A quiet New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

A burned out head light on my truck kept me from going out this New Year's Eve, not that I had any plans or any place to go. But the day was well spent. Bagels and coffee at Starbucks. Home for nap and then off to the gym. Ran some errands bought dinner at Panda Express and dog food at PetCo. Then home to watch the Absolutely Fabulous marathon on BBC America.


Capitano Tedeschi

30

I can't believe I drove the whole thing

What you can you a say about a three-journey made in just two days?

Well, I say I survived it.

Day 1 Sunday, Dec. 28th

I rose early, I had breakfast my with my aunt and uncle. I stowed my gear in my truck, said goodbye to my Uncle's dog Chessie and my counsin Don's dog Simmie. And then bid farewell to my Aunt and Uncle, who were kind enough to have a cup of coffee with me. "You're actually leaving at 7:00 a.m.," my uncle said. "Yes, I'll get coffee at Starbucks and breakfast on the road." Which I did, getting a couple of chocolate chip bagels at a Eisntein Brothers Bagels and an iced coffee at Starbucks. By 7:30, I was on my way out of Austin. My odometer read 136602. I drove back the way I came, east on U.S. Highway 290. There was a light drizzle from Dripping Springs to the Junction of I-10, but little traffic on the road.

Once I reached I-10, the skies were clear from the Llano river all the way west. There was very little traffic on the interstate and I was able to keep my Toyota pickup running along at a speed of 75-80 mph almost the entire way. I had lunch at the Cafe Next Door in Ozona Texas. I had hoped to reach El Paso, but I was able to make it to Las Cruces, NM by 5:30 p.m. It was just getting dark and I was brain dead but pleased with my progress.

Day 2 Monday, Dec. 29th

I left the Ramada parking lot in Las Cruces at 7:10. My odometer read 137245 miles. I was hoping to make to Blythe or Indio California by evening. But again, there was no traffic on I-10 from Las Cruces to Tuscon. Once I got out of Tuscon, I drove north until I reached the junction of Interstate 8 which hugs the border and goes through Yuma and San Diego. Fortunately there was a way to bypass Phoenix by taking I-8 and then connecting to I-10 by using AZ Hwy 85. So I got back on I-10 about 37 miles west of Phoenix and avoided the downtown Phoenix traffic.

I reached Blythe, California about 3:30 p.m. I had hoped to travel a couple of more hours and then find a room for the night. But by the time I reached the Indio area, I encounted three problems, first it was dark. The second problem was that I got caught in the flow of heavy rush-hour like traffic from Indio all the way through San Bernadino. The third problem was that I was stricken with indecisiveness. Everytime I'd see a sign for a motel, I would be swept past it by the pace of traffic or I'd refuse to exit the interstate due my unwillingness to get off the highway. So on I drove. Before I knew, it I was climbing Cajon Pass.

I got off I-10 at Victorville. Now I was about 140 miles from Bakersfield. Unfortunately, I was heading north on what I now refer to as the Highway to Hell, U.S. 395. It was only 42 miles from Victorville to Kramer's Junction. How bad could it be? I asked myself. Well, let's find out I replied.

I found out. It was very bad, scary bad. Driving down that highway, I became convinced that the designer of that highway was either Satan or someone satanically possessed. Highway 395 is scary to drive during the day. It is mostly a two-lane ribbon of concrete that is laid over miles of small hills so it feels like you're riding a roller coaster when you drive it. It goes through several small communities, so it is has intersections with traffic lights, and turn lanes spaced at odd intervals along its route. When it is going through those communities, it. It also has a couple of passing lanes which have signs 20 miles out say "passing lane 5 miles." Ten miles later, you'll see another sign saying passing lane 2 miles. By then I was usually leading a queue of five or ten drivers who were all eager for me to pull over and let them be on their way.

