SpiritLine

Mitchell

2011-03-30T05:26:00.001-07:00

Mitchell did not yet know he was Mitchell, but he knew who he was and, also, who he always had been. Now he was simply floating, weightless and formless in the vast.

There was no sense of light or dark, no sense at all. Simply a drift of being, sailing on a sea of eternity, aware of The All.

It wasn’t that Mitchell didn’t know anything, because he knew everything. But he was formless now, though ready to become form at the moment of calling. All things were happening at once, so he didn’t need to wait. It was more like shifting -- or coming into -- where cause and effect intersected.

The fabric was limitless and the intersections multiple beyond infinity. Mitchell simply floated, rested and balanced, embodying every duality in no body at all.

And it came to pass, as they say, that Mitchell floated upon a certain energy and it attracted him. And from the multi-dimensional fabric, a thread of energy manifested and became a pinpoint of light and he rode that light into existence, taking the Whole of Himself and the Whole of The All with him

And then he was confined.

His being continued to soar and float, but now he felt the familiar boundaries, as the form shaped itself around him. He would wait here a bit, becoming more comfortable in the form and matter, adjusting to the denser energies, growing himself into Mitchell.

In that pinpoint moment -- and for many months yet to come -- he would remember the floating of Before, remember fully who he was Before ... and know, too, that in time and for a time he would forget. But only for a time.

And as the earth time passed, Mitchell grew denser in form and also he developed the senses he would need to perceive and function in the denser earth energy.

By and by he came to hear the voices that had been taken by those he already knew... the softer mother voice and the less frequent, yet deeper, father voice.

He knew already that She would pass as he came. It had been decided. But for now this did not trouble him, for their Spirits would glide by one another, a kiss of light and formless energy exchanged, a fracture of unconditional love, so effortlessly traded in that space with no thing.

Mitchell felt the rocking begin and the pressure on his form intensified until the total of his focus was taken with the squeezing and the movement. In earth time, it went on endlessly and it was violent on his form and not pleasant. Had he recalled anything of the Body on Earth, he would have been afraid. But there were no emotions now, only physical feelings, for in coming, he had decided to experience all physical things anew, and that included emotions.

So Mitchell merely was one with the rocking and the squeezing and the shifting and the narrowing.

And when there was an intense brightness and a strange chill upon his flesh, he gave it no name. Nor when his chest expanded with a fullness, did he call it air. Only different and of the moment.

His body did things, but especially his mouth, which reached out and opened and wept and drank and moved rhythmically, even as he slept.

Another One came and he knew this Spirit in completeness and he was at home with it. And the Spirit came often to be with Mitchell and his body craved the body feelings that the Spirit brought and Mitchell was comforted.

And, in time, Mitchell’s eyes sought out the Other’s eyes and the feel of the Other’s hands and he came to anticipate and know the touch and the sight and the smell and the sound and the taste of the Other One. And Mitchell only knew his own body in this way.

Sometimes he would drift and his own Spirit would remember The All. But when he was not drifting, his body was no body without the Other.

Let me get this straight? You want a writer/designer/interviewer/video editor ETC for HOW MUCH?

2011-02-10T11:19:00.000-08:00

The world has gone mad -- at least on Craig's List. See this despicable ad, below (my highlights in red plus my comments in purple.. the color of the very Royal "Kiss My Patootie." Lord help anybody unlucky enough to already be working here. Super BOOs to the overseers who want more slaves.

In-house Writer/Designer for B2B Magazines (That's right, guys, more than one magazine).

(No Freelancers) (waving garlic and brandishing a cross)

$35K (but not really THAT much; see salary-waffle language below)

(Metro Center) -- All those $$$$ and downtown traffic, too.

Whoopie!!

So here's what they really want:

Applicants must be local and available to start immediately. Must be comfortable with tedious assignments. (I am not making this up...)

Ideal candidate has expert AP Style and phone voice (and the background for these two skills would be... what? "Project Runway" experience?), in addition to some knowledge of InDesign, webcasting/video editing (just a little Final Cut Pro between snacks, huh?), website CMS and blog interfaces (say WHAT?)

Be prepared to conduct phone interviews with C-level executives of $1M-$50B companies and write corporate profiles and project spotlights. Must complete at least 3-4 stories week (at approx 1000 words each). (You can squeeze your blog interface and video editing in at lunch time, but you better not give "bad phone" to those C-level execs, EVER!).

Other tasks (oh, for the love of Pete... there's MORE??????) include: peer editing, copy writing/slugging, design/layout editing, occasional advertisement design, scripting for webcasts, attending trade shows/conferences.

