You’re Safe, Until You Aren’t

I was in Las Vegas for my annual life insurance meeting.  I only go to Vegas for meetings. I‘m not much of a gambler, but I enjoy wandering through the casinos.  The art, the glitz, the dreamers lost in the potential to walk away rich while everyone around them is losing money – it is a people watcher’s bonanza.  And while you are watching, you are being watched.  There are cameras everywhere.  Some are in plain sight.  Some are hidden.  And there are the guys, the big guys, with earpieces patrolling the floor. 

I always feel safe when I’m in a casino. 

Nancy did everything she could to protect herself.  She had an extensive collection of guns and semi-automatic rifles.  And she knew how to use them.  Glock.  Sig Sauer,  Bushmaster.  Nancy had purchased all of them legally.  She was safe until she wasn’t.  She was killed with one of her instruments of protection. 

Adam inherited a cache of firearms that his mother no longer needed.  He loaded four of the weapons and drove to a near-by elementary school.  The school, Sandy Hook Elementary, was in session.  Students K – 4, teachers, and school employees – they were safe, until they weren’t.   

The school was locked.  He shot his way in.  He blew out a hole big enough to walk through.  Adam proceeded to murder the Principal, Dawn Hocksprung, who attempted to disarm him, five other adults, and twenty children.  The children, ages 6 and 7, were shot multiple times.  Early autopsy results reported that each child had been shot between 3 and 11 times with the high-powered rifle. 

And when he was done, Adam shot himself. 

Expressions of shock and condolences quickly appeared on Facebook and other social media sites.  Then the second guessing began. 

Gun control!  We need more gun control.  There are questions as to whether anyone really needs a Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle.  Some call it an assault weapon.  Many Americans believe in background checks, waiting periods, and firearm registration.  These guns all passed those tests. 

What about metal detectors in all schools?  Adam shot his way into the school.  He wasn’t hiding anything. 

There is a picture of an Israeli teacher herding her young charges into a building, a rifle slung over her shoulder.  Why can’t we have guns in our schools?  For one, Israel has compulsory military service.  That teacher has been properly trained and she is protecting her students from a real threat, terrorists and suicide bombers who regularly target unarmed civilians.  For another, can we guarantee that a loaded weapon won’t find its way into the wrong hands?

 There were also the predictable calls for more religion in our public schools.  We would have healthier, happier, safer children if only THEIR version of G-d were taught in the schools.  We are supposed to forget all of the children who were ill-served and abused within the schools affiliated with one religion or another. 

Sometimes you just have to admit that there isn’t an easy answer.  Worse, there might not be any answer. 

Jessica worked for Vegas.com.  She wasn’t stuck in some cubicle.   She was stationed at the concierge desk in the Excalibur Hotel.  She was safe, until she wasn’t.  Last Friday, December 14th, a man walked up to her desk and before the cameras, the big guys with the earpieces, his G-d, and his country, he pulled out a gun and murdered Jessica.  And then he shot himself. 

We are all safe, until we aren’t.

 

Edging Towards The Cliff

They can see the cliff. It is directly ahead of them. They have taken turns daring each other to take the plunge. They have each hinted at their willingness to go over the cliff without even hesitating.

But of course they are hesitating. This is a game of feints and bluffs. The stakes are so high that neither side dares to make a move that will later be regretted.

The looming fiscal cliff? That’s nothing! Sam and Frankie are staring at the emotional cliff that is at the beginning of a relationship.

He grabbed her hand and they jumped.

The Annual Blog Swap – Pocket Gail!

As a part of today’s Ohio Blogging Association‘s All State Blog Swap, I’m happy to introduce you to Gail Palmer, aka Pocket Gail from A Slammin Adventure. On this day, bloggers from around the great state of Ohio are guest posting on one another’s sites. For a full listing of blog swap participants, please visit Poise in Parma today.”

Hi. I’m Gail Palmer, aka Pocket Gail. My nickname was given to me by a group of amazing women when I lived in Alaska … but that’s a story for another day. I tell lots of stories on my blog – A Slammin’ Adventure – mostly sharing my rules (and tools) for adventuring through life with a happy heart. I’m a writer, designer, slam poet, event planner, wanna-be-chef, and part-time superhero. Oh … and I just moved to Cleveland.

Since I’m new to Ohio this statewide blog swap is giving me the opportunity to introduce myself to you – courtesy of a guy you already follow. Thanks Dave! 

What should I tell you about me?

Good luck picking up on my accent; I’m told I don’t have one. I was born in Florida, raised in North Carolina, spent a short time living in Belgium then breezed through 48 states as a theatrical tour manager before moving to Alaska eight years ago. 

