A twitch in time...

During the last (thank heaven) presidential debate the other day, I was searching for a way to describe Sen. John McCain's behavior. It hit me this morning....twitchy.

His mouth kept trying to form a smile. his hands and arms went all over the place...it was just twitchy. Yes, I know he was injured ejecting from his shot-down plane over Hanoi during the Vietnam war, so his arms don't work so well. But that's not it. He just couldn't sit still, couldn't or wouldn't answer the questions put to him and, like his running mate Sarah (half-baked Alaska) Palin, kept scanning his notes for his talking points. 

Speaking of getting a twitch, I almost laughed myself into one the other day when a piece of mail arrived from, of all people, John McCain.

It seems the Republican party is in a quandary. They don't have money. It's an emergency.

Let me quote: "We've reached a critical juncture in the campaign. The Obama Democrats and their left-wing, special-interest allies (different from the McCain special-interest allies who are running his campaign) have come together in a united front, combining their enormous fundraising arsenal. Meanwhile, the national Democrats led by Chairman Howard Dean are stepping up their cynical campaign of distortions and outright lies, with the help of their cronies, like MoveOn.org, are raising a staggering amount of money." Right on, Howie. Finally got something right.

Further down, it says, "I would not ask for your help if the circumstances were not so dire."

That was before Wednesday's performance, with its outright lies (Acorn and Ayers).

By the way, the ludicrous mention Wednesday night of Joe the Plumber who, by the way, is not licensed to work in the county where his boss' business is located, and, some say, has many skeletons in his closet. Joe said he didn't need a license because his boss has one. Turns out, the boss doesn't have a license either. So, as Dutch Reagan loved to say, Here He Goes Again. 

McCain talked about Joe the Plumber without getting all his facts together, without investigating. Just as he picked Sarah Palin for his running mate without investigating her and her knocked-up daughter an her hockey-puck husband. Oh yes, and her now-proven use of her power for vendettas against her sister's ex. Nice.

 Man, I'd better destroy this post if she wins, because the black-SUV guys will be kicking down my door.

Page 2

The bikers are taking over New Haven. No, not the Hell's Angels, the bicycle riders, the adults who have taken to making the city safer for themselves and people who walk (and presumably roller skate and ride skateboards.)

Before I say anything, let me establish my bona-fides. Years ago, when I worked on Orange Street and Sargeant Drive with the New Haven daily newspapers, I rode a bike to work for months at a time. I didn't ride on Sherman Avenue, but I did ride on the Boulevard and Whalley Avenue. When I was riding a desk and didn't need transportation during the work say, I rode my bike from Upper Westville to work.

So, I do not speak as a stranger.

First of all, I congratulate you for trying to wrest the streets away from the SUV drivers. What about cars...not many left on the roads. Count them sometime.

My daughter and her family live in Amherst, Mass., a place where the pedestrian and biker rule. In Amherst, as well as the nearby college towns of Northhampton and South Hadley (home to Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, UMass and Hampshire), they have gone overboard on stopping for crossing pedestrians. There are lighted, raised (a few inches) crosswalks, and you have the feeling that if you didn't stop, a roadside bomb would go off, blowing you off to the hell you so richly deserve to inhabit. OK, a little over the top.

I have no problem with biker safety and pedestrian safety, since I walk to synagogue at least once a week across busy intersections. But, like all things, a little thought could help.

First of all, bikers have to obey the law, too. In the past three weeks, the majority of bike riders I have encountered were blowing lights, riding down the center of busy streets (like Grove), and paying little or no attention to what is going on around them. 

That has to stop. Just as moped riders have to pay attention (unlike the two riding hell-for-leather on Fountain Street in dark clothes after dark with no lights, no reflective strips, nothing), so do bikers. Downtown, students, presumably Yalies, engaged in conversation just keep walking across streets with walk lights, paying little or no attention to the cars that, at that moment, have the right of way. 