Knowledge of the following industries is helpful:
(design-build, engineering, interior design, etc.)
(residential, commercial, mechanical contracting, post tensioning, etc.)
(solar, nuclear, wind, geothermal, natural gas/oil, fuel cells, etc.)
(education)

Location: Metro Center.
Hours: 9-5 (strict)
PAY: $35K w/bonus ($24K base plus qtrly bonus) NON NEGOTIABLE (Okay, this now borders on something for OSHA to investigate. All THIS for the very most definitely, profoundly, NON-living wage of $24K -- and don't you DARE work anywhere else or freelance; just give up food. But, don't fret, if WE think you deserve it, we'll give you a bonus.. how's that workin' for ya, Schmuck!)

TO APPLY: email resume, cover letter, 3 writing samples and any other video/graphic samples, if applicable. Don't hold your breath.

Give Me A Break or I'll Crack Up. Now I Know Why.

2010-10-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

I've been reading "The Singularity Is Near" by Ray Kurzweil (published in 2005) ... ... "singularity" being that point in human history where human and non-human intelligence merge.

As Kurzweil sees it, we are in the beginning of Epoch 5, within six epochs of human history. This is the Epoch where everything accelerates exponentially. For example, as Kurzweil sees it, "We won't experience one hundred years of technological advance in the 21st century; we will witness on the order of twenty thousand years of progress."

Kurzweil's book talks about the "canonical milestones," clusters of 28 significant events in human history identified by physicist and complexity theorist Theodore Modis. He notes that two of these milestones -- order and complexity -- are growing exponentially.

I'm not sure where the "order" comes in. Everything seems chaotic to me, so I need to keep reading. But I totally understand the reality of what I've been sensing and feeling for the past 8 or 9 months: Namely, human beings are having a difficult time dealing with this acceleration of complexity milestone. In short, the pressure to "keep up" with ever faster and more complicated change is making human beings crazy.

Oh ... in researching the book, I just learned that The Singularity Is Near has been made into a movie currently traveling the indy circuits. Put me first in line for that one! This is amazing and life-altering stuff. Mind-bending, yes.. but worth ever twist and turn.

So, if that's the problem, what's the solution? My first guess is that we need to simplify and downsize (physical clutter can't help with this overwhelmed psyche, despite the assbackwards approach that a lot of people seem to be adopting via hoarding). On the other hand, we need to make technology our partner here (I mean, that's the idea, right).

I'm thinking, I'm thinking ...

Holy Hoarders, Batman. Reality TV IS Reality.

2010-09-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Big numbers on the reality TV show, “Hoarders,” over Labor Day. A&E publicized its third season like crazy, with images of possums in the kitchen and counter tops covered in inhuman filth.

The publicity campaign worked, as millions tuned in for an all-day marathon peek at piles of … well, anything you can imagine (and lots you don’t want to). Yesterday – the day after the show aired -- “Hoarders” was a popular topic on Twitter.

What’s wrong with this picture? Quite simply, it’s getting awfully real. “Hoarders” and every other examination of mental illness cast as human aberration is vastly more disturbing – and frighteningly more common -- than it is entertaining.

For example, now that “Hoarders” has come out of the closet onto TV, media reports of the mental illness are growing. In Schaumburg, IL, a 79 year-old woman was found dead amid rubbish. Her 54 year-old daughter – whom social workers didn’t know existed -- lived there, too.

Why doesn’t somebody “do” something? Schaumburg officials say various laws make intervention nearly impossible unless the person cooperates. Hoarding expert Christiana Bratiotis of Boston University, says “The front door can be a nearly insurmountable obstacle, literally and figuratively … A true hoarder would never ever, ever let you in."

I started checking around and it turns out that everybody I asked knows two or three people who hoard. If you get into people-who-know-other-people-who-hoard, you’re swelling into double digits. A&E says 3 million Americans are hoarders. If you look at the number of American households, we’re talking 2.5 percent of our neighbors, easy.

While all hoarders pile up junk, the stuff of the illness apparently varies. Paper, other people’s discards, knickknacks, clothing, and even food are the downfall of many. Meanwhile, “animal hoarding” is exploding, say experts.

In his review of the Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate, journalist Aditya Chakrabortty observes that “The Godfather” and other popular stories about the Mafia have influenced the way Mafioso view themselves. No longer mere “gangsters,” these guys now believe they are “legitimate businessmen” whose practices of violence and intimidation can be practiced and perfected.

