Do complete that survey

Since I live in the suburbs and am an Independent voter, I receive all kinds of surveys, usually quite biased in nature. This afternoon I received one on the Trump Agenda from the Republican National Conmmittee.

I did what I have done previously, filling it out and making comments in the margins. For example, the top priorities are listed and I was asked to rank them, with only one place for an “other.” Frankly, several things are included which should not be done at all or greatly over-simplify a complex issue. And, other needs are not even mentioned, a problem I remedied with several “other issues.”

But, what I also did was what I would encourage others to do, if given the chance. I wrote that Congress needs to censure this President for his recent remarks on white supremacists and neo-Nazis and actions unbecoming the office. I also mentioned that Congress may need to consider impeachment if the Russian investigation reveals what I fear.

Use these vehicles to communicate. My guess is I am not the only one who did this. Right now, the incumbent in the White House has diminished and defamed to office. We need to share our voice to say we demand honor, morality and leadership from our President, none of which we are getting from this man.

Expansion of the Chris Rock Solution

One of the funniest, yet provocative routines performed by the comedian Chris Rock is his proposal to solve gun violence. Price the bullets at $5,000 per bullet. He goes on to describe, as only he can, that shooters will become very judicious with how they use ammunition at that price point.

I was thinking of his idea today and thought it might be a good strategy on other things that are causing problems in America. Civil protest need only require a permit, yet if you bring a weapon that will cost extra. Bring a bat, baton or stick and that will be $5,000 per weapon per person. Bring a knife, sword, dagger, etc., that will be $10,000. Bring a hand gun or rifle that will be $25,000. Someone has to pay for the police cost.

If Congress wants to fund raise on our tax dollars, that will be $5,000 for two hours worth of calling payable by the political party. In person fund raising will be $10,000. If a lobbyist wants to talk with you, they must pay Treasury $25,000.

As for making people tell the truth, if a news agency tells a falsehood and doesn’t visibly retract a story, $100,000 fine. If a President or member of Congress tells a falsehood without a visible retraction, $25,000. If a story is repeated, the fine is tripled. If the politician hits ten lies, the fine is tripled, as well.

The job to collect national fines will be imposed on the Secretary of the Treasury. Local fines can be collected by the City Tax Collectors. Failure to pay, will double the fine and require public disclosure by name and party. This may cause folks to think about how they use their time. It would also help with our deficit and debt.

Back in the fall of 1945

Back in the fall of 1945, it would be interesting, surprising and/ or stomach wrenching to learn the following truisms seventy-two years later. Many would not believe you if you told them the following:

The leader of the free world would be Germany, while America’s leader would have fascist tendencies and the support of neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Members of the campaign for the same pseudo-fascist leader are being investigated for working with the Russians to get their man elected and don’t think they did anything wrong even if guilty.

This same man would question the reason and veracity of NATO formed out of the the alliances to end WWII and prevent it from ever happening again.

Scientists, main stream media, freedom of the press and the truth would all be under attack by this pseudo-fascist leader. Never before would a leader be so-often questioned about his morals, ethics or truthfulness.

One of the least trusted leaders in the world would be the President of the United States. This lack of trust comes from within his own political party and other global leaders.

The American soldiers would not believe you. This is not what we fought for they might add. Now, many great things have happened with Civil Rights, Voting Rights, LGBT rights, the first African-American President, space travel, environment protections, Internet, etc., but we are throwing some of that way with this President doing the chucking. And, that is unfortunate and sad.

Perhaps too much is being asked of too few

The title of this post came from a lyric to a song called “Patriot’s Dream” by Arlo Guthrie. Let me repeat it for emphasis – perhaps too much is asked of too few. What does this mean in today’s world?

This weekend we saw a 32 year old woman killed who was doing what she always did – protesting injustice. There she stood with mind, body and soul standing up to hate. She said with her presence it is not right that you violate what Jesus and others told us and unfairly demonize others who do not look like you do. And, in our country it is not right to deny rights to other citizens.

We have allowed too few to stand up and do what is right. This woman had more courage in her tiny body than many of those whose hearts are filled with hate. We all need to join with her efforts to fight injustice. Hate cannot carry the day.

What can we do? We must shine spotlights on hate. Just like roaches, when the light is turned on they will scatter. It takes a lot of energy to hate and it will wear you down. The easier path is to treat others with dignity and compassion.

We must ask of our religious and political leaders to speak more of tolerance and doing what is right. If they choose not to, then we must seek new leaders. We cannot condone bigotry from our leaders and especially from the pulpit.

Seeing the wave of support against these hate mongers is encouraging. But, we must continue the fight against bigotry. We must avoid using the violence in so doing, but we must stand strong against those who do. And, remember the words of another song about bigotry by Oscar Hammerstein in “South Pacific.”

“You must be carefully taught by the time you are seven are eight, to hate the people your parents hate. You have to be carefully taught.”

Or, we could teach love instead.

 

 

Boys with Toys

In the James Bond movie “Goldeneye,” Polish born actress Izabella Scorupca played my favorite Bond female character Natalya Simonova. She gave Bond the devil for his penchant for using violence with any weapon or machinery around. “What is it with you boys with toys,” she admonished him.

I think of this line as two separate countries are led by a man-child who are both acting like “boys with toys.” The scary part is the toys include nuclear weapons and both are beating on their chest like apes ready to do battle.

