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Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category

Take a Stand For Civility

Posted in Current Events, Quote, tagged , , , on March 4, 2012| 2 Comments »

I didn’t want to weigh in here on the ongoing Rush Limbaugh controversy where  his normal disgusting vitriol went to new levels as he made personal attacks on a Georgetown student. The attack came on Sandra Fluke, who was testifying before Congress on the need for the inclusion of contraceptive coverage in health care plans, in her case for its use in preventing ovarian cysts.  Among the many stupid things Limbaugh said concerning this issue, he called her a slut, prompting a firestorm of protest from people everywhere.  This resulted in organized boycotts of those corporations that support Limbaugh by advertising with him which finally brought a tepid apology from Limbaugh, obviously done to try to stem the stream of advertisers running away from him.  Like I said, I didn’t want to become involved with this but in the midst of this whole thing there have been some enlightening moments of standing up for civility that I wanted to highlight here.

The first was from Dave Friend, CEO of Carbonite, who wrote after pulling their current and all future advertising from Limbaugh’s show:

 No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.

The other was a statement released by John J. DeGioia, the President of Georgetown University, who made this elegant case for the need for civil discourse:

Dear Members of the Georgetown Community:

There is a legitimate question of public policy before our nation today. In the effort to address the problem of the nearly fifty million Americans who lack health insurance, our lawmakers enacted legislation that seeks to increase access to health care. In recent weeks, a question regarding the breadth of services that will be covered has focused significant public attention on the issue of contraceptive coverage. Many, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, have offered important perspectives on this issue.

In recent days, a law student of Georgetown, Sandra Fluke, offered her testimony regarding the proposed regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services before a group of members of Congress. She was respectful, sincere, and spoke with conviction. She provided a model of civil discourse. This expression of conscience was in the tradition of the deepest values we share as a people. One need not agree with her substantive position to support her right to respectful free expression. And yet, some of those who disagreed with her position — including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels — responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.

In our vibrant and diverse society, there always are important differences that need to be debated, with strong and legitimate beliefs held on all sides of challenging issues. The greatest contribution of the American project is the recognition that together, we can rely on civil discourse to engage the tensions that characterize these difficult issues, and work towards resolutions that balance deeply held and different perspectives. We have learned through painful experience that we must respect one another and we acknowledge that the best way to confront our differences is through constructive public debate. At times, the exercise of one person’s freedom may conflict with another’s. As Americans, we accept that the only answer to our differences is further engagement.

In an earlier time, St. Augustine captured the sense of what is required in civil discourse: “Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth. Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us. For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed.”

If we, instead, allow coarseness, anger — even hatred — to stand for civil discourse in America, we violate the sacred trust that has been handed down through the generations beginning with our Founders. The values that hold us together as a people require nothing less than eternal vigilance. This is our moment to stand for the values of civility in our engagement with one another.

He’s absolutely correct.  This is our moment to stand for the values of civility.  While I believe that Limbaugh has the right to say whatever absurd crap comes into that pumpkin head of his ( sorry, I couldn’t resist one small personal attack!), it is also the right of us who find his hate-filled schtick disgusting to show our displeasure by voting in the free market by boycotting those who enable this hatespeak with their advertising dollars.  Many companies have alredy pulled their backing which brought the lukewarm lip-service from Limbaugh. 

But others persist.  ProFlowers, for instance.  They even have a Rush discount.  They issued a statement that is even more tepid than Limbaugh’s apology. If you wish to take a stand against Limbaugh’s brand of hate politics, there are numerous boycott sites online that list all of his sponsors.  Perhaps this will serve as a warning to those who wish to only engage in personal attacks that we, the public, are willing to take a stand.

And if you’re a listener of Limbaugh, which I doubt you are if you’re here, ask yourself why you choose to spend your time listening to such a person.  Has he made your life better in any way?  Has he solved any problems in your life or in this world at all?  Does the Limbaugh brand of hatred really speak to your view of the world?  Think about it– turn off Rush and take a stand for civility.

Added Monday:  ProFlowers, along with a number of other companies, has dropped their sponsorship of Limbaugh show.

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Coming In the New Year

Posted in Current Events, Painting, tagged , , on January 9, 2012| 2 Comments »

2012 is going to be a very exciting year for me– and not only for the Mayan Apocalypse.  I have three solo shows at the galleries that represent my work all set around my upcoming  exhibit,  Internal Landscapes: The Paintings of GC Myers, at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown which runs from August 17 through December 31 of this year.  There will also be four gallery talks, including one at the Fenimore in November. So, as I say, it looks to be a busy and exciting year.

