Notes of Concern......
…..Jackson Blair
Ludwig Van Beethoven Comes to Boston
OK. We got that out of the way and lots of readers have moved on to the sport columns.
For those who still think this might be about a large St. Bernard of movie fame, sorry!
For those of you who remained because you either love classical music or want to learn a little more about classical music, lets talk about some classy stuff.
James Levine, arguably the most famous Maestro of our time, currently running things at both The Metropolitan Opera house in New York City and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, embarked on a major and wonderful adventure this season.
The Maestro decided to offer all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies in one season. All nine symphonies conducted by him. All nine symphonies played by the acclaimed Boston Symphony Orchestra, and all nine being presented in the almost acoustically perfect Symphony Hall in Boston.
For you opera aficionados, this ranks right up there with a performance of Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle.
For you Massachusetts based baseball fans, this would be like a four-week series of continuing games between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, with all games played in Boston and with the Sox winning every one of them.
So it will come as no surprise to learn that I decided not to miss out on this occasion. I stepped right up and bought my tickets for the season.
The opening night of this spectacular series was last week. I invited a good friend to accompany me. My friend is an incredible bass player who has worked not only with major symphony orchestras but also worked and toured with Frank Sinatra and Harry James. I mention this only to give you an idea of how much tutoring I planned to get as the orchestra ventured their rendition of Beethoven’s First, Second and Fifth symphonies.
Fate intervened and there were some last minute changes.
Maestro Levine encountered some disc problems in his back and is out of commission. The BSO was fortunate to obtain the services of the famous conductor, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos.
The baton went up, the orchestra played and there was not an empty seat in the house. In fact, I noticed people standing. Evidently, my own delight at the prospect of hearing all nine symphonies in one season was shared by many who made a similar decision.
Evidently Maestro Levine’s back problems didn’t keep any one away.
The conductor, a fellow who has been around a long time and who has led many of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras, was intimately familiar with Ludwig’s work. He conducted all three symphonies without any musical score. It was obvious he knew every note, every entrance, and every nuance.
The orchestra members rose to the occasion and followed every rise and fall of his baton. He coaxed some incredible music from the ensemble.
I noticed that violinists appeared and disappeared as each symphony was presented. It was clearly a rotation the maestro had in place to allow the section some rest between some very challenging pieces. There may have been substitutions occurring in the other sections of the orchestra but I was sitting close to the violins and that was the section I could observe.
Symphonies One and Two are not terribly familiar but present some wonderful music to the listener. They are sufficiently different from one another to be really interesting to someone who has read a bit of the history surrounding their composition.
Symphony Five is familiar to most classical music fans. It is large, brassy, full, impressive, haunting, triumphant, glorious, rousing, melodic…well, you get the idea.
When the baton came down at the end of the evening, there were five curtain calls, all with standing ovations, and for one of the few times when I have been at Symphony Hall, I saw no one heading for the doors to “beat the crowd” or get their car. The audience was determined to reward the players and the Maestro with continuing ovations.
It was one of those special evenings at Symphony Hall.
The following week I went to Boston to hear Beethoven’s Third and Fourth Symphonies. The Third Symphony is also known as the Eroica symphony, written originally to laud Napoleon. As my tutor this time I had with me someone who has sung for almost twenty years with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, a group of singers who regularly sing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as at Tanglewood.
Maestro Levine was again indisposed and, in fact, has now accepted that he will be unable to conduct any of the nine Beethoven symphonies he planned for the season.
Again, the crowds turned out anyway and there wasn’t an empty seat. The orchestra was under the baton this time of the Assistant Conductor, Julian Kuerti , who stepped in for Levine and did an outstanding job.
He left the podium after both Symphonies with sweat running down his face and he was visibly exhausted. The ticket holders brought him back again and again to show their appreciation for his substitution and for presenting such a fine program.
My colleague, who knows about these things, told me that the “orchestra really played for him (Kuerti)” which I took to be an indication the professionals knew that subbing for James Levine was no easy task and this young “comer” had excelled tonight.
There are four more symphonies to be presented. Levine’s announcement has permitted the BSO to bring in some heavy artillery in the form of Loren Maazel the recently retired conducter of The New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a superb last minute substitute for Levine and will undoubtedly deliver two very fabulous performances.
We are fortunate in this part of the world to live so close to Symphony Hall and to have the opportunity to hear such fantastic music played so beautifully by one of the world’s greatest orchestras in one of the world’s most fabulous symphony halls.
