A View Askew

(Or: Did the Dinosaurs See the Comet?)

  Dec 15  2013                                                                                  ISSUE 5

 

                                           Dear Leader and Two Other Guys

                                   (Fighting Over Champion Golf Trophy 2013)

Short Takes

Why a Blog?

In case you’re wondering why I switched to a blog, it was as I mentioned when I sent out the notice. I have found that most people are actually reading this doggerel and (and some may even generally enjoy it) BUT most also don’t care to comment. Perhaps more importantly with the former format everybody’s comment went to everyone and could kind of overwhelm you with emails. That’s it, that’s the reason. I hope you will continue to read – if not enjoy – the View Askew and maybe even feel more comfortable commenting here. Well, that’s the plan anyway.  

Healthcare Redux

Thanks for the great comments on our health care dilemma. It's a tough problem and we have to solve it but the only way we will do that is if we talk about it and have our "leaders" at least pretend to listen to us (You know, we elected these yahoos.) There's hope: remember what Winston Churchill said, "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried every thing else."  That's us alright!

Solstice Will Soon be Here!

In this addition I will be sharing my 2013 solstice strategy to assure that we will see the sun again in all its glory. But that’s not all! I will also be hosting my 3^rd Annual Solstice S’mores for neighborhood kids. (Contrary to popular belief we do NOT live in a senior citizen gated community - we have a lot kids here!) Anyway, neighborhood adults will be encouraged to bring something a little stronger to keep them warm as we stand around the fire and freeze our butts off! I know, I know it’s a small gesture of thumbing my nose at this time of the year but least it’s something.

Last Golf of 2013? But Something Important Found

So I played golf on Nov 30 and Dec 1. Do you think that’s it for the year? Maybe. Anyway, I play a lot of golf by myself (is it my breath?) No, I mean I go to courses by myself and team up with other addicts and I’ve done that a lot over the years. Do you know how many A holes I have met? Not counting me, One. That’s right, I’ve only met one jerk in all that time (and no, it isn’t one of my current friends but come to think of it . . .) Well, as luck would have it I met a very nice fellow idiot on Sat. Turns out that besides being an avid (if modestly skilled) golfer he had the ability to restore at least a little of my faith in the human race. Turns out his wife has Alzheimer’s and has for 7 years. She’s in long term memory care. She’s 64. Do the math. As soon as we were done he was heading over to the nursing home to visit as he has every day for 7 years. No complaints, no whining. I‘m no hopeless romantic but somehow that really really restored my  faith in my fellow man and made a nice gift for my spirits this holiday season. Thanks, Steve.

About the Picture

Okay, okay, we’re not fighting. The impressive, gray haired dude on the left is 2013 Co-champion (and 3 time prior champion) Thomas Hansen, Esq. The handsome guy in the middle is one Dick Severson, 2012 champion (and elder statesmen of our clown car golf group) who was fighting to keep the trophy from Tom and me. Someday I will  share all the dirty details of our co-victory  - and other stories of this 26 year event. (And yes, I am wearing turquoise shorts - you should see the shirt!)
 
Things That I Think About

Baby Boomer Presidents – Pt. - Last

Could anyone be more different than Bush than Barack Obama? Actually more different that Clinton too. Obama came in with great fanfare, the whole hope and change thing; our first black –okay, half black – president.  He is a great (if teleprompted speaker) and a very good politician. (Okay, great at getting elected.) After the disaster of the Bush years, he was almost guaranteed to at least look good.

He also inherited two wars and a battered economy so he also almost nowhere to go but up and in some ways he probably did as good as he could in regards to the mess he inherited.  Regarding the wars, he was kind of boxed in and politically had to continue at least for a while – then he had his own surge in Afghanistan. With the economy in tatters, he was kind of in triage mode – but then opted to not clean up the mess and, indeed, maybe added to it by his inaction. 

In the end, what did we get? Enormously higher debt (although to be fair it that was almost guaranteed to happen given the condition of the economy.) An economy that is still sputtering with continued high unemployment and income inequality (again, but obviously not all his fault.)

But it is in “leadership” that I think he has failed the most. He came into office with his party in control of all branches and opportunity to put his “hope and change” theme into action. What do we get? Who continued the wars and Guantanamo detention? Who had his own “surge in Afghanistan? Who okayed drone attacks on people in foreign countries and approved spying on US and allied citizens. Remember: this from a guy who won the Nobel Peace prize! What      the . . .?! Now he's making changes to laws by decree. Really? So much for being constitutional lawyer.  I will be charitable and say that I don’t think Obama has lied. But that, unfortunately, that makes him one very poor manager. Finally and maybe worse, he continued to bend over for big business and the banking industry – not a single, sociopath banker went to jail or even lost their bonus on his watch. You know, this makes one wonder if Bush and Cheney are still hiding in the Whitehouse somewhere!  

