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Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category

Hoping For a Blue Sky

Posted in Current Events, tagged , , on March 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Aaah, blue skies…

I’m trying to think good thoughts this morning.

I have to because my head might explode if I allow myself to focus on the idiocy of the people who are being led sheeplike in angry, violent-tinged protest against the recent healthcare bill and the government in general.  They are angry that something is being taken from them at this moment, that the misfortune of their current state of affairs has just risen with the election of Obama.

Folks, this has been going on a long time.  Dave Leonhardt wrote a very informative article in yesterday’s New York Times that talks about how this bill is the first step at stemming the inequality of wealth in this nation, saying:

Since 1980, median real household income has risen less than 15 percent. The only period of strong middle-class income growth during this time came in the mid- and late 1990s, which by coincidence was also the one time when taxes on the affluent were rising.

For most of the last three decades, tax rates for the wealthy have been falling, while their pretax pay has been rising rapidly. Real incomes at the 99.99th percentile have jumped more than 300 percent since 1980. At the 99th percentile — about $300,000 today — real pay has roughly doubled.

I think a lot of the anger of these current tea-party protestors is justified but greatly misdirected.  They are, for the most part, middle-class and they have seen their income remain stagnant and their buying power diminish over the last three decades.  Unfortunately, instead of examining the real reasons behind this dilemma and discovering where this transfer of wealth finally settled, they fall prey to the urgings of talking heads like Limbaugh , O’Reilly and Beck.  Like Dick Armey, who has made a cottage industry out of this type of incitement.  Men who profess to speak for America’s best interests but in fact are simply protecting their own interests, which are considerable.  The grab-what-you-can-and screw-everyone-else, take-from-the-middle-and-put-on-top attitude of the last thirty years have been very good to this particular group.  They have a lot to lose.  Not the tea-partiers.  They have already had what wealth they possessed slowly sapped from them.

The terrible thing here is that these put-upon people, the middle and lower class of this country, still often identify themselves with the wealthy, with the very people and corporations who have benefited most from the increasing inequity in wealth in this country.  They are ripe and ready for anyone who can direct their anger at any scapegoat besides the true culprits.  They eat up incendiary words and phrases put out by the punditry without really knowing the basis behind these words.  Socialism.  Fascism.  Nazism.  Hitler.  Stalin. Antichrist.

They are led to believe that their anger is the anger of all people and therefore justified.  Every action becomes justified by the uncivil actions of their  leaders and  the silence of their shepherds when the first brick is thrown or the first racial epithet yelled.

Where does this end?  Who knows…  Like most things, this movement will probably have unintended consequences.  Sometimes, when you try to prod a wild animal forward it’ll eventually turn on you.

Today,  I’m going back to thinking about blue skies…

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Exceeding Expectations

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, tagged , , , , , on March 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

I love it when people exceed the expectations put upon them by others.  People who persevere in pursuit of a dream despite little or no encouragement from the outside.   My current favorite is Jeff Foote, shown here, the starting center of the Cornell Big Red basketball team who is on an improbable run in the current NCAA tournament.   Jeff and his teammates face the highly favored and number one seed Kentucky team Thursday night for a chance to move into the final eight teams in the tournament.

Like the Big Red team in this tournament, Jeff Foote has always been an underdog.  He went to Spencer-Van Etten High School, located in a very small rural village not far from where I live.  It’s a small school with most graduating classes numbering less than a hundred students and isn’t known as a hotbed for turning out sports stars.  So when Jeff was playing for S-VE as a gangly 6′ 8″ teenager, he kenw he wanted to play Division I ball but attracted practically no attention.  Division I powerhouses didn’t come to see him.  Neither did even smaller Division I schools.  For that matter, no Division II schools came calling.  Only RIT, a Division III school  a couple of hours away in Rochester expressed any interest at all.

But he wanted to and believed he could play Division I ball and instead of just giving in to the expectations of others, Jeff kept pushing.  He applied to St. Bonaventure, a Division I school in western NY, and made the team as a walk-on.  No scholarship.  No guarantee of playing time.  But he was in Division I even if it was at the end of the bench as a now gawky 7-footer.  At the very least, it gave him a framework in which to work hard towards improvement.

