January 28, 2014

What's for dinner? Use the interactive tables in this Oxfam article to see where the USA ranks with regard to food and health-related data categories: overall, enough to eat, affordability, quality, and diabetes & obesity. Where the US ranks depends on the category: very good, food quality; not as good as you would suppose for enough to eat; very poor, for diabetes and obesity. You can highlight (yellow box) your country of choice. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/good-enough-to-eat

Define torture? Ever since the so-called “war on terrorism” began and we started to detain supposed terrorists, defining “torture” has been much debated. As Ralph Nader notes, even before the fateful day of 9/11, Americans have been unwilling to confront a long-used practice that many groups/nations/organizations consider torture: it goes by many names, but most often it is known as “solitary confinement.” The practice is rampant in every US state and territory. https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/22-10

Living together in relative peace. In a column this past weekend, Thomas Friedman made note of the seemingly insurmountable problem faced by a majority of Middle Eastern nations: the inability to manage pluralism in a democratic way. Rather, he says, pluralism there is built around religion, ethnicity, clans, regions, and sheer force – all destructive forces.

Coming soon, Sochi....  As if the chances of terrorism and warm weather were not enough bad news, the cost of the coming spectacle has mounted to more than all 21 previous Winter Games. The linked article below (from the appropriately titled Interpreter magazine) examines the waste and corruption that have driven up the costs. There are also other web-wide stories detailing the rampant pollution and citizen dislocations that have accompanied the construction of the Sochi facilities. http://www.interpretermag.com/navalny-and-the-interpreter-on-sochi/

     As for the future of the Sochi buildings, I can tell only tell you that in the early summer of 1984 I personally witnessed the destruction of all the dormitories constructed for the 1980 summer olympics. Truck-load after truck-load of concrete blocks were being hauled away from the only four year-old Olympic village. Even our official Intourist guide (in today's parlance, our "minder”) had to admit the obvious: these buildings were simply no longer safe and had to be demolished.

Not a pretty picture.  Chris Hedges's latest column in truthdig paints a dismal outlook for the future. http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/chris_hedges_jan_27_column_transcript_collapse_of_complex_societies_2014012

     For the literati among my readers, note Hedges's opening references to Melville's Moby Dick. It has been a “good year” for Melville. I might also add that recent articles about the Oscar-nominated film Twelve Years a Slave have made note of Melville's other classic, Benito Cereno [Cerraño].

Two signs seen in Breckenridge this weekend. In a local coffee/ski shop, appropriately named the Mug Shop, a sign advertising their pastries, “Guilty Pleasures” and in the town library, “Keep Calm and Read On.”

The International Snow Sculpture contest in Breckenridge. I would guess that if you are reading this blog you missed this annual event: intricate snow carving done by very cold fingers in the equally cold outdoor studio (aka a town parking lot).  The winner, for only the second time in 24 years, was the local Breckenridge team. “Fun in Winter” was their theme: a father, son, and the family dog tubing down a snow mountain created by the Norse god of snow, Ullr who was carved in the background). Fascinating! Perhaps you can plan on seeing next January's competition; you can watch the entire process from the massive snow blocks being loaded through the carving process.  There is even a prize awarded by you, the visitors. 

     Each sculpture is formed from a massive, dense block of snow, front-loaded into a huge box, 10 ft wide, 10 ft long, 12 ft high. No power tools are permitted, all sculpting is done with hand tools, large and small, ranging in size from time-honored, muscle-powered cross-cut ice saws to ice climber's pickaxes to dental tools.

     Hopefully, the picture of winning creation will come through with this link.

http://www.summitdaily.com/news/9921790-113/breckenridge-team-snow-sculpture

Thank you for reading. Have a good week.

January 21, 2014

Wolf Moon. It is nearly the full moon and when I returned to Breckenridge I stepped out on the condo balcony and listened for any local coyotes. Alas, the valley is too densely populated, even the upper slopes. Their playful nighttime howling is one of the things I miss from more rural Alma.

