Just don’t expect an answer with any detail…

The following two paragraphs from NBCNews.com –

Mitt Romney said Wednesday that more restrictive gun laws would likely not have prevented last week’s deadly mass shooting at a Colorado Cineplex, and argued that it would take Americans changing their hearts, not their legislation, to prevent similar future attacks.

“Political implications, legal implications are something which will be sorted out down the road,” Romney told NBC’s Brian Williams during an exclusive interview in London. “But I don’t happen to believe that America needs new gun laws. A lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening.”

Once again, Mitt shows his acute grasp of the details (not), his uncanny ability to hone in on what the real issue is (not) all the while basically sticking to his high level talking points. Yes Mitt, it is illegal to murder so you are right there were actions this cretin did that were against the law. No brainer. However, the crux of the issue here is the means by which he accomplished the illegal acts were all done legally, He bought his guns legally, he purchased the ammunition legally, I expect he acquired most of the items in his apartment legally. Would stricter gun laws have stopped him from killing? Probably not, as you are right at some level that laws don’t stop people from taking actions that are clearly illegal. If it were only so easy. However, there are changes to current gun laws that could have reduced the magnitude of the massacre or at least alerted someone to something being out of sorts and possibly resulted in a bit more attention before the fact. Not sure why anyone needs an assault weapon – the cases of a herd of deer attacking a hunter are few if any. Purchasing four weapons in a relative short period of time might call into question motive. Acquiring 6000 round of ammunition might point to something beyond casual use of a gun. No matter what we do to laws in this country, we will not free ourselves from individuals who are bent on mayhem and murder but we shouldn’t make it so easy.

Let’s take two aspects of Mitt’s statements and look at them with a sharper eye –

First, taking a stance that we can work on the legal implications somewhere down the road is, to an extent, why we are where we are today with gun laws. If we are to interpret this part of his statement to include the possibility of tightening gun laws at some later time, we are now decades into the debate which really hasn’t changed to any great extent. Very effective strategy – kick it down the road so there are no political ramifications today. Mitt needs all the help he can get and alienating the gun lobby won’t help.

“It would take Americans changing their hearts” – sounds like a plan but in reality the hearts of Americans have actually been looking for stricter gun laws for years. Back in 1990, almost 4 out of 5 Americans wanted stricter gun laws. Sounds to me like the hearts were there a while ago. Unfortunately, this is one more case where the hearts and money of lobbyists trump what the American people really want. And that is unlikely to change in any time soon as money still buys influence – not the desires of the people in this country. The vast majority will continue to work under the illusion that people like Mitt actually are working in their best interest all the while the Republican Party is shitting all over their tables and telling then it is a feast.

So essentially, Mitt has said “fuck you” in so many words and continues his journey of talking without really saying anything that will stick.

Sounds like a leader to me.

Speaking of Lobbyists – interesting article posted by the Huffington Post today – seems Mitt understands that role much better than most of us realize –

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/mitt-romney-olympics_n_1704261.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

Jul 20 2012

What is it going to take?

At some level these following thoughts are probably inappropriate at this moment given the loss and anguish of families hit by this latest tragedy in Colorado but one has to wonder what it is going to take for this country to step up and deal with our gun problem. Looking just at the numbers, the vast majority of our populace support stricter gun control. Despite that, the pro-gun lobby, namely the NRA, keeps any attempt by politicians to move the discussion to stricter laws at bay. No doubt as the debate begins again, as it does far too often in our country, those pro-gun people will begin the rhetoricof “guns don’t kill people, people do” as well as all the other shit that comes out of their mouths. Cut me a break. Show me another country where this happens at all, let alone with the regularity it does in the US. Unfortunately, these events are not as isolated as we would like to believe.

The answer is not an easy one. I am not one to say people shouldn’t be able to own guns. There are valid reasons to have a gun. Not sure why one needs an assault rifle, let alone an AK47. Saying “it’s my constitutional right to own any weapon I want” doesn’t cut it. But it it too easy for people with mental issues to purchase weapons. I think we have let the rights of the individual often take precedent over the safety of our society as a whole. Don’t tell me this degenerate didn’t show psychiatric problems before today. Don’t tell me his parents didn’t know there was something wrong with their son. Crazy is crazy and they shouldn’t get the latitude “normal” people typically get.

