31 October 2012
States of Emergency; Not States of Panic
I’ve expressed my thanks to friends in Florida for sending Hurricanes Sandy our way. If I had any friends in Cuba, I would think them, too.
Illogical? Of course. Since when does humankind regard weather events with logic?
We give hurricanes names. We talk about how “he” or “she” moves here or there at his or her whim. We ascribe evil motives to the spirits of the whirling wind. Sometimes, we might as well be tossing the runes, too.
Oh, I almost forgot – let me also extend a hearty “thank you” to my Canadian friends for sending the cold front which froze Hurricane Sandy’s copious tears.
States of emergency have been declared in much of West Virginia secondary to blizzard conditions and flooding. The Governor has suspended campaigning. I have not heard about his opponent, but I’m betting that he has either suspended campaigning or toned it down.
Other states have declared States of Emergency, including the entire East Coast from North Carolina northwards. The president has declared parts of New York and New Jersey federal disaster areas. This morning, we have been treated to fairly heavy video of damage on the coast and in New York City.
Weather events which disrupt normal services, make an area unsafe or unlivable or present specific threats to life or health deserve lots of attention. That’s part of the proper task of Government, securing “the common defense.”
States of Emergency facilitate that.
States of Emergency change work/overtime rules and make no-bid purchasing by government agencies much easier. They change loan/grant rules. They shorten the chain of command and grant increased short-term powers to emergency managers.
Also, States of Emergency help to focus citizens’ attention on widespread problems.
But:
States of Emergency are not States of Panic. Certainly, they are not declarations that the individual citizen is helpless or dependent upon a benevolent Government to save his/her ass from every bad thing.
Neither do States of Emergency eliminate or limit the citizen’s practical responsibility to make reasonable preparation for short-term self-reliance.
If a water system fails, a citizen should not need immediate access to some public emergency supply. If the food distribution network is temporarily disrupted, the citizen should be able to get along for just a few days.
The whole notion of disaster preparedness and rugged individualism/self-reliance has become something of a cartoon. Lots of responsible American citizens forecast a social/economic Ragnarok just around the corner where the entire system of distribution, law enforcement and public order collapses. This is, they postulate, the time of “every man for himself.”
These uber-disaster preppers lay in large supplies of arms and ammunition, food, water, medication, and fuel. They fix getaway bunkers, fashion ultra flex fuel vehicles, all with the idea they will be among the very few who survive.
Indeed, there are a number of unlikely yet possible national disruption scenarios which could adversely impact the entire or nearly the entire population for a long time. If the nationwide systems of distributing goods and energy collapsed, we would find very quickly that the remaining resources would not support a 300 million person population. This is especially so where that population is concentrated into urban, non-productive areas.
So I can hardly brand the energetic disaster preppers as foolish. For all I know, they may be right.
However, self-reliance and good citizenship is not an extreme-or-nothing thing.
Many resources discuss what citizens can and should be doing physically to prepare for short-term interruptions in goods and services. It’s easy to find quick and dirty lists of what you should have in terms of water, nutrition, radios, batteries, etc. I’ll not waste space here to reprise any of that here.
The message for today is that we seem to be coming to a cusp in the future of American civilization. We are going to have to decide if we are going to award “Government” an identity separate from the citizenry in the minds of the majority of the citizens.
Is the government “Us,” it is it “Them”?
When/if the government becomes “Them,” we will have surrendered our national soul some plastic neo-corporate icon. We would not just be admitting, we would be bragging that “we’re not good enough, smart enough or strong enough" to depend on ourselves. Or, for that matter, to depend on each other. And so, “Worshipful Daddy in Washington, help us, help us.”
As an emergency manager, there were a couple of instances where I used States of Emergency for our own jurisdiction (a County). There were good practical reasons involving obtaining resources more readily.
I also remember another occasion where everyone around us was declaring States of Emergency, but we didn’t deem it necessary or appropriate.
It was mid-January. One day there was a three-foot fall of heavy, wet snow. That is unusual in this area, although not unheard of, It did put some strain on resources responsible to get things moving. The next day, our friends from Ottawa sent an arctic air mass, and temperatures with down below negative 20 deg. F. That is also rather unusual in West Virginia. The combination of the two was extremely unusual. That combination created lots of issues.
But we still did not do an emergency declaration because that would not change management issues. Oh, we did staff up the Com Center to be ready to pursue ad hoc resources as necessary such as people way out in the sticks with snowmobiles. But that didn’t require a declaration. Other than that, over the next couple of days our job consisted of issuing informational/philosophical public statements, some of which were quirky enough to be picked up some distance away.
The informational part was things like not using unvented flames for heat. The philosophical things were reminders of who we are. We’re the kind of people who care about our neighbors and check on them. We’re the kind of people who don’t get a case of the willies just because we can’t drive down to the store. We’re the kind of people who maintain and endure. We’re the kind of people who know that, in the broad scheme of things, little things like bad weather will pass.
Managers of the Hurricane Sandy situation needed to declare States of Emergency for good, sound reasons. Citizens should not misread those reasons or feel diminished in their personal power or responsibility. Times of stress and even times of disaster are times to renew our unique dedication to a cultural ethic of taking control and being the ones at the tillers of our own lives.
26 October 2012
Romney as Bullshitter; And All the Rest of Them as Bullshitters; OK, and Some Tall Tales From The King Bullshitter Hisself
I voted this morning.
How did I vote?
Lyndon Johnson was asked that question in 1964. His answer: “I split my ticket. I always split my ticket.”
Me? I split my ticket. I always split my ticket.
I adhere to a political party over broad principles as they are held by the Democratic Party in West Virginia. I do not have a slavish devotion to “my party.”
It is statistically improbable that one party will have the most qualified candidate in each race in an 11 page ballot such as the one I used today.
I’m a big fan of early voting. It is a way that we have honestly expanded the franchise. (I look forward to Oce Smith’s Times-West Virginian column this Sunday. Two weekends before an election is his time for his semi-annual encomium about the right to vote.)
Some awfully “big news” this week is that President Obama gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine. In that interview, he referred to Gov. Romney as a “bullshitter.” The news and talking heads are full of oh-my-goshes, fainting and harrumphing.
Look – Romney is a bullshitter.
Obama is a bullshitter.
Biden is a bullshitter. More entertaining than Romney or Obama, too.
Ryan is a bullshitter, although he is harder to follow than the other three.
All of the Senate candidates are bullshitter’s. Some of them are more accomplished than others, but they’re all bullshitters.
City Council candidates – bullshitter’s.
Hell, at times I’m a bullshitter.
(I wonder if there’s a 12 step group: “Hi, I’m Roger. I’m a bullshitter.” “Hi, Roger.” “It’s been 20 min. since I have spouted bullshit.”)
The naked truth – unalloyed by the base metal of bullshit – is brittle and toxic to a campaign.
Take jobs. That’s a big national issue, and huge in West Virginia. New EPA rules have led to a big slump in the coal mining industry.
All of the bullshitters swear that the other guy hates jobs (for some unexplained and idiotic reason) and wants to eliminate jobs (ditto) and he/she loves jobs and has a way to guarantee that there will be lots and lots of jobs for good wages to boot.
