The Audacity of Common Sense

As the Christmas season ensues the American public is given the present of seeing how buffoonish and inane our elected representatives can be. It would be a nice present, if once, just once, these wacky guys and gals would do what they were sent to Washington to do and act in the best interests of their constituents. Of course this would mean compromise and unselfish behavior aimed at improving the economy, creating jobs, ending DADT, approving a treaty to police nuclear arms, extending unemployment so people can eat....just little stocking stuffers that most people with a third grade education agree are in the best interests of the country.

President Audacity of Change seems to have left his competitive spirit on the basketball court in all this holiday hoopla. Maybe that elbow in the mouth left him with a concussion and he needs to be taken out of the game pending a thorough medical workup. Despite his 2008 mandate and best wishes of most, he has managed to let the Republicans post him up time and time again. Last time I checked nobody is mistaking McConnell for Dwight Howard. A hard foul now and again goes a long way toward keeping those with lofty intentions out of the paint. Time for a Louisville left hook change-man.

If would be nice to garner hope this hopiest of seasons, but it does not look good for anyone, but the Wall Street crowd and those three percent who own the rest of us. Economics being what they are, nobody has much of a clue as to what to do to create jobs on a massive scale, but from deep down in the roots of the grass I have a few ideas.

First, go back to lending money to unqualified buyers to buy houses to stimulate the housing market. The government can provide cover in the way of loan guarantees, but this time make sure that people are actually buying houses they can afford to own. Given the landslide of housing prices, it shouldn't be hard for just about anyone to find an affordable house these days. Next, force the big banking concerns to break up and start creating a system of local community banks that are oriented to their neighbors and responsive to the needs of the communities they do business in. When I was a kid the local bank was owned by those who lived in my town, who had kids who went to the same school my parents kids did, making it a lot easier to talk to them about getting loans or resolving issues. Also, revamp the credit reporting and debt collection industries. Isn't it about time that the average American be given access to the arcane formulas that credit bureaus use to come up with credit scores? Next, make it illegal for potential employers to use credit reports in assessing job applicants. Finally, institute a program to allow those with student loan debt to make offers of compromise, ala tax debts.

Just a few ideas that seem to make sense to this Grinch; try to have a happy holiday season.

The Money Grab

I had the misfortune of getting a speeding ticket this weekend. I'm not disputing my guilt Despite the fact that I rarely speed, on this occasion, I was definitely over the limit. What upset me was the absolute determination of the officer to write the ticket without even considering a reprimand and leniency. Even though I don't agree with this mindset, I understand what goes.

Traffic citations are a source of revenue for municipalities and have become, in these troubling economic times, one way in which many cities, towns and villages are seeking to reap income to close their budget gaps. As such the Barney Fifes are out in force, setting up speed traps and scouring their ordinance books to squeeze every dollar they can out of drivers. Since when did traffic laws become a tax and cease to be an instrument of public safety? The proliferation of red light cameras, random "license" checks, and the mother of all money grabs, impound fees, is disturbing. Maybe for some a speeding ticket here and there is no big deal, but to me and most of humanity a dollar still has value. What is also particularly irksome is the fact that if one rolls over and pays the fine via mail it is roughly one third of the minimum fine that is charged if one has the audacity to show up in court. Freedom isn't free, but we can't be clogging up the courts with annoying citizens who wish to actually defend themselves.

There is also the disturbing nature of just who is doing the policing and judging. Show me a cop who has never violated a traffic law and I'll show you a unicorn attending Harvard. Not too long ago a local criminal prosecutor was tragically killed in a one car collision after consuming too many martinis with her cohorts. Just this past year a local judge was cited for reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, but somehow the judicial ethics folks had no problem with him remaining in robes behind the bench.

The point here is simple. No one is above the law, but few have not strayed beneath once in a while. As such the punishment should fit the crimes and the laws should serve to insure the public safety and not used to raise revenue. It would also be nice if those entrusted with serving and protecting us from the evil doers, weren't evil doers themselves.

The Stench of Voting

I voted on Tuesday; reluctantly. The only solace to having this election over with is that we no longer have to be bombarded by the crap that is thrown our way via election ads, unsolicited cell phone calls (thanks T Mobile for selling my number) and the endless punditry that passes for political commentary.

Sadly, the way the federal and state governments are constituted is woefully ill-suited to deal with the massive problems that affect Americans. The framers of the constitution rightfully sought to infuse restraint and balance into our system of government, but they could not have foreseen the evolution of this nation into one where our media and politicians have been co opted and corrupted to the point where the will of the people and the power of sovereignty means nothing.

Voting is a Pyrrhic endeavor given the choices that are offered. The quality of the candidates is substandard. No one with any real intellect and moral balance would seriously get anywhere close to the swamp that government has become. Those who are the best and brightest know that even those with good intentions soon become corrupted by the process and are forced to compromise their values to the point where they become meaningless. The end goal of every politician, no matter how well intentioned on the campaign trail, soon becomes the pursuit of power at all costs. This mindset translates into a concerted pattern of avoiding tough game-changing policies and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Smoke and mirrors replace imagination and innovation and hidden agendas abound.

The standard of living in this country is in landslide mode. Effective unemployment, those without jobs or teetering on the brink of unemployment, is in the neighborhood of twenty percent. Owning a home used to be one's best, and often, only investment for the future. Now, with housing prices in free fall, it makes little financial sense to own rather than rent. A college degree used to be an investment in success and security. Now, it is often just another way into suffocating debt and despair.

The education system in this nation is broken and failing our children and our future. Manufacturing, once the backbone of our economy is securely situated in the far east. Our government continues to commit to draining the treasury by fighting wars that are unwinable and morally unjustified. Even seemingly simple issues like Gays in the military are confused and compounded into political issues that seem beyond resolve.

I wish I could be optimistic, but without major changes in the structure and operation of government, there is little hope. It is incomprehensible that government cannot provide effective defense, affordable healthcare, legitimate education and employment to citizens. This let them eat cake attitude is taking us all down the road to a time when a significant portion of the population is having to deal with basic survival.

Tuesday's so-called Republican tsunami comes under the heading of "careful what you wish for." I suspect soon-to-be speaker, Boehner's tears on election night were less indicative of his life trajectory and more representative of the reality that his ox is the one that is next go be gored. We can only hope that the anger and despair that propels lunatics like O'Donnell, Paul and Angle into prominence will serve notice on Congress that chaos is an option if real change is not in the offing.

Despicable Choices at Election Time

In Illinois, once again, we are faced with a daunting choice in the upcoming election; which candidates are least despicable. The two major races in Illinois, governor and U.S. Senate, present us with no real choice. In both races we are presented with men who have questionable records and policies, who I would be hard pressed to hire to walk my dog.

Governor Pat Quinn is a mealy-mouthed political hack who has proven in his short time in office that he has no clue how to run a state and has no backbone to stand up to the real governor, Michael Madigan. Quinn's opponent, Bill Brady, presents little in the way of innovation and looks from here like another George Ryan in the making. In other words, he'll come in, present a clean image, but likely will just settle into doing business as usual instead of challenging the Democrat elites who really run things. How long will it be before ole' Bill will be seen rolling the bones at some casino or soliciting campaign contributions for relatives? He most certainly be counted on to carry on the tradition of one-party politics in Illinois, kowtowing to the Democrats in Springfield and Chicago while espousing his conservative values and hating Gays.

In the U.S. Senate seat we have a choice between a serial embellisher and a mob banker. Both candidates appear to be political stooges who have little stomach for bucking the party line and can't wait to join the cushy club in Washington, reap the benefits and hope no one notices that they are asleep at the switch and licking whatever boot is offered to them.

I suspect that the reason elections offer so little hope is because those who are the best and brightest (and the most qualified to lead and govern) are also smart enough to avoid the swamp and all the critters that live there. They know that government and politics is dirty and no place for anyone with any ounce of moral conscience and dignity. If you don't believe me just go back to some of the presidential debates in 2008 and count the number of promises Mr. Clean and bright Obama made that he has conveniently forgotten to follow through on. You can start with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and go on to the promise to get our troops out of the Middle East. How are those two working out for you? It's been two years Barry! A signature on an executive order ends DADT or wasn't that in the instruction manual Bush left for you at 1600?

