Obama, What Have You Done for Me Lately?…

With just a little over a year in office, we are ready to kick Obama to the curb for the appearance that the Administration has done absolutely nothing.  This seems a little out of character being that we were patient enough to give his predecessor two terms to create the chaos known as America in which we live, now.  Over the course of eight years, we found ourselves engaged in two wars, paying gas prices that crippled nearly every industry, watched corporate greed take on a whole new meaning, and held on for our dear lives as the economy crumbled and fell from under our feet.  The impact of each deserving a separate entry of their own.

So enters Barack Obama with his campaign based on “Change” and “Yes We Can,” amidst an array of disarray, but eager to take on the challenge of getting our beloved country back on track.  The American support was easily his, with the election results leaning greatly in his favor.  Three months after he is sworn in as our Commander-in-Chief, and suddenly, Americans suffered amnesia.  As if we were in an eight-year-long coma, woke-up and pointed the finger of blame and responsibility at the White House.

One year passes and the President’s approval rating is less than favorable.  The cries of relief are now cries of frustration.  Blogs are filled with inquiries directed at the Oval Office asking if being president is as easy as it appeared.  Citizens organize rallies and charge Mr. Obama with participating in two purposeless wars.  The enraged public now ignore rules of etiquette, break through their political shells and debate down healthcare policy in public forums.  I guess with his elegant speeches and his willingness to participate in pop-comm methods of reaching the masses (iPhone apps, Blackberry IM, Twitter, etc.) we expected Obama to snap his fingers and erase the last eight years of American History.

Now after listing this observation of the current political landscape, I could take the opportunity to mention what I truly learned about America over the last year.  Anyone who wants to debate that this indeed is the climate we find ourselves in, I am open to discussion.  However, I thought I’d just share a piece I had the courtesy of reading to show that change is on the horizon.  Irrespective of even this small step forward, accomplishing nothing while taking the time to carefully consider the impact and/or ramifications a policy may have beyond the scope of Washington is change I can accept, versus the lack of thought, disregard, and frivolous decision-making we’ve become accustomed to while enduring the previous administration’s command.

Read Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success posted in The New York Times by David Leonhardt.

The “R” Word

Looking back to a time during the rise of political correctness, I seem to recall the use of the word “retard” became inappropriate when using it to refer to a person having mental or developmental disabilities.  Therefore, we all refrained from using the terminology and replaced it with “mentally challenged” (any less harmful?).

Fast-forward to 2010 and the issue is bigger than ever.  It appears as though our miniscule sensitivity to the issue was enough to get us through the p.c.-filled 1990s, without a sincere effort to reform our conscience toward the matter.  Rahm Emanuel has set into motion a media blitz of politically-correct advocates campaigning to ban the word, altogether.  Emanuel’s offense being the most recent among our contrite political leadership, not to exclude our very own President as an offender.

The word, when used in reference to a person who is medically classified as having some mental, physical, or developmental limitation, displays a lack of thought and a disgusting misunderstanding of those who may be different than what we’re used to.  When the word is to insult one (or a group of individuals) who may not have the same medical diagnosis, it can and will eventually be forgotten by the group to which the insult was directed.  However, it leaves a wound of unforeseeable damage with those who the term offends.

Calling for a complete ban on the word may be premature and not well planned to reinsert a social sensitivity toward the issue.  Though it may be feeding grounds for the national media, it actually exposes our ignorance as a culture.  Not to cut the point short, but while the media is having their frenzy, do they need reminded that the word can be used to describe an action?  You know, as in “to make slow,” or “to delay”?  There are many other uses for the word aside from its assignment to people.  That is an argument for another article from a separate perspective.

My ultimate point is this – to simply ban the use of the word “retard” is like using a band-aid to cure cancer.  In other words, I can stop letting the idiom roll off of my tongue, but it does not cancel out my preconceived notions and uneducated prejudices I have toward an entire group of people.  As a result, alternate expressions of my inept bigotry are sure to eventually surface.  I think this issue, and many other cultural ills will be cured when we focus on ridding ourselves of xenophobic tendencies, and learn to embrace the idea of that which makes us different is that which makes us human.  To call for a ban on a word encourages the ignorance which we seek to erase.

Rising Tensions with China…?

