Alternative Place for comments

For some the comment button doesn't work.
An alternative place for comments is my email address:

Rhobbs9@yahoo.com

"What's Different about Kim Jong IL"

Another one bites the dust. This arrogant, hard-line, old-world crank, narcissist has finally bitten the dust. Bad hair-do, bad manners, bad tailor and bad temper sums up Kim Jong Il. In most ways he was right up there with Saddam, Mohamar, Basshir, Fidel, Pinochet, Papa Duvalier, Noriega, The Ayatollah, and Osama just to name a few of the despots that have given migraines to the rest of the world. But Kim Jong Il was very different in two significant ways.

First of all, he had nuclear weapons. That's huge. The other nuisances on my list were dealt with by internal uprisings or if they insisted on pissing off enough people, for a long enough period of time, they were neutralized externally. I mean Noriega is in jail, and the others are either dead or hanging on by their cigars (Castro). BUT Jong Il had the capability of creating cataclysmic mayhem.

The other difference with him was how reclusive he was. No one really knew what exactly was going on in his country. Saying he played it close to the vest is an understatement. He wasn't like those other preening roosters showing the world contempt, parading around in their costume military garb, defying the US to come kick their ass. NOT Kim Jong Il. No, he said little, made few appearances, and rarely did he openly threaten anyone. (There were a sizable number of veiled threats) But he also made it clear that he had no moral objection to letting letting missiles fly.

He's the one foreign leader many American statesmen have said they were far more worried about than the Bin Laden's or Qaddafi's of the world. We always had to be careful with him because he was hard to read and made it clear he didn't care about anyone else in the region or world. He's managed to brainwash his people into thinking he was sent from God, and we all know the effects of fear and blind loyalty (Hitler, Stalin, Emperor Hirohito).

Here is all you need to know about how unstable North Korea was under Kim Jong Il. He sank a South Korean military ship (in the last year or so) and dared South Korea to do something about it. Fire on us they said, go ahead, make our day. They didn't care what the repercussions were. Thank God South Korea didn't even though they wanted to. Very dangerous move by Jong Il but that was what we were up against with him.


Now that he has died, his son, a replication of his father, sits on the throne. Have you seen a picture of his son, the new ruler? He looks like the lost shy kid at the HS dance. So did Carrie! But this kid controls enough munitions to change everything. What will he do?


Their people suffer tremendously, most nights in fact 90% of the country is in total darkness. Satellites flying over show a country in darkness. It's the law. A perfect metaphor for their view of things. Will Jon Il's son move the country onto the world stage? Will the lights stay on? There is always reason to be concerned about the brooding malcontent sitting in the corner of the room, armed to the teeth.

"Shakespeare and Penn State"

I don't know how many of you have ever read or seen Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. It was his shortest play, one of his bloodiest, and one of his strangest. The King of Scotland is murdered in his sleep by Macbeth, in a power play mixed with an evil wife, 3 witches prophesy's and in short it gets pretty weird. The night the King is murdered, Shakespeare, in the play, refers several times to how weird and strange everything around the castle feels; how nothing seems in it's right place. The characters were noticing that nature itself seemed disturbed. His point was that somethings that people do are so offensive that even nature is thrown out of whack. Things get weird. He called it a perturbed spirits.

Well, I don't know if you can feel it where you are but such perturbations now float over the not so Happy Valley, Pa. world of Penn State University.
The natural order has been disturbed there and things around the place just seem to be getting weirder. Long time (and highly successful) football defensive coordinator at Penn State, Jerry Sandusky, has been accused of, arrested for, and bound over for trial in the alleged molestation of at least 9 young boys going back 20+ years.
That would be bad enough, but trouble for the PSU faithful was just getting started. Two senior level college administrators were arrested for perjury and obstructing justice by lying to authorities about what they knew about Sandusky. Apparently, as the charges are outlined, they had been told sometime ago about Coach Sandusky but claimed under oath they knew nothing. Undoubtedly, they were trying to protect Sandusky but more likely they were trying to protect Coach Paterno, the football program and the University.

Would that were all there was!
But no, it seems that head Coach (Papa Joe) Paterno had also been told (years before) about goings on in the men's locker room between Sandusky and a boy. Coach Paterno has admitted in his own sworn statement that he was told (in graphic detail) that his defensive coordinator was molesting a boy in the locker room. What did he do? He told a senior member of the athletic department what had been reported to him. He never followed up and continued letting the man coach.

His claim, today, is that he did what he was legally obligated to do. Apparently it's true that he met his legal obligation but if you had been told your number #2 man in the program had been seen (by another coach) in the shower doing illegal and gross things with a boy wouldn't you not sleep until you knew for sure that he had been investigated and either charged or cleared? How many more boys were molested during the time that Paterno was content to have fulfilled his "legal obligations"? He said no more, never followed up and just let things alone. Alone in this case means the team won a lot of games, the university made a lot of money and apparently everyone at the University slept well at night.

Aye, there's the rub. This one didn't sit well with a "perturbed nature" and now it has all come back to wreck havoc on the the whole Penn State community. The University President has been fired, athletic director has been fired, Coach Paterno has been let go, the coach that saw the molestation (McQueary) has been under fire for not having told more people and has been let go or surely will be let go. Former coach Sandusky has been arrested and will likely go to trial. ( I suspect he'll do a plea deal to avoid putting his family through more humiliation + the victims testifying and the continued ugliness for the University) Will that be enough?

Apparently not. Coach Paterno now reports having lung cancer of the treatable kind. This prevents him from being able to travel to and from hearings and so forth, As the Church Lady said on Saturday Night Live, "how convenient". Essentially, poor coach Paterno is "out of the legal loop" just as some would argue he took himself out of the "moral loop" years ago. In truth, he probably has paid a heavy price if he's the good man everyone swears he is. Knowing about what his assistant did, not pursuing the matter to protect the boys (ironically he made his legend being a mentor to young men)and losing his job mid season in what would have been the last season of a Hall of Fame career. You can put that thought on hold for the time being. Who knows what the future is for Coach Paterno?
Is this enough?

Apparently not. There was talk (albeit briefly) of not inviting a "damaged" Penn State team to a bowl game this year but fortunately smart people got involved and realized the obvious that this group of players and coaches had NOTHING to do with what happened years ago and they were rightfully invited to a bowl game. STILL, it goes on in Unhappy Valley. Friday the starting quarterback got into a fight with a second string receiver in the locker room after practice. The quarterback suffered a seizure during the fight and was taken to a hospital. He seems to be okay now.

Allegations, affidavits, depositions, arrests, resigning, firings, moral lapses, seizures, fighting, likely molestation's, ruined families, victims, and who knows what still might ooze to the surface of this mess? All in the name of winning football games, and the closed ranks of the "coaching fraternity" and the desire to make money for the University. Some of you may think I don't like college athletics or Penn State. It is completely the opposite. I love college football, followed Penn State for years. I admired the football coaching philosophy they adhered to over the years (run the ball, good special teams and defense). When every team in the country was lured into wearing multiple alternate jerseys, weird stuff like Oregon and Maryland wear, not Penn State. Dark Blue tops, white pants, and helmets with no logos on it. Circa 1967, about when Coach Paterno showed up. But beneath the "classic" veneer was a "classic" cover up of major proportions. It doesn't matter how many wins your program racks up (USC/CLEMSON) or how much money your bowl appearances make for the University. It doesn't matter the name, the brand, the image of Papa Joe, or the back story if/when the time comes you choose all of that over making sure things are right.

Macbeth had a lot of reasons for why he had to kill King Duncan and cover it up.
But he never felt right about it. "Macbeth hath murdered sleep, Macbeth shall sleep no more"and he never had another good night's sleep again. A heavy pall hung over Scotland for years. Eventually Happy Valley will be happy again. Meantime, perturbed spirits are in the air and I suspect some people are not sleeping well at all.

"Slab City"

Have you heard of "Slab City? It's located outside the city limits of Modesto, Calif.
It is a city with no Mayor, no residential neighborhoods, no street lights, no Chucky Cheese, no schools, no playgrounds and very few rules. You don't want to live there, you don't want anyone you know to call "Slab City" their home. Yet plenty of people (too many) do live in "Slab City", well, sort of.

A huge slab of concrete was laid down on a wretched piece of ground and people live in motor homes, cars, tents, and card board boxes. These are NOT illegal aliens on the run. These are American citizens, families with kids. There is no running water, just a hole in the concrete where run off water goes. That is what passes for a shower. People bring in food, whatever they can. However, recently a "Slab City Cafe" opened. I doubt you would go there for the ambiance; I doubt the menu is extensive. Some old recliners sit on part of the slab and people hold court there daily.


Dave is there, a middle aged man with a pretty wife and 2 small children. Dave worked in a white collar and tie job for years in the Bay Area but the economy finally forced his company to lay him off. Unable to find another job, the family went through their savings until finally the day arrived where Dave and family couldn't even afford to live in a trailer park. Now, his kids play in a junk pile, and when they get to be school age he wonders where will they be? He does odd jobs and augments what little he makes with food stamps. He hopes to get a job in LA soon.

Sandy is living out of her station wagon, a single mom with 2 daughters, one aged 13 and the other one 11. Money ran out for them in their home state of Washington so mom was forced to bring her and the girls to "Slab City". The girls are being "home schooled" but its questionable how much they are learning. The girls understand why they are there, but they also hope their friends back home don't find out.