There are solutions to be had; term limits for Congress, forensic audits of campaign funds, a full time independent prosecutor with subpoena powers to oversee congressional corruption and a standardized code of professional conduct for all national and state congresses, executive and judicial branches. But unfortunately the foxes are never going to agree to deny themselves access to the hen house. The next best thing is to overhaul the election process.

My suggestion is this. Present voters with a third option in voting. (yeah I know there are third party candidates on the ballot, candidates who have as much chance of getting elected as I have of dating Angelina Jolie) Give voters the option of rejecting both of the candidates from the major parties. This would be the no-confidence option. In other words by opting to vote for neither, the voters would be saying, we don't care for the choices offered, give us more choices. Assume for instance that 50% of the voters voted "neither." This would remove the two major party candidates from the ballot and require a new election to be held with new candidates. This option, although expensive, would require candidates to revise their thinking about the dreaded attack ads they run and might just compel them to talk about issues and actually try to appeal to voters instead of trying to scare them about the opponent. This would also give contributors pause about giving money to someone who might be eliminated from consideration come election time since the odds would no longer be 50/50. Just like George "craps" Ryan, contributors might walk away from the table with nothing.

Politics is a dirty business, pretty much always has been. The difference now is that the nature and character of media has changed and the money is so huge that anything goes. No lie is too big, no chance too big to take in order to secure the prize. The nation is going through one of worst economic times I can remember, including the "gas line" days of my youth. One would think people would want to be more proactive, however it is tough to be proactive when your thoughts are consumed with losing a job or worrying about the bank foreclosing. The sad reality is that until things get really, really bad, and the masses get out the pitchforks and torches, we will continue to get despicable choices for public office.

I recently wrote several congresspeople about maybe introducing legislation to require credit reporting and rating agencies to disclose their arcane formulas for coming up with credit scores. Seems to me that if credit scores are going to be used to determine fitness for jobs, we should all be privy to how they are arrived at. Three guesses as to how much interest I got on that one. Politicians simply don't care about anything except getting elected and staying elected. Until we all start writing and phoning to the point of annoyance no one is going to listen. When was the last time you visited your local congressperson's office? Do you know where it is? Might be a good time to find out.

The End of The Piniella Era

Well another Cubs season is in the proverbial dumpster and another legend of the game has been sent packing with his tail between his legs. Remember back four years ago when Sweet Lou sneered at the idea of a curse in Chicago. I wonder what he really thinks now.

Although I am not a spiritual individual, some spiritual phenomena are just too empirically present to be ignored. I do believe there is a curse over the Chicago Cubs. I believe they are cursed to be run by organizations and individuals who know what running a business is all about. The Cubs are cursed to have had ownership that does to fans what a good magician does to an audience in Vegas, they create an illusion that they care about winning and then magically lift the wallets of the fans. Great act.

I don't blame anyone who owns a corporation from doing what they are supposed to do; make money. Judging from the recent sale price of the Cubs, I would say the past few owners did pretty well for themselves in generating a healthy income stream while escalating the price of the product to where it could be sold for a hefty profit to boobs like Tom Ricketts and his family.

The Ricketts family apparently had to mortgage the ranch to afford the Cubs and now must be wondering what it is exactly they bought. I'm sure they didn't foresee the debacle of 2010 and the possibility that next year's revenues might take a hit. I'm sure they didn't count on star players getting old and tanking or a manager who gave up a third of the way into the season.

So the Ricketts family will do what good business people do. They will cut payroll, cut expenses and try to raise the cost of everything they sell to the fans including tickets. The only hope fans have is that the Ricketts family will not be so good at misdirection and illusion. Maybe just maybe the fans will stop streaming to the ballpark like sheep and start to demand a better product. I cringe every time I hear about Wrigley Field being this baseball cathedral. That decrepit, relic of a ballpark should have been razed two decades ago. But, the sheep keep coming back, buying into the illusion that Wrigley is something special, when in fact it is one of the worst ballparks in the major leagues. Have these people even noticed what they built for the fans in Minnesota? Minnesota for goodness sakes!

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it. I see a long stretch here where the Cubs will devolve into an abysmal product in their decaying shrine. The only winner in all this is Sweet Lou, he doesn't have to be here to see it anymore.

Blago-Sphere

So now that Rock'in Rod through the use of excellent lawyers and reality TV has delayed the inevitable for about six months we are forced to be subjected to more Blago news and commentary than we ever wanted to hear. If the jury was asked to vote unanimously if they wanted this guy to just go away and never be heard from again, I think that could have been a no-brainer. Too bad they can't indict him for something that calls for purgatory as a punishment.

At best, Blago is an incompetent fool who married the boss's daughter, pissed off the boss and then managed to make a mess of things all by himself for himself and those around him. For all his protestations that the feds couldn't prove anything, it certainly wasn't for lack of Blago's best efforts to commit crimes. What Blago should be more thankful for is the fact that he is abysmal at playing the political fund raising game. Perhaps had he allowed himself to be mentored by someone like, oh say, Michael Madigan, he would now be facing a lifetime behind bars. I say this because people like Blago, dumb criminals, always get caught because they are criminals, but not good enough criminals, like, oh say, Michael Madigan, who apparently the feds feel is reincarnation of Everett Dirksen. Ever wonder why they never indict the big fish like Madigan and Daley?

I suspect that part of the reason why the jury got hung up is because we in Illinois and Chicago, in particular, have gotten numb to political corruption. It's just become something that is accepted because it has gone on for so long, like the Cubs losing. Through all the prosecutions, no matter how many politicians get put behind bars, the beat goes on and we just keep buying our season tickets. Chicago and Illinois are not unique when it comes to corruption, but, I must say, we have to be in the top five.

In reading and listening about the Blago case, I have been one of many who foresaw that the feds didn't have dry powder in their cartridges. They brought a case that was weak; there was no smoking gun, no quid pro quo. Once again, not for lack of Rod's best efforts to extort folks. Maybe if they would have waited a bit there would have been more to go on, but one senses that the word came down to close the curtain on the Blago show before bigger fish would need to be fried. So the feds indict, arrest, prosecute and lose. They lose, in large part, because some the witnesses they had against Blago, who they didn't call to the stand, probably had more to say than they wanted to hear under cross-examination. They probably won't lose a second time. Even a blind squirrel can find a nut, especially if the squirrel has unlimited resources. The feds are the casino, the house. They seldom lose and if they do they just keep you coming back for the next game, ala John Gotti.

There are no winners in all this. It seems no matter how many indictments there are, corruption never ends. When cops get into movies for free by showing their badge, we are all doomed. At some point the question needs to be asked, "do we really want corruption to end?" When so many people in this state have gotten jobs by "knowing somebody" or when businesses can get some advantage by writing a check to the right guy, maybe nothing is ever going to change. There is a school of thought that says sometimes corrupt governments work more efficiently than non-corrupt governments. Why go through all those messy zoning hearings when you can hire Madigan's law firm and get the skids greased? Just good business; efficient business. Some thirty years ago, lawyers were allowed to "tip" the clerks that worked for the county and city. I'll tell you, you never saw such good service. Try to get something done down there now without waiting in line while the glacier moves.

Are we all willing to go the zero tolerance route? Is that even possible? Anyone out there have the first stone in hand to throw? The reality is that when people decry corruption what they are really saying is that they are a nobody. There's a saying in Washington that you are either at the table or on the menu. The vast majority of the people of the state of Illinois are on the menu with no hope of even being the special of the day. We are appetizers at best. As ever, the rich, the powerful, the elite get the best seats, at the best tables, at the best restaurants in town and the appetizers sit back and wonder, what if? As long as voters are willing to be eaten raw by the big shots, nothing will ever change in Illinois or in Washington or in politics.

A friend of mine was pulled over for speeding last week. She asked me if it is normal for the police officer to accept cash for the fine. I told her she inadvertently had jumped off the menu and sat at the table for a brief shining moment.

Of Snake Oil and Weight Loss

Valerie Bertinelli is a seemingly very nice women, a decent comedic actress, an admitted drug abuser and the product of a failed marriage that involved infidelity on the part of both parties. She is also the spokesperson for a large weight loss company. Ms. Bertinelli has parlayed her recent public weight loss odyssey into a role on a new sitcom and ubiquitous appearances on talk shows and magazine covers. Ms. Bertinelli is also a shameless shill for a weight loss program that studies show offers little hope to its customers. Now the weight loss company has enlisted the aid of George Costanza to bolster the Bertinelli message apparently fearing another Kirstie Alley debacle.

