Who is Responsible?

Conventional wisdom these days says that we are all responsible for our own successes and failures. We create our own problems, and have the capacity to solve them. That the measure of a man is how effective he is at meeting life's problems head-on and turning problems into opportunities.

I keep trying to tell myself the same thing. My problems are really opportunities to grow and succeed in life. They are the hot flame that hardens and refines me. They help me grow in wisdom.

Thanks, but I'm at the point where I think it's time to turn down the heat a bit. There seems to be too much being thrown at me at once this summer, and I'm ready to surrender. Stress makes me stupid - I almost took a bad job just for the change, and health insurance. I've been working like a maniac, but somehow it's never enough. I've been trying to make everyone happy, but nobody is; especially me.

When there are too many problems that I can't solve, I feel out of control. This is one of those times. I know I must snap out of it, and solve the problems. But right now I'd rather just hide out for awhile.

Somehow over the course of the next few weeks I'll find a way to make things a little better. But just temporarily better, not solved.

Gotta stop before I give away what I must keep to myself.

Wishing for a Weekend

This whole exile thing doesn't seem such a good idea at this moment. Between the stress of working long hours for the clients I'm visiting, I've also been hit with a variety of urgent things I also have to do. It's too much work, too much stress, too much frustration.

Enough of that.

The last few days I've been at a casino. It's full of grey/white/blue-haired folks. There's a continental breakfast off the lobby that was so jammed with elders this morning I didn't get much and couldn't sit down to eat. Is that what retirees do these days? Go spend a weekend at some casino? That doesn't seem like much fun to me, but I guess the casinos love the old folks.

Between state lotteries and the spread of casinos across the country, I'm more than a little disgusted. I'm old enough to remember when gambling was considered a kind of lowbrow and sinful activity. Now everybody does it, and the government loves it.

Lotteries are taxes on poor and stupid people. I've met many folks during my lifetime who routinely buy their quota of lottery tickets in the sad belief that someday the numbers will come up and make them rich. Maybe it's not much to worry about for many of those people, but the really poor are getting poorer chasing that impossible dream.

The big secret about what happens to towns when casinos arrive isn't all the locals who get the low-paying jobs there. Is everybody really OK with the increase in crime that comes with the casinos? Is replacing the manufacturing jobs that went overseas with casino jobs at half the pay worth the side effects of drugs, theft, prostitution, etc.?

Yeah, I do a lot of consulting for casino companies. So it's true that I'm making part of my living in the same industry. It presents a bit of a dilemma for me, working for the very businesses I find distasteful.

Maybe I can fall into a pile of money so I don't have to work for the evil casinos. At least I, who never gamble, get about the same odds of coming into big money as those who spend money they don't have on lottery tickets and casino games.

Stem Cells and Terrorists and Gays (Oh my!)

The political stuff is beginning to bore me, but I'll go ahead and post my particular take on the things that have been happening over the last week.

How about using the order established in the title.

Stem Cells. The argument's been going on for several years. People like the late Christopher Reeve, Michael J. Fox, and Nancy Reagan have all been publicly lobbying for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

I've heard both side of the argument. Proponents say that embryonic stem cells have a potential for curing damaged spinal cords, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. (See Reeve, Fox, Reagan). Their emotion-filled argument sounds full of hope that they or their family members could be (or could have been) cured of their terrible diseases, except the evil Bush refused to fund the research.

The other side fears a slippery slope. They have a somewhat cynical view that many proponents of this research are in it to further rationalize abortion than a sincere belief in cures. But their bottom line is that it is immoral to create a human embryo for the sole purpose of destroying (read, killing) it to search for a cure that isn't even likely.

Here's what I understand about the issue. Embryonic stem cells have not yet proven therapeutic for any disease, despite scientists worldwide apparently working hard in their labs to solve the puzzle. However, adult and placental stem cells, which by the way don't require killing anybody, are already being used successfully to treat all sorts of diseases.

What people on the "pro" side either miss or cynically avoid admitting are the basic facts I outlined above, plus the fact that Bush didn't "ban" stem cell research at all - he merely refuses to fund it with federal tax dollars.

What some people on the "con" side may miss is the fact that nobody is proposing the use of aborted fetuses for this research. They instead are asking permission to obtain unused embryos from fertility clinics. But those on this side who do understand that still oppose the research because #1: They have a moral objection to killing embryos under any circumstances, even from fertility clinics; #2: They are convinced that those who do the research will quickly be back demanding they be allowed to use aborted fetuses or even create embryos themselves for destruction in their research; and #3: They believe there are plenty of private biotech companies doing the research on their own without any help from Uncle Sam, and there's no reason to use tax dollars from people morally opposed to this research to support research that may eventually make some biotech company extremely rich.

So I've got no problem with Bush's veto of the bill out of congress today.

Next, terrorists. It's kind of scary to see the escalating conflict between Israel and their enemies. The crazy thing is everybody from Kofi Annan to CNN to Howard Dean running around blaming the current war on, you guessed it, President Bush. The twisted logic is that if Bush had somehow left Iraq alone, none of this stuff with Iran and Syria and Hezbollah and Hamas and North Korea would have happened.