If “godfather syndrome” holds true for folks with too much “stuff,” we can expect mirroring to produce new levels of, and tweaks to, hoarding. After a marathon viewing of A&E compulsion, for example, maybe our own 750 bags from Target piled in the bedroom, or those boxes of mail dated back to 1998, won’t seem so bizarre.

Since, a lot of us are already detached from the broken lives and mental problems other people are suffering, maybe it’s not a giant leap to our own personal indifference about the possums, cockroaches, and dead cats, Maybe familiarity will breed more indifference than contempt.

If that seems laughably impossible, please consider whether, in 2010, it seems “predictable” that four wealthy women from New Jersey will put on fancy cocktail dresses, then go on national TV to yell and spit at their neighbors? Ho-hum, right? But how did we get immune to that?

And how long before we also get accustomed to seeing three-year olds with lipstick, fake teeth, and tiaras? Driven to desperation, will it become commonplace to try to “treat” a loved one’s mental illness in an hour by staging our own “interventions”?

Possibly, like the hoarders – and without any huge external Wall Street collapse or terrorist intervention -- society will rot from the inside out and we’ll all think it’s “normal.”

More possibly, reality TV – a joke we thought was on other people – mirrors more than we want to see.

We’ve Earned The Right To Be Civil

2010-08-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

I went to high school in Alexandria, VA, when the schools ... well, everything, really, was segregated. Not far by miles from where I lived there was a “Negro” neighborhood. Nauck has a proud heritage in the Black community, I’ve since learned. I never ventured there back in 1958. I remember being very curious as to how these people I never saw might be different. The rule seemed to be that I didn’t “belong” there, that my presence would have been an intrusion. I remember feeling some sense of melancholy about that, but I followed the rules.

I live much closer to that neighborhood now and sometimes walk through it. It’s still mostly Black folks and, at times, I still feel like I’m intruding, though much has changed … nearby hi-rise buildings, new contemporary-styled low-income housing, and a few three-story brick townhomes. Housing as old as I am – and older -- still sits there, too. In 2010, Nauck looks a lot like a lot of neighborhoods.

On my walk his morning, Nauck hammered me with the passage of time. Much of what appears there today looks slightly “old-fashioned.” I suspect it’s because the population is growing older. Today, the residents are apt to be my age, are apt to have grown up simultaneously with, if not near, me in segregated Virginia. Separated as I was back then, aging has made me contemporary with many of the Nauck residents. Television means we have now spent most of our lives together, in the same larger society.

On my walk, I passed an older gentlemen as he was opening up his T.V. repair shop. I’m quite sure he and I must have been high school students at the same time. I said “Good morning,” and he spoke back, friendly. I said, “It’s cool this morning.” He said, “Oh yes. MUCH cooler than yesterday.”

There was an old-time civility about this man. I suppose some younger generations would describe his soft, agreeable way negatively, but they’re wrong. The man who runs the T.V. repair is a gentlemen. I wonder if he also shakes his head at the cyclists zooming by, or chuckles at the decked-out joggers running with iPods. I wonder if he feels the same sense of loss I do. His neighborhood has changed completely. Not as many people sit on the front porch, mostly nobody says “Good morning” unless you say it first. It’s a different time.

Collectively, we may have earned civil rights (though I’m not too sure about that, frankly). I think we’ve also learned to think we have the right to be UNcivil. I wonder if my cohort feels it too. The next time I see him, I’m going to talk to that man. I’m going to stop and say, “Do you remember when….”

I hope we’ve both earned that.

Why Ask Gen Y?

2010-08-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

In the 1980s and early 90s -- on the way to the 21st Century – psychologists routinely urged parents to tell their kids two things: a) you’re special b) you can do anything you want to do. During the same period, economic times were good, and middle-class children had plenty of everything: toys, lessons, entertainment, “experiences,” media time, and opportunities to build “self-esteem.” (Note: Today, a Google search on “building self-esteem” pulls up 1,360,000 links. An Amazon search reveals 344 book entries for the search term “Your Kid’s Self Esteem.”

This drive to make the Gen Y children “feel good about” themselves became a national imperative, more important than American staples like discipline, good grades, and “try-fail-try again” standards. I well remember the principal of my daughter’s grade school standing in the door at opening bell, handing out “stickers” to boys who had their shirts tucked in, or to girls who said “good morning.”

Meanwhile – despite bestowing many material indulgences -- their double-income parents left many middle-class Gen Yers to their own devices. These children were the first generation plopped into day care and left as latch key kids. In their formative years, the only people these children had to listen to were on television, and the only people they had to talk to were each other.

