Unanswered questions on the cusp of a new year

    We're about to flip the page on the new year, but I still don't know . . .
    
     Does anybody else see incongruity in the name "Tea Party Express" for a group whose logo should be a Conestoga wagon?
    
     Would you want to go on trial for anything with a jury made up of predominantly Tea Party people?

     If the Republicans are serious about being the party of predictability and consistency, why have they dedicated their efforts to the politics of nullification: if you don't like the vote results, push back, delay, create chaos, oppose any attempt at compromise?

     Occupy (fill in the blank) people want a classless society, but haven't they seen the headlines on the covers of magazines in the checkout lines in food stores? "Sex Tips" and "Camilla Storms Out," and "How to make your man whimper during sex" is about as classless as it gets, isn't it? And we haven't even started to assess the class found in cage fighting and most of the TV reality shows.

     Would war be as prevalent as it is if somebody wasn't making a lot of money from it?

     And who makes all the money that the rest of us lose when the stock market tanks? And why aren't they roomies with that fella Madoff?

     How can we be proud of the fact that we are a nation willing to sacrifice justice in the interest of practicing law?  And how much practice does it take to get it right?

     Are any of the local jock types who have been pushing for turf fields for kids' athletic programs paying attention to the injuries suffered by so many pro players, like the "turf toe" that has kept the Ravens' Ray Lewis on the sidelines so long?

     And why doesn't anybody seem to notice the disconnect between mandating dietary changes in school cafeterias designed to fight childhood obesity, then sending kids home in school buses that stop every 75 yards so the poor kids don't have to walk so far?

     Anyway, may your New Year be less interrupted at suppertime by telemarketers and robo-callers asking for political contributions, or slinging mud at opponents.
    
    
     
    
    
    
    

Bing is still here, singing White Christmas

     For most of us, I think, there are certain Christmas traditions that have to happen to make the season, like going to midnight candle lighting services, or carving a turkey or ham on Christmas day, with the family gathered around.
     Ever since I can remember, I have to hear Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas" to get the season going. No other version, no other singer, quite does it.  It has to be Bing.
     I can recall walking out of a movie theater with my Dad when I was about five, and the lights were up and Bing's voice came through the house speakers, singing "Adeste Fidelis," and I had no idea what the words meant, but it felt good. I asked, "Daddy, how old is Bing Crosby?"
     He said, "I guess he'd be about 40," which was bad news, because to me, it meant that Bing Crosby was old. So then I asked, "Does Bing Crosby swear?"
     That made Dad laugh out loud. He had no idea, but I got the idea that maybe Bing used some of the words that I was not allowed to use. Not only that, but he had been divorced.  I hoped he mended his ways before he died, if he wanted to go to Heaven.
     Dad remembered that question the rest of his life. When I was little, I didn't know why he found it so amusing. This was serious business, this issue of virtue. If you sing Christmas songs, you shouldn't have bad habits. I knew Bing smoked, because he smoked a pipe in the movies, but that wasn't considered a mortal sin back then. Swearing was, except for the occasional four-letter words that Dad and his guy friends used.
     What Dad recalled, fondly and with humor, was the innocence of his little boy.
     I have a few memories of my own sons like that now, and I know my father better.
     Years passed, and every Christmas I await the mellifluous tones of Der Bingle, singing White Christmas, sometimes catching a playing of Adeste Fidelis, and in time, I realized why it was important to that little boy to know that Bing was right with God.
     I think Bing Crosby, because he was Dad's favorite singer, had become a father figure to me. I was newly aware that year that no one lives forever; not Bing, not Dad. And I wanted to hold on to them until I was sure they would go to Heaven.
     In my own maturity, I no longer worry about it. The whole idea of Christmas is that we shouldn't worry about it. Or so I believe.

More questions than answers on the info highway

    If I don't record the news on TV, I can't watch it.
    They should be required to change the name of the broadcast from "The Evening News" to "The Evening Tease."
     "Tease" is a technical term. It's what the industry calls the end of the segment before the commercial break:  "Who spanked the President? We'll tell you right after the break."
     This tease is a lie. They almost always present two more stories, each four sentences long, 10 words each, before the next break, but before they leave you with the commercial, they say, "We'll find out who spanked the President right after this."
     I have a theory about this. News departments have not made as much progress over the past 50 years as the advertising and marketing departments, so 15 minutes of news -- the standard local offering in 1955 -- is all you really get in an hour-long newscast. But they can sell a lot of advertising to run in that hour, so that's why you have so many breaks. And the tease keeps you around for the commercials.
     Take weather, for instance. I watch the local news mostly for the weather, but if you notice, you get the weather in bits and pieces. First, they tell you what the weather was like today -- with video, of course. If there is no video to go along with the evening news, it did not happen. Or at least it's not going to be on the broadcast. They used to have a graphic to put up on the screen when they had a story but no video, but that's apparently considered bush league today. Better to ignore a story than to run it without video.
     Anyway, after a few video-supported stories, the anchors -- it takes two to do the  job than one person used to be able to handle -- say, "Will we have a tornado tomorrow? We'll be back with the forecast after this."
     But they may have four more commercials before you see the weather person again, and three promos bragging that the station has three or four meterologists, which I think is supposed to impress us because a meteorologist is a professional weather person.
     If I were a professional meteorologist weather person instead of just a weather personality, I think I'd be embarrassed to being reduced to spreading five minutes of information out over an hour, but that's why nobody ever asked me to be a TV personality.
     Oh, I was asked to be a news director once, but I had to quit the job over a disagreement on how to do a "live, on-location story on the local blizzard."
     It was actually just a snow, but the station manager and the production people wanted to milk it. They valued camera equipment more than people, so they insisted on calling in a reporter to stand on the parking lot, "live, somewhere on location in Carroll County" while the camera and operator stayed in the garage, with the garage door open.
     This, apparently, is how you get a BS degree in TV production, video news, and communicatons management. Me, I ain't got no BS with me.
     Who spanked the president? Damned if I know; I switched to PBS.
    

Why you shouldn't read other people's mail

     You really shouldn't read other people's mail, but we do it all the time, when someone forwards an email to us to show how ridiculous someone else is. I saw one the other day that troubled me, and I shouldn't let it. It wasn't addressed to me, was not a personal attack on me, but rather on my friend, and so was none of my business.
     It's really no skin off my nose if someone who can't read or write with proper grammar shows his ignorance and lack of maturity with such silly tirades just because he dislikes President Obama. I guess it could be argued that anyone who likes President Obama lives in a fairy tale world and talks to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but why would anyone stoop to such a silly remark? Maybe it was the best they can do.
     Considering the company some of these angry people keep, and the bad habits they have picked up, they might benefit from a few hours sipping milk and cookies with Micky Mouse.
     I don't know; maybe they just feel they can't keep up their end of the debate by sticking to real issues, but they're comfortable in a bar fight.
     For a lot of the most incoherent out there, the only issue they have is that they don't want Barack Obama to have a second term as President. They seem to be reduced to sputtering when asked what it is that is so bad about Obama that it was deemed necessary by some people to start the campaign for the next election the day he took office. Kidnappers, thieves and child molesters get a better trial that some people have given President Obama.
     The rancor that pervades the country seems to have emanated from the fact that an African American from Chicago -- or some other foreign country -- has taken up lodging in the White House neighborhood.
     Despite the fact that many of Obama's liberal supporters are displeased with him because he has not been liberal enough, rock-ribbed Republicans and conservatives of even more libertarian stripes are not dissuaded from their annoyance. It's clear they don't like him, want him voted out, but there the clarity ends; they do not have the vocabulary to give a good argument.
     So what is a body to do if they don't support the policies of a president, or a governor, or a county commissioner? Be reduced to bleepity bleep kinds of ranting? Or would it be better -- more grown up -- to counter actions or proposals that you find objectionable with suggestions for another way, or challenges to the rationale for the current leaders' direction.
     It just seems to me that you can't defeat the rationale of opponents if you remain, or become, irrational yourself.

Let's put civility back in Christmas

     I promise, if you wish me "Happy Holidays," that I will not bite your head off, remind you that it's Christmas, and admonish you for missing the point of Christmas. I'll just say, "Thank you. Same to you."
     I may reply, "Merry Christmas to you," and I hope you don't think I'm being a smartaleck. I really mean it, and that's all I mean, so just accept my best wishes and we can avoid a tense moment, okay?
     Christmas season is tense enough without obsessing over how we wish each other well, in my opinion. Frankly, I don't understand how it got to be a competitive sport to show up three days early at a discount store to get a few dollars off something that will be in a yard sale in a year.
     True, I am known as a bit of an iconoclast, full of questions, and even challenges of some of the rituals we humans observe, but when it comes to Christmas, I'm a softy. And if someone else feels the same way about the traditions of a different religion than the one I grew up with, I get it. It's okay with me.
      One of the things I picked up when I started in Sunday School at the age of five was that we're supposed to be kind to each other. Even Samaritans, although I still am not sure how Samaritans were or are different; I just learned that there is such a thing as a good Samaritan, and that's reassuring to me now, just as it was when I was five.
     No sense in ticking off the Samaritans unnecessarily, is all I'm saying.
    

