Crotchety Old Fart

Sleep

2010-09-07T08:02:00.004-04:00

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has received a federal research grant of $9.8 million to study insomnia in seniors - insomnia being defined as having trouble falling asleep and/or waking up during sleep.

I've been conducting my own research, and have determined the top three reasons for insomnia in seniors.

#3 Pain. Sometimes its shoulder pain, sometimes its leg cramps, sometimes (like last night) their big toe hurts. (I don't know what's up with that.)

#2 Worry. Seniors worry about stuff, including their kids, their 401(k), global warming and the federal deficit - including why the government is spending spending $9.8 million for an insomnia study.

#1 The number one reason why seniors wake up in the middle of the night - they have to pee.

I'll be contacting UPMC to get my share of the research grant.

Escapist Reading

2010-07-19T08:35:00.003-04:00

Last night, I watched one of those recycled BBC murder mystery programs on PBS. It was set in the 1930's. The protagonist was super sleuth, Hercule Poirot.
And, I got to remembering ...
Flying helicopters in Viet Nam had a lot of interesting and challenging moments, but there was a lot of down time, when we just sat around waiting to be called out. It was impossible to go anywhere or get involved in any activity that couldn't be suspended on a moment's notice. So, I read.
I read the Tolkein "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and all of the James Bond novels that had been written to that point, but some of the most widely circulated paperbacks were the classic "whodunit's". I got hooked.
As per Wikipedia, whodunit or whodunnit (for "Who done it?") is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final pages of the book. The investigation is usually conducted by an eccentric amateur or semi-professional detective.
My favorite writers were Rex Stout, who created the fat man detective, Nero Wolfe, and the prolific Agatha Christie who's 80 some detective novels featured Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot. I think I read them all.

My Take on Health Care Reform

2010-03-26T08:30:00.003-04:00

On the day that health care reform legislation is passed, I got a statement from my Medicare Advantage insurance company detailing charges from a lab for some blood work my doctor ordered. The lab charged $587.00 for their services, my insurer's "Covered Benefit Amount" was $97.76. The message on the back of the statement confirms that I am "not respopnsible" for the difference of $489.03. I presume the lab is satisfied with the amount received.

If the lab had performed those same tests on my son, who is uninsured and cannot get health insurance, it would have sent him a bill for, and would have expected to be paid, $587.00.

Is there any question that something needed to be done? Is there any question that the health care system would have overwhelmed Medicare and Medicaid and employer funded health insurance in the near future? Is there any question that the medical provider/health insurance complex has proven unwilling or unable fix the system?

In the face of this, the Democrats have done what the Democrats do - devised a fix that expands the power of the Federal Government and costs a bunch of money that the government doesn't have have. And the Republicans have done what Republicans do - just say no on social issues and block any attempt to raise taxes.

We could have done so much better. The Democrats were begging for a bi-partisan bill. If the Republicans had simply taken a seat at the table, they could have demanded changes in how we deal with medical malpractice, on coverage for illegal aliens, on more acceptable language on abortion and they could have brought attention to any other issues they wanted addressed. And maybe, just maybe, working together, they could have figured out how to come up with the money to fund the reforms.

On balance, Im happy that something is being done to reform the health care system. I am not happy about how divided we are are as a nation and how unwilling we are to seek common ground.

My Disability

2010-02-27T08:47:00.003-05:00

Its taken me many years to acknowlege that I have a disability. A mild one to be sure, but a disability nontheheless. I can't tell left from right. Oh, I'll get it eventually, but while most people seem to react, immediately and correctly, to a call to look, or turn or reach left or right, I have to pause and ask myself "now what hand do I write with?" Even then, I sometimes still get it wrong. Growing up, my Mom and Dad were forever telling me, after making the wrong move, "No, your other left (or right)."
I've attributed this flaw to my "handedness". Some things I do primarily with my left hand (writing, throwing, golfing); others I do primarily with my right (eating, bowling); still others I do equally well (or badly) with either hand (painting, using most hand tools). I thought "no wonder I get confused." Now I find that explanation may not hold up.
Last week one of my co-volunteers at the Washington Senior Center needed a ride home. Dorothy is 83 years old, a former school school superintendant and is sharp as can be. She got competely flustered giving me driving directions, and with my problems interpreting directions, its a wonder I ever got her home. She admitted she's had a lifelong problem distinguishing left from right. And, she's 100% right handed.
I wonder whether she and I qualify for any disability benefits?

Paul Samuelson is Dead

2010-01-02T14:58:00.002-05:00

And I didn't even know he was still alive.
It was probably 1962 when I was assigned Samuelson's textbook for a college course on basic economics. Originally written in 1948, it was a classic - well written, understandable. It was unlike any other textbook I had used before or since. Reading Samuelson's obituary a few days ago (he was 92), I learned that his book, edited and updated by others of course, continues to be used.
So I got to wondering, how many other textbooks could I remember? I came up with three, all of them written by my professors who taught from their texts.
First there was a text in Pitt's MBA program on "Managerial Accounting", written by Rossell and Frazier. (I think my professor was Rossell, but it might have been Frazier.) Managerial Accounting was accounting for non-accountants. Since I was an undergraduate accounting major, it seemed pretty simplistic, and was an easy grade. But Rossell (or Frazier) was pleasant enough
Next was another MBA text on Macroeconomics written, and taught, by Dr. Bela Gold. I think Dr. Gold was Hungarian or Romanian. I don't know what was thicker, his textbook or his accent. I didn't understand anything during the whole class. He was pretty old (he taught seated behind a desk) and seemed pretty bored by teaching a bunch of snot nosed Americans. The rest of the faculty seemed to treat him with some reverence, so I think he had an academic reputation of some sort. However, he was a pretty bad teacher.
Finally there was a law school text called Legal Process and Procedure by Cornelius Murphy. Murphy's idea was that he could teach new law students about the subject by examining the development of a new theory of damages for "loss of consortium." The theory is that if a married person suffers injuries, the uninjured spouse has a right to recover for the loss of companionship, comfort, sex, etc., that the injured spouse is no longer able to provide. I don't know how much we learned about legal process and procedure, but Murphy created a bunch of lawyers who are experts on "loss of consortium." Murphy was widely despised and was later terminated for some unseemly conduct involving a female student.
Nine years of higher education. Four remembered textbooks, only one of which was memorable.
Thank you Paul Samuelson.

Fortunate Son

2009-10-18T12:06:00.003-04:00

I don't remember exactly when I became aware of my connection with Paul Martha. It was probably when I was a awkward, nerdy high schooler at St. Thomas in Braddock and he was a star athlete at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh. My mother pointed out to me that we had a shared history. One of my mom's childhood friends had married above her station and was living in what was, by our standards, a rather upscale community, and was a neighbor of the Martha family. She had a son, Bobby, who was about my age. According to my Mom, Bobby, Paul and I played together as toddlers. Life intervened, as it always does. I saw Bobby from time to time, but I don't have any recollection of Paul.
Paul was everything I was not. He was tall, good looking and a natural athlete. He came from (again by my meager standards) a privileged background and even had a "normal" sounding last name. He went on to become an All-American football player at Pitt, was a high draft choice of the Steelers, and had a successful career in the NFL. If I missed any of his press clippings, my Mom was sure to point them out to me. Meanwhile, I toiled in obscurity at a non-descript Midwest university and went off to fight in an unpopular Asian War.
One doesn't become an NFL star because they're tall, good looking and a natural athlete. I'm sure he worked hard along the way. He was also apparently pretty smart, both academically and career-wise. While playing for the Steelers, he attended law school at night. When his playing career was over, he got a job with the most prestigious law firm in Pittsburgh and began doing legal work for the DeBartolo family in Youngstown. He was the DeBartolo's top lieutenant overseeing their sports empire which included the four time Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers and the then two time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. He was on TV a lot during this period. He always seemed very poised, very professional, very impressive.
I too went to law school at night. No prestigious law firms came calling. I did have a long lasting career as in-house counsel to a diversified industrial company that verged on bankruptcy for a number of years before selling out to overseas interests. I wasn't on TV, and if I had been, I'm sure I would not have come across anywhere near as well.
Was I jealous? I don't think so. But you have to play the cards you get. I got a couple of pair - not too bad - but I always thought Paul got a full house. Now I'm not so sure.
With one divorce (after 35 years of marriage) and a second one in the works, three stays in alcohol rehabilitation facilities, time in jail for violating a protection from abuse order, Paul's getting the kind of press clippings no one wants. There's a good possibility that his troubles relate to brain damage from concussions he suffered as a football player.
Maybe he wasn't such a fortunate son after all.

