The intent of this blog is to promote human equality, human progress, human peace and justice, and optimism. To accomplish this, to encourage the discussion of ideas after identifying and discovering problems, and then creating positive solutions for "we the people," in order to provide for the "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility" of America now and its "posterity" into the future. To encourage an emphasis on separation of religion and state for all, no matter if this is for those "of faith" in a Maker / Creator (Deists, God-loving people, Christians, various people of spirituality) and atheists or agnostics.

Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Mr. Steves and Humanism

Rick Steves’s Best of Europe. Very educational program about Europe. Have learned many things about Europe, such as the Burgundy area of France. Love the wine from this area. I learned how the soil makes the flavor of the wind. Makes sense, but had never thought about it before.

Learned about the 100-year war along the Dordogne River in France. Learned about force-feeding of geese to produce the precious livers for a pate which is delightful among many people.

My disappointment? When Mr. Steves described the Cathars who were wiped out entirely by genocide of the Roman Catholics, he described the Cathars as “heretical” Christians. He took on the “norm” of the Roman Catholic faith which is wrong. By speaking with this tone of face, he encourages Trump and MAGA folk plus the billionaire Christians of mega churches and Roman Catholic bishops and others in encouraging them to move forward with murder of the LGBTQ folk. I find this disgusting and repulsive.

First of all, the Cathars, like the LGBTQ today, are only 10% of the population. They are not a large enough portion to impact all. The LGBTQ know how to love fellow human beings and have fellow feeling for one another than most of the population. So, if 10% of the population can influence others about love one another, what the hell is wrong with that? They don’t FORCE people to believe what they do, but teach what true humanity is by means of example. Same as with Cathars.

Taking this one step forward, it is also important to recognize that the Cathars saw human beings in this manner. Materialism (love of money) as being evil and in opposition to the true Christianity taught by Jesus Christ: “love God… love your neighbor as yourself.” Love your self for who you are, not to be condemned by wicked ones who dwell on sin. Those who judge on the basis of sin are the lovers of money and materialism who wish to control the population so as to maintain their own materialistic values.

I would argue there are more passages in the scriptures which talk about love of money as being the root of all evil than about homosexuality. Jesus Christ became VIOLENTLY angered at the money changers in the temple for making “His father’s house a den of thieves.” Paul explains to Timothy that “love of money is the root of all evil.” Paul may have quoted a passage from Leviticus about “men sleeping with men,” but only to convince the Gentile pagan-worshiping crowds that having sex in the pagan temple is wrong. And a local Baptist church had a pastor caught having sex with a church woman on the pews of the church, but will condemn homosexuals who are recognized by another denomination.

In all these examples, the heretics are not people like the Cathars who chose humanism over materialism, but like the wealthy fat pigs and an oligarchy which resemble the “dukes, lords, popes, and bishops” of Medieval days (and beyond) who worked to control the masses by falsely proclaiming who are the heretics. Because after all, to have a “divine right,” as they claimed, they could not possibly be heretics. Which is the reason the Founding Fathers created the United States of America. Now. Stop the brainwashing that violence and guns are better than views about anti-vanity love and sex which are more civilized.

Mr. Steves. I think you need to re-think how you present some of the religious information because you have a tone of a homophobe who thinks gay folk are “heretics.” Get a life, Mr. Steves. We enjoy your documentary educational presentations otherwise.

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Education, History & Genealogy, Religion, Television & Radio Reviews

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I am Who I am and Proud to be Who I am

I am gay and knew it from a young age, but was bullied by many to reject who I am because I did not play sports as a “man” could. Yet, I was part of a championship football team (JV) in high school.

My JV football coach was also my 7th grade New York State History teacher. I learned from him regarding history. I learned from him regarding football. 

I am a Christian, raised in a Protestant denomination. With today being Ash Wednesday, I am reminded of the football coach who boarded in our home. When I was a kid, he came home after attending the local Roman Catholic Church. He had ashes on his forehead in the sign of the cross. I had never seen that before. I went over and asked him what that was about. My mother was embarrassed that I would ask or, as she said, “bother” him about that. But he was not the least bit bothered and explained to me what the ashes were about. Our Protestant church in Newark Valley never had an Ash Wednesday service like that. But the UCC I attended in Florida DID have an Ash Wednesday service and I received my ashes, while participating in the choir in that church. The service followed a dinner of homemade soups made by members of the congregation. 

I am who I am.

The basketball coach who boarded at the the same time as the football coach introduced me to the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Did you know that paper burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit? The story was about a time in the future when firemen were not used to protect us from burning homes, but to burn books which were not pleasing to some people. The basketball coach gave me a copy of that book. 

The basketball coach also gave me a copy about a white man who lived among a black community so as to discover how black folk were treated in the South. The book was titled, Black Like Me. 

These coaches were borders at our house in Apr. 1968 when Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , was shot down in cold blood. Sad that I was exposed to so many people in our school and community who rejoiced at the murder of MLK. I did not know how to accept it all. So, I asked the basketball coach whether it was right for people to rejoice at the death of a black man. He answered my question with a question. His question for me, to get me thinking, was this: ”What do you think?” I thought and thought and replied with, “I don’t think it is very good for anyone to kill another nor to even rejoice over it.” To which the basketball coach said, “I think you answered your own question correctly.”

From that point forward, to the day I heard the song “Who Am I?” in Les Miz, to today, I am always willing to take responsibility for mistakes I might make.

This is a long-winded approach to say this. Several days back, I wrote a review of a local production of Cabaret, which I had really enjoyed and appreciated. I take responsibility for the errors in that review. Not errors in what I said or the references provided. Errors in my writing. Run-on sentences, for instance. I had written the review so quickly and had to deal with so many problems with the app with which I was using, that I just submitted it without a thorough review of it. Sad. 

