Wednesday, August 12, 2020

THE DREAM IS ALIVE


I am not, generally speaking, the most overtly optimistic person you will run across. However, today I am looking at optimism through a different lens. What I see gives me some hope.

At this time in history we are at the edge of Dystopia. Yet as we teeter on the edge, waiting to be pushed from behind by Trump, and the 1% by whom he seems to be employed; there is finally a reason for hope. We have had a sign. The promise of America is alive and getting better.There is proof that America of all the nations on the Earth, is herself truly a positive possibility.

It is true that it hasn’t always worked the way it should, nor more often than not, for the people it should. Nevertheless, we have proof positive that the American Dream is real, and that the ultimate promise of America is not a lie.

So, how do I know this? What has me smiling due to temporal optimism? It’s the Democratic Party’s Presidential ticket: Joseph Robinette Biden and Kamala Devi Harris. They are my sign. They put hope in my heart and a smile on my face.

I know full well the Presidential pair make many Americans happy and give them hope. However, I believe that the hope of the Biden/Harris supporters have evoked is due to the much better than even odds                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   that Biden and Harris will defeat Donald Trump, and set the nation aright.

I have that same hope, however, the swelling of my heart is due to something else entirely.My cautious optimism come from the fact that Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris exemplify the American Dream. They are proof of the truth of the American promise.

Kamala Harris is the daughter of a racially mixed couple who emigrated to the United States. Kamala’s father, Donald is a renowned Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Her mother was a cancer researcher. Although, Kamala had a leg up, so to speak, she still had to work very hard. She had to overcome systemic racism and the misogynist male dominated academia to first become an attorney, and then to launch a political career which brought her to where she is today: soon to be Vice President of the United States.

Kamala Harris is making this amazing journey with another beneficiary of the Promise of America...work hard and play fair and you can do and be anything you want: even President of the United States. Joe, like Kamala, had obstacles to overcome. Joe’s obstacles were more in the nature of financial hardship growing up. His father had been a successful yacht broker, but was swindled by his partner and lost it all.

Joe Biden entered politics in 1972. His political career, up until he became Barack Obama’s Vice President, was known for his work ethic and his ability to work with anyone to get things done. Biden’s hard work paid off for him...next January he will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

Biden/Harris, the American Dream team are up against inherited wealth, brought up to revile and take every advantage of his fellows. The Presidential contest is, in away a David and Goliath tale. The American Dream team versus Inherited Wealth and Entitlement.

My money is on Biden/Harris...but, win or lose I have reason to stand at that edge of Dystopia and not be fearful, because the Promise is true. We are not a lie. We are America...we are legitimate and infinite possibilities.  