At first glance I guess I have to question the wisdom of employing a loser/drug abuser and an actor who portrayed one of the most neurotic sit com characters in recent memory to sell products and services to consumers; consumers who are in dire need of medically and psychologically sound advice on how to improve their health. But, in rethinking this whole strategy, I guess it makes a lot of sense.

There is an insidious logic to the weight loss game. The average consumer who is in need of weight loss doesn't really want real solutions. What these average consumers want is false hope and magic acts. They will willingly buy into any message that sells one on the premise that weight loss can be easy and without sacrifice or pain. The reality of why people get fat and the difficult road that lies before them to lose the fat is just too painful for most people to accept. So, why not use sitcom actors to sell them the entertainment they desire. I'm surprised they don't include a laugh track.

Once one cuts through the malaise of what the billion dollar weight loss industry has become it becomes apparent that nothing much has changed, from a scientific/medical perspective about what works and what doesn't. All the goofy exercise machines on infomercials and all the phony diet drugs and supplements work for the people that sell them, but have little impact on resolving the issues of the people that buy them. The real solutions lie within each one of us, not on late night infomercials.

Some people are born to be fat. Some people have genetic/biochemical components to their makeup that imprison them in a body of fat for life. Unfortunately, there is little hope for a three hundred fifty pound adult who was a one-hundred eighty pound third grader. These are the people who have to accept their fate and make the best of it. I had a good friend in college that fit into this category. He spent years and wasted thousands on surgeries, supplement, gadgets and pills over the thirty five years I have known him and he is still a fat adult and will die a fat adult, hopefully a fat old man.

Then there are the rest. Most of us where thin at some point in our lives. Despite growing up in a family where food was plentiful, I managed to stay thin until my middle years. I stayed thin because as a child I played sports and rode a bicycle about ten miles a day to the park, to my friends houses and to the store for my mother. I spent every day at the park. I played sports in high school, in college and beyond. As an adult I continued to visit gyms on a regular basis, took up jogging and still lift weights several times a week. During my adulthood I have had my lapses. I have gained and lost the same twenty pounds of body fat about four dozen times mostly due to my love of food and alcohol. However, whenever the clothes didn't fit just right, I knew it was time to cut down on my eating and ramp up the exercise.

I consider myself fortunate in this regard. I have always had a large portion of self-respect and ego dating to my days as a star athlete and chick magnet. I have considered myself worthy of good care and a hard strong body. I can relate many instances of falls, car crashes and other sundry accidents where I walked away unscathed, thanks to my conditioning. My ego is my cushion of safety.

The majority of the adult population in America is not me. I don't say this to come off as arrogant. I say this to illustrate a point. When a person abuses themselves it is because there is something they don't like about themselves. It could be unfulfilled aspirations, bad relationships, poor career choices, etc. So this underlying regret is assuaged by the consumption of food, alcohol, drugs, excessive sex, excessive shopping, you name it. In psychology these are called immature defense mechanisms. We attempt to defend ourselves from reality by resorting to instant gratification. The cycle repeats itself over and over again, with the regret overcoming the happiness in each instance. This behavior becomes a destructive pattern that is ingrained in our brains and our behavior. Some have an epiphany. A heart attack, a divorce, the fat photo at the cousin's wedding, any number of things can trigger an urge toward change. They may act on this, but unless and until the core issues are resolved, they are doomed to failure.

The basics for losing weight (when I say weight I mean body fat) haven't changed much over the years from a purely biological perspective. To lose weight one must consume less calories than they use for an extended period of time. The devil however, as they say, is in the details. In order to effect any kind of perceptible change in body fat one needs to drastically reduce caloric intake. The body reacts to the lack of food, by slowing the metabolism and learning to live on low calories. There are folks in the third world who do quite well on five hundred calories a day. The body also stimulates the impulse to find food and eat. This is why most low calorie diets last for about two weeks when cannibalism becomes a viable option. Hunger is a cruel mistress.

What about exercise? Gyms are happy to sell you on the concept that you can lose weight through exercise. The problem is that unless you are running marathons the modicum level of exercise that is required to lose body weight is seldom attained if one doesn't alter their consumption of calories while training.

So one would assume that if you combine diet and exercise the objective could be achieved. The only problem here is that with increased exercise the body requires more, not less calories. A thirty minute sojourn on a treadmill while ingesting a twelve hundred calorie complement of food only produces severe hunger and fatigue. One is then left with the prospect of leaving the gym, returning home to the couch and diving into a bowl of potato chips to fight starvation.

So now you have the bad news. Want some more? Losing weight is very, very, very difficult. First of all, dieting is hard in and of itself. Second, getting the right advice and training about diet and exercise is just about impossible given the current state of affairs in the diet and exercise biz. If you think that kid with the on-line $40 personal trainer certificate at the gym knows anything about losing weight, guess again. You can always read Bob Greene's books, but if he couldn't help Oprah, is he really the guy you want to listen to? What about those berries from Africa? I had someone on a blog recommend a book to me written by some guy talking about good calories and bad calories who almost won a literary prize. I didn't realize calories could be personified.

What I know about weight loss and exercise is what I know to be true. I know it is true because I see it work. I will add a caveat here.....it only works for those people who are truly motivated to effect change in their lives and that isn't very many people. Serious weight loss is about diet, exercise and behavioral therapy. These three components overlap and interact in this process and cannot succeed without the others. I have very specific ideas about diet and what needs to be done to lose body fat. I have very specific ideas about exercise, because I was an ACE personal trainer and lived in gyms half my life training and watching elite athletes train. I have very specific ideas about behavioral therapy and how individual behavior can be modified and changed. Nothing easy here. Let me give you a taste, no pun intended. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to be successful at losing weight, unless they make aggressive drastic changes in their behavior starting with day one. Nobody is going to lose weight and keep it off unless they are willing to examine their lives and correct the issues that underlie the abuse. Nobody is going to lose weight and keep the weight off unless they are willing to make being in shape and healthy a lifestyle.

Ready for some good news. The initial process doesn't take as long as you would think. I'm talking about losing 5-8 pounds a week. The exercise component is not difficult. At the outset it is very benign and doesn't require a bunch of equipment or a gym membership. The behavioral therapy is something that will make a difference in most every area of your life.

Stay tuned for particulars.

Mel Gibson and Me.

Mel Gibson is an incredibly talented filmmaker and actor. I still love to watch the movie Payback every few months. Okay, I do admit Lucy Liu playing a Dominatrix has something to do with my repeated viewings, but Mel is good in that movie also.

It can be assumed that Gibson has more money than he ever dreamed of when he first came to us as Mad Max. He has enjoyed and endured fame for decades and also, apparently battled the bottle. Gibson has probably had it all and now struggles emotionally, as a lot of us older guys do, with finding some semblance of balance to all that has gone on in our lives. No one gets past five decades without making a lot of mistakes, putting a load on one's conscience and doing some damage to ourselves and others. Some call it life. If one lives dynamically, meaning taking chances, pursuing dreams, not settling for less....then they have the scars to show for it. They also have a dilemma later in life. The dilemma surrounds the question, "what do I do now." I know this question well. Recently I received a very generous gift card and lamented that there was nothing that I really wanted to buy with it. I have thought about buying another motorcycle, but I always think older guys look foolish just going out on their bikes and riding around with no destination or purpose in mind. I've had pretty much every type of car I ever wanted to own and, Lucy Liu aside, there is nothing I haven't' done with or to a woman that haven't wanted to do.

So, once again, the dilemma. How does an older guy who has lived fast and hard, entertain himself. Mel dumped the long term wife and tried the younger Russian trollop route. No surprise that apparently she was in for the kid and the long term child support payment from the wealthy older guy. What did he expect true love from this bimbo? No I suspect that Mel is at sea. He has too much money, too much experience and way too much time on his hands. He is having a hard time entertaining himself, so he drinks to fill in the hours, gets angry and rants. He rants at the frustration that comes with fulfilling one's dreams and having little or no desire left. It also comes with the fact that with age and experience comes something that is quite insidious and evil; the truth. Mel probably has a good handle on what people really are and how the world truly is and neither is very appealing. Those who are young and idealistic like to think there is hope for mankind and for the world, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary. Having plied his trade in Hollywood, Mel has seen first hand the evil that is man when there is money to be sniffed. He has seen the backstabbing, the greed and the manipulation. Is it any wonder that Mel seems to hate most everyone? He has seen how people use their status as Jews, black, women to try to gain advantage or excuse bad behavior.