There is a political aspect to this issue and it must be recognized that most all support for minimal gun control sits with the Republican party. It has been a plank in their platform for years. It might be time their leaders take some responsibility to reduce the likelihood of repeats of this last massacre. Not likely but worth saying.

Our thoughts and sympathies go out to everyone impacted by this tragic especially to the wounded and the families of those killed. There are no words to make it better. We, as a society, must take the steps to keep this from happening again – no matter how loud the noise against it.

Jul 11 2012

On Love and Equality

As a family we are used to sharing – whether it be things, thoughts, ideas, information we find interesting or compelling. It is one way we keep together in thought and feeling – even though there are miles that separate us. As anyone who has read my postings, one thing that is very important to me and my family are gay rights as my son is gay and we see the challenges, prejudice and hate that he must deal with in today’s world. I, for one, find it difficult to maturely deal with those so viciously against gays and the rights they deserve as citizens in our country. My anger can often overtake me – mostly given my relative lack of influence to change others. At 59 years old, I still find it difficult to understand the processes that work in people so filled with hate and loathing. I understand at some level given what I see as a shortcoming in these people, an inability to think beyond their immediate self, a stunted ability to empathize, a lack of feeling for anything other than themselves. I would like to say it is merely a difference in levels of education but that won’t work. In some sense I guess I’m not much better than most of these people who can look at my son as a second class citizen or, even worse, an abomination because I do look at these people as deficient human beings, people who are not equal to those of us who think and can empathize with others – even if we don’t agree with them. Unfortunately, I can’t take their rights away – I can only loathe them. I can only wish they receive back what they put out. That is what keeps me going at times.

But I digress – back to sharing. I want to share something sent to me this morning by my daughter. She sent on a link to a site I would want everyone to visit. It speaks to one of the more important topics we have in front of us. It speaks to why any focus on marriage being only between a man and a woman is such a fucked up concept. Again, after watching the video, I can’t fathom how anyone can’t be moved or can’t see the problem with denying rights of people in a gay relationship. I will say as I watched the video and listened and watched two people obviously in love, I couldn’t help feel their pain and frustration. For those who would watch and not see the problem we have as a society at the moment, I remain confused as I can’t imagine their thought or emotional processes. I can only see that most of the anti-gay rights people are dead inside in some way or another. I also think that many of them are plain and simple assholes but I think that about alot of people.

In any case, please take a look and pass it on to others as you may. Thanks to my daughter for sharing –

Jun 28 2012

The Awards of the Day

There are times that stretch one’s imagination when you have to wonder how far out of touch an individual (or even a group) can be from reality. I’d like to say that today was one of those special days but, to be honest, there is no dearth of days where it is relatively easy to find one of those special people. Looking back just a few months, it was Ricky Santorum who could be counted on to get the “Head in the Butt” award. Unfortunately (not really), he has pretty much disappeared from the public eye so it is time to look for other deserving souls.

Today, there was one obvious person who has positioned himself as an obvious contender. A man who has continually stepped up to become a folk hero to those who have obviously lost their way – the Tea Party. He continues to demonstrate phenomenal short-sightedness and baseless self-importance. Aside from trashing the Supreme Court today for their decision on the Obama health care law, he gets this award for his continued attempts to basically blackmail the Senate by halting bills that are actually relevant and important with amendments that have no bearing or relationship to the issues at hand. Paul has repeatedly insisted that Senate leaders schedule votes on amendments he’s pursuing on issues such as abortion or gun rights — or he’ll delay major, bipartisan legislation. This week, Paul demanded a guaranteed vote by the Senate first on defining life as starting at conception, as part of a bill renewing national flood insurance. Will this bring the country to its knees? Not by a long shot but it is one of the reasons that Congress has an approval rating barely above 10%. Without question, Rand Paul gets today’s “Head in the Butt” award.