NPR

2009-03-06T09:21:00.005-05:00

At some point early in my commuting career, I discovered National Public Radio, known to its legions of listeners as NPR. Unlike local radio with its repetitive traffic reports ("congested everywhere") and juvenile attempts at humor (with way too jovial co-hosts laughing at each other) interspersed with an occasional record, NPR's "Morning Edition" on the way to work, and "All Things Considered" on the way home, had national and international news headlines and brief, well-researched feature stories. That said, NPR has some quirky and even annoying features, that my wife never fails to point out to me.

You don't have to have an unusual name to work at NPR, but it seems to help. A few examples:

Titra Paprikash - she spoke with what seemed to be an East Asian accent. I found it interesting when NPR sent her to Louisiana to report on shrimp fishing issues. I'm sure she bonded with her interview subjects.

Sylvia Poggioli - I got the impression she was based in Italy and she got all of the Eastern Medditerranean assignments from Greece to Turkey to Azerbaijan and to the never to be forgotten Ngorno Karabakh.

Don Gonyea - when I first heard Don, he was reporting on issues related to the auto industry. He was probably based in Detriot because his "beat" expanded to include Michigan politics, then other Midwest issues. He now seems to be based in Washington covering national issues.

Michelle Norris - this doesn't look like an unusual name, except its pronounced "Me Shell." In a profile, she said she took this on-air job because the powers at NPR didn't ask her to alter her "smokey" African-American delivery. Until that profile, I didn't know she was smokey or African-American.

If you're reporting from the field, you gotta have sound effects! Because it's radio, listeners can't tell whether the reporter is sitting in the studio or actually out in the field - thus the sound. If the report is from Iraq, lets hear the sound of boots crunching on the desert floor; if its from a port, let's hear the sea gulls and the waves lapping against the pier.

If you're based overseas, you've got to use the local pronunciation. The afore mentioned Sylvia Puggiolli would spill out names of people and places that had me scratching my head. Even worse were the reporters based in France and the Far East.

There is a hint of pretentiousness in the news/semi news programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered (eg., "Arts" corresdondent Susan Stamberg never encountered an art or artist that she didn't gush over.) The pretentiousness comes out in full in some other NPR offerings. There's the food show (can you imagine a food show on the radio) humbly called "The Spendid Table" hosted by the three named, Lynn Rosetto Casper, " Piano Jazz", hosted by Marian McPartland, who sounds old enough to have changed Fats Waller's diapers and who speaks like someone from an old Noel Coward movie. The one that really jangles my nerves is not technically "NPR" but from something American Public Radio. "Market Place" is broadcast on my local NPR station and is hosted by Kai Rizdall (an NPR appropriate name if I ever heard one.) Every evening, Kai gives the financial headlines, then promises to give the details of movements in the stock market when "we do the numbers." I'm not sure what he does to the numbers, but based on recent market performances he'd better stop.

NPR is always fund raising from its listeners (OK, its only twice a year), but it seems like the bulk of their funding comes from corporations and foundations. When NPR acknowleges the support, they read a brief touchy-feely tag line that's related to the supporter's "mission." My current favorite tag line is from the Charles D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation, which says it's "committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world." To which I say, "Me too!"

Is it Me or is it Fox?

2009-01-12T11:42:00.003-05:00

Is it me, or is there way too much drama in the NFC these days. The poster boys are the Dallas Cowboys with Tony Romo and his main squeeze, Jessica Simpson; the mouth that won't quit, Terrell Owens; the felon, Pacman Jones, and the dysfunctional owner, Jerry Jones. But there's also the New York Giants with the meeting missing, "I shot myself in the leg," Plaxico Burress, and the Philadelphia Eagles and the love me/bench me Donovan McNabb.
Now the AFC does have Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson, but he plays for the football irrelevant Cincinnati Bengals. It also has the New York Jets' Brett Favre soap opera, but this saga is a continuation of the the one that began with the NFC's Green Bay Packers.
It cannot be a coincidence that Fox is the network that broadcasts NFC games. This is the same network that brings you "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader," "America's Most Wanted," "Cops" and "Hell's Kitchen." Do you think that Rupert Murdoch's evil TV programmers are sitting in their evil workshops orchestrating reality TV plots for the NFC? Or is it just me?

Names Part 2

2008-12-18T12:37:00.002-05:00

An update to my last post, I read in this morning's paper that the Oklahoma Sooner football team has lost both DeMarcus Granger and DeMarco Murray for the BCS title game. Fortunately, they still have DeJuan Miller, Lamar Harris and Lamont Robinson. They'll be matched against Florida's Lamar Alred, Leontee McCrea and Deonte Thompson.
Looks like a toss-up.

Names

2008-11-15T13:18:00.002-05:00

I've always been fascinated by names of athletes. With the start of Pitt's basketball season, I noticed the re-emergence of DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields. They now share the local sports pages with Pitt's football stars, LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stevens-Howling. On the professional side, we've got this week's matchup of the Steelers' DeShea Townsend and LaMarr Woodley against the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson (DeJuan Tribble won't play - he's injured.)
Its amazing how many athletes sport first names beginning with some variation of "La/Le" or "Da/De" or the ever popular "D", as in D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
Everyone knows about all world basketball star LeBron James and his teammate Delonte West, but there are many other NBA players, from new guy Lamar Odom to vereran Dwayne Wade, who fit this category.
A quick review of NFL rosters shows that most teams, like the Steelers and the Chargers, have two players who would make my list.
Now that we've elected an African American as president, we're allowed to notice these things, right?

Memory Almost Full

2008-11-09T09:56:00.001-05:00

I couldn't name a song on the album, but just the title of Paul McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full," makes me smile. McCartney and I are about the same age, and I know how he feels.
Think about dates. Not the dates that you write on a calendar, but the dates that are permanently written onto your personal hard drive. You start out with only two meaningful dates: your birthday and Christmas. Its not too long before you find out about New Years, Easter, July 4th, Halloween and Thanksgiving. By the time you get to school, you start paying attention to Labor Day, Columbus Day, Presidents Day, Valentines Day and the ever popular April Fool's day. Along the way, you started to pay attention the birthdays of your siblings and your parents and your parent's anniversary, along with Mother's Day and Father's Day. We Catholics pick up a bunch of Holy Days throughout the year that I still remember, even if I don't observe them. Jews seem to have even more.
If they hang around long enough, you pick up boyfriend/girlfriend birthdays - and the dates remain in your brain long after the relationship fades. Then you get your spouse's birthday and, of course your own anniversary, plus the birthdays and anniversaries of your in-laws. Soon enough your siblings have gotten married, and you've got their anniversaries and their spouses birthdays. Then you start with your own kids, your nieces and nephews; then their marriages and then their kids. The cycle is not complete until you start accumulating some dates for the passing of those whose birthdays we remember.
There are the other days you can't forget: Pearl Harbor Day, September 11, and for me, November 8. There are days you could easily give up, but can't seem to - the third Saturday in October is the date of the Alabama-Tennessee football game.
I may have space for a few more dates to remember, but I have to be judicious. The memory is almost full.

