And the loser is.......

New York State's government situation is really bad.

Imagine you are flying somewhere on a commercial airliner and the co-pilot announces that he is bailing out because he's been having an affair with a married woman. He opens the hatch and we see him waft down to the ground as his parachute unfolds.

Ten minutes later, the only flight attendant on the plane announces that she is bailing out because she was caught shoplifting at the local Walmart. She too is seen wafting toward the ground as her parachute inflates.

The pilot is next.

Here in New York, the people who are supposed to be running the government are slowly leaving their posts, letting the government fly on without anyone directing the flight. Add to that a state senator who beats up his girlfriend and host of other baddies left to run the state into the ground.

We need Rudy Giuliani

Cut out the middleman

Something is not right in the state of Federal Reserve. For all that we were worried about banks' liquidity at the end of 2008, the immediate crisis has abated. They haven't made any toxic loans in the past year and the extremely low federal funds rate supplied enough money to keep the banks' reserves on a steady keel, thus protecting the depositors.

But, like all entitlements, the banks have learned to game the system and the big losers are us, the taxpayers. The huge bonuses on Wall Street are not in themselves an issue but are symptoms of how the federal government is currently providing the means by which the banks have reaped vast profits.

Here's the formula. The prime rate is currently 3.25% and the discount rate is currently .75%. The prime rate is charged only to a bank's absolutely one or two best customers. The rest pay considerably higher rates. Even at the prime rate the banks are making huge profits, lending at anywhere from 3.25% up to 22% for high risk credit card customers.

The prime rate for decades has been pegged by the Wall Street Journal at 3% above the federal funds target rate. The Federal Funds Target rate is essentially the cost of money banks must keep in reserve, unproductively. What they don't get from their depositors, for which they pay .1%, they must borrow at, currently, .25% from banks which have excess reserves. If they can't get money from other banks, at last resort they can go to the Federal Reserve's discount window which will currently lend them all they need for .75%. Essentially, the banks are currently getting money for 3/4% or less. When the Federal Funds Target rate is at 4% or 5% I can understand why they would charge 3% over this cost but at current rates, a prime rate 3% above the Federal Funds Rate is usurious.

The system is supposed to work like this. The banks get money from their depositors and lend out 90% of it. They make their money on the spread between what they pay their depositors and what they charge their borrowers. Everyone wins. The depositors get a safe return on their money, the banks make a profit on very secure loans. Only now, the depositors are cut out of the game. Does it make a difference to the banks if they borrow at .1% or .25% or even .75% if they can get 5% on a mortgage loan secured by good real estate. I don't think so. If the Fed raised its discount rate even by 1% I am not sure it would seriously impact current commercial and mortgage loan rates. With such a spread between the cost and sale price of money, there would bound to be competition between banks to make loans. I think the Fed should raise rates, to give depositors some decent return on their money and to cut back the banks' profits.

The attempt to regulate compensation at financial institutions which got bailed out in the 2008 shakeout is a fair one. The banks, in the words of Daniel Gross in Newsweek, "...moved into our house, raided our fridge, and set the joint on fire. Now they're complaining that our renovation efforts are cramping their style." They claim that without the huge compensation offered, their talent would go elsewhere. First of all, where would they go? Secondly, how much talent does it take to make money by borrowing at .25% and lending at 7%. And if this is the talent that took inordinate risks with depositors' money, the banks would be better off without them.


You can tell that the banks don't care to get depositors' money, giving only about .1% even for savings accounts. It's sort of like a large company having only a very limited number of distributors, thereby restricting competition. If this continues, the public will be impoverished and the banks will have all the money.

The banks aren't lending, or not at reasonable rates, they are distributing the Fed's money at 933% markup. No wonder no one has a job.

If the Federal Reserve won't raise the discount rate or Target rate, then maybe they should start lending directly to businesses and consumers. That might jump start the economy.

In the Air Again, or rather, on the ground

Further adventures. Ever notice that amid the noise and confusion of crowded boarding areas, announcements are made that strain one's ability to discern what language is being spoken much less understanding the announcement? The airlines must have some personnel who are familiar with and speak a recognizable form of American English.

Orlando, Florida's airport is lauded as one of the better airports in the United States but I don't see it. It isn't very intuitively designed. For instance, just before entering the main reception hall, ticketing is to the left and right of you. It is a very long, narrow area and if you are flying on an airline which happens to be at either end of the hall you have a long walk ahead of you. If you know your gate number, you probably have no need to be in the ticketing hall unless you have to check your baggage but you are there mainly because you need to check in. Finding the monitors could be a problem because they are just above your head as you are walking along and you don’t have room to back off and look up because of all of the passengers waiting to check in. Ironically, though, if you had gone straight into the entrance hall , bypassing the ticket counters you would have seen a huge monitor display giving you all the information you need.

Orlando has a land side and an airside building as do many other newer airports in the US. The ride from one to the other is a shuttle train. This train has windows and the ride from one building to the other is smooth and quite lovely. As you arrive at either station, you cannot tell which side to disembark from since the station, for some odd reason encases the train in metal sheathing instead of in glass as in most shuttles. When you arrive, (as well as depart) it is more like an elevator than a train..There is a lot of walking and the usual roller coaster feeling getting up to the train and then down to the service levels, although there are commodious well placed elevators which make using them very convenient.

Security (this was at noon) was bedlam. Wall to wall people. I asked a TSA officer if it was always like this and he responded “this isn’t busy.” I can’t imagine it getting worse.

Other than that, I didn’t notice anything either to its credit or detriment and wonder what all the fuss is about.I’d give it a 7 or 8.

Amarillo airport (Rick Husband Airport, formally) is the usual small town airport with a few stores and about 8 gates. Small as it is, it has one of the longest runways in the United States because it is also used by a fleet of military transports which are based there. Due to its diminutive size it is very convenient for parking, rental car facilities and for waiting. It usually isn’t crowded. They have free wifi and best of all, permanently fixed bar stools at narrow tables containing built-in electric outlets and USB ports.

Listening to some conversations, I gleaned that an entire group was traveling to Israel. They were all wearing something orange for ease of identification. It was a two week trip and this was the first leg from Amarillo to Houston. They were not scheduled to fly out till the following evening and then only to Paris where they would change planes. Seems like real torture, but maybe it was a cheap tour. I think they paid about $3800.00 per person including meals and hotels.. Also, while seated at one of the aforementioned tables and doing my thing on the internet, I noticed that the waiting area which just a few moments ago had been all but empty was suddenly filling up at an alarming rate. Usually a waiting area fills slowly, with people drifting in from other areas. This was a flood. Suddenly there were 60 or so people crowding into the area. This must have been the result of a gate change but I never did find out. I closed my computer and waited for my own flight across the hall which was just being announced albeit in an accent so thick, I couldn’t be sure whether they were canceling the flight or calling it.

How not to run a business

I walk into a post office in the middle of nowhere in Houston. A gentlemen is standing at the self service machine busily pushing buttons looking like he was dong a fox trot with his wife. There is one other person standing in line behind him. I look into the counter service area and count 6 customers waiting to be served and one postal employee. What do I do? I need a book of post card stamps. Maybe the machine doesn’t even have them. So I get on line, figuring that if the guy at the stamp machine pulls out, and the next in line does her business quickly, I can sneak over to it and give it a try. It probably has the stamps I need. So right now, I stand in line behind a woman with 6 envelopes and little paper forms stuck to each one. The others ahead of me don’t seem to have anything major to do, but you never know. Still not sure of what I should do, I sneak a look at the self-service machine where Johnny-on-the-spot looks like he’s into a second round, but now there are two other people on line that weren’t there before.

I’m stuck. In the meantime, another clerk shows up and does she open up and say, “next?” No, she doesn’t. She stands at the counter sealing letters with tape ignoring the line that is continuing to form behind me. One guy apparently got a counterfeit money order but he will have to wait his turn, which he does patiently.

The lady with the six envelopes does her thing which takes a bit of time then the next one does something or other then a guy picks up a registered or certified letter which for some reason takes the recently arrived clerk (yes she finally opened her counter for business) a long time to cut the return receipt off the mail, getting the customer to sign in about 3 places and when this transaction is over, asks “ is there anything else?” The guy thinks a while then says he wants a roll of first class stamps which requires the clerk to walk back from her counter and come up with the little jewel that costs $44.00. Then he has to pay for it which he does but he has to sign in two other places one of which is a machine on which he is also required to print his name. If you have ever signed one of these machines, you know it is difficult to do, is usually illegible and takes time.

Okay. So he is finished and soon it is my turn,. I ask for the package of stamps and she again goes back to look around and can’t immediately find them. She finds a new package of them, needs to remove the plastic wrapping from it which she does by poking the packaging with a pencil (why doesn’t the USPS provide its clerks with real tools to do their job with) and finally sells me the sheet which she puts into a big glassine envelope. I pay cash, take my purchases, and leave. I simultaneously glance at my watch and at the self-service machine. There is still a line at the machine and I notice it took me ten minutes to buy a book of stamps.

