Everyone with a purple finger.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
I Have Seen the Enemy, and He is Us
I've spent a little time away from the land of opinion the past few months while life was going on. It's good to see you again, although under these circumstances I might have just been better off alternately shaking my head and burying it in the sand. Somehow, WMAM (White Middle-Aged Male . . . Ooh boy children, ain't that scary!) that I am, I seem to be the enemy of most everyone on the planet . . . And I'm not even one of the ones with money.
Walt Kelly, the cartoonist who created a strip called "Pogo" used the intentionally grammatically incorrect statement which titles this peace to make a point over forty years ago, and I find it no more and no less accurate than it can be seen today, in our land of the pointed finger. Put a "Tea Party" member in the room with an "Occupy Wall Street" member and though both of them see massive problems with the current system, want things to change and are protesting against the status quo, there's a good chance you'll need a WWE referee, the National Guard and at least one particular photogenic 'gentleman' from the UC Davis area to separate them.
Neither side is happy. Neither am I. Anyone who has tried to navigate the island of Manhattan in the past months knows what I mean (Hey! Is your getting around and people making it to their jobs on time more important than our message?), and anyone who sees the headaches some of the more extreme forms conservatism can engender in a society knows what I mean. (Can't you see what's happened to our world? Our anti-establishment is better than their anti-establishment any day! Those naughty Democrats!)
One of the more interesting parts of living in a free society is the right to express an opinion in a public forum (Like this one). Keeping people from getting to work to get on with their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, or suggesting business executive pledge not to hire anyone until the supposed 'war against business' ends, is another.
One of the little sidelights in my life in acting, and locally I had a chance to take part in a production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", which is often held up as not only a dramatization of early American witch hunting, but of the later ills of the McCarthy era in hunting Communists. If you think we've grown out of this sort of thing, look around. I see a lot of hands out with their fingers pointed in dozens of different directions, and they are crying 'witch' again everywhere they point.
You are pointing at us, we are pointing at you, and everyone needs to put their fingers down, pick up their shovels and start digging their way out of this shit. It's an old school kind of solution, but it has been known to work.
Walt Kelly, the cartoonist who created a strip called "Pogo" used the intentionally grammatically incorrect statement which titles this peace to make a point over forty years ago, and I find it no more and no less accurate than it can be seen today, in our land of the pointed finger. Put a "Tea Party" member in the room with an "Occupy Wall Street" member and though both of them see massive problems with the current system, want things to change and are protesting against the status quo, there's a good chance you'll need a WWE referee, the National Guard and at least one particular photogenic 'gentleman' from the UC Davis area to separate them.
Neither side is happy. Neither am I. Anyone who has tried to navigate the island of Manhattan in the past months knows what I mean (Hey! Is your getting around and people making it to their jobs on time more important than our message?), and anyone who sees the headaches some of the more extreme forms conservatism can engender in a society knows what I mean. (Can't you see what's happened to our world? Our anti-establishment is better than their anti-establishment any day! Those naughty Democrats!)
One of the more interesting parts of living in a free society is the right to express an opinion in a public forum (Like this one). Keeping people from getting to work to get on with their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, or suggesting business executive pledge not to hire anyone until the supposed 'war against business' ends, is another.
One of the little sidelights in my life in acting, and locally I had a chance to take part in a production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", which is often held up as not only a dramatization of early American witch hunting, but of the later ills of the McCarthy era in hunting Communists. If you think we've grown out of this sort of thing, look around. I see a lot of hands out with their fingers pointed in dozens of different directions, and they are crying 'witch' again everywhere they point.
You are pointing at us, we are pointing at you, and everyone needs to put their fingers down, pick up their shovels and start digging their way out of this shit. It's an old school kind of solution, but it has been known to work.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The East Coast - A Little Wet Today
Reality to Earth . . . There are some times when overreacting beats all Hell out of under-reacting. This is one of them.
Just ask the folks down south who are still putting their lives together years after everyone with the power to do a better job of protecting them screwed up if that's true.
