Connected Synapses by Brian

A Short Note Attached To My Signing the Petition Against the Keystone Pipeline

2012-02-14T00:35:00.000-08:00

While I was initially in favor of the pipeline, I have determined, as best I can while tiptoeing through the minefield of "slanted," agenda-driven "journalism," that while the pipeline represents an increase in oil production here in the States, there are questions of whether the oil will be used domestically, or sold overseas. Job creation is minimal -- pretty much for the duration of the pipeline build. I see no long-term job growth from this enterprise. Most importantly, is the ecological damage to be done by the gathering/frakking of this material. It is easy to say NIMBY - not in my back yard, but it matters, in the long run, how we treat our neighbors to the north.

I try not to be an unreasonable person. I've spoken in favor of local projects and local development, such as landfill expansion, and commercial development, because they made our municipality more responsible on a local level, and were not unreasonable, given the extenuating circumstances.

Nor am I one of those who disfavors a corporation making a profit -- but at what greater cost? Shall we ask the buffalo, or the passenger pigeon?

Thank you,
Brian

With All Due Respect

2012-02-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

Why is it, when we say "with all due respect," we generally mean nothing of the kind?

Regarding SOPA-A Letter to My Congressional Representatives and Senator

2012-01-19T21:04:00.000-08:00

While issues of copyright and ownership are not fully resolved in the ever-changing landscape of evolving Internet and mobile-application portal technology, there is cause for great concern when, from what I’ve been able to gather, it seems like corporations are trying to turn the real problem of on-line piracy into an excuse to gain greater control of content, and over the average user of the Internet. From what I’ve gathered, most of the piracy is due to some overseas “cartels,” anyway. Most of the video uploads that I’ve seen on YouTube include the disclaimer that the uploader is not claiming copyright to the material. I have discovered artists and material of which I might not otherwise have become aware because of sites like YouTube. My modest YouTube channel includes over 400 views of my spoken rendition of Robert Frost’s “Acquainted With The Night.” Maybe these viewers will go on to discover more of Frost’s poetry, as well as the other poets I’ve included. I expect no monetary profit – forgive me the pride of stating that the profit comes from trying to spread the light of poetry and literature to others. Aside from that, I just like doing it.

I am prepared to walk away from the Internet. Such would be like a grievous smite to the nose, since the Internet makes a good deal of things convenient, and it is my main source of entertainment. I got along just fine before the Internet. I imagine I can do so again. (Oh, the horror!)

Please continue to make use of existing law to combat piracy and infringement, or use more carefully crafted legislation (read: legislation that is meant to provide true justice, and not power to corporations) in order to combat the true sources of piracy – a task probably better suited, as has been suggested elsewhere, to law enforcement itself.

Thank you for your consideration,

Brian Esposito

Contents of A Letter to President Obama, and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell

2012-01-14T01:55:00.000-08:00

This mess first weighed in at fourteen pages. I slashed it to some 7.5 - 8 pages. Please, all of you who slog through this: I mean the second to last paragraph as much as any other statements made. (I must point out I received no reply from either office.)

The President of The United States The Honorable Senator Mitchell McConnell May 7, 2011

The White House 361-A Russell Senate Office Building

1600 Pennsylvania Av. NW Washington, DC 20510

Washington, D.C. 20500

Mr. President and Mr. Senator:

It is with great pleasure that I offer belated congratulations to both of you on your election to your respective offices. (Senator, I voted mostly Democratic, but did not care at all for your opponent, Mr. Lunsford. My reasons were not entirely logical – I am tired of the “I'm a businessman! I paid a payroll!” line. The folks at WorldCom and Enron were business people, too, and what did that get us?) (Mr. President, you're lucky the Republican National Committee could never quite figure how to handle their candidate. Senator McCain was all over the place. Never, though, had I more respect for Senator McCain than during his most gracious concession speech. In fact, I yelled at the television, “Where has THIS guy been for the last year??” Then, watching him, part of me wanted to cry. I truly felt sympathy for him. Sarah Palin was a desperate gimmick – inspired, but desperate. Ms. Palin has shown her true colors by her resignation from the governorship of Alaska. Perhaps the press was unfair to her and her family, but she held office. To me, that's the “high ground” of the political fray. She quit. She flat-out quit...and went for the money of television. Any future platform of which Ms. Sarah is a part will get no consideration from me...even if I am only one guy who turned 51 this year. The GOP can run God Almighty – no, Newt, not you! – but if Ms. Palin is on board, I'm not.