If the post office is so busy, how come they can’t make any money?

And the credit goes to...

Ah, springtime, the time of year when young people's thoughts turn to love, and Jewish women's thoughts turn to cleaning for Passover (hereinafter "Pesach" which is less letters to write from a 'berry).

Well, as I have informed you in the past, Lovey likes to clean and be neat and orderly, me, not so much. However, as I do not wish to sleep outside yet, as there is still snow, mud and cold about, I grudgingly agreed to clean my closet. Although I was not overly concerned with the possibility of finding any chametz in the closet, it was time to go through stuff that hasn't moved in almost 10 years.

So I, in good cheer and spirit, went through the entire closet, and found all kinds of interesting things, including a new, tailored suit with the tags still on it. I moved the suits that fit to one side, the ones that almost fit to the other side, the "are never going to fit again" off to Kupas Ezra, and the shirts in the middle to differentiate between the different sizes.

Why am I telling you all this, you are probably wondering at this point. I could say because oi am sitting in court waiting for a case to be called, and I have nothing else to do. However, there is a point. When I finished with the grumbling (really??? No!!) and the closet, it looked pretty good.

The next day my brother asked me if he could pick up a shirt from me, I told him "no problem, just call me when you get in to my house, and I will walk you through which shirt to take."

Now having shared a room with him, this is one person who REALLY is aware of my neatness habits, (or choice to allow stuff freedom to stay wherever it wants, as I like to call it). So while on the phone with me, he goes to my closet, opens it, and says " Wow, this is really neat "

Lovey laughed for five straight minutes when I repeated the conversation to her.

Efficiency in Asia

Very recently, I had the misfortune to visit a Toyota dealership.

To refresh the memories of some of our devoted readers, I am not a fan of anyone whose living involves the sales and servicing of automobiles (with a very few local exceptions). Nor am I a fan of Japanese auto products whose reputation for excellence and quality, in my opinion, is the product of a massive propaganda and brainwashing effort to exalt the Asian product and to denigrate the American one.

My visit was in aid of my brother who owns a Toyota (vehemently disagreeing with my opinions re: his ride) and had to bring it in for a recall. As we usually ride together, instead of picking him up at his home, I was to meet him at the service department of the local Toyota dealer.

The service reception area is where the "writers" - people who enter the information needed for a service ticket - sit in their self-important lordliness on a raised platform managing to look occupied and able to ignore customers in a fashion that would make waiters green with envy. I knew we were in trouble when my brother pulled in and handed his recall notice to an employee of the dealership who manually filled out a form on a clipboard. This took few moments and my brother remarked that they were still doing things in pen and paper. One would think that, with the paperwork done, there would be nothing left to do and we would be on our way.

Nothing doing. Clipboard boy handed the recall notice back to my bro and pointed him toward the sanctum sanctorum where a group of bored "writers" were staring at their computer screens, probably watching the latest x rated offerings on youtube.

It became our turn to be written up and since the registration for the car was needed but was in the car and the car had already been pulled out of the bay, we had to recall the car and get the registration. That done, we were on our way.

Or so we thought. The writer informed us that since we had never been there for service before he needed more information and it would "only take about 10 minutes." Ten minutes! To write up the minutia of name address and serial number? Yep. You see, these "writers" come from the old school where computers and typewriters were for the hoi polloi, not factory workers and mechanics. They can barely type. And, they need to know everything about you, from your age to what you have for breakfast every morning. He also insisted on a signature for what earthly reason I can't fathom since Toyota was paying anyway and, after all, the dealership is in possession of the car.

I kept wondering: Toyota is recalling 8 million cars! Don't they have a better system? The recall notices have all the necessary information on them, one shouldn't have to stand as before a judge to answer questions that any idiot should be able to read for himself. I would suggest that one should only have to leave his recall notice and a phone number where he can be reached.

In case they need to know whether you like your eggs scrambled or sunny-side-up.

Lines again

I am on line in the Costco in Brooklyn. A thought just hit me. Since I last wrote from this same Costco line, I don't think I have been to this Costco. I usually go with Lovey to the local one.

So here I am, with just one person waiting ahead of me, and since I started writing this

I was going to write the line hadn't moved, same old store, but they opened a new line and took me first. Cool.

Hello Again

Just a quick hi so that you know I am still around. Recently my company decided tp basically cut off almost all internet access. I will get to that later. However, I got a quick repreive somehow so I just popped into cyberspace to see what is going on at the good Doctor. Thanks Soupeater for keeping things going, but based on the nature of the recent posts, I think we should rename the blog Dr. G gets high, or something like that.

I am sitting at a Dinner (not the one. I chaired) listening with half an ear, and using all other 4 1/2 senses to write this. I think they are going to feed me now so I am signing off.

Up, Up But not without a fee

Long ago, I read somewhere (no attribution, I cannot remember where or when) that in the entire history of commercial air travel, on balance, no one has ever made a penny in air transportation. For the time being, within this framework, the airlines appear to be sitting pretty. They have full planes,they are getting really high prices, they are collecting vast amounts in fees, and they are cutting cabin amenities to the bone (getting away with it, too). They're still not making money.

Many analysts feel that fees will never go away and that the airline companies have finally hit upon the gold mine that has eluded them since commercial air travel became a reality. As things stand now, this is probably true but things could change.


Take checked baggage fees. Here is a quote from a recent WSJ article on airline profitability

Southwest Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Kelly told Wall Street analysts on a conference call Friday that he had no plans to start charging baggage fees because the no-fee policy on first and second checked bags was helping Southwest gain market-share. He, for one, hoped other airlines keep raising their fees for checking luggage.

Full WSJ Article


Since the supply/demand curve applies to everything, checked baggage is no exception. Undoubtedly, some people take less luggage in an attempt to avoid checking any or some bags. The end result is probably to somewhat lower a plane's total load and thereby create fuel savings. On the other hand, much of the luggage which people would have checked had checking been free, now lands up in the cabin to the chagrin of all passengers and no real weight advantage for the airlines. And with the cutback in food service and charges for the elementary comforts of life (blankets, pillows) these items will now need to be carried on board in addition to the extra bags that ordinarily would have been checked.

So where do we go from here? Air travel has become so unpleasant that even business travelers try to avoid it if they can. Admittedly, the airlines will take care of the business traveler and find some way to shield him from the nickel and diming as well as the discomfort. But they still need the hapless occasional traveler to help defray the fixed cost of the trip. and bear in mind, with the economy in the tank and the airlines having adjusted their flight frequencies to where the decreased passenger load has been brought into balance with available capacity, there is no incentive for the airlines to increase the comfort of air travelers.

I wonder what will happen when the total demand for air travel improves along with the economy. More planes will have to be brought back into service and those planes will have to be filled. Unless the airlines are happy with their reduced schedules, they will have to entice travellers to again brave the friendly skies. This will be in the form of elimination of fees, lower prices and greater cabin amenities.
Here's another article from USA Today

Henny Penny meets Al Queda

I recently heard a news report on the radio that a tape, purporting to be from Osama bin Laden, had emerged wherein the said benefactor of humanity stated that his cause is just because he wants to fight global warming and climate change. I never heard or read another word regarding this tape and assume that it was a hoax. (I admit that I heard it when my clock radio alarm went off and I may have dreamt the whole thing.)

In any case, this would have been the anti-climate change crowd's greatest propaganda coup. If Osama is for it, we ought to be against it.

Now for the Unfriendly Skies

After detailing to you my good experience, I must advise you of some of my bad experiences as well.

I was supposed to fly to Atlanta and connect up to a flight to Pensacola, FL. Only, the flight from Newark was delayed and delayed and delayed and finally took off 4-1/2 hours after it's scheduled departure. The delay was caused because the incoming flight which should have been used for our flight, although delayed due to weather,was diverted for use by another outgoing flight, primarily a company decision. Of course I was worried about the Pensacola flight but found out that it too was delayed. It was on a different airline and my attempts to take a different flight on a different airline to get to Atlanta on time was thwarted because the airline threatened to cancel the balance of my ticket if I didn't fly out on my originally booked flight.This would have necessitated the purchase of another ticket for the remaining segments at walkup rates. Also, the Newark to Atlanta portion would have been forfeited and a ticket on a competing airline would also have been at walkup rates.

There is a new model to the old game of airline profit maximization. It used to be a low rate for a round trip which starts in one week and returns after the following Saturday night. This allowed the leisure traveller who usually stays over a weekend to benefit at the expense of the business traveller who does not usually include the weekend in his travel plans. That has pretty much been scrapped. The latest ploy is to increase fares as the time for the flight approaches. Maybe this has become possible because the fare algorithms effectively sell the flights out. It is something that the savvy traveler needs to consider.

