Alex

My Father, Alex Shapiro, died on Sunday September 28. He was 80 years old and lived his life exactly as he wanted. My relationship with my dad had been strained since I was a kid and first discovered that my father was a flawed individual with a serious gambling problem. His obsession destroyed our family, slayed my mother, seriously hurt my sister and pissed me off.

What made me so angry was that my dad was my hero and a flawed hero is hard to idolize. He was smart, witty, popular. He taught me how to play basketball and he understood politics. By the time he left us we had already gone to battle many times. One of the most poignant moments of my young life was at a time when my father came home after a prolonged absence. My sister and I did not realize at that moment that my parents were at the onset of their divorce. All I did know was that he was being cruel to my mother and that we had serious money problems because of his gambling habit. After he laced into my mom I got my nerve up, went to her defense and let him have it. He sat there in his chair and calmly listened to my tirade. When I was done all he would say is “You’re obnoxious” and he turned back to the television. He might as well have stuck a hot poker into my gut. I have never forgotten the contempt I saw on his face or the words he spoke. It made me ill and I despondently walked to my room and cried.

All was not terrible with dad. My fondest memory of my youth was the summer evenings when my dad would cram my sister and I in the back seat of our family sedan with pillows and blankets so he and my mom could take us to the drive-in movies. I recall family meals, rare as they were, especially Sunday breakfasts with scrumptious Jewish delicacies from Tabachniks deli. My dad defended me when I was in trouble, especially in school where I was a bit of a screw up. And I will always remember that it was my dad who challenged me to think for myself and not always take what my teachers said as the absolute truth. By the way, that was a confusing lesson but it did wind up helping me to be decisive and skeptical as a man.

Even as an adult, after my dad and I had long ago buried the hatchet, we had our finer moments. Smoking cigars and swapping jokes, we had a love of good food and seafood restaurants at the Jersey shore. My dad loved the summers he could spend with his grandson and it was a real joy when the 3 generations could be together.

When my dad first became seriously ill I made sure to be at his side. He was never quite able to say he was sorry for the past but in his way he acknowledged that perhaps he had not been the best father and therefore appreciated my support all the more. He was gratifying to be there for him. Of the two of us, I was always the more responsible, especially when it came to the family, so the role reversal wasn’t odd for me but I think it caught him off guard and he struggled to express his real feelings.

My dad and I had yet another blowup several months ago which led to our not speaking to each other for an extended period of time. When he wound up in the hospital I put away my anger and went to see him as soon as I could. After that we spoke a number of times while he was in a rehab center and shortly after his release. We did not speak for almost 2 weeks but a dream I had woke me in the middle of the night and I couldn’t get it off my mind. In my dream, my father was dressed in a hospital gown and walking aimlessly in the dark. He appeared to be looking for something but he wouldn’t respond to my calls to him. I realized that he was dead and I knew that what he was looking for was resolution.

That Sunday I decided to call him, which I did at around 4 PM. He didn’t sound good but he always liked to talk about his health and his doctors. I encouraged him to call his doctor on Monday if he didn’t improve and he said he would. He was watching football and trying to relax. He told me he loved me and called me by the nickname that only he ever called me. I told him I would check back in with him during the week. 4 hours later he collapsed, his heart gave out and he went quietly, peacefully, over to the other side.

Friends and relatives have been wonderful in their support. My fathers friends have called to express their sorrow and let us know what a great man he was in their lives. My sister and I wonder why he wasn’t so wonderful with his own children.

I will miss my father in my own way. I will remember his sense of humor and his intelligence. I will recall how he showed me how cheating happens at the racetrack. I will remember the good and the bad but try to remember the good more often. I hope now he is at peace. I know that I am at peace with his life and our relationship and I can live with that.

What’s going on here?

I have said from the beginning of the primaries that this country does not elect a black man to the highest office in the land and I have stuck to that assertion until today. When I heard McCain’s speech attacking Obama  frankly I was stunned. This country is facing the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression, engaged in war on 2 fronts, politically divided as perhaps never before and the Republican candidate wants to “turn the page” on the economy and focus on Barak Obama’s character? What a freaking joke! I don’t think anyone who has half a brain is going to stand for that and I think, barring anything unforeseen, “McCalin” just blew the election.

