Throw Them All Out

Over the years I've found politics in general to be fascinating and positive, but in recent years, I've come to the conclusion that something is very wrong with the political process in this country.   Our nation's current inability to adjust the debt ceiling, the latest of a long series of governmental paralyses, is truly frustrating and apparently never-ending.

The people who are arguing ad nauseum in Washington, D.C. over how to raise the debt limit, have one thing in common with the politicians who find ways to also justify their personal peccadilloes.  Like Congressman Joe Walsh (no relation to the great Eagles guitarist) who has been ranting and raving that President Obama is a "liar" and that there are lots of ways to fund the government's programs without raising the debt limit.  He has accused the "other" party of mismanaging the economy and recklessly spending our money.  He was elected by about 300 votes in 2010.

Now we have news that the Congressman is arrears more than $100,000 to his ex-wife for child support.  He has dismissed the reports as a political hatchet job, but the court records and extensive "negotiating" with his ex-wife, as well as other reported financial problems he seems to have had, tend to lead me to the conclusion that he is just another politician who is a hypocrite and hack.

I've come to believe that the major cause of our political paralysis is because so many (all?) of our politicians and so-called "leaders" are egomaniacs convinced that they have all the answers.  This world-view means that they are unable to even consider that someone else might have some insight on a particular subject and that it would be in the national interest to actually negotiate with them to reach a compromise.   In fact, the very notion of a compromise is anathema to them.  To reach a compromise is admit they didn't have all the answers.

And this is why we have the Speaker of the House walking out of discussions with the President and frantically trying to pull his House majority together, including the Tea Party zealots, to make a symbolic, but meaningless (because it has no chance of passing the Senate), effort to raise the debt ceiling by further debilitating the middle class.  The Republicant Party has sold itself to the Tea Party egomaniacs and corporate interests and can't reach out to actually negotiate. 

While I think the Republicant Party has made egomania and hypocrisy an art form, politicians of both major political parties seem to believe they are the font of all knowledge.  We need to throw them all out.

These are very scary times we live in. 

The Legacy of the "Great Stone Face"

If you are of a "certain age," you probably remember what you were doing every, and I mean EVERY, Sunday night back in the 1950s and 1960s.   You were camped out with the rest of your family in front of your Crosley, Sylvania, or Zenith television watching the same show as everyone else you knew.   The Ed Sullivan Show.   It was the mother of all variety shows, a genre which doesn't exist on TV these days, even with (or because of) the 500+ channels many of us can access via cable or satellite.   It was a genre that included comedians, musicians, and what always seemed to me to be leftover vaudeville acts.   And when I say leftover, I'm not using the term in a negative manner at all.  

A recent article in the Trib described the Ed Sullivan Show on the 40th anniversary of the show's cancellation back in 1971.  It's nearly impossible to describe to a person born after 1971 how big the Sullivan show was, but here's a comparison to today's big pop TV shows:

"American Idol" draws about 30 million viewers for its grand-finale shows, whereas Sullivan attracted some 40 million viewers nearly every Sunday night for two decades — when the country had half as many people as it does now.

In the article, Gerald Nachman says that the show today is remembered for two of its "10,000 acts":  the American debut of the Beatles and Elvis Presley's scandalizing hip gyrations.  I don't agree with that assessment.   I'll bet that if you were watching TV when the Ed Sullivan Show was airing, you remember two other acts: Topo Gigio, and that guy who spun multiple pie plates on long poles.  Who could forget the "little Italian mouse?"  And what about Senor Wences?!

That said, Nachman discusses in detail that Sullivan's greatest legacy was his relentless efforts to introduce black entertainers to the wider viewing public, acts like The Supremes, Sam Cooke, and a very young Richard Pryor.   

The show was truly a remarkable trend setter and brought countless hours of entertainment right into our living rooms every week.  The Trib article is well worth the 10 minutes to read it.

I miss variety television shows.   But you probably figured that out already.

From The Mouths of

So my grandson came over this morning a little later than normal.   Usually, he comes over before I'm even out of bed and my wife takes care of breakfast.   Today, it was just us two guys.

So, Josh tells me all about the fantastic "double chocolate" doughnut his parents had gotten him this morning when they were dropping off Dad at work.  His mom had one also.

Anyway, I'm getting my breakfast ready and chatting with Josh, and I'm almost ready to sit down with my bowl of cereal.  Josh is watching everything and finally says, "So Pop-pop, that doughnut was just to hold me over."

I looked at him and didn't immediately understand what he was saying.   So, I say "OK."  Joshua, who long ago realized his grandfather was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, repeats: "Pop-pop, the doughnut was just to hold me over."  My son also used the explanatory technique of repeating the exact same words when I didn't understand his question or explanation.  It generally didn't help.

Anyway, I finally realize what's going on.   "Josh, you mean you didn't have breakfast at home?"  His face noticeably relaxed and he nodded.   Suffice it to say, I asked what he'd like, we got his breakfast prepared (he chose rice krispies, with milk) and all was well. 

It's a very good thing Josh and I are so simpatico.   Neither of us stands on any formalities and we just like hanging out together.   I could easily have him remain 5 1/2 for a long, long time.

Remind me to tell you about the quest for free air to inflate my Mustang tires (that was after breakfast).   He shared some choice words of wisdom for me that I should probably heed.  But not today.

The More Things Change

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The older I get, the more often I feel that I'm in some sort of time warp, in which events of today seem to be reflections of events that occurred in my younger days.   In today's topic, the current events mirror some even older events, namely the anti-labor rhetoric and demonizing that led up to the "Haymarket Riot" in Chicago, back in 1886.  Just as it is today, the labor union movement in the 1880s was under attack and made the scapegoat for the nation's economic problems.   The effect of Haymarket and the resultant trials and hangings, was a setback to labor organization and development in this country for decades.   Then, workers were struggling to form unions; now workers are struggling to keep them.  Haymarket became the focus of May Day memorials around the world, but hardly at all in this country.  

All of this is described in detail in a timely article in the Chicago Tribune which can be found here.  We need to ensure that today's workers know what happened in Chicago in 1886 and how it relates to their lives today.   Because it surely does relate to today.