Reflections on the Election

2008-11-05T09:49:00.002-05:00

1. K. Leroy Irvis was a long time member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives elected from Pittsburgh's predominantly black Hill District. Upon his election as Speaker of the House, he said that his colleagues did not elect a black Speaker, rather they elected a Speaker who happened to be black. I think in much the same way, we have elected for the first time, a president who happens to be black.

2. I see a lot of patting ourselves on the back for electing a member of a minority as president. We should remember that in 1990, Peru elected as president an ethnic Japanese, Alberto Fujimori. That administration was less than successful. Facing a corruption scandal, Fujimori fled the country in 2000. He was later extradited back to Peru and is currently serving a six year prison sentence.

3. I know we don't vote for Vice President, but the defining moments for me in this election were the selection of running mates. Obama, taking to heart the criticism that he was relatively inexperienced, picked a seasoned senator, Joe Biden, who made a credible run himself for the presidential nomination. McCain, completely ignoring the concern of many that he would be the oldest person ever to be elected president, and that his vice president might be called on to fill his shoes at some point during his presidency, chose a person with no track record.

4. I'm a registered Democrat (the primaries are more interesting), but my political leaning is probably more to the conservative side. But George Bush has done great damage to the Republican party. For the guy who touted himself as a "uniter," not a "divider," he's done a lot more of the latter than the former. For a guy who talked about America being a "humble" international leader, his foreign adventures have been a lesson in arrogance. So we'll now give the Democrats their own opportunity to screw things up. When the next cycle comes, I hope the Republicans can offer us a better alternative.

My Endorsement

2008-10-30T20:03:00.004-04:00

I like John McCain. I wanted to vote for him eight years ago, But the Republican machine attack dogs killed his candidacy during the primaries. I think he would have made a much better president than George Bush turned out to be.
I won't be voting for McCain in this election. My reasons are as follows:

1. THE WAR
As one who fought, and almost died, in the Vietnam War, I'm all in favor of winning whatever war we happen to be fighting. But, and its a big but, Iraq was an unnecessary war. I think George Bush wanted to take down Saddam Hussein for a lot of the wrong reasons: Saddam got too big for his britches when he invaded Kuwait; George Bush II wanted to finish what his dad failed to to; he wanted to avenge Saddam's failed assassination plot against his dad, and on and on. There was one good reason to go to war - Saddam's alleged "weapons of mass destruction." So Bush gave entirely too much credence to flawed intelligence and used it to justify getting the war he wanted. He then proceeded to badly mismanage the pacification process. The fact that the most recent surge has been successful doesn't change the fact that the Bush administration started the war on false pretenses and then badly planned and badly executed the invasion.
John McCain followed party lines and supported Bush from the beginning and he gets to share the blame.

2. THE ECONOMY
Large, and possibly unmanageable, forces have precipitated the most severe economic meltdown in my lifetime. It may be unfair, but the political party in charge gets to take the blame. The Republicans have controlled the White House for 8 years, and the Congress for 6 of the last 8 years. When things go to hell on your watch, its time for somebody else to do the watching.
Plus, when things do go to hell, the President, a so-called conservative, came up with a bail out plan that's a massive government intervention into our private economy. Just exactly what do the Republicans stand for? Why should I think they're any different than the Democrats?

3. AMERICAN PRESTIGE
The US has been the pre-eminent world power since WW II. And, it wasn't just because of our economic and military might. We were the good guys. We called out other nations for human rights abuses and torture of prisoners. We didn't do them ourselves. We had the world with us after 9/11. A measure of how far we've fallen, when Bush tried to put together an international coalition to legitimize the invasion of Iraq, all we can get is three guys from Poland and 2 from Romania.
I think the international community will see the election of John McCain as a continuation of the last 8 years of simply not giving a damn about what the rest of the world thinks.

4. McCAIN"S JUDGMENT
McCain is 72 years old. His body still suffers the effects of his captivity by the North Vietnamese. He has a history of skin cancer. Just look at how George Bush has aged since he became president. How about admitting your physical frailties and picking a running mate who can step in and run the country in the event you can't complete your term. Does anybody seriously think Sarah Palin can do that?

5 OBAMA'S LIMITATIONS
Everyone would probably like it if Obama had a little more experience, but he's got all he's going to get before the election. He's run a first class, nationwide political campaign for 17 months. He beat the Clinton political machine to win the nomination. He raised an unconscious amount of money. He's not a Muslim; he's not a terrorist; he's not a socialist and he's not the anti-Christ. Will he try to govern from the left of center? Maybe, but the economic climate and the congress, even a Democratic congress, are going to keep the reins pretty tight. Plus we've got the oversight of a federal judiciary which is still largely composed of Republican appointees.

Two years from now, after spending some time in exile and atoning for their sins, maybe the Republicans can retake the congress. Four years from now, maybe some Republican can steal the glow from an Obama presidency and retake the White House. In the meantime, I think the Democrats should have the opportunity to run things for a while.

Some Thoughts on Abortion

2008-10-01T11:32:00.004-04:00

In all of the dialog about "pro-choice" and "pro-life", a subject I've not heard discussed is, what happens if abortion become illegal. Declaring an activity to be illegal may slow it down, but it doesn't mean the activity is going to stop. There are a lot of things that are illegal, from "Arson" to "Wife Beating" (I can't think of an illegal activity that begins with "X", "Y" or "Z"), but they happen all the time. So, not only do we make them illegal, we make them crimes and we punish people.
What's the punishment for abortion? Taking the pro-life arguments at face value, abortion is equivalent to premeditated murder, not only for the woman on whom the abortion is performed and the person performing the abortion, but for anyone who aided or abetted the abortion (e.g., the person who drove the woman to or from the abortion.) It wouldn't matter if the woman travelled to a jurisdiction where abortion was legal, since the unborn child, as a US citizen, is entitled to protection even if the murder took place outside the US. It probably wouldn't matter if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest or if the physical or mental well-being of the mother was at stake.
I'm more than willing to assume that our Creator would not take lightly the taking of an unborn life, and I trust his judgement will be tempered with mercy. We humans should use caution in equating a "sin" with a "crime."

Some Things I Think I Think

2008-09-15T19:43:00.003-04:00

- As troubling as it is that there is some portion of the electorate that will not vote for Barrack Obama because he's black, there is another portion of the electorate who WILL vote for him precisely because he's black. Who's racist?

- We have neither the ability nor the willingness to enforce our country's immigration laws. With 12 million illegals, many of whom work in jobs that are critical to, if not our economy, then our comfort, to imprison them, or to send them home and keep them out would be a nightmare. Yet we can't seem to agree on what kind of laws we can reasonably adopt. So we tolerate a culture of lawlesssness that undermines our society.

- Thomas Friedman, who may be the most intellectually honest columnist I've ever read, says that Sarah Palin is no more qualified to be Vice President than any of the first 100 names you pick out of the telephone book. My question to John McCain, what were you thinking?

Myron Cope - Reflections

2008-02-29T15:24:00.003-05:00

I've been around long enough to remember Myron Cope as an accomplished sports writer, which he was long before he started his broadcasting gig. His "schtick" as the color guy on Steeler radio broadcasts and his many activities related to that role, was amusing most of the time, but sometimes he made a complete fool of himself and I was embarassed for him. But he was smart and I thought he generally knew what he was talking about.
When he retired from broadcasting, he said he had told his good friend, Joe Gordon, to let him know if Joe ever thought he was "losing it." Joe told him he was, and Myron retired.
I and many others could also have told Myron he was losing it. His commentary during his last season with the Steelers was a mess. A few months after his retirement, when he was inducted into the broadcast Hall of Fame, his acceptance speech was rambling and incoherent. He had to be coaxed to leave the podium. It was sad. He had ceased to be Myron Cope.
So, here's the question - who are you when you're no longer you?
My mother stopped being her a long time before she died. She became some woman who used to be my mother, but who no longer knew me, who no longer talked to me and who no longer cared about me, or herself or anything else.
I guess its a good thing that the guy who used to be Myron Cope didn't live too long after he began to not be Myron Cope.

