MY NEW RESOLUTION

I have been quite dark for the past year. By dark I mean I have not posted much and simply watched as the world passed by. This has been a volatile world and one that begs for commentary and, of course, commentary is everywhere, but it has not been from me.  I intend to change that.

The focus of what I write will be on words: I like words. I like what they say and mean and how they are misinterpreted. I will focus on many words that I feel are no longer part of our everyday life and need to be if we are to continue to be a first class country. Here are a few examples: Sacrifice, responsibility, accountability, arrogance, hypocrisy, evolution, love, respect, empathy, greed, corruption. This is a good start. Some of the words will be presented in ways that one could count me as angry, with an axe to grind, a failure of using the words on my own behalf. But, they would be wrong. Yes I am angry. I am disappointed and I feel like so many others do, who are unaccounted for in the vote, the opinion polls and the direction we are taking as a country and as a society.

We are, or have become, crass. We bloviate, we lie, we use rhetoric as the truth, we are uncaring and we are selfish. A new word that has gotten a lot of traction this year is entitled. Where does anyone get the sense that they are entitled to something others are not. If what they have they earned, good for them. But does that success need to be at the expense of others who did not achieve such success? I say no. But that sentiment is out there and is becoming more pervasive as more people, even those without their own earned success feel entitled based on their gender, location, color, education etc. These are attributes and characteristics that are earned and in many cases are biologically given. They are not excuses nor reasons for feelings of superiority or rights of oppression over others.

I will also endeavor to cover the institutions that we all live with. They include all forms of government from DC to the local level, regulators, business organizations, Wall Street, religions and the IRS.

There is much to write about and I will get to it as soon and as often as I can. Please join me in sharing your commentary as I hope it will be you who I hope to represent on these pages.

Have a nice holiday and I will see you after Christmas.

FOLLOWING THE RULES

Like most people I have been following the news surrounding the controversy over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots football team regarding the use of deflated footballs used in the AFC league championship game.

The discussion all week has gone back and forth about whether it is really cheating, followed by should there be a penalty, and if there is to be one, how big.

What shocks me most is the casual attitude many people have today concerning a clear case of cheating. One argument is there is cheating going on in other sports and, in this case, how bad was it?  We are confronted with steroids, pain medications and other artificial substances that theoretically give one athlete an edge over another. If cheating is to be tolerated at any level why have rules in the first place. If we accept one form of cheating why not accept them all?

The strength and appeal of all sport is its unpredictable outcome coupled with the competitive skills and psychological preparedness of one team versus another.  We all know we feel emotionally better one day versus another and while everything seems to work on those days, there are those other days where the reverse occurs. If one team uses drugs to alter mood it easily gives them an unequal advantage. Is that not cheating? If one team changes the tools of the game, such as the ball pressure, or spit on a baseball without the other team knowing it, is that also not cheating?

Cheating is cheating but it appears far too many people rationalize cheating when it is in their best interest.

There is however one sport that continues to rely on rules, where it’s participants follows them to the letter and hold everyone else accountable. That sport is golf.  

Why are rules in golf important, because everyone plays by them and expects everyone else to do the same?  More so every player is responsible to the entire field of players for any rule violation that takes place. It is the responsibility of every player to notify their competitors of any rules violation and ask them to accept the penalty. As a player we all know that anywhere on the course whether we can see it or not everyone is following the same rules because everyone on the course is essentially a rules official.  

If you play golf with people who cheat, you see it and don’t report it to the officials, you are harming the rest of the field of players. If you play with people who know the rules and still cheat then you can be assured they do so in other areas of their life. Don’t play them in a match and, for sure, don’t play them for money.     

Golf is an emotional game. Feel good and you may play above your ability, feel not so good and you may drop down a stroke or two.  You have to accept which player in you shows up each time you play. You still have to abide by the rules and cannot alter your mood through any artificial device.

Most golfers call violations of the rules on them selves when they make a mistake and for those who don’t there are other playing partners prepared to do so.

Take one of the easiest and seemingly least offensive rules to break: moving the ball. True moving a ball gives the player a better opportunity but measure the actual distance and it is marginal so why make such a deal out of it? Simple: When you control where the ball lies, your confidence goes up. Hitting it becomes far easier than when you have no control over where it lies. Moving a ball before hitting it is one of the most sacrosanct rules in the game. Every player knows it and every player abides by it.

I doubt it is any different when a quarterback alters the weight of a football, especially when their competitors don’t know about it.  The QB does.

This is what rules are about. The game of golf is a game played by millions of people around the world and the same rules exist for all of them. It is a beautiful thing to play a sport that has such integrity. To meet total strangers anywhere in the world, tee it up and know we will play an honest game, follow the same rules and compete on an equal footing. 

The rules of the game make it competitive, honest and true.

Other sports are demeaning themselves by accepting the corrosive elements of cheating. Eventually every sport that does not stand up for integrity in their game will eventually lose their base and their game will decline in value. 

RIGHT TO LIFE

Right to Life advocates have a valid point. They believe life begins at conception. The idea of abortion is anathema to them.  But women who are considering an abortion don't want to be pregnant and by proxy probably don't want a child.

