Saturday, October 23, 2004
DE-CURSER
Now that the sports world's Curse of “the Sultan of Swat” - Babe Ruth - against the Boston Red is being worked over, it might be as good a time as any for us to take another look at some of the other pet theories we have had for many years.
No only is it time for us to re-evaluate some of the standards by which we live, but it may be time to eliminate some such ideas which have been impeding our progress for years.
It is perfectly natural that you might, like most of us, insist at this point, that you have no such flaws. Other people seem to be so burdened, but not us as individuals. That may well be the first idea to cast aside. We all have such questionable traits largely, perhaps, of who we are and where we came from. That source alone can provide us with handicaps untold.
We are often cursed by regional difference – innate feelings, sentiments, folklore leftovers, sectional splinters, some religious quirks, as host of politically-founded hatreds and other such handicaps which do none of us any lasting good. For out ultimate good, it would seem that it might be wise for us to start acting more as a cohesive unit than as a divided amalgam of sometimes rattling parts which other nations do not always understand.
Every effect has a primary cause. Assuming that most of us agree with that concept, it is essential that we examine those effects from time-to- time to see what caused them to be. If you continue to think, as you probably were told as a child, that touching a toad will give you a bad set of unsightly warts you have not bothered to learn basics about toad critters. You may have been led to believe that “lightening does not strike twice in the same place.”
A lot of dead people have tested that one to their lasting regret. In truth, much of what we believe is up for questioning, re-examination, revision or even replacement. We will be better off in may ways without the encumbrance of such excess baggage, just as many Red Sox fans can look forward with greater confidence to a World Series this year.
it is time for us tor ealize how we are constructed and to live accordingly if we wish to continue our erratic and blessed path. For instance, let's accept the idea that we, as a nation, a blend of many peoples. Let's be proud of the fact that we have accepted millions of Latinos in our midst rather than continuing to combat the idea of such a welcome and to realize that our place in the future depends on our ability to blend for our common good. We have used several trying centuries attempting to do the same thing with blacks, reds, and yellows so we have plenty of example explaining the wisdom for making such a transition willingly and peacefully.
The Bambino Curse of the Red Sox strikes some of us as a piece of sports-world humor; of people fooling themselves to keep their nerve up while living in doubt and concern over their own level of their training, experience and dedication to ideals such as integrity, physical preparedness and common sense. So many of the superstitions we carry with us today and brandish all too readily are based on a similar foundation of shifting sands and soggy soil.
You know what your “superstitions” are. You don't have to be told what you believe which is not true. It is not my place to judge your conduct. I have enough to do try to manage my own, but I do think it is a good time right now - while “hero worship”is taking a few knocks as we see Babe Ruth for the first time as a resentful, vindictive, even a selfish , stubborn and vengeful individual placing a “curse” on the future achievements of his previous associates. His being traded to the New York ”Yankees” - often called “the worst trade ever made in American baseball” enabled him to become the idol of millions of fans. Had he stayed where he had been, would he have become what he has been to so many of us?
Considering the fragile nature of our beliefs could my personal belief in the unquestioned excellence of the “Sultan of Swat”, be anything other than a form of superstition I happened to believe as being important in the 1920's decade and through the intervening years to today when I feel a flaw has been shown to have existed about which I have not been aware.
Whatever it takes for you to do so: work at exorcising crippling superstition from your life.
A.L.M. October 23, 2004 [c799wds]
Friday, October 22, 2004
IN THE MIDDLE?
I have shirts and sweaters , shoes and socks, under and outer wear, pajamas, pants, neckties, belts, buckles and other items which are all made everywhere. I haven't tried to keep a list detailing the many nationalities to whom I am beholden for my sartorial splendor.
A partial list of those places, taken off-head, without any research includes: Nepal, Kenya, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Dominican Republic, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Honduras and Mexico. There must others, too. Take time to look at the labels which give an approximate idea of where the product may have originated.
I understand , at least, in a partial sense, why this is way it is today ...the way has been ever since we started shipping our manufacturing skills and methods overseas. I think I understand part of the reasons why this condition has come to be logical since we are part of a world-wide economy far, far removed from our farm-to-dining-room- table, or plant-to-user type of business and commerce. It isn't that way any longer and I'm willing to go along with the concept that claims off shoring is the way to go, but there is one step in all of this which continues to worry me.