Ballmer defends Microsoft as China plays up Gates’ comments Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer defended the company's presence in China in a message on Wednesday, after Chinese media seized on a statement by Bill Gates about Chinese Web censorship being "very limited." "We have done business in China for more than 20 years and we intend to stay engaged, which means our business must respect the laws of China," Ballmer wrote on a Microsoft blog. "Microsoft is opposed to restrictions on peaceful political expression, and we have conversations with governments to make our views known." The message came after Chinese state-run newspapers this week prominently quoted Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates playing down China's Internet censorship. "Bill Gates bats for China," read a top headline in the English version of the state-run Global Times. The official China Daily also ran the comments by Gates. The articles were part of a Chinese media blitz defending the country's Internet regulation after Google recently threatened to leave China over censorship and hacking attempts. "Fortunately the Chinese efforts to censor the Internet have been very limited," Gates said this week in an interview on ABC's Good Morning America. "It's easy to go around" the government controls, he said. China blocks Web sites like YouTube and Facebook, but savvy Internet users there can still access them via proxy servers or other tools. "Different countries have different rules about censorship," Gates said. "So you've got to decide, do you want to obey the laws of the countries you're in or not?" Google has said it plans to stop following China's requirement to censor search results on its China-based search engine, even if that means being forced out of the country altogether. Ballmer reacted earlier this month by saying Microsoft would stay in China. Article by IDG http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS335000548120100128

It will be interesting to see how the rising tensions between the United States and China play out.  This all falls on the heels of China’s warning to President Obama not to meet with the Dalai Lama, it’s disapproval of U.S. weapons manufacturer’s selling of arms to Taiwan, and Google announcing it will lift censorship on its Chinese division’s search results.

With the U.S. contributing the #1 economy and China coming in at #3, global recession is eminent and can be catastrophic from a fall-out between U.S. and Chinese interests.  This situation may need to be monitored more closely.

Punxsutawney Predictions

How fitting, I thought, to make the second entry, on the second day of the second month of the year about ‘Groundhog Day.’  Yup, Punxsutawney Phil peeped his weary head, today as we anxiously awaited the rodents prognostication.

As far back as I can remember I have gotten as excited about Groundhog Day as I did about Christmas.  Okay, maybe that’s a stretch but I think you can feel my ongoing anxiety.  One thing you can depend on like clockwork is that I will be all over the weather segment of the local news to see if Phil left his burrow.  Again in 2010, I was not one to disappoint.  Like a child in all of his innocence on the first day back to school following the Christmas break, I couldn’t wait to share with my family the predictions of the one-hundred and twenty-four year old groundhog.  Elated with the news, I catch my son on the way out of the door for school and tell him how the groundhog saw his shadow.  I get the expected response from a deeply engrained member of ‘Generation i’ -- “What does that mean?”  With my excitement bubble now burst, I explain that we will now have to put up with six more weeks of winter.  He then simply says, “I wonder why that is” from a perplex disposition as he shuts the door behind him.

He left me wondering if there is any scientific process that backs Phil’s predictions.  After all, I am daddy.  In a perfect world, I would be able to satisfy all of my children’s curiosities, right?  So I pull out the Google and Bing and see what I can find.  Armed with my coffee and the finally tuned software we refer to as search engines, I begin my brief but nevertheless curious research.

I’ll spare the disappointment that I experienced.  My thirty minute study left me with one conclusion: when my son returns home from school, the answer I’ll have for him is, “Son, we’ll have six more weeks of winter based off of, well, old folklore.”  Then I’ll put my arm around him and we’ll both walk to the kitchen in search of an afternoon morsel with our heads drooped and at an impasse, and I’ll share with him these verses from which we base the off-beat holiday:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If  Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

Candlemas, of course being the tradition the German settlers brought with them to Pennsylvania in the 18th century to celebrate the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.  While a hedgehog was used in early tradition in Europe, the Delaware Indians held the woodchuck (from the Delaware Indian pronunciation ‘wojak’) as sacred and believed them to be their ancestors.  The Pennsylvania-settled Germans altered the tradition to now use the sacred woodchuck.

The disappointment is born out of discovering that since the first recorded Groundhog Day using our old pal Punxsutawney Phil (1886), he has an accuracy rate of 39%.  Disheartening to say the least, you know, sort of like when you first found out about Santa.

Oh well, I can walk away from today’s mid-morning excavation with this – the harshness of this winter’s cold spell only has a 39% chance of surviving for another six weeks.  Call me an optimist!

  Check the weather in your area to see if your local cousin of the squirrel will be nibbling away at the foliage in your garden a little earlier than usual, this year.

Roman Numeral I

This is my first entry into the blogging universe.  I feel welcomed with open arms.  I am looking forward to unlocking these thoughts, opinions, expressions, etc. that until now, have a history of wrestling themselves within the confines of my conscience.

Comments are welcomed, here.  I will put one expectation out there in order for all parties to be in accord: while I look forward to reading and interacting with those who take the time to leave a comment, I will use the liberty of deleting remarks that may be offensive to others.  I don’t expect I’ll have to exercise this right, as I myself, am open to all views, perspectives and debates.  However, if you currently find yourself in the mood for disturbing the peace and exploiting our first amendment, please refrain from commenting here.

Thank you all for taking the time to explore my views, opinions and commentaries.  Let’s see where this takes us…