Power! Thy Name Is Ms. Valerie Jarrett!

Over thirty years,  I have witnessed,  embraced,  defied and taunted power.    Like PORNOGRAPHY,   I have never really been able to define it precisely.

 

For me,  it’s taken many a novel and even an eight hundred page doctoral dissertation written as fiction,  Terror Counter Terror,   to even try to define the limits or gravitas of power. 

Perhaps,  it is the solace of a man with perspective [read: age] that allows me to try to resuscitate my efforts in explaining power to myself and you,  my dear readers.

These nostalgic reflections come not from a personal encounter,  but from perusing different articles on a African-American woman whose name happens to be Valerie Jarrett and how she ‘wields power in the White House’.

I do not know her personally,  nor would I presume to say that she knows me.

  So ignorance favors both of us for the moment.

  Also, I stand in no pew of ideology or some ‘ism’.

  I simply write with admiration about a woman who ascended with discretion,  fortitude and class to a position that has literally made her an unusual subject of examination by this blogger.

 

First of all,  it’s fair to say,  that unlike her more outlandish,  boisterous,  self-aggrandizing counter-part, Ms. Hillary Clinton [both served during the same time and administration],  Ms Jarrett has welcomed the shadows of anonymity.

  To me,  the first sign of an intelligent person,  is the fact that they remain discreet,  especially when they are overshadowed by the penumbra of the Office of the Presidency.   This  Office engenders a spectrum of Rorschach responses depending,  of course,  on the idiosyncrasies of a particular personality trait.    This office can amplify the best or the worst of someone’s personality. 

If you are bombastic,  the office will resonate the bellows of  foolish sounds louder than a megaphone and make you sound ‘like a horse’s ass’.

  If you are professional,  discreet, and unobtrusive it will amplify your silence into a tenor of fear,  respect and authority.

 

It’s just a matter of how you play the ‘power game’.   How you enter the room.   What you say in that room.   And how you exit….   All determine the lasting impression that you leave in the ‘power game’ of the White House,  or as a matter of fact,  anywhere in Washington D.C,  even the closeted boudoirs.

  From,  Ms Jarrett’s biography on Wikipedia ..

Sidebar: Don’t forget, readers, to donate some money to that phenomenal Wikipedia.

Her background appears both cosmopolitan and intriguing.

  For example,  she was born in Shiraz, Iran to a very famous Pathologist and Geneticist,  Dr James E. Bowman.   Her mother,  Mrs. Barbara Taylor Bowman,  created the Erikson Institute which was set up to provide teachers in Chicago with advanced knowledge on child development.

  As a trained psychiatrist,   I can tell you that I had to learn all of the famous Erik Erikson’s theory on child development,  not at the Harvard Medical College,  but at the MIT School for International Relationship where my professors in Political Science were personally trained by Erik Erikson.

  A bit of academic paradox….

  As a child,  Ms Jarrett spoke Persian and French.   I can assure, you,  my dear readers,  that being a polyglot at a young age is quite impressive. 

  Now,  I just gave away the secret of my fascination with Ms Jarrett.

I found her to be unique in her accomplishments.   But at the same time,   I began to understand where she was coming from.

Although  I grew up in Harlem and went to Booker T. Washington School on 108^th and Amsterdam,  my family friends were all,  like my own parents,  physicians,  polyglots [many spoke French and Russian] and they all were part of an organization that they helped to create –HIP: Health Insurance Plan of NYC.    A medical services system for the poor city workers and NYC teachers.

  The most famous of our friends,  was a tall imposing, handsome African –American physician by the name of Arthur Logan.   He was as elegant as he was competent.   And his sister, was the first female surgeon,  I had ever met at six years old.

I grew with the African-American aristocracy.   They were not borne to the manor,  nor were they endowed with trust funds.   They were the ‘best and the brightest‘  of America.

  But over the years,  as I had moved away from NYC,   I had lost contact with these old friends and acquaintances.

  Unfortunately,  Dr Arthur Logan died a tragic death.   But his memory was emblazoned in large letters on the overhang of Harlem Hospital.

