Far East Cynic

The father of modern capitalism, that’s who:

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. . . . The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. . . . It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion. -Adam Smith.

Guess who agrees with him about withdrawing US troops from Iraq?

The Iraqi government:

The Iraqi cabinet shot down the draft security agreement negotiated by the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Bush administration, insisting that several of its paragraphs need a change of wording. Bush administration officials say that they are unwilling to engage in yet another round of negotiations. Without cabinet approval, the draft probably would not even be submitted to parliament, much less passed by it. Some of the objections, as I reported yesterday, come from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which is al-Maliki’s chief political partner, the support of which he would need to get the draft through parliament. ISCI is close to Tehran, which objects to the agreement.

Even al-Maliki seemed lukewarm about the draft his office had negotiated, complaining that the US government ‘takes away with one hand what it gave with the other.’

But not to worry, McCain picked up a key endorsement today.

For months now the S.O. and I despaired of ever finding decent Japanese food-or news of Hinomaru.

However it turns out one of our neighbors is Korean ( married to an American Soldier-funny how that happens) and she gave us the name of an authentic Japanese restaurant. Her recommendation was not wrong. It was nice-we had a long conversation with the Tencho in Japanese. Probably the longest non English conversation with someone other than the S.O. I’ve had in  months.  They also had some Atlanta based Japanese newspapers.

Turns out, it seems, that Toyota builds engines here-and they gave the owner an assist to get ther restaurant started. Kind of pricey-but good food.

Now if only we could watch Nodojiman on Sundays. Watch the couple here-married-the Gaijin guy is from New Zealand and his Japanese is very natural. (Lots of gongs before you finish is a good thing.):

We both were wistful on the ride home………………………….

English translation of the song here.

Because you could end up being entertained by this.

Something else for Bullnav, to give Aggies grief about.

When you lose a town that is to the right of Atilla the Hun….the times they are a changing.

Was going to post some pictures from the Voyage of the damned. Except my Lexmark all in one-is not so all inclusive. Printer and copier functions work-scanner won’t budge. Another Vista problem?

Curtis, in disputing my analysis of the Republicans usual approach to countering the Democrats, hit upon an interesting observation: He noticed I had lost my “old joie de vive of [my] old self”.

I’d argue with him about that but for one thing:

He’s right.

I went and looked at my archives. I’ve posted 1340 posts and about 400 or so are totally about politics. Examining them I would say I’ve been pretty consistent in my political view-I’ve never liked Bush, have no use for the war in Iraq, and just don’t buy into the argument  that unbridled avarice is somehow good for America.

Nonetheless, I have to admit, I have definitely not written about some of the fun things I saw and experienced in Asia, as well as a lot of the silliness around and involved with it.  That’s my own fault-I had meant to stay more in touch with the region I so dearly miss.

Also too, I don’t get to have the fun I used to. For a man who once bestrode the streets of Central, Orchard, and Shinjuku with a proud sense of wonder and increasing intoxication, to be reduced to the mundane presence of mere existence here in Shopping Mall has left me underwhelmed to say the least.

How many ways can you say “mistake” in English?

I’ve no doubt it reflects in my writing.  It also does not take a rocket scientist to discern that below the surface lies a good deal of anger just hoping to broach itself above the surface. The particulars of this election season have made that impossible to mask.

I would make note however, that contrary to the assertions of one Ms. Malkin-having a opposing viewpoint to what one holds dearly, does not necessarily make the author of that opinion “deranged”. It just means that I cannot, in all good conscience, accept the notion that its McCain’s way or the highway. Or the idea that if I don’t, I deserve to be consigned to the outer walls of Gehnna. There was once a time that one could disagree with the speaker’s opinion, while still having respect for the speaker. Those days are long behind us I fear.

This election is vitally important to me. I feel strongly about that point. I feel just as strongly that in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate-John McCain abandoned the one really good argument he had going for him, his experience, in favor of catering to a part of the Republican party that deserves no such consideration. In my humble opinion.