Net Neutrality. Until the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit Court's decision (January 15^th), this was a topic not much heard in the mainstream media, too “geeky!” Now, however, more connected, but not totally tech savvy Americans have been introduced to the concept; some are even wondering what this might mean for their online habits. This Guardian article is just one of many available on the subject. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/14/net-neutrality-internet-fcc-verizon-court

Health care costs. The link below is just one of many that report on increased health care costs. All of this should come as no surprise to healthcare consumers who realize what “for profit” means. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/15/medical-price-gouging/

The legacies of WW I for the modern world. Historians, professional and amateur, continue to be fascinated the “War to End All Wars,” especially with 2014 bringing the 100^th anniversary of the that fateful day in Sarajevo. Fifteen legacies are delineated in this linked Guardian story. Here is the list, first in alphabetical order, then the order from the article. Blood banks (12); christian democracy (14); conscription (3); decline of aristocracy (13); filmed propaganda (7); gas warfare (1); middle east legacy (6); modern surgery (11); nation states (10); pacifism (5); planned economy (9); shell shock [PTSD] (2); war technology (4); women's emancipation (15); workers of the world (8)

     Here is the list from the article: gas warfare; shell shock, PTSD; conscription; war technology; pacifism; middle east legacy; filmed propaganda; workers of the world; planned economy; nation states; modern surgery; blood banks; decline of aristocracy; christian democracy; women's emancipation.

     A few of these legacies are quite noble (blood banks, modern surgery, women's emancipation); others notably less so (christian democracy, conscription; middle east legacy); some truly horrible (gas warfare, PTSD, war technology). http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/15/firstworldwar

NSA and spying on ourselves. Alexander Hamilton wrote: “Nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions by letting into government principles and precedents which afterwards prove fatal to themselves.”

The 114^th congress will be further diminished. Senator Tom Coburn (R, OK) has announced he will retire two years early, at the end of this congressional session.

He managed for a long time with a triple threat -- colon and prostate cancer and a benign brain tumor...[and will] spend the time he has left with his three children and seven grandchildren. It may be one of the only times when a politician says he wants to spend more time with his family and we know it is utterly the truth. Coburn has always had a gift for honesty. He didn't need consultants to tell him how to be a senator. He had the white hair, all-American accent and a doctor's wisdom of life and death, his vocation before politics.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-17/tom-coburn-leaves-a-lonely-place-lonelier.html?alcmpid=view

The changing political environment in Washington. Use the link below to find out why several retiring members of the 113^th Congress have really decided not to stand for re-election. There is no easy answer; rather, it is the overall mood in the capitol that has so changed and led to their ultimate disillusionment. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/congressmen-bachus-gerlach-griffin-retiring-102296.html?hp=pm_2#.Ut8sJ-AQH-l

Pope Francis's transformation. “Herein lies the genius of [his] papacy: He has persuaded the world he isn’t a politician and, in doing so, has become arguably the most politically influential man in the world.”

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/pope-francis-political-genius-102301.html#ixzz2qnMGSX2O


For your “will she – or won't she” file. An early right-leaning piece on Hillary Clinton and 2016. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/hillary-really_774776.html#

The town goes wild! It will, no doubt, make a fascinating master's thesis study: why does city of supposedly sane people so suddenly reach fever pitch over a sporting contest. Suddenly Bronco-logo “klingy-thingies” (for your window/windshield) are suddenly all the rage and it seems a safe bet that many in line for these souvenirs would not normally dream of lining up for anything. “Lord, love a duck” comes to mind, but, then, Duck Dynasty is still much in the news!

January 14, 2014

NCAA and “student-athletes” I have an ongoing electronic conversation with a friend regarding the so-called student-athlete and the universities who are often less than candid about the athletes they seek to recruit. Recent CNN reports raised flags involving the University of North Carolina (UNC) and student-athletes who reportedly were challenged by reading material above the 3^rd - 4^th grade level, including reported death threats to the UNC administrator who researched the problem. See this link and others http://www.wral.com/cnn-report-examines-poor-reading-skills-of-former-unc-athletes/13283770/ and http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/us/ncaa-athletes-unc-response/

     Happily, I can report that at least one such student-athlete, who will forego his last year of scholarship eligibility, making himself eligible for the NFL draft, will do so with his undergraduate degree firmly in hand! And, it is NOT the far more news worthy “Johnny Rocket” from Texas A&M.