Before, there was Obama,  I knew a lot about Adam Clayton Powell and Hazel Scott [a famous Jazz singer].   That was the African –American aristocracy of NYC.

  I did not know Chicago,  nor did I learn about it’s history until recently.   I read a brilliant book called,  The American Pharaoh  written by Cohen/Taylor…. About the brilliant Mayor Richard Daley.   Now that was one brilliant Irish politician. 

  Anyway, back to Ms Jarrett.

I found that her polymath background resonated with the fond memories of my childhood.

  I also found her to be one of the many African-American who was cosmopolitan,  highly educated [Stanford, Univ. of Michigan], and comfortable with different languages and cultures, like others in the early 1950’s and 1960’s when our country was still fighting the basic issues of segregation.

What I found particularly  interesting,  was the fact that she had chosen a public career,  winding her way through the treacherous sinews of Chicago politics.

She started her Chicago politics in 1987, working for Mayor Harold Washington as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development.

Next she became Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard Daley [1991] during which time,  she hired Michelle Robinson,  then engaged to Barack Obama.   So early on,  she spotted the talents of both Michelle and Obama and decided to mentor them up the slippery pole of politics onto the national stage. 

From 1991 till 2005,  Ms. Jarrett held an assortment of jobs with impressive titles like Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development and Chair of the Chicago Transit Board as well as CEO for the Habitat Company,  a real estate development and management firm.   She then became a member of the Board of the prestigious Chicago Stock Exchange and then it’s Chairperson.

  So you get the idea of who this single,  divorced mother really is.

  She is, for good or bad,  a POWERFUL FORCE---with which to reckon.

  Now,  it becomes obvious at least to me,  why she is so valuable to POTUS.

  She spotted him.   She recruited him.   And most importantly,  she helped to make him POTUS.

  Only,  once in the literature of America Presidents did I see such a phenomenon.   I had to study the case of Colonel House and President Woodrow Wilson. 

As a matter of history,  it was House and Mrs.Wilson who actually ran the country that last year-and-a-half,  while Wilson was in a coma in the White House.

Thus power has it’s own organic laws of sustainability.   Power falls to those who seek and nurture it and conceal it within a veil of secrecy,  competence and anonymity.

 

Power always picks a figure head to front the foot lights of sycophancy and patronage.   But it steers clear away from opining on any topic other than to reaffirm that one really does not have the power that other’s imagine the person to have.

  Modesty and self-effacement are the prerequisite of true power.

  It never rears it’s ferocity in public nor does it unveil it’s cunningness. 

Guile remains with power’s purview and deceit becomes it’s ally.

Those who defy it will be dismissed summarily and without recourse.

  True Power knows no vengeance,  it’s too obsessed pursuing its ultimate goal—more power.

 

So to Ms. Jarrett, the MISTRESS OF POWER---

VIVE LA REINE!!!! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!!!!

 

“Be thankful that we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.”   Will Rogers.
     

   

I will be posting soon,  here is some background.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Jarrett

I will be on coast to coast radio tonight at 10pm Pacific.  here's an interesting article for those of you that did not see it.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/opinion/the-criminal-nsa.html?pagewanted=print

from a follower, timeless Billy Joel on the heart of darkness theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6gZefW4yEA

Both POTUS Obama and Bush have disappeared at the American Taxpayer Expense Into “The Heart Of Darkness”—Africa. 

Let them remain there for their respective restitution and irrelevancy to their own homeland!

Although both Joseph Conrad and I are of Polish extraction,  I have no pretense nor audacity to claim his acute observations as a riverboat pilot of the Congo River,  nor his literary talents as one of the English Literature grand masters [although he spoke ‘pidgin english’ according to the American Poet William Carlos Williams].

But I will,   through literary courtesy,  attribute the atrocities inflicted upon the 10million denizens of the “Heart Of Darkness” by Belgium King Leopold II to Bush Jr’s similar egregious atrocities committed against the citizens of our fair country.   I am speaking of the thousands of innocent victims he had slaughtered on behalf of his self-delusional grandiosity called, “The New American Era”. 