One idiot actually passed me just a half mile short of the passing lane. Unfortunately 395 has narrow shoulders and there was a solid stream of truck traffic heading the other way. Normally when you drive at night, you use bright lights sparingly and dim them when other cars approach. But not on 395 it's too hilly. It was some of the scariest driving I have ever done, 42 miles of sheer terror which I crossed in about an hour. At 8 p.m., I was eating at the Roadhouse Restaurant in Kramer's Junction.

The drive east on CA Hwy 58 was fast and coming down through the mountains between Tehachapi and Bakersfield nearly as scary has the drive over Hwy 395, but it was four-lane almost all the way, which allowed me to reach my house in Bakersfield by 10 p.m., just in time for the British TV program Top Gear. My odometer read 138154, I had driven 909 miles.

So what can I say about my road trip? I'm glad I took it. I had become distant from my aunt and uncle and my two cousins. I had a wonderful time, bought cycling stuff at a Lance Armstrong's bike shop, toured the world headquarters of Whole Foods Market, and had listened to Austin country music. I had eaten barbecue at the County Line Barbecue and chicken fried steak at Waterloo Ice House, so I felt like I had an authentic "Texas" experience. I like Austin and if I had been able to go to school, work and live there, like my cousin Mark, I would have considered myself a lucky fellow. But I am very lucky to live in Bakersfield, and I don't think I'll be moving any time soon. My mother once asked me if I had ever considered moving back to the Midwest. I told her no. All my problems were here and Bakersfield is probably where all the solutions to those problems are as well. "No matter where you go, there you are," as D. L. Mennard once told me.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Willin’ to be movin'

And I been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
and then you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'
Source: Lowell George “Willin’” http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/FeatWilling.htm

I have completed the first leg of my 1600 mile road trip from Bakersfield, CA to Austin TX in three days without incident. That was what I expected. The expectation was based on information provided by a friend who had lived in Austin. He told me that driving would take three days: first day, Bakersfield to Phoenix(Tehacaphi to Tonapah) as the Little Feat song says; day two would be Phoenix to El Paso, and day three would be El Paso to Austin. What could be simpler thinks I. Piece of cake, no need at all for "weed, whites and wine." Just "show me a sign."


Day 1 Bakersfield to Phoenix

Got up early but left by 9 a.m. When I stopped in Mojave, there was snow and ice in the parking lot of the Jack-in-the Box. It had snowed in the desert and the morning was cold. Between Mojave and Boron, I passed a man on a bicycle. He was bundled up and had trash bags filled with all his meager possessions. I not the craziest person on the highway today I thought. Made it to Phoenix by dark and found a room to rest and gather my sanity.

Fist shock of the trip came when I actually started to look at the map of my proposed journey. The first part had been completed, but as I looked at the map the second and third leg looked daunting. Phoenix to El Paso seemed okay but when I looked that map of Texas, the true nature of my task became apparent. Texas is like really big and west Texas is like really empty. So after looking at the map, I suddenly discovered that I had a Texas-sized problem. I had to drive through miles and miles of Texas. I now knew I would have to drive past El Paso if I wanted to make to Austin in reasonable time. Ideally, I would have to make it to Van Horn or Ft. Stockton Texas which were 120 and 240 miles east of El Paso on my second day.

So I got up early on Saturday morning and left Phoenix for El Paso or hopefully Van Horn.

Day 2 Phoenix to Van Horn

The drive was monotonous and long. Traffic was heavy and slow around Tucson but once out of Tucson made good time. The landscape in southeastern California, southern Arizona, southern New Mexico and parts of southwest Texas is the same. Scrub desert like the southern San Joaquin Valley with low mountain ranges ancient granite which seemed to look like sleeping dragons, with clouds hovering over their recumbent forms like dreamy sighs.

There were lots of people on the highway and I particularly enjoyed seeing people in SUVs and pickup trucks towing either a car or a truck. Tied to the tips of their vehicles would be smaller automobiles. As if a Christmas visit to Uncle Tim’s house wouldn’t be Christmas unless everyone in the family got some type of vehicle. The beat up Toyota Tundra with no front bumper for Uncle Tim and Auntie May. A battery-powered, ride on Porsche for little Jimmy and a Fischer-Price Jeep for Jimmy’s sister Suzy so she wouldn’t feel left out.

