Saturday Political Soap Box 17 - Republican Surprises

Last week I reviewed the Republican candidates for President, with an eye towards determining who would be the best suited if one of them actually had to run the country. I am enough of a patriot that I want the opposition to run their best candidate available, and one pragmatic enough to not let ideology prevent him from moving the country forward. That evaluation led to the conclusion that the only one I felt comfortable with was Buddy Roehmer. Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson and Mitt Romney were worrisome but tolerable, at least in relation to the rest of the field. The rest of the candidates were very dangerous, truly a threat to humanity, and even if I felt President Obama would ream them in an election, I would never want the country to run the risk of something going horribly wrong and one of them actually winning.




But wait, there's more! I think the odds are slightly better than even that the Republican nominee won't be any of the candidates currently running. Every campaign the candidates tear at each other a bit. Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton surely roughed up each other, and John McCain tried to take advantage of it, employing attack ads that could have been written by the Clinton camp. But what the Democrats did four years ago was pattycake compared to what the accelerating madness that the Republican candidates are inflicting on each other. They are ripping to shreds each other's character and they are painting themselves into ideologically more remote corners.



They also have the problem of dealing with the Tea Party Amerika, an angry group who don't believe in political compromise. If a Romney or Huntsman win, I see that there is a great likelihood of a third party candidate. It could be Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Jim DeMint (surprise!), even Donald Trump. How strong they'll run, I don't know. They could pull away anywhere from 3 to 15%, 99% of it from Republicans.



Either a savior tries to come in late, maybe even as late as March, or they emerge as a compromise candidate in a brokered convention. The late entry may seem ridiculous in our modern politics, but it was happening rather frequently as recently as 1976. Sometimes things change, and it could change again. The most likely late entry would be Mike Huckabee.



More likely is a brokered convention. I think the Republicans have changed the rule slightly so that I don't think as many (if any) of their primaries are winner take all. That means the delegates will be more widespread than last year. McCain won some states four years ago with a tiny plurality and then won all the delegates via winner take all.



So at some point someone will step in and attempt to bridge the gap between the far right wing and the really, really, far reactionary extremist right wing. I believe that person is most likely to be Jeb Bush. He has the most appeal across a wide range of Republican groups. The fact that he is reviving the Bush name, and the Republican Party operating under the delusion that the nation was ready for a triple dip of Bush, is secondary to reuniting their own party. There is a lesser but still existent probability it could be someone else. Chris Christie or Mitch Daniel come to mind.



Anyway, I admit this is all speculatron stuff. Nevertheless, it's where I see things headed. That's my opinion. I'd love to hear yours.

The Wicked Witch's Revenge Song

PROPOSED SONG FOR THE WICKED WITCH FOR OUR PERFORMANCES OF THE WIZARD OF OZ!

In a day not long ago
When I was just a babe
Mother had four daughters in a row
Dividing Oz into witchy fours
That was the beginning of our scene
But alas, it wasn’t easy being green
And Glinda? Oh, so pretty Glinda? The fairest of them all? Whom I taught everything? My witchcraft! My spells!


Then suddenly from out of the sky:
A buffoon in a ridiculous balloon
That couldn’t possibly fly
Came crashing into Oz
They removed my Southern Sister without pause
And put this maroon in charge
Calling him the "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"
For crashing a balloon? -- Are you kidding me? Have you seen me play Quidditch on my broomstick?



Revenge, revenge,
I'll have it on them all.
No single slight will I forget.
I'll show no mercy you can bet.
They'll all get theirs the day I get
Revenge.

That dopey Lion
Who has no courage, oh foo!
I used to scare that sissy
With just a tiny little “boo!"
And Scarecrow with his lack of brains
I could set him afire
That heartless Tin thing my Eastern sister froze
I’d rust him on a liquid pyre.



Ah, but the thing that really
Drove me to a fury:
That wicked girl they call Dorothy.
She killed my sister and stole her slippers
And I’m the bad one? SHE STOLE MY SLIPPERS!



Revenge, revenge,
Oh, it will taste so sweet.
A misanthrope, yes, I might be,
An outcast of society.
Think what you like, but just give me
Revenge, revenge!



It really goes way back,
My parents hated me true--
You see, my birth surprised them.
Mom and Dad were Navy Blue.



Glinda smelled of poppies
And a witless Wizard  whom Oz goes “all hail!”
I'll show you Lion, and Scarecrow and Tin Thing
And Dorothy Cursed Gale.

Revenge, revenge,
That's all I live for now.
I'll make them wince and cringe and cry.
I'll spit in their collective eye
I'll have one thing before I die --


And I'll have it by destroying that Kansan symbol of goodness - Dorothy Gale!

(Wickedly accelerating witchy laughter)

Reeeee - Venge!

Saturday Political Soap Box 16

Amazingly, we are only about a month away from the Iowa caucus, and Republicans are still changing frontrunners as quickly as Scarlet O'Hara's dance card at a cotillion. As a very committed liberal/progressive, you would think that I would be overjoyed if one of the weaker candidates would win the nomination, thereby giving President Obama a clearer path to re-election. But I care about this country too damn much to think that way. I want to feel like if everything goes wrong and a Republican should win, it would be at least the best qualified person they could present. In that regards, using my freakish statistical/accounting bent, I would like to handicap the Republican field as follows:




Mitt Romney: In some ways, has has shown through his career a pragmatic ability to shift positions that might serve as President, but does him little good with primary voters. I am like everyone else - I have little idea where he really stands on things OTHER than to say he is a corporate Republican who will stand first and foremost with big business and the wealthy. Ability to win Republican Nomination: 5, Ability to win General Election: 6, Charisma/Leadership: 3, Ability to work across the aisle: 7, Identification with average person: 2, Experience: 7, Corruption Free: 6. Total Score: 36.



Newt Gingrich: I don't think I've ever met a more repulsive human being. Literally, because I actually met him once. I give him credit for having more intelligence than some, but he is almost single-handedly responsible for the nasty tone of modern American politics. Ability to win Republican nomination: 4, Ability to win General Election: 1, Charisma/Leadership: 2, Ability to work across the aisle: 1, Identification with average person: 3, Experience: 7, Corruption Free: 0. Total Score: 18.



Michelle Bachmann: gives a whole new meaning to insanity. Has some foreign policy credentials, but it's like one of those kids who took math but wasn't really listening. Things add up very strangely. I do not want her anywhere near the nuclear button. Ability to win Republican nomination: 2, Ability to win General Election: 1, Charisma/Leadership: 3, Ability to work across the aisle: 0, Identification with average person: 5, Experience: 3, Corruption Free: 4. Total Score: 18.



Ric Perry: His lack of knowledge is breathtaking. I guess the standards to be Governor of Texas are pretty low. .....wait, we already found that out the hard way, What do you say about a candidate the Bush people call stupid? Ability to win Republican nomination: 4, Ability to win General Election: 3, Charisma/Leadership: 3, Ability to work across the aisle: 0, Identification with average person: 5, Experience: 2, Corruption Free: 1. Total Score: 18.



Ron Paul: He has positions designed to attract and offend people all over the political spectrum. Unfortunately, he has demonstrated little ability to compromise or work with others. I don't like purist philosophies of any kind, and it doesn't help that I think of Libertarianism as the philosophy of spoiled, narcissistic brats. Ability to win Republican nomination: 2, Ability to win General Election: 1, Charisma/Leadership: 5, Ability to work across the aisle: 0, Identification with average person: 3, Experience: 3, Corruption Free: 7. Total Score: 21.



Herman Cain: This shell of a man may be withdrawing as I write this, or very soon. so I won't waste much time on this womanizing charlatan. Ability to win Republican nomination: 0, Ability to win General Election: 0, Charisma/Leadership: 5, Ability to work across the aisle: 0, Identification with average person: 3, Experience: 0, corruption Free: 1. Total Score: 9.



Ric Santorum: Anti-gay bigot, wants to ban most common forms of birth control, right-wing extremist. Ability to win Republican nomination: 3, Ability to win General Election: 1, Charisma/Leadership: 3, Ability to work across the aisle: 0, Identification with average person: 4, Experience: 3, Corruption Free: 5. Total Score: 19.



Jon Huntsman: Republicans won't properly look at him because he worked with the Obama administration as ambassador to China, and he is yet another Mormon. Yet if they look closely at his record, they will find he is very conservative, without the flip-flopping record that Mitt and Newt have. Ability to win Republican nomination: 2, Ability to win General Election: 6, Charisma/Leadership: 5, Ability to work across the aisle: 7, Identification with average person: 4, Experience: 5, Corruption Free: 9. Total Score: 38.



Gary Johnson: very few know who this two-term governor of New Mexico is, because the Republican establishment has effectively shut him out. Basically, a more toned down libertarian version of Ron Paul, more social libertarian with a greater ability to compromise and reason. Ability to win Republican nomination: 0, Ability to win General Election: 4, Charisma/Leadership: 5, Ability to work across the aisle: 5, Identification with average person: 4, Experience: 6, Corruption Free: 9. Total Score: 33.



