from the Mud guys: let's keep the peace
6 days ago
Monday, October 25, 2004
Ninth street pre-election diary, part 2*
Thanks for the link, Insta-Ann.
I will do my best to stay true to my convictions which are as follows: my pen in the election booth will not cross over into the red arena. It will remain with the blue candidates.
Now, on to the torrent of email in response to the link. Let me just post a few answers:
To the reader who asked if I understood how someone might vote for Bush without being a morally corrupt person. The reader tells me, timidly almost, that unlike many fellow Republicans, he, himself tries to understand the Kerry side of the issue even as he is voting for Bush.
My answer? Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I do understand. I can understand how fear of change in leadership now, in the middle of this Iraq mess, may freeze a voter completely, leading them to stay at GWB's side. I can understand that. I, myself, however, don't buy it.
Listen, ye who are drawn to Bush based on his terrorism-Iraq platform: I am offering my sympathies. It must be tough to live in fear that a Kerry-type might be an even less effective leader in the battle to contain international terrorism than Bush is.
And imagine the quandary I'd be in if, say, the Republican candidate was espousing a platform of anti-terrorist measures, similar to that advanced by Kerry, while the Democratic candidate was the Iraq-obsessed-wont-say-he's-wrong-or-that-he-deceived-the-public politician. Whom would I vote for? Would global concerns trump a domestic agenda?
Here's my honest answer to that dilemma: initially I would be one of those unfortunate undecided's, harassed by every one and their mother (and especially my mother, who tends toward the "passionately convinced" side of every issue) in the course of each waking hour before the election.
But eventually I WOULD decide and it would be in favor of the person who could advance a reasoned position, rather than an emotional, irrational conviction.
This year I have it easy because for me, Kerry trumps Bush on the international-terrorism front, in his domestic policies (not far-reaching enough at times, but it's a start) and perhaps most importantly, in his ability to rely on knowledge and reason in the search for an optimal outcome. I do whole-heartedlybelieve that Kerry is better able than Bush to process vast amounts of information, and to listen to opinions from other nations and from an informed staff who understands the complexities and challenges ahead, rather than questioning their gut and God for the right course of action. Would anyone dispute this??
Staying with Bush now is like staying with a quack who has managed to plug the needle into your vein but has yet to send the right medication into your bloodstream. "It's working! It's working! I can do it! I can do it!" he shouts, as the world grows increasingly doubtful and the patient slowly fades into nothingness.
Okay, other emails: To the reader who asks how I could possibly be Polish, with a first-hand knowledge of socialism and not be a conservative:
Well now, yes, exactly so. The logic is entirely on my side.
To the reader who asks if I was offended by Kerry's disrespect toward my homeland during the debate:
I felt no such disrespect. And much as I love my homeland, I question its motives in initially joining with this Administration's decision to invade Iraq, in the same way that I am now questioning its motives in deciding to pull back. If, indeed, it has decided, because it seems to me that someone on the other side of the Ocean is punting until further word comes on who will be the next leader in America.
To the reader who remarked on my champagne-liberalism (see post below) -- yes, yes, you are correct! It is a wonderful label and I will drink a toast to it come Tuesday. I hope. [You know what killed me, though, during my NY brunch? One of the Columbus Ave. eateries had a sign saying: wear a button, any button -- Kerry or Bush -- and promise you'll vote, and you'll get 15% off your bill. I don't wear buttons, but I live in Wisconsin where my vote will count more and I promise to vote! Shouldn't that buy me at least another 5% off?? Still, in the end I passed on their mimosa brunch because the lines, full of Kerry-ites, those unfearful New Yorkers who are not frozen into believing that Bush is as good as it gets, were too long.]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
I will do my best to stay true to my convictions which are as follows: my pen in the election booth will not cross over into the red arena. It will remain with the blue candidates.
Now, on to the torrent of email in response to the link. Let me just post a few answers:
To the reader who asked if I understood how someone might vote for Bush without being a morally corrupt person. The reader tells me, timidly almost, that unlike many fellow Republicans, he, himself tries to understand the Kerry side of the issue even as he is voting for Bush.
My answer? Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I do understand. I can understand how fear of change in leadership now, in the middle of this Iraq mess, may freeze a voter completely, leading them to stay at GWB's side. I can understand that. I, myself, however, don't buy it.
Listen, ye who are drawn to Bush based on his terrorism-Iraq platform: I am offering my sympathies. It must be tough to live in fear that a Kerry-type might be an even less effective leader in the battle to contain international terrorism than Bush is.
And imagine the quandary I'd be in if, say, the Republican candidate was espousing a platform of anti-terrorist measures, similar to that advanced by Kerry, while the Democratic candidate was the Iraq-obsessed-wont-say-he's-wrong-or-that-he-deceived-the-public politician. Whom would I vote for? Would global concerns trump a domestic agenda?
Here's my honest answer to that dilemma: initially I would be one of those unfortunate undecided's, harassed by every one and their mother (and especially my mother, who tends toward the "passionately convinced" side of every issue) in the course of each waking hour before the election.
But eventually I WOULD decide and it would be in favor of the person who could advance a reasoned position, rather than an emotional, irrational conviction.
This year I have it easy because for me, Kerry trumps Bush on the international-terrorism front, in his domestic policies (not far-reaching enough at times, but it's a start) and perhaps most importantly, in his ability to rely on knowledge and reason in the search for an optimal outcome. I do whole-heartedlybelieve that Kerry is better able than Bush to process vast amounts of information, and to listen to opinions from other nations and from an informed staff who understands the complexities and challenges ahead, rather than questioning their gut and God for the right course of action. Would anyone dispute this??
Staying with Bush now is like staying with a quack who has managed to plug the needle into your vein but has yet to send the right medication into your bloodstream. "It's working! It's working! I can do it! I can do it!" he shouts, as the world grows increasingly doubtful and the patient slowly fades into nothingness.
Okay, other emails: To the reader who asks how I could possibly be Polish, with a first-hand knowledge of socialism and not be a conservative:
Well now, yes, exactly so. The logic is entirely on my side.
To the reader who asks if I was offended by Kerry's disrespect toward my homeland during the debate:
I felt no such disrespect. And much as I love my homeland, I question its motives in initially joining with this Administration's decision to invade Iraq, in the same way that I am now questioning its motives in deciding to pull back. If, indeed, it has decided, because it seems to me that someone on the other side of the Ocean is punting until further word comes on who will be the next leader in America.