Partridges . . . other birds, and T-shirts for the electeds

     Some people grump about all the catalogs you get in the mail at Christmas, but I kind of like to browse through them. They give me all kinds of shopping ideas.
     A popular item this year is hearing enhancements, in varying forms, from headphones to tiny things you can put in your ear to eavesdrop on the conversations across the room. I might get a few of the heavy duty ones for Congress. They seem to be deaf to most of what the rest of us are saying.
     The little sneaky things might be good for reporters; they're always looking for stories that go on in secret. Some reporters are still having trouble reporting the obvious, so I might get a few t-shirts for them; I saw one offered with the saying, "A penny for your thoughts. Five bucks if they're dirty."
     Some copy editors I have worked with will get shirts that say, "National Sarcasm Society (like we need your support)." I want one of those for myself. Others will get the one that reads, "The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm," because it may be the only dictionary they use.
     Herman Cain's pals are getting him his own nightgown, to get into whenever he wants.
     Newt Gringrich reportedly asked for one of those backward watches offered in several of the catalogs I have seen. It runs in reverse of the normal face on a watch.
     I can get a special deal on bulk orders for t-shirts in one catalog, so I'm sending off for a selection for our local commissioners.
     For David Roush, there's, "I'm not aging, I'm fermenting" and, "Who says nothing is impossible; I've been doing nothing for years."
     Doug Howard is getting, "Please take a moment to appreciate my vast knowledge and experience."
     He can also share one with Richard Rothschild: "You don't have to agree with me, but I'm still RIGHT."  But then Rothschild, already ahead of the others in the wardrobe department anyway, will enhance his t-shirt collection with, "A team effort is a lot of people doing everything I say" and "What I really need are minions."
     I have to say that some people are harder to buy for than others. I picked out this one for Haven Shoemaker: "Life is a circus...and I'm stuck in the freak tent." He reportedly already has one that reads, "If idiots grew on trees, this place would be an orchard."
     Robin Frazier likes to show her math skills, so I got her one that reads, "There are three kinds of people in this world: Those who are good at math and those who aren't."
Personally, I think she'd make a statement in the t-shirt that has a carpenter's level on it and says, simply, "Half a bubble off."
     As for key staff at the county office building, I have word from Santa's elves that there is a run on two very different t-shirts this year. A lot of employees are ordering, "It is what it is," and there is a backorder on, "Your proctologist called . . . He's found your head."
     Ho ho ho . . . Can't wait for casual Friday....

Not everyone gets what they want for Christmas

      This time of year can be hard on grown-ups; putting up with the whining and tantrums of children who want what they want and can't believe they can't have it.
     These thoughts came to me while witnessing the dialog -- nice term for it -- among our local county officials about whether to keep a pet.
     This was about renewing the contract of the professional promoter that Richard Rothschild showed up with at the county offices. He said Jim Simpson followed him home, and could he keep him? Please, please please!
     Robin Frazier, too, had become attached to the bark of this conservative blogger/radio host/talker/writer, or whatever. He had a nice sound, and she supported Rothschild's efforts to fork over something approaching $100,000 in taxpayers' dollars to keep him on the porch, yarking at passing socialists and liberals.
     I suppose it makes sense to folks like Rothschild and Frazier to espouse frugality in government programs that serve the needs of widows and children, while donating Other People's Money generously to people who hate spending on social issues.
     "He gets our story out," I believe is the quote of the week, attributed first to Rothschild, but echoed by Frazier. She echoes well, as is often the case in hollow spaces.
     But wait a minute, said the grownups, led by Haven Shoemaker. The whole story of the hiring and compensation, a month at a time to avoid proper bidding and vetting processes, has been bad news for this board of commissioners. A public relations disaster, I think he called it.
     That's the old Haven Shoemaker talking. Nice to have him back. Doug Howard seemed to finally understand, too, that getting Rothschild speaking engagements in the the distant backwaters of Redneck Country and interviews on Right Wing, conspiracy theory radio talk shows was doing little to inform local residents. We have been paying for entertainment we do not get.
     So the whining went on, Rothschild and Frazier obviously frustrated.
     But grownups prevailed, this time. About time.

Personal note from George (as in Bush) and Laura

     Imagine my pride when I opened the mailbox and saw a letter from former President George W. Bush addressed to me, with "PERSONAL" typed right there on the front.
     Inside, there was a real nice photo of George and Laura with their Texas ranch country stretching way out behind them, looking healthy and happy with big smiles. I think it was because he doesn't have to wear a tie any more. Laura still dresses nice, as if folks might drop by any time.
     I was warmed by the tone of the nice personal note, too. He wrote, "Laura and I are grateful for your strong support throughout our years in public service."
     Shucks, it was nothing special, George. I think Americans SHOULD stand behind their President, especially when our boys in uniform are fighting in faraway places to keep democracy strong. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. I heard a lot of your supporters, mostly Republicans, say so. They said no true American would talk trash about the President of our country when times are tough. We should stand together.
     I haven't heard much of that kind of talk from those people since you and Dick -- excuse me, I know folks around the White House all called him Mr. Vice President -- Cheney left the White House. It's almost as if those folks don't seem so passionate about respect for the President these days.
     Back to the personal note. It says here, beginning with the second sentence, "Now, we invite you to join us as partners in a new project: the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas."
     Wow! I thought: A job offer! From the former President of the United States. And I thought he hardly knew I existed. I used to have a catalog of cowboy boots and the like around here. Wonder what became of it?
     Reading further, I really got fired up. Obviously, he had heard of my work as a journalist and writer, because he was mentioning that the "Bush Center will be home to my Presidential Library and Museum, where we will tell the story of my Administration" (I don't want to correct a former President, but I don't think administration should have been capitalized there) "and let visitors experience what it is like to serve as an American President during consequential times."
     I liked that little turn of phrase there, about serving in public office during consequential times. Maybe he'd have me over for a barbecue and we could have a soda pop and I could tell him about being a county commissioner during consequential times. Bet he'd like to hear some of THOSE stories!
     There was more, about standing together to promote shared ideals, which I agree this country could use a little more of, and then a sentence again about being "honored to have your support as partners in this important endeavor."
     And then he asked for a donation "of at least $25."
     Slipped it right in there, which, come to think of it, I learned is what politicians in general do really well.
     Bottom line is -- that's another favorite saying among Republicans -- "bottom line is," there will be no job with the museum, and, to be fair, there will be no $25 donation. The way I figure it, I lost a lot more than that in my investments in Halliburton, Mr. Vice President Chaney's firm, and I heard they did pretty well with contracts for cleaning up after the war in Iraq. Get it, "cleaning up"?
     Which makes me wonder: What kind of personal note did Chaney get? And those fellas out in Minnesota who raised millions for the GOP, and Grover Norquist, who owns something like 290 U.S. Congress members, just about all the Republicans.
     Bet their cards were prettier, and bigger.  

Table stretched into the living room . . . and back in history

    As I sat at the last seat available on Thanksgiving day, way out at a card table in the living room, it struck me that most of the people in the two rooms could not see just how far the tables stretched.
    We were all counting blessings, as we should. But a couple of us, the older ones, could see the tables of past years, and see faces that were no longer present.
    Our youngest diner is five, and two of the newest at the table joined the clan only a month ago, by marriage; a ready-made family for one of my cousins. We were hardly a Norman Rockwell portrait, but an all-American family, nonetheless; two widows (one recently remarried), partners and ex partners with stories of failed marriages and new starts, lots of happy memories and a few bad ones, and above all, high hopes.
    During the course of the day, there were casualties; two turkeys, for starters, and there was a broken dish, one burned dish of oyster dressing, a broken vase while the kids tore around the basement, and one little one threw up, but hey, it was, on the whole, a good day.
    Some of us seem to get together on only this one day a year; perhaps again at Christmas, or when there is a death or a wedding. Most of us have friends that we know better than some of the family, but it's still important, somehow, to spend this time together. There were several missing; conflicting commitments. But so it goes.
     At least the tables keep telescoping into the next room. They've actually stretched out of other kitchens and dining rooms in other homes, other years. The first Thanksgiving dinner I can remember was at the Witter home on Main Street in Manchester, in 1946. We were a new family in town, and the Witters shared half a turkey with us a little more than a month after we arrived.  We ate the other half of the turkey at our house on New Year's Day.
     Other memorable Thanksgivings were in the homes of my wife's grandparents, and then her parents, and the tradition has become ours, together. No one assigned it to us. It just happened.
     After they all went home, my wife and I watched a rerun of an old episode of The Waltons, the one where it seemed the family was fragmented beyond salvation, some with bickering and some by work and travel in the winds of the world, and the country was in mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
     Somehow, everybody got back to the old house on the mountain in Virginia, and Ma and Pa decided not to move into that new house they had always wanted to build but could never afford while the kids were growing up in the Great Depression, and John Boy made it home right after dinner, and .... well, it was pretty corny, I guess.
     Capped off my day just perfectly.

