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.