Is It Because They Can or Because They’re Human?
Mark Sanford
John Ensign
David Vitter
Larry Craig
Mark Foley (only sexting)
Newt Gingrich
Vito Fossella
Jack Ryan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jim Bunn
Steven LaTourette
Rod Grams
Henry Hyde
Robert Livingston
Sol Wachter
Helen Chenoweth
Dan Crane
John Schmitz
Bob Bauman
Don Sherwood
Don Lukens
Ken Calvert
Bob Packwood
James West
Warren G. Harding
Democrats shouldn’t salivate, for adultery, like corruption and sleeze, is non-partisan and bipartisan. Democrats tend not to be as moralistic or hypocritical as some Republicans. The pendulum will swing back to the Democrats as the majority party will behave like a majority party..
Eliot Spitzer
John Edwards
Kwame Kilpatrick
Gavin Newsom
Antonio Villaraigosa
Tim Mahoney
Marc Dann
Jim McGreevy
Gary Condit
Gary Becker
Mel Reynolds
Bob Wise
Roger Boas
Mike Lowry
Brock Adams
Richard Celeste
Henry Cisneros
Chuck Robb
Sam Adams
Neil Goldschmidt
Wilbur Mills
Wayne Hays
Gary Hart
Gerry Studds
Barney Frank
Joe Waggoner
Austin Murphy
Bill Clinton
LBJ
JFK
RFK
Ted Kennedy
Chris Dodd
FDR
Andrew Jackson
Thomas Jefferson
Notice that some of our greatest political leaders are on the lists, while others are not. Jimmy Carter only lusted in his heart, but look where it got him.
The public is becoming inoculated to ordinary political sex scandals. They’re no more interesting than the ordinary high speed chase on TV in Southern California. Throw in emails, pregnancies, cancer, trips to Brazil, videos, and it becomes interesting. Some is explainable by alcohol, but alcohol can simply be an excuse.
The French and Italians are much more accepting of sexual peccadillos, and the English have less tolerance, but it happens in every nation, every regime, every type of government (Stalin had a mistress and Chairman Mao liked young girls), and transecends gender. We are dealing with humans. Some are serial adulterers, but most have fallen from grace on a rare occassion.
We could easily add executives, union leaders, clergy, celebrities, sports stars, university presidents, law school deans, professors, students, judges and lawyers, indeed almost any occupation, to the list. Not because we can, but because we are humans, not saints or angels. Most humans are imperfect, and we do the best we can with our lives. Most of us try to live up to high standards, and generally do very well, but others are either immoral or amoral. Some go into politics
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Tal Mahal and I
200KM, 5 ½ hours, 120°, a gauntlet of street hustlers (Johnny and especially Raja), then the entry gate into the beautiful outer courtyard, and through another passageway, the Taj Mahal magically appears in all its grandeur. Nothing else matters; the Taj is larger, more beautiful, perfect, symmetrical, equisate, and magnificent in person than any virtual tour, movie, video, documentary, tv show, book, or postcard can ever convey.
The Taj Mahal is worth the trip.
Forget the casino, the magnificent chain of Taj hotels in India, or even the musician.
There is only one Taj Mahal. Seeing is believing, and seeing what is generally regarded as man’s most beautiful building, is believing.
That I or any other mortal views the Taj, is hardly special since hundreds of millions have preceded us and hundreds of millions will follow.
But for those of us who are privileged to view the Taj Mahal, it is special.
I glazed upon the Taj a week ago, walked its pathways, entered the inner sanctum, viewed the cenotaphs, and marveled at the magnificent white marble. Just like a great work of art, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, nothing short of being in its presence can convey its magnificence.
The Mugal Emperor Shah Juhan built the Taj over 22 years to mourn his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during childbirth of their 14th child in their 19th year of marriage. His two other wives are buried in lesser accommodations on the broad grounds.
No greater expression of love by a man for a woman. Her dying wish was for a mausoleum. The Taj was built for a woman, but is a gift to the world.
The colors, size, height, architecture, setting, footprint, and symmetry are perfect.
Yet I did not witness all the Taj’s majesty for the famous reflecting pond was seasonally drained. Nor could I stay and watch the colors of the white marble vary with nature’s lighting. Nor did I see it artificially lit up at night.
But I saw enough – the greatest building on earth.
Shah Juhan went into a two year funk, we call it depression, when Muntaz died. That is not good for a ruler. Seven of their children survived to adulthood. A younger son, Aurangzeb, later killed his older brother, imprisoned his dad, Shah Juhan, and claimed the throne. Juhan spent the last 8 ½ years of his life in a prison cell in Agra Fort across the river glazing out on the Taj. His tomb is now next to hers, but is larger in size – the only unsymmetrical piece of the entire Taj. Their actual tombs are a floor below the public cenotaphs, not open to public viewing.
Will I ever get to see some of the world’s other greatest cities or other archeological sites, or such wonders as Angkor Wat, Easter Island, the Eiffel Tower, the Galapagos Islands, The Hermitage, the Louvre, Machu Picchu, the Aztec and Mayan temples, the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Red Square, Stonehenge, Sydney Opera House, Tiananmen Square, Trafalgar Square, or the Parthenon?
Probably a few, especially if they are on a cruise chip tour, but I’ve been unexpectedly blessed to see the Taj Mahal.
