It ain't all pizzas and cream

For my friends on the Right, if I have any left

Since the Beck & Palin crowd seems too high on jingoism and too punch drunk from chest thumping to form anything like a clear sentence, allow me to help.

1. The Economy

Yes, the simultaneously bailouts of Wall Street and the auto industry, coupled with a national health care initiative that included a "public option" may have seemed like "Change We Can't Handle."  And some got the idea that the Federal Government was using a moment of global economic weakness to nationalize the banking, auto, nd health care industries. If you were already looking for a moment to leap out and holler, "Aha! Obama's a Socialist Dictator!" this then was it. But before you got your panties in a twist, you should have looked at the example of Conrail. In the 1970s, as six northeastern railroads were suffering under the weight of bankruptcy (triggered by an economy that was changing from products to services and by the failure of the massve and ill-conceived Penn Central), the Federal Government took control of the Penn Central, CNJ, Reading, Lehigh & Hudson River, Erie-Lackawanna, and the Lehigh Valley railroads and consolidated them under one rubric: Conrail.  The idea was NOT to put the government permanently in control of freight railroading in the Northeast (they already had enough trouble with the 1971 creation of Amtrak). The point was to trim redundancy and create a system that could be profitable in a modern economy. By 1990, Conrail was turning a profit. And by 1999 it was  split and sold to CSX and Norfolk Southern, who continue to operate former Conrail trackage and equipment today. Had President Obama used the Conrail example, he could have spared us all an army of mis-spelled signs. And had those on the right checked out the history of Conrail, you'd have seen that TEMPORARY government takeover can be a successful strategy.

 

2. The War(s)

Last I checked, America's fighting men and women were serving with honor. If I were in the military, I'd be offended at Beck's "Restore the Honor" theme. In fact, I'd take a 3-day leave just to fly home and bitch slap him. The point you should have been making is that we have some concrete objectives in Afghanistan and that we not f#¢k it up like we did Iraq.

 

3. Bedroom Issues

Let them go, The whole gay marriage debate makes you look like unbalanced bigots. Not saying you ARE bigots,  or that you are insane but you sure look like crazy bigots. And it weakens your case on other points. Because hey, who wants to take economic advice from a crazy bigot?

 

Hope this helped. Carry on.

Some images from Dion the Sure*

*Note: "Dion the Sure" is how we in Philly say "down the shore." You probably say "at the beach."

Biking for Jesus. If I'm wrong, and there is a God, I wonder what he thinks of all the silly shit with his label slapped on it.

Two of the best places to watch a distant storm: the desert and the beach.

Rain will not stop the kiddo from building her castle.

Marshmallows. Yummmm.

Donuts...yummier.

The next day was sunnier.

Cecily even swam out to greet the porpoises. And this is Delaware, people.

Pals.

Builders.

Wifi moms. A new demographic. Funny tho, everyone thought we were bikers. Maybe it was the ink and the pit bull.

The boardwalk at Rehoboth.

Saw this bad boy on the trip home.

Many thanks to Jo-Ann (punkymama), El, and their boys for making this a great mini-vacation.

Where'd Charlie go? He's here...

http://shotofwry.tumblr.com/

Anybody think...

Living on the street is a free ride? Hell no.

Newton's law

Dad was always in motion

packing or unpacking—

train ticket or boarding pass

in one hand, suitcase

in the other. 

 

We’d talk on the phone

and each time I’d ask him

to bring me something.

From Chicago or Berlin

London or Los Angeles.

 

One time he came home

and handed me a cast iron

Patton tank. You’d have thought 

it was the real thing

the way I smiled.

 

A week later it would be broken

but I’d keep it anyhow.

It had traveled a long way

in my dad’s coat pocket—

the one nearest his heart.

Party of One

Solitude was for many years

my kitchen. I drank alone

lived alone in rented rooms

ate at luncheonettes.

During my first separation

from my first wife, I lived alone.

 

Dated nobody.

Slept with nobody.

And didn't own a television.

 

If I wanted to see people

the city had plenty. And there was

the job, where I spent the day

hunched over a desk, wishing

people would leave me

alone.

 

Solitude does not frighten me

any more than rain or neon lights

or the man on the corner selling magazines.

 

And though I am now

surrounded by people, loving

witty, and generous people

there are still moments

when I prefer to sit at a bus stop

without expecting a bus.

A Company Man

After 38 years

at a company desk

and 32 wed

to a company bride

Bob went to

the company doc

only to learn

that by Christmas

he’d be dead.

“At least,” he said,

“I’ll get to stretch my legs.”

