The Great Johnstown Flood

Late in the nineteenth century an avalanche of water came roaring down the river toward Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  Unsuspecting citizens found themselves caught up in the nightmare event of their lives, and many did not survive.

Today we have a flood of information roaring at us twenty-four hours a day.  Fortunately, this avalanche of information can be somewhat controlled, but only partially, and barely.  This data flows and flows, often with various biases admixed. 

Through a judicious use of time, and a careful setting of priorities I have been able to keep this blog afloat for over fourteen years.  I plan to stay afloat awhile longer.  But in order to accomplish this, I feel a further refining and re-focusing is going to be necessary.  Just what the result will be I am not yet clear about.  It will help once the Covid situation is sorted out, and once the Presidency returns to normality. 

Until the time of  relative Nirvana I will attempt to slog on, joyously at times, with sorrow at others, but with pride at all times -- I hope.  I hope, too, that you the reader will be encouraged to stick around, to bring your own powers of observation.  May this make for clearer vision for us all. 

Facebook Avoids Facing the Music

Z U C K E D

Roger McNamee's new paperback edition -- revised and up-dated -- is a priceless look at, and into, the world of Facebook, and the other large Internet companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

McNamee says that most users are not aware that much has changed since these companies came into existence, and that predominately the changes are for the worse, and are even dangerous.  I highly recommend this book to one and all.  This knowledge could save your freedom. 

Two Steps Forward, One Giant Step Backwards

Progress seems to come in fits and starts.  There are lurches forward, followed by a falling back.  At least this seems common. 

Looking through my high school yearbook from some years ago, I see several African-Americans in leadership roles.  I thought it would be good to share with you the names of some of these leaders and the leadership positions they filled.  The list includes both faculty, administration, and students. 

Our high school was quite diverse, with Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, Italian-Americans, and others.  Few of us seemed to think about the nationalities of our fellows.  We were of a time rather far-removed from the early influxes of immigrants, or so we thought.  The few fights that occured were mostly within ethnic groups, not across them. 

What a story to be told!  America -- that great repository of learning and experience. 


Here are the African-American leaders from my high school:

Faculty

Mr. M. -- Boys' Physical Education, department head

Mrs. W. -- Business Education, department head


Sports Faculty Coaches

Coach M.  -- Varsity Football, Golf Team

Coach J. -- Varsity Basketball, Junior Varsity Football, Field Events

Coach G. -- Cross Country


Clubs

Mr. H --, Brotherhood co-sponsor

Mr. C. --  Distributive Cooperative Training, sponsor
 


Students

Miss Loretta. M. -- Junior Class President  

Miss Belinda W. -- Freshman Cheerleaders co-captain

Lauvenia B. -- Secretary, Girls' Athletic Association 

Greg. F., Parliamentarian, Sophomore Class


Administration

Mr. J. -- Dean



Other Ethnic --

Mrs. H. M. -- Foreign Language, department head 

Miss. G., Sr. D., Mrs. M. -- International Club 


and many others of various ethnic backgrounds in membership roles

Biden Campaign Said to Be Concerned About Fall Election Security

Coming Soon --

National TV News report today says the Biden campaign is increasingly worried about voter rights in the current campaign.  This concern was expressed long ago by this blog.

I'll have more on the specific concerns about the 2020 election soon.


For posts on this blog already published search especially for "Greg Palast" on my search function on this page. 

Days Difficult and Rich

The past days have been rich with news, profoundly difficult, yet somehow simultaneously hopeful. 

As for this writer, I have been at alternating times fascinated and sickened by events, as have many.  But today, fascination seems to be winning over horror, and this is a positive development.

As Joe Biden is said to be moving toward and FDR-style agenda, there is finally hope that the problem of police violence may be seriously addressed -- at least in Minnesota.  If these two developments constitute a trend, we can indeed by hopeful.

What stands in the way of this progress?  Two things, one an emotion, the other a group of people led by one very particular person.  The emotion is fear -- fear of difference, fear of the unknown, fear of loss of power and status.  These are the fears motivating the far right and Der Fuehrer.  The special person is the one I call OML -- Our Military Leader.   This is a moniker I created for this chief executive some few years ago.  Now, the meaning of this appellation is clearer and stronger than ever.  Guns stop people, but guns never stop ideas.  And ideas are what made America great in the first place.  So there is our hope. 

Do you feel it, too?   