So, rant over. Paul Bass, in his weekly video blog, talks about riding on Sherman Avenue, a wide street. Yes, cars shouldn't go fast on Sherman Avenue. A bike lane will make the street narrower. 

So, what about this thought process: Sherman Avenues borders what institution? The Hospital of Saint Raphael. What type of vehicles approach hospitals quickly? Ambulances. So, if you have an ambulance, a line of cars waiting for the light on George or Chapel, and a bike lane that constricts traffic, what do you have? An unnecessary hazard. 

Sure, 999 times out of 1,000, the bikers isn't wearing earphones with music cranked up so loud the siren isn't heard, the ambulance sees the biker, a car will move over, cars aren't parked nose to tail all the way down the street, a car isn't coming out of the doctors' building across from the hospital. You want to be that 1,000th person.

I wonder if the traffic experts who were cautioning against a bike lane on Sherman Avenue hadn't thought of some of these possibilities and the bike riders didn't. 

Yes, bikers should be able to ride safely and anything to get cars off the road is good. But, let's not stampede over good sense while heading for our goals.

Page 3

One quick question: The price of oil is down near where it should be, less than $70 a barrel. Wasn't that about where it was when gas and heating oil were less than $2.50 a gallon? If so, why are they still around $3.00 a gallon or more? 

Just asking.

Page 4

Here comes the weekend. It's supposed to be clear and cool, perfect leaf-peeping weather. Let's not stop the car in the middle of the road to gawk at wonderful colors. Yes, it happens, a lot more often than you'd think. 

Have a great weekend and, for those in the Tribe, a wonderful Shabbos in the succah.

Until next time...

You want the guy who gave him those scars

Hope you had a great weekend. At this end, we built two succahs, one at home and the other at our synagogue (the first alone, the second with lots and lots of help). I'm also hoping the gains on the stock market today will be the start of something, not just a blip.

Succahs are temporary dwellings that observant Jews eat in, and some actually live in, during the holiday of Succos. The Torah commands us to dwell in these temporary structures for the eight-day holiday. 

It's a lot easier these days to build because of kits that resemble Erector sets. In the not-so-distant past, it was boards and nails or screws. In any case, it's a happy holiday after the somber and scary Yom Kippur. It's a feast, not a fast. 

Page 2

Three weeks from tomorrow is Election Day and it seems that Sen. Barack Obama's lead is growing. Even Bill Kristol, the super-Conservative columnist and publisher, calls on Sen. John McCain to fire his staff and appeal to the voters on his own.

The antics of Gov. Sarah Palin and McCain's wife, Cindy, have proven embarrassing to the candidate, with people calling for a lynching and even beating up a cameraman because he is black. 

McCain sells himself as a former serviceman, a naval officer who was shot down over North Vietnam and spent years as a prisoner of war.

About that, let me share a thought.

Do you remember the movie, "The Magnificent Seven", a 1960 film starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. It's probably best known for its theme music, which was used to sell Marlboro cigarettes for years. 

The movie centers around a Mexican village that is being repeatedly robbed by a bandits. Some villagers come north to the U.S. to hire gunmen to fight the bandits. 

The scene is in a cantina, a bar, where the two newly hired gunmen and the villagers are seated at a table, looking around at more prospective hires among the patrons. A guy walks in, scowling like the others, with scars lining his face. 

One villager points him out, saying he looks tough with those scars.

The villager leaders says no. "The one we want is the man who gave him those scars," he says, with knowing nods from our heroes.

Doesn't that translate into the current election? McCain got shot down bombing Hanoi. Isn't the real expert in the military the guy who bombed Hanoi but didn't get shot down?

I know McCain has other qualities, but he's constantly yapping about winning the war in Iraq, a war that even Scott McClellan, President Bush's former drum beater, says was sold to the American people with a pack of lies, innuendo and distortions. 

The philosopher Jorge (George) Santayana said. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

I remember the Vietnam war and how many service members were unnecessarily killed because presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon were holding out first for victory and, when that became impossible, for peace with honor. We got neither, just hundreds if not thousands of unnecessary casualties. 