Did our invasion of Iraq enrage a lot of radical Islamic terrorist types? Sure. News Flash! War usually does make the enemy hate you more when you fight them. The idea from the pacifists is that we could have somehow brought everyone in the world together to scold the terrorists, as if they were little children, to suddenly love us and stop trying to kill us. Iran, North Korea, and Syria were our enemies in 2001 and they remain our enemies today. Right now they've decided to take on Israel in full-on warfare through their proxies. Next they will do their best to attack American cities.

I know I said it before, but it's really very simple. Aggressors cannot be appeased. Never in history has anyone successfully appeased them. They are either defeated or they win.

Finally, gays. Congress tried to get the gay marriage amendment rolling and failed. They got lots of votes but not the two-thirds it requires. Why did they push this amendment? Was it some sort of campaign stunt, or were they serious?

I'd say both. Conservatives in the House can most definitely use their "Yes" votes to hold off their liberal challengers who mostly think Gay Marriage should be the law of the land. But the fundamental reason they tried the amendment was to keep the courts from forcing it on all of us without our approval. Massachusetts is the first example, and there likely will be other left-wing judges more than happy to dictate the subject against the wishes of the majority.

We live in interesting times.

Exile

My 2 week exile is underway. Just finished in DC with a day that went 8-8, and now here I am writing a blog entry for reasons I can't quite fathom. Maybe because I usually go 8-9 and feel like I have to do something with the extra hour.

Tomorrow an early-morning flight to Seattle. And I actually look forward to it a bit, because I don't have to do any actual work, and nobody will be able to reach me because the airlines make you turn off your cellphones during flight. Hopefully my upgrade went through and I can sit back in first class with a good book to pass the time.

Not that anybody cares, but the rest of my exile is a return flight to DC next weekend with the same trip back to Seattle again same time, next week. If I'm lucky, the exile will end before August rolls around.

This post was going to have a bit more, but I just got a big reminder from somewhere behind my navel that it's time to stop messing around and get some food.

Back to the 70's

Had an all-70's web radio playing while I worked yesterday, and it got me thinking about the evolution of popular music.

Call me biased, since of course the 70's is the decade in which I came of age, but I think it might be the best music decade in the modern era. Let me make the case.

Reason #1: Some of the greatest bands and artists made timeless classics.

Many of these are still around, and others are iconic. Just a short list:
Aerosmith, The Who, Elton John, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Genesis, Boston, Nugent, Clapton, Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan. I probably forgot somebody important.

Reason #2: Music so good I personally haven't heard better since.
There were the bands and artists so well known that I listed above, but some of my favorites have never been duplicated.
My personal all-time favorites were Chicago, Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, and I, uh, had this crush on Olivia.

Reason #3: There was something for everyone.
From acid or metal to folk, there was a lot of great music for any taste. I was a great fan of Chapin's story songs. Others enjoyed Carly Simon and James Taylor (who by the way were married briefly back then).

We've gotta give Barry Manilow his due. I find it rather funny that nobody will admit to ever being a Manilow fan, but somebody had to be to explain his huge album sales and airplay. OK, I admit that I sort of liked Manilow. I listened to him when he came on the radio, saw him in concert once, and even did one of his songs as a solo in U. Singers.

Then there's disco. I think everybody who hates or makes fun of disco missed the point. Disco never tried to be about serious music. It was all about fun. And the girls were really into the disco dancing scene, which meant guys actually went out and learned the Hustle for the sole purpose of meeting them. Listen to the Bee Gees and Donna Summer and the Village People, and I think you'll hear that they're not about anything but having a good time.

Generally what I miss most about the music of the 70's in contrast to today's popular music is the spirit. In the 70's, music was about love and fun and hopefulness. Sure, lots of songs were kind of sappy by today's terms, but I don't have a problem with that. Today's music seems much more cynical and worldly and much less soulful. And in my humble opinion, it's hard to find an artist these days that can actually sing with range and pitch and tone. It seems like these days, good singers need not apply.

I think I'll listen to that 70's station some more. It takes me back, bringing some feelings and memories of people and events I haven't thought about in a long time.

Inevitable

The mess in the middle east continues. An emboldened Hamas ratchets up the conflict with Israel, which in turn emboldens Hezbollah to do the same. Is peace in that region a pipe dream, or has everyone just been looking in the wrong places for peace?

Going back to the original speech by the President in the buildup to the Iraq war, we can still point to the forces of evil in the world named by him: Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea. The only thing that has changed is Iraq, which isn't a state sponsor of terrorism but is going through the birth pains of a democratic state. Iran and Syria are still out there, arming and moving "insurgents" into Iraq and pulling the strings of both Hamas and Hezbollah.

The constant warring and turmoil could be stopped in a number of ways. For example, if the UN was an effective organization rather than the corrupt and dysfunctional waste of money it is today, they should get together to solve the problem.

The solution is simple: Work with Israel to draw the lines between Israel and Palestine, then send a multinational force to enforce those borders indefinitely. And enforcement doesn't mean a bunch of unarmed blue helmets standing around making good targets for terrorists. It means a force armed to the teeth that puts up with no nonsense. Anybody who violates the border or tosses rockets across the border or otherwise threatens the peace is dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly until such activities cease.