Poverty in America. There have been a plethora of poverty-related news stories this past week. Below is a link to a PBS story. Most commentators had agreed that the program's initial thrust did, in fact, dramatically lower the poverty rates for those then over 60. However, as noted in the stories cited below, the locus of poverty has shifted to other groups/areas. The interactive map has interesting figures showing the rate of poverty increases in the various states.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2014/01/poverty-grows-on-maple-street-mapping-suburban-rates.html

     There are more and more comments on the two-levels in American society, the 1% and the rest. Many echo the comment by the late MLK, Jr. “[E]verywhere, “time is winding up,” in the words of one of our spirituals, “corruption in the land, people take a stand, time is winding up.”

Little Sisters of the Poor. Who would have guessed that Denver's Little Sisters would become embroiled in the latest flap involving Obamacare's contraception requirements. But, they filed suit contesting the law's requirements, Justice Sotomayor issued a restraining order, and now the “fat's in the fire.”

Hoping for changes in Washington? Here is George Will on the numbers in the coming mid-term election season. Change seems unlikely.

     In an October poll, 60 percent favored voting out of office every congressional incumbent. The poll was taken just 11 months after voters reelected 90 percent of House and 91 percent of Senate incumbents. Democrats are more likely to lose control of the Senate than gain control of the House. Ninety-three percent of Republican House members represent districts Mitt Romney carried, 96 percent of Democratic members represent districts Barack Obama carried. Since the mid-19th-century emergence of the current two-party competition, no party holding the presidency has ever won control of the House in a midterm election.

     The Republicans continue to be divided amongst themselves over their so-called purity plank: Are you really sufficiently anti-government, anti-tax to run for office as a Republican?

A “living wage” Pope Francis's recent comments regarding income inequality certainly stirred things up, with Rush Limbaugh accusing the Pope of spouting “pure Marxism.” According to the Social Security website, the Pope may have a point as regards America.

     [F]orty percent of the US work force earned less than $20,000, fifty-three percent earned less than $30,000, and seventy-three percent earned less than $50,000. The median wage or salary was $27,519. The amounts are in current dollars and they are compensation amounts subject to state and federal income taxes and to Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. In other words, the take home pay is less. To put these incomes into some perspective, the poverty threshold for a family of four in 2013 was $23,550. … It remains to be seen whether the chickens can be kept from coming home to roost for another year.

     Republican billionaire Kenneth Langone threatened that he and others might withhold their donations to church and charity if the Pope continued to publicly inveigh against the “...supposed excesses and cruelty of unleashed capitalism....[Lagone] has reason to worry that the Pope is in fact asking hard questions about people like himself. Indeed, he could serve as a living symbol of the gross and growing economic inequality that disfigures the American system and threatens democracy.” http://www.creators.com/opinion/joe-conason/rich-catholics-threaten-pope-francis---because-he-frightens-them.html

Unemployment benefits. High on the agenda of the 113^th “done-nothing- yet” Congress was the extension of unemployment benefits. The interactive map linked below shows state-by-state (and county-by-county in some instances) how many unemployed have lost benefits. (For some reason, data for NC was not published.) Economic recovery remains uneven. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/12/26/where-the-1-3-million-people-losing-unemployment-aid-this-week-live/?tid=sm_fb

Climate change and evolution. There was the recent media-rich news stories about the tourists and scientists trapped by ice off the coast of Antarctica, in the southern hemisphere's summer, of all times. Climate change disbelievers quickly seized upon and sought to use this incident to their advantage, forgetting that wind-driven arctic and antarctic sea ice are horses of a different color. 