I take responsibility, despite the fact that I COULD blame the technology. I LOVE to blame the technology. And today’s technology leaves a lot to be desired, from inept and non-intuitive phone apps and so forth, to stupid AI which makes changes I don’t want, to many other ineptitudes of technology. 

And some would think, to be a “man,” I need to hide my mistakes and lie. That is very unacceptable to me. 

So, I am who I am. Trying to be an honest man who seeks quality in life, even though the fat pigs of big corporate supply-side companies deny us quality control and don’t know what it means to analyze quality control. So that so many common folk have no idea what quality control is and then finds some way to blame me and others when we seek it. 

Perhaps I will have a chance to re-do that review of Cabaret and correct errors such as run-on sentences. At least I did NOT use foul language in it. And words of my analysis will be the same. I just need to tweak it a bit. And perhaps this time around, I will learn something and do something different. I might use Microsoft Word to write it and then copy and paste it into the app! Humility begets learning and learning begets knowledge which begets wisdom. Seek wisdom, not certainty and life resulting humility would be better for all in America. 

My tastes are simple being satisfied with the best. (Attributed to Oscar Wilde).

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Commentary, Theatre reviews

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Review & Commentary: Gospel Live! – PBS Documentary – Monday, 12 Feb. 2024, WSKG Binghamton, NY

The documentary Gospel Live! Presented by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was especially interesting. Dr. Gates has been known for his PBS program, Finding Your Roots, which is broadcast on Tuesday evenings at 8 PM. We viewed the first part of Gospel Live! on Monday, 12 Feb. 2024, at 9 PM. 

The history of Black Gospel music was, as told by Dr. Gates, is an adventure into the creation of Gospel music back to its roots. Names such as Mahalia Jackson, Thomas Dorsey, Rev. C.L. Franklin and his daughter, Aretha Franklin, plus many more were presented with their stories in this genre of music. 

There was quite a bit of learning for me, by way of this documentary. For instance, I remember songs of Sam Cooke in the years before his murder in 1964. We enjoyed his singing and were saddened at his premature death at age 33. But the songs we remembered Sam Cooke were all secular. For the first time, I learned about his Black Gospel background, as he was the son of a Black pastor. 

As for Thomas Dorsey’s music, I recall singing in an all-white choir (the “frozen people” – meant as a joke). The conductor of the choir was a retired Potsdam College Crane School of Music choir director named Dr. Calvin Gage (I called Cal “Dr.” one time and he chided me, saying, “don’t ever call him Dr.”). He taught us to sing Thomas Dorsey’s song in 4-party harmony, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” In addition, he taught all of us white folk how to sway and clap to the music. You should have memorized the music to be able to clap, that is for sure! 

So, when I substituted as choir director at Union Congregational / UCC Church in West Palm Beach, FL, I taught this choir, a mixture of black and white folk, to clap and sway to the same music. Sadly, a truly “frozen person,” white from Georgia, refused to sway and clap and said so openly. I simply told the man that I was not going to force him to do it if he did not want to do it. His wife sang in the choir and gave him 1-2 for not cooperating. Still. I never force ANYONE to do ANYTHING. Unlike the bullying white racist 45 with the orange hair, with his bullying friends, wants to force all of us to have same beliefs as the SCOTUS justices and stupid white people in states like Mississippi have regarding abortions and other topics in which they invoke a belief of hatred towards one another, including KKK-like attitudes which once brought us Jim Crow. 

Enough said of that. I mention it out of my disgust that so many people attach themselves to orange 45 out of complete stupidity about how God loves ALL his children. This message comes through in the Black Gospel music, for sure.

The word for white folk, “frozen people,” came from teacher of Black Gospel music at the 2003 Berkshire Choral Festival in Sheffield, Massachusetts. In his class to mostly white folk, he joked around about how well all us “frozen people” did in learning Black Gospel music. Many of us laughed at it, but sadly, there were those in the crowd who got insulted at the joke. To them I say, “GET A LIFE.” As a matter of fact, separately, I told one white man he needed to “get a life” and stop being so obstinate when someone who is from a race of people who have suffered under Jim Crow to be able to joke in that manner. That teacher was John Wesley Wright, also a member of the United Church of Christ, professor of music at a university in Maryland, and one who had a role in Les Miserables. One of the violinists in the orchestra accompanying Les Miz was a former violinist in the Binghamton Philharmonic and was once a pastor of the First Congregational UCC Church in Newark Valley where I grew up. 

So, this documentary added quite a bit to my knowledge about Black Gospel music.

Union Congregational UCC Church is one of the first churches established in West Palm Beach. When it began, it was an all-white church, but over time, it has evolved into a multi-cultural church and has made me a happy person to worship and praise God in such an environment with so much energy, something us “frozen people” never had in the old white churches. 

The other “first church” of West Palm Beach was Bethany Baptist Church, an all-black church. When Union Congregational and Bethany Baptist got together to do a service, with both choirs singing, we did praise the LORD greatly! It was exciting to see that Gospel choir at Bethany sing as they memorized everything they did for God. I truly loved it. I truly learned about how we can let excitement into our worship and praise! 

When I taught Music Appreciation at a college in Palm Beach County, the curriculum touched on jazz figures such as Bessie Smith, John Coltrane, and others. We touched on an African-American classical composer named William Grant Still. But sadly, I have to say we never touched on ANY Gospel music, only the old religious stuff such as Gregorian chant and so forth. 

I had begun writing a textbook for Music Appreciation to be designed on concepts, not historical sequence. I was going to include a part, under sacred and religious music, about Gospel music. I never got far enough with the book, so it never got published. 