If I could see the Taj, anything is possible.
The Taj Mahal is worth the trip.
Forget the casino, the magnificent chain of Taj hotels in India, or even the musician.
There is only one Taj Mahal. Seeing is believing, and seeing what is generally regarded as man’s most beautiful building, is believing.
That I or any other mortal views the Taj, is hardly special since hundreds of millions have preceded us and hundreds of millions will follow.
But for those of us who are privileged to view the Taj Mahal, it is special.
I glazed upon the Taj a week ago, walked its pathways, entered the inner sanctum, viewed the cenotaphs, and marveled at the magnificent white marble. Just like a great work of art, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, nothing short of being in its presence can convey its magnificence.
The Mugal Emperor Shah Juhan built the Taj over 22 years to mourn his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during childbirth of their 14th child in their 19th year of marriage. His two other wives are buried in lesser accommodations on the broad grounds.
No greater expression of love by a man for a woman. Her dying wish was for a mausoleum. The Taj was built for a woman, but is a gift to the world.
The colors, size, height, architecture, setting, footprint, and symmetry are perfect.
Yet I did not witness all the Taj’s majesty for the famous reflecting pond was seasonally drained. Nor could I stay and watch the colors of the white marble vary with nature’s lighting. Nor did I see it artificially lit up at night.
But I saw enough – the greatest building on earth.
Shah Juhan went into a two year funk, we call it depression, when Muntaz died. That is not good for a ruler. Seven of their children survived to adulthood. A younger son, Aurangzeb, later killed his older brother, imprisoned his dad, Shah Juhan, and claimed the throne. Juhan spent the last 8 ½ years of his life in a prison cell in Agra Fort across the river glazing out on the Taj. His tomb is now next to hers, but is larger in size – the only unsymmetrical piece of the entire Taj. Their actual tombs are a floor below the public cenotaphs, not open to public viewing.
Will I ever get to see some of the world’s other greatest cities or other archeological sites, or such wonders as Angkor Wat, Easter Island, the Eiffel Tower, the Galapagos Islands, The Hermitage, the Louvre, Machu Picchu, the Aztec and Mayan temples, the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Red Square, Stonehenge, Sydney Opera House, Tiananmen Square, Trafalgar Square, or the Parthenon?
Probably a few, especially if they are on a cruise chip tour, but I’ve been unexpectedly blessed to see the Taj Mahal.
If I could see the Taj, anything is possible.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Impressions of India
Quick – Free association
What comes to mind with the word India?
Beauty
Caste
Color
Cuisine
Gandhi & Nehru
The Great game
Gurus
Kama Sutra
Karma
Kashmir
Khyber Pass
Mughals
Partition
The Raj
Kipling
Gunga Din
Little Black Sambo
The man Who Would be King
Religions
Buddhists, Hindu, Jainism, Muslim, Sikh
Sepoy Revolt
Slumdog Millionaire
Squalor
Taj Mahal
Temple Carvings
All these and more are India.
Four full days in Delhi/New Delhi/Agra can no more convey the essence, heart and soul of India and its peoples, than four days in San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Ada, Ohio, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington, Wilbraham and Springfield, Massachusetts, and Orange County, California, all of where I have lived, or 4 days visiting New York City or Washington, D.C., will give you America.
Four days cannot provide the culture, diversity, essence, ethnicity, foods, heart, mores, regional prejudices, religions, and soul of the country, but they can provide flavors, glimpses, and vignettes.
The first impression was the heightened state of security at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Uniformed paramilitary (CISF) with semi-automatics patrolled the airport with a strong presence. We forget that India has been at war with terrorism decades longer than the United States. Over 110,000 Central Industrial Security Force guard the nation’s airports, government buildings, parks and monuments, and industrial facilities.
The second impression was one of the hustle of some to earn a tip, any tip. As we were leaving the terminal, an unsolicited guy suddenly appears out of nowhere, grabs a suitcase, carries it to the waiting car, and sticks out his hand. The car is not going anywhere until he receives the tip.
And the third impression was the 24/7, 365 days construction around the airport. India is building.
None of these three are on my list, but they are integral to India today.
Churchill once said India was not a country. What he said was that “India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the equator.” He was right in that historically only the British conquered and held the Subcontinent for any length of time.
Churchill was right in that his India split into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Churchill was wrong. The British lowered their flag in 1947 and the Indian tri-color was raised.
Today’s India is a great country.
India is one of the greatest and oldest civilizations.
India is a country of color and contrast.
India is a country of diversity in which the ethnic and religious diversity are proudly worn and displayed.
India is a culture in which the affluent youth model themselves after American culture, values and mores.
India is not a hegemony, a monolithic people. Like America it is a melting pot, not of the world, but of the assimilations of waves of Eurasian peoples, religions, and conquerors with some British thrown into the pot. Persians, Afghans, Mongols are in the mix.
India holds onto its heritage, preserving some of the world’s greatest archeological and historic sites.
India is chaos, bordering on anarchy, but India works.
India is Bollywood, Bindass videos, and Bindass movies, and Bindass music.
India is a country which has shed its socialist past and embraced capitalism.
India has created a middle class of 300-350 million people (the entire population of the United States), but still has 600 million in abject poverty.
India is entrepreneurism, even at the street level of the sidewalk chef.
India is the diamond, gold, and jewelry trade.