Looking for funny signs was another form of amusement. My three favorites so far: Fresh Beef Jerky, which I saw in California outside of Victorville. I’m not sure that eating “Fresh Beef Jerky,” would be a wise thing. In Texas they have a highway sign that says “Observe Caution Signs—State Law.” Which might tempt the literal minded into all manner of mischief. A couple of hundred miles into the Lone Star state, obviously someone had decided to close that linguistic loophole, by posting signs that say, “Obey Caution Signs—State Law.”

Reached Van Horn, gateway to Marfa by dark and realized the last third of my outgoing trip was at hand.

Day 3 Van Horn to Austin

It’s hard to imagine early humans crossing this part of America without some form of transport such as horse or automobile. It is windy, vast and sparse from Van Horn almost until Sonora Texas. I did stop in Bakersfield Texas to get gas. I said “greetings from Bakersfield, California,” to the woman at the Bakersfield Chevron station. She wasn’t impressed. But I felt better. Now there are only three American cities named Bakersfield left to visit. There’s a Bakersfield Vermont, Bakersfield Maryland and Bakersfield Missouri. Spent the day doing three things, driving 79 miles and hour on I-10 to get to Austin as quickly as possible. Observing different types of road kill in Texas, deer, coyotes, raccoons, squirrel and an armadillo. When I saw the armadillo, I knew I was in Texas. Got off I-10 just south of a place called Junction.

The drive on U.S. Highway 290 from Junction to Austin was very pretty and goes through the Texas Hill Country. This part of Texas seems like the heartland of the state. The country is hilly with ranches, and vineyards and populated with patriotic and independent minded people. This where President Lyndon Johnson was born and lived after the end of his public service. It’s a good place to retire to which many form other parts of Texas, particularly San Antonio and Austin want to do. I stopped in the lovely town of Fredericksburg just so I could take a picture to say that I have stopped. But I didn’t walk the streets. The hill country and its town reminded me of the Paso Robles wine country. And if you seen one Paso Robles Wine country you’ve seen ‘em all.

I hit the outskirts of Austin by approximately 3:30 p.m. Celebrated my return to civilization by stopping at a Starbucks and having an iced coffee. While sipping the nectar of the gods I studied my Austin street map and prepared for my final ascent up the northwest face of Austin freeway system. I immediately got lost and nearly lost my composure, until I realized that the freeways in Austin were like the freeways in Silicon Valley and San Francisco but with cowboy boots. Once I realized that the freeways were cowboy cousins of the West Coast highway madness, I was fine. I mean if you’ve driven the 405 freeway from Redondo Beach to the junction of I-5 with no car insurance what terrors can one small ribbon of Texas concrete hold?

Finally made it to my uncle’s house by 4:30 and I was “with my family” a totally new and different feeling.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Autoworkers I knew

A Dec. 18 article in online The New York Times reports that President Bush is considering “forcing General Motors and Chrysler into a managed bankruptcy as a solution to save the companies from financial collapse.”

Having bankrupted the Republic and most of the world during the last eight years, it is nice to know that the President is taking during the last few days of his Presidency to preside over the destruction of the once mighty American auto industry. In February of 2000, Harper’s Magazine published an article (subscription required) entitled “Notes on A Native Son.”

The article chronicles Bush’s life and business career. George W. Bush had only two things going for him, boundless ambition and the fact that his last name was Bush. During most of his business career he bankrupted every company that he was ever affiliated with. Every time his companies reached edge of insolvency he would always be bailed out, first by his father’s and then his own political cronies. From that article, I got the sent that George Bush is a compulsive gambler who has never had to pay off any of his gambling debts. When Bush became President, I made sure to buy foreign stocks and bonds, because I was pretty certain he would bankrupt the United States, the way he had bankrupted Arbutus and Harken Energy. Most times when I guess I guess wrong but that time I guessed lucky.