Now, I’m not saying all these things or should or shouldn’t happen, what I’m saying is that he has done almost the opposite of everything he claimed he would do.

And now Obamacare, his “signature” accomplishment. He allowed (did not lead) a healthcare law to be enacted that is so convoluted, complicated and ineffective that it almost, ALMOST makes the Republican histrionics about it seem okay – this one is totally on Obama! (Not forgetting that he has had the most pusillanimous group of Republican congressmen that has stunk up the joint in years. Oh, and Pelosi and Reid are no jewells either!) He could have used his considerable rhetorical skills and charisma to craft something that really might have altered the way we do things – but instead took the easy way by allowing the worst kind of sausage making in Congress to get a bill, any bill, passed – and he and the country are now that much the worse for it.  

So to liberal friends (who are apparently rather few) I just say, you elected him! (Although I gather most are, charitably speaking, "disappointed.") And to my conservative friends who, judging by the goofy,inflamatory emails forwarded by them, are legion and who complain about his liberalness I say, show me the proof! This guy's is just a mainstream politician, slightly left but no socialist. He has kowtowed to the special interests every step of the way including - or especially - Obamacare which was essentially a sell out to the private healthcare industrial complex as I stated last month. Ugh.

Yet, again, a babyboomer president was rewarded with a second term despite all evidence to the contrary. In many ways Obama is the most disappointing of the lot. I guess, in the end, he’s just another politician. Another HARVARD educated lawyer . . . another empty suit.

The Score?

So how are we baby boomer’s doing in our first opportunities to lead the country? Well, I would say so far these guys have done a better job of exposing most of our generation’s worst features than our best. Among them: over-educated arrogance, self-centeredness, immature world views and overconfidence in our abilities. (Although the oral sex in the White House could be a plus or minus. Just kidding!) If it seems that I am only speaking based on myself, fine, however, I think there’s plenty of evidence to support my observation about my generation. That is not to say that they (or we) have no redeeming qualities; we do, they do and we have many of them. It’s just that, in my opinion, so far the best of us collectively has not been expressed very well in the people that have represented us as president.

Now I grant you, many of the things that have occurred on each of their watch has happened to other presidents. I’m also not saying that these are the worst presidents ever – we’ve had some real doozies. I just thought “we” might be different. People sometimes forget hat JFK was the first president who was born in the 20^th century - and he did undeniably bring a 20^th century mindset to the office. What I’m saying is that these guys are OUR generation. I guess I had expectations that OUR best and brightest would somehow bring a whole new mindset too. Instead . . . empty suits.

In any event, I’m really hoping that we can provide examples of those better traits very soon… because it’s almost time for the generation Xer’s to take over.  We’ve got three more years of Obama to make us proud. But just in case, maybe we can redeem ourselves if we can get a female babyboomer in there, someone that is NOT an empty suit. (NOTE: this is NOT a call for Hillary!)

And please, no more Harvard or Yale guys – how about UMD or St Cloud State?!

 

Help is on the Way!

    Solstice Solicitation 2013

Well for the first time I am nearly speechless at the dawn of the winter solstice. It’s not my fault really; we’re all supposed to be dead! According to the all the omens, the world was supposed to end on last year’s solstice. Besides, I saw it in movie with John Cusack - how could it be wrong?! It appears, however, that my brilliant arguments then – against all odds – saved the human race. You’re welcome. That said, I shall come out of solstice retirement and rejoin the fray again this year to assure that the sun returns from its annual visit to the southern hemisphere.

I think I can speak for all of us (I CAN speak for you, can’t I?) when I say that the period of time that follows the summer solstice is the most depressing time of all. We are lulled into this false sense of security by the warm, summer nights – all the while the earth is slowly tilting away from the sun like woman dancing with a man with bad breath. We celebrate the 4^th of July – but forget that we will soon be eating turkey. We mow the grass – but soon we will be raking leaves. We water the flowers - but soon they will be stunted and brown. We laugh at bad golf jokes – but soon we will pack those clubs away like Christmas decorations in Feb. And finally, on Dec 21^st at 11:11 the sun will hover someplace south of equator, trying to decide if it will return to us. Friends, we can assure at least one more summer but we must act!

