Category: 2010 and Beyond

Barb Fulgham is incensed. And she is not alone.

Barb was attempting to relax and watch a little television when her peace was invaded by the new political ad from the US Chamber of Commerce. You have probably seen the advertisement. It attacks Sherrod Brown (D-OH) with the usual litany of half truths and propaganda. The ad was slick, well produced, and totally frustrating to anyone but the most ardent of partisans.

My two blogs, Health Insurance Issues With Dave and Again? Really? have not been bashful about taking Senator Brown to task for some of his positions. My expectations may have been too high. But this new ad, this despicable trash polluting our airwaves, doesn’t move the country forward. Is sheds no light.

So let me state this as clearly as possible: They Aren’t Us. Your local Chamber of Commerce has nothing to do with the US Chamber of Commerce. Whether you live in Rocky River or Beachwood, Mentor or Solon, your local Chamber of Commerce consists of a lot of local businesses, small businesses, who want to help their communities. They are apolitical. Yes, individual chambers get co-opted now and then to back a local tax or school levy, but these organizations are first and foremost designed to promote their home town.

Your local chamber is not waging a war with Senator Brown. Your local chamber neither supports nor opposes Governor Kasich. Chamber boards spend their time discussing pancake breakfasts and business shows. They are not raising money to run commercials for or against anyone.

This is not a new issue. One of the dirtiest campaigns ever foisted on the voters of Ohio was run by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce in 2000 against Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick. We still don’t know where the Ohio C of C got all of the money to run its hateful ads. We just know that it didn’t come from local chambers of commerce. I was going to quit my local chamber until I verified that my dues weren’t financing the anti-Resnick campaign.

We are less than a year away from the 2012 election. The political advertisements will be everywhere – television, radio and print. The truth, the whole truth, may be nowhere. Ask yourself who is paying for these ads, and why.

But please remember: They aren’t us.

On this day in the Northeast Ohio area, bloggers from the Ohio Blogging Association are guest posting on each other’s blogs as a way to help one another in our blogging community. A full listing of blog swap participants can be found at Poise in Parma.

Today I am swapping with Kristian Campana of Adventures of a Trapped 300 Pound Man. Although Kristian typically writes of eating adventures and festival-related mishaps, he has decided to write about a thought that has been plaguing his mind lately.

I hope you enjoy his rant.

– Dave

I sit here at the computer and begin writing this blog post, wondering how many other people around the world are sitting at their own computers writing blog posts while also wondering how many other people around the world are sitting at their computers and writing blog posts.

(Read that first paragraph a second time if it’s not yet clear.)

Many times as a child, I remember my mother cooking a dish like chicken paprikash or meatloaf or something, only to learn that both sisters (one in town and the other in St. Louis) made the same dishes on the same days. These were not planned cooking events. These were coincidences.

Or were they?

Later on, I would experience this phenomenon myself, making a similar dish to that of my mother or brother.

Now, granted, there could be a strong psychic connection between me and my family members that leads us to make similar dishes on the same day, but now I ask…

Is there something deep inside our brain that is able to receive suggestive frequencies that structure our menus? Do these frequencies also structure our habits, pet peeves and how much we tip at the Olive Garden?

The more I read about astrology, the more I realize that it’s not about predicting the future. Instead, it’s an interpretation on the placement of planets and how they form angles that expand or restrict the frequencies they emit.

Interpreting these angles doesn’t say what is going to happen…it only shows what energies or frequencies are strong and which are weak so that you can take advantage of it (or be wary of it).

Think of a Farmer’s Almanac for the Cosmos.

But whether you believe in astrological frequencies, it’s difficult to dispute that there are many types of unseen frequencies and waves out there that are interpreted to us through gadgets like televisions, radios, and IPhones.

So who’s to say that we don’t subconsciously pick up on even other types of frequencies out there, causing us to react by taking out the trash, paying our taxes or occupying Wall Street?

Is there really “something in the air” right before a major change? Are we simply tuning into something unseen and suggestive?

As I write this blog post, I wonder if someone in France is picking up on some of the same frequencies as me.

Perhaps Jean Claude is also finishing his blog post and it’s on this exact topic and he too will be enjoying a chicken lunch in only a matter of minutes.

And I wonder if he is wondering about me like I am wondering about him.