A little over a year ago I left Alaska for a new love in New York. Now we live in Cleveland and it seems to be the perfect balance between her too-crowded-too-expensive-to-live and my too-remote-too-expensive-to-live. Now if we could just add Ohio to the list of states where same sex marriage is legal we might have a long-term winner.

Now let me invite you to visit A Slammin’ Adventure by suggesting a few choice posts: 

          Most Recent  →  Inspiration! Where do you find it?         

          Most Viral  →  Why I’m Moving to Cleveland         

          Most Favorite  →  Alaskan Vanity 

          Most Slammin’  →  What is A Slammin’ Adventure? 

Thanks for checking out my site and don’t forget to post some comments while you’re there so I can meet you too! 

Happy Monday and Happy Reading,

PocketGail

dk

Under Attack

Three Hundred Ninety-three.  Between 7:37 PM Saturday evening and 4 PM on Sunday, I received 393 emails.  I would like to tell you that these were emails from friends and clients.  I would like to tell you that I’m popular and that the emails I receive, even on weekends, are interesting and useful.

But you know better.

I am under attack.  Fifteen emails were from clients, friends, or alerts about legitimate comments posted to my blogs.  Fourteen were advertisements from Nordstrom and other companies that I have shopped in the past.  The rest, 364 invasions into my inbox, were either spam or notifications of spam comments onto my blogs.

It took almost forty-five minutes to plow through my emails, read and respond to the real ones, and delete the rest.  The painstaking task of removing over 300 (!) bogus comments from the pending section of my blogs was accomplished in about a half an hour.

So while you were watching the Browns almost win or later Sunday while you were watching the CAVS almost win, I was fending off spammers from around the world.  I fought them to a draw.  By the time you read this, I will have eliminated several hundred more unwanted comments.

What I want, what I really need is a defense system.  I would like to send a heat seeking missile, an email bomb, to the spammers.  Try to post a comment on my blog about cheap UGGS or knock-off designer purses, and I hit a reply button that would blow up their system.  BOOM!  Gone.

Think about it.  No more bogus selling systems.  No more fake charities.  No more crap.

Of course, a heat seeking missile, even an email version, is way too dangerous a weapon to be trusted to the general public.  Still, a boy can dream.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Sitting down with a group of Republicans, I asked what song they would use to sum up the recent election.

“Are you running with R.E.M.”, I asked.

“I like R.E.M.”, one guy answered.  “Which one”?

“For you guys, how about It’s The End of The World As We Know It”?

My friend Howard offered Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

 Obladi, Oblada life goes on.

 Like Karl Rove, I wanted to wait till every vote was counted before I prepared this post mortem.  But Ohio’s provisional ballots are still a week or two away and there may still be some people standing in line to vote in Miami, so it is time for a few thoughts from me. 

I

California Governor Jerry Brown was quoted in the current Esquire:

I had a political-science teacher who wrote about power and how the essence of democracy is for the individual citizens to exercise power – that is, control over his or her life and the institutions that affect that person.

 The recent election proved the teacher’s point.

 I watched MSNBC and FOX on election night.  MSNBC provided joy and context.  FOX provided an insight to an alternate reality.  It was early in the evening when Megyn Kelly and her fellow anchor, Bret Baier, discussed exit polling as the initial states were called.  They were amazed to learn that a majority of those polled favored smaller government, but the Republicans were losing.

 Smaller government, on FOX, means limited business regulation, lower income taxes, and lots of intrusive social legislation.  It turns out that many Americans view smaller government as less government involvement in both our personal lives and our business lives.  The Republicans spent most of the last two years discussing how much they wanted to control our lives and institutions.  The conflict is obvious.

Even people who are only nominally pro-choice were shocked by questions of “legitimate” rape and the lack of concern about the life of the mother.  There are a number of Americans who believe that life begins at conception.  That would make abortion and even some forms of birth control problematic.  That belief could motivate attempts to change in the law.  But there are also people who believe that life, ANY LIFE, is a gift from G-d.  This is a gift that can not be returned or exchanged.  That belief can not be legislated.  And that is the GOP’s problem.  The Republicans have attempted to legislate a religious belief.

Whether we look at the U.S. House of Representatives or states such as Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin, wherever the Republicans garnered a majority in 2010, we saw an avalanche of legislation designed to end abortion, unions, and voter access.  Even if you weren’t impacted by any of these new laws, you had every reason to wonder when you, too, would be in the Republican cross-hairs.

 II

Thanks to Nikki Ferrell of the Beachwood Patch, we now know that Mitt Romney lost nine of the ten Beachwood precincts.  Some people find that unsurprising.  After all, Beachwood is a highly educated, traditionally Democratic leaning city.  The shock was that Josh Mandel, a Beachwood High School alumnus, underperformed Governor Romney.  Not only didn’t Mandel carry any precincts, but his opponent, Sherrod Brown, actually received more votes than the President. It only took two reprehensible campaigns for Josh Mandel to wear out his welcome.  It will be interesting to see what kind of campaign he mounts two years from now. 