To the reader who remarked on my champagne-liberalism (see post below) -- yes, yes, you are correct! It is a wonderful label and I will drink a toast to it come Tuesday. I hope. [You know what killed me, though, during my NY brunch? One of the Columbus Ave. eateries had a sign saying: wear a button, any button -- Kerry or Bush -- and promise you'll vote, and you'll get 15% off your bill. I don't wear buttons, but I live in Wisconsin where my vote will count more and I promise to vote! Shouldn't that buy me at least another 5% off?? Still, in the end I passed on their mimosa brunch because the lines, full of Kerry-ites, those unfearful New Yorkers who are not frozen into believing that Bush is as good as it gets, were too long.]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Yesterday I did what I most love doing on a last Sunday in New York (prior to returning home): I walked through Central Park to the upper west side, had a salmon-eggs-benedict-and-glass-of-champagne brunch (bloody marys or mimosas are permissible alternatives) in one of the countless packed eateries on Columbus Avenue (the City Grill this time), poked into off-beat places along the way there and back, and finally called it quits and caught a cab to La Guardia.
I had the eerie feeling of normality in the face of abnormal times.
On the flight back to Madison I had the Dean of the Law School up front, another colleague in the middle and a neighbor right next to me. You might say I was easing in from the anonymity of the city to the comfy quilt that is Madison.
On my doorstep I found one ticket to the rally for Kerry this Thursday. Why one? Who gave them out? Did everyone get one?
Sitting at the Grill yesterday over my nicely poached egg, I tried to avoid spinning back to the topic that is like a plague o’ these pickle herring – the election. In the end, it proved to be impossible. My eating companion and I enumerated all things that are now patently before us – ready to discredit the current administration, yet somehow remarkably failing to do so (this theme is repeated in Herbert’s column this morning in the NYT here).
It was my last trip to NY before the election. As I cut across Central Park I came across Wollman’s Rink. They’re rushing the winter season here! How incongruous it all is: the ice skaters against a frame of still-green trees, moving to the music, all of us listening to the bleak political news of the day that for some reason fails to rock at least 50% of those who hear it – one vignette after another, not fitting, out of place, needing adjustment.
So few days left now to make sense of it all.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
I had the eerie feeling of normality in the face of abnormal times.
On the flight back to Madison I had the Dean of the Law School up front, another colleague in the middle and a neighbor right next to me. You might say I was easing in from the anonymity of the city to the comfy quilt that is Madison.
On my doorstep I found one ticket to the rally for Kerry this Thursday. Why one? Who gave them out? Did everyone get one?
Sitting at the Grill yesterday over my nicely poached egg, I tried to avoid spinning back to the topic that is like a plague o’ these pickle herring – the election. In the end, it proved to be impossible. My eating companion and I enumerated all things that are now patently before us – ready to discredit the current administration, yet somehow remarkably failing to do so (this theme is repeated in Herbert’s column this morning in the NYT here).
It was my last trip to NY before the election. As I cut across Central Park I came across Wollman’s Rink. They’re rushing the winter season here! How incongruous it all is: the ice skaters against a frame of still-green trees, moving to the music, all of us listening to the bleak political news of the day that for some reason fails to rock at least 50% of those who hear it – one vignette after another, not fitting, out of place, needing adjustment.
So few days left now to make sense of it all.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Now I know why I subscribe to the NYTimes and reserve the Washington Post for only online reading. I suppose if you are one of those “undecideds,” then the WashPost endorsement today of Kerry is just for you. It groans its way through the Bush record and moans its reluctance in completely handing it over to Kerry. On balance, though, it says Kerry, though shaky on some issues, will do better and is worth the risk.
The risk? It’s funny, it is the risk behind the GWB presidency that sends me spinning.
Yesterday, I spent another day in NHaven CT and I was taken for a hike along riverbanks, where I could indulge myself in perfect New England foliage views. Yes, I loved it, totally, completely. Imagine encountering covered bridges and maples trees with burgundy-tipped leaves. Of course, what pleased me no end were the other great signs of fall (see bottom photo in line-up).
The risk? It’s funny, it is the risk behind the GWB presidency that sends me spinning.
Yesterday, I spent another day in NHaven CT and I was taken for a hike along riverbanks, where I could indulge myself in perfect New England foliage views. Yes, I loved it, totally, completely. Imagine encountering covered bridges and maples trees with burgundy-tipped leaves. Of course, what pleased me no end were the other great signs of fall (see bottom photo in line-up).
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Sounding the horn on the blog bears no penalty and so I can proceed.
It is late. My train is speeding into darkness along the New Haven -- Grand Central corridor. I am reading the New Yorker and, in the gloom of the dark night, I suddenly I realize that our toast may well fall butter-side down in our laps. Let me explain.
The Talk of the Town column recalls Murphy's Law. Originally states as "If there's a wrong way to do it, he will" (since I am obsessing about politics, a certain candidate comes to mind), it evolved into the general proposition that "Anything that can go wrong will," or, as it is often formulated across the ocean (in Britain) -- "Bad things happen at the most inopportune times." In England, an advertisement basically sums it up thus: "Not only will your toast fall butter-side down; your toaster will break--the day after your guarantee runs out." And, the New Yorker article suggests that this is more than folk-wisdom. Life's events catapult in unfortunate directions in a synchronized march toward doomsday with some regularity. At the very least, it can be demonstrated that you are more likely to be stuck in a traffic jam if you need to be somewhere in a hurry.
I haven't read the headlines today yet, but I can translate this all too well into the political arena. Imagine this chain of absurdities: Kerry says Lambert instead of Lambeau while munching on a brat which he mistakenly refers to as a br-aaa-t (rhymes with hat), while wiping goose blood from his newly acquired hunting jacket, and 1000 voters, apparently with the minds of boiled turnips, catch all this on TV, gasp in shock, and fill out their swing state ballots for the "other guy." The electoral tallying machine crunches out the bleak reality. Ten electoral votes put one guy over the top and we have 4 more years of an administration that basically ensures the demise of the world as we know it. Or at the very least, hacks away at equality, civil rights, global dialogue and environmental resource conservation because the gut of one person tells him that this is what must happen. Have I taken Murphy's Law too far?
We are eleven days away. I have every right to honk scenarios of horror and gloom. Let me pause now and take a look at some headlines. Maybe that will cheer me up.
UPDATE: 50 to 46 doesn't do it for me.
(*see "forty-second street pre-election diary" post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
It is late. My train is speeding into darkness along the New Haven -- Grand Central corridor. I am reading the New Yorker and, in the gloom of the dark night, I suddenly I realize that our toast may well fall butter-side down in our laps. Let me explain.
