Occasionally it seems that Mother Nature feels the need to remind us that we aren’t in control, and that there are no guarantees in life, and no place, on Earth at least, where we’re 100 percent safe.
Just when Americans start to feel that catastrophic events don’t really happen here, we get a Katrina, or a Sandy, or an F5 tornado. Earthquakes happen where they aren’t supposed to – at least in our narrow little concept of what we call history. We talk about 100-year storms and 500-year storms. What was Sandy? A 1,000-year storm? There’s no file footage for when the last time this happened.
I was moved by two things this morning in the media reporting about Sandy. The female Weather Channel anchor was cold, tired, and feeling a little giddy, and made sort of an inappropriate joke (which I won’t explain). Her co-anchors weren’t sure what to do with it. But they chalked it up to her being punchy after many hours with no sleep, soaked to the skin. Then there was the New Jersey reporter standing in the middle of a hard-hit coastal town who broke down for a few seconds – as did the police chief of the same town whom he had interviewed a half-hour earlier. When disasters happen, reporters and public safety people don’t get to be human beings – at least right away – but eventually, it has to come out. Control goes out the window.
What hasn’t happened yet, at least on a large scale, is the blame game – who should have done what when. But there are some events that are way beyond games like that, and this is one of them. This is even beyond “you chose to live there and you should have known better.” There’s no argument about big government or small government – maybe this is one of those times that no government can ever be quite big enough. The absolute last thing he’s thinking about right now, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said, is next week’s election. All of a sudden, control over time, in the form of a schedule, is secondary. Or tertiary, or whatever comes after that.
In the space of a few hours, what we’ve earned, what we’ve built, what we’ve collected, can disappear. The control freak’s worst nightmare isn’t a Katrina or a Sandy. It’s having to rely on others for help.
As John Lennon once said, life is what happens when you’ve made other plans. But life is also about flexibility, and our ability, and even the opportunity, to make new ones when we have to.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Historic Proportions
That’s the phrase the forecasters are using to describe Hurricane Sandy. If on the Perfect Storm scale, the 1991 New England event was a Perfect 10, this could be a Perfect 11, or so they say.
I grew up in New York City, and the whole notion of almost 400,000 people being evacuated is a completely foreign concept to me. The only hurricane I remember directly impacting us in Manhattan was Donna. It seemed like a big deal then, but I was young.
The T-shirts tell us (bleep) happens, and our modern (bleep) threshold is pretty low. Where I live, the TV stations go into frenetic STORMWATCH mode if a couple inches of rain threaten. But many of us can pass a lifetime without every witnessing a real cataclysm.
Crater Lake is a beautiful spot in Oregon visited by many tourists. The water fills an old volcanic caldera. The volcano, called Mt. Mazama, erupted thousands of years ago. I read once where this enormous blast covered parts of western North America in feet – FEET – of volcanic ash. But our continent was relatively unpopulated. There were no Eyewitness News teams around to record what happened. The most we have are stories passed down through oral tradition, and whatever after-the-fact evidence scientists are able to collect.
For those who can’t live without their adrenaline fix, the Weather Channel has a show called “It Could Happen Tomorrow.” The fact is, it already has. Just as an aside, the 18th and 19th centuries brought major earthquakes to Boston and to Charleston, South Carolina.
(Bleep) really did seem to happen in the 19th century. A huge earthquake rocked not California, but the central part of the country, along Missouri’s New Madrid fault in 1811 -- again, a relatively unpopulated area, but the quake caused the Mississippi River to run backwards. In 1859, the worst recorded solar flare ever to hit the Earth caused telegraph wires to burn up. A similar flare hitting the Earth the same way today would cause a Biblical-level catastrophe. We wouldn’t need hacker terrorists to wipe out our electrical grid. The sun would have done that for us.
For most of us alive today, the standout natural cataclysmic event may be the Japanese earthquake of 2011, which killed tens of thousands and triggered a devastating tsunami and a nuclear disaster. Contrast that with last night’s partiers gathering on Hawaiian beaches to witness a tsunami a few INCHES high.
As for cataclysmic events, they actually happen all the time, but the slower-moving ones sometimes escape our notice, especially if we’re not directly affected. Famine. Drought. Climate change. The virus-du-jour. But it also seems most cataclysmic events aren’t Mother Nature’s fault. We’re much better at doing these things to ourselves. War. Recession/depression, you name it.
(Bleep) is always going to happen. The story really isn’t about the (bleep); it’s about how we react to it. Sometimes we react well; other times we freak out.
But so far, one thing seems to be constant: We survive.
I grew up in New York City, and the whole notion of almost 400,000 people being evacuated is a completely foreign concept to me. The only hurricane I remember directly impacting us in Manhattan was Donna. It seemed like a big deal then, but I was young.
The T-shirts tell us (bleep) happens, and our modern (bleep) threshold is pretty low. Where I live, the TV stations go into frenetic STORMWATCH mode if a couple inches of rain threaten. But many of us can pass a lifetime without every witnessing a real cataclysm.
Crater Lake is a beautiful spot in Oregon visited by many tourists. The water fills an old volcanic caldera. The volcano, called Mt. Mazama, erupted thousands of years ago. I read once where this enormous blast covered parts of western North America in feet – FEET – of volcanic ash. But our continent was relatively unpopulated. There were no Eyewitness News teams around to record what happened. The most we have are stories passed down through oral tradition, and whatever after-the-fact evidence scientists are able to collect.
For those who can’t live without their adrenaline fix, the Weather Channel has a show called “It Could Happen Tomorrow.” The fact is, it already has. Just as an aside, the 18th and 19th centuries brought major earthquakes to Boston and to Charleston, South Carolina.
(Bleep) really did seem to happen in the 19th century. A huge earthquake rocked not California, but the central part of the country, along Missouri’s New Madrid fault in 1811 -- again, a relatively unpopulated area, but the quake caused the Mississippi River to run backwards. In 1859, the worst recorded solar flare ever to hit the Earth caused telegraph wires to burn up. A similar flare hitting the Earth the same way today would cause a Biblical-level catastrophe. We wouldn’t need hacker terrorists to wipe out our electrical grid. The sun would have done that for us.