Left and Right

2008-02-09T12:20:00.000-05:00

On the American political spectrum, I consider myself to be right of center. But, when I compare my thoughts with those espoused by the "true believers" who claim to form the base of the Republican Party, I'm a threat to our American way of life.

Abortion:
I think abortion is a sin; I don't think it ought to be a crime. The thought of rape victims, and women whose lives are at risk for going through with a pregnancy, and their doctors, going to jail for making a painful decision, is not acceptable to me. Maybe the government shouldn't be paying for abortions, but I'm not sure how we, as a nation put that into practice.

Immigration:
Our immigration system is broken, and we've got, by some estimates, 12 million people who are in this country without proper documentation. Without violating our national standards for the protection of human rights, I don't see how we even think about sending all of those people home without creating a huge, non-productive bureaucracy to deal with individual cases. And, we can't send them home without settling on what an enforceable immigration policy ought to look like.

Gun Control:
If you have to have a license to drive a car, why can't a license be required to own a gun? The Second Amendment argument is a red herring. Read in context, the protection of the right to bear arms is in relation to a "well regulated militia." If we decide, as a nation, to reasonably regulate firearms, we can limit ownership to members of the militia, and make all gun owners join-up. No one suggests that gun control would stop all gun violence, but can't we make it a little harder for someone like Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, to get his hands on an assault rifle?

I'm not sure how I'll vote in the next presidential election (although it for sure won't be for Hillary Clinton - that's a blog for another day). Everybody else in in the running for my vote.

Health Care

2008-01-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

I am about to expose my 23 year old son to America's health care system - uninsured! He's got a low grade problem which has persisted for about a month. My general philosophy on these things is that you usually you get better, but sometimes you get worse; this doesn't seem to be doing either.
My son is marginally employed - he works about 12 hours a week - but he hasn't even been doing that since his recent problem developed. So there's no medical insurance through work, and he doesn't earn enough to buy an individual policy. He's got an underlying medical condition that prevents him from qualifying for the lower cost policies sometimes made available to young people.
So he's about to get a physical and probably get some tests for which an insurance company would pay a couple hundred dollars; my son's bill will probably be double that.
I understand all the arguments against getting the government involved in health care, But, what the people making those arguments don't seem to get is that the existing system isn't working! We've got however many people who have no health insurance, people with health insurance are seeing higher premiums and co-pays and sharing more and more premium costs with their employers. The FDA is approving new drugs each year which carry a premium price tag, on the basis of clinical trials that are only later subject to scrutiny. The drug companies argue they need high priced to encourage research, yet they're willing to sell for less in Canada and they spend billions on advertising directly to consumers who can't even buy their products without a prescription.
Bottom line, there are serious deficiencies in our current health care system. The Democrat approach seems to be some sort of single payer system, at least for the uninsured, with the ability of the government to negotiate drug prices. The Republican answer seems to be "NO". Under the circumstance, we need more than a "NO". If the Republican presidential candidate doesn't signal some willingness to deal with this issue, he won't have the opportunity to stop whatever the Democrats finally come up with. To quote George C. Scott, channeling General Patton, he'll be "shoveling shit in Louisiana"(or Arizona or Arkansas or Massachusetts) while the Democrats create an experiment we'll be living with for a long time.

Global Warming

2007-12-28T13:11:00.000-05:00

It's so rare these days to develop an international consensus on anything, I'm almost willing to take anything we can get, including the general agreement that burning fossil fuels is causing global warming and leading to all sorts of impending doom. But a news article the other day caught my eye.
It seems that melting ice cap in Norway has revealed farmland that's been covered with ice since the 1700's. Well, there were no automobiles in the 1700, and no coal burning power plants. Somehow the polar bears survived to this day, as did the coral reefs.
So what gives?

Remembering

2007-12-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

I ran into Jim Kirk yesterday at a Bar Association function. We've known each other for over 30 years, but we don't see one another very often. When I joined Dravo as Manager of International Taxes, he was working in company's Law Department, doing a lot of contract work. Those were exciting times for Dravo. We were pursuing work overseas in a big way, learning how to do it on the run. We were the successful bidder on big industrial construction projects in Venezuela and Brazil and needed to get quickly up to speed on the nuts and bolts of conducting business in those countries. Together with Bill McDonough, who was responsible for finance and accounting, Jim and I made a number of trips to South America to set up the local companies and establish the checks and balances for executing the projects. Later, we made periodic visits to oversee legal and financial matters and to deal with the periodic fire drills that these kinds of projects create. We worked hard, but we had ample opportunity to play hard.
Caracas is near the equator, but sits at about 7,000 feet elevation. The weather was always pleasant any time of the year. But the real fun was in Brazil. We tried to schedule our trips there in January or February when the Pittsburgh weather was at its worst and Brazil, which was in the middle of summer and seemed always to be in a party mood, was gearing up for Carnival. The beaches were crowed with women in string bikinis. We often joke that we must have equity in a couple of bars in Rio.
Bill McDonough is dead, and I don't often think about those days. But yesterday, with the melancholy of the holidays approaching, and with both of us on the dark side of medicare eligibility, Jim and I reminisced about the days when we were young and adventurous, and maybe just a bit foolish.

Another Rant.

2007-11-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

My crotchetyness rises to a new level during election season. (And, is it just me, or do we seem to always be in election season.) There are complicated issues out there, and they deserve serious consideration, and what we get are inane oversimplifications.
What set me off today was a letter to the editor in the morning paper complaining that the Iraq war was a bad war, because it was just about the oil. Well of course it was about the oil! Could Saddam Hussein have invaded Kuwait without his country's oil wealth; would he have done it without wanting Kuwait's oil. Could he have flaunted U.N. sanctions without his oil. And to all of that, would we have cared, if not for the oil?
To me, the first problem with Iraq, is that we launched a preemptive war, based on intelligence that has proved to be false. The second problem, is that we fell flat on our faces in dealing with the consequences of the collapse of the government. The third problem is, now that we're up the buffalo's ass, how do we get out.

11/08/1967 to 11/08/2007

2007-11-09T16:14:00.000-05:00

40 years and still kickin!!

Golf

2007-10-20T09:31:00.000-04:00

One of the best things about golf, especially the way I actually play the game, is getting to spend time at some aesthetically pleasing places. The manicured greens and fairways come with the territory, as do the contrasting sand, water and trees. The bonus is the views that many golf courses offer.
I've seen the yacht harbor on Calibogue Sound from Harbor Town Golf Course on Hilton Head, the Pacific coast line from Pelican Bay in Newport Beach, the white sand dunes of the Gulf Coast from Kiva Dunes in Gulf Shores and the ocean view of Molokai from Wialea on Maui.
Some of my favorite views have been of the Allegheny Mountains from golf courses in West Virginia, Maryland and my home ground in Western Pennsylvania.
One of the best golf views ever came earlier this week, and I didn't even have to bring my clubs.
I had our dog out for her early morning constitutional. The walking trail passes the 11th green of the Golf Course at Hidden Valley and I noticed that the flag stick had been pulled and the golf hole had been filled. The course was closed for the season. I wouldn't normally take the dog on the course - she's way too friendly and she might leave her "mark" in inappropriate places - but this was too good an opportunity to pass up.
We followed the cart path to the tee for the 12th hole, which faces due east and opens to a wide tree lined fairway, leading downhill, to the green some 400 yards away. The view from the tee was spectacular. The leaves were starting to change into their fall colors. The sun was about four fingers above the horizon and the sky was crystal clear with only a few high stratus clouds. The visibility was limited only by the the curvature of the terrain and my aging eyes. I could pick out four Laurel Highland ridges with their blue/purple elevations rising out of valleys blanketed with the early morning fog. I stayed long enough to make sure the image was burned into my mental hard drive, then moved on.