Supercommittee lived down to expectations

    I don't recall hearing anyone I know say, with any confidence, that the super committee in Congress would come up with a compromise that would fix problems with the American deficit.
    That just shows how little we expect.
    It also shows why our appreciation for politicians in general, and Washington politicians in particular, is at an all-time low.
    Americans are not alone in their estimation of their leadership. The Syrians have issues, and the Egyptians thought they fixed their problem by taking to the square in Cairo, but they're learning. Libyans are still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but, again, I don't have any great expectation that whatever comes next in the Middle East will be an improvement.
    After nearly 5,000 American soldiers' deaths, and untold civilian casualties, the outcome in Iraq is that they need a strongman leader to grab hold of the situation and end the chaos, kind of like what a fella named Saddam Hussein did for a couple of generations. If he were still around, they might have recruited him to take charge again.
    I thought it was kind of strange that the war to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists was waged in the one country that had put a lid on the radical Islamists, while we continued to cozy up to the Pakistanis and Afghans, who have more cousins killing other cousins and making bombs to blow up Westerners than Hussein could find on his best day.
    Not that I consider myself an expert on international relations. I have my hands full keeping the peace with other Americans. But that's another column.

At least the President we have can express himself

    I'm glad we have a President who speaks well in public.
    Perhaps it's because of the way my parents raised me. I share their respect for certain offices, such as the presidency of the United States, and for those who can stand up in front of a crowd and express a few thoughts in correct English, even if they do get help from a prompter.
    Most people I know who have aspired to any position of responsibility use notes, sometimes to the point where it's painful to watch them, let alone listen. For years, I have been a member of a service club that has numerous official meetings, with a whole protocol to follow, down to where do the visiting dignitaries sit, when are they introduced, and what is the correct terminology. The speakers make names for themselves, which is why by the end of some of their terms, the crowds tend to be smaller.
    Being a bit of an iconoclast, I do not always behave well at official functions. That's why I sometimes forget to let my wife know that it is a ladies' night, and that she is therefore invited. I can do without the nudges and pinches as I sit and glower, groan, fidget and sigh, waiting for the speeches to end and the pie to be served. I might have been raised to respect certain positions, but my lack of patience with people whose assessment of their importance relative to the title of their office betrays my best intentions.
    President of the bowling league is not in the same -- well, league -- as President of the United States. And too often, the lower the office, and the longer one holds it, the more likely they are to have an unfortunate over-estimate of their ability to speak without notes.
    But then I guess it depends on how well you relate to your speakers. Perhaps it's more acceptable in some circles to show more respect for the president of the rec league or the local horseshoe club than for the President of The United States.
   What I don't get is how anyone can excuse themselves for being rude to the leader of America because it's just politics. If you don't think there's politics in the rec league, you've never coached kids on the worse field in town.

Do Supreme Court Judges care about my health?

    It seems that just about anything we want to do, or stop, has to be run past the Supreme Court's justices.
    I'd rather have my doctors have a say in my health care. But they have their own problems dealing with the insurance companies who take my insurance premiums, then try to make a profit on the difference between my best interests and their own.
    My doctors used to complain all the time about the insurance companies. One invested in some equipment that would tell him early if I was developing a problem. Then the insurance company wouldn't reimburse him for the costs of using it.
    Everyone says you can cure almost anything if you catch it early, but the insurance companies seem to spend more money telling you not to get sick in the first place. Any doctor will tell you that finding lung cancer with X-rays is like learning of an earthquake from the weight of the building that just fell on you. CT scans are much better for early detection, but insurance companies don't want to pay  for the costlier CAT scans.
    I get notes and emails with tips for diet, healthy habits, exercise and all that. Very helpful, and more positive than the notes I get about medications my doctor orders for me; the insurance companies want to make sure I realln need those medicines, and can't I go with something less expensive?
    Lately, though, more of my doctors' complaints are about government bureaucracy, all the rules and regulations and paperwork they have to do to stay out of trouble with Big Brother.
    Funny, though; when I remind them that these are the same complaints they have with insurance companies, they stop for a moment and nod.
    What it comes down to is this: No one should get between my doctor and me when it comes to my health care.
     If what I pay in health care insurance doesn't pay for those executive limosines and six-figure executive salaries, they should make a case for raising their rates.
     And as far as Uncle Sam is concerned, I wish he spent more time on getting rid of the frauds who are preying on the public, and less time arguing the politics of whether the government should be involved at all.
     The government has been involved in health care for years, with oversight of the insurance companies, and through the courts -- lawsuits and criminal proceedings against the few who are caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
     Meanwhile, if you follow the cooking crumbs to the real rascals, you'll find yourself on the doorstep of one law firm or another. Or a politician's office.
     This is America, and we are in the 21st Century, so let's stop using 19th Century excuses for not meeting basic health needs for every citizen. Most civilized nations with paved roads have a more enlightened program for public health care than America does, so let's catch up, but keep the government's role to equitable funding and eliminating fraud.
     Let the doctors decide what patients need. Pay them for their knowledge and the hours they spend keeping up with the latest news and practices. The public has an interest in subsidizing the availability of vital medications, rather than letting the market take pills away from people who need them, just because the profits are no longer there.
    We share a culture, so we share all that it represents -- including bad habits and bad luck. If you live in this country, you should be entitled to basic health care, and you should be proud that you are a citizen of a compassionate nation.

Forums are farcical

     If you ask me, I think we have too many candidate forums leading up to elections, at any level.
     The people who run for office spend more time creating good answers than the questioners spend on finding good questions.
      And no matter what the questions are, or how astute the responses, what makes more headlines is any goof-up a candidate makes. Ask Rick Perry, who could not remember the name of that other government agency he would eliminate to save money.
     I have to wonder, too, who attends these forums. You can hear audience responses in the background, and sometimes it seems like they have substituted an audience sound track from cage fighting, or the Jerry Springer show. Where do they come from? Are these the same people who go to races looking for a crash, but tell you they like to see good drivers in action?
     There's plenty of hypocrisy to go around. It is, after all, a political event.
     Most people really care about good leadership, but I think they stay home from forums, knowing they won't see or hear anything there that does not serve the candidates or the parties, or the sponsors, more than it serves the public good. But I already said that; this is, after all, politics.
     Politics and show business. One reason why there are too many forums is because there are too many organizations who want to be associated with the publicity that results. It makes them seem important.
     I have participated in a few forums, and I almost never heard really substantive questions. Even less often did I hear substantive responses. If you notice, the candidates with the least to offer always are on the attack, and when asked how they would do it better, instead of answering the question, they launch into two minutes of how bad the incumbent is.
     When you think about it -- if you do -- neither a challenging candidate nor a defending incumbent can give a good answer to a question on a complex issue in 90 seconds, or whatever the limit. So we get attacks and warmed-over slogans.
     I think conservatives have an unfair advantage when it comes to forums. The simplicity fits their fundamental style, the time limits reduce the opportunity for wandering past the limits of their knowledge, and also plays to the attention span of their base.
     Moderates could stay home; when was the last time anything a moderate said in a forum made the news? Moderates stay within the bounds of reason and civility, and that's not usually very interesting.
     Liberals?  They're still talking, trying to fully explain their position, long after the lights in the hall have been turned off and the TV audience has turned to Survivor.