The Talk of the Town column recalls Murphy's Law. Originally states as "If there's a wrong way to do it, he will" (since I am obsessing about politics, a certain candidate comes to mind), it evolved into the general proposition that "Anything that can go wrong will," or, as it is often formulated across the ocean (in Britain) -- "Bad things happen at the most inopportune times." In England, an advertisement basically sums it up thus: "Not only will your toast fall butter-side down; your toaster will break--the day after your guarantee runs out." And, the New Yorker article suggests that this is more than folk-wisdom. Life's events catapult in unfortunate directions in a synchronized march toward doomsday with some regularity. At the very least, it can be demonstrated that you are more likely to be stuck in a traffic jam if you need to be somewhere in a hurry.
I haven't read the headlines today yet, but I can translate this all too well into the political arena. Imagine this chain of absurdities: Kerry says Lambert instead of Lambeau while munching on a brat which he mistakenly refers to as a br-aaa-t (rhymes with hat), while wiping goose blood from his newly acquired hunting jacket, and 1000 voters, apparently with the minds of boiled turnips, catch all this on TV, gasp in shock, and fill out their swing state ballots for the "other guy." The electoral tallying machine crunches out the bleak reality. Ten electoral votes put one guy over the top and we have 4 more years of an administration that basically ensures the demise of the world as we know it. Or at the very least, hacks away at equality, civil rights, global dialogue and environmental resource conservation because the gut of one person tells him that this is what must happen. Have I taken Murphy's Law too far?
We are eleven days away. I have every right to honk scenarios of horror and gloom. Let me pause now and take a look at some headlines. Maybe that will cheer me up.
UPDATE: 50 to 46 doesn't do it for me.
(*see "forty-second street pre-election diary" post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Friday, October 22, 2004
True, this is the NY Observer. I mean, who is going to pay attention to the Observer? Still, I am reading about those New Jersey types who are reveling in their tax-cuts and hating their Democratic governor and I get worried.
There are way too many references to guns in the papers today. Kerry is sporting a hunting rifle (thanks, macho boys, for demanding this of a presidential candidate), Bush is within shooting distance in New Jersey… Meanwhile, I read in the NYTimes that the NRA has already contributed $20 million to the Bush campaign. And there is Cheney, sarcastically scoffing at Kerry’s camouflage hunting jacket. I suppose his own duck-hunting excursion with Scalia last year is now but a distant memory. And here comes clever George, still playing with the “he can run” line. Why don’t you just KILL it already, George. [The latest GWB version, referring to Kerry in his hunting garb: “he can run – he can even run in camo – but he cannot hide.”]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
There are way too many references to guns in the papers today. Kerry is sporting a hunting rifle (thanks, macho boys, for demanding this of a presidential candidate), Bush is within shooting distance in New Jersey… Meanwhile, I read in the NYTimes that the NRA has already contributed $20 million to the Bush campaign. And there is Cheney, sarcastically scoffing at Kerry’s camouflage hunting jacket. I suppose his own duck-hunting excursion with Scalia last year is now but a distant memory. And here comes clever George, still playing with the “he can run” line. Why don’t you just KILL it already, George. [The latest GWB version, referring to Kerry in his hunting garb: “he can run – he can even run in camo – but he cannot hide.”]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Thursday, October 21, 2004
En route to NY
I realized that I had been sitting in my room staring at the political screen for too long when I boarded the flight to LGA and, in spite of the drizzly DTW skies, my head cleared. [I may as well admit it: more than three weeks in one place and I implode.] Yeah! Is there a presidential campaign taking place? Don't know, don't care -- I tell myself. Yeah!
Not for long though. For those who believe only liberals feel compelled to proselytize their passionate message of hate and scorn for the "other side," let me tell you -- the passenger with whom I had to spend 59 minutes en route to DTW spared no vim nor vigor in telling me why he is right to be Right (as if his book on the heresy of Kerry wasn't already revealing). WWJDD (What Would Jane Doe Do)? She would, of course, not engage (why bother) and neither did I.
Flying into New York for me is always like stripping layers of down parkas and wooly sweaters off and revealing bare skin to the harsh elements of city life. Good-bye comfy quilt, hello shards of broken glass. It's odd how much I don't mind.
A reader reminded me that I have been focused on the campaign in this blog since at least the 42nd day prior to the election. She finds it scary-amazing that we are a mere thirteen days away from November 2nd. Similar thoughts were expressed by a student who wrote that she was sorry that she could not come to class for the next week and a half, but that she firmly believed in the historic significance of this election and she needed to now devote every hour of each day to getting out the vote.
A colleague noted that he has written in "Drunk" into his calendar for November 3rd no matter what the outcome. Now that's disconcerting. If you drink in post-election despair (rather than in exhiliration), then are you resigning yourself to a four-year period of inebriated stupor? I am hoping that he knows something I don't know (for example, that the polls are rigged and that the outcome is not at all close, with Kery leading by 10% of the vote, with a margin of error of .01).
Finally, a note from a neighbor led me to the photo below. I hope the French pay attention to the washing instructions on their clothes. [The photo has a way of disappearing at times and so if it's missing, know that it displays a clothing label from a small American company selling their product in France. It says in French: 'wash by hand with warm water and mild soap; dry flat; do not use bleach; do not dry in the dryer; do not iron; we are sorry that our president is an idiot; we did not vote for him.']
Not for long though. For those who believe only liberals feel compelled to proselytize their passionate message of hate and scorn for the "other side," let me tell you -- the passenger with whom I had to spend 59 minutes en route to DTW spared no vim nor vigor in telling me why he is right to be Right (as if his book on the heresy of Kerry wasn't already revealing). WWJDD (What Would Jane Doe Do)? She would, of course, not engage (why bother) and neither did I.
Flying into New York for me is always like stripping layers of down parkas and wooly sweaters off and revealing bare skin to the harsh elements of city life. Good-bye comfy quilt, hello shards of broken glass. It's odd how much I don't mind.
A reader reminded me that I have been focused on the campaign in this blog since at least the 42nd day prior to the election. She finds it scary-amazing that we are a mere thirteen days away from November 2nd. Similar thoughts were expressed by a student who wrote that she was sorry that she could not come to class for the next week and a half, but that she firmly believed in the historic significance of this election and she needed to now devote every hour of each day to getting out the vote.
A colleague noted that he has written in "Drunk" into his calendar for November 3rd no matter what the outcome. Now that's disconcerting. If you drink in post-election despair (rather than in exhiliration), then are you resigning yourself to a four-year period of inebriated stupor? I am hoping that he knows something I don't know (for example, that the polls are rigged and that the outcome is not at all close, with Kery leading by 10% of the vote, with a margin of error of .01).
Finally, a note from a neighbor led me to the photo below. I hope the French pay attention to the washing instructions on their clothes. [The photo has a way of disappearing at times and so if it's missing, know that it displays a clothing label from a small American company selling their product in France. It says in French: 'wash by hand with warm water and mild soap; dry flat; do not use bleach; do not dry in the dryer; do not iron; we are sorry that our president is an idiot; we did not vote for him.']