In those classes, we utilized DVDs produced by modern-day British composer and music teacher, Howard Goodall. In his video of 20th Century jazz, he discussed how the public would not have come to know jazz and other forms of African-American music had it not been for the recording industry and radio in the 20th Century. Up to that point, everyone stuck to their own culture and remained in a traditionalist “box,” refusing to go outside the box. I believe what we see today is a “counter-revolution” within our cultures and inspires the “culture wars” and systemic racism which is pushing orange 45 to brainwashing so many people who are white and feel as if they have been “victimized.” 

Baloney. I never felt victimized, even when I was in a mixed race group of kids (n the 7th grade) in a UCC church camp south of Buffalo, NY, just after the race riots in the cities of upstate NY. But there were lousy white bullies my age at that camp who really did throw the first stone against some really nice black kids who were not looking for trouble. Curse on the white bullies because they know not what they do. Oh, that’s right. Jesus said, “forgive them Father for they know not what to do!” I forgot. Easy to do when dealing with bullies. And believe me. As a young gay kid, I had to deal with plenty of bullies in the white community. I guess we gay kids “victimized” the bullies. Gee. I don’t recall victimizing them, but if anyone was “victimized,” it was me as I was sometimes called a sissy because I never played sports the way A MAN should play them. 

Let me move on. 

In Music Appreciation classes we taught about the melisma and melismatic forms in Anglo music from Britain, namely Handel (but others). So when I heard one of the interviewees mention Mahalia Jackson and others using melismas in their Gospel music, it was the first time I gave that genre of music consideration as being melismatic! The only comment about this is that the word was just put out there for the audience to hear and there was never any definition of what the melismatic style is. And this was a white man using the term melismatic. For me, I understood. For most in the TV audience, I doubt they would know, unless trained in music. Melismas used to do “word painting” in Messiah are those such as “the refiner’s fire” or “hills and valleys” where the melisma goes up for a hill and down for a valley. The voice might sound as if it is “trembling,” as one author put it. 

My own experiences with West Palm Beach’s Union Congregational and Bethany Baptist involve one woman and her mother who were from Bethany, but attended Union Congregational The woman was a soprano soloist in the Union Congregational. When her mother died, there were several of us from Union Congregational, all white, who attended the funeral at Bethany Baptist. We witnessed the extemporaneous singing by the deceased person’s daughter, near her mother’s casket. What I saw exemplified what I have now learned in this documentary about message and song being together. Sermon and song together. So I could relate to what Dr. Gates was presenting in this documentary. In fact, when I did the eulogy at my mom’s funeral at First Congregational UCC Church of Newark Valley, NY, I felt the urge to sing extemporaneously at the end of the eulogy. I went to my mother’s casket and began to sing Josh Groban’s “To Where You Are.” I had learned that Groban had composed that song when his grandmother died. I had been practicing a number of songs by Groban and that one really tugged at me that day in Newark Valley. So I sang it. I was doing as this black friend had done in a black church and the funeral of her mother, at Bethany Baptist. I was not singing a Gospel song. But I was singing something which was in my mind at that time with regard to where my mother was at that time. the concept was the same, but the music was slightly different. ”

I feel blessed at having those experiences with black music and the ones, both black and white, who taught us “frozen people” about what the African-American experience with Gospel music is all about. It explains why, as a child, I was really enamored with Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and others. Add to that, jazz artists like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Dizzie Gillespie, and Sam Cooke, plus many others. Or rock legends such as Stevie Wonder (“Songs in the Key of Life”), Lionel Richie (“We are the World”), Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones (“Thriller”), Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, etc.

I am blessed because I had all these experiences in my life and will always be grateful and appreciative for the path in life which brought me to many such experiences. Every day, I try to begin my day singing several songs such as “Good Morning to You,” “This is the Day the Lord has Made,” and a Gospel song I heard on this episode that we learned at Union Congregational UCC in West Palm Beach: “I woke up this morning with my mind, set on Jesus… set on love of neighbor… Hallelu – Hallelu — Halleluuuu- jah.”

Listening to the two women, one with a guitar, singing Gospel, at the very end of Monday’s episode, I really got a sensation that God IS by my side. That it is more than just memorizing the verse in Psalm 23 about “… for thou art with me.” I am saddened about the number of people who never learn about this nor even want to be bothered by it. All of this and the excitement there is in worshiping and praising God Almighty!

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Ti-Ahwaga Community Players and Cabaret, 3 Feb 2023

Ti-Ahwaga Community Players production of Cabaret, at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center, Owego, NY, was a wonderful experience this past Saturday evening, 3 Feb. 2024, following a wonderful dinner with friends at Ernesto’s in Owego, NY. 

Ryan Canavan, as Emcee or Master of Ceremony, did a great job in portraying this elusive character with the wonderful excitement, as it should be. 

Same can be said about the British character, Sally Bowles, played by Ilana Rose Wallenstein, Sally Bowles. ”The character of Sally Bowles was based upon Jean Ross, a British cabaret singer with whom Isherwood lived as a room-mate in Weimar-era Berlin.” (Reference: Cabaret: 1972 film (n.d.). Wikipedia. Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(1972_film).

Andrew Mextorf who played the American from Harrisburg, PA, Clifford Bradshaw, also portrayed this character in a top-notch personification. The character of Bradshaw is modeled after author, Christopher Isherwood’s “semi-autobiographical novel,” Goodbye to Berlin which is the basis of this musical. The novel “recounts [Isherwood’s] time in 1930s pre-Nazi Berlin.” (Reference: 50 years of Cabaret, 2016, Playbill, Website: https://www.playbill.com/article/50-years-of-cabaret-the-surprisingly-transformative-jo). In one sense, I kept thinking of Bradshaw not being Clifford, but Christopher. 