Dave keeps a loaded 12 gauge shotgun by his side at night. he says the 12 gauge shotgun is the protector of choice for "Slab City" residents. He said, "I'm the nicest guy in the world but if you mess with my family you'll see another side".
There are plenty of drugs and drug dealers in "Slab City".

When I first read about the Joad family in the Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath about the depression era okie family, I thought how can this happen? How can a hard-working law abiding family just be ruined through no fault of their own? They weren't wall street financiers, hedge fund operators, or leaders of Governments or Industry. Nevertheless, it was the Joad family that had to pile all their stuff into a pickup, and leave the dust bowl of Oklahoma for California. Even in high school (back then) I thought this wasn't right. People that gamble away their own fortunes have nobody to blame but themselves. BUT people that gamble away the fortunes of others have to be held accountable or they will do it again.

There it sits, "Slab City" just outside the city limits of Modesto where the 21st century version of the Joads reside. The calloused, irresponsible people have done it again. The legal system should hold those people accountable but it's clear they are not going to.

However, we can. Please try to stay up on who is running for which elective office. Find out what have they done in the past for the people they represented. Know what they stand for. Look past the rhetoric, the teleprompter, the nice suit, the melodramatic ads. We have to have better people in offices on all levels. We need to get rid of the people that created "Slab City".

"Black Friday" and "Marshal McLuhan"

I am sorry my weekly blog has not been written for 3 weeks. My bad. Traveling, a friend having a melt down complete with a 5 minute ha-rang like a scene out of Shakespeare's King Lear and just being derailed from a lot of little things but The Bailey Post is back.
2 things on my mind in recent days:

"Black Friday" So Americans have a new national obsession. As we closed in on Thanksgiving wasn't it enough that we culled the turkey herd with our need to sharpen our carving knives? Wasn't it enough that we watched one football game after another, smashed our faces with devil eggs, chips and drank booze and soda like we were Saharan camel jockeys drinking water on a caravan?

Oh no,instead we were bombarded with reminders that "Black Friday" was looming. People geared up for this day like post apocalyptic nut jobs hording water and buying camouflage unis. It used to be that the merely obsessed would be content to sit in their lawn chairs in front of Walmart, K-Mart, or any other mart to be the first one in. Sit there all night waiting for that special magic to happen, the doors of wisdom to open, the religious experience to transform them. They were dumb asses but they liked knowing they could and would do what reasonable thinking people wouldn't. (hence the expression dumb ass)

Well, the stores trumped these masochistic shopaholics by changing the paradigm. The stores would now open at midnight. Why sit when you can spend? What has happened to Americans? When the country seems to be on life support, when every adult needs to understand what is happening around them, they instead stampede to Targets and Macy's and frantically buy bobbleheads, fruitcakes, and tires. People were shot, one man fell with a heart attack and the people stepped over him, not taking the time to see if he was even deal (apparently there was a bargain on the snow cone making machine).

C'mon people if it has Black in the title it's probably not good for you. People did not embrace the "Black Plague" and didn't people jumped off the buildings on "Black" Thursday, 1929?
If there had been a "Black Friday" in 1348 the people would have asked this question at the place where the plague victims were taken....."how much for just the tunic"?

My second topic is based on Marshal McLuhan's 1970's book: The Medium is the Message. Among many other ideas he made the case that the perception of reality is reality. This may be true. Consider: Herman Cain dropped out of the Republican race for president. At the heart of his quitting was his wanting to spare himself and his family from relentless media scrutiny about alleged sexual harassment charges from his past. He believes Rick Perry and/or his minions created all this to get him out. Others believe the democrats were behind a smear campaign.

It's true that several women came forward with claims that he made suggestive comments and perhaps more. But where was the trial back then? Why didn't they claim this years ago when he had deep pockets and could have been sued or perhaps blackmailed into a big payday? Yes, the organization he was chairman of did payout cash settlements to 2 or more women but the amount they got was pretty minuscule considering the "outrage".
Here is my point: he clearly may have done these things, the women may be absolutely telling the truth, and then again it could all be BS. Companies settle claims all the time to avoid bad publicity and a potential costly trial. A company settling is not in itself a de facto guilt of anything.
HOWEVER, the perception that he did wrong things is that was needed. In the court of public opinion he must be as guilty as hell. Well, that's good enough for the media and John Q. Public. In short, maybe a bad guy dropped out as Republican contender and then again maybe a heretofore not taken seriously contender emerging had to be gotten rid of. The bigger point is IT DOESN'T MATTER which of those two scenarios is true...that's what McLuhan was saying, you don't have to be guilty....just get the "knee-jerk" reactors and the uninformed to think you are and you are.

What I learned on Vacation......

My first posting in 3+ weeks. On vacation you know and I came back with my batteries recharged. I went to Washington DC (I like the city) New York City (always a love affair between survival and thriving) and then Beatrice, Nebraska ( a chance to mellow out). 7 museums and countless restaurants, libraries, bookstores and Starbucks.

What I learned:

1. Starbucks coffee is bitter in any city but the new milder "Blonde" is due out Nov. 15th on the east coast and early Dec. in San Diego. Thank you Jesus!
2. The Vietnam Memorial is impressive, not just because it's a well designed memorial but because seeing 45,000 names carved onto granite is something indeed. Each carving a life snuffed out on an ill advised mission. Each carving represents loved ones back home crushed, each carving ws a friend lost forever, each carving a hole in many people's lives. When you see 45,000 names and you know each one was connected to at least 10 others you see the enormity of the waste.
3. When the President or Michelle want to leave the white house for say a press conference or a pizza deal at Papa John's a 2 mile radius of the White House is blocked off. No one in or out, everyone must drive miles around it. It seemed like hundreds of people were on alert, working, planning, preparing, doing. I hope the supreme pizza is worth the thousands of dollars spent getting them to and from.
4. Neil's Coffee Shop on 70th and 3rd Avenue is a great little coffee shop. One thing about Austin and Rebecca they find the cool places.
5. The Ford Edge is a pretty cool SUV. I rented one in Nebraska and while Ford doesn't blow any wind up my skirt this one was very modern, with a push button start to it's fully viewable screen for every command and yet it was very comfortable and no worse on gas milage than my Acura.
6. Landing a plane in windy Chaicago made windier by a storm is harrowing and worthy of blood pressure medication.
7. The Frick Collection at the Henry Clay Frick Museum in NYC impressed me more than the Metropolitan. In the Metro I felt lost kinda like I was in a blimp hangar filled with objects d'art
8. The Folger Shakespeare Library in DC was the most disappointing. Nothing about Shakespeare on view except for tee shirts and coloring books in the bookstore and the library part? 97% of the people in the world aren't allowed into. Plus, I stumbled down some stairs. Not hurt but it was embarrassing and worthy of a Shakespeare scene.
9. If you stop on the streets of Manhattan to help someone, they will say thanks but also look at you like you are the long lost Amelia Earhart. They ARE NOT used to anyone helping them with anything.
10. The Chargers losing in New York (Jets, Oct. 23rd) or the midwest (Chiefs Oct. 30th) is just as demoralizing as the Chargers losing at home.

Finally, Cab drivers in the big cities understand you just fine, and they talk to friends in their native language(s) while driving you around just to bug you.

" D.C. is Real"

I watch news broadcasts from Washingtton D.C. and the place seems unreal. A place as strange to me as seeing Haiti destroyed by an earthquake or the tsunami in Japan. I live in San Diego where things like this don't happen. I know these places exist because I went to school and video usually doesn't lie. But I can't really wrap my mind around it. A congressman on the steps of the Capitol is just another suit on the steps of some building talking into a camera. The President walking around the White House lawn is just another rich man cavorting in a rich man's compound. In other words I am usually disconnected from what I am seeing.

But I write this while in Washington D.C. I walked past the White House today about the same time Obama was due to be driven back into the grounds after doing a press conference. People were lined up across the street, a street-preacher was imploring Obama to not go to Hell, and tourists were jostling to get a picture of his black limo going into the driveway. I was thinking as I stood there for a minute or two, in that this place is real. That white house over there is real, Starbucks across the street is real too. There is the Capitol Building right there. I see lights burning in the windows, someone is still working in the building. Probably just the custodians. Nevertheless, "D.C. is Real".

That leads me to this, if this place is not just some celluloid disneyland I see on t.v., if it is real why can't the people who have come here to work (Congressmen and Presidents) really use this time to get things done? Why even come to the Capitol building if you aren't going to do anything constructive. Are you there to just BS with fellow congressman, plot in an anteroom some new divisive strategy or payback for some perceived sleight? Why do that? Why not think, I came here to accomplish legislation that will help all americans and those in my district especially. Why the drama? Why the roadblocks, Why the childishness? It is especially hurtful because so many americans can honestly say their lives are worse off than 6-7 years ago and they believe they will not be getting better anytime soon.

I worry that just like I never realized that Washingtton D.C. was real, I don't think the politicians fully grasp that people outside their "D.C." world really exist. The common man is just a video clip on TV to these people. The woman evicted from her home is just an image from some far off non-existent place. I had to come here to see that this city, this government is real, and they need to leave this cocooned world and go see that people are hurting, talk to the small business owner that lost his/her business, and the family on food stamps. They have to stop being disconnected.

