New Section: Poetry

 

For those who remember this site < 3.0, you would probably remember my poetry collection. Although most of it is not the most reflective of a more mature me – I informally refer to the old collection as a Collection of Adolescence – however it is still of interest. Right now I have only a few on, but I will be adding more as time goes on. I have 106 old poems to restore, dating back since 2000. These weren’t on any system that easily migrates to Wordpress (a home made perl script, it served me well for many years), and each poem has 2 pages each to get the data from, so as you can tell, it will take some time.

 

Either way, take a glance when you get a chance. I will also be adding photography, something desperately missing from before. Eventually it will be all original photography, but for now, I’ll do what I can.

Also of interest, the disclaimer has been updated to include specific information regarding the poems. So if you would like to use them, please read it first.

If you have any poems you would like to share, just post em as a comment and I’ll put it up.

Freedom Tower no more

 

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have announced that the Freedom Tower – the new building to be erected over “Ground Zero” – will instead be named One World Trade Center. They are claiming that for commercial and leasing reasons, the new name is more marketable. They also announced that Vantone Industrial Co. has signed a 20.75 year lease  ”that will create the China Center, a 190,810-square-foot business and cultural facility, to be on portions of the 64th floor and the entire 65th through 69th floors of One World Trade Center.”

 

I understand the practical business concerns, yet it is still a shot in the patriotic gut. This building is to be a sign of America’s triumph over terrorism, although honestly we have yet to triumph. We can maybe say that it is America’s response to the threat of terrorism, that we won’t back down and we will emerge stronger (and more beautiful) than before. I’m sure most of us can still see in our mind’s the moments when the U.S. stopped on 9/11. I can still remember walking into Family Dollar to buy a new lighter, first hearing on the radio as the second plane crashed into the towers. I asked the girl at the counter if that was some sort of sick joke, and she was hoping so. I walked back out to the car dazed, telling my friends “I think we’re under attack.”

I can still remember turning on the radio, changing it to every station I knew, just to hear the same results. We went back to my house and watched as it all unfolded, the news of the Pentagon, the news of the plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I remember thinking to myself that the south tower – the second one hit –  was probably going to collapse. The hijacker drove that plane into the center of the building, and I just knew all of that heat and structural damage was going to make it go. I was just praying that the first one wouldn’t fall too.

I was one of the lucky ones who had no family or friends who were there. However, I had many friends who lost some family members or friends, and in some cases, an entire branch of a family tree was wiped out. I remember feeling the sadness for everyone, and the anger at those responsible. Feelings that solidified when we invaded Afghanistan and nearly eliminated the Taliban. Feelings that were warped to entrust us with the wisdom of invading Iraq.

This building and other memorials were to be our reminder of the strength we have as a people and a nation. A strength that screams that we refuse to give up but instead carry on stronger than we were before. A strength to make sure those who follow who will remember the willing sacrafice the heroes made, the victims who had no choice, and as a stark reminder that there are people out there who unmercifully kill because their priorities are not aligned with reality.

The Freedom Tower also reminded me of the poem I wrote shortly after the attack.

 

 

The day the Lady cried

She’s stood in pride 

Our tears she’s cried

Through her eyes

She watched the demise

From the planes we fly

That ended their lives

Yet she still stands there

Without any fear

Keeping our love near

Our hope she hears

On this Fourth of July

We put forth our cry

And show them our pride

That our freedom will never die

For anyone who needs any reminders of what happened that day, there is a great write up of it on Wikipedia.

 

How the Oval Office handled AIG

A real man’s birthday

For years growing up, birthdays were always a big day, a day exclusively for myself. I’m sure many can relate. As I got older, they tended to lead into alcohol induced parties, lots of fun, but still the one and only being the center of attention.

Then you grow up. You have children, you change and mature. It’s not so much fun being the center of attention anymore. Sure, you like the attention, but you don’t have the selfish desire anymore. Take this year for example. Today I celebrated my 26th birthday. What did I do? We went for lunch at the Olive Garden, then went to an early Easter egg hunt at my daughter’s pre-school. Then we headed over to the grandparents for dinner and cake. What kind of cake does a real man eat? A pink one of course, the color my lil girl wanted to make my special birthday cake. Could I say no?