So the debate comes down to should a woman not wanting to be a parent or a parent again bring a child into the world that will, no doubt, be unwanted.  Therein lies the problem. The child. A child not wanted from birth most likely will not be raised by a loving, supportive two parent family. The child will know this instinctively at first and intellectually as it grows up. That child will more likely get involved in drugs, gangs, fail to finish high school and, quite possibly, end up in prison. The likelihood that child will find a job, get married, raise a family, pay taxes and generally be a good neighbor and citizen are practically zero. If anything they will learn early in life how to game the system. How to get welfare, food stamps, government assistance and not work or pay taxes. They will also quite possibly have children of their own without any sense of responsibility and only continue to exacerbate the circle of unwanted pregnancies and children.

Now, that unwanted child, as a possible ward of the state, is openly and harshly criticized by the very same people who insisted they be brought to life. The complaints are always the same. Why don't "these people" get jobs, pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become productive members of society? Easy questions to ask but difficult to answer. When the odds are as stacked against someone raised in a hostile, non loving environment are as intense as they are for many of these young people we are naive to think they have the tools to be solid members of society.

It is quite OK to profess a right to life position but those who do have to understand the consequence of their opinion and be prepared to support the child later in its life when the benefits of birth have eluded them for their entire life. Right to Life should include right to a fair and equal opportunity life.

JAIL FOR SENATORS

When is enough enough?  The Republicans have tried to scuttle the Affordable Care Act over 50 times always with the knowledge that if they did their actions would be vetoed. Added to their waste of time is they have no alternative plan.  Zero. They haven't had a plan since President Obama was elected

Next, they go to the Supreme Court, that third republican party, that is possibly going to over turn the act due to a misunderstanding in the language that in reality is absolutely no misunderstanding. If the Republicans are successful millions of Americans will be out of insurance and will have no coverage. Who will take care of their issues? Not the Republicans because they, again, have zero ideas of what to do.

Next, they invite the Israel president to speak to a joint session of Congress. In my opinion that invitation should be viewed as treason. Why invite him? To make the president look bad. Why? because he is black. t
The Israel president was a backer of the Iraq war we entered into under false pretenses. That has resulted in ISIS. Aren't we happy about that move?

And now? 47 Senators, all Republicans write a letter to Iran invalidating the nuclear negotiations with Iran. Fortunately the Iranians sent a letter back explaining the US constitution to these Republican morons. He also mentioned that the negotiations are with 5 countries not just the United States. And the president can make a deal, without oversight from the lame ducks in congress.

We have to get over ourselves and start doing the things we did in the past that made us great.

Right now we look like fools and act worse.

SCREENERS

There are two kinds of movies being viewed by academy members. One is in the theater and the other is  “the screener” to be watched at home or on any number of other devices. While the screener makes it vastly more convenient for members to view more films and have a more comprehensive overview of the films up for consideration it takes away virtually every element of the film that was created, at considerable expense, by a team of creative artists with the sole purpose of emotionally moving their audience.  Screeners can’t do that.

In the theater all distractions are removed. Announcements are made to mute or disconnect cell phones to avoid distracting others there to get lost in the film. The room is dark, everyone is facing the same direction so we are unable to see others tear up, hold their breadth, clutch the hand of their seatmates or just let their emotions out for 100 minute holiday. There are no pauses, rewinds, bathroom breaks, and changes in lighting, heating or food choices.  People are in their seats and presumably will not move for the entire film.

That is what the filmmakers had in mind when they made the film and that is what the audience is entitled to if they are willing to pay the admission price or are legitimately considering the performances and/ or the film for the industry’s top honor.

The single most significant element to a film’s success is how well it does in a theater. Marketers spend enormous sums of money to promote the in theater experience.   Success in the theater virtually guarantees success in video, cable, broadcast and countless overseas markets.  Add to the success in the theater, a number of marketable Oscars and the film is on to levels of income and profit unimaginable in most other industries.

In the foreign language category the voters have to see ALL the entries. I have academy friends who literally camp out at the Academy viewing as many as 50 or more films in order to cast their vote.

It is unfair for film makers to have their films which can be truly life altering, judged on TV sets, of questionable quality, an airline, a phone or a laptop.

If the intended feelings are not connected with the films audience the results in all down stream revenue will be negatively impacted and that hurts everyone.

I say it is time for the Academy to rethink its voting mechanism. Get more people seeing more films in the theater.

EQUALIZATION

David Brooks, of the New York Times, has a piece in this mornings paper, (October 10, 2014) making the point that when Citizens United was passed by the supreme court there were Democrats who felt the end of their party was at hand. Now several years later, according to Brooks, the monies spent by the Democrats are equal to, or even greater than, those being spent by the Republicans. In fact, according to his research, many of the candidates that lost elections actually had more money spent on their campaign than their opponents. So in Brook’s opinion the court’s ruling has not negatively impacted the election process in the way it was predicted to.

 I disagree. The truth is money has done more damage to the entire electoral process, and by implication, more to the detriment of our country, even if it has not resulted in getting people elected.