If they did that, if they really did, went to the streets and cities of this country they would see that economic pain is real pain; then maybe they would want to come back here and get to work to help Americans out. I hope so.

"The Yin and Yang of 2012"

"Before I start this blog, several of you have asked to be on the mailing list for The Bailey Post and I will try to get you on the list asap. I also send this to facebook. If you know someone that might want to read The Bailey Post, just let me know where to send the Post to them. Get their okay first of course. I am up to 15 readers without advertising for readers so slowly but surely it's building."

2011 was a tough year (and it's not over). Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, the debt-ceiling debacle, drought,heat and fires in Texas, the European economic meltdowns and Charley Sheen just to name a few of the traumas we had to go through.
However, I see 2012 as being much, much better. I'm excited about 2012 and I hope we will see an end to some of the things that plagued us in 2011. However, to be totally fair, life is a yin-yang situation and sometimes letting go of something not so good, creates a void that can be filled with something that is either good or not so good.
So here is my tongue in cheek look at the potential yin-yang of 2012.

1. YIN: NASA reports that no more satellites are expected to fall from space on unsuspecting humans in 2012.

YANG: There is at least one huge space station expected to fall to Earth in about 2 years. Whereas the satellite was the size of a truck, the space station is the size of Haystack Calhoun.

2. YIN: We have an election in 2012. If you are happy with things, vote President Obama back in. If not, vote him out. You get your say in 2012.

YANG: The voting booths will officially open at 6am east coast time and CNN will declare a winner at 6:05am, followed by Fox at 6:06, CNBC at 6:07, and ABC,CBS, NBC at 6:10am. A winner will be declared based on a straw poll of 50 exiting voters in Lambfries, Maine. This will result in most people realizing it's pointless to vote at all and as a result the declared winner will be assured of winning.

3. YIN: 2012 will see the European Union bail out Greece and in so doing save the the rest of the world from a double dip recession.

YANG: Once Greece has been saved from itself, still waiting in the queue are Portugal, Spain and England.

4. YIN: The fashion industry will finally put an end to using the grotesquely emaciated, super models.

Yang: They will rely on computer graphic imagry to realistically simulate actual stick-figures. Clothes will be drawn on stick-figures. Their reasoning is, stick-figures don't have to eat at all. Tim Gunn approves.


5. YIN: In an effort to curb American obesity, The Congress will declare a "war on fat". Processed refined sugar products will be outlawed and so will excessive grease.

YANG: Much like the prohibition era, sugar speakeasys will spring up in the backs of drug stores, peoples garages, and in the back rooms of Home Depots.
If you say (into the peep hole) the magic words "Clogged Arteries" you will be allowed into the sin room filled with cream puffs, eclairs, candy corn, taffy, cake and for those in really bad shape there will be a room within a room where you can indulge yourself in fritters and fried butter.

6. YIN: More money will be given to Education in 2012. Seeing the error of their ways, legislatures from coast to coast will appropriate more money for schools.

YANG: State education offices will point out that since high State test scores exist despite the ratio of 42-1 in the classroom reducing class sizes is unnecessary. They will point out that money for education should go where it can do the most good.....more testing.
Now states will have 3 standardized tests per school year. More testing means lots more paper, manuels, pencils and personnel. However there still won't be any money left over for test security. You are still on the honor system.

7. YIN: Great news travelers. Airlines plan to stop the ridiculous policy of charging for bags. No more bag charges in 2012.

YANG: The airlines will also announce the day after the no bag charge announcement that they will need to start charging a fee for using toilets on the planes, for the cushions in the seat bottoms and for the use of windows. They will reason that running a continuously operating bathroom is very costly as is cutting holes in the airplane for windows.

8. YIN: Thank God reality shows like Jersey Shore, Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Kardashians, and Primped and Proper willl disappear.

Yang: Unfortunately a new wave of shows will replace them, centered on overindulged children (americans favorite obsession).
Shows like "My Bitchen Kid", "Little Miss Angel", "Mine's Better than Yours", and my personal favorite, "Who wants a Trophy?" In that show kids are given trophies the minute they are born, just for having.... well been born. Be advised parents you'll need a bigger bedrooms to fit in all those throphies.

9. YIN: Finally after all these years of waiting, Creationists will emerge from their annual "Cocoon Convention" and announce that they have accepted the "evolution" theory of existence.

Yang: They will, however, also say they came to this conclusion because God told them this over the loudspeaker at lunch on Friday.

10. YIN: Narcisstic, self-agrandizing blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck will finally be taken off the airwaves.

Yang: Well,the bad news is they will be replaced by Howard Stern and
Geraldo Rivera.

"Red Shirting - Kindergartners"

Of course it would come to this. Of course it would!!! Are you familiar with the sports term "Red-shirt Freshman". Refers to an incoming freshman athelete (4 year college) that is allowed to be around the team, practice with the team but just not suit up on game day. That way at the end of their freshman year in college they haven't technically used up a year of competitive eligibility. They can still play 4 years of sports. It's a way of getting five years worth of maturity in 4 years of playing. All the colleges do it and we can debate later about the relative merit or lack of merit of giving atheletes 5 years to play 4 years.

I want to focus on something more assinine and is the current rage. Parents in an effort to give their little "Jimmy Crack-Korn" kid an advantage deliberately hold their kid out of Kindergarten until they are 6 years old. These kids are referred to as red shirt kindergartners. That way when little Suzi Creamcheese enters kindergarten as a 6 year old (in some cases 6 1/2) she will be bigger that the other 4 1/2 or 5 year olds, have had another year of preschool (or home school) and in theory will immediately go to the top of the class. She or he will excel against the younger kids and all the way through school because they will be a year older all the way through. They'll graduate at 19, having presumably kicked the ass of all the younger kids along the way.

Some parents will say, well I want my little "Tawonda" to have a a fair chance, or they'll say their kid is developmentally behind and need more time. Maybe but probably NOT! This sounds like a scam PUSD parents would cook up.

Am I saying some kids wouldn't do better if they started later in age? Of course not; not all kids are ready for kindergarten at age 5. The one size fits all has always been one of the bad philosophies of American education. If it can be proved a kid is developmentally behind and another half year or year would help them be closer to being on par with the other kids of course do it. What I object to is the blatent scamming parents are doing as they look for yet another way to circumvent the rules and try to get an advantage for little "Skipper".

All this would be less of an issue if schools would simply ability group instead of age group. Put little "Basil" in with like ability students. If/when he has shown the ability to move up put him in a higher group. It matters less that "Guido" is 15 and "Lippy" is 16 in a class. It matters more if "Guido" has a 130 IQ, and is on track for UCLA and "Lippy" has an IQ of 85 and on track to change my tires in about 5 years.

The thought for so long has been: don't hurt the little kiddies by having them be in the "low" group. Instead put them in with the Mensa kids and they will push themselves to do even better. NO most of them don't. They spend their entire school career asking the smarter kids for help on homework, help on test prep, seeing teachers during tutorial and wondering what happened to them that they are so far behind and don't understand the in class discussions. I think most would rather be at the top of the average or low group than be the academic caddy for the superstars. Red shirt Kindergartners? Grade "F"

"9/11 of Course"

I'll keep my remarks brief concerning the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. Like most people on the West Coast I was just getting up and at some point I caught on to what was going on. I did not think terrorism until I saw the second huge plane hit. Even at that I didn't know if it was home grown (Timothy McVeigh, Unibomber etc.) or foreign. What shocked me was the buildings collapsing. I thought they could withstand an explosion. The flame retardent material on the steel girders blew off when the planes hit. But why use any flame retardent that will fly off at all? Maybe that was state of the art in 1974 when the towers went up. It just seems to me any type of explosion would have blown it off. Every one above the impact zone was doomed. Now we find out they had no way down and no roof top access. No roof top because the doors were locked. No downward access because all the elevators were bunched in the middle of floors and when one went down the others went as well, except for one stairwell in the South Tower. If that stairwell had been disabled, add another 300-800 more lost people. Why were firefighters going up? The average fireperson carried 100lbs of equipment and it was going to take 2-3 hours to climb the stairs. How exhausted would they have been when they got to the 78th floor? What could they have done? Did every floor have high velocity fire hose hook ups? Hand carry down the wounded? Another 2-3 hours (at the least) and how many could go down? Mostly they headed into this fire scene blind and one thing about firefighters, they don't go into burning buildings blind. That is they would have some idea of the risk and who, what,where and how of going in and getting out. Then again, what else could they do, stay on the ground floor and watch jumpers? Most of the firefighters lost never even made it to the floor they were assigned to. It's a matter of record that Osama Bin Laden told his people his purpose in attacking the Towers and Government buildings was not to just kill and scare the American people. No, all along he said that he couldn't defeat America in America. He wanted to provoke America so they would go into Afghanistan. It was there that he planned to kill Americans, drag out the conflict and bleed America dry financially. He did the same thing to Russia years before. He provoked them, they went into Afghanistan and he did his guerilla warfare thing. He killled many, financially drained the country until they finally gave up. Bin Landen got his wish because we did go into Afghanistan and then Iraq as well. He did kill US troops, prolonged the war, bled us dry and now we are going to (hopefully soon someday) pull out. We should never have taken the bait. There will be endless shows and video this next week. There will be endless testimonials, and remembrances. It is a compelling story to be sure. They are all compelling: Boston Massacre, Firing on Fort McHenry, The Alamo, Fort Sumter, Sinking of the USS Maine, Luisitania, Pearl Harbor, Gulf Of Tonkin, and 9/11. Each gave us the emotional resolve and the moral authority to get into a war. Complacency=Vulnerability. Vulnerability=Opportunity and Opportunity=Tragedy. I respect the lost and I admire those on Flight 93 who fought back. I also lament the way things have turned out in this country since 9/11. I won't get sad, misty-eyed, or feel a need to show everyone how patriotic I am, how much I'm still bothered by 9/11.. Look I wasn't there, I didn't know anyone that was there, I knew no one that lost their life nor did I know anyone that knew someone that lost their life. So for me to to blast Greenwood's "I'm proud to be an American" song and wear my once every ten years flag shirt would be hyporcritical. We are americans everyday, by going to work, being self supporting, helping those that can not help themselves, raising our kids right, trying to be good partners and friends; in otherwords by doing exactly what those 2,977 other people were doing that day ten years ago.