For the record, I don’t believe in the whole “real men wear pink.” It’s fairly lame actually, though some guys have the ability to pull it off. There is a difference between confidence and color preference. Maybe I’m biased against it, seeing it everyday with my daughter. But a real man can wear pink, put on make up, get nails painted, etc., if it means that much more time and enjoyment with their children. I wouldn’t give up my pink birthday cake for the world.

Dallas cop keeps NFL player from being with dying mother-in-law

 

If you haven’t heard this one yet, it’ll eat at you. WFAA News 8 out in Dallas released the story of the events from last night. You can read the full article on News 8 or watch the news segment here.

 

Ryan Moats – running back for the Houston Texans – and his wife were on their way to the hospital to be at the bedside of his mother-in-law for her dying moments. On the way there, he ran through a red light near the hospital. Dallas Police Officer Robert Powell spotted them, and pulled them over in the ER parking lot. That’s where things go bad. Anyone with a heart would’ve allowed him to see her, right? Absolutely not for Officer Powell. He reportedly pulled his pistol on them after he got out of his car, for whatever reason I do not know. They pleaded with him to let them go see her, but he refuses. His wife and the other woman in the car ignored his order and went in.

Moats couldn’t find his insurance card, and officer was threatening to tow his car, even to haul him off to jail. Nurses tried to convince the officer to let him go see her. It finally took pleading from another officer to let him go in. By the time he got to go in and see her, she had just died.

For no real reason but to be an arrogant jerk, Officer Powell took away an important moment from Ryan Moats life. The Dallas PD has dropped the ticket, and has issued a formal apology to Mr. Moats. During the news segment, the PD also stated that officers are expected to use appropriate discretion in certain matters, and that Officer Powell incorrectly handled this situation. They are investigating the situation and have placed him on leave.

Normally I wouldn’t say he deserves to get fired, but in this case, I believe it is the only option.

“My understanding is that Officer Powell — even after he saw the videotape — believed he had not acted inappropriately,” Chief Kunkle said, a view that was underscored by Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson, who reviewed the tape with Officer Powell on Wednesday.

“His belief was simply that he was doing his job,” Chief Simpson said. “It did concern me that it just seemed that the compassion was not there.”

I’m just glad to see that Moats has handled it well publicly, given what he dealt with. I’m also glad to see the Dallas PD not trying to defend those actions. I’m not saying they need to throw him under the bus; he did that for himself.

Be careful what you wish for

 

Be careful what you wish for: it may come true. For the last couple of weeks, the public has been in an outrage over the AIG bonuses. Things have calmed down slightly, and now we get to have a good look at what we’ve done.

These bonuses were retention bonuses, signed legally and in ink, continually promised to the employees who stayed. Why else should they stay? They are literally working themselves out of a job, their only job to piece apart and sell AIG, then the last guy out gets to turn off the lights.

Sure, we can scream, “Hey, they got us in this mess!” Well, most of those guys aren’t around anymore, so we are blaming the wrong people. These people have a very important job, one that the taxpayer owners should be grateful for. They turned down more stable positions (because of the retention bonus) to stick around and extract every potential dollar out of AIG.

Now a number of them are leaving. We’ve demonized them, stripped them of their promised bonus, and put them in a precarious situation. When they had opportunities to go elsewhere they didn’t,  but since this has hit the fan, well. We take the chance of shooting ourselves in the foot now.

How? Consider this. Now these people are leaving, taking key skills with them. Sure there are loads of unemployed bankers, but seriously, who wants to go work for next to nothing working 80 weeks (being overtime exempt), no bonus, and if you are lucky, you get to be the one to turn off the lights on the last day. There isn’t a lot of appeal there.

Plus a lot of the work done is very complex and requires extremely specialized skills – I can’t just grab the recently unemployed trader and get him to work on this. There are applications running things that they don’t even teach in college anymore.

So now how do we screw ourselves? Simple. Intelligent, specialize people are needed for the task of taking apart AIG. Without these skills, AIG may be parted out for way less than possible. Just remember we’ve dumped $180 or so billion into this company, and the only way we are going to ever see any of that back is if AIG does an excellent job. Scaring away talented employees and potential employees is just plain stupid.