On November 16, 1966, Cabaret opened on Broadway with Joel Grey and Peg Murray (Reference: 50 years of Cabaret (2016, Nov. 20). Playbill, Website: https://www.playbill.com/article/50-years-of-cabaret-the-surprisingly-transformative-journey-of-a-classic) headlining the show. 

In later productions, Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli played the leading roles (“Me no leica,” (2013, Oct. 5), RegenAxe [blog]. Website: https://regenaxe.com/2013/10/05/me-no-leica/).

In 2002, John Stamos of TV’s Full House, played the role of Emcee (Reference: Gans, A. (2002, Apr. 2). Playbill. Website: https://www.playbill.com/article/tvs-john-stamos-joins-the-cabaret-april-29-com-104810).

There have been others.

Cabaret, the movie, was released in 1972, with Bob Fosse as choreographer (Reference: Cabaret: 1972 film (n.d.). Wikipedia. Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(1972_film)).

Another bit of history about Cabaret (Reference: Cabaret: 1972 film (n.d.). Wikipedia. Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(1972_film)).

By the time Adolf Hitler implemented the Enabling Act of 1933 which cemented his dictatorship, Isherwood, Ross, Spender, and others had fled Germany and returned to England.[24][16][17] Many of the Berlin cabaret denizens befriended by Isherwood would later flee abroad[25]: 164–166  or perish in concentration camps.[25]: 150, 297 [26]: 74–81  These factual events served as the genesis for Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles which was later adapted into the 1955 film I Am a Camera and the 1966 Cabaret musical.[23][27]

In a review of the musical, New York Times reviewer, Walter Kerr, wrote, “me no leica.” (“Me no leica,” (2013, Oct. 5), RegenAxe [blog]. Website: https://regenaxe.com/2013/10/05/me-no-leica/). I do not agree with such detractors who also claimed the book by Isherwood was titled, Goodbye Berlin, not Sally Bowles.

The remainder of this Ti-Awhaga cast was phenomenal. The dance numbers were well choreographed and synchronized very well. The movement in and out of the audience as if we are part of the Kit Kat Club being portrayed in the musical was also quite likable by this audience member. The lighting and stage design also worked well. The orchestra was also very interesting. 

The one thing I would say, “me no leica” was the balance between the sound of the singers and the orchestra. The orchestra often overpowered the singers and it was difficult to hear them. It seemed as if there was a slight improvement following intermission, but to this member of the audience, I think the contrast could have been even better. 

My final words are “me leica.” And certainly, I recommend others attend so as to learn from history what happens when a dictator was on the rise in Germany, in order to stop such a thing, at all costs, remembering, unlike the Germans that the opposition to the dictator was not bad at all, but slander, libel and lies were used in Nazi Germany, as the eventual German “Propaganda Minister,” Goebbels, used a method of glorifying individualism with hearsay and repeatedly telling lies until they became the truth. 

Goebbels quotes:

Goebbels: ”A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”

Goebbels: ”If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.“

Goebbels: “If you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth.“

Goebbels: “If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes accepted as truth.“

Goebbels: “The age of hairsplitting Jewish intellectualism is dead… The past lies in flames.“

All of this represent a prequel to a Holocaust. This was well represented for those who wish to learn from history and learn how to stop such a thing. Learn it from the Ti-Awhaga Community Players and their production of Cabaret. 

For this audience member, “me leica.” 

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History & Genealogy, human-rights, Theatre reviews

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New York Times Book Review (17 Dec. 2023): The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived – Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

The book, The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson, Jr and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age (by Ralph Watson McElvenny and Marc Wortman) is about Thomas J. Watson, Jr., but also includes information about his upbringing under IBM founder, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and the Watson family. Senior is not presented in the best light and Junior is presented as quite a rebel who initially had no interest in taking the reigns at IBM. 

The review was published in the New York Times Book Review on 17 Dec. 2023. The byline is Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, New York City. Mr. Wu also recently published, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age. We are enticed to purchase both Wu’s book and the book he reviewed.

Much of what Wu writes here makes sense. For instance, he says the title of the book should not be about the “greatest capitalist,” but about the “greatest manager.” The reason is the ability of Junior to delegate rather than dictate. Junior accomplished a great deal at IBM, due to this approach. From the time I led groups as a teen to today, I have always tried to delegate and it works better than fighting between several groups because they “step on each other’s toes.” It was taught to me by my mother, who also had been a leader in our community and church. And I really agree that Junior is not the greatest capitalist who ever lived. In agreement with reviewer Wu, I think there are others who fit the bill for being the greatest capitalist, better than Junior. And many who are made out to be the best capitalist are the ones who only support supply-side Reaganomics and the trusts and monopolies which are evidently discussed in Wu’s book about the “curse of bigness.” Texas big really is bad for America, its commerce, and our economy. Sounds as if me and Wu are in agreement. But I need to read his book.

Related to this idea of bigness is what is learned by Wu in his review regarding AT&T pulling out of the computer business in the 1950s. However, it should be added that, after Junior, IBM became a model of “bigness” so strong that it controlled Reagan and our government. When the personal computer was introduced, AT&T, developer of the Unix operating system at Bell Labs, wanted to enter the PC market. According to a colleague in the corporation where I once worked in Florida, AT&T had a plan to use Unix as an operating system and work from the model of rental of telephones used to introduce PCs. In other words, like phones, AT&T’s vision was to rent computers for the home which would be run by a far superior operating system called Unix. Many people agree that Unix (now Linux) is better than the IBM / Microsoft DOS / Windows operating systems. 

Computer science professors I know are in agreement because Unix is a tight system, whereas the Microsoft “code” is too open and easily changed, thus PCs can be sabotaged too easily. The claim made by such professors was that Unix run by AT&T would be harder to sabotage and PC users would not have as much responsibility to watch over the code on their own computer. 