For those who may doubt my analogy,   I offer an open invitation to those to review my medical observations of any VA Hospital such as Walter Reed Medical  Center or Bethesda Naval Hospital.

There you will witness the similar atrocities that King Leopold of Belgium II committed against the Congolese—creating humans without legs,  hands or any other assortment of minor body parts---like genitals.

 

But these crimes which Bush jr committed in the name of “Democracy” were spread throughout the “Heart Of Darkness” in Iraq, Yemen,  Pakistan,  Somalia,  Afghanistan,  all the interest of ‘free commerce’,   just like King Ludwig II.

For his miscreant deeds,  Bush jr inveighed himself against the sins of mankind and found his own restitution by returning to Africa to ‘treat and cure’ unknown peoples for whom he ‘seemed to care more’ and ‘prevent the spread of HIV.’ 

  How noble can a man be who can love the world so much that he cannot love his own countrymen,  I ask?

 

But let  Bush Jr’s poor soul lay in restitution,  as his benevolent,  omniscient mother, Barbara Bush,  pronounces the end  of the ‘Bush Dynasty’.

As for our present POTUS Obama,  he too seeks restitution in the same land as Bush jr  but for other reasons.

  His journey to the “Heart Of Darkness” is not one of ancestry or congeniality,  but one of perdition. 

For at last,  after continuing Mad Ludwig’s II “Killing Spree”,  all over the Middle East,  Obama has found a place where he can seek solace in contemplating his complete IRRELEVANCY to the AMERICAN EXPERIMENT CALLED “DEMOCRACY”. 

No President in modern times has achieved such heights of power in such little time with so little skill,  merit or capacity as Obama.   He is the ‘nowhere man’ incarnate.

  Nothing is known about him.   He has achieved nothing of merit in the past.   He continues to abhor the democratic process of ‘give and take’ as if he were ‘borne to the manor’.

And so for me,  the participant observer,   I witness a decisive moment of truth in the sudden disappearance of Obama into the Heart of Darkness as a relief in knowing that Obama, in particular,  is not needed in any way fashion or form [least of all his tireless ‘teleprompter’ stale palavers].

  In fact,  I have realized from the very beginning of his administration,  that Obama was really irrelevant to the pursuit of our democracy or,  more importantly,  to the running of the nation state.

  In fact,  he has been an impairment,  as had been Bush jr and many recent other presidents to the development of a country endowed with an ethos of risk,  hard work and individualism. 

Obama and this present congress demonstrate what Ross Douthat calls correctly ‘The Great Disconnect’ the Obama administration and the American citizenry.

  If you can’t be part of the solution of building this great country of ours,  then you are part of the problem.

  And that has been the prevailing problem inherent in an overbleached,  underdeveloped  ruling class,  both civilian and military,  bereft of experience, wisdom and integrity of any sort.

 

Sociopathy has become the keystone of political transactions.  Words substitute for deeds and deeds have long been forgotten and misplaced into the acrid solvent of political dissonance.

So this experiment called ‘democracy’ must continue for the 21^st century,  without rancor, without remorse and without fear.

  It’s now time,  for the citizens of this great nation,  to allow ourselves a respite of temperance and tolerance in order to allow us to enter the most challenging experience of all—A New American Democracy bereft of Hypertrophied Executive Power,  Legislative turpitude and Crony Capitalism. 

  In order to achieve this New American Democracy,  we,  citizens,  have to be willing to enter the “Heart of Darkness”,  not into Africa,  nor any other continent,  other than the one bestowed upon us by the blessings of nature, God, and our Founding Fathers.

It is into ourselves,  in concert with our fellow citizens,  that we must reformulate the New American Democracy.

 

Be certain that war must be declared a waste!   We have failed in over fifty years of wars!   Leave wars to our Corporate Hessians to rape and pillage for riches that we do not need nor want.   Let their dollars bleed through the twisted bodies and souls of innocent men,  women and children.

 “American expansionism” found the limits of it’s Manifest Destiny.

