Holey Moley, It's Jeroly!(.com)

Christmas 2001

Well, it's Christmas time once again, which can only mean one thing... time for you to get our annual family report!

It's been a challenging year here in the Shlump household, but we are so thankful that we're all here, alive and well, spared from the horrors of September 11th. We still can't believe that we just missed being in the towers for the attack by 181 days! Our trip to New York last March was the highlight of our year despite the near-miss. We painted the town red, seeing all the big shows like Cats (our favorite!!!) and Miss Saigon. We had some great exotic food like Indian and Cagin that you can't find here in Walnut Crest. The RV drove like a charm and we really had a blast stopping off at Sesame Place. It was great to visit Aunt Marge and Uncle Skippy on the way home.

Sheldon is doing well in his new job down at the bus depot. It's a lot less stressful than the shifts at the mine; since the surgery he really hadn't been enjoying all the heavy lifting, so the closure was really a blessing in disguise. It also meant that Bertha needed to find a job, and she was really ready to get out of the house! Bertha was really settling in to her position in the ad department at qwerty.com when the economy went sour just at the wrong time. Luckily she was at home when Grandpa Murry had his stroke. What with Stevie being framed for that 18 month bit upstate, and Lisa still too little, Bertha was Grandpa's right hand for the ten days until we could put him into Happy Endings. Her new job as the night manager down at McDonald's is working out great; she loves the people and the commute is much better than at qwerty.

Lisa's doing much better in school this year. Now that she's in 3rd grade they've cut back on her ritalin and she seems to be enjoying life much more. Her teacher says there's even a chance she may be promoted on the very first try! Her afternoons are just packed with activities; the baton twirling is definitely her favorite, but the Special Olympics practices are a close second.

Stevie's got a January hearing and is very optimistic about getting out before Easter. He'd like to thank all of you for your letters and to ask that you stop the gag gifts as they may not be well regarded by the parole board.

We were delighted to have visits from lots of friends and relatives during the year, including Mike Smothers, the Loungertons, Grandma Eloise, and the whole Castiller clan. We hope to see more of you next year, and look forward to the times we'll spend together!

I'm not referencing the race to pass a budget continuation bill, but rather the more interesting race implied in Paul Ryan's budget proposal. Who will win the race?

Hypocrisy: After running a campaign attacking the Obama administration for allegedly cutting $500 billion in Medicare benefits (which was, as most Republican campaign claims, complete malarkey; the cuts involved changing payment schedules to providers like physicians and hospitals, not beneficiaries), the GOP budget proposal keeps those reductions that were previously so reprehensible. Moreover, the GOP's budget will cut actual benefits to seniors, through many different vectors, including:
- Making seniors pay more for prescription drugs (Current law will eliminate the 'donut hole' in prescription coverage, but the GOP proposal will continue it forever)
- Making seniors pay 68% of the total cost of health coverage (versus 25% under current law)
- Eliminating Medicare and Medicaid entirely, replacing them with much more expensive private schemes (whatever happened to 'keep your government hands off of my Medicare?')

Chutzpah: After claiming that the massive cuts to social services are necessary because 'government is broke,'
the GOP budget cuts the maximum tax rate on the rich to 25% from 35%, while at the same time continuing corporate welfare in the forms of: allowing companies earning billions in profits (like GE) to avoid paying a dime in federal taxes, allowing oil companies earning billions to get special tax deductions (in the form of oil depletion allowances, sheltering up to 27% of their income), and many other loopholes. Moreover, the vast majority of the burden of the cuts will be on the backs of poor and middle class Americans.

Lies: To bamboozle low-information voters through misinformation, Ryan claimed the GOP budget had significant bipartisan roots, and was co-authored by Alice Rivlin (former OMB director under Clinton). He even said on national television, "Alice Rivlin and I designed these Medicare and Medicaid reforms.” He labeled the plan to eliminate Medicare the 'Rivlin-Ryan Plan.' However, those was all lies. Rivlin has specifically said, "I don’t support the version of Medicare premium support in the Ryan plan."