Looking for luck on the 13th day:
Q: Are you always for the luckless underdog?
A: No! I’m for Kerry, after all! (Shades of ‘glass half full’ mentality.) But I only watch team spectator sports when the BoRSox play against the Yankees and make history.
Q: You watched a baseball game last night???
A: I multi-tasked. I also obsessed about the period of history: both my personal history and one that is more global in nature.
Q: Intrigue! What personal history?
A: This is not a personal blog. I require, at the minimum, one meal with someone before I plunge into some bungee-jump-type exposition of core values.
Q: Fair enough. And what from world events made you spin?
A: Darfur, of course. And also the person who holds way too many cards at the moment: the guy who said today in his campaign speech (referring this time to his opponent): “he can run but he can’t hide.” JStewart reminded us that this man of limited vocabulary and even more limited ideas used the same phrase to characterize bin Laden. Except he was wrong there. Bin Laden did, of course, both run and hide.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Q: Are you always for the luckless underdog?
A: No! I’m for Kerry, after all! (Shades of ‘glass half full’ mentality.) But I only watch team spectator sports when the BoRSox play against the Yankees and make history.
Q: You watched a baseball game last night???
A: I multi-tasked. I also obsessed about the period of history: both my personal history and one that is more global in nature.
Q: Intrigue! What personal history?
A: This is not a personal blog. I require, at the minimum, one meal with someone before I plunge into some bungee-jump-type exposition of core values.
Q: Fair enough. And what from world events made you spin?
A: Darfur, of course. And also the person who holds way too many cards at the moment: the guy who said today in his campaign speech (referring this time to his opponent): “he can run but he can’t hide.” JStewart reminded us that this man of limited vocabulary and even more limited ideas used the same phrase to characterize bin Laden. Except he was wrong there. Bin Laden did, of course, both run and hide.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
What kind of evil?
This from the November Progressive (Kate Clinton’s column here):
At kiosks and bus stops all over New York, there are posters for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse. And almost on every poster, someone has graffitied a very tasteful P at the beginning of the first word. That about sums up the election for me.
Tomorrow I’m off to New York for the week-end. I’ll look for the posters. I’ll also be curious what it is like to be in a state that is not swinging. How odd it will be to walk down the street and not have sweat trickle as I pass a Naderite (as I did this afternoon on Library Mall)! Or maybe I wont see Naderites? Are New Yorkers tracking their neighbors, like I am? Or are they complacent in the knowledge that their state will most certainly deliver the 31 electoral votes to Kerry? And since Cheney’s message all day yesterday was about the heightened possibility of a nuclear attack on America’s largest cities under Kerry’s leadership, has anyone wondered why New Yorkers have raised their eyebrows at this and responded by painting a few more “Ps” in front of Resident Evil?
At kiosks and bus stops all over New York, there are posters for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse. And almost on every poster, someone has graffitied a very tasteful P at the beginning of the first word. That about sums up the election for me.
Tomorrow I’m off to New York for the week-end. I’ll look for the posters. I’ll also be curious what it is like to be in a state that is not swinging. How odd it will be to walk down the street and not have sweat trickle as I pass a Naderite (as I did this afternoon on Library Mall)! Or maybe I wont see Naderites? Are New Yorkers tracking their neighbors, like I am? Or are they complacent in the knowledge that their state will most certainly deliver the 31 electoral votes to Kerry? And since Cheney’s message all day yesterday was about the heightened possibility of a nuclear attack on America’s largest cities under Kerry’s leadership, has anyone wondered why New Yorkers have raised their eyebrows at this and responded by painting a few more “Ps” in front of Resident Evil?
In search of incongruity, irony, insanity:
The poet Allen Ginsberg died (in 1997) in a loft he had purchased on east 14th street. A bit of irony, possibly not lost on Ginsberg: the loft is nicely positioned above a corporate burger chain.
Ginsberg wrote the following poem in 1974, the year that Bush was attending Harvard Business School and Kerry was at Boston College Law School:
Who Runs America?
Oil millions of cars speeding the cracked plains
Oil from Texas, Bahrein, Venezuela Mexico
Oil that turns General Motors
revs up Ford
lights up General Electric, oil that crackles
thru International Business Machine computers,
charges dynamos for ITT
sparks Western Electric
runs thru Amer Telephone & Telegraph wires
Oil that flows thru Exxon New Jersey hoses,
rings in Mobil gas tank cranks, rumbles
Chrysler engines
shoots thru Texaco pipelines
blackens ocean from broken Gulf tankers
spills onto Santa Barbara beaches from
Standard of California derricks offshore.
Fourteen days to go...
While Kerry leads among women voters and the lead is growing (NYT today), he does not a command a strong lead among my lot! (married, suburban women over 50 – the category makes me wince, but I run an honest Ocean here)
Cheney delivered a speech in Ohio yesterday, proclaiming that the Democrats are distorting the facts when they say Bush is in favor of privatizing Social Security (recent speech made by GWB: “I’m going to come out strong after my swearing in, with fundamental tax reform, tort reform, privatizing of Social Security.”)
Members of Congress are urged to get the flu vaccine even if they are young and healthy. Why? Because they shake many hands… (WashPost)
Fourteen years ago, we have a “down on his luck a bit” guy who was "born again," but not yet focused on any job… he sits for a few years on the Caterair board (thanks, dad! I needed to do something!) where it is said of him “he didn’t add much value.. came to meetings.. told a lot of jokes, not that many clean ones…” and finally, a meeting with Karl Rove where the possibility of Bush as governor is discussed among family and friends. Six years later and we have us a new president! (NYTMag) Just as they said in my old country: in America, anyone can become president and the streets are paved with gold.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
The poet Allen Ginsberg died (in 1997) in a loft he had purchased on east 14th street. A bit of irony, possibly not lost on Ginsberg: the loft is nicely positioned above a corporate burger chain.
Ginsberg wrote the following poem in 1974, the year that Bush was attending Harvard Business School and Kerry was at Boston College Law School:
Who Runs America?
Oil millions of cars speeding the cracked plains
Oil from Texas, Bahrein, Venezuela Mexico
Oil that turns General Motors
revs up Ford
lights up General Electric, oil that crackles
thru International Business Machine computers,
charges dynamos for ITT
sparks Western Electric
runs thru Amer Telephone & Telegraph wires
Oil that flows thru Exxon New Jersey hoses,
rings in Mobil gas tank cranks, rumbles
Chrysler engines
shoots thru Texaco pipelines
blackens ocean from broken Gulf tankers
spills onto Santa Barbara beaches from
Standard of California derricks offshore.
Fourteen days to go...