III

There were some people who truly loved Mitt Romney and were excited to vote for him.  Honest. There are still some people who view Barack Obama as a transformational figure.  It is my experience that most of us were underwhelmed by our choices up and down the ticket.  We would like to be forced to choose between two excellent public servants.  We can do better.  Until then, we will do the best with what we’re given.  I even voted for Mary Rose Oakar.

 Obladi, Oblada life goes on.

May Your Candidate Win Or, At The Very Least, Lose Graciously

It is all over tomorrow. Maybe. Depending on lawsuits, recounts, and hurricanes, this could drag on till December or longer. But I am optimistic. I believe that we will have an answer Tuesday.

And, as a special bonus, this blog and others will be posting post-mortems later this week.

Spoiler Alert – we will all be proven correct.

I’ve Hit My Limit

There is a white jacket hanging in my closet. I’ve only worn it once. The night was cold and rainy. Starless. And I was at a school near 83rd and Quincy armed with a cell phone and a laptop. The back of the jacket said it all – Voting Rights Team. It was November 2, 2004. Election Day. I was at a polling station to make sure that no registered voter was prevented from casting a ballot.

I encountered several instances of dirty tricks and voter intimidation that late afternoon and evening. I still have that jacket, eight years later, to serve as a permanent reminder to my children that we are all responsible to protect our American values. And a key value is the right of every citizen to vote.

I’m no virgin. My first campaign was George McGovern’s in 1972 when I was only 17. But I have had enough. My envelope arrived in Saturday’s mail and my ballot will be completed and mailed before you read this post.

I have allowed the coarseness of this year’s politics to invade my personal space.

Molly Ivins referred to the last President as “Shrub”. We have a long tradition of skewering our politicians. It is part of our Freedom of Speech. It is a freedom that allows both Rush Limbaugh and Jon Stewart to earn a living. But our politicians, our leaders, used to know the difference between parody and reality. Not anymore.

Maybe it was the Congressman calling the President a liar during the health care speech before a joint session of Congress. In the last few years night has become day and up, down. But the debates finished me. We had a guy who thought that he was still a CEO, and as usual, before he fired an underling, he questioned the guy’s manhood and tried to knock him down a peg. Of course, this time Mr. Romney is not the CEO. He is just the other party’s nominee. And the guy he was trying to belittle and fire was the President of the United States.

I am an American. I don’t want anyone to think that they can kick sand in the face of our President. Mr. Obama stayed professional. Watching it this at home, I was apoplectic.

So let me end the mystery. Yes, I’m voting for Barack Obama. I’m neither proud nor excited about this, but he is, in my opinion, the better choice. I don’t know if Mr. Romney believes in anything other than his own power and entitlement. That could be dangerous.

Disagree? OK. This is neither an endorsement nor a sales pitch. Make your own choice. I’ve already voted.

Dedicated in memory of my friend Scott, a patriot who would have made a different choice but would have understood and respected my decision.

Three Encounters – A Random Thoughts Column

I

He presented vignettes from his past with such practiced eloquence that I momentarily suspended my disbelief and accepted his importance as presented.

II

My Republican friend was giddy. The debate had been everything he had hoped for, and then some. Theodore (name changed) effused about the transformation of Mitt Romney to the 2012 version of Ronald Reagan. Not satisfied with the unsurprising change in all of Mr. Romney’s positions to those that more closely mirrored both Ted’s and the general electorate, my friend then went on to attack the President as a Socialist clone of Bill Ayers.

I was OK with Ted celebrating Romney 3.0, but the Ayers comparison was both silly and irrelevant. So it was time for a little intellectual honesty.

Ted and I are businessmen. We don’t know anything about defense spending. Cuts? Weapons systems? Bases? We are forced to trust our leaders. But taxes? We know taxes. And we both know a lot about health care funding. The politicians on both sides of the aisle have uttered countless half-truths, exaggerations, and out right lies. We know what the real numbers look like.

Ted was playing dumb. He told me that there were tons of small businesses that would have been created, but for the entrepreneurs’ fear of the tax code. Mr. Romney’s tax plan would motivate the creation of these new businesses.

And I laughed.

How many new businesses pay taxes? Small businesses write off equipment costs, office
furnishings, and fees. Small businesses are unlikely to have a taxable profit in the first couple of years. Few small companies ever approach the top of the tax table. Two guys starting a machine shop are hoping to net enough to make their house payments. Taxation is just another excuse for inaction from someone afraid to take the risk of being self-employed or starting a business.