For most of us alive today, the standout natural cataclysmic event may be the Japanese earthquake of 2011, which killed tens of thousands and triggered a devastating tsunami and a nuclear disaster. Contrast that with last night’s partiers gathering on Hawaiian beaches to witness a tsunami a few INCHES high.
As for cataclysmic events, they actually happen all the time, but the slower-moving ones sometimes escape our notice, especially if we’re not directly affected. Famine. Drought. Climate change. The virus-du-jour. But it also seems most cataclysmic events aren’t Mother Nature’s fault. We’re much better at doing these things to ourselves. War. Recession/depression, you name it.
(Bleep) is always going to happen. The story really isn’t about the (bleep); it’s about how we react to it. Sometimes we react well; other times we freak out.
But so far, one thing seems to be constant: We survive.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Horror Films I Like
Well, it’s getting to be that time again, when you decide on your favorite Halloween rentals. I prefer the classics, both vintage and recent. These are some of my faves, NOT ranked, BTW, in any kind of order. My only rule for good horror flicks is, scare me, don’t terrorize me or excessively gross me out. Leave the knives, hatchets and chainsaws in the garage. Teeth are OK, though.
1. THE MUMMY (1932)
2. DRACULA (1931)
3. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
4. THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935)
(The first four are almost obligatory).
5. DRACULA (1979) – Good production, not sure about Langella as the Count.
6. THE BLACK CAT (1934) – Lugosi and Karloff, an interior decorator must-see.
7. THE OMEN (1976) –The girl’s suicide haunted me for weeks. LOUSY sequels.
8. THE EXORCIST – Get the uncut one with the spider walk.
9. THE EXORCIST III – Surprisingly good sequel, Geo. C. Scott & Ed Flanders.
10. GHOST STORY – Very creepy with wonderful cast.
11. CAT PEOPLE (1982) – Sexy, and the cats are nice, too.
12. THE SHINING (1980) -- Here’s Johnny.
13. SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE – Is it a movie project or for real?
14. THE HUNGER -- Catherine Deneuve a vampire. I’ll stop there.
15. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT – They shoulda had a cell phone with them.
16. THE RITE – I’m the only one who likes this, but it does have Anthony Hopkins.
17. PSYCHO – Showers or baths?
18. ROSEMARY’S BABY – It may give you morning sickness.
19. POLTERGEIST – Talk about homes being underwater!
20. ANGEL HEART – Back when Mickey Rourke was…Mickey Rourke.
21. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS – Join me in a nice chianti, Clarice.
22. THE DESCENT -- For those of you who think caves are fun. They’re not.
23. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT – Why vampires prefer winter.
24. VAN HELSING -- Not great, but I love the flying bat-girls.
SCI-FI (not exactly horror, but close enough for Halloween)
1. ALIEN and the folo, ALIENS (not the later two).
2. THE FLY (Jeff Goldblum version)
3. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS – the 1978 remake was shot in SF.
4. MIMIC – If in NYC, you’ll think twice about ever taking the subway.
5. THE THING (1982) – Much better than the original (or later) versions.
6. PITCH BLACK – Before Vin Diesel was a star.
7. THE FOURTH KIND -- Alien-abduction thing, very creepy.
I know I’ve left a lot out, but these should get you started. And if you really need a fright, you can always watch Romney-Obama debate reruns.
1. THE MUMMY (1932)
2. DRACULA (1931)
3. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
4. THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935)
(The first four are almost obligatory).
5. DRACULA (1979) – Good production, not sure about Langella as the Count.
6. THE BLACK CAT (1934) – Lugosi and Karloff, an interior decorator must-see.
7. THE OMEN (1976) –The girl’s suicide haunted me for weeks. LOUSY sequels.
8. THE EXORCIST – Get the uncut one with the spider walk.
9. THE EXORCIST III – Surprisingly good sequel, Geo. C. Scott & Ed Flanders.
10. GHOST STORY – Very creepy with wonderful cast.
11. CAT PEOPLE (1982) – Sexy, and the cats are nice, too.
12. THE SHINING (1980) -- Here’s Johnny.
13. SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE – Is it a movie project or for real?
14. THE HUNGER -- Catherine Deneuve a vampire. I’ll stop there.
15. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT – They shoulda had a cell phone with them.
16. THE RITE – I’m the only one who likes this, but it does have Anthony Hopkins.
17. PSYCHO – Showers or baths?
18. ROSEMARY’S BABY – It may give you morning sickness.
19. POLTERGEIST – Talk about homes being underwater!
20. ANGEL HEART – Back when Mickey Rourke was…Mickey Rourke.
21. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS – Join me in a nice chianti, Clarice.
22. THE DESCENT -- For those of you who think caves are fun. They’re not.
23. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT – Why vampires prefer winter.
24. VAN HELSING -- Not great, but I love the flying bat-girls.
SCI-FI (not exactly horror, but close enough for Halloween)
1. ALIEN and the folo, ALIENS (not the later two).
2. THE FLY (Jeff Goldblum version)
3. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS – the 1978 remake was shot in SF.
4. MIMIC – If in NYC, you’ll think twice about ever taking the subway.
5. THE THING (1982) – Much better than the original (or later) versions.
6. PITCH BLACK – Before Vin Diesel was a star.
7. THE FOURTH KIND -- Alien-abduction thing, very creepy.
I know I’ve left a lot out, but these should get you started. And if you really need a fright, you can always watch Romney-Obama debate reruns.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Verbal Minefield
Today we have the story of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana saying that he’s opposed to abortion in the case of pregnancy due to rape, because if the pregnancy occurred, it must be “what God intended.” Putting rape, pregnancy, and God together is not a successful mixture, especially for a Republican.
The fur, as you might expect, is flying, with President Obama’s spokespeople calling the pregnancy remark “outrageous.” Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who was to make a campaign appearance with Mourdock, canceled, and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, while continuing to support Mourdock’s candidacy, said through a spokesman that he disagrees with Mourdock’s view.
While Mourdock was concerned that his statement would be misinterpreted and offered an apology for any offense caused, he also said that when he gave voice to his conviction about pregnancy, he was speaking from his heart.