But why did IBM’s PC begin to predominate and AT&T once again, in the late 1980s, abandoned the market to IBM. Reagan supply-side economics and his friendly relations with GE and IBM. Reagan. The man who said in his 1981 inaugural address that “government is the problem.” Reagan pushed for government deregulation and supply-side economics which help create the “bigness” we see today in monopolistic style trusts. But in 1984, he pushed government to be involved in business, something he proclaimed should not be happening. Reagan. A big liar and hypocrite. 

In 1984, Reagan broke up AT&T. Reagan had the government choose between AT&T and IBM. As a result he forced control of big business be put in one company. He got the government involved rather than allow “free market” to take force. 

I had learned FORTRAN and COBOL while taking computer science courses at SUNY Utica/Rome. At the time, I was working for an U.S. Air Force contract at Griffiss Air Force base in Rome, NY. 

I also took courses learning how to use a DEC PDP-11. I learned Assembly Language on the PDP-11. I also learned Unix because the PDP-11 minicomputer utilized Unix. Sadly, DEC executives made the statement, something involved with really cuckoo vision of the future: that computers would never be used in the home! Where is DEC today?  

When employed by an “IBM shop” in Florida, I found out I was working in a division of the corporation with a vice-president who was pushing Unix and a minicomputer called the Fortune computer. My colleague was working on this and tried to convince this person (me) who has had many friends at IBM, that Unix was better and I needed to use the Fortune machine. At the time, I was not convinced, but I did something many people today refuse to do: I LISTENED to my colleague. In one sense, he made sense and I am open-minded, described by many as “thinking outside the box,” as one of my good characteristics. 

I began at the corporation before Reagan destroyed AT&T. After the destruction of AT&T, the vice-president for whom me and my colleague worked was forced to give up the Fortune Unix machine. In the process, the VP over IT decided to take my colleague into his organization, in return for allowing my VP’s organization to purchase IBM PCs and software with a Novell LAN. Ironically, in later years Novell became involved with Unix when AT&T no longer worked with it from Bell Labs. The full details of the tumultuous history of Unix can be found at a Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix 

When I learned to use the IBM PCs with the Bill Gates (Microsoft) DOS / Windows environments, and having knowledge of Unix from my days of learning the system in upstate New York at SUNY, I found that my colleague was correct. The problem was I listened, but never took him seriously. Sadly, that is exactly how I get treated when I write and discuss many matters pertaining to our lives. No listening, only everyone thinking they are experts who dig in their heals thinking they are better than what I have to say. On the Air Force base, we often had a word for experts: ”drips under pressure.” Too many today who are like that, sad to say. 

After all, we all have something to offer to the lives in our community of people and to society. If one is in error, then it is best for that one person to acknowledge being in error, not cling to it like a “drip under pressure.” 

Related to this book is information from a documentary about Thomas J. Watson, Sr. He pulled himself up from his bootstraps, beginning with nothing, as he grew up here in upstate New York. While working for NCR, he worked to put competitors out of business. The Federal Justice system of regulation, pretty much begun by “trust buster” Teddy Roosevelt, called NCR to task for working to eliminate competition. Watson, Sr., almost ended up in jail, as other executives who were caught doing destruction to competitors. 

Some see this impact on Sr. as a learning experience, as he created IBM. In other words, when faced with jail, he did not dig in his heals, but went along. This is very unlike Trump today who simply digs in his heals for the wrongs he has done in attempting to work against the U.S. Constitution and inspire an insurrection on 6 January 2021. He has even indicated he wishes to be a dictator over the USA. 

Interestingly enough, Trump liked hypocritical Reagan who claimed government should not be involved in business and then got involved, on the side of IBM, in 1984, in destroying IBM’s competition. What if AT&T had NOT been destroyed and did have the opportunity to compete with IBM with phone systems which would be rented. Apple and the Smartphone eventually gave us something akin to “rental,” when we pay those huge costs to purchase a phone over time. I find it awful and would prefer having the AT&T model with Unix, as was a plan in the 1980s. But we will never know about the “what if….” will we? 

However, I look forward to reading this book about Thomas J. Watson, Jr. I agree with the reviewer, Wu, that Jr. might just be the best “manager,” but not the best capitalist. 

I also look forward to reading Wu’s book about ‘the curse of bigness” and what happens with anti-trust in the “gilded age.”

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Book Reviews, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce

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Comment about book review of THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVITUDE: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission, by Mark Leibovich

Dear Editors:

Kevin McCarthy and other followers of tRUMP exemplify one thing which is dangerous for America and its democracy.  They follow the model of Machiavelli. The idea is that do anything necessary in order to make “the ends justify the means.”  Does not matter whether its a matter of trouncing on ethics, morals, lies, hypocrisy, or corruption. Do it because the “ends justifies the means.” 

Then there are those who simply follow along in submission because they are gay and prefer to remain in the closet while being blackmailed into submission.

What a shame that we have these things happening today with the prospect of stupidity to support such people and destroy this nation and its democracy.  After all, “we the people” don’t count in such a parade of hypocrisy with dictators who promote the model of Machiavelli. In other words, Machiavellian types leading the mesmerized lemmings over the cliff. 

Douglas W. Cornwell

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Book Reviews, Commentary, Political Commentary

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Books Reviewed: Slave Empire: How Slavery Built Modern Britain (Seamlan) & Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain (Sanghera) (7 Apr. 2022)

Dear Editors:

These books have a tone that commerce improved for Britain, due to slavery. This might be true. However, is this the only consideration for the advancement of commerce in Britain?

It would be interesting to compare the profits made by slavery to the reparations paid to slave owners when slavery ended and no reparations to the descendants of those who were most hurt by slavery.