So which horse will win this race? While GOP hypocrisy and lies have long legs, my money's on chutzpah...

It all reminds me of the old joke about the guy who murders his parents and pleads for the mercy of the court on the grounds that he's an orphan...it is fairly parallel to the tactic that these fatcats took of first cutting their own taxes (under the Bush tax cuts) and then claiming that they have to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid for seniors and low-income Americans on the grounds that "we can't afford it..."

[In a recent article on the accent of NY's new governor Andrew Cuomo, a researcher described a Queens accent as being typified by making career and Korea homonyms...]

This is the second in a series of entries containing links to photos from my 1989 around-the-world trip.

Japan photos here,
Korea photos here.

After a few days in Tokyo, Yokahama and Kyoto, we headed to Hong Kong on separate airplanes. My cheapo KAL flight had a stopover in Seoul, South Korea. As this was in the time before airport security insanity, I was quite able to check my backs on ahead, jump on a city bus into downtown Seoul, have a bowl of noodles in a typical restaurant, wander about a bit, and get back in plenty of time for my connecting flight.

I didn't like my hours in Seoul. The old-style neighborhoods and old ways were being plowed over into massive, largely unused, boulevards that screamed of central planning which was ignoring current needs of the citizens. What happened at exactly six PM did not quite thrill me, either; the national anthem started blaring out of speakers along the streets, and EVERYBODY came to a complete halt and stood at attention until its completion.

In the spring and summer of 1989, I circumnavigated the world. Traveling with my friend Steve Hrinya, I started off my journey with a few days in Japan, headed to China for two months, took the Trans-Siberian Railroad across the Soviet Union, and then headed to 'eastern' and eventually 'western' Europe before heading home after a four-month odyssey. As we were in China at the time of the Tienanmen protests (we left on May 27th, just a week before the tanks rolled in), some of the photographs are potentially of historical interest.

Over the course of the coming year, I will be digitizing those photos and posting them here. There are approximately 200 in the 'highlights' that I will be scanning in, resizing, etc., so this won't be finished any time soon.

The very first photo was taken in the Japanese railway system, identifying a train that's headed back to its origin without taking on passengers, i.e. a dead head run. As I was rather engaged by the Grateful Dead at the time, it seemed a requisite shot...

The first photo gallery, which has the photos taken in Japan, is located here.

While there are many people that could do a good job as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the nominee should not only be well qualified; they should also be chosen with an eye towards helping to win the mid-term elections. Unless someone who is widely recognized as having independence from Wall Street and who is a champion of the interests of working people is named to the post, then any political gains made from passing the Financial Regulatory Reform legislation will be largely wiped out amongst the progressive faction of the party. Given the struggles we are likely to face in making progress on the employment front in the next three months, it's even more urgent for the Administration to make it obvious how things are changing from the old status quo.

Now, perhaps the most widely recognized adversary of the financial powers-that-be is Ralph Nader. He has all the bona fides necessary to be a consumer protection watchdog. However, whether he could successfully liaise with the Administration is very questionable. In addition, he has not functioned as an administrator for many years, having handed off the leadership responsibilities for Public Citizen and the other watchdog groups he founded to others, and there may be personality issues to complicate matters.

So, if we cross Nader off the list, who else is out there that: (a) would do the job well, and (b) would bring the positive name recognition necessary for political gain? While Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, would probably be great in the role, nobody has heard of him. Hiring somebody from FINRA might be a good choice in terms of appropriate background, but any such choice would probably be seen as a sellout to Wall Street. The same could be said for a pick out of Treasury.

