Month: March 2012

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The American Military Crisis


The murder of Afghan civilians by the American Army soldier was not only avoidable, but to some degree, predictable.  In this age of immediately available information it is sad that the American public is so uninformed about its soldiers.  I can tell you from personal experience that being a soldier is like no other a person can experience.  It therefore is the responsibility of the government to inform and the American public to be informed.  Both scenarios have failed.

The last time America fought a war like World War II was World War II.  From that point on warfare has changed dramatically.  Guerrilla warfare was developed by the Japanese during World War 2.  It has been adopted as the preferable form of fighting by small fighting forces everywhere since.  Vietnam was America’s introduction at a large-scale to that form of warfare.  To its credit, during the Vietnam conflict the Department of Defense seldom required a soldier to serve more than a single one year tour of duty in Vietnam.  It relied up rotating in new troops on their first tour to take the place of departing troops.  A single unit, the 25th Infantry Division, for example, stayed involved in the war for much of its duration.  But on a man-by-man basis, replacements were brought in as an individual soldier completed his one-year tour.  That was a formula used at both office and enlisted levels.  The U.S. seemed to have learned that battle fatigue was a real detriment to the effectiveness of a fighting unit.  And anytime a man was returned to the war zone his thinking necessarily made him feel more vulnerable to a bullet with his name on it.

During that era there were always upwards to 1.5 million men on active duty so the ability to rotate men through the war zone without using them more than once was more easily accomplished than it is today.  During Vietnam there were many men who asked to be sent for a second tour in Vietnam, and few who asked for a third.  But in the individual soldiers mind was the knowledge that if he had already been to Vietnam once, he would not be required to go again.  Such knowledge is absent from the soldier’s psyche today.  Worse, those being required multiple trips to war zones are those who volunteered to be reserve troops.  That only happens when the numbers of active forces are too low to meet requirements.

What makes this even worse is that since the government has taken the tack of base closures, it has also reduced the size of the military.  In some instances the size of individual units have been reduced by as much as two-thirds while others have been totally disbanded.  The reason given, as always, is the level of funding.  The problem with such thinking is simple.  It is foolishness in the extreme.

America for over twenty years now has been trying to enforce peace and guarantee the safety of Americans on the cheap.  You cannot properly assess the strength and preparedness of the nation’s military in terms of dollars and cents alone.  History shows clearly that a country’s budget for its military is necessarily large, at least as long as it desires to be fully prepared.

Today, America has 10 active Army Infantry and Armor Divisions and three reserve infantry divisions both of which are a part of the National Guard.    In 1989 there were 19 active divisions and 10 reserve divisions.  Why is it we could afford that level of preparedness then but not now?  Simple math shows that we reduced that part of our defense by over 55%.

During those same years the size of the Air Force and Navy also have been reduced in both active and reserve numbers.  It would seem that our politicians have lost sight of the fact that in the end it is people, not machines, that win wars.  Technology serves a very important part of our readiness but technology is worthless without a sufficient human presence.  But on the battlefield, the place where the ground soldier must operate, even the best technology has its limits.  It should be painfully obvious to all but the most apathetic that the biggest deterrent to an enemy force is the number of men it faces, not their technology.  The Taliban certain respects America’s technology but it does not fear it.  Right now they know they have a superiority of number and are willing to play the game of attrition.  They know they are not going anywhere and can simply wait out America and hope for its resolve to wane.  But were they to face a very large increase in the number of men on the ground, their resolve would necessarily weaken.  They know American does not have such resources, so they simply wait, pick their fights, continue the battle of attrition confident in their ability to wait things out.

This scenario is not going to change in the future even as our enemy does change.  America must increase the size of its military, greatly, and become willing to pay for it.  But the cost of such an increase will reap long-term rewards.  Our military’s ability to keep fresh troops in the field will be enhanced.  It is morally wrong to ask the same small group of men to put their lives in harm’s way over and over and not expect there to be both short and long-term negative effects.  With enough men at its disposal the Army could have looked at SSG. Bales request, or requirement, to be deployed to a war zone for the fourth time in 11 years as the assumption of unnecessary risk and blocked his deployment.  With the shortage of manpower, such as it has, the Army’s hand was forced, and now we have the results.