A friend recently pointed out how “conservatives” keep espousing our individual freedoms, but they’re perfectly willing to tell us how to live in terms of morals, religion, and economics, all the while they proclaim the same tired refrain of “smaller government.”

Disclaimer: I will express many frustrations, but the Secret Service and other security organizations have naught to fear from me. I am thinking, as I type, of the old pun, “My word is my sword.”

The partisan politics which continues is a contributing factor to what I fear may be the slow demise of this country. It seems, in general, that the Republicans are more concerned with their chances in 2012 than with a balanced approach to legislation...so, hey, make the Democrats look bad – that's far more important than the Republic. As one analyst on the radio said, and I paraphrase, “We're trapped between the tax-and-spend Democrats, and the don't-tax-and-spend Republicans.”

We are a young republic, trying to ignore history when pretty much demonstrates that no republic survives. Can we be the exception to the rule? Politics will never go away, but both sides of the aisle must sometimes put aside differences so that the people, and the republic, can survive.

Immigration: I know, the tired argument: “Illegals do the jobs no one else will do.” Wrong. Illegals do the jobs, because business no longer pays living wages on so many jobs. We can't hold these jobs, and support ourselves and our families. College kids used to work summers on landscaping crews, but hey, why pay them when we can EXPLOIT other people and pay them much less because they won't rock the proverbial boat? Cheap shot alert: wasn't there something about the abolishment of slavery back in 1863?

Of course, there now stands the infamous encounter between the lovely First Lady and the poor child who confessed that she was worried that her mamma doesn't have papers. She and her daughter may well be the “homeless, tempest-tost” to which the Lady in the Harbor beckons. While we must never forget the “lamp beside the golden door,” whatever mechanism that is put into place to address this thorny issue should not be a shortcut, else we may as well not even have a border. As with many issues of the day, it presents a conundrum. I am reminded by my better half that our country’s track record regarding our settlement of this land versus the populations which were truly native is less than stellar. In light of our history with Native Americans, it is perhaps hypocritical to be overly critical of anyone who is trying to better their life by coming to America.

Jobs / The Economy: Keeping in mind the old saw, Economics exists chiefly as a form of employment for economists, I laugh every time I hear or read about the “miracle” of American productivity. Give it a rest, already. As long as productivity is measured by hours paid, and not hours worked, there's no miracle. As long as companies continue to pay reduced wages for the hours we work, there’s no miracle.

Some folks like to point out, Hey, 90% of the people are working! True – but what are we working? Two and three jobs, in some cases, or jobs that pay a fraction of those we had in earlier careers. Currently, I gross about the same amount I used to pay in taxes at my former job. 26 years' seniority, and I had to leave 3 ½ years before my fully vested pension. I took a 24% hit. (Yes, I signed a voluntary separation, but I'd have been laid off six weeks later, anyway.) I now have a much better understanding of the term “working poor.”

It is appalling to watch Wisconsin’s Governor Walker pursue his anti-union agenda under the guise of budget reform. In the meantime, Paul Ryan (Minnesota) works diligently to make sure that my future Medicare coverage suffers the same fate (if not worse) than my aforementioned pension. Comforting to know he’s working so hard for his big-money cronies. I want HIS pension and medical coverage: 20 years and age 50. (My “magic number” combination of age and service with AT&T was 75. I missed it by 4.) If Congress had to abide by the same health-care scenario as the rest of us face, health care reform would look a lot different. Quit messin’ with the Social Security, too. I’ve paid into the system for over thirty years, to help others and to eventually help myself. Maybe Paul Ryan won’t need the money. I will.