Mel to a large extent is being vilified because his in vino veritas is something that most have a very hard time with, so instead of daring to acknowledge his behavior and statements as being reflective of the society we live in, most prefer to revile him. Talk to me about the relationship that has not had heated arguments with malicious, slur-filled comments. Talk to me about the one person out there who has not stereotyped a race, a creed, a color, a nationality, a fat person or a woman. Talk to me about the one person who has not gotten drunk and acted the fool. Or how about anyone given some power and privilege who has not tried to exert it.

We all like to condemn bad behavior, bad language and bad thoughts, yet we are not anxious to admit that we are all guilty of each of these. I saw Jesse Jackson on TV talking about how the owner of LeBron James former team was analogous to a slave owners. The same Jesse Jackson who referred to New York as "hymie" town and kept a secret mistress and love child for years.

I like Mel Gibson as an actor, always have. I also like him as a person, a flawed person who isn't pretending to be something he is not, ala Jesse Jackson. Instead of reviling those who reveal themselves, perhaps it is time we should more closely examine those who would organize the crucible and see what attitudes hide within.

The LeBron A Thon

Before the advent of free agency in professional sports athletes were "owned" by the teams that drafted them or acquired them through trades. Player rosters would change a little year to year, but for the most part, teams stayed intact. Alas, the realities of the economics of professional sports led owners to concede that if they wanted to continue to operate in light of television-fueled revenues they would have to share the pie and allow players some freedom to move from team to team and cash in on their value.

Over time the stakes have risen to the point where now a player with the skills and market value of a LeBron James can now plan for their own future, determine what team they want to play for and cut the best deal they can. James is not a villain for abandoning his home state and heading for South Beach, he is the beneficiary of the realities of what professional sports, and even amateur sports have become; big, big business. Who can fault this gifted 25 year old, or anyone else, for that matter who recognizes that they are a commodity and should get as much as they can, while they can.

Professional athletes are unique, to say the least. Having played sports all of my youth I can count on one hand the number of players I shared a field with who ever made a professional roster. We are talking a minute percentage of individuals who have the skill and luck to make it through the sifting process and persevere. Even if one gets to the "show" they are still confronted with the specter of injury and competition from below. The athlete that plays professionally into their mid thirties is an anomaly. Most athletes have relatively short careers and pay the price later in life in the form of pain and often crippling injuries.

Whenever I hear someone bemoan the high salaries of these spoiled superstars I suggest that they go to the nearest batting cage and try to lay the wood on a 90 mile an hour fastball from the pitching machine. Now imagine that the ball darts at the last hundredth of second or that the next pitch changes speed dramatically. Whatever these players get they deserve.

Don't feel any sorrow for the ownership of these teams. Most professional sports franchises are owned by savvy business people and corporations who understand that for every dollar they pay a player of Jame's caliber they are going to make several in return. If a stadium sells out to twenty thousand fans at an average of $50.00 per ticket that is one million big ones. Now add in concessions, parking, advertising revenue, TV rights and such and it is not unusual to estimate that a successful NBA team can gross in excess of 150 to 180 million a year in revenue. All of a sudden the sixteen million or so that James will be paid seems like a bargain. Also consider that sports franchises appreciate in value, especially for those fortunate enough to own their own stadiums.

Of course fans are the pawns in all this. Hungry for distraction and relief from the realities of life, most of us enjoy following a favorite team and partaking in the soap opera that evolves from season to season. Living in Chicago and being a life-long Cubs fan, no one knows sports soap opera better than I. As a kid I was awed by the Cubs. I followed them religiously, memorized player stats and couldn't sleep the night before my father would take me to games at Wrigley Field. Sadly, we all grow up and as adults should realize that our allegiance is to a corporate monster that masquerades as something cute and cuddly like a Cub. I haven't paid for a Cubs ticket in fifteen years and only attended games in recent years when someone gave me tickets. I don't buy foam fingers or replica jerseys and unless the team is in contention and playing well I find other ways to spend my time.

James, like a lot of athletes serves a higher purpose if one wishes to observe. Like Tiger Woods, James has shown us the reality, pulled back the curtain, and given a good object lesson about life. I see sports now as having little value except as intermittent diversion and an open forum about human nature on the fringes. I will observe with keen interest the fallout from James decision to go to South Beach and how he will deal with the wrath from the venues, especially Ohio, that he has spurned. He has, indeed, pulled back the curtain and showed us that he is no wizard and that he would rather live in Oz than head back to tornado stricken Kansas. We can thank him for not perpetrating the fraud that he somehow cares about his people and his roots. As in the case of Tiger Woods, we are given ample evidence that to excel at professional sports it takes a lot of self -love and a Godzilla-sized ego. These are not role-models except to the extent that they do provide a model of how to succeed in the greed governed world of business, me first, take what you can when you can. James hollow gesture of donating advertising revenue from his "decision" show was pathetic. Woods televised mea culpa a laugh riot. As an adult I can now appreciate that the curtain has been drawn back to the point where we all know there is no Oz. There is little pretense here, the truth is out. Instead of acknowledging the losers on ESPN in the decision derby, James could have just given us all the finger and his public image could not have suffered more. Here's your role model, long live the King. I can imagine it is only a matter of time till Tiger, unable to change his strips, ala OJ, is in the tabloids again snaking around with some guttersnipe or pole dancer.

Yes, the truth is out there, thanks guys for the sports entertainment.

Monopolize This!

As a child growing up I would accompany my mother on daily excursions to the local grocery store or to the clothing store or the pharmacy. All were within walking distance in the small community where I lived and were owned and operated by local residents. The shoppers and merchants were on a first name basis and good service and quality products were a given.

One day news came that a large grocery chain was going to open a branch store in our village. Every Friday night, payday for my father, we would load into the family car and go shopping at the National Food Store. Half the village was there shopping and collecting their green stamps which could be exchanged for merchandise once enough stamp books were filled. Next came a K-Mart, then one of the large oil companies opened a service station in town. The final blow came when a huge shopping mall was opened only a few miles from our house. One by one the locally owned businesses disappeared as shoppers gravitated to cheaper prices, greater product selection and more convenient venues. Gone also was the personal service.

There was one bank in my hometown. All the people that worked there lived in our village and everyone banked there. My math teacher moonlighted as a teller. There was always free fresh coffee, pastries and cookies set out for the customers. Bringing children in to open their first savings accounts was a ritual that was celebrated by all. Issues with one's mortgage were discussed and resolved and foreclosure was never a concern.

The grade school I went to was staffed by village residents. Student discipline was never a concern for teachers since the teachers all socialized with the students' parents. Any behavioral issues got resolved quickly, lest the parents find out and suffer the embarrassment of their child being labeled a trouble-maker. Parent-teacher conferences were mandatory and everyone participated in the PTA and school activities.

I imagine my childhood was not unlike that of most my age. There was a network in these villages that served to unite the community. Children, in effect, were raised by the village, ala Hilary Clinton.

I mention all this because I suspect that a great deal that is wrong with this country stems from the fact that our lives are now firmly controlled by very large corporations that have no sense of responsibility when it comes to their patrons. Corporations exist to make money for their shareholders and that doesn't often comport with providing personalized service to customers. From our groceries to our banking to our gasoline purchases we are dealing with Orwellian images, not human beings. The employees of these corporations are faceless and often have only an employee id number or a made up name in the case of overseas call centers. Those who are in charge of running these corporations are detached from the masses and care little for societal concerns or what is morally appropriate.

My little town bank was long ago gobbled up by a conglomerate and no longer offers coffees and treats to its customers. If I was to go there today and asked to open a savings account they would probably stare at me in disbelief. Who saves? How about a nice CD at .5% interest! The local school has now been divided into a grade school and a middle school. I doubt that any of the teachers there even live in town or would recognize parents if they ran into them at the Walmart.

The larger and more distant corporations become the less human they become. But for the threat of lawsuits, I doubt that any recalls would be made or product safety considered. More often than not businesses will refund or exchange because it is more cost efficient that not doing so. It has nothing to do with good will and customer satisfaction. Employees seldom talk about their jobs with pride.