Jobs this, jobs that, all bullshit.
The truth is, we can eliminate the corporate income tax, the capital gain tax, OSHA, the minimum wage, and every other “impediment” to jobs; or we can throw tax dollars into a “stimulus”, raise the minimum wage and wave a chicken over our head, but none of that’s going to create one damn job.
Employers have to decide that it is economically advantageous to add jobs to businesses, and then they have to do it in the real world. Or, sole proprietors and small business organizations need to decide that they have goods or services for which there is a market and then take the risk of hiring people to fill the market need.
Government action may alter economic advantage. It must be some business entity which takes the action to create the job.
We have a lot more bullshit about Obama personally. Obama is not a very popular guy in West Virginia. Recall that in the 2012 primary election, an unknown convict from Arkansas got 40% of the vote in the Democratic primary, and 20% of the Democrats who voted left that part of the ballot blank.
So the theme we’re seeing in every Republican and some Democratic ads is that “My opponent is a bosom buddy of Obama.” It doesn’t have to be logical and certainly doesn’t have to be true, they just want it to be believed until the evening of 6 November.
Neither Gov. Tomblin nor Sen. Manchin attended the Democratic National Convention. That was an unheard-of rejection of the national ticket. Last week, Sen. Manchin was quoted in the press as saying he really doesn’t like either presidential candidate.
At least in national races, maybe the connection to Obama makes a little bit of sense. In state races, it’s gotten a little bizarre.
There is a hard race for attorney general in West Virginia. The incumbent is Darrell McGraw, a former Supreme Court Justice. Darrell is a shameless self- promoter and some of his PR devices – at public expense – border on the weird. His Republican opponent is Patrick Morrissey who the label says is the second coming of truth, justice and the American way.
Somehow, Morrissey figures that McGraw is Obama’s best bud even though there’s not one damn thing that Darrell can do to help, hurt, affect or even amuse Obama. No, I’ll take back the amuse – some of that PR stuff is genuinely goofy. Our attorney general’s office is not the one which armed Mexican drug cartels. That’s a national attorney general thing.
And we look forward to Mr. Morrissey picking more anti-Obama ads out of his carpet bag. (See note below.)
Mr. Morrissey has a vague, passing connection to West Virginia. He is the long time partner in huge law firms around Washington DC. No doubt, he’s qualified for that work. I really haven’t a clue what his qualifications are for attorney general.
Okay, I have to say the same thing about Darrell McGraw.
This is the first election in a long time where I’m not inside any campaign. That’s okay with me – I have to confess that I’m a little jaded at this point. At the Supreme Court the other day, I was asked a question which required a quick bit of self-description. I came up with “conservative cynic.”
So as a conservative cynic, here are a few more views of 2012 in West Virginia.
The Governor’s race is a rematch between Earl Ray Tomblin and Republican Bill Maloney.
Earl Ray is the incumbent Democrat who has been in government for more than 30 years. He’s done a decent job. The Democratic Party has dominated government offices in West Virginia about 65/35 for 70 years. As the comfortable majority party, the Democrats can afford to be centrist. Oh, we do have our fringe (more comments below), but by and by, the West Virginia Democratic Party is remarkably Clintonesque in economic and social policy.
(Remember Clinton? That’s the guy who left us with the national budget surplus which two presidents and several congresses have been spending and borrowing on like drunken sailors. I’m willing to let slide quite a few blow jobs if it means avoiding $15 trillion in debt.)
Most Republican incumbents who are in office are from Republican “safe” areas and they, too, are fairly comfortable as centrists. As such, the majority of people in state government West Virginia can talk together, reason together, maintain dignity and act responsibly.
Statewide, the Republicans do not act centrist as a rule. They act as if the fringe is their base.
Mr. Maloney has never been elected to anything. He is a self-made millionaire mining engineer. I have met him, and he seems to be a very intelligent and thoroughly decent fellow. It also seems that he’s surrounded by refugees from the Unification Church and the Addams family. At his campaign events, there is a coterie of clean-cut (carpetbagger) ideologues and a cheering section of every disaffected voice from both parties. There are so many axes getting ground you track iron filings out of the room.
I hope that Mr. Maloney’s understandable ambition has not dulled his sense of discomfort on the road.
The United States Senate race is a worry. I’m a little invested in this one. Joe Manchin is my friend. I’ve always supported him. His Republican opponent, John Raese, is someone I find unpalatable. My opinion would be suspect if Mr. Raese were not embracing the fantasy fringe so hard that the choice is a no-brainer.
The last I heard, Mr. Raese’s family lives in Florida and he maintains a qualifying residence in West Virginia. I will say that he has better campaign advisers this time than he did two years ago. While he says a lot of idiotic fringe stuff, so far he stayed away from the bizarre and squirrelly stuff such as orbiting 1000 mythical lasers for $1.85 apiece.
The first district Congressional race is a tragedy. My friend Alan Mollohan was a 28 year incumbent who was defeated in the primary two years ago. My personal view (and I’ve told him) is that so much of his work was on national issues such as the House Ethics Committee that was invisible to the folks back home. A moderately popular State Sen. screwed him in the primary with a campaign of particularly caustic bullshit. A Republican, David McKinley, then the beat the guy who knocked Alan out.
So now, we have a Republican incumbent. He, too, is a crusader against Obama. Just look at the cleverly timed (and publicly paid) mailings we have received in the past year.
Members of, Congress have a “franking privilege,” which lets them use the United States Postal Service for free. Also, they have things printed out of their publicly paid office budget.
The franking rules provide blackout periods prior to elections. Mr. McKinley has published really nice mailers just before the beginning of the blackout periods before both primary and general election this.
They are wonders of the pro bullshitter. They’re printed on card stock in full color, multi-page, and if they were commercially printed and mailed by Jane Candidate, she’d spend about $2 each. There are about 600,000 citizens in the district. So maybe Mr. McKinley has mailed out 100,000 or so of his mailers in each of two batches. That’s campaigning with tax dollars to the tune of $400,000.
Oh, Mr. McKinley’s mailers don’t say one damned thing. Yay, me. Boo, Obama. Rah, rah, rah. Total - you guessed it - bullshit.
His Democratic opponent could be weaker, but I don’t know how. She seems to be a pleasant person. She is an avid Obama enthusiast. She is also one of the architects of a really, really dumb political campaign of one year ago aimed at derailing Gov. Tomblin’s candidacy. In that, they took strong gratuitous shots against Sen. Manchin at a time when he wasn’t even on the ballot. No doubt, the intentions were ideologically pure of heart. Politically, it was a belly laugh.
One of the minor races is that for state Agriculture Commissioner. I really am not sure what the Agriculture Commissioner does. Commissions agriculture, I guess. The Constitution says clearly that it needs to be someone whose occupation is that of farming. The Democratic candidate is a former state senator who is not a farmer. That’s a little bit of chutzpah.
All in all, I fear that my jaded attitude may be some kind of sought after reaction. I wonder to what extent behavioral scientists are looking long-term for political campaigns. If people quit thinking and quit caring, will our once-glorious nation take a walk into Seldon-plan hell?