I have drawn up a list that I intend to send to the committee chairmen of the House and Senate committees that deal with air transport.

Here is the list:

Flight cancellations and delays which are caused purely for commercial reasons or by mismanagement.

Exorbitant ticket change fees

Ticket cancellations to correct typographical errors

Cancellations of an entire itinerary when one segment is missed causing the passenger to have to pay 5 or 10 times the original price in order to get back home,.

Assigning the worst seats to certain classes of tickets without notifying the purchasers.

If any of you have any other suggestions regarding where the public is being taken advantage of by the airlines, please post a comment..

Fly the Friendly Skies

Air travel has lately gotten a deservedly bad rap. More about this in my next post.

Sometimes,it can still be fun. Take for instance a flight I took from Atlanta to Orlando this week. Security was a hassle, it's true, but as security goes, it wasn't bad. There was no crowding and no untoward delays to the shoeless, midriff showing masses. The plane was completely full, not a single seat empty. Of course some of the later boarders didn't get their bags on board which must have been unpleasant for them. I was in the final zone to be called but I found a place for my luggage a few seats in front of my assigned seat. The stewardesses were amazingly competent; there was no sense of them being harried or other manifestations of distress sometimes seen when a plane gets full.

We took off on time into the smooth clear air of a beautiful night. The ride continued to be smooth, I did not feel cramped because the plane was uncharacterically roomy (a 757, single aisle, originally used as an overseas aircraft). The added amenity which made things even more pleasant was an on-board wifi system which allowed me to pass the time in IM conversations with two of my children. I first thought there would be no refreshment on board but to my surprise they served drinks. I asked if they had any pretzels and received an apologetic negative although I was offered peanuts. As the plane descended to a painted-on landing, the stewardess who had originally served our row handed me two bags of pretzels which, apparently, she found on board.

As I left the plane, thanking all the crew, she said to me, "Goodnight, Mr. Pretzels."

All That For What??

I was listening to Martin Luther King's speech the other morning on Imus in the Morning, which I have been doing for many years on MLK day (known in some circles as BG day, but that is for a different post) , as he is one of the few people who play the speech, in its entirety, every celebrated anniversary of the birthday. (Long before a particular grandstanding formerly fat rabblerouser decided to attack him as a racist to advance his own racist agenda, but again, that is for a separate post).


One of the thoughts that struck me as I listened to this 46 year old speech is that the idea of a black President could only have been a vague notion to Dr. King, and one that he probably did not think would actually happen. The fact that it did is surely a testament to how far this country has come as a nation, and to his role in bringing about the changing mindsets that would allow it.


Another thought that struck me was that the woman obviously sitting right in front of the mic making constant comments to every other line, as if this were a revival meeting ( I don't remember exactly, but things like right on, you tell em, etc.) probably had no idea that (a) every little word she said was heard, as everyone else was just listening, and (b) that the speech would be preserved for posterity as a landmark moment in American history.


Finally, I was struck by the fact that it took 45 years from the speech, and all the advances in race relations to have a black president elected, and in just 1 year, we are left to wonder as to why it had to be this one.

An Open Letter to Hussein Obama

You've been in office a year now, so let's evaluate your performance.

Back in November 2008 you, rightfully, blamed the pickle the US found itself mired in, on the then current administration. It was blamed for the failing economy, the failing banks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the federal deficit, the political corruption in Washington. You somehow convinced the people that you both knew how to and were capable of, fixing the problem.

The people elected you to fix the problems not to continue to blame others for creating the problem. They created the mess and that is why they are no longer in power. The mess creation is in the past, it is over with,
US citizens are now concerned with the future.

You immediately tackled the economic problem with your stimulus package. Unfortunately, you and your party, having lingered in the shadows these many years proposed a stimulus solution promoting public immorality and corruption which clearly showed that you were more interested in advancing your party's agenda than to remedy the nation's deficiencies.

Unfazed and deaf to the public outcry - your majority leader going so far as to claim the economic health of the nation would be improved by giving money to abortion clinics - you then proceded to further advance your party's agenda to force everyone into a health insurance plan reminiscent of the collectivisation of the kulaks in Soviet Russia in 1932. In order to get this, you came up with a bill that no one liked in it's entirety, the identity of it's beneficiaries a big question mark.

You further embarked on a campaign to extend an open hand to the sworn enemies of our nation, your friends, the adherents to the muslim faith. You made your first major speech as President in a foreign country to emphasize your respect for their culture and religion. In the spirit of reciprocity the response to our opening came in the form of an attempted attack during one of our nation's principal holiday seasons. To add insult to injury, after divine intervention caused the bomb to misfire, your Homeland Security secretary claimed that the system worked. The only part of the system that worked is that the perpetrator was arrested after the attempt. And we didn't need homeland security for that. Some of the civilian passengers abetted the arrest. We can excuse an error in judgement. Stupidity is inexcusable.

There is a crying need for jobs and a resucitation of American industry. If you are serious about these goals the way to accomplish them is definitely not to make it inadvisable for corporations to hire additional workers. Raising taxes, increasing regulations and increasing the overall costs of doing business will certainly increase the stagnation and the failure of American business to thrive.

You won the election; it's no longer about them, it's about you.

Please scroll down..

i usually give a day or two between posts for people to read and comment, but as that doesn't happen too often, and there is SO MUCH going on now, I will just ask you to scroll down the page to earlier posts as you read, and feel free to express opinions wherever you choose.

I have 2 points to make

POINT 1

Anti Semitism is alive and well in this country. By now, I am sure you have heard the story of the 17 year old putting on Tefillin causing a NEW YORK based plane to divert because the totally clueless ( never seen a Jew?) flight crew, out of New York, were suspicious. Even though the Tefillin obviously went through the screening process (no, wait, that is no proof.)

This is not the anti semitic part.

The issue that gets to me is that if this were a Muslim praying in the aisle, or a Christian using prayer beads, and the flight crew decided that they were rterrorists and caused a plane to divert, the ACLU, NAACP, Muslim league and others would be SCREAMING how this person's religious rights were violated, that we overreacted to what is clearly a simple religious activity, how this is profiling, etc. What do we hear on this?

Nothing.


POINT 2


The head of the democratic party, also known as the chief donkey, has now decided that he "got the message"and in order to set things to rights, he is now proposing NEW REGULATIONS!!!! Although the banks do deserve to be smacked around, this guy is clueless. Thank goodness, now there is a chance that the American people revolt will continue into November 2010 as the liberals continue to show they have no clue, as opposed to realizing that they ought to get with the program.


I would move to Canada, but their health care sucks.

The Long National Nightmare is Over

Getting back to the politics here, with a little help from information gathered up in Toronto, I will continue the celebration in the GOP's stunning victory in Massachusetts.


The fact that the leftists no longer have an unbreakable stranglehold on the country is cause in itself for celebrating. An awful lot of political capital has been spent to further the liberal and socialist agenda, and the backlash has begun.


However, I would like to go back to the health care disaster that these people have been trying to foist on us, telling us how good it is in Canada, England and Israel, to name a few countries. Well, I got to talking to a member of the local volunteer ambulance service in Canada. He told me that there is a certain beauty to having one system, because all records are available electronically to all hospitals, including the pre-hospital reports which are done electronically, since it is all one system.


Then I asked him if the organization has its own ambulances, or are they just a first responder outfit. What he told me made my blood run cold.


He told me that it doesn't pay to have an ambulance, because the way it works up north is if there isn't an available bed for your patient in the hospital, you have to wait, with your patient on your stretcher, until there is one. This could be in excess of FIFTEEN HOURS!!!! Not always, but it happens. So if you asked a volunteer to take a call at 8 in the morning, and not get off the call until 8 at night, losing an entire day of work ( and perhaps his job) there wouldn't be alot of volunteers! I asked him what happens at a shift change in the ambulance corps. He told me the next crew babysits that patient. So you could have two shifts of ambulance crews, or more, all just dealing with the same patient, taking an ambulance off the street, and not having the patient treated, for hours and hours.


This is what we have to look forward to? Frightening.

Early Warning

After yesterday’s upset in the Massachusetts senate race, the pundits are all saying that this foretells a major loss for the Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. Maybe just because of this event it will not happen. The expected disaster to the Democrats has just occurred, a good ten months prematurely, and therein lies the rub. If our elected officials take heed (and they probably will) and reform their ways to align more closely with the will of their constituents there may not be a rout in November. There are a whole host of issues on which they can refuse to be a rubber stamp for the Obama – Reid – Pelosi steamroller.

Of course there may be voters in November who will want revenge for the betrayal of their trust, for turning their opportunity at responsible leadership into a dictatorial frenzy.

HELOOOOOOOOO

Is anyone still reading this blog?

My Faith in People Has Been Restored ( for now)

I have two quasi political posts but I will break up the joy here with this one first. -Dr. G.