And I wonder if other people around the world are wondering about us.

And I wonder if they will be eating chicken too.

She was possessed but unloved
Abandoned but retained
I was looking and she needed to be found.
Not my first and not my last
Not her first and not her last
We threw unsecured life lines to each other
And watched helplessly as each drifted away.
Remembering her fondly, to her a toast
But me,
   I’m dancing with my ghosts.

I heard her say a thousand things
None of them were real
She told me what I wanted to hear
And hoped that I would never notice
The truth, the loss, the confusion
Overcame her and those who cared
I played the game as long as I could
But in the end I drove her to the coast
Time for me
   To go dancing with my ghosts.

Wife, mother, life in the middle
They seemed to be her goals
But none were fun and none were easy
And she rained her unhappiness on all of us
I helped her. I hurt her.
I caused as many problems as I solved
I moved her from place to place
But there was no place where she belonged
And when I realized that none were close
I left. I needed
   To go dancing with my ghosts.

Searching for a home, stopping at some inns
I seldom traveled by myself
But often seemed alone
Along the way I met a woman
Maybe two or three
But Church or child or jealous ex
Kept getting in the way
And so I returned to what I do most
I kept searching
   And dancing with my ghosts.

I found someone who had it all
But all was not enough
Her best friends were shiny and bright
And she always needed more
I was attached to her attachments
Connected to her connections
In many ways more than her
And when I or any person was not loved most
I said good-bye cause I was ready
   To go dancing with my ghosts.

I’ve retraced my steps
Completed my circle
Ending where I began
I’m changed and yet the same
She’s changed and still the same
This time it should be different
This time is should be home
This time there should be peace.
With hope and prayers of right, not almost
It’s finally time for me
   To stop dancing with my ghosts.

This year’s day after the election blog will not tick off nearly as many people as last year’s, Rent Is Too DAMN High.  It is not for lack of effort.  This year had fewer surprises.

Issue 2 Fails, (Almost) Everyone Wins
 

Senate Bill 5, the Kasich administration’s union busting overreach, has been overturned by Ohio’s voters.  Our legislators weren’t forced to abandon the state.  Instead, our citizens came through and restored balance to our system.  We can only hope that the unions and the various public entities will now work together to help our cities and schools to balance their budgets.  We are not a Right To Work State. Ohio’s voters have now decided that issue twice, once in 1959 and November 8, 2011.

But don’t feel badly for Governor Kasich.  State Senator Nina Turner appeared last night on MSNBC’s The Ed Show.  In front of an excited crowd, Senator Turner demanded an apology from Mr. Kasich for putting our state through this.  The general opinion, both Tuesday evening and on today’s talk shows, was that he was politically damaged by this vote and that the Republicans would avoid him in 2012.

I respectfully disagree.  If John Kasich’s goal was to be Ohio’s governor, then Senator Turner is correct.  Unfortunately for Ohio, we simply got in the way of his ambition.  By standing firm, he has cemented his position with the people who fund Republican campaigns, like the Koch brothers, and the network that promotes them.  Unblinking in victory and unbowed in defeat, the governor sponsored by FOX will still garner polite interest for the #2 slot on next year’s ticket or a cabinet post in a future Republican administration.  There are three years left in this term.  He will not spend the time hiding in his office.

Beachwood City Council

We were to elect four of the five below.  The names in RED are sitting councilmen.  The names in RED ran as a slate.  The slate was endorsed by the Sun Newspaper and by Beachwood’s mayor who, as usual, ran unopposed.  The other guy, unendorsed and not a current councilman, is shown in BLUE.

Mark Mintz                                                      2,663

Mark Wachter                                                  2,462

Martin Horwitz                                                 2,447

Fredric Goodman                                              2,405

Justin Berns                                                     2,055

My mistake?  I was 16 votes off.  I thought Marty would finish 1^st or 2^nd.  After all, he hadn’t been endorsed.

 

Before we get into a run of serious posts, let’s stop for a moment and make dessert. This blog has included recipes for pumpkin pie, chicken dishes, and even mashed cauliflower. All of these dishes are designed to be low carb and Kosher. Today’s is no exception. I adapted this recipe for Passover a few years ago and changed it further when I made it yesterday. Feel free to adapt it your tastes and needs.