If you can get to any Beethoven performances at Symphony Hall, make every effort to do so. There is still time!
The Boston Symphony Orchestra will not disappoint. And you will realize why of all the famous composer names and statuary evident in Symphony Hall, it is the name of Beethoven, in gold leaf, that stands center at the top of the proscenium arch of that fabled palace of great music.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
AFGHAN HOUNDS
Notes of Concern…..
……Jackson Blair
AFGHAN HOUNDS?
I yearn for a time when the mention of the word “Afghan” brought to mind the beautiful, cozy and warm blanket we kept over the sofa, or on other occasions the visual of a beautiful dog with silky hair running through a field.
The American Kennel Club describes the Afghan hound this way:
“The Afghan Hound is an aristocrat, his whole appearance one of dignity and aloofness with no trace of plainness or coarseness.”
Whoever named this beautiful dog must have been smoking some of those poppies the Afghans are shipping out of their country every day.
It would be a similar story with the warm, cozy and comfortable blanket on the back of the sofa. Show me a description of the Afghan warlords that uses the words: warm, cozy and comfortable. Then again I suppose Osama bin Laden is warm, cozy and comfortable in his undisclosed location. And in all these years we haven’t found it.
Today when I hear “Afghan” I think of Afghanistan and it is a very frightening thought. Afghanistan seems to have been involved in some sort of tribal warfare for as long as anyone can remember. As a person who studies history, I am well aware of the fate of outsiders who have attempted to involve themselves in these tribal wars.
When our nation descended on Afghanistan we were told it was for a couple of reasons. As I recall, we were there to help the “good guys” (although it was tough to identify anyone who fit that label!), to punish the “bad guys” (evidently anyone in, or sympathetic to, Al Qaida), and to catch the “Mr. BIG” of terrorism, Osama bin Laden.
With reference to helping the “good guys” we haven’t been too successful. These folks love to fight with one another and the only thing that somewhat unites them as a nation is the interference of outsiders. Please note that WE are the “outsiders”.
With reference to punishing the “bad guys” we get another failing grade. They are still very much in evidence in that country and their pastime is killing American soldiers and blowing up innocents who get in their way.
With reference to catching “Mr. BIG” I can only say that we haven’t even come close. And to make matters worse, he keeps sending us messages on film!
The General in charge of EVERYTHING has asked for more troops in order to get his job done.
The President in charge of the General has convened his advisors in the Situation Room of The White House for what seems to be hundreds of meetings over a very long time. The folks meeting in the posh White House have failed to deliver anything to the troops on the ground, as the General in charge of EVERYTHING, who represents them, has noticed.
With each meeting at The White House, with each passing day, more young men and women shed their blood in Afghanistan.
I hesitate to bring this up, but this situation is reminiscent of a burning Rome while Caesar is reputed to have been “fiddling”.
I admit that I no longer think The United States of America has any business being in Afghanistan and we should be unwilling to sacrifice one more American life to try to bring order to those internal tribal battles.
We do not need to maintain an army on the ground in Afghanistan to look for Mr. BIG. Turn that over to the CIA and other world intelligence organizations (like the Israelis’ MOSSAD) that have even more interest in finding him. And I expect they would, it would be quick, and we would never know what happened to him. If you ever followed how they got the terrorists who murdered the Israel Olympic athletes you know what I mean.
No one in America cares which tribe wins in Afghanistan, and I seriously doubt any of us will be living if and when that decision is finally made. Actually, I don’t think it will be resolved. There is no impetus to resolve it. It is their way of life. One might ask how in the world we got dragged into that family feud, or at least why we are still standing between the Afghan version of The Hatfields and The McCoys.
There are not really any “white hats” for us to support in Afghanistan. There are good people in Afghanistan and I in no way want to detract from their goodness, but my friends, they are not running the government and are unlikely to be running it any time soon.
The people who grow the poppies, or protect the growers of the poppies, or who are involved in the drug trade, those are the people who really call the shots in Afghanistan. And these people are very happy for us to keep their enemies busy while they continue to grow their magnificently profitable crops.
I wish I could suggest to the President of our country that it is time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan. I think I will shoot a hard copy of this column to him. He won’t see it but some “gofer” will and he will add me to the column of “letters from those opposed” that he keeps, and he will tell Obama one day what those numbers look like. Of course, all the folks in the White House might still be meeting and trying to figure out what to do. Certainly, the General should be retired by then.