It kills me that the stock market can do well, and so many people declare the economy to be a success. The influence of Wall Street is part of the reason the rest of the economy suffers. People are so concerned about this quarter's financial results, that pretty much everything else doesn't matter. Where's the long term plans for businesses, and for our country? If a publicly traded business announces layoffs, no one seems to say, “They're in trouble.” No – Wall Street usually rewards the business by a boost in stock price: They'll be better in the future! CEO's are revered. Why? (I have an answer for that, later on.) (To be fair, back in October of 2003, commentator Lou Dobbs interviewed the CEO of Nucor Steel, which had, at the time, 100 consecutive profitable quarters. In steel. In America. The man said things like, “We like longevity in our employees.” “Our non management employees have benefits our managers don't have.” “We'll be profitable this quarter, but we won't make our targets. I take that hit. My upper management takes that hit. My workers don't take that hit.” ) (Not exact quotes, but correct statements.)

We've been on a fifteen to thirty year economic downhill slide, as more and more business sectors became deregulated, only to find in their new-found freedoms, most businesses fail to regulate themselves. Do they compete? Hey, why compete, when you can just buy your competitor? “Trickle down” economics? We saw what trickled down, and it wasn't money.

When I think of the “bailout,” I’m reminded of the old joke: A robber holds up an older man in a three piece suit, and says, “Gimme all your money.” The man indignantly responds, “You can’t do this to me! I’m a United States Congressman!” The robber replies, “OK – give me all my money!”

During the height of the “bailout,” a Murray State University economics professor proposed that we give every household a $100,000 bailout. His colleagues balked at the trillions of dollars such a program would represent. He countered by asking how much was being spent now, and with what result? He stated that such an amount in every household would allow people to pay bills in arrears, and spend money to improve their homes, buy new cars, etc. What did we get, instead? Bailouts for the rich. In the absence of regulation, in the free market economy was supposed to regulate businesses. Yeah, sure. What did we get? Enron, and their “mark-to-market” scam. Wall Street and their derivatives. Wall Street, and their rewarding companies which move their businesses off shore. Please don't, Mr. Senator, remind me that your party wasn't in favor of the bailout, because I will ask you where your party was, the previous eight years? Why was this allowed to happen in the first place? The economy's slide accelerated after the “dot-com bubble” burst of 2001. It was largely ignored, because the market recovered. The market recovered because it was “propped” by foreign money. The job flight had begun in earnest....it just took a few years to look really bad...and, hey, as long as the former President assured us the economy was fine, it must have been fine. By the time our former President announced the economy was in trouble, we were past trouble. It brought to mind the old riddle, in which you insert any thing or subject to compare to the ocean liner Titanic: What's the difference between the economy and the Titanic? The Titanic had an orchestra.

I wasn't against the bailout, but I wonder, what about the rest of us, here on Main Street? We keep hearing reports of “unexpected” rises in jobless claims or “unexpected” drops in home sales. Unexpected by whom? Ask us here on the street, and we’ll tell you what we expect: not a whole lot.

See, I was one of those “losers” who lost his home, and was evicted by the Will County Sheriff’s police from my fairly modest town home in the summer of 2007, as I remember. That’s a really special experience. Sure, I made mistakes, but as I once explained to someone, I didn’t awaken one day, three and a half years short of full pension, and full retirement eligibility, to say, “Hey, I quit!” I hung in too long, foolishly refusing to believe that the Chicagoland job market was going to fail to yield the kind of employment that would let me stay in my home. What a maroon!

Oh, and blaming the cost of union worker compensation for our automotive industry woes? As if management compensation didn't have anything to do with adding to costs. Why is the GOP so anti-union, anyway? How many politicians owe their educations and careers to working-class parents and grandparents who were union members?

I’m not saying unions are always right – we know they’re not, and it’s especially heinous when unions are corrupt. Many unions have properly partnered with management to increase productivity. (I know for many years, unions pushed their agenda to their own ends, and ignored profitability. Those days are long gone.) On the other hand, if companies conduct their business equitably, and honorably, then there’s no need for union representation, is there? If workplaces are safe, and profits are shared, and management is fair, then it’s all good. (I know there are plenty of good companies out there, even in this tight labor market. Their management figured that it’s better to treat people well, and avoid the cost of hiring and rehiring due to “churn.”)

You want more tax revenues back in the coffers? Get me back my $30 an hour job. Unlike most people, I didn't gripe too much about the taxes I used to pay. The money for goods and services has to come from somewhere. Enough of these hare-brained schemes like, let's tax the songs on the radio! (What “jet-fuel genius,” as the song says, thought of that???) If people have jobs with decent wages, they can pay decent amounts in taxes. What is so difficult about this?