Covid, Crisis, and Cogitation

Memorial Day 

The Covid-19 pandemic is turning out to be a time of deep reflection for some of us.  As cases begin to rise in more states, the decision to simply "open up," as it is being characterized, is beginning to be questioned.

It is true there are some areas which are experiencing a relatively low case of incidence of this virus so far.  And there are other locations in which numbers continue to decline.  (Your local newspaper or trusted online source should have further information about this.) 

But for other areas such as Arkansas and West Virginia, the recent increases in cases is alarming indeed. 

My overall advice is, first -- don't panic.  But do listen carefully to the authorities, especially the health authorities in your locale and state.  I suggest erring on the side of caution as necessary, since many government leaders are understandably eager to "re-open" for business and are in the process failing to meet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

With a sister who is an M.D. and a brother-in-law who is a physician and teacher of medical students at a state school, I am keeping up with the latest thinking as best I can.  This is a time to be calmly cautious and soberly judicious in one's actions.  This is all the more true in a time when rather large numbers of our fellow citizens seem not to understand the gravity of the situation, or even the basic facts. 

This Developing Life

Note to Readers:

The quantity of material available to an advocacy blogger these days is enormous.  And as time goes on, needs change both for readers and bloggers.

It happens that I have recently pre-filed to stand as a candidate for a political convention.  While this may or may not develop into a major time commitment, it does mean I have to prepare for a new role.

Since the election is still a little ways away, I will take the time to let you know how deeply frustrating the national picture in America is or can be.  If you are a regular reader you are well aware of the many challenges we face in the United States with a President who represents powerful monied interests in a way we have never really seen before.  Even the President himself is a wealthy dude.

The only good news is that Americans are finally beginning to wake up to the danger facing our democracy.  But with a media which is itself a very lucrative business, it is hard for the truth to get through.  And you can imagine, in a country as large and diverse as ours, what a problem this creates in and of itself.  For when the people don't get the clear and complete picture of what is really happening, it becomes next-to-impossible for them to react and act appropriately.

Fortunately, the feeling now is beginning to take hold:  something is very wrong, and not just with the danger of coronavirus, but with the economy.  If we can make clear to people that the problem with the economy is foundational, not just symptomatic, we will have taken a very large step forward. 

Standing Up for the Electoral College

Rush Link --

There is hardly anything in the Constitution harder to explain, or easier to misunderstand, than the Electoral College. And when a presidential election hands the palm to a candidate who comes in second in the popular vote but first in the Electoral College tally, something deep in our democratic viscera balks and asks why the Electoral College shouldn’t be dumped as a useless relic of 18th century white, gentry privilege. Actually, there have been only five occasions when a closely divided popular vote and the electoral vote have failed to point in the same direction. No matter. After last week’s results [the 2016 Presidential election], we’re hearing a litany of complaints: the Electoral College is undemocratic, the Electoral College is unnecessary, the Electoral College was invented to protect slavery — and the demand to push it down the memory hole. 

                                                                              -- excerpt from Gettysburg College paper


 And from time to time here I, too, have had occasion to stand up for the Electoral College as being something not to toss in the waste bin of history.  Having read about the Electoral College over the years it has seemed to me appropriate and necessary to defend something which sprang from good intentions.  The truth of the matter is the Electoral College has not functioned as envisioned since early in our nation's history.  However, the answer is not to eviscerate it further or to abolish it.

Please join me in perusing the document linked to below.  




In Defense of the Electoral College

Putting People First

"We have to put people before profits."

                                                                          -- Oakland, California mayor Libby Schaaf

"Putting people first."   This was one of the campaign slogans of Bill Clinton in the 1992 race for the Presidency.  Once in office, President Clinton found out just what kind of obstacle he was up against:   this was simply not how it was done in America, and he was told this by the powerful Wall Street interests who could back up any threat to pull the rug on the American people.

But here we are twenty-eight years later, and the same idea is being put forth by an American mayor of an important city.  I believe history will look back on this time as the beginning of the end of the profit system.  Such a big change will not happen all at once.  But, for now, it is refreshing to here such a statement from a U.S. mayor.


Source:  CNN, today

New Projections Have Merit

Quickly —

New projections have merit say experts.  The physicians I know are very concerned.

We need herd immunity.

What about unified and informed herd mentality?


More soon

The Profit System Has Failed Us

This is not an ideological diatribe.  This is real.  And this is true:  the profit system has indeed failed us both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.  It is good to say this straight and clear.

