OK, maybe the title is redundant, but it seems that Heath and Deborah Campbell of Hunterdon County, New Jersey have struck a new low in stupidity. Could they possibly be looking for inclusion in the Guinness book of World Records for the most idiotic bigots? They named their 3-year old son “Adolf Hitler Campbell.” They have a younger daughter they named “JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell.” It’s unclear to me what or who the name of the youngest, ”Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell,” refers to but I assume it must have some Nazi significance. This all came to light when the news media picked up the story of a ShopRite bakery refusing to put the 3-year old’s full Fuehrer name on his birthday cake. A nearby WalMart did the deed. The first bakery is apparently taking grief for their refusal. Apparently, beyond their lack of concern at injecting perverse political beliefs into their children’s future by giving them these names, they are also incapable of decorating cakes themselves. The ShopRite proposed leaving room on the cake for them to put the name on themselves. Perhaps they are not totally literate either. This all would be amusing, in a disturbing kind of way, if it were not for the nonchalant attitude of the Campbells as quoted in the news media. What will Stormfront, the Hammerskins and others think of this? Invite them in or beat them up?
Tags: Adolf Hitler, bigotry, Hammerskins, Heath Campbell, Nazi, neo-nazi, racism, Stormfront, White Aryan
I come late to the party, honoring the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I won’t waste space here reinventing what news and commentary you can find elsewhere. I do want to mention the sad irony of the recent report of the Senate Armed Services Committee on detainee abuse under the Bush administration. The senators blame Donald Rumsfeld and the White House for countenancing and actively encouraging the torture of high-level detainees. On this point, among others, John McCain and Barack Obama had no differences during the campaign. January 20th cannot come too soon, to right the wrongs of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, etc. By denying the humanity and denying the rights all humans should be afforded, we are no better than the criminals, the terrorists or other evildoers we mistreat. But we need to move well beyond self-reflection and correction to stop coddling China, ignoring Darfur, and generally speaking–acting not simply on the basis of our American economic self-interest but on the basis of recognizing and supporting human rights everywhere. As an elective democracy, it is important to remember that the American people are sovereign. Presidents, congressmen and senators are elected to do our bidding. At the same time, we are all equally citizens of the world, with the opportunity to express ourselves and communicate with our fellow human beings wherever they may live around the globe.
Tags: Abu Ghraib, Bush, Guantanamo, human rights, McCain, Obama, Rumsfeld, UN
Are bailouts of industries a good thing? Probably not, generally speaking. On the other hand, when in a financial crisis like the one facing America, they may be necessary. I find it peculiar that the financial “industry” (they manufacture or produce no goods; only facilitate production by others) could relatively easily obtain a $700 billion bailout but the auto industry has difficulty getting a dime. Note that should GM and Chrysler fail, it will have devastating impacts across the economy due to not only the umemployment of the car maker’s personnel but also collateral damage to all the companies that provide goods and services to the car makers.
Republicans in the Senate insist that the UAW give up wages and benefits that exceed the non-union labor costs at other car makers in America. This is nuts. Labor costs do make them less competitive with other companies. They were able to get over that handicap until now through the revenues they received from selling big SUVs, trucks, etc. Why can’t they do so now? Consumers are unable or at least worried about buying cars because of the financial crisis. Sure the car makers should have went with less expensive, more fuel efficient vehicles a long time of go. But if buyers didn’t want those oversized gax guzzlers, GM and the others wouldn’t have been able to sell them. Now that the buyers are unemployed, the price of gas jumped through the roof, and financing is tough, people are not buying cars. Not only that, but the car dealers can’t get inventory financing due to the financial crisis. The bottom line: the financial crisis is more of a factor in the car maker’s situation than the labor costs or their own management decisions–unlike the financial industry, Wall Street and the banks. It was the risky, greedy, management decisions of the latter that prompted the crisis and the need for a bailout. With unclean hands, they get relief but the car makers don’t?! Unbleepingbelievable!
Tags: auto bailout, financial industry, gas guzzlers, labor costs, Republicans
Huh? What is financial faith? Do you believe the Sun will rise tomorrow in the East? Sure you do; it’s been doing that as long as you can remember and you expect it to do so again and again. Financial commentators, for the most part, will assure you that the stock market, home prices, and the economy in general will rise again. That is a tenet of their collective faith in the capitalist economy. They are probably correct, but in the meantime there is plenty of pain to be endured by many of us. For me, financial faith is more closely associated with religious faith than history as the analogy to the Sun is to the faith of the financial world. Read the rest of this entry »
“Great events never have minor omens. When great evil occurs, great good follows.” So says Nichiren, founder of the largest sect of Buddhism practiced in the United States. While it would be an overstatement to characterize the entirety of the Bush administration years as great evil, there certainly has been plenty of it. Greed, lies, torture, imperialism, etc. At the same time, can there be any doubt that but for those evils (and the collapse of the economy, attributable in part to administration laissez faire policies), Barack Obama would not have been elected this year. Not sure about the “great good”? Consider the response to his election from ordinary citizens here and abroad. Consider the response from leaders around the world. Look at the faces among the thousands of supporters at rallies and celebrations. White, black, brown, yellow. Young, old, rich, poor, gay, straight. Compare those faces to the tiny crowds present at the McCain rallies. A diverse, large tent versus a tiny, exclusive tent. Which is the “real” America–the small-town, small-minded, “your bedroom is my business” members of the GOP (Grumbling Obnoxious Partisans?) or the hope-filled Democrats and Independents that are tolerant of differences, are tired of ideological polemic and are a mix of ethnicities?