Now as he spends the 30 or so days in office, trying to convince the American people who that he was misunderstood, and is not American’s worst president he has condescended to add to the suffering of thousand of Americans who make their living from some aspect of the auto industry.

For two years, I had a chance to work with three retired autoworkers. I was a guard at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Most of the guards were retired and would spend a month on and a month off as guards. The three I remembered were Sylvester Mosely, Earl Guy, and Charlie Moore. Kansas City had three auto plants at the time GM operated plants in Fairfax in Kansas City, Kansas and Leeds, which was shut down in 1989. Ford had one plant in Claycomo.

Sly Mosley was african-american, a tall, gentle man with a voice that was sweet and slow like molasses. He had fought in Italy during WWII in the Jim Crow Army. He suggested that I get a real job at GM. Go down to Leeds he would say and put in an application, you get good pay, great benefits and discounts on new cars. Earl Guy was a gray haired, medium build and medium height. When he retired from GM he told me he threw his alarm clock out the window and “run over his lunch box with a pickup truck.” Charlie Moore was short, built like a barrel, and wore coke bottle lens glasses. He worked at Claycomo and was a foreman. He once told me that he made sure the assembly line was always moving and if it stopped moving, “by God he wanted to know why!”

So now as the President pretends to be presidential and uses the financial calamities of GM, Ford and Chrysler to bash the union. I think of these three guys Syl, Earl and Charlie. I remember Syl Mosley and Earl Guy arguing with Charley Penfield, the ex-postman about unions. “You ever been on an assembly line and had to take a dump?” Earl Guy asked Charlie. “Well before the union you took a dump in your pants,” Earl told Charley. That was the end of the argument.

So I celebrate Sylvester Mosley, Earl Guy and Charlie Moore all American autoworkers, all union men. They fought in the War, built cars and made America great. That should not be forgotten as we watch the continuing agonies of Ford, GM and Chrysler, and the President and Republican Party’s continued attempts to dump on American autoworkers.

Il Capitano

30

Mizewells

“The original cost of the house had been $2.6 million, but because of inflation and what the architect and the contractor had come to call Piers’ ‘mizewells,’ its final cost had topped out at $4.9 million. The mizewells were Pier’s unchecked proclivity to suggest, in the form of an order that ‘we mizewell use marble instead of tile, and while we’re at it, we mizewell put in another bathroom over there.” Source: Ross Thomas. (1978). Chinaman’s Chance. New York. Simon & Schuster. p. 16.

I am planning on a road trip soon to visit relatives. I know what some of you may be thinking, why not fly? But I don’t want to fly. The thought of flying right now is physically repugnant to me. I’d rather have a root canal with no anesthetic than fly?

Besides a road trip will be fun I thought. Six days, 3,000 miles round trip. Gas is cheap. It should be fun. To make sure the journey is as enjoyable as possible, I needed to get work done on my battered 1994 Toyota pickup. My truck’s name is Miriam (yes, I am one of those people who name their vehicles). So I took Miriam to an oil change shop for an oil change. I had a coupon for an $18.99 oil change. What a deal! Normally when I go to chain oil change shops all I get is an oil change, but I had a coupon for $5 off Bosch wiper blades. So when the guy at the shop suggested that I might need new wiper blades, I pointed to my coupon for Bosch wiper blades and then asked, “how much do the Bosch blades, cost?”

“Twenty-five dollars each,” he replied. Miriam has a Kelly Blue Book value of approximately $1600. I didn’t think that wiper blades that were equivalent to 3% of Miriam’s book value a good buy. The oil change guy said he had wipers for $8.99. Mizewell put ‘em on says I. While the oil change was in progress they suggested this and that and by the time they drove my car out the bay, my $19 oil change with mizewells had ballooned to $43.86.

Next, I went to a Bakersfield institution, the Tire Guy to get my tires rotated for free. I’ve done business with the Tire Guy for nearly 20 years so I told him “I’m driving about 3,000 miles are my tires in shape of the journey?” “They’re about due (for a change),” he replied. So I said the magic words, "mizewell give me some new ones.” When the Tire Guy was through my mizewell had cost me $264.80.

