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November 26, 2008

Puritan Action Plan for Bail-Out Recipients: No, No, and NO

Citigroup is catching flak for having its name on the replacement for Shea Stadium, now dubbed Citi Field. Set to open the 2009 season, Citi Field shows exquisitely bad timing as a (mis)use of corporate assets. Two NY City Council members want to rename it "Citi/Taxpayer Field." Good idea! (Others have suggested Heimlich Field, because the Mets are always choking.)

Their renaming made me think about a Puritan Code of Conduct for corporations and their executives who are escaping self-inflicted destitution courtesy of tax payers. Yes, the Pilgrims had Thanksgiving, but I always associate the Puritans with stern behavior. So, to honor the spirit of the Puritans and their view of excess, I'm pleased to channel the jolly spirit of Oliver Cromwell and present this Puritan Action Plan for Bail-Out Recipients. Drawing on my first-hand observation of the excesses of corporate life, it will ensure that corporate chiefs will wisely spend their largess. As with any effective moral code, the Puritan Action Plan uses the word "no" many times.

Continue reading "Puritan Action Plan for Bail-Out Recipients: No, No, and NO"

Van | 11/26/08 at 06:40 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Domestic Politics

November 23, 2008

24: Jack, Back, Hack

After 18 months off the air, 24 returned with a two-hour movie, "24 Redemption" that took Jack Bauer out of LA and plopped him down somewhere in Africa. The Africa sequences were very well done, but the political chicanery in Washington foretold a tedious season of 24 with the usual sneaking around in the White House with cell phones, crooked corporations, trouble members of the extended First Family -- hasn't 24 covered that territory over and over and OVER again?

Watching 24 again feels more like an obligation than a pleasure. It's a good thing Fox sticks in plenty of commercials for more important matters.

Van | 11/23/08 at 10:42 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Sensual pleasures

November 10, 2008

The Dutch-Jewish Films of Renee Sanders, This Week in NY

Dutch-Jewish film maker Renee Sanders will be screening four of her documentaries this week at "Celebrate Independent Thinking," a series at the Ann Frank Center USA at 38 Crosby Street in New York. The films explore the Holocaust in the Netherlands and its aftermath in the decades that followed. Renee, whose parents were hidden during the war, is a good friend of mine and I've had the honor of seeing several of her films. They are all compelling and blend historical insight with a great feel for the humanity of the subjects.

On Wednesday at 6 pm, the program consists of "Resisting Forces: The Jewish Council in Enschede, 1941-1943" and "A Jewish Counterforce." On Thursday, Renee will screen and discuss "Mink Hides My Misery," about German-Jewish women who moved to the Netherlands and then survived the Holocaust there, and "From 'S Graveland to the Promised Land." They're in Dutch with English subtitles.

The series is part of the "5 Dutch Days, 5 Boroughs" events celebrating New York's Dutch heritage. For more information, go to www.5dutchdaysnyc.org.

Van | 11/10/08 at 09:46 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Doing Jewish

November 09, 2008

Before the Hurricanes: A Trip to Jewish Cuba

The place was jumpin’ in the 1950s. Congregations expanded with new buildings and programs, the community collected funds for Israel, the descendants of Americans, European and Middle Eastern immigrants were respected professionals who built businesses that kept the economy growing.

The United States in the Eisenhower era? No – Cuba, a thriving community of 15,000 Jews until the Revolution of 1959 resulted in 90 percent of the Jewish population fleeing. After the new government takeover, temples closed (for a lack of congregants, leadership and money) and the religious memory withered, kept alive in the immigrant population that settled a world and 90 miles away in South Florida and elsewhere.

Yet like embattled Jewish communities everywhere, a spark remained in Havana and smaller cities. In the 1990s, the government eased restrictions on religious observance and Havana’s Jewish community gradually returned to more open activity. Smaller communities across the island also began to reopen.

The U.S. embargo against Cuba severely restricts Americans’ ability to visit Cuba, but it can be done legally. One way is through a religious mission, licensed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

That’s how I satisfied a long curiosity about Cuba with a week-long trip there in June 2008 with a group led by Miriam Saul, a Cuba native who moved to Atlanta in the early 1960s and has led almost 30 licensed trips in the last eight years for the Cuba-America Jewish Mission, a non-profit group in California. I first contacted Miriam in February 2007, and signed on for the June 2008 mission.