Rand – take a bow!

For all those who might take offense and feel this is a bit over the top, I would submit that you too have likely made that journey where things look bleak and it is time to return to the past. For those, I offer this thought –

credit to: StickerGiant.com Inc.

Jun 27 2012

Speak a bit louder with our Wallets

As anyone whom has followed my postings has read, I have considerable issue with those people who feel it is their right and their collective duty to make sure that everyone in our country follow their rules and beliefs. While we have made progress as a country in some areas, there remain those individuals and groups who yearn for days of old – when actually the lives of most anyone other than white, protestant men pretty much sucked a good deal of the time. Given the collective stupor that many of the people in this country walk thru life with on a daily basis, I get increasingly scared of what might happen with this next election. The Republicans speak to this being probably the most important election of our lifetime – and I am inclined to agree but for obviously different reasons. We have made progress and as a society I would submit we are more open and less condemning in many ways – most credit to our young people but also a bit of credit to those of us who came of age in the 60’s, didn’t forget everything that decade was about, and brought up children who can think and feel and can accept that which doesn’t necessarily mirror their own image.

But it is time to help push back on those who don’t see a path forward for the minorities in our country. In specific, I want to make it known to those so clearly supportive of withholding the rights of individuals who are part of the LGBT community. While society is definitely moving (albeit slowly) in the direction of universal recognition of the individual’s rights in this situation, it is time to turn up the pressure where possible. Not a new notion at all but we now need to employ every tool and option available to make our collective voices and wants known. That one tool that rarely fails is the economic one – and in this case it means we need to make clearer decisions about where we shop and what companies get our dollars.

MSN recently took this to task on their website and it gave me the opportunity to learn a bit more about where I shouldn’t be shopping. Some of the anti-gay companies are obvious and well known. There are some that surprised me and I know there are many more I have not even found at this point.

I would hope that anyone who has actually taken the time to read this far is someone who is open-minded enough to consider this action. I’ll assume that anyone who supports this discrimination stopped reading awhile ago – maybe a big assumption given what I believe the average education level of many of those so visciously against this idea. Not sure many of them have ever used a computer or the internet – and more amazing that they are proud of that fact.

In any case, here is the data from that posting (and all credit to MSN) –

First, the bad –

Cinemark

The 2008 landmark Proposition 8 same-sex-marriage battle in California can be viewed as a line-in-the-sand, either-you-are-with-us-or-against-us moment. With record amounts of money raised, Prop 8 was the election-year’s cause célèbre on both sides of the fence, with every business intensely scrutinized for where it stood.

One business that felt a backlash in the wake of Prop 8 was Cinemark (CNK), the nation’s third-largest theater chain, after CEO Alan Stock donated $9,999 to the “Yes on 8” campaign. The donation prompted opponents of the referendum to initiate a boycott on Cinemark.

Exasperated officials of the theater chain pointed out that Stock’s contribution was a personal decision and that the company had not taken a position on the referendum.

Chick-fil-A

S. Truett Cathy, founder of the popular chicken sandwich maker, is a devout Christian and his beliefs are reflected in how the private company operates. All Chick-fil-A restaurants close on Sundays and the company donates to community service organizations.

Not every community group can expect a donation from Cathy, of course. Late last year, the advocacy group Equality Matters examined the company’s charitable contributions and said it discovered that a large proportion of the aid went to organizations noted for their anti-gay beliefs.

In 2009, for example, through its charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, Chick-fil-A donated $1.7 million to groups including the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Eagle Forum and others opposed to gay rights.

After news broke of where Chick-fil-A’s charitable donations were going, students at schools like Northeastern University and New York University protested the chain’s presence on their campuses. The administration at Northeastern eventually scrapped plans to bring a Chick-fil-A to its campus.