Just thinkin’.
Note about carpetbaggers: Carpetbagger is a term given to foreigners who come into an area with the idea of taking over. The term comes from the American Reconstruction. Union administrators would set up offices in the South bringing their clothing and effects with them in their carpet bags.
How did I vote?
Lyndon Johnson was asked that question in 1964. His answer: “I split my ticket. I always split my ticket.”
Me? I split my ticket. I always split my ticket.
I adhere to a political party over broad principles as they are held by the Democratic Party in West Virginia. I do not have a slavish devotion to “my party.”
It is statistically improbable that one party will have the most qualified candidate in each race in an 11 page ballot such as the one I used today.
I’m a big fan of early voting. It is a way that we have honestly expanded the franchise. (I look forward to Oce Smith’s Times-West Virginian column this Sunday. Two weekends before an election is his time for his semi-annual encomium about the right to vote.)
Some awfully “big news” this week is that President Obama gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine. In that interview, he referred to Gov. Romney as a “bullshitter.” The news and talking heads are full of oh-my-goshes, fainting and harrumphing.
Look – Romney is a bullshitter.
Obama is a bullshitter.
Biden is a bullshitter. More entertaining than Romney or Obama, too.
Ryan is a bullshitter, although he is harder to follow than the other three.
All of the Senate candidates are bullshitter’s. Some of them are more accomplished than others, but they’re all bullshitters.
City Council candidates – bullshitter’s.
Hell, at times I’m a bullshitter.
(I wonder if there’s a 12 step group: “Hi, I’m Roger. I’m a bullshitter.” “Hi, Roger.” “It’s been 20 min. since I have spouted bullshit.”)
The naked truth – unalloyed by the base metal of bullshit – is brittle and toxic to a campaign.
Take jobs. That’s a big national issue, and huge in West Virginia. New EPA rules have led to a big slump in the coal mining industry.
All of the bullshitters swear that the other guy hates jobs (for some unexplained and idiotic reason) and wants to eliminate jobs (ditto) and he/she loves jobs and has a way to guarantee that there will be lots and lots of jobs for good wages to boot.
Jobs this, jobs that, all bullshit.
The truth is, we can eliminate the corporate income tax, the capital gain tax, OSHA, the minimum wage, and every other “impediment” to jobs; or we can throw tax dollars into a “stimulus”, raise the minimum wage and wave a chicken over our head, but none of that’s going to create one damn job.
Employers have to decide that it is economically advantageous to add jobs to businesses, and then they have to do it in the real world. Or, sole proprietors and small business organizations need to decide that they have goods or services for which there is a market and then take the risk of hiring people to fill the market need.
Government action may alter economic advantage. It must be some business entity which takes the action to create the job.
We have a lot more bullshit about Obama personally. Obama is not a very popular guy in West Virginia. Recall that in the 2012 primary election, an unknown convict from Arkansas got 40% of the vote in the Democratic primary, and 20% of the Democrats who voted left that part of the ballot blank.
So the theme we’re seeing in every Republican and some Democratic ads is that “My opponent is a bosom buddy of Obama.” It doesn’t have to be logical and certainly doesn’t have to be true, they just want it to be believed until the evening of 6 November.
Neither Gov. Tomblin nor Sen. Manchin attended the Democratic National Convention. That was an unheard-of rejection of the national ticket. Last week, Sen. Manchin was quoted in the press as saying he really doesn’t like either presidential candidate.
At least in national races, maybe the connection to Obama makes a little bit of sense. In state races, it’s gotten a little bizarre.
There is a hard race for attorney general in West Virginia. The incumbent is Darrell McGraw, a former Supreme Court Justice. Darrell is a shameless self- promoter and some of his PR devices – at public expense – border on the weird. His Republican opponent is Patrick Morrissey who the label says is the second coming of truth, justice and the American way.
Somehow, Morrissey figures that McGraw is Obama’s best bud even though there’s not one damn thing that Darrell can do to help, hurt, affect or even amuse Obama. No, I’ll take back the amuse – some of that PR stuff is genuinely goofy. Our attorney general’s office is not the one which armed Mexican drug cartels. That’s a national attorney general thing.
And we look forward to Mr. Morrissey picking more anti-Obama ads out of his carpet bag. (See note below.)
Mr. Morrissey has a vague, passing connection to West Virginia. He is the long time partner in huge law firms around Washington DC. No doubt, he’s qualified for that work. I really haven’t a clue what his qualifications are for attorney general.
Okay, I have to say the same thing about Darrell McGraw.
This is the first election in a long time where I’m not inside any campaign. That’s okay with me – I have to confess that I’m a little jaded at this point. At the Supreme Court the other day, I was asked a question which required a quick bit of self-description. I came up with “conservative cynic.”
So as a conservative cynic, here are a few more views of 2012 in West Virginia.
The Governor’s race is a rematch between Earl Ray Tomblin and Republican Bill Maloney.
Earl Ray is the incumbent Democrat who has been in government for more than 30 years. He’s done a decent job. The Democratic Party has dominated government offices in West Virginia about 65/35 for 70 years. As the comfortable majority party, the Democrats can afford to be centrist. Oh, we do have our fringe (more comments below), but by and by, the West Virginia Democratic Party is remarkably Clintonesque in economic and social policy.
(Remember Clinton? That’s the guy who left us with the national budget surplus which two presidents and several congresses have been spending and borrowing on like drunken sailors. I’m willing to let slide quite a few blow jobs if it means avoiding $15 trillion in debt.)
Most Republican incumbents who are in office are from Republican “safe” areas and they, too, are fairly comfortable as centrists. As such, the majority of people in state government West Virginia can talk together, reason together, maintain dignity and act responsibly.
Statewide, the Republicans do not act centrist as a rule. They act as if the fringe is their base.
Mr. Maloney has never been elected to anything. He is a self-made millionaire mining engineer. I have met him, and he seems to be a very intelligent and thoroughly decent fellow. It also seems that he’s surrounded by refugees from the Unification Church and the Addams family. At his campaign events, there is a coterie of clean-cut (carpetbagger) ideologues and a cheering section of every disaffected voice from both parties. There are so many axes getting ground you track iron filings out of the room.
I hope that Mr. Maloney’s understandable ambition has not dulled his sense of discomfort on the road.
The United States Senate race is a worry. I’m a little invested in this one. Joe Manchin is my friend. I’ve always supported him. His Republican opponent, John Raese, is someone I find unpalatable. My opinion would be suspect if Mr. Raese were not embracing the fantasy fringe so hard that the choice is a no-brainer.
The last I heard, Mr. Raese’s family lives in Florida and he maintains a qualifying residence in West Virginia. I will say that he has better campaign advisers this time than he did two years ago. While he says a lot of idiotic fringe stuff, so far he stayed away from the bizarre and squirrelly stuff such as orbiting 1000 mythical lasers for $1.85 apiece.
The first district Congressional race is a tragedy. My friend Alan Mollohan was a 28 year incumbent who was defeated in the primary two years ago. My personal view (and I’ve told him) is that so much of his work was on national issues such as the House Ethics Committee that was invisible to the folks back home. A moderately popular State Sen. screwed him in the primary with a campaign of particularly caustic bullshit. A Republican, David McKinley, then the beat the guy who knocked Alan out.