New York and the East Coast, for those of you with a limited knowledge of where to find the Weather Channel, got hit with a storm named Irene which ranged from a Category Two Hurricane down to a tropical storm. This means some people who aren't used to seeing more than a puddle of water in their front yards are currently looking out their doors at Sea World.
From the start, most of the people whose sole purpose in life seems to be finding a way to stay in the offices they've been elected to jumped to life as if they'd been hit in the backside by a defibrillator paddle. Public transportation was stopped before the storm got here, activities were cancelled and low-lying areas were ordered evacuated without a moment's hesitation.
The Governor of New Jersey, who has more than a few miles of shoreline to worry about, demanded it cleared, and was more than a little pissed off when he saw surfers and beach-goers going about their business of Friday. I quote:
"Get the hell off the Beach in Asbury Park and get out. You’re done. It’s 4:30 PM. You’ve maximized your tan. Get off the beach. Get in you cars and get out of those areas.”
As you might guess, the man isn't considered the shy, retiring type, but he had a lot of company on the local level, with everyone getting on their horse and sounding the battle charge. It may seem like overkill, but before we call this a 'Chicken Little' story because it's not turning out to be a mass destruction event, let's face facts, when it comes to major tropical storms (And this one weighed in at 650 miles across), the New York Tri-State area isn't high on the list of targets, meaning we don't have so much experience as they might have in, let's say, Florida. They did what they thought best and it was a bit . . . Loud.
The bitching would be a lot louder and the casualty list a lot longer if the powers that be were laid back on this one. Believe it.
Just ask the folks down south who are still putting their lives together years after everyone with the power to do a better job of protecting them screwed up if that's true.
New York and the East Coast, for those of you with a limited knowledge of where to find the Weather Channel, got hit with a storm named Irene which ranged from a Category Two Hurricane down to a tropical storm. This means some people who aren't used to seeing more than a puddle of water in their front yards are currently looking out their doors at Sea World.
From the start, most of the people whose sole purpose in life seems to be finding a way to stay in the offices they've been elected to jumped to life as if they'd been hit in the backside by a defibrillator paddle. Public transportation was stopped before the storm got here, activities were cancelled and low-lying areas were ordered evacuated without a moment's hesitation.
The Governor of New Jersey, who has more than a few miles of shoreline to worry about, demanded it cleared, and was more than a little pissed off when he saw surfers and beach-goers going about their business of Friday. I quote:
"Get the hell off the Beach in Asbury Park and get out. You’re done. It’s 4:30 PM. You’ve maximized your tan. Get off the beach. Get in you cars and get out of those areas.”
As you might guess, the man isn't considered the shy, retiring type, but he had a lot of company on the local level, with everyone getting on their horse and sounding the battle charge. It may seem like overkill, but before we call this a 'Chicken Little' story because it's not turning out to be a mass destruction event, let's face facts, when it comes to major tropical storms (And this one weighed in at 650 miles across), the New York Tri-State area isn't high on the list of targets, meaning we don't have so much experience as they might have in, let's say, Florida. They did what they thought best and it was a bit . . . Loud.
The bitching would be a lot louder and the casualty list a lot longer if the powers that be were laid back on this one. Believe it.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Market Is Standard And Its Victims Poor
Reality to Earth . . . "Well, as of this moment, they're on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION! " - Dean Vernon Wormer, Animal House, 1978
Or, as Standard and Poor put it recently, instead of Triple A, we're making you Double A plus!
Oooh . . . Aaah . . . Let's all panic and drop over two billion in value in the stock market because someone took away half of an A. If you need any further proof the people in charge of money and policy need to have their heads examined, and us for putting a good deal of them in place, there you have it.
And just in case that doesn't do it for you, realize that a healthy chunk of the money which was pulled out of the stock market yesterday went, for the most part, into financial instruments of the very same debtor who was downgraded; the US Government.
The losers in all of this? The people who trusted the solutions coming out of Washington for the morass they've delivered us would keep the markets from panicking, and the government itself, who by listening faithfully to Standard and Poor and making it policy to only purchase securities with Triple A stamped on it made the rating an important mark, with anything less seen as a dismal failure.
