A Great Man

Happy Birthday. Tutu is 80.

Several years ago when I was still living in Florida, I heard Bishop Desmond Tutu speak out on the University of South Florida's campus. I have to tell you, he was an amazing man. He had so much warmth, such love for people, it just oozed out of the guy. Plus a wonderful, rollicking sense of humor, and an infectious laugh that filled the auditorium when it struck. And he held his listeners positive rapt as he talked about the truth courts and the process of reconciliation between the races in this native South Africa. I still recall today, some twenty years later, how moved I was, how inspired. And how unworthy I felt of my own professed Christianity in the presence of this guy. I knew I was blessed to have been in the same room with him.

And lo, comes the latest issue of Vanity Fair (it's my wife's subscription, but naturally, since I don't have enough of my own stuff to read, I read a good bit of this magazine too) with a collection of quotes from Tutu given during a recent interview. Tell me this is not a class guy. Let me share some:

What is your idea of perfect happiness? When we all live together in harmony as one family, in real interdependence; when all have enough to eat, have enough clean water to drink, have decent health care, and we know war no more.
What is your greatest regret? Not telling people they had done very well often enough.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Not wanting so much to be loved.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Being treated as rubbish, as a nonperson.
What is your greatest extravagance? Rum-raisin ice cream.
What is your greatest fear? That we will destroy ourselves through our greed and our destruction of the environment.
What is your current state of mind? Joyful and serene.

Amen to all of it. Long may he live.

Related articles

• Desmond Tutu uses 80th birthday to berate ANC over Dalai Lama visa snub (guardian.co.uk)
• Desmond Tutu Retiring From Public Life (huffingtonpost.com)
• Desmond Tutu celebrates 80th birthday (news.blogs.cnn.com)
• Opinion: Why Desmond Tutu is everybody's archbishop! (cnn.com)

Once More!

What can a fan of the Texas Rangers say at this point but "Wow!" or "Holy Cow!"? And don't forget, "I told you so." The Rangers clinched a return to the World Series for the second year in a row tonight by destroying the Detroit Tigers in the 6th game of the ALCS playoff. The Rangers scored 15 runs, and even if you erase the 9-run third inning, they still scored enough to beat the Tigers. There are actually some who frequent this blog who disparaged the confidence I had in this Ranger team, even going so far as to intimate that pride (among the team's supporters, no less) would be the team's undoing. Well, so much for that theory. There's no more room for trash talk, indeed, for anything to be said about which team is the best in the American League. Indeed, in a few more days, the Rangers will quite likely prove they are the best team in baseball. They are a team on a mission, and the St Louis Cardinals are a lucky wild card team which, because it's currently hot, leads some to believe they actually have a chance in the World Series. Well, these people are every bit as mistaken as those who gave the Tigers a chance.

Related articles

• MLB ALCS: Rangers batters Tigers, 15-5, to reach second straight World Series (caloysports.wordpress.com)
• Reason for Rangers' return to World Series? They're good (cbssports.com)

The Rabbit Hole

Interesting column by Paul Krugman in today's Times. He is concerned about the Republican party and the collection of Yahoos running for the party's nomination. They are all, every last one, mad as hatters who have jumped down the rabbit hole when it comes to economic policy, and it "terrifies" him. Frankly, I agree with him completely. Here's a snippet of what he says:

And since economic policy has to deal with the world we live in, not the fantasy world of the G.O.P.’s imagination, the prospect that one of these people may well be our next president is, frankly, terrifying.

In the real world, recent events were a devastating refutation of the free-market orthodoxy that has ruled American politics these past three decades. Above all, the long crusade against financial regulation, the successful effort to unravel the prudential rules established after the Great Depression on the grounds that they were unnecessary, ended up demonstrating — at immense cost to the nation — that those rules were necessary, after all.

But down the rabbit hole, none of that happened.

Precisely. I've been wondering for months on end what strange demons possess these guys that cause them to simply deny reality. Can they seriously believe that excessive government regulations and bad home loans to people who were not worthy of them were what brought the US and world economies to the brink of collapse? If this is truly what's in their minds, well I'd like a hookah bowl of whatever it is they're smoking.

Related articles

• Paul Krugman: Phony Fear Factor (economistsview.typepad.com)
• Krugman: Time To Get Serious About Our Economy And Job Creation (crooksandliars.com)
• Paul Krugman: 'The Real Extremists Here Are America's Oligarchs' (huffingtonpost.com)

Nikki Lane Won't Be Back

Gone Gone Gone by Nikki Lane

Believe it or not, this singer Nikki Lane is not on YouTube. This is first for me, looking for a video of some musical artist I've stumbled across and not being able to find her/him. But there it is. All I can put up there is the little arrow. Nice tune. The ridiculous blouse she's wearing doesn't detract from the music. The song ain't bad. I've never had anything against country music, particularly when it's got a strong rock element to it. And this has got some swing to it, too. Enjoy.