Recently the Wall Street banks were labeled as too big to fail. I submit that big is a failure. It is a failure of the spirit that helped this country grow into something quite unique. Now instead of reputation it is one's wealth and possessions that seem to matter most. Capitalism is a wonderful thing except when it evolves into a system of wealth acquisition at the expense of morality and trust. When one merchant or service provider raises prices it creates a small tsunami that ripples throughout the economy. That is why virtually no one in my generation actually owns a house without a mortgage. See if you know someone who isn't making payments on a car that isn't ten years old. I often see people use credit cards to buy groceries and cringe. There is a high school that I know that has over 4000 students.

I see the economic meltdown in this country as the natural progression of what happens when big replaces small and conscience disappears from the deal. Does anyone really think BP cares about those affected by the oil spill other than how it will affect their share price. What is up with Pay Day Loan Stores that can charge 500% interest? Usury statutes were there to protect us from our own greed. Now the big banks have lobbied those out of existence. When was the last time you heard the word anti-trust? You think the teachers at that high school care about the throngs of students they see every day whose parents are non-existent.

The politicians have walked hand-in-hand with big business for decades now. The constituents they represent are the ones on their donor list, not the one's struggling to try to find a job or pay a mortgage. So you can't really expect to get any help from them. What passed for health insurance reform was only the latest homage to the insurance lobby, camouflaged to send them millions of additional customers and more government money than they could have ever hoped for.

I was driving today down a major commercial highway by my house and taken by the number of "For Rent" signs in vacant windows. Whether the politicians or the corporation CEOs know it or not there is change on the horizon. That change is going to come and there isn't anything anyone can do about it. The more unemployed there are, the more the government is going to have to fund unemployment and subsidize jobs through the public sector. Eventually there won't be enough workers to pay the taxes necessary to fund the operations of government. We already see this on a state level. Illinois is one of many states that is functionally broke and can't pay it's bills, fund it's pension obligations and finance its schools.

Yes, change is coming. The other day I watched a Tale of Two Cities on DVD. I suspect the time is near when the masses will be storming the Bastille and heads will roll. It is just a question of how much the masses will put up with before they pick up the pitchforks and torches.

A Journalist In Need of A Pole

If ever you doubt that television news journalism is dead tune in some morning to HLN Morning Express with Robin Meade. Every morning Robin Meade, the resident newswoman/journalist, as she is billed, treats the viewer, and we can assume mostly male viewers in the 18-34 year old age range, to some of the best eye candy west of the beltway. Ms. Meade gravitates about the set in a variety of provocative outfits, usually consisting of tight sweaters, tighter fitting skirts, high heels and often times stiletto-heeled animal print boots. Her jewelry blings and she makes the most of the finest hair extensions and wigs. Each morning Ms. Meade cackles her way through the news making one forget the serious nature of war and oil spills, drawing our attention to her silky smooth legs, luscious lips and deep hypnotic eyes. Ms. Meade is indeed a distraction of the finest sort when it comes to female newswomen/journalists. There is little left to the imagination when one tunes in to Ms. Meade. CNN has made sure of that. This is not a case of arcane titillation, this is in your face cable news lap dancing from the core. I will not be surprised one day to wake up to a redecorated set featuring pounding techno rhythm and Ms. Meade working the pole. You go girl, but I think I'll go with Candy Crowley and no pole.

Looking Into a McChrystal Ball

I watched two documentaries last week, one about the Viet Nam War and one about Napoleon. They prompted me to wonder, once again, if the people that run this country know anything about history. Or, if they do know and understand history, do they somehow feel like their destinies are somehow controlled by different paradigms than other historically tragic figures.

Surely, if Obama studied Viet Nam and Napoleon he would understand that wagging war without a reason is folly. There is no glory in killing and the only historical motive that has ever been advanced to justify war is self-preservation. It is pretty accepted as a historical fact that Viet Nam was a mistake that was premised on mysterious logic and arcane fear. Despite all indications to the contrary, President after President perpetrated a lie on the American people, selling fear along the way. Somehow, while thousands of young men died, those guys were able to sleep at night. What where they scared of that made them back seat their conscience? How could these men watch the images coming back to America of the atrocities. How could anyone of good conscience use a substance like napalm or carpet-bomb?

Napoleon defined a complex, that I suspect visited the likes of Johnson and Nixon, despite their physical statures. Some grand concept was envisioned by these guys that motivated them to ignore logic and the evidence at hand and refuse to make the harder choices; the right choices. In the end, the only result was defeat and banishment. It makes no sense to go to fight in Russia in the winter, as it makes no sense to fight an enemy who is invisible, sustain millions of casualties and has the patience to wage war for decades until his enemy is vanquished.

I can accept the fact that George W. Bush was and is a moron who probably didn't bother to learn history, but why would those in Congress kowtow to a moron and commit this country to war without purpose? What is it about Washington that seems to evaporate common sense in those who work there?

I don't doubt that Obama is a smart guy and probably isn't easily duped by those around him. So why does he continue to follow a foreign policy that is tragically flawed with no upside that I can see? This latest episode with McChrystal is disturbing in the sense that it appears there is no strategy in Afghanistan. McChrystal, like most career military guys see themselves at home in war. Like Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now these guys seem to lament the possibility that war could end, leaving them with no purpose. Not exactly the guys to listen to when setting policy.

It didn't take a crystal ball for Obama to see that the time to wage war in Afghanistan, if ever, was right after 9/11. When Obama took office he should have started pulling out the troops and left the historical blame for Bush. Instead his took some bad advice from somebody and made a poor choice. What with this latest "chain of command" debacle, he should make the right choice, the hard choice and end this thing now before one more American or one more Afghani dies. Viet Nam today is a prospering, economically viable country; a popular tourist destination. Learn a lesson there. It's time to talk to the Taliban, cut a deal and get back to creating jobs and alternative energy in this country. McChrystal did you a favor Mr. President. McChrystal gave you a window of opportunity to do the right thing. Do it.

Obama's Speech - The Audacity of Hopelessness

I watched President Obama's speech Tuesday and tried to keep an open mind, but found it difficult. Despite being a supporter of Obama, what I saw was not inspirational, it was disappointing. Obama gives good speech, but at some time the rhetoric has to go away and there has to be some real substance. Talking about holding BP's feet to the fire is fine, but as time passes and the leak is finally plugged, the legal realities of this whole affair will eventually come down to BP digging in and fighting every attempt to extract money from them and hiding behind their Congressionally gifted liability limit. Sending National Guard to the area is a nice idea, but what is really needed is a whole lot of ships to skim the oil that has yet to make it to shore. Pledging to clean up the area is a nice promise, but the government still hasn't cleaned up the area, post Katrina.

I found it curious when Obama decided that he would favor more offshore drilling under the premise that we are too dependent on foreign oil. I found it curious because, as a Harvard guy, he must know that BP is a British corporation (Ltd. I think they call 'em) and all the oil they suck out of the earth goes into an international market. This guy is still trying to cut deals with Congress and big business after the finance and health insurance wars? Either Obama is getting some really bad advice or he is finally coming around to the reality of the Beltway.

Obama ran on a platform of hope and real change. He asked for and was given a mandate. This latest speech offered little hope and sounded eerily like Bush. His anti-intellectual blather about blessing the fishermen and how he wants God to bless America is insulting to anyone with a drop off brainpower. Religion and God is who cowards and conservatives turn to when they don't have a plan or are befuddled by nature and life.

Yesterday I watched an old documentary about Viet Nam and was reminded how our government lied to us through five presidencies about that whole debacle. Nothing has changed that I can see. In the day when big business started to exert too much influence over the lives of people the government turned to anti-trust litigation to reinstate competition. Times have changed and big business got a lot smarter. From banking to healthcare to energy, big business is in control and has learned well how to buy influence on capital hill and make sure that Congress has their back.

Obama promised a lot to get elected. He promised health insurance reform and caved on that, he promised to bring our troops home, yet proceeded to send more troops into Afghanistan and he promised to take this country in a new direction toward cleaner energy and independence of foreign oil. How's that working out?

What I saw Tuesday night was a President who, like a boxer, has taken a lot of body punches and is starting to weaken. He calls the chairman of BP into his office and the guy walks out with an arrogance that is telling about how unafraid big business is of government. Legally and politically there is only so much Obama can do. What he can do is go back out on the campaign trail and rally the citizens to start lobbying Congress themselves and to start demanding accountability from elected officials, exposing the economic links to their voting records.