In the meantime, Jeff’s mother, a nurse at a hospital in Elmira, became acquainted with the coaching staff at Cornell when one of their players suffered a back injury and came to her hospital for treatment.  She became friendly with them and told them that they should take a look at her son, the 7- foot walk-on for the Bonnies. 

They were intrigued by the thought of the big unknown kid.  They gave him a try-out and the work Jeff had put in was apparent.  He transferred to Cornell and has had a wonderful career there, improving steadily as the starting center for the three-time Ivy League champions, going each of the last three years to the NCAA tournament.  This year he was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the year and his game continues to grow as he continually strives to improve.  He’s eyeing a career in the European Leagues and has set his long range goal on the NBA. 

Don’t underestimate the kid.

And don’t count out the Big Red.

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Now We Start…

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , , on March 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night was a historic one for America.  A healthcare reform bill was passed by Congress and awaits approval in the Senate before being signed into law by President Obama.

Is it perfect?  Certainly not.  It couldn’t be.  Passing legislation on a subject that affects such a large segment of our economy and all of our population could never approach perfection.  Some will say it’s not enough, that it doesn’t do enough.  Others will say it goes too far, is too intrusive. 

But it’s a true start, a real framework on which to build.  It is but a first step in a long process that needs to take place in order to bring substantive change to a system that has been devouring our economy for too long.  To do nothing and maintain the staus quo on healthcare as our government has been doing for too many decades was not a realistic option.  When you’re at risk of drowning there comes a point where you’re going to want to try to swim.

And we are in deep water.  Using the latest comprehensive figures, from 2007, the US spends over 2.2 trillion dollars, or $7400 for every person living here, for a system that doesn’t even include coverage for over 15% of its population.  The newer, not yet official, numbers are even higher, with healthcare costs growing much faster than the rate of inflation.

That means healthcare is eating about 16% or more of our GDP.  The average for other wealthy nations is 8-9% and that includes coverage for all their citizens in most cases.  And better overall healthcare, acording to most statistics.  We spend more and get less than any other nation in the world.  That puts us at a competitive disadvantage globally and  is unacceptable and unsustainable. 

Something had to be done and now it is officially underway with the imminent passage of this bill.  Let’s start building on this foundation.

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A couple of good articles on the subject:  Ezra Klein in the Washington Post  and Paul Krugman in the New York Times.  Klein’s view is very similar to that of mine and Krugman’s examines the contrast between the tones of the two opposing sides of this struggle.

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Life Immortal

Posted in Current Events, Neat Stuff, Opinion, tagged , , , , on March 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

Today is  St. Patrick’s Day and I was going to write about the day and how it was my late mother’s birthday.   She would have been 78 today.  But today I’m interested in a story in the news as of late brought about by the recent publication of a book by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

It tells the story of the amazing cells of Henrietta Lacks that survive to this day, almost 59 years after death.  You see, Henrietta was a poor African-American woman living in the Baltimore area in 1951.  She was 31 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and her treating physician took a sample of her cancer cells without her knowing, which was common at the time.  Later that year, Henrietta succumbed to the cancer and died.

In most cases, the life of a 31 year old poor black woman who died so long ago might only be remembered by a very small group of family and friends, and even then, only fleetingly.  But Henrietta’s name is very much alive today. 

Her name and her cells.

You see, the cells taken from other humans have been found to have  short lifespans outside the body,  usually days.  But not Henrietta’s.  Hers were unlike all others and continued to live.  And live and live and live. This was a boon for medical research.  Her cells , now called HeLa Cells, were used by Jonas Salk in developing the polio vaccine and in the years since have been part of almost all new vaccines and medical developments.  Her cells continue to grow and have become a factory of sorts as there are companies that mass produce her cells for use in medical research. 

 In fact, over 50 million metric tons of her cells have grown in those decades.  To put  that into perspective, that would be enough to fill the space of the Empire State Building– 15 times.