We must covet no foreign lands.   Nor allow any foreign land ever coveted us.   And so it must continue for us to progress as an enlightened citizenry. 

The days of bogeyman,  phony terrorists,  makeshift enemies and ‘fairy-tale military expeditions overseas’ are over.

 We have met the enemy and he is us.  So says Pogo. 

A superpower that cannot feed nor educate it’s citizenry is but a mockery of judeo-christian values.

And a nation that cannot nor will not endeavor to help itself grow constructively without harm to persons,  freedom or inherent basic rights has no place to go but backward into the darker sides of the “Heart Of Darkness.”

  It’s with full faith in our citizenry and full mistrust of ossified,  irrelevant,  outmoded political system,  that I call for a Convention to begin from the bottom up and consider how we, americans,  should approach the 21st century. 

  We must become RELEVANT TO OURSELVES and OUR INHERENT VALUES OF FREEDOM,  DEMOCRACY, and the right to differ from those within our own government without repression or persecution.

Nor should we sacrifice the collective good for those few who indulge their insatiable greed with instruments of  mercantile subversion and chicanery…i.e. the Corzines of the nation are a good example.

  Penalties must be accorded for such miscreant deeds.

  They cannot and will not go unpunished. 

This is the American Way that I had fought for!!!!

  I cannot and will not accept the purview that the most enlightened of all “ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHERS”,  Voltaire expressed:
  “The best government is a BENEVOLENT TYRANNY  TEMPERED by an occasional assassination.”

  In the tradition of my favorite write Joseph Conrad,  a Polish Compatriot,  I will sign off on this blog as “Alexander Court”, my other alias.

Who knows,  he may be “The Secret Agent”?  

         

Here is an interesting 6 min video posted by a reader, so now we know what Gov Malloy needed ($$$) for his project on mental health, Newtown should be nominated for an academy award.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuwHJFVbZT0
Best documentary/reality/not episode to squeeze money out of duped citizens category, Conn needs help.  sad.  try working for a real dollar and taking care of your own people.

compliments of Patriarch,  Louis Prima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CodmlmxpZeQ

Secretary of State John Kerry:  Please Try To Recall the Implicit Wisdom Of 1950’s Rock ‘n Roll Hit:  ”Step By Step We Fell In Love…..”

In Sunday’s NY Times article entitled “Following A Star, Kerry Applies Personal Touch” by Michael Gordon,  the journalist captures the frenetic,  disheveled approach of the new Sec State.

  In essence, Kerry will attempt to solve three major foreign policy crises in one single frenetic stroke based principally on his ‘personal touch’,  whatever that means?

 

As if the Palestinian-Israeli issue were not enough,  Kerry also decided to break the “Gordonian Knot” on the Syrian Crises while at the same time  ‘laying to rest’ the problems of Afghanistan and the Taliban.

  Whew!!
I was exhausted after reading that article.   I was truly in awe of ex-Sen John Kerry whose bloated sense of self has never impeded his lack of accomplishments.

 

But this threesome of Syria, Israel-Palestine and Afghanistan  makes me wonder if wishful thinking hasn’t become pandemic in the Obama administration.

 I think the most sagacious,  prescient words were spoken by a statesman,  Strobe Talbott,  whom I have long admired and thought that he should have been the SecState several administrations ago.

  Here is what Strobe,  the head of the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Board and President of the Brookings Institution said about this administrations confusing foreign policy:
“If you are really going to pivot to Asia,  you cannot leave the Middle East in flames.  With regard to Egypt,  the Arab-Israel Peace process, Syria, Iraq and Iran---all that has to be manageable”.

 

Who's is going to tell Kerry it ‘ain’t so’?

Kerry believes that his “personal charm” or “charisma” or “aura”—call it whatever you may want!   For “self-delusion” is the privilege of the “privileged class” of which Kerry wants everyone to understand---‘he was born and bred to become SecState.’

As someone who happened to fall upon the good fortune to have served four Sec States,  I can say from having been intimately involved in the Camp  David Peace Accords and Paris Peace Conference on Cambodia,  humility,  strategy and strong leadership are all the prerequisites to a successful treaty.