Monday, May 11, 2020

The Misanthropic Boomer

J’Accuse

Misanthropic Boomer
Misanthropic Boomer
On January 13,1898, Emile Zola’s open letter to Felix Faure, President of the French Republic was published on the front page of the Paris daily, L’Aurore. Zola’s missive to Faure accused him, and the entire nation of anti-Semitism as demonstrated by the false conviction and exile to Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guiana, of Captain Alfred Dreyfus for treason against the French Republic. With deeply felt apologies to Emile Zola, I say to President Donald John Trump, “J’Accuse.”
President Trump, you have presided over the near destruction of the Federal Republic, The United States of America. The calumny began as soon as you were sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Your first act as president was to ignore the intelligence community professionals when advised of Russia’s interference in the nation’s recent election, which put you in office. Your refusal to accept these facts further led to the refusal to do anything of a positive nature to prevent such interference in future elections.
President Trump, you then went on to suggest lifting sanctions the U.S. government had placed upon Russia for this and other encroachments into the body politic worldwide. This then was compounded by your taking the word of Vladimir Putin over your own intelligence professionals on multiple occasions: additionally you insulted the nation when you held closed door meetings with Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister and Sergey Kislyak, Russian Ambassador to the United States. Interestingly enough, no members of the American press were allowed to attend: the photographic evidence of the meeting was provided by the Russian press. Then, as if to rub the nation’s nose in it, you went on to have a closed door meeting with Vladimir Putin, of which no transcript apparently exists. To this day your lack of candor is, shall we say, somewhat mystifying.
These actions were followed by a war of words with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un that ultimately led to your performing a political one hundred eighty degree turn and visit with Kim. During this time you spoke obsequiously, in glowing terms of your admiration for this madman who murders family members, and anyone else he perceives to be a threat to his total tyrannical control of North Korea.
The ultimate outcome of these meetings was a diplomatic embarrassment. In exchange for your conceding to the cancellation of the annual joint strategic military maneuvers with South Korea and Japan you got us NOTHING...no quid pro quo (that Latin phrase shows up later as well). You did, however, succeed in elevating North Korea’s bargaining position on the world’s stage. We received nothing in return except your worthless word that Kim would cease nuclear development and testing...this Kim vehemently denied. Development and testing continue.
President Trump, you have cozied up to Russian Oligarchs, and oppressive dictators the world over; doling out praise to the likes of Venezuela’s Madura, China’’s President for Life Ping, your good friend, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and of course the aforementioned Kim. But you’ve gone further than mere praise. As previously mentioned you publicly fawned over Kim Jong Un and made North Korea a nuclear player.
Speaking of players in nuclear roulette, you also unwisely pulled out of the non-nuclear research and proliferation treaty with Iran; putting the entire planet in danger. In addition, although you talked a good game, you basically stood idle while Putin continued to bully the Ukraine. Let us not forget that you also attempted to bully the Ukraine by illegally withholding monies allocated to the defense of the Ukraine against Russia. You did this in order to get the President of the Ukraine to publicly announce his intention to investigate your political rival...the quid pro quo you would release money allocated for Ukraine’s defense. Money which was provided by the United States Congress. Money which you had no right or authorization to withhold. The ultimate result of your attempted Blackmail was Impeachment. This unfortunately led to a sham Senate trial and acquittal.
The sham trial was presided over by perhaps the weakest, most transparently partisan Chief Justice in United States Supreme Court history, John Roberts. Compounding the mockery of the Impeachment proceedings were the positions taken by Majority Leader McConnell and the rest of the Republican Senators, who publicly exonerated you before ever there was a trial. McConnell should, at the very least be charged with obstruction of justice for telling the world prior to the trial that he would work with White House lawyers to see that you were found not guilty....even though he, along with his fellows swore an oath of impartiality prior to the actual trial proceedings.
Although this missive is directed at you and your failures President Trump, I would at this juncture be remiss if I ignored the complicit behavior of Senate Leader McConnell and his Republican cohorts in the Senate. As you, and everyone else knows, our government was established as a tripartite system to ensure that the Madisonian “Checks and Balances” keep the nation on an even keel and prevent the dictatorial events such as you have affected during your lackluster term. Without the virtually unexplainable support of the Republican controlled Senate the ignominy that is your time in office would never have been allowed. These men and women are nearly as guilty of damage to the Republic as are you. I could speculate why they have supported a tyrant in the making, but their egregious behavior is more difficult to understand and explain than your own outright sociopathic actions as President of these United States.
Finally, there is the current situation with the Coronavirus. You could not have done more to send the nation on the path to Dystopia had you openly tried. Your cowardice and inability to stand up like a man and take responsibility for your poor decisions are killing not only far too many of our citizens, but you are using the pandemic to attempt to destroy what is left of the nation following three years of deceit, avarice, and traitorous activities all designed to benefit not the nation, but rather yourself.
Because mendacity is the only real skill you possess you have used lies to respond to the people of the nation about the pandemic and all of its’ aspects. Your lies are, as I said killing us and yet even still you refuse the truth as an alternative; an alternative that might help the nation to survive. At this point your only thought is how you can exploit the virus and use it to get yourself re-elected.
Following is a partial list of your Coronavirus statements and activities:

Jan 8th - First CDC warning
Jan 20th - first case of corona virus in the US, Washington State.
Jan 22nd - “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
Feb 2nd - “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China."
Feb 24th - “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
Feb 25h - “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
Feb 25h - “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
Feb 26th - “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
Feb 26th - “We're going very substantially down, not up.” Also "This is a flu. This is like a flu"; "Now, you treat this like a flu"; "It's a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we'll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner."
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
Feb 28th - “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2nd - “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2nd - “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5th - “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5th - “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6th - “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6th - “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6th - “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6th - “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”
March 8th - “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9th - “This blindsided the world.”
March 13th - [Declared state of emergency]
March 17th - “This is a pandemic,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”
March 18th - "It’s not racist at all. No. Not at all. It comes from China. That’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate."
March 23th- Dow Jones closes at 18,591.93
March 25th - 3.3 million Americans file for unemployment.
March 30th - Dow Jones closes at 21,917.16
April 2nd - 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment.

At that point in time the repetition of your lies became so stultifying that there is no point in further listing them except to say that your inability to be honest and forthright has put our nation in the position of being the COVID-19 world epicenter. Your last, best effort to deal with COVID-19 is to unsurprisingly, look for someone to blame: targeting China.
President Trump, finding someone at whom you can point the finger will not solve the problem. Regardless of where the virus originated, or when, the destruction it is causing in the nation is your responsibility. It is you that said we were on top of this when we clearly are not. It was you who maintained that testing is available to every citizen when it clearly isn’t. And, it is you who propose lifting the restrictions placed upon us by the virus at a time when it is obvious that the virus doesn’t care any more about the American People than you do.
President Harry Truman was very fond of the phrase, “The buck stops here,” meaning the president must take ultimate responsibility for decisions both made, and ignored. It is way past time for you to take Harry Truman’s words to heart. Admit your incompetence and step down...resign and take Vice President Michael Pence with you.
Once again, “J’accuse.”