Others may believe the opposite is just as important. And for that reason find it imperative to get John McCain in the White House. God bless ‘em. I think its a tight election and a lot tighter than the polls suggest. Of course emotions are going to run high.

Curtis is right though-its hard to find joy of late. Because to tell you the truth, I don’t feel very joyous of late. Nothing a week in Hong Kong could not cure-or even a long layover in Bangkok.

None of which is happening any time soon. My weekends get to consist of the usual discussion, ” Lowes or Costco?”. Golf? Tell that to the S.O. who whines about disorder in the house.

And a round of hitting the bars? Going out on a Friday night living the dream?  Gone with the wind.

So yea, I would say that a certain amount of my fervor for joy has escaped and gone missing. I’m not sure how endorsing a political candidate who happens to agree with my view point on several current issue that I am in agreement with him on is a part of that-but then again, maybe it is.

As is my discontent. People do change over time. I know I have.

But I accept your observation on its face value, Curtis. I  need to get back to what’s fun-for me.

Politics though will be a part of that- and McCain picking Palin, and then veering into the front pew of her political church-was just a deal breaker. Maybe a trip up the escalator at Orchard Towers-might put some perspective in my view. Want to travel there with me?

Till then, I’ll have to keep a lid on my funk.

God bless you and yours.

Only 17 days till the election-and November 4th could not come a day too soon. If I were Barack Obama though,  I would be having nightmares about this picture:

I hope that his political instincts are attuned enough to smell the real danger this whole “Joe the Plumber” thing can spell for him-and for any hope of changing the tone of political discourse in America.

Because Joe the Plumber is exactly the type of political bone that the dogs of the rabid right can grab on to and chew to death. The opposition will be slow to realize it and by the time they do react-the election will have come and gone.

Nothing epitomizes how stupid Americans have become politically than the whole discussion of the Joe the plumber. JTP is not even named Joe-his given name is Sam. Second, he may or may not be trying to buy his business and based on preliminary look-see, is not even trying to buy his business-although he might in the future. Contrary to what Mr. Wurzelbacher asserted and Mr. McCain echoed, neither his personal taxes nor those of the business where he works are likely to rise if Mr. Obama’s tax plan were to go into effect, they said.

However never let the facts get in the way of a good script. The Democrats have their script too-you have to be ready to acknowledge that-however its more varied than that you keep hearing from people who are supposed to be smart enough to know better.

The facts of the discussion are a lot different than you will ever read here, here, or on Fox News. And for sure they don’t have the Senator quoting from either Lenin or Trotsky:

…….was among those who turned out to see Mr. Obama, who had stopped to join campaign volunteers as they canvassed voters door-to-door in a neighborhood outside Toledo. Mr. Obama first noticed him when Mr. Wurzelbacher was shouting from afar, “Do you believe in the American dream?”

Mr. Obama walked over and engaged in conversation.

“Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” Mr. Wurzelbacher said.

For several minutes, the two men talked, as a crowd stood around and listened. A television pool report of the event provides this account of the exchange:

At the time, he did not introduce himself. But he said he had been a hard-working plumber for 15 years, so why should he be taxed more?

As he often does, Mr. Obama sought to win over his questioner by explaining his plan in great detail, offering rationale after rationale for his plan to raise taxes for those who make more than $250,000 a year.

“Over the last 15 years, when you weren’t making 250, you would have been given a tax cut from me, so you’d actually have more money, which means you would have saved more, which means you would have gotten to the point where you could build your small business quicker than under the current tax code,” Mr. Obama said. “So there are two ways of looking at it – I mean one way of looking at it is, now that you’ve become more successful through hard work – you don’t want to be taxed as much.”

It became clear that Mr. Obama was not winning him over.

“You’re going to be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Mr. Obama said. “But listen, I respect what you do and I respect your question, and even if I don’t get your vote, I’m still going to be working hard on your behalf because small businesses are what creates jobs in this country and I want to encourage it.”

As he walked away Mr. Obama said, “I’ve got to go prepare for this debate. But that was pretty good practice right there.”

The next day, the plumber’s story was picked up by the Toledo Blade, followed by radio and television interviewers. And, finally, he emerged on the debate stage again and again Wednesday night.