     Shift focus just a bit and you will find that there remains a continually simmering, low key issue: a growing “gap” between Democrats and Republicans about the scientific viability of evolution. Care to guess “who's who” in this one? Apparently no one is listening when Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R, LA) observes that the GOP needs to “stop being the stupid party?”

College education: its relative value. An article in the Wall Street Journal looks at this question, noting that “[w]e now have more college graduates working in retail than soldiers in the U.S. Army, and more janitors with bachelor's degrees than chemists. In 1970, less than 1% of taxi drivers had college degrees. Four decades later, more than 15% do.” And have you called and then paid the bill for a relatively short two hour plumbing job? Makes a parent wonder: where is the nearest vocational high school.

The article continues.

     [D]ire financial straits from falling demand for their product will force two types of changes within the next five years.

First, colleges will have to constrain costs. Traditional residential college education will not die because the collegiate years are fun and offer an easy transition from adolescence to adulthood. But institutions must take a haircut. Excessive spending on administrative staffs, professorial tenure, and other expensive accouterments must be put on the chopping block.
Second, colleges must bow to new benchmarks assessing their worth. With the advent of electronic learning—including low-cost computer courses and online courses that can reach thousands of students around the world—there is more market competition than ever. New tests are being devised to assure employers that individual students are vocationally prepared, helping recruiters discern which institutions deliver superior academic training. Purdue University, for example, has joined with the Gallup Organization to create an index to survey alumni, providing universities and employers with detailed information, including earnings data.
     Calls to mind Bob Dylan's classic, “the times they are a-changin.” http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303933104579302951214561682

Oscars, Golden Globes, National Board of Review, et.al. 'Tis that season. For those of you who love great acting and coherent comments, here is a link to a New Yorker story about Meryl Streep's acceptance speech at the (sadly) untelevised NBR ceremony.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/01/meryl-streeps-feminist-tribute-to-emma-thompson.html

January 10, 2014

On to 2014, the year has only just begun. Former president Bill Clinton administered the oath of office to Bill de Blassio, 109^th mayor of NYC. De Blassio reiterated his campaign promise to attack the NYC's immense income inequality, thus moving progressivism front and center in the coming debate election debates. In his first column of 2014, E.J. Dionne noted that the presence of both Bill and Hillary Clinton on the stage signaled a probable change in the coming debates, as well as potential problems for Ms. Clinton, should she decide to run. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-resurgent-progressives/2014/01/01/3fc6c686-723c-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html?hpid=z2

A symptom: Governor Christie's problem. His woes in the category of the “best laid plans......” In today's electronic age – and with executive administrations (at all levels) being so multi-layered – it should not be too surprising that yet another chief executive has been tripped up by a staff engaged in, simply put, unforgivable, asinine antics, forgetting that it is not just the NSA that is listening!

A cautionary tale as you clean house. If one of your resolutions for 2014 was to file papers and generally “clean up,” take note of the following story. An intern at a NYC mansion opened a folder marked for destruction, flipped through it one more time, and saved a priceless bit of history. Subsequent investigation revealed that among the yellowed pages was a draft of the reconciliation plea from the Continental Congress addressed to the people of Great Britain, not to King George III. The draft had been written by Robert Livingston who was later asked, along with Thomas Jefferson, to draft a Declaration of Independence. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/nyregion/letter-tied-to-fight-for-independence-is-found-in-museums-attic.html?src=twrhp

Unemployment benefits, minimum wages, etc. Robert Reich's latest blog notes that the distinction between the working class and the poor is fast disappearing. When LBJ opened the “war on poverty,” Republicans tried the divide-and-conquer strategy, but, with shrinking wages for the working class, the distinction is fast fading. It is no longer “us and them,” more like “we are all in the same boat.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/republicans-class-warfare_b_4568828.html

I hope your year has begun well.  Thank you for reading.

First Blog of 2014

Early morning frivolity. This New Year's morning the neighborhood squirrels are celebrating by racing hither and thither, leaping from our neighbor's roof into several small backyard trees, sending the slender branches swaying, stirring up clouds of light, fluffy snow. You can almost hear them, “OK, up, over, and let's do it again!” A raucous good time is being had by all!