So you can scream all you want, but when your company takes a nosedive and they offer you enough of a bonus to stay around till the end, you do you job then get villianized for doing you job, you’ll think differently.

When it comes down too it, as I said before, the government is not in the business of running business. It may be just one of the worst things a government can do. Sure, they won out on the populist rhetoric over the bonuses, but in the end, we’re the ones who are going to get hurt.

Casey Anthony headlines again

 

Welcome back to the front page, Miss Anthony. This go around, the prosecution had accused her attorney – Jose Baez  - of a potential conflict of interest, being in a position of reaping monetary gain from selling Casey’s and Caylee’s “story.” It was the only way that the prosecution could figure out how she has managed to bankroll her defense.

 

How is she doing it? We will probably never know. The judge allowed them to discuss the matter in private, and after returning the prosecutor (Ashton)  dropped their speculation, agreeing to respect her rights to privacy. Tensions were still flaring in court, however, and I’m afraid this entire trial is going to go to shit. We don’t need a prosecutor who begins to break down in the middle of court….

“We don’t need to be reminded of our ethical obligations,” Ashton retorted. “That’s pretty … I’m sorry. Yes, we understand.”

He sat back down, and Baez asked him if he was all right. “No, I’m not,” Ashton snapped.

“You know what, this is getting old,” Strickland told the attorneys. “I’m getting tired of this.”

I know this is a very emotionally exhaustive trial, but he really needs to get himself together.

What is my thought as to how she is paying, and why it is doing a number of Ashton? Either an insurance policy on Caylee, or somehow she managed to get funds from her death. Am I sure about this? No. But it was screw with me too if I were Ashton.

I guess the only thing that got me was what was written on the sworn affidavit Anthony gave regarding her attorny’s retainer (which does not allow him to sell the story)

“I believe that Mr. Ashton is angry because I have refused to take a plea agreement for a crime that I did not commit,” she wrote.

We’ll see about that.

Can the veterans get a break?

One of the things I most hate to hear is when veterans of the U.S. military get screwed by the government. There was once a time when the military provided everything when you served, and when you got out you were taken care of. After someone has intentionally put themselves in harms way for the protection of this country, it seems like such a small thing to do.

Yet recently we’ve been hit with newsbreak after newsbreak of vets getting the short end of the stick. I remember watching to 60 minute special after the Walter Reed news broke. Sickening. I remember hearing about a kid – just 19 years old – who had been sent off to Iraq and within a couple of months had his leg blown off. He was given a medical discharge and sent to the hospital to get a prosthetic and go through therapy. Then the army comes and wants their $20,000 bonus back because he didn’t serve his full term. Are you serious? The Army should have changed its campaign posters to “Join the Army, where it’ll only cost you an arm and a leg. Or a leg and $20,000.” It was sickening.

Now we hear about the lack of basic cleaning of equipment has put numerous veterans at risk for dangerous infections, including hepatitis and HIV. Appalling.

But it gets worse. The Obama administration has found a way to fully fund the VA medical system – charge the vets. That’s right, even for battle related wounds, the VA system would charge veterans’ insurance for medical care, putting veterans at the mercy of their insurance benefits. Something isn’t right there.

Obama is trying to fill a $540 million budget gap, so he plugs it with the money of the veterans. Wow. I guess their blood in the battlefields wasn’t good enough, now we need their money too.

Our government needs to take a step back and take in everything. What all is this and other recent policies (I.E. 90% retroactive taxation on bonuses) doing? It is eroding the public’s trust in the government. Including the trust of the men and women who risked so much to keep us around. It is a shame, truly a shame, that we have sunk so far.

VA now gives out HIV?

 

Seems to undermine the purpose of the VA Healthcare System. Yet what else is new. A while back the whole Walter Reed Hospital thing blew up, so we knew what kind of crap out vets have to deal with when it comes to VA healthcare. Yet the latest incident is completely below the belt.