    

Andy Rooney really did have a point

     I'm going to miss Andy Rooney. I said that when he signed off with his last on-camera column last month, and I have to say I wasn't surprised to hear that he died this past week.
     In that last 60 Minutes piece, he said he wasn't going to retire, because writers don't retire. They may not be on the payroll any more, and some might argue that anyone who is 92 is past his time, perhaps irrelevant, but really wise people know better. I'm one of the wiser people on this. I can relate to Andy Rooney.
     Some people have complained for years that Rooney was no longer relevant, perhaps never had been relevant, as far as real journalists go. But Andy wrote about people, and people are always relevant.
     A lot of things that people do and say are irrelevant, and Andy was at his best when he was pointing that out. I like to do that, too, and I've even had people tell me I'm just like him; I suspect they were not fans of Andy Rooney.
     Andy was not the first columnist, of course, and not the first one to write the kinds of things that he did. He actually started on 60 Minutes as a staff writer, not a commentator, and did not start doing his columns on television until 1978.
     Those who said I just copied Andy were not aware that I started writing columns like that in 1969, first for the Hanover Evening Sun, and then for the Carroll County Times in the mid-1970s, when it was still a weekly. If I was influenced by anybody, it was the late Jim Bishop, Reporter. That's how he signed his Hearst Syndicated column; Jim Bishop, Reporter, because he had worked a beat, and even when he moved over to the column, he said he was still reporting on the human condition.
     He had a pal at Hearst named Bob Considine who would write a pretty good "people" column, too. They wrote books; Bishop wrote The Day Christ Died, and The Day Lincoln Was Shot, almost as if he was a reporter covering the events. I think he won the Nobel, or the Pulitzer, or some big prize like that, and Considine had a wall full of plaques, too, but that's not why they wrote the kinds of columns they did. I think they knew that by illuminating even the abject silliness of people, they were validating the humanity of all of us.
     Small truths add up to more than large opinions. Andy Rooney knew that. And life is short, even if you string it out to 92 years, as he did. He was a war reporter in Europe when I was in diapers; 25 years later, I was doing the same job in Asia.
     The actors come and go, but the human drama is the longest running show on the planet.

Planning "summit" shows up the county leadership

     Commissioner Doug Howard thinks the summit to trash Maryland's plan went well, and showed that it needs more time. Maryland Secretary of Planning Richard Hall says it was a missed opportunity to talk about something of substance.
     Put your money on Hall's assessment. Oh, sorry; you've already invested, and will continue to invest, in the agenda of  the Board of Darkness, the Council of Conspiracy.
     Much has been written about the use of taxpayer dollars to beat a tired conspiracy drum; the state, according to our leaders, has no business meddling in Carroll County business. They are mired in the mud of a time when there was no planning, no zoning, no awareness of the impact of a growing population on resources not only here at home, but downstream, to the Chesapeake Bay and beyond.
     The state acts in haste, they allege, and the county wants more time to rebut the case for responsible growth with this board's version of facts.
     These commissioners will never have enough time to catch up with the Maryland plan for a number of reasons, primary among them the fact that they don't want to.
     While the rest of the world moves forward, we are led by people who want to run full speed in reverse.
     The summit in Pikesville was designed to give Rothschild and other know-nothing conservatives a soapbox for the day to trash not just the state plan, but the fact that the state even has a plan that includes Carroll County.
     If they could, this board of five commissioners would take state transportation money only for the purpose of building a moat around the the county; there would be drawbridges to allow residential home buyers to arrive, then commute to the metro area high-paying jobs.
     Then we have the letters of support from the usual letter writers, the ones who think Rothschild is a genius and Frazier is a financial wiz.
     People ask me just about every day how this board got elected. I tell them they got lots of newsprint when they criticized the master plan efforts, spending, and general operations of the previous county administration, but little scrutiny.
     These five, who complained about the money being spent by previous administrations, is using taxpayer dollars in a down economy to sell a threadbare ideology. They would be more frugal, they promised. More open, inclusive, respectful of opinions of others.
     And at least three of them -- Howard, Rothschild and Frazier -- probably truly believed that they could all but secede from the state of Maryland, perceived by the Rigid Right as too liberal for Carroll Countians. They're finding out they were wrong, but don't look for them to concede that fact. Instead, they will continue to spend your money to appeal to like-minded know-nothings and bask in the adulation of the more outspoken ignorant.
     They are less open with the general public than they are with their back-room friends and loyalists. It is enough, obviously, to be obstructionists, to create chaos rather than find solutions to complex challenges that face all Maryland residents, and not just Carroll Countians.
     Why not? It's the new national model for politics.
     Now that they're in there, they are getting the scrutiny they should have had as candidates, but it's too late, and their publicity is costing the taxpayers more than has been tallied -- and the meter is still ticking.
    

How to fix just about anything

     Sooner or later, table talk at any morning coffee klatch will turn to what's broken, which is just about everything from Congress to sports.

     I have a partial list of my own, and some solutions:

     How to fix Congress:  1. For the next 12 years, elect all women. Men swagger too much.  Make them earn a return to Washington politics. 2. Elect House members to four year terms and limit them to two consecutive terms. If they take a term off, they can run again for one term. 3. Elect no one who has not had a job in the real world for at least 12 years (lawyers must have 20 years' in a grocery store or retail, or some other work involving everyday people). 4. Make it a felony for anyone leaving public office to go to work as a lobbyist until they have spent at least six years in charitable work for no pay.
     How to fix major league baseball:  1. Use the strike zone as set by the rulebook, not the umpires and the hitters' union. 2. Start the games on time, limit the time between half innings to a minute and a half, and stop pandering to the people who pay for commercials. They can advertise in the normal time it takes a team to take the field and warm up the pitcher, or forget about it. 3. Compensate for the loss of revenue by not paying players so much. They don't need and don't deserve to take home more than the national gross product of most of the world's nations. 4. Make the owners pay for new ball parks, and require that only residents of the city or at least the state in which the team plays may own a team. 5. Eliminate free agency bidding. Limits on salaries would stop the inflation of salaries. Players can still move to another team, but for no more than three percent more than they earned with their previous team.
     How to fix pro football:  1. Play it like they play it in high school and college, and banish forever any player who comes to dance instead of make the plays.  2. Exile any player who gets too violent to the showers in the nearest maximum security prison for one week.
     How to fix road rage and traffic congestion problems: 1. Take cars away from aggressive drivers and require that they commute to work on a Big Wheel toy tricycle.
     This is just a partial list, of course, and I really haven't given them any more than any of the Republican candidates have to their tax reform plans, but hey, it's a start.

Rothschild is a publicity hound, and the board condones it

     Commissioner Richard Rothschild is in love with the image in which he has recreated himself, and he's using county taxpayers' money to share it with the wider world.
     That's bad enough -- pathetic, really. But the really bad part is that the other four commissioners seem to go along with it.
     Is Rothschild running the agenda?  Seems so.
     The decision to hold a "forum" with hand-picked "experts" on climate change and its causes in Pikesville, rather than Carroll County, is an attempt to increase the liklihood of Baltimore television station coverage, likely set up by Rothschild's pick, promoter James Simpson also on contract with taxpayer dollars.
     Haven Shoemaker is disgusted, but one has to wonder why he does not speak out enough; he certainly wasn't shy about running down then-commissioner Julia Gouge when he decided to go after her place on the Board of Commissioners.
     This was the same Shoemaker who in the several years prior had praised the county leaders for coming to Hampstead's aid in getting the Route 30 by-pass moving, saving the old Hampstead High School and turning it into senior housing, and cleaning up some zoning issues that had occurred because of developers' games in past years.
     Once he decided Gouge was vulnerable, largely because of the redistricting for five commissioners, Shoemaker cozied up to the northeast news rag or whatever it was that the anti-Gouge crowd funded and began his campaign.
     Well, that was just politics, as they say in the sleazy shadows of the game. But now, he's in office, and has responsibilities, so why has he not taken the lead against what he, more than anyone on the board, knows is nothing but a self-serving, career-building agenda by a slick-talking snake oil salesman whose rhetoric comes as easily as that of the con man Professor Hill in The Music Man?
      Or does Shoemaker feel beholden to that man behind the curtain who helped him get elected?
      And, as I have asked before, what does Dave Roush stand for, or against?
     Rothschild goes on radio stations, which will play to their ratings -- right wing listeners -- and share chuckles and inside jokes, and compliment each other, back and forth, on their wit and wisdom.
    Perhaps Rothschild will resign and run for Congress; he's telling audiences on all his tours that he is now a national political figure, bearing the burden of carrying the flag for the Constitution and conservative ideals.
    He seems bent on making a career of it. Not a stupid plot, when you think about it, seeing as how the real estate business, in which he allegedly became one of the ten wealthiest Carroll Countians, has been played out like a Nevada tin mine, leaving so many Americans on the short end of the boom.
    It's just that most of us, when we have been forced to make a career change, don't run a populist campaign to gain access to public money to pay the way.
   Has anybody INSIDE the county office building mustered up the nerve to point out to Rothschild and Simpson that they are making a laughing stock of the county? We all know about the public critics, dismissed by Rothschild and his benumbed loyalists as "lefties." But the critics are just locals, and there is a wider audience out there he wants to reach.
     I understand that the staff members I counted on for candid advice don't feel welcome to speak up off camera with this board.
     I feel sorry for those whose service to the county citizens for so many years now find themselves carrying water for the likes of Rothschild and Robin Frazier and Doug Howard.
     Perhaps if Shoemaker and Roush had the spine to push back with the vigor that is called for, those county employees would find some redemption.
     How many months remain in this term?
    