People, now all over the world, are suffering and even dying because of an aggressive virus which has spread seemingly without warning.

Now comes word from PBS's Newshour that America may indeed see actual starvation before the Covid-19 pandemic is over, which may not be for another year to eighteen months.

Is this the America we know?  Is this even a civilized society?

But where does it all start?  Is it not possible, just possible, that it is the desire for power, self-aggrandizement, and wealth which has led to cut-backs in needed items such as protective equipment and ventilators?  For if I, a business owner, want to make the maximum profit, would I tend to look the other way when workers suffer -- especially if my company is big and my workers are anonymous to me?

It is time for us to bid the profit system a well-deserved good-bye.  And as soon as possible.


The title of this post and certain material in it were inspired by "Good-Bye, Profit System," by Eli Siegel.   Definition Press.

Time to Be Deeply Thoughtful

Like many others, I am made busy adapting to new circumstances.  Fortunately, I do not have to deal with job loss or destitution.  The corona virus has shocked and bewildered people around the globe.  The end of this pandemic is not yet in sight.

America finds itself very much in the midst of things.  There is fear.  There is a certain amount of paralysis.  There is simply the unknown.  All are part of the fabric of life these days as persons go about their daily lives with reduced freedom.  There, is too, a feeling of lostness.  Everything can seem different, and not in a good way. 

Leadership in the United States has fallen primarily to the state governors.  Some governors are responsive to the health of their citizens as the first priority.  Others seem more responsive to business concerns.  And so, in this very political time, health itself has been politicized. 

So, where do we go from here?   What do we do constructively, as opposed to simply riding things out?  Is there even an alternative?

I like to think there are answers here, contained in earlier posts.  But to be perhaps clearer and sharper, surely we can begin to admit that the normal way of business is not possible now.  Possibly, someof us  can see that things will never be quite the same again.  For, who can trust that nature will not send us another virus, equally as unpredictable and unpredicted?   And who can believe this government in the future when it attempts to function as a coterie of savants while assuring us nothing untoward will happen?

Without getting too deeply into religion or philosophy, let me say somewhat simply, that now is a time for thoughtfulness of a kind most rarely participate in.  It can be a time of deeper caring for our fellow human beings.  Who can say how much there is to see?  Who can say where is the end of new discoveries?  Who can say when a new period of increasing wisdom might come to an end, if the Divine will simply allow it?

May we stand ready to receive as well as act, to ponder as well as care, to hope as well as love.  And may this happen in a near time. 

Election 2020 At Risk

Under this general title I will be submitting articles here on the general subject of attacks on the Election of 2020.  Details about this year's election are only beginning to emerge.  We as citizens must be ever vigilant, as the forces of darkness -- shall we say -- attempt to do what they have done so often before:  subvert our elections and thereby the democracy itself.

Greg Palast Tells the Sad and Scary Story:
The Danger of Voting By Mail

Information Overload

Your Musical Patriot is handling the torrent of information about the economy and the coronavirus fairly well, but only because the job situation has placed him on paid leave. 

As a paid staffer, I am one of the more fortunate Americans, particularly in my field.  Money, though tight, is not a major worry at the moment.  And the extra time and more flexible schedule  has allowed me to keep abreast of the situation better than most.

Still, there are house-work, and errands, and various tasks which must be dutifully tended to, no matter disheveled hair (though even here I mostly have my act together).  Thus, it becomes a matter of priority.   What is most important for my readers?  This is no minor question.

Yet slowly things become clearer:.  For instance the three-pronged plan beginning to be favored by governors.  First, testing must be increased, second, the physical distancing and stay-home policies must be continued in order to help limit the spread of the disease, and third, tracing the path of the virus from victim to victim must begin immediately.

It is this third program which looms largest, as it involves a huge investment of money for workers, training, facilities, and equipment.

The matter always comes back first to leadership, then to money.  With proper leadership such as that provided by Franklin Roosevelt in the Depression and then World War II, great things can happen.  Without effective leadership, the country bobs, and dives, neither sure of its grounding, nor its course.

Day Whatever

On this late Sunday evening (Day # whatever of the pandemic), my heart goes out to all those affected directly and indirectly by the covid-19 virus.  That such an event never had to be this bad makes it a pan-tragedy.

It is a deep time of sorrow, regret, and plain seriousness for the country and the world.  We are hardly able to see any light at the end of the tunnel.  Perhaps the best which can be said is we might — might — be nearing the end of the beginning.