Buddy Roehmer: even more credentialed than Gary Johnson, two-tern Governor of Louisiana, Congressman, and very successful businessman, Republican establishment has also effectively shut him out. Spends most of his time railing at the big money influence in our politics, and emphasizes very heavily being able to work across the aisle. Ability to win Republican nomination: 0, Ability to win General Election: 6, Charisma/Leadership: 7, Ability to work across the aisle: 9, Identification with average person: 8, Experience: 8, Corruption Free: 9. Total Score: 47.



That's my summary of who is actually running. I'll deal with those who are not running next week. And I do think there is a better than 50/50 shot that the nominee will be somebody other than this group. Any score below 20 scares me to freaking death. Any score below 40 has me worried. What do you all think?

Saturday Political Soap Box 15

I had the privilege of a family trip with Alison and young Benjamin to Colonial Williamsburg and Washington, DC. It was a trip to show Benjamin the historic roots of our country and our republic. Even though it's difficult to fit in these types of vacations, both monetarily and to carve the time away from work and other family obligations, we thought it important to do, for Benjamin's civic education and because there were only a few more years left that Benjamin would even want to be on vacation with his parents.




The highlight of the trip to me was a street theatre performance in Williamsburg. It moved and went up and down the street and we followed it. It included not only confrontations between men representing the American and Tory points of view, but also discussions among women and slaves (who briefly thought the British might free them). Everything culminated in a very dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence. It started with the first paragraph being read by a government official from the second floor balcony of the Capitol. But then it broadened out to include slaves (reading "all men are created equal"), women, the wealthy, the tradesman, the farmer, the poor.



It made you realize that the Declaration of Independence and our constitution are not stagnant, unchangeable documents, but a living promise and force for progress towards a better and more complete democracy. It took hundreds of years, and efforts by many determined people to fulfill that promise. Abolitionists, African Americans, immigrants, suffragists, progressives, unionists, counter culturists, the LGBT community, our brave soldiers - these and many more have expended heroic efforts to make our republic more democratic and inclusive. Never had I been more proud to be an American and part of this great journey.



There have been setbacks, some of horrible consequences. The oppression and near genocide of our native American population is a terrible blight on the American soul. The defeat of slavery, only to fall back into the morass of Jim Crow was very sad and disillusioning. And in present day, to watch hard fought for voting rights be shaved away by voting suppression efforts by Republican state legislatures, makes me realize that the battle is never over. It must be constantly fought by each generation, a never ending battle for truth, justice, equality, basic human rights and dignity - the American Way.

Saturday Political Soap Box 14

Just a short one this time to ask about Move Your Bank Day. Are any of my friends doing this? Where do you bank and are you happy with it?




Where I bank is a community bank, and I have been pleased with their minimal fees and good customer service. I feel in general they have been a positive force in the community.



When we first moved to Blackshear we tried to go with the same megabank that we used in Rockmart (north Georgia). But we were so ill treated, asked to do so many things over again, that we just felt like if we were going to have to start everything over, why take the abuse? We picked a local bank, which we stayed with until they sold to a larger bank from outside the area.



I understand, everything else being equal, that local banks and credit unions are a more positive force in a local community, have greater knowledge of the area, and are more responsive to the customers that are also their neighbors. But there is a downside to everything, which is why I am a checks and balances guy. Local banks can also be too tied into the good old boy network, and be more generous with the already established 10% that rule the roost sometimes in local communities. They also, I would believe, redline (discriminate against qualified minority borrowers, particular if they want to come into certain neighborhoods) at a higher rate than the megabanks. Local banks can be like George Bailey and his famous Savings & Loans in It's A wonderful Life. But they can also be like Henry Potter. So sometimes you need to do a little more than just simply choosing a local bank and/or credit union. You have to evaluate whether the institution is a genuine positive force in the community.



So to repeat the question above...are you moving your money away from the big banks? Are you happy where you bank? What effect do you think any of this will have?

War of the Witches & The Martian!

It was true. At least to me. At least for a little while. I had powers beyond the normal. That’s because, unbeknownst to my unsuspecting fellow fourth graders, I was not from this earth. Thomas “Martin” Strait was actually from Mars. Adopted by the Straits after my escape pod crashed into their backyard, I could do amazing things. I could will the teacher to pick the student I wanted when they raised their hands. I could read people’s minds. I could move my pencil across my desk just by the power of my mind. Well, sometimes I could. It didn’t always work. But it worked enough for me to know that I was, indeed, from someplace else.




But it didn’t stop there! In my classroom, there were also...witches. Yes, a whole coven, led by the nefarious Dona Bow, and her witchy friends Amy and Karen. That’s what was interfering with my powers! That’s why my telepathy and telekinesis didn’t always work!



But, oh, these amazing developments were hard to keep to myself. Soon the girls would know I knew what they were. And, eventually, other students figured out that I was the Martian.



And that is when the nightmare began. That is when my social decline started, spiraling me down into the lower ranks of elementary school cliques. At first they laughed at me because I thought I was a Martian. “You’re not a Martian, Strait! You’re just crazy!” I was baffled as to what to do, and increasingly humiliated.



In my frustration, I did one of the most evil things I have ever done. I dumped pencil shavings all over Dona Bow’s carefully drawn map of South America. It was a stupid, cruel thing to do. Why? Frustration that I was going down while the witches remained popular, some odd notion that Dona could use her witch powers to clear the map thus proving I was right, and, of course, most importantly, in the world of fourth grade logic, I had a huge crush on her and had no idea how to express it.



With that bit of horribleness, I snapped out of it. I confessed to everyone that I wasn’t really a Martian; I was just playing a game. And that just made things worse. Everyone began teasing that I really was a Martian, and said, “C’mon, Strait, move something with your mind! Tell me what I’m thinking! Why don’t you pop up your antenna and wiggle them around!” I became, and remained to one degree or another, the laughingstock of my class.



Eventually, I learned to take their teasing and use it to my advantage as best I could. I learned to use humor, particularly self-deprecating humor and also physical shtick, to get then laughing on my terms instead of theirs. As time passed, I had a bizarre kind of popularity as the class clown or funny guy. But I never felt good about myself again. Not really. I always felt like people really didn’t like me after that. That I had to prove myself just to be with people.



Recently, I have made friends with Dona Bow through the miracle of facebook. The most surprising thing I learned was that she actually enjoyed the witches and Martians game, and her friends played it some at home. That she believed it, at least a little. So I was not the only one with an explosive imagination.



Imagination is often beaten out of us as kids. We tend to blame adults or church or just the way the world works. But sometimes it’s our own peers that make the magic disappear. I’ve tried to hold on to what I could. I love comics and stories, theatre and writing. Even as a dull CPA, I have my own special place, where I can be a Martian if I want to be. And if you some of my staid peers don’t like it, well, that’s tough. I have a special pratfall just for you. So there!

Saturday Political Soap Box 13

The soapbox is back! A little tough to do on Saturday mornings with my son playing morning soccer games. And this topic may not have the "heat" of the others as it's about .........Foreign Policy!!!




This has been an eventful week, as the Libyans moved towards a dramatic resolution with the capture and killing of Ghaddafi, and with the confirmation that we will be removing all troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Also over the course of the last few months there has been the execution and/ or capture of many al Queda leaders. So the question is, whether you're from the right or left or something in between, what has made you happy or unhappy about American foreign policy since the advent of the Obama administration?



For myself, I see a great contrast between the way the Iraq war was engaged, and the more careful support of the Libyan rebellion. We played a much different role, with much greater success, at an incredibly less financial and military cost. Fiscal dollars on Iraq? $800 billion. Fiscal cost of Libya? Slightly over $1 billion.



I think the drawdown on Iraq has been slow, but well within the time frame that was set up for it. The country might fall into civil war, but I think that's equally true whether we have no troops, a few thousand as was originally thought, or 500,000 troops. The next steps depend upon diplomacy and economic support.



Afghanistan I'm less sure about. I don't completely disagree with the approach taken. Left on it's own, it could become a terrorist haven again. But in that regard we have a much worse terrorist haven right down the road in Pakistan. All in all, I think President Obama would have done better following Vice President Biden's suggestions that required fewer troops and more targeted attacks/involvement.



I support a two state solution between Palestine and Israel, but I recognize that as a difficult thing, and that everything else being equal, we have to stand with Israel.



I also believe that it has to be a priority that when we negotiate free trade agreements we have to emphasize worker's rights, salary and working conditions, on all countries involved, including the United States.



When I have done foreign policy questions before, I am always surprised at the amount of isolationist sentiment expressed, even among those who in the past have supported Bush/Cheney's military extremism. There is not only a large rejection of new conflicts (not necessarily a bad thing), but a significant derision of foreign aid, particularly of an economic nature. Given that all foreign policy actions AND inactions have unintended consequences, I still feel it is better to support countries with economic growth and independence than it is to militarily try to impose our will. Many Americans won't bat an eye in spending $800 billion on a war of questionable value, but will go into a we-can't-afford-it apoplectic rage if it's suggested that we could do the same thing with $8 billion of economic aid.



