CYNICAL

“This cynical stance they took last night — they’re willing to jeopardize 3 million jobs so they could gain some advantage in their war against unions — is appalling,” said Bill Samuel, the chief lobbyist for the AFL–CIO about the Republicans who opposed a Detroit bail out.

 

What does Bill Samuel mean when he uses the word cynical?  This word has at least twelve synonyms.  Did he mean suspicious, skeptical, scornful, or one of the other nine?  I believe it’s all three that I identified.  They are certainly contemptuous (another synonym for cynical) of the unions and the companies in Detroit.

 

When Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia it might have been viewed as cynical. After all didn’t they sneer (another synonym for cynical) at the president of Georgia when his government challenged those breakaway provinces?

 

When Congress was asked to provide aid to the finance industry I was and still remain skeptical of the efforts by Hank Paulson.  I am very pessimistic (another synonym for cynical) about the Treasury department’s efforts to unfreeze the credit markets.   

 

Finally I do love the way David Letterman and  Jay Leno use sarcastic (another synonym for cynical) humor to mock (another synonym for cynical) everything.

 

Is this column too cynical?

Paradise Lost

NOW, on PBS every Friday evening, offered the best example I have seen that confirms the impact of global warning.  Paradise Lost documents the plight of the nation of Kiribati.  This island nation is most likely to become the first victim of global warming as the rising seas drown the islands.  There is probably nothing that can be done to save the land.


This is not the first indication of global warning.  Ships are now able to traverse the north rim of North America.  There was a documentary about Glacier National Park in Montana.  The governor of that state flew over the park with a reporter.  The governor pointed out the areas that had been covered with glacial ice in past years but are now all barren rock.  He stated that each year the ice retreats and predicted that eventually all of it will be gone.

 

Man’s paradise is this planet.  It is changing in significant ways.  I am convinced that man has contributed to the changes that are occurring now.  Can we make an impact?  Of course I do not know.  Isn’t it worth trying?

Big City Politics is For the Politically Connected

Managing city governments is a difficult job.  The public decides every four to six years who will be their spokesmen.  If a city councilman, mayor, or other elected official believes he has the support of the public there is no way another politician or a citizen with good ideas can stand in the way. Los Angeles has known some serious battles between elected officials.  The outcomes are not easy to predict.

Michael Bloomberg has been given the right to run for a third term as mayor of New York City, even though there are term limits, because he has the public’s confidence.  It’s the reason that FDR successfully ran for president four times.

Richard Daley has been mayor of Chicago since 1989 because when all is said and done the public really likes the way he manages that city.

Yesterday the superintendent of public schools in Los Angeles saw his four year contract canceled after just two years.  He really never lived up to expectations.  It’s also true that the mayor wanted control of the schools and tough politics added to his demise.  Mayor Antonio Villaragosa is popular with the public.  That Superintendent David Brewer is Black had no bearing in the decision.  Los Angeles has had a Black mayor, Tom Bradley, and he was a popular figure.

No Innovation Means No American Manufacturing

It appears that the Detroit auto makers will be given some kind of loan to help them through their hard times. Considering the possible consequences if there is no aid, Congress has little choice. In the long run all three of those companies will have to change in very significant ways. If they do not, they will have to be allowed to die.

Every Friday the Los Angeles Daily News has a section entitled DRIVE. It is all about new and unusual vehicles. This past Friday’s edition reviewed the new Ford Flex. The car reminded the reviewer of an old panel truck. The difference is that it looks somewhat like an old station wagon. For those too young to remember, a station wagon is really an SUV on a car chassis. The result is that station wagons provide the ride of a car along with the space of an SUV.

I have owned two station wagons. The last was a 1983 Chevrolet Malibu. The Flex’s V6 engine and the space for five reminded me of  the Malibu.  What really caught my eye was the gas mileage. The Flex offers 16 city and 22 highway miles per gallon. That was the mileage I obtained on that Chevrolet. This lack of innovation is the reason that the Detroit auto makers now sell less than 50% of total car sales in America. How many billions of dollars will the United States government spend on this incompetent industry? Perhaps the lack of innovation is the real reason American manufacturing has been in decline for the past 30 years.