What's all this lately about corporations having “rights”? What, just because someone in a corporation makes a campaign contribution? Is not a corporation merely a legal entity for the conduct of business and the separation of personal and corporate assets? Youse two guys would know better than me. Show me a sentient corporation, and then we can talk. Meanwhile, since the Supreme Court decision which says “corporations” have First Amendment freedom-of-speech rights, millions of unidentified dollars flow into coffers…and we are one step closer to corporate fascism. It won’t look like corporate fascism – probably won’t look much different than things do now -- but if we continue this path, corporations will run this country. Yes, I know, I know…the “slippery slope” argument…but if we have nothing of which to be afraid, then why, when a team of public radio reporters recently visited a television station in Pittsburgh to review the disclosure forms which should inform us of the candidates which these newly-freed front organizations fund, did they find many of the candidate names left blank?

I am suddenly reminded of my favorite lawyer joke: God must be a lawyer. God must be a lawyer because He created the chaos and darkness before He created the order and light.

In this era of non-discrimination in hiring, I think it’s a shame that employers are allowed to discriminate based on a person’s credit history. Is not a person with bad credit, and less financial resources at his / her command, more in need of a job than someone with good credit? How is making a certain level of credit a requirement for employment not a form of discrimination?

“Family Values:” Yeah, sure. When I was young, it seemed that the go-getters, and the folks who wanted to “get ahead” were the ones who worked extra hours, or were the families where both parents worked. I must be most careful, here. There have always been families in which both parents worked, and for which that work was necessary. It seems, as the years have passed, more and more families have had to resort to two incomes, just to break even. Many people, especially in management positions, work 50 – 60 hours a week, and sometimes for less money. More and more hourly workers work the same. Yet, we decry that parents are not involved in the lives of our children. There are many reasons for this. Part of the problem, though, is that so many parents cannot rely, anymore, on a forty hour work week or an eight hour shift to carry them and their families through. This, somehow, is “progress.”

Gays In The Military: This is finally heading where it needs to go. Draft action and sheer numbers suggest that gays must have served in all the wars in which our country fought. Is their spilled blood any less red? Is their sacrifice any less great? Do their mothers weep any less? Perhaps even better, a day in which no one will lay down their loved ones so the poppies may grow “between the crosses row on row.”

Terrorism: I don't worry about Al Qaeda on a daily basis. I worry about the neighbor or coworker (rhetorically) who will “lose it” and decide to kill in the mall or workplace or learning institution with weapons or some kind of explosive. The Bath, Michigan school disaster of 1927 killed some 45 people, and we seem to be out to break the record. This does not mean I ignore 9/11 – I can hardly imagine what any aspect of that day, to be there, must have been like. Iraq was a detour. Saddam was a bad guy, but hey, we made him. Golden spurs, anyone? We're finally, perhaps, looking in the right area in terms of Pakistan and Afghanistan, though it gives us a problem we perhaps didn't want: Afghanistan is now the focus of most of our foreign policy. One wonders at the difference between Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-Il? Are there perhaps less opportunities to make money in North Korea than in Iraq? Is it really the oil?

Guantanamo’s detention center needs to close. Waterboarding is torture. To anyone who says otherwise, I say, “You first.” (Especially you, Mr. Rumsfeld.) Shortly after 9/11, President Bush said God would bless us and our cause. I yelled at the television that we would bless ourselves, by how we responded, and how we comport ourselves after that terrible day. I am surprised by the people with whom I've talked that have a simple revenge mindset which states that they did it to us, so it's all right if we do it to them. So, I guess, we can be terrorists, because they were terrorists, first. Are we not supposed to be better than our foes? Yeah, yeah, I know, I know...torture revealed information we would otherwise not have gained. So does smart interrogation – techniques which don't rely on torture and humiliation. It's not that I'm completely soft-hearted, but if we become animals, then what's the point of the society we defend? (Disclaimer: I’m not opposed to “black ops” as long as there’s accountability, somewhere, and as long as the ends the means justify are ultimately for the greater good. I was not at all offended that Navy SEALs helped Mr. bin Laden “shuffle off this mortal coil.” No need for me to gloat over it, though I‘d be happy to buy ‘em a beer. Nor do I need to see graphics of Lady Liberty holding aloft bin Laden‘s head instead of her torch -- absolutely not why she‘s there.)