There’s more to the story.  Her immediate family was not aware until 1976  that her cells were stll alive and being produced for sale and were, in fact, a multi-billion dollar business.  They have never seen a penny and are ironically without health insurance and in need of  treatments that have been developed with Henrietta’s cells.

I don’t want to get into a rant over the ethics of big business and healthcare but it brings to light a question of what constitutes life and ownership of our own cells outside our body.  I don’t really know where I stand on the subject.  I would like to think that those cells are indeed a part of Henrietta Lacks and that her life continues in them.  It would be a lovely concept to think of her cells forming an immortality that extends beyond the memory of a small group of family.  That the spirit her family saw in her lives on.

Is it so?  I certainly don’t know.  It would be nice if her family could see even a token gesture from the companies that have been built on the legacy of her cells.  Then maybe her cells could live on in other ways as well.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

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Mr. Smith, Please Go to Washington

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , , on March 9, 2010| 4 Comments »

In a recent New York Times article, columnist Matt Bai wrote about the current outrage in the American public against the influence of lobbyists is our halls of government.  He makes a case that perhaps the lobbyists themselves are not wholly to blame for the power they now wield but the current state of affairs is a result of a system that has made most politicians view any critical decision as being a matter of them either choosing  what is truly right for their constituents and the country or choosing what best protects and serves their own position.  It comes down to a matter of self-preservation, looking out for themselves, over looking out for the people they represent and supposedly serve.

As a result, we are left with a government designed and built with good intentions for all but operated by the few for their own often selfish ends.

It brings to mind director Frank Capra‘s classic film,  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  Everyman Jimmy Stewart plays Jefferson Smith who is chosen by the governor of some vague western state to replace a recently deceased senator.  Smith is chosen for his wholesome image in the state, as head of the Boy Rangers,and for a naivete that those in power feel will allow him to be easily manipulated.  In Washington, Smith is faced with corruption and graft from special interests and is soon the target of these groups as they attempt to destroy him when he finds out what he is up against and tries to do what is right.

Sounds familiar.

The film is a very simplified, maybe overly naive,  object lesson for our democracy.  But beneath this layer of naivete there is the simple truth that our government is based on those in power doing what is just and right for the people and when this power is usurped, our voices are ignored and the power of our democracy is diminished.  We lose something essential to our character as a people.

What’s the answer?

I’m not sure.   Perhaps we should change our system in a way that very much limits a person’s term in office, maybe one four year term so that there is no pressure for running a campaign while they are in office.  Do away with career politicians.  Fund all campaigns with public funds and return to a true citizen government.

Could such a system do much worse than the way things are currently done?  Some will say that we would be losing our best minds by having term limits but does the current system really encourage our best minds to serve in government at this point?

As it is, I am without a congressman of any sort at the moment.  I am unfortunately part of the congressional district  ( the 29th New York) represented until last night by Eric Massa, who is bailing on his constituency because of a recurrence of cancer and a sexual harassment scandal.  I am disappointed.  In the sheer stupidity of his actions.  In his quick, unceremonious exit.  In his unwillingness to finish his term and fight for the people that chose to vote him into office.  He claims he was at odds with the Democratic party over his refusal to toe the party line on health care but instead of staying in the game and trying to work out solutions, his choice was to try to punish the party by leaving the citizens of his district without a voice in Congress for several months until a special election can be held.

He was obviously not our Mr. Smith.  I don’t think Mr. Smith would give up so easily on the people of this country.

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Addenda: As I was finishing the end of this, there was a local news report on the TV about a local longtime mayor who was being urged to seek Massa’s abandoned seat.  In a statement the mayor said that the environment in Washington was toxic and that they needed honor and dignity.  For that reason, he would not run.  It struck me as a very funny line.

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Bloomin’ Energy

Posted in Current Events, tagged , , on February 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This K.R. Sridhar, the man behind Bloom Energy, the company that was the source of a media blitz this past week as they unveiled their Bloom Boxes, which are a  type of small power plants.  Using fuel cell technology, these units are powered by natural gas, ethanol or bio-gas at this point and produce electricity in a highly efficient, quiet and cleaner way than traditional powerplants that burn coal or other hydrocarbon fuels.  A unit roughly the size of a parking space can can power a hundred or more U.S.  homes and many more than that in other parts of the world.