"Obama on the eve of....."

Tomorrow night President Obama delivers his jobs creation plan. He has chosen to do so at a joint session of congress as opposed to the oval office or White House press briefing room. Either he decided this had to be done or his advisers told him it had to be done. Will the jobs creation plan include budget cuts, tax increases, neither or both? We will have to wait to see. Here are my thoughts on President Obama on the eve of his speech, but first I have to do a disclaimer: Sometimes if I am critical of Obama some people think I just don't like the guy. If I praise anything he has done, others wonder why in the world do I like the guy. To think either of those two things is to miss the point on how I think about him or any president. I neither like Obama nor dislike him, personally. I don't know him (obviously) and I have no real idea what he is like. All I have to go on are photo's, videos his speeches and what others say. But what others say about him is often determined by whether or not they like him, belong to the same political party, believe in his idealogy or even his faith. My concern with this President is the same concern I have had for all the Presidents before him. 1. What do they say they believe in 2. What do they say they are going to do for the American people 3. How are they / how have they done on the job? 4. As the "leader" of the free world how well are they leading? In other words I care about results not party idealogy. I don't care much about who the person was before them and I don't care about gender, color of skin, tie, whether or not they are the type I'd drink a beer with at a barbeque, or crack peanuts with in Georgia, or oogle women at the water cooler. I want the country to prosper in general, citizens to prosper individually. I want our kids and grandkids to prosper, and to have a hope filled future. I want the "american" brand to stand for good things, be respected around the world, and be based on integrity. I am disappointed with President Obama at least for now. Everyone knows he inherited a mess and it was a big mess already in progress. We know all the reason: the wars, the economic meltdown, housing irregularities and so forth. He inherited all that and more. Still and all he has not delivered on what he promised: For instance: He said financial regulations needed to be put in place immediately to prevent wall street looters and irresponsible greed barons from ever causing the damage done this time.. He said, it would be one of his first priorities. Deregulation of Wall Street began under Clinton, then escalated greatly under Bush to the point where wall streeters virtually had unlimited freedom to do whatever they damn well pleased and boy did they. Some lawmakers and analysts think laws were broken but no one has been held accountable. RESULT: He has never put in place any financial regulations or restrictions. He went the other way, bailed out some of the worst ransackers and looters by giving them countless millions of dollars. What did Goldman Sachs do? What did Bank of America do? They took the money, bought up the companies that failed and many other smaller banks and became richer than ever and awarded their corporate execs millions (I mean many millions of dollars) in bonuses. It's business as usual at Wall Street. In fact, Timothy Geitner is still in charge and remember Geitner was the right hand man of both Hank Paulson (Bush's appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and former president of one of the Corporate raiding companies before that) Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan. Paulson was the thief that pushed for deregulations to begin with. He got what he wanted and the rest is history. Obama said he would end the wars especially in Iraq. Result: While there has been a drawdown (military speak) in some places, the wars go on. Afghanistan had the biggest loss of American military personnel (in a month) just last month. Obama championed his Obama care health plan and one of his important must haves was the single payer option but in the end he gave it up to appease Republicans. Even at that (2) Republicans had to be bought off at the last minute (One was Ben Nelson from my old homestate of Nebraska) to get the necessary votes. So the cornerstone of that plan is/was no more. He championed the need to recind the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy but when it came down to it he allowed them to keep their money. 3 years later the tax cuts are still in place. Even Warren Buffet said, what are you doing, the wealthy should be paying more. Only 8% of his white house staff has any real business background (owned a company, ran a company etc) 8 % when previous administrations averaged 45-50%. The point is he is surrounded by people that don't know much about finances, business, and economics in general at a time when we need the best minds working 24/7. Now to be fair, Under his watch Bin Laden is gone, Al Quada seems to be on the run (at least some) and Michelle Obama has pushed hard for Americans to take their health seriously and stop childhood obesity. Then too he is not a personal embarrassment when he meets foreign delegations. (Bush mangled the English language and even threw up on the Japanese delegation). However, my biggest concern is leadership. Remember Rudy Giuliani walking the streets of New York City calming people, issuing orders, taking charge of that city during September 11. He is widely praised for showing strong leadership, remaining calm under pressure, being with the people, and getting the city back on it's feet.Truman said, "drop the bomb". Rooseveldt calmed americans by saying "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself", Churchill got London through the blitz, Kennedy rolled up his sleeves and got us through the Cuban Missile Crisis (some say his recklessness created as many problems as he solved). Obama seems disconnected. He seems aloof. He cooly walks to the podium with no sense of urgency. He speaks in the same way when he tells us Bin Laden is dead as he does when addressing the debt ceiling. Like it's all academic and theoretical to him. The recent Hurricane that went up the east coast causing an estimated 6-7 billion in damage had many freaked out but we heard nothing from Obama from that Sunday to the following Friday when the Hurricane was bearing down on NYC. Then his people released an announcement that he had decided to cut his vacation at Martha's Vineyard one day short and come back to Washington late Saturday instead of Sunday. Mayor Bloomberg is evacuating much of NYC (unprecedented action) and Obama is apparently sailing on the waters at Martha's Vineyard. This is a critical hour for America and has been for at least 4-5 years: the economy, wars, 1 in 5 kids meeting the definition of being below the poverty line, schools are financially broke and in disarray, prisons so crowded they have to let prisoners go, and the list goes on. I do hope Obama's plan is a good one. I do hope he can rally all of us. I do hope the Republicans will stop their crusade on getting Obama out of office so all americans can benefit. Do what's right for Americans, get people back to work, stop the wars, reduce the insane deficit, get people with money to pay their fair share again, stop selling America to China, stop political partianship and brinkmanship, do what one of our great leaders said (stop asking what this country will do for you and start asking what are you going to do for this country)? It starts with the President and goes down to every person, including me.

"This and That"

Hi readers! I was going to write a funny blog in the format of letters to the editor, but events of the last week (earthquake, Hurricane, heat in Texas) seem to make a funny blog inappropriate somehow. Maybe I'm just not in a humorous mood. So I thought I would tackle some items in the news. Letters to the editor will show up one day.

#1:President Obama travels in style! Seems the U.S. Government ordered (2) specially equipped, state of the art busses for Pres. Obama's 3 day "trip through the midwest". The cost of EACH bus was 1.1 million dollars. That's 2.2 million tax dollars for two,huge, totally black (windows as well)busses for a 3 day swing through the midwest where Obama did some speeches about the perils of the economy and our need for vigilence as we near the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.
COMMENT: Are you kidding me! 2.2 million dollars for 3 days of being the mystery man superstar emerging from a big black bus? The busses don't say "power" they say "stupid"!!

There are several bad ideas at work here: the first one is the waste of money. Wouldn't it have been MORE EFFECTIVE if the President announced that he would do the tour on a regular Greyhound bus BECAUSE that would be cost effective at a time when America needs to be cost effective? That is what leaders are supposed to do.... lead the way. Also, his message was lost because all the attention was on the BUS. That's not even a smart political move. It's like delivering your State of the Union Address while wearing a Mickey Mouse tie. Finally, the message itself wasn't really worth the time and money.
We are in economic peril? Really? I guess no one realized that before his 3 day trip. President Obama thinks the Republicans are to blame for the economic mess!? Nope, didn't see that one coming. We need to be vigilent as we approach 9/11 anniversary?! I told my classes that 3 years ago. We need to be vigilent all the time.

#2: I had a panic moment yesterday while watching the new "cliche riddled" movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. In the movie, John Lithgow, a terrific actor, plays the father of James Franco's character. (Franco is the star of the movie) John's character is first on screen saying, "Where are my car keys"? "I can't find my car keys"! Then we discover he has Alheizeimer's. Realizing I couldn't find my car keys just 35 minutes before I came over to the theater, I thought, "Oh no"! "oh shit"! But I soon calmed down when I remembered I couldn't find my car keys when I was 35 years old and every year since. That is normal for me. Whew!

#3 The San Diego Padres baseball team is the perfect example of goof-ball thinking. They trade the best 8th inning relief man in the game for "pitching prospects". Sports teams do this all the time, trade an all pro wide receiver for a draft choice and then need to use the draft choice to draft a wide receiver. I've never yet seen a prospect win a game.
However, there is one area where this thinking could be of use and that is politics. I would love to trade one obnoxious former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi(Lugosi) for (2) untried rookies. We could give Grover Norquist an unconditional release. How about put Eric Cantor, and Harry Reid on waivers and bring up two uncorrupted rookies from the minors? We might get lucky, one of them could be Mr. Smith going to Washington.