The Argument

2007-09-14T19:41:00.000-04:00

Of course, a woman should have the right to control her own body. Plus, it's not a question of moralty, its a question of public health. Women have been doing it, and will continue doing it whether it's illegal or not, with devastating consequences to their health. We need to get it out of the back alleys. What we need is legalization, with proper licensing and proper health treatment for women.

Oh yeah, Nevada is considering the legalization of prostitution.

Officially Old

2007-09-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

There's no more "cute" label. I'm well past "middle age", and have become, by any definition, a "senior citizen". It's no longer relevant that I "retired early" since I'm now past "retirement age".
I'm not quite sure how to behave. When I was younger, I came to have certain expectations of old folks. They had aches and pain and they fell asleep at odd times, but they showed a kind of wisdom that came from their life experience.
Now, I have slowed down some, and I do nap sometimes during the evening news, but my aches and pains are few. As for the wisdom thing, I'm real disappointed. I had hoped to have things figured out by now.
Maybe the wisdom I thought I saw was merely a recognition of the reality that the the big questions of life are unanswerable, and a willingness to let them be. I'm not there yet.

Save the Planet

2007-08-28T14:55:00.000-04:00

According to the best estimates, the "Big Bang" that gave rise to the universe took place about 13.7 billion years ago. The oldest rocks on Earth suggest that our planet is about 4.5 billion years old. Dinosaurs, which first appeared about 250 million years ago, disappeared about 65 million years ago, probably because of the ecological effects of a large meteor striking the earth. Humans show up 1 - 2 million years ago. Recorded history begins about 5,ooo years ago. Me, I was born about 65 years ago.
As the numbers suggest, the ol' planet was around a long time before humans, and will probably be around a long time after we're gone. Problem is, we're pretty fragile creatures. We need drinkable water on pretty much a daily basis, food at least every couple of days and, unless the temperature stays within a fairly narrow band, we need clothing and shelter. For a long time, humans stayed near the places that offered those amenities, and stayed away from inhospitable places. We've become better at creating a comfortable environment in uncomfortable places, but Al Gore reflects a school of thought that a lot more places are about to become uncomfortable.
There's geological evidence that, before any human walked the planet, the Earth had ice ages and warmer periods. Various kinds of creatures came and went, but the Earth went on.
So, what's the point? Its that we don't need to save the planet; the Earth will take care of itself. We need to do what we can to preserve an environment on the planet that allows our species to exist - at least until the next meteor.

Reflections on Air Travel

2007-07-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

It wasn't really a nightmare, but a recurring dream. I'm a passenger on a jet aircraft, seated next to a window, and we're on approach to a landing. We're below the level of the surrounding buildings, making gentle turns. There are red tiled roofs, and and drying laundry; we fly over telephone poles and under bridges. It isn't frightening, as we seemed to be well under control, but it certainly seems unusual. In my dream, we never land.

The dream started shortly after my first trip to Brazil and the related landing at Congonhas Airport in Rio de Janiero. The real landing wasn't quit that bad, but it was close.

As a business traveler, I liked my airports close to the city. The cost of a cab ride from outlying airports was prohibitive, and, unless you were a regular visitor, the local public transportation options were confusing and cumbersome. So, if I had the option, I would choose LaGuardia over JFK, Reagan National over Dulles, and the domestic airport, Congonhas over the international, Galeao.

My guess is that airline pilots prefer the wide open spaces of the newer airports away from the city. Runways are longer, approaches and departures are straighter and there are fewer noise abatement procedures to deal with.

The dream is long gone, but it was brought to mind last week with the report of the tragic crash at Congonhas.

Why I Hate Class Action Lawsuits

2007-06-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

Following is a summary of a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit that appeared in the June 10, 2007 issue of the Parade Magazine:

Lawyers filing the suit alleged that the manufacturer of TrimSpa X32 made false and misleading statements in advertising their product. The manufacturer denied the allegation, but nevertheless agreed to the proposed settlement.
Individuals who request a "Proof of Claim" form, fill it out, and sign it under penalty of perjury, attesting that they purchased at least one bottle of the offending product are entitled to the following for each bottle purchased:

1. a check for $1.00,

2. a free bottle of the manufacturer's multivitamin tablets, and

3. a $5.00 coupon to be used on other products made by the manufacturer.

The attorneys who filed the lawsuits will apply for attorneys' fees and expenses of up to $3,428,000.00.

No editorial comment is necessary.

Reflections on a Life

2007-06-07T12:34:00.000-04:00

My college roomate died yesterday. He was 64, and we'd known each other for 46 years.
We shared a Pittsburgh working class background and, for many years, a block of Steeler season tickets. We were, I think, very different. As a lawyer, I often had one too many hands (you know, a lawyer answers a question, then says, "on the other hand" ...); as an engineer, he usually had one too few. There was only one answer. At times I envied his certainty, but mostly I learned to just keep quiet about certain things.
He ate too much, smoked too much and, for a time, drank too much. He took too little care of himself.
He was married to his high school sweetheart for 42 years and together they raised four great kids.
While we've remained in contact, we haven't been close for quit some time. I know that my sense of loss can't compare to that felt by his family and close friends. Nevertheless, he and I walked together through a lot of life's experiences. I'll miss him.

Ramblings

2007-06-02T09:33:00.000-04:00

It was 1990 when the epic Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War aired on PBS. I saw a lot of it, but certainly not all 11 hours. One of the featured commentators was Shelby Foote, a Mississippi born novelist and historian. Like many others, I was charmed by his drawl, erudition and his quirk of speaking as if the was was still going on. Twenty-seven years later, and 2 years after Foote's death, I'm finally getting around to reading his trilogy The Civil War: A Narrative.
As frustrated as I am by the state of the world and the spewing of venom that passes for political debate today, Foote's work is helping me to keep things in perspective. Then, as now, warring factions each claim God to be their ally and accuse the other of doing the work of the devil. Then, as now, politicians accuse each other of being in the pockets of "special interests" and being out of touch with the will of the people and/or reality and/or common sense.
Our nation survived the Civil War, although we were surely changed by it. We were no longer a "union" voluntarily entered into by the "willing states". We got rid of slavery and created a powerful nation, but the concept of state sovereignty largely went out the window.
I am convinced we will overcome our current troubles, although, again, we will be changed. The jury is still out on what will become of "habeas corpus", protection against unreasonable searches and the right to a speedy trial by a jury of ones peers. There's no question were becoming a little less free. Maybe the idealistic rights and protections in our constitution can't stand up to suicide bombers, saturday night specials, sexual predators, weapons of mass destruction and, of course unrestrained campaign spending.

My Trips to Home Depot

2006-12-27T16:46:00.000-05:00

I made two trips to Home Depot recently, one to check out kitchen cabinets and countertops and get some estimated prices, and the second to actually order countertops. On both ocassions, I was assisted by Mary, with some support by Angela, who, if not Mary's supervisor, was at least more experienced.
While not exactly brain surgery, Mary and Angela were working at several levels above flipping burgers. There were products available from half a dozen manufacturers, each with multiple styles and finishes. Various installation options were available. I brought in the measurements from my kitchen and they priced out any number of alternatives for my project. I learned that Mary and Angela were very good at what they did. I also learned what color underwear they wore on each of my visits and that Angela had a tattoo that runs all across her lower back.
I doubt that Mary and Angela got dressed on those two days with the expectation of showing off their underwear to a 64 year old geezer. I certainly did not go to Home Depot on those two days with the expectation of gazing at the underwear of a couple of twenty somethings. It is safe then, to say that our encounters did not meet our respective expectations.
I know that working on the floor at Home Depot is not like working in some downtown office building. I know, too, that young women want clothes that are "cute" and "fun," but since when did low riders and short tops become work clothes - other than at Hooters?