I can accept the idea that by providing work for foreigners to do in their own area we are supplanting their economy. That makes better sense than handouts and less of a temptation to graft and corruption than politically oriented assistance on a government to government basis. I never see any
pie charts showing how much we are helping those people by providing employment. Some of the products we receive are actually superior to what we used to be happy with locally, and the usual way of explaining away the price difference is that - in ultra-plain words “they use slave labor”. Pushed a bit, we admit we do not mean that yin a literal sense, but it comes pretty close when worker are grossly underpaid for what they do. The argument can be made that they are being paid at a far better rate than what they normally can expect to get locally. They profit and we pay less on our end, too. The point that worries me is, who sits there in the middle brokering all of these deals? What percentage of the of overall profits goes to this segment of these offshore systems?
What does the middle man, woman, group, association, con consortium, amalgam, corporation,, foundation, society, or soother such classification get?
It is all very much like buying a one-cent item on “e-bay” on our computer, or other such auction site. One cent! What a bargain? But watch for an inflated shipping and handling charge! S&H mans a lot more than just postage and stuffing your bargain into a used cardboard box.
I would like very much to see a clear accounting of who gets what, when and why in our overseas businesses. Profits are limited for the native workers. Savings on the buyer's side are nothing to get excited about, and the main reason we buy the products that are made overseas is that we have no real choice.
It's past time to take an honest look at what actually goes on behind the scenes. Is free trade fair?
A.L.M. October 22, 2004 [c557wds]
Thursday, October 21, 2004
WHAT IS “UNFAIR?”
Are we a bit more sensitive than usual in this year's presidential election concerning what is thought to be “fair” and what is to be seen as a “foul?”
Specific acts have been condemned by one party or the other concerning attitudes, prejudices, innuendo, or plainly spoken words uttered in haste, confusion or purposely planned. Some such derogatory references might easily inspire the he wild series of charges set forth to make the other party look seem less than tan good, and one has to wonder how many are said under the guise of “error” when deliberate forethought was he generative force behind hem.
Many people, I find, away back in the Democratic Primary phase, seemed to think that a leading candidate at the time - Governor Dean, of Vermont - was suddenly presented as being incapable after the “lost his cool” and succumbed to seemingly out-of-control screaming in a moment of stress. It seemed to suggest to some people that the man was mentally unprepared for Presidential tasks and associated pressures. Six months later in a fine, parody by Atom Films called “My Land” - one of the better pieces to come out of the campaign, I feel, lampooning both sides after the manner of a musical “roast” had buried within its complex body a single, unexplained scream which took me back to Dean-land. Early references to John Kerry's ability to acquire “Lavender Heart” decorations also fell flat, and logically so, because it was seen to be a reflection on the legitimacy of honestly merited Purple Heart decorations.
It was deemed unfair when John Kerry mentioned , as example,in the final presidential “debate” that Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter was a Lesbian. There was also some objection when it was said that he could, just as well, have mentioned his fellow legislative worker Barney Frank as a better known gay person.
John Kerry's wife just this past week of Laura Bush as an inexperienced home body who “had never held a job in her life”. A formal, staff-written “apology” was issued after the initial statement had been well distributed. Statistical studies have shown how few original readers or hearers ever see or hear retractions in an associative manner and the “error” goes uncorrected in many cases.
Many viewers were disturbed by the widow of Christopher Reeves doing a pitch supporting John Kerry so soon after her husband's death. The stem cell research she favored in her announcement was of special interest to Reeves and to her, I realize, but her purpose may have been better served had she urged both major candidates to support stem cell research on a grander basis rather than be critical of one for less excessive promises during an election campaign. Was her appeal in "poor taste"?
Obviously in these last weeks of the campaign we face some strong possibility of questionable ads when it is too late to refute charges made. A new series of TV ads of the “Swift Boat” style by Viet Nam veterans through Sinclair TV stations, and I am amazed that the G.O.P. has not yet mounted a campaign saying that our greatest danger in these final election days is – to make word-play on the term "Terrorism."
“Our greatest current danger: Kerryism!” It would center on theme of nothing new only “We can do it better.” Vague promises. Me-too-isms. Something for everyone or every group.
I wonder if a national “sense of fairness” has prevented such an attack, or will it happen in these last days?