The difficulty, of course, is that one cannot discuss proposed tax changes with people unless those people understand what it is that would be changed. The average American citizen does not understand the nuances of federal taxation that both major presidential candidates seek to change. (proving again the myth of the rational voter)  Information is generalized, assertions are misleading, rhetoric trumps technical analysis, and people remain confused. Income of $250,000? Gross profits of $250,000? Revenues of $250,000? Joe can get him self a good CPA and depending on the answers to those questions and others-could find himself with a tax cut. Assuming he does not get slapped with penalties on those damn tax liens.

However don’t let important facts and distinctions get in the way of good old fashioned righteous anger and scathing arguments about personal responsibility-and how you don’t feel inclined to help me out of because my values are not lock step with yours.

At this point in the campaign the rules of right wing discourse are fairly well defined:

1) Never call the candidate by his name: Always refer to him as “The One”, “BHO”, or simply call him “The marxist”. Calling him by his name implies that he might, just might maybe be a real person and deserving of some degree of civil respect.

2) Blame the media for not telling the story exactly as McCain wants it told. Make the media an enemy-use the terms “MSM”, Liberal biased media, media elites or my personal favorite of late, “tanning bed media”. The implication of course is that they are all lazy and probably want to have the same skin color as Obama. ( A racist code word with out actually using the C, A or B words).

Case in point: score of commenters at various and sundry blogs, have taken to outrage that people went looking for JTP’s details in the public record and that the media did not continually re-broadcast Obama’s share the wealth comment.  They are shocked, shocked that media outlets and individual reporters,  bloggers, and others with a dog in the political fight,  quickly investigated the man. Such is the paranoia of the politics today. Did they go overboard? Sure they did.  Its a fair point. . However, as Andrew Sullivan points out, “If you live by the game of anecdote, you also have to die by it” :

Remember the woman in San Francisco a few years ago, took a shot at Ford? A guy grabbed her arm, saved the president’s life -and was a hero.

It turned out he was also gay. That’s news, right?

- Now the whole country knows that too.
(quoted from the movie-Absence of Malice).

If Joe does not like it, there are probably an army of lawyers who would do his libel case for him-pro bono. The public record is exactly that-public.

3) Always assume that the worst excesses of a few-in a free society with technology and the internet, and the protections of the first Amendment- have the explicit blessing of the campaign.  Then use that assumption as a means to trash the campaign and those within that campaign who might not have had a thing to do with it because they were actually busy trying to get their man elected. That too can be applied on the left wrt to McCain, -its done on both sides. Guess where they learned it from?

4) Never give the other fellow even the slightest shred of the benefit of the doubt. Assume from the start that he was out to ally himself with the forces of Marxism.  Take taxes again-somebody’s taxes are going to need to be raised, to undo the damage caused by excessive tax cuts that were not removed when the nation went to war. As has been said, “You can pay now or you can pay later, but you will pay.” It’s no longer now, it’s later, and we will pay.  If we don’t raise taxes, we face either crippling deficits that threaten the nation’s security and survival, or we cut spending, including Social Security, Medicare, and national defense, and perhaps even interest on the national debt, which also threatens the nation’s security and survival. Maybe Joe should ask McCain about the difficulties he will have getting a loan to buy the business-thanks in large part to the deficit and tight credit.

5.) Always make sure you pat yourself on the back about how noble your savagery is-and allow no comparisons to that levied by the other side.  Dismiss such comparisons as “unequal” and demonstrative of your inherent immorality.

6.) Really focus on labels.Call it welfare when you grant a cut in the income tax rate for lower income, while at the same time ignore the fact that poor people still pay taxes. Especially ignore the fact that other taxes as excise tax, sales tax, and payroll taxes (FICA) are regressive, meaning that the poor pay a disproportional percentage of their income in taxes. Ignore the fact that many of those “non-filers”  low-income, young, female-headed households, (who are) part-time workers-and some 30 million who are retired and may have paid their taxes “up front” so to speak. Use the word socialism a lot.