If I have failed to convince you that Afghanistan is one very big, dark hole down which we are pouring our money and our young people, please ask our new Russian friends to brief you on their former, lamentable experience with these same thugs.
……Jackson Blair
AFGHAN HOUNDS?
I yearn for a time when the mention of the word “Afghan” brought to mind the beautiful, cozy and warm blanket we kept over the sofa, or on other occasions the visual of a beautiful dog with silky hair running through a field.
The American Kennel Club describes the Afghan hound this way:
“The Afghan Hound is an aristocrat, his whole appearance one of dignity and aloofness with no trace of plainness or coarseness.”
Whoever named this beautiful dog must have been smoking some of those poppies the Afghans are shipping out of their country every day.
It would be a similar story with the warm, cozy and comfortable blanket on the back of the sofa. Show me a description of the Afghan warlords that uses the words: warm, cozy and comfortable. Then again I suppose Osama bin Laden is warm, cozy and comfortable in his undisclosed location. And in all these years we haven’t found it.
Today when I hear “Afghan” I think of Afghanistan and it is a very frightening thought. Afghanistan seems to have been involved in some sort of tribal warfare for as long as anyone can remember. As a person who studies history, I am well aware of the fate of outsiders who have attempted to involve themselves in these tribal wars.
When our nation descended on Afghanistan we were told it was for a couple of reasons. As I recall, we were there to help the “good guys” (although it was tough to identify anyone who fit that label!), to punish the “bad guys” (evidently anyone in, or sympathetic to, Al Qaida), and to catch the “Mr. BIG” of terrorism, Osama bin Laden.
With reference to helping the “good guys” we haven’t been too successful. These folks love to fight with one another and the only thing that somewhat unites them as a nation is the interference of outsiders. Please note that WE are the “outsiders”.
With reference to punishing the “bad guys” we get another failing grade. They are still very much in evidence in that country and their pastime is killing American soldiers and blowing up innocents who get in their way.
With reference to catching “Mr. BIG” I can only say that we haven’t even come close. And to make matters worse, he keeps sending us messages on film!
The General in charge of EVERYTHING has asked for more troops in order to get his job done.
The President in charge of the General has convened his advisors in the Situation Room of The White House for what seems to be hundreds of meetings over a very long time. The folks meeting in the posh White House have failed to deliver anything to the troops on the ground, as the General in charge of EVERYTHING, who represents them, has noticed.
With each meeting at The White House, with each passing day, more young men and women shed their blood in Afghanistan.
I hesitate to bring this up, but this situation is reminiscent of a burning Rome while Caesar is reputed to have been “fiddling”.
I admit that I no longer think The United States of America has any business being in Afghanistan and we should be unwilling to sacrifice one more American life to try to bring order to those internal tribal battles.
We do not need to maintain an army on the ground in Afghanistan to look for Mr. BIG. Turn that over to the CIA and other world intelligence organizations (like the Israelis’ MOSSAD) that have even more interest in finding him. And I expect they would, it would be quick, and we would never know what happened to him. If you ever followed how they got the terrorists who murdered the Israel Olympic athletes you know what I mean.
No one in America cares which tribe wins in Afghanistan, and I seriously doubt any of us will be living if and when that decision is finally made. Actually, I don’t think it will be resolved. There is no impetus to resolve it. It is their way of life. One might ask how in the world we got dragged into that family feud, or at least why we are still standing between the Afghan version of The Hatfields and The McCoys.
There are not really any “white hats” for us to support in Afghanistan. There are good people in Afghanistan and I in no way want to detract from their goodness, but my friends, they are not running the government and are unlikely to be running it any time soon.
The people who grow the poppies, or protect the growers of the poppies, or who are involved in the drug trade, those are the people who really call the shots in Afghanistan. And these people are very happy for us to keep their enemies busy while they continue to grow their magnificently profitable crops.
I wish I could suggest to the President of our country that it is time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan. I think I will shoot a hard copy of this column to him. He won’t see it but some “gofer” will and he will add me to the column of “letters from those opposed” that he keeps, and he will tell Obama one day what those numbers look like. Of course, all the folks in the White House might still be meeting and trying to figure out what to do. Certainly, the General should be retired by then.
If I have failed to convince you that Afghanistan is one very big, dark hole down which we are pouring our money and our young people, please ask our new Russian friends to brief you on their former, lamentable experience with these same thugs.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
WHIP THOSE EXECUTIVES
Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
Let’s Whip Those CEOs
In an article in The New York Times in early October, Stephen Labaton wrote:
Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in the government’s financial rescue, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives..
