The doctor and The Disease

Infectious diseases – Ebola, AIDS, even the Flu – are always worrisome. 

My background includes covering the early days of AIDS, back in the 1983, when it was breaking out across New York City, as a young reporter that summer for United Press International.

Few understood the disease.  Was it limited to the gay community?  Was it only happening to people who had blood transfusions?  No one knew.

In an attempt to dampen public fear of donating blood, New York City Mayor Ed Koch, in a very public piece of showmanship, donated blood, showing that if he could survive the process, so could anyone else.

I interviewed the executive director of New York’s Blood Bank about whether donations were the same or down due to this new fangled disease.

“I’m getting a lot of interesting phone calls,” he said.

“Really.  What kind of calls,” I asked.

“I’m not really sure I should say.  I’m a pretty modest guy,” he said.

“I am, too, so you can tell me,” I said.

“Well, this one lady said she and her husband practice anal and oral sex, and she wanted to know if they were at risk of getting AIDS,” he said.

“What did you tell her,” I asked.

 “As long as the sexual activity was only between them, they were fine,” he said.

Needless to say, that didn’t make it out across the wire that day. 

But the story about the guy who walked into a bank one Saturday morning, holding it up by saying he had AIDS, did.  The teller was so petrified of the disease, she handed him every dollar she could find. 

Given how we live in the United States, it's highly unlikely anyone would come near Ebola.  While we're prone to shaking hands, we tend to keep our physical contact with others to a minimum.

That's not so much the case in West Africa, where, from what I read, locals hug the dead, even those who died of Ebola, which then puts the living at risk of coming down with the disease. 

And, unlike the Flu, Ebola isn’t an airborne disease.

The larger issue we’re facing in the United States is the example a nurse or doctor provides – especially to the rest of us who aren’t medical workers – when they refuse to be quarantined because they may have been exposed to Ebola. 

Yes, medical workers have rights.  But they also have an obligation.  And that's to demonstrate concern for a community's overall health.

So, yes, nurses and doctors, who've done a fantastic service in Africa, should be quarantined.  I don't know if it needs to be for 21 days, but they should show the same amount of concern for their fellow Americans' health as they have for those in Africa.

A nurse I know, who works at a local hospital, tells disturbing stories but what's really bothersome are the ones of her fellow healthcare workers. 

They have no qualms about eating fat-laden, cholesterol-rich foods, like cheeseburgers.  Seriously, why aren’t these people taking the advice their industry hands out – to work out and be careful what they eat?

Medical workers, I’m beginning to believe, are just like journalists – they’re arrogant!  The rules don’t apply to them.

So if I were advising Kaci Hickox, the nurse in Maine upset about being quarantined, I’d tell her to tone down her cries about her civil rights and, instead, increase her time being an example of someone concerned not only about her health but also that of her fellow citizens. 

But maybe in this age of one person’s rights superseding everyone else's, that's too much to expect, even from those who should know better.

Middle East peace: A modest proposal

Editor's Note:  This is the speech President Obama needs to give to the Middle East.

"My fellow Americans, citizens around the world, especially those in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Kurdistan, the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Gulf States of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