So now, we have a Republican incumbent. He, too, is a crusader against Obama. Just look at the cleverly timed (and publicly paid) mailings we have received in the past year.
Members of, Congress have a “franking privilege,” which lets them use the United States Postal Service for free. Also, they have things printed out of their publicly paid office budget.
The franking rules provide blackout periods prior to elections. Mr. McKinley has published really nice mailers just before the beginning of the blackout periods before both primary and general election this.
They are wonders of the pro bullshitter. They’re printed on card stock in full color, multi-page, and if they were commercially printed and mailed by Jane Candidate, she’d spend about $2 each. There are about 600,000 citizens in the district. So maybe Mr. McKinley has mailed out 100,000 or so of his mailers in each of two batches. That’s campaigning with tax dollars to the tune of $400,000.
Oh, Mr. McKinley’s mailers don’t say one damned thing. Yay, me. Boo, Obama. Rah, rah, rah. Total - you guessed it - bullshit.
His Democratic opponent could be weaker, but I don’t know how. She seems to be a pleasant person. She is an avid Obama enthusiast. She is also one of the architects of a really, really dumb political campaign of one year ago aimed at derailing Gov. Tomblin’s candidacy. In that, they took strong gratuitous shots against Sen. Manchin at a time when he wasn’t even on the ballot. No doubt, the intentions were ideologically pure of heart. Politically, it was a belly laugh.
One of the minor races is that for state Agriculture Commissioner. I really am not sure what the Agriculture Commissioner does. Commissions agriculture, I guess. The Constitution says clearly that it needs to be someone whose occupation is that of farming. The Democratic candidate is a former state senator who is not a farmer. That’s a little bit of chutzpah.
All in all, I fear that my jaded attitude may be some kind of sought after reaction. I wonder to what extent behavioral scientists are looking long-term for political campaigns. If people quit thinking and quit caring, will our once-glorious nation take a walk into Seldon-plan hell?
Just thinkin’.
Note about carpetbaggers: Carpetbagger is a term given to foreigners who come into an area with the idea of taking over. The term comes from the American Reconstruction. Union administrators would set up offices in the South bringing their clothing and effects with them in their carpet bags.
09 October 2012
How Irrational Corporate Decisions at McDonald's Will Help My Animal Friends; Silly Walks Under the Golden Arches
I am a man of moderate although predictable habits.
Much of my practice has migrated to the 19th Judicial Circuit, consisting of Taylor and Barbour Counties, West Virginia. Going to court there requires that I drive down Route 250, which follows a road first laid down in the early 1800s.
Court starts promptly at 9:00 AM and so I leave early in the morning for what has become a most pleasant drive. On the way, I will stop for a bit of breakfast at a particular McDonald’s restaurant.
I know that some nutritionists will disapprove. Since when is nutritionists disapproving with regard to me a big surprise?
In any event, the 300 calorie Egg McMuffin, coffee and sometimes milk makes for a perfectly adequate road breakfast, suitable for a barrister of moderate habits.
This morning, the sign under the Golden Arches advertised “TWO Egg McMuffins for $3.” Okay, I figured, a buck and a half apiece, sounds great. So I ordered one.
When I went to the window, the price seemed awfully steep. I looked at the receipt, something almost never do. Lo and behold, they had charged me $2.84 for that single damn Egg McMuffin.
At the next window, I asked “What’s with this?”
Now when a business does something irrational or random, it seems to me that there are three possible responses:
1 - Keep silent and look passive aggressive.
2 - Rationalize and look stupid.
3 - Say “That’s our policy,” which depending on the inflection can say “Screw you” or “Don’t blame me, I just work here.”
Okay, you know the answer here – “That’s our policy.”
I do not bitch out employees. In corporate hierarchies, there is a disconnect between the people who make “policies” and the people who have to implement them. Killing the messenger may give some momentary pleasure, but it’s awfully hard on the messenger.
Corporations do not have a unified conscience and when it comes to honest self-criticism, most corporations have all of the insight of your average lynch mob.
So I wondered – The corporation won’t care, so is there any way to turn this to a little positive?
It didn’t take long.
People who know me know of my great fondness for all of my animal friends.
[Yes, Egg McMuffins use animal products. Society uses lots of animal products. Very few source animals die of natural causes. Anyone who wishes to point out the mote in my eye is welcome to do so. Do mind that log.]
Autumn is upon us and we are coming on the bad weather when food sources for the animals become scarce. Oh, right, I hear it now – feeding the animals disrupts some natural balance. Come on, that ship sailed when the 100th long rifle crossed the Blue Ridge.
So, by an irrational policy, McDonald’s will subsidize me giving my animal friends a wholesome snack for only 16 cents every time I drive by the restaurant.
Now, you see, I’m going to order the two Egg Macs for the $3. I will consume one. And then, at one of the wide places in the road, I will stop, shred the other, and spread it where the animals can feed a bit.
This is the old win - win - win scenario.
McDonald’s sells more sandwiches. At low cost? That’s okay, they’re the ones that set the price.
My animal friends get a little food.
I’m only out 16 cents.
So here is a tip of the hat to McDonald’s management. Every day, they come closer to the perfection of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks.
He recalled the happiest time of his life. He said it was when his two daughters were little children and they lived together in a “piece of shit trailer,” and got around in an old thousand dollar car.
He described the joy of helping with homework and cooking Sunnday breakfast as a family and going fishing.
THAT is wealth.
Much of my practice has migrated to the 19th Judicial Circuit, consisting of Taylor and Barbour Counties, West Virginia. Going to court there requires that I drive down Route 250, which follows a road first laid down in the early 1800s.
Court starts promptly at 9:00 AM and so I leave early in the morning for what has become a most pleasant drive. On the way, I will stop for a bit of breakfast at a particular McDonald’s restaurant.
I know that some nutritionists will disapprove. Since when is nutritionists disapproving with regard to me a big surprise?
In any event, the 300 calorie Egg McMuffin, coffee and sometimes milk makes for a perfectly adequate road breakfast, suitable for a barrister of moderate habits.
This morning, the sign under the Golden Arches advertised “TWO Egg McMuffins for $3.” Okay, I figured, a buck and a half apiece, sounds great. So I ordered one.
When I went to the window, the price seemed awfully steep. I looked at the receipt, something almost never do. Lo and behold, they had charged me $2.84 for that single damn Egg McMuffin.
At the next window, I asked “What’s with this?”
Now when a business does something irrational or random, it seems to me that there are three possible responses:
1 - Keep silent and look passive aggressive.
2 - Rationalize and look stupid.
3 - Say “That’s our policy,” which depending on the inflection can say “Screw you” or “Don’t blame me, I just work here.”
Okay, you know the answer here – “That’s our policy.”
I do not bitch out employees. In corporate hierarchies, there is a disconnect between the people who make “policies” and the people who have to implement them. Killing the messenger may give some momentary pleasure, but it’s awfully hard on the messenger.