A.L.M. October 21, 2004 [c598wds]
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
THE “AMAZING GRACE”
Until November 14, 1984 a 146-ton commercial fishing vessel by the name of “Amazing Grace” worked out of Hampton, Virginia. As a rule she worked the coastal area off of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. On, or about, that date in l984 that ship with her a Captain six crew members became “assumed dead” statistics.
We have some idea what happened to them because the Captain spoke briefly on radio saying them had “taken a huge wave over the bow and that the ship was flooding below....” That's all.
Nothing more was ever heard concerning those last moments of the “Amazing Grace.”
The Coast Guard searched the area for sixteen days and they did find one life raft from the lost vessel, but the ship has never been found.
I have noticed that the official report of this loss
is dates “around November 14, 1984”. which suggests that the interrupted radio message sent by the Captain on the 14th may have been a prelude to a continued struggle to stay afloat. It was the time they lost radio contact but that does tell their exact fate. Crew members of the unoccupied raft could have been swept overboard by the killer wave. The exact of the sinking is unknown so the date is left flexible.
We had no Federal regulations in effect in 1984-85 which required vessels of less than 200-tons to have either life boats of emergency radio beacon equipment on board. The Coast Guard noted at the time that the fishing fleet was made up primarily of ships of less than 200-ton. The estimated we had about 33,000 fishing boats in business at the time, and that 85% of them were under 200 tons. They cited this as one of the factor leading to high death tolls among fishermen and urged new legislation be put in force. The Commercial fisherman objected to such governmental intervention in their business affairs, as many industries still do, but the disappearance of the “Amazing Grace” did cause some interest in changing existing regulations to enhance the chance of survival at sea.
A.L.M. October 20,2004 [c363wds]
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
October 19, 2004
APOTHECARY SHOPPE
That which we now commonly call a “drug store” here in the United States has undergone some radical changes over the years since our Colonial Days as a portion of the British Empire.
You can see for yourself what a quaint atmosphere seems to have been typical of such establishments if you visit The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, 1020 Caroline Street, in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is considered to be a shrine honoring medicine, pharmacy and American patriotism all in one sturdy, historically authentic structure. In every way possible, it is just as it was when our nation was young.
Dr. Hugh Mercer was born in Scotland around 1725. He studied medicine and graduated in 1744 from Marischal College, University of Aberdeen. The following year he joined Charles Stuart's forces as assistant surgeon and served in the Battle of Colloden. Then, as a friend of the Pretender he was no longer welcome and came to America in 1746.Initally, he stayed in Philadelphia but soon moved his practice to the western frontier town which is today called Mercersburg. There he was among the first to enlist is the military service of his adopted country, He swerved as a Line officer and as surgeon through the French and Indian War. He was serving as a Captainwhen,during Braddock's defeat days, he met George Washington for the first time. That began a long, close friendship. During at war he was was wounded, captured by Indians , escaped, and wandered utterly lost for a month in the mountains. He was rescued, promoted to Colonel and made Commandant of Fort Pitt the army post which became present-day Pittsburg.
When the war came to an end, Mercer returned with Virginia troops and settled at Fredericksburg. He married Isabelle Gordon and set up the apothecary shop your can visit today. He was in partnership with a Dr. Ewen Clements and they took an advertisement in the “Virginia Gazette”in 1771 offering their services “...in Physick and Surgery... offering a large assortment of Drugs and Medicines just imported from London.” Dr. Clement left Fredericksburg in 1771 and Dr. John Julian became Mercer's partner in an association which lasted until 1776.
When the American Revolution started and Mercer, as a Colonel, and took command of the Third Va. Regiment, having been defeated by a close margin by Patrick Henry to become Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia forces. At Mercer's headquarters on January 2, 1777. George Washington and several other generals made plans to sneak around Cornwallis's army to appear at Princeton the following morning. On that day, Mercer was severely wounded when he refused to retreat before a British bayonet attack. Washington sent several physician to his side, but he died after several weeks.
The Apothecary Shop in Fredericksburg serves as a museum remembering the man Dr. Hugh Mercer as an adopted son who served his state and his nation well in their times of need He represents others who shared the same goal citizens all in this new nation.