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Massachusetts: An Example of How Government Fails People


If you are not from Massachusetts you are probably unaware of a severe cash shortfalls one of its agencies is experiencing.  Massachusetts and all of the other 49 states, as-well-as the federal government, is tasked with supplying certain services to all its residents.  One of those is transportation.  That transportation consists of all the roads with their bridges, all the airports, all the seaports, and all forms of public transportation.  Massachusetts is currently experiencing a serious budget problem with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).   The MBTA serves over 70 eastern Massachusetts communities.  The MBTA says it has $130 million shortage.  To deal with that shortfall it is saying it will make serious service cutbacks along with fare increases.

The MBTA is a state agency no different from the state police, Public Utilities, Parks and Recreation, and dozens of others.  Each is funded by a line item in the annual state budget.  That budget is put forth by Governor Deval Patrick and passed by the state’s representatives and senators after they have made their modifications.  Included in that budget is the MBTA’s budget.  Massachusetts also had another half-dozen or so regional transportation authorities that also receive funding from the state.  They include RTAs in the cities of Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River, Brockton, Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, and Greenfield.  Each of those areas supplies bus transportation to those cities and surrounding communities.

Massachusetts politicians have been extremely quiet on the financial troubles of the MBTA.  We have heard absolutely nothing from Gov. Patrick or any of the state’s senators and representatives.  Considering they are charged with overseeing the welfare of our transportation this is an unacceptable situation.

The MBTA managed to gain the $130 million shortfall for a variety of reasons.  One thing MBTA officials point out is that they collect roughly 35 cents at the fare box for every dollar spent.  They go on further to say how that number is low compared to other cities.  Studies have shown that Massachusetts does collect less than other cities.  But comparisons must end there and viewed as unequal.  That is because things like capital expenses, age of infrastructure, size of population served, debt service, and many other factors vary greatly from city-to-city.  The MBTA has the oldest subway in the United States.  That all by itself is hugely problematic.

In the 1980s and 1990s Massachusetts aggressively expanded its commuter rail system.  Boston, unlike cities such as Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Baltimore, has an extensive track system that lends itself to commuter rail.  But about half of its current system consisted of abandoned or freight only tracks that required upgrading or complete rebuilding.  Additionally, the MBTA expanded its commuter rail diesels and coaches.  It had inherited an aging fleet of rail diesel cars from the B&M Railroad that needed replacement.  But that happened over 25 years ago which happens to be the expected lifetime of such equipment.  Simply said, the entire fleet needs replacement.

In the past several years the MBTA upgraded the Blue Line by rebuilding stations and replacing the subway cars.  But the entire Orange Line fleet and half the Red Line and Green Line fleet also needs replacement.

The Green Line is the most problematic of all.  The ability of any rapid transportation system to serve the public is measured by how many passenger per hour can be served over any portion of its track.  The Green Line’s tunnel from Kenmore to Government Center is currently serving all four of the system’s routes.  The volume of traffic exceeds the ability of that stretch of tunnel to allow the passage of trolleys.  The solution is a simple, yet very costly, one.  A second tunnel must be built.  Anything short of that will not allow for any growth in Green Line traffic.

As for the MBTA’s bus system, its structure is almost completely outdated.  Many of the existing bus routes are leftovers from the 1960s when the MBTA took over the area’s  private bus companies.  For example, the 85 route goes from Kendall Square Cambridge to Spring Hill Somerville.  There is not a particularly high demand for this route.  If you look at the route two questions come to mind.  First, why not extend the Cambridge end from Kendall Square to Lechmere and then on the other end extend the route to Davis Square, a short distance from Spring Hill.  Or maybe this is a route that simply needs to be eliminated.  At the opposite end of the spectrum is the 66 route that connects Harvard Square to Dudley Square.  This is a heavily used route that, as anyone who travels it knows, frequently has standing room only on its buses.