 

It came out that contaminated equipment at a Miami, FL, VA facility could put individuals who had colonoscopies (for this procedure they basically have a long tube with a camera on the end of it, and shove it into your colon. Sounds fun, eh?”) at risk for hepatitis and HIV. Apparently the tube used for the procedure was only rinsed after use, not disinfected. I’m too shocked for words. Even worse, can you imagine the look on the poor guy’s face when he comes back for the results – “Mr. Smith, I have good news, and I have bad news. Good news, no pollups, no cancer. The bad news. Well, uh, you see, we didn’t follow protocol exactly, and, uh, you may have contracted hepatitis or HIV.” I’m sure that’ll go over well.

I just can’t believe that a healthcare facility, especially a federally funded one charged with providing healthcare services to the men and women who have put their lives on the line for this country, could overlook such a simple fact, something that is basic protocol around the country. Anything like that, especially something INSIDE a person, has to be either sterilized or disgarded as bio waste. What next, they were also reusing needles?! Are you kidding me?!

The worse part is that there are other sites (Murfreesboro, TN, and Augusta, GA) suspected of putting patients at risk by using contaminated equipment. I have a bad feeling that may not be the end of it. How many other facilities have endangered their patients, our veterans, by blatant disregard for basic protocol and basic safety of their patients. Can we say malpractice?

I love the ending of the article on CNN though. I’m just going to quote:

The special care clinics opened Tuesday morning, and officials say response from patients has been good. “They are being proactive, and we are glad. We want them to get tested,” said Susan Warren, a spokeswoman for the Miami VA facility

Seriously. “They are being proactive.” No, they are scared out of their minds they have just contracted an incurable virus that they could spread to their loved ones. They want to know if they need to be scared or not. What the hell is she thinking when she says that!

Part of the problem though is how long it can take HIV to show up in the body. It could be years before any one of those vets could test positive. Then what is the VA going to say. “Oh, that is the price you pay for unprotected sex.” No, that is the price you pay for unprotected colonoscopies.

Legalizing drugs

This has been a constantly debated subject for quite sometime, and I’m still not sure where to stand on it.

In one corner, legalizing drugs would solve a lot of problems. No more war on drugs. Drug dealers and cartels would find themselves in a difficult position. Instead of the money going into the hands of these guys, the tax revenues would be coming into the government. Like when prohibition ended, the black market dried up to become just a handful of backwoods shiners. Ahh, nothing better than some good backwoods moonshine.

On the other hand, there are the problems that drug use creates. This stuff alters moods, creates hallucinations, lowers inhibitions, etc. etc. The effects of drug use are as bad or worse than alcohol use. A number of drugs will still have to be imported as well, so a lot of the crookery from the supply system will still exist. Plus if the drugs are legal here but not from the country of origin, then the government is promoting law-breaking as well.

What got me thinking about this? A commentary on CNN, where Jeffrey Miron made a good case for legalizing drugs. His reasoning deserves a strong amount of merit.

To sum it up, prohibition creates a black market. Black markets create corruption and violence, and lavishly rewards those who control it. The underground nature of drug use also leads to risky behavior, such as sharing needles, a major cause of the spread of HIV in this country.

Prohibition also creates a disrespect for the law, at a great expense to taxpayers for upholding these laws (last year the total was about $44 billion, or in other words, a Citigroup bailout). Law enforcement tactics also have to change, leading to lessened constitutional protections and enabling racial profiling. It further reduces protections because you can’t sue your drug dealer (usually, it has happened though), and if your distributor isn’t paying the bill, the supplier can’t fire him and have him charged with a crime: the supplier kills him.

Ending prohibition on drugs may be the right thing to do. Yet winning over enough votes may be too lofty of a goal. After careful thought I might (depending on how it was legalized), yet I’m a moderate willing to look at both sides. Too many others can’t see that side, because they only know the other half to drugs. I personally don’t use, and don’t keep friends around that step up beyond that mary jane. I’ve seen loved ones throw their lives’ away. I have an ex-girlfriend in the ground because of drugs. I’ve known people who died because they did little more than smoke a bowl then run to the store for some munchies, then die on the way to the store because their reaction time was way off the mark.

So tell me what you think. Should we legalize it or not?

Prohibition also puts money in the hands of terrorists and crooked cartels.

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