Well, those are my thoughts. What are yours? What makes you happy or unhappy about our foreign policy? What would you like to see us doing differently?

Saturday Political Soap Box 12

Occupy Wall Street! Despite the wishes of corporate America, this doesn't appear to be fading away, but instead growing exponentially. What does it mean to you? What do you hope comes out of it? Is this the beginning of an important social and political movement, or just a bunch of bums wasting our time?




I am really interested in your opinion about the phenomenon and would love to read expressions of your opinions and thoughts.



To me, it is just the beginning of a dramatic refocusing of the nation's attention away from the wasted diversions about government spending, deficits, and anti-health care rants that have dominated America's recession era thinking. It's a notice that there is an understanding that the problems really stem form the domination of Wall Street, Corporations, and wealthy interests, who seem to have complete control of our political system. These are groups who will get bailed out and government largesse and loophole's created for, while the rest of us cope with increasing personal debt and a shrinking job base. That it is not okay that corporate CEO's makes several hundreds times more income than the wages of their average employee. That banks are bailed out, refuse to loan money to individuals and small businesses that helped bail them out, and then when called to account instead invent more fees just to sock it to the rest of us. That corporations have cut millions of jobs in America while adding millions of jobs overseas. That many of the wealthy pay a lower rate of tax than hard working middle class families.



Do they have a coherent, media friendly declaration of purpose? No, of course not. It is an organic movement that is still emerging. Good lord, I'm still trying to figure out what the Tea Party was really all about, other than blind hatred of Obama.



But I think there is a promise there that may actually help us look at things in a new way.



That is a brief sketch of my thoughts. What are yours?



.

A Descending Curtain of Shyness

There are many things that might hold a person back in our great American society.  But many of them are forgiven, excused or tolerated.  I have seen people advance in the workplace who are alcoholics, abusers, gamblers, racists and uncaring.  The one unforgivable sin, for most jobs in America that pay well or offer advancement is shyness.  If you hesitate at talking to new people, look unsure or insecure, be reluctant to call people on the phone, in many American jobs you will be eaten alive or discarded.  I fully understand this and respect this, but it is hard to deal with on a day to day basis.

Frequent comments I get, like when someone sees me act in community theatre, is "I didn't even know he could talk!"  I often get "What's wrong?  Why aren't you smiling?"  I have to feel like my whole family or job is on the line in order to call somebody on the phone.  I don't even social call my closest friends.

We all have our crosses to bear.  Physical and/or psychological things that are just a part of who we are.  My cross to bear is selective mutism.  For more details on this, please look at an article on it in wikipedia.  It is not an exact match as to what I deal with, and my problem only varies from mild to moderate, but I think it will give greater insight to anyone who cares to investigate.  I'm not complainin', I'm just explainin'.

It helps explain, for my high school friends, why my school experience was shadowed.  Why I might not have seemed friendly in the halls for example.  I was not a snob, I was scared to death.  With selective mutism, you have the ability to talk, you just feel so swamped in new social situations that you're not able to get anything out.  Once I felt comfortable with a group of people, I could come out more.  I think it's one of the reasons why, most of my school career I had such a high desire to date someone from my own class.  That way I wouldn't have  to establish a relationship with somebody new.  Of course, most girls in school are more interested in the exciting outsider than the same-old-same-old, so it made for an interesting, uh, non-match.

College was worse, in that classes were constantly changing - you hardly saw the same person for more than one course.  I might go a week or more without speaking to anybody besides my roommate or a few of his buddies.  I had one girlfriend two years younger who left me as soon as I got to University of Michigan, and a second one who left as soon as she got to the University of Michigan.  College was not conducive to somebody who was a selective mute AND didn't drink AND wasn't a conservative Christian.

Work has been interesting.  It hasn't been a complete failure, but given my relative intelligence and abilities, it hasn't been a swimming success either.  It's hard to think of many professions that reward shy people.  When I'm in a relatively closed group, I do think management does tend to see my value, but I always tend to fade in any new situation with new people.  And you can forget about sales call jobs!

Some will wonder, if you're shy, how can you act?  If you read the selective mutism article, you will see that people with this problem speak fine, and that indeed, many of them have an artistic bent.  With plays, there is no mystery.  I know EXACTLY what it is that I'm supposed to say.  In real life, I often don't know what people want.

I love plays not just because I enjoy the actual acting, but because it is a small group experience that binds people together.  I often start out practices very quiet, not really talking to anybody, and then get more open as the play goes along and I feel safer within the group.  The hard part of plays is that they end, and I find it hard to still stay friends with the people I met.  I have trouble going to see plays, or even visiting  practices or performances of plays that I'm not in, because the curtain of shyness is already descending.  I quickly feel out of place, that I'm an intruder, that I don't deserve to be there.  Nevertheless, I am currently doing everything I can to stay connected to Flying Dragon Arts Center even though I'm not in their current production.  I am doing my best, but like I said, I feel the shadow descending.

This can even happen with my family.  It doesn't last long, but I can even be shy when my wife leaves on a trip and comes back after a few days.  It doesn't last long, but it is there.  I seem to only to be able to do close relationships.  I have a much harder time with secondary relationships or casual acquaintances.

Facebook, which many criticize, has been a plus for me.  Again, if you see the description of selective mutism, online conversations, texting, etc are much easier for people like me.  It has helped rekindle some connections that I thought would never exist again.

I can work around it, and I will strive to do my best.  I have a loving family that I'm obligated to help support.  Even though my career might not be what it should be, they love me and I do contribute everything I can.  Just be patient with me if I don't seem to respond as quickly or as openly as you think I should.  I'll come around.

A Descending Curtain of Shyness

There are many things that might hold a person back in our great American society.  But many of them are forgiven, excused or tolerated.  I have seen people advance in the workplace who are alcoholics, abusers, gamblers, racists and uncaring.  The one unforgivable sin, for most jobs in America that pay well or offer advancement is shyness.  If you hesitate at talking to new people, look unsure or insecure, be reluctant to call people on the phone, in many American jobs you will be eaten alive or discarded.  I fully understand this and respect this, but it is hard to deal with on a day to day basis.

Frequent comments I get, like when someone sees me act in community theatre, is "I didn't even know he could talk!"  I often get "What's wrong?  Why aren't you smiling?"  I have to feel like my whole family or job is on the line in order to call somebody on the phone.  I don't even social call my closest friends.

We all have our crosses to bear.  Physical and/or psychological things that are just a part of who we are.  My cross to bear is selective mutism.  For more details on this, please look at an article on it in wikipedia.  It is not an exact match as to what I deal with, and my problem only varies from mild to moderate, but I think it will give greater insight to anyone who cares to investigate.  I'm not complainin', I'm just explainin'.

It helps explain, for my high school friends, why my school experience was shadowed.  Why I might not have seemed friendly in the halls for example.  I was not a snob, I was scared to death.  With selective mutism, you have the ability to talk, you just feel so swamped in new social situations that you're not able to get anything out.  Once I felt comfortable with a group of people, I could come out more.  I think it's one of the reasons why, most of my school career I had such a high desire to date someone from my own class.  That way I wouldn't have  to establish a relationship with somebody new.  Of course, most girls in school are more interested in the exciting outsider than the same-old-same-old, so it made for an interesting, uh, non-match.

College was worse, in that classes were constantly changing - you hardly saw the same person for more than one course.  I might go a week or more without speaking to anybody besides my roommate or a few of his buddies.  I had one girlfriend two years younger who left me as soon as I got to University of Michigan, and a second one who left as soon as she got to the University of Michigan.  College was not conducive to somebody who was a selective mute AND didn't drink AND wasn't a conservative Christian.

Work has been interesting.  It hasn't been a complete failure, but given my relative intelligence and abilities, it hasn't been a swimming success either.  It's hard to think of many professions that reward shy people.  When I'm in a relatively closed group, I do think management does tend to see my value, but I always tend to fade in any new situation with new people.  And you can forget about sales call jobs!

Some will wonder, if you're shy, how can you act?  If you read the selective mutism article, you will see that people with this problem speak fine, and that indeed, many of them have an artistic bent.  With plays, there is no mystery.  I know EXACTLY what it is that I'm supposed to say.  In real life, I often don't know what people want.

I love plays not just because I enjoy the actual acting, but because it is a small group experience that binds people together.  I often start out practices very quiet, not really talking to anybody, and then get more open as the play goes along and I feel safer within the group.  The hard part of plays is that they end, and I find it hard to still stay friends with the people I met.  I have trouble going to see plays, or even visiting  practices or performances of plays that I'm not in, because the curtain of shyness is already descending.  I quickly feel out of place, that I'm an intruder, that I don't deserve to be there.  Nevertheless, I am currently doing everything I can to stay connected to Flying Dragon Arts Center even though I'm not in their current production.  I am doing my best, but like I said, I feel the shadow descending.