#4: Finally G.E. announces thousands of american workers to be laid off as they takethose jobs overseas. This company is famous for it's 30-40 billion dollar profit in 2010 and for paying NO taxes. They reward the largesse of American tax loophole law by shit-canning american workers. They were apparently tired of paying those pesky 15 dollar an hour wages and having to pay benefits when they could go overseas and pay 5 dollars an hour and the benefits would be an id card and use of the company computer. With a 30+ billion dollar profit in one fiscal year shouldn't they be raising their american workers salaries and/or making their benefits better? Greed and capitalism made this country great, I hope it doesn't now ruin it.

Your comments are appreciated at rhobbs9@yahoo.com

His Account: Mike at Pearl Harbor

This is the 3rd and final installment of Mike Molden's accounts of his life years ago. These 3 installments are from someone that was there, in history. I can only imagine what Pearl Harbor must have been like. You and I have newsreel, photo's and eyewitness testimony. Mike has something much better, his memory of Pearl Harbor. Enjoy his first person account, and thanks Mike!

December 7, 1941

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, I was working in the Parachute Shop back at Patterson Air Field in Ohio.. I had been working most of the night because I was on the night shift. The attack on Pearl Harbor Sunday morning was being reported on the radio (Saturday night because of the time zone differences). The reports came in in the form of continuous news flashes. Awhile after the work shift began, our supervisor instructed all parachute riggers to go immediately to the aircraft maintenance main hangar. Several hundred men from aircraft and aircraft systems repair shops, and other shops on the air base, were already there. They were milling about. I joined them and wondered why we (in Ohio) had been called together.

A military officer climbed to the platform at the top of an aircraft maintenance stand. Drawing attention by tapping on the stand's railing with a metal object, he told us that the U.S. Army Air Corps needed skilled workers and supervisors immediately at Hickam Field in Hawaii. Whoever wanted to go, he said, should raise his arm and his name would be listed. That meant an immediate deployment to Pearl Harbor.

Since I was single, footloose and fancy-free at the time, my arm got caught in the updraft and I was soon on the list to leave for Pearl. We were told to wait, and the others instructed to return to their shops. Those that stayed, lined up, and our names, badge numbers, and job titles were entered on a list. We were each given an instruction sheet and told to make sure we complied with our directions.

The next morning I reported to the dispensary for immunization shots (both arms), and then on to the Personnel Office to sign papers that came at me from all directions. I had a week to get my affairs in order; after that, I would be on stand-by for departure. A week later, along with several hundred other volunteer workers, I boarded a train on a siding next to a warehouse, and was on my way west.

The train, with all its windows covered by blackout curtains, left Patterson Field in the dead of night, and arrived three days later at Moffett Field near Mountain View, California. We lined up for bedrolls, and were pointed toward rows of tents in a muddy field adjacent to a dirigible hangar. An instruction sheet, tacked to the tent's center pole, told us where the mess halls were located, and that the meals were scheduled by tent number.

More trains arrived the next day and the days following. Hundreds of civilian workers joined us in the tents waiting for the next leg of our journey. We quickly got to know each other; we had come from all across the country: New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia, Alabama and Texas, Utah and California. The Air Corps bases at which we had signed up were Griffiths and Olmstead, Patterson and Robbins, Brookley and Kelly, and Hill and McClellan. We were the new vanguard, ready to move out very soon after Pearl. How fast things were changing.

Days passed uneventfully. One night at 2 AM we were awakened to voices shouting along side our tents. 'This is it, you guys. Movin' out. One hour.'

In the early morning hours and in a torrential downpour, we slogged through ankle-deep mud and climbed into the backs of canvas-covered trucks. The flaps were down, and we had an escort: armed military guards in Jeeps. All trucks were blacked out except for dim lights gleaming through slits in their headlights. We formed up as a miles-long convoy rolling north along U.S. 101 from Moffett Field, and arrived, shortly before dawn, at Fort Mason, adjacent to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The trucks filled the pier from end to end; a gangway led up to the deck of a ship alongside. We learned later that she was the U.S. Grant, a World War I troop transport.

Herded below deck, we jammed into compartments where the narrow bunks were five high along aisles barely wide enough for passing. A 'Now, here this....' over the loudspeaker told us we were restricted to our compartments, and to passageways only when necessary, until we were out of the harbor. We were to have our life preservers with us at all times.

Hours later, the ship's vibration, a back-and-forth shifting in my center of gravity, and creaking along the bulkheads, told me we were under way. Scuttlebutt was that we were in a convoy, escorted by destroyers. Being in a restricted area, at first we couldn’t go up on top to check things out. Enemy submarines were suspected to be in the area.

However, soon we took turns, by compartment number, going on deck. On our way to Honolulu, the convoy zigzagged frequently to minimize the success of an enemy air or submarine attack. Finally, on the fifth day, land appeared on the horizon and, shortly afterward, we saw Diamond Head. Our ship left the convoy and entered Honolulu harbor.

We docked and disembarked, under heavy military guard, at the Aloha Tower pier and boarded the Toonerville Trolley, as we got to know the train on Oahu's narrow gage railway. An hour or so later we were at Hickam Field. The same Hickam Field all shot up just a few days ago.

The devastation was appalling. Burned-out hulks of bombed aircraft were scattered about on the parking aprons, and huge accumulations of debris lay next to aircraft hangars and along the roadways. The roofs of military barracks hung down along the outsides of the structures; they had exploded up and outward over the walls.

It’s hard to put into words the destruction plus we knew how many fellow military and civilian personnel had died there.

~~~

As a senior technician, I was assigned to the recovery and repair of damaged parachutes, life rafts, inflatable life preservers, oxygen masks, and the escape-and-evasion kits that air crews relied on when they bailed out over enemy territory. All of the equipment that came to our shop was closely inspected, repaired, if possible, and, when called for, tested. As soon as the damaged survival gear was fixed and ready for service, they were returned to the airplane from which they came. The work we were doing was for real, flying boys depended on us and we knew how important it was for all of us to do our very best.

Many of us joined Hickam Field's armed civilians, officially titled the Hawaiian Air Depot Volunteer Corps. We were volunteer employees who, during non-duty hours, also trained to handle and shoot a rifle ('03 Enfield), a pistol and 30 cal. machine gun. Our off work duty was to patrol and guard designated locations at night where high security was needed. We patrolled aircraft maintenance hangers, warehouses, instrument repair shops, and an engine repair lines underground at Wheeler Field, near Wahiawa in the Oahu highlands.

As armed civilians, we were each given a card to carry on our person. The card stated, in fine print, that if captured by the enemy while carrying a weapon, we were entitled to claim rights as a 'prisoner of war.' The Army Air Corps military officer who commanded our unit said that, since we did not wear military uniforms, nor carry military identification tags, the card would certify us as 'combatants'. The statement on the card was supposed to keep us from being shot as spies in the event the enemy invaded the Hawaiian Islands. The Volunteer Corps was dissolved a few months after the Battle of Midway.

During the war years, I fixed and packed thousands of man-carrying and cargo parachutes, and serviced many other types of life-saving, survival, flotation, and escape-and evasion gear. My work at Pearl Harbor right after the attack made me proud to be an American.

Mike

Part II: "Mike's Recollections" (1940-41)

Mike Moldeven finished his last installment talking about his depression era (1930's) experiences and his gratitude for finally landing (in 1939) a legit job as a civilian working for the Army Air Service Command as a parachute rigger and repair man. In the year and a half leading up to Pearl Harbor he told me there was a lot of talk about how soon America would be in the war. All were on high alert, although no one could say for sure war would come our way. As a young man (24) Mike was more locally focused on becoming good at his job, living a life of decent meals and a roof over his head. Here is his account of his new job. He picks it up in September 1941 (barely 2 1/2 months before Pearl).

~~~~
In September 1941 I was a civilian parachute rigger for the U. S. Army Air Service Command at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio. My job was to repair trooper and cargo parachutes that had been used by the U S Army training personnel at Fort Benning, Georgia,also at other Army installations and for the Army Air Corps.

September through November of 1941 was busy times for our shop. Conflict was already raging across Europe and on battlefronts in Asia and Africa. The United States Armed Forces were accelerating their training programs, and Americans soldiers and airman were active in the war zones of other nations. My parachute shop, as was the case with most of the other industrial shops at Patterson Field, and other bases throughout the United States, was on a round-the-clock seven-day workweek.