Iran stops building nukes or we take out the facilities. They and Syria stop supporting terrorists or we build a big wall around their countries through which nothing comes out or goes in.

Basically, the US could do all these things all by ourselves if we wanted to, but such an action will be so opposed as to make the Iraq war opposition look trite. Because too many people in this country and the world live in a fantasy world where all that needs to be done is discuss these things reasonably with combatants until they see the light and voluntarily choose peace.

Iran and Syria are behind an Islamic jihad. There is a clearly stated goal of erasing Israel from the planet, then bringing about a world dominated by Islam. From Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush, talks and peace plans and "frameworks" have taken place on a nearly continuous basis until Israel was finally convinced to give up territories to the Palestinians in return for peace. See what that got them.

My reading of history suggests that no aggressor has never been successfully appeased. They either attack and win or are defeated. Peace must be won, not negotiated.

As much as we wish there was another way, there is not. We can solve the problem through strength and resolve now, or be pulled into a long, difficult, and costly war later. Unfortunately the world's leaders are committed to later.

American Mythology

There is a great deal of mythology happening in the American public discourse. Any reasoned and logical analysis of the kinds of political arguments being made these days would have to conclude that the most commonly held beliefs held by people and promulgated by those who stand to benefit from them are mythological rather than factual.

Here's a long list of mythological theories held by huge segments of the population:

• "Bush lied" - complete myth promulgated by the anti-war crowd, continuing in spite of direct evidence to the contrary.
• Bush, Cheney, Rove, et al broke the law by exposing the name of Valerie Plame.
  
• High oil prices are because of some Bush/Cheney scheme to enrich their buddies in the oil business.
• Illegal immigrants do jobs Americans won't do.
• Raising the minimum wage to $6 or $6.50 would wreck the economy.
• There are no anti-trust violations in corporate America, or mega-monopolistic corporations aren't a problem.
• Tax cuts only benefited the "rich".
• Network and NY Times reporting is fair and unbiased.
• Republicans are more fiscally responsible than Democrats.
• Democrats are more fiscally responsible than Republicans.
• The US Senate is in touch and cares about what's best for their consituents.
• Republicans are more corrupt than Democrats.
• Right-wing conservatives want to make the US a theocracy.
• Democrats have a plan for victory in Iraq and the War on Terror.
• Bush has no plan for victory in Iraq and the War on Terror.
• There were no WMD in Iraq.
• If we just stop "meddling" in the middle east, the terrorists will become our friends, or at least leave us alone.
• The Iranian nuclear threat is Bush's fault.
• The Iranian nuclear threat is Clinton's fault.
• The North Korean nuclear threat is Bush's fault.
• The French, Germans, Russians, and Chinese are our friends.
• The French, Germans, Russians, and Chinese would be our friends if it wasn't for Bush.
• Government deficits exist because the rich aren't taxed enough.
• 9/11 was an "inside job".
• All conservatives are racists or fascists.
• All liberals are communists.
• Prisoners in Iraq and Gitmo are routinely tortured by American troops under the direction of the Bush administration.
  
• Abortion is a fundamental human right, not infanticide.
• It's not possible to secure the borders.
• It's not possible to enforce laws against employers hiring illegal immigrants.
• Politicians refust to solve the illegal immigration problem because they care about the welfare of immigrants.
• The Supreme Court makes all decisions strictly on interpretation of U.S. law and the constitution.
• American "war criminal" troops routinely murder, rape, and loot innocent Iraqis.
  
• Bush "stole" both his elections for President.
• Colleges and Universities are havens for diversity of thought and freedom of expression of all ideas and philosophies.
• The NY Times has the right to publish details of classified intelligence programs to expose a president that has overreached his powers, even if such publication damages efforts to protect the country from terrorist attack.
• Congressmen aren't beholden to big special-interest donors, and don't pass or block legislation to favor those who help keep them in office. Such as coporate interests, foreign interests (China), trade unions, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, banks and investment firms, environmental organizations, George Soros, etc.
  

And these were just off the top of my head.

Back to Work

Getting a four day weekend after not a day off all year was fantastic. Trip to Goshen and a lazy 4th were a nice combination to recharge batteries a bit. The main problem was that I really didn't want to go back to work on Wednesday.

Wednesday was crazy enough that it seemed to justify my reluctance to return.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could just work whenever we felt like it and still be able to pay the bills? There's a dream job for ya. Show up whenever you like, leave when you're done or just have had enough. If you wake up one morning and the sun is shining, just skip work and go play golf. Or you wake up and feel rotten, just turn over and go back to sleep.

How many days would we work per month if we had such dream jobs? Or would they really be dream jobs after awhile? If the job isn't important enough that you can just skip out whenever you feel the urge, would you ever really want to show up? I think eventually most of us would end up trying to find something more challenging, or we would just show up every day and try to make something out of the job that makes us feel useful.

Life's dilemma, I suppose. What's worthwhile is very difficult. What's easy is boring and unsatisfying. We can choose.