The fallacy in Brook’s argument goes to a concept I call equalization. That is if everyone spends the same amount of money on something it is the same as no one spending anything on it. Think about it, I spend one million to get my candidate elected and you spend half of that on your candidate, I have an advantage. But if you spend the same million as I do then we are equal and it will not be the amount of monies spent on the candidates but rather the message brought forth by each of them.

The real problem with Citizens United is it falsely gives the impression that the most money spent on one candidate versus another will actually win elections.  This theory has resulted in far too many people, with too much money to waste, coupled with their own personal agendas, spending foolish amounts of money on candidates that have no better chance at winning, if the other side spends the same amount on their candidate.

I often think of performance enhancing drugs, (PED’s), in sports. The athlete thinks taking drugs helps his/her cause by enhancing their performance.  But what happens if ALL athletes take the same drugs? Are we not back to square one? What the athlete using drugs is really saying is “I will take PED’s on the condition you don’t.  That way I do have an advantage”. In the end if everyone takes them it will be the same as if no one took them. It is cheating by looking for an artificial advantage not related to talent but requires secrecy so no one else does the same thing. Otherwise it makes no sense.

What Citizens United has done is to vastly increase the amount of money spent on elections under the false impression that the more spent will result in more winners, while it has taken out of the process the qualifications, ideas, strategies and plans of the candidates and replaced them with an addiction to raising money.

If the premise that more money breeds more winners was dropped by all candidates, they would spend less money, need less time to raise more and could focus on sharing their positive message with voters rather than overwhelming the voter with negative advertising focused on the other candidate’s shortcomings. 

 No, my argument with David Brooks is that money really has corrupted the election process. It has forced all elected officials and candidates into the delusion that the object of politics is raising money rather than solving problems. And, that is a disservice to all Americans.      

OBESITY

If you want to know how I feel don’t ask me just look at me and see if I have gained weight.

For me, as I am sure for many others, when I don’t feel good, for any number of reasons I gain weight. I am not speaking about having a cold, or a runny nose or even something a bit more serious. What I am referring to is how do I feel emotionally, maybe a little stressed.  When I am in turmoil it is easier to gain weight, as the discipline to diet does not seem as important when compared to the other challenges I face. When back on track losing the weight is so much simpler.

As much as we read about the obesity problem in the country, if not the world, the answers given often reside in a form of surgery or a pill or a specific diet of more, or less, protein, fat, carbs etc. The advice is endless and the books for the newest fad diets keep coming yet all the remedies, for the most part, over time, fall on deaf ears.

The real culprit for the obesity in this country resides right smack in the middle of the essence of what ails the country in the first place.  People are unhappy.

Yes, it is true. People are unhappy. Far too many of us are uneducated, poor, in debt, hungry, divorced, homeless, addicted to a variety of substances and live with a very low level of hope.

Add to the social dilemmas facing people the lack of available healthy food, the cost of it, an overwhelming number of television ads pushing unhealthy foods, the fact that going on a successful diet takes herculean discipline, unnatural patience and the energy to focus on your diet in the face of every other obstacle in your life and it is easy to understand why people would rather eat than diet.

Losing weight is literally not doable given what many of the obese face every day.  The fact of denial alone, a must in a diet, will kill it for many. Faced with so many unresolved issues why deny the smallest of pleasures through a cheeseburger, fries and a shake? McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Pollo Loco and so many other high calorie, low quality franchises are located with walking distance of most of the troubled neighborhoods. The food is comfort: high calorie, high fat, high carbs, high sodium and plenty of sugar. What is not to like? Everything bad about it tastes good. When finished everything bad about it is packed on the body and when it finally shows the motivation to take it off is very low.

Much is discussed about the differences between the 1% and the rest of the country but it is true the 1% can afford to enjoy many of life’s pleasures, good food, in fine restaurants, travel, physical activities and a warm, hospitable roof over their heads.  Those facing the hardships of the above cannot afford to do most of these things and their only recourse, other than resentment, frustration and anger is to eat all the wrong foods and way too many of them. 

If we really want to solve the problem of obesity we must look much deeper into the real causes for it, hopelessness.

As long as people feel they have no chance of getting a job, a better job, getting out of debt, putting their kids in a good school, securing a mortgage, having a home, proper health care coverage, a chance to get above it all and not have to live from one pay check to another they will just remain unhappy. 

For them one easy answer is poor choices in what to eat. Low quality food choices are affordable, available and why not, they taste good and that feels good. 

Does anyone wonder why heroin use is up, alcohol consumption is up, drugs of all types are up, and use of painkillers is up? What do you think they are trying to get away from?  Could it be they don’t like their lives, don’t feel there is much chance for them or that maybe they feel they have been left behind? These are insidious feelings and when push comes to shove people will more easily give into feelings than they will ever give in to an intellectual argument that requires sacrifice, discipline and willpower. Dig down into individual substance abuse and there will be a story, a story of a life being led that offers little to no sense of satisfaction.

We can solve the problem of obesity and reduce what it costs us simply by focusing our energies on solving the real problems that make people unhappy.  We know what they are so why not get down to business and solve them?