  BTW,  at best one can only really hope to obtain one treaty at a time in one administration at a time.

  The Camp David Peace Accords can be attributed to the quiet,  forceful,  perseverance of a President Jimmy Carter and his Sec State Cyrus Vance.

There was no grandstanding allowed!

 

Very talented FSOs like Frank Wisner,  Chas Freeman, and many other career national security professionals from the CIA to the military were all involved in one concerted major effort to insure that Menachem Begin could trust Anwar Sadat to relinquish the Sinai in return for an ethereal peace.

  Carter did it.   How?  To this day,  it’s still a mystery to me and I think the foreign policy community as well. 

  Carter had none of the charisma,  charm or ‘aura’ that Kerry attributes to himself.   But Carter was modest,  sincere, persevering and quiet.

There was no braggadocio about him or his professional team.

  Also Carter never left the WH,  and assigned the work to Cyrus Vance,  discreet, modest, stately, and effective.

Jump decades later to an initiative that was started by Dr Richard Solomon as Assistant Sec State for East Asia and the Pacific,  to bring peace to the war-torn South East Asia area--- and if possible bring some form of ‘democracy’  into Cambodia.

Solomon was supported again by a very discreet,  incredibly modest but very forceful SecState James Baker.

  For the most part,  Sec State like Kissinger could run the entire State Dept with only three people.  But he allowed the FSO’s to participate in some of his foreign policy endeavors.

  But again,  Sec State Kerry,  everything that was done in Cambodia was done ‘step by step’.   First an idea,  next planning.  Then strategies and tactics were developed with back-up plans.  But throughout the entire three year process,  not one word of ‘wishful thinking’ or ‘self-delusion’ was even tolerated. 

  Ergo, the Cambodian Peace Treaty was the only treaty that Sec State James Baker has presided over in his tenure.

So what’s the moral?

Shut your mouth!!
  If you think that you can charm Putin,  then I will be the first one to buy you a Tsarist War Bond.

 

I may not know Putin personally but I do know his genetic code—Stassi, KGB, FSB, and LEADER OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

  Please, Sec State Kerry,  I want to see this ‘slight of hand’!

  As for your ability to charm, the opthamologist  Alawite leader, Bashar Assad,  I really want to see that! 

Bashar’s genetic code has been tried and tested in the infernos of Hafez Assad, as ruthless and cunning a warlord as I have ever had the pleasure not to meet. 

  But I have met the Assad regime interrogation units, and they are very, very effective in what they have to do.   I did not discover anyone who had a scintillating personality or could be convinced of reason. 

 

They pretty much held to the Maoist philosophy that “all power comes from the guns”.

Hey,  if you can stop their bullets with your smile,  logic and gift of persuasion---go for it,  Superman!!!!

  I have also fought against the Salafists, and if you can charm those rascals,  good luck!

  As for me, I am regressing back to the wisdom of the inane words of that one hit wonder—“Step By Step, we feel in love…”

After thirty years in national security,  I found that dealing with one problem at a time was more than enough.
But claiming that you can deal with all the problems at the same time seems to me a ‘bit grandiose’ and ‘defensive’. 

In other words, if you don’t accomplish one successfully,  then all bets are off. 

It’s called ‘a rationalization’  for FAILURE.

 

Good luck JK!  I am sure that your ex-FSO father would be proud of you. 

If your father can’t love you as much you do yourself,  than who can?

My last Churchill quote for a while (promise) but it was Winston Churchill who said:

 “The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” 

  

   

  

"Step by Step" by the Crests, ancient oldie but goodie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DhevKN-p9k

John Kerry is just too much for even himself, here is some homework, I will be posting later.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/world/following-a-star-kerry-applies-personal-touch.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Arrogant,  Self-Destructive Billionaire NYC Mayor: Michael Bloomberg!   On the Warpath to Attack Sen. Max Baucus  [D-Montana],   A Pro-Gun Advocate!  btw,  Bloomberg is on the Way to Destroy the Democratic Party. 