While Kerry leads among women voters and the lead is growing (NYT today), he does not a command a strong lead among my lot! (married, suburban women over 50 – the category makes me wince, but I run an honest Ocean here)
Cheney delivered a speech in Ohio yesterday, proclaiming that the Democrats are distorting the facts when they say Bush is in favor of privatizing Social Security (recent speech made by GWB: “I’m going to come out strong after my swearing in, with fundamental tax reform, tort reform, privatizing of Social Security.”)
Members of Congress are urged to get the flu vaccine even if they are young and healthy. Why? Because they shake many hands… (WashPost)
Fourteen years ago, we have a “down on his luck a bit” guy who was "born again," but not yet focused on any job… he sits for a few years on the Caterair board (thanks, dad! I needed to do something!) where it is said of him “he didn’t add much value.. came to meetings.. told a lot of jokes, not that many clean ones…” and finally, a meeting with Karl Rove where the possibility of Bush as governor is discussed among family and friends. Six years later and we have us a new president! (NYTMag) Just as they said in my old country: in America, anyone can become president and the streets are paved with gold.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
On this street, in Union Park, there is a statue of Gandhi. It is positioned here to symbolize nonviolent protest, inspiring those who often begin their protest in this corner of Manhattan.
I want to catch the next available flight to NY and stand on the corner of 15th and Broadway and carry my own sign, demonstrating my revulsion to the way politicians are assessed by the voting public.
The NYT polls this morning (here) couldn’t be more telling:
Approval rating for Bush stands at 44% (one of the lowest of his tenure)
59% believe the country is heading in the wrong direction
59% believe GWB’s policies favor corporate interests (60 % said his policies benefited the rich and only 8% said they benefited the middle class; 65 % said that Kerry’s policies favored ‘ordinary Americans’)
Of those polled, more aligned themselves with Democrats than with Republicans
43% believed Social Security benefits would be available under Bush (61% saw them avaialble under Kerry)
A majority say that the war in Iraq is either a minor part, or no part at all of the war on terrorism (only 37% view it as a major part of a war on terrorism)
So, to awkwardly borrow a ‘favorite’ sports phrase, it’s a slam-dunk for Kerry, correct????
Why no. The two candidates are tied.
Why do so many voters refuse to throw in their vote behind Kerry? In the words of one level-headed citizen: “I don't trust Kerry a bit," said Robert Brorein, 74, a Republican who said he did not like Mr. Bush but could not bring himself to vote for Mr. Kerry. "I don't trust the way he talks. He doesn't give straight answers. He comes across as being slick. He's good with words, but I just don't believe him.”
Holy Hannah! Why do we waste our time teaching students to think, to be articulate, to draw arguments based on reason? Are leaders more credible if they flub and blunder their way to a response? Does anyone really think that Kerry secretly believes the opposite of what he says? What is the matter with the voting public??
Fifteen mornings before the election and I am in despair.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
I want to catch the next available flight to NY and stand on the corner of 15th and Broadway and carry my own sign, demonstrating my revulsion to the way politicians are assessed by the voting public.
The NYT polls this morning (here) couldn’t be more telling:
Approval rating for Bush stands at 44% (one of the lowest of his tenure)
59% believe the country is heading in the wrong direction
59% believe GWB’s policies favor corporate interests (60 % said his policies benefited the rich and only 8% said they benefited the middle class; 65 % said that Kerry’s policies favored ‘ordinary Americans’)
Of those polled, more aligned themselves with Democrats than with Republicans
43% believed Social Security benefits would be available under Bush (61% saw them avaialble under Kerry)
A majority say that the war in Iraq is either a minor part, or no part at all of the war on terrorism (only 37% view it as a major part of a war on terrorism)
So, to awkwardly borrow a ‘favorite’ sports phrase, it’s a slam-dunk for Kerry, correct????
Why no. The two candidates are tied.
Why do so many voters refuse to throw in their vote behind Kerry? In the words of one level-headed citizen: “I don't trust Kerry a bit," said Robert Brorein, 74, a Republican who said he did not like Mr. Bush but could not bring himself to vote for Mr. Kerry. "I don't trust the way he talks. He doesn't give straight answers. He comes across as being slick. He's good with words, but I just don't believe him.”
Holy Hannah! Why do we waste our time teaching students to think, to be articulate, to draw arguments based on reason? Are leaders more credible if they flub and blunder their way to a response? Does anyone really think that Kerry secretly believes the opposite of what he says? What is the matter with the voting public??
Fifteen mornings before the election and I am in despair.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Monday, October 18, 2004
For those who care about stars
Tonight was the night: an all-important, unprecedented all-staff meeting took place at L’Etoile. Staff was supposed to throw a birthday bash for Chef O. They did not deliver. Chef O was supposed to spring a surprise on the staff. She delivered.
You must NOT spread the word. You, reader of Ocean, are in a privileged position. You know things that others do not know. Readers with blogs, do NOT link to this. It is just between me and the Ocean readership. In other words, top top secret, reserved for the small handful of the loyal Ocean trackers.
Chef O is going national. She is taking her message of sustainable dining (I do not know what else to call it – it is multifarious) to the world at large. Her ‘job’ at L’Etoile is nearing an end. Her ‘work’ as chef-ecologist is just beginning.
What does it mean for you, the diner? Well, she will no longer be the sole proprietor at L’Etoile. Others will take over the management of the retaurant. Some of us are working frantically to allow the current Chef de Cuisine, Tory, to slip into that role.
There will be changes at L’Etoile. There will be expansion and growth. There will be, with new management, more comfortable chairs to sit in. Construction will begin in winter. Investors and partners are now under review (if you have the bucks, now’s your chance!!). But after this year, L’Etoile will never be the same again. It will be bigger, grander, a flagship restaurant that will make Madisonians proud and will make Alice Waters quiver.
But it will not be the type of place where I could approach the chef-proprietor on the street one day (five years ago) and tell her that she needs to hire me as a line-cook. Future management would, I’m sure, frown on such behavior.
You want the rickety wooden chairs and the staff that voted Green rather than Gore 4 years ago (thanks, guys!)? Go now. In a short while, the food will be probably even better, the ambiance will be much improved, but it will not be the little star I knew it to be when I encountered it 25 years ago when I first moved to Madison and it was just three years old.
You must NOT spread the word. You, reader of Ocean, are in a privileged position. You know things that others do not know. Readers with blogs, do NOT link to this. It is just between me and the Ocean readership. In other words, top top secret, reserved for the small handful of the loyal Ocean trackers.
Chef O is going national. She is taking her message of sustainable dining (I do not know what else to call it – it is multifarious) to the world at large. Her ‘job’ at L’Etoile is nearing an end. Her ‘work’ as chef-ecologist is just beginning.