This can even happen with my family.  It doesn't last long, but I can even be shy when my wife leaves on a trip and comes back after a few days.  It doesn't last long, but it is there.  I seem to only to be able to do close relationships.  I have a much harder time with secondary relationships or casual acquaintances.

Facebook, which many criticize, has been a plus for me.  Again, if you see the description of selective mutism, online conversations, texting, etc are much easier for people like me.  It has helped rekindle some connections that I thought would never exist again.

I can work around it, and I will strive to do my best.  I have a loving family that I'm obligated to help support.  Even though my career might not be what it should be, they love me and I do contribute everything I can.  Just be patient with me if I don't seem to respond as quickly or as openly as you think I should.  I'll come around.

Saturday Political Soap Box 11

I'm going to switch out and go for sheer entertainment and speculation this Saturday, and we can all pretend that we are as shallow as the mainstream media. Let's once again open up the POLITICAL SPECULATRON and predict what we think will most likely happen in the 2012. Put on your hip boots and let's go wading in the possibilities.




Who do you think will be the Republican nominee? Will President Obama select a different vice-presidential running mate? Do you think we are likely to have a strong third party run? Who will win in 2012?



Not to turn this into an argument about my choices, I'll still start off with mine. I'm beginning to think it increasingly likely that Mitt Romney will be the nominee for the Republican party. If you're the only quasi-sane one in the room, and everyone else is crazier than bat crap (except for Huntsman, who is even more tainted by pragmatic reasonableness than Romney and is simply considered The Other Mormon), you can't help but stand out a bit. The second most likely scenario is that there is no clear front runner and the Republican establishment, in a desperate bid to retain control, draft Jeb Bush. The third, the only Tea Party candidate with half a prayer, is the secessionary, let's end Social Security and Medicare, look at how many people and coyotes I've killed, Rick Perry, Governor of haven't we already tried this Texas, the state with the the form of state government that has a very weak governor system, with the legislature retaining virtually all of the control.



So the question then becomes, if the Tea Party is shut out from controlling the Republican nomination, what then will they do? These are people who are used to having their way. I think a third party run is more likely than not. I used to think this effort would be led by Sarah Palin. Now I'm not so sure. If Rick Perry is stiff-armed enough, it could be him, but I think it might more likely be Michelle Bachmann. She is much more committed to her Christian Jihadist religious vision than any political party. And right now the strongest part of the Tea Party is the old Christian right. How successful this will be is anybody's guess, but I do think this will exist in the 2012 make-up. It might get 1% of the vote. It might get 15%.



I would say the same thing about Ron Paul and the Libertarians, but I doubt it. Here's the problem with the Libertarians. Let's say there are ten million people in the country that call themselves Libertarians. If so, there are probably ten million definitions of what libertarianism is. Hard for them to get together to have much of an effect.



Another remote possibility is for a third party to coalesce around some super-rich guy like Donald Trump or Michael Bloomberg, on the presumption that they are "independent". Again, the problem with that is what is an independent? I have many who comment on my stuff claim they are independent, but believe you me, there is a difference between an Independent who calls the health care act "Obama care" or "forced health care" and one calls it "a good start" and the only truly good answer is "single-payer". They can call themselves independent until the cows come home, but they're not voting for the same people. We also have a President who is running the country as a centrist Republican, slightly to the right of Eisenhower and Nixon. Doesn't leave a lot of room on the other side.



I love Joe Biden. Yes, his mouth is a loose cannon sometimes, but his actual policy positions are pretty good. When the Afghanistan discussion was going on the White House, I wish to God that they had picked his side (reduced troops, more targeted attacks). Nevertheless, I think the political reality is that President Obama may be forced to make a change, and that change would be to Hilary Clinton. She's not as good as Biden, but she does connect with lower income voters better than the President does. So I believe there is good chance this will happen.



As far as actual results, I think the President will win, with about the same electoral college totals as the first time. His vote percentage may be less because of third parties. The bottom line is, it would be the ultimate insanity to return to the policies that put us in this ditch in the first place. And you have to trust the intelligence of the American people to figure that out.



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Saturday Political Soap Box 10

Is Social Security a Ponzi sheme?




This is summarized from Nick Baumann found at Motherjones.com



Ponzi Scheme: is run by someone like Bernie Madoff, who can't print money or tax anyone. Social Security: is run by the government, which can print money and tax people.



Ponzi Scheme: does not tell particpants where their benefits come from. Social Security: tells participants where the benefits come from.



Ponzi Sheme: is a deliberate fraud. Social Security: is NOT a deliberate fraud.



Ponzi Scheme: is paid into by a small group of select investors. Social Security: is paid into by every American who works.



Ponzi Scheme: is supervised by someone like Bernie Madoff, who stole millions of dollars from his clients every year to pay for yachts and homes. Social Security: is supervised by Social Security Commissioner and Horace translator Michael Astrue, who made around $200,000 in 2011.



Ponzi Scheme: promises massive returns over just a few years. Social Security: promises fairly modest rates of returns over the course of decades.



Ponzi Scheme: is usually not invested in anything. Social Security: is invested in US treasury bonds.



Ponzi scheme: Can't be tweaked, expanded, cut, or ended by anyone but the schemer - until he's caught. Social Security: can be tweaked, expanded, cut, or ended by Americans' elected representatives.



Ponzi Scheme: the original Ponzi scheme lasted around 200 days. Social Security: Has been operating continuously since 1935.



The only place where Social Security and a Ponzi scheme are the same is in the fevered, delusional mind of C & D student, the Governor of the state with the most agressive form of weak governor state government, Rick Perry.



Any comments greatly appreciated.



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Sky Blue and the Seven Little Ladies

 

Sky Blue, a delightful fairy tale for children of all ages, opens this Saturday night at Flying Dragon Arts Center. This show was written by Waycross's own Barbara Griffin. Barbara is directing her first FDAC production. She is an experienced director,actress and playwright. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she has lived in Waycross for ovr 30 years. Local audiences will remember her from Steel Magnolias, Cabaret, Christmas Carol, Jake's Women, The Odd Couple and Gypsy. Barbara has also directed shows for Waycross Area Community Theater. She directed To Kill A Mocking Bird and Purlie Victorious in 2002 and had the honor of hosting author/actor Ossie Davis's visit, appearance and reception in his honor. Her first playwriting endeavor was The Portnow Trilogy: 3 short plays about the romance of an elderly couple who meet in a nursing home. Barbara serves as Publicity Director at FDAC. We are honored to have her direct in our theater. Sky Blue and the Seven Little Ladies opens Saturday night Sept. 17th at 7pm. Three additional performances Sunday,Sept. 18th at 3pm, Friday,Sept.23rd at 7pm, last show Sunday, Sept. 24th at 3pm.

TICKET PRICES:



AGES 13 AND UP $8



AGES 6-12 $5



AGES 5 & UNDER FREE



534 PLANT AVENUE DOWNTOWN WAYCROSS



This is Tom Strait.  I freely admit I stole all the pictures and play descriptions from Flying Dragon Arts Center, who said it way better than I could.  Come see this show!  And bring every child you know!  It'll be a blast and great entertainment!

Randolph Scott Loses His Shirt

I see the western skies a paler through the trees
A fine misted lady takes a petticoat break
Into the cold river she dares to freeze
Her shivering eyes into my soul do stake

Come, she beckons, the water's fine
Ignore the cinnamon rusty hue
Cross that cowboy gentleman line
I want to skinny dance with you

Hesitant I stand at the lapping shore
I'm supposed to guard the captain's miss
Not charge into the river and pore
A heart of mine into the preacher's sis

Mesmerized by her beckoning hand
I start to unbutton my studded shirt
She says she is the promised land
And next to go is my belt from Gert

She looks in awe at my magnificent chest
Oh Randolph she gasps hurry it up
Come get me while I'm at my best
Soon the others will be here to sup

Before the fly could be unmast
I heard the sounds of Captain's crew
Coming with game caught for tonight's repast
Laughing, carousing to start a merry stew

Clothes adjusted, dreams foregone
Randolph Scott puts his shirt back on.

9/11 Recollections a Day Late

I got the feeling yesterday that America was turning a page. It was a day of remembrance, but also a day of putting it aside. Taking it out. polishing it, reflecting on it, and then putting in a display case on a shelf, along with Pearl Harbor and the Titanic. It will be remembered, but never in such a media saturated fashion as it was yesterday. This is not evil or wrong. It is just the nature of things.




I was working that day, alone in my windowless second floor office. Dean, my co-worker, told me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I pictured some wayward lost pilot in a small Cessna. Then, tuned to PBS radio, I gradually figured out that it was a larger plane. When the second plane hit we knew something awful was going on. Dean kept wanting me to search the internet for live feeds, but I was concerned about what my employer's reaction would be. As the terrible news accelerated that day, the bosses seemed hardly uninterrupted in their focus on work. That was perhaps the most surreal part of the day. That as the news of the day got worse and worse, my bosses seemed hardly effected. After all, there were payroll tax deadlines to meet.