Bloomberg’s “Custer’s Last Stand”!!!! 

The Final Death Throes of a financial and political titan,  Michael Bloomberg is to rail about a passage of Gun Legislation that did not pass:  Background Checks of potential gun buyers.

Bloomberg’s behemoth possibly ‘ill-gained’ wealth estimated at 27 Billion Dollars is being splattered about the media supporting advertising attacking one of my personal favorite Senators,  “From My Former Home State” of Montana,  Sen. Max Baucus.

Sidebar:  Please read the excellent NY Times,  June 14, 2013 article “Bloomberg Reporters Tactics Become Crucial Issue For Company” by Amy Chozick.   My impression: Bloomberg devised computer terminals which stole and reformatted market news.    He was the first financial electronic surveillance and manipulator of the markets.   Information is king and the king manipulated the information accordingly—to garner personal wealth and fortune.

Alas! Background checks have a nasty way of coming back to haunt those who demand them!

  “Qui s’excuse; s’accuse!
  He excuses himself;  accuses himself! 

But now back to the ersatz psychoanalysis of Mayor Bloomberg and his final days--- 

Why is Bloomberg on personal vendetta attacking Max Baucus and other fellow Democrats Senators for their pro-gun votes—Sen Mark Begich of Alaska;  Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota?

Is it because, Bloomberg is so adamant about gun control?
  Me thinks that "The Mayor Doeth Protest Too Much",  not to make this ersatz issue of pro-gun legislation the raison d’etre of his self-anointed,  Templar Crusade to Jerusalem. 

Sidebar: Please remember the tragic ending of Shakespeare, “Macbeth”.

I think that Bloomberg has entered the twilight of his career--- or better stated—his “narcissism is out of control”.

Bloomberg has finally come to the sad realization that he will no longer be “The Mayor Of  The Most Important City” in the world—New York.

And who is going to write about him?
  Call him for emergencies?

  Greet him with homilies when he rides on the Express Subway Train like all the normal commuters.

  How can he even try to play the game of being just another New Yorker when he was The MOST IMPORTANT NEW YORKER?

Even the game of “false humility” is not his anymore.

  He has to become transparent and real in his everyday transactions and not assume anymore the posture of ‘being ordinary’ when in fact he knew all too well,  he was never really,  ‘ordinary’. 

So maybe,  27 Billion dollars in the safes and vaults of the Caymen Islands or JP Morgan Chase derivatives is not really all that satisfying when… HE HAS FAILED TO REACH HIS OWN IMMORTALITY.

  What do I mean?

I have treated many rich and richest business men [believe me there is no appropriate adjective to describe these guys—“superlatives squared” is not sufficient for their egos] and they all come in the same shape and sizes despite their interminable need to appear singular and unique.

The problem lies not in the wealth they had accumulated because they know all too well,  you can’t take it with you into the worm-infested soil of soil,  irrespective of your preferred ritual of death.  

For most of these guys,  the fact that the game of acquiring  money by whatever means is gone plays a far more salient feature to their sense of self-worth and identity than any accumulation of wealth.

 

Bloomberg’s houses in NYC,  London, Vail, or wherever are simply replicates of  limestone tombs harking all the way back to times of Pharaohs,  embalmed with their house hold possessions and even their pets.

  But for Bloomberg there is no such immortality.

  No one but his family,  or nearest friends, if any are left,  will visit his grave site and say the mandatory prayer that we, Jews,  are called forth to utter—“THE KADDISH”.

 

More importantly,  the political games of deception,  manipulation,  confrontation, and self-aggrandizement are fleeting,  if not completely, vaporized. 

What field of endeavor can be left for a voracious,  ambitious man of true accomplishments?

Question:  So what is left for a poor Jewish,  Brookline, Mass. “boyshik”,  who successfully overcame anti-semitism to become --against all odds-- a  banker; electrical engineer; business man; politician, and philanthropist?
Answer:  Self-Destruction!!!