I am flabbergasted!

To go negative is one thing but this is simply beyond logic, even for the Republicans. They are in essence saying that they cannot win. What a turn around. This is crazier than the bailout!

The only real question is where is the public outrage. Well, Keith Olbermann on MSNBC hit the outrage button. I happen to find his rant on McCalin on Mccombover’s blog. http://mccombover.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/keith-olbermann-special-comment-on-sarah-palins-hysteria/. Check it out.

Look, Olbermann can be a blowhard at times but someone has to say it like it is. McCalin is outrageously over the line and someone should stick a sock in their collective mouths. The Wall Street Journal today reports that McCalin’s cuts to Medicare would cut 13 billion dollars from people who need health care. That’s people like 90 year old Annie Polk mentioned in Olbermann’s rant. By the way, I’ll be happy to send a check to Annie Polk to help her pay her mortgage when she gets out of the hospital.

There’s a radio guy named Bill Press. Check out his blog http://www.billpressshow.com/McCain101. Everyday he delivers another reason to not vote for John McCain. I’ll contribute another – McCain’s time is over. McCain’s time was 8 years ago when he challenged George Bush and got slammed by the freight train known as Karl Rove. If McCain had managed to win the nomination and become President we might not be in the shitter we are sitting in now. But that was then and this is now. McCain is the dinosaur in the corner.

And if I hear the word Maverick one more time I’m going to scream.

McCalin is way off base and it is embarrassing. Embarrassing for McCain, embarrassing for the Republicans, embarrassing for the nation. Shame on them.

Our National Tragedy

Taxes will be going up! FACT.
Services will be going down! FACT.
The price of goods and services will be going up! FACT.

No matter who is elected, those are the facts. The Congress that we put in office has sold us down the river.The greedy Wall Street power brokers have destroyed our nations economy. And in doing so they have played right into the hands of our enemies.

The ‘Surge’ is a myth. It is not working. Something else may be but it has nothing to do with the the surge. According to the venerable reporter Bob Woodward, the tactics that are being employed in Iraq that are really working are not the things we read about in the papers and on Fox News but are actually secret 24 like actions that our government doesn’t care to publicize. It’s kind of creepy but if it works so be it.

The real reason that our military strategy is a failure is this – we are spending a zillion dollars to wage a war on a country that did not attack us. We are bailing out our financial institutions and many of our largest and most prestigious banks are failing.

Osamaand the terrorists are winning. They are doing exactly what they set out to do which is create a culture of fear and bankrupt our economy. We are being snowed by our own government, a government of corrupt morons. Make no mistake, the Democrats are no better than the Republicans. At least when it comes to degrees of greed. Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank are as bad if not worse than the mob on the right. Where are the true leaders?

Yesterday’s Times page 1 featured a photo of Bush and Paulson smiling and congratulating themselves on the passage of the bailout. They should have been crying and on their knees begging us all for forgiveness. But you really can’t blame Bush for the financial mess we are in – we are the fools that elected a dim, egomaniacal, born-again political hack and with him his army of greedy, obsessive, religious zealots and out of touch cold-warriors. Mission accomplished indeed!

How did we get here? Since history tends to repeat itself it would be a good thing to understand. I’m no historian but I do recall the time when I first understood that our country was going down the wrong path. It was way back when, around the time that Ronald Reagan was firing all the air traffic controllers and stripping away the oversight powers of the SEC. Reagan’s Budget Director was a man named David Stockman. His economic theory was termed “Trickle Down Economics.” It is the basic economic strategy of every administration since and will be embraced by John McCain should he become President. It killed the middle class and enriched the few. It never worked and it never will – at least if your idea of a working economy is one where everyone benefits. If you are a Fortune 500 CEO making millions is stock options or a politician taking huge payoffs from lobbyists and corporate donors I guess it works just fine.