7) Finally when cornered, use the specter of the white flag and question ones patriotism-especially if they dare to point out that not all wars end in victory. Deify those running the war-so as to make any attack upon the overall idea of going to war in the first place-sound like a personal attack on the hired hand designated to pick up the pieces.  Back at home-dismiss those who have a different view of the world than yours-as unreal Americans.

Having arrived at the basics of the talking points ensure that these disparate points are broadcast again and again. How? Through the vehicle of the supposedly biased and in the tank media-who like any other business generally do not turn away paying customers.  Find folks to send you cute little anecdotes ( which starts the whole cycle all over again). What ever you do, don’t use the power of investigation and analysis. In fact, dismiss those who are tasked to teach you that skill as “bad”- or in the power of the unions.

Then when you get the same government you had last year, ask yourself why nothing ever changes.

Greetings from the B terminal of DFW. Waiting to catch a flight back to Hicksville. We finished up early today. Sad-I had hope to visit the boneyard. However thanks to events I need to be back at my cube tomorrow, pounding away at Power Point. None the less I stand by my point, it ain’t over till its over.

The election that is. I am astounded at all of the articles that say its too late for McCain to catch up. Nonsense.To those folks I offer two words: Hubert Humphrey. Or Ronald Reagan.

Besides, the Rethuglicans will  not go quietly into that great good night. Never underestimate the paranoia of the their hypocrites  “base”. You can see it in the increasing use of the words Marxism and Socialism-to describe Obama. If Obama is a Socialist, I’m Warren Buffet. They just want to scare you.

Plus, I still think it is not out the realm of possibility that GWB will spring an “October Suprise” on us.

McCain did nothing to sway me last night.  Increasingly he is sounding like a stuck record. He had a good line about not being George Bush-but it missed the point. He loves Bush’s war. And the rest of his miserable record.

Let me be candid: McCain lost me when he picked that worthless whore to be his running mate. There were lots of talented people he could of picked.

Sarah Palin is not one of them.

And as for Joe the plumber? If you start making over 250,000 a year-cough it up pal. I need the money. Got  an ex-wife to feed. McCain has no such worries being married to wealth.

But if I were Obama, I would pound the stuffing out of my staff. And be very nervous. All it takes now is one gaffe, one slip, one bad break in the news cycle. He has to run hard all the way-he’s not yet made the sale.

Ought to be an interesting 3 weeks.

My mind is made up. Sorry John, the guy in 2000 who attacked the evangelicals as the useless zealots they are- I liked. The guy on the TV last night? I spent the whole night pointing my middle finger at him.

Its time for a change ……and a repudiation of the last eight years.  If by voting for Obama, I can send a hearty “fuck you” to Bush and to the rest of the crowd who led this  country down several ratholes-Iraq, GTMO, the economy-it will be worth it.

Its not going to be a fun four years. However I’ve had it with the party I am still a member of. I hate the so-called “base” and they are anything but smart thinking Americans. Morons is the more correct word. Its going to take a defeat to make them suffer enough to come back to the center.

So on November 4th, I’ll do my part to make those bastards pay.

Gotta run for the plane!

Greetings from Tucson. Long day today as I had to get up early for some teleconferences, meetings, and get some reports out that should have been done yesterday. (Got to unpack and drag the S.O. to where she wanted to go yesterday). Then to home and have the S.O. take me to the airport for an afternoon flight to Tucson. Thanks to the time change, I am watching the Sox game and trying to figure out where to go for dinner. Anyone have any good nightlife recommendations for Tucson?

On the way out the door to the airport grabbed a book I have had sitting on my shelves for a long while. (More correctly sitting in boxes..). Thought it might be a timely read for the current times we live in:

Maybe I read it before-I don’t think so. It was probably a book of my fathers that I “borrowed” a long time ago. It is making for some interesting reading, and while the times now are different, there are some intersting similarities. Gave me something to do way back in the back of the plane in seat 18A-right next to the port engine. Thank you American Airlines.