That the MBTA is threatening draconian service cuts is not only unreasonable, it shows just how miserably they have failed.  They are using this scare tactic at this time because rising gas prices along with increased patronage gives them the feeling that they have leverage.  It is not leverage that is needed, it is honesty.  These managers are at the very least disingenuous and more likely, outright dishonest.

These are but a few examples of the MBTA’s extreme mismanagement of its system.  Mismanagement always results in overspending.  This mismanagement is not just within the MBTA itself, but from those whose job it is to oversee the MBTA, the governor, his counsel, and others.

The solution is not easy but it is not all that complicated either.  First of all, the Massachusetts government must step in and assume the $130 million shortfall and provide more funding in the short-term.  Next, the Gov. Patrick needs to step in and replace all the political hacks that are entrenched there and replace them with transportation experts, people who have degrees in urban planning and transportation along with a long history of experience in those areas.  He must put an end to the history of patronage that has hamstrung this system and kept it from making desperately needed progress.

The state of Massachusetts is responsible to its people to make a comprehensive study detailing what must be done now and in the future to keep the MBTA running at its present level and at an increased level in the future as demand requires.  This means the governor and other officials are going to have to come up with how much money will be required to take the antiquated MBTA from the 20th Century, where it now exists, into the reality of the 21st Century.  This likely means an increase of the state’s tax on gasoline.  But if the public is provided a full disclosure of the costs involved in running the MBTA, and the other RTAs, the public will accept, if begrudgingly, the necessity of a small tax increase.

The state of Massachusetts, like the federal government, is dishonest with its citizens.  It keeps large amounts of vital information the public needs to make well-reasoned decisions.  The government officials do this for political expediency or because they do not believe the public will understand what they are saying.  This sort of dishonesty must end now.

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Are Americans Naive, Gullible, or Really Lazy?


There was a news report yesterday that about 50% of Americans blame President Obama for the current high gasoline prices.   Really?  That is what I do not get!  Presidents seldom have any effect on current gas prices.   Mitt Romney said in Alabama that gas prices have doubled since Obama was elected.  I checked that claim out.  On the day he was elected the average price of a gallon of gas was about $3.60.  By the time he took office it had plummeted to $1.90 and since then it has been slowly climbing back up.  Romney was something less than honest with us, cherry picking the data that suited him.

There are a number of things that affect the price of gasoline, regional stability in the middle east, amount of crude being pumped, amount of oil being refined, and speculators.  Mostly, of course, it is global demand versus oil-producing countries supply.  The only effect a President can have is his releasing America’s oil reserves, and that is a very limited effect.  To a lesser degree the major oil companies have some effect.  One thing Americans need to become aware of is the fact that every year about this time the price of gasoline rises as refineries change over from the winter gas mixture to the summer mixture where the summer mix is more expensive.

This, of course, is not the only area Americans seem to be either naive or lazy about but right now it is making the headlines.  I have stated in earlier blogs that I wish Americans would do more thinking for themselves and stop allowing politicians tell them what to think.  Politicians, regardless of party, are dishonest.  But rather than say politicians lie both parties say the other side is putting their political “spin” on something.  There is only one truth about any one thing.  There can never be two.  For example, as I look out my window right now I can describe the sky as being blue.  Most people would consider that as completely true since that is also what the weatherman is saying.  But it is not.  The sky, in fact, right now is a hazy blue.  The sun is not shining nearly as brightly as it could be.  This is exactly what politicians do all the time.

Americans, next time a politician offers something as being true without showing proof, DO NOT BELIEVE IT!  Demand proof!  If a politician says he is going to do something, demand a detailed accounting of exactly how he will do it, otherwise he is likely LYING!  The truth is, he hopes he can do it but does not really know.