Alison's work had a TV, and she would call me with some of the news. I wouldn't see much of the TV coverage until that night. One of the feelings I remember, which I'm sure many Americans did, was the uncertainty of how far it would go. Would there be more crashed planes? A land attack of some kind? Could they want to hit railroads, bridges, subways, small towns? Paranoia was rampant.



Given all that, the reaction I had that will not be popular, even among some of my liberal friends, was fear not just of the "terrorists", but of us. How far would we go in retaliation? Would we lash out blindly, with rage not just against those who did this, but against entire groups of people because of their religion or ethnicity? Would we forfeit our own rights in order to feel more secure? Would we root out the real terrorists using targeted attacks and police methodology, or would we attack whole nations? I thought of the Nazis, who would kill a hundred villagers for every Nazi soldier killed - God, please don't let us be like that! And if we did anything like that, what would they do in retaliation, as every strike we did created more angry terrorists - the many headed Hydra - for every head we cut off, another ten take it's place. A never-ending exchange of retaliation and counter-retaliation, where the only winners are hate and violence.



Anyways, popular or not, those were some of my thoughts that day.



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Facebook Face Off: Best Movie of the 20th Century

What is the best movie of the 20th century?  I am conducting a facebook contest amongst my vast army of 150 facebook friends in a one by one faceoff until a top movie is determined.  Voting has ranged from a low of  seven votes to pick between Modern Times and Duck Soup, to a high of 31 between The Lion King and Mary Poppins.  It's interesting to me that this is roughly the same vote range that I got when I conducted Best Actor and Best Actress contests  at a time when I only had 50 to 60 friends.  It's like there's a weight of only so many people that can be active friends on facebook at any given time.

I have selected movies from various lists including AFI, an Imdb list of top 250 favorite films, box office rankings and my own warped sense of judgement.  There are no foreign language films on the list, and it is skewed more towards films in the last three decades of the century.  If I put too many older films, I get a lot of people complaining that they haven't seen the films, ergo explaining the vote totals for Modern Times vs. Duck Soup.  I also have tried to stay within some loose genre categories for films to compete against each, particularly for the first round.  I get a lot of apples and oranges complaints.  But if you're going to have one winner, sooner or later very different films are going to have to compete against each other.

I am going to list all the contests to date so that everyone can see where we're at, and will periodically update.  I am not presenting this as a bracket because 1) I'm not sure who will match up to whom in the second round because it will be based on voting strength, matching strongest to weakest of the first round winners and 2) I don't know how to do it.

So are the winners to date:

Round 1, Contest 1 : The Shawshank Redemption wins over Rocky, 18 to 2 (34)
Round 1, Contest 2 : The Godfather wins over Chinatown, 7 to 2 (12)
Round 1, Contest 3 : Star Wars wins over Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, 17 to 3 (31)
Round 1, Contest 4:  Forrest Gump wins over Stand By Me, 12 to 7  (17)
Round 1, Contest 5:  The Lion King wins over Mary Poppins, 16 to 15 (17)
Round 1, Contest 6:  The Sixth Sense wins over Halloween, 13 to 6 (20)
Round 1, Contest 7:  Duck Soup wins over Modern Times, 4 to 3 (5)
Round 1, Contest 8:  Schindler's List wins over Apocalypse now, 9 to 3 (15)
Round 1, Contest 9:  Titanic wins over The Grapes of Wrath, 8 to 5 (11)
Round 1, Contest 10: E.T. wins over Alien, 10 to 4 (16)
Round 1, Contest 11: Grease wins over American Graffiti, 17 to 5 (29)
Round 1, Contest 12: Toy Story wins over Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 13 to 12. (14)
Round 1, Contest 13: Jaws wins over The Silence of the Lambs,  8 to 6 (10)
Round 1, Contest 14: Back to the Future wins over The Graduate, 10 to 3 (17)
Round 1, Contest 15: Saving Private Ryan wins over Raging Bull, 10 to 6 (14)
Round 1, Contest 16: Gone with the Wind wins over The Color Purple, 13 to 6 (20)
Round 1, Contest 17: Raiders of the Lost Ark wins over Terminatot 2, 15 to 0 (30)
Round 1, Contest 18: Top Gun wins over Scarface, 8 to 5 (11)
Round 1, Contest 19: The Sound of Music wins over Singin' In the Rain, 7 to 6 (8)
Round 1, Contest 20: Rear Window wins over Vertigo, 4 to 3 (5)
Round 1, Contest 21: Animal House wins over Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 9 to 6 (12)
Round 1, Contest 22: To Kill A Mockingbird wins over Driving Miss Daisy, 17 to 2 (32)
Round 1, Contest 23: Casablanca wins over Citizen Kane, 8 to 4 (12)
Round 1, Contest 24: A Clockwork Orange wins over 2001: A Space Oyssey, 8 to 7 (9)
Round 1, Contest 25: Butch Cassidy and the SunDance Kid wins over High Noon, 12 to 1 (22)
Round 1, Contest 26: The Wizard of Oz wins over The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 22 to 0 (44)
Round 1, Contest 27: Psycho wins over The Exorcist, 6 to 5 (7)
Round 1, Contest 28: Blazing Saddles wins over Young Frankenstein, 8 to 6 (10)
Round 1, Contest 29: Blade Runner wins over Metropoli, 6 to 0 (12)
Round 1, Contest 30: It's A Wonderful Life wins over Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 7 to 5 (9)
Round 1, Contest 31: Open voting winner When Harry met Sally, 5 nominations (10)
Round 1, Contest 32: Open voting winner Sleepless In Seattle, 5 nominations (10)

ON TO ROUND 2!!!!

Round 2, Contest 1:  The Wizard of Oz wins over Duck Soup, 16 to 5 (27)
Round 2, Contest 2:  The Shawshank Redemption wins over Rear Window, 8 to 5 (11)
Round 2, Contest 3:  To Kill A Mockinbird wins over Psycho, 8 to 6 (10)
Round 2, Contest 4:  Star Wars wins over Sound of Muisc, 12 to 6 (18)
Round 2, Contest 5:  Raiders of the Lost Ark wins over A Clockwork Orange, 17 to 0 (34)
Round 2, Contest 6:  It's A Wonderful Life wins over Grease, 11 to 5 (17)
Round 2, Contest 7:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wins over Sleeples In Seattle, 8 to 7 (9)
Round 2, Contest 8:  Gone with the Wind wins over When Hearry Met Sally, 20 to 4 (36)
Round 2, Contest 9:  The Sixth Sense wins over Jaws, 12 to 8 (16)
Round 2, Contest 10:  Blazing Saddles wins over Back to the Future, 9 to 8 (10)
Round 2, Contest 11:  Forrest Gump wins over Top Gun, 15 to 3 (27)
Round 2, Contest 12:  The Lion King wins over Titanic, 12 to 8 (16)
Round 2, Contest 13:  E.T. wins over Blade Runner, 14 to 2 (26)
Round 2, Contest 14:  Casablanca wins over Schindler's List, 10 to 7 (13)
Round 2, Contest 15:  Toy Story wins over Animal House, 11 to 6 (17)
Round 3, Contest 16:  Saving Private Ryan wins over The Godfather, 7 to 5 (9)



I will update at least once a week.  Based on number of votes for combined with victory margin (the number given in parantheses), I would say Round 3 will feature, for example,  Gone With the Wind vs. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Raiders of the Lost Ark vs. Saving Private Ryan.  Let the complaints begin!

Saturday Political Soap Box 9

President Obama will be giving an important speech related to jobs and getting the American economy going again on Thursday. What are you hoping our President will focus on as solutions? What do you believe would be the best things we could do to get the economy moving again?




I would vastly prefer that we keep the conversation focused on solutions. I really don't want it to veer off into rants against President Obama or other Democrats, and likewise about Bush, the Tea Party and other Republicans. This issue is too important, ans I want us to consider ideas from the entire political spectrum, and discuss on their own pragmatic merits.



In order to facilitate this discussion, I will start with a sketchy outline of what I would think would work best. It will probably make this longer than many will read, but so be it. I may repeat the initial question throughout the week as a free standing post.



Immediate measures must focus on increasing demand. According to Moody's. a business think tank and ratings service, the most effective methods are increasing food stamp dollars and extending unemployment. These people will immediately turn the dollars back into the economy and fueling demand. Neither are attractive long term measures - I would rather have people working at good paying jobs, but these simple measures have the best kick start effect. The infrastructure bank idea, that combines both public and private funds, could be helpful if projects can be fired up as quickly as possibly. The infrastructure is crumbling and we're going to need to do it anyways, or risk accelerating our continued descent towards third world nation status. I and Moody's see most tax cuts as gimmicky and ineffective. However, if they must be done, than renewing the payroll tax holiday at least gets it into the hands of the right people. On the business side, only tax cuts that specifically encourage employment would be helpful. The rest are a diffuse waste. Finally, some mortgage relief program is warranted. I don't want to reward idiots who bought way too much house, or re-inflate housing values again. But enough must be done to stabilize the market, and restore some sense of balance and equity after the horrible abuse perpetuated by mortgage companies and banks.