This is not the time for God to bless America, this is the time to take the road less traveled and provide some insight and leadership. We got neither of those Tuesday night. The President going on TV is looking more and more like an SNL opening skit. Is there hope? Well there is an election coming up in November. Maybe, just maybe, the trend in this country toward independent voting and the rejection of party politics will have some impact. Voting is the only real influence citizens have in the game. I'm not particularly thrilled by the choices I'm being offered in Illinois come November, but until real hope and real change is offered up, I'm going to continue to vote against incumbents. I see little hope for real change up until the time when money is taken out of politics, when there are term limits are set for Congress and when a permanent, independent special prosecutor's office is established just to prosecute elected officials. I'm tired of being lied to.

Until we as Americans start feeling a little more audacious, nothing will change.

A Special Place In Hell

Joran Van Der Sloot the primary suspect in the disappearance, and I guess now we can assume murder, of Natalie Holloway was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of a young Peruvian woman. The woman's body was found beaten and stabbed wrapped in a blanket in Van Der Sloot's hotel room.

Eerily enough this all happened almost five years to the day when Natalie Holloway disappeared in Aruba. Apparently Van Der Sloot's m.o. would be to pick up young woman at night spots, administer a date rape drug and then murder them. Van Der Sloot has traveled much of the world and one can only wonder about the trail of dead bodies that he has left behind, bodies of young women who had no families to care perhaps.

I have little doubt this young man qualifies as a sociopath. His demeanor during the months following Holloway's murder revealed someone with little or no conscience who seemed to enjoy the media attention. Once back in his native Holland and feeling confident that he had gotten away with his crime, he even gave a video-taped confession to an undercover reporter.

As with most sociopath serial killers, Van Der Sloot couldn't stop himself. He had to indulge the urge to kill again and his narcissistic personality or subconscious desire to be caught left a gruesome murder scene replete with clues pointing in his direction. Very sloppy this time leaving a body and blood and video evidence galore.

Van Der Sloot will now inhabit some Peruvian jail pending trial and a potential life sentence. One can only hope that Van Der Sloot feels some sense of morality and tells the truth about Natalie Holloway to give her family some closure. It would be nice if he outed the Kalpo brothers and anyone else involved in Holloway's murder, so that all those responsible are punished, as well, but I doubt he will feel any remorse.

Coincidentally, I recently watched the DVD of Lovely Bones a movie dealing with the murder of a young girl. The movie drew a good counterpoint to the good and evil of the world, suggesting that one cannot exist without the other. Just the other day DNA evidence led to charges against a man in Illinois in connection with the rape and murder of a six year old girl several years back. I shudder to think of the statistics nationwide of these types of crimes. There are a lot of Van Der Sloots out there.

There is a lot of evil in the world and a lot of evil people. Those who believe in a God and practice a religion can probably find some explanation that makes sense. Lovely Bones was very good at putting a spiritual spin on the heinous. I cannot. I can't imagine what motivates someone to kill an innocent woman or a child and then to just dump the body into a river or the sea. I can't find a spiritual or a rational meaning to all this. This is a special kind of evil, no doubt. Being an atheist I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, but when I consider someone like Van Der Sloot, I do wish there was a Hell; a special Hell, maybe that Hell is in Peru.

Almost Perfect

Last night a baseball pitcher came one play away from pitching a perfect game. A bad call by an umpire on a play at first base prevented that from happening. In the aftermath there has been the uproar to use instant replay in such instances to prevent bad calls in the future.

It is true that technology exists to correct errors in judgment at sporting events. I watched the replay a few times at full speed and have to say that the play was very close and in the moment the call could have gone either way, in my estimation. Humans are not perfect, sometimes mistakes are made. It is too the umpire's credit that he made that call based upon his best perception of what took place without regard to the ongoing perfect game.

The problem I have is this. If they are going to use technology to try to make the game perfect, then go all the way. Why not set up some type of laser system to start calling balls and strikes. Why ask the third and first base umpires if a hitter went too far on a checked swing, set up a laser beam in front of home plate. Put sensors on the top of the outfield wall and the foul polls and the foul lines. Put a sensor in the bases, in the ball and on the players uniforms to register tags. Etc., etc., etc.

Or, in the alternative, leave the game alone. Baseball has existed since the late 1800s pretty much as it is today. There have been different eras come and go, but the basic game is as it has been. Part of the charm of baseball is that unlike a violent game like football, it is very pastoral, very friendly and very human. They players don't wear helmets that obscure their faces and body armor. The players interact with other players on the field, as well as, with the umpires. The game has no time constraints. The fans are invited in, not keep away.

Maybe, just maybe the game is perfect now. One more perfect game doesn't mean much in the cosmos of baseball. If the game could withstand the steroid era, it will survive this. Sometimes perfection comes with a few flaws. I know this to be true. I've been a Cubs fan since I was a kid.

http://daynepost.blogspot.com/

Gay Or Not To Be Gay, That Is The Question - Mark Kirk

There is supposition that Mark Kirk, Senate wannabe from Illinois is Gay. Gay or straight, we do know for sure that Kirk is a liar, not that you can't assume that about most any politician.

I disagree with those who say that politicians personal lives are their own business. I think anyone who is asking for the trust of the voters to represent us should be willing to be open and honest about every aspect of their lives. The paradox is that this is what keeps a lot of good people from running for office; they like having their privacy. I also don't believe that one's sexual exploits necessarily disqualifies them from being a good representative. I, for one, wish that Jack Ryan had stayed in the race against Obama.

What I prefer is honesty. I didn't really care that Clinton was a horn dog, but I found it patently insulting that he lied about it. Same goes for Tiger Woods, John Edwards and all the rest. Years ago when Billie Jean King got outed she held a press conference and just admitted everything. It was refreshing and became an immediate non-issue. Of course BJK is a class act, something that cannot be said for the rest who just can't own up to the truth.

Crazy Heart, Lazy Filmmakers

I wasted my Monday evening watching yet another formulaic, canned product from Hollywood called Crazy Heart.

I gave this movie a shot because I am a Jeff Bridges fan and have enjoyed this actor's work over the years going back to his role in The Iceman Cometh. I didn't expect much from this film and I wasn't disappointed. There is a saying in literature and film making that there are only a finite number of story lines. The trick in writing and film making is coming up with something original using one of these plots. The producers, writers and director of this film failed to do so.

The plot went like this. A washed up country singer who drinks and smokes too much meets an inspirational single mother and bonds with her kid. He stages a mini-comeback only to self-destruct by drinking and driving and losing the kid while imbibing at the shopping mall. The mother wisely chooses child over washed up drunk. Washed up drunk goes into rehab, heads down the right path, but loses the woman to an invisible, responsible man. Hmmm, where have we seen this before.

Jeff Bridges is an effortless actor who always seems like he is playing himself, ala Clint Eastwood, but still manages to sell you the character. Is this the stuff Oscars are made of, apparently so since he got one for hobbling through this screenplay acting drunk and stupid and doing a passable job of signing country and western songs. If this is acting, I'm Lawrence Olivier; I can hobble, drink and sing bad C & W with the best of em. The point here is that one gets the impression that from the writers to the actors, no one really made an effort making this movie and I find that somewhat insulting to those of us who invested time and money to watch it.

Yet, all in all, to it's credit the movie wasn't offensive and the writers and director did take the high road and end it on a positive note with the two main characters going back to the point of inception in their relationship with seemingly no hard feelings and no weepy deaths.

Movie making has devolved to the point where there is precious little originality. I can count on one hand the number of movies I have seen in my lifetime that I considered to be surprisingly original despite being based on familiar story lines. Among these are A Clockwork Orange, The Usual Suspects, Unforgiven, Vanilla Sky, The Crying Game and pretty much anything Quentin Tarantino does. Keep in mind that Crazy Heart wasn't what I would consider a bad film. If you want to see a bad film check out anything George Clooney tries to produce and/or direct. It also strayed from the safe harbor of big blockbuster, cartoon genre films such as Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, etc. So there was a bit of risk-taking here, just not enough.

It is a popular perception that the creative gene in Hollywood has been damaged by the toxic influence of television that has taken our children away from the written page. I don't doubt that television has had a negative influence on movie making. Quite a few movies are now produced based upon television shows/series. I don't see this as a particularly good trend since....well just turn on the TV for yourself to see the crap that is thrown at us from the inside of the screen. Can an American Idol movie be far behind. Oh wait, I think Hugh Grant already made one of those.