China: One of the most frustrating countries on the planet. Melamine in pet food. Lead in toy paint. Tanks vs. students in Tiananmen Square. Mao Zedong and Communism. Five thousand years of history and culture, and we get glorified plastic in pet food (to make the protein content look greater). It was a good thing I wasn’t President at the time. I’d have been looking for the mythical “football” – the briefcase which would allow me to enter launch codes to initiate nuclear war. (I know it’s real – I seen it in the movies!) Seriously, though, is China our friend and trading partner, growing from adolescence to adulthood on the world stage, or are they a patient enemy, willing to wait another 25 or 50 years while we self-destruct?

Health Care: I can go on and on. Removing the public option was not a good idea, and the political pressure brought to bear to make this happen shames me. Cowardice, selfishness, and greed on both sides of the aisle. Too many of those who have, in this country, are not willing to help provide for those who have not. Insurance companies and for-profit care drive medical decisions. So, I guess, stock price and return on investment are more important than lives. Tell me that’s not true.

Yes, Michael Moore's documentaries may be heavily edited and show bias, but the fact that his film “Sicko” can portray the kinds of coverage denials it does, without being outright fiction, should be a wake-up call to everyone. Moore does not portray himself to be a saint, but speaks of his Catholic background, and the ideal that we should help one another. I am reminded of the Hebrew word for charity: tzedakah. I am no scholar, but it also has to do with rightness, fairness, and justice.

The United Nations lists the United States as number 38 in the ranks of countries in terms of life expectancy, and number 33 in terms of infant mortality rates. That's all? For all the money we spend on health care?

No system is perfect. A National Public Radio series brought to light some of the pressures other countries are beginning to face as populations age, and costs rise, but as one foreign doctor stated, his country may not be perfect, but the United States spends more on health care per person than any other nation in the world, and we still can't resolve our health care problems.

You would think ‘big business” would want government-provided health care, since so many of our global competitors are in countries which provide the same. It would be a more level playing field. (It’s not really about that, is it? It’s easier to talk about “entitlements” and cut Social Security and Medicare, than it is to confront the big-money interests which, for the sake of a few more dollars, would let people sicken and die, or slowly starve. How some of these Congresspeople can look in a mirror with any self-respect is beyond me. I suppose they’ve become accustomed to seeing no reflection. There’s no need for “death panels” – a heinous fiction – when we can simply let the less fortunate fend for themselves.)

Solar Energy: While it is not possible to make every home run solely from solar energy, many homes can become less dependent upon “the grid” for their electrical power. There are systems available to provide solar heated hot water for homes, and solar power to augment current electrical systems – including solar cell shingles which can be used to roof a home, or a section of a home. The solar cells are then tied into the home’s electrical system by a qualified electrician, and the cells / shingles provide electricity to the home. In cases of “extra” electricity, the power can then be “sold” back to the local provider of the “grid.” I’ve seen many beautiful homes being erected in the Paducah area and in the Chicago suburbs. Not a solar shingle on any of ‘em. Not a one. If I had the means to afford one of these homes, I’d “go” the extra $15 - $20 K for such a system…not a huge percentage of what these homes must cost.

I recently heard the CEO of a solar energy company out of the San Diego area talk about the amount of power he could supply to the country with a mere ninety three square miles of solar collectors. He talked about how the 93 square miles don’t even need to be contiguous. I’m being a bit vague on the details, because I don’t remember all of what he said, but he was speaking in terms of providing electricity for significant amounts of the nation, if not all the nation. The problem? We don’t have a “smart” power grid. The man can’t move the power from his collectors to our cities. We don’t have the money to upgrade our own grid and infrastructure, but HOW MUCH money have we spent in Iraq?

I’ve learned that $4.5 billion of the stimulus package is for work on the electrical grid. Excellent. Here’s an even better idea: let’s spend $4.5 billion in Afghanistan and $60 billion in the United States. (Sorry, that’s cheap: we cannot fail to support our troops at this juncture. It’s a damned shame they were ever made to go, in the first place. You’d think we’d learned our lesson the first time we tried to “prop” / support a corrupt government. I do not refer to Iraq.)