We don't know if victory in Iraq is possible or even what it would look like. We need to get out of that quagmire as soon as possible without doing any more damage to the region. George Bush was a nut on freedom and liberty for everybody. Not everybody is ready for that.

The hate-mongering that passes for campaign strategy in the McCain camp has to end. I think McCain is better than that and he needs to bring his attack dogs to heel. 

Page 3

The next couple of days are a holiday and there will be no blogging from this end. For those in the Tribe, a wonderful, happy Succos. For the rest of us, let's hope cooler heads prevail on Wall Street and that the economy starts its long road back to sanity.

Until next time...

Time for reflection on many fronts

Happy Friday and I hope everyone had a fine week. Those who did were those who were smart enough not to look at the stock market. 

The "experts", that is those who sat by while the "real experts" got us into this mess, say it'll all be fine as long as we don't sell any stocks. It's all paper loss.

They're right, but what happens to the retired folks who are counting on this money to pay the bills or, heaven forbid, have a little fun after doing all the right things? You know the right things: contributing to the 401 (k), working, buying a house they could afford with a mortgage they could understand and whose payments they can make. 

If this sounds a little personal, it is. I guess we're pretty lucky compared to some, but I'm a little sick of playing by the rules and then getting screwed because of those who either thought they could beat the system, or just thought they could slide in and ride the housing boom to solvency.  

Page 2

Enough of this. I hope those in the Tribe had a meaningful Yom Kippur. For those not in the know, it's a day of reflection and begging for forgiveness for sins. You don't eat, drink; some walk to synagogue in the weakened state; and many stay in synagogue for 10 hours or so.

It's meaningful, a little scary and a challenge. 

Speaking of people in the Tribe, and good ones, did you hear what happened to Moti Sandman? He's a New Haven alderman, a great guy and, by the way, a regular reader of this post

Sandman apparently went to the aid of Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts during an attack by three guys who apparently wanted to stand outside a watering hole and hear what was going on inside, and got angry because Smuts kept closing the door because he was cold. Moti came to his aid, and got hurt for his trouble. 

Anyway, I hope Moti the hero is doing well and doesn't suffer because of his actions coming to the aid of a friend.

Page 3

The presidential campaign is getting really ridiculous, especially on the Republican side. 

The Cindy McCain show is really getting nasty. You know Cindy McCain, the second wife of John McCain, Mr. Clean, or so he'd have you think. A few years after John came back from captivity in Vietnam, his marriage to Carol, the starter wife, started to get back, in no small measure, it seems, because she had been badly hurt in a car crash when he was in captivity and was permanently crippled. He met Cindy, a beer heiress, in a bar and they got married after he and Carol divorced.

Anyway, I think the most ridiculous moment of the week was when Cindy, with crocodile tears, yelled at Barack Obama for voting against money for the troops (never mind that John also voted against the bill, also in a preliminary count) while her son was in Iraq. I guess you need to have a son in Iraq to get elected vice president these days. 

She cried (almost) that Obama should walk a day in her shoes.

Honey, Obama could not afford your shoes. Just shut up, and take that half-baked Alaska with you. 

Page 5

Have a great weekend. The weather looks great. And for those in the Tribe, a great Shabbos with a clean soul and good weather for Sukkah-building on Sunday.

Until next time...

Signs of the times

In my gym, there are signs next to the three-foot-deep hot tub that say "No Diving."

Why do we need such signs, friend wife asked.

I told her that it was not a given that somebody, and probably more than one somebody, would not try to dive in from the edge rather than walk the total of about seven feet to the stairs leading down to the spa.

There are unquestionably many people in this category, but there was never a way to quantify this. How could we know how many people there are who would dive into a three-foot deep hot tub.

It seems to me that that will soon change. Come Nov. 5 or many Nov. 6, we will know.

All we need to do is count the votes for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

I don't know which debate some of the commentators who spouted opinions on the television networks and cable channels following the debate last night (Oct. 2, 2008), but they certainly were not watching the one I was.