So what is a film fan to do? I search Netflix for old movies with big name stars from the days when there were big name stars. Marlene Dietrich, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Lee Marvin, Bette Davis are some searches that have led me back to the time when movies were not special effect-based, but simply produced, and character/story driven. These movies were not necessarily original in the way the plots were manipulated, but they were meticulously crafted, well-written and acted by actors and actresses who felt a responsibility to their audience. They feel original. When I watch one of these films I feel invested in it, like reading a good book that one wishes would never end. When I watched Crazy Heart, I couldn't wait for it to end. It's a subtle distinction, but one that movie makers should start paying attention to.

Lost TV: The Final Chapter

This week gave us the final episodes of Lost and some other show I have never seen and don't care about. I waste enough time watching the Cubs wallow in mediocrity via my DVR to more than compensate for all the other television programming I consider myself fortunate to miss.

I also don't watch David Letterman, Jay Leno, or any of the other talk show wanks. I've seen a few minutes of Dancing With The Stars, although their definition of star and mine seem to differ. I don't idolize anyone who appears on American Idol and don't sympathize with anyone who wants anything to do with Donald Trump or is three hundred pounds overweight. Along with Campbell Brown, I've given up on CNN. It was getting too painful watching Wolf Blitzer pretend to be a journalist when all he has become is a tabloid TV host. The History Channel seems determined to repeat history as well as the same episode about Hitler ad infinitum. On and on, through a seemingly infinite number of channels the large media corporations that control the public airwaves have managed to take an amazing medium and reduce it to so much pond scum.

I remember when cable TV was on the horizon and it was billed as revolutionary in the sense that since it was "pay for view" there would be no commercials. How did that work out? For my roughly seventy dollars a month I get Vince the Sham Wow guy and the Progressive Insurance bitch. They can't even let Billy Mays RIP; he's still screaming at me about some goofy device or product nightly.

Television like most innovations (with the possible exception of the shopping cart) has never come close to reaching it's potential. Television could educate, inform and oversee. If used wisely television could put an end to corrupt government and public education could be accessible to every household, regardless of SES. Real public debate could be had over crucial issues that effect us all and we could finally become a true democracy. Instead we get garbage faux reality shows, Jerry Springer chastising boyfriends for cheating on their girlfriends with transsexuals and Maury Povich outing baby daddies.

Welcome to America. We are truly Lost in this country. We could demand so much more, but settle for so much less. The mediocrity in this country is palpable. Instead of striving to be the best and the brightest, we have become the fattest,most illiterate and uninformed. Television could provide us with so much more. Instead of Jillian Michaels screaming at fat people, there could actually be intelligent programing on how the average person can lose weight and get fit. CNN could actually hire investigative reporters and expose the hypocrisy that goes on in Congress and start holding the politicians feet to the fire. How about assigning one reporter to "embed" with each legislator and follow them daily? Educators could appear twenty four hours a day conducting classes for all levels from kindergarten to graduate school.

Contrary to popular belief competition does not breed excellence it breeds mediocrity. and mediocrity is the byproduct of greed. Unlike Jonas Salk, most of those with the answers are in it for the profit. As a society we have all bought into this Gordon Gekko mentality that greed is good. Just look at sports as an example. Instead of striving to be the best, athletes look for ways to cheat to gain an advantage. Greed and cheating has made a joke out of the baseball record book. When the proverbial national pastime is exposed as a sham, what does that tell you? Enjoy your notoriety and wealth Lance Armstrong, you have revealed yourself. Pretty soon Tiger can have all the barmaids, strippers and porn stars one man can handle. But, what he will never have is a clean reputation and a wife who truly loves him and supports him.

Television not only reflects this trend in society it feeds it. The bar comes down lower every day and no one seems to care. Good values and strong morals are for suckers. So it follows that television is for suckers too. I've about had my fill....just as soon as baseball season is over. There is no bigger sucker than a Cubs fan.

What's So Supreme About It?

It seems like Obama is trying to think outside the lines about appointing a new Supreme Court justice. Taking into consideration the trials and troubles Presidents face when trying to get anyone confirmed, he opted for a safe choice. The Republicans have little to challenge this woman on and will just appear silly if they draw out the process, probably annoying most women voters along the way. She has no judicial history, and so far all they can come up with is her apprehension about allowing military recruiters on campus to solicit students.

I think it is a good idea to appoint someone who is relatively young, brings a fresh perspective and might actually consider the practical aspects of ruling on landmark cases. It is obvious that Roberts and the boys are oblivious to the real world implications of what they do . Last time I checked corporations are fictitious entities, but according to Roberts et. al. corporations have the same rights as individuals to express free speech under the Constitution. What next, Santa Claus can run for Congress? Oh, wait, Congress already acts like Santa Claus when it comes to giving away tax dollars and friendly legislation to donors.

The Supreme Court should be the voice of reason and wisdom when it comes to the dog and pony show we see in Congress more often than not. They shouldn't be political and should reflect the national conscience when it comes to things like making war, interfering with personal liberties and legislators basically taking bribes from contributors. Guys, most of us on main street are against it.

It has frequently been stated that if women ran the country there would be no war. Maybe this woman will bring the right influence and temperament to the court that is sorely needed to make that a reality.

Substitute for Logic

For the past two years I have been substitute teaching. The money is not good, but I do get a great deal of enjoyment out of interacting with kids when given the chance to actually teach.

What I do not enjoy about substituting is the fact that I find most students to be grossly disrespectful of teachers, disorganized and unwilling to listen and follow direction. It is not unusual for kids to come into a classroom, notice that a substitute is there and rudely ask "what's your name" or "are you a sub." I'll stand in front of the class sometimes for five to ten minutes just waiting for kids to take their seats and terminate conversations. Several kids usually wander in late. It is not unusual for half the kids to not have necessary books and materials for class. Often kids will bring food into class or play with their text messaging or IPod.

I doubt that most of these kids are required to give much respect to their parents or any adult. They come into the classroom feeling entitled to be there instead of feeling privileged. I doubt that they are given any direction with regard to respecting adults at home and view teachers as lesser adults. I wonder how many of these kids value anything when they are carrying around IPods and IPhones and wearing expensive trendy clothing.

It doesn't help that most teachers dress casually in class, don't bother to take care of themselves physically and asthetically and refuse to require respect from the students. Many of the classrooms are good examples of sensory overkill with all manner of garbage pasted to the walls, desks that are stuffed with papers and overpriced video instruction systems that add little to lessons and garbage on the floor. There is little innovation. I'm seeing books I read when I was in school forty years ago.

When did education become a joke? Except for a few students who get it and parents who discipline their children to do well in school, the vast majority of kids are not getting educated, they are being provided day care.

It is unfortunate that funding for schools is becoming scarce and so many teachers, staff and administrators are losing their jobs. However, maybe this is a good time to take a long hard look at how these schools are really run. Let's start with a dress code for kids, a closed door policy at the bell with those tardy excluded and a mandatory behavior code that imposes the obligation on children to respect adults. Let's require teachers to wear business clothing and clean up their classrooms and organize.

I doubt if I would last long as a regular teacher. Just last week in a literature class I read a passage from a pulp novel to illustrate how a good author can use descriptive language to convey a picture. A couple of students who didn't like the fact that I required them to sit in their desks, listen to me read and basically act respectful, complained to the principal that the novel, which pales in comparison to what these kids view on the Internet and cable was too graphic. That's what innovation and creativity gets you in today's schools. The inmates are allowed to run the asylum and the classroom.

William Ayers, Please Go Away

Now Bill Ayers is going to sue the University of Wyoming for not letting him speak. If this is a breach of contract case and Ayers wants to be paid, I support him. If he is just trying to make some social/political statement, then I wish he wouldn't.

Fact is, we all must live with our pasts no matter how much good we do in between then and now. Ayer's past has a little more infamy that most of us, so it is no surprise that it has followed him into the present. Apparently, Ayers has done some good things in the field of education. Glad to hear that, but if the activist itch is still there, then he is going to have to play the cards he dealt himself.