To be honest, part of me admires Mourdock for standing by his basic conviction instead of trying to weasel-word his way out of it or saying that his tongue slipped. But he has no business interpreting God’s intentions to women. It’s up to the woman in that situation to hear from God directly, if she’s even listening for such guidance. Under the law as it stands, the period goes after the fifth word in the last sentence here.
Look, I am no fan of abortion; in fact, there are probably very few of those who are. The notion that a woman might consider this as a last-resort form of birth control is ridiculous on its face. The only way, it seems to me, that an individual can begin to be comfortable with abortion is by considering a fetus just a hunk of biological matter. If it’s life, well then, abortion is homicide, and no other conclusion is possible. But abortion is not something we’re supposed to be comfortable with. It’s one of those cases, again under the present state of the law, where we permit homicide under certain extenuating circumstances.
BTW, don’t read Roe v. Wade back to me or talk about viability. I’m sure I’ve stepped on a verbal land mine of my own somewhere in here. When all is said and done, words don’t work very well in this area. As a practical matter, we need lawyers – more than theologians and certainly more than politicians -- to define “life” and “death” for us so we can move on to more mundane matters.
But the take-away for any politician, especially a Republican, is you'd better practice your lines before you start talking about this stuff. And if you really believe what you’re saying, don’t back away from it. The voters need to hear someone running for office who actually speaks from the heart, even if it’s wrong. That’s where the phrase “courage of convictions” comes from.
The fur, as you might expect, is flying, with President Obama’s spokespeople calling the pregnancy remark “outrageous.” Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who was to make a campaign appearance with Mourdock, canceled, and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, while continuing to support Mourdock’s candidacy, said through a spokesman that he disagrees with Mourdock’s view.
While Mourdock was concerned that his statement would be misinterpreted and offered an apology for any offense caused, he also said that when he gave voice to his conviction about pregnancy, he was speaking from his heart.
To be honest, part of me admires Mourdock for standing by his basic conviction instead of trying to weasel-word his way out of it or saying that his tongue slipped. But he has no business interpreting God’s intentions to women. It’s up to the woman in that situation to hear from God directly, if she’s even listening for such guidance. Under the law as it stands, the period goes after the fifth word in the last sentence here.
Look, I am no fan of abortion; in fact, there are probably very few of those who are. The notion that a woman might consider this as a last-resort form of birth control is ridiculous on its face. The only way, it seems to me, that an individual can begin to be comfortable with abortion is by considering a fetus just a hunk of biological matter. If it’s life, well then, abortion is homicide, and no other conclusion is possible. But abortion is not something we’re supposed to be comfortable with. It’s one of those cases, again under the present state of the law, where we permit homicide under certain extenuating circumstances.
BTW, don’t read Roe v. Wade back to me or talk about viability. I’m sure I’ve stepped on a verbal land mine of my own somewhere in here. When all is said and done, words don’t work very well in this area. As a practical matter, we need lawyers – more than theologians and certainly more than politicians -- to define “life” and “death” for us so we can move on to more mundane matters.
But the take-away for any politician, especially a Republican, is you'd better practice your lines before you start talking about this stuff. And if you really believe what you’re saying, don’t back away from it. The voters need to hear someone running for office who actually speaks from the heart, even if it’s wrong. That’s where the phrase “courage of convictions” comes from.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Talked Out
Well, that’s it, the debates are done. Now, it’s pretty much our turn.
The only thing that made me watch the final debate instead of the World Series is that the debate was closer – but not by much.
President Obama clearly “won” it – but then again, he was supposed to, right? The guy on the outside – Romney – can’t very well compete with the guy on the inside, who has all the answers the challenger doesn’t. Mr. Romney seemed to be reaching for it, while Obama was scoring points the whole time. It was only when Romney was able to pivot the discussion from foreign policy to the economy that he was able to make much ground, except for the fact that we’ve heard his arguments before.
Romney did score a couple of points, in one case reminding us of the President’s off-mike remark to the Russian president that he could be more “flexible” after the election. He called Latin America a real opportunity (nobody EVER talks about Latin America) and blasted the President for failing to support the Green Revolution in Iran. But most of the time, Romney had to agree with the President’s policies.
So Obama won, and he may be scoring points in the final rounds. But what about the earlier rounds, and I’m not only talking about election season. His big failure all along, in my own estimation (and long before mine, in Bill Maher’s) is that he hasn’t made an effort to communicate with us. He holds almost no news conferences. He doesn’t bring the American people into the discussion – except at election time. Doing what you think is the right thing is only half the battle, Mr. President; you have to bring the rest of us along with you, and this you haven’t done.
Romney has all kinds of problems. He’ll say almost anything to please an audience, and he has trouble connecting with people. But when it comes to business, he definitely has a skill set the President doesn’t. Likewise, Mr. Obama has expertise built up over four years that Romney clearly lacks.
Do I sound like an undecided voter? I’m not. As I’ve told my friends, I’ve made up my mind whom I’m going to vote for. But you better talk to me again next week; I might feel differently.
My position is, we’re really ALL undecided voters until we actually cast that ballot. And fortunately, that moment is just about here.
The only thing that made me watch the final debate instead of the World Series is that the debate was closer – but not by much.
President Obama clearly “won” it – but then again, he was supposed to, right? The guy on the outside – Romney – can’t very well compete with the guy on the inside, who has all the answers the challenger doesn’t. Mr. Romney seemed to be reaching for it, while Obama was scoring points the whole time. It was only when Romney was able to pivot the discussion from foreign policy to the economy that he was able to make much ground, except for the fact that we’ve heard his arguments before.
Romney did score a couple of points, in one case reminding us of the President’s off-mike remark to the Russian president that he could be more “flexible” after the election. He called Latin America a real opportunity (nobody EVER talks about Latin America) and blasted the President for failing to support the Green Revolution in Iran. But most of the time, Romney had to agree with the President’s policies.
So Obama won, and he may be scoring points in the final rounds. But what about the earlier rounds, and I’m not only talking about election season. His big failure all along, in my own estimation (and long before mine, in Bill Maher’s) is that he hasn’t made an effort to communicate with us. He holds almost no news conferences. He doesn’t bring the American people into the discussion – except at election time. Doing what you think is the right thing is only half the battle, Mr. President; you have to bring the rest of us along with you, and this you haven’t done.