Palin didn't answer questions from the thoughtful questioner, Gwen Ifill of PBS. She spouted talking points written on index cards or papers that had been laid on the rostrum she used. She sounded like a robot, regurgitating phrases she learned like a parrot. 

No, she didn't look like a deer caught in headlights, as she has when she didn't have notes and talking points generated by staffers hoping to keep her from again showing how ill-prepared she is to be vice president.

These same handlers and spin doctors somehow convinced our television journalists, otherwise known as the blond and the banal, that somehow if Palin showed up, didn't drool on herself, didn't commit a major gaffe, such as not knowing the Bush Doctrine (by the way, if she had been listening instead of checking her talking points, she would have heard Sen. Joseph Biden Jr. enunciate the Bush Doctrine in three words) and not knowing a thing about the cause of global warming. Wait a minute, she did that.

Anyway, the bar had been set so low that she looked like a star. 

And by the way, what's the big deal about hockey moms? What wrong with soccer moms, or baseball moms, football moms, basketball moms, lacrosse moms? I guess they don't get many of those in the wilds of small-town Alaska, where the snow jobs are thick and plentiful.

Page 2

I received an interesting ad in a junk-mail envelope the other week. "No idea what Those Old Guns are Worth? Call Today!" it read.

Sell your old or unwanted firearms. Excellent prices paid. There was a phone number.  

With the economy as it is, I guess gun dealers want to stock up for the rush. 

Page 3

The bailout finally got passed today, which is a good thing. As Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times indicated in his excellent column the other day, the only thing to do with this is hold your nose and swallow. Sort of like cod liver oil. Without the bailout, there would have been an economic catastrophe the likes of which we have never seen since the Depression. 

I was glad to see that something good came of this whole thing. The mental health parity legislation, that has been languishing for years in Congress, got put into the bailout legislation and was passed.

What it means is that those people with mental and emotional issues are now on a par with those with physical issues when it comes to insurance and how they are treated by the medical infrastructure. 

Those suffering from emotional issues now have a better chance at treatment, rather than just being pandered to by drug companies with "ask your doctor" ads on television.

Page 4

The weekend looks cool but nice. I hope all have a wonderful weekend, and, for those in the Tribe, a wonderful Shabbos.

Until next time...

Happy New Year and a happy year to all

Tonight the Jewish New Year recycles into the year 5769.

Unlike some new year's celebrations, and in a typical Jewish way, this year is marked with a festival meal and with high hopes for the future, but also with reflection on the things that one did during the past year that, on thinking for more than a nanosecond, one would not have done.

Since Jews believe that one cannot even start to ask God for forgiveness until you ask forgiveness from fellow humans, I ask forgiveness from any reader whom I treated badly in any way during this past year. 

I'm not going to go on about secular things, the bailout, the upcoming debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden or the spin on things from John McCain and Barack Obama. 

I am going to say, however, that God has a sense of humor that is sometimes hard to fathom. Don't believe it? Think about Florida, November 2000. So, i guess the message is be ready for anything. 

A couple of things about which I'm a little surprised. First, I'm a little surprised that My Bob, the furniture shouter, hasn't marketed a mattress with a safe in it for storing your money until the markets straighten out. On the other hand, I have a Bob-O-Pedic mattress and it's all that he says it is. 

I'm a little surprised that Sarah Palin is still on the ticket. I think the crew of Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart and every other topical comedian in the world have taken up a collection and sent it to McCain 2008 with the proviso that she remain on the ticket.

Anyway, that's enough. Thanks to all who stop by this posting regularly, thanks to Moti and Rev and Paul and Andrea and Malka and the rest of you who really care what I write. It's humbing to say the least.

I'm taking a few days off to celebrate the holidays, play with the grandchildren and to start to fathom the myriad ways I can improve myself. 

To those in the Tribe, Shana Tova.

Until next time...