As I was leaving the Tire Guy, I saw I was just a half block away from a car stereo place aptly called Autosounds. Now I have a nice stereo cassette player that was a 2001 birthday gift from my mother. But there was a tape jammed in the player. I really didn’t want to drive 3000 miles across the barren desert with only a radio for company. I decided see what it would cost to get a cd player installed.

Into Autosounds I go. I told the owner that I was pricing a new cd player. He happened to have one on sale for $89. If it had been $90 I wouldn’t bought it. So I thought it over for all of five seconds and said “mizewell put one in.” Forty minutes later, I had $135.45 worth of new radio/cd player in my truck. It was an interesting morning. I go out to get a $19 oil change and thanks to “mizewells” I had spent $444.11.

Then came a bizarre moment where I went to Expedia.com and priced airline tickets from LAX to my destination. This was masochism pure and simple. Why compare the cost of driving to flying when you’d rather have a root canal with no anesthetic than fly? Because as the dictionary says, I derive “pleasure, or the tendency to derive pleasure, from being humiliated or mistreated, either by another or by oneself.”

The cost was $368. If I took the airport shuttle the total cost would be $418. I would arrive at my destination in 8 hours instead of three days. There was no need to figure out the cost of gas, meals and lodging would be for the trip. I have some self esteem and felt no need for additional humiliation. So the next time I consider a road trip to visit relatives, I mizewell fly.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Obama's First Scandal? Not!!!!

The recent indictment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been touted as the first scandal of the Obama Administration. Much effort has been made of the fact that Obama and Gov. Blagojevich knew each other. They did. The purpose of this effort by is to embarrass President-elect through guilt by association. There is also considerable glee, that the Democratic Party, which imagined itself the party of both change and of good government, has one instance of a politician who was caught soliciting bribes.

Guilt by association didn’t work during the election campaign, and I don’t think this effort will work either. The whole affair is disappointing for two reasons.

First reason form dismay is thtat the indictment of Gov. Blagojevich shows a high government official whose ambition and greed were totally out of control. As U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in his news conference, when a public official is indicted for corruption, it diminishes respect for all public officials. Blagojevich has been a successful politician mainly due to his father-in-law’s political connections. His record shows that he has tried to enact legislation that benefit the common people as opposed to being a shill for major corporations. Not all of the time, but some of time. He has also been an unpopular Governor and his approval ratings in Illinois are apparently lower than President Bush’s approval ratings. What good he has done as a politician, has been ruined by his stupidity and greed. He’s a fool and if the Government’s allegations are proved in court, Blagojevich could spend the next few years in a federal prison reflecting on is folly.

The second reason for disappointment is that Blagojevich’s arrest embarrasses both President-elect Obama and the Democratic Party prior to the start of Obama's administration. I think Obama will weather this controversy. He has the poise to rise above those who are trying to diminish him through his tangential association with the soon to be former Illinois governor. But have elected officials and leaders in the Democratic Party learned their lesson?

I hope they have. We need to spend the next several years making profound and important changes to our government. The task is daunting according to David M. Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States and now President of the Peter G Peterson Foundation. In an Oct. 27, 2008, speech to the American Council on Technology Walker said,

“It’s time to move past pandering and political rhetoric. It’s time to start telling the truth, and to position ourselves to begin to deliver some real results. It’s no wonder that the American people have had such a low opinion of their elected officials, on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue because people often don’t say what they mean, and they don’t do what they say.”

Walker went on to say,

“we are at a critical crossroads, and we need to start making some tough choices. And the sooner the better. We must rise to meet this challenge. We can make sure that our future is better than our past if the first 3 words in the Constitution come alive: “We the People.” We the People are responsible and accountable for what does or doesn’t happen in Washington and the other capitals around this country. The time for dramatic policy, operational, political and other reforms is now.”