Fruit Crisp

4           Pears, unpeeled and diced (use a couple of types)
1 C        Frozen blueberries
½ C       Red Raspberries
1 t        Cinnamon
¼ t       Nutmeg
¼ t       Ginger
¼ C       Diet V-8 Berry Splash (substituted for apple juice)

Topping

½ C      Almond meal
2 T       Potato starch
½ t      Cinnamon
2          Splenda packets
1 t       Diet V-8 Berry Splash
1 t       Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the fruit and spices in a large bowl. Place into an 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle the V-8 Splash on top of the mixture. Mix topping in a small bowl and arrange over the fruit. Bake for 35 minutes till lightly browned. Refrigerate if you don’t eat all of it in one sitting. 

The election is tomorrow. Enjoy something good and good for you while you watch the results.

She reached around me and pulled me close. Tenderly, she kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear. It was a moment of surprising intimacy. Surprising because this took place at a business networking event. Really surprising because I didn’t know her name.

Dave Cunix (drunk) chick magnet.

Inebriated women find me attractive and witty, damn near irresistible. Sober women, not so much. I came to terms with this years ago. Even as a boy I knew that I had a better chance of building model cars than modeling suits and shirts. So the first time this wine fueled desirability manifested itself, I was completely caught off guard. That was in my late teens. Now I just wait for the right opportunity to take their car keys and drive them to their homes.

Campaigns aren’t for the thinned skinned or the faint of heart. Though a great deal of time must be devoted to craft a message and to pump up your candidate, tearing down your opponent is just as important. There are some who would argue that destroying the other guy is actually more important.

Where does one find the fodder for negative ads and whispering campaigns? The process is called Opposition Research. Are there skeletons in your opponent’s closet? What doesn’t he want public? What grain of truth can be stretched and twisted into something ugly and damning? This job is full time work for some hacks. There are some politicians who owe their jobs to their willingness to say or do anything to get elected.

This isn’t necessarily right or wrong. It just is. Since no one is perfect, there has to be something that your opponent would just as soon keep private. But when you run for public office you forfeit your right to privacy.

I caught a vendor cheating me. Even a small business such as mine has to buy or lease products and services from any number of companies. Some of these companies have surprised and disappointed me even though I entered into the contracts with care. There have been sins of commission. And there have been sins of omission. This was both. The contract had a clause tucked away on the back page that contradicted our verbal agreement. Worse, the vendor lied about it when caught.

This discussion and resolution, a check was written to our business to make us whole, occurred last October through December. At this point, all is forgiven if not forgotten. We are still working with the vendor and may continue into the future. Our sales rep checks in on a regular basis to make sure that everything is still OK.

Rebecca, the sales associate, stopped by for a visit last month. It was on the 28th just before I left early for the beginning of Rosh Hashanah. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with her. She wanted to talk. Reviewing my file prior to our meeting, she realized that there might have been more than just smoke and she asked what really happened last fall. I told her. I mentioned that her employer didn’t resolve the issue until he realized that he didn’t have a choice. She agreed and then quoted this blog.

Yes, this blog. Sitting in my file was a copy of the June 7, 2010 post Hiding In Plain Sight where I discussed my willingness to embrace total openness. The vendor had either engaged in opposition research or someone else, with a different ax to grind, had shared the post with him. Watching my rep squirm, I could see how creepy she thought it was for her employer to be collecting copies of this blog.

I, on the other hand, am slightly flattered and curious. It does seem a bit odd that they would have a post pre-dating our discussions by four months sitting in my file. What other posts are they printing and re-reading?

And if it was sent to them, I am left to wonder who is promoting this blog and is he/she qualified to be my agent. It all sounds rather political, doesn’t it?

Ted Diadiun, the Plain Dealer reader representative, is easily shocked and slightly confused. Mr. Diadiun quoted the French philosopher Voltaire in yesterday’s P.D. “I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.” His shock came when many of the Plain Dealer’s readers, the very people he supposedly represents, were angered by his paper’s actions. His confusion resides in the relationships between his employer and its readers and the general population with its sources of news and information.

I have always been amused by the concept of newspaper endorsements. Endorsements are often as easy to predict as they are to parody. In 1992, as the head writer for a local weekly, I endorsed Franklin Delano Roosevelt and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. More recently, I predicted the Plain Dealer’s backing of Matt Dolan for Cuyahoga County Executive, not in October 2010, but back in March. My willingness to cover all bets came off as so confident that I unfortunately scared away all takers.