By the way, wasn’t Iran a democratic government at one time? That is, until we put in our proverbial “two cents,” somewhere around 1953. Enter the Shah. Overthrow the Shah. From where did these radical clerics come, not to mention a secular Iranian president who makes neocons look like pacifists?

(I’ve long wondered what these “captains of industry would do if corporate malfeasance or mismanagement were met with fines of capital punishment? Extreme! Immoral! Yet, what of all the lives that are lost, wrecked and ruined?)

War On Terror: History repeats itself. However lovely it is for our radical Islamist friends of the Sword Verses (who stepped into the vacuum left by the nearly defunct “Cold War”) to occupy us now, the cry is that any government which does not directly confront is “soft on terrorism.” That has a familiar ring: “soft on communism.” We fought in Viet Nam to avoid being “soft on communism.” (Even though there are suggestions that Kennedy and / or Johnson were going to pull out of ‘Nam. No, no – don’t wanna be “soft on communism.” The short, and possibly not completely informed version suggests the same in the Korean War: Truman couldn’t afford to be seen as “soft on communism.” Did I type “War”? Mea culpa, mea culpa maxima – I meant “Korean Conflict.” Ah, yes – much better.

The cries continue: we cannot talk to our enemies, because this legitimizes their causes! So, like, what? Billions of dollars spent, thousands of lives spent…these, somehow, avoid legitimizing their causes? What did not being “soft on communism” gain us? What are we gaining by not being “soft on terrorism”? We, as a country, try to fix everyone else, while we’re falling apart from the inside. Gee, suppose we’d spent $80 BILLION dollars to upgrade America’s infrastructure. Certainly, the “patriots” at Halliburton could’ve still figured how to get their cut…including our former President of Vice, who hastened to assure us he had no ties to Halliburton, which rendered such “exemplary” service in Iraq. Yeah, sure, we believe that.

Education: Are we done with “No Child Left Behind,” yet? Are we done with the notion that children are like widgets, and if there are failures, then the fault must lie in the production process? I fully agree that teachers should be accountable, but if you make teachers accountable for EVERY failure, then what? Prevent the failures – but wait, it’s not like producing widgets, where the process or machinery can be tweaked for better quality. Unlike widgets, some children can’t or won’t learn at the same levels. If the school fails, we’ll privatize the school! That’ll be great! Everyone knows the corporate model works so well for everything else. Corporations never emphasize the bottom line over quality. Corporations never take shortcuts! Corporations never overpay their top people! Some critics of school privatization cite statistics in which the “new” schools don’t produce any better results than the public schools they replaced.)

We need China to launch the equivalent of Sputnik – then maybe, just maybe, we’ll get serious about education, again, and do something to make it more than the money-making racket it’s become. What does it matter? We’ve all but abandoned our space program.

Our country, with its “All Hail the CEO” mentality, pays our school superintendents and administrators exorbitant amounts of money while art and music programs fall victim to the chopping block. Even the basics, like “civics,” suffer…and we hunt desperately for our missing civic pride.

We keep hearing how we have to be better educated in order to meet the challenges of the future. How about meeting the challenges of PAYING for a college education? This is the racket to which I earlier referred. Here’s where it gets “rich”: you kill yourself to get a degree, and then you can’t find a job in your field. You are, however, well qualified to inquire if fries should be added to a food order, or if a shopping cart is needed.

TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS for a textbook in this age of digital printing?? What did they do – hire Bartleby the Scrivener?

I know these remarks on education are painted in especially broad strokes. There are many success stories in American education, every day, with excellent teachers and students at every level.

Here’s the biggest problem, and the problem is, it’s not political: the “individual.” Our society glorifies the individual to the extent that the very fabric of our society is now in danger. The communist/socialist society places the society above the individual. The capitalist society places the individual above society. There needs to be a happy medium. People scream about their first amendment rights to be an individual, with freedom of expression. (More often than not, these folks are in the midst of being jerks while demanding their individuality so they can continue being jerks.) People demand goods and services at the least expensive prices, and call it “American thrift” – even when that “American thrift” drives the neighbor’s job offshore. (You both are probably acquainted with the old saw: If my neighbor’s laid off, it’s a recession. If I’m laid off, it’s a depression.) I’m out for me and mine, and if the neighbor has to work three jobs to make ends meet, that’s not my problem. We don’t look out for one another until some natural disaster befalls us.