Corporations do not have a unified conscience and when it comes to honest self-criticism, most corporations have all of the insight of your average lynch mob.
So I wondered – The corporation won’t care, so is there any way to turn this to a little positive?
It didn’t take long.
People who know me know of my great fondness for all of my animal friends.
[Yes, Egg McMuffins use animal products. Society uses lots of animal products. Very few source animals die of natural causes. Anyone who wishes to point out the mote in my eye is welcome to do so. Do mind that log.]
Autumn is upon us and we are coming on the bad weather when food sources for the animals become scarce. Oh, right, I hear it now – feeding the animals disrupts some natural balance. Come on, that ship sailed when the 100th long rifle crossed the Blue Ridge.
So, by an irrational policy, McDonald’s will subsidize me giving my animal friends a wholesome snack for only 16 cents every time I drive by the restaurant.
Now, you see, I’m going to order the two Egg Macs for the $3. I will consume one. And then, at one of the wide places in the road, I will stop, shred the other, and spread it where the animals can feed a bit.
This is the old win - win - win scenario.
McDonald’s sells more sandwiches. At low cost? That’s okay, they’re the ones that set the price.
My animal friends get a little food.
I’m only out 16 cents.
So here is a tip of the hat to McDonald’s management. Every day, they come closer to the perfection of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks.
- Happiest days
He recalled the happiest time of his life. He said it was when his two daughters were little children and they lived together in a “piece of shit trailer,” and got around in an old thousand dollar car.
He described the joy of helping with homework and cooking Sunnday breakfast as a family and going fishing.
THAT is wealth.
- Where I have done been.
13 September 2012
Fundamentals of Muslim Film Criticism; Or, How To Write a Review with an AK-47 and a Torch
As I write this, there is rioting and mayhem in the Middle East around American embassies. The attackers are Muslims purportedly peeved by a new film which “insults” the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him.
The film, “Innocence of Muslims,” was produced by ... [Since the first publication of this post, the "founders" of this film have become obscured. It may have been made by Americans with zealot investors. It may be a weird practical joke by some Middle Easterners or North Africans. It may be the product of an agent provocateur. Nobody seems to be sure. The reaction to the film, however, is real.]
Mohammed is presented as a vicious, crazy child molester, and those are just his good points.
Now here’s the funny part, funny in the serious sense – a serious film about the historical Mohammed could be fascinating. Salmon Rushdie played with the topic in his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses. He was rather mild about the Prophet. Of course, several imams stuck a fatwa on his ass anyway. (The fatwa is the Muslim equivalent of an open Mafia hit contract.)
Think of the possibilities: Here we have a historical figure who during his lifetime had really profound divine revelations. (Okay, he did, he didn’t, I don’t know, I wasn’t there taking notes.) He founded a dynasty, and one of the world’s great religions which, among other things, was the basis of substantial military power over several centuries.
This juxtaposition of a single, simple human having intense, unique (and maybe supernatural) experiences and the tale of how he deals with them is a common theme of great history and great fiction.
Think Lincoln.
Bolivar.
Shaka.
Mao.
Charles Foster Kane.
Even Elmer Gantry.
Imagine a film which skillfully addresses some of the possibilities of personal conflicts and stress, the interaction of the mundane with the divine. The possibilities are delicious.
Well, keep imagining. You’re not going to get that in “Innocence of Muslims.” I base this on the assumption that filmmakers do not pick out particularly bad parts of a movie to put in the trailer.
The trailer, available on YouTube, mercifully runs less than 15 minutes.
The production values are bad. Not bad as in I’m being picky, bad as in They spent 5 million bucks for THIS? [If the $5 million story is false, my reaction still would be, They paid $50 bucks for THIS?]
As one might expect, the film is set in a desert location. It was not filmed in the desert. It was filmed in front of a blue screen. The “desert” background was inserted with all of the skill put into the production of the local weather broadcast.
The dialogue is delivered with the deer-in-the-headlights proficiency of most high school productions of Arsenic and Old Lace. Unfortunately, there is no “Uncle Teddy” character to storm through a scene for comic relief.
So if they were acting rationally, the Muslim film critics would be more amused or chagrined than angry.
I am very comfortable as a Christian. You want to hear about it, ask. If you don’t, no worries, God will track you down in His own good time. I saw a news item the other day complete with little bit of video. It showed some sort of rally of atheists, humanists and the like on an anti-religion theme. One fellow was carrying this really neat sign: “If Jesus returns, kill him again.” I think most Christians would find that objectionable. I don’t know of any follower of Our Lord who would go all fatwa on him.
By the way, the Truth be Told, I have to admit I kind of thought it was funny.
Why are Muslims protesting this sorry example of film? And why are they protesting violently?
One immediate answer is because there is a very heavy influence of intolerance, violence, viciousness and mob amorality or sociopathy woven into Islam. Sure, every group has its crazies but in lots of places Muslim crazies gather by the thousands.
I don’t know very many Muslims. Those I do know are peaceful and faithful people. In a culture where work and cooperation is prized, how one acts is the measure of a person. People’s private religious beliefs do not excite a lot of comment.
From these two broad observations, I have to conclude that there are a bunch of the followers of Mohammed, peace be upon him but apparently not on them, who are batshit violently crazy. I further conclude that there are lots of Muslims who are normal, peaceful citizens.
I cannot guess numbers. I’m doubting that anybody else can with much accuracy. The media isn't much help. CNN seldom runs video of people acting normally.
One thing that’s puzzling is the lack of much expression of opinion by the non-crazy Muslims about the actions of their crazy and violent coreligionists. Maybe there is an intimidation thing going on there, I don’t know. That being said, a lot of other religious and non-religious folks don’t seem to be shy about criticizing them, some in rhetoric every bit as nutzoid as the wildest berserker waving around an AK.
Is this silence a cultural thing? Certainly, it’s not an American thing. We have some outstanding examples of batshit crazy, evil, American, Christian, halfwit toads in such folks as our buds from Westboro Baptist Church. Somehow if those guys put together a mob of 1000 to assault anything in America, I think they’d have a real bad day and a lot of life insurance payoffs.
I just have to wonder why the crazies are the only ones speaking up for Islam.
In the meantime, we continue to be a very tolerant nation. (Some nitwit is going to get all pissy at this point about how dreadful Americans treat others. OK, whether you are a Christian or not, grab a Bible or, bettter, a Torah and take a stroll down Main Street in Riyadh and let us know how that works out for you.) This tolerance traditionally has led to a sudden switch from “peaceful and not all that united” to “we're all together and it's time to open a six-pack of whoop ass.” I have to wonder how near we are to that boundary.
The next few years may prove the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
The film, “Innocence of Muslims,” was produced by ... [Since the first publication of this post, the "founders" of this film have become obscured. It may have been made by Americans with zealot investors. It may be a weird practical joke by some Middle Easterners or North Africans. It may be the product of an agent provocateur. Nobody seems to be sure. The reaction to the film, however, is real.]
Mohammed is presented as a vicious, crazy child molester, and those are just his good points.