As long as Americans practice laziness, which they have been, things are going to get worse!  Americans are turning over important decisions to people who are not truly committed to following through, or do not know how to follow through, or who will compromise their beliefs as they wilt before their party’s power mongers.

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Rush Limbaugh Takes on the Feminazis


I do not understand why any woman in the United States who has any self-worth would want to be a Republican today.  I cannot help but wonder if some of these women have been completely brainwashed by either their parents or their spouse.  As much as I despise the politics of both major parties in the United States, the double standard of the Republican Party galls me the most.

Rush Limbaugh thought it all right to call Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University Law student, a slut and a prostitute.  I do not know how much more insulting one person can be but Limbaugh honestly believed what he said.  He, of course, tried to retract his statements when the stuff hit the fan but he did not mean it.  He spoke his truth with the first words out of his mouth.  The sad part is, he speak for a lot of the Republican Party.  How can I say that?  There was little condemnation that emanated from his fellow Republicans following his statement.

Limbaugh says what other think, and he has a long history of such remarks.  He knows the more outrageous he sounds the bigger his audience.  But the sad part of that, a lot of his audience is allowing him to do their thinking for them.  Some years ago they took great pride in being called “ditto-heads.”  Even though that is not being said anymore, the sentiment has not gone away.

Back in the 1980s when I was in graduate school, I took two courses in women’s studies.  In both courses there were about 20 women and me, the only male in the class.  I can tell you unequivocally that about half the class wanted to cut my balls off and feed them to me.  I finished both courses and received an A in each.  The courses were taught by a female professor so I did not get any break there.  But I learned a lot in those courses about women’s history.  The said part is, too many men still view women in a negative light.  It is my belief that the majority of those men are quite conservative.  They still like the barefoot and pregnant tack.

Sandra Fluke was simply testifying before Congress about her experience with birth control.  Prior to that she had no celebrity.  No one outside her family and friends knew her.  She was just someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend.  But then Limbaugh that it appropriate to attack her for her beliefs.  In doing so he has assaulted every daughter, every wife, every sister in America.  His narrow bigoted beliefs trumped everything else, at least as far as he was concerned.  Rather than address Miss Fluke’s appearance before Congress in a rational and respectful manner, he chose to defame her otherwise good character and vilify her before all America.  The bell is rung and cannot be unrung.  Sandra Fluke has been negatively labeled in the minds of millions of conservative American women for no good reason at all.

In Limbaugh’s mind, every daughter, every wife, every sister, every mother who has used birth control is a prostitute and a slut.  There is no other was to interpret what he has said!  Every mother, every sister, every daughter, every wife who has used birth control should be outraged.

For these reasons, and others, I find it so very difficult to understand how any American woman can look herself in the mirror and be happy with herself if she has not condemned Limbaugh’s actions.  I cannot understand the Republican Party’s loud silence on the subject as well.  Limbaugh labeled all women who fought for women’s rights and equal protection under the law as “feminazis.”  He has not taken that back nor has the Republican Party distanced themselves from him.  It just makes me wonder.

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It Is Another Day in Paradise


Tomorrow is my birthday.  I will be 63.  I really do not like this getting older, but what then are the alternatives?  There is one really good thing about getting older, your perspective improves greatly.

When I was young, a teenager and early 20s, I felt the constant desire to be on the move.  I constantly desired to be going somewhere, doing something, seeing things.  For the most part that was a good thing.  I followed through on those desires and saw a lot of the world as it was.  I experienced many countries and many different people.  But the problem with youth is an almost complete lack of perspective.

When I was young I thought the town I grew up in was hopelessly boring.  It never occurred to me that even if that were true, and it was, that might actually be a good thing and something to be taken advantage of.  Boston attracted me but I never got further than the very entertainment areas.  That sort of visiting other places did not follow me as the years went on, fortunately.  One of the foolish feelings of youth is a sort of immortality, death is far away and not to be concerned with.  Because of that feeling I did not fear wandering into some of the more suspect areas of foreign cities without a worry in the world.  Nothing ever happened to me, fortunately, and the experiences did offer me views of life as it exists on many different levels.