He went on to report that the pay cut for the executives running the big companies that received taxpayer bailouts would be about 90% of their salary.
I am sure cheers went up all over the land. The predicted reaction to David taking a shot at Goliath would be a happy populace. This assumes the government in the role of David. We could mount an argument that the government is really Goliath but why bother.
Be careful before you celebrate. Here is what this really means.
1. Some major American companies got into trouble.
Rather than let them go out of business, which would have seriously harmed our country’s economy, the president and the congress found a way to provide them money so they could keep operating and, hopefully, return to profitability.
2. This essentially made all Americans “hidden shareholders” in these companies.
3.Many of these companies did improve and some are showing signs of improving.
4.So to reward the good performance or the promise of a good future, the government is taking 90% of the pay for the executives who lead these organizations.
Now, I didn’t major in people motivation in college but I am pretty sure that if you take 90% of the pay away from a guy who brought your bad company back to profitability, he is not going to be happy.
Chances are if he is not happy he places a call to an executive recruiter, finds another high paying job better than the one he has, and resigns.
That would leave the shareholders (including the hidden shareholders-us) in a new quandary. How do you recruit talent to a company where the senior executives get this kind of treatment?
The answer is you don’t. You get the kind of person who needs a job so bad he will take one where his predecessor took a 90% pay cut!
So the government proves once again that they have not even the most basic idea of how things really run.
For those of the public who find pleasure in seeing these high flying execs take a whack, temper your joy in the thought that we have just encouraged everyone who was responsible for a successful turnaround to take a hike!
With this kind of leadership and planning we should reach “banana republic” status in a couple of decades.
…Jackson Blair
Let’s Whip Those CEOs
In an article in The New York Times in early October, Stephen Labaton wrote:
Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in the government’s financial rescue, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives..
He went on to report that the pay cut for the executives running the big companies that received taxpayer bailouts would be about 90% of their salary.
I am sure cheers went up all over the land. The predicted reaction to David taking a shot at Goliath would be a happy populace. This assumes the government in the role of David. We could mount an argument that the government is really Goliath but why bother.
Be careful before you celebrate. Here is what this really means.
1. Some major American companies got into trouble.
Rather than let them go out of business, which would have seriously harmed our country’s economy, the president and the congress found a way to provide them money so they could keep operating and, hopefully, return to profitability.
2. This essentially made all Americans “hidden shareholders” in these companies.
3.Many of these companies did improve and some are showing signs of improving.
4.So to reward the good performance or the promise of a good future, the government is taking 90% of the pay for the executives who lead these organizations.
Now, I didn’t major in people motivation in college but I am pretty sure that if you take 90% of the pay away from a guy who brought your bad company back to profitability, he is not going to be happy.
Chances are if he is not happy he places a call to an executive recruiter, finds another high paying job better than the one he has, and resigns.
That would leave the shareholders (including the hidden shareholders-us) in a new quandary. How do you recruit talent to a company where the senior executives get this kind of treatment?
The answer is you don’t. You get the kind of person who needs a job so bad he will take one where his predecessor took a 90% pay cut!
So the government proves once again that they have not even the most basic idea of how things really run.
For those of the public who find pleasure in seeing these high flying execs take a whack, temper your joy in the thought that we have just encouraged everyone who was responsible for a successful turnaround to take a hike!
With this kind of leadership and planning we should reach “banana republic” status in a couple of decades.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
POEMS, UTOPIAS & TREES
Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
POEMS, UTOPIAS & TREES
As my readers know, I have been on a crusade to get The Town of Winchendon to remove a dangerous and large hanging tree limb for four weeks. The damage to the tree occurred nine months ago.
It was this ongoing campaign of mine that reminded me of Joyce Kilmer’s beautiful poem:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day.
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Probably, at one time or another, we have all heard or read this poem. It is also probable that we have not read it or heard it recently.
While it speaks to trees it symbolizes all of nature to me.
Some have asked why I care at all about a damaged limb in Winchendon. I can provide a short version answer.
I grew up in a small western Pennsylvania town that was written about by Ida Tarbell and others at a time when management and labor were trying to improve the condition of peoples’ lives.