So Gov. Rod Blagojevich has violated his public trust, destroyed his political career. The scandal has distracted President-elect Obama during his presidential transition. The scandal has reminded the American people that corrupt and incompetent politicians infect both the Democratic and Republicans parties. It will be these politicians who may delay or thwart the dramatic reforms needed to assure the Republic’s continued survival. It is up to us, the "We" in "We the People" to make sure that political hacks like Gov. Rod Blagojevich do not impede the progress of needed political reform.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

We’re having a “Hyman Minsky moment” may I have Valium please?

On Dec. 7, 2008, President-elect Obama, warned Americans that the current economic crisis while not a repeat of the Great Depression, “is a big problem, and it’s going to get worse,” according to an article by Brian Knowlton in the Dec. 8, New York Times. Obama also announced a new economic stimulus plan to jump start the nation’s struggling economy and help to remedy the country’s current financial crisis.

The announcement was supported many economists. Among them was Paul Krugman of the Times who stated in a Dec. 1, 2008, editorial that “Many economists, myself included, are calling for a very large fiscal expansion to keep the economy from going into free fall. Others, however, worry about the burden that large budget deficits will place on future generations.”

One of the others worrying about America’s ever deepening debt is David M. Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States and now President of the Peter G Peterson Foundation. In an Oct. 27, 2008, speech to the American Council on Technology he painted a dire situation indeed.

“From a policy standpoint: our fiscal house is a mess. In the last year, we went from a $163 billion unified budget deficit to a $455 billion deficit, and that was before all the recent “rescue” and “bailout” actions. That’s also before we began really feeling the effects of the current recession. So the simple fact of the matter is that, as of September 30, 2007, this nation was in a roughly $53 trillion hole. That amounts to over $455,000 per household, at a time when median household income was less than $50,000. And that hole gets deeper every year by at least $2-3 trillion even with a balanced budget, and we are heading in the wrong direction in that regard.”

Despite the perilous state of the country's finances, Krugman believes that the government can and should run large deficits to get the economy moving again.

“Should the government have a permanent policy of running large budget deficits? Of course not. Although public debt isn’t as bad a thing as many people believe — it’s basically money we owe to ourselves — in the long run the government, like private individuals, has to match its spending to its income.

“But right now we have a fundamental shortfall in private spending: consumers are rediscovering the virtues of saving at the same moment that businesses, burned by past excesses and hamstrung by the troubles of the financial system, are cutting back on investment. That gap will eventually close, but until it does, government spending must take up the slack. Otherwise, private investment, and the economy as a whole, will plunge even more.”

But once we come out of the plunge, changes will have to be made. Krugman's assertion that government borrowing is "money we owe to ourselves" is only partially correct. Much of our national debt is owed to foreigners. Should they decide to invest their money elsewhere things could be really bad.

Why do I fear the dark clouds on our fiscal horizon? I think we are having a “Hyman Minsky moment.” What is a Hyman Minsky moment? Hyman Minsky was an economist, who according to Wikipedia,

“Minsky argued that a key mechanism that pushes an economy towards a crisis is the accumulation of debt. He identified 3 types of borrowers that contribute to the accumulation of insolvent debt: Hedge Borrowers; Speculative Borrowers; and Ponzi Borrowers.

“The "hedge borrower" is one who borrows with the intent of making debt payments from cash flows from other investments; The "speculative borrower" who borrows based on the belief that they can service interest on the loan but who must continually roll over the principal into new investments; and the "Ponzi borrower" (named for Charles Ponzi) who relies on the appreciation of the value of their assets (e.g. real estate) to refinance or pay-off their debt but who does not have sufficient resources to repay the original loan, otherwise.”

Hopefully the United States' government is Minsky’s second type of borrower, the speculative borrower and Obama’s large budget deficits and economic stimulus package will keep us from plunging from recession to depression, but once that is done. I think we should follow David M. Walker’s advice to get us out of the financial hole we’ve dug for ourselves.