Many damaged man-carrying and cargo parachutes were brought to our shop from United States training bases and overseas theaters of operations. Often, the parachute harnesses (that wrap around the jumpers to lower them safely) were in shreds. Also, canopies were ripped, and canopy containers and emergency survival attachments were scorched and gory. I don’t have to tell you why they were gory but it was disturbing to see. I was in a crew that fixed these chutes and then did a drop-test with a dozen or so serviced chutes chosen at random. The shop foreman picked them from each set of two or three hundred that we had repaired and then re- packed for service. Following a successful drop test the chutes were closely inspected by a supervisor one last time before sent back into action.

~~~

The 'Drop Test' consisted of attaching a service-packed parachute to a 120-pound weight or canvas-covered dummy. Then they were loaded into a C-47 airplane, and connected to a metal hook at one end of a 30-foot long lanyard. This lanyard was connected to the parachute rip cord and the other end to a cable stretched taut above the airplane's main doorway. The door was lashed securely open. The two men on the test crew (and in the plane) wore parachutes and were secured inside the airplane by a short heavy belt so that they would not accidentally fall from the aircraft.

The pilot took off and circled the field at about a thousand feet. Approaching the drop zone, the co-pilot flashed a warning light above the door where the handlers were stationed. At the next signal, the handlers, one on each side of the dummy, heaved it out. The lanyard, fully extended, pulled the ripcord, and the canopy extended full length, in turn, opened, inflated, and descended. The ground crew visually tracked the drifting parachute, guessing at about where it would most likely touch ground.

Drop-test ground crew work was not dull. I remember how those of us on the ground would spread out and watch the dummy/weight as it descended and drifted. Sometimes it would come straight at us and we had to move fast to get out of the way. As soon as we knew where the parachute would land, we'd run toward it and, as soon as we reached it, haul in one of the webbing straps (risers) to spill air from the canopy, and get it all (canopy, suspension lines, dummy or concrete block) together with the least possible damage to the parachute -- and ourselves.

There were times, even on a relatively calm day, when a gust would pass across the field and inflate the canopy before we got to it. A partially inflated canopy in a gentle breeze can drag a 120-pound dummy and its parachute along faster than the ground handlers could run after it.

I'll always remember one time chasing a parachute and the attached dummy that a sudden gust dragged, rolled, twisted, and bounced along in a field we were using for the drop zone. Finally, with a lunge, I landed on the dummy, wrapped both legs around it, and grasped and hauled back one of the straps. I finally managed to spill enough air to deflate the canopy. Controlling a dummy that is being tossed around by a sudden gust of wind can be like riding a bronco in the rodeo.

These were good times for me, and in Ohio I didn't see Pearl Harbor coming 2,500 miles away in the Pacific. Then one day everything changed.

"He Was There"

You know I have a friend named Mike Moldeven. Mike has contributed several articles to The Bailey Post. Mike and I went to breakfast shortly after he recently (July) `celebrated his 95th birthday. He was born in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York. I asked Mike to write down some of his recollections from the 1930's, then his experiences leading up to and his connection to Pearl Harbor, 1941. All of us have had to rely on grainy black and white footage or textbooks to get the facts of that era. None of us can ever know first hand what it was like in the Great Depression or WWII. Mike was there and old enough at the time to remember what he experienced. Here then is Mike's own words done in three installments. First his recollection of the 1930's. Installment two will be his training leading up to WWII. The third installment will be his recollections of Pearl Harbor and the war.


Much of my time during the 1930’s was spent looking for a job, the same as most of my peers. I tried to sell newspapers, a nickel, or neckties for a dime on the subway or el stations but with no luck. Then I got a job in a shoe factory working a machine that punched tiny holes in shoes and simultaneously installed the eyelets that held the shoe laces. Those were the days of FDR's NRA (National Reconstruction Administration). My salary was an NRA-directed $10 per week. Suddenly, the US Supreme Court ruled that the NRA was unconstitutional. That ruling abolished all 'directed' salaries and my 10 bucks per week dropped to 8. Then I got laid off. I got a job in Jersey working on a hydraulic (metal bending) brake. That didn't last long either.

My friend, Manny, and I hiked a lot in the Adirondacks somewhere near the 'Finger Lakes' and I remember those days well. Those were the days when the 'unemployed' (like me) put in a few hours every couple of weeks with the NYA (National Youth Administration). I got a check in the mail for what I did: sanding down blocks of wood by hand (don't as me why; it was just 'busy work' for all of us.).

Manny and I were good friends. We met in one of the 'pencil block'
sanding gangs run by the 'home relief.' After the class, he and I
would head for the Automat for coffee and cake, and just talk. We'd
also join others like us and take the subway to the end of the line
and walk north from there, just talking. He was drafted into the Army
and I didn't hear from him other than when one of the guys in our
Lower East Side group told me that his family got the word that he had
been killed in the War. Not much said among us after that.

Where I lived public lineups did exist for homeless individuals and
families. I also remember the Salvation Army helped many people.
There was what we called 'home relief' operated by a 'community'
agency that was part of the 'city.' They distributed food and 'second hand' clothing and 'tickets' that could be traded in at groceries for specified categories of foods.
Today there are similar relief programs in play.

'Moods' about what was going on in the thirties varied according to where you lived. I recall my brotherfrequently taking me along with him to mix in with the 'Union Square'crowd. The 'soap box' was a reality. Speakers attracted listeners andI was one of the listeners, especially when my brother was one of the
speakers. When the cops hassled the crowd to move on, I carried my
brother's soap or orange box. We'd find another location in the
'Square', sometimes Columbus Circle at the foot of Central Park. My
brother's favorite pitch almost always got a chuckle from the
listeners. He'd say, "Comes the Revolution, you'll have 'peaches and
cream." and I'd holler along with the crowd, "I don't want peaches and
cream.' and my brother and I would holler back, "YOU'LL TAKE PEACHES
AND CREAM, Y'HEAR? LIKE IT ON NOT! And that invariably got more
chuckles, even laughs.

It was in(1939, I think) that I hitch-hiked down to D.C. to see my friend Manny. We wandered around Washington and eventually stopped in and sat down at the Post Office and I noticed posters on a wall. One of the posters invited applicants for Govt. jobs. So, what the hell; I took a couple of application forms, filled in a few blanks, mailed it in, and a few months later was offered a job at Wright Field. This was a military position. Hoo Hah! The next thing I recollect is that I was at Patterson Field, WITH A REAL JOB. That took me to the end of the 1930’s. I was trained in parachute maintenance and parachute rigging. I was 24 years old and glad to have a job and a place to be.

The next episode will cover my experiences as a parachute rigger, leading up to December 7, 1941 PEARL HARBOR.

"They are all right, and that's What's Wrong"

With (2) days to go it looks like it's going to be some slapped together debt ceiling plan passed. Dollars to doughnuts it won't make anyone happy. It's kind of like when you are traveling with your family in a car and dad wants to stop at the next greasy-spoon truck stop and mom wants to stop at a really nice place, so you end up at IHOP. Dad doesn't get his greasy SOS and mom doesn't get her nice ambiance. Neither are happy despite trying to put a good spin on it and the kids well, they didn't get a vote to begin with. In the debt ceiling scenario the american people are the kids. We don't get a say in the plan and we definitely are at the mercy of the decision makers. So kids swe'll do what we always do, resign ourselves to where we are at in the scheme of things and order the flapjacks!

All the principle arguments in this national tug of war are right and that's the problem.
Consider:

Was our national budget balanced just 12 years ago?
Yes, it was. There is no debate about it we had a balanced budget and several years of a surplus under Bill Clinton.

Did George Bush start us down the road to Perdition?
Yes, the debt went from being balanced to 7 trillion in the hole in his 8 years. He began two (2) wars, created Homeland Security, airport security, awarded HUGE government contracts to Blackwater, Haliburton and countless others. He reduced taxes on the wealthiest americans and then towards his final year in office the economy tanked and there were revenue shortfalls to add to the mess. A perfect storm of bad luck, bad decisions and the govenrnment's failure to (or unwilliness) to recognize the problem even as it was unfolding right in front of them.

Has Barack Obama contributed greatly to the debt problem?
Yes, the debt went from 7 trillion to close to 16-17 trillion in 3 years. He kept all the spending began by Bush and added countless programs of his own. The federal govenment has grown by 20% under his watch. He needed to embark on spending cuts his first day in office but instead he went the other way and spent, spent, spent. Wait two more years when ObamaCare kicks in. Yikes we haven't even added this to the debt ceiling yet.

Have revenues fallen?
Yes, they are at an historic low. Annual revenues are down to 14% when normally they are around 20-22%. Why? Well, tax cuts to the wealthy did not contribute to economic growth. They did not create jobs. The rich just banked more money while paying less into the system. Add to this the moribund economy, the lack of workers buying things, investors not investing, housing starts at record lows plus a dozen more things and you begin to see the Government is simply not getting enough money.

Is spending out of control?
Yes, absolutely. At the very first sign of economic collapse (Late 2007)the economic whiz kids should have jumped into action. They should have begun working on "what if..." scenarios such as what if things tank, what are we going to do? What if revenues fall what are we going to do? Let's start creating a spending cut plan.BUT they did nothing. Like deer in the head lights they just blinked a few times and waited for the collision. Now, 3 years into the great recession and government spending still hasn't been curtailed. Wars are still going on, Halliburton gets their checks on time as do all the other war vendors, increased unemployment, and the list goes on and on and on. The American people have cut their personal spending (good for them, but bad for the overall economy which ironically is also them) but the government has to be dragged kicking and screaming into spending cuts.

Should Obama make concessions in spending?
Yes
Should the Republicans make concessions in taxing wealthier Americans?
Yes

Should Republicans and Democrats alike stop the philosophical war over the
size, scope and purpose of the National Government and start acting like the "people first" patriots they purport to be?

Yes!! The fact is there are millions of Americans scared and holding their breaths. The college student facing the loss of tuition assistance, seniors wondering if they will lose their medical care, young families that want to buy a home but can't meet the sudenly too ridgid lender demands, people that want to work but yet are facing another month with no job.

Time to stop waving flags, exploding fireworks, and playing Lee Greenwood's patriotic song over and over again! All the outward trappings of being an American are worthless if you rot from within. We all need to get with it. American people have to get smarter, vote smarter, and politicians need to put the common welfare of Americans over their party or personal careers.

I Promise Never to Promise"

Well friends the drop dead date of August 2 is now only 5 days away and the squabbling continues. The stock market dropped 450 pts in the last 4 days and that represents 3+%. I've lost 675.00 in a week. Why? Because the debt ceiling problem still looms and investors are getting jelly legs. Then we have the European debt issue that isn't yet resolved. My point is somebody better come up with some good ideas pretty damn soon.

However, this small blog entry is about the ridiculous policy of getting Republicans to sign a personal pledge to NEVER raise taxes. Apparently this shadowy person Grover Norquist (Tea Party) has enough clout to threaten Republicans with future defeat unless they sign this "pledge". I'm sorry if this offends you but that is plain retarded. Whatever if Gomer Pyle of the Democratic driven (Soda Party) makes every Democrat sign a pledge to NEVER cut spending. That also would be retarded. What in the hell is going on here?

Look I want all elected people to go to Washington (or Sacramento) and do their business for the American public, free of fettered pledges. If I was elected to Congress the first thing I wouldn't do is sign away my ability to make informed, rational, necessary decisions. I would leave my re election up to the people in my congressional district based on how well or poorly I've have done.