Some people take endorsements very seriously.

Last week the Plain Dealer’s editorial board recommended a “Yes” vote on Issue 2. There was all of the requisite hand-wringing, but in the end the paper that cavalierly endorsed John Kasich for governor in 2010 wasn’t about to emasculate him in 2011. The prudent move would have been to sit this one out. Nothing short of a defeat in November would force Governor Kasich to the bargaining table. Begging him to be magnanimous in victory was a foolish waste of ink. Or terribly cynical.

This Sunday’s Plain Dealer had the predictable letters to the editor thanking and cursing the endorsement. The Forum section also had on the front page an article from Harriet Applegate of the Northshore AFL-CIO that recommended a “No” vote on Issue 2. As I read it I kept wondering if its prominent placement was to appease aggrieved readers. Then I read Mr. Diadiun’s column.

Mr. Diadiun was shocked and amazed that readers, and by the tone of his article I suspect lots of readers, called up the P.D. and cancelled their subscriptions. Shouldn’t we defend to the death the right of the Plain Dealer to publish anything no matter how vile or injurious? Well, NO. As Americans we support the right of the press to publish freely, we are not required to personally support any particular publication.

His confusion lies in this paragraph:

So let me get this straight: You buy the paper, often for years or decades, because it contains news, information and entertainment you need, and cannot find anywhere else – and then because a group of editorial writers examines a situation and reaches a conclusion that differs from your own, you throw all that good stuff away?

First of all, there is very little in today’s Plain Dealer that couldn’t be found anywhere else. Many of the best columns were actually first published in the New York Times or other major papers. Local news can be found in a myriad of places including AOL’s new local Patch system. We are not dependent on the Plain Dealer. It is just one more resource.

More importantly, Mr. Diadiun fails to understand that actions have consequences. What can the Plain Dealer’s readers do to express their anger? Teachers, fire fighters, police, and other public employees feel that they are under siege. Were they supposed to just shrug their shoulders and continue to support an organization aligned with their adversary? Cancelling their subscriptions is the only weapon they’ve got.

Mr. Diadiun is the readers’ representative. Instead of condemning and mocking them, he might be more successful if he took the time to understand their pain and anger. They weren’t betrayed by the Plain Dealer. If the paper was on any side, it wasn’t theirs.

Will I cancel my subscription? Of course not. I expected nothing more nor nothing less from the Plain Dealer. It is just a newspaper, one more source of information and entertainment. And besides, I like the comics.

I wanted to be respected and admired. I was willing to settle for tolerated and ignored. But that was too much to ask for.

One more fight, one more battle was looming. Six years of struggles behind me. Six months to a finish line that has neither a cheering crowd nor a table of trophies. And yet, I’m tired. I may have hit the wall. I’m ready for this to be over.

The word battle sounds a bit melodramatic, but it is sadly accurate. The soldiers come and go; the officers are pretty much unchanged. The stakes are small, mostly egos and pocket change. Of course, it was Henry Kissinger who once noted that “University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” Same deal. Even when I have found myself battling for a soul, it wasn’t mine but that of an organization that won’t know what it had till it is irretrievably gone.

I entered into all of this without anything to gain. In that regard I have been completely successful. That Zen-like state of nothingness is just as satisfying as it sounds.

The late Arnold Chambers, my speech teacher at Liberty High School, used to say, “Stand up and be seen. Speak up and be heard. Shut up and be appreciated.” As usual, I’ve got the first two under control.

One more battle. Unproductive. Unnecessary. And in many ways, irrelevant. I have become the reluctant warrior, sometimes bored, sometimes annoyed, but never willing to ignore the attack.

There are those who are positive that they will get to be spectators. Some of my readers may. Some are buying tickets for the wrong venue. But most of this blog’s readers know none of the people involved and couldn’t possibly care less. They see this blog for what it is; a description of the struggle to stay true to one’s core beliefs and to speak up even when the cost is high and the reward is non-existent. They relate. They understand that they are not alone. They continue their fight.

As for mine, it is a matter of opinion as to whether it is ego or my death grip on my perception of right and wrong that is driving me. Regardless, Mr. Chambers was right. I am looking forward to successfully completing my task.