The Compass is Broken.......

.....and the Ship of State is foundering. The navigators--CONGRESS, have become
intoxicated with power, and have lost their way. They are no longer steering
the ship in the direction of the good of the nation, but in the selfish interests of their re-election (at any cost to you and me), and at the behests of the pay-masters
who purchased them.
Obama's State of the Union address was reasoned, broad in scope and narrow in partisan bile. He outlined the many serious problems facing the nation and set
sensible priorities for tackling them. He asked for all congressmen to face up
to the tasks for which they were hired, for the benefit of all citizens, not the privileged few. The Republicans sat stone faced, with only occassional flacid applause for further tax reductions (at a time of enormous deficits and two off-budget wars).

Obama admitted some errors in strategy and priorities during the first year of his
tenure, not for as many as there were. In the interest of bipartisan solutions, he
frittered away the substantial Democrat majority with which he was elected. He spent
too much time and effort catering to Republican's desire to hold on to the past
policies, which the electorate had roundly rejected. He attempted too many changes
in major areas at the same time, and he relied on an impotent Congress to formulate legislation for which they had little courage or enthusiasm.

He is setting a revised agenda. A massive jobs program is first. Repairing a corrupt and biased financial system goes hand in hand. Then going back to Pay-as-You-go budgeting. Spending freezes, and deficit reduction demand attention. Those
will require elimination of the tax reductions for the very wealthy, and for corporations which send our jobs abroad. Health insurance reform is a powerful
instrument to control the unrestrained increases in the cost of providing health care. By eliminating the uncompensated care which masses of uninsureds impose on
the health care providers we eliminate the bloating of premiums for the insureds.

If the Republicans persist in a strategy to destroy the Obama Presidency, and offer
no positive solutions that will address the problems of the many, and the Democrats run scared, as a nation without a compass we will witness a
continuing decline into third world status. The American dream will become a nightmare for the middle class.

Paul Revere Rides Again!

The Massachussetts vote for a Republican Senator should be read as an alarm---
that the voters are coming, to throw out a non-functioning congress. Joe and Jane
six pack and Mr. & Mrs. Chardonney feel unsafe, and their concerns neglected, by
the people they sent to Washington to look after their welfare, and that of the nation. The voters have good vision; they see the financial tycoons, who brought
about their misery, prospering obscenely once again, protected by their paid-for
lackeys in Congress, while the average American has seen the erosion of every
facet of his security---home, job, savings, dignity.
They have watched the protracted debate over health care financing during months
when they were losing jobs and homes. Instead of meaningful action to turn the
economy around, they have seen partisan bickering about compensation for rich
bankers and brokers. They have seen the invasion of hordes of lobbyist locusts
into the halls of Congress, buying support for policies protecting a fortunate few
at the expense of the average many. Most damaging of all, they have lost faith in
their institutions. They say ENOUGH! What is now underway is a search by voters for ways to turn their dissatisfaction into results. Throw the bums out is likely to be the mantra for the elections that will come in the next several years. GOOD!

The Inmates Have Seized Control of the Asylum

Jan. 20th, the anniversary of the inauguration of President Obama was marked by a
significant milestone, the election of a Republican Senator from Massachusetts. That event can be seen as a culmination of the Republican strategy to destroy this presidency.
From the moment of his election the Republicans and their media toadies decided Obama was an illegitimate president who had to be destroyed, without regard to the
damage a failed presidency, of any party, inflicts on the nation. When reminded of this consequence their response was "the lesser of two evils", and that when the Republicans returned to power they could repair the damage.
The party whose policies over eight years brought about the greatest decline in the standard of living of the middle class was, by virtue of control of fear mongering media, able to enlist the victims of its folly in the destruction of the President
the victims had chosen only a year ago, to rescue them.
What will they now offer the American public? Solutions to the perennial problem
of a failing health care system? Not if the insurance/pharma industry can pay off.
Cleaning up the criminally dishonest bankers and Wall Street giants? Not if the money-bags can pay off. Getting people back to work? Not if reducing taxes produces greater campaign contributions. Ending our misbegotten wars in the Middle East? Not
if the military contractors and industries will pay off.
America is a unique country. The normal laws of economics don't apply to us. What
works in the other developed nations won't work in this bastion of free enterprise
entrepeneurship. We'll go our way by ourselves----to where?

To clean the palate

The decade we just interred, left an unpleasant taste. It is time to start a new
decade by cleaning the palate. Allow me to suggest a cultural feast to restore
the joys of life. Watching these will lift the spirits, pleasure the soul and
replace the gloom of the past era.

Leonard Bernstein's comic opera CANDIDE, with libretto by Sondheim among others, is
a romp which will give a new concept of opera. In the more classical vein, Puccini's
TOSCA is one of the most gripping, with magnificent Arias.

In Ballet, the Royal Ballet production of ROMEO & JULIET, is ballet at the peak of perfection. A tragedy told in dance, to a magnificent score by Prokofiev. And the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet's DON QUICHOTTE features Rudolf Nureyev at the peak of his talent.

For pure musical genius watch and listen to Itzhak Perlman perform Beethoven and
Brahms with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra.

All of these works are available through Netflix, which is well worth the small monthly fee.

Forgive this diversion from the usually more solemn themes of my blogs. I also
need to clean my palate.

Reflections

Living brings with it milestones. The first day of the new year is one. And milestones bring reflections--a review of events in the interval since the last
one. For some people, the introspective ones, reflections cover a deep pool of events and experiences.
For others, they are scorecards, with each event getting a plus or minus and not much more thought.
Reflections can also be predictions of events to come if they are exploited as they
should be. If we ask "why" that experience happened, did our actions, or inactions
play a role in the happening and its nature? Can we use the experience to guide future events and behaviors? After all, we are the masters of our fates, capable of using the learning process to our future benefit.
Many of the events of the last decade were the results of conscious decisions made by
people in power, who ignored the lessons of the past. Those ommissions of reflection
have placed our nation in serious jeopardy and decline. Can we hope for the instructive power of experience to avert more unreflective actions by our leaders?
We can if each of us uses that power individually and conveys it to our officials.
That old adage "he who ignores the lessons of history is condemned to repeat them"
is ever true.