The years passed and my traveling slowed down.  I slowed down too.  Slowing down, it turns out, is an extremely good thing.  People should do it more often!  It gave me the opportunity to consider everything I had done, everywhere I had been, everyone I had ever encountered.  No, I do not have a perfect memory for all my travels.  But I do remember large portions of them.  They allow me to smile.

A lot of places I have visited I would not want to live.  Not because they were dirty or ugly, unfriendly or poor, but because my spirit would  be too confined, too restricted, too limited.  Beirut is an absolutely wonderful city with extremely friendly people but it is not a place I could live for very long.  Part of the attraction to such a city is its being exotic but that is the very reason it would not be good for me.  It exists outside my comfort zone.

What does all of this have to do with paradise?  Quite simply, paradise is where you find it.  I cannot say I am very enamoured with where I am living right now but I am not far removed from much beauty and pleasure either.  I can get there quite easily by putting myself out just a little bit.

My cat is a bit of paradise too.  She is perfect, graceful, soft, beautiful.  She likes me just as I am and I her.  Consider what a gift it is to have an animal that does not mind co-existing with humans.  Most animals find us unbearable.  We have trespassed into what was formerly entirely theirs but there is nothing they can do about it.  There is a red-tailed hawk which nests on the side of a building very close to here.  From my 14th floor vantage point I can see her soaring effortlessly on the currents of air.  Such beauty is surely reserved for paradise, is it not?

Spring will be on us in a few days.  The leaves coming into bloom has always been a wonderous sight.  They emerge, as if by magic, for what looks to be dead sticks, first into flowers and then into leaves.  How did nature figure out how to do such a thing?

We will soon enter into the season of thunderstorms.  I have always called them nature’s light show.  When I lived in El Paso, I liked to go up the side of the Franklin Mountains and watch the thunderstorms as they moved across the desert below.  Even here in Cambridge, my window on the world allow me a great view of the magnificent bolts of lightning as the streak through the clouds to the earth below.

Only in paradise can you get entertainment daily and it costs nothing save the time you take to enjoy it.  While walking in the rain recently with a friend I commented on how I love a rainy day.  The rain, water of course, is one of the basics of life.  How can you possibly dislike something that is responsible for your very being?

Some years ago I was calling a friend’s house and I would frequently get his answering machine.  His message started “It’s another glorious day in paradise.”  At first I found his message totally annoying.  But that was only because I had not taken the time to consider the truthfulness of it.  Now I have and I invite everyone to consider it as well.  We do live in paradise.  It is here for us to enjoy.  But the only way to enjoy it is to recognize it.  I submit that paradise is all around us.  Do not look any further.  It has found you and now you need to find it.

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The Six Worst “Best Picture” Movies


1.  The Artist (2012) — I have already written about this in an earlier post so you can see my comments there.  I think “The Descendants” and “The Help” were far superior films.

2.  Chicago (2002) — This movie was actually pretty good but not worthy of the award.  The movie which should have won it that year was “The Pianist.”

3.  Gladiator (2000) — This was all about women loving Russell Crowe and men liking all his testosterone.  It was a good movie however the movie “Traffic” was easily its better.

4.  Rocky (1976) — What was so good about this movie?  How did it win over the movie “Network”?

5.  Oliver (1968) — Did this movie get nominated because Hollywood knew it would never again make another musical.  Did the academy put blinders on when they viewed “The Lion in the Winter” and “Romeo and Juliet”?

6.  The Sting (1973) — The only reason for “The Sting” winning this award is because Hollywood wilted under the power of the Catholic Church which decried “The Exorcist” that was also up for the award.