Tags: 2008 election, hope, McCain, Obama
I am getting impatient. I want the election to be over so I can stop watching Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Larry King, Nightline and local news. What else is there to blog about right now but the election? Plenty of stuff; the same stuff that I used to blog about. But I am consumed by the election. Watching Obama’s 30-minute infomercial reminded me how financially fortunate I am. I won’t brag or bore you with the details, other than to mention that my wife and I both were able to retire at 55 and do not have work or worry about income. That is not so for many people in America. I can understand, although not agree with, the choices of some voters to support a political party and candidates that want to dictate the sexual and reproductive habits of Americans. I find it more difficult to understand how the social conservatives, many of whom may not be as well off financially as me or the leaders of their party, can so readily buy the laissez-faire policies of socalled fiscal conservatism. I say socalled because while Republicans continually label Democrats as “tax and spend,” many (if not most) Republicans on the national and local levels spend as much or more than Democrats but they don’t tax–they spend at a deficit. Look at George Bush years as the paradigm. When Democrats brought fiscal order to Congress a number of years ago, it was through “pay as you go” budget programs. At the same time, while the socially conservative Republicans want to regulate what goes on in America’s bedrooms, they care little what goes on in America’s boardrooms. Look at the bailout for the results of that perspective. So I am looking forward to a new day and a new way on November 5th–or perhaps I should say on January 20th, 2009.
Tags: 2008 election, deficit spending, Democrats, McCain, Obama, pay as you go, Republicans
Once upon a time, John McCain was a Maverick. At least as late as 2000, he still behaved like one. Unfortunately for him, that helped seal his doom in the contest for the Republican nomination for President. The sad truth he took from defeat is that in order to fulfill his Vietnam POW-era dream of the White House, he would have to play to the Republican base in order to get nominated the next time. So he swallowed whatever principles he had and supported Bush more than “90% of the time” in his own words. Now, in 2008, having won the Republican base, he wants to reclaim the maverick mantle. His frustration in America’s refusal to give it back became clear in the final debate with Obama as he grimaced, frowned, sighed and became increasingly petulant. Here he had to sit still for George W. Bush, of all people, to steal his shot at the White House in 2000. Now this damned upstart Obama is in his way. At age 72, he won’t have another chance at achieving his dream. But what he may not have realized, it is all of his own doing; ambition over principle.
It is true that no matter how wonderful an agenda one may have, one will never have an opportunity to advance it if one is not elected. So the temptation is to say what one believes needs to be said in order to get elected. Once elected, the genuine article can reemerge. But it is a fine line to walk, running for office and maintaining a sense of genuine identity and clear principles. While McCain trumpets his years of experience in contrast to Barack Obama’s relatively short record, he fails to note how this hurts rather than helps. Because he has had so many years in public office, he has had the opportunity to weave this way and that in opposing and supporting policies of one president or another. He asks “who is the real Barack Obama” while failing to recognize that he has made it much more difficult to tell who the real McCain is by his own vacillation. He might actually be a decent president, but who can say what he really stands for? Perhaps he never read Shakespeare’s admonition, “to thine own self be true.”
That’s what the guy on the radio said, promoting giving trick-or-treaters Trader Joe’s own brand of chicken broth in resealable containers. Can’t argue with that. I almost ran off the road laughing when I heard this ad yesterday while driving along Woodburn Road. He started out saying how “last year” it is giving pre-packaged Halloween candies. He went on to describe how great the broth is in making rice dishes and other recipes. Okay, so you get the organic mom vote. But can you imagine the look on a kid’s face when he or she pulls this out of the bag of treats? Can you imagine the look on mom’s face if, while banging around with all the other stuff in the bag, the broth container leaks all over everythiing else? This has to rank among the top non sequiter ads I have ever seen or heard. Yes, you can be assured of being the talk of the neighborhood.
A little later than I would like, but still I have to let everyone know that the new and improved Eagle Peak Press website is now up and running. The hook on which I want to hang this publisher hat is in honor of the inscription of the Dai-Gohonzon on October 12, 1279 and the passing of Nichiren Daishonin on this day in 1282. Following the deaths of three followers of Nichiren, who gave up their lives rather than forsake their faith in his teachings of Buddhism, Nichiren inscribed his life and the Mystic Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo on a large block of camphor wood. He took the martyrdom of three peasant farmers from Atsuhara as evidence that his teachings had spread and held to the point where everyone in the world should have the opportunity to experience the benefit of practicing Buddhism. Three years later he passed away, leaving the legacy of a simple means to access the same life of a Buddha that he had experienced.
What news will come from the MastersButtheads of the Universe today, a continuing fall in the global economy perhaps? Maybe the MBAs should have “learned to play the guitar,” as Mark Knopfler suggests, instead of learning to play the market. At least then the suffering we are enduring would have been limited to our ears instead of our financial well-being. They have succeeded in getting money for nothing far in excess of what any member of a band might get (except maybe Mick Jagger and friends).
Nichiren says, “When great evil occurs, great good follows.” (WND, 1119). So something good can come from this, amidst all the political posturing and finger-pointing. It’s not inappropriate, rather it’s essential to look at the causes of this collapse if the effects are to be avoided in the future. When you have politicians enabling, through a laissez-faire approach to the financial sector, these Buttheads of the Universe to take free-market capitalism to its most extreme the outcome is certainly foreseeable. Not, of course, to George “Herbert Hoover” (or maybe we should call him Beavis) Bush and his friends in the Republican party. Government regulation has a place, to protect citizens and taxpayers from the worst excesses of human nature. We have laws that punish criminals. We also have regulations and regulators to help prevent crimes. It may not be possible, practical or sensible to try to protect everyone from greed and stupidity, but it certainly is reasonable to have more oversight and control of the financial sector than we have had in recent years.
Tags: Bush, economy, masters of the universe, Wall Street