It would be interesting to consider the commerce, over time, which resulted from Britain accepting Jewish people into its nation, when other nations of Europe, such as Spain, were rejecting the Jews. In light of this, one has to wonder about the end of slavery in Mexico, after Britain ended the slave trade, which led Texas to seek independence from Mexico, started the Mexican-American War, and eventually joining with the USA, due to the continuing slavery in the Southern area of the USA. Perhaps loss of life due to war is of no importance to the authors of these books? Not only in the Mexican-American War, but also in the American Civil War, Jim Crow lynchings, and other acts to lose life.  Anti-abortionists like to put forth a TV commercial about the loss of life of those aborted from the womb, but what about the loss of good lives of people who could have helped with American commerce and ingenuity, due to these wars and racial bigotry which one would want to spit on.

It would be interesting to consider the commerce, over time, due to Britain, for accepting Huguenots and others who were terrorized in Europe by the Roman Catholic Church. 

It would be interesting to compare the use of indentured servants to expand commerce in the USA by way of infrastructure improvements.  This would include the immigrants given a free ride to New York and, as indentured servants, helped open waterways with the Erie Canal which resulted in one of the biggest commercial centers in the world:  New York City.  Or with Carnegie and the building of the rail system across this nation in which Chinese and other Asians were used to build the infrastructure for the rail system.  They were not black, so were given freedom after a length of time (typically seven years).  This is mentioned due to the fact that it was soon after the British colonists in America succeeded in throwing off the British.  Yet, in 1807, Britain ended the slave trade. 

It would be interesting to consider the cost of human injustice, due to the enslavement of a group of people.  Such injustice would rip away at the commerce Britain had in Barbados and other locations for which Britain had happiness of commerce, while people suffered. 

America and other Western nations have shed the ideas of the “norm” that money comes before human justice. In actuality, these “norms” are held in esteem and pushes Americans down from being able to challenge these “norms.” In the end, slavery and commerce by means of money coming before human beings is a form of corruption, but people are too afraid to put it this way, are they not?

Simply said, these books enlighten us on how much money was made, due to slavery.  The books ignore the fact that such actions are just as corrupt as allowing the war on drugs to continue unceasingly, in order to protect the wealthy corrupt bastards of the drug lords or drug “czars,” whether in the USA, Afghanistan, Russia, or elsewhere.  Americans are too accepting of the “norms” of corruption which I address. 

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is true whether it is white folks with power over Africans, in putting them on slave boats destined for other locations. It is communists in China and other ares of the world who forcefully re-locate citizens to other locations, for the sake of a love of money and commerce, over human beings and human justice.  It is the same thing as the genocide perpetrated by Hitler, Putin, Stalin, and others.  Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Destroy democracy and these folks achieve corrupt power absolutely. It needs to stop, ending this fascination of comparing commerce due to enslavement. 

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Book Reviews, Commentary, democracy, Economics, Regulated Capitalism, Commerce, human-rights

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PBS Frontline Report: Human beings do it better than computers

After spending today speaking with the scumbag automated system put in place by a huge corporation which caters to hedge hogs, greed, selfishness, and love of money, I ended the day by listening to the PBS Frontline report about the Boeing 737 Max. I come away scratching my head about the common thread which runs through my personal experience with an automated system and the deaths of 300+ people. My experience is not a life and death experience. But it does leave us feeling as if no one gives one damn about the time it takes humans to deal with automated systems which are really screwed up because the big fat pigs at the top, making 10005 plus more than what the ones at the top made in the 1970s by getting rid of human beings.

The automated systems being used on the aircraft are designed to take away the ability of human pilots to have better control over the aircraft. The digital parts then miscalculate and the planes go down, killing all passengers. Love of money, materialism, greed, individualistic fat pigs at the top, and selfishness override human beings. These guys do not give one damn about the people who died in those crashes. It was made very evident today.

The fat pigs at the top of huge corporate conglomerates which automate their customer services, from a newspaper media company to an electric utility to Internet service providers to mobile phone providers (and others), these pigs at the top are not being held accountable. It took an awful lot of corrupt handling of the FAA (by Boeing), over a long period of time, and investigative reporting which finally brought down the CEO at Boeing. FINALLY. 

And freaking Mitch McConnell works to make things even worse by using the money he made from taxpayers to suppress voters and taxpayers in various states because that is the only way such freaking Republicans know how to win an election. They cannot win on issues.  Whether politician like McConnell or the hedge hog big fat pigs, there is the similarity of a lack of concern for people, across the board.

Finally, in the end, the famiiies of those who died in the crashes won big money in a lawsuit. Another example of reactionary actions rather than tough proactive actions being taken by lawyers and politicians (as with personal injury lawsuits and workman’s comp) PRIOR to something like these events. The lousy deregulation environment for “free markets,” by Reagan, Republicans and freaking lousy Libertarians has brought this down on America today. I believe we need to stand up strongly and change to the proactive and dump the reactionary BS. The reactionary stuff is about awarding money, another example of love of money, rather than putting human interests first in a proactive manner.  Tell me. Exactly what good does it do for those people to NOT have their loved ones, but have money instead? You cannot take your toys to heaven, especially when humans are crating a hell on earth.

I have written about this theme over and over and over again. Yet, we see how hard it is to find a solution from crashes and come to a reactionary resolution. Also, how short will the memories of Americans be, after those who suffered, the victims and the families, get resolution. If one person suffers, we all suffer. When will Americans learn from what has happened and be more vocal about the suffering which has an impact on all of us? How long does it take for people to stand up and take the stand, rather than working with freaking lousy Republicans who are trying to repress the voting in America and don’t do one damn thing to solve the problems of America in a proactive way?