Meanwhile, the geniuses of the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomer crowd were busy inventing the Internet. While clueless themselves, Gen Y parents delightedly discovered their progeny could master computers with ease. More praise was heaped upon Gen Y for its “brilliant” ability and Gen Y parents gloated about their three-year olds' clicking, mousing, and surfing talent.

Spawned in the glow of television and LED, Gen Y also viewed a lot of advertisements, becoming consumers extraordinaire. Fads of every sort caught their attention (remember Cabbage Patch dolls?). The spongeful brains of Gen Y had no trouble keeping up with rapidly changing images. Parents gazed on in wonder and adoration at their “special kids,” who seemed to know so much they’d never dreamed of or heard about. The accolades of parents, coaches, and teachers did indeed infuse these youngsters with a healthy dose of confidence in their Gen Y view of the world – which, naturally and easily evolved to an irrational belief in the wisdom of their own opinions and experiences. After all, nobody “older” seemed to know a damn thing.

The workplace today is full of Gen Y Twenty Somethings -- or, as a colleague likes to call them, “The Twenty Nothings.” Many of these young adults are hard working and committed (achievement was, after all, a big part of the message). They do, however, display a disconcerting reliance on their own Generation as being the “only ones” who truly “get it.”

What does Gen Y “get”? Pretty much everything they want, hopefully, since they are, after all, “special.” But more significantly, their adoring parents so long delivered the “you’re so clever” message that Gen Y often truly believes Gen X and Baby Boomers have been left far behind the learning curve. Some are more polite than others in talking about “people who are older.” But here’s the challenge: The next time you’re in the Twenty Something crowd, try to count the number of times they allude to their cohort’s “special” ability to perceive societal trends, grasp “the market,” and lock onto “what’s really happening.” To Gen Y, experience counts for nothing and “wisdom” – which absent, over-extended parents and teachers had no time to share -- is a non-issue. No wonder. They learned years ago that “what is” changes faster than a YouTube upload, and fame lasts a lot less than 15 minutes.

The point is: Why Ask Gen Y? Having paid no attention to any generation save their own, Gen Y has a unique non-ability to put any issue into historical context. On the other hand, Gen Y should have an improved ability to put issues into a global context -- and perhaps they do (they voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, after all). Sadly, though, many appear to have led insular lives, mainly talking to one another, and relying for life wisdom on t.v. shows like Friends. [A brief sidebar: Friends concisely and accurately represents the attitudes of, and speaks for, this generation. Gen Yers were obsessed with, and profoundly affected by, the show’s notion of “friends” as “all there is.” This insipid show is, no doubt, responsible for at least a portion of Gen Y’s social arrogance. In Friends, parents and authority figures are stupid, neurotic, and lots less smart than the gang of relationship-confused, career-indifferent, self-indulgent, exclusive and exclusionary group of six boys and girls playing at life. But I digress …].

As they've turned out, this “special” generation seems ready to act on their self-aggrandized beliefs. It’s not their fault, of course (we told them they were special and could do anything). But – if you’re an employer or manager -- do beware of the Gen Y notion of their own special insight.

Every generation eventually graduates from the School of Hard Knocks – and, no doubt – the current economic mess is going to be a fast wake up call for Gen Y. In the meantime, do love this charming and charmed, enthusiastic, capable, “special” generation as much as you want ... but don’t believe everything they tell you.

p.s. Generation X kids – the Baby Busters -- had things a lot tougher. They reportedly weren’t happy with their self-centered, fickle, impractical parents who launched social revolutions like a 50% divorce rate, widespread drug use, the Women’s Movement and the Sexual Revolution. This disengaged, cynical generation has a reputation for shrugging and walking away. Curiously, in the workplace, a lot of Gen Ys are “managed” by Gen Xers, which could -- by default -- leave Gen Y more or less in charge. Expect chaos.

Trashing, Bashing, and Slashing: The Horrors of Social Media

2010-08-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

1. Divorce attorneys haunt Facebook and Twitter for dirty little secrets and spouse trashing.

2. Bash Tweets and hate blogs make some artists fear success.

3. Tire slashing in the UK, job slashing at the university of Iowa, and price slashing at Franklin Covey typify some of the less violent slash tweets in a 24-hour period.

Meanwhile, as our brain’s fear circuitry overpowers its ability to reason, social media expresses a jillion worrisome thoughts and spreads fear psychosis.

No wonder we’re all dying to climb into an Xbox and play Natal.