Elizabeth Warren, the head of the Congressional Oversight Panel that monitors the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), fits both sides of this equation. She has the credentials to fit the job, is widely viewed as being pro-consumer, and is well known to the politically-aware public. Her nomination could do a lot to galvanize engagement in the midterm elections amongst disaffected progressives and prospective second-time voters, who would have another example of how the Obama Administration has not only talked about change, but has implemented changes that positively affect our country.

As our junior Senator from Minnesota might have said once upon a time, she's good enough, she's smart enough, and doggone it, people like her!

The photos and videos linked to below were taken at the Middle Atlantic and Staff Balls on the day of the first Obama inauguration, (Janary 20, 2009) and the next day, respectively.

link to Wyclef Jean video

Wyclef Jean

Bongo Guy

Link to the video of the start of The Dead playing 'Dancing in the Street'

Arcade Fire
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Notes:

Wyclef Jean did his best Hendrix impression, playing the Star Spangled Banner both behind his back and with his teeth!

Jean also invited somebody from the crowd to come up on stage and play the bongos. The guy upstaged Jean and the band, both playing well and with enthusiasm and panache.

I think that this was the first time the Dead ever played in tuxedos (I recall that when Jerry Garcia played on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in the 1980's, he wore a tux, but unfortunately he didn't play the inauguration)!

Arcade Fire were over-the-top in their appreciation for the staffers, thanking us profusely for helping to change America.

I've been doing some work on immigration-related activism with a local OFA-affiliated group the past couple of weeks. My assignment has been to contact the offices of all of the members of the New York City Council, and to find out what their position is on Council Resolution 0224, which calls for a boycott of the State of Arizona in response to its recent racist anti-immigrant legislation SB1070 which calls for ID checks of people that don't 'look like citizens,' or in other words, latinos.

It's been an interesting assignment, and I have talked with informed and interested legislative aides and directors for several councilmembers. What's been interesting as well is the number of councilmembers who, despite there being a large immigrant population in their districts, and despite the rather tame nature of the non-binding resolution (it does not require the city to avoid contracting with Arizona-based businesses), have declined to take a position on the resolution.

Since I started polling the Councilmembers, four more of them (including my Councilmember, Elizabeth Crowley) have signed on as cosponsors. I'd like to pretend that my interactions helped in some small way to bring them onboard. The office of one of them told me that they had thought they were cosponsoring but were not listed as such, so perhaps my bringing it to their attention prompted the addition!

Since the resolution has 18 Councilmembers cosponsoring it, and there are four other councilmembers whose offices indicated they would probably support it, it seems likely to pass as 27 votes are needed.

If you live in NYC, call your Councilmember and tell them you want Council Resolution 0224 passed!

Another interesting wrinkle has been that, of the 52 councilmembers whose offices I've contacted, 20 have not returned any of my calls, or returned them with a 'I'll get back to you with the information' and have not done so. I've left three messages for about half of 'em, and two messages for the other half; I've also sent some emails. You'd think that, at the very least, they'd be eager to call with the news that they are still considering the legislation, as saying something like that is very noncommittal. It's not like most of the delinquents are probable 'no' votes - if they were, then it would make some sense that they might not want to deliver that news to a pro-immigrant caucus. It is interesting to note that of the Republicans, only Councilmember Halloran's office has given any response whatsoever.

Here are the councilmembers who have not even bothered to 'vote present' ...

Arroyo, Barron, Comrie, Dilon, Gennaro, Ignizio, Koo, Koslowitz, Lappin, Mealy, Oddo, Palma, Quinn (Speaker), Reyna, Rivera, Seabrook, Ulrich, Vacca, Vallone Jr., Van Bramer.

The councilmembers who have not yet 'taken a position' on the resolution (i.e. are undecided) are listed below. If you live in one of their districts, it would be very helpful to the cause of getting Arizona's law reversed if you call your Councilmember and tell them you support Council Resolution 224!

Cabrera, Fidler, Garodnick, Koppell, Levin, Nelson, Vann, White.

Pee Wee Herman is coming to Broadway!