Currently, Bloom is only producing commercial units like the ones that are currently in use on the corporate campuses of over 20 large companies such as Google, Ebay and Walmart.  They have plans to unveil in 5-10 years a residential unit that will be the size of a mini-fridge and will power the average home and will cost in the $3000 range.

What’s so great about this?  Besides lower energy costs and less pollution?  For starters, fewer widespread power outages like the ones recently caused by downed power lines due to snowstorms.  The power sources would be much nearer so the need for huge, vulnerable transmission lines would be lessened.  And there is the energy saved by not having to transmit electricity over these lines for long distances.  Almost half of the electricity produced in this country is lost, wasted, in transit via these lines.  Half.  Imagine how much money in our economy could be saved and how much  pollution could be averted by reducing  our electrical production by half.

This would also lessen the effect of the current energy grid.  Power generation would become a very local thing and be less susceptible to blackouts and other systemic failures that we’ve seen in the past.  The very idea of a grid might fade away.   This would also be a perfect solution for developing nations or for nations whose infrastructures have been decimated by disaster, such as Haiti.

Is it perfect?  No.  Still uses hydrocarbon fuels.  But the efficiency of the the units and the savings from less waste in transmission might extend the life of fuels like natural gas for many generations. 

But it’s a start, a step forward towards a new paradigm for how we see and make energy as a part of our lives.  Something we truly need to address…

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The Veblen Effect

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , on February 18, 2010| 6 Comments »

This Walking Man I from the late Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti.

A week or so back it became the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction, selling for a cool $104.3 million.

I’ve always been intrigued by the life and work of Giacometti so I’m not going to rant about the relative merits of any work being truly worth such a sum of money.  If someone feels that it is worth that, then it is worth that.

However, there was an interesting editorial piece in Tuesday’s New York Times from Eduardo Porter that used the sale of this Giacometti as an example that the economic downturn is at an end.  At least for the type of person who can afford $104.3 million.

The fact that the super-rich are once again secure enough to parctice conspicuous consumption is a positive economic indicator especially when it comes to things such as works of art and other luxury items, which are considered Veblen goods. These are are items whose appeal grows as their prices rise.  Think Ferrari.  Louis Vuitton.

The Veblen Effect is an interesting one.  The idea that the same item becomes more desirable simply because it’s price is raised seems somewhat counterintuitive.  One would think that common sense would make such a thing a rare occurrence.  But we know better, don’t we?  Status seeking overrules all common sense.

I have seen the Veblen Effect at work.  I have a painter friend who, a number of years ago, had a painting sitting for a long time in his possession.  He felt it was a very good piece, one that was a great example of his body of work.  It was priced modestly and sat for months and months with no interest.  Frustrated one day, he more than doubled the price of this painting.

It sold within days.

Now this is certainly not on the level of the Giacometti’s Walking Man.  It’s just a little illustration of how we all can be affected by this drive to show our desired status in this world.  I’m not saying it’s wrong or right.  It’s part of who we are as a species and will probably never change.  The important thing is to determine who you really are as a person and be comfortable with that. 

Because who you truly are shows through even the most  or least  expensive coverings…

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Worried Man

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , on February 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

I guess I’m a little worried.

I tend to worry when I see problems that I have no answers to or have little control in their resolution. 

The latest moment of worry came with the resignation of Evan Bayh from his seat in Congress, citing the frustration of dealing with idealogues of both sides of the aisle and the gridlock resulting from their stubborn belief that theirs is the best and only way to move this country forward. 

It brought to mind a couple of things for me.  The first was an article several weeks ago that asked if we, as a country, had finally become ungovernable.  It cited the the increasing polarity of the two parties over the past two decades with a seemingly total aversion to common ground.  It spoke of the even greater influence of even bigger money lobbyists over the same time and the ever increasing use of stalling tactics, such as the filibuster, to delay the progress of anyof the nation’s business.  It also mentioned a political system that had become so cannibalistic in their personal attacks that it kept our the best people from seeking office, leaving the seats of governance open to those concerned with furthering personal agendas or worse, the agenda of an entity to which they are indebted.