Why We Live Here

It’s Southern California.  The only place there is snow is in the mountains.  The cities have unbelievably mild winters where 70°F temperatures are common in the winter.  The coldest winter nights seldom go below freezing  (32°F).  Today the temperature was 50°F at 8 a.m. and reached 71°F.  Most of us know how fortunate we are.  I was born in Canada.  Thanks Dad!

 

This article from the local newspaper says it better than me.

Need a reminder why we live here? Just step outside

By Susan Abram, Staff Writer

Updated: 12/01/2008 11:03:03 PM PST

If you’re feeling a little down from all the bad news lately, just look up and let the amber glow of the sun melt your worries away.

Not bad for December, huh?

It could definitely be worse. This is how The Weather Channel describes what’s about to descend on parts of the nation:

“A polar cold front howling southward out of Canada tomorrow will hurl snow and wind into Montana and northern Wyoming – a true meteorological shock …”

That’s right, howling and hurling. It’s dipping into freezing temperatures in the Midwest. That means if you leave a can of pop on a Chicago or Milwaukee sidewalk for too long, it’ll explode under pressure. Apparently, soda hates the chill, too.

And New York?

Fuggedaboutit. Step outside without layers of wool and that slice of pizza you scarfed down for lunch will give you a bad case of “agita,” Italian-American slang for heartburn.

Meanwhile, temperatures in Los Angeles are expected to take their time falling to somewhere even partially resembling winter.

The mercury will drop from a high of 80 on Monday to about 74 today.

Weather forecasters say we can expect much of the same the rest of the week across most of the San Fernando Valley.

Take that, Cleveland!

susan.abram@dailynews.com 818-713-3664

INTROSPECTION

It’s about looking into yourself and examining your mental state and your processing of ideas and thoughts.  ABC’s Charlie Gibson interviewed President George W. Bush and we all found that he is either a liar or lacks the capacity to evaluate his decisions.


Two questions that Mr. Gibson asked were answered with the words, “That’s an interesting question.”  Question 1 was “Would you have gone into Iraq if there was no evidence of WMD?”  Question 2 was “Your only 62.  Is there one more thing you want to achieve?”


That GWB has not thought about these two events is utterly astonishing.  But as you listen to the interviews you realize that this man lacks emotion and seems to lack empathy for the millions of people who have been impacted by the Iraq War and the recession.  As to the recession, an unemotional “I’m sorry it happened” suggests that he has no clue of the impact that the current financial crises has had on most Americans.

      

If ever there was a man who represents the devil it is George W. Bush.  If there is a hell, I believe he will go there.

Keeping Jobs In America

As I walk through the stores this holiday season there is one consistent fact.  Most of the merchandise was made in another country (not the United States).  Even clothing sold in high end stores was manufactured in another country.  My Dell desktop computer was made in China and my Dell laptop was made in Malaysia.  Tech service on those computers is provided in Bangalore, India.

Does patriotism trump our pocket books?   There is an article on the Los Angeles Times November 29 front page about the new Kia plant being built in West Point, Georgia.   The paper quotes one lady there that buying American, “is still a big deal.  But you can only be patriotic until you can’t afford it anymore.”  

Manufacturing continues to decline in the United States.  This contention is supported by the fact that union membership has fallen by 50% in the past 40 years.  In September 2001 the Commissioner of Bureau of Labor Statistics, Katharine G. Abraham presented a paper with the dismal fact that “Manufacturing employment fell by 141,000 in August” of 2001.  Manufacturing has continued its decline to the present.    