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Here is a quote that sums up the McCain campaign for me right now:

Never has a national ticket been less equipped intellectually, temperamentally, and practically to confront America’s problems than this one. I also presume that Palin’s winks to America will prove to be the equivalent of the Cheshire Cat’s grin: the last expressions of an ideology disappearing from the scene.

The article points out that it may be time to bury “trickle down” economics once and for all. I’ve never been a fan of it -and I still believe that the growth of the 80′s was triggered by the drastic increases in defense spending, the IT revolution and the creation of 401K’s rather than tax cuts. In fact from a personal standpoint, most of Reagans reforms to the tax code did me little good-particularly the inability to deduct credit card interest. And of course the problem with tax cuts and increased spending was that at some point you had to cry uncle. Which is what happened in the 1987 and 1988 military budgets.

I do agree with this point:

It’s certainly not morning in America.

Yet it doesn’t have to be twilight either. America can pull through the current economic crisis with a dose of political maturity and a bit of luck. Success will mean the end of the Reagan era, of an ideology that has brought the country to its knees.

Ronald Reagan told us that government was the problem, and that low taxes and deregulation were the solutions. The result, even more than Americans recognize, is a government so shrunken in skill and mandate that our gravest problems – financial collapse, natural hazards like Hurricane Katrina, broken health care and education, unsustainable energy systems, and growing global instability – are left without a serious response.

Either we once again invest in our future, notably through an expanded public sector, or we will lose our future.

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One of the more interesting things I hear all the time at work is how voting for Obama may be cutting my own throat. Maybe-but the train is going to also wreck if McCain wins. (I’m also placing little faith in the polls-I think the race is a lot closer than the pollsters say it is.). I think Obama may be more tempted to spread cuts horizontally which is OK with me. Getting troops out of Iraq could save A LOT of money -as well as American lives.(Which is the only calculation that matters to me). McCain will cut big programs like the one I work in entirely. While at the same time prolonging a large occupation of Iraq. He’ll have to cut tomorrow to pay for today. There is a point where we have to realize that the problems we have to solve our own-not everyone elses.

I guess I should be worried, but I’m not. If there is one thing working here as taught me-never underestimate the power of inertia. And of those who are more dedicated to process than production.

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This time I am going to make it up to the boneyard. I booked an afternoon flight out of here so I could spend the morning there. Pictures to follow.
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I don’t think OJ will take the same way out:

Kazuyoshi Miura, a man sometimes called “Japan’s OJ” by the international press, committed suicide in his jail cell in L.A. over the weekend, shocking close friends and the media. Prior to his suicide, Miura had expressed confidence in his ability to beat the murder conspiracy charges he was facing, and apparently he had been finishing up a book about his experiences.

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Got to run. I’m hungry and there is a beer somewhere with my name on it. Wonder if there is one of these out there too?

Ja ne!

Today was busy and so at the end of it, the S.O. and I went out for a well deserved Mexican dinner.

Today was the day I had to tackle all the stuff that had come from my long term storage-which had been in boxes for 8 and 1/2 years. There were valuable things and a lot of not so valuable things in those boxes.  I had been putting off opening them for a while.

With good reason-there are a lot of memories in those boxes: letters, (Including love letters from my ex-written during a different time, pre-bills, pre- children, pre -becoming a nasty enlarged woman), pictures of my family, the ex’s family, from school, and from various ships traveling to various parts around the globe.  There were also pictures of my ex’s father and her mother when they were young-and he was in the Navy. ( He passed away in 1982 at 52-a scary thing to contemplate now). Those I will have to box up and send to the ex. Even I did not have the heart to throw them out-it would not have been right. I’m suprised she left them behind. She must have forgot them when she trashed the house and moved out . This was after we had separated-I had to come back from Japan and get the house cleaned up and vacated-thus the need to store this stuff.

My tools were so so-the table saw will need some work and I am wondering what will happen when I plug the motor in. Same with my routers, miter saw and drill press.

However the really long and time consuming part was the sorting of the book and picture boxes. Deciding what to keep and what to get rid of-with an eye towards “slimming down” for an eventual return to Asia. Which might very well have to be at my own expense.