Also new this year is an energetic Midwest gallery that will begin representing my work beginning later this month.  Watts Fine Art opened in 2010 in the historic district of Zionsville , a suburb of Indianapolis with tree-lined brick streets.  It is ran by Shannon and John Watts, a young couple who retired a few years back from extremely sucessful corporate careers and decided to make their passion for art their newest life adventure in the form of a gallery dedicated to bringing the very best contemporary art to the Midwest. 

Shannon and John have a palpable excitement for the work they represent which is something that, as an artist, you hope for in the gallery staffs that represent your work.  Their enthusiasm for their gallery and the possibility of showing my work there was key in my decision to join with them.  They also have a wide and long-range vision for their gallery,  wanting to introduce collectors throughout the entire Midwest with their collection of artists from around the country.  I am really pleased and enthused about joining their gallery and having Shannon and John represent my paintings.

So, with all of this on my plate, I guess I should get back to work!

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Everyday Hero

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, Painting, Video, tagged , on December 9, 2011| 6 Comments »

This is a small painting, only 5″ by 6″ on canvas,  that recently went to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.   I call this piece Everyday Hero and even though it’s small in size, it’s one that I find full of meaning for myself.

As they often do in my paintings, the fields of alternating rows of color represent the act of labor.  The day-to-day sort of work of the people who toil every day with little if any recognition, trying to merely live their lives.  They raise their kids, they pay their bills and they simply try to just get along without bothering anyone or being bothered. 

 These are the people who built this country.  They built our infrastructure– the roads and bridges and the schools and factories.  They worked in the fields and in the foundries and factories and manned the trains and trucks that brought the products to market.  Moreover, these are the people who consumed the products that were made, moved and marketed here.  These were the people who created the wealth of this nation.

I know that this is sounding like a 99% spiel and maybe it is.  I have gotten so tired of hearing about the job creators and how they must be protected when very few are pointing out that the great wealth that these few possess came from the sweat and pocketbooks of the many.  I may be missing something here but I can’t think of anyone whose wealth was created in a vacuum that didn’t depend on the sale of their product, be it a manufactured item or a natural resource.   You might say that a hedge fund manager might not depend on the sale of a product but he only serves as a casino operator for those who wealth was created of the people.  Without their wealth, he has nothing.

Now don’t get me wrong.  It seems that when anybody makes the case for more equality of wealth, they are branded as being anti-capitalist and anti-business which is not the case.  The greatness of this country comes from this opportunity to succeed in a huge way, to take an idea or an innovation and set the world on fire with it.  You should be rewarded richly.  But unless you have the people to buy the products or ideas, unless you have the infrastructure to carry that product to these buyers, unless you have the fire fighters and police to protect your homes and offices, unless you have have clean air to breath and water to drink— it will never happen. 

You can be a hero to many by being a  job creator but you must  take some responsibilty for the everyday heroes who have made you wealthy, probably beyond anything most of these folks could fathom.  It is part of the unwritten contract of our land.  It is only fair.

Massachusetts Senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren made a very passionate  statement of this same thought recently in a video from a fundraising event that most of you have probably seen.  It is as compelling and precise an argument as anyone I’ve seen make while standing up for the everyday heroes.  Here it is:

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The Great Smog of ’52

Posted in Current Events, tagged , on December 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

If you watch the TV series Mad Men, you probably know that the London Fog referred to in the name of the famed outerwear company is a myth.  London does not get particularly foggy but it makes a romantic notion for selling raincoats.  However, London has had a different sort of fogginess at different times in its history.

Smog.

It was on this day, December 4 in 1952, that a heavy smog descended on the city and stayed there for four dark days.  A coinciding series of events led to this.  First, was a hig pressure mass that stalled over the Thames River Valley, bringing windless conditions.  Next was a drop in the temperature which made many of the residents increase their burning of coal to heat their homes.  The particulate pollution from the residential chimneys combined with normal industrial and automotive emissions to form a thick, unmoving fog that blocked out sunlight, eventually bringing all transportation to a halt. 

The worse effect of the Great Smog, as it came to be known, was the human toll.  There are no definitive numbers as to how many people perished in the four day event, which finally came to a halt with a changing weather front that blew away the smog.  Most agree that it was at least 4000 and some suggest that the number is much higher, with some estimates reaching 12,000 victims. 

 Even if it is the lowest of these numbers, I find it astounding that such an event took place a mere 59 years ago.  Even more amazing is that even though measures were taken by the government to lower factory emission and to deter residents from burning coal, a similar, but smaller, event took place ten years later which killed over 100 people in London. 