So you take your Trickle Down policy and add to it the recent corporate friendly, anti-American worker policies  (can anyone spell NAFTA?), policies that have turned America from a nation of innovators, manufacturers and producers to a nation of burger-flippers, and what you get is failure at the highest levels of government and finance. The bailout of Wall Street is a travesty. It is not a solution – it is only the beginning.

The Islamisists are going to bleed us dry just the way that Reagan’s Star Wars (SDI) and their own war in Afghanistan bled the Soviet Union dry and destroyed their empire. The American domination of the world economy is in a downward spiral we may never return from.

There is a new world order and our leadership is asleep at the wheel. Sarah Palin (the apparent true leader of the GOP) and her running mate, John McCain, sneer at Barak Obama’s suggestion that the President meet with the leaders of enemy states without pre-condition. They are either fools or simply posturing for votes. They do not see that Bush’s isolationist policies have not worked and never will.

McCalin, as my sister in law Kathy calls McCain, is simply out of touch. Perhaps it is Palin’s lack of travel experience to be blamed for her naive approach to diplomacy. She doesn’t see our loss of standing in the eyes of the world – including our own allies who we must rely upon – and she doesn’t understand that this standing is imperative for us to succeed. You cannot just bomb your way to world domination in the name of God and Country. We have to deal with our friends and enemies in a civilized way if we want any hope of bending  their views to ours.

They also do not seem to understand that the war (on terror), the economy and the quest for world peace are all parts of the same problem. Where there is poverty there is unrest, anarchy and terror breeds.

our government recently reported that America lost 159,00 jobs last month. How many next month? Next year? How can we stop the bleeding? Hope is replacing industry. Too many of us pin our hopes to the purchase of a lottery ticket. What else is there? Where is the economic plan for the next decade? And the next?

“With great Power comes great responsibility.” So said Peter Parker’s uncle Ben (Spiderman comics). Why is it that todays’ leaders seem to take zero responsibility? There is no long term thinking in Congress.  Politicians think ahead only to the next election period. They all crave power but to what end? Again, Barney Frank has been the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee for how long?

I find it ironic that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is currently using the same argument to remain in power used by his predecessor Rudy Giuliani back in 200. At that time it was Bloomberg who told Giuliani thanks but no thanks as Giuliani sought to end term limits so he could lead the city through the crisis of 9-11. Now it is Bloomberg who insists that he is indispensable and he is willing to subvert the will of the people and circumvent the political process to continue in office. And he has the support of the Democrats in the City Council because they will be able to subvert the process and stay in office despite the fact that the citizens of that city have voted twice to retain term limits. What chutzpah! What arrogance!

I struggle to understand the thinking of the average American. My sister in law, Kathy, is basically apolitical. She really is uninvolved. A registered Republican and conservative by nature she is in fact a liberal in many ways. By her own admission the onlyissues that she cares about are healthcare and a woman’s right to choose. With a husband who has had a multiple bypass and having struggled with the medical system, she supports universal healthcare and that was what initially attracted her to Hillary Clinton. She was a strong supporter of Hillary and says she likes her because she is a strong woman. Yet, she is voting for Sarah Palin. Note I said she is voting for Palin. She says she doesn’t like McCain but likes Palin cause she has spunk and is a strong woman. It doesn’t matter to her that Palin is diametrically opposed to her on both healthcare and abortion – she is for Palin the strong woman. That and she doesn’t like Michelle Obama. When I asked her what her problem with Mrs. Obama is she indicated that she was too strong a personality. When I mentioned the apparent conflicting opinion she said only that she didn’t like her and that she did like Palin. She also doesn’t trust Obama. Why? Obama is for healthcare and a woman’s right to choose. Is Kathy a racist? She said she didn’t think so and I don’t believe she is. So what is the reason for all this? I believe that Kathy is like many people today. She watches alot of TV and forms her opinions based on a combination of what Oprah says and what she hears on Fox News. That can confuse anyone.

There are many Kathy’s out there. Enough to put McCalin in the White House? It is very possible. If that happens our National Tragedy will not only continue, it will only get worse.