A Hotel Is a Goodbye Place

These bricks have been bricks a long time. Have seen a lot of sun, a lot of rain.  Before they were bricks, they were clay and sand, water and hot air. And after the wrecking ball and the dump trucks get through, that’s what they’ll be again. Ever think about all the keys and locks? Midnight room service and morning wake-up calls? People die in hotels like this every day. Are hauled away with no more ceremony than these bricks. But few are ever born here. Hotels are goodbye places. Postcard places. Tomorrow the scrappers will come with their shopping carts and collect what copper remains. Six months from now, there’ll be a mall here. Or a condo. Built of glass, aluminum, and gypsum board. Nobody will remember this hotel. Not even her name. These bricks won’t be bricks again.

Red State, Blue State: A new perspective.

First, read THIS.

If we accept Haidt's assertion that rigid conservatism is a hedge against selfishness, we open ourselves to a new perspective on the whole Red State vs. Blue State conundrum. That is, if "Heartland Republicans" (not the "Wall Street Wheels" of Goldman-Sachs or the "Warbucks Carpetbaggers" of Haliburton) view themselves as the "Party of Sacrifice," it becomes much easier to understand their anger at Liberal Democrats, whom they perceive as the "Party of Selfishness."

At the risk of oversimplification, let's build a Red State priority list...

God

Country

Community

Job/Career

Family

Individual

A few particulars... When Red Staters say "God," they mean the Christian God. And not a multifaceted, gentle, and accepting God that understands if you want to be vegan or intersexed or want to have an abortion, but a God that ensures order and adherence to authority. We'll call him the "Scolding Father." The Scolding Father makes certain demands, e.g., thou shalt be heterosexual (and if you have any gay impulses, to stuff them down deep and never act on them). When we accept this premise, it's easy to understand why such a system produces the occasional Ted Haggard and Larry Craig. (For all I know, half the farmers in Kansas grew up secretly wanting to be New York choreographers. We'd never know it. Their system of beliefs wouldn't allow it.) The Scolding Father also demands that when a woman becomes pregnant, she give birth to and raise that child, regardless of health, financial, or emotional circumstance. He has other demands too, like not marrying outside your race/culture, etc. You get the idea.

When Red Staters discuss "Country," it is with reverence, but not for abstractions like the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, but for the sacrifices made by friends and family members on the battlefield. They mean: when your country calls, you don't get to question the validity of the request (read as: dissent is NOT patriotic). This goes a long way toward explaining the seething resentment against any form of anti-war protesters, whether in the Vietnam era or today. 

Of course, on the underside of any "Party of Sacrifice" are some pretty ugly and provincial ideas: "Our boys died for this country, why shouldn't yours?" ... "We worked all our lives, why should anyone get a hand out?" ... "You don't need an education to earn an honest day's wages." ... etc. And the hardcore beliefs at the root of such statements are pretty hard to address, let alone dislodge, in any public debate.

Now you've probably already guessed how the Blue State list stacks up...

Individual

Family

Job/Career

Community

Country

God

In the Blue States, individual choice rules: whether it regards a woman's right to govern her body or the choice not to participate in what is perceived as an unjust war. And in the Blue States, God is  what we'll call "the Mentor" rather than the Scolding Father. The Blue State God understands that people are individuals, and that they perceive and practice spirituality differently. The Blue State God wants to help you reach your goals, provided they are for the most part compassionate and respectful of others and their goals. In short, more like a camp counselor. 

For Blue Staters, "Country" refers to those ideals set down by the framers of the Constitution, with plenty of room for growth and change in the interpretation of that document. Questioning authority is considered patriotic, if done  non-violently.

So, in this deeply polarized world, where is the common ground? Clearly, in the middle: Jobs and Community. Nearly everybody needs work, and nearly everybody seeks a sense of belonging in the area in which they live. By focusing on these areas, even the most entrenched socio-political opponents can come together. I'd like to see the national dialog, at least for a moment, turn to the issues that concern both Red and Blue: returning some sort of stable manufacturing-based economy to our towns and cities.

I'm not saying that issues such as gay marriage are unimportant. Far from it. But that such advances are far more likely to arise from a foundation of common concern and cooperation than from the barroom brawl that has characterized American political debate in recent years. 

I want to thank Jonathan Haidt for his insightful perspective. It's been a real eye-opener.

Downward Mobility

When I was young, I worked

in a deli next door to a welfare hotel.

For many it was the last stop

after a long downhill slide.

Some would come in

for a quart of beer and smokes.

Others just stood on the corner

like ghosts.

 

Suicides were so common

we used to joke about giving

a steel umbrella to anyone

who planned to pass the building.

 

They closed the hotel a few years later

and converted it to apartments.

Some say at night you can see

the spirits streaming down the walls

like rain.