Gone were the days of coming together to do what was needed to serve the country.  Instead it became you say yes, I must say no.  A culture that sees compromise as failure.

I was reminded of a conversation I had a number of years back at the Principle Gallery, in Alexandria just outside DC.  One of their clients and friends was there when I was delivering some work who was a longtime Washington insider, the assistant to a very well known political consultant/strategist.  You would know the name. 

His boss was a Democrat and this gentleman was a Republican.  I commented that this seemed a bit unusual and he said it wasn’t really that odd.  At least,he said,  it wasn’t in the Washington of the past.  He went on to say that he was sickened every day by the partisanship and the ugly tone of both sides, how personal attacks that would have seldom taken place before were now the norm.  He talked about how it was becoming more and more difficult to get anything done and how it was more about satisfying special interests than serving the people.

This was in the spring of 2001.

Things have not gone well in the time since.  We have a completely polarized Congress.  A Supreme Court that seems to put the rights of the corporation above the rights of the citizens, whose recent rulings may very well allow the shamelessly greedy bankers and brokers who sent us to the brink of ruin actually have more power and say in who is elected.  We are constantly bombarded by pundits from both sides who take glee in the failures of the other side which to me says they are taking joy in our failures as a nation.

And we, the great centrist portion of the nation are left with this– a nation served from the edges of both sides.  Nobody is well served this way and nobody is happy but for those who profit from the edges.

So, are we ungovernable?  Do we have any chance of moving forward together as one nation?

I don’t know. 

Like the heading above says, I am worried.  I, like most, feel as though I am powerless to affect change, that my voice is tiny before the great din of Washington and Big Money. 

I’m hoping an answer will appear…

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Valentine

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, tagged , , , on February 14, 2010| 3 Comments »

 

Although I Conquer All the Earth

 

Although I conquer all the earth,

Yet for me there is only one city.

In that city there is for me only one house;

And in that house, one room only;

And in that room, a bed.

And one woman sleeps there,

                                         The shining joy and jewel of all my kingdom.

                                                            —Anonymous, Ancient India

 

 

A little verse and a couple of Jim Dine’s iconic hearts for Valentine’s Day.

Enjoy the day…

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Pullin’ Back the Reins

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Video, tagged , , , on February 13, 2010| 2 Comments »

They held the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics last night in Vancouver.  As usual, it was a great bit of spectacle.  There was only one visible glitch although it occured at the most critically symbolic moment.  As the torchbearers, including Wayne Gretzky, waited nervously for the Olympic cauldron to rise from the arena floor one of the four large supports that were supposed to rise balked.  Nothing happened.  Finally, after an awkward pause, the ceremony went ahead with just the three remaining supports.

Hopefully, this small hiccup in an otherwise wonderful ceremony and the horrible death of a young Georgian luger yesterday will not taint the games.  The world could use a few moments of relative unity right now.

I’m showing a poster from the 1912 Stockholm Olympics just as an example of how beautiful some of the Olympic posters once were.  Over the years, the artwork for the games have become more and more logo-like, more commercial and less artful.  It’s more about creating a brand than expressing the spirit of the games.  But that is but a reflection of our times.

Also, last night saw Canadian chanteuse KD Lang perform Hallelujah.  Her’s is always a  great version of the song and the presentation last night was striking with all in the crowd holding lights and swaying to the rhytm of the song.  I first saw KD Lang in the early 80’s when she was still perfroming with the Reclines.  I think I saw her first on a Smother Brothers Show that ran for a short time in the summer one year.  She was wearing a big cowgirl outfit and flying around the stage, manically out of control.  She was like a dervish.  Like a force of nature.  With that huge voice.  It cought my attention.

Here’s a song from her from that time, one of my favorites, Pullin Back the Reins.  Enjoy your Saturday…

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