What does it mean for you, the diner? Well, she will no longer be the sole proprietor at L’Etoile. Others will take over the management of the retaurant. Some of us are working frantically to allow the current Chef de Cuisine, Tory, to slip into that role.
There will be changes at L’Etoile. There will be expansion and growth. There will be, with new management, more comfortable chairs to sit in. Construction will begin in winter. Investors and partners are now under review (if you have the bucks, now’s your chance!!). But after this year, L’Etoile will never be the same again. It will be bigger, grander, a flagship restaurant that will make Madisonians proud and will make Alice Waters quiver.
But it will not be the type of place where I could approach the chef-proprietor on the street one day (five years ago) and tell her that she needs to hire me as a line-cook. Future management would, I’m sure, frown on such behavior.
You want the rickety wooden chairs and the staff that voted Green rather than Gore 4 years ago (thanks, guys!)? Go now. In a short while, the food will be probably even better, the ambiance will be much improved, but it will not be the little star I knew it to be when I encountered it 25 years ago when I first moved to Madison and it was just three years old.
It’s the snotty nose that’ll decide the race
I went to lunch with a person who has been politically connected all her professional life. She knows where the winds are blowing. She’s been around. (She is even older than I am.)
We are walking back up Bascom Hill and I ask her: So, well-connected politically-knowledgeable person, what do think? Will Kerry do it? She tells me – the thing is, tight elections are the damnedest thing. I think Kerry may pull it off. You know why? Because of the flu vaccine! Bush was in charge, people are angry. How could this happen here, in America? He had no answer to give them. Kerry was wise during the debate and said nothing, then did his research and now is campaigning on what needs to happen in the future to ensure that we do not have a shortage again! I mean, I’m not getting my shot because I’m not in the “highest risk” category [nc: she is acc. to my charts, but what the hey], but I am going to be damn mad when November 2nd rolls around and I’m home with the flu! Oh come on, your mind was made up before the first campaign slogan was put forth – I retort (you might say that liberal is too gentle a term for her). Yeah – she says – but watch me with a fever and aches and pains at home! I am going to be REALLY mad!
We are walking back up Bascom Hill and I ask her: So, well-connected politically-knowledgeable person, what do think? Will Kerry do it? She tells me – the thing is, tight elections are the damnedest thing. I think Kerry may pull it off. You know why? Because of the flu vaccine! Bush was in charge, people are angry. How could this happen here, in America? He had no answer to give them. Kerry was wise during the debate and said nothing, then did his research and now is campaigning on what needs to happen in the future to ensure that we do not have a shortage again! I mean, I’m not getting my shot because I’m not in the “highest risk” category [nc: she is acc. to my charts, but what the hey], but I am going to be damn mad when November 2nd rolls around and I’m home with the flu! Oh come on, your mind was made up before the first campaign slogan was put forth – I retort (you might say that liberal is too gentle a term for her). Yeah – she says – but watch me with a fever and aches and pains at home! I am going to be REALLY mad!
In spite of the corporate nature of the photo (Mr. Chrysler just HAD to have the tallest building in NY – so much so, that he kept the top hidden and a secret until the very last minute, so that it would not be outdistanced and so that it would amaze. It did amaze, but shortly after, it was outdistanced anyway, by the Empire State Building), I have to go on the record and admit that which I am sure has not yet become apparent: I love the “L” word! [And it angers me to hear this contempt for it, as reported on the news last night: “GWB is swinging away at Kerry for being a liberal” and on CNN: “Kerry is losing ground now because of Bush’s successful use of the liberal label on the campaign trail.”]
And so now I just have to lay down my cards and say it like it is. When I hear the word “liberal,” my heart soars and flutters with happiness.
Thus on the sweet sixteenth day before the election, let me take this blog into places on 16th street that celebrate the Left.
There is, for instance, the block between fifth and sixth avenues. Here stands the home of Alexander Trachtenberg, an American Communist who was indicted for publishing subversive books and pamphlets; his defense committee included Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois. In general, this block was something of a “Lefty-Red” neighborhood in the 1940s and '50s.
In the next block you’ll find the New York City Free Clinic (run by NYU). I suppose this could be used as a model of health care delivery for the future. Who needs health insurance, let’s all just rely on the liberal lefties to jump in and do some direct servicing for the uninsured, the underinsured and the never-to-be-insured-under-the-GWB-next-4-years.
Then, we come to Union Square Park. The first Labor Day Parade took place here in the XIX century. Emma Goldman was arrested here in 1893 for telling the unemployed to steal bread. A funeral march was held here for the executed Rosenbergs the year I was born.
More? You want more? Corner of 16th and Irving houses the magazine the Nation, that leftie rag!
I could go on. Know where my heart is. With the “L” crowd and I am SO proud of it.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
And so now I just have to lay down my cards and say it like it is. When I hear the word “liberal,” my heart soars and flutters with happiness.
Thus on the sweet sixteenth day before the election, let me take this blog into places on 16th street that celebrate the Left.
There is, for instance, the block between fifth and sixth avenues. Here stands the home of Alexander Trachtenberg, an American Communist who was indicted for publishing subversive books and pamphlets; his defense committee included Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois. In general, this block was something of a “Lefty-Red” neighborhood in the 1940s and '50s.
In the next block you’ll find the New York City Free Clinic (run by NYU). I suppose this could be used as a model of health care delivery for the future. Who needs health insurance, let’s all just rely on the liberal lefties to jump in and do some direct servicing for the uninsured, the underinsured and the never-to-be-insured-under-the-GWB-next-4-years.
Then, we come to Union Square Park. The first Labor Day Parade took place here in the XIX century. Emma Goldman was arrested here in 1893 for telling the unemployed to steal bread. A funeral march was held here for the executed Rosenbergs the year I was born.
More? You want more? Corner of 16th and Irving houses the magazine the Nation, that leftie rag!
I could go on. Know where my heart is. With the “L” crowd and I am SO proud of it.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Minding my “Ps”
Politics
I have to hand it to the NYTimes. The Magazine cover story today is the most thorough indictment of the Bush presidency I have read in a long time. Anyone with any commitment to reason over extremist faith-based leadership cannot read it and comfortably remain an advocate of GWB. What bothers me most is that this administration’s supporters, knowing what they know about Bush’s incompetence and unwillingness to base decisions on facts or reason are choosing to remain silent and to be in complicity with the president. Being a child of post-war Poland, I am too familiar with shrouds of silence – one that preceded the invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 comes to mind.