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Urban Myths, Folk-Lore, and Old Wive’s Tales


A friend of mine informed me today that one in five cell phones has been found to have human feces on it.  That is not exactly the type of thing I care to hear even if it is true.  But I challenged her by asking exactly who had made such a proclaimation.  She did not know.  I told her that the cynic in me is very reluctant to allow for such “facts.”  That brings up the great question of who “they” are when someone says, ” you know, they say . . . ”  I cannot say off-hand who “they” are which leaves me doubting what is said.  My friend did offer that it would be just like the federal government to pay for such a project.  I observed that such research has got to be a huge waste of time and money.

New England is renown for its folk lore.  One of the most famous, of course, is the red sky in the morning and red sky in the evening.  It turns out that such a sky is quite a good predictor of the coming weather.  There is also the tale that cows lying down is a sign of rain as is birds flying into the wind.  While I do not know about the cows thing, it turns out that birds flying into the wind is true.  The birds do that because they are drawn by the moisture in the air.

Then there is the don’t walk under a ladder, do not put shoes on a table because your luck will walk out the door, if you spill salt you have to immediately throw some over your shoulder the negate the bad luck it brings, and how the number 13 is somehow unlucky.  You can make a laundry list of such beliefs.  I believe them all to be a bunch of bunk.

Even so, such folk-lore is an extremely important part of history.  These tendencies people have account for certain actions they might take.  For example, if a large portion of a certain grouping of people considered something to be unlucky, it will affect how the go about their daily life.  For example, let’s say that a group of people in a particular village considered Friday the 13th to be particularly unlucky and therefore did not work on such a day.  If a flood hit that particular day and wiped out the community, historians of the future will know the answer to why so many people were home on a day normally devoted to work.

My recommendation is that they next time someone says something that is all encompassing, particularly if it starts as, “you know what they say . . . ”  Challenge all such things by requesting an offer of authoritative proof.  Authoritative proof does not come from fortune tellers, the guy on the news, the National Enquirer, or Facebook.  Such authority comes from a source who is an expert in a particular field and can show you the research results.

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The World Will Not End This Year, or Any Time Soon For That Matter


There seems to be a reality show on television that covers just about everything.  The National Geographic channel has taken upon itself to document people who believe we are in the end of days, “Doomsday” people.  One group believes that an ensuing change in the Earth’s poles is going to cause some sort of cataclysm.  This, of course, is preposterous.

In physics there are four basic forces, strong, weak, gravity, and electro-magnetism.  The strong force is also known as the nuclear force or that force that holds atoms together.  The weak force is radiation, a good example is the radiation from things like uranium.  Gravity, as we all know is what hold us onto the Earth, and the electro-magnetic force is as simple as a magnet that we all had as kids.

The force some of these Doomsdayers are pointing to is the Earth’s magnetic force.  They point out that the Earth’s poles are changing, that is thought to be true.  Every several hundred million years the north and south poles change positions for reasons we do not understand at all.  Scientists think the weakening magnetic force the Earth is currently experiencing is the Earth getting ready to change poles which is due.  But what the Doomsdayers do not seem to understand is that change in poles will be a full 180 degrees and not anything in-between.  The reason is simple.  The Earth generates its magnetism from the spinning of the nickle-iron core spinning at the middle of the Earth.  The spin of the Earth cannot change directions without some other object literally running into it and turning it.  Hence, the spin as it is now will remain as is after the change in poles.  The poles cannot form along the solar plane because of the motion of its core.  If you imagine this motion as the same you would see in a top you will understand it better.  If you watch a top while it is spinning the top of the top is one pole while the bottom is the other and must remain that way.  The picture below shows how the spin of the Earth is directly related to the magnetic poles.  The spin is at a 90 degree angle relative to the spin.

The worst thing that will happen if/when the poles shift is what happens to the Earth when the solar winds created by the sun hit.