In that stack I came across a letter from my mother. Written to me right after I had departed for Rota Spain and my 1st class Midshipman cruise. It was a simple one pager-asking me about the trip. Telling me how her plans had changed and she would be going to see my sister after all. Complaining about how “every time I plan something, the whole thing goes a different way”. She meant the trip-but it sure seems an analogy for my life right now.

Her closing was the most bittersweet part to read here, this year-as I had not heard these words since 1978. How the letter survived several moves over a period of 30 years is beyond me. Simple good-byes really, but still heart rending to me today:

“Well since I have a lot of errands to do must get on horse and gallop. Hope your trip turned out okay. We are thinking of you every day.

We love you-Mother.“

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.-Thomas Mann

Now if only I could be 16 again

In 1973, the Vietnam war came to an end for the US, the Arabs started one in the Middle East, and the stock market lost half its value and the world went into a world wide recession. Oil prices doubled. I also got my first job, working at the Car Wash.

Maybe I might need that as a resume bullet soon.

If you believe the Economist, we are heading that way again.

I already lived through 1973. With the exception of “closing the deal” at a Drive In in Peters Township-in a 1971 Ford Galaxy no less-there is nothing really to go back there for.

For those of you who can’t remember 1973-I’ll give you one hint: Double daylight saving time. Which meant in the winter, you showed up at school and it was still quite dark.

Like Lexington-I’m quite willing to lay the blame at this man’s feet:

As my Mom always used to remind me, you make bad choices and the consequences almost always come home to roost. Wise woman-too bad her son was so stubborn. However for George W. Bush, the chickens are coming home. You want a war with Iraq bad-you get it bad. You want to cut taxes for all your rich friends-and not cut spending-and it eventually falls apart. ” The Decider is probably only really upset it did not happen on the next President’s watch. For a man who believes history will vindicate him, he might want to study up some more on Hoover. History was kind to him right?

PLENTY of people can be blamed for the calamity on Capitol Hill on September 29th. Two-hundred and twenty-eight congressmen decided they were ready to risk another Great Depression. Nancy Pelosi made an idiotic speech damning the Republicans. Sheriff McCain claimed that he was going to ride into town to sort out the mess—and promptly fell off his horse. But there is no doubt where the lion’s share of the blame belongs: with George Bush. The dismal handling of the financial crisis over the past fortnight is not only a comment on Mr Bush’s personal shortcomings as a leader. It is a comment on the failure of his leadership style over the past eight years.

The convenient excuse for Mr Bush’s performance is that he is at the fag-end of his presidency. Public attention has shifted to the presidential candidates, and the members of the House face the electorate in a month. But this rings hollow: there is nothing about the political cycle that dictates that an outgoing president should have an approval rating of 27% and an army of enemies on Capitol Hill. Bill Clinton ended his two terms with ratings of close to 70%.

The crisis underlined Mr Bush’s two biggest personal weaknesses—his leaden tongue and his indecisiveness. He failed to explain in simple language that a crisis on Wall Street also means a crisis on Main Street. The self-styled decider was also singularly lacking in decisiveness. He handed responsibility for the bail-out to a technocrat, his treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, but then failed to provide him with the necessary political backup. He started lobbying legislators only days before the vote. He failed to travel to Capitol Hill to make a personal appeal to Congress. Worse still, he wasted political capital on a farcical photo-op meeting in the White House with the presidential candidates. Mr Clinton would have done things a lot better.

That last sentence has got to hurt.

I accept the logic though, that “Mr Bush also paid the price for the defining cause of his presidency, the invasion of Iraq, an initiative which destroyed the bipartisan unity created by September 11th, 2001. The most stinging complaint against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was that it bore an uneasy resemblance to the Iraq War Resolution of 2002.”

The war was a bad mortgage, that this particular tenant should never have been allowed to take. While the crash of Wall Street has many fathers, it certainly did not help to have spending take off on Defense-with its attendant deficits. With nothing really to show for it-5 years later.