Predictions
I have reason to believe that: 1.there will be more snow in Madison this year than we’ve had in a long time; 2. Althouse will not abandon Kerry-bashing in her blog before November 2nd (does she worry what fodder will feed the Instapundit links after the election? A Kerry win would, sadly, keep the doors open for continued commentary of the type we have been reading this past month); 3. The leaves in my yard will not get properly raked this fall; 4. L’Etoile will not be the L’Etoile we know and have grown accustomed to by year’s end. I will consider bets on any of the above, though interested parties and those who know me well are not permitted to play.
Polishness
You know, I just get embarrassed for my countrymen and women when I read interviews such as the one with the Polish Foreign Minister (NYT Magazine today). Highlight: NYT: Have you been watching the televised debates between President Bush and Senator Kerry? Cimoszewicz: I will not comment on the present position of the leading contenders. [nc: an overwhelming majority of foreign leaders have endorsed Kerry; not Poland! Ever hopeful for that investment of American capital, can’t it recognize that even after blindly counting itself as part of the coalition of the damned willing, no such investment is forthcoming?] Any high points in that interview? And admission that more than 70% of Poles, lovers of all things American that they are, now strongly oppose Poland’s support for the American invasion of Iraq. Is Cimoszewicz a fan of life in this country? He likes Central Park, George Gershwin, and a real American steak – though 'once a year' is enough for him. I guess it could have been worse. He could have said he favored Dallas for vacations and preferred a visit to Crawford over a stroll through Central Park. The steak, I'm thinking, is a nod toward the Lone Star state.
I have to hand it to the NYTimes. The Magazine cover story today is the most thorough indictment of the Bush presidency I have read in a long time. Anyone with any commitment to reason over extremist faith-based leadership cannot read it and comfortably remain an advocate of GWB. What bothers me most is that this administration’s supporters, knowing what they know about Bush’s incompetence and unwillingness to base decisions on facts or reason are choosing to remain silent and to be in complicity with the president. Being a child of post-war Poland, I am too familiar with shrouds of silence – one that preceded the invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 comes to mind.
Predictions
I have reason to believe that: 1.there will be more snow in Madison this year than we’ve had in a long time; 2. Althouse will not abandon Kerry-bashing in her blog before November 2nd (does she worry what fodder will feed the Instapundit links after the election? A Kerry win would, sadly, keep the doors open for continued commentary of the type we have been reading this past month); 3. The leaves in my yard will not get properly raked this fall; 4. L’Etoile will not be the L’Etoile we know and have grown accustomed to by year’s end. I will consider bets on any of the above, though interested parties and those who know me well are not permitted to play.
Polishness
You know, I just get embarrassed for my countrymen and women when I read interviews such as the one with the Polish Foreign Minister (NYT Magazine today). Highlight: NYT: Have you been watching the televised debates between President Bush and Senator Kerry? Cimoszewicz: I will not comment on the present position of the leading contenders. [nc: an overwhelming majority of foreign leaders have endorsed Kerry; not Poland! Ever hopeful for that investment of American capital, can’t it recognize that even after blindly counting itself as part of the coalition of the damned willing, no such investment is forthcoming?] Any high points in that interview? And admission that more than 70% of Poles, lovers of all things American that they are, now strongly oppose Poland’s support for the American invasion of Iraq. Is Cimoszewicz a fan of life in this country? He likes Central Park, George Gershwin, and a real American steak – though 'once a year' is enough for him. I guess it could have been worse. He could have said he favored Dallas for vacations and preferred a visit to Crawford over a stroll through Central Park. The steak, I'm thinking, is a nod toward the Lone Star state.
Seventeen days.
Washington Irving: a lawyer, writer, traveler.
Washington Irving High School (at the corner of 17th and Irving Place): the school rated as the most dangerous in all of Manhattan (it was ranked this year as almost ten times as violent as the average New York City School – razor blade slashing, for instance, are common, as are high suspension rates – the highest in the city, and low attendance rates – not surprisingly, the lowest in the city).
Under the federal “No Child Left Behind” law, this school has been identified as “in need of improvement.” However, from what I have been reading, at Washington Irving, the only resource that has been thrown at the school is an increased number of police officers.
Washington Irving: a lawyer, writer, traveler.
Washington Irving High School (at the corner of 17th and Irving Place): the school rated as the most dangerous in all of Manhattan (it was ranked this year as almost ten times as violent as the average New York City School – razor blade slashing, for instance, are common, as are high suspension rates – the highest in the city, and low attendance rates – not surprisingly, the lowest in the city).
Under the federal “No Child Left Behind” law, this school has been identified as “in need of improvement.” However, from what I have been reading, at Washington Irving, the only resource that has been thrown at the school is an increased number of police officers.
In a moving endorsement of Kerry, the NYT editors write the following today:
We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.
How can it be that anyone would still believe otherwise?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.
How can it be that anyone would still believe otherwise?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The wind this morning was unbelievable! Not only was there an occasional sprinkle, but the gusts tore at the Market tents with such force that many sellers had to hold poles firmly in place or they’d be swept away with the tempest.
This, of course, did not keep me home. But it was discouraging to come to L'Etoile and find a note asking me to, on top of everything else, pick out some five varieties of apples, totaling to maybe 80 plus pounds. And it was discouraging to have Chef O be in such a peppy chatty mood as she joined me on one of my rounds. It took the two of us two hours to circle the Square (can one really circle a square? I’m getting dangerously close to making an orange an apple here). I finally abandoned her at a cheese stand. Clearly she’s operating with different heat moments than I am.
So how cold, dark and wet was it? Note the seller at Harmony Valley (photo below) warming her hands in the heat of the lamp – which itself is on so that customers can see the vegetables in the dark, early morning hours.
Working both sides of the fence
I am not now, never have been, nor will ever be part of the management team at L’Etoile. But right now, neither am I exactly wage labor. It’s more like I’m a contracted service provider. And so I get to tune in to stories from both ends: from labor and from the boss. And like the true two-faced person that I am, I am openly sympathetic to both.
I am also sometimes the keeper of secrets for both. For instance, today, I asked Chef O how her day had gone yesterday (it had been her birthday – she is exactly half a year older than I am). Terrible! She tells me. She had bounced in for the staff meal, excited and ready for some tiny celebration on her behalf and there was…none. It kind of broke her heart. [People: you need to start taking the birthdays of others seriously. Presents, cards, the whole works. And never, ever take seriously such statements as “oh, don’t bother doing anything for me.” Nobody means that. Ever.]
Plagued by guilt and pity I went out and found the biggest bouquet I could get at the Market and passed it on to her. One day late, but what can you do.
However, in chatting to ‘labor,’ I found out that in reality, a bash is in the works for her, scheduled for our staff meeting this coming Monday evening. Of course, I can’t tell Chef O that.
Conversely, I cannot tell ‘labor’ that management has a stunning announcement to make on that day. While everyone is busy busy readying the place for a celebration, management is busy busy with its own little surprise.