The Ultimate Game to which this incredibly talented Individual can perform EXQUISITELY…. AND WITHOUT ANY ONE ELSE'S ASSISTANCE!!!

  Bloomberg is the only one who can  self-immolate his own personae,  contrived or real. 

It is only he,  Bloomberg,  who can write the final ending to his life.  But unlike his autobiography Bloomberg by Bloomberg— his hagiography of real or imagined accomplishments,  there is no Theodore Dreiser or Sinclair Lewis  who can write the Titan or  There Will Be Blood .

Advice:  it’s time for, you,  Mayor Michael Bloomberg to lay off of Max Baucus!

  Max has served his state well and judiciously.

  He is a modest,  accomplished legislator who had chosen the public service arena for his own mark for immortality.

It’s quite simple,  contrary to your insulting,  prurient anti-Max Baucus ads,  the state of Montana loves Max and Max loves Montana.

Now it’s time for you,  Mayor Bloomberg,  to come to terms with your own immortality.

  Do you want to be remembered for your expansive accomplishments, whatever they may be?
  Or do you want to be honored for the Senators and political party that you purposefully destroyed,  intentionally or unintentionally?

  The choice is yours.

Rein in that nasty narcissism!

Become a ‘mensch’ again. 

Find something worthy to do besides,  rail like a dying elephant.

These final throes of death are deafening. 

The silence of achievement is mute… but noble.

  As we say in the casinos of life:
“ Les Jeux Sont Faits!”

You can’t place your bets anymore. 

The game of life is over!!! 

some homework, posting shortly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/business/media/bloomberg-reporters-tactics-become-crucial-issue-for-company.html?_r=0

“No Animal Kill Zone”: Miami –Dade Commission Reaffirms The Importance Of Democratic Participation On The Local Level!

“Thank You,  animal advocates for Giving Me a Chance to Witness Democracy in action at a local level.”

  I have a rescue pet poodle,  or hybrid thereof,  named Basel.   He was rescued some six years ago when he was abandoned in the streets of Miami in front of the Art Basel December Showcase. 

My good friend literally grabbed him by force as he was a biting, barking, and running amok.   At that time,  Basel was an emaciated ten pound dog.   Five years later with love, care and plenty of food (off the table, off the floor etc),   I have my "best friend" who holds steady at around eighteen pounds.

  As someone who grew up in the concrete jungles of NYC,   I never had a chance to possess any animal,  not even a goldfish.

  I was not deprived.   I was simply ignorant and prejudiced against cats,  dogs and any other animal [there were once horses—believe it or not]  that needed to place excrement on the searing pavements of the already carbon-monoxide-choked asphalt streets of  the city.

Even stick-ball or curb-ball, the only indigenous games available,  was considerably hindered by dog excrement.

  So dogs were not part of my ‘ethos’ that a ‘dog is a man’s best friend’  was not my creed.

  However,  as many of you already know,  age matures and blunts the youthful prejudices and hostilities accrued from personal frustrations,  immaturity, and inexperience. 

  Jump half a century later,  and now my ‘best friend’ is Basel. 

Basel is a “rescue dog”,  often described,  as a ‘phantom poodle’ [from his markings not his ability to disappear].   Believe it or not,  he and I walk,  talk,  eat, work and sleep together.

  This is the basic outline in it’s most simplistic form of the transformation of a ‘Neanderthal city-dweller’ and ‘animal- hater’ to a ‘loving’, ‘protective’ and ‘playful’ dog-lover.

   Once I rode horses.   Now,   I help to fund those who are willing and able to nurture those beautiful animals which have been abandoned for one, or another reason. 

So, this introductory “anamnesis” [please look up the word, it may be on the SATs] on the evolution of my emotions from antagonism to protagonist,  leads me to an equally important point.

  And that is,  today,  I was invited to attend a plenary session of the Miami-Dade Commission Hearing on the important issue of ‘creating a no kill animal zone’ in  Southeast,  Florida.

The issue is complicated and contains a number of different vested interests,  some morally pure others less so.  Hey that's humans for you.