In response, Chick-fil-A vice-president Donald Perry published a letter in the Boston Globe in which he asserted that the contributions were made to assist faith-based organizations, and critics were wrong to assume that the giver was exercising an anti-gay agenda

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has yet to add gender identity to its employment nondiscrimination policy. Employees of the company also do not get domestic partner benefits, except in states where it is legally required. Because of that, Wal-Mart received a low score of 40 in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

Additionally, CEO Mike Duke stepped into controversy in 2008 when he signed a petition seeking a ban on gay adoption in the company’s home state of Arkansas.

More recently, the big box retailer stirred up controversy when it gave shelf space to a book about “overcoming homosexuality.”

Given that the book was by no means a best-seller, that Wal-Mart, which usually stocks popular mainstream titles, chose to carry it could be an indicator that it is throwing its weight behind one side of the issue.

Urban Outfitters

Behind Urban Outfitters’ trendy, liberal image lies a conservative core. Richard Hayne, the company’s founder and chief executive, made headlines last year when it was revealed that he had donated money to former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The kicker? Haynes initially denied he ever made the donation. When presented with evidence, he said: “I’ll have to look into this. I don’t think this is right.”

Former tween queen Miley Cyrus, who has voiced support of equal rights for gays, has said she would boycott the store.

Because of the clientele it serves, Urban Outfitters is seemingly caught in an awkward standoff between appealing to its core demographic and its founder’s personal beliefs. Case in point: the company sold T-shirts saying “I Support Same-Sex Marriage” during the battle over California’s Proposition 8, but the merchandise was quickly pulled from the stores’ shelves. The move generated consumer complaints, which were not assuaged by the company’s assertion that the T-shirt was pulled because of low sales.

ExxonMobil

And which companies are least accommodating? The list starts with a company whose policies changed after a merger.

Before merging with Exxon, Mobil was one of the most progressive Fortune 500 companies, with a nondiscrimination policy that covered sexual orientation and a benefits policy that extended health coverage to employees’ gay and lesbian partners. Those benefits were rescinded when the merger went through, in 1999. In every years since, ExxonMobil (XOM) shareholders have attempted to get sexual orientation added back to the company’s nondiscrimination policy, to no avail.

Typically, the company lets the resolution be introduced at its annual meeting, recommends a no vote and lets shareholders shoot it down. This year, however, the Houston company asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to prevent a resolution from getting to the table, a request the regulatory agency denied. So another shareholder vote was conducted at the energy company’s annual meeting, in late May, and once again a motion to include sexual orientation in the company’s nondiscrimination policy was roundly defeated.

ExxonMobil has consistently received a score of zero in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index, which measures the level of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in American workplaces. This year, for the first time, the company received a negative score.

And now the good –

Goldman Sachs

The Human Rights Campaign, a national organization that promotes equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, recently made Goldman Sachs (GS) chief Lloyd Blankfein its first national corporate spokesman for same-sex marriage.

His agreement to promote marriage equality has already cost Blankfein’s company at least one client, Blankfein told Out on the Street, a gay-rights advocacy group in New York’s financial district.

“They didn’t want to continue a relationship that they had with us in money management,” Blankfein was quoted as saying. Blankfein opted to protect the client’s anonymity, but his remarks suggest the account was a high profile one: “(I)f you heard the name, it wouldn’t surprise you,” he said.

Boeing

More than a decade ago, the last place one may have expected to find forward thinking on the issue would be inside an aerospace and defense corporation. That’s why Boeing (BA) made headlines in 1999 for being an early adopter of same-sex domestic partner benefits for employees.

A decade later, Boeing took up the fight to extend domestic partnership rights in Washington state, where the company was founded and retains a significant manufacturing base.

Boeing supported a 2009 referendum on a domestic-partnership law approved by the state Legislature. Other Pacific Northwest companies, including Microsoft (MSFT), Starbucks (SBUX), Nike (NKE) and RealNetworks (RNWK), were quick to join Boeing in a corporate coalition to advance the cause. (Microsoft owns and publishes MSN Money.)

The state passed same-sex legislation earlier this year, but at the time of this slide show’s publication, a referendum overturning the law appears headed for a November vote.