In Capital's Utopia, a book by Anne Mosher she tells the story of my hometown and notes that “it becomes a crucial and unexplored intersection between industrial land use and community planning all wrapped in the issues of economic class and paternalism that defined the Gilded Age.”
“In 1895 a Pittsburgh steelmaster hired the reknowned Boston landscape design firm of Olmstead, Olmstead and Eliot to translate an elaborate urban vision into a design for a modern industrial town…they rendered a design reminiscent of the romantic upper middle class residential suburbs that their firm had created previously for Riverside, IL and Sudbrook, MD.
Graceful curvilinear streets, tastefully arranged oriental trees and shrubs, a full complement of infrastructure…”(Capital’s Utopia)
One of the main features of this beautiful little town with winding streets was the many trees that lined the sidewalks and provided shade to the homes. They were evenly spaced on all residential streets and the pictures of those early years are dramatic. The streets were circular which provided space for small green spaces, little parks, throughout the town. These were places for children to play, adults to sit and read, and they provided peace and serenity when the workday was finished.
Between 1895 and 1995 the town experienced typical suburban difficulties. With the shutting of steel and iron mills the town realized less and less revenue. One of the first pieces of evidence of decline was that dead trees were simply removed and not replaced. Sick trees, or trees with bad limbs, were not taken care of. Wide open spaces began to appear on every residential street and before long, the town bore little resemblance to the beautiful Utopia Mosher and Tarbell wrote about.
In the overall hustle and bustle of life, with all the ups ad downs and problems, the tending to a tree seems a pretty insignificant matter. That said, the beautiful, lush trees that remain in my hometown are now getting a lot of attention, parks are being rehabbed and people are planting seedlings. There is an organized effort to return what was once Capital’s Utopia to the original beauty is presented.
In our little community here in Massachusetts we should look at our streets and our trees and make a commitment to replace every one that dies with one that will grow over the years to provide a replacement for future generations to enjoy. We need to commit to doing all we can to save the ones we have.
When I sit in my backyard and look up at the towering branches, the beautiful green leaves and the way my trees reach for the sky, it seems ennobling. In the fall, these huge trees provide a palette of color that is a gift to my family and me. While winter leaves the branches bare and unattractive, the periodic snowfall that covers them in white provides a winter wonderland outside my windows.
I have to tell you that when I see a large stump in my yard, or along one of our streets, I do think about what the tree that once grew there must have looked like. And then I wonder why someone hasn’t renewed life in that spot, with another tree.
I do not particularly like poetry so it is certain that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. But I am an unrepentant fan of trees and I hope this little piece will encourage my readers to take a good look at the trees around them, trim when trimming is needed, insist that our elected officials keep our town green with trees and shrubs, and congratulate those good people who every year plant flowers and help to make our public areas more attractive.
In the end, your life will be more pleasant when you are surrounded by this kind of natural beauty, your home’s resell value will increase, and small and big businesses looking at our town as a place for investment will be more likely to want to move here.
The tree problem in Winchendon may be solved by the time this column is in print. Today’s column speaks to the broader issue of our husbandry of the beauty around us.
…Jackson Blair
POEMS, UTOPIAS & TREES
As my readers know, I have been on a crusade to get The Town of Winchendon to remove a dangerous and large hanging tree limb for four weeks. The damage to the tree occurred nine months ago.
It was this ongoing campaign of mine that reminded me of Joyce Kilmer’s beautiful poem:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day.
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Probably, at one time or another, we have all heard or read this poem. It is also probable that we have not read it or heard it recently.
While it speaks to trees it symbolizes all of nature to me.
Some have asked why I care at all about a damaged limb in Winchendon. I can provide a short version answer.
I grew up in a small western Pennsylvania town that was written about by Ida Tarbell and others at a time when management and labor were trying to improve the condition of peoples’ lives.
In Capital's Utopia, a book by Anne Mosher she tells the story of my hometown and notes that “it becomes a crucial and unexplored intersection between industrial land use and community planning all wrapped in the issues of economic class and paternalism that defined the Gilded Age.”
“In 1895 a Pittsburgh steelmaster hired the reknowned Boston landscape design firm of Olmstead, Olmstead and Eliot to translate an elaborate urban vision into a design for a modern industrial town…they rendered a design reminiscent of the romantic upper middle class residential suburbs that their firm had created previously for Riverside, IL and Sudbrook, MD.