The winners, as usual, was anyone who held aside enough in the way of liquid assets during the debt ceiling bacchanalia to be ready when its consequences hit the ground in financial America. The market dropped over five hundred points in a day last week and over six hundred thirty yesterday. That made stocks a bargain, and so the bargain hunters came and bought enough to move the market up a robust four hundred thirty points today.
Double secret probation made more sense than those who tend the current financial structures in this nation, and he was what would be referred to in this era as a complete tool.
That's the problem in Washington, come to think of it. All tools and no able carpenters.
Or, as Standard and Poor put it recently, instead of Triple A, we're making you Double A plus!
Oooh . . . Aaah . . . Let's all panic and drop over two billion in value in the stock market because someone took away half of an A. If you need any further proof the people in charge of money and policy need to have their heads examined, and us for putting a good deal of them in place, there you have it.
And just in case that doesn't do it for you, realize that a healthy chunk of the money which was pulled out of the stock market yesterday went, for the most part, into financial instruments of the very same debtor who was downgraded; the US Government.
The losers in all of this? The people who trusted the solutions coming out of Washington for the morass they've delivered us would keep the markets from panicking, and the government itself, who by listening faithfully to Standard and Poor and making it policy to only purchase securities with Triple A stamped on it made the rating an important mark, with anything less seen as a dismal failure.
The winners, as usual, was anyone who held aside enough in the way of liquid assets during the debt ceiling bacchanalia to be ready when its consequences hit the ground in financial America. The market dropped over five hundred points in a day last week and over six hundred thirty yesterday. That made stocks a bargain, and so the bargain hunters came and bought enough to move the market up a robust four hundred thirty points today.
Double secret probation made more sense than those who tend the current financial structures in this nation, and he was what would be referred to in this era as a complete tool.
That's the problem in Washington, come to think of it. All tools and no able carpenters.
Monday, August 1, 2011
A Deficit of Common Sense
Reality to Earth . . . Quoting the great Gorilla Monsoon: "A pat on the back is only eighteen inches from a kick in the ass"
And now we come down to the wire and our politicians have decided to loosen a notch in the belt before the whole belly goes critical and causes us to "default".
"Default" is ours, ladies and gents. We elected them.
And make no mistake, the fight over whether to raise the debt ceiling is more about elections than finance; there's no greater evidence than the little fight which took place earlier in the process when the Republicans proposed a stop-gap which gave us a figure which would insure another round of gamesmanship occurred in 2012 while the Democrats proposed a higher number which would shove this mess into 2013. One side wanted to throw this mess into the view of the voters again just before the next presidential election and the other side was hoping to shove it under the rug until afterwards.
Anyone who tells you differently is selling you something. Somewhere the ghosts of political machines past on both sides are shedding tears of joy over the way their descendants have used the lessons of the past to screw over the voters of the present and call it statesmanship. And while a deal is in the offing as of this writing, the deal isn't done yet and they're dislocating their shoulders patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
This is what they're doing. They are their own bank and they've said they're raising their own credit limit to continue doing business while trying to figure out ways to undo mistakes both sides have been making since the Ford administration and stay in office . . . Mistakes like the one the Carter administration made by taking the only government agency which was firmly in the black at the time (Social Security) and turning what was conceived by FDR as an insurance program (Yay!) into what is now seen as an entitlement program (Boo!).
Only these yahoos could make old people getting the benefits they spent a lifetime paying for seem like wastrels for actually having the stones to ask for their benefits to be paid when it's their turn. (Dirty rotten baby boomers turning 65 and asking for their money . . . For Shame!)
The lot of them want you to forget little details like this when it's the last thing you need to do. Let me make this plain. There are no winners here. There are no heroes here. There are only politicians here, doing what politicians do best and then calling it rain. They'll fix things now alright . . . Just ask any dog or cat what the term 'fixed' means to them and you'll get a good idea of what's coming.