The debate is on, like there was a doubt

So, the presidential aspirants will debate tonight after all, despite Sen. John McCain's grandstanding and his abortive, never-gonna-happen attempt to get the debates postponed. 

So, what have we accomplished? There was a meeting yesterday at the White House, called President Bush at McCain's request, at which the deal fell apart. Maybe the fact that presidential politics was injected into the process gave the House GOP caucus the impetus to throw a monkey wrench into the process. 

I'm not sure they're wrong in thinking that Wall Street got itself into this mess and should get itself out. The only problem is that these same guys, or their political antecedents, insisted on disabling the very regulations that would have stopped the Wall Street fat cats from getting themselves into the mess in the first place. Political hypocrites abound in Washington.

McCain threw the dice without thinking about the consequences. He may ultimately gain by this device, especially if his GOP teammates give him credit where credit is certainly not due for helping craft the legislation that ultimately may give the markets the cash injection, as well as the hope injection, that the secretary of the treasury and the head of the Federal Reserve say they need. 

I was, by the way, impressed with the clear thinking that Sen. Barack Obama showed yesterday. He kept his head when those around him, including McCain, were losing theirs. Some say it shows a lack of passion or that he really doesn't get it. 

To be able to give a talk, such as the one he gave to the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, hours after McCain sounded like Walter Brennan in "The Real McCoys" with his scattershot, undeveloped comments. McCain said we need to do something about malaria in Africa; Obama gave a definitive, well thought out plan saying exactly what he would do (sleeping nets, medicines), how much it should cost, who would handle it, and the like. 

I know in the newsroom, when everyone is up to their butts in alligators, the person who is calm, collected and thinking is the one who will put out the good paper the next day. Multiply that by a few thousand times and you have what is needed in the White House.

Page 2

I would like to thank the University of Mississippi for scheduling the debate on a Friday night so observant Jews can't see it. I also would like to thank the major Jewish organizations for being viewed as so dumb, especially after screwing up the rally against Iran at the U.N. this past week, so that the schedulers of the debate don't consider the wants and needs of many Jews.

Page 3 

Locally,  there seems to be a new power group, a lobbying group in New Haven made up of people who seem to hate automobiles.

They are bicyclists, pedestrians and Yale people who want their concerns addressed in all transportation discussions. There is nothing wrong with that per se, but the way many of them act on the road may lead drivers to dismiss them as a bunch of cranks (pun intended).

Look, I don't get into a car unless I have to. First of all, I can't afford it. Gas is too damn expensive, for no good reason. The price of oil has come down, but the price of gas has remained high. This happens over and over again and nothing is going to be done about it as long as oil interests, in the person of the president and the vice president, rule in the White House and the gas station owners are such a powerful lobby in Hartford.

Take it as a given that most people don't get into a car unless they have to. There are few alternatives. Walking between Westville, for example, and downtown is beyond the capability of many older residents and, by the way, can be dangerous at certain times of day. Many trips are for a single purpose, so spending two or three hours on a bus in order to do one or two errands doesn't make much sense either. So we drive.

You don't help flitting into and out of traffic on your bikes. You cut across traffic, you run red lights, you peddle in the middle of a traffic lane. Try to drive on Prospect Street or Grove Street and you run into buffalo-herds of students who just won't stop before they cross the street. Yes, drivers are supposed to allow pedestrians the right of way, but when does it become our turn?

Look, Yalies, your campus is bounded by College, Chapel, York and Grove streets, but intersected by Elm Street. That's a city street, paid for by me and my fellow taxpayers. Give us a break, will you? Elm Street crossings are protected by WALK lights, but you are so deep in conversation that you just keep walking into traffic. Knock it off.

Sharing the road is a good concept, but everyone has to play fair. 

Page 4

There's a crummy weekend coming up, weather-wise. Hope you make the best of it. Have a great weekend, enjoy the debates, don't panic financially and, for those in the Tribe, a great Shabbos.

Until next time... 