I have written a parable about the younger of the two leaders called “A Monkey with a Hand Grenade.” Since the hand grenade is a substitute for a nuclear weapon, we must be careful, judicious and diligent in our actions and words. Just a few days ago, our Secretary of State said the right things about “not advocating for regime change” while being stern, serious and sober. This tone reminds us that President Eisenhower became reassuringly calmer as the USSR’s Khrushchev became more blustery in the 1950s.

However, our monkey with a hand grenade did not follow the Eisenhower calm and started beating on his chest. Our man-child bragged about his deployment of an arsenal that would bring “fire and fury” the likes of which the world has not seen. He basically said to ignore what the Secretary of State said.

Two supposedly grown men are acting like the men-children they are. Boys with toys. Let’s hope the adults surrounding them will seek an intervention and tell them to stop acting like children. We need them to. At least the older man should emulate Eisenhower. The world will rest a little easier as a result.

 

A missed opportunity for Democrats

I had a sense around July of 2016, that Hillary Clinton may not win the White House. But, as she distanced herself from Donald Trump due to his relatively horrible debate performance and the Access Hollywood leaked tape, I thought she just might win – then came Comey.

Yet, going back to the summer of 2016, she made a mistake that will haunt her and the rest of the Democrat party. She picked a plain vanilla nice guy to be her running mate. Senator Tim Kaine is a capable public servant, but the initial reaction to her announcement was “who?” The guy I was hoping she would pick would have added sizzle and substance. Senator Corey Booker of New Jersey would have added that sizzle.

Booker is not only an effective speaker, he was an effective Mayor of a major city before becoming a Senator. And, as an African-American, he would have shored up a weakness of Clinton’s, as many African-Americans and others were not too enthused about her and did not vote. Clinton is also a very competent public servant, but she does not exude passion like her husband does and she needed some passion on the ticket.

Yet, mainly Booker represents the future of the Democrat party who is searching for a new Moses to lead them to the promised land. Right now, there are many fine leaders, but the ones who stand out are older sages and may not rev up the base and attract independents and disillusioned Republicans. If you are not familiar with Booker, check him out. He is articulate, smart and knows the issues, three qualities that we need more of. I am not saying he is the only answer, but the opportunity to showcase someone like Booker was there for the taking and passed on.

Climate of Hope

One of the positives of the US President pulling out of the Paris Climate Change Accord is it has galvanized the many who see the need to act to save our planet. Coupling the US exit with the President placing climate change deniers and fossil fuel supporters in key cabinet roles, he has placed the US government at the kids table, while the adults talk about solving the world’s problems.

Fortunately, even the President’s actions cannot stop the momentum as a tipping point on renewable energy and other efforts have been reached. As reported in the book “Climate of Hope,” by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Executive Director of the Sierra Club Carl Pope, cities, businesses and citizens have been leading the way. This is important as cities are significant contributors to climate change and can therefore make a huge dent in ameliorating its effect. And, they are sharing their successes formally and informally.

Some of these efforts include:

– Restoring and renovating older buildings into green buildings. Bloomberg touts the renovation of the 1931 built Empire State as a key example.

– Building new structures with an even greener footprint. In India they deploy white rooftops to reflect away the sun to minimize cooling costs, e.g,

– Building more pedestrian areas which provide safer and eco-friendly access to shops, restaurants and businesses. These car free zones actually are part of a solution to reroute traffic to reduce carbon polluting stoppage.

– Building with buffers to allow nature to do its jobs to absorb the pounding of the ocean, since,  so many large cities are coastal cities with some below sea level. We should use nature to provide defenses that stand the test of time.

– Developing master traffic plans embracing car sharing, ride sharing, bike sharing, pedestrian pathways, electric vehicles from buses to taxis, and the elegant use of mass transit based on capital needs and restrictions. Bloomberg is big on measuring things, so installing GPS in New York taxis allowed them to measure success and make modifications to their plans as executed.

– Planting more carbon saving trees in cities and other areas, as well as using other plants such as mangroves in coastal areas as they suck carbon out of the air.

– Conserving food and reducing wastage. We waste huge amounts of food, both before and after it is cooked. Imperfect fruits and vegetables go straight to the dumps unless concentrated efforts prevent it and guide distribution to other users. Buying local saves on transportation costs and emissions, as well.

– Challenging manufacturers for efficient production and distribution. For example, a significant amount of wood goes to pallets that are tossed after one use. Look to more durable pallets that can be reused. Plus, the US does an excellent job of distributing products by rail and can do even better, as the rest of the world improves their efforts. These transmodal distribution centers that marry the efforts of ships, planes, trains and trucks provide huge efficiences and enhance trade.

– Dissuading the building of new coal plants. Active efforts have reduced coal from over 53% market share in 1990 to 30% market share of energy in 2016. Market forces are reducing this further as natural gas became cheaper and renewable energy cost fell to become more on par with coal. If new coal plants must be built, do it in concert with retiring older, less efficient plants.

– Making investment funds available to pay for upfront costs for renewable energy in countries that have fewer capital funding sources. India could do even more with available funding, especially as they electrify more of the country.

The great news is these things are happening. And, they are being shared. Please read this book. It is brief and optimistic. Also, watch the soon to be released sequel to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” Then spread the news about what is happening.

To be frank, these actions are positive and smart irrespective of one’s stance on climate change. And, a final note from Bloomberg is the millennials are paying attention. They want to work in places that are doing their part to fight climate change. Think about that as you plan.