The One for All of Us

2008-11-07T03:33:00.000-08:00

I've finally emerged from my retreat. This election has been exhausting. There were times in the last two weeks when I didn't think I could stand it for another minute! On Wednesday, when it was finally over, I was totally spent. I watched television all day, finally able to enjoy every political discussion, whether from the Right or the Left ... and really loving the crew at MSNBC (even Joe Scarborough, who was ever-so subdued :-)

I was enthralled by Barack's speech, but also felt very sad for him. I immediately saw a difference in his demeanor: somber, serious, deliberate, overwhelmed but -- as ever -- under control. Even his embrace of his beloved Michelle was restrained, as was hers of him. Only with his girls did I see a relax in his body language for a few seconds. This is a man who is undertaking the hopes, not of millions, but of billions of people. No one knows better than Barack what a mess this world is in. Maureen Dowd said it so well, writing in The Times on Wednesday.

This country was/is at a crossroads (the world, actually.. which is much of the point here), where we were either going to get impossibly worse, or try to get better. He is The One in This Time for This Moment. Somehow, we passed the test and I anticipate the world getting on board, because we are indeed one people and we all need a leader.

So many respond to Barack's grace, his civility, his smile that comes almost in spite of himself, his ability to explain to the rest of us what is happening, his gift for inspiring us all to do and be better, his patience, his thoughtfulness that somehow also seems to spring from intuition .. all of his passion wrapped in a somehow DISpassionate nature that can see the big picture, but still handle the small details. He's amazing.

So here we are.. with a heckuva guy for President. Man, it's just lovely, isn't it?

To Colin Powell and Barack Obama and Many More

2008-10-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently applauded Colin Powell's response to the question of whether or not Obama is a Muslim, in which Powell posed the incredibly sensible, laudable, American question: "What if he was?" I've been struck by the integrity, civility, temperance, patience, and strength of so many Black Americans who have remained role models despite the idiocy raging around them. Instead of fearing such men, we should be thanking God for the character they display, so unfortunately forged in pain. There is a special dimension to the greatness that emerges from both Powell and Obama (and from many other Black men of that ilk, the most prominent of whom was, of course, Dr. King) and, surely, it does take shape in the experience of being male and Black in America. That quiet character.. that really deep understanding of freedom and rights and patience and compromise, coupled with incredible strength and persistence ... is striking and awesome. What the heck are we afraid of?

No Poppin' Goin' On

2008-10-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that the wheels are turning veeeeeeeery slowly on every front. I suspect it's a combination of extraordinary anxiety about the economy and angst about the election, both culminating in communal exhaustion. No one is getting much done.

Sarah Palin Is No Elle Woods.. There IS no Elle Woods.. Yet

2008-09-26T05:29:00.001-07:00

Ever since Sarah Palin was named McCain's vice presidential pick, I've been perplexed [and frantic], wondering how any woman could support the nomination of a person so obviously uncomplex, uninformed, unsophisticated, and untested. Writing in The New York Times this morning, Judith Warner gave me the insight I've been searching for. It's the Elle Woods syndrome. Palin supporters see in this former beauty queen the notion that feminine [and by feminine, here I mean girly] can trump masculine -- that girly is as smart, as strong, as dominant (or more so).

This is a state of mind that lurks in the dark corners of every woman's psyche -- from the strongest and most accomplished among us, to the weakest and most vulnerable. All of us harbor the fantasy that girly can win. Hear me out, my sisters ...

Who is Elle Woods? She's that truly girly gal who beat all the men at Harvard -- and, notably, all the non-girly women --at their own game. In the end, she even saddled the guy and his white horse. Meanwhile, no, Elle didn't have to give up pretty pink stuff, or the feathery, sparkly, soft accoutrements of a cozy nest. She didn't have to leave her loyal dog behind [note: in this case, dog stands-in for baby]. Elle Woods suceeded while looking gorgeous and wearing high heels. And, best of all, she remained friends with all her Delta Nu sorority sisters. In short, she succeeded in a girly woman's world. Wow.

Think about it for a moment. Here we are, Nancy Pelosi and Donna Brazile and Carly Fiona, all succeeding. But where? Sadly, in a man's world, on men's terms, and with men's rules (don't wail; you know it's true). And, though we almost never admit it to ourselves -- and certainly not to each other or, heaven forbid, men -- oh truly, how we do yearn to be Elle, doing our achievement thing in ways that make us feel comfortable. No compromises. Just all of us, all "getting along," all the time. Happy happy, back in the cave, with our sisters and our babies, cooking scrumptious T-Rex, cutsey-ing up the stone walls, watching out for each other's kids, sharing, bonding, giggling, and talking ... [admit it: we love to talk].