Now here’s the funny part, funny in the serious sense – a serious film about the historical Mohammed could be fascinating. Salmon Rushdie played with the topic in his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses. He was rather mild about the Prophet. Of course, several imams stuck a fatwa on his ass anyway. (The fatwa is the Muslim equivalent of an open Mafia hit contract.)
Think of the possibilities: Here we have a historical figure who during his lifetime had really profound divine revelations. (Okay, he did, he didn’t, I don’t know, I wasn’t there taking notes.) He founded a dynasty, and one of the world’s great religions which, among other things, was the basis of substantial military power over several centuries.
This juxtaposition of a single, simple human having intense, unique (and maybe supernatural) experiences and the tale of how he deals with them is a common theme of great history and great fiction.
Think Lincoln.
Bolivar.
Shaka.
Mao.
Charles Foster Kane.
Even Elmer Gantry.
Imagine a film which skillfully addresses some of the possibilities of personal conflicts and stress, the interaction of the mundane with the divine. The possibilities are delicious.
Well, keep imagining. You’re not going to get that in “Innocence of Muslims.” I base this on the assumption that filmmakers do not pick out particularly bad parts of a movie to put in the trailer.
The trailer, available on YouTube, mercifully runs less than 15 minutes.
The production values are bad. Not bad as in I’m being picky, bad as in They spent 5 million bucks for THIS? [If the $5 million story is false, my reaction still would be, They paid $50 bucks for THIS?]
As one might expect, the film is set in a desert location. It was not filmed in the desert. It was filmed in front of a blue screen. The “desert” background was inserted with all of the skill put into the production of the local weather broadcast.
The dialogue is delivered with the deer-in-the-headlights proficiency of most high school productions of Arsenic and Old Lace. Unfortunately, there is no “Uncle Teddy” character to storm through a scene for comic relief.
So if they were acting rationally, the Muslim film critics would be more amused or chagrined than angry.
I am very comfortable as a Christian. You want to hear about it, ask. If you don’t, no worries, God will track you down in His own good time. I saw a news item the other day complete with little bit of video. It showed some sort of rally of atheists, humanists and the like on an anti-religion theme. One fellow was carrying this really neat sign: “If Jesus returns, kill him again.” I think most Christians would find that objectionable. I don’t know of any follower of Our Lord who would go all fatwa on him.
By the way, the Truth be Told, I have to admit I kind of thought it was funny.
Why are Muslims protesting this sorry example of film? And why are they protesting violently?
One immediate answer is because there is a very heavy influence of intolerance, violence, viciousness and mob amorality or sociopathy woven into Islam. Sure, every group has its crazies but in lots of places Muslim crazies gather by the thousands.
I don’t know very many Muslims. Those I do know are peaceful and faithful people. In a culture where work and cooperation is prized, how one acts is the measure of a person. People’s private religious beliefs do not excite a lot of comment.
From these two broad observations, I have to conclude that there are a bunch of the followers of Mohammed, peace be upon him but apparently not on them, who are batshit violently crazy. I further conclude that there are lots of Muslims who are normal, peaceful citizens.
I cannot guess numbers. I’m doubting that anybody else can with much accuracy. The media isn't much help. CNN seldom runs video of people acting normally.
One thing that’s puzzling is the lack of much expression of opinion by the non-crazy Muslims about the actions of their crazy and violent coreligionists. Maybe there is an intimidation thing going on there, I don’t know. That being said, a lot of other religious and non-religious folks don’t seem to be shy about criticizing them, some in rhetoric every bit as nutzoid as the wildest berserker waving around an AK.
Is this silence a cultural thing? Certainly, it’s not an American thing. We have some outstanding examples of batshit crazy, evil, American, Christian, halfwit toads in such folks as our buds from Westboro Baptist Church. Somehow if those guys put together a mob of 1000 to assault anything in America, I think they’d have a real bad day and a lot of life insurance payoffs.
I just have to wonder why the crazies are the only ones speaking up for Islam.
In the meantime, we continue to be a very tolerant nation. (Some nitwit is going to get all pissy at this point about how dreadful Americans treat others. OK, whether you are a Christian or not, grab a Bible or, bettter, a Torah and take a stroll down Main Street in Riyadh and let us know how that works out for you.) This tolerance traditionally has led to a sudden switch from “peaceful and not all that united” to “we're all together and it's time to open a six-pack of whoop ass.” I have to wonder how near we are to that boundary.
The next few years may prove the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
07 September 2012
God, Israel and the Party Platforms; Father, Have Mercy on Us
This week, the Democratic National Convention returned balance to The Force.
The Republican National Convention already had conferred sovereignty – okay, more like a whole lot of influence – on the Lord our God.
The 2012 platform of the national Democratic Party, however, omitted the traditional homage to the Creator and traditional tip of the hat and salaam to Israel.
Lots of folks concluded that the Democrats had abandoned our Lord and Savior and were headed straight down the Road to Damnation. Presumably, this perfidy was sponsored by Satan, the Freemasons and maybe Betty Crocker.
The Lord of All things has breathed a sigh of relief.
Hasn’t He?
Maybe not.
I’ve criticized Islamists for flipping out into Fatwa Disneyland over people burning the Koran. It seems to me they see Allah as a fairly fragile and insecure deity. I just have to wonder if God the Father, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise really thinks He needs the Democratic National Committee. Or the Republican National Committee.
I don’t claim to have the inside track here. I do have to wonder about the reaction of the Supreme Designer of the 70 sextillion suns to the chutzpah of Earth’s provincial politicians. I cannot seem to derive from Holy Writ the same message the Conventions have.
Please, someone direct me to where God is the Great Maître d’ who gives us a menu of blessings that we can order up à la carte. I also haven’t been able to find where God is the Stellar Shoulder-Striker ready to do our bidding and bring violent and terminal Holy wrath upon the people who WE identify as evil.
The Conventions still seem to believe that they’re honoring God.
Every couple of months, I get a letter from Publishers Clearinghouse telling me what a peachy and lucky guy I am. I’m wondering if God does with the party platforms same thing I do with those letters.
From my own feeble understanding of Scripture, I have to open my mind to the possibility that the reaction of the Supreme Architect to this entire political process is something along the lines of “Guys, shut up, pray quietly and then go out and humble yourselves among the people picking up trash and changing bedpans. You guys need perspective.” Oh, and “PS, shut down the boozy hospitality rooms and send the hookers home from the convention.”
Both party platforms also confirmed that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
I didn’t know that was any of our business. If we tell Britain that Liverpool is the capital, will everybody move?
I also wonder which Israel they are talking about, the biblical nation of Israel or the modern state of Israel.
If they’re talking about the state of Israel, maybe this whole Jerusalem-as-capital thing will be news to the people in Tel Aviv. It seems to me that you put your, well, capital where your capital is. The government is in Tel Aviv. When is moving day? Is the American State Department renting new digs out near Golgotha? Has Foggy Bottom contracted with some moving vans?
PS – Has anybody figured out what to do with the Dome of the Rock? It’s kind of close to the Wailing Wall, so that inhibits the nuclear option.
Oh, the original Democratic platform did not contain these provisions. It was amended from the floor in a process required a two-thirds majority.