A joint statement from the coalition read: “Overturning this law would undo years of equal rights progress made in Washington state. We do not believe that this step backward would be in the best interest for the future of our state.”

J.C. Penney

It’s unlikely that J.C. Penney (JCP) anticipated the level of controversy that ensued when it hired Ellen DeGeneres as a spokeswoman for a campaign aimed at revitalizing the brand.

Far from polarizing, DeGeneres is a mainstream figure, with a daily television talk show. She has hosted the Oscars broadcast and served as a judge on such shows as “American Idol”.

But hiring a lesbian spokeswoman was the wrong move, cried the One Million Moms organization, a project of the American Family Association, which threatened to boycott J.C. Penney unless the retailer dropped DeGeneres.

J.C. Penney not only refused to cave to the group’s demands, the Plano, Texas, company sought to more closely align itself with gay rights, saying it “shares the same values” as DeGeneres. More recently, it featured gay men in a Father’s Day ad.

Google

Californians voted in 2008 to keep same-sex couples from marrying. The ballot initiative (known as Proposition 8) was fought by several Silicon Valley stalwarts, including Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Intuit (INTU), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and eBay (EBAY).

Apple donated $100,000 to the effort to defeat the proposition. Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, meanwhile, contributed a combined $140,000 to help defeat the Prop 8 campaign.

“While we respect the strongly held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality,” Brin and Page said at the time in a prepared statement.

Ben & Jerry’s

The self-described “activist brand,” owned by foods giant Unilever (UL), has often used its products to reflect its politics. When the Green Mountain State’s passed legislation sanctioning same-sex marriage in 2009, the South Burlington, Vt., ice cream maker celebrated with a makeover of its Chubby Hubby flavor, serving up Hubby Hubby sundaes at its Vermont retail locations.

In March, in response to the United Kingdom’s plans to grant gay men and lesbians the option of entering into civil marriages, Ben & Jerry’s began dubbing its Oh My Apple Pie flavor (not available in the United States) the matrimonially-minded Apple-y Ever After.

Ben & Jerry’s people “believe love is love”.

Just out of curiosity – why do they always look like this?

As I did some looking beyond MSN, I found some additional information that adds a few names to list of where not to shop. I came across an organization that will of course be condemned by many whose beliefs run contrary but the data is the data. The Human Rights Campaign (taking liberally from thier web page) is the “largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than one million members and supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC’s vision a reality. Founded in 1980, HRC advocates on behalf of LGBT Americans, mobilizes grassroots actions in diverse communities, invests strategically to elect fair-minded individuals to office and educates the public about LGBT issues.” The organization publishes their CEI report, released each fall, which provides an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Companies are rated on a scale from 0% to 100% reflecting the level of their support – 0% being pretty much no support.

The actual report can be downloaded from here – http://sites.hrc.org/documents/CorporateEqualityIndex_2012.pdf

or you can access the virtual publication – http://issuu.com/humanrightscampaign/docs/corporateequalityindex_2012

Here is the link to a report from 2011 where HRC lists those companies that scored 100% – the ones we should all be supporting with our purchases/

http://www.procon.org/sourcefiles/hrc-fortune-500-141-companies-cei-rating-100.pdf

At the other end, here are some companies on the Fortune 500 who managed to score a 0% – run, and run away fast from these – remind them equality is important.