That's the Elle Woods fantasy ... and that fantasy is what makes the "girly" women among us easily fall victim to the mirage of Palin Power. We can't deny that these girly girls are, primarily, Republican women -- homemakers, and evangelical church goers, and "wives" of "men" -- all believing that Sarah Palin is Elle Woods come to life. I'm not talking about those accomplished women among us who, for thoughtful reasons and/or by instinct, believe in making homes for kids. I'm talking about those women who just want to be cave girls forever, even when they live in McMansions built by men.

Sadly, this election isn't about Elle Woods, folks. And when the neo-cons get their teeth into Palin, all she'll be is a Stepford VP anyway. That's the reality show.

So, girly girls, a vote for Sarah Palin is -- in truth -- a vote for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (c'mon, you know you don't really like them; these are the guys who drag cave women by their hair and sacrifice their babies, when "necessary").

Listen up, baby: We've come a long way ... but we've got a long, long way to go. And we're not getting there in high heels.

Little Romans Burning

2008-09-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

The initial Palin Feeding Frenzy seems to have been swallowed up by real news. There's no doubt the Repubs are responsible for much of what's happened on Wall Street and maybe most Americans are realizing -- or at least intuiting -- it.

The revised Bankruptcy Law passed in 2005 (which, I have to say is Your Bad, Congress, and including yours, Joe Biden from Delaware) was the initial inkling that credit card companies were worried about the average American being waaaaaay over-extended . If Congress hadn't passed that bill -- which basically left people with severe hardships totally unprotected -- the credit card companies would have shut down easy credit much earlier. Instead, the new law provided carte blanche to put the screws to consumers. With consumers no longer able to attain debt forgiveness under any circumstances, the credit card companies couldn't lose. But that wasn't all. Now protected from consumer defaults, the credit card companies instituted unconscionable late fees and mammoth interest rate increases for the smallest infraction. Big Money wins.

Enter Bad Repubs Two: Lower and lower interest rates. For most American families, real earning power -- and associated "savings" -- have been stagnant or declining for a decade. Even with two or more people in the household working, people are barely making it. The solution? Offer cheap money for mortgages, which, in turn, boosts market demand for housing, which, in turn, inflates housing "value," which, in turn, inflates the value of consumers' only remaining real asset -- the family home. Voila! Easy access for the average American to huge amounts of "paper" wealth .. which they promptly converted into REAL debt -- sometimes extravagantly for vacations and digital toys, but more often for paying off those skyrocketing credit card bills, housing repairs they couldn't afford otherwise, ballooning health care costs, college tuition hikes, and those alluring SUVs (also made cheap and easy to buy) that burned oil like no tomorrow.

The people setting monetary policy were totally responsible for stopping all this. Instead they fueled it. The might have injected some market discipline by boosting interest rates, but they didn't. The Republicans knew that real income was declining for most Americans, but consumers didn't realize it because they were suddenly "wealthy" from mortgage "refi" that the financial "experts" told them was going to be "fine, folks, just fine." Meanwhile, the Republicans fiddled no end, because their political futures were looking very solid. Moreover, the Republican policymakers' colleagues were/are/and always have been the credit card companies, the financial institutions, the global congolomerates, and the oil companies ... all of whom were ecstatic, guzzling the new cash flow. Meanwhile, the public was feeling "rich" and happy. Yep. Great psychology for the 2008 election.

So, yes. Make no mistake about it. Blame the Republicans who have always protected Big Money. But now they're burning, too? Well, yes, except that now policymakers are coming to their rescue ... while Little Romans burn.

WTF?

2008-09-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

I don't understand HOW the housing and mortgage crisis could have caused FannieMae, FreddieMac, Merrill Lynch, AND Lehman Brothers *all* to sink like hot rocks. I mean, hell yeah, some people bought inflated houses and now they're defaulting, but there's GOT to be more to this fiasco.

How about the dimension of ordinary people refinancing their houses and spending every dime on [sometimes] vacations and flat screen t.v.s but [more often] on paying off the credit card bills that filled in when they just weren't making it otherwise [no, no, no... we're not in a recession, America; it's just a slowing economy.. gag ...]

... or the practice of the scurrilous credit card companies SCREWING people for the tiniest of transgressions [a day late? $35 and STFU] ..

.. or the fact that tens of thousands of us [more?] are dealing with medical crises and/or job losses ...

