Only The Shadow Knows

Lets see, I haven’t published since 12/22. Today is 12/31. My, my, 8 days without a post. I’m feeling well, so illness is no excuse. In fact, I have no excuses. The motivation for blogging , just hasn't been there. So why am I posting this tome? I just couldn’t let my last post of the year be about a nightmare and worse yet, in the form of a poem.

I almost fell into the trap of moaning about the troubles of the past year and then predicting what 2013 holds in store for us. Been there, done that. What’s past is past. If we learned something, hooray. If we didn't, shame, shame, shame.  What’s coming , will come.

I for one will control what I can control. As for those events which I can't control, maintaining a sense of humor should get me by as well as an occasional blog post.

BUON CAPODANNO!!!!

ed note: Ran a Blogger spell check before publishing this post. "BUON CAPODANNO" got highlighted as I expected but I wasn't prepared for the furious flashing of the highlight.  It seemed like Blogger was trying to tell me something. Scary - was it an omen? What evil lurks in 2013? Only "The Shadow" knows and he's not telling.

A Christmas Nightmare

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the Capital
Not a creature was stirring, having abandoned the battle;
The posturing had been made while walking on eggs,
As the Congressmen in a hurry packed their bags ;

They promised a  deal,
But instead slipped on a peel.
So mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Decided to down a fifth before taking a nap,

When all of a sudden we heard a great clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
I looked out the window and knew in a flash,
The fiscal cliff was ahead and soon we would crash.

The rumble it seems was only St. Nicholas,
Who came to proclaim Boehner an ass,
Who would see the light before New Year
And join Obama in a beer.

My poetry is a fright,
But Merry  Christmas to all and to all a good fight!
 
　

About Editorial Depression

I've written a number of posts in the past week which I "deep six'd". If I were to consult a "shrink", I believe he might attribute my actions to "editorial depression". Don't bother looking it up in Web MD, this mental disorder has not been blessed by the American Psychiatric Association. I assure you however, that it is real.  Suffering from "editorial depression" is not unlike suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. As a matter of fact the two diseases are first cousins and sport the same symptoms.

"Editorial depression" starts as a desire to achieve a high level of quality in one's writings. Such a lofty goal is not compatible with quantity and leads to complete frustration. Frustration morphs into  depression upon realization that the goal is not realistic. Once depression sets in, the "delete" key on a keyboard is overworked. 

The severity of "editorial depression" escalates when one realizes what caused the problem in the first place. There is an old saying among computer aficionado's - "garbage in, garbage out". If the thinking that went into a post is garbage, it should not come as a surprise that the resulting post is garbage

This post is a good example of "garbage in, garbage out". If I dare publish it, it stands a good chance of being deleted. If one is reading this post, the post of course was not deleted. That does not mean that it is not garbage.  All it means is that my "editorial depression" has lowered my goals on quality writing. What is the alternative to quality writing? You've got it, garbage.

The more I think of it, this post isn't as bad as my depression made it out to be. I prefer to think that it is a good example of blogging for the fun of it. After all, isn't that why I started blogging in the first place. WOW! My "editorial depression" is suddenly better. Not cured - just better. As long as I keep  away from trying to solve the problems of mankind, my blogging should be in good shape. Easier said than done I'm sure. Abandoning the temptation to solve the problems of mankind is a tall order. I might find it difficult not to be critical of everything but it's worth a try. It might do wonders for my "editorial depression".


Let me see, all I have to do is to put a bunch of crap into a blog draft. let it sit awhile, rewrite it with some humor and a little satire and out comes some sweet smelling garbage.

The cards dwindle down to a precious few

Just finished making out my Christmas cards - all five of them. I can't help going back a few decades when making out Christmas cards was a tedious task. I recall having to bundle the cards - two bundles, one local and one out of town. I also recall that the Christmas card list was long enough to qualify as a capital expense. So what has changed? Have I become so anti-social that my friend list is very short? Have I lost touch with my friends because of our mobile society? Has Facebook become the vehicle of choice for posting seasons greetings? All of the above for sure have shortened my Christmas card list but I must admit that the real culprit is age. I haven't kept track of numbers, but my Christmas card list gets shorter in direct proportion to my age. Friends have joined the choir silent in increasing numbers. As I get older, call me Scrooge if you must, I increasingly lose interest in sending out any kind of a canned greeting.  So why am I sending out five cards via USPS? Nostalgia? Heck no, a charity sent me a bunch of cards and conned me into a donation, so I felt obligated to use a few of the cards. Besides USPS needs the business.

Happy Hannukkah and Merry Christmas while I'm at it

I spent the last hour listening to the music of Hanukkah. Beautiful! I couldn't help doing my imitation of a  Cantor until the High Primal questioned whether I was doing the music justice. Running through my mind throughout the musical program were the current events in the Middle East which are hardly compatible with the joyous Hanukkah music. Will Jews, Christians and Muslims ever share " Peace On Earth"? I'm pessimistic but as long as we can find time during the year to play and sing joyous songs of faith there is hope. Music and love can be strong weapons. Add a little humor and we have an arsenal. As an aside the commentator put it all in perspective when he said, "When Jews celebrate, they eat. When they suffer, they eat". I always thought this was typical only of Italians - just goes to show that food may be another weapon toward achieving "Peace On Earth".