II. 35 “Gay Un-Friendly” Fortune 500 Companies (0% on the HRC Index), 2011

Company Name	Fortune 500 Rank	City	State
Exxon Mobil Corp.	2	Irving	TX
International Assets Holding Corp.	49	Altamonte Springs	FL
CHS Inc.	91	Inver Grove Heights	MN
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.	128	Houston	TX
United Services Automobile Association	132	San Antonio	TX
Community Health Systems Inc.	191	Franklin	TN
KBR Inc.	193	Houston	TX
Dollar General Corp.	195	Goodlettsville	TN
Liberty Global Inc.	210	Englewood	CO
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc.	247	Montvale	NJ
Anadarko Petroleum	260	The Woodlands	TX
Icahn Enterprises LP	290	New York	NY
Huntsman Corp.	293	Salt Lake City	UT
SYNNEX Corp.	294	Fremont	CA
Family Dollar Stores	305	Matthews	NC
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation	317	Pittsburg	TX
Commercial Metals	327	Irving	TX
WellCare Health Plans, Inc.	328	Tampa	FL
Western Refining Inc.	330	El Paso	TX
Global Partners Waltham	368	Waltham	MA
Pantry Inc., The	382	Cary	NC
Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.	388	Dallas	TX
Cameron International Corp.	399	Houston	TX
Tutor Perini Corp.	407	Sylmar	CA
Auto-Owners Insurance Group	418	Lansing	MI
Western & Southern Financial Group	420	Cincinnati	OH
Universal American Corp.	425	Rye Brooke	NY
SPX Corp.	427	Charlotte	NC
Holly Corp.	431	Dallas	TX
BlackRock	441	New York	NY
W.R. Berkley	463	Greenwich	CT
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.	466	Coraopolis	PA
AbitibiBowater Inc.	472	Greenville	SC
Frontier Oil Corp.	488	Houston	TX
MDU Resources Group, Inc.	498	Bismarck	ND

And here is a list of the top 20 companies on the Fortune 500 and how they scored –

You choose – whose initiatives and what causes do you want you hard earned cash to support?

Jun 3 2012

Inspiration – Beyond the Hype

I spend a considerable amount of time either sitting on an exercise bike or on a treadmill and have done so for a good number of years. While the health benefits are obvious, that is not the point of this post. While at some level I enjoy this often uncomfortable 45-50 minutes, it isn’t something that I could successfully maintain without some other form of diversion to take away some of the discomfort it inevitably brings. While I have often managed to use my iPod to take away complete attention on the minutes or miles remaining. it is really having a TV in front of me that helps the time pass most easily and I often find myself viewing programs I might not typically watch at other times – mostly a result of channel surfing given the time of day varies and the TV offerings also are usually varied. I’ll usually give most any show that looks interesting (and that could also mean different) as shot for at least a few minutes. As a result, I often find shows early on in their run, often before they become “hits” – like Pawn Stars or Deadliest Catch. I also sometimes stumble across something that piques my interest, intellect or emotions enough that it stays with me beyond my exercise routine that day. Today was one of those days.

I have often felt I could have done more with my life if I had more motivation or drive. I’ve done great and have accomplished much beyond anything I ever imagined. But, as an individual, you always wonder about what more you could have done with a bit more discipline, less excuses, not as much rationalization. I think we, individually and as a society, find no shortage in reasons why we can’t do something or why things aren’t different. We imagine obstacles to be bigger than they often are. We find excuses at every turn. And I am not that different. When things are tough and I think a situation or problem is really a big deal, when I’m thinking clearly I manage a perspective about how easy I really have it and how lucky I really am in most every aspect of my life. I try to teach my kids the same thing – when you think you have it bad, look around. It’s not hard to find something or someone who really has challenges and whose attitude and approach to life is one to not only admire but from which to take inspiration and perspective. Today on the exercise bike I watched one of those shows that made it very clear.

As I moved up the channels as I got into my routine, I stopped on one of the ESPN channels this morning as I saw on the TV screen a young man in a gym wrestling. Not something I would usually spend a second on. But this young man had an obvious physical disability. He is an amputee – not always immediately obvious but this one was as he is a congenital amputee. He has no forearms and no legs. But here was an person who overcame something that would have been a great excuse for not achieving most anything. I won’t try to share his story as there is entirely too much I would likely miss. His name is Kyle Maynard and he now works as a speaker for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, specializing in motivational speeches. He spends considerable time with our severely disabled from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. I suggest a stop at his website to get the entire story – http://kyle-maynard.com/ . His story and the triumphs in his life are food for thought and lessons and perspectives we can and should keep in front of us when we think times are tough. For the vast majority of us, they never really are.