Furthermore, the Boeing executive did exactly what many healthcare workers have been doing to me and many of my diabetic friends. If the expensive medications don’t work, then blame the patients. Same thing at Boeing. Blame the human pilots when those pilots had their hands tied when trying to reverse the hellish thing the automated system was doing to the aircraft. Blame the humans because it costs less to take care of digital machines than it does to take care of human beings. Blame those who are victims of the process of giving only blanket solutions which might not work for some people on a one to one basis. Blame the demand side of the market, in favor of the freaking lousy Reagan attitude about supply side economics. How about if we hold the fat pigs at the top accountable more often? How about if we hold fat pig McConnell and the lousy Republican followers of Trump? How about if we hold THEM accountable for COVID-19 and the lack of putting forth a war on a pandemic?  Hospitals which transported patients to nursing homes across state lines are the responsibility of Trump and the lousy Republicans who go along with him and that lousy fascist leadership. They have no interest in human lives. Oh, that’s right. I already said that.

Why do my medications no longer work for me? The money used to pay for this crap, either by me or by way of Medicare, is being wasted when not working. Why?  In my early stages of type II diabetes, a doctor over-prescribed metformin and I was left with lactic acidosis. Lactic acidosis CAN BE FATAL. I count my blessings because, while it ended up giving me some heart problems, I survived. I am a survivor, but we are not talking about cancer. We are talking about the wrong dosage of prescriptions made by a medical doctor and never identified by a pharmacist. The net result was the hospital costs picked up by big insurance. Those costs COULD have been avoided.

Then, when endocrinologists began putting me on insulin, I took two dosages from two different injections each day. I was warned that my numbers might go to low so I should carry glucose tablets with me. How many times did I use those tablets? Zero times. My numbers never went down to hypoglycemic levels. Yet, there was more concern about that than to fix the problem as to why I rarely got my glucose levels below 100. Sure. My A1C did decrease. But my fat on my bones went up exponentially, from 220 up to nearly 280. Just look at the photos of me in 2016 and look at me today. Then to discover that one of the common effects of insulin is to give weight gain.
Today, I am off the insulin injections (Tresiba). By no longer injecting insulin and utilizing an injection of a medicine by Novo Nordisk, I was able to get my glucose levels down and took off enough weight to drop back down to the 220 range. But, I am on the plateau of 220 or so, as I have been for years and can never dispose of the fats on the abdomen. Research shows that fat on the abdomen is what blocks any insulin, even that produced by the body, in doing its job.

And my glucose levels seem to not be responding at all to all of the meds I am now taking. Thus, healthcare workers blame ME, as did the executive at Boeing blame the human pilots. Mr/Ms Healthcare Worker, I have been exercising and cannot drop the weight on the abdomen, so give me a suggestion for what I can do? Mr/Ms Healthcare Worker: “you are not doing enough.” It’s my fault – the fault of the patient, right? “You need to do situps.” I don’t do situps but regularly do standing up toe touchers and others to exercise the same as siups do. I sometimes do the situps, but if I cannot do them, I do the ones to exercise the abdomen in other ways. I ride a stationary bike and/or walk nearly every day. But. It’s my fault, don’t you know. I have heard other diabetics in Florida among the older population describe this situation, similar to mine, so I don’t speak alone.

After all. I am a human being and we need to blame human beings, right? Isn’t that what America has become? A nation which blames imperfect human beings and refusing to find rational solutions? After experiencing what I describe with my type II diabetes, what I experience with lousy customer service run by automated systems, and now what I heard tonight about what Boeing did (with influence over Congress and the FAA), I really am appalled when I add all of this up in America today. Then a Republican leadership unconcerned about the people of America and only about their pocketbooks with a love of money, I find it all very appalling, especially when stupid people wish to blame the Democrats. About the only Democrats i would blame is the bitch from Arizona and the blue dog from West Virginia. Arizona where the bitch is likely running scared at the voter suppression out there. Sorry. Perhaps I should not call her a bitch. One particular bitch out in Arizona is actually the leader of the Republican Party out there. She turns the Democrat out there into someone whom I call a bitch.

My hats off to those who did the story on Frontline. We need far more of those types of stories, especially stories to expose the corruption of Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership, plus Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis, and Marco Rubio of Florida. Rick Scott with a fifth. Methodist or not, he is an asshole. And the ones who cry “Marxist Democrats” are the ones who ARE the Marxists, as they push the lies of propaganda upon the population and call themselves Republicans when, indeed, they are doing what the Bolshevik (Marxists) did in Russia in 1917. RINOs and DINOs wake up to what truly is happening in America today.

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RE: Letter to Editor, Press & Sun-Bulletin Regarding the Thugs Jailed Due to Jan. 6 Insurrection

Dear Editors:
I am a moderate person who believes in America first, political parties and political ideology last. I believe in solutions for American democracy and continuing American democracy by removing the SCOTUS stupidity regarding Citizens United which has destroyed the campaign finance reform laws of the past.

I am against false news of Fox, Newsmax, and others which is nothing more than what the Bolsheviks and Hitler dictatorships did to gain power.

I am against corrupt practices which emanated from big Goliath-type corporate supply-side economics while the backbone of America, small business and American ingenuity are destroyed.

I don’t like cheating and a lack of ethics which emanates from Trump people who define their own dictatorial ways of ethics which are never consistent with true ethics.

I am against those who seek white superiority dictatorial ways who try to claim the U.S. Constitution supports their efforts when it does not. Thus,

I am against the thugs of Jan. 6, 2021, and the insurrection endorsed by Trump who never spoke out strongly against it. These people are traitors who deserve what they get, whether in jail or being executed, as Timothy McVeigh was executed.