“First, when you’re in a hole, stop digging. Secondly, when you’re in a $53 trillion hole that is getting deeper every day, you better have a plan to figure out how you’re going to climb out. And thirdly, once you start making progress on climbing out, you better have some mechanisms and safeguards in place to keep from falling back in.”

According to Knowlton’s Dec. 8 Times article, President-elect Obama was determined and optimistic. “‘I am absolutely confident,’ he said during his afternoon news conference, ‘that if we take the right steps over the coming months, that not only can we get the economy back on track, but we can emerge leaner, meaner and ultimately more competitive and more prosperous.’”

I agree with President-elect Obama, the financial crisis is a big problem and it’s going to get worse. But unlike Obama, I think that it’s going to take more than a few months to get us out of the recession caused by this financial crisis. Can we do it? I certainly hope so. If we don’t it, we’re all going to need some Valium--if we can borrow the money to buy it.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

References

“Hyman Minsky” Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, Retrieved Dec. 9, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_Minsky

Knowlton, Brian. December 8, 2008, “Obama Warns of Further Economic Pain” The New York Times. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/us/politics/08obama.html?_r=1&ref=economys

Krugman, Paul. December 1, 2008. “Deficits and the Future,” The New York Times. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/opinion/01krugman.html.

Walker, David. October 27, 2008. What Would the Founder Say?. Speech presented to the American Council on Technology, Williamsburg, PA. Retrieved Dec. 10, 2008 fromhttp://www.pgpf.org/newsroom/oped/founders/.

Folly’s Brilliant Flower

As the presidency of George W. Bush drunkenly stumbles towards its pathetic end, we are witnessing two interesting pieces of media theatre. The first piece is low comedy and it has the President giving interviews to tame journalists in an attempt to rewrite history so it will cast a more favorable light on the past eight years of his reign

As I watch the interviews of Our Dear Leader trying to justify his driving the ship of state onto the rocks of war, debt, and disaster I can’t help but thinking that George W. Bush is an exception to Socrates’ statement that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

The second piece of media theatre is a series of farces written by Former Members of the Bush Administration (FMBA). The purpose of these farces is to distract attention from and judgment of Bush’s incompetent presidency by reminding us that whatever his many failings, Dubya fought the good fight when it came to the Global War On Terror, or whatever they’re calling it these days.

One such piece of theatre is Peggy Noonan’s Dec. 4, 2008 editorial in the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Noonan’s main point:

“There was no grousing about John McCain, and considerable grousing about the Bush administration, but it was almost always followed by one sentence, and this is more or less what it was: "But he kept us safe." In the seven years since 9/11, there were no further attacks on American soil. This is an argument that's been around for a while but is newly re-emerging as the final argument for Mr. Bush: the one big thing he had to do after 9/11, the single thing he absolutely had to do, was keep it from happening again. And so far he has.”

Since most American politics and political memory is very short-term, Ms. Noonan’s case is valid. Bush kept us safe from terrorist attacks on American soil.

Of course one could point out that Al Qaeda, the Iranians, the Syrians and other Islamist parties have no need to attack American soil because the President provided them with 146,000 targets in Iraq and another 30,000 in Afghanistan. Why hazard an expensive and possibly futile attack on American soil when you can kill Americans by exploding car bombs in Mosul or Kabul. The President didn't do a very good job of keeping citizens of the Gulf Coast safe in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina or preventing the collapse of the American financial system. But let's not be petty because Bush kept us safe from terrorist attacks on American soil.

In the coming days, there will be more attempts by President Bush and his apologist to rewrite the history of the past few years to portray him as one of America’s greatest Presidents because “he kept us safe.” If you wish to look beyond the next news or election cycle, it might be wise to remember the words of historian Barbara Tuchman in her book, March of Folly (1984, New York, Knopf, p. 19).

“In between flashes of good government, folly has its day. In the Bourbons of France, it burst into brilliant flower.