Romney has all kinds of problems. He’ll say almost anything to please an audience, and he has trouble connecting with people. But when it comes to business, he definitely has a skill set the President doesn’t. Likewise, Mr. Obama has expertise built up over four years that Romney clearly lacks.
Do I sound like an undecided voter? I’m not. As I’ve told my friends, I’ve made up my mind whom I’m going to vote for. But you better talk to me again next week; I might feel differently.
My position is, we’re really ALL undecided voters until we actually cast that ballot. And fortunately, that moment is just about here.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Intermission
Starting with Monday night’s debate, the air is going to get thicker and heavier over the next couple of weeks around here, so it’s time for another musical interlude from my friends at thie SF Bay Area band called Opal Axis:
"Moving On" with Leila Armush and Opal Axis
Feel free to leave a review if you happen to hear this. Oh...l think.they’d be upset with me if I failed to mention that their music is available at CDBaby and iTunes!
P.S. If you were directed to this site in search of porn or knockoff handbags, well, I can't help you, but if you like this song, spread it around -- and Leila and the band wouldn't mind if you actually bought this or other songs of theirs from one of the music sites listed above. Thanks!
Friday, October 19, 2012
In the Top of the News...
My radio listening this morning brought three stories worthy of comment.
Malala, the 14-year old Pakistani girl shot in the head by a Taliban militant for having the temerity to advocate education for women, stood up for the first time in a British hospital today, and now they’re saying she could make a full recovery.
I take a little offense at the notion that religion prompted this shooting. While I’ve long contended that religion often gives God a bad name, Islam doesn’t go this far off the rails. While it would be nice if Jesus comes back, I think he should wait in the wings and let the Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) return first and straighten some of these crazies out.
BTW, while fundamentalist Islam displays its low opinion of women by forcing them to wear burkas, that policy doesn’t say much about men, either. Why do women have to wear burkas? Is it because men can’t control themselves at the sight of a female?
************************************
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 1987 event known as Black Friday, when the stock market dropped 22 percent in one day. I was working in radio, and we had to take our business/stock reporter out for at least one drink to calm him down. I remember that his tie was loosened at the neck, sort of like what Jerry Lewis used to do on those charity telethons to denote long hours of stress.
Could a similar thing happen today? Not in a single day, the experts say, thanks to automatic trading curbs that would kick in. It would just be elongated. Like four years, maybe? Well, it is nice to see the market coming back.
***********************************
And finally, it’s also great to see Mitt Romney and Barack Obama having fun with each other at the Al Smith dinner in New York. The boxing analogy fits like a glove over the debates we’ve seen so far – that’s how we “score” them, by jabs, power punches, etc. The dual appearance at the dinner reminds me of what we often see in the ring, when two boxers who have furiously beaten each other up for 11 rounds come out for the 12th – and the first thing they do is touch gloves.
Malala, the 14-year old Pakistani girl shot in the head by a Taliban militant for having the temerity to advocate education for women, stood up for the first time in a British hospital today, and now they’re saying she could make a full recovery.
I take a little offense at the notion that religion prompted this shooting. While I’ve long contended that religion often gives God a bad name, Islam doesn’t go this far off the rails. While it would be nice if Jesus comes back, I think he should wait in the wings and let the Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) return first and straighten some of these crazies out.
BTW, while fundamentalist Islam displays its low opinion of women by forcing them to wear burkas, that policy doesn’t say much about men, either. Why do women have to wear burkas? Is it because men can’t control themselves at the sight of a female?
************************************
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 1987 event known as Black Friday, when the stock market dropped 22 percent in one day. I was working in radio, and we had to take our business/stock reporter out for at least one drink to calm him down. I remember that his tie was loosened at the neck, sort of like what Jerry Lewis used to do on those charity telethons to denote long hours of stress.
Could a similar thing happen today? Not in a single day, the experts say, thanks to automatic trading curbs that would kick in. It would just be elongated. Like four years, maybe? Well, it is nice to see the market coming back.
***********************************
And finally, it’s also great to see Mitt Romney and Barack Obama having fun with each other at the Al Smith dinner in New York. The boxing analogy fits like a glove over the debates we’ve seen so far – that’s how we “score” them, by jabs, power punches, etc. The dual appearance at the dinner reminds me of what we often see in the ring, when two boxers who have furiously beaten each other up for 11 rounds come out for the 12th – and the first thing they do is touch gloves.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
A Missed Opportunity in Syria
In opening the “stats” for this blog today and looking at the “all-time” list covering four years, I was surprised to find that No. 3 of the most-read posts – and the only one listed for 2012 – concerned Syria, It was “Send a Message to Assad,” posted in March, and to spare you reading it, the blog suggested that if the West took out just one Syrian tank or one piece of heavy artillery, perhaps with a drone strike, the Syrian president would get the message that the free world disapproved of what he was doing -- that we didn’t want to go to war with him, only that he should stop using a mechanized army to slaughter civilians.
But the talking heads were already on the air, listing all the reasons why the U.S., or any group outside of the U.N. framework, shouldn’t get involved militarily in Syria. We provided the Syrian rebels with communications equipment, etc., but were reluctant to supply them with heavy weapons, because they might fall into the wrong hands, meaning Al Qaida.
Well, that was 20,000 lives ago, and this week we hear that the Syrian forces are now using old Russian cluster bombs against the population. Cluster bombs are typically dropped from the air and open up to release “bomblets” that spread out and are effective at killing large numbers of people on the ground. They are banned by international agreement, which the U.S. has not signed. (One of the reasons given, I read today, is that modern cluster bomblets are smarter and can be individually programmed to hit the right targets. Great...!) I wonder what the regime will use next, when it's really cornered.
The general in charge of the Free Syrian Army was on “60 Minutes” Sunday and said that when the Assad regime is removed, the Syrians who come to power will never forgive the West for standing by while people were being slaughtered. As for Al Qaida, well, he said, they’d accept help from anyone willing to give it to them. So whose hands do we think Syria is going to fall into, exactly, thanks to our having done virtually nothing?
Former Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski said on NPR that we’d be nuts to get involved militarily in this situation, that the region was like a huge pool of gasoline, into which we’d be tossing a match. Well, the pool is still there, and unless something changes, there’s going to be a bigger fire, whether or not it’s our match that sets it off.