In the past I have managed to end our annual anguish by begging, wheedling, threatening and imploring the gods that manage the cogs of solar journey. This year I will try an innovative new form of American Exceptionalism – magical thinking! (You know, like there’s no global weather change, evolution is just a suggestion, Obamacare is swell and tax cuts for rich people work great.) There is a reason this may work, though. How? Read on.

First, envision yourself on ancient sailing ship, bobbing along on the North Atlantic for months, hoping against hope that you would make landfall and start a new life. You sing, you pray and you hope for divine interference. Then suddenly, on a cold Dec morning, you see, on the horizon, a point of land jutting into the sea. It’s the winter solstice, 1620 and you are one of the Pilgrims loaded like cattle on the Mayflower. Off in the distance is Plymouth Rock. Yes! A bunch of disgruntled religious fanatics made it to the new world!

Now, fast forward exactly 350 years to the Dec 21st, 1970. In the White House, Elvis and Pres. Nixon meet to discuss fighting drugs use (I know, I know, the irony strikes me too but this is all about the improbable happening.) Fact truly is stranger than fiction. Yes, a drug- addled Elvis became a drug fighting Fed! 

So let’s not curse the darkness, but light a tiny candle of hope; if the Pilgrims can stumble upon Plymouth Rock and Elvis can become a Federal Agent at Large surely there is reason to believe that we will awake Dec. 22nd to a new year of increasingly longer days – or 6 months of joy whichever comes first.  

If not, we can always try sacrificing virgins again.

D Roger Pederson, Lead Magical Thinker

                                                                                                                                   

Unfortunately, More Things That I Think I Think

 Minimum is the Maximum?

Minimum wages. There has been a great deal of sturm und drang about raising the minimum wage – or not. This is something that is in the news a lot lately yet oddly, unlike healthcare, I have a difficult time coming to any sort of conclusion or side to pick. Let’s see what you think.

First this little tid bit from this site: (http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/10/makers-and-takers/)

“Nearly three-quarters (73%) of enrollments in America’s major public benefits programs are from working families. But many of them work in jobs that pay wages so low that their paychecks do not generate enough income to provide for life’s basic necessities.

Finally, as was widely reported just recently, a McDonald’s internal human resources line suggested an employee explore applying for the very benefits the GOP is apoplectic about dismantling. This from the LA Times:

Nancy Salgado has worked at McDonald’s for 10 years and struggles to support her children with a wage that keeps her under the poverty line.

So she called the fast-food behemoth’s employee hotline, known as McResources, in hopes of finding help making ends meet.

But instead of getting any company assistance, the McDonald’s operator suggested Salgado try food pantries, federal food stamps and Medicaid.

The conversation – which was recorded and released to the public Wednesday by labor advocacy group Low Pay Is Not Ok – comes as attention is growing around the taxpayer burden of so many low-paid workers in the fast-food industry.”

There is an equivalent story about Walmart employees being directed to public assistance and probably others as well.

I offer this not to disparage those companies but simply to put some perspective around the people that live in the minimum wage world and hopefully shed some light on their predicament and the whole issue of minimum wage.

The attempt to raise the minimum wage to $10 or $15 or whatever seems to be founded in a real need.

Yet there is another, more complex side and that is the fact that despite these people trying to get by on these minimum wage jobs, these jobs were, in the end, supposed to be ENTRY level jobs, not careers. (You know, like the .75/Hr I made at the bowling alley in Alexandria when I was in high school!) Employers are adamant – and probably correct – that raising these wages will do one of two things or both.

1)   They will reduce jobs, probably by adding robotics or something (This robotics thing is huge, by the way, and has probably cost more jobs than all the outsourcing to China. You think this is over? Me neither.)  

2)   Have to raise prices so Americans, who are apparently very averse to paying more for a big Mac OR reduce the company profits, which as we know, is a very bad thing and probably not sustainable in the long run. (I won’t go into how much profit margin is enough here – it’s just ends up fist fights!)

So this isn’t some simple “Just give them a raise” deal, not if they will just lose their job later. So, no raise and stay on public assistance? Or give a raise but lose their job and  their hold on the lowest rung up on what’s left of the American dream? I dunno. Here’s what I do know: 65% of all jobs created since 2009 pay $14/hr or less, few with benefits. I should hasten to add that this isn't just about fast food restaurants. That's nanny's, yard care, retail (Starbucks anyone?) and hotel maids - the famed service economy. 65%. So this problem ain’t going away anytime soon – especially if these are going to be the full time jobs of the future.