Longer term measures must be focused on restoring a booming basis for the American economy - the next great thing that Americans do best. My best bet would be to make America the leaders in the greening of the world economy. Climate change is real and it is accelerating faster than scientist's initial projections. So in my estimation it's kind of like - Save America - Save the planet. To facilitate this, we need to redouble our commitment to research, including joint public/private efforts. We need to commit to developing alternative energies, and we need to commit to mass transit. We need to do this in big, bold race to the moon fashion.



We need to renew our commitment to public education. We are galloping completely in the wrong direction on this now, and the developing world must be laughing their kiesters off at us as they see us cut back school days and treat teachers as if they are greedy, lazy leeches. Use the infrastructure bank to improve school physical plants. Encourage more school hours, not less. Stop teaching to tests, and start teaching to create thinkers. Stop trying to divert funds to private schools. There are a hundred other ideas to improve public education, but I'll leave it there for now.



The infrastructure bank is both a long term and a short term idea. Improved transportation systems can only help businesses move goods faster and more efficiently. Proper power and energy sources will help too. So the short term dollars we spend will be returned multi-fold later. Think of where Vegas would be without the Hoover Dam.



We're never going to get the manufacturing base like we want. We can't compete with the wage structure of developing countries. Granted, the wage structure around the world needs to be improved, but boy, is that gonna take alot of time! Selected tariffs may help, but we don't want to go the way of Smoot-Hawley that helped fuel the Depression. It's a global economy, and we should be a major global player, not a wagons-drawn isolationist.



I think we need to give dignity to our service workers. I don't understand why it's necessary to pay service workers sub-standard wages. Manufacturing jobs used to be in the same boat, and it was only the unions that helped bring them dignity and the ability to truly support families. I believe we should pass the Employee's Free Choice Act. I believe the American economy won't be truly revived until Wal-Mart is unionized.



There are other good ideas. We need better financial reform, so Wall Street doesn't keep plunging us into this madness. Our whole tax reform needs to be radically reformed, in such a way that improves it's progressivity. Our elections need to be more open, not less - the wave of laws trying to make it more difficult to vote are poisonous and truly anti-American. We need campaign finance reform so that our elections are not simply bought off by large corporations and wealthy donors. And we need to have an election structure that allows multiple parties to flourish, so that more ideas are brought to DC, and different groups can compromise and form broader solutions.



So if you managed to get through all that, I would really like to hear your ideas. This is an immediate crisis, and the only truly awful solution is no solution. So let us pray and hope we can come together on this.



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Thoughts on a Tragic Day

Today, in an unexpected and tragic way, someone very special and important on our theatre group lost someone very close to her.  Bobbie Bateman, our gifted artistic director, had recently found herself in a loving relationship with a man whom I only know as Uriah.  She had lost her husband several years ago to cancer, and more recently, her beloved dance mentor, Freddie Martinez.  Bitten by tragedy, she had found a way to move and grow with her new relationship.  But that was taken away from, as Uriah experienced a horrible late night motorcycle accident while trying to go into work.

Why do horrible things happen to good people?  How does one make sense of the awful tragedies that confound mankind, both on a societal and on an individual level?  It's the oldest question man asks himself, and I'm not sure there is an easy answer.

At these terrible times, I know it can be tempting to think of God as one mean son of a B. But, at the risk of offending some theologically, that is not God. God is love. God, Christ and the Holy Spirit is in each and everyone of us, saint and sinner, believer and unbeliever alike. God is in the calming breeze. God is in the hand that reaches out to you. God is in the strength, compassion and caring we give each other. God is in the small child that looks up to us, filled with hope, looking for our guidance, love and support.





I know this will sound silly, redundant, and sentimental, but it's important. Every day, be sure to tell the ones you love that you love them. Every day tell the ones that you care about that you care for them. Do it both in what you say and what you do. Love is not a limited resource, like oil or gold. Love is limitless and should be given freely, wastefully, constantly.

Saturday Political Soap Box 8

My gosh! Before you know it, people will be asking for federal assistance on this Irene thing! What a bunch of freeloaders! I mean, stop depending on the Feds to help you out - do we want limited government or not? What's that, Exxon? You want another loophole? Well, COME ON DOWN! Lockheed, you want us to  build that weapons system that even the Pentagon doesn't want? Why, golly gee bum, get down here - You're FIRST IN LINE! You want to start a charter school that pays it's teachers half what public schools do and with no benefits, while paying it's CEOs 500 times what it pays it's teachers, and winds up costing the taxpayer even MORE than public schools? What are you waiting for? Your friendly servants at RepubliCorp stand READY TO SERVE YOU! Middle class? Middle class? We don't need no stinking middle class!

What makes Waycross Special?

What makes Waycross special to me?  Why does it stand out from other towns?  Everybody thinks their home town is special, which is probably a good thing,  but what traits truly stand out, at least for me?

Let's get the choady stuff out of the way right off the top.  It's special because this is where many of the people that are important to me live.  Theatre and church friends, people I work with, some I've met through facebook - all make this town special to me.  Some are even people who may live outside Waycross but I know primarily because of our connections in this town.

This town is special because of Pogofest.  That's the only thing about this area that I knew about before I moved here.  Here was going to be a place to honor the work of our great cartoonists, including a Cartoonist's Walk of Fame.  Alison and I will always cherish the memory of taking Jeff Smith, the creator of the fabulous comic book Bone, and his wife Vijaya, around the area, including the swamp park.  This was truly something special that would help Waycross stand out all around the country!

Of course, all that has been abandoned now, in some stupid dispute.  So we just have a "Swampfest".  So what?  Do you know how many towns neighboring swamps can have Swampfests?

Maybe one golden day, Pogofect and the Cartoonists Walk of Fame will come roaring back - one can only dream!

Waycross is special because of Wong's.  A great restaurant that demonstrates the value of customer service.  At Wong's, you can have it whatever way you want it.  And the owner, Paul Tang, is very friendly, will greet you and shake your hand, remember details of your life that even you had forgotten.

Waycross is special because of it's railroad foundation and the railroad union.  That gives Waycross a tiny bit of history of supporting the middle class and worker's right a little tiny bit better than other small southern towns.  Over time, as the railroad fades in importance to the area, this little edge is getting lost, but you can still see it a tiny bit in the voting patterns.  Republicans win here, but not quite by the same margin as they do in neighboring counties.

And Waycross is special because of WACT, Waycross Area Community Theatre, one of the oldest continually running community theatres in South Georgia, operating in a renovated Ritz Theatre.  The recent production of Hairspray was as close to Broadway quality as ?I've ever seen from a community theatre.

Waycross is special because it has it's own musical written bout it's history called Lydia, Queen of the Swamp.  This great production is largely the brianchild of John Youmans, a very talented performer and craftsman whom Waycross is blessed to have.


Finally, and most importantly, Waycross is special because of the Flying Dragons Art Center.  This is a children's theatre that a town four times the size of Waycross would be proud to have!  A full slate of seven or more productions each year, exposing many, many children to the arts.  Everybody gets to act!  Everybody gets to learn what it's like to be onstage, what it's like to practice and get better.   Chris and Tamara Jeffords, along with Bobbie Bateman and JoAnn Fields, have done this community  a great service by bringing a first rate children's theatre to Waycross.  It deserves your support - with money, time, and attending their wonderful shows.

And very soon, the Flying Dragon will be offering tutoring classes, further expanding the ways in which they benefit our children.  Dragon voice taught by the brilliant vocalists Chris Jeffords and Michelle Chancey, Dragon Acting by the first-rate young and talented Blake Kildow, Dragon Art by the artiste' extraordinaire Kayti Jeffords, and Dragon Language taught by the amazing Kimberly Beck, fluent in several languages.  This special effort also deserves your support!  Please, if you live in the area and you have children, sign them up TODAY!

So those are a few of the things that make Waycross special.  If you're from here, feel free to add some of your own.  If not, think about the truly unique things about the towns in and around you.  I welcome your comments!

Saturday Political Soap Box 7

Is President Obama a great President? I am a huge fan of our current president, but even I would have to say the jury's out on that one. That may be something only history can judge. I do respect and admire much of his efforts, even if I don't think many have gone far enough.


As a progressive/liberal, it is tough realizing we are not going far enough to solve the problems that we have. Achingly simple solutions to many of our problems stare us in the face, and many Americans wear blinders that do not allow them to even consider them. The President may have only moved us a few tiny inches in the progressive direction, but even that has been painful to achieve.