Solar Winds

The picture above is a depiction of the solar winds and what happens when they hit the Earth’s magnetic fields.  Simply put, when these charged particles come in contact with the Earth magnetic fields those particles follow the lines of magnetism to either the north or south pole.

The above photographs shows those lines of magnetism as they presently exist.   Now, if you take away those lines of magnetism there is a problem.  The solar wind at that point will buffet the Earth’s atmosphere directly and start to boil it off.  This “boiling” is not the same as boiling water but rather the act of stripping off layer after layer of something, in this case the Earth’s atmosphere.  Not only that, the amount of ultra-violet light that reaches the Earth’s surface will rise significantly.  This, obviously, is the worst case scenario of the Earth changing its magnetism.  But we can take heart.  In the geological record there is nothing that points to a life-ending event.  Scientists have been able to go back literally billions of years in Earth’s history all events that have cause large-scale annihilations have been related to volcanic eruptions and exceptionally large meteor collisions.  We have no reason to believe that either will happen soon.  Also, because of the spin of the Earth there will always be a magnetic field surrounding our planet, even during a pole shift.  This is simply because of the mechanical action of the Earth’s core with its surroundings dictates that there must be a magnetic field generated.  The only way to stop that generation is to stop the spin, an impossibility.

Some of these Doomsdayers think when the Earth loses its magnetism, which it could briefly, we will all be flung off into space.  The Earth’s magnetism has no effect on its gravity.  They are independent of each other.  Gravity is proportional to the mass of an object, and the earth is not changing its mass at all, except maybe to gain a little as bits of space rock hit it.

These same Doomsdayers are also talking like mid-America suddenly taking on the characteristics of the North Pole when a polar shift happens.  Again, an absurd idea.  Where our land masses sit is entirely a function of a little goodie called plate tectonics.  That quite simple is how the various plates of the Earth move relative to one another.

The Earth's Plates

From the above picture you can see each of the Earth’s plates.  The arrows indicate the general direction in which each moves.  As you can clearly see, we here in the Americas are moving in a westerly direction.  The north and south poles are staying put.  One also needs to remember that significant movement of these plates only happens in the tens of millions of years.

Scientifically speaking, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the human race is in any imminent danger.  All the dangers to the human race have been well identified and are, of course, the result of our own actions.  And so, unless these Doomsdayers are suggesting that the laws of physics are suddenly going to change, we are only doomed to live in the midst of our own foolishness.  This includes, by the way, the Mayan predictions.

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What Does “Buy American” Really Mean?


In 2003 I bought a new Mitsubishi Diamante.  It was the first new foreign car I had ever  bought.  Prior that I had owned Fords and Chevys and one Pontiac Firebird.  I had bought into the idea of buy American long before it was a saying.  I believed in American made goods and always desired to support them.  Last summer I bought a 2012 Ford Fusion thinking I was again buying American.  Much to my surprise, and dismay, I later found out that my car was actually assembled in Mexico with its engine manufactured in Canada.  That really irritated me.  My “American” car was really Mexican.  Upon some more research I found out that most of the popular Toyotas, Hondas, and a few other Japanese manufacturers assemble their car in places like Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.  So that Toyota Camry has a better American pedigree than my Ford Fusion?

Then yesterday I discovered that Levi jeans are actually made in Japan.  Nothing that has the Levi name on it is made where it was founded.  And it does not end there.  New Balance shoes, founded in Boston, only produces 25% of their products in America.  I have known for a long time that most of the clothing we buy here in America is made overseas.  America used to lead the world in textile manufacturing, no more.  That is also true of steel, aircraft, electronics, and so much more.

I want to support the American worker still but I am at a loss to know what purchases are doing that.  My Ford Fusion supported Mexican workers, Canadian workers, and corporate Ford.  My Panasonic television was manufactured in Ohio and assembled in California.  It is confusing.

The Sears brand, Craftsman, are all made in the USA.  Dell computers are made in the USA but Apple’s “i” line are made in China, as is the Kindle and Android.  Intel and Motorola processors are made entirely in the United States but everything else is made overseas.