India is energy.
India is service.
India is hustle, in every dictionary sense of the word.
India is the birthplace of great religions – Buddhism, Hindu, Sikh, and Jainism.
India is a nation of castes eventhough the India Constitution of 1947 prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste.
India is green – hydro, CNG, and diesel.
India is a country of small cars; everything is in miniature. The two largest cars I saw were one Honda Accord and one Toyota Camry.
India is a land of richness and squalor.
India is pathos.
India is the austere.
India is resiliency.
India is relentless construction.
India is a nation whose expatriates have enriched the world.
India is a country of higher education, with schools of business, computer science, engineering, law and medicine. (The University of Delphi has twice as many applicants as UCLA).
India has unleashed the genius of its people.
India is high tech, cell phones, call centers, and outsourcing, even for American lawyers.
India is a country of low income housing: tent cities, canvas hutches, corrugated tin hutches, thatch grass hutches, fabric hutches, makeshift shanty towns, residential construction sites at night when the construction workers have left, and just sleeping on the sidewalk- all less expensive than FEMA trailers.
India is a land of infinite, huddled masses, similar to the Lower East Side of a century ago.
India is now Indian, Japanese, and Korean brand names. I did see though the American names of Aquafina, Camel, Chevrolet, Citibank, Coke, Exide, Ford, Ford tractors, John Deere, Kelvinator, Kimberly Clark, Kohler, Lays, Lees, Levis, MacDonalds, Marlboro, MetLife, New Holland, New York Life, Nike, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Pringles, Reebok, Revlon, Ritz, Seven Up, Subway, Tropicana, and Whirlpool.
I know the major U.S. hotel chains are in India, but I’ll probably never be able to find them.
I did not see fakirs, holy men, snake charmers, or temple carvings, but they must exist. I also saw no camels, cobras, elephants, monkeys or tigers, but they exist.
India is cricket.
The key to tourist survival in India is hydration from bottled water.
India is a state of mind
India is mystery.
India is magic.
The two images indelibly inscribed in my memory are The Taj Mahal and a young, beggar mother who stuck her small, naked baby onto the car window.
Four days is not enough; the allure of India is too seductive.
What comes to mind with the word India?
Beauty
Caste
Color
Cuisine
Gandhi & Nehru
The Great game
Gurus
Kama Sutra
Karma
Kashmir
Khyber Pass
Mughals
Partition
The Raj
Kipling
Gunga Din
Little Black Sambo
The man Who Would be King
Religions
Buddhists, Hindu, Jainism, Muslim, Sikh
Sepoy Revolt
Slumdog Millionaire
Squalor
Taj Mahal
Temple Carvings
All these and more are India.
Four full days in Delhi/New Delhi/Agra can no more convey the essence, heart and soul of India and its peoples, than four days in San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Ada, Ohio, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington, Wilbraham and Springfield, Massachusetts, and Orange County, California, all of where I have lived, or 4 days visiting New York City or Washington, D.C., will give you America.
Four days cannot provide the culture, diversity, essence, ethnicity, foods, heart, mores, regional prejudices, religions, and soul of the country, but they can provide flavors, glimpses, and vignettes.
The first impression was the heightened state of security at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Uniformed paramilitary (CISF) with semi-automatics patrolled the airport with a strong presence. We forget that India has been at war with terrorism decades longer than the United States. Over 110,000 Central Industrial Security Force guard the nation’s airports, government buildings, parks and monuments, and industrial facilities.
The second impression was one of the hustle of some to earn a tip, any tip. As we were leaving the terminal, an unsolicited guy suddenly appears out of nowhere, grabs a suitcase, carries it to the waiting car, and sticks out his hand. The car is not going anywhere until he receives the tip.
And the third impression was the 24/7, 365 days construction around the airport. India is building.
None of these three are on my list, but they are integral to India today.
Churchill once said India was not a country. What he said was that “India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the equator.” He was right in that historically only the British conquered and held the Subcontinent for any length of time.
Churchill was right in that his India split into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Churchill was wrong. The British lowered their flag in 1947 and the Indian tri-color was raised.
Today’s India is a great country.
India is one of the greatest and oldest civilizations.
India is a country of color and contrast.
India is a country of diversity in which the ethnic and religious diversity are proudly worn and displayed.
India is a culture in which the affluent youth model themselves after American culture, values and mores.
India is not a hegemony, a monolithic people. Like America it is a melting pot, not of the world, but of the assimilations of waves of Eurasian peoples, religions, and conquerors with some British thrown into the pot. Persians, Afghans, Mongols are in the mix.
India holds onto its heritage, preserving some of the world’s greatest archeological and historic sites.
India is chaos, bordering on anarchy, but India works.
India is Bollywood, Bindass videos, and Bindass movies, and Bindass music.
India is a country which has shed its socialist past and embraced capitalism.
India has created a middle class of 300-350 million people (the entire population of the United States), but still has 600 million in abject poverty.
India is entrepreneurism, even at the street level of the sidewalk chef.
India is the diamond, gold, and jewelry trade.
India is energy.
India is service.
India is hustle, in every dictionary sense of the word.
India is the birthplace of great religions – Buddhism, Hindu, Sikh, and Jainism.
India is a nation of castes eventhough the India Constitution of 1947 prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste.
India is green – hydro, CNG, and diesel.