And now we come down to the wire and our politicians have decided to loosen a notch in the belt before the whole belly goes critical and causes us to "default".
"Default" is ours, ladies and gents. We elected them.
And make no mistake, the fight over whether to raise the debt ceiling is more about elections than finance; there's no greater evidence than the little fight which took place earlier in the process when the Republicans proposed a stop-gap which gave us a figure which would insure another round of gamesmanship occurred in 2012 while the Democrats proposed a higher number which would shove this mess into 2013. One side wanted to throw this mess into the view of the voters again just before the next presidential election and the other side was hoping to shove it under the rug until afterwards.
Anyone who tells you differently is selling you something. Somewhere the ghosts of political machines past on both sides are shedding tears of joy over the way their descendants have used the lessons of the past to screw over the voters of the present and call it statesmanship. And while a deal is in the offing as of this writing, the deal isn't done yet and they're dislocating their shoulders patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
This is what they're doing. They are their own bank and they've said they're raising their own credit limit to continue doing business while trying to figure out ways to undo mistakes both sides have been making since the Ford administration and stay in office . . . Mistakes like the one the Carter administration made by taking the only government agency which was firmly in the black at the time (Social Security) and turning what was conceived by FDR as an insurance program (Yay!) into what is now seen as an entitlement program (Boo!).
Only these yahoos could make old people getting the benefits they spent a lifetime paying for seem like wastrels for actually having the stones to ask for their benefits to be paid when it's their turn. (Dirty rotten baby boomers turning 65 and asking for their money . . . For Shame!)
The lot of them want you to forget little details like this when it's the last thing you need to do. Let me make this plain. There are no winners here. There are no heroes here. There are only politicians here, doing what politicians do best and then calling it rain. They'll fix things now alright . . . Just ask any dog or cat what the term 'fixed' means to them and you'll get a good idea of what's coming.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Quantities May Be Limited Due To Insanity
Reality to Earth . . . Just for a laugh, can we try to keep deadly weapons from being acquired by crazy people?
Automatic rifles . . . That's a good start. Can we keep automatic rifles out of the hands of lunatics, just to make life a little less interesting? Or to possibly make life spans in the general vicinity of these lunatics longer?
I'm not entirely sure what level or brand of crazy we should limit this restriction to, but until we can be sure, until some government ciphers can spend too much money on a definitive study, how about all kinds? If you're certifiable, and especially if you're writing 1200 page manifestos quoting the Unabomber and railing against any of your neighbors (Race, color and creed notwithstanding) you shouldn't have province over a weapon capable of rapid fire against a group of unarmed civilians.
Just saying, folks. And while we're at it, how about restricting the sale of everyone's favorite horse manure replacement, ammonium nitrate fertilizer, to people who actually have large plots of confirmed farm acreage which are producing crops and feeding people? True, in the case of the Oslo bombing this past weekend we had a crazy farmer at work, but that's the exception rather than the norm. You don't need drums of highly explosive materials to fertilize a backyard. Let those weekend grass-cutters stick to something which can't take out half of an office building when mixed with other easy to find materials.
I know if I'm going to hear it from anyone, it'll be from those who believe in the right to bear arms. I'm here to tell you I'm pretty big on the free speech elements of the same document that comes from, as well as the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness we all agree is a good thing. And I'm also sure someone bearing arms could have stopped the madness the other day . . . Just not someone crazy with an automatic weapon.
Common sense doesn't seem to always mesh well with what we perceive to be reality, but let's shove the two of them into a room together for a while (Unarmed would be nice)and see if we can make them get along.
Automatic rifles . . . That's a good start. Can we keep automatic rifles out of the hands of lunatics, just to make life a little less interesting? Or to possibly make life spans in the general vicinity of these lunatics longer?
I'm not entirely sure what level or brand of crazy we should limit this restriction to, but until we can be sure, until some government ciphers can spend too much money on a definitive study, how about all kinds? If you're certifiable, and especially if you're writing 1200 page manifestos quoting the Unabomber and railing against any of your neighbors (Race, color and creed notwithstanding) you shouldn't have province over a weapon capable of rapid fire against a group of unarmed civilians.