I don't see any reason why Ayers can't go to Wyoming and stand somewhere on campus, set up a soapbox and talk all he wants. I don't think UW (or is it WU) can prevent him from doing his free speech thing there. If he is interested in doing something political by suing the University, then I wish he wouldn't. Ayers got a new life of sorts by virtue of his association with Obama. Maybe he was content to be underground for all these years and didn't want his new found notoriety. Regardless, he seems to be getting that ole' urge to be socially active again. I wish he wouldn't.

Bill, please go away.

The Cubs and The City

I became a Cubs fan because my father was a Cubs fan. As a boy, I would hurry home from school to catch the end of games on WGN and then go out in the yard and replay what I had just seen by turning the picnic table on it's end and endlessly throwing a rubber ball against until I heard my father pulling in the driveway and I would have to return the picnic table to it's intended use.

I grew up believing in a sports team. I grew up believing that the owners, players and managers truly wanted to win for their fans and played for the love of the game. Boy was I naive. The truth about professional sports is that it is a business, nothing more, nothing less. For all the lore and storybook magic that authors want to assign it, professional baseball is grown men dressed up in costumes, performing for money and being paid by a corporation to make money for it.

If the fans show up, as the Cub fans do year after year, there is no incentive to improve the product. The Cubs' ownership makes only the changes they feel are necessary to generate enough interest to keep the fans duped and coming out. They run the corporation the way good businessmen/women should run a corporation, to benefit and profit the shareholders. Why pay a player ten million when you can pay another player five million and pocket the difference? The players put forth the effort necessary to preserve their professional status and to keep getting paid. It is no mystery that players in the final year of their contract seem to always have "career" years. It is also no secret that when you sign a player to a guaranteed contract for multiple years you can expect that player to underperform and pocket the cash.

I don't begrudge players getting whatever compensation they can. They are the elite at what they do. When teams fail to achieve, as the Cubs have mastered, it is the fans fault. I haven't paid to see a major league baseball game in many years. I refuse to reward mediocrity and give my money to some corporations shareholders who sell an inferior product.

The midwest was once described as the place where settlers, settled because they were too scared to go west and too tired to return east. This is relective in many of the things one sees in Chicago. The sports teams seem to fear success yet relsh mediocrity. The politicians are allowed to steal from the people because the people are too afraid to challenge them or too tired of the endemic greed and scandalous activity to do anything about it. They have their guaranteed contracts. Other cities build beautiful stadiums, Chicago builds architectural nightmares and passes off a crumbling ballpark as "quaint" because nobody cares.

Mediocrity is everywhere in Chicago, from the lame effort to bid the Olympics to the goofy "off broadway" theater that is sold, to the wasted landscape of the lakefront. It wouldn't matter except for the fact that maybe we deserve better. Maybe there should be better schools and city services. Maybe there should be a real effort to curb gun violence, street gangs and drugs in the inner city. Yet, like Cub fans, the people just keep coming out and supporting the same mediocrity. People die, kids get cheated by the school system and the shareholders/politicians are the only ones that profit.

News at The Speed of a Tweet

I don't use Twitter, but from what I know of Twitter it seems to represent a new cultural phenomenon, in that, it encourages those who have trouble putting together a sentence a way to communicate without all the hassle of having to actually pen a thought and use grammar. Little creative thought is necessary to just report random ramblings and opinions can be expressed with little to back them up. However, I suspect something more sinister is happening here.

Twitter also is reflective of how news is handled in our current culture. What amounts to a major news story seems to have a shelf life of only two to four weeks and then...puff; something else comes along to replace it. There are exceptions, of course. Health Insurance reform (not health care reform) was around in the news for months upon months, thanks to a Congress that cares more about getting/staying in power, than about representing the interests of the American public. But, most stories like Tiger Woods, Sandra Bullock, fade into oblivion in no time at all.

I suppose we should be happy that the tabloid nature of media news is not that resilient. After all, the stories do get old in a hurry given the fact that there is little about them that is real news. Those caught up in scandal only have to wait it out and let the "date rape drug" nature of the public consciousness kick in. What does amaze me is that we hear next to nothing about Iraq, Afghanistan and stories that should matter. The whole "sky is falling, we are all doomed" banking industry collapse thing also seems to have gone away. Toyota seems to have weathered it's product liability/public image storm and John Edwards is yesterday's powerful man self-destructs story.

This is disturbing in the sense that we are not only forgetting history, we are forgetting current events. This must explain why Illinois governors continue to follow their predecessors to prison and why celebrities don't seem to understand that text messages can out them and women scorned are not to be trusted not to hire Gloria Alred and appear on Larry King.

The focus on the public is directed by the media content that the public is given. Unfortunately, the media gives us Tiger Woods and does not give us the arcane machinations of our legislators. What this means in the grand scheme of things is that the truth, albeit out there, is getting harder and harder to shift out from the garbage that the 24 hour news cycle feeds us. I need to see less Obama as the Joke signs and more of who in Congress is getting what amount of money form what insurance company/bank/defense contractor. Journalists, like politicians are more concerned with keeping their jobs and careers going than investigating and finding the truth. I get it, but then they should find something else to do with their lives, since freedom of the press was the trade off for integrity in investigative journalism. Without the minions of the media out there digging, we are exposed to all manner of chicanery.

Poor Sandy.

Thanks Jessie...Your buddy Tiger.

Seems like a week doesn't go by without one jerk taking over for another by cheating on his wife and creating a scandal. One would think that having Sandra Bullock for your wife is all one would need, but I guess Jessie just wasn't satisfied. I would be happy to come home to Halle Berry, but for her husbands the novelty wore off in a hurry.

Times were that people cared about their reputation. Now it is all about entitlement; who has how much, who can get what and who cares how we are perceived by others.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for the victims in all this. The women are, after all, adults and should make responsible decisions. When they don't, they have to live with them. Elin Woods married a narcissist, Sandra Bullock married a guy with whole body tattoos who was married to a porn star. What did they expect? Public humiliation comes with the territory from leading a public life. At least they don't have to pretend they are something they are not. They are just a couple of stupid women who thought they could trust rich and powerful men to be faithful. Ladies these guys didn't get rich and powerful by being honest and good!

The irony is how these victims tend to profit from being victims. Sandra Bullock's career will prosper more than before. Elin Woods will be richer now that she is in control. The politicians wives write quickie books and do the talk show circuit. Being a victim pays quite well. Even the perps, the porn stars, the strippers and the other women seem to do better than before. I guess there is no such thing as bad publicity. Of course, these public martyrs don't have to raise three kids on child support post divorce like average victims. They'll thrive.

I would be disingenuous if I were to say that I didn't enjoy watching all this unfold. To me it is tantamount to having court jesters perform for our amusement. When bad things happen to rich and powerful people it does give us little people some sense there is a balance to life. I just wish we could all take more moral guidance from all this, but we don't. Nothing changes. Commitment in relationships seems to be a bygone concept and defecating on oneself in public no longer seems to carry a stench. Christian values seem to elude the Catholic Church and wedding vows are for losers.

Are any of us really surprised by this state of affairs. I think Bill Clinton pretty much lowered the bar to where it is today. The most powerful man in the free world caught, literally, with his pants down and lying to us on national TV, taking us all for fools. Hasn't seemed to hurt him much in the grand scheme of things, he's a humanitarian, except when it comes to his wife. What is Hilary a cyborg?

There is a price to be paid, however. Being an atheist, I'm not a spiritual person with one exception. I do believe in Karma. I don't think anything good comes from hurting someone else. If bedding strippers and porno stars is what you need for emotional fulfillment, then there has to a deeper issue there, why the need to flagellate? Maybe Tiger will fill us in once he has completed his sex addiction therapy and gets a handle on it all. Or maybe this man who has made a billion from the public will just tell us it's a private matter.

We live in a strange society where all sorts of things that were once considered taboo and perverse seem to be okay now. But, living fast and lose takes it's toll; reference Ted Kennedy. That guy looked like a walking corpse twenty years before he died. Is it any wonder his head exploded? A life of debauchery does tend to catch up to us. Oscar Wilde understood that. Eventually the picture emerges from the attic. These flawed men who find women who love them will probably only find them once. In the end they will live and die alone with no one close to them who really cares and the past never forgetting them. Clinton will be known for Monica, Teddy for Chappaquiddick, Tiger for....pick a slut and Jessie for Bombshell McGee. From now on cheating on one's spouse, in urban vernacular, will be known as going for a hike.