Look we need our "leaders" (I use the term loosely) to stop listening to lobby brokers, stop signing pledges from fringe groups, stop currying favor with the media, stop chasing skirts down the hallways, stop being irrationally stubborn just to show "who's boss". Grover Norquist go away and let the elected people do their job. And any new congressmen or women should be voted out if the first thing they do is sign their common sense away in some stupid pledge.

All elected officials, by definition, sign a mythical pledge to represent all the people in your constituancy, and use your talents to help all the people of this country. That unspoken pledge trumps any special interest group or shadowy bullys. Live up to that pledge and you will never have any reason to hang your head.

" I Want a Raise Damn It"

Here we go again, playing chicken with the national economy. We have until August 2nd (10 days 6 hours) to raise the debt ceiling past 14+ trillion dollars. In theory, if the Congress does not agree to do this, America will default on loans and in particular international loans. It's money we have already spent. Think of it this way, we wrote a check that is about to bounce unless we fund the account. Even if you are only holding a few U.S. Savings Bonds or have a little money in the stockmarket you are in danger of the value of your holdings going down.

Some people skoff at the talk of how serious the situation is. Partly because America has never underfunded (not paid the check) before. Some ask, what would actually happen? Their thinking is that the U.S. is still a world power and a major player in the world economy. On the other hand, others claim America would be seen as a questionable financial risk. It's much like when your cousin Willie borrowed money from you, left you with an IOU but now says he doesn't have the money. How reluctent are you going to be to loan Willie more money?

If the debt ceiling isn't raised I don't believe the U.S. will come to an end. International markets will not serve a forclosure notice on us. Starbucks will still sell bitter coffee for inflated prices and China will still ship crap to every Walmart in America. Still, to default would likely see some potentially serious repercussions. Even my little 401K plan which is invested in stocks and bonds could sink faster than Sylvester Stallone's mother's new face. The already volatile stock market could easily drop 250 points (or more) in a day which would represent 20% or more of the total value of the market. It's happened before. I can see people panicking again and selling off their now much more worth(less) stocks and bonds and create an even bigger crisis in the stability of our overall econonomy. Our history is that when things go south, they go south in a hurry. People that are still reeling from the current recession (most people) would likely hunker down even more, stop spending even more and our already immoveable recession could easily become a double dip recession or hell a depression. You say pOtato, I say potAto.
So why not just raise the debt ceiling and then roll up our sleeves and get to work fixing our horrible debt level??
Two reasons:
1. To keep raising the national debt ceiling is akin to you saying, "well, I know I am in major debt but since I already wrote the checks on these new purchases, I'll just get more cash out of my credit card and put it into my checking account. Then, next year, I'll work on my debt problem. How many times can you do this before there isn't a next year?
2. Republicans won't agree to a raising of the debt ceiling unless the democrats agree to major spending cuts. Democrats loath spending cuts because it hurts those people in need and those (not in need) but who have figured out ways to cash in on entitlements too. The needy + the damn opportunists tend to vote democratic. (See if you can figure out why)?
Democrats don't want to raise the debt ceiling unless the wealthiest Americans are taxed at a higher rate (actually the rate they were being taxed before Bush reduced their taxes near the end of his second term). Republicans get campaign money from rich Americans (most are Republicans) and are loath to ask these people to pay more taxes. (See if you can figure out why)? So it's a stalemate.

As we move closer to the drop dead date of August 2nd, which side will blink first? You know what you hardly ever, ever see in a game of "chicken"? You hardly ever see both sides so stubborn they would rather self destruct than give in. I hope that's the case here because if the two major political parties decide to crash headlong into each other, there will be collateral damage.

Austin Weighing In

Austin (my son) a twenty something responded to my blog about the New York Magazine survey of graduates from 2011 and an earlier time the grads of 1960. If you need to read the blog he is referring to, go to the archive below and click on July 6th. Enjoy

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post ""Seniors Then and Now":

Austin weighing in:

What survey was this? I mean, where did it come from? Who published it and who conducted it? It sounds pretty biased. Surveys are heavily flawed too, because (as you indicated in one of your paragraphs) they often use wording that is vague, limited or confining. The fact that 0% of people said that they were gay (or bisexual or transgender?) makes it seem like a wholly non-credible survey.

But we are of a generation (us twenty-somethings) that has sprouted the term "quarter-life crisis." I've always been a big fan of the quarter-life crisis because; why not get it done at quarter life rather at during mid-life? And besides, the infamous mid-life crisis is known for being costly, new cars, divorces, renting an apartment in the valley.

But that used to be more of a male thing, though not exclusively a male thing. The quarter-life crisis affects youths of all stripes. I think it has to do with, in part, the economy. We need our parents to survive financially. We can't, like older generations, do it on our own. And people in their early to mid twenties fail to launch, not because they don't want to work hard, but because the jets are fueled, the launch pad is set, but there's no take-off because there's nowhere to land.

And we're also a generation who looks at life in terms of what it has to offer us, not the other way around. This is both good and bad. It's good because it means we have the potential to fulfill our dreams and not live as one of Marx's alienated workers. It's bad because... we often dream more than we do.

Can you picture it? Student X was a History major. He is smart, organized; marginally skilled. He knows how to write. So he gets said job at said company and works in said cubicle. He always pictured himself doing something else, something more "meaningful," but what? He's thinking about going to law school, but he's not sure if it's what he wants or if it's just something to do. He'd really like to backpack through Europe; maybe even "find" himself while he's at it.

In so many ways, this is a totally ancient dilemma. One can picture a ancient student of Athens-U pacing around a campfire at night in a toga, looking up at the constellations, saying to himself: "I always pictured myself doing something more. I really like Philosophy and Astronomy but I don't know... I'm definitely not going to work at the sandal repair shop the rest of my life."

The Biblical adage 'there's nothing new under the sun' was invented by a moody youth with a melancholy bent. Yes, the currency of wood and shale had been greatly devalued. The only thing the young and listless could do was wander the desert.

But it is true that the American socio-economic landscape is changing, and America's youth has all the things the previous generation had, but less of a chance to do something with it.

"Seniors Then and Now"

I recently read with interest a small piece in New York Magazine titled: "Seniors Then and Now". Seniors that graduated from a New York high school in 1960 (really seniors) were compared with high school graduates from the same school, this year 2011. That is an approximate age gap of 50 years. Some surprising results came from this anonymous survey.

For example: 54% of the graduates from 1960 described themselves as being in great health but only 36% of the 18 year olds said that about themselves. I realize great health can mean something different to a 68 year old than a younger person but still, the baby boomers clearly should not have a "Darwinian" edge on health at age 68. Why are so many 18 year olds not in great health?

Another interesting question is are you a charitable person? 62% of the older crowd self identified that they were and only 36% of the teens described themselves as being charitable. The question wasn't did you give to charities (something a 68 year old would likely be able to do more than an 18 year old). NO the question was are you someone that freely gives to others and many young people (2 out of 3 in fact) said no.

In favor of the teens was this question: Are/were you a great student (obviously meaning high school) and 43% of todays grads said yes whereas only 29% of the boomers said they were. Why weren't the boomers better students? Are the teens thinking they are great students because of grade inflation and the incessant need to tell kids they are great? Maybe they the teens are great students because they have to be in this competitive world whereas in 1960 there were many ways to make a buck.

Are you able to express yourself? This question I thought would yield scads of boomers that had been told to stay quiet unless spoken too, but NO. 83% said they are able to express themselves but only 49% of todays grads thought so about themselves. Is social networking causing young people to be able to communicate with their device but real people? The 1960 grads had no other viable method to make their way in the world except learning to express themselves. Either that or end up in a dead end job where mumbling to yourself was your only social network.

Baby boomers said they aren't party people or hosts of parties, 29% but todays chatty kids said yes they host and attend social gatherings, 50%. This question yielded shocking results (to me): do you believe in an afterlife? Which group do you think said yes more? Baby boomers said they believed in an afterlife at the rate of 9%. Nine frigging percent!!! 9 of 10 people aged 68 said they didn't believe in an afterlife. However, 49% of this supposedly jaded younger generation said yes they believe in an afterlife.

The boomers indicated they read books and newspapers more by large margins, but the youth self reported being more laid back, more realistic and more humble than the older group. This younger generation self-reported more drug use, and admitted they drink too much by whopping scores: Drug use: Boomers 0%, 18 year olds 19%. Of course the question must have been are you CURRENTLY using or drinking too much because most of those baby boomers would have had to own up to the fact that when they were 18 they used drugs and drank too much too. I mean they were at woodstock, and countless other venues where pot was more available than water. C'mon now!

The most shocking question / results was this one: Are you gay or lesbian? Boomers said yes (3%) and the 18 year olds reported an incredible (0%). Apparently when it comes to age, young and old alike are in the closet together.

To be fair, this survey tended to ask questions more favorable to the boomers. For example, do you read newspapers and boomers said yes (91%) but they didn't ask this question, do you seek out news and information from all sources other than newspapers? Young people would have undoubedly said yes at a higher rate.
The point is this, young people may keep up on the news but do so on cumputers and Iphones etc.

The one result that saddened me was this one: Are you satisfied with your life right now? 60 year olds said yes (86%) but 18 year olds said yes a lot less frequently (61%). I really don't like thinking this younger generation 18-38 is so disatisfied. I mean shouldn't 68 year old's be the ones concerned about their lives and future, their shrinking incomes, health issues and so forth?? Shouldn't younger people be happier?? Why aren't younger people more satisfied with how their lives are?

Do you have any ideas??

Weiner Response + Gates & Service

My friend Mike Moldeven found my last posting on Anthony Weiner especially interesting and has written a cogent response. Here is his take on poor Anthony Weiner and the media that feeds on human frailties. After that Mike presents excerps from a News Hour interview with Robert Gates and hilights his belief in all americans contributing service to our country. Enjoy


'About Weiner's public embarrassment over the nastiness of his situation I felt the same as you might have. As with most males, I am not and never was an angel, but, again, as with men collectively and/or generally, we guys get to feeling somewhat negative trying to avoid, reject or rub off the smear of gender association with some schmuck that can't keep show-and-tell away from profit motivated-candid-camera-snapshot-photographers and -commentators.

At my age (94) I still have strong recollections of Minsky's 1930s 42d Street Burlesques and similar NY dives 'in action.' So, the hell with the Weenees a la Weiner and the yelping media (paper and electronic) columnists that use scandal-in-print/via TV to diminish-and-destroy. Your blog (Will) presented multiple views of a human's character. To me that was 'context' for the human dilemma: the fair-minded conscientious effort to ask oneself: what am I doing?'