Multitasking versus grandstanding

One of the compositors at the Journal-Courier of New Haven, back before it was subsumed into the New Haven Register, had an expression that is quite appropriate for the current political-economic situation.

"Never time to do it right; always time to do it over."

A compositor was a person who assembled the pages of a newspaper from the strips of words and the photos and other graphics. That work has long-since been taken over by computers, but these artists could make a page sing with a snip here and an idea there.

I've forgotten his name, but then again, I forget mine from time to time.

His work was like the attempt to assemble a bailout of the nation's economy. 

The pols and economist types who are trying to plug the hole in the nation's economic boat would do well to do heed his precept. After all, it took years to get into this fix. Greed played a part, and a mistaken belief that capitalists could police themselves.

 Another part was played by a real attempt to get large numbers of people to be homeowners that was co-opted by cynical, selfish people who could only think about what was in it for them.

The compositors advice works here: Take the time to do it right the first time. There is a huge amount of treasure involved. As the late Sen. Everett Dirksen said, "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

Tonight, the president goes on national television to plead for the bailout plan as presented. This plan calls for a great deal of trust. Trust must be earned. These guys have not earned any. The president couldn't sell water in the middle of the Sahara. Safeguards have to be put into place, even if it takes a little longer. "Never time to do it right..."

I agree with three of the Obama points on the bailout deal. The people who are ponying up this money need to get something out of it. There has to be regulation and somebody or some bodies to keep these guys honest. And there has to be a limit on how much these guys who got us into this mess in the first place can profit from it.

The demand for a bailout of mortgagees is less needed. These people knew, or should have known, that they couldn't afford the houses they were buying. There has to be accountability. So, if it can be worked out, fine. But don't hold the deal out for that. 

My wife and I worked too hard to lose our savings on account of stupid people who went blindly into loans they had no hope of repaying, save winning the lottery or holding up a Brinks truck. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Some people can only be renters. Sorry, but that's life.

Page 2

Today's maneuvering by the presidential candidates showed a lot about what we an expect from them. It showed their character, or rather the lack of character, by Sen. John McCain.

Let's review. About 8:30 this morning, Sen. Barack Obama's people called McCain's people and suggested, since their stands on the $700 billion bailout were so similar, why not issue a joint statement urging the Congress to be sure to include their wishes into the bailout. After all, one of these men would be in charge of shepherding these plans after Jan. 20. 

They were in touch during the day, working on a joint statement behind the scenes.

But McCain couldn't just be part of a joint statement being worked behind the scenes. He had to grandstand, had to go on television and say he was suspending his campaign, which now was about 10 points behind Obama's. He invited Obama to join him. 

McCain said he was going to Washington, after just one more speech, to sit down with leaders and help with the solution. This was too important to inject politics into the matter. He also called for a suspension of this week's first presidential debate. I wonder if it anything to do with his level of readiness for the debate. 

Of course, both McCain and Obama traveling to Washington and sitting in on the negotiations would do nothing but inject presidential politics into the equation. Their staffs would have to get photo ops of their candidates being presidential. It couldn't work.

McCain's statement made him look desperate, acting like Howdy Doody on speed.

After a few hours, Obama came out, calmly, and said he didn't think there was any need to suspend the campaigns. After all, the president just might have to tackle more than one problem at a time. The American people, he said, needed to see the men who would lead the nation and find out what their strategies might be. 

The debate, he said, should go on, although the subject matter might be changed from foreign policy to economics or a combination of the two. He was still interested in a joint statement and didn't accuse McCain of grandstanding, even though reporters were trying to goad him into doing just that. 

Obama calmly said that if he were needed in Washington, if he could do more than participate in photo ops,  he would drop everything and go. "We both have these big planes with our slogans painted on them," that could transport the candidate to and from Washington and to Mississippi for the debate and then back to Washington, if necessary.

Again, he said, the president should be able to handle more than one problem at a time. 

Multitasking or grandstanding. I guess we do have a clear choice when it comes to a presidential candidate. 

Until next time...