It brings to mind memories of riding in the family car around Cleveland in the 1960’s when it was still in its industrial heyday.  The factories that crowded the shores of Lake Erie spewed huge plumes of  dark brown mist that gave the sky a sepia soupiness and the smell was sulphury and intense.  Eventually, it would come to light that these factories and others were responsible for the acid rain that defoliated large chunks of the Adirondacks.  Thankfully, regulation took place and driving through Cleveland today is a much different affair with clear skies and views of the lake. 

Take from this what you will.

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Better World A-Comin’

Posted in Current Events, Music, Opinion, tagged , , , , on December 3, 2011| 6 Comments »

A couple of things stuck out recently for me when following the mass media.  On The Daily Show,  comedy writer Merrill Markoe appeared this week and during her interview made the statement that there are now so many socially acceptable ways to exhibit a pathological lack of empathy.  I knew this  already but it was so succinctly put that it stuck in my mind, especially when listening to the GOP candidates such as Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich basically attack the poor in recent appearances, blaming the poor’s own lack of initiative for their condition. 

 I do not disagree there are ways for some to dig out from the depths of poverty.  But for some it is a pit that can’t be escaped.  I often think of a man I worked with for a number of years at the Perkin’s Restaurant where I worked when I first started painting.  He was a few years older than me which put him around forty years old at the time.  He worked as a dishwasher and busboy making around six dollars an hour.  I can’t remember what the minimum wage was at the time since I was a waiter and was only paid $2.35 per hour.  This fellow’s wife was ill with some sort of chronic disease and it was constant struggle to stay afloat without assistance for their medical bills.  To me, he remains the face of the working poor.

Now this man had no escape routes in his life.  He had little education and it was painfully obvious.  His prospects for doing a lot better than his current position were slim, at best.  The jobs that once might have paid more in the factories and plants of our area were gone and probably weren’t coming back anytime soon.  He couldn’t leave.  He didn’t know where to go and if he did, he couldn’t afford to move what little he did have.   He made a few extra dollars helping a friend pick junk but he was unfortunately near the top of his potential.  This was a man who worked hard and did the right things, all that he knew,  but still found himself at the very bottom. 

He deserves our empathy.  He deserves a hand extended. 

Instead he and many thousands, maybe many millions, like him are categorized as merely lazy slackers who suck on the public teat.  The hubris dispalyed by these politicians makes me angry.  They anxiously seek to protect the wealthiest among us whose fortunes have been made possible by the blood and sweat of people like this dishwasher, who have been both the primary workers and customers for their businesses.  Yet do they feel a tinge of empathy for anyone other than the so-called job-creators?

I don’t think so.  At least, it’s not something they dare to exhibit in public.

Maybe I’m wrong in talking about such things here.  Maybe this verges on political statement.  I don’t care.  Too many of us have remained silent and on the sidelines or have started to buy into that Ayn Rand-ish tenet that selfishness is a virtue that these people spout at every turn.  Maybe someone will not like what I say here and suddenly find my work not to their liking. 

So be it.  I have to believe that people who find something in my work  also have high capacities for empathy towards others.  Those are the people for whom I want to paint.  People who believe there’s a better world a-coming, as Woody Guthrie sang in his song many years ago.  When I see how forcefully he stood up for his beliefs and the rights of others, I am ashamed at how little I have done myself.  Here’s his song:


 

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Free Speech Comes With a Price

Posted in Current Events on November 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

 These signs were placed on the company vehicles of US Cranes LLC in northern Georgia several months ago.  It has only been in the last week or two that the signs, which say New Company Policy: We Are Not Hiring Until Obama Is Gone, have went viral.  The company received so many angry emails and phone messages that it had to shut down its website and phonelines.  The owner, Bill Looman, was portrayed in news reports as someone who was a poor misunderstood soul who wanted to hire but simply couldn’t afford to because of the policies of President Obama.

The company’s website now greets you with this message:

William (Bill) Looman is a veteran, a patriot, and most importantly, my friend and brother. He and I along with many other Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen/women and Coasties, served, still serve, and shall continue to serve, so that the Constitution of the United States of America cannot be so trampled as to rob any American of their right to freedom of expression. All of you who have been less than kind in your assessment of Bill for his practice of that freedom, should be ashamed of yourselves. Every American has the right of freedom of speech, through the printed word or spoken, and for you to look down upon that right is to declare that not only do you not believe in the American Constitution, but to also declare to all that listen that you do not care to be branded an American. How sad that is.