Now, I know to some extent, America’s always been this way – a land of individual effort and opportunity. Poets and politicians wax lyrical about the greatness of this country, as well they should; yet, that greatness is being sold and stolen, sacrificed on the altar of greed.

This is not merely an indictment of the “rich.” People from all walks of life are caught up in this greed. Hey, when they stand in line at midnight to get the latest iPhone, what can I say?

The CEO is an ultimate expression of that individuality – someone who has “made it.” Some CEO’s are excellent. Most are…mediocre, and they’re willing to flout the benefits and perks in front of the average workers who are the true reason for their “success.” They fly to bailout hearings in private jets. How stupid can they be? Don’t bother answering – we already know. Does a CEO deserve reasonable compensation? Yes – depending on what “reasonable” is. I don’t even have any truck with some of the perquisites that go with the job, but most of it comes down to greed and placing themselves above the company, their workers, and this country. They’ve got theirs. Fill-in-the-blank the rest of us.

Lobbyists should be abolished. They do not represent the welfare of the United States. They represent the welfare of their masters (usually corporate) which all too often are willing to put the needs of the corporation above the needs of this country. Don’t tell me corporations – many with multi-national masters – care about the welfare of the United States. Don’t even try to tell me lobbyists did not affect the outcome of recent health care legislation. Our Republic will continue its illness as long as influence can be purchased rather than petitioned, the route which those of us without money must take. (Hence, this rambling train-wreck of a letter!)

Too many value attitude and celebrity before substance and quality. How can some of us not be reminded of the bread and circuses in the latter days of another glorious republic?

Yet, everywhere, there is cause for hope. We see excellence in individuals of all ages, all around us. We see innovation and invention of which our ancestors could only dream, and developments beyond their dreams. We see selflessness and charity, honor and courage in surprising places. I just hope that these will be strong enough, resilient enough, to stand against the flood of greed and selfishness which threatens to overwhelm this country. We cannot stay mired in the past, but I hope, collectively, we remember just from whence we came…and why.

Another small ray of hope: in this era of Internet and gaming systems and computers, I recently saw a kid outside his home…playing with a stick!

Best regards to each of you,

Brian J. Esposito espobrian@gmail.com

P.S. Daniel Hernandez: Hero. Isn’t it just like a hero to say, “Not me.”?

References: Emma Lazarus “The New Colossus”

Lt. Col. John McCrae, MD “In Flanders Field”

Jack Higgins “The Afghan” (Sword Verses)

Herman Melville “Bartleby the Scrivener”

The Staffing Industry

2012-01-14T00:45:00.000-08:00

Seen on monster.com: "The staffing industry is evolving..."

It must be evolving, because it sure doesn't seem to be driven by 'intelligent design'!

Merry Christmas, Merry New Year, and a Happy Feast of Sol Invictus To All

2011-12-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas is upon us, and my thoughts are a mix of many things. The Ghost of Christmas Past reminds me of past joys, and special moments. The Ghost of Christmas Present seems only to have needed pepper spray this year to complete his mission. One can only wonder the thoughts of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. What might that skeletal shade think at our agendas and divisions, religious and economic? (Part of me understands why the person whose birthday we celebrate went on to say, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." The other part of me wants to mount thousand round per minute mini-guns at every store entrance, turn to the slavering hordes which feed the ‘round-the-clock, trample-your –neighbor-to-“provide”-for-your-family lunacy, and ask [rather rhetorically] "Now what, you selfish sons of mothers?")

I struggle with cynicism and hope. Cynicism is easy, isn't it? Hope, with her sisters, Faith and Charity, takes some effort and attention. (Forgive me -- I don't mean to make them sound like "high maintenance" women.)

It is easy to focus on what’s been lost this last decade, but I must remember that I have some presents to open because of relatives and a friend, and have a roof over my head because of the charity of long-standing friends, when I know I have not always been easy to stand by.

I look for the little miracles, not the least of which are awareness and gratitude. I wanna smile ‘til my face hurts. (I know, I know – it’s killin’ you.)