    

Note to Times' copy desk: Bad "facts" should be edited out

     Several items on the editorial page of the Carroll County Times about the proposed waste to energy plant and the upgrades to Carroll County Regional Airport contain errors in fact that should never get past a professional copy desk.
     I know the editorial page is a place for opinion, and that any flake can express any off the wall opinion so long as it isn't malicious, libelous or lewd.
     Well, malice seems to be the new virtue in the media, especially the electronic versions, because mere outrageous indignation is too benign for our over the top, Jerry Springer culture.
     But a good editorial page will not knowingly allow continued propagation of assertions that have been proven false, let alone malicious.
     Certain claims in favor of both the trash to electricity project and the airport certainly arguable, but let us make something clear right now: Never was any fuel dumped by any plane landing or taking off at Westminster's airport. Never will happen. The allegations that the discolored rooftops and the blisters on the feet of children playing in wet grass was caused by dumped fuel was disproved several years ago, so can we please stop letting the falsehoods creep into articles, opinion or not, as fact?
     Another misrepresentation of fact is the continued assertion that the city of Harrisburg's bankruptcy was caused by their investment in a waste to energy plant "just like the one Carroll and Frederick Counties are proposing."
          Wrong context! Harrisburg tried to upgrade old technology, which is nothing like the Maryland operations and the one planned in Frederick. They mishandled the premise, then mishandled the ways they financed it, including caving in to fiscal critics and limiting their options.
     Ironically, the plant is now operating at a profit.
     Waste Not Carroll kept getting it wrong, too, but I have came to the conclusion that they didn't care about facts; their job was to oppose "incinerators"; perhaps there was a fear that having an open mind to new technology -- and new facts -- would erode the number and zeal of those with environmental concerns.
     In a recent column on the Times' editorial page, Westminster City Councilman Dennis Frazier got it wrong on both the treatment plant and the airport, and the copy desk allowed him to show his ignorance.
     But then this is the councilman who proposed getting rid of parking meters without asking if anyone had ever studied such an idea in the past. Been there, done that, he might have been told by anyone who has paid attention to city issues at all over the past decade or so.
     So, opinions are free, and worth what they cost; facts are rare, and context is everything, particularly if credibility is valued at all.
    

Static in our connected culture

     I'm not sure we're as well-connected as the hype contends.
     Sure, any twit can tweet their twerps instantly almost anywhere with trivia of the moment, but try getting hold of your doctor. A real person in the doctor's office, I mean.
     Technology advances have allowed telemarketers to find me as I am sitting on the toilet, but if I try to get hold of my cable company, phone or utility provider, medical services or even the same salesmen who called me when I was indisposed, chances are I'll get a recorded menu.
     Then there is the touted paperless society -- reason given for requiring that I have 147 passwords, each with different rules (upper and lower case with numbers, no numbers, yadda) to go on line to access my accounts for banking, social security, insurance -- everything.
     I used to plan trips on a travel site, for which I had a sign-in and a password. Over time, I forgot either the sign-in or the password -- the site is vague about that when it denies me access to "my" account. After three tries, I am shut out. For my safety. So, I no longer use that travel site. When I try to create a new account, it tells me I already have an account, please sign on to that. There is no phone number to call.
     Same deal with a timeshare account; I can't use the thing, because whenever I sign in, some little troll in the system tells me I have only two choices, neither of them during the times I can travel. The troll obviously has not been introduced to the salesman who promised us we could buy one condo and visit thousands around the world.
     Back to the doctor; stress problems. Once I breach the walls, I go in and find that I have to fill out forms. Again.
     What did you do with the info I gave you on my last visit? If they can't keep track of my name, address, social and phone numbers, who knows where the files on blood pressure, etc., went.
     And it's not just one doctor; I see half a dozen for various ailments, and they're all the same.
     Can't blame the doctors, though; they don't run their offices. The Women do. The Women are tired of inconvenient calls from needy and cranky patients, and they are united in their crusade to restore order to the chaos.
     In our overly connected world, they have found ways to screen the incoming calls, and take it slower. Can't say I blame them, really.

It's more like wee wee on the people . . .

     "We the people" used to be a term to be respected, but the perverse interpretations it takes on when used by those who spew hatred do our Constitution a disservice.
     The original words were written by people of character and courage, who signed their names to the document dedicated to higher ideals, just as the writers of the Declaration of Independence signed theirs.
     When I hear and read some of the things said by the self-anointed guardians of American patriotism and freedom, most of them with pseudonyms, it seems they are hiding behind a good idea to destroy true democratic discourse -- or their opponents' reputations.
     That's when free speech gets as offensive as urinating in public.
     Like drunks outside a neighborhood bar, they think they're amusing, or sharing a bonding, rebellious moment, but the fact is they are ugly, repulsive and self-defeating.
     No-class knows class when it sees it, only class knows no-class when it sees it.
              

Tribes and factions in America

    At some point, I suppose I will have to try to pass myself off as a member of one tribe or another, or risk exile, or worse.
     We like to think that Americans are an advanced culture, and long past tribalism. Rivalry among tribes, we know, is at the root of the problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, Libya and most of the other nations of Africa. We're supposed to be better than that. More enlightened, more sophisticated.
    In spite of that self-assured opinion, we see an awful lot of evidence that Americans really, down deep, need to be identified with a tribe, need to be part of some group that shares our values and -- well, biases.
    Political parties are sort of like tribes. There are unconfirmed reports of some extreme political factions eating their young.
    Some of us are not really given a choice of which tribe we belong to; we are told by media or academics or marketers that we are the Baby Boomer Tribe, the Millennium Generation Tribe, which may have overrun the Gen-X and Generation Y tribes. It's hard to keep up.
     One way to get your bearings and find out what tribe you should be in is to look at your junk mail. Someone knows who you are and where you live.
     Once you are labeled as a member of one tribe, it's hard to get into another tribe.
I wonder what would happen if, say, a member of the Tea Party tribe decided to become a member of the Occupy Wall Street tribe. It might be hard for outsiders to tell one from the other, but I don't think you can be both for long. It would be interested to see if one tribe would absorb the other, the way the conservatives tribe has tried to absorb the teaparty members.

    That can happen; just outlive the other, or get absorbed. Old hippies and flower power tribes eventually morphed into their parents' Establishment tribe, and it's hard to tell them from the AARP and American Legion tribes today, until the arguments break out between those who served in the military and those who never have.
   Most people eventually join some tribe -- for one thing, there's a certain comfort level to be found in a group of like-minded people.
     I suppose I should settle down and pick one.
     On the other hand, it's probably too late for me. Come to think of it, I went into self-exile sometime in the 10th grade, and despite participation in a number of civic organizations, service clubs, rec leagues and even (urrrp!) political office, I have never really been part of a tribe.
     Just a wandering pilgrim on the landscape, an observer at the edge of the campfires.
Just as well:  Someone once told me I ask too many questions to be a good tribe member.                

Want to find a cult? Flush out a fundamentalist anything

    During a visit to Annapolis, back when I was trying to play nice with the Republican establishment, I was introduced to a woman who, I was told, was a new member of the central committee. No sooner had we exchanged a handshake when the woman asked me, "Have you been Saved?"
     "None of your business," I started to say, but -- well, I was really, really trying to play nice with all of these wingnuts that I had not realized were serious. I thought all Right Wing zealotry was an act, like kids playing cowboys and Indians, only this was Republicans and Everyone Else.
     Probably not by your definition, I said, but I have a relationship with God. Him, or Her, or That Which Has No Name.  Personally, I really liked that Star Wars term, and wanted to tell the smiling witch who was inquiring about my soul, "May the Force be with you," but that might have ruined the evening.
     I never liked people who think they have all the answers when they never bothered to ask enough questions.
     Fundamentalists, one the other hand, will not tolerate one who questions.
     The biggest threat to a fundamental belief of any kind is a very human question: "Why?"
     "Why?" pops the lid off Pandora's box. First thing you know, someone in the back of the room is asking, "Who says so?"  And it goes downhill from there.  Questions require answers, and answers lead to interpretation and even more questions, which leads to nuance, and that is the definition of education, and education is feared by another name -- Liberalism.
     I think the person who coined the phrase, "Keep It Simple, Stupid," was talking to a fellow fundamentalist, and it was a term of endearment.
     Some of us can't resist the need to ask questions. Seek new ideas or thoughts.
     During my Navy days, I spent three weeks aboard the USS Sacramento off the coast of Vietnam. I shared a small office deep in the ship with two Mormons who were delighted to tell me about their religion. They gave me the Book of Mormon, which I read. They testified, and proselytized, and witnessed for their creed, but I was just full of questions.
     I wasn't trying to undermine their faith; I was trying to understand it, and I was delighted to discover that these two Mormons were able to remain friendly even when others might have become defensive or playing the judgment card.
     I had a similar experience with a young man who worked with me at the News American in Baltimore. As nice a young man as you could ever meet, and full of family values; Monday nights, the TV was off, and he and his wife and kids played board games together.
     Jack Anderson, the syndicated columnist, was a Mormon; not quite as friendly or as engaging as the other Mormons I had met, but not a bad guy to talk to.
     I know that some practices and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- or what we call Mormons -- are less than savory to most of us.
     But you see, those were the actions of strict Mormon fundamentalists.
     That introduction of Gov. Perry by the nice Christian fundamentalist preacher might sound like a warm embrace to people of a like mind, but to me, it was like a preamble to a lynching; the man of the cloth judged all Mormons as not only non-Christian, but anti-Christian members of a cult.
     I have been over the wall and seen the world, and I can testify that the Mormons I have met consider themselves Christians. But not all of them are what you would call fundamentalists.
     Seems that fundamentalists of all  kinds, Christian, Jew, Muslim or Constitutionalists, leave something to be desired.