There are lessons to be learned here.  The first is that free speech comes with a price.  Yes, we have the right to vent every thought that comes into our mind but we have to remember that same right allows people to react to what we’ve said.  This reaction can go from words to economic boycotts.  Most businesses realize this and have the sense to stay away from making their most outrageous thoughts and opinions public.  Say what you want, be as nuts as the voices in your head tell you to be, but be prepared for a reaction.

I don’t think Mr. Looman was prepared.  Many things about his recent past have come up as a result of his relatively short time in the limelight.  His manifesto on Facebook is interesting and disturbing. There is also his involvement with several Georgia militia organizations, so-called Patriot groups such as the North Georgia Militia whose actions have been closely followed by Hatewatch from the Southern Poverty Law Center.  They point out that these militia groups have grown in number nationwide from 149 known groups in 2008 to 824 by the end of 2010, numbers that very much mirror the numbers from the mid 90’s when Timothy McVeigh performed his heinous act of domestic terrorism.

So this is not just some poor schlub who acted before he thought.  This is a man filled with hatred and ill intent.  He has done us a great favor by exposing himself now with his signs of ignorance and not at a later time when perhaps he and his cronies have perpetrated something far more sinister.

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This Beats a Super Committee Any Day

Posted in Current Events, tagged on November 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I was thinking about what to write today and was having a hard time in not going into a rant decrying the dysfunction of those in our government as is being brought to light by the failure of the so-called  Super Committee.  I was also having a hard time not screaming about the obnxoiuos Grover Norquist and the power he wields over these boobs, all in the hopes of returning our government  to the size it was in the good old days of 1900. 

But it was making me much too angry.  I became angry just typing out the paragraph above.  So I thought I had better look elsewhere and I checked out the Candler Arts blog.  The first thing I saw was this oil painting that was for sale on eBay.  It looks to be a piece from sometime in the 1800’s of two fluffy pups and a couple of black birds at the same feeding bowl.

How could I stay mad?

Of course, it could be a faked piece, one made to look like it was much older than it is in reality. That is not out of the question in the field of antique paintings.  These deceivers use old canvas, old nails and old wood — anything to make the work look as though it came from an earlier time.  I guess that kind of deceit would go hand in hand with what’s going on in our capital at the moment.  They do set the example for our nation or at least reflect it, after all.

But you know what?  I don’t care if this is a fake.  It’s still better than thinking about the puppets of power this morning.  And if it’s not a fake, even better.

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Wicked Game

Posted in At the Movies, Current Events, Music, Video, tagged , on November 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I was going to write about an essay that I read in the magazine Foreign Affairs by George Packer titled The Broken Contract.  It’s a summary of the timeline for the growth of the wealth inequality in our country that has recently started coming to a head, focusing on congressional actions that have enabled this disparity.  I had some problems with some of his views but overall found the article to be very enlightening and downright depressing in the end.  So I decided to not go any further into it this morning except to say that the country has definitely lost sight of the  contract of social responsibility implied in Packer’s article. 

 According to Packer, if the world were represented by the movie It’s a Wonderful Life ( we are quickly heading into the holiday season, after all), the most egregious actions of the greedy Mr.Potter have become the accepted norm and are no longer subject to any sort of public shaming, as they had once been.  George Bailey would be even more helpless to the economic and legal machinations of Potter. 

That’s my analogy, not Packer’s. 

Anyway, that’s as far as I want to take it this morning.  Here’s a little music to fit the tone of this subject, at least in title.  It’s Wicked Game from Chris Isaak from back in 1989.  Hard to believe this song is that old.

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Let’s Try a New Analogy

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged on October 10, 2011| 6 Comments »

In the ongoing debate about the financial situation of the United States, there is always an analogy that is used, usually by those on the right,  to justify simply slashing all spending to bring down the deficit rather than raising revenues through taxation.  They usually say that the USA is like a normal family and when you are over budget you must cut back on things.

It’s a nice, simple comparison that even the lowest of our common denominators can understand. 

Now, I’m all for bringing things down to the simplest terms.  I think we all do this for our own understanding of most everything.  But this analogy has always bugged me in that it seemed to lack the nuance and depth of the real problem that it is supposed to represent.  Now, I’m thinking off the top of my head here, but I think you can still use the USA-as-a-family analogy but there needs to be a tweak to better show the reality of the situation. 

 Instead of a simple father and mother and two and a half children as the original analogy infers, I think you can substitute the  Walton family from the long-running CBS TV show The Waltons.  The USA is Walton Mountain and the family represents our citizens.  There is John Sr. and Olivia, Grandpa and Grandma and the seven children– John Boy, Jason, Mary Ellen, Ben, Erin, Jim Bob and Elizabeth.  You have a much more representative cross section here with the addition of the grandparents.