Just saying, folks. And while we're at it, how about restricting the sale of everyone's favorite horse manure replacement, ammonium nitrate fertilizer, to people who actually have large plots of confirmed farm acreage which are producing crops and feeding people? True, in the case of the Oslo bombing this past weekend we had a crazy farmer at work, but that's the exception rather than the norm. You don't need drums of highly explosive materials to fertilize a backyard. Let those weekend grass-cutters stick to something which can't take out half of an office building when mixed with other easy to find materials.
I know if I'm going to hear it from anyone, it'll be from those who believe in the right to bear arms. I'm here to tell you I'm pretty big on the free speech elements of the same document that comes from, as well as the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness we all agree is a good thing. And I'm also sure someone bearing arms could have stopped the madness the other day . . . Just not someone crazy with an automatic weapon.
Common sense doesn't seem to always mesh well with what we perceive to be reality, but let's shove the two of them into a room together for a while (Unarmed would be nice)and see if we can make them get along.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Some Lives Will Not Be Saved
The headline out of England was as sad as it seemed inevitable. There was another talent, both brilliant and out of kilter, who wasn't going to see the somewhat mystic age of 28.
When I was a youngster, I saw the train wreck which was Amy Winehouse acted out at least twice for public consumption with The Pearl, Janis Joplin, falling to heroin on an October day in 1970 which was only two weeks after Jimi Hendrix dies choking on the contents of his own stomach. Back then it was treated as the inevitable tragedy which happened when the 'scourge of illegal drugs' was involved . . . What's commonly referred to as a cautionary tale.
Cautionary tale . . . Warning. There are those who will not be warned and eventually join the ranks of those who could not be saved. John Belushi, who could draw laughter with a smile, a flick of an eyebrow and a samurai sword, and didn't have a bad Chicago blues growl either, crashed into the ground with the impact of a mile long meteor; an impact which said 'This is what you could do to yourself. I'm Dead' with very little room for misinterpretation.
While I detest the sort of tabloid paper which leads with this kind of headline, it has to be said. The title of this warning goes 'They tried to make me go to rehab, and I said, No, no, no . . . And then I paid the price.'
Trying to save every life which runs down this road is a fools errand, but one which has to be undertaken, like it or not. Some won't be saved at any cost or any amount of effort, but the ones which are saved cut the sting of those losses, however many that turns out to be.
If people have the talent to grab a corner of the world, shake it, and make people pay attention . . . Take it from someone who most days is scratching around on the outside of that snow globe looking in . . . There's no greater creative gift. I'd like to see more people make that their drug.
When I was a youngster, I saw the train wreck which was Amy Winehouse acted out at least twice for public consumption with The Pearl, Janis Joplin, falling to heroin on an October day in 1970 which was only two weeks after Jimi Hendrix dies choking on the contents of his own stomach. Back then it was treated as the inevitable tragedy which happened when the 'scourge of illegal drugs' was involved . . . What's commonly referred to as a cautionary tale.
Cautionary tale . . . Warning. There are those who will not be warned and eventually join the ranks of those who could not be saved. John Belushi, who could draw laughter with a smile, a flick of an eyebrow and a samurai sword, and didn't have a bad Chicago blues growl either, crashed into the ground with the impact of a mile long meteor; an impact which said 'This is what you could do to yourself. I'm Dead' with very little room for misinterpretation.
While I detest the sort of tabloid paper which leads with this kind of headline, it has to be said. The title of this warning goes 'They tried to make me go to rehab, and I said, No, no, no . . . And then I paid the price.'
Trying to save every life which runs down this road is a fools errand, but one which has to be undertaken, like it or not. Some won't be saved at any cost or any amount of effort, but the ones which are saved cut the sting of those losses, however many that turns out to be.
If people have the talent to grab a corner of the world, shake it, and make people pay attention . . . Take it from someone who most days is scratching around on the outside of that snow globe looking in . . . There's no greater creative gift. I'd like to see more people make that their drug.
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