A 'Facebook friend' of mine, well known for his liberal views, posted an entry decrying Arizona's illegal and racist new immigration law. In the course of about a day, many comments were made on his post, and most of them were in praise of the law. Many of those were subtly or overtly hateful toward Mexicans and other Latinos; 'They should have to prove themselves' was typical of many. In the absence of context this would be surprising. People don't normally post hostile comments that fly in the face of the poster's known views when they're friends with that person, even if it's only a Facebook friendship (amongst all other reasons, if they piss the person off they can have the comments deleted, or they can get 'defriended.'). There has to be something going on that makes people think it's quite alright to behave in this manner.

This is thie kind of thing that, thirty years ago, a racist might have said about Blacks, or about an Irishman 150 years ago. In general, though, despite the presence of hate radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh, most people realize that there are significant negative consequences for most public outbursts of this kind. That's not to say that people have universally changed their constructs, just that almost everybody who now thinks those things have the self-preservation skills to keep them to themselves. A few years ago I observed that we had progressed in this country to the point where it was socially acceptable to openly make hurtful jokes about only three groups - mentally disabled people, LGBT people and women. I was wrong; Mexicans are also on the list.

When my daughter Alex, who is Mexican, was in high school here in New York City, she had reported that other kids would make Mexican jokes much like people made Piolish jokes when I was in high school back in the '70s. The school she attended was perhaps 50% Black and 25% Hispanic, which made the anti-Mexican sentiment all the more startling. If you consider that these ethnicities have also experienced overt discrimination and hostility , it's easy to wonder how this could have ever happened. Looking at things another way, though, it should have been expected.

When one considers that America has had a history of directing hatred at the latest large immigrant group, starting with the Irish in the 1840s, and repeating for the Chinese, Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans, and others, it is not at all surprising that the current wave of Mexican immigration has provoked a reaction. The usual pattern is that the hatred is most severe amongst the economic groupings just a notch above the bottom.* They fear that they will suffer from competition with the new immigrants for jobs. The fact that much of the Mexican immigration is illegal makes it all the easier for people to be openly hostile as they can cover their racist fears with pious claims of concern for law and order.

Alex is now away at college, finishing up her senior year, and I haven't had a chance yet to talk with her about her feelings on the Arizona law or about how it is affecting her. If I were her, I know that I would be having nightmares about being stopped by police, asked for proof of citizenship, and then thrown in jail, deported, or worse. I know that I would be angry. I know those things because they are in fact happening to me, despite being and looking 'Anglo.'

* The forced status of Blacks, through slavery, as bottom dwellers on the economic totem pole made it easy for slaveowners to keep poor southern Whites in fear of competition from freed slaves. The New York City race riots during the Civil War were less about anger directed at the rich for their ability to avoid the draft through paying a fee, and more about fear of competition from freed Black slaves according to a history on the topic I have read.

Click to watch the video

The official video of the official song of the official FIFA World Cup 2010 Finals is officially out, and its title is...

"Waka Waka (It's Time For Africa)"

No, it's not performed by the Muppets. Oh wait... apparently in England, 'muppet' is a term which means 'Someone who is completely useless.' If that's true, then it WAS performed by a muppet...Shakira!

I'm headed to South Africa in about six weeks to watch eleven World Cup matches. It will be eleven matches in thriteen days, with a bit of popping about the country by car and plane. Two of the games are in Cape Town, two in Bloemfontein, one each in Port Elizabeth and Durban, and the other five in Johannesburg and nearby cities. I have tickets for seven of the games and am trading some of my extra seats (I had bought tickets for Nancy and some others who can't make it) for tickets to the other four games. It should be great! I will get chances to see the teams from: Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Argentina, England, Cameroon, Nigeria, Greece, Denmark, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and more. I'd love to stick around for the later rounds of the tournament but it won't work this time around. I have no real rooting interest (although I'd be happiest if Netherlands won), just want to see great football!