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Just One More Time

There is much being said from both sides of the political spectrum regarding the President’s handling of the spread of the Coronavirus and his continually changing story, as he attempts to cast blame and mitigate his own actions. The conservative Right is sticking to the President’s first words claiming the potential pandemic was a hoax, while the progressive Left is spitting acidic vitriol at him for his mendacious monologues and inability to protect the nation.

Unfortunately both sides are getting what they deserve. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not trying to imply that we are experiencing the wrath of god for our sins, but rather that we are all in this together and if the ship is sinking it may just be because we all brought too much of the wrong baggage.

Donald John Trump, undoubtedly the worst President in our nation’s history, is not the problem...just the absolute worst symptom of our problem. Our problem is that for the entire  two hundred thirty three years since the drafting and signing of the U.S. Constitution we have chosen to hide from our most challenging and debilitating issue.

It began with the Founding Fathers who, for all their bravery when facing up to the British Crown, allowed the base inequality we are dealing with today to become part of the fabric of our nation’s soul by refusing to deal with it up front. They avoided the confrontation of the inherent inequality of the citizenry as put forth in the Constitution, and allowed for the White male domination of the burgeoning nation. This was partly because that was the status quo, but more than that was the of fear that the schism created by  opposing positions would cause irreparable damage to America: hatred and the attendant violence that might ensue.

Their worst fears were realized some seventy-three years later...Civil War. A war that solved nothing and merely created a resentment that ate at those who supported the Confederacy, while making the opposition feel vindicated. That support and I  resentment is still evident today. And today, just like two hundred thirty-three years ago we still would prefer to as they say, “kick the can down the road.”

That is why we have the dangerous buffoon sitting in the Oval Office today. We have been fooling ourselves for years that we were the World’s moral and ethical leader, which is ridiculous given how White America has treated its’ citizens of color: from the enslavement of fellow human beings, and the attempted genocide of the Indigenous People, the justification of which was predicated on skin color and facial differences, to the incarceration of fellow Americans in what were euphemistically called internment camps (they were prisons). These actions were based upon those same two immoral determinants. But our moral degradation doesn’t stop with our treatment of people of color; we have, from our very beginning, elected to treat women just as poorly.

That we have claimed that we believe all men are created equal and then to promote White male privilege at the expense of both persons of color and women is obscene. What fears bring us to distrust those among us who appear different? How is it that we are critical of the rest of the world’s morals while ignoring our own moral failures? I have been to many nations throughout the world and can tell you that racial and gender bias appear everywhere, however, that is no excuse for our nation. Especially since we’re the nation that put it in writing...“We hold these truths to be self evident, all men are created equal.” What we do, we do to ourselves.

It is way past the time that we act as we do. It is time for every White male in this country to first have a chat with the person that looks back from his mirror. That’s right, ask the fellow in the mirror why he is biased, what he fears about women, and people that look different: and when you answer don’t use excuses that come from politicians...think for yourself. Are people of color or a different gender really different from you? Are you merely reacting out of fear and distrust of that which you have purposely chosen to not understand? Then, once you have had that talk with yourself, stand up and be counted with those who know there is no difference worth considering: know there is more to life than bigotry and hatred. And know too that if you want a nation of which you can be proud; a nation that doesn’t put a narcissistic misogynist in the Oval Office, a nation that leads and doesn’t follow, and a nation that does not fear the results of bad government decisions then dump your heavy baggage that the Ship of State can voyage on without fear of sinking. Quit being afraid and remember to live your own life and not be resentful of someone else's.

If America is to live up to her promise we must all get over our mistrust and fear of anyone who doesn’t look or think as we do. We need to remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “your fist stops where the other fellow’s nose begins.” Unless we learn that, there will be more of the same and our ever hopeful nation cannot recover from that.

We are the United States. That means we are a united people, and as such it follows that we must all be equal. As a seventy-three year old the Coronavirus and potential pandemic frightens me, but not nearly so much as the thought of this wonderful nation going the way of the Roman Empire.