The Caribbean. Christine and I were off-out (as the Brits say) for the annual Abell-Kightlinger family warm water cruise to the Caribbean. Except for one rainy day in Belize City, the weather was wonderfully warm. Unfortunately, the rain in Belize kept us from visiting an ice cream store on the far side of town that is owned/run by a couple from the Abell's hometown in Meadville, PA.


It was a somber Christmas here in CO. Christine and I both returned from the cruise with bronchitis; me with an slight infection in both ears, which we are slowly working through. We naturally had to cancel our party plans in deference to our friends's health. Given my mid-2013 health crisis and these nasty colds, we are both quite ready to be moving on to a healthier 2014.


Music time. This holiday's recovery and consequent couch-time afforded the opportunity to listen to lots of Christmas music. Both Christine and I also enjoyed watching the traditional music programs from the Mormon Tabernacle, Luther College, St. Martins in the Fields, etc. Unfailingly, I feel a sense of disappointment when the holiday music goes so suddenly “out of season,” in just the blink of an eye.


Darn, almost missed that! I remember some years ago one of the stylized cartoons in The New Yorker magazine, in which the wife tells her husband, “Well, we missed that, too!” “That” being the world's longest running musical, “The Fantastics.” I have a feeling that amidst these unhealthy, trouble-filled days of 2013, a few things here have gone un-noted.
     And, true to form, the Abells nearly missed the deadline for using a Living Social coupon to visit Denver's Clifford Still museum that houses the entire collection of one of America's preeminent abstract expressionists. Mr. Still offered the collection, but with the proviso that a city take his entire collection. Mr. Still had a CO “connection”  by way of Colorado University and arts community, led by the DAM (Denver Art Museum), stepped up and raised the money for a building which abuts the DAM in downtown Denver. If your enjoy modern are and have time, do not miss this museum.

Duck Dynasty, perhaps? Yes, this ongoing tempest-in-a-teapot nearly got by me! Truthfully I have never watched even one “Duck” episode, though, obviously, there are plenty of viewers. Perhaps, Thomas Jefferson’s words touching on the subject of tolerance will suffice: “It does me no injury for my neighbors to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my legs.” In today's world setting, Jefferson would surely add a few other areas of social concern.
Historical note: This past year, 2013, marked the 1,700^th anniversary of the Roman Emperor Constantine's “Edict of Milan,” decreeing freedom of religion throughout the Empire. I guess the “Duck” and other current religion-based controversies fall in the the “lessons unlearned” category.


The Cold Moon. As noted by my friend in NC, December's full moon was appropriately named and, here at altitude, it was particularly sharp and clear. One of those times you wish for a heated observatory so you could comfortable study the lunar surface. Wondering where Tommy Lee Jones might have landed (pure fiction, from the movie “Space Cowboys”) or where, if successful, the Chinese may stake their claim.

Some years ago when Christine and I had our get-away house outside Alma, CO, we loved to take full-moon-walks “around the loop” road with the unlikely name, Kootchie Kootchie. There was no need of a flashlight and the night's silence was broken only by our boots crunching the icy-cold powder snow, all to the accompaniment of the coyotes playfully howling as they moved up and down Mosquito Gulch.


New Year's resolutions? Many, myself included, will no doubt include “weight loss/management” on our lists. We need to know – and heed – the 5 myths of obesity.

1. If you’re obese, blame your genes.
2. If you’re obese, you lack self-control.
3. Lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is responsible for the obesity epidemic.
4. The problem is not that we eat too much, but that we are too sedentary.
5. We can conquer obesity through better education about diet and nutrition.

As the article cited below notes, the kernel of truth in each point is belied by other, usually more powerful, cultural factors that work against our best efforts. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-obesity/2013/12/27/cd7f5b3a-69c4-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html?tid=hpModule_ea22e378-b26e-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19&hpid=z11

May 2014 be prosperous and healthful for you and yours! Advanced thanks for reading throughout this coming year. I'll try mightily try to resume my weekly publication on Tuesdays.