... or the outrageous interest rates charged for student loans that ALSO are going to go into default ...

... or the whole greedy Republican banking, energy, and media FUBAR that lets corporations (American and global) bleed people until they're anemic and then gives the transfusion to the transgressors.

No, we don't need to fix health care, or credit practices, or higher [and lower] education, or oil fixation, or corruption, or lies and propaganda at the highest levels of government. Not a problem. Have another drink, or pill, or Dance with the Stars. It's fine. Really. It's just fine.

p.s. Did you say AIG? Did you say General Motors? Did you say trillions to wage war? Did you say Depression?

Scary China: Not So Scary After All

2008-08-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it. I’ve seen the Chinese as formidable opponents ever since I went to college in Tokyo with a bunch of kids from Hong Kong and Taiwan. It wasn’t just that these guys and gals were smart. They were. But they had this competitive, entrepreneurial spirit that drove them to excel at everything they touched. These weren’t the Chairman Mao Chinese, mind you, but all last week in Beijing, I kept seeing the same darn thing: win, win, win. But I really got worried this morning when I read what the Chinese Olympic fans were saying when they lost.

According to this New York Times article, Liu Xiang was the first Chinese guy to win a track and field gold medal in the 110 hurdles in 2004. He had become a national hero, an icon, a demi-god. But before Liu could compete in 2008, he injured both his hamstring and his Achilles’ tendon. The Chinese response startled me.

“It is a very hard moment for all of us,” Sun [Liu’s coach] said.
Well, wait. It's not really about ALL of you, is it?

I’m very disappointed, very disappointed,” said Wang Jifei, a reporter with The Chengdu Economic Daily. “Liu Xiang is our, you know, national hero. But right now he has failed.”
Failed? I don’t think I’ve heard the word “failure” applied to an injured athlete before ... have I?

“Everybody has been waiting for such a long time. We hold very high expectations. But I think people understand,” said a fan.
Maybe I’m wrong, but to me that sounds a lot like, “I think people forgive.”

Another fan said, “What a regret. But he’s injured and that happens to everybody. An American got hurt, too. There must be something wrong with the track. Maybe it’s just unlucky.”
What, pray tell, does an American getting hurt have to do with this?

And, finally, this from an eight-year old. “I’m not mad at him … I’m sure he’ll recover very soon and grab another championship in the future.”
Well, what if he doesn't recover in the future? Will you be mad at him then?

I'm not getting this attitude at all. I simply don't understand the “collective” system that apparently characterizes current Chinese thinking to the point that an injured sports figure is owned by one and all.

Where’s the aroma (and magnificence) of individual achievement, of the lonely runner on the hill, doing it for him or herself against all odds (with no “collective” support)? That’s the story I want to hear. That's what thrills the American me. Instead, I conjure up images of the Chinese government scouring the hillside for the thousands out of 1.5 billion who have a gift, followed by the years of training camps that discard anyone who sniffs of possible failure along the way. Thrown away children. Shattered souls. Human wreckage. Everybody keeps talking about how Chinese athletes don’t smile. Why would they?

Do I exaggerate? I think not. How else could a single country have so dramatically increased their medal take (they already have 40 percent more medals in 2008 than in 2004 – forty percent!!) And it’s only been four years!

Unless we're dealing with a super human race (wait, the Germans already tried that...) some serious pushing has been going down. Only a ruthless “collective” push can explain this achievement, and the major collective disappointment in poor Liu Xiang illustrates it. The real wonder is that any athlete from the United States – let alone Romania or Jamaica -- can beat the entire Chinese government at any game. But there’s a saving grace…

I was getting very depressed until D. pointed me to an article a few days earlier [China Loves Its Soccer. Its Team? Don’t Ask]. Here’s something about Chinese sports I can relate to. Here’s a familiar human reaction, thank God, to losing at a sport when your team can’t seem to win no matter what. Apparently, Chinese soccer fans are not only rabid; they’re furious. So why is this good news? Because they are blaming the system -- the coaches, the players, the corruption, the whole stinking mess. How human, how divine!

It's money, money, money – decadence, decadence, decadence – that the Chinese are blaming for the soccer’s team’s failure (in other words, capitalism). Reportedly, the Chinese soccer team (members of which make beaucoup bucks, just like soccer players do everywhere else in the world) doesn’t care enough about winning, say the fans. They’re lazy and the system is corrupt. Big money is the problem, complain observers, with many players having been caught with drugs and prostitutes (hey, so what else is new?).