Mooooo! The sound of a different ox being gored

     That sound you hear from the good ol' country boys on the back 40 is the sound of THEIR ox being gored, for want of a less polite euphemism.
      Talking about redistricting here, which is always painful for someone, depending on which party is in power when the time comes to restore fair and balanced representation in government.
     Forgive me for enjoying the moment, because the folks braying about political manipulation now are the very ones who engineered the corrupted county redistricting plan prior to the "five commissioners by district" debacle.
     Talking about the Republican Central Committee now, and master maneuverer Joe Getty, who went and got himself elected State Senator, once Larry Haines got out of the way. Joe was likely beginning to think Larry would never sell out and move to Pennsylvania. Getty paid his dues for years, and now he's top dog, but the pound neighborhood is changing, and maybe not as nice a place to be as the old dogs would like.
     Haines was the perennial good ol' country boy, spinning tales about when every farm house in Carroll County had an outhouse out back, and boys walked barefoot to the pond to catch fish for supper, and Sunday was a great day because it started with four hours of church and ended with one less chicken in the barnyard.
     When the commissioners wanted to put up a "Welcome To Carroll County" sign, Haines lobbied to add the words, "Gateway to Western Maryland."
     I said the appropriate place for that sign was somewhere on the western side of Parr's Ridge, on the way to Thurmont, because most people living on the eastern side of the county related more to the Baltimore area, from whence most of them had emigrated, and many of them commuted to work. Larry did not appreciate that.
     Neither did Joe Getty, or any of the other Conservative Republicans who were determined to turn their eyes West, to the hills, and ignore the creeping urbanized culture coming to the county.
     They were incensed that the county commissioners had membership in the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, and that we had good working relationships with the leaderships in Baltimore County and city, Howard, Anne Arundel and even Montgomery Counties -- again, areas where many of the 65 percent of commuters from this county earned the wages that made their $600,000 "country estates" in Carroll possible.
     They Jerry-rigged the county commissioner districts prior to the last local election because some of those new residents might be inclined to be a little more progressive on matters of schools, parks, and transportation, and less inclined to see roads clog even more with the continued growth of residential units on farmland.
     Preserve farms my patootie! Farms were to raise corn until you sold it to a developer. It did not sit well with this crowd that farmers were learning that preservation worked just as well for the retiring farmer as selling it off for housing.
     That's because the real client here was Real Estate and its development.
     Did I mention that Haines was active in real estate?
     And business interests in the county like the good ol boy system, too. Think about it: If you bring modern information-based industry to Carroll County, that would put upward pressure on salaries paid to local workers in key jobs.
     Years ago, the powers that were in nearby Hanover, Pa., kept Harley Davidson and Caterpillar plants out of town because the local shoe and clothing factories were afraid they would lose workers or -- Heaven forbid -- raise wages.
     The redistricting plan put forth for Maryland makes uber-conservative Andy Harris, a darling of the Club for Growth set, more vulnerable because he loses conservative areas and gains communities who are -- well, less conservative, maybe even moderate in their politics. And out West, Roscoe Bartlett, who ran 30 years ago on a platform to limit terms in Congress, will lose some local voters.
     A Democrat might even be the county's representative in the south of the county. Golly, what's Carroll County coming to?
      Hear it?    "Moooooooooooo!"

Has anyone heard from Commissioner Dave Roush?

     As Carroll County commissioners Richard Rothschild and Robin Frazier display their one-note ideology over and over again, colleague Haven Shoemaker has spoken up in opposition to the extreme tilt to the Right and may have redeemed himself as a reasonable and more centrist, pragmatic thinker.
     Why, indeed, give $6,000 a month in taxpayer dollars away so Rothschild can lay claim to a "national presence," which, Rothschild laments, has brought him undue scrutiny and criticism similar to that suffered by Sarah Palin.
     Rothschild, not satisfied with self-serving rhetoric, wanted to hire a like-thinking hack -- that's what real news people call a hired spin master  -- to polish up the image for a larger audience.
     Shoemaker knows a grandstand play when he sees one, because he made a few beauties in successfully campaigning against incumbent Julia Gouge in The Election The Republican Central Committee Engineered through savvy redistricting and reduction in the Gouge base.
     But now, to his credit, Shoemaker has had enough, and has said so.
     Doug Howard, who I once thought was a lot brighter than average, seems to prattle on about the Rightness of the new board's agenda, as if the five of them have somehow been anointed with mandates to completely reverse everything that could be called reasonable progress in recent years.
     His defense of the inability to find a planner as reported in a recent issue of The Carroll County Times actually inspired horse laughs in those who know what's really the problem. Howard said it may be difficult to find a professional planner who can work with the policies of the current board of commissioners and take the plan where the commissioners want to go.
     Ya think?
     NO self-respecting professional planner would touch the Carroll County planning job unless they were ready to retire, and willing to toss their reputations and take the money and move to Florida.
     That's why former economic development director Larry Twele left the county for a job Howard County. No dead-end streets for him.
     Virtually every planner -- and economic development professional -- knows that Carroll County was on the right track with reduced emphasis on residential growth and development of zoned areas to attract modern, state of the art business. The election of this board was a huge U-turn to the pre-1960 era.
     It is unsustainable. Rothschild does not even understand the definition of that word, but he does not like it, because it does not fit his iron-bound politispeak. Here is a guy who refuses to acknowledge that islands are disappearing because water is rising.
     But we all saw all of that coming. Where we are and where we are headed, at least until the next election, is no surprise.
     What is a surprise to me, and some other observers, is the absence of any semblance of leadership from Commissioner Dave Roush.
     Roush had strong opinions when he served on the economic development commission, and later on the Board of Zoning Appeals. He heard all the testimony of the advisers and saw the results of professional surveys on what direction the county needed to go to keep the tax rate down and create local jobs of a status to pay for the county quality of life. He spoke up, contributed to the dialog.
     So where is he now?
     Of all the candidates for commissioner in the last election, Roush had the most solid position of understanding of the issues the county faces, and the consequences of turning back the clock. Frazier was and is hopelessly didactic about conservative values and clueless about realities; Rothschild was obviously an ideologue with a conspiracy mentality. Howard had potential, in a benign, deer-in-the-headlights sort of way, but has failed miserably to examine the facts because he's too busy justifying actions. Note to Howard: It's okay to think for yourself. Key word is "think."
     Shoemaker has come to the party.
     I expected a lot more than I have seen or heard from Roush. Perhaps he is not being served well by the press, which tends to ignore or under report reasonable comment.
     But I never questioned his judgment, and thought that as a commissioner, in a position that requires openness and leadership, he would stand up for what he knows.
      He is past due.