 

What did surprised me was the fact that for the very first time in my extensive thirty year career in government on the federal level [primarily in national security],   I had never really witnessed an effective and constructive democratic process on a local or federal level. 

  I have attended an assortment of local meetings which entailed everything from speed-bumps in Maryland to paved [vs. asphalt] roads in Montana.   All to no avail!!! 

Cantankerous! Divisive!! Polarized!! Waste of Time!!!

Finally,  I was witness,  after decades of disappointment,  to a committed body of government willing and able to formulate legislation based on diverse vested interests,  respect for the Commissioners and the willingness on all sides to arrive at a consensus [including a major dissent embedded in a majority referendum].

 

I saw for the first time in my life,  a tough boss-lady,  Baltimore-born,  Miami-Bred,  Commissioner Sally Heyman,  meld diversities of interests; genders; nationalities;  professional groups [veterinarians, lawyers, lobbyists];  and volunteer advocates for ‘neutering abandoned animals’  into a  piece of legislation with deadlines,  earmarks and redress.

Unbelievable!! 

Sally set the rules up front.   Don’t speak more than two minutes!   Make your comments  directed at the specific issues;  no rambling;  no response from the attending audience; and, if possible, provide a practical request or resolution.

  She deferred at times to her other Commissioners on the Board—Jose “Pepe’ Diaz,  Rebecca Soso and others –as needed.

  She was firm,  courteous,  and constructive. 

As simple as these observations appear,   I walked out of this hearing (no-killing zone for unwanted animals that are currently euthanized up to 70,000 a year) impressed by the passion of the volunteers who presented their respective cases articulately,  pointedly and respectfully. 

More than that,  I realized that for the first time in a very long time,  I had finally seen what I had been trying to write and complain about in my blogs and radio commentaries—Democracy In Action.

  Not some ethereal slogan.   Not some political palaver.   Not some empty promises replete with disingenuous statements,  deceit and conceit. 

  I saw the American People,  come forth in a group,  take the time and effort to articulate their respective arguments,  embolden themselves to stand in front of a diversified body of legislators from all types of ethnic and gender backgrounds:  Hispanic,  African-American,  Caucasian,  men and women and try to resolve their differences in a courteous,  mature,  professional manner.

  Simply stated,  I was blown away!!!

 

Let me add that we started the meeting by all of us standing up and pledging allegiance to the Republic and to the Flag of the United States. 

  Now,  after all of our concerns,  travails and ‘false flags’,  isn’t it comforting to know that in a highly diversified county like Miami-Dade where crime,  drugs and corruption may be considered the ‘norm’,   DEMOCRACY STILL  WORKS??!!

I was so elated by what I had just witnessed that I went around  Miami-Dade Commission Hearing,  congratulating all parties concerned— veterinarians; lobbyists; lawyers; advocates; volunteers; bureaucrats; and commissioners.

  For me,  this was the first day of a New Dawn.

  What I had witnessed  per chance,  goes on all over this amazing country of ours on a daily basis-from sea to sea.   But we tend to get so involved in the ‘strum and drang’ of national and world events which few of us can even influence that we forgot the basic principle of democracy:  IT STARTS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.

  Perhaps for the first time in my life,  I have begun to realize how important Commissioner Sally A. Heyman is to my life,  perhaps more than Clinton, Bush jr and Obama put together.

  No POTUS can fix or even address the problems of a back-up sewerage system or a business license which I need in order to work to pay my taxes.

  Thank you all local politicians wherever you are in the USA.

  There should be a day of recognition for your contributions,  often non-paying and frustrating. 

But, I can assure you,  that you are the future foundation of the New Democracy which must begin at the local, and not the federal level.

And it incumbent on us, the citizens,  to be informed of the issues,  attend the meetings and say ‘nay’ or ‘ya’ to a proposal.

  If we leave the burden of democracy to those politicians who make a living by promising and never delivering,  then we deserve to receive no better than we get.

Winston Churchill said the following profound words:
“There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies” 

  He also added:
  “It is a mistake to look too far ahead.  Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. “