Graceful curvilinear streets, tastefully arranged oriental trees and shrubs, a full complement of infrastructure…”(Capital’s Utopia)
One of the main features of this beautiful little town with winding streets was the many trees that lined the sidewalks and provided shade to the homes. They were evenly spaced on all residential streets and the pictures of those early years are dramatic. The streets were circular which provided space for small green spaces, little parks, throughout the town. These were places for children to play, adults to sit and read, and they provided peace and serenity when the workday was finished.
Between 1895 and 1995 the town experienced typical suburban difficulties. With the shutting of steel and iron mills the town realized less and less revenue. One of the first pieces of evidence of decline was that dead trees were simply removed and not replaced. Sick trees, or trees with bad limbs, were not taken care of. Wide open spaces began to appear on every residential street and before long, the town bore little resemblance to the beautiful Utopia Mosher and Tarbell wrote about.
In the overall hustle and bustle of life, with all the ups ad downs and problems, the tending to a tree seems a pretty insignificant matter. That said, the beautiful, lush trees that remain in my hometown are now getting a lot of attention, parks are being rehabbed and people are planting seedlings. There is an organized effort to return what was once Capital’s Utopia to the original beauty is presented.
In our little community here in Massachusetts we should look at our streets and our trees and make a commitment to replace every one that dies with one that will grow over the years to provide a replacement for future generations to enjoy. We need to commit to doing all we can to save the ones we have.
When I sit in my backyard and look up at the towering branches, the beautiful green leaves and the way my trees reach for the sky, it seems ennobling. In the fall, these huge trees provide a palette of color that is a gift to my family and me. While winter leaves the branches bare and unattractive, the periodic snowfall that covers them in white provides a winter wonderland outside my windows.
I have to tell you that when I see a large stump in my yard, or along one of our streets, I do think about what the tree that once grew there must have looked like. And then I wonder why someone hasn’t renewed life in that spot, with another tree.
I do not particularly like poetry so it is certain that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. But I am an unrepentant fan of trees and I hope this little piece will encourage my readers to take a good look at the trees around them, trim when trimming is needed, insist that our elected officials keep our town green with trees and shrubs, and congratulate those good people who every year plant flowers and help to make our public areas more attractive.
In the end, your life will be more pleasant when you are surrounded by this kind of natural beauty, your home’s resell value will increase, and small and big businesses looking at our town as a place for investment will be more likely to want to move here.
The tree problem in Winchendon may be solved by the time this column is in print. Today’s column speaks to the broader issue of our husbandry of the beauty around us.
Friday, October 9, 2009
NOBLE NOBEL?
Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
WHAT FOR?
Since Alfred Nobel provided for The Nobel Prizes, The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 89 times to 119 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2008.
Between 1901 and 2001 the Nobel Committee has received 4,857 nominations of individuals for consideration.
Winners of the Peace Prize rarely come as a surprise. They traditionally are men and women or organizations whose work has been extensive, demonstrated over time, and generally agreed to be worthy.
Some examples of Peace Prize winners just since 1984 include Al Gore and the subject of climate change, Jimmy Carter and his work at mediation, the United Nations and Secretary General Kofi Annan, Doctors without Borders, the Campaign to Ban Landmines, Nelson Mandela who’s 28 years in prison brought an end to apartheid in South Africa, the Dali Llama, Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The reader would be right to assume almost all the other winners are of equal importance, made enormous contributions and had measurable results.
And now joining that distinguished list of laureates comes Barack Obama, the newly announced Nobel Laureate.
The nominations closed just weeks after his inauguration. Whatever nominating papers were in hand at that time did not relate to anything he did while President of the United States. So the committee should have been considering what he did prior to his election. If they wanted to cheat a bit, they could look at this first year in office. That is the sum total of his file, to be weighed against a lot of people that quickly come to mind who should have been far ahead of him in line for consideration.
With this in mind, it would be fair to say he may well be the least qualified person every to be selected, a person whose contributions may be many and lasting but are in the future, and a person whose selection will bring serious questions about the entire Nobel process.
A reasonable person would ask: what was the hurry? There are thousands of men, women and organizations whose considerable and measurable work for peace has gone unrecognized all these many years.
I believe President Barack Obama could be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in the future, at a time when few would question whether it was deserved.
To his credit, I think President Obama was as shocked as the world when his name was announced. His friends, supporters, colleagues detractors and others had a similar response to the news:
“WHAT FOR?”
…Jackson Blair
WHAT FOR?
Since Alfred Nobel provided for The Nobel Prizes, The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 89 times to 119 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2008.