India is a country of small cars; everything is in miniature. The two largest cars I saw were one Honda Accord and one Toyota Camry.
India is a land of richness and squalor.
India is pathos.
India is the austere.
India is resiliency.
India is relentless construction.
India is a nation whose expatriates have enriched the world.
India is a country of higher education, with schools of business, computer science, engineering, law and medicine. (The University of Delphi has twice as many applicants as UCLA).
India has unleashed the genius of its people.
India is high tech, cell phones, call centers, and outsourcing, even for American lawyers.
India is a country of low income housing: tent cities, canvas hutches, corrugated tin hutches, thatch grass hutches, fabric hutches, makeshift shanty towns, residential construction sites at night when the construction workers have left, and just sleeping on the sidewalk- all less expensive than FEMA trailers.
India is a land of infinite, huddled masses, similar to the Lower East Side of a century ago.
India is now Indian, Japanese, and Korean brand names. I did see though the American names of Aquafina, Camel, Chevrolet, Citibank, Coke, Exide, Ford, Ford tractors, John Deere, Kelvinator, Kimberly Clark, Kohler, Lays, Lees, Levis, MacDonalds, Marlboro, MetLife, New Holland, New York Life, Nike, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Pringles, Reebok, Revlon, Ritz, Seven Up, Subway, Tropicana, and Whirlpool.
I know the major U.S. hotel chains are in India, but I’ll probably never be able to find them.
I did not see fakirs, holy men, snake charmers, or temple carvings, but they must exist. I also saw no camels, cobras, elephants, monkeys or tigers, but they exist.
India is cricket.
The key to tourist survival in India is hydration from bottled water.
India is a state of mind
India is mystery.
India is magic.
The two images indelibly inscribed in my memory are The Taj Mahal and a young, beggar mother who stuck her small, naked baby onto the car window.
Four days is not enough; the allure of India is too seductive.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Random Notes On the Road to Agra
The primary rule of the road is show no quarter; no quarter is asked, and none is given or expected. No mercy, no vacillation, no hesitation. Just do it! Go for it! New York’s finest cabbies might, just might, qualify.
The guide books say Agra is 200KM from Delhi, a 3 ½ hour ride. How can a 124 mile trip take 3 1/2 hours? It can’t. It was 5 ½ hours going and 5 returning.
200 miles on a four lane, more or less, road from Delhi to Agra. The “highway” is best described as the PCH without lanes, berms, shoulders, medians, sidewalks, rules, or police.
The surrounding communities and their detritus spill out onto, over, and into the road.
Vehicles mostly go the same direction, but not always. 45°, 90° and 180° approaches are normal.
If a vehicle breaks down, it is fixed in place on the road. No notices are given of highway construction or road work ahead until you see the actual workers scared for their lives. Their presence is warning enough.
Did I say “vehicles?” I misspoke.
Anything propelled by feet, hooves, or wheels, except for boats, trains and planes
The following are on the road:
Cars
Trucks
Busses
Motorcycles/scoters
Three wheeled motorized rickshaws
Rickshaws
Farm Equipment
Construction equipment
Bicycles
Carts
Pedestrians
Cows
Beggers
But no joggers. It’s just too damn hot to jog!
The carts, oh the carts: horse carts, mule carts, oxen carts, bicycle carts, hand carts, pedal-carts, push carts, tractors towing carts, carts towing carts. The carts haul people, cargo, pipes (24’ long), poles, and farm produce. My favorite was a man in Agra towing a cart carrying away a dead cow.
The small motorcycles can hold up to six, children included. Helmets are highly optional.
Nothing matches the ubiquitous, utilitarian, and seemingly prolific, motorized rickshaws. They serve as taxes, buses, and lorries. They are the people movers of India (Disney take note). They seat up to 14 (uncomfortably), not including children, with additional external straps for hangers on. The only air conditioning is, of course, natural.
Cows are sacred to Hindus. Cows graze; cows graze on the side of the road, on the occasional median, and if left untethered, on the road. They also graze in the makeshift dumps on the side of the road and cool off in the ponds next to the dumps.
If driving exhausts you, just pull off (sorta) to a makeshift rest stop. Facilities are the bushes.
The horn, the horn is the most critical part of the vehicle – not the ignition, transmission, clutch, brakes, mirrors or steering wheel. The horn is the only warning given, but not out of a regard for others on the road, but only as a matter of self-preservation as you pass within a few millimeters of the others – all of whom are expected to defer to the honker. Turn signals are less common than in Boston.
Don’t stop for anyone or anything – treat men, women, and children equally as obstacles on the road to the Taj.
Never complain again about driving in New York, Boston, or Los Angeles.
But it works. I saw absolutely no accidents.
The guide books say Agra is 200KM from Delhi, a 3 ½ hour ride. How can a 124 mile trip take 3 1/2 hours? It can’t. It was 5 ½ hours going and 5 returning.
200 miles on a four lane, more or less, road from Delhi to Agra. The “highway” is best described as the PCH without lanes, berms, shoulders, medians, sidewalks, rules, or police.
The surrounding communities and their detritus spill out onto, over, and into the road.
Vehicles mostly go the same direction, but not always. 45°, 90° and 180° approaches are normal.
If a vehicle breaks down, it is fixed in place on the road. No notices are given of highway construction or road work ahead until you see the actual workers scared for their lives. Their presence is warning enough.