Who the Hell is James Blunt and Why Have I Never Heard of Him

2006-10-01T11:47:00.000-04:00

I guess its a true sign of becoming an olf fart when you lose track of the popular culture. For me, it probably started with "hip-hop". I didn't get it and I still don't. But as some youngster said, in a particularly appropriate comment, "its not for you!" Nevertheless, I'd at least heard of many of the so-called artists.
But James Blunt. Gimme a break. I've noticed Adelphia pay-per-view has been offering a James Blunt concert for $9.95 and that the newspaper listed a James Blunt CD among the top sellers for the past few weeks. Why don't I know this guy? It turns out I'd heard his song "You're Beautiful" on the radio a bunch of times and thought it was simplistic and sappy; but, the singer had a pleasant vioce and the style did not hurt my ears. I thought it was some one-hit wonder. Nobody told me this guy was so popular.
My older two kids used to keep me somewhat up to date (my youngest operates in a whole different sub-culture), but they've moved out and I can't keep track of the kinds of entertainment they're into. Me, I'm still listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Lynyrd Skynyrd and a bunch of other guys who are long dead.

Conspiracy Theory

2006-09-25T11:13:00.000-04:00

I like novels about conspiracies. There are these really smart people who can manipulate other people and manage events to achieve desired results; and they do it in complete secrecy. My experience tells me that great conspiracies don't happen in the real world.
First of all, most people aren't really that smart and, if they are, they are compelled to tell everybody about it.
In the great Paul Newman, Robert Redford movie, "The Sting", a gang of con artists conspired to bring down a gambling kingpin in an elaborate scheme. As fantastic as the scheme was, the most unbelievable part of the movie was that, after the bad guy had met his fate, the participants couldn't and didn't tell anyone what they had done.
Despite my skepticism, I'm beginning to wonder if some conspiracy is not at work in the pricing of gasoline.
We've had a string of bad news about oil: the shortage of refining capacity, the slow recovery from hurricanes, Chinese economic growth, the war in Iraq, the pipeline problems in Alaska, the insurgency in Nigeria, the Iran nuclear crisis, the bad relations with Venezuela and the Israeli/Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon, to name just a few. All of these things were blamed for the run-up in gas prices. Gas prices went from $2.30 to $3.00 in a matter of weeks, and I'm buying the justification.
Now, in a matter of days, gas prices drop from $3.00 to $2.89 to $2.49 to $2.12. All of these issues continue to fester with oil production and refining. What's changed? The conspiracy buffs note that the US is weeks away from mid-term elections which could well determine control of both houses of congress. Could they be right? Is somebody smart enough? Will we find out?

False Advertising

2006-09-09T13:04:00.000-04:00

Crosby Stills Nash & Young are coming to town. The TV ads are all about the harmonies and the old CSN&Y hits. But, from what I hear, a goodly piece of the playlist is from Neil Young's current political protest album, featuring the toe-tapping "Impeach the President." I guess its not totally unexpected. CSN&Y had their share of left wing songs back in the day - e.g. "Teach Your Children Well" and "Four Dead in Ohio" - but I would prefer to get my political inspiration from someone other than a bunch of drugged out rock stars. Not to say they don't have a right to an opinion, or even a right to express it. What gets me is the sense that, because they have some talent as entertainers, they have the right to foist those opinions on folks who pay good money just to be entertained.
Me, I'll stay home

Priests and Such

2006-08-28T11:31:00.000-04:00

I see where the Catholic Church refuses to consider the ordination of women because Jesus only selected men to be his apostles. As I recall, he selected only Jewish men. Hmmm.
Jesus also never built a cathedral, rode in a car, used a microphone or even wore shoes I wonder what He'd say about Bingo.

College Basketball and Dickie V.

2005-12-01T08:58:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of college basketball. From the early season inter-conference games and holiday tournaments, to the always interesting conference games and championship tournaments to the best of all American post season playoffs - the NCAA Championship. What a great diversion during dreary winter months.
I'm not a big fan of Dick Vitale, aka Dickie V., ESPN's color analyst of choice. From the way he seems to try to jump out of the TV screen into my living room whenever he's on camera, to his incessant name dropping, to his inane catch phrases, I find him extremely annoying. Unfortunately, his twice a week reporting assignments usually include the week's most interesting games.
Last night's big game was part of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and involved Duke and Indiana. Duke was undefeated and ranked #1 in early season polls, but had not been as dominating as some had expected. Indiana was undefeated and ranked #14, and was playing at home before an enthusiastic crowd.
Good ole' Dickie V. managed to get some TV face time to berate the administration of Indiana University for not naming the basketball venue after former head coach, Bobby Knight. This was not a mere suggestion, it was a demand. How could they not do it? According to Dickie, Knight was Indiana Basketball. After all, he had brought conference championships and an NCAA title to the University.
What Dickie failed to note, was that Knight also brought great embarrassment to the school. Whether it was the famous chair-throwing incident, the choking of one of his players, the fight with a professor in a downtown Bloomington restaurant, or any number of other blow-ups, the University finally had enough, and fired him. Knight sued the school and lost. To suggest that he be "honored" by the school is beyond ridiculous.
I'll continue to watch college basketball, so I guess I'll continue to listen to Dickie V. Maybe if I turn the sound down real low..........

Happy Anniversary

2005-11-08T11:32:00.000-05:00

Thirty-eight years ago today, I should have died. I survived the small arms fire that shot out the controls on my UH-1. I survived the subsequent crash that brought the helicopter down, inverted. I walked away before the ship, fully loaded with fuel and ammunition, exploded, and was rescued before the VC and/or the NVA closed in on the crash site.
That's a lot of surviving!
Some might be tempted to see the hand of God at work. To me, that view cheapens the sacrifice of those who did not survive. And, if I lived because I was supposed to be part of some larger plan, I suspect He's been disappointed in me. I think it was more the case that, "sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you."
Nevertheless, these years have been a bonus. When my time finally does come, I'll have no complaints.

Reunion

2005-09-18T21:05:00.000-04:00

I went to my high school reunion last night. Its been forty-five years since we graduated, and with one exception, the only time I've seen these people since graduation, was at a reunion three years ago.
It was really pretty weird. I mean I knew these people before I met my wife, before I met my current friends, and before the arrival of many of my relatives. To say our class has a "history" is an understatement. We share a time and a place of birth, similar economic backgrounds and a faith born in the Catholic Church of the 1940's and 50's. I knew the guys when they were jocks and jerks, and the girls when they were prom queens and, shall we say, less than prom queens.
We've all gotten older, most of us are grayer, many of us are heavier, and there's a lot less hair to be seen.
Sadly, our ranks are a little thinner - a trend that is likely to accelerate.
Again, with one exception, I don't expect to see any of my classmates until our next reunion. Although we share a "past", we don't share a "present". We're all just fellow travelers. We got on the road at the same time, and passed some of the same mile markers, and we'll each get off when our time comes.

Fun and Games

2005-09-14T08:43:00.000-04:00

It was that awkward period of my life between wild and crazy youth and married with children. A friend and I would sit at a table in a quiet bar and get pleasantly lubricated while playing a game we called "pick a subject and a side." Neither the "subject" nor the "side" mattered very much; the point was to generate a debate and get a little intellectual stimulation. We each vigorously asserted arguments, not because we believed them, but simply because the other guy staked out an opposing view.

That game is not much different from what lawyers do on a regular basis (preferably without the lubrication.)

I'm reminded of this game by watching the hearings on Judge John Roberts' confirmation as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Senators are reading memos and briefs written by Attorney John Roberts when he worked for the Government and while he was in private practice and using the positions he advocated as evidence of "what he really thinks." Most of the Senators doing this are lawyers themselves and, I suspect, know that this is unfair and misleading.