Here is a video that should start your inspiration….

May 28 2012

Memorial Day – Lest we Forget

Today is an important day – one where we recognize all the service men and women whom have stepped up and put their lives on the line in order to service our nation and protect our country. No matter your view of war or our country, let it not be forgotten the sacrifice and dedication of these individuals and let us not forget our obligation to make sure their needs are not ignored nor are they shortchanged. In particular, those people who have taken up the cause in Afghanistan and Iraq should be in particular focus. Never have we seen the this large a percentage of active forces who have returned injured and disabled. The backlog of cases is staggering and the outcry is too silent. In reading some of the statistics and data this morning, I’m was blown away by the devastation to people’s lives and the amount of money we give for someone 100% disabled. Take a guess and I expect you will find yourself equally astounded. For current service people who are deemed 100% disabled, they are given less than $2,800 a month. In consideration of what these men and women have done and their level of sacrifice, this is a sin beyond belief. We should look long and hard at our values as a nation. Whether for or against the actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, this should be a rally point for our people – Memorial Day should always evoke more than patriotism and waving of flags. It is a time to also put our money where our mouth is.

This should also be a time that invokes remembrance of who got us into these two wars. It is amazing that aside from the degree of damage and destruction to the people who fought the wars, the impact on our economy and the long-lasting costs to our country should cause everyone to stop and remember the administration that made the decision to go to war, the administration who lied to everyone, the administration with an obvious personal agenda – it is the administration that should be tagged as it deserves for the mayhem and pain that resulted. But to be honest, it is really about two men who could and should be thought of as war criminals – George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are undoubtedly the worse of the bunch but let’s not forget John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, Karl Rove – the list is long and the competence is short. What a group of fucking bastards. This is one of the few areas where I can hope my views as an atheist are wrong – and that they all get to burn in hell.

May 23 2012

Mitt as a Leader – not

I’m actually not surprised at the Romney camp (whether they own up to it or not) reaching back into the Republican bag of tricks and resurrecting Reverend Wright as one means to further divide the voters – just in case anyone on the fence who forgot about the rhetoric of an old and out of touch black preacher. Those voters need reminding of how anti-white Obama really is. However, I do find it a bit much Arizona’s secretary of state, Ken Bennett, announced last week he had asked officials in Hawaii to verify that Barack Obama was born in their state in order for the president’s name to appear on the November ballot in Arizona. While we can dismiss (to some extent) Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio’s investigation into whether Obama’s birth certificate was real or not since he is 79 years old, lives in Arizona (obviously a state of great thinkers) and has probably taken a few knocks to the head in administering his brand of justice, Bennett is a different story. As Romney’s campaign co-chairman in Arizona, he has obviously taken a stupid pill even if he gets most to believe he doesn’t really believe Obama wasn’t born in the US and that he made the request on behalf of a constituent. Is it politically motivated? Without a doubt. But the larger issue here is the response (or lack there of) of the Republican leadership, more importantly Mitt. The lack of any outright repudiation of this action of Bennet’s by Romney again demonstrates his lack of thinking on his own instead chosing to pander to the obvious small but vocal coalition of crazies – aka the Tea Party. No balls, no independent thinking, no sense of what is right but a honed skill at playing to the latest or loudest – definitely qualities we want in a President. We already have weak and ineffective Republican leadership (Boehner) who can’t seem to stand up to the small but loud members of the Tea Party – adding a President that lacks the same backbone will lead us down this path to the past even quicker. Can you say “Recession 2013”?

The “Master” at re-invention

As for Sheriff Joe – I’d suggest he spend some time investigating those people who continue to hold true that there was a Holocaust, the US did land on the moon and that Elvis is dead. Hopefully, the fact that U.S. Justice Department are planning to sue Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office over allegations of civil rights violations, including the racial profiling of Latinos, won’t get in the way.