I am disappointed that I don't have a president that will take on the Republicans and their associated entrenched special interests. After so many brutal years under Reagan/Bush, it would have felt so real good to push back hard. I still think that President Obama needs to take them to the mat on something and smack them down hard, so hard that they have difficulty getting back up again. But he won't do that. Why? Because the White House strategists think that if Obama comes on strong, people won't see a strong and effective President. They will see an angry black man. For more on this, please my article in The Strait Line about the Blazing Saddles moment. I think they're wrong. Well, I pray that they are wrong.


I knew in 2008 that the gigantic problems that Bush Jr. had left us with were so mammoth that they were virtually unsolvable. I knew that failure was 100% certain if we elected McCain/Palin. I thought they still was an 80% chance of failure if Obama was President, but at least there was a glimmer of hope.


Now that he has been President for awhile I see that glimmer of hope starting to fade. Given the severity of what we are facing, he simply hasn't been bold enough. Like it or not, health care can only be fixed by single payer, and failing that, a public option was a must. Unions are being crushed in this country, and the Employees Free Choice Act is a necessity that has been just left to wither. Global warming is real and terrifying and it is mostly being ignored. We are not wrapping up the Bush/Cheney wars quickly and effectively enough. Financial reform has been pitiful, certainly not enough to prevent another meltdown. And failing to stop the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy from renewing - oy vey!


But nothing in what I'm complaining about can be made better by turning to RepubicCorp and their wholly owned subsidiary, TeaParty Amerika. And America in 2010 had an opportunity to give progressives a majority or to turn back the hands of time. Guess what they picked? When the history of this time is written, this knee jerk reaction by the American people will be front and center. Hopefully, more Americans will wake up as they are in Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio and many other states, and go "What the hell was I thinking?"



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Saturday Political Soap Box 6

Today's tragic news from Afghanistan, involving a crash that has killed 31 of our brave soldiers, brings to mind the direction of Afghanistan in specific , and Middle Eastern policy in general. I don't disagree that Afghanistan was a more proper front for our conflict, as the Taliban were complicit in hiding and promoting al Queada. Some sort of stability must be achieved in that country so as to prevent it being a base for terrorist operations. That being said, is the current military involvement an effective way to achieve those ends?

I'm no expert, and generally am inclined to support the administration on this. But I do lean towards Vice President Biden's strategy involving greater withdrawal of US troops, relying more on air power and strategic attacks. To win the war more traditionally would require a much greater troop presence than is there now, and I don't think we have the political will or stomach for that.


There is the broader question of the Mideast and the political unrest that many countries are going through. What should we do on that front?

I always feel like there are no good answers in foreign policy. Every action , or inaction, leads to unintended consequences. Even making no choice effects things. So, given all that, what should we do?



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Saturday Political Soap Box 5

I would love to bring up something beside the self-inflicted artificial debt crisis that has consumed Washington and the MSM (Main Stream Media). But almost any other topic I bring up will get lost in the whirlwind. There's so many ways to take this. But the bottom line is that we shouldn't be dealing with it at all. Passing the debt ceiling is just a stupid accounting trick. I'm not even sure why it has to be voted on, since in reality, constitutionally, it can't be turned down. This is money they've already spent. Rejecting the debt ceiling will only make it harder to pay on items that have already been guaranteed or purchased. It will destroy the country's credit rating and increase the interest on everything we pay on.




My primary objection then is that this is not the place to bring up budget matters, whether spending or taxes. We understand about negotiating with terrorists and criminals, but when it's the whole country held hostage we let it slide. President Obama is to blame for even allowing so-called negotiations in the first place. One of the great fallacies of reasoning in the Obama White House and the Democratic leadership is that if they stand firm, everyone but the liberal base will abandon them. They are wrong. America respects a strong leader. Even if they don't get everything they want, they love someone who "gits-er-done". No, that doesn't mean dictatorial control, but it does mean firm, clear, principled leadership. I believe with all my heart that the President is principled, just not so much on the firm part.



I would like to ask, if the debt ceiling fails to get raised, and the inevitable catastrophe results, who are you going to blame?



I mean to me, since it's been raised so consistently over so many years, some new element of insanity must have been introduced into our body politic. And that of course, is Tea Party Amerika. It's an awful insanity that won't burn itself out until it's taken the whole country with it. Honest to God, I don't see how anyone can make a case for anything else. Remember, this has nothing to do with the budget or whoever has overspent or under collected in the past. This has to do with one simple question. Are we going to follow the 14th amendment of our Constitution and honor our debts or not?

Saturday Political Soap Box 4

Class warfare? It exists but not in the way everybody thinks. The problem isn't the poor taking from the rich (that's almost funny). It ultimately isn't even about the rich taking from the poor (although, God knows, that goes on). It's about the people on the third and fourth tier being angry that the people on the fifth tier might take part of the pie that they've worked so hard for. Class warfare is about those in the middle doing battle with those on the bottom. Not that the rich and their media lackeys aren't ginning it up. What upsets you more? The person in line at the grocery store using food stamps and driving a Cadillac, or the rich fat cat riding around in a limousine living off the spoils of the less well-off? Well, the fat cat most often seems too remote, and well, who knows, the Horatio Alger myth lives and shines. "Oh, that could be me one day!" but going to the store and seeing someone get something for free that you had to work hard to get? That they can see and taste. Meanwhile, the wealthy are lighting up their stogies at the club, clinking their Dom Perignon and chortling about how clever they are.

Thoughts

I thought it would always be there
I thought I would always care
I thought it could be kept at distant
I thought it couldn't change in an instant

I thought the air was pure
I though the water was sure
I thought the soil was rich
I thought it couldn't unstitch

I thought there was still hope
I thought that but I was a dope
I thought prayer was the stuff
I thought that love was enough

I thought wrong.....

Saturday Political Soap boxes 1 - 3

I thought I might catch up my vast army of blog followers as to the Saturday Political Soap boxes I've been posting on Facebook.  I will try to do this now on a weekly basis.

Saturday Political Soap Box 1

Health care costs and Health Care Reform got you down? Well, for right now, live with it. It's the best thing that could have passed given the bitter and divisive political climate. Anything less than true universal health care is going to fall short. Medicare for All is the only effective solution. Everybody in the same boat...pay through increased medicare tax on both earned and unearned income. No more private insurance gouging and overhead, cost negotiated by a front of 3oo million plus people, no more medical bankruptcies, no more your health insurance quality dependent on an employer whose primary desire is to reduce their own costs, no more people dying from lack of access to decent care. C'mon, people, get off your ideological high horses and let's do the RIGHT thing, the fiscally sound thing, the only thing that makes moral sense! If you push the politicians hard enough, they will come around.

Saturday Political soap Box 2


An insanity has gripped the nation. Well, at least the mainstream media. Here we are, unemployment rate inching back up, job growth moribund, and what are they talking about? The deficit! 24/7! Is it something we have to get a handle on? Yes, eventually. Is it the most important thing during a recession, when the most important thing is to accelerate demand? No, most economists say that austerity measures will actually significantly slow or even reverse the recovery. Right now, we need to shore up state and local governments so that they stop laying off essential workers, accelerate infrastructure improvements, make America the leader of the world in greening the economy, focus on education, and frankly, like it or not, get money into the hands of those who will spend it. The austerity measures contemplated by the Republicans and sadly many Democrats will only accelerate the middle class' decline and our jolly romp to Third World status.
 
Saturday Political Soap Box 3


Is there any more fundamental right in a democracy than the right to vote? Whenever people refer to our soldiers fighting for America and our way of life, I believe that is what most often comes first to people's minds. Yet, this fundamental right that so many have fought and died for is being chipped away. For the first time since Jim Crow and the poll tax, Republican legislatures throughout the country are passing new laws that restrict voter's access to the polls in more and more draconian ways. Voter ID laws are being constructed in ways to increase the odds that such groups as African Americans, the poor, and college students will be less likely to vote. This is most often done with restrictive Voter ID laws. But there are also laws putting up serious blockades that make it harder for people to register to vote. In Florida, the venerable League of Women voters have decided to stop trying to register people to vote because of the way the new Florida law restricts and criminalizes registration. What do you think? Should barriers continue to be put up to voting?
 
Feel free to comment on any or all of these.  I breathlessly await your responses.

Tour de High School Circa 1969

Summer 69....the one thing that I doubt any of my classmates could beat me on was the amount of time spent at the high school. I used to come up with my Dad on Saturdays and mostly hang out in the library. Sometimes I roamed. One time he showed me a fallout shelter. I thought that was a good thing to know, although I wondered how long the crackers might hold out.



Ninth grade 69/70....the concept behind Bridgeport High School came in large part from the team teaching concepts promoted by my Dad. That's why you had dividers between classrooms that could be opened up allowing classrooms to be combined, why there was so much glass and openness. It's why they hired my Dad, and he became principal within a couple of years.



Ninth Grade 69/70...I was the first student there every day. I would ride in with my Dad, getting there before 7 AM. I would go to the cafeteria, and sit and do homework (or more likely, write my own stuff), and wait for everyone else to arrive.