We went to Canada this past week (its not the complete reason for lack of posts, but the material I got from the trip should make up for it). So we were thinking of stopping overnight in Rochester to break up the trip. When Stretch heard this, he said to us "great, now I can pick up my tie."

We asked him what he was talking about, and he informed us that the last time we were in Rochester, 2 1/2 years ago, he left his tie in the shul (synagogue) there. he claimed he left it on the back table, and he was sure that it was still there.

Well, not wishing to disabuse his faith in human nature, but due to a change in plans, we ended up in Syracuse instead. However, on the way back, an opportunity presented itself to pass by the shul in Rochester. Lovey bet him 2 bucks that it wouldn't be there, and I was willing to put up 5 additional dollars, but that was too rich for Stretch, since, I guess, he wasn't THAT sure the tie would be there. He says to me as we were entering the building, " just so you know, its a Croft & Barrow tie, with circles on it". Sure, dude, whatever you say.

So we walk in, and I ask someone if there is a lost and found box, and the answer is no. So we go to the back table and wouldn't you know it, after 2 1/2 years, the TIE WAS NO LONGER on the back table. Gee, I guess they clean up once in a while, even in quiet places like Rochester.

However, not to be discouraged yet, we rifled through a box of skullcaps on the back ledge, and wouldn't you know it, NO TIE! So now I tell him "why don't you check the coatroom?" Figuring the same, continuing result. He goes in and after a bit pops out, and wouldn't you know it...... his tie is in his hand!

Amazing.

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?

It's not the 60th vote that the Democrats just lost this night. Even if Scott Brown had not won, his near miraculous rise in the polls where he became a real threat to Martha Coakley clearly indicated the public's dissatisfaction with the health care bill.

But the Democrats as late as today were still airily bandying about the notion that all they had to do was re-vote the Senate bill and send it to the president. Are they for real? Does Nancy Pelosi really think that her congressional caucus are such lemmings that they would vote for a bill they clearly couldn't pass (the Senate's version) on the first try? Add to that, after today's upset, would all 220 Democrats who voted for the House version of the Health Care bill in November vote even for their own version again?

I kind of doubt it. After all, politicians are masters of self preservation and if the people are so against this bill that a left wing state like Massachusetts can elect a conservative Republican on the strength of his opposition to this bill I am sure they will take notice.

Nancy Pelosi, what were you thinking?

High Noon

Things are changing as I write this and it is gratifying to see.

Just a few weeks ago, Scott Brown could hardly have been less known and could hardly have had a worse chance of being elected to the Senate in the left-wing, liberal state of Massachusetts. Now,he has a pretty good chance; his poll numbers have skyrocketed and despite the Democrats' denials that he won't win, they brought out their biggest guns, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, to try to stem the tide.

This gives us a good lesson in political science and I am sure our wise politicians will take note of what happened here. For months, there have been intimations that the health care bill was unpopular and as time went on, and the congress kept fooling around with it to garner a vote here and a vote there, it became such a grotesque creation that the majority of the electorate were opposed to it. But the Democrats, continuing to smoke their own dope, really believed that the health care bill was the most just, fair and popular thing that ever passed the congress. Scott Brown's meteoric rise in the polls can only be attributed to his opposition to the health care bill and any politician who rationalizes this away, (as some have done) does so at his own peril. Our politicians are very sensitive to hot-button issues.

Whether Martha Coakley wins or not, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Congressmen and Senators who voted for the bill will switch their vote when the compromise version is submitted for final passage.

I don't have an answer to the following question. Can Joe Biden, as president of the Senate cast a 60th vote to break a fillibuster in case Brown wins election to the Senate? According to my understanding of Robert's rules, a chairman can always vote, not only to break a tie or to create one. I think the Senate rules may be a bit different, limiting the Vice President's vote only to these two aforementioned occasions.

This will be a tense 36 hours for our country and I hope the best man wins this election.

Come and get it at the Greunkern garage sale!

Lovey has decided that we have too much stuff, and it is time to get rid of some ( most) of it. So the first thing she does is post something on one of these community bulletin boards, that results in an almost instantaneous response, and the quick exit of a rather bulky item from our garage.

So amazed at the ease of the transfer, (for free, how difficult is it, actually?) and giddy with the prospect of an empty garage, she continued on her quest and responded to an ad looking for unused household goods.

This was to donate unused goods to a charity, that would then auction them off. So away she goes on a tear through the garage, unearthing all the crap we moved with us from the City nine years ago and never even used, much less opened, or even remembered that we had anymore. This results in five shopping bags worth of stuff.

Now, I think that I should just clarify my position in this as opposed to Lovey's. I am all in favor of a clean and neat house, even if I just appreciate it, but do not actively participate in its creation, and in fact, have been known a time or two to be the root of interference towards the stated goal.

However,

I am also an inveterate packrat, and not really in favor of letting anything go. ( really, I know that is just shocking to all of you.) which is in direct contravention to Lovey's position, which is to remove anything that doesn't move in eight hours. ( there are reasons why I go to bed later than her every night, but that is for another post.)

So, now we have the dilemma of my basic nature warring with the desire to make the wife happy, so I decided to shut up and let her have her way, so that maybe I could get one of MY cars in the garage for the winter.

So she puts together this package, over my martyred expression, and then drops the bomb on me. Since the guy is in Brooklyn, why should he have to give his UPS number, I go every day, why don't I just saddle up and TAKE ALL THE STUFF TO BROOKLYN FOR HER!!?!?

Now wait a darn tootin' minute here, I went along with the concept, but I sure never agreed to be part of the process! Just steamroll over me, my objections, wishes and thoughts because we need to keep the house neat.

However, as I do like to sleep inside, in the cold, I am looking at a pile of stuff to be picked up as I write this in my office. Anybody want a sectional candy dish? just let me know.

Sentimentalism or sensationalism?

On its face, the story of Sean Goldman seems sand for all the people involved. The father who has been fighting for his son, and the "adoptive" family that has been raising the boy for the last five years, who endured the loss of a wife/daughter.


Even taking into account that the mother was duplicitous, and that the adoptive family kept a child hostage from his father, it still would seem sad for them to lose a child they purported to love for the last five years.


Until we see their final grandstanding act.


Parading a scared and confused nine year old boy through the streets, and throngs of reporters and onlookers, is tantamount to abuse of the worst nature.



So the saga of Sean Goldman ultimately unfolds with the poor put upon Brazilian family finally being forced to return the kidnapped child. Without getting into a long philosophical discussion as to the situation, I would just say that the final act of abuse shows the true colors of the family in Brazil. If they truly loved the boy, they would never have subjected him to the torture of the public spectacle he was forced to endure.

So as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and in this case, the pudding is rancid.

Fly The Friendly Skies

This past weekend, we saw a major failure of the international anti-terrorist security system. The Netherlands, along with a host of other nations more inimical to the interests of the United States, allowed a radical Islamist to board a plane bound for the United States with explosive materials in his possession. It was only the hand of the lord which prevented a major airline disaster.

The frightening thing is that the agency in charge of airline security in the Netherlands claims that all procedures were exactly followed and implemented as written. This flies in the face of all the facts that have been revealed since the incident unless one concludes that the agency is telling us that all the inconvenience to passengers and intrusive procedures that have been instituted since 9/11 has been totally ineffective.

That run-down nations like Nigeria and Yemen, who harbor no liking for the United States and very little concern for human dignity or human life, should do a slapdash job of checking for terrorists or the possibility of terrorism is understandable. Not so with a progressive country like the Netherlands and therein lies the rub. If the security procedures are indeed effective then it seems, despite the protests of the Netherlands authorities, that someone wasn't properly doing his job.

Upon serious deliberations we came up with the perfect solution for the worldwide airline security crisis that has plagued the United States. Before any flight originating from a foreign country leaves its gate, a member of the security team which checked the passengers must certify that the plane is safe and then board the plane for the trip. If that doesn't ensure a more thorough check of security threats, nothing will.

I agree that the foregoing is a radical, rather impractical solution. The current thinking goes something like this: When the shoe bomber tried to blow up a plane we started to check passengers' shoes now we will have to check everyone's crotch, and in the future when someone finally comes up with the ultimate hiding places, everyone will have to throw up and void before getting on a plane.

The true solution is that we have to get tougher with our enemies. We have to do profiling, we have to do as much intrusive searching as we are technically able to do we have to put a total embargo on travelers who are nationals of countries inimical to our interests, and we have to minutely screen by means of personal interview anyone who has traveled to embargoed countries. We have to gain the ascendency over those who wish us harm and, yes, it will cost us, in treasure, and in lives.

The current outlook for this is dismal. We have a president who gives fine speeches but doesn't have the stomach or the willingness to hit our enemies where it hurts. The 9/11 criminals have been given a public forum for their denunciations when they are brought to trial. Our ability to get information from our captives has been emasculated. Our policy regarding piracy on the high seas reflects a pusillanimity unbecoming a nation with historically unprecedented strength.