It's way too late for us to get involved now. But history, I guess, is going to have to tell us whether we were wise to stay out of Syria, or whether we blew a significant opportunity. As for President Assad, it’s ironic that someone trained as an ophthalmologist could be so blind.
But the talking heads were already on the air, listing all the reasons why the U.S., or any group outside of the U.N. framework, shouldn’t get involved militarily in Syria. We provided the Syrian rebels with communications equipment, etc., but were reluctant to supply them with heavy weapons, because they might fall into the wrong hands, meaning Al Qaida.
Well, that was 20,000 lives ago, and this week we hear that the Syrian forces are now using old Russian cluster bombs against the population. Cluster bombs are typically dropped from the air and open up to release “bomblets” that spread out and are effective at killing large numbers of people on the ground. They are banned by international agreement, which the U.S. has not signed. (One of the reasons given, I read today, is that modern cluster bomblets are smarter and can be individually programmed to hit the right targets. Great...!) I wonder what the regime will use next, when it's really cornered.
The general in charge of the Free Syrian Army was on “60 Minutes” Sunday and said that when the Assad regime is removed, the Syrians who come to power will never forgive the West for standing by while people were being slaughtered. As for Al Qaida, well, he said, they’d accept help from anyone willing to give it to them. So whose hands do we think Syria is going to fall into, exactly, thanks to our having done virtually nothing?
Former Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski said on NPR that we’d be nuts to get involved militarily in this situation, that the region was like a huge pool of gasoline, into which we’d be tossing a match. Well, the pool is still there, and unless something changes, there’s going to be a bigger fire, whether or not it’s our match that sets it off.
It's way too late for us to get involved now. But history, I guess, is going to have to tell us whether we were wise to stay out of Syria, or whether we blew a significant opportunity. As for President Assad, it’s ironic that someone trained as an ophthalmologist could be so blind.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Draw!
The "boxing" analysts are at it again: number of jabs, power punches thrown and connect percentages. I think Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman could score the Romney-Obama debate just as well as any of these cable TV folks or political science professors with all those letters after their names. The process, when all is said and done, is exactly the same.
The President redeemed himself after the first debate, and it may be that many observers are scoring him higher just because he outperformed himself after being knocked down in the last contest. But Romney didn’t do poorly.
What’s the takeaway? Debates measure debating skills. They tell us to what lengths the candidates will go to play to particular audiences. Were they talking to all of us, or just Ohio?
But as I’ve said before, these events do tell us how the candidates behave under stress; how they treat each other, the questioners and the moderator are all little pieces of the puzzle that contribute to their portraits as human beings.
I’ve always believed that whether we like it or not, we are electing human beings to office, not just five-point plans or positions on issues. And they are human beings with particular knowledge bases and skill sets, and as voters, we have to decide the urgency of various issues facing us and who has the best tools to deal with them. If the economy is No. 1, the businessman’s skill set is paramount; if foreign policy is our thing, then it’s no time for a “rookie” in that department. And who offers the better balance?
I also always try to remember that Presidents are rarely able to deliver on all the promises they make to get elected, and today’s problems, in their specifics, may not be tomorrow’s. If a particular issue goes away, we’re still left with a human being in office. The fact is, neither of these guys has the degree of control over things he’s trying to convince us he has. But what we do have the right to expect is, whatever challenges surface, we have someone at the top who can lead us through them.
If someone puts a gun to my head and says that I have to vote today, I know which one I’ll pick. But I’m NOT voting today. I may very well have a different answer in a couple of weeks.
The President redeemed himself after the first debate, and it may be that many observers are scoring him higher just because he outperformed himself after being knocked down in the last contest. But Romney didn’t do poorly.
What’s the takeaway? Debates measure debating skills. They tell us to what lengths the candidates will go to play to particular audiences. Were they talking to all of us, or just Ohio?
But as I’ve said before, these events do tell us how the candidates behave under stress; how they treat each other, the questioners and the moderator are all little pieces of the puzzle that contribute to their portraits as human beings.
I’ve always believed that whether we like it or not, we are electing human beings to office, not just five-point plans or positions on issues. And they are human beings with particular knowledge bases and skill sets, and as voters, we have to decide the urgency of various issues facing us and who has the best tools to deal with them. If the economy is No. 1, the businessman’s skill set is paramount; if foreign policy is our thing, then it’s no time for a “rookie” in that department. And who offers the better balance?
I also always try to remember that Presidents are rarely able to deliver on all the promises they make to get elected, and today’s problems, in their specifics, may not be tomorrow’s. If a particular issue goes away, we’re still left with a human being in office. The fact is, neither of these guys has the degree of control over things he’s trying to convince us he has. But what we do have the right to expect is, whatever challenges surface, we have someone at the top who can lead us through them.
If someone puts a gun to my head and says that I have to vote today, I know which one I’ll pick. But I’m NOT voting today. I may very well have a different answer in a couple of weeks.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Missiles of October
I hope the creators of the movie don’t mind my borrowing the title for this post, but I’m too lazy to think of anything clever, and of course, now you know what this is about.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Being now old enough to play the “I was there” game, this is what I remember about it.
In those days, I was a student at one of those fancy New England prep schools, at which I received a great education, partly because TV wasn’t really an option. The television was in the housemaster’s quarters, and only rarely were we allowed to watch. Certain exceptions were made occasionally, though, for stuff like “The Andy Griffith Show.”
But the days in question were unusual. There was one night -- October 22 -- when we were required to watch TV. We all assembled in the various housemasters’ apartments around the school to hear JFK deliver his now-famous address to the nation, warning the Russians not to station missiles in Cuba. You can find this easily on YouTube, but here’s an especially memorable line:
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear attack launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”
Yes, that gets your attention! Sounds like something Harrison Ford might say, and probably has said, in one of his movies. But this was no movie. Nowadays, people who worry about the end of the world are considered one beer short of a six-pack, as they say – but for a few days, we actually had to consider it a real possibility.
I don’t remember much else about the experience at school. The headmaster was a minister, and there were daily chapel services we were required to attend, and the sermons at that time, as you can expect, were pretty heavy. And as President Kennedy actually had attended the school himself as a student, his address had a special meaning for us.