I suspect that the Senators also know that until there is a real "case", with specific facts and extensive legal research and fully developed arguments on all relevant issues, a judge can't predict how he'll rule. And, if a judge sits on a panel of judges, like on the Supreme Court, there's a good chance he won't take a position until participating in the additional debate and reflection within the panel.

What the Senators are doing is playing another sort of game; its called politics.

Stem Cells

2005-08-05T08:41:00.000-04:00

Our country has gotten itself twisted up into a real pretzel over embryonic stem cell research. I'm far from an expert, but here's what I understand so far:

Stem cells contain the building blocs for all manner of human tissue. In theory, stem cells have the potential to be nurtured to grow into heart, liver or other organ cells; they can perhaps serve to create cells that are destroyed during cancer treatments or replace sells that are ravaged by degenerative diseases. All of this will take massive amounts of research, some of it requiring active government support, and most of it requiring at least passive acceptance by the federal government.
There are at least three sources for stem cells: there are adult stem cells harvested from living patients, placental stem cells, harvested from placentas that are routinely discarded after childbirth and embryonic stem cells, from human embryos.
Research is farthest along on adult stem cells. Results are promising, but the cells themselves are not as versatile as embryonic cells.
Embryonic cells have captured the excitement of researchers all over the world, but the ethics of using human embryos for experiments troubles a lot of people. The Bush administration has prohibited federal funding for such research, and has threatened to veto any legislation altering that position.
Research on embryonic stem cells is ongoing in other countries, and many of America's best scientists are going overseas to continue their work.
Research on placental stem cells has just begun, and they may prove an ethical alternative to embryonic stem cells.

I think most Americans would agree that creating a human embryo for the purpose of conducting medical experiments is just flat wrong. However, as a practical matter, there are thousand, if not millions of embryos in fertility clinics all over the country. Could one, or even some, of these embryos be implanted into women who might then give birth? Certainly. Would all, or even a significant number of them have that result? Not a chance in hell.

So, what becomes of these embryos? Do we destroy them? Is that murder? Do we continue to keep them indefinitely in cryogenic storage, and what are the moral implications of that? Are we beyond questioning whether fertility clinics should "create" "extra" embryos while trying to help a childless couple conceive?

Do you see why we're all going nuts over this matter?

My working premise, subject to change if more facts develop, is that, if the owners of the embryo (this would be the male and female who provided the sperm and egg) consent, that embryo may be used for medical research.

Introduction to the Blues

2005-07-24T11:21:00.000-04:00

It was August,1966. I had just completed basic helicopter training at Fort Wolters, Texas and, with the rest of my class was making my way to Fort Rucker, Alabama for advanced training before shipping out to Viet Nam. Some of us formed a mini-convoy: Stan Cherry and his wife, Paul Fellencer and his wife, Norm Kidd, who would later die in combat, traveling solo, and me, also traveling solo. I was driving a 1959 Chevy with 39,999.9 miles on the odometer, the same number it had when I bought it 2 years before, and the same number it would have five month later when I totaled it.
We traveled on I-20 through eastern Texas, Arkansas, into Mississippi and ended up stopping for the night in Meridian. We were all young, Yankee and pretty full of ourselves after having learned to master the devilishly difficult TH-53 training helicopter. We weren't expecting much from this backwater Mississippi outpost.
The details of our adventure escape me after all these years, but I vividly remember we ended up in this roadhouse with a raucous live band and some of the most real people having the best time that I had seen before or since.
But what stuck with me most was the music. I had grown up with do-wop and the early Elvis. I was less than satisfied with the bubble gum music of the early British invasion. This Mississippi music was raw and gritty. I felt it as much as I heard it.
Our trip resumed the next morning. The hangover lasted most of the day. The music stayed with me a lot longer.

Beer

2005-07-02T10:02:00.000-04:00

I really like beer. Its not so much the taste, although that's pleasant enough. What I really like is the feel. The way it fills the mouth, and especially the sensation when it goes down the throat. That's why just a sip won't do. You need at least a mouthful, maybe even a chug.
I like beer from a bottle. There's something about the way the liquid tumbles throught the neck that releases those bubbles into the mouth. Cans are just OK in that regard. Beer in a glass comes in third, although a beer served in a frosted mug is in a class by itself.
Beer is best enjoyed when you've earned it by working up a good sweat. I sweat a lot - I think its a genetic thing - so I earn a lot of beers.
The only problem with beer is that the second can't compare with the first, and the third barely cuts it at all. Instead of having another, I wish there was a way to have the first one all over again.

Terry Schiavo

2005-06-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

As one who has had the unfortunate responsibility to make end of life decisions for a loved one, I can hardly contain my anger at those politicians who stuck their noses into the Terry Schiavo situation.
That's not to say that the courts didn't have an important role to play. There were two issues:
Was Mrs. Schiavo in a persistent vegetative state and, if so, who could make decisions on her behalf. As to the first, multiple courts heard multiple experts testify to the effect that she was in a persistent vegetative state with virtually no chance of recovery. (Its almost beside the point that the autopsy showed that the experts were right.) As to the second, the courts determined that her husband, based on his understanding of her wishes, was authorized to make that agonizing end of life decision on her behalf. Its no surprise that her parents disagreed with that conclusion - people disagree with courts all the time - but once all appeals have been exhausted, that's supposed to be the end of it. Shame on them for trying to do an end run around the courts and shame on the politicians, primarily right-wing Republicans, for pandering to whoever the hell they were pandering to.
I'm sure Michael Schiavo consulted his conscience. I hope he prayed. But ultimately, it was his decision. If, in the eyes of God, he made the wrong one, he will be held to account.

Regular People

2005-06-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

I like to associate with regular people.
Most regular people are white, not that we're bigots or anything like that. Oh sure, there are some "people of color" who are regular people. but there are so many who are drug dealers or addicts and spend all there time making rap music and babies, that they have nothing in common with regular people.
Regular people speak English. The British, Australians, New Zealanders and some others speak passable English, and they sound a bit exotic, but I prefer good old American English. Some foreigners speak English, but sometimes they have a hard time getting the right words and those accents! You have to really struggle sometimes to figure out what they're saying.
Regular people are Christians. I'm not talking about the real bible thumpers, although they're alright if they don't go too far off the deep end. Jewish people are OK, but they need to stop trying to take over the world and really get over that holocaust thing. All those other religions, I have no idea what they're all about. We need to introduce them to Jesus Christ so they can become regular people.
Regular people do not belong to any of those gay, lesbian, transgendered, crossdressing or other "alternative lifestyle" groups. Although some try to label us as "heterosexual", we're simply regular, and all those others are simply queer.
Regular people like regular music. Not that classical music stuff. I'm convinced that the people who go to symphonies and operas are just trying to show off how "cultured" they are. And certainly not that rap crap. Who ever decided that was "music"? I never thought I'd be a Country music fan, but some Country artists are now the only ones making regular music.
Now, not everybody is a regular person, and that's alright. Live and let live is what I always say.

2005-06-04T20:39:00.000-04:00

Another Rant!

2005-05-27T06:41:00.000-04:00

As an able-bodied, white, American male, I am officially not a victim of discrimination. This is notwithstanding the fact that I am also short, fat, left-handed, Catholic and am a member of several other disaffected groups. As a non-victim, the only opinions I am allowed to have on the matter are 1. everyone who is not an able-bodied, white, American male is a victim of discrimination, all of the the time, 2. I'm guilty of it, all of the time, and 3. something needs to be done about it.
Lawrence Summers is the President of Harvard University. (He used to be "Larry" when he had a political job in Washington and wanted everybody to think he was a regular guy.) He got himself into a world of trouble when he suggested that the fact that women were underrepresented on the math and science faculty at Harvard might have something to do with their innate abilities. You'd have thought he shot Mother Teresa. No amount of apologizing and explaining have been able to calm the waters. The latest news is that Harvard will spend $50 million to "improve the climate for women and minorities and achieve a more diverse faculty." This move is called "a good start."
I have the privilege of being a father to both male and female children. Through them, I've had the chance to watch other children, male and female, make friends, play, study, compete, make choices and just generally grow up. Guess what? Boys and girls are different. For sure, there are differences among individuals; but boys and girls are generally interested in different things, they behave differently, they play together differently.
I don't know whether those differences affect the kind of classes they choose or their choices of careers - I suspect that they do - but apparently we're not allowed to find out. We seem to have decided that these choices are driven by discrimination, and we need to have remedies!