Did I say “vehicles?” I misspoke.
Anything propelled by feet, hooves, or wheels, except for boats, trains and planes
The following are on the road:
Cars
Trucks
Busses
Motorcycles/scoters
Three wheeled motorized rickshaws
Rickshaws
Farm Equipment
Construction equipment
Bicycles
Carts
Pedestrians
Cows
Beggers
But no joggers. It’s just too damn hot to jog!
The carts, oh the carts: horse carts, mule carts, oxen carts, bicycle carts, hand carts, pedal-carts, push carts, tractors towing carts, carts towing carts. The carts haul people, cargo, pipes (24’ long), poles, and farm produce. My favorite was a man in Agra towing a cart carrying away a dead cow.
The small motorcycles can hold up to six, children included. Helmets are highly optional.
Nothing matches the ubiquitous, utilitarian, and seemingly prolific, motorized rickshaws. They serve as taxes, buses, and lorries. They are the people movers of India (Disney take note). They seat up to 14 (uncomfortably), not including children, with additional external straps for hangers on. The only air conditioning is, of course, natural.
Cows are sacred to Hindus. Cows graze; cows graze on the side of the road, on the occasional median, and if left untethered, on the road. They also graze in the makeshift dumps on the side of the road and cool off in the ponds next to the dumps.
If driving exhausts you, just pull off (sorta) to a makeshift rest stop. Facilities are the bushes.
The horn, the horn is the most critical part of the vehicle – not the ignition, transmission, clutch, brakes, mirrors or steering wheel. The horn is the only warning given, but not out of a regard for others on the road, but only as a matter of self-preservation as you pass within a few millimeters of the others – all of whom are expected to defer to the honker. Turn signals are less common than in Boston.
Don’t stop for anyone or anything – treat men, women, and children equally as obstacles on the road to the Taj.
Never complain again about driving in New York, Boston, or Los Angeles.
But it works. I saw absolutely no accidents.
My Passage to India
28 hours of airline travel, 20 hours on three flights, 30 hours total travel time, 12 ½ hour time change, two days of airline food with little exercise.
Left John Wayne/Orange County/Santa Ana Airport at 8:10AM on Tuesday, June 16, arrival time in Indira Gandhi Airport 10:45PM on Wednesday June 17. Passport control, swine flu control, baggage claims, customs, arrival at Guest House for total of 30 hours, midnight temperature 100°.
All for 4 full days and nights in New Delhi.
And yet, let’s take a historical perspective. Conquerors and migratory Euro-Asians needed years. The British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese took 6 months in their tiny, rickety, rat and flea infested, moldy, vulnerable, wooden sailing ships. So did the soldiers, merchants, bureaucrats, families, carpet baggers, missionaries, and adventurers who followed.
Now imagine until 150 years ago, no steamships, railroads, or Suez Canal. The land route through Egypt wasn’t that hot, but it certainly was. The British had to sail down Western Europe, cross Gibraltar and the Canary Islands, head west to Brazil (the trade winds), and then proceed along the western African coast until hanging a left at the Cape of Good Hope.
The passengers faced a limited, stale, salty diet, risks of running out of water, violent storms contrasted with still winds, primitive medical provisions, no Tylenol, Advil or aspirin, with a great risk of death on these vessels, all without upgrades, extra leg room or frequent sailing miles, not to mention no GPS.
If lucky, the trip could take 3-5 months, hoping to get to India in time to avoid the monsoons. Of course, with bad luck, the trip could be interminable. The Pilgrims on the Mayflower had a 66 day voyage across the 3,000 mile Atlantic, and managed to land off-track in Provincetown on Cape Cod rather than the Hudson River. The British had 10,000 miles to India.
“Are we there yet” had special significance in the absence of dvd’s, IPods, wifi and the internet.
They lacked deodorants, mouthwash, shots, showers, soap, sunscreen, and toothpaste. None of the modern capitalistic bourgeois decadence of today’s cruise ships for them. They must have been some kind of scurvy lot. Psychological counseling was obviously unavailable. Air conditioning was whatever the wind blew.
They escaped though passports, visas, security checkins, and agricultural inspection stations.
We take for granted the ease of global travel to see families and friends, for business and employment, study abroad, or just checking out exotic locales. The occasional frustrations, disappointments, and cancelled flights are as naught compared to our hardy predecessors.
We’ve all been on flights from hell, stayed in overrated hotels, ate at poor restaurants, been disappointed by arrangements, and ripped off, but so what?
The trip back simply reversed the route for another 30 hours, but with the time on my side, was all on Monday. If I were a practicing attorney I would have taken client files to read on the travels, and billed 30 hours in 6 minute increments in one day. That would make partner at any law firm.
60 hours of travel to give a talk on Friday and visit The Taj Mahal on Saturday – no brainer; I’ll do it again in an instance.
The British, of course, would probably be just embarking on their trip, literally, of a lifetime.
Left John Wayne/Orange County/Santa Ana Airport at 8:10AM on Tuesday, June 16, arrival time in Indira Gandhi Airport 10:45PM on Wednesday June 17. Passport control, swine flu control, baggage claims, customs, arrival at Guest House for total of 30 hours, midnight temperature 100°.
All for 4 full days and nights in New Delhi.