Since I’m able to write this, the world did not end. The Russian boats turned around. While the President got kudos for standing up to the Soviets, we all know now that there was a backroom deal: our own missiles in Turkey, which upset the Russians, had to go away. Even so, those are the times when you really appreciate a President with a brain.
As for movies, well, we needed some lightening up, and Stanley Kubrick gave us “Dr. Strangelove” a few years later. As I recall, it wasn’t until 1974, though, that “The Missiles of October” was shown on TV, and by then I was old enough to decide for myself what to watch. All I can tell you is, no actor has ever done as good a JFK as Bill Devane.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Being now old enough to play the “I was there” game, this is what I remember about it.
In those days, I was a student at one of those fancy New England prep schools, at which I received a great education, partly because TV wasn’t really an option. The television was in the housemaster’s quarters, and only rarely were we allowed to watch. Certain exceptions were made occasionally, though, for stuff like “The Andy Griffith Show.”
But the days in question were unusual. There was one night -- October 22 -- when we were required to watch TV. We all assembled in the various housemasters’ apartments around the school to hear JFK deliver his now-famous address to the nation, warning the Russians not to station missiles in Cuba. You can find this easily on YouTube, but here’s an especially memorable line:
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear attack launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”
Yes, that gets your attention! Sounds like something Harrison Ford might say, and probably has said, in one of his movies. But this was no movie. Nowadays, people who worry about the end of the world are considered one beer short of a six-pack, as they say – but for a few days, we actually had to consider it a real possibility.
I don’t remember much else about the experience at school. The headmaster was a minister, and there were daily chapel services we were required to attend, and the sermons at that time, as you can expect, were pretty heavy. And as President Kennedy actually had attended the school himself as a student, his address had a special meaning for us.
Since I’m able to write this, the world did not end. The Russian boats turned around. While the President got kudos for standing up to the Soviets, we all know now that there was a backroom deal: our own missiles in Turkey, which upset the Russians, had to go away. Even so, those are the times when you really appreciate a President with a brain.
As for movies, well, we needed some lightening up, and Stanley Kubrick gave us “Dr. Strangelove” a few years later. As I recall, it wasn’t until 1974, though, that “The Missiles of October” was shown on TV, and by then I was old enough to decide for myself what to watch. All I can tell you is, no actor has ever done as good a JFK as Bill Devane.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Is My Microwave Oven Spying On Me?
We are by no means Luddites in my house, but we were perfectly content to use a microwave oven that was the better part of 40 years old, until it began emitting strange sparks and flashes not seen since the original 1931 version of “Frankenstein.” It’s a little early for Halloween movie rentals. But we had to think about safety first.
So, we bit the bullet and decided to buy a new oven, and this is a whole different animal in many ways. For one thing, it puts out twice as much cooking power. For another, it has all kinds of bells and whistles the other one didn’t have. With the old one, we just turned the time dial to the desired cooking duration and pressed the button. When it was done, it was done. The new one not only has a digital display, but seems to know what you’re going to cook ahead of time – or maybe it’s my imagination.
There’s a particularly intriguing feature called Total Cook Plus. With this one, you read a code off the package of microwave food you want to cook, punch it in with the oven’s keypad, and the oven cooks the food according to specification – you don’t even have to read the directions on the package.
But here’s the thing: To activate this feature, you have to put in your Zip code. Why on earth would an oven want your Zip code? Well, it figures out the atmospheric pressure where you live. and it makes adjustments accordingly. Such things affect cooking, apparently.
Well, at least that’s what they say. But how do I know it doesn’t have other applications? You’ve been hearing the stories about how electronic devices made in China and sold here are feared to have some “back-door” technology that allows someone sitting at a computer in Fujian or someplace to control the device. I suppose if I’m cooking Chinese food, and someone in China has a better idea of how to do it than the oven does, I should remain open to suggestions. But what else is that oven doing? What kind of data is it mining? It already knows what I eat. What’s next?
This all reminds me of a movie from the 1970s called “The Demon Seed,” in which a computer tries to get Julie Christie pregnant. Maybe that’s a better rental for Halloween.
So, we bit the bullet and decided to buy a new oven, and this is a whole different animal in many ways. For one thing, it puts out twice as much cooking power. For another, it has all kinds of bells and whistles the other one didn’t have. With the old one, we just turned the time dial to the desired cooking duration and pressed the button. When it was done, it was done. The new one not only has a digital display, but seems to know what you’re going to cook ahead of time – or maybe it’s my imagination.
There’s a particularly intriguing feature called Total Cook Plus. With this one, you read a code off the package of microwave food you want to cook, punch it in with the oven’s keypad, and the oven cooks the food according to specification – you don’t even have to read the directions on the package.
But here’s the thing: To activate this feature, you have to put in your Zip code. Why on earth would an oven want your Zip code? Well, it figures out the atmospheric pressure where you live. and it makes adjustments accordingly. Such things affect cooking, apparently.
Well, at least that’s what they say. But how do I know it doesn’t have other applications? You’ve been hearing the stories about how electronic devices made in China and sold here are feared to have some “back-door” technology that allows someone sitting at a computer in Fujian or someplace to control the device. I suppose if I’m cooking Chinese food, and someone in China has a better idea of how to do it than the oven does, I should remain open to suggestions. But what else is that oven doing? What kind of data is it mining? It already knows what I eat. What’s next?
This all reminds me of a movie from the 1970s called “The Demon Seed,” in which a computer tries to get Julie Christie pregnant. Maybe that’s a better rental for Halloween.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
A Republican President
I am loath to make predictions, but I think there’s a better-than-even chance we’re going to have a Republican president.
A lot of it has to do with timing. The Obama forces made plenty of hay with Romney’s “47 percent” remark. But remember – that statement was made to a closed group of supporters last May, and only surfaced fairly recently. Many pundits called it a fatal error. It may have hurt, but it wasn’t fatal. That was then, and this is now, and Americans live in Short Attention-Span Theater, to borrow a title from Comedy Central.
Mr. Obama has had some significant victories: killing Osama Bin Laden, bailing out the auto industry – even getting his healthcare plan passed. The first two are clear victories, the last win is a matter of debate – but again, those were then.