Real entrepreneurs dream of being so successful that bitching about taxes would be justified.

And large businesses? This is a great time to captain a large company. Corporate profits are up. The stock market is at a record high. And governments are throwing money at you. Cities and states are bidding for corporate headquarters the way NFL teams were wooed twenty years ago. Tax abatements, tax incremental financing, and no interest loans are just part of the packages. If only Ohio could get the employees to work for free…

Ted was no longer smiling. So I gave him my best impression of last Wednesday. “Uh, Umm, Uh I agree with Governor Romney.” And Ted was OK. Hell, he was positively giddy.

III

I didn’t need any sunglasses. The political discussion was generating plenty of heat, but no light.

They were surprised that I didn’t cave, that I didn’t bend to their will. After all, they were repeating all of the lines that they had heard on Rush’s show, Huckabee’s program and even from Greta. No one ever refuted this avalanche of information on FOX.

But I didn’t question my sexual identity when I was once the only straight guy in the room. And I didn’t change my religion any of the times that I was the only Jew in the room. So I certainly wasn’t going to change my politics when I found myself surrounded by a dozen Republicans.

In truth, I liked my odds.

Operation Eskimo

There was a time, not so long ago, when the only annoying calls you would receive on your cell phone were from your parents or wrong numbers. “No, I don’t know Carlota nor why she stood you up.” My day was interrupted not once but twice on Saturday by political pollsters. Ohio is a swing state and everyone wants to know what we think. The more information the candidates have, the more they can tailor their message to move us to their side and motivate us to actually vote.

Obama or Romney? Brown or Mandel? The pollsters only asked about these two races. They also wanted to know if I was really committed to my choice or just leaning in that direction. Once those few questions were out of the way, the serious information collection began.

I was told that the next few questions were simply for demographic purposes. I was asked my religion, my age, my occupation, my gender, my income, and my girlfriend’s bra size. Each question was asked in the same robotic fashion as if it was perfectly normal for me to tell complete strangers all of my personal information.

So I have decided that the next time they call, and they will, I am going to be a thirty-three year old Eskimo who attends services weekly at a Mormon Temple. I encourage you to be equally creative. Support your candidate; just have fun with the demographics. If you plan to vote for Governor Romney, fine, but key in that you are a sixty year old African-American Muslim woman. If President Obama is your man, feel free to tell the pollsters that you are a twenty-five year old Evangelical male. Use your imagination.

The last thing we want to become is predictable. Utah is predictable. Sure the candidate’s TV ads are hideous and the Super PAC commercials libelous, but the only reason we get all of this attention is because they don’t know how we are going to vote. There are only eight to ten swing states. The rest, red or blue, are a foregone conclusion.

I don’t want to be taken for granted. Just call me Nanook.

Call Your Elected Official. Tell Him You’re Torqued.

Mr. Straub, of Straub Manufacturing Solutions, appeared on one of the commercials between innings. The Indians are winning, tonight, but have had a rough time of it lately. Mr. Straub, a Dayton area business owner, would have you know that Ohio manufacturers are also struggling. The Indians suffer from a lack of talent. Ohio manufacturers suffer from wasteful job-killing regulations.

“Call Sherrod Brown”, the announcer intoned. The National Association of Manufacturers sponsored this ad. They don’t really expect you to call. They just hope you will vote for whoever is running against Senator Brown.

I wish I knew who to call. Yesterday, Labor Day, I wasted 6 ½ hours on my annual Medicare certification training and exams. That was followed by over 3 hours today on the computer completing Anthem’s required training and testing. This wasteful, job-killing regulation, the kind the Republican’s are always complaining about, was a gift to insurance agents across the country from; you guessed it, the Republicans. This silliness was buried deep within the legislative mess that created Medicare Part D (Rx).

Unnecessary, job-killing, wasteful regulations can be found in the legislation sponsored by Democrats and Republicans. And sometimes those rules, like equal pay, child labor laws, and pollution regulations may have a cost but may also have a perceived social value. Yes, sometimes one man’s regulation is another’s protection.

Call. Call Sherrod Brown to complain about the Dems. Call John Boehner and ask him what he was thinking when he was the Speaker of the House with a Republican Senate and a Republican President and we ran this country into the ditch.

The Rasmussen Right Direction / Wrong Track poll recently had over 60% of us believing that the U.S. is on the wrong track. Are we on the wrong track because of President Obama and the Democratic Senate? Are we going the wrong way as a country because of the Republican lead House and the filibuster-happy Senate Republicans?

I suspect that it may be all of the above.

Call your elected official. Tell him/her that you’re tired of this. It isn’t a Democratic problem. It isn’t a Republican problem. It is OUR problem. And it needs to be solved.

Call your elected official. Today.