Bottomline: These Chinese super-humans are human after all. Gifted, competitive, smart, yes – but human. Get the enforcers out of the way, give ‘em a little compensation, toss 'em a little STUFF, and watch the Chinese lock-step falter. And that's a good thing.

We simply cannot have human beings jumping over hurdles with puffy Achilles. That’s the work of machines. And we definitely can't have collective thinking, because then we don't have individual responsibility. Besides, it's just not any fun.

2008-08-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

Never Mind the Girl; The Brain Can't Take It

This article in The New York Times gives a small idea how maddeningly complex the brain is. And -- as much as we love to hate "the pharmaceuticals" -- without this kind of research (albeit motivated by return on investment), probably we wouldn't be making any progress at all in understanding brain dysfunction.

Meanwhile, as we crawl out of the Dark Ages in our perspective on mental illness, the number and nature of disorders seem to be evolving much faster than we are, along with an explosion of brand new "crazies." Is it possible we'll discover that none of us humans has evolved sufficiently to cope with life in the 21st Century? Is one or another brain drug in everybody's [not so distant] future? With the planet's increasing shift to multiple choice disorder, dizzying speed, repetitious tasking, sedentarianism, vast hours of frenetic sensory input, chemically-laced food, poor diet generally, pervasive social pressures, and fear of absolutely, positively everything -- maybe our brains simply can't keep up. Maybe the world we live in -- the world we've created -- is causing our various receptors to go haywire.

I asked several friends what they thought. One brilliant friend with a profound metaphysical bent, suggested that our growing mental problems are the result of poor nutrition. A second friend noted other environmental factors, saying, "I'm not sure what I would add to your list (it's pretty exhaustive!) other than a lack of sleep. As a society, I don't think we get enough sleep -- and isn't that recent research about breast cancer and light exposure at night interesting? I think (at least I hope) that we'll start to figure out that so much about the way we live is unhealthy, particularly the processed, chemical-laced foods."

Another friend -- a psychiatric nurse -- said, "Your premise is that modern life is causing an explosion in mental dysfunction of all kinds, by (indirectly) causing brain chemicals to go haywire. And your list of factors contributing to the problem is convincing and right on..... but still I hesitate. I'm not quite sure why." She went on to note that schizophrenia has "been around for centuries." She observed that though autisim seems to be on the rise, she suspects it occurs during fetal development. Eating disorders, she notes, are "a result of society's conflicting values... a modern life dilemma." She concludes, "When we talk about mental health, I'm concerned about what we're teaching young folks, without even being aware that we're teaching. I'm talking about violence as a form of entertainment. It's scary to me..... the way movies, TV, and video games glorify violence, and often allow the perpetrator to walk away without consequences."

In a terse one sentence response, a male friend agreed that life is making us crazy, but -- perhaps in concert with the posited nature of men to rush to solution -- mainly wondered "What can we do?"

A gifted eco-writer friend observed, "I see [the Internet] as an admirable idea gone wrong: technology intended to connect the world for noble purposes, hijacked by the less lofty masses for trivial, superficial pursuits. Media, once designed, again, to inform, educate and connect the world, now hijacked by commercial aims for pure profit. Corporate values that have severed the relationship between business and workers, favoring shareholders and thus, productivity and efficiency over everything else, leaving 'human resources' in cubicle mazes with mindless tasks to accomplish. To my mind, a particular type of person has gained control of our culture, and the rest of us are at their mercy."

A friend with two young children and a deep commitment to God, wrote, " ... we are on sensory overload on so many levels. Remember the axiom about early to bed and early to rise? And remember when food was wholesome and no one said you shouldn't eat it because it had too many carbs or too much fat or too many artificial whatevers? Remember when neighbors would help and talk to one another? Yes, we are overstimulated, but somehow underutilized as human beings. Where is the intimate connection? If a creative soul cries out for a 'stop the world moment,' we medicate them. Why can't they cope? Why can't they keep up? We are all racing but where are we going?"

Finally, one friend shared this: "With prozac, I gain weight, shop, and eat like a crazy woman. Add the Wellbutrin and the shopping and eating normalize. If that isn't a perfect testament to mind over matter I don't know what is. I believe our heads are hardwired-- and these drugs just normalize us, while sapping us of our sexual urges and creativity. If anything, the days of the Van Goghs and Hemmingways are done, replaced by well medicated intelligent beings who no longer suffer "needlessly". Needlessly being kind of a debatable word.

It's worth talking about, to be sure.

And, now for a *great* listen: "The Girl Can't Take It." Click HERE]