~~~~
Jim Lehrer's Last Interview with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Posted by Meyer Moldeven on June 25, 2011 at 6:30pm
View My Blog

This posting reflects my thoughts after viewing the PBS NewsHour program of a few days ago in which Jim Lehrer formally interviewed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for the last official time. One point in their conversation was of special interest to me because Gates' expressed his feelings on 'citizen' involvement taking on responsibilities and tasks like I did along with my many colleagues for over 35 years as a government employee.

From the transcript:
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Secretary, you spoke a year or so ago at Duke University, where you talked about the fact that for most Americans, our wars, America's wars, have become an abstraction because so few of Americans and their families are directly involved. Is that hurting us as a country, do you think?
ROBERT GATES: Well, I think that it makes most Americans, the 99 percent of Americans who are not serving unaware of the strains and the stresses on our military families. And so what I've been trying to do and what Mrs. Biden and Mrs. Obama and the chairman and his wife - all these folks, are trying to do is to try and get that other 99 percent to - they all say they support the troops, but it's not just enough to say it. Go out and find one of them and give them a job. If they need some repairs on their house, do that. Mow the grass. Find some action you can take as a citizen who appreciates our military to help those families and particularly the families of those who are deployed. Every town in America has somebody from the National Guard who's probably deployed. So there's somebody out there that they can help. And actions always speak louder than words.
JIM LEHRER: So you're not suggesting some kind of mandatory national service or something like that that would force people to be more aware of war?
ROBERT GATES: No. Speaking personally...
JIM LEHRER: Yes.
ROBERT GATES: ...I have always that there ought to be some kind of mandatory national service, not necessarily in the military but to show everybody that freedom isn't free, that everybody has an obligation to the nation as a community. And so it could be military service, it could be teaching in rural or poor areas, it could be nursing, it could be any kind of service projects - the Peace Corps, whatever, but a period of service - working in our national parks or something - but a period of service that basically gives back to the nation that has given its citizens so much.
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Secretary, much has been written and said about your last four and a half years as secretary of defense. And a lot of people have been assessing your performance. What do you think of the way you've performed as secretary of state the last - secretary of defense the last four and half years?
ROBERT GATES: Well, I would say that, you know, there's been a lot that's happened over the last four and a half years. I will say that I think that the thing I'm proudest of is what I've been able to do for our troops, giving them these heavily armored vehicles, these Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles; giving them one-hour medevac or less in Afghanistan; more reconnaissance capabilities to prevent them from being attacked; trying to do whatever was necessary to help them accomplish their mission and come home safely.
JIM LEHRER: And you feel good about what you've done?
ROBERT GATES: I feel very good about that.
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Secretary, thank you and good luck.
ROBERT GATES: Thanks very much.

Ruminations on a Weiner

Think of a two sided coin. That's what I think about with the current demise of Congressman Anthony Weiner's career. Let's look at one side of the coin.

On one side we have the deposed narcisscist. A young man as politicians go,(45) he is done in by his own juvenile antics. Why in the wide wide world of wonder didn't he realize that twitter, photos, and texts can be gotten ahold of in this voyeuristic society of ours. I had high school kids capable of tracking down photos sent from a cell phone. There are people out there that do nothing but look for these kinds of stories. You send a picture thinking it's just a private creepy moment between you and Carlotta, also send along some creepy dialogue with the pictures but what is to keep Carlotta (the recipient of your "package") from offering the pictures to a scandal rag (magazine) for money or maybe seeking notoriety for herself by calling Andrew Breitbard and saying boy do I have story for you.

Simply put, none of us can get away with much of anything these days and the higher profile job you have, the less you can get away with. Don't believe me? Ask Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Newt Gingrich, Eliot Spitzer and a dozens of others. So that tells me, deep inside Anthony Weiner is self destructive. Someone that has to sabotage his own efforts. I saw many students in my classes work hard, be on the verge of success and then find some way to do themselves in. Time to see the therapist Anthony (but I mean a real one) not the Lindsay Lohan kind.

In truth he is still young (politically) and can mount a come back as I believe Eliot Spitzer is doing now. People will soon forget his dumb move because soon enough someone else in the limelight will do something even dumber. 2 years from now he could still use his political smarts and speaking skills to get back in the game. But he does have to change his ways. He has to figure out why he did himself in and fix that. Anymore photos of his scrot (or worse) and he can forget politics altogether and begin applying to the Tom Cruise School of Bartending. Thank your lucky stars Mr. Weiner that you are forty five and not sixty. If you were sixty it would be game, set, match!

On the other side of the coin is this. Why do we, Americans, continue to labor under the foolish notion that our elected officials have to be squeaky clean perfect people in order to do their job? Have we always had this belief that elected officials were (are) holier than everyone else? Thomas Jefferson had a long relationship with one of his slaves. Ulysses Grant was an alcoholic president. Look, JFK had lots women on the side and he was the ruler of Camelot. Robert Kennedy the icon of virtue had a hot and heavy with Marilyn Monroe and at a time when he was married with a station wagon full of kids. Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Charlie Rangel, and scads of others. These are people we are electing, not robots. People can not only be weird they often are weird.

Think back to your young adult years, any skeletons there? So just because some people are smart enough, speak well enough, schmooze well, BS with the best, and claw their way up the snarky ladder of politics doesn't make them impervious to doing dumb things. We have to separate out the job they do for us from their own personal shortcomings. If I said it once I said it a thousand times, the American people mostly don't care who you are screwing while in office as long as it's not them. Let's get off the Anthony Weiner is the worst human being on the planet thing and just accept that he did something really, really dumb, dumb enough to give himself his own termination notice. Maybe he'll grow up and finally become the leader he had shown promise in becoming. It's a toss up.

New Features"

Hi

I've added some new features to this blog. You can scroll down to the "What in the World is Going On" and it will give you the most current headlines from three different news sources. It continues to change from one source to another, and if you see a title that intrigues you, click on it and it takes you to the story.

I updated my ups / downs list, and I took individual names off the followers list since I do not know who still reads and who doesn't. From now on the followers is simply YOU.

I've added pageviews but I don't know what it is exactly right now but it's at 995.

I'm keeping the color scheme and layout because it works. Please consider writing about something important to you and send to me via e-mail and I will import it into the blog.

Also I would like to add a picture of you for the followers section like Sabrina did. Send me a picture and I will import it.

Good News for Me: My son Austin will teach his first college class this next fall. English 201 at Hunter College, a composition class.