Happy Hanukkah to all  and to all a Merry Christmas, as incongruous as it may sound.

Coronation of POTUS

It seems that the inauguration of a President is an expensive affair. Obama is seeking about 100 million to be coronated as President of the United States (POTUS) on January 20, 2013. I haven't received an e-mail yet inviting me to contribute. Perhaps it is in my Spam box.

POTUS' Inaguration Ball Outfit

 Before I'm tarred and feathered for taking Obama to task for turning an inauguration into a coronation, let me be clear that he is only following protocol. Lavish inaugurations know no party affiliation. What he is planning to spend is less than what was spent for recent inaugurations. The poor man really has no choice but to put on a show for all his fat cat financial supporters who will be paying for the spectacle. Oh yes, donations from fat cats and corporations are now welcomed. Now that he has flip flopped on where the money for the coronation is to come from, his choice of wardrobe will be much easier than Michelle's. A jump suit Ala NASCAR with all the sponsor patches would be a hit.

For those of us who do not own a tuxedo or NASCAR suit and do not plan to attend any of the inauguration balls, we have a message for the President. A visit by the Chief Justice of SCOTUS to the Oval Office to administer the oath of office to POTUS would suffice.  Dare you do this Mr. President? All of us 99 percenters would be much more optimistic about the economic growth of this country if you did.  Oh well, when we go off the "fiscal cliff" in the next few days, I'm sure you will reconsider your inaguration plans.

A Broken Senate

One wonders what the United States Senate has in store for us next. With its failure to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, it once again has proven that the Republicans are being held hostage by the far right element of their party. In his OP-Ed column in the New York Times, Lawrence Downes quotes Senator John Kerry as follows:

“This is one of the saddest days I’ve seen in almost 28 years in the Senate, and it needs to be a wake-up call about a broken institution that’s letting down the American people.”
He added: “Today the dysfunction hurt veterans and the disabled, and that’s unacceptable. This treaty was supported by every veterans group in America and Bob Dole made an inspiring and courageous personal journey back to the Senate to fight for it. It had bipartisan support, and it had the facts on its side, and yet for one ugly vote, none of that seemed to matter. We won’t give up on this and the Disabilities Treaty will pass because it’s the right thing to do, but today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country.”

How can a dysfunctional legislative body deal with critical issues affecting the future of this nation? They cannot. Kerry's statement calls for fixing the Senate but he did not offer a solution. Perhaps some surgery on our two party system is in order. As I suggested in a post titled "A Touch of the Creature" on 1/12/10, "Until the parties start pruning their various branches even if it means a third or even a fourth party, there will be no timely or effective legislation coming out of Washington".

Soylent Green Revisited

As the country  approaches the "fiscal cliff", it is becoming clear that both parties are ready to let the old codgers take the fall. I keep hearing that entitlements must be whittled down. Evidently, old farts like me are not entitled. I'm not entitled to a Medicare plan that adequately takes care of the needs of the elderly. If I had known years ago that this great nation planned to reneg on heath care promises, I 'd like to think that I would have handled my retirement planning a bit differently. Then there is Social Security. For years the budget gurus have been raiding Social Security funds. Now it is an entitlement that I'm not really entitled to even though I faithfully paid my FICA taxes while employed. Politicians would have me believe that it's some kind of a  gift of  that can be wrapped differently depending on who is doing the wrapping.

 I do not pretend to have a solution for what ails this country. Making life difficult for the elderly should not be one of them. I've never felt so unwanted as I do these days and it reminds me of the movie "Soylent Green".

The movie depicted a country in 2022 suffering from overpopulation, global warming, widespread unemployment, poverty, a shortage of fruit, vegetables and meat. Pick up any paper today and you will find reports about the danger of global warming, rising unemployment, rising food prices, soaring health care costs, and the graying of the population. Not quite the country portrayed in "Soylent Green" but similar.

The "Soylent Green solution" is not on Washington's agenda, In its place, perhaps they will come up with something like the "cash for clunkers" program which was designed to get old, inefficient vehicles off the road. I wonder how much cash my heirs would get?
 
( I'm actually not feeling as sorry for myself as this post sounds, but I am pissed about how easily politicians dismiss the needs of an aging population.)

Shame on our UN Palestinian vote

Count me in the minority. I don't feel that the United States fulfilled its role as a world leader when it opposed the bid of the Palestinians for an observer role at the United Nations. We should have at least taken a page out of the German foreign policy playbook and abstained from voting on the issue.

It was one more example of our foreign policy being held hostage by the Jewish-American vote. In turn we get a slap in the face from the Israeli who immediately announced a plan to expand settlements in East Jerusalem. Just in time for Christmas.

Arguments that the recognition of Palestine  as an observer state is unnecessary for the Palestinians to achieve their goal of statehood fail to convince me. I can't help but think how our forefathers would have reacted if urged to be patient rather than take to the battlefield to achieve freedom from the English yoke.

Diversity is a strength of this country. Playing to diversity for political gain is a weakness and is wrong.