Ironically, other less endowed nations have come to the realization that it is do or die. The Mexicans are fighting a battle to the death with their criminal drug elements and the Pakistanis are doing the same with their home-grown Al Quaida. Even the Europeans are beginning to see the threat from radical islam and the people are becoming disenchanted with their high sounding but hollow principles.

Maybe there is yet hope that we will come to our senses before it's too late.

NPR and You

We recently ran some posts on the lack of comments to our other posts as well as to our lack of production. It seems we have been lax in not posting enough food for thought. When this blog began we posted almost one per day (excluding Saturday) but now we are down to about 2 per week.

I think the two issues are related. When we post a new work, the older work, which may not have yet been read by our loyal readership, takes a subordinate position and may not be read at all in the future. So, understandably, we are loath to publish until we feel that everyone has seen the previous post.

We have no other method to evaluate the popularity of our content other than by getting your feedback in the comments section. Nielsen is a possibility but the management here at Dr. G. cannot come up with the necessary funds to purchase their services. Maybe we should initiate a fund drive like the public radio stations do. On second thought, if we can't even get you to comment for free, I doubt we could get any money out of you skinflints.

The Fat Lady Has Not Yet Sung

Now that the posturing, negotiating, double dealing, and compromising about the ill-considered health care reform bill is all but over, let's examine its prospects in becoming law.

The basics of this bill, (particularly the Senate version of it) was masterfully summed up by senator Mitch McConnell just before the first cloture vote in the dead of night early Monday morning. It is contained in congressional record page S13643. Click here for the first page which begins in the rightmost column then close the pdf and click on "next page" of the screen that appears
His impassioned plea didn't move a single vote. Each player in this game gained something for his constituency or his ego while the wider public lost a great deal.

So where do we go from here? If this bill passes the Senate, it still needs to be reconciled with the House version and this is done by means of a conference committee. The committee is appointed by the leadership of each house, respectively and usually consists of the chairmen and ranking members of the permanent committees that worked on the bill. There does not need to be an equal number of members from both houses.

The work of this committee (most of which is done behind closed doors) consists of hashing out a compromise between one version and another. So, for instance, if a bill from the House sets aside a million dollars for something and the Senate version two million dollars, the conferees decide on one and a half million. The purpose is to get one version hashed out. When that is done, the bill is then sent back to both houses to vote on it as is. A simple majority is required in each house.

I can't see how this bill can be reconciled. Although the Senate is on the way to a straight party line vote which will mean the Democrats have 60 votes to the Republican's 40, the House bill had only a 5 vote difference which means that if three congressmen had changed their vote from yea to nay, the bill would have been defeated.

One of the unknowns in this game is whether or not the conference report (bill) can be fillibustered. There is quite a difference of opinion on that. If it can be fillibustered, then the Senate leadership will still need 60 votes to pass this and that would mean that all the compromises made to accommodate each individual senator would have to be kept pretty much intact. If it can't be fillibustered, then the Democrats only need 50 votes to pass it and they certainly would have enough votes even if some senators desert the caucus.

The House is a different story. In order for it to pass, they need every vote they originally got. It's inconceivable to me that when the conference bill finally emerges that it won't contain something that at least 3 representatives who originally voted for the bill wouldn't take umbrage to and vote against. The main candidates for this would be abortion, the public option, and financing (taxes). Some liberals, whose dream of having the government increase its stranglehold on people's lives seems within their grasp will vote for the bill with or without the public option since it does contain the requirement that every citizen buy health insurance. Others, anti-capitalists among them, may object that the insurance companies get a windfall without the public option and vote against it. If the conference bill weakens the Stupak ammendment on abortion, some of the blue dog democrats might desert the party and vote against the bill.

On top of all this, the polls increasingly show that the public is against the bill and this could influence some representatives to rethink their commitment to it, especially after the holiday visit back home where they will certainly hear from their constituents in person.

Bottom line: It's not a done deal by a far shot.

To Whom Belongs this Coat?

We recently attended a family celebration in another city, about an hour and a half drive from home. It was a cold night and necessitated some outerwear. My wife took her coat out of the coat closet and was ready to go. Before we left, daughter took a series of pictures of her parents, dressed for a party.

When we arrived at the party locale, we hung our coats on the rack provided for the guests and joined the other guests.

When it came time to leave, my wife took a while to come outside and when she did, it was sans coat. I didn't understand what had happened and it turned out that her coat was missing. I went back in to check and noticed a coat that looked very much like the one she came in, and it was hanging in the exact place the original coat had been hung. I am usually not very observant but I could plainly see that this was not my wife's coat. We therefore decided to leave it where it was but asked the hostess to take it home in case no one else claimed it.

Upon arrival home, putting her pashmina in the closet, she exclaimed "Here's my coat!" Well, even Houdini couldn't do this trick effectively. Turns out, she had taken daughter's coat.

When I asked daughter if she had gotten her coat back, she indicated that she didn't really use that coat very much and as an indication of how little she used it she said, "I took five pictures of it and didn't even notice it was mine!"

Audience Participation

A while back, our friends at Iceberg Carwash posted several pieces on the comments they received or didn't receive. A metric called CPP (comments per post) was established, and although the ultimate numbers were never revealed, it became obvious that the metric was important in judging the success of the blog.

Alas, here at Dr. G we notice that although we generate a lot of commentary on our irrelevance or stupidity, our posts on political or social matters or just plain artsy posts don't generate much interest at all. We have tried poetry, social comment, rants, music reviews, political commentary all without igniting the spark that will burgeon into the raging fire of debate.

So the question is, what can stir you out of your torpor?

Let us know.

WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN?

I see where North Korea is again making threats against South Korea and implicitly against the United States in threatening to use disputed sea areas of the west coast of Korea for ordnance practice. This comes at the same time that our pusillanimous envoys are making nice to them in another futile round of diplomatic efforts to get the Koreans to give up their nuclear program.

If the lessons of history can tell us anything it is that the longer a strong country allows itself to be bluffed by a weak one the better the chance that the weak one will become stronger. In 1936, the Germans marched an army into the Rhineland, an area declared to remain demilitarized by the treaty of Versailles. The German military had strict orders that if even one shot was fired against them, they were to turn tail and leave. But not one Frenchman even lifted a gun to stop the depredation. Two years later, at Munich, the victors of World War I calmly gave away Czech sovereignty to the loser of the conflict. The Germans were still not as strong as they ultimately became but they were stronger than they had been in 1936. The loss of Czechoslovakia to the Germans greatly increased their strength further and denied Czechoslovakia's industrial might to the allied powers.

The former Soviet Union bullied and bluffed the western powers for close to 70 years, and with the help of the United States developed from a backwards, agrarian nation into an industrial one (still backwards though) that fomented untold trouble for the US and its allies. Although the Soviet Union fell under the force of Reagan's economic warfare, its successor, Russia, continues to bluff and bully, demanding a place at the table among the strong industrial economies when its economy barely matches that of several of the US individual states.

I can understand that the US doesn't want to get involved in a third war (if it even can) in Asia. But I can't see a great effort needed for the most powerful and richest country in the world to teach a lesson to a tenth rate starving nation. Yes they have a large army. Yes, they may have some nuclear weapons although it isn't clear if they or their delivery systems work. I wonder what would happen if some serious damage were done to their most sophisticated installations and modernized cities. If their leaders were somehow incapacitated, what good would their army do them? These are desperate people and the leadership would very quickly be at each others' throats, nullifying their ability to mount a meaningful attack anywhere. If they did manage to fire some nuclear warheads, the most likely target would be South Korea so I can understand why the south doesn't want any action by the US that isn't cleared by them.

More's the pity, because the north will eventually take on the south anyway and the longer we wait the worse will be the result.

Hello Mr. ______.

When did the children of my contemporaries become my contemporaries?


Recently, I noticed that a few young men, children of friends or acquaintances of mine, have taken to calling me by my first name. ( G.W., if you are all paying attention)


Now, this is behavior that I have never overtly encouraged, nor implied that it is acceptable. In fact, it usually doesn't happen, and when it does, I will either ignore the friendly salutation and the person uttering it, or, if it seems like an honest mistake, gently correct them, usually through one of my children with whom they are friendly.


I know that many people my age feel that it is silly to insist on the formality, and I always assumed I would be a friend of the little (young) people, and have an easy friendly relationship. However, I have found that if you are too chummy with these little people, they very quickly cross the line into rudeness, so it is good to have the separation of an adult title.

Even when they are a bit older, like high teens - low twenties, I just don't feel comfortable being on a first name basis with these kids. ( Yes, they are still kids, even if they are married). I am old enough to be their parent, or I have their age in a multiple. I just think that the formality is good to remind the younger generation that a certain respect is due a previous generation.