The family homestead, Walton Mountain, is mortgaged to the bank, much as our nation is indebted  to our treasury and foreign lenders such as the Chinese.  John Sr’s lumbering business has been on shaky ground lately and its income has dropped even though it still has all the same bills and financial obligations.  The bank is threatening to foreclose.  Under the simpler analogy, the family would just cut back on extras and everything would work out just fine.  But if you watched the show, these folks were working with a lot of extras to begin with.  Simply cutting out the Christmas ham and shutting out all the lights at 8 PM and buying a yard less gingham at Ike’s store won’t balance their budget.  They need more income.

Now John Boy has become a best-selling author and is making a nice living and paying a nominal rent for his place on Walton Mountain.  Jason had been a musician but things dried up and he lives at home now, helping at the mill in exchange for his rent.  Ben was injured in a logging accident and requires medical care on an on-going basis.  Mary Ellen takes care of Ben around the clock.  Erin works the gardens and does paperwork for the mill.  Jim Bob and Elizabeth are in school still with hopes of following John Boy’s path to an education at Boatwright University.  Grandpa has several prescriptions that are costing the family a lot and Grandma has gotten to the point where she can’t help around the house as much as she once did.

Now, according to the first, simpler analogy, wouldn’t the relatively well-to-do John Boy be asked to give a little more to help out the family?  The John Boy I know would  never turn his back selfishly on his family.  Or would you just cut back on the meds that are keeping Grandpa Walton alive?  Would you take away Ben’s care?  Would you tell Jim Bob and Eizabeth that the path to an education that served the successful John Boy so well was no longer a viable option for them?  There are so many different scenarios in this story that better represent the situation of our nation and its debt and budget than the we’re-a-family-and have-to-watch-our-household-budget mantra that we all hear constantly.  And that’s just off the top of my head.

The answers here are not simple and you can’t really give the whole story with any analogy.  The majority of theAmerican people have been saying for some time  that it will take some cutting and some revenues, meaning taxation, to get out from under the wight of this situation.  Even many of the wealthy John Boys of this country understand and accept this.  But for some reason there is a resistance by some to the only viable solution that is visible.

I don’t know why.  I only know that their simple story is never as simple as they’d have us believe.

G’night, John Boy.

 

 

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Occupy Wall Street

Posted in Current Events, Opinion on October 9, 2011| 2 Comments »

I’ve been busy with little jobs and other distractions as of late and haven’t followed the news as closely as I normally do.  It’s been wonderful.   So I have only recently noticed, with passing glances, the growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the last several weeks.  At first, I thought it would be short-lived, a roman candle that burns bright but fades away quickly.  But as the weeks marched on, the movement seemed to grow and it became more than the typical type of protests that accompany financial summits such as the G8 or G20.  You know, a sort of protestapolooza with no real direction and no unified message that verged on pure anarchy.  This movement has taken on different face than those types of protests.

It has a core of anger that is not purely based on a far left agenda.  It is more centralized,  the result of an anger over the failure of oour politicians to listen to the real concerns of  all the people, instead adopting policies and positions that seem to favor the very wealthiest.   Anger borne out of seeing that the vote no longer can change much in the face of the lobbies with deep pockets.  The anger of the disenfranchised, people who don’t see a light at the end of any tunnels.

It’s a dilemma for many people to consider.   I mean, I have no problem with wealth and the corporate world.  I believe that every one should have the right and the opportunity to make as much money as he desires and is able to produce.  But when it comes at the exclusion and expense of the majority of the populace it becomes a problem that must be addressed.  So, while I may understand and have empathy for this movement, maybe it should be directed more at those in government who enable amd have become part and parcel of the corruption that these people are protesting.

  Everything points to a political system that doesn’t function on almost any level right now.  Something must change and the people deserve to have their voices heard.  I’m still unclear on the direction of this movement and where this will go or if it will eventually fade away.  But for now, it continues to grow and the anger builds, only pushed on by the actions and words of those in power.  For instance, the same politicos such as Eric Cantor, who praised the protests of the Tea Party as patriotic  rallies call these protesters “mobs”.   Amy Goodman has a great article that addresses how the powers that be seem to be protected by a police presence that has been bought.  It is an article that is both enlightnening and disturbing.

 The allegiance by politicians and government agencies, if Goodman’s words suggest in this particular instance,  to these corporate supporters is troubling.   If  her observations are true, this could get very ugly before this whole thing is over.

We shall see.

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