And yet, let’s take a historical perspective. Conquerors and migratory Euro-Asians needed years. The British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese took 6 months in their tiny, rickety, rat and flea infested, moldy, vulnerable, wooden sailing ships. So did the soldiers, merchants, bureaucrats, families, carpet baggers, missionaries, and adventurers who followed.
Now imagine until 150 years ago, no steamships, railroads, or Suez Canal. The land route through Egypt wasn’t that hot, but it certainly was. The British had to sail down Western Europe, cross Gibraltar and the Canary Islands, head west to Brazil (the trade winds), and then proceed along the western African coast until hanging a left at the Cape of Good Hope.
The passengers faced a limited, stale, salty diet, risks of running out of water, violent storms contrasted with still winds, primitive medical provisions, no Tylenol, Advil or aspirin, with a great risk of death on these vessels, all without upgrades, extra leg room or frequent sailing miles, not to mention no GPS.
If lucky, the trip could take 3-5 months, hoping to get to India in time to avoid the monsoons. Of course, with bad luck, the trip could be interminable. The Pilgrims on the Mayflower had a 66 day voyage across the 3,000 mile Atlantic, and managed to land off-track in Provincetown on Cape Cod rather than the Hudson River. The British had 10,000 miles to India.
“Are we there yet” had special significance in the absence of dvd’s, IPods, wifi and the internet.
They lacked deodorants, mouthwash, shots, showers, soap, sunscreen, and toothpaste. None of the modern capitalistic bourgeois decadence of today’s cruise ships for them. They must have been some kind of scurvy lot. Psychological counseling was obviously unavailable. Air conditioning was whatever the wind blew.
They escaped though passports, visas, security checkins, and agricultural inspection stations.
We take for granted the ease of global travel to see families and friends, for business and employment, study abroad, or just checking out exotic locales. The occasional frustrations, disappointments, and cancelled flights are as naught compared to our hardy predecessors.
We’ve all been on flights from hell, stayed in overrated hotels, ate at poor restaurants, been disappointed by arrangements, and ripped off, but so what?
The trip back simply reversed the route for another 30 hours, but with the time on my side, was all on Monday. If I were a practicing attorney I would have taken client files to read on the travels, and billed 30 hours in 6 minute increments in one day. That would make partner at any law firm.
60 hours of travel to give a talk on Friday and visit The Taj Mahal on Saturday – no brainer; I’ll do it again in an instance.
The British, of course, would probably be just embarking on their trip, literally, of a lifetime.
Monday, June 15, 2009
R.I.P. Checker Motors: 1922-2009
Two once great automobile manufacturers had their fate decided in bankruptcy court last week. Chrysler, after stiffing dealers, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, pensioners, and products liability claimants, was unceremoniously dumped onto a willing Fiat. The dowry was paid by taxpayers.
On Monday, June 8, 2009 a bankruptcy judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan approved the sale of Checker Motors’ plant to two Canadian parts manufacturers for $1.6 million. They will close the facility at the end of June, lay off the remaining 125 workers, and move the tools and equipment to Canada. Checker Motors of Kalamazoo, Michigan will cease to exist after 87 years.
The company was, ironically, founded as the outgrowth of $15,000 in bad debts. Morris Markum collected on the assets, fulfilled a contract, and Checker Motors was formed, originally under the name Parmalee. From 1922-1959 it manufactured only commercial taxi cabs, and in 1960 entered the consumer market on a small scale with the Super Superba and Checker Marathon. They were distinctive, a throwback to the days when cars were made of heavy metal rather than thin sheets of tin.
The iconic Checker cab was a sturdy (that’s a good word for a cab plying the streets of New York), non-aerodynamic cab. Its ruggedness was because it was designed from the ground up to be a taxi cab rather than as a regular passenger car modified to be a cab. A stretched version, predecessor of today’s airport limos, was the Checker Aerobus.
Checker Motors owned operating cab companies under various names, such a Checker Cabs and Yellow Cabs. It obviously manufactured the cabs driven by these companies. We call it vertical integration, but the Justice Department called it monopolization. Checker cab companies owned 86% of the cab licensees in Chicago, 15% in New York City, 100% in Pittsburgh, and 58% in Minneapolis.
The biggest problem with the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department is that it often doesn’t bring enough actions. For example, The Johnson Administration brought suits against AT&T and IBM, but decided not to prosecute GM for monopolization or attempted monopolization - unfortunately for the long term viability of Detroit. (As a sidebar, IBM won the case, enriching the partners at Cravath, Swain & Mooree, and AT&T settled, breaking up the phone company into Little Bells. The pieces have since been reassembled into AT&T by Ed Whitacre, Jr., ironically recently named as the new Chairman of GM).
This time though, The Justice Department brought one suit too many against a minnow in a Big Three sea of whales. Checker ultimately won the suit in 1948, but the writing was on the wall.
It subsequently filed its own antitrust suit in 1965against Chrysler, which was giving $183 rebates to cab companies which purchased Plymouths. Checker lost.
Competition finally caught up to Checker, which ceased manufacturing vehicles in 1982. It lacked the economies of scale possessed by the Big Three. It continued with its other major division, parts manufacturing. Its biggest customer is GM, which explains the January 16, 2009 bankruptcy filing.