I feel that I am not a hypocrite in this matter, since I am uncomfortable personally referring to my parent's friends by their first names, even if they insist on it. I also occasionally feel funny referring to someone 15 years older than me who have children I am friendly with by their first names, but this is more my generation already, as sometimes I am friendly with their kids, but other children of theirs are the same age as my children. I guess it really depends on the basis of the relationship.

However, the problem starts with first name calling, but can lead to much worse forms of disrespect, for teachers, Rabbis and other authortity figures who deserve to be treated with a degree of deferrence.

Ultimately, it seems that this generation just does not have the proper respect. I wonder who is responsible for that.

Writers Block or Complacency?

I just noticed that the Good Doctor is "up to" 98 posts for the year. This number might look good on its own ( wow! almost 100!) however, I think it must be put in context.


In 2008, when the blog was in creation for a total of 62 days, there were 59 posts. Almost one a day. Since that time, to date, there have been 349 days, an average of 3.56 days per post, (or .28 posts per day, for all you statisticians over at the 'berg). I find this sad, that we have let our fans down by not publishing enough of the wit and wisdom that this site has become known for.


So, what is the reason for this? Are we busier ( yes), has the first blush of the joys of publishing worn off (not really), did we have LOTS of stuff stored up that HAD to come out immediately ( probably), have our lives become such that there is nothing to share with you anymore ( HECK, no)?


Who knows, its just something to ponder as we approach the end of this calendar year, a resolution to be more prolific in the next year. I think I will dabble a bit more in politics and current events, something I have been avoiding for much of this year. One thing's for sure, context is important ( WOW, ALMOST 100!!!) and it is abused waaay to many times by the media.


But now I have ALL OF THAT STUFF stored up and ready to rip.


So get ready.

Patterson for Mayor, or Public Advocate

I think the one person in New York politics who makes everyone else look better is our dear governor ( no pun intended).

I have the wonderful opportunity to be subjected to one of his speeches the other day while waiting in the Department of Buildings. Since I was stuck waiting there, I heard more him speaking that the usual sound bites on the news.

Wow, frightening stuff. He was talking to Wall Street, trying to say how important they were to New York State. An admirable sentiment, but one that he just kept saying over and over and over.

And that was the good part.

Where he lost me was when he referred to something as "weaved" as opposed to "woven". ( know it can be both, but woven was the right one for the reference he was making). But even if you disagree that this is the wrong usage, the next comment that caught my attention was his point that one should object to anyone who says that Wall Street is not an integral part of New York. he gave examples as to other states and their industries, such as Michigan and cars, Maryland and Clam Chowder, and when he got to Texas he said ( as close as I can remember it

If you tell them in Texas to give up oil, they will string you up the nearest tree."

Texas, a black man, and a reference to lynching. He couldn't POSSIBLY have come up with something else?? However, he will get a pass for two reasons. One, he is a blithering idiot, so no one will care, and two, he is black, so he can say it.

I am just waiting until the line is attributed to Rush.

Boondoggle City

I went to Court today, hoping for some material to write about. Alas, nothing.

However,

After court I had the (mis)fortune to have to deal with something at the buildings department. I knew that I was in for a rough ride when the "guard" who runs the magnetometer and X-ray machine made me check my radio. My cell phone with a camera was fine, as was the digital camcorder I had in my pocket, but for some reason, the radio for the volunteer ambulance squad is a problem. I happen to know that there is a letter from the city that allows me to carry it, but I figured getting into a battle of wits with these clearly unarmed members (I DON'T mean guns) of the security team would not be productive, so I just let it go.

Then the fun really started. I went to the office I needed to be in. After ten minutes, someone sauntered out and took my paperwork. He came back fifteen minutes later having filled out a receipt and one line on another paper, and told me to go downstairs and pay and then return.

"Easy enough" I figured, forgetting that I haven't had to deal with idiotic city agencies in quite some time. Well, first, you have to get on a line in order to get a ticket to get into the queue to be seen. This involves another ten minute wait to show the girl my paperwork, as well as ID. (Ostensibly to prevent other people from paying my company's fines.) Then another ten minute wait for the cashier, who was about as friendly as the first girl. ( Not very, in case you are wondering).

After this, you would think the transaction would be finished. However, if you were paying attention above, or if you know how the city works, this is of course not the case. I then had to go back to the FIRST office, ask to see the same gentleman, wait the requisite ten additional minutes for him to walk the probable thirty feet or less to the reception area to exchange the receipt I was given for the one he was holding, and a pre-printed letter with his addition of a check mark.

Now you have an understanding why the city is going bankrupt, as well as why no one wants to do business in or with the city.

Mom knows best

I was listening to the radio recently and I heard ad for the new kind of thermometer that promises to give an accurate reading with just a swipe of the forehead. What got my attention the most was the kid in the ad, who whines "I hate the one that goes in the ear".



This struck me as extremely funny for two reasons. One, in my day, the complaint was similar, but the last word had an extra letter. Two, the in the ear thermometer was such an advancement when it came out, especially over the previous, aforementioned measurement procedure. We were amazed that a temperature could be obtained so quickly and accurately without all the previous fuss. Now this is known as the archaic method to get a temperature, and people are complaining that it is too uncomfortable.



I am not sure when I became an old man yellin' at the young whippersnappers that they don't know how good they have it, but considering the speed of technology today, I am not surprised that it happened a lot earlier than I thought it would.



On the flip side, the other approved method for taking temperature when I was a kid was my mother's lips on my forehead. ("you're fine. go to school"). So really the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Calling all cowards

We received an anonymous comment on a piece I recently wrote about the citizens of Jerusalem. The comment was a nasty personal attack upon myself. In discussions with the good doctor, we decided not to publish the post.

Not that I mind criticism. What bothers me about it is that the writer is too cowardly to come out into the open and stand behind his opinions and his aggressive posture. I am fully capable of civilized debate and stand behind my own opinions. I can just as easily counter an opposing argument as I can concede that I am wrong. Despite what anyone may think, I come by my views largely by experience peppered with a slight bit of preconceived ideas but I know the difference between reason and emotion. I can give you a good exposition of the thought processes that shaped my stance on a particular issue and I welcome the chance to do so.

So if you would like to comment, by all means do so, but I need to know who you are. I am unwilling to fight with shadows.

Green Friday III

I would be remiss if I didn't comment on my travels this past black Friday ( previously referred to as Green Friday, for obvious reasons.) As many of you know, this is a day of great fun for me, as I always enjoy the experience, the camaraderie of bargain hunters ( unless two of them are going for the same item, then it can be bloody, which is even more fun for the onlookers), and the feeling of getting a good bargain on something for which I have been watching the price, waiting for it to drop.


My first stop was my favorite store, Walmart. I got there at 7, with all the "hot" items long gone (as well as the insane crowds. I find the best time to shop is at 7. The first crush of dedicated shoppers are gone, and regular people are not out yet). Well, as I was roaming the store, as they move all the doorbusters all over the store, I saw one of the electronic items I wanted on a shelf of towels. ("Score!). Then I got on line. As I was standing there, I noticed someone standing at the front of the bag area. After the person at the register was taken care of, the cashier took this person ahead of me. She was buying some toys. After the purchased were rung up, she took a Benefits card out of her wallet and swiped it through.

Now, I do not profess to be an expert in the fine print of the welfare benefits system, but I am pretty sure that IT DOES NOT INCLUDE THE PURCHASE OF TOYS!!!

This pretty much dovetails with what Soupeater was talking about earlier. The clear abuse of our aid system is what is doing this country in. And now they want to take over another aspect of our lives, when it is well known that the abuse of medicare is even more rampant that welfare.

Enough of that, then I went to the Palisades mall ( via the Nanuet mall, which was as busy as a regular day, sad.) I was on the elevator when a family entered. There was a man and woman, both very calm, each pushing a carriage, and three little children. One of the kids was carrying on and the wife good naturedly asked her husband " Having fun yet?"

I looked at them and said " enjoy them, my kids don't come with me anymore." Which was actually a bit bittersweet for me. I always enjoyed sharing the fun with the kids, but now they either have school that day, are away, or not interested.

I guess I will have to wait for them to be out of school and on their own, then I can get on line with them at 5 AM at Best Buy again.

By the Dawn's Early Light

Dick Gregory, a black comedian who spoofed the problems of black people a generation ago had a line regarding his bad luck which went something like this: "I decided to stage a sit-in but THEY INTEGRATED."

This morning, at a time when one cannot recognize his friend, I rose to join the annual pilgrimage to commercial Mecca and participate in the Black Friday events. The destination of my choice was the Best Buy store in Paramus. I had been considering the purchase of a computer which happened to be one of the items listed on the "doorbuster" flier that accompanied yesterday's local newspaper. The price was considerably lower than the already low price it had been selling for just a few days ago.