Heavy Stuff 1

2005-05-14T11:09:00.000-04:00

I used to think about being a novelist, but there is that whole notebook thing. You know, carry a notebook with you wherever you go, write down what you see, what you hear, what you feel; if you wake up from a dream, write it down. While that's good advice for a writer, that's not how I want to live.
Often when we examine things, we change them. To study a flower, we cut it from the plant and take it to a lab and analyze a dead flower, or we take a photograph and look at an image rather than the real thing. Relationships are complicated, emotions are complicated, life is complicated. Instead of living in the moment, the dedicated writer has to step back and analyze and try to uncomplicate and explain.
Socrates said an unexamined life is not worth living. In some sense, an examined life is not lived at all.

Taxes

2005-05-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

Start with two premises:
1. Taxes are the price we pay for living in a society.
2. Nobody likes to pay taxes.

That being said, there are some kinds of taxes that are OK, and some that are awful.
The concept of the Income Tax is good - it falls on citizens who have the ability to pay, and those who earn more, pay more - but the execution is terrible, with the exclusions, credits and deductions, and the incomprehensible Alternative Minimum Tax.
The gasoline tax is an OK tax, especially when the revenues from the tax are earmarked for transportation.
The sales tax a good tax in that its simple and easy to collect, but its bad because it falls disproportionately on the poor - the more of your income you spend, the more tax you pay. The income you save escapes tax. Pennsylvania mitigates the regressive nature of the tax by exempting food and clothing from sales tax, but this has the effect of complicating the tax (bread and lunchmeat are not taxed, but a sandwich is.) And, of course, nobody's figured out an easy way to collect sales tax on internet transactions.
One of the worst taxes is the Social Security Tax, which is collected under the fraudulently named the "Federal Insurance Contribution Act". Its a flat tax, it applies on your first dollar of wages, without any deductions; the fact that employers pay an equal tax on the wages it pays is a drag on job creation; it disappears for high wage earners; and does not apply to any other source of income, such as interest, dividends and capital gains. (Why do we tax income from our "labor" and not income from our "capital"?) The biggest problem in trying to fix Social Security is that the program was sold as an "insurance" program. Credit the President for educating the public on the pending collapse of this Ponzi Scheme, but he has yet to explain how taking money out of the system to fund private accounts will solve the problem.
To my mind, the Estate Tax is the opposite of the Income Tax - the concept is troubling (you're going to tax somebody because he died?), but the execution is pretty good. It falls only on larger estates, if there's a liquidity problem, the tax can be paid over time, and the assets of the estate go to the heirs valued, for tax purposes, as of the date of death. That means there's no income tax on the asset's appreciation while it was held by the decedant.
The taxes I like the best are those voluntary taxes, like cigarette taxes and the lottery. For the most part, I volunteer not to pay them.

Nicknames

2005-04-24T10:33:00.000-04:00

There was an obituary in today's paper for "Baldy" McGrane. He was 85. There was a picture of Baldy and it looked like he had a pretty good head of hair.
I didn't know Baldy, but the obituary got me thinking about nicknames. Growing up, many of the adult males I encountered had nicknames. My dad, who had a most unfortunate birthname, Ladislaus, became known early on as "Fatty", a name he carried for the rest of his life. I was always a little uncomfortable about all my little cousins calling my dad "Uncle Fatty", but he didn't seem to mind.
I had to call a lot of my Dad's friends by their nicknames - Chi-Chi, Did I, Rossi, Pepsi and FuFu - because for the longest time, those were the only names I knew them by.
Three of my Dad's brothers had nicknames, Husk, Ferk and Jay; three did not. His two sisters didn't have nicknames, but they married good names - Tarzan and Prof. (I was the only kid I knew who had an Uncle Tarzan.)
My Mom's family wasn't much into nicknames, except for brother Jay, but they made up for it through marriage. One sister married into a Croatian-Amererican family. Her husband was known to his family and friends as "Sheiky", although we didn't call him that. We did get to know his brothers as Duke and Footsie. He had an uncle who I thought had the coolest nickname "Bronco". It turns out his name was really "Branco" an honest-to-God Croatian name.
My mom's youngest brother may have hit the jackpot. When he married, he acquired brothers-in-law with a most wonderful collection of nicknames: Big Feet, Little Feet, Halfie and Pickles.
Today, it seems that the only people with nicknames are gangsters and musicians. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) none of my relatives and friends are on either of those career paths.

Ears

2005-04-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was about eight or nine when I first noticed that old people had big ears - maybe not so much big, as in sticking out from their head, but really, really long. And the older they were, the bigger their ears. I'd notice it especially at church, when the sermon was long and boring, or when I'd have to go to a wake where there were a lot of old people and I was supposed to behave, but I had nothing to do but look around while my parents gabbed endlessly with other mourners. I thought at the time that I could be a pretty good predictor of who would live to reach a ripe old age - just look for people with big ears.
It was much later that I heard or read that ears continue to grow as a person gets older. So, rather than being a predictor of longevity, they are merely a record of it.
I never thought much about my own ears. They seemed to be pretty normal. Recently, I've started to notice that they're getting pretty big.

Where does the money go?

2005-04-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

Several months ago, Pittsburgh's Port Authority and Philadelphia'a SEPTA were in crisis. Fare increases and service cutbacks were imminent. Consumers of public transportation stormed to Harrisburg (on busses, of course), to demand dedicated funding for the embattled transit agencies. Then, at the last minute, Governor Rendell found $35 million sitting in some highway trust fund that he was able to divert. This may have been the right thing to do, but it does make one wonder about how many other pots of money there are out there, and whether or not our government can be trusted to spend that money for its intended uses.
Now Pennsylvania voters are being asked to approve a $650 million bond issue to fund unspecified environmental needs. Hmmmmmm.

Ruminations on God and Religion

2005-04-20T08:42:00.000-04:00

If you have any questions about the existence of God, just go outside on a clear night and look at the sky. But I do have some questions.

1. Why does the God created the universe have a "Chosen People"?
2. Why does this God give his Chosen People a piece of land - and if he did, couldn't he have picked a better spot? (If God were to promise me some land, I'd request Augusta National Golf Club - my idea of what heaven looks like.)
3. I know some people say God talks to us all the time, but why did He stop writing to us 1900 years ago?
4. If God already has a plan for the future, don't we risk throwing off the whole thing by praying for the Steelers to win the Super Bowl?

Mathemeticians may come the closest to knowing the mind of God. None of us may ever know the "Why", but mathemetics gives us the opportunity to understand the "How".

What ever happened to "facts"?

2005-04-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

In Robert Heinlein's classic science fiction novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land", he introduced a class of public servants called "Fair Witnesses." Like a kind of priesthood, set apart from the general public and immune from outside influences, their job was to verify the truth of something they observed. Boy, could we use a few of them.
Our representational form of government was supposed to work for the public good by bringing together the diverse voices from the electorate, but it seems like the only voices that get heard are those of ideologues who can deliver armies of voters and the contributors who fund political campaigns. Is it true that all of our research scientists have either sold out to industry or are in the clutches of anti-capitalist whackos? Organizations like the NRA and the Sierra Club desparately fight every battle in their area of interest, because giving an inch will lead down some "slippery slope."
So, what are the facts? Do silicone breast implants cause cancer? Is global warming caused by burning fossil fuel? Is Michael Jackson guilty? Does masturbation cause blindness? Can I get a witness?