The last Checker was retired from service in New York in 1999. It received an obit in the New York Post. If you have never seen a Checker Cab, check out reruns of Taxi. The cabs in the garage are Checkers.
Checker is notable in the Civil Rights Movement in America. It was the first to hire African American drivers and the first taxi company to require their drivers to pick up all fares – not just whites.
Goodbye Checker; you deserved a better fate.
On Monday, June 8, 2009 a bankruptcy judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan approved the sale of Checker Motors’ plant to two Canadian parts manufacturers for $1.6 million. They will close the facility at the end of June, lay off the remaining 125 workers, and move the tools and equipment to Canada. Checker Motors of Kalamazoo, Michigan will cease to exist after 87 years.
The company was, ironically, founded as the outgrowth of $15,000 in bad debts. Morris Markum collected on the assets, fulfilled a contract, and Checker Motors was formed, originally under the name Parmalee. From 1922-1959 it manufactured only commercial taxi cabs, and in 1960 entered the consumer market on a small scale with the Super Superba and Checker Marathon. They were distinctive, a throwback to the days when cars were made of heavy metal rather than thin sheets of tin.
The iconic Checker cab was a sturdy (that’s a good word for a cab plying the streets of New York), non-aerodynamic cab. Its ruggedness was because it was designed from the ground up to be a taxi cab rather than as a regular passenger car modified to be a cab. A stretched version, predecessor of today’s airport limos, was the Checker Aerobus.
Checker Motors owned operating cab companies under various names, such a Checker Cabs and Yellow Cabs. It obviously manufactured the cabs driven by these companies. We call it vertical integration, but the Justice Department called it monopolization. Checker cab companies owned 86% of the cab licensees in Chicago, 15% in New York City, 100% in Pittsburgh, and 58% in Minneapolis.
The biggest problem with the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department is that it often doesn’t bring enough actions. For example, The Johnson Administration brought suits against AT&T and IBM, but decided not to prosecute GM for monopolization or attempted monopolization - unfortunately for the long term viability of Detroit. (As a sidebar, IBM won the case, enriching the partners at Cravath, Swain & Mooree, and AT&T settled, breaking up the phone company into Little Bells. The pieces have since been reassembled into AT&T by Ed Whitacre, Jr., ironically recently named as the new Chairman of GM).
This time though, The Justice Department brought one suit too many against a minnow in a Big Three sea of whales. Checker ultimately won the suit in 1948, but the writing was on the wall.
It subsequently filed its own antitrust suit in 1965against Chrysler, which was giving $183 rebates to cab companies which purchased Plymouths. Checker lost.
Competition finally caught up to Checker, which ceased manufacturing vehicles in 1982. It lacked the economies of scale possessed by the Big Three. It continued with its other major division, parts manufacturing. Its biggest customer is GM, which explains the January 16, 2009 bankruptcy filing.
The last Checker was retired from service in New York in 1999. It received an obit in the New York Post. If you have never seen a Checker Cab, check out reruns of Taxi. The cabs in the garage are Checkers.
Checker is notable in the Civil Rights Movement in America. It was the first to hire African American drivers and the first taxi company to require their drivers to pick up all fares – not just whites.
Goodbye Checker; you deserved a better fate.
Friday, June 12, 2009
David Letterman Has Lost It
Jay Leno passed the torch of The Tonight Show to Conan O’Brien. Letterman is finally, decisively beating out The Tonight Show. He just signed an extension of his contract with CBS.
So how does he celebrate?
With incredibly outrageous attacks on Governor Sarah Palin and her daughter Tuesday night.
Late night comedians specialize in humor, including political humor. Good taste is not their forte.
Yet, Letterman’s “jokes” were as despicable as Don Imus’ comments about the “Nappy-haired” female basketball players at Rutgers. Had Letterman stated that Alex Rodriquez had knocked up Hillary Clinton’s daughter, he would have been off the air as quickly as Imus.
He commented on the Governor’s trip to New York, stating that “The hardest part of her trip was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.”
He didn’t stop with the former governor of New York. He also “joked”: “There was one awkward moment during the 7th inning stretch; her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriquez.”
Letterman claims he was thinking of Palin’s now 18 year old daughter, Bristol, who gave birth last year as a single mom. However, Bristol was back in Alaska. The Governor was accompanied by her 14 year old daughter, Willow. Hence, Letterman’s tasteless remark could reasonably be construed as advocating statutory rape of a 14 year old.
Whether Bristol or Willow is not the issue; these are not bad taste jokes. They are sick and perverted. They should not be said “in humor” about anyone’s daughter. That David Letterman would even think such a thought, much less say it, shows he has lost his touch
They are also highly offensive to Alex Rodriquez and Eliot Spitzer, who many New Yorkers would like to see back as Governor. Whatever may be said about the sexual proclivities of Alex and Eliot, robbing the cradle, much less statutory rape, has not been one of their vices.
Then came a statement about the Governor herself.
The number 2 answer to Dave’s Top Ten List of Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York is sick political humor. It was “She bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her slutty flight attendant look.” Overlooked in the controversy is the gratuitous sexist libel of flight attendants.
Isn’t this the same Governor Palin who received criticism during the campaign for $150,000 in clothes and makeup from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus?
Sarah Palin though is fair game. As the VP candidate, and thus a highly visible public figure, she must take whatever verbal abuse is hurled at her short of outright lies.