America’s largest corporations have continued to thrive and grow larger during the past 20 years as manufacturing employment has declined.  This situation is the result of the export of American manufacturing and jobs to lower cost nations.  With a new Democratic Party administration in the White House and strong Democrat presence in Congress this circumstance could change.  The problem is the lobbyists employed by big business.  

Congress may not be able to resist the temptations of the lobbyists but can always pass laws that induce employment in the United States.  That can be accomplished through tax incentives.  Lobbyists and corporations love incentives.  Now the public must demand that Congress do its job.

Wind Turbine Manufacturing

No economically successful nation exists without a manufacturing base.  While the financial markets do create jobs and are part of our economic engine they could not survive without manufacturing, mining, and agriculture.  Most governments do encourage the development of every kind of endeavor.

 

However, the United States is a capitalist nation that stringently follows the philosophy of free enterprise.   As a result we object to government aid to any private enterprise.  Most Americans believe in Darwin’s theory when it’s applied to business.  That belief translates to most of us questioning the use of government funds to bail out the financial industry, auto manufacturers, or any other business.  Does this mean the end of the Big Three auto makers?  If the Republican Party controlled both houses of Congress the answer would be yes.  The Democratic Party is likely to be emendable to a bail out.

 

Barack Obama has pointed out that the United States could employ thousands of people building a Green economy.  Look for Wind Turbine companies on the internet and you will find there are about 20 of them in the United States.  Only one name is familiar to most of us, General Electric.   Two others that caught my eye are Suzlon Energy Limited and Urban Green Energy.  The likely disappearance of the Big Three auto companies and our need to reduce oil imports should make this manufacturing opportunity a high priority in the new administration.

INTERREGNUM

George W. Bush say it’s not so.  James Baker used this word to describe the current condition of our federal government.  According to Webster’s Dictionary it means “a suspension of governmental or administrative functions; period without the usual ruler, governor.”  Paul Krugman described this period as the same as the period after FDR’s election until he took office in March 1933 and also called it an Interregnum but only after the master linguist, William Safire (didn’t he say he was retiring?) used the word in his own On Language column.

 

President Bush is in office until January 20, 2009.  Is he abandoning his duties?  In some ways it appears he has.  Henry Paulson has taken the lead in the Financial Crises.  Then again he did sign a bill the other day extending unemployment benefits and now he is visiting an APEC meeting in Peru where he spoke to many world leaders about trade relations.

 

Lame duck presidents have been a feature of our political system since the founding of this nation.  It is the 21st century.  Perhaps we need to revise the date a new president takes office.

The Katrina Years

The Katrina Hurricane is metaphor for the incompetence of George W. Bush and all the people who surround him.  “Good job Brownie” could just as easily be “Good job Paulie” for the financial implosion that is now being managed by Henry Paulson.  Let’s not forget Donald Rumsfeld and the great job he did taking us into a war zone that has gone on for seven years.  Then there is the extraordinary debt that our government has now that is growing in the final day of the Bush presidency.

 

We are down to the last 59 days of a storm that will have lasted for eight years.  George W. Bush will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the worst presidents in America’s history.  He is perhaps the very worst.  Just “Google” the words ‘worst American president’ and you will obtain a long list of articles.  Of course we are focused on President Bush but there here have been others who do deserve to be considered in the bottom 10.

 

U. S. News and World Report offered their list of the ten worst presidents but gives its readers the opportunity to provide their own opinions. Not surprising George W. Bush received 71% of all those voting for the worst president.  The History News Network states that in a poll of historians, 61% rated Bush the worst.  I almost forgot about Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter who rated in the worst ten too.

 

I really would like someone to identify one thing that President Bush did that was a success (other than lower taxes for the rich).  I know that many will say that we have not had another attack like 9-11 but is that because of any action taken by this man?  After all entering this country illegally is still very easy and entering legally and staying beyond your appointed departure is still very easy to do.

 

Back when Richard Nixon resigned from office we could not imagine a worse president.  Perhaps George W. Bush will not be the very worst president after all.  He certainly is giving the try for this award his very best effort.