Continue reading "Before the Hurricanes: A Trip to Jewish Cuba"

Van | 11/09/08 at 04:11 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Doing Jewish

November 07, 2008

The White House Mountaineer

I'm keeping an open mind about the new administration. The website www.change.gov lays out the issues and areas of focus. Some of it makes sense, such as the discussion of ethics in government.

Other parts give me pause, like this gem buried in the "Other Issues" section. It sounds downright Stalinist in tone, a celebration of the infinite abilities of the far-seeing wise man:

Our nation's creativity has filled the world's libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces with works of genius. The arts embody the American spirit of self-definition. As the author of two best-selling books – Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama uniquely appreciates the role and value of creative expression.

Uniquely? Really? Is there nothing the White House Mountaineer cannot accomplish?

We can't say we weren't put on notice.

Van | 11/07/08 at 06:37 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Domestic Politics

November 04, 2008

Grim Milestone Watch, Week Zero: Texas Views

I looked for political messages as I tooled around central Texas recently. The view from the Lone Star State is mixed. Signs for both candidates dotted the landscape, with the predictable urban-rural split. These pictures show some of what I found.

Below, McCain and Obama share the space outside an early-voting place in the arty town of Salado. McCain gets two signs for Obama's one, but, still, this is rural central Texas. I like the way the Obama sign looks like a Texas flag -- sure to win Texas hearts and minds for two good ol' boys from Hawaii/Harvard/Chicago and Delaware.

Not everybody's getting on the Obama bandwagon, as this screed posted on the main street of McGregor indicates.

Finally, I hit the brakes and leaped out of my rental car to snap a picture of this sign. It's not a campaign sign, but it does show the political tendencies the Democrats are bumping up against in parts of Red-State America. And, I didn't even know the Birchers still existed. But in Temple-Belton, they do.

Van | 11/04/08 at 06:00 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories:

November 02, 2008

Obama Loves Me, This I Know, for the Liberal Bible Tells Me So

The New York Times slipped comfortably into Obama Girl mode today with another fawning article about Barack Obama, this one titled "Obama-Inspired Black Voters Warm to Politics." The article practically writes itself with no pretense of balance. Political participation derives from one source only, without the possibility that new black voters may be voting Republican. Maybe the National Black Republican Association could provide some, shall we say, diversity of perspective light on this aspect of the story.

What caught my attention in the story was a quote that instantly echoed an upbringing 40 years ago among the Texas Baptists. One passage reads,

For Darnell Harris of Cleveland, an 18-year-old private in the Marines, the legal voting age could not come fast enough. “I’m excited that the first time I get to vote, it’s for Barack,” he said. And echoing many others, he said that race is only part of the reason. “Obama cares about everybody, whether they’re white, black, Chinese, whatever. He’s not just for one little group.”

Where have I heard that thought before? Could Darnell Harris be channeling this song with this well-known (among some groups) refrain?

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Van | 11/02/08 at 06:10 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Domestic Politics

On the Road to Crawford, Texas

I spent a most enjoyable hour or so with the good people of Crawford, Texas last Tuesday during a trip to Texas. The nearness of the election led me to drive 100 miles from Austin. I wandered the three-block downtown, snapping photos and chatting with the friendly manager of The Red Bull, the gift shop where I stocked up on Bush memorabilia. The Crawford cookbook, complete with recipes from First Lady Laura Bush, was a big hit, along with the armadillo refrigerator magnets. After careful consideration, I passed on the Jenna Bush-Henry Hager wedding mousepads. At $10, they were a little rich for my tastes.

The photo below shows, definitively, that I was there, very close to a reasonable likeness of a famous local resident soon to have more time for his ranch.

My timing was perfect, on the eve of Tuesday's historical shift. The center of presidential kitsch will soon shift to either Arizona/Alaska or Hawaii/Chicago/Indonesia/Kenya, but whatever the outcome, my sense is that Crawford will take the vote in stride.

Van | 11/02/08 at 08:29 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: Liberal hawks and friends