Now at this point, somebody’s going to say that this was a set up and that obviously didn’t carry. Think, people. Look at this logically and scientifically. We’ve seen the video, but we don’t know where the microphones that were feeding the video were located. In all three of the voice votes, it did sound to me like the “nay’s” may have barely edged the “aye’s.” If I had been the Chairman and we were using a simple majority, I would have called for a division of the house. But if the mikes were on the podium, the Chairman ruled a touchdown for an incomplete pass.
To the extent that it matters. To the extent that anybody will read the platform. To the extent that anyone cares what a party convention does other than nominate two people.
I cannot help but thank Joe Ligotti, the Guy from Boston, for his succinct description today of party conventions: Bullshit Festivals.
I had another, less kind, appellation involving partner-free love, but it’s just not nice to try to one-up the Guy from Boston.
Lord Jesus, help us repair the damage these political nitwits do in the next two months. Amen.
The Republican National Convention already had conferred sovereignty – okay, more like a whole lot of influence – on the Lord our God.
The 2012 platform of the national Democratic Party, however, omitted the traditional homage to the Creator and traditional tip of the hat and salaam to Israel.
Lots of folks concluded that the Democrats had abandoned our Lord and Savior and were headed straight down the Road to Damnation. Presumably, this perfidy was sponsored by Satan, the Freemasons and maybe Betty Crocker.
The Lord of All things has breathed a sigh of relief.
Hasn’t He?
Maybe not.
I’ve criticized Islamists for flipping out into Fatwa Disneyland over people burning the Koran. It seems to me they see Allah as a fairly fragile and insecure deity. I just have to wonder if God the Father, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise really thinks He needs the Democratic National Committee. Or the Republican National Committee.
I don’t claim to have the inside track here. I do have to wonder about the reaction of the Supreme Designer of the 70 sextillion suns to the chutzpah of Earth’s provincial politicians. I cannot seem to derive from Holy Writ the same message the Conventions have.
Please, someone direct me to where God is the Great Maître d’ who gives us a menu of blessings that we can order up à la carte. I also haven’t been able to find where God is the Stellar Shoulder-Striker ready to do our bidding and bring violent and terminal Holy wrath upon the people who WE identify as evil.
The Conventions still seem to believe that they’re honoring God.
Every couple of months, I get a letter from Publishers Clearinghouse telling me what a peachy and lucky guy I am. I’m wondering if God does with the party platforms same thing I do with those letters.
From my own feeble understanding of Scripture, I have to open my mind to the possibility that the reaction of the Supreme Architect to this entire political process is something along the lines of “Guys, shut up, pray quietly and then go out and humble yourselves among the people picking up trash and changing bedpans. You guys need perspective.” Oh, and “PS, shut down the boozy hospitality rooms and send the hookers home from the convention.”
Both party platforms also confirmed that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
I didn’t know that was any of our business. If we tell Britain that Liverpool is the capital, will everybody move?
I also wonder which Israel they are talking about, the biblical nation of Israel or the modern state of Israel.
If they’re talking about the state of Israel, maybe this whole Jerusalem-as-capital thing will be news to the people in Tel Aviv. It seems to me that you put your, well, capital where your capital is. The government is in Tel Aviv. When is moving day? Is the American State Department renting new digs out near Golgotha? Has Foggy Bottom contracted with some moving vans?
PS – Has anybody figured out what to do with the Dome of the Rock? It’s kind of close to the Wailing Wall, so that inhibits the nuclear option.
Oh, the original Democratic platform did not contain these provisions. It was amended from the floor in a process required a two-thirds majority.
Now at this point, somebody’s going to say that this was a set up and that obviously didn’t carry. Think, people. Look at this logically and scientifically. We’ve seen the video, but we don’t know where the microphones that were feeding the video were located. In all three of the voice votes, it did sound to me like the “nay’s” may have barely edged the “aye’s.” If I had been the Chairman and we were using a simple majority, I would have called for a division of the house. But if the mikes were on the podium, the Chairman ruled a touchdown for an incomplete pass.
To the extent that it matters. To the extent that anybody will read the platform. To the extent that anyone cares what a party convention does other than nominate two people.
I cannot help but thank Joe Ligotti, the Guy from Boston, for his succinct description today of party conventions: Bullshit Festivals.
I had another, less kind, appellation involving partner-free love, but it’s just not nice to try to one-up the Guy from Boston.
Lord Jesus, help us repair the damage these political nitwits do in the next two months. Amen.
04 September 2012
To Hell With the Women & Children! How One Group of Investors Hogged the Lifeboats
A Reuters report today was picked up by several news organizations.
The city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, filed for bankruptcy one year ago. It has now had its reorganization plan approved so that it can emerge ultimately from the bankruptcy process.
As is the case with lots of urban New England cities, the tax base has deteriorated partly because factories have closed and the jobs have either vanished or fled. The municipality is supported mostly by property taxes and the value property has fallen. Also, a larger and larger proportion of the residents live at or near the poverty level.
The devil is in the details, but the rock-bottom basics of recovering from an out of balance budget are obvious: increase income and/or reduce expenses. Central Falls is doing both.
Property taxes will be increased steadily over the next few years. There is the increased income.
Lots of folks will share in a lot of pain in reducing expenses.
60 workers, about a third of the city workforce, were fired. I cannot say that is merely a great misfortune or truly horrible. Perhaps it was the 60 people who knew how to put out fires and arrest criminals. Maybe it was the 60 people who taught tiddlywinks at the city park. I just don’t know. I do know that they were offered jobs in good faith, that they performed them at least to an acceptable level, that they depended upon that employment and now they are out of luck. They are looking for other jobs.
Another group doesn’t have that chance. Retired city workers on pensions have been mauled by the bankruptcy plan. Reuters cites one retired police officer in his 80s whose pension of $27,000 per year is being cut to $18,200 per year. He didn't volunteer that - It's just happening. At the same time, his medical insurance premiums are going up $100 a month. By the way, that employment was exempt from Social Security withholding, so this fellow does not have any Social Security from city work. He doesn’t have the opportunity to go out and find another job – or another pension. His only option is to smile and suck up the $10,000 yearly loss. Or frown and suck it up. The City doesn't care, it's the "suck it up" part that's important to the City.
Oh, by the way, many of these pensioners who are losing up to 55% of their pensions are also homeowners who will be – wait for it – paying higher property taxes.
But wait – one group is sharing absolutely none of the pain. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Those are the city's bondholders.
When it looked like the city was getting in trouble, the Rhode Island legislature modified the Rhode Island statutes to place a lien in favor of city bondholders on property tax receipts. This made bondholders secured creditors and as such they are first in line to get paid.
Incidentally, the citizens paying the higher taxes and the pensioners receiving far less money are paying for their own screwing. The city (the taxpayers) paid to have the tax lien legislation written. The city (the taxpayers) are paying $3 million in fees for the bankruptcy process. I'm in the wrong line representing mere people. It looks like you can represent things and clean up.
It would be nice to know the reasoning behind favoring investors over taxpayers and pensioners. I do not accept any political label for myself but I will say that I'm all for logic and order. I find it difficult to come up with a logical reason that the bondholders come out of this completely clean.