Friday, February 28, 2020

The Misanthropic Boomer

NO ONE TO BLAME BUT HIMSELF

Misanthropic Boomer
Misanthropic Boomer
Trumplethinskin’s Chickens are Coming Home to Roost...
2014 when there was fear of an Ebola pandemic, then President Barack Obama, created a National Security response team to insure the most efficacious actions be taken to protect the American people. He appointed Ron Klain to head the interdisciplinary group: a man uniquely qualified, having worked with all of the agencies being pulled together as he had been ChIef of Staff for both Vice Presidents Gore and Biden. In 2018 President Trump eliminated this group citing the need for budget cuts: another of his narrow minded, short sighted decisions to destroy the Obama legacy.
Since ascending to the Presidency Trump has taken credit for everything Barack Obama accomplished, while at the same time blaming the former President for his own short sightedness and failures. Trump has especially gloried in claiming credit for the economic successes Obama initiated.
We are now in the potential grip of a new pandemic...the Corona Virus, the first victim of which is the Stock Market. It is tumbling down as it did in 2008, before the Obama administration salvaged the damage done by overzealous bankers and Wall Street brokerages. The market hates uncertainty and is reacting as one would expect.
Much of the uncertainty impacting the market would most likely have been greatly lessened had Trumplethinskin not eliminated the previously mentioned response team. His answer to the lack of such an interdisciplinary group was to make Vice President Pence the new Corona Virus czar. This is the same Mike Pence who believes being gay is a lifestyle choice, and who dealt with the AIDS epidemic is so poorly when he was Governor of Indiana that while the rest of the nation was seeing a drop in AIDS cases his state saw an increase. He apparently also doesn’t believe that tobacco is linked to cancer. Not a man who instills a great deal of confidence.
The only question to be answered now is, who is the President going to scapegoat both for the administration’s poor response to the potential pandemic and the severe economic downturn of the stock market? Methinks he had best take a good look in the mirror. His chickens are indeed on the way home.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Aspiring Democratic U.S. Presidential Candidates:

Are you all trying to get Donald J. Trump elected to a second term as President of these United States? I ask that question very seriously because none of you have done anything to prevent Trump from winning. For the most part you have wasted everyone’s time letting the American voter know not why he or she should vote for you, but rather why it is they should not vote for any of your opponents. It requires an enormous ego to ask the People to place you in the highest office in the land: perhaps the most powerful in the world. Use that ego to promote yourself, not to denigrate your opponents.

As a young man (long ago, in a galaxy far, far away) I was taught, first by my parents and then by my teachers, that when running for office you must let the People know for what you stand. This is accomplished in a very simple way...first tell the People what you are going to do, and then explain how you will accomplish it. This was force fed to me through repetition. It was reinforced both in college and later on in the workplace, where I learned to set goals and explain how I would achieve those goals through quantifiable objectives. Not one educator told me to present reasons why someone else was not able to get the job done because of their flaws. But that is what you have been doing.

No one is going to vote for you because of what you believe...they will vote for you because of what they believe. Therefore, it is incumbent upon you give reasons for them to believe in you. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren say they believe in Universal Healthcare, or Medicare for All as they call it. Yet neither of them has presented a practical method of achieving this most admirable goal. I would suggest that rather that fighting over whose idea it was and whether it is rampant Socialism or not, they use their respective staffs to run all of the numbers to determine how it can work. Look at the problem from the perspective of individual families: allay constituents fears that not only will it not work, but that it will cause great harm by raising taxes and reducing efficacy. Using the example of Goals and detailed objectives build a solid platform point.

Joe Biden spends much of his time telling us what his past experience has done to prepare him for the future, and not enough time on what he will accomplish in that future for which he is so very prepared; or, just how he will make things happen. Pete Buttigieg seems to have some fine ideas, yet spends much of his and his staff’s time preparing to deflect darts thrown at him and to hurl them back at their initiator with an unerring accuracy: time and resources better spent on detailing his goals and objectives.

There is also a good deal of discussion over who did, or did not support the war in Iraq: another waste of time. The American People want to know how you will get them out of the wars that occupy our time and resources today.

The most recent polls indicate that voter’s major concerns are as follows:

  • Healthcare
  • National Security/Gun Control Policy
  • Education
  • Economy (including income distribution)
  • Immigration
  • Climate Change

That is a lot to deal with, however, an astute candidate might combine National Security with  terrorism and asymmetric warfare; or Climate Change, since it does pose an existential threat.
The point is that you need to focus on each of these and provide provable, quantifiable solutions (including necessary steps required to achieve success).
In case you haven’t noticed, you are running against a master “snake oil” salesman. He is a liar, a cheat, and a thief; yet he understands the selling of himself better than any of you. He will use every negative you have used against one another to gain himself a second term as President. None of you are qualified to fight fire with fire, so don’t. Fall back on the tried and true method of laying out a platform and the steps and revenue required to make the platform a reality. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.


If the People do not believe you can do what you say needs doing, Donald J. Trump will again be elected President of the United States. If that happens this nation will never recover: he will finish shredding the Constitution and the rule of law. He will write the nation’s obituary: our epitaph will read, “Oh well, we gave it a shot.”

The Prosperity of a Lie

Misanthropic Boomer If you are caught telling a lie to the FBI you can go to prison. However, you may not only lie to the American peop...