Now, we have his perceived loss in the last debate, coupled with the strange scenario over what happened in Benghazi, Libya, when Ambassador Chris Stevens and several others were killed. I still don’t get this one. First, there was an angry mob, then there was no angry mob, now it’s a terrorist attack, and Stevens was insufficiently protected, even though he or someone in his camp requested more help. It’s a total mystery to me why the administration can’t get a better handle on how to manage the public relations of this thing. The mother of one of the victims says she has been assured by Messrs. Obama and Biden personally that she will get answers – and she’s had none. And the Republicans are successfully beating up the administration with it.
Mr. Romney will say almost anything to get elected, true – but he says it with absolute confidence, whether it’s right or wrong. I used to work in radio, and we had a rule for reading copy. If you encountered something you didn’t know how to pronounce, like the name of some foreign dignitary, you had to pick a pronunciation and deliver it with confidence. Even if you were wrong, only half the audience – actually, much less – would know you were an idiot. If you stumbled, everyone would know it.
Vice President Joe Biden’s “these kids today don’t know anything” pose may have worked for him in his debate with Paul Ryan, but it wasn’t the clear victory that Romney scored over the President. Now we have another debate coming between the top two. Will Obama overcompensate by being too aggressive an attack dog? If he’s perceived as “losing” this next one, in my view, he’s done. There are too many people taking advantage of absentee ballots and early voting. They’re not going to wait around for the third debate.
The first bit of good news in all this is that, in my view at least, this country will probably be no worse off if either man wins next month. If President Obama is re-elected, the issue of Republicans in Congress stopping at nothing to defeat him will go away. He won’t be able to run for another term, and the Republicans will figure out they have to work with him, or lose their own seats if gridlock continues. If Romney wins – and this again is my personal view – whatever you think about Mormons, they are terrific managers. Every Mormon I know who runs a business – without exception -- does it successfully. And a little management from the top – with an eye on perceptions – wouldn’t be such a bad thing right now.
The second bit of good news, for those of you who have read this far and don’t like it, is that my predictions are usually wrong.
A lot of it has to do with timing. The Obama forces made plenty of hay with Romney’s “47 percent” remark. But remember – that statement was made to a closed group of supporters last May, and only surfaced fairly recently. Many pundits called it a fatal error. It may have hurt, but it wasn’t fatal. That was then, and this is now, and Americans live in Short Attention-Span Theater, to borrow a title from Comedy Central.
Mr. Obama has had some significant victories: killing Osama Bin Laden, bailing out the auto industry – even getting his healthcare plan passed. The first two are clear victories, the last win is a matter of debate – but again, those were then.
Now, we have his perceived loss in the last debate, coupled with the strange scenario over what happened in Benghazi, Libya, when Ambassador Chris Stevens and several others were killed. I still don’t get this one. First, there was an angry mob, then there was no angry mob, now it’s a terrorist attack, and Stevens was insufficiently protected, even though he or someone in his camp requested more help. It’s a total mystery to me why the administration can’t get a better handle on how to manage the public relations of this thing. The mother of one of the victims says she has been assured by Messrs. Obama and Biden personally that she will get answers – and she’s had none. And the Republicans are successfully beating up the administration with it.
Mr. Romney will say almost anything to get elected, true – but he says it with absolute confidence, whether it’s right or wrong. I used to work in radio, and we had a rule for reading copy. If you encountered something you didn’t know how to pronounce, like the name of some foreign dignitary, you had to pick a pronunciation and deliver it with confidence. Even if you were wrong, only half the audience – actually, much less – would know you were an idiot. If you stumbled, everyone would know it.
Vice President Joe Biden’s “these kids today don’t know anything” pose may have worked for him in his debate with Paul Ryan, but it wasn’t the clear victory that Romney scored over the President. Now we have another debate coming between the top two. Will Obama overcompensate by being too aggressive an attack dog? If he’s perceived as “losing” this next one, in my view, he’s done. There are too many people taking advantage of absentee ballots and early voting. They’re not going to wait around for the third debate.
The first bit of good news in all this is that, in my view at least, this country will probably be no worse off if either man wins next month. If President Obama is re-elected, the issue of Republicans in Congress stopping at nothing to defeat him will go away. He won’t be able to run for another term, and the Republicans will figure out they have to work with him, or lose their own seats if gridlock continues. If Romney wins – and this again is my personal view – whatever you think about Mormons, they are terrific managers. Every Mormon I know who runs a business – without exception -- does it successfully. And a little management from the top – with an eye on perceptions – wouldn’t be such a bad thing right now.
The second bit of good news, for those of you who have read this far and don’t like it, is that my predictions are usually wrong.
Monday, October 8, 2012
In Defense of Narcissism
I heard a rather remarkable interview today on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Host Terry Gross talked to comedian Tig Notaro, whom most of us never heard of until she took the stage for her show and announced, “Good evening, hello. I have cancer! How are you?” She had just been diagnosed with cancer in both breasts, and earlier that day had decided to dump her previous plan for the evening’s show and work it around her illness.
She told Gross that she hesitated before making this decision, on the grounds that she didn’t want to offend those in her audience who might have cancer themselves or be experiencing it in their families. But finally, she concluded it was her show, and her story. So well did she do, in fact, that a much better-known comedian, Louis C.K., who was there that night, deemed it one of the greatest performances he had ever seen, and posted a recording of it to a million-plus followers. Notaro, BTW, is now doing fine medically, but only after a double mastectomy.
A Facebook friend of mine, who is about to have her first baby, started a blog about it. She, too, had hesitated on the grounds that someone else had told her it was narcissistic to write about herself this way – but she happens to be a great writer, and I’m happy she moved forward with her plan. I have other social media friends who write about themselves constantly, leaving almost nothing out, even crossing the dreaded TMI line once in a while.
Coming from a different generation – as many as two ahead of some of these folks -- I was raised differently, plus I have struggled to learn to shut up. There are personal things now that I could never discuss with anyone, much less post about them. If I ever should contract a terminal illness, I plan to tell as few people as possible, only because when you’re in that way and everyone else finds out, you have the additional task of making all of them feel better as well as yourself. Hopefully that’s a bridge I’ll never have to cross.