So Many Needs

Today Susan and I ate lunch* at a huge meeting hall in the Embassy Suites here. It was a fundraiser we had been invited to. Several hundred people were there to hear a presentation about the agency that takes care of, or should I say assists or ministers to, abused/neglected children and their parent(s) in Cleveland county. It struck me as I listened to members of the agency staff and board and testimonials from some of the kids and a dad they have served that the extent of human need, suffering, and want out there in the world is just mind-boggling. At this particular event, we heard horrifying figures on the numbers of kids affected, the gross ignorance of some people who have kids and mess them up for life by their cruelty and neglect. And all this damage done just in our little corner of the world: one county in Oklahoma.

Children are easily the most vulnerable victims in our society. In the world. No question about it. But what about that homeless guy I gave a buck to in Louisville? All those victims of storms, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis? Sufferers with sicknesses ranging from heart disease, a myriad of cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and a thousand more? War's victims, refugees, political prisoners? The millions who are hungry? What about all the human needs you can list that I didn't?

*The lunch was lousy. And there was way too much of it. Far too much for everyone to eat it all. I did not see a single clean plate. So how much food was thrown in the garbage just at that one lunch in that one place? How much do we waste in the face of so much suffering? I kept thinking about all the hungry people within five miles of this rather swank hotel, and I wondered if anybody in there shared the same thoughts. I hope so.

Related articles

• Why is fighting Alzheimer's important? Exclusive Q&A with George Vradenburg (aarp.org)
• Fury as Alzheimer's sufferer 'neglected' by carers who attempted cover-up (mirror.co.uk)

Tidbits

Gleaned from various spots on the Web today:

• The OWS (Occupy Wall Street) movement is gaining steam. (Can there be the slightest doubt that this avenue for the mass of aggrieved to protest the present state of affairs will be seized by them? To wit: the gross inequity of our system and the drones at all levels of government who seems to consider it their job to keep things that way.
• Writer Taylor Clark argues in Slate that The Strokes' Is This It is the best album of the past decade. "Is This It" was a decade-defining record that set the agenda for how rock sounded and even looked throughout the aughts." Naturally, a bizillion people will disagree, some vehemently, but that's what the nature of these sorts of pronouncements are all about. BTW, I have the album and think it's really good, but I would have to study the question more deeply to be definitive about the best of the decade.
•  Also debate going on today in Slate whether too many kids go to college. I vote yes.
• Tomorrow the magical, mystical iCloud descends upon us, for good or ill. Pretty long piece on the Atlantic website argues it will be ill.
• Washington has benched Mitch Moreland tonight for the playoff game in Detroit. Michael Young will be at first, Nap DH, and Torrealba catching.

Go Rangers!

Related articles

• #OccupyWallStreet update (americablog.com)
• Rangers' Young, not Moreland, at 1B in Game 3 (espn.go.com)

Did You Think I Was Gone?

Well, as a matter of fact, I was gone. I forgot to mention that I had to give a talk to the Louisville Civil War Round Table. I did that on Saturday evening, but we went over there on Friday and did not come back till Sunday. Add to those days, last Wednesday and Thursday, when I should have done blog entries and that will get you to right here.

I've got a lot on my mind. Here are some of the things, in no particular order: This whole Occupy Wall Street movement. Listen I'm all for these people on the streets. I am not naive enough or starry-eyed enough to think these freelance, free form demonstrations against the perfidious forces of greed that are eating the middle class up and have already pretty well destroyed the others is going to alter any of these forces. But I think the course of events is trending inevitably to more people on the streets, but I think it increasingly likely that they are going to be really pissed off people, not like the green tea and crumpet types who are politely trying to alert the country to a substantial body of opinion out here in the hinterlands that hates the banks and are doing a slow burn the more Wall Street flips them the bird.

In this regard, a recent entry from The Reformed Broker's blog is instructive:

You want to know why everyone in this country hates you and wants you dead, you big stupid fucking bank?

Here's why, pay attention:

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp will pay $11 million to ousted executives Joe Price and Sallie Krawcheck, a large payout at a time when banks face protests over pay but smaller than the eight-figure packages some executives received before the financial crisis.

Krawcheck -- a former Citigroup Inc executive who came to Bank of America in 2009 and was one of the top-ranking women on Wall Street -- will receive a one-time payment of $5.15 million, according to separation agreements filed by the bank on Friday.

Price, a Bank of America veteran, gets $4.15 million. Each will also receive $850,000 over a one-year period.

Price was head of consumer banking and Krawcheck led wealth and investment operations.

Don't know how long the suffering people of United States are going to put up with this kind of idiocy.

Actually there's too much on my mind to talk about it all here. But I cannot close without observing that the Texas Rangers are up on Detroit 2 games to none in the American League Championship series. Today's game was made in heaven. A really tense eleven innings with Texas winning on a walk-off grand slam home run by Nellie Cruz. Awesome! Recap, box score, video, pix: all right here. Go Rangers!