Between 1901 and 2001 the Nobel Committee has received 4,857 nominations of individuals for consideration.
Winners of the Peace Prize rarely come as a surprise. They traditionally are men and women or organizations whose work has been extensive, demonstrated over time, and generally agreed to be worthy.
Some examples of Peace Prize winners just since 1984 include Al Gore and the subject of climate change, Jimmy Carter and his work at mediation, the United Nations and Secretary General Kofi Annan, Doctors without Borders, the Campaign to Ban Landmines, Nelson Mandela who’s 28 years in prison brought an end to apartheid in South Africa, the Dali Llama, Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The reader would be right to assume almost all the other winners are of equal importance, made enormous contributions and had measurable results.
And now joining that distinguished list of laureates comes Barack Obama, the newly announced Nobel Laureate.
The nominations closed just weeks after his inauguration. Whatever nominating papers were in hand at that time did not relate to anything he did while President of the United States. So the committee should have been considering what he did prior to his election. If they wanted to cheat a bit, they could look at this first year in office. That is the sum total of his file, to be weighed against a lot of people that quickly come to mind who should have been far ahead of him in line for consideration.
With this in mind, it would be fair to say he may well be the least qualified person every to be selected, a person whose contributions may be many and lasting but are in the future, and a person whose selection will bring serious questions about the entire Nobel process.
A reasonable person would ask: what was the hurry? There are thousands of men, women and organizations whose considerable and measurable work for peace has gone unrecognized all these many years.
I believe President Barack Obama could be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in the future, at a time when few would question whether it was deserved.
To his credit, I think President Obama was as shocked as the world when his name was announced. His friends, supporters, colleagues detractors and others had a similar response to the news:
“WHAT FOR?”
Sunday, October 4, 2009
UNFOUNDED OPTIMISM
Unfounded Optimism
Today’s column takes me back to the economic crisis we have been facing. I continue to be very pessimistic about a recovery being “just around the corner.”
When someone tells me that, I am tempted to ask “which corner” and how far away is the “corner”. Has anyone actually looked around the “corner” to see if a recovery is really there.
Some time ago the government passed a huge handout bill. They called it a stimulus. Getting money into the hands of the people was so serious they delayed vacation time to be certain to vote on it. This was pretty impressive.
Ever wonder where that money went and how stimulating it has been?
I refer you to www.Recovery.gov the U.S. government's official website providing easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending and reporting. For those of you who really want to study this the site will give you a great deal of factual information and send you to the medicine cabinet in your bathroom for some Pepto Bismal.
The government announced that they would find someway to stimulate our economy and avert disaster by spending, roughly,
$239, 427, 000,000! (Be sure and count the zeros!)
Now keeping in mind how serious this situation was, you will probably be mind boggled to learn that according to the government site they still have NOT paid out :
$207,282.000,000!
So if the average citizen is wondering why they are not seeing or feeling a recovery, wondering about the sense of urgency, and hoping for the best, he will be once again find that the wheels of government do indeed move slowly. In fact, he might wonder if they move at all. Send someone at once for the WD-40!
Here is a little chart from the government site that shows you where some of the money is located. Please let me know when you see any of it coming your way.
Department of Health and Human Services
$32,492,039,173
2. Department of Labor
$26,304,687,495
3. Department of Education
$19,588,109,131
4. Social Security Administration
$13,226,386,752
5. Department of Agriculture
$4,881,490,757
6. Department of Transportation
$3,144,716,111
7. Department of Housing and Urban Development
$1,511,778,929
8. Department of the Treasury
$1,202,052,720
9. Department of Justice
$1,159,402,537
10. Department of Energy
$723,101,786
The New York Times reports that 263,000 jobs were lost in the month of September alone and that this lifted the unemployment rate to 9.8% This news from the government will undermine an economic recovery according to economists.
Brilliant deduction! Fantastic insight! Boy are we lucky to have those fellows working for us down there in DC and keeping us posted on trends.
Broadcast news and print news naturally want to bring us the good news on the economy. I acknowledge that there is often good news. But as in any equation, the good news has to be considered along with the bad news and then a summary position articulated.
Good news: some stocks are increasing in value
Question: are more stocks increasing than decreasing?
Good news: the government is investing in the economy
Question: based on their own figures, when do we get the remaining money.
Next question: looking at even a low interest rate on that amount of cash, how much is the uninvested portion of the stimulus earning the government each day? And will they give that to the people, too? Those of you who believe that, come to a meeting at the back of the cemetery at 2AM next Tuesday where we will plan how to spend it.