Nevertheless, I am very grateful for narcissists, if by that we mean people who talk or write about themselves all the time. Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual, and as human beings, whether we like it or not, we depend on narcissists to tell us how we “work.” From narcissists, we learn we’re not alone. If we’re going through something, chances are there’s a narcissist somewhere among us who has been there and done that and expressed themselves on the subject. We may not work it out the same way, but it does give us hope, and often puts a few signs on the trail for others making the journey.
Of course, it’s a question of style. Tig Notaro shared her story as a comedian. Many do it with poetry or song. But I have always deeply admired those who have thought carefully enough about their own experience to clearly articulate exactly what’s going on with them. So please, narcissists, keep it up – you have fans out there, whether they’re willing to admit it or not.
And if you’re really a narcissist, as Carly Simon might say, you probably think this post is about you – and you might be right.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Miles to Go Before We Sleep
“It ain’t over till it’s over,” quoth Yogi (did he really say that?). According to the “copybox numbers” most of the pundits are scoring the debate in Mitt Romney’s favor. President Obama had rhetorical weapons that he didn’t use, some said. The President is a great orator, but debating is actually a different skill from speechmaking. Romney did a better job of marshaling facts and figures, but Obama actually scored some solid counterpunches. Personally, I was pleased that the two men stuck to the issues and that the discussion was relatively zinger-free. My immediate conclusion is that that these are two very smart people, and in spite of what you may hear, the country is not going to collapse if either one is elected.
The debate really didn’t decide anything, but it sure leaves me wanting to hear the other ones on different topics, such as foreign policy. I feel a little bit sorry for those engaging in early voting. Undoubtedly, some had cast their vote before hearing the debate, which presumably would provide vital information about whom to vote for. I am in favor of early voting, but more like a week, not this early, as in Ohio.
As I said in a previous post, those voting this early may be depriving themselves of those final pieces of the puzzle that would give them a clear picture of these candidates. When it comes to jobs, I am of the firm belief that this is an issue that neither candidate has any real control over, and to pretend that they do is just babble.
Candidates say things in these forums that may or may not reflect their real beliefs. It’s up to us as observers to determine whether they’re being genuine, and whether they give us the feeling that they could lead. One CNN observer said we voters are looking for a Moses who could lead us all out of the mess we’re in. That may be aiming a little high, but the two Presidents whose last name was Roosevelt provided some pretty good models. Yes, I have a preference among the current two, but that preference could still change in the weeks ahead.
One individual who seemed to get universally bad reviews was Jim Lehrer, the PBS news anchor who was the moderator. I think I could solve the moderator’s problem by going down to the trophy shop and spending about $20 on a little thing called a GAVEL. I used to moderate local election debates in the town I lived in, and I found that there is nothing more effective at silencing candidates who are over-babbling. Even if they continue to talk while the gavel is being struck, they look and sound “out of order.” It would make a huge difference, trust me.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Naming Winter Storms
I woke up this morning to hear the meteorologists on the Weather Channel saying that in the coming season, they’re going to be assigning names to winter storms. Just like hurricanes, a storm of sufficient intensity will be given a name. This is more than a game. The Weather Channel people feel that naming the storms will heighten public awareness about them and encourage both emergency managers and average citizens to take them seriously, just as they would an approaching hurricane, as these winter storms can cause just as much hardship
I don’t think I have a problem with that argument. It’s about the names: ATHENA, BRUTUS, CAESAR, DRACO, EUCLID, FREYR, GANDOLF, HELEN, IAGO, JOVE, KHAN, LUNA, MAGNUS, NEMO, ORKO, PLATO, Q, ROCKY, SATURN, TRITON, UKKO, VIRGIL, WALDA, XERXES, YOGI, ZEUS.
A couple of things stand out here. Many of the names come from Greek mythology. When you think winter storms, is Greece the first place that comes to mind? Not. When you do winter storms, you’ve got to think Scandinavian, Nordic or Wagnerian, and there are only a couple of such offerings here. How about Helga? Brunhilde? Ulle? Liv? Gerhard? Wolf? I could go on, but do you really want me to? (And BTW, why were the Irish left out?)
If there’s Rocky, there should at least be Bullwinkle. And how are you going to feel when Orko bears down on you? Or Q (didn't Mr. Bond need him)?
If we start this, where is it going to end? Will they name desert sandstorms, or tornados, or hot spells? Or train wrecks and traffic accidents? “The 101’s closed right now, thanks to Tom.” This should be done very sparingly.
I’ve known young couples expecting babies who practically get into fistfights trying to agree on what they’re going to name the new arrivals. Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead.
Monday, October 1, 2012
The Undecided Idiot
I am a big fan of Bill Maher, but I have to take issue with him on his opinion of undecided voters in this election.
Maher basically characterized the undecideds on a recent show as uninformed idiots. While I’m sure there are quite a few who fit that description, you don’t make it on NPR unless you have a brain cell or two, and I’ve heard their reporters talked to plenty of folks who are still on the fence.
Actually, it’s my belief that there is no such thing as a fence. I can’t stand fences, and I think most thinking human beings hate them. I make up my right away about most things. The only problem is, if you talk to me an hour later, I will likely have made a new decision the other way. What makes me change? Usually, it’s new information.
So here comes the first Presidential debate, which many pundits say may be the ultimate showdown between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. But what do debates accomplish? Detractors will say that they only tell us who’s the better debater. But that is no small skill, as an effective President has to be able to persuade, and persuasion is part of leadership. It’s another piece of information.
Some of us are waiting to see a train wreck: a gaffe, a stumble, an insensitive remark, or the betrayal of something the individual would prefer to hide. The fact is, both President Obama and Mitt Romney have been caught at these things already. Most recently, Romney has had to deal with the “47 percent” remark, but remember when Obama told the Russian he’d be more flexible after the election?
Information is one thing; of course, it’s all about what we do with it. Those who see virtue in having made up their minds for good will look for information in the debate that confirms their decision; otherwise, they’ll have to think of themselves as wishy-washy. Others may receive enough information to change their minds.
Yes, I’ve made up my mind about the man I think would make a better President, but I’m not ready to tell you, and I probably won’t be ready after Wednesday. There’s still time for new information – those final pieces of the puzzle -- to come along, and then I’ll do what I usually do, vote with my gut, which, all things being equal, has a pretty good track record at doing the right thing in these situations.
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