Ninth Grade 69/70...the place I liked the best, particularly on Saturdays when it was just me and my Dad, was the library. I loved libraries. My favorite was the bound periodicals. I loved the sense of history, and the flow of time one got looking at them.


Ninth Grade 69/70...sometimes, there alone with my Dad working in the office, I would get into the Gymnasium and play basketball. My height advantage I had in 7th grade was rapidly diminishing, as other boys started to catch up and I apparently had already topped out. Since I had no real talent, and could no longer take advantage of being tall, except by myself in that gym, basketball started to fade in my life.


‎9th Grade 69/70....the last place of note that I might wander to was the auditorium. Little did I know how important to me it would become as I went through high school, how many memories I would have there. I had seen some productions there....Dark At the Top the Stairs, Bye Bye Birdie, Once Upon A Mattress, but believe it or not, at that point, I did not see myself primarily as an actor.

Jekyll Island Through Time and Space

Jekyll Island is not named after the cartoon crow.

Jekyll Island, a small island near Brunswick, has been an interesting place to visit for our family for the past decade or so. We visited there with my parents when Benjamin was a Toddler. We had gone for a Christmas dinner at the Jekyll Island Country Club, as a Christmas dinner for my work. Then we stayed the weekend with my parents.

Three of the pictures above are from a trip taken two years ago with Benjamin's good friend Grant. They visited the Sea Turtle Center and spent some time on the beach.

Our most recent trip was to visit our friends, the Becks. They had rented a house with a pool and was close to the ocean. The picture in the top upper left is of Benjamin and the two Beck girls, Elizabeth and Emily, at a mini-golf place on the island. They look like they're posing for a movie poster!

An interesting aside: Although I have done putt-putt many times, I have never played regular golf. Not once. Not even one hole.

How to Flush Seventy Plus Years of History

The comments below were sent to CBG (Comic Buyer's Guide Magazine) in response to the news that DC was going to renumber their comics at #1 again including titles like Action Comics that have been continuously published for decades and had currently just passed issue #900. This had particularly poignancy today as I try to reorganize and display my collection, and find all the reading, time and effort it has taken to participate in these titles that are now so casually betraying us.

LETTER SENT TO CBG:

Most of the comments I have read focuses on changes to this or that character. I could care less. Those kind of changes come and go. If they want to turn Superman into a mighty gopher for awhile, more power to them. But the renumbering thing, particularly the legacy titles, leaves me in quite the quandary as what to do next.

I’m 56, not the prime audience any more. DC and much of fandom really aren’t interested in the oldtimers’ opinions anymore. Fine, so be it. But it still leaves me with an individual decision as to what to do. I started collecting in the early sixties. Adventure, Action and Detective were all ready in their 300s. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to get them. I was actually more fascinated with the higher numbers and their sense of history than the barrage of single digit titles.
I thought, someday, I will get to see these titles reach 1,000!

Now they never will. Oh, sure, DC may take Action Comics #90 whatever and call it the One Thousandth issue of Action Comics, charge $25.99 (estimated price for a 64 page comic in eight years) for it. But it’s not the same thing. Not the same thing at all.

Is there any evidence, any at all, that this works? I have seen sales for new comics rise, and then fall back quickly to what they were before the renumbering occurred. I have seen sales on legacy titles rise dramatically when they were well done with great stories and art. If this is a gimmick to save comics as monthly periodicals, then I fear it will fall far short. Quality, marketing, and better distribution systems is what might save comics.

So, I have no idea what to do. Do I use this an excuse to save my family some $100 a month and end my fifty year ride? Or do I just pray that this is just one small glitch, and that sanity will be restored, as it was when Marvel thought it was swell to hand things over to the Image crew?
I don’t know. Any thoughts from others in the same dilemma would be greatly appreciated

AND, OF COURSE, NO ONE HAS COMMENTED.

Stopping at the Tasty Breeze

Great Restaurants I Have Known

A & W Root Beer Drive-In

I have never tasted anything quite so good as a frosty mug of A & W Root Beer on a chill autumn evening in Michigan. And the fact that there was a whole family of hamburgers: Papa Burger, Mama Burger, Teen Burger and Baby Burger. what joy I had when I moved from Baby to Teen!

Bill Knapp's

On your birthday, you got the percentage off your meal that your age was. Dad would always like to bring Grandma on her birthday. And I would love to get Ham Croquettes, thinking it had something to do with the game. You could also get a chocolate cake on your birthday, on e of the driest cakes on God's green Earth, but my Mom loved it. just needed to be sure you had plenty of milk.

Olga's Kitchen

A place in Ann Ardor that taught me all about Gyro Wraps and Baklava.

The Lazy Donkey

A Latin restaurant in Carrollton where the food wasn't designed to be TexMex hot, just damn delicious.

Valentino's

Another Carrollton restaurant, this time with great Italian food, including cannolis. They understood the power of Mozzarella.

Wong's

Great food and great service. They will fix anything you want any way you want. Customer service is king. Love the Won ton Soup.

Barbara Jean's

Set on the pier at St. Simon's, my Mother and Alison were two of their first customers. Unequalled crab cakes. Always will be special to me because it meant so much to my mother.

Others include Amici's in St. Augustine, Pablo's in Fernandina, The Brickhouse in Thomasville, Pond View (under the Raulersons) in Waycross. Chains include Carrabba's, Fazzoli's, Smokey Bones Grand Traverse Pie Company.

I love food.

Blue Steamers Across A Broken Universe

Mama would iron in the late afternoons. She worked so hard to provide for us during the long stretches of time that PaPa was out to sea. I could see the steam rising from her iron. It had a faint blue tinge, and would float towards the window of our adobe apartment. Light brown walls, almost the color of sand, with seashells used as binding.


Out the window the blue steam rose, the open window, no curtain, no shutters, no glass, always open to the smell of the sea. I rushed to the window to see where it would go. High up we were, fifteen stories below us, seven more yet higher still. I saw the blue, wisping towards the clouds.

I could see the boats and ships. Some small fishing dinghies, some tugs, some larger trawlers. I used to fancy I could see PaPa and which boat he was on, but I have grown out of that. Beyond the boats that I normally saw, I could see something that I had not seen before. An armada of steamships, belching blue steam, thicker and more terrifying than my Mama's could ever be.

Mama stood by me and started to shake. It was then I knew. The armada was coming to our Villaggio del Castlemare. Soon they would be here, and there was little time to run or hide. The wooden soldiers were coming. Their march was about to begin.

Obligatory Political Update: June Edition

It's time for political excitement and fun!

Let's start by entering the speculatron and see how the 2012 Presidential race is shaping up. In the Democratic corner we have reigning champ President Barack Obama! He's looking pretty good, making many tough, pragmatic choices that have led to an improved situation for the United States after the massive fiscal, foreign policy, economic, civil liberties and environmental devastation left by the last administration. No, he hasn't gone far enough, but it takes time to dig out. I think he is in excellent shape to be re-elected. The economy has to continue to improve, an iffy proposition given the policy stranglehold the Republicans have. It won't be an easy ride, and never discount the irrationality of the media and the independent voter, but I would still take the major odds that President Obama will be re-elected.

On the Republican side, it looks like a real mess. Any one who can make it through their maze of extremist primaries (especially Iowa and South Carolina) will be completely unelectable. But I can't see the Republican powers-that-be handing their nomination over to the likes of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, or even Ron Paul. No, they want a hard-right BUT business/corporate candidate to win the nomination. That is why my single best bet is that Jeb Bush will be quasi-drafted as a compromise candidate to keep the party together. But for them to go to this trouble they will have to decide the nomination is worth something.

The next best chance for a Republican would be with one of the Republican Governors...someone fairly new whose credibility isn't completely destroyed by their state's growing hatred of them. This could be a host of candidates, ranging from Tim Pawlenty (MN), Chris Christie (NJ), Mitch Daniels (IN) or even, God forbid, Scott Walker (WI). I suppose Romney has an outside shot, but I really feel like he's a paper tiger, and fades quickly when people actually have to vote. Jon Huntsman (UT) has some good Republican qualities, but may be too tied to the Obama administration thanks to his generous service as Ambassador to China.

Could a so-called Tea Party/Conservative Populist emerge? Unless the economy turns brutally horrible, or there are more pure racists country than even I believe, I think not. If any outsider builds momentum, I do think the Republican insiders will do whatever they can to destroy that candidate. Ron Paul is particularly vulnerable to this.

This shutout of the lunatic right, I believe, will lead to a strenuous third party effort, led most likely by Sarah Palin, but I wouldn't rule out someone else. Maybe Michelle Bachmann, maybe Jim DeMint. But I would bet on the human maverick Palin. She won't be able to set for a normal run, and this way she gets to write her own rules. Her skin is so thin, she won't be able to handle the grind of competing with other Republicans.

So there you have it, a great three way, between Obama, Bush and Palin. Hope every body's got plenty of popcorn!