It seems that if you want to support the American worker you have to purchase items with foreign names many times.  How do I buy American?

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Fear, Panic Attacks, and Other Adventures


This morning I was reading one of James Patterson’s latest murder mysteries, “Kill Alex Cross.”  He is one of my favorite authors.  In the middle of reading something came to mind totally unrelated to what I was reading.  My mind seems to have that tendency, and I have never been able to explain it except to say, I am just a little weird.

Anyway, in the middle of reading I remembered being very sich when I was small.  I do not remember exactly how old I was at the time but I would guess I was no more than six or seven, but maybe younger.  I remember getting very sick, having a high temperature.  But I also remember hallucinating.  I would feel like my fingers had become very thick and that would scare me to death.  My mother used to say I drank too much cough medicine, Vicks Formula 44 which at the time had codeine in it, and that caused me to hallucinate.  I do not remember ever doing that but it is possible.  The thing is, I know for fact that the two incidents are not related because I remember waking up sick in the middle of the night and then hallucinating.

Many years later, when I was in the army in Italy, I would drink a lot at parties I gave.  One day a guy told me I could get a great high out of taking too many sea sick pills.  One day when I did that in the middle of speeding my brains out I got extremely paranoid and had a panic attack.  I was fortunate that at the party there was a physician who examined me and talked me down.  He told me to see him the next day, which I did, at which time he made me promise him that I would never again take those pills.  I kept my promise.  It was his duty to report me to my commanding officer, which he did not do, and I knew better than to abuse his gift.  That was the last time I ever did such a thing.

Again, years later, I had another panic attack.  And a year after that another, and then they started coming with increased regularity.  In the early 1980s medicine was not well equipped to deal with anxiety and panic.  They prescribed Valium, and then when it came into being, xanax.  Unfortunately those medicines only treat the symptoms and not the cause.  I went through a series of antidepressants that were also supposed to deal with anxiety.  First there was Trofanil, then an MAOI, then Welbutron, Prozac, and now Effexor.   The Effexorf, while seemingly very effective, has totally killed off a very important side of the human experience.  The ability to have anything close to a normal sex life is an impossibility.  The libido is strong but the body refuses.

The panic attacks actually disappeared entirely for well over a decade only to re-emerge with a vengeance.  I return to therapy to deal with them but it was ineffective.  The therapist commended me on my total honesty with her but conceded that we had reached a point where continued therapy was of very limited value.  But the anxiety and panic have not yet gone away.

Through many years of introspection I have discovered that most of my fears, if not all, are based in one of two things.  First, my hiding things that greatly embarrass me causes distress.  That part I have entirely dealt with having related every single thing I have ever done that causes me pain.  The other part is talking about those things that scare me.  Intellectually I know that fear happens in the absence of knowledge and I have done my best to become knowledgeable about all things that scare me.  For example, as a child I had an intense fear of the dark which followed me into my adult life.  I have to admit that there is still some of that today but it is far less than it once was.

I am a bit clautrophobic although elevators I find to be particularly troubling.  But that is the only fear I am aware of that I still have these days.  And yet, I still have anxiety attacks, often, and panic attacks occasionally.  Such things are always fear based and yet I cannot get to the base of what is triggering me.  I am frustrated!  I never know when an anxiety attack begins if it will end in a panic attack.  That means my prognosis, barring my discovering what is at the base of all this, is I will live out my years forever fending against the next anxiety attack, the next panic attack.

Ironically, I think of my life these days as generally being really good.  I am never depressed nor do I go a day without feeling grateful for so many things and people in my life.  I know I am not alone it this struggle although sometimes it feels that way.  Even though I am always entirely honest with my psychiatrist, I feel resistance from her in helping me with proper levels of medication.  But even so, there are other physicians, friends who are physicians, who I can rely upon to give me really good advice.