One Sentence

I had all the best intentions of blogging about the "Occupy Wall Street" movement(?)--is it a movement? What is it? . . . Anyway, to show how easily distracted I am, I just now ran across this website and feel compelled to share it with you. I'm thinking something like this will really appeal to my daughter, who loves postsecret.com. This site that I stumbled across is similar. It's called One Sentence. The subtitle tells all: "True Stories, Told in One Sentence." Now, who can resist that? Well, maybe some people can, but I can't. I naturally got hung up reading them. These sentences are a lot like M&M's. If you eat them one at a time, you'll have eaten five or six dozen before you know it. Of course, they run the gamut, from funny to bizarre to heart-wrenching and all over the rest of the emotional map.

So I thought you might like some samples:

• When I asked her why he was out of her league her only response was, "Because I know he won't beat me."
• I just walked in on my mom and neighbor smoking pot and felt so uncool.
• The Soup Kitchen that I volunteered at as a teenager is now my only source of 3 meals a day.
• I have freezer burn on my chest and under my boobs because I reasoned that a popsicle held up in my bra would be a great personal air conditioner.
• My wedding cost $6700 and my divorce cost $16425, both were worth it.
• As I cried in front of the cash register at CVS, a woman pitied me for having my college health insurance expire the day before and paid the $200 fee for my medication, saying "Christmas came early this year."
• I asked my 93 year old Grandmother, who I adore, what she thought life was all about and she replied, "I don't think about those type of things." -- one of my favorites
• I called my dad from my dorm to bitch about my dvd player not working only to be told that my home was on fire
• "I wrote a poem for you," he said, then proceeded to read "Ode to your cleavage."

And so forth. Great stuff, and yet another way to waste time I could be much better spending on something productive.

I will "Occupy Wall Street" tomorrow.

By the Year 2050

The latest number of Lapham's Quarterly has as its theme The Future.* Right up in the front is a two-page colored spread of a  world map entitled "By the Year 2050 . . . " I thought it might be interesting for me to list without comment some of the pieces of information from this graphic. The reason no comment is necessary will be obvious. What more needs to be said beyond the bare statement of these facts:

1. Trash Superhighway: Five Texas-sized garbage patches will have formed in oceanic gyres crated by intersecting hot and cold currents. Two patches currently exist, one in the Pacific Ocean, one in the Atlantic.
2. Drying Out: Land around the Amazon River may reach the tipping point at which the forces of deforestation and climate-change trigger desertification. 
3. Trail Blazing: Arctic sea ice will have shrunk by at least two-thirds, opening up year-round shipping routes across the Arctic Ocean.
4. Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner: No fish will exist in the wild in commercially viable quantities in gigantic swathes of every ocean. (Seafood will be raised in giant, robotic, remote-controlled fish-farm pods that rove around the oceans, raising fish for commercial consumption.)
5. Troubled Waters: More than a billion people will lack adequate amounts of clean water. Situation will be most dire in Africa and across southern Asia.

*Lapham's Quarterly is one of my favorite periodicals. It is totally history oriented, profusely illustrated, and it contains only short pieces, which means you're not going to have to invest 30-45 minutes on an article like sometimes you have to do with Atlantic and especially The New Yorker. All of the articles are excerpts of previously published work by historically famous or influential people. This current issue, for example, has pieces by Gandhi, Thomas Paine, Livy, Jules Verne, Aeschylus, Boswell, Philip K. Dick, to name a few. Lapham was the former editor at Harper's, so I knew the quality of his mind and of his writing. I've been with the quarterly since Vol II and have enjoyed issues on such diverse topics as: medicine, food, travel, the city, religion, lines of work. It's not cheap ($60 a year), but it is fabulous.

Birthdays

I'm again musing about the passage of time. Today is the birthday of my youngest child . . . he's 31 years old. Which, I say, is great for him. Right now he's heavily engaged in intellectual pursuit: earning his law degree. He's working hard, and from all indications, enjoying his life.

As is to be expected. The thirties and forties are the best decades, at least from my present perspective. Which doesn't make the other decades of our lives any less good. They are good or bad solely on the basis of our own highly subjective criteria.

But it really doesn't make any difference what we think, time's march is inexorable. When I was 31, I was also heavily engaged in intellectual pursuits. I was a father, husband, and graduate student at LSU. It was the year I got my master's degree. My dear wife was still in her twenties then, and my daughter Tanya was only six. I almost said "little daughter" till I remembered that just the other day she was over with her own daughter, who is nine. That was a long time ago. Time passes, and we pass with it.

The passage of time: it's a phrase that contains the whole of life, the whole of history, the whole of the future within it. Birthdays are but tiny little pricks of light in deep darkness, buoys in a vast, silent ocean.