“Louis XIV is usually considered a master monarch, largely because people tent to accept a successfully dramatized self-estimation. In reality he exhausted France’s economic and human resources by his ceaseless wars and their cost in national debt, casualties, famine and disease, he propelled France toward collapse that could only result as it did two reigns later, in the overturn of absolute monarchy, the Bourbon raison d’etre.”

Substitute George Bush for Louis XIV and America for France and you have fairly good description of the last seven years. Yes, he kept us safe, but he left the Republic sorely and unnecessarily wounded in the process. We can respect the president for what little he has achieved, but we can also contradict the President's and FMBA’s attempts to spin the Bush administration's dismal achievements so history will see it and him in a more favorable light. He is the American Louis XIV, Folly's Brilliant Flower.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Welcome to Arsenale

The election is over, now the fight begins.
Jeremy Scahill author Blackwater Miami Bookfair on CSPAN 11/15/08

Greetings and welcome to Arsenale, my front porch on the World Wide Web. The purpose of this post is to introduce this blog, give a brief description of its organization, and define its content and purpose for the rest of 2008 and 2009.

Introduction

The picture on the masthead of this blog is a picture I took of the Venetian Arsenal, the great industrial shipyard where the galleys of the Venetian Navy were built for nearly 700 years. If you’d ask what my favorite place is on the planet, my answer would be Venice. Maybe not right now, since most of the islands of the lagoon are under five feet of water due to unseasonably high tides, but most other times, Venice would be the answer.

Why am I blogging? Well you can thank or blame two people for giving me the idea and then taking action. First is a friend who asked my why I didn’t I have blog? Good question. Since I was a good question, I decided not to answer. But I did decide to think about it, which I’ve done from the 15th of October until today. I did send her my answer her yesterday. When a second person actually inspired me to take action.

That person was author Neil Gaiman. I had a patron request two of his books from the Sandman series. I had never heard of Mr. Gaiman until today. I searched Amazon.com, found his books, found his blog and later found his web site. I liked the look of his web site and decided to get started on a similar one of my own.

The start is this blog. More additions will follow as the days go by.

Organization

When I began to think about starting a blog, I naturally did some research. First question I had to ask is why? Well, I have things I want to say. Then I asked how do I do that in a blog? So I did some research and came across a March 20, 2008 article in the New York Times, “So You Want to Be a Blogging Star?” Paul Boutin.

Boutin gives the following advice to novice bloggers.

Don’t expect to get rich
Fit blogging into the holes in your schedule.
Just post it already! Link to http://boingboing.net/
Join the community, such as it is Link to & relate to other bloggers
Plug yourself.
Keep a regular rhythm. Post regularly

So that’s how I am going to do it. I also intend to be very good at it. But that brings the next questions. What do I put in my blog? What is its purpose?

Content and purpose

I intend to blog on the following subjects: politics, public administration, history, and personal interests.

We’ve just gone through an important election. But as Jeremy Scahill mentions in the quotation at the top of this essay, “the election is over and the battle has just begun.” I have a master’s degree in public administration, but haven’t done very much with it. Well, I am going to start doing something with in this blog. We have endured eight years of one of the most incompetent President and political administrations in American history. To recover from the disaster that President George Bush and his cronies have created, all Americans will have to work and sacrifice. I believe we can do it and I plan to spend the next few months affirming that belief.

I am also a history buff. I wrote about Kern County history for five years for The Bakersfield Californian. But my passions right now are Venetian, Byzantine and Dutch history. So expect some posts on those subjects. Finally personal interests that I will be writing about, are cycling, yoga, tai chi, investing and travel.

If I can sell books and services, I will. I have been a freelance writer and done writing, research, and graphic design for the Knowledge Factory where I work. I have written a book and intend finish its editing and have it published. When it is published I’ll finish the next one and so on and so forth.

Conclusion

The purpose of this post has been to introduce this blog, describe its organization and give you an idea of its future contents. As I said, this blog is my “front porch” on the web. If you’re passing by stop and enjoy. The coffee pots on, Paolo Conte is on the CD player and I am more than happy to take some time and chat.

Capitano Tedeschi

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