I am against the bleeding heart liberals and lawyers who feel sorry for such lain-brained attitudes which stimulated that insurrection on Jan. 6. I have no respect for lain-brained bleeding heart liberals like Jamie Lee Curtis who merely define this as “Americans who are angry.” I am angry, too, at big corporate supply-side economics which have been given the right to monopolize markets in technology and elsewhere which destroy capitalist competition by ridding us of the regulation which is necessary (emboldened by SCOTUS and Citizens United).

I support President Joe Biden and Democrats and/or Republicans (like Joe Scarborough) who want to regulate Microsoft, Google, and Best Buy, along with other big fat pig corporate conglomerates who have no desire to understand the DEMAND side of the CAPITALIST… CAPITALIST… CAPITALIST… CAPITALIST…. CAPITALIST… (have I used this word enough?) markets, but just dictate the supply side because they think ‘that is what will make us all happy.”

With all this being said, I also believe that human beings are children of God who are not perfect and can, at times maker errors, but we don’t just look at those we don’t like as being lousy when they make one error, such as the local idiot around town who calls President Biden, “sloppy Joe.” I think of the person as being a disgusting one who expects perfection from Joe, but overlooks the multiple errors of a Donald Trump and others.
When I read in your newspaper about how people feel sorry for those from that insurrection who have been jailed and complaining “about the way they are being treated,” I am disgusted at acknowledging such bastards and feeling sorry for them. For if they had had any intelligence at all, they would not have become involved in that insurrection. They get what they deserve and are lucky they don’t get what many WISH they would get – being executed like Timothy McVeigh.   Stupid bleeding heart liberals and lawyers do this. Even Jesus Christ would have called them hypocrites and not been afraid of saying so, as he is recorded as saying such about the lawyers of his day, while he was on earth.

Shall I apologize because I make what I am trying to say too lengthy? Consider this. Would anyone reading this discover the details about what I am saying, should it be a short “snippet?”

I love the nation where I was born. It had a regulated economy, true democracy with sensible and rational people, worked towards campaign finance reform which worked better than the crap instituted by SCOTUS from Citizens United Decision, small business America which has been destroyed by Reagan’s supply-side economics and deregulation (which has become “re-regulation” by the industries who are given a lousy freedom and corporate welfare to regulate their own business – wish I had the same capability), “fairness doctrine” in journalism which moderated whether the information is true, accurate, not lies and hatred, and the resulting destruction of capitalist demand side of markets which can be used to create and regulate the media and call what are platforms or portals as “media.”  

The result is to get these lain-brained thugs whose voices are louder than reasonable and rational voices who don’t allow emotions to override democracy and certainly do not like the expression of “anger” by the violence of thugs in an insurrection. For one, I don’t feel sorry for those thugs in jail and find an article which describes such to be an insult against American democracy.

As a Christian, I am supposed to hope for forgiveness. But forgiveness only begins when there is true and sincere repentance. I have yet to hear this, as there are evil ones in America who embolden these thugs, as well as the bleeding heart liberals and lawyers who embolden them as well and never insist upon repentance – SINCERE repentance. No repentance, no feelings of sorrow for these folks.

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Return Audience Show & Jamie Lee Curtis

Dear Rachael Ray,
We love your new audience shows, the set and the seating which looks so homey. Kudos to you and the crew for doing this.
When Jamie Lee Curtis was on your show and appeared to brush off the attack of the thugs from Proud Boys and other groups in their attack on our government on Jan. 6, I am sickened to hear that. She sounds like a bleeding heart liberal comparable to Al Gore who geve up challenging George W. Bush in Florida at a time when me and many other Republicans like me voted for Al Gore. He gave up, like a damn bleeding heart liberal, ‘for the good of the nation.” In effect, his giving up has made matters worse so that Trump puts a spin on his loss and gets people to attack the halls of Congress. Al Gore really did win that election and the black man who represented the congressional district where I lived in Florida was rejected. Same thing happened in the 1850s when bleeding heart liberals on SCOTUS gave a decision of “justice” so as to appease “the South [and its white supremacy groups].” I refer to the Dred Scott Decision and the documentation of that decision demonstrates the stupidity of the bleeding heart lawyers and liberals who helped keep the war going for white supremacy.

To be blunt, those thugs on Jan. 6, 2021, are traitors and they are lucky to be alive after that event because at one time in America, traitors were hung by a noose and not by vigilante Jim Crow assholes, which is what those thugs are. It is an insult to me and others in this nation who love this nation the successful democracy it has been, not the authoritarian dictatorship which Trump emboldens Proud Boys and other thugs to promote. They take away the freedom, liberty, life, and happiness of those of us who want a democracy. It has nothing to do with “politics,” as the ignorance of a bleeding heart might give us.
My representative in Congress in 2000, had balls and guts to stand up. Al Gore had no balls or guts and, as a result, Trump today takes advantage of that factor. There were many Republicans like me who had the balls and guts to stand up for Al Gore and we were trashed in the process. Was Jamie Lee Curtis one who trashed us? In spite of Al Gore, I switched to Democrat, thanks to a Vermont man named Dr. Howard Dean. Dr. Dean had balls and guts, too, but was shut out of the Democrats when he attempted to be a leader. Still. I remain a Democrat, in spite of such BSby bleeding heart liberals feeling so sorry for traitors. King Charles of England was executed due to his lack of balls and guts and wanting to destroy the British Parliament. King George III lost part of his colonial empire, due to his tough stand against the people and the British Parliament. Now, we feel sorry for the freaking Proud Boys and the thugs who attacked our Congress? What a bunch of hooey.
P.S. I don’t apologize for what I say about lawyers just because your husband, John, is a lawyer. Bleeding heart lawyers and liberals are a disgrace to this nation. I  can only hope John is not a bleeding heart lawyer.

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