May 21 2012

Memories and Remembrances

A couple of days ago, I bought a new car. Not really a big deal in the larger sense but this one was a little different – more so for the cars we got rid of and not what we purchased. Like most things in life, there is a lesson or something deeper in most any event or change if we just pay attention. In this case, we had decided it was time to replace our aging and high mileage SUV with something we could reasonably move into retirement (still a couple of years away) with so we wouldn’t need to have that expense hanging there and it would better position us for replacement of my wife’s car in the next couple of years. On the surface, this was merely a trade of two older cars for one new. It made financial sense as adding a large car payment at this time isn’t in our plan. One vehicle was a 2006 Saab 9-7X with 145K miles on it. The other a 2010 Nissan 370Z with less than 10K on it. From my vantage point, the loss of the 370Z was the larger loss – not huge and at this time last year I would have never even considered it. Interesting what a difference a year can make. The decision came to me for several reasons, none which most anyone else would care about and several would probably be looked at with a quizzical squint and a “you’ve got to be kidding” mumbled softly. Bottom line, when it came to it, it felt right in my heart – as well as my head. I learned to trust that a long time ago. While there is much to miss with the Z, there is much less today than when I got it. It served the purpose intended. But that is not the point here. It provided me some great feelings and was basically an adult toy – and it kind of meant, for us, we had achieved something special that we were able to buy it.

The Saab 9-7X is another matter. This car was my workhorse. It was a very nice SUV when we got it – it had more bells and whistles than I had ever had in a car before. It became the vehicle that did everything and went everywhere. It moved kids to and from college, from living home to first apartments, from barn to horse show, from Home Depot and Lowes back to our house – there was little I couldn’t get into the car and very few things I was unwilling to put in it. It took me around the Northeast as I went from one client site to all my others and back again. It was reliable and really never let me down. It was never babied and I hauled everything imaginable in it. In many ways, it had more personality than the Z.

So who really cares about this and why do I think it is worth sharing? I share this due to another aspect of our car buying experience yesterday – the part that was really about the feelings behind the obvious part of trading in something old to get something new. To me (in my usual sense), it was more looking forward as I have a new vehicle to learn about and experience. I only saw positive. For my wife, it was a tough day – and ultimately for all the reasons I love her as I do and feel lucky and proud she chose to spend her life with me. To her, the day was not to celebrate the new car – even though she was obviously happy I was happy. For her, there was a loss – one across a couple of dimensions. There were tears, and more tears. A little embarrassment (not necessary) and some apologies (also not necessary) to the car salesman – I saw neither as needed as it was clear to me what was going on. It was really the loss of something beyond the cars – much deeper and much more understandable in the larger sense. It was really about us moving on and leaving something that was important and vital in our lives together. The cars represented another segment of our life as a family of four and our growth and experience together. It was about college moves, the barn and Bear, mulching the yard, ice cream sitting in a convertible on a warm summer night. It was about the daily rides that Gunther demanded. It was about both kids no longer really being kids – as they found their way moving into being full-fledged adults. It was about us really becoming empty nesters (at least for a while) and the feelings and opportunities that only existed for us before children over 28 years ago. While the timeframes these cars spanned definitely had its share of challenges, it was really about how good our lives have been at each phase. In many ways, the tears are very understandable. We’ve been through this previously – in other situations where something that was central in our life was changed and a flood of memories resulted. Each time, we’ve sat and talked about the time and the events connected to the change. There are always numerous “Remember when….” and together we could re-experience that time together – sometimes with tears but more often with laughter and smiles. We don’t live in the past but it is important to embrace what the past has been about and often how it helps define today. Maybe we are lucky that we have a considerable amount to embrace. But in any case, there is a lesson or two here I think everyone can take note of – it is entirely too easy to get caught up in the moment or to spend too much energy thinking about tomorrow. The never-ending load of crap out there that can interfere with your life – people, politics, the economy, whatever. Sometimes it has to and there is always a need to do planning for the future. But we shouldn’t do it at the cost of losing yesterday.

Stopping to smell the flowers is critical not only for the moment but it is what allows you to retrace paths and flowers from earlier walks – the good and the not so good. But, again, isn’t that what life is really about. Cherish when and what you can.