There maybe some real good come for this though in the long run-if the US can no longer afford “war without end-amen”, it might lead to a retrenchment of sorts. Please read those last two words again: “of sorts”. I’m not talking about isolationism or abrogating existing security commitments. I am pointing out the fact that the multi-polar world is on us. And the end of American exceptionalism might actually allow the US to really live up to its dream and become a “shining city on a hill”.

By paying attention to its own people and fixing up our own country.

Instead of spending billions on a country that won’t fix itself-and in the end will go its own way. No matter how much we claim it won’t.

It certainly could not hurt.

Spike found this instructive slide show. Of note is the scary similarities to the Japanese “bubble” which burst in 1991. They are still recovering from that. It is worth you time if you want to see how your company is going to use its cash in the next year.

“Every one should have at least a years cash in the bank” yea right.

The crisis will probably end when Americans learn to live within their means.

Just released:

Finally  , got my man-cave put together . So rather than blog,  I watched old movies as I cleaned it up. My plaques are up, shadow box mounted-I’m still hunting for a place to put the table I got from my squadron, a long time ago in a galaxy far away-and also some of my precious souvenirs from the Japanese are in place. One of which I really treasure-it is a gift from Saburo Sakai. I had the privilege of meeting him several times in 2000.  Sadly that same year, he passed away right after a Navy dinner we hosted, and had invited him to as an honored guest. As fate would have it- I got to be the American Naval Officer who delivered a message of memoriam at his funeral and subsequent public memorial service. It was one of several things I found as I unpacked the last “office” box. I’m glad it survived the move intact.

The gift is two things actually-a framed picture of his helmet. (It can be seen in the link).  And a paper with this inscription on it:

It means : Never give up!

Good words-his words. 

Read his book sometime. That picture now hangs proudly in my new “study”.

Domo arigatou, Sakai-sama.

Another day another 600 points. So  much for building up my war chest to return to Nihon.

I wish I knew what to do about that. The advice to not panic is not working at this point.

However, today was a good day. On the way home via Philly airport, I had some time before my flight left. So I drove on up the Surekill expressway, with the hope to get over to boathouse row and remember to a simpler time, when once I was there and the future was so bright.

Bumper to bumper traffic near U Penn put an end to that notion.

So I got off on at exit 346, and went in to the University of Pennsylvania. After some effort, I found a place to park the car and I walked around some. This place too has memories for me.

Fall 1975. My knob haircut has just begun to grow back. We were up for the Head of the Schuylkill regatta. To save money, our coach had called in a favor with a buddy of his from the Navy who was up at U-Penn. He arranged for us to stay at one of the Frat houses there.

Which was a treat for someone in the middle of their plebe year who was going through a different kind of “initiation”. Plus they had a coke machine, one of the old kind you pulled the bottles out of, stocked with Rolling Rock beer. Over the course of our stay we did our best to empty it.

Fast forward 33 years. The campus appears a lot different than I remember it.  I walked past a lot of frat houses, but I sure could not find it. So I just walked around.

I was thinking to myself, back then-somebody walking around in a coat and tie was an old guy. Not me.

Now I had become him. Sigh.

So I walked around some more. Went to a book store full of old books. Crossed the streets to go to another one. Had a hoagie-a real hoagie-not the poor imitations they make down here in cotton country. Read the Philadelphia Enquirer. As munch on my sandwich I came to a stunning realization:

It just does not matter. No matter who wins the election-I’m going to get screwed.

As watched the young and pretty coeds go walking by, I wondered: Do they have any idea how life wears you down over the years? Some will go on to wealth, maybe fame. Others will marry, settle down, and if the statistics are correct, get a divorce. Drag some poor schmuck through the mud.

Or get dragged there themselves.

How nice it would be if you could warn them-but alas, if they are like me then-they would not listen anyway.

They will just have to find out for themselves.

I hated to leave the street. Looking at my watch, I knew I had to go. But I really did not want to do it. I like University areas-always have. Since the summer of 1976 when I went to Pitt for summer school. Just get out of the house and have my dad quit bugging me to get a job.

That’s another memory though. For another time.

So now I am home. Back to the salt mines. But it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.