So here I am, anticipating a tempest and a celebration. How will it all end? Tune in Monday evening. My lips are sealed until then (to my knowledge, no one from L’Etoile tracks this blog; but I am taking no chances).
This, of course, did not keep me home. But it was discouraging to come to L'Etoile and find a note asking me to, on top of everything else, pick out some five varieties of apples, totaling to maybe 80 plus pounds. And it was discouraging to have Chef O be in such a peppy chatty mood as she joined me on one of my rounds. It took the two of us two hours to circle the Square (can one really circle a square? I’m getting dangerously close to making an orange an apple here). I finally abandoned her at a cheese stand. Clearly she’s operating with different heat moments than I am.
So how cold, dark and wet was it? Note the seller at Harmony Valley (photo below) warming her hands in the heat of the lamp – which itself is on so that customers can see the vegetables in the dark, early morning hours.
Working both sides of the fence
I am not now, never have been, nor will ever be part of the management team at L’Etoile. But right now, neither am I exactly wage labor. It’s more like I’m a contracted service provider. And so I get to tune in to stories from both ends: from labor and from the boss. And like the true two-faced person that I am, I am openly sympathetic to both.
I am also sometimes the keeper of secrets for both. For instance, today, I asked Chef O how her day had gone yesterday (it had been her birthday – she is exactly half a year older than I am). Terrible! She tells me. She had bounced in for the staff meal, excited and ready for some tiny celebration on her behalf and there was…none. It kind of broke her heart. [People: you need to start taking the birthdays of others seriously. Presents, cards, the whole works. And never, ever take seriously such statements as “oh, don’t bother doing anything for me.” Nobody means that. Ever.]
Plagued by guilt and pity I went out and found the biggest bouquet I could get at the Market and passed it on to her. One day late, but what can you do.
However, in chatting to ‘labor,’ I found out that in reality, a bash is in the works for her, scheduled for our staff meeting this coming Monday evening. Of course, I can’t tell Chef O that.
Conversely, I cannot tell ‘labor’ that management has a stunning announcement to make on that day. While everyone is busy busy readying the place for a celebration, management is busy busy with its own little surprise.
So here I am, anticipating a tempest and a celebration. How will it all end? Tune in Monday evening. My lips are sealed until then (to my knowledge, no one from L’Etoile tracks this blog; but I am taking no chances).
Eighteen days...
At the corner of 18th and Irving Place you can find Pete’s Tavern, the oldest continuously operating tavern in New York. (During the Prohibition it disguised itself as a flower shop.) Sometimes called O’Henry’s place (he frequented it as the turn of the century), it is indeed a landmark. Even though the original Pete (Pete Belles) did not want to be famous back in 1864 when he opened the place. He just wanted his own tavern.
Tick tock, tick tock, 127 years later, Ruth MacLeod is at the Tavern. It is a nice summer evening and tables are set outdoors, inside a guard-rail. Ruth is there, so is a group of waiters and customers. She needs to pass through, but the waiters are chatting up the customers and so she needs to step around them, outside the guard rail. There is an indentation in the sidewalk. She stumbles and falls (Torts class! An open and shut slip & fall case??). She sues Pete’s. The issue becomes whether the tavern's duty of care extends beyond the guardrail.
On appeal, the court said no and the complaint against Pete’s Tavern was dismissed. (Properly, don’t you think?)
Compare and contrast:
Tick tock, tick tock, a year later (in that most publicized of cases, so think about it, this is the most debatable jury award), 79 year-old Stella Liebeck sustains 3rd degree burns, requiring hospitalization and skin grafts, after she spills coffee purchased at McDonald’s. Does McDonald’s know the coffee is too hot to serve or drink? Yes, having had 700 recorded severe burns in the decade prior to this case, they knew. Were they willing to reduce the temperature (that was held at nearly 50 degrees above the industry standard)? No, that would have reduced the optimal brewing capacity of every last grind. What would get them to reconsider? A large punitive damages award (large in a manner of speaking; the jury award, reduced considerably afterwards, was equal to two days’ worth of coffee sales for the chain), shifting the cost-benefit calculus, so that it no longer paid for them to serve dangerously hot beverages. Was Stella thinking of lawsuits as her son pulled out of the drive-up the day she opened the cup to put in the cream and sugar? No, she just wanted a cup of coffee.
Litigation, regulation… I heard GWB last night speak to a crowd in Wisconsin about the dangers of both. About the need to free companies of regulatory restrictions and free each and every one of us from frivolous litigation. I wonder what the hell he was talking about?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
At the corner of 18th and Irving Place you can find Pete’s Tavern, the oldest continuously operating tavern in New York. (During the Prohibition it disguised itself as a flower shop.) Sometimes called O’Henry’s place (he frequented it as the turn of the century), it is indeed a landmark. Even though the original Pete (Pete Belles) did not want to be famous back in 1864 when he opened the place. He just wanted his own tavern.
Tick tock, tick tock, 127 years later, Ruth MacLeod is at the Tavern. It is a nice summer evening and tables are set outdoors, inside a guard-rail. Ruth is there, so is a group of waiters and customers. She needs to pass through, but the waiters are chatting up the customers and so she needs to step around them, outside the guard rail. There is an indentation in the sidewalk. She stumbles and falls (Torts class! An open and shut slip & fall case??). She sues Pete’s. The issue becomes whether the tavern's duty of care extends beyond the guardrail.
On appeal, the court said no and the complaint against Pete’s Tavern was dismissed. (Properly, don’t you think?)
Compare and contrast:
Tick tock, tick tock, a year later (in that most publicized of cases, so think about it, this is the most debatable jury award), 79 year-old Stella Liebeck sustains 3rd degree burns, requiring hospitalization and skin grafts, after she spills coffee purchased at McDonald’s. Does McDonald’s know the coffee is too hot to serve or drink? Yes, having had 700 recorded severe burns in the decade prior to this case, they knew. Were they willing to reduce the temperature (that was held at nearly 50 degrees above the industry standard)? No, that would have reduced the optimal brewing capacity of every last grind. What would get them to reconsider? A large punitive damages award (large in a manner of speaking; the jury award, reduced considerably afterwards, was equal to two days’ worth of coffee sales for the chain), shifting the cost-benefit calculus, so that it no longer paid for them to serve dangerously hot beverages. Was Stella thinking of lawsuits as her son pulled out of the drive-up the day she opened the cup to put in the cream and sugar? No, she just wanted a cup of coffee.
Litigation, regulation… I heard GWB last night speak to a crowd in Wisconsin about the dangers of both. About the need to free companies of regulatory restrictions and free each and every one of us from frivolous litigation. I wonder what the hell he was talking about?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
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