Good news: some companies have been able to bring back laid off workers.
Question: how many companies have not increased employment and isn’t it obvious with the unemployment statistics that things are getting worse, not better?
Good news: there has been an uptick in the housing market.
Question: so the price I could get for my house is more this year than last, but still a great deal less than I could have gotten three years ago, and maybe not enough to cover the remaining balance on the mortgage loan. Why celebrate a modest uptick before it becomes a return to normal?
Readers, I have some bad news for you.
Housing prices have not returned to where they should be.
Stocks have not recovered the value they lost.
More people are out of work every day.
The government has kept the largest portion of the money they told us would be used to help us.
And in today's news is a report that The World Bank could be out of money in 12 months!
Feel free to call it a recovery if that is what floats your boat!
I will call it a fiscal disaster.
Today’s column takes me back to the economic crisis we have been facing. I continue to be very pessimistic about a recovery being “just around the corner.”
When someone tells me that, I am tempted to ask “which corner” and how far away is the “corner”. Has anyone actually looked around the “corner” to see if a recovery is really there.
Some time ago the government passed a huge handout bill. They called it a stimulus. Getting money into the hands of the people was so serious they delayed vacation time to be certain to vote on it. This was pretty impressive.
Ever wonder where that money went and how stimulating it has been?
I refer you to www.Recovery.gov the U.S. government's official website providing easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending and reporting. For those of you who really want to study this the site will give you a great deal of factual information and send you to the medicine cabinet in your bathroom for some Pepto Bismal.
The government announced that they would find someway to stimulate our economy and avert disaster by spending, roughly,
$239, 427, 000,000! (Be sure and count the zeros!)
Now keeping in mind how serious this situation was, you will probably be mind boggled to learn that according to the government site they still have NOT paid out :
$207,282.000,000!
So if the average citizen is wondering why they are not seeing or feeling a recovery, wondering about the sense of urgency, and hoping for the best, he will be once again find that the wheels of government do indeed move slowly. In fact, he might wonder if they move at all. Send someone at once for the WD-40!
Here is a little chart from the government site that shows you where some of the money is located. Please let me know when you see any of it coming your way.
Department of Health and Human Services
$32,492,039,173
2. Department of Labor
$26,304,687,495
3. Department of Education
$19,588,109,131
4. Social Security Administration
$13,226,386,752
5. Department of Agriculture
$4,881,490,757
6. Department of Transportation
$3,144,716,111
7. Department of Housing and Urban Development
$1,511,778,929
8. Department of the Treasury
$1,202,052,720
9. Department of Justice
$1,159,402,537
10. Department of Energy
$723,101,786
The New York Times reports that 263,000 jobs were lost in the month of September alone and that this lifted the unemployment rate to 9.8% This news from the government will undermine an economic recovery according to economists.
Brilliant deduction! Fantastic insight! Boy are we lucky to have those fellows working for us down there in DC and keeping us posted on trends.
Broadcast news and print news naturally want to bring us the good news on the economy. I acknowledge that there is often good news. But as in any equation, the good news has to be considered along with the bad news and then a summary position articulated.
Good news: some stocks are increasing in value
Question: are more stocks increasing than decreasing?
Good news: the government is investing in the economy
Question: based on their own figures, when do we get the remaining money.
Next question: looking at even a low interest rate on that amount of cash, how much is the uninvested portion of the stimulus earning the government each day? And will they give that to the people, too? Those of you who believe that, come to a meeting at the back of the cemetery at 2AM next Tuesday where we will plan how to spend it.
Good news: some companies have been able to bring back laid off workers.
Question: how many companies have not increased employment and isn’t it obvious with the unemployment statistics that things are getting worse, not better?
Good news: there has been an uptick in the housing market.
Question: so the price I could get for my house is more this year than last, but still a great deal less than I could have gotten three years ago, and maybe not enough to cover the remaining balance on the mortgage loan. Why celebrate a modest uptick before it becomes a return to normal?
Readers, I have some bad news for you.
Housing prices have not returned to where they should be.
Stocks have not recovered the value they lost.
More people are out of work every day.
The government has kept the largest portion of the money they told us would be used to help us.
And in today's news is a report that The World Bank could be out of money in 12 months!
Feel free to call it a recovery if that is what floats your boat!
I will call it a fiscal disaster.
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