The line has traditionally been drawn on the candidate’s family, especially their children. For example, the problems of Al Gore’s son appropriately appeared in a few column inches on an inside page.
Letterman’s comments raise the issue of a double standard in the media between criticizing conservatives versus liberals. Democrats viciously attack conservative women and minorities, such as Governor Palin, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Miguel Estrada, but then assert that any criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor would be racist and sexist. Democratic Congressman’s Patrick Kennedy’s drunk driving into the Capitol received little press compared to Republican Congressman Vito Fosella’s DWI.
Making fun of a teenager’s pregnancy is disgusting. Over 1/3 of the births in America are to single moms. Indeed, in 2005 36.8% (over 1,500,000) of all births were to single moms. OctoMon just gave us 8. The teen birth rate for non-Hispanic blacks was 60.9/1,000 women, for non-Hispanic whites 26/1,000, and for Hispanics 81.5/1,000.
Compassion, not sexism, is called for in these situations.
My parents were married, but split before my birth. I thereby grew up the son of a single mom. My sympathy goes to the mother and child in every such situation.
Several years ago a single mom was my research assistant for two years. She was one of the best research assistants I ever had. She had the child as a young teenager, but went to high school, college and law school on a straight line. She is now a highly successful lawyer. God bless her!
Letterman had a legitimate grievance with Senator McCain during the election since McCain stiffed Letterman’s show. That I understand, but take it out on the Senator – not on his running mate’s daughter.
Letterman quasi/ sorta non-apologized apologized Thursday night saying that his remarks were jokes, that he often does tasteless jokes, was guilty of poor taste, and invited the Governor on his show. The Palins’ refused his offer.
He also, of course, repeated the jokes to the audience.
So how does he celebrate?
With incredibly outrageous attacks on Governor Sarah Palin and her daughter Tuesday night.
Late night comedians specialize in humor, including political humor. Good taste is not their forte.
Yet, Letterman’s “jokes” were as despicable as Don Imus’ comments about the “Nappy-haired” female basketball players at Rutgers. Had Letterman stated that Alex Rodriquez had knocked up Hillary Clinton’s daughter, he would have been off the air as quickly as Imus.
He commented on the Governor’s trip to New York, stating that “The hardest part of her trip was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.”
He didn’t stop with the former governor of New York. He also “joked”: “There was one awkward moment during the 7th inning stretch; her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriquez.”
Letterman claims he was thinking of Palin’s now 18 year old daughter, Bristol, who gave birth last year as a single mom. However, Bristol was back in Alaska. The Governor was accompanied by her 14 year old daughter, Willow. Hence, Letterman’s tasteless remark could reasonably be construed as advocating statutory rape of a 14 year old.
Whether Bristol or Willow is not the issue; these are not bad taste jokes. They are sick and perverted. They should not be said “in humor” about anyone’s daughter. That David Letterman would even think such a thought, much less say it, shows he has lost his touch
They are also highly offensive to Alex Rodriquez and Eliot Spitzer, who many New Yorkers would like to see back as Governor. Whatever may be said about the sexual proclivities of Alex and Eliot, robbing the cradle, much less statutory rape, has not been one of their vices.
Then came a statement about the Governor herself.
The number 2 answer to Dave’s Top Ten List of Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York is sick political humor. It was “She bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her slutty flight attendant look.” Overlooked in the controversy is the gratuitous sexist libel of flight attendants.
Isn’t this the same Governor Palin who received criticism during the campaign for $150,000 in clothes and makeup from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus?
Sarah Palin though is fair game. As the VP candidate, and thus a highly visible public figure, she must take whatever verbal abuse is hurled at her short of outright lies.
The line has traditionally been drawn on the candidate’s family, especially their children. For example, the problems of Al Gore’s son appropriately appeared in a few column inches on an inside page.
Letterman’s comments raise the issue of a double standard in the media between criticizing conservatives versus liberals. Democrats viciously attack conservative women and minorities, such as Governor Palin, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Miguel Estrada, but then assert that any criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor would be racist and sexist. Democratic Congressman’s Patrick Kennedy’s drunk driving into the Capitol received little press compared to Republican Congressman Vito Fosella’s DWI.
Making fun of a teenager’s pregnancy is disgusting. Over 1/3 of the births in America are to single moms. Indeed, in 2005 36.8% (over 1,500,000) of all births were to single moms. OctoMon just gave us 8. The teen birth rate for non-Hispanic blacks was 60.9/1,000 women, for non-Hispanic whites 26/1,000, and for Hispanics 81.5/1,000.
Compassion, not sexism, is called for in these situations.
My parents were married, but split before my birth. I thereby grew up the son of a single mom. My sympathy goes to the mother and child in every such situation.
Several years ago a single mom was my research assistant for two years. She was one of the best research assistants I ever had. She had the child as a young teenager, but went to high school, college and law school on a straight line. She is now a highly successful lawyer. God bless her!
Letterman had a legitimate grievance with Senator McCain during the election since McCain stiffed Letterman’s show. That I understand, but take it out on the Senator – not on his running mate’s daughter.
Letterman quasi/ sorta non-apologized apologized Thursday night saying that his remarks were jokes, that he often does tasteless jokes, was guilty of poor taste, and invited the Governor on his show. The Palins’ refused his offer.
He also, of course, repeated the jokes to the audience.
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