How about that, I’ve stumped the dummy – ME! Help me out, will you?

Hey, One of Those Candles of Hope!
 I too often find myself wallowing in a kind of swamp of pessimism. (No really?!) It’s not self pity or despair but it is nonetheless vaguely depressing and clearly self defeating. I recognize that the dark impressions that I sometimes feel and express are the result of a lot of colliding events: my age, world events, cynicism and blatant over-thinking. Although I can’t really apologize for what I feel or how I’ve been thinking, it is kind of nice to be struck suddenly by something positive and hopeful just when the night seems to be unending. It came from the usual place too, now that I think about it. It came from kids.

My children are older; midish thirties (which is cause enough for depression) and they are proceeding apace with their lives. My daughter has been traveling the world – literally – as a professional golf caddy. She has a plan for the future in health and fitness and is doing fine. Better than fine. She has her degree, she has experiences that many people twice her age would envy and with her natural strength and independence, there is no way that she won't succeed at anything she chooses to do. My son, recently out of the USAF (having joined in a burst of patriotism after 9/11,) has seen the world via the same conveyance as his dad. Two trips to Iraq and all that goes with that, he may be cursed with his dad’s innate cynicism and sometimes dark thoughts but he has a bright mind, good job, is creating music he loves - and is armed with the knowledge of how things really work at much earlier age than me. He will do well in whatever he finally decides to love. I also have a terrific stepdaughter (11 when I met her, now mid 20"s) who I consider my own; she is moving up the managment ranks ranks of a large women’s fashion chain doing fine, thank you very much. She is the ultimate people person and has a very refined sense of relationships that gives her a mature perspective far beyond her years. I mention them all now as I try to put my previous gloom into perspective. They will face a very difficult future, of that I am certain (and whatever of that for which I’m responsible, I’m truly sorry). But then what generation doesn’t face that? It’s one thing for me to have and express some dark and murky thoughts about the future. But when I project those fears about facing the uncertainty of tomorrow on them I find . . . that I’m a dope.

I take great hope in the fact that every generation is unique in its ability to adapt to the future that it finds itself facing. Some generations probably do better than others (I have a LOT more to say about this regarding mine!) but somehow each one seems to get through it. This next generation is no different. We can worry about so called slackers and generation Y’ers but ultimately they will all be the ones that figure out how to crack the code of the future. It may be a different code than the one that my generation cracked but it is the same future; it only looks different from the perspective of early old age late middle age.

Sometimes when it’s really late at night and things are pressing in and you can’t sleep from worry, it’s best to remember that your parents were often doing the same thing yet here you are. Ultimately, the dawn always comes; things always look better in the light – trust me.

Happy Holidays!

Next Things That I Think About - Myth of Time

Leaving on Another Positive Note - What's Getting Into ME?! 

Okay, since I’m almost in a giddy mood I thought I’d close with a final positive note.

I’m not a religious person. In fact, I’m perilously close to being an atheist (although the word has such finality to it that it’s kind of frightening - someday I think I will think about this.) In any event, and despite my religious leanings, at this time of year I can almost feel the hand of some deity reaching out to me through the music. The magnificence of Handel’s “Messiah”, the joy of “In Dulci Jubilo”, the exuberance of “The Carol of the Bells”, the somber “O Come Emmanuel.” (Okay, and that ode to my youth, “Jingle Bell Rock” too!)

It does make one wonder what could inspire mere mortals to create such music. This is especially true when we know what horrors humans are also capable of perpetuating on their fellow man. I wish I knew more about the other religions and faiths in this regards but I’d be willing to bet that you can find examples of the same kind of moving music and art throughout.

So what does this mean? Darned if I know but I DO know that I may hate the weather this time of the year but I consider the music a blessing (assuming I don’t have to listen to it 8 hours a day at work, of course!)

   Thank God, Another Issue is Done - Right?!

 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this festive holiday addition of the View Askew. I also hope you will bookmark this site so that you can visit in bewteen issues where you might just find other nuggets of . . . nuggets? And now you have no reason NOT to comment, you won't be bugging anyone else but me.

Do have a very merry Christmas, happy Hanukah, Kwanza or Festivus or whatever- see you in the brave New Year. 

Remember: “Be a good citizen of your world.” (And, don't be a. . .well, you know.)

Quote Du Jour

“The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.”  George Carlin

 

A View Askew is the sole property of D Roger Pederson, Mpls MN. You may forward without special permission but if you want to use anything here for your own purposes please send me a request at dpeders2002@gmail.com.

                               A View Askew