I opted not to try the Best Buy at the Palisades Mall, a gargantuan palace of retail commerce which on the slowest of days typically has a full parking lot and requires endless walking to reach a particular store. Especially on this day, with the multitude of Black Friday bargains to be had at many stores in the mall I judged the expected crowding to be more than a trip there was worth. The Paramus location is somewhat differently situated with the store entrance right off the parking lot and without other neighboring stores offering fantastic bargains.

I arrived a few minutes early for the 5AM opening and the line, while long, did not look at all daunting. There were some vagabonds among the crowd regaling the onlookers with a cacophony of drumbeats from portable drums. When the line began to move, they took off and we thought they were off to give some other hapless shoppers a dose of their entertainment, but they quickly returned to the line after stowing their tom toms in the trunk of their car.

The line began moving rapidly as (we thought) the first shoppers were led into the cavernous interior of the store. After we got about halfway, the line came to a jolting halt. Since we were around the corner from the entrance, we couldn't see what was holding up the line and chalked it up to a breather before the line began to move again. Only it didn't.

One of my fellow queuers sent his daughter to scout out the delay. She soon returned with the news that the police were arguing with the store personnel and that there were four police cars at the entrance. It turns out that the quaint city of Paramus has a law on its books that prohibits certain stores from opening for business before 7AM. So that was it. Fortunately for me and my acquisitive nature, I espied one of my nephews patiently waiting in line, considerably ahead of me. I told him what I was looking for and he said he would try to get it for me.

I came home and went back to sleep.

This and That

Today, I heard two news stories (headlines more accurately) with very little detail that I have been unable to verify on line and but since it comes from an impeccable source (WQXR) I have no reason to doubt their veracity.

The first story deals with a grant that enables food stamp recipients to purchase them online. I was shocked to hear that people who are eligible for food stamps have computers and internet connections. I thought these things cost money. My internet cable for instance costs about $50.00 a month. And my computer wasn't cheap either, at least not by food stamp standards. On the other hand, everyone in that class seems to have a giant screen HD television set or two and that's not considered unusual. I have two television sets which would be appropriate for museum exhibits. Even though I bought conversion boxes for each of them to enable them to receive digital signals (the government paid for some of their cost, but that is fodder for another blog) I haven't been able to receive any popular programming since the fateful day that analog signals were turned off. It's not the broadcasters' fault but that of my antenna which stands inaccessibly in my attic and is either not tuned correctly or is the wrong type - vhf instead of UHF.

Where was I?

Ah yes, the second story.

This was that the NY Board of Education will begin using student test scores in its evaluation of teacher's bids for tenure even though it is against state law. The union is understandably up in arms about this. The BOE seems to have backed down a bit to union outrage and said that observation of teachers in the classroom setting will also be used to determined eligibility.

I initially heard this news with glee because "If the unions are agin it, how can I not be for it?" The teachers unions in New York have been protecting incompetent and burned-out teachers for years to the detriment of the entire student body. In truth though, upon reflection, I can't really agree that the BOE is on to something. After all, why blame a teacher if the lunkheads he/she is trying to teach just don't get it. We know that their interest is anywhere but in the classroom or with the subjects they are being taught. If you don't want to learn, the best teachers in the world won't be able to teach you. Remember, we are talking here about New York City public school students. On the other hand, we do need metrics for competence, a concept the unions have been fighting since they established themselves. What better way to judge effectiveness than by test results.

I remain open minded on the question and invite feedback from my readers.

The Spirit Moves Me

I have friends and acquaintances who travel to Israel and return home full of wonder and delight and a sense of religious satisfaction, bringing back stories of charedi neighborhoods filled with talmidei chachomim in regulation garb learning torah day and night. The rest of the Israeli population is written off as not being worth even a footnote; on the contrary, they besmirch the pristine utopian image..

Obviously, my friends haven't spent even a minute amount of time exploring non-charedi neighborhoods.

I used to live in the Old City of Jerusalem which attracted, among others, every screwball from around the world but also anyone looking for a jolt of spirituality. What struck me was the interest in Judaism. Almost every conversation, on park benches, in cafes, or just among people walking the streets was about Torah or Halacha or the deeper philosophical questions of judaism. They weren't all observant but many jews were discussing the ins and outs of becoming more devoted to the minutiae of observance. The city of Jerusalem fairly overflows with spirituality.

Most of all, and unobserved and unremarked upon by my narrow minded friends is the teeming multitude of observant, working men and women who may not dress and conduct themselves like the stereotypical charedi jew that my friends consider to be the only acceptable model of true orthodoxy, but whose devotion to religious observance cannot be impugned. Throughout Jerusalem there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of synagogues minyanim and study halls regularly visited by these throngs considered by some to be "less thans." Admittedly,a large percentage of the population of this divine city is non-observant, publicly eating non-permitted foods, dressing inappropriately, desecrating the Sabbath or otherwise demonstrating a contempt for Torah.Still, it is unfair to lump them together with those who are perfectly acceptable just because they may lack the long beard, earlocks and black clothing preferred by the chasidish and yeshivish population.


On my latest trip to Jerusalem which entailed a great deal of shopping, I was struck by the ubiquitous availability of minyanim in busy commercial centers, shopping malls and offices, attended by ordinary working men and even women. This would probably shock and surprise my study group buddies. I could not get over the dedication of these throngs of people who attended the minyanim in synagogues whose only purpose was for these afternoon minyanim; people taking the time out of a busy workday to spend a few moments praying to their creator.

If I forget you Jerusalem, may my right hand fail.

SAVE ME FROM IDIOTS PLEASE

I apologize in advance, but I MUST rant. I just had a conversation with someone about a young man I know who is a little different, and needs a particular type of girl who will put up with his idiosyncrasies. So that person said, he needs a girl, maybe from that school in Monsey,_____. That happens to be the school that my daughter and nieces attend and have attended.

Knowing the gentleman in question, I was aware as to the mind set of the person I was talking to as to what she assumed was the quality of the girls from this school. I asked her how she had this information, and she admitted that she did not have it first hand, ( she lives in Brooklyn) and actually does not know ANY girls who attended that school, but it was what she had heard.

I then became extremely annoyed and informed this person that whatever negative information she has heard about the school is just wrong, and anyone who promulgated such unadulterated B.S. ( I don't think I abbreviated the word in the conversation.) is both wrong and evil. I felt compelled to inform her that it is one of the premier schools in Monsey, and has sterling girls and a top flight administration.

It is unbelievable to me the gossip and slander that people feel free to disseminate irrespective of the truth, and mindless to the damage that it can needlessly cause when it is completely untrue. They never stop to think that perhaps this sniping and bad-mouthing is nothing more than political jockeying from the different schools themselves. They never stop to think that what might have been true 20- 30 years ago might have changed. they never stop to think of the damage their mean spirited or worse, mindless, drivel can cause to perfectly fine girls from wonderful homes. Especially when the truth is the furthest thing from the stupidity they believe to be true.

I know the girls that go to this school. I know the parents that send their children to this school. I am familiar with the high academic level that the school is on, as well as the professionalism and caring of the principals. For anyone to say that this school is lower academically, or that the girls are not of the highest caliber is just wrong, and if they actually believe it then I suggest they remove their heads from the hole it is currently in to get some air.

Unfortunately, this is not a new problem, but you just can't fix stupid.

THE LEAF

A leaf came to visit me the other day. It just popped onto my windshield at a light, waved to me, and then went on its way.

Now as the good Doctor starts its second year in blogdom, I shall mix it up a bit. Some of the blogs I read will have the random poem thrown in. I guess this is to show the literary dexterity of the authors. So I will do a little one here on my friend the leaf.

THE LEAF

A leaf came by to visit today
just to say hello, not to stay

Off the tree, across a field
to briefly rest on my windshield

he didn't stay long , just a moment
until another gust came, and away he went

but while he was there my day was a little brighter
and when he left, a little dimmer

its nice to have a quick dash of color in my day
pop in, cheer me up, then on your way

so good luck to you, my little leaf
having served your duty to your tree
you are now done, and completely free

Rememeber to Dot your "i" s....

I needed to get a blood test recently, to check some of my levels. It took a bit of cajoling to get the prescription out of my doctor, who happens to be a friend of mine as well. he finally sent it and I was just waiting until after the holidays so my numbers would look better.

I needed to do it on a 12 hour fast, which is tough for me because I am rarely home the same time these labs are open, and I can't really do it early in the morning because I get home ( and eat) so late at night.

So I decided to take care of it on Friday, when I would try to get there on my way home. This by itself is tricky, as the day is short and the lab tends to be creepily slow.

So, I didn't eat any dinner Thursday night, went to Brooklyn for a meeting Friday morning, ( no coffee) worked and drove home ( still no coffee, when I do a fast, I really do a fast). Got home around 2:30 and went to the lab. When I got there, there was a line, and I had neither the time nor patience to wait, so I took the girls ( who were with me) to the library, and I figured I would try again on my way home.