One absolutist's sin is another's virtue

     The latest criticism of President Obama is that he has been too moderate, or not liberal enough, which is in stark contrast to the continuing criticism that he is too liberal, or wishy-washy.
     He is, indeed, all of the above, depending on how big a fruitcake the critic.
     We have lots of absolutist fruitcakes; I know, because I have had the distinct displeasure of dealing with them on a professional basis.
     When he was candidate Obama, I didn't know anything about him, except that with a name like that, skin like that, and intellect like that, he didn't have a chance in American politics; he should live in a more enlightened country, like Kurdistan. I'm kidding, a little.
     The more he talked, the more I liked what I heard, but I had liked the message before, only to be disappointed with the delivery of the goods, or lack thereof.
     In the past, what got in the way of Doing The Right Thing was political expedience, known in some circles as compromise, and in others as selling out.
     To be a truly great leader, you will have success if you can do three things simultaneously: Stick to your principles; sell out; and make it look like you did both and neither at the same time.
     I said before he took office that President Obama would not be as liberal as his liberal supporters expect, nor would he be as conservative as he needed to be to satisfy the cave persons over there in the dark. I was right, of course, which really, really ticks off my wife and friend Dave, because I keep reminding them that I am always right, and they sputter in their attempts at refuting the obvious.
     My point was based on my perception that here was a very bright and articulate man, essentially a decent and well-educated human being, who wanted to go down in history as the Great Peacemaker. He wanted to bring Americans together for common goals. Problem is, there are no common goals; it's mostly Us versus Them.
     He wanted to restore respect for America on the world stage. Problem is, the jingoism (often mistaken for patriotism) in this nation leaves us blind to how we are seen even by our allies. I said allies, not friends. We have no friends.
     Eavesdropping on an intelligent conversation about the state of politics today (I had to tune in a public radio station), one participant summed it up: Mitt Romney has tottered to the Right because he needs those votes in the Republican primary elections; Rick (Marlboro Man) Perry is already over there, but is finding out not all Republicans think like Texans; and Obama has become the strident, more assertive soldier for social issues because, as the lady on the radio said, There is no place in American politics right now for moderates.
     Okay, I've been saying that for a couple of years, but still, combined with still another rainy day, that makes me want to check out the sunshine in a truly enlightened country, like, say, Canada.
     I'm kidding, but only a little.
        

Fear and loathing as a healthy lifestyle

     You can't go on line without being exposed to an epidemic -- of health risk hysteria.
     No wonder we are scared to death of germs. And viruses. And contaminated food, and medical mistakes and deadly reactions to mixes of medications.
     Just this week, we learn that cantaloupe has made some people sick and killed two. Two.  If it's a loved one, that's really hard to take, but the truth is, you're probably getting sicker every day with stress over stories like these.
     You can never know too much, but you can be exposed to too much bad news. The key is balance.
     Keep it in perspective; don't worry about dying from cantaloupe; you're more likely to get wiped out by another driver on your way to work. As you sit there and read what's on the internet, your arteries are building up clogs that will, after 50 years, give you a heart attack or a stroke.
     Doctors have been telling me for 50 years that smoking my pipe is bad for me.
     Lawyers advertise to get me to come see them because I was exposed to asbestos while serving in the Navy. Let alone the asbestos shingles we used to throw on rocks when we were kids to see them turn to powder. That was when we ran out of thermometers to break open so we could shine nickels and dimes with the mercury.
     I know at least as many people who died trying to lose weight as I do fat people who died because they didn't try.
     Booze will kill you, too, if you drink too much, but then other stories say that alcohol in moderation is good for your arteries. Here's to healthy arteries.
      For years, I took aspirin every day to keep those blood vessels clog-free, which meant that I could eat my bacon and cheese omelets with a clear conscience. Now they say something in aspirin works against the key ingredient in some blood pressure medications, canceling each other out.
      Blood pressure meds have been suspected as a contributing cause of Type 2 diabetes, which requires diet modification and medications which can cause other side effects, like, say, a coma.
     If you're lucky, the meds will only cause kidney damage, leading to dialysis or a transplant, which requires taking anti-rejection meds which cause cancer. If you're unlucky, you get a muscle disease first, grow sore all over, weaker and more crippled, and then you get the kidney failure and the dialysis, especially if you have been easing your arthritis with nsaids painkillers for 20 years.
     The diet for people with high blood sugar is low fat, low glycemic carbohydrates, or, cardboard. Whole wheats and brown rice, beans, nothing white like potatoes or corn or French bread. No fats, like butter. Use those whipped spreads on your brown bread, which soak into it like you've run it under a faucet, and then drink some milk; soy milk, that is.
     When they come out with a soy substitute for bourbon, I may stop drinking. On the other hand, there is that healthy artery thing that one should not give up on too easily....

Jobs, the budget, and the TSA

     Since even rookie Republican politicians have put forth ideas for fixing the economy, I figure, it can't be that complicated, so I'll give it a shot, too.
     You want to fix America's economy? Instead of funding the TSA, put the money into airline subsidies and require that the airlines provide security, both on the planes and at the airports.
     Air travel was better 40 years ago, when airlines were subsidized; I know, I worked for the industry in the early and mid-sixties. United was the best airline in the world, but there were lots of other carriers who served the public well, even to little towns like Fargo, ND, and flights were affordable because it was universally recognized that a well-run transportation system served even those who were not flying at the moment.
     While the occasional drunk or nut was escorted off -- or more likely denied boarding -- a plane, unruly, rude, upset passengers were unusual.
     Customers were treated politely, cordially, as if the airline and the person wearing the airline's uniform were glad to have you aboard.
     You could call a number and a real human would pick up the phone and help you book a reservation, including suggestions for making the trip more efficient and enjoyable.
     When you arrived at the airport, you could park your car within walking distance of the ticket counter, even the gate, and check in quickly and with a sense of security.
     Booze and firearms were not allowed in your carry-on. What you carried in your luggage was your business; overweight charges were generally not collected.
     That was then.
     Now, the TSA treats everyone who comes into the airport like a terrorist.
     I have a great deal of respect for mall security cops, guards at self-storage sites, and school crossing guards.
     But I suspect that the average TSA airport employee would not want those jobs, even if the pay was better, because they offer less opportunity to abuse such a broad spectrum of the population.
     You never see mall security cops high-five each other when one requires a six-year-old to submit to a pat-down. You don't see them hoping the parent that watches such a miscarriage of trust will explode and give them a reason to take them to the little glass room to cool off until the plane leaves.
     They get to take out their kinks on kids, old men with colostomy bags, people in wheelchairs, mothers with three tots to corral, and anyone who "looks funny."
     So little skill, so little ability, and so much power. It's almost like being a congressman, but without the health care and retirement plan.
     Reassign some TSA workers to walking the desert where drug lords smuggle human beings and all kinds of contraband into the country.  But use most of the money we pay them to ensure that the airlines screen bags, run passengers through scanners, and leave the profiling of suspects to FBI or other federal agents who are intelligent enough to take the sophisticated training and apply skills without humiliating the traveling public.
     Less stress in the airport means less stress at the check-in, at the boarding gate, and one the plane. Cash subsidies mean a cushion on profitability, which would allow them to stop charging middle class families $75 for a bag that's two pounds over.
     They could abandon the overbooking of seats on flights, make sure everyone who has a ticket actually gets on the plane. Maybe allow a few empty seats or more carry-on storage.
     Life would be better for half a million Americans or so every day, so tell me, who has offered a better idea so far?

Didn't want to watch, had to, better for it

     I don't trust American media to deal with something like the 10th anniversary of the terrorists' attack on America, and had planned to pass the day with my nose in a book.
     But I had to watch. I was snagged by a random channel while looking for something mindless -- plenty to choose from -- and found myself compelled to stay with the visuals, and the memories, and the thoughts they brought about what might have been.
I sat there and wept.
     So many might-have-beens; at least one such story for each victim, and another for each survivor of a victim.
     I occurred to me that the people who died when the planes were flown into masses of humanity as an otherwise ordinary workday was just beginning were only the first names on a long list, one that grows daily.
     Those who never got to finish a second cup of coffee that morning were caught unaware; many of the subsequent victims volunteered, signing up for military service to do something to take the fight back to the extremists with a rage from the Dark Ages.
     Every American -- and every Iraqi or Afghan, or whatever nationality -- drawn to this infamous flame has danced with death in a thousand moments of violence. Soldiers, civilians, volunteers, career military and the random passers by have paid with their lives in the sequential events that follow what we call, "9 - 11".
     Parents and wives and husbands sit at home and watch the news that is allowed to be broadcast, and wait for news that no one wants to hear. Pride, fear, frustration, depression, hope -- how many moments of anguish have followed the unspeakable and cowardly act on an incredibly beautiful September day ten years ago?
     Another casualty was what we used to think was almost uniquely American virtue -- tolerance for people with different opinions and points of view.
     Oh, we came together for a time after 9-11, and some would like to believe that we are solid in our resolve to ensure security now and justice over time.
     But the truth has been held hostage by one faction or another, then dressed up in different versions and sent out through the land to represent differing definitions of what America is all about, what is the definition of a patriot, and whose opinions reflect the nation's constitution.
     Four suicidal foreign zealots knocked down some buildings with airplanes; didn't live to see the results. Perhaps they were intelligent, educated men, but they were misinformed, or hopeless, and angry, and terminally misguided.
    The rest of the damage has been done by the living,  and not all of them live in some mud hut in the Middle East.
     I am glad they have built a memorial and are replacing a building at Ground Zero. I know we will never forget, and that we all love our soldiers and support their families and the families of victims of 9-11.
     But who among us will keep zealotry from destroying us from within?       