A.L.M. October 19,2004 [c509wds]
Monday, October 18, 2004
U.N. RUGS
Have you noticed how much deeper the rugs seem to have become in the United Nations Building in New York City? You get the feeling they have been raised up a bit.
It might well be that those in charge of the policies of administrative housekeeping at the U.N . have been sweeping undesirable
problems under the rug rather than bringing them out in the open for possible sunlight solutions.
That may be what has become of the long- ago named multi-billion dollar Iraqi-Oil-For-Food fraud. The media informed us that in April they had become aware of the fact that the U.N. Had,in some strange way, failed to properly oversee the transfer of one hundred billion dollars worth of Iraqi crude oil for a like amount of humanitarian aid in the form of food for the Iraqi people. They found the transfer to be a honeycomb of kickbacks, smuggling and political back-scratching under the guise of doing relief work. That part designated as aide to the Kurds, in northern Iraq was known to have been stopped and diverted by Saddam and so reported by Benon Sevan, who, as secretary general Kofi Annan' s reported directly to him. A French banking firm seems to have been involved int his switch-a- roo of such re-distributed funds to various nations around the world at Saddam's bidding.
There is a possibility that the French firm we have red about may be confused with a Swiss-Based financial firm hired by the U.N. at the unusually high rate of six million dollars for the first year. Payment for the following years to that firm - Coteca - have been kept confidential. Many seem to find it of special man from Ghana was hired by Coteca less than a year before the U.N. Account came to them. His name was Kojo Annan and he was hired as a “consultant” by the rather tight-lipped firm. It seems to have come as a “surprise” several years later to both the Coteca company and to the U.N . headquarters that Kojo Annan happens to be the U.N. Secretary-General's son. He, of course, worked on the Oil-for-Food” account.
Coteca was quite prompt in pointing out that “the decisions were made by the contracts committee, not by Annan.”
Most certainly the names Kofi and Kojo will be featured on our TV screens once we get the presidential election out of our electronic way, regardless of who wins. Old-fashioned Father-Son shows are hard to come by these days on TV and this should be a good one. It is especially promising because, here more or less the start of it all. neither one of them has been accused of doing anything wrong.
“Innocent until proved to be guilty”. That' s the way we like it.
A.L.M. October 18, 2004 [c472wds]
Sunday, October 17, 2004
READ THE LABEL
I find it to be amazing how many people take medications without having read the label to become aware of what is in the medicine.
“Amazing” may not be the proper word. “Shocking” would, perhaps, be more fitting. People who would not think of doing other things which might harm them, make a regular routine of putting their lives in danger by failing to read directions.
It happens more often that we realize,too. Prescribed drugs do not, as a rule, have much label text other than who is to take what how often -an some restrictions, if needed. Over-the-counter drugs, however, do have detailed information as to the nature of the contents an d what is to be done with them. Some are printed in ways which seem designed to prevent reading, but all can be important to the well-being of the patient.
The human body,innately aware of improper conditions through being equipped with a marvelous immune system, gives fair warning by means of symptoms for all sorts of adverse conditions. Some people never learn to “read” such alerts and they are, very often,the same people who can't, or don't, read on instructions concerning the proper use of the drug. One of the greatest advances of our computerized era has been the tendency of medical doctors to “write” their prescriptions by keyboard now instead and scrawls by which they used to communicate, in some mysterious way, instructions for the preparation and packaging thereof by the all-seeing,all-knowing pharmacists. That, alone, must have saved quite a few lives along the way.
Another factor which enters into he habit of people not reading the rules in the health “game” is the amount and nature of the folklore to which they are re committed. To what degree a person puts faith in folk medicine lore, old-wives tales, traditions, family habits, witchcraft and faith healing ... they will modify the original instructions to suit their “other” knowledge. One very common example of such mismanagement of medicine is to be found in the number of people who think that if one pill is effective two might be more so. Overdosing is more common than under-estimating the amount of drugs to be taken. Many people who have been to the doctor's office decide on their way home how they are going to modify the schedule for taking the pills they have just acquired.
Another hazard we all face today is that far too many people pay more attention to TV commercials about drugs than anything their doctor may have said.
He tells them only once but TV tells them several times and hour both day and night. Which one do you think the most people will choose to believe? In one way it works out better for the doctor, because the patient comes back again and again with the same or other maladies.
A.L.M. October 16, 2004 [c487wds]
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