Now the lab is on a main street, and it gets real busy Friday afternoons, but I felt I should really take care of it, so I went back to the lab, eve though I saw that the traffic between the lab and my way home was already backed up at 3:30.

I went inside. no line, just me. Great. I gave my prescription to the technician and had a seat stomach grumbling. I told it to wait another ten minutes.

About five minutes later she calls me over and tells me she can't do the test because the prescription isn't signed.

I love my doctor, but he is killing me.

Election thoughts ( only one post, relax)

Just a quick one on politics now that this election period is over, and I have been really good.

I am glad Mayor moron won only because the alternative would have been Dinkins redux, and in a time when we are having Carter redux, I really have no desire to go back to that time in our City's history as well. However, aside from the megalomaniac that is Mr. Bloomberg who flaunted HIS OWN rules and bought another term, the silent tax of 10 million parking tickets last year at the higher rates that he imposed is going to continue to drive out the middle class.

The only reason why the press is saying that the election is not a referendum on Obama is because the candidates he backed and stumped for lost. Had it gone the other way, every pundit would be saying he has a mandate. One analyst said that the republicans came out to vote against Obama, believe it.

Lets just hope the trend continues before we get into a mess that will take generations to extricate ourselves and recover from.

The Man in the Middle

A great theological scholar and leader of men once enunciated a universal truth. Not having heard it directly from him, I cannot know if he meant it as a guiding principle in life or if it was an offhand remark. He was, presumably, addressing an issue of either religious devotion or social behavior. This is what he said:

"Everyone thinks he's in the middle."

When I first heard it, it struck me as merely insightful, but on further reflection and after mulling it over a while, I came to regard it as one of the truest, most universally applicable principles ever uttered. It covers a world of disciplines; mental health, criminality, religiosity, humanity, social interaction to name but a few.

No two people think exactly alike so society has, over the years, had to define acceptable and unacceptable in human interactions. What divides "normal" from really "crazy?"

People have an endless capacity for rationalizing their actions. A petty thief can point to Bernie Madoff as a real thief and to honest people as preachers' sons. A whirling dervish in the sands of Sudan can look at Al Qaida or the Ikwan as really extreme and at the Lebanese as functinoally infidels. The term "lunatic fringe" has been applied to organizations of which I am or have been a member but I can point to many other groups that are way more lunatic than mine. The list goes on. Possibly, Bernie Madoff can point to others in history that caused, qualitatively, more damage than he did.

Standards of morality, standards of honesty, standards of piety, standards of ethics, all cover a very broad range. Society has developed yardsticks for truly extreme behavior and most people will subscribe to this benchmark. But the guy out on the edge doesn't really think he's there. He's the man in the middle.

I'm constantly reminded that people see themselves in a mirror of their own making. You wouldn't recognize the person I think I am or the person you think you are if you ever met up with him/her.

The extreme person you see when you meet me is only a figment of your distorted imagination. The same one that imagines yourself as the soul of moderation.

We're all in the middle.

Happy Birthday & Thank You Readers

Only three more days and the Good Doctor will be a year old. Its amazing how time flies and how things can change so quickly in the course of a year. ( geese come, geese leave, geese return, etc.) So as I take a moment and reflect on the past year ( ..... Ok, done.) Soupeater and I would just like to thank all of you who have followed, commented, praised, criticized, challenged and made this part year fun and exciting.

Keep reading and commenting, for if we write and no one reads it, does it make a sound in the blogsphere?

Pyotr Ilyich You've Made it Big

Last night in the 8PM (EDT) hour, 3 of the 6 classical music stations I listen to, one in Minnesota, one in New York and one in Los Angeles were playing works by Tchaikovsky. It wasn't his birthday nor was it his death day and I couldn't find any explanation for the phenomenon. I don't believe in coincidences.

I wish I thought of it....

I heard a truly great expression in court this week. I was talking to a legal aid attorney and he mentioned that he doesn't care for a particular landlord attorney. He gave me an example of a line that the attorney had used on him which indicated the landlord attorney's callousness. The line was,

"You could give aspirin a headache"

Brilliant. I will have to use it. However, to make the legal aid attorney feel a little better, I told him it could have been worse, he could have said

"You could give EXCEDRIN a headache!"

Out, Out, darned snowflake

As the political season heats up, I feel compelled to at least weigh in or certain issues of the day. I will endeavor to be short and entertaining, and promise to get back to the geese and other issues after November.

Last night I heard two very interesting pieces on the news. The first is that there is a new law in New Jersey, courtesy of that failed governor, that it is now illegal to drive with snow on your car. The blurb on the news did not indicate how much snow shall constitute a violation, and knowing the past history about giving New Jersey cops discretion ( pulling over people because they are black) i shudder to think of how this will play out. I can see it now, 50 cars lined up just past the state line on the Palisades Parkway with a bit of snow caught in the groove where the wipers sit. Or hour long backups on the new Jersey bound bridges and tunnels because Fort Lee or Hoboken have to close their budget, and they are pulling over everyone coming over the bridge or out of the tunnel.

Way to go Corzine, keep it up, and you won't be able to get elected to a school board.


The second item is an interview that is being promoted on WCBS with some Israeli author who is touting the wonderful advantages of the Israeli health care system. Now anyone who has ever had to deal with the Israeli health care system knows what an absolute disaster it is. I am convinced that if airfare was around $300 instead of $1,000, every kid in Israel with even the sniffles would come home to be treated.

However, in the days King Obama, I am not surprised that a "news" outlet with a clear liberal bent in its language and reporting like WCBS is pushing this. I am just surprised that WINS hasn't gotten a hold of this yet.

If you value your liberties folks, speak up now or all will be lost.

Gas, Wind, and then, Solid Waste

Here's a copy of a letter I just sent to our State Senator, Thomas P. Morahan.

The Hon. Senator Thomas Morahan
Room 606 Legislative Office Building
Albany, New York 12247

Dear Senator Morahan

I just received my monthly invoice from Orange and Rockland utilities which included a small separately printed notice that the law requires electricity suppliers to inform their customers of the sources of their electricity (solid waste, wind, gas, etc) and the amount of their emissions relative to others in the state.

How can the Senate and the Assembly allow such wasteful and expensive nonsense to prevail as established law?

It costs money to print and to transport these notices, and it costs money to gather the required information. And who do you think is going to pay for all this? The utilities are a business and whatever it costs them to operate will be included in the price to their customers.

And for what purpose? I buy the cheapest electricity I can find, to provide light and comfort for myself and my family and I couldn't care less if the electricity comes from the pristine rays of the sun or from the methane produced by the flatulence of an elephant in the zoo. I am sure about 99% of electricity purchasers in this state feel the same.

Alfred Would Turn Over in his Grave

I guess the good doctor preempted me in commenting on the Nobel committee's latest eye poke to reason and sanity. Here is my take.

At least till now, the committee could only be held up to allegations of cynicism and political meddling, but now they must be held up to public ridicule.

Peace Prize or Booby Prize?

"Scrap the Nobel Peace Prize," foreign affairs commentator Bronwen Maddox wrote in The Times of London. "It's an embarrassment and even an impediment to peace. President Obama, in letting the committee award it to him, has made himself look vain, a fool and dangerously lost in his own mystique."

The above quote pretty much sums it up, folks. I will leave it at that for now.

Please try not to kill the patient

I know that I have been quite remiss in writing lately, but I have been busy with the Holidays ( as surmised at by Soupeater) and have not really had much to rant about ( prescient once again, Soupy!)

Until recently.

As many of you know, I am an EMT who is part of a volunteer EMS organization.

I was in Court last Thursday. As I was meandering the halls trying to track down other lawyers to finish my cases, I saw an older woman being escorted out of a courtroom by an officer and assisted in sitting down outside of the room. She appeared to be having some medical issue that involved the use of an inhaler. I asked the officer if he had called the EMTs and he informed me that everything was under control and I should step away.

So I did, but I didn't go far. I had no equipment on me, and without going into detail, I didn't think it was appropriate at that point for me to step in. Eventually, the officers who are purportedly EMTs did show up, and leisurely went about assessing the patient. I again offered my services to help, but was once again rebuffed. The pace that they were working is not one that I would approve of, and I felt a long time passed from when they got there until they actually put oxygen on the patient, but it was not my scene.

However, it got me thinking.

A few years ago I was asked what the purpose is for the volunteer EMS organization that I am a part of if there is a "perfectly good" EMS system in place. So the quick answer is no one does it the same way as our organization, which uses embedded members of the community. But more importantly, I can prove my point be an example. A call comes out 530 in the morning for difficulty breathing, and within 10 minutes you have three EMTs, two medics and an ambulance, as well as a breathing treatment along with the oxygen already initiated. That's the difference. A level of caring and zeal not seen in the EMS services or by other in house EMTs.

Hopefully, no one should need it, but it is nice to know that the organization is there.