Still here; waiting for the din to subside

    Judging from the hits on this site over the past week, it is apparent that regular readers are looking for the latest entry.
    The world rotates on its axis. The sun rises and sets. Actually, it doesn't move at all, we do, but never mind.
    I'm still here, but I am taking a break, waiting for the din to subside.
    I came to the conclusion that I had become part of the din, and in danger of being dragged down into the swill of excessive rhetoric that in this era of polls and polarization adds nothing of any substance to the public discourse.
    The debt crisis debacle did it. Why comment on insanity?
    I fear that our culture is dying.
    Our political system seems to be broken, perhaps a victim of instant transmission of whatever sensation presents itself, and the 'round the clock news cycles.  Too much abuse of the freedom of speech, and assembly. When is an assembly of concerned citizens in danger of becoming a lynch mob? It may be simply a matter of publicity, and momentum.
    I see too much apathy turning from the spectacle of too much ignorant ranting.
    I will continue to write, but not in the arena on one-upmanship, where the latest cut, the cruelest dig, wins the day.
    I choose not to engage in battles of wits with the witless. It will not be about volume, but about the elevation of ideas.
    Reason, ultimately, triumphs over zealotry.
    My personal decision changes nothing, I know. It flies in the face of the power of publicity, celebrity, and confrontation, and ratings. But if I believe that reason prevails over rants, I will not be one of those who rant.
    Old-fashioned, perhaps, in this era of instant polls, and the abdication of responsibility by the traditional gatekeepers.  But if you value substance over popularity, you can sleep better, walk a little taller, and retain hope for the culture.

Rookies in public office are a threat to your financial health

     After the vote to raise the debt ceiling and avert tipping the first domino toward default, world markets show LESS faith in the US economy. In fact, the dollar was worth more when we were in crisis last week, so what do we have to do to calm things down?
     For starters, according to financial experts who get more time on the air than what TV wants as a "sound bite," it never was about the debt ceiling for those who know what they're talking about when working the numbers. It's about the dollar's reputation when compared to all the alternatives.
     Paul Salmon, the economics reporter for Public Media, interviews people from Right to Left, including former financial advisers for both Republican and Democrat administrations. He also gets into the hectic world of financiers, who told him the other day that in essence, the news coverage of the financial crisis misses the point, because it covers it from a political consequences point of view, reporting opinions instead of the facts at hand.
     Reporters talk to politicians on the Right and the Left, get quotes from a housewife in the grocery store, the retired guys getting cheap coffee at McDonald's, and others who really, forgive me, do not have a clue as to how to fill out a tax form, let alone a federal budget.
     The folks in the back rooms know that those opinions matter, but not always in a good way.
     World money markets traditionally trusted the political moderation of our decision-makers. Grownups with some experience in both business and governance, and only the occasional radical reformer.  But now we have absolutists affecting the decision-makers; rookies in leading roles who do not understand the impact of cutting spending and not raising revenues.
     Wiser heads -- those focused on economics, not ideology -- point out that these economic conditions are not as cut and dried as the normal standards weighed by rating agencies. They say you do not cut spending when what is needed is more cash in the marketplace.
     What the market wants to see is not a reduction in the deficit; they want to see buyers coming in to spend money. When the buyers are spending, sellers will hire more people to serve the customers, and to make the products the customers want.
     We love to nod sagely at grandpa's sage advice to put your money in a sock, don't borrow anything, and if you have a debt, pay it off immediately if not sooner.
     Somewhere between carrying more debt than we can repay and not having any debt at all is that happy medium where we have confidence that we can pay off the credit that we use today.
     I know the Pandora's box of instant polls and using electronic media has been opened, and will never be closed. But we'd all be better off if we turned off the talk shows, ignored the polls, listened less to the rants and read more about the solutions to complex issues.
     Unlike so many of my colleagues in the media, I believe it is not freedom of speech that is paramount, it is the ability to find and seek the facts. It's getting harder to sift through the din to learn anything, except today's Talking Points of one side or another.

NOW do you get "gradual and incremental"?

     They call themselves "Tea-party patriots," but I have referred to them as tea-baggers, because it makes them even crazier.
     It was apparent to me from the start that despite good intentions, some average, every-day folks who were frustrated with all things politics would be used and manipulated by the very kinds of cynical and ideological absolutists that are at the root of all things politics.
     Absolutism is the enemy of reason and compromise. It's the enemy of balance and fairness and, therefore, the enemy of the most fundamental ideals of democracy.
     They call themselves patriots, but they don't want democracy. They want what THEY want, and they want it NOW. They demand the right to speak for themselves, but then go to public meetings to shout down and intimidate those who have other ideas.
     They mocked my plea to work with others and make changes "gradually and incrementally."
     They refuse to compromise for the sake of getting along, and will destroy the entire structure of anything in which they gain a foothold.
     They have ruined the Republican Party. I saw it happen here in Carroll County. The absolutists tore apart the Central Committee with their bickering and name-calling, damaged several local Republican clubs, and lost credibility for themselves and those who they elect in Annapolis.
     While claiming special status as Christians and protectors of the Constitution, some of their more ardent warriors have shown a willingness to use ruthless strategies to ruin the reputations and even the financial foundations of those they see as too liberal, which includes anyone who disagrees with them.
      So American voters sent 87 of them to represent them in Congress. They have taken hostages, including those who count on Medicare and Social Security, children in public schools, the disabled, veterans, and public employees because they insist that a constitutional change be included in a vote on the debt ceiling, rather than as a separate, well-considered and thoughtfully debated separate bill.
    How's that working for you?
    We might destroy the economy with intransigence, but at least we'll have pro football for the next ten years.

Commissioners are not keeping their promise of engagement

     These same commissioners who ran for the office on the predication that local citizens needed more representation in land use planning are not going to participate in a meeting with local residents and staff from the Maryland Department of Planning.
     This does not make sense, unless you fully understand the real agenda of at least three members of this board.
     In any case, they are not living up to their own word; that they would encourage more local input on land use, that they would be fully engaged to ensure the constitutionality of any actions resulting in planning and zoning, and they would be both transparent and accessible.
     There was even some reference to fighting back, the "Fighting 59th" or something like that, until it was pointed out that it really sounded silly.
     Finksburg citizens -- who have the same rights as citizens who voted for any of the five commissioners -- joined with the local newspaper, The Carroll County Times, to host a meeting with state planning officials, so everyone could get up to date on the objectives of the state and the impact that state actions will have on Carroll County.
     When they were campaigning, and even before that, when they were opposing the previous master plan proposal and thinking about running for office, Richard Rothschild in particular was noisy about how real leaders would stand up to the state and listen more to We The People.
      Now, he stays home. Says there is are "more appropriate venues" for responding to the plan. Based on his activities in office so far, that means taking trips out of county to speak to those who already think like him on issues of property rights and zoning, laissez-faire versus government planning.
     If he has to meet opponents in open dialog, he gets scarce. What better venue to stand up for what he purports to be the values of most county residents than a county meeting with state officials?  No answer.
     Robin Frazier continues to play the Cheshire cat, appearing, disappearing, hard to find and totally non-responsive. She has her 21 percent and forget about the rest of the county. The reference to 21 percent is the extreme Right's number; they figure they can get support from that 21 percent of the electorate that makes up their base at the polls, and most of the rest of population fails to vote, so the ardent conservatives win by default.
     If you win re-election, that's Job One; ask the representatives "working" on a debt ceiling issue.  Job One puts you in position to obstruct. Anything.
     I'm betting Haven Shoemaker winds up going to the meeting, despite luke-warm comments so far. How can he not go, and still claim he cares what Finksburg residents think? Despite the fact that his primary reason for running was to get pay and benefits, Shoemaker at least showed some willingness to actually represent community interests when he was mayor of Hampstead.
     Howard will probably stay home. He, too, wanted a job with better pay and benefits, and one in which he could continue building his resume. But attending a meeting with real issues and opposing points of view is not high on his list of things to do right now.
     And Dave Roush?  He has other plans. Which seems to be his default mode since telling everyone on the economic development commission and the board of zoning appeals and then the campaign trail that the county needs more hands-on leadership from people with a real business background.
     Here's a meeting about the immediate AND long-term future of the county, and he has other plans. So much for hands-on.
     These commissioners obviously believes they have the support of the people who put them in office. It would seem that they have not yet given full consideration to what they have to do to earn -- and deserve -- the respect of other, still skeptical, citizens.