It is said by many that Christmas is for children, and I have no truck with that. We are children, though, but for a fraction of our lives. Then what?

Then, as a Christmas e-mail so elegantly illustrated, we make our own magic, don't we? A young lad, his belief in Santa Claus dashed by his older sister, is shown by his grandmother what it means to spread the meaning and joy of Christmas. They deliver a Christmas present and hide to watch the recipient receive his gift. (Grandma has explained, before they make the actual gift delivery, that secrecy is important. This is instructive, I think.) New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner once said, "If you do a good deed, and more than two people know about it, you've done it for the wrong reasons."

We must not forget the many examples of charity throughout the land, notably, the many that quietly paid balances owed on layaway bills so that others might have some relief this holiday season. These are among many acts of charity and selflessness.

One thing I miss from my younger days is the radio programming over Christmas Eve that was played by one of the Chicago FM stations. It held to the programming through several changes of call letters and formats, though it seems to be lost, now, to the mists of corporate consolidation in the radio industry. Much of the music was the same as can be heard most any year, but what I miss are the renderings of stories by famous actors. I wish I remembered more of the details. Among them, Bing Crosby narrated a story of a gold plated statue with silver accents and bejeweled eyes. By the end of the story, the statue has given away its gold and jewels and all of its value to those less fortunate and in greater need. In another, Gregory Peck told the story of little Ayoo, the insignificant donkey which ends up being the very one to carry Mary and Jesus to Bethlehem. Stick a fork in me -- I'm done. Such fine stories so finely rendered about the true meanings of the Season.

Let us remember, like that old reformed miser, how to keep Christmas all the year long, and may God bless us, every one.

Science, Fundamentalism, War...Some Thought on Veterans' Day

2011-11-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

Now, here is a fine video on YouTube in which Hayden Planetarium director Neil Degrasse Tyson, PhD, talks about the "naming rights" of nature and science:
http://youtu.be/6oxTMUTOz0w (view above)
Without giving away the video's contents, Dr. Tyson talks about the height of Arabic science and culture, the fruits of that culture which persist today, and what happened next. It isn't so much the Islam itself, as what the practitioners of religious fundamentalism do to science and progress. In our era, it is a handful of Islamic fundamentalists who have misinterpreted the "Sword Verses" -- and the fact that some of that handful have big money behind them. We pat ourselves on our collective back, because we're not the barbarians and terrorists that they are, are we? What might say the ghosts of Chief Joseph, Geronimo, Sitting Bull and the other chiefs, along with the nameless ones who cry out but are not heard -- because history's written by the victors? We have Christians in this country who, in the absence of a 6000 light year radius universe, try to tell us that the Earth and Creation are 6000 years old. They would strike down science, if they could. Do they walk to church? Some may. Most don't -- they drive, or take other transportation -- in other words, put their faith, if you will, in science and technology. We have, apparently, forgotten the terror of the Cold War era, and forgotten that our "modern" era of terrorism and "dirty bombs" and all sorts of biological and chemical nasties was preceded by blankets laced with smallpox. No, "we're" not like "them." Look at the wars since the Great War, and the Second World War...Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Necessary, or arbitrary? The saber-rattling has started again. Iran will be next on the list. Oh, I don't want to see the destruction of Israel, either, but this is the same Israel which has had just as great a hand in not making peace in the Middle East. They are the one country who could lead a two-state solution, and help to bring a homeland to the Palestinians, just as a homeland was brought to them, lo, those 63 years ago. How many Jews have died unjustly? How many innocent Palestinians have died? [I do not necessarily mean Hamas, nor Hezbollah, or are they "freedom fighters?" (Just askin'.)] Is there not something written somewhere about letting the dead bury the dead? Apparently, not enough have died, on either side, for anyone to say, "Hey, let's try something different." As I once queried elsewhere, do the dead cry out for revenge, or do they cry out for peace? Perhaps, someday, hands will be held forth, not to fight, not to convert, but to accept, and to love. Perhaps we'll be shamed to it. Most likely, it will be done as a last resort, amid smoking ruins. Will we ever truly take to heart the words of Chief Joseph, and be willing to say, "(Our) hearts are tired. From where the sun now stands, (we) will fight no more, forever."