The individual taxpayers (and I’m including small businesses there) bought property in a city which sometime later got into financial trouble, possibly from poor management, possibly from other causes and probably from a mix of them. Workers who retired with pensions apparently were unskillful or unlucky in selecting who to work for decades before there were problems.
Investors – the bondholders – made an investment. Part of the return on that investment was interest which they could have made from the very safest investment. The amount of interest beyond that reflected some element of risk that something bad would happen to their investment. Something bad happened.
And those with political power protected the guys with the money and dumped on the working people.
And so I turn to one of the great revelations of American culture, given by the character Otter to Flounder in the movie Animal House. The frat has just destroyed Flounder’s brother’s Lincoln automobile:
“You can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes. You f***ed up! You trusted us!”
Silly people. You trusted them.
The Central Falls reorganization plan can be found at:
http://www.centralfallsri.us/CFBPDS/Fourth%20Amended%20Disclosure%20Statement%207-27-12.pdf
A plug for Reuters: I have tried lots of newspapers on the Amazon Kindle, especially the Washington Post and USA Today. They do not adapt well to that format. For some time now, I have subscribed to Reuters which is both cost effective and translates REALLY WELL to the e-reader. I highly recommend that.
The city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, filed for bankruptcy one year ago. It has now had its reorganization plan approved so that it can emerge ultimately from the bankruptcy process.
As is the case with lots of urban New England cities, the tax base has deteriorated partly because factories have closed and the jobs have either vanished or fled. The municipality is supported mostly by property taxes and the value property has fallen. Also, a larger and larger proportion of the residents live at or near the poverty level.
The devil is in the details, but the rock-bottom basics of recovering from an out of balance budget are obvious: increase income and/or reduce expenses. Central Falls is doing both.
Property taxes will be increased steadily over the next few years. There is the increased income.
Lots of folks will share in a lot of pain in reducing expenses.
60 workers, about a third of the city workforce, were fired. I cannot say that is merely a great misfortune or truly horrible. Perhaps it was the 60 people who knew how to put out fires and arrest criminals. Maybe it was the 60 people who taught tiddlywinks at the city park. I just don’t know. I do know that they were offered jobs in good faith, that they performed them at least to an acceptable level, that they depended upon that employment and now they are out of luck. They are looking for other jobs.
Another group doesn’t have that chance. Retired city workers on pensions have been mauled by the bankruptcy plan. Reuters cites one retired police officer in his 80s whose pension of $27,000 per year is being cut to $18,200 per year. He didn't volunteer that - It's just happening. At the same time, his medical insurance premiums are going up $100 a month. By the way, that employment was exempt from Social Security withholding, so this fellow does not have any Social Security from city work. He doesn’t have the opportunity to go out and find another job – or another pension. His only option is to smile and suck up the $10,000 yearly loss. Or frown and suck it up. The City doesn't care, it's the "suck it up" part that's important to the City.
Oh, by the way, many of these pensioners who are losing up to 55% of their pensions are also homeowners who will be – wait for it – paying higher property taxes.
But wait – one group is sharing absolutely none of the pain. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Those are the city's bondholders.
When it looked like the city was getting in trouble, the Rhode Island legislature modified the Rhode Island statutes to place a lien in favor of city bondholders on property tax receipts. This made bondholders secured creditors and as such they are first in line to get paid.
Incidentally, the citizens paying the higher taxes and the pensioners receiving far less money are paying for their own screwing. The city (the taxpayers) paid to have the tax lien legislation written. The city (the taxpayers) are paying $3 million in fees for the bankruptcy process. I'm in the wrong line representing mere people. It looks like you can represent things and clean up.
It would be nice to know the reasoning behind favoring investors over taxpayers and pensioners. I do not accept any political label for myself but I will say that I'm all for logic and order. I find it difficult to come up with a logical reason that the bondholders come out of this completely clean.
The individual taxpayers (and I’m including small businesses there) bought property in a city which sometime later got into financial trouble, possibly from poor management, possibly from other causes and probably from a mix of them. Workers who retired with pensions apparently were unskillful or unlucky in selecting who to work for decades before there were problems.
Investors – the bondholders – made an investment. Part of the return on that investment was interest which they could have made from the very safest investment. The amount of interest beyond that reflected some element of risk that something bad would happen to their investment. Something bad happened.
And those with political power protected the guys with the money and dumped on the working people.
And so I turn to one of the great revelations of American culture, given by the character Otter to Flounder in the movie Animal House. The frat has just destroyed Flounder’s brother’s Lincoln automobile:
“You can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes. You f***ed up! You trusted us!”
Silly people. You trusted them.
The Central Falls reorganization plan can be found at:
http://www.centralfallsri.us/CFBPDS/Fourth%20Amended%20Disclosure%20Statement%207-27-12.pdf
A plug for Reuters: I have tried lots of newspapers on the Amazon Kindle, especially the Washington Post and USA Today. They do not adapt well to that format. For some time now, I have subscribed to Reuters which is both cost effective and translates REALLY WELL to the e-reader. I highly recommend that.
01 September 2012
Get Off Clint Eastwood's Ass
A common theme in these dispatches is that I’m annoyed when folks express such SHOCK and have an attack of the vapours when someone says something they disagree with or in a way that they don’t like.
“How DARE she say that!,” is an idiotic notion in a nation with the First Amendment.
Moreover, our exaltation of form over substance weakens us intellectually and morally. Take the presidential “debates.” They aren’t debates. They are scripted performances, they are soap opera with control of nukes as the Academy Award.
I’ve heard very little favorable or even neutral comment about Clint Eastwood’s “rambling” address at the Republican Convention. “Every actor needs a script” says one pundit.
“Talking to an empty chair is silly,” says another.
“He’s an actor, not a speaker.”
Screw ‘em.
I admire someone with the guts to stand up and just TALK. I admire someone who will just say what is on their mind. Let me again quote TR (That’s Theodore Roosevelt, children, one of the most positive role models of American history):
I don’t agree with everything Eastwood said. But this is AMERICA. This is where we are supposed to talk and reason together and maybe even cuss one another over a beer. So many in our society confuse criticizing and bitching with getting things done.
Give me real people every time over useless, hairsprayed china dolls.
“How DARE she say that!,” is an idiotic notion in a nation with the First Amendment.
Moreover, our exaltation of form over substance weakens us intellectually and morally. Take the presidential “debates.” They aren’t debates. They are scripted performances, they are soap opera with control of nukes as the Academy Award.
I’ve heard very little favorable or even neutral comment about Clint Eastwood’s “rambling” address at the Republican Convention. “Every actor needs a script” says one pundit.
“Talking to an empty chair is silly,” says another.
“He’s an actor, not a speaker.”
Screw ‘em.
I admire someone with the guts to stand up and just TALK. I admire someone who will just say what is on their mind. Let me again quote TR (That’s Theodore Roosevelt, children, one of the most positive role models of American history):
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
I don’t agree with everything Eastwood said. But this is AMERICA. This is where we are supposed to talk and reason together and maybe even cuss one another over a beer. So many in our society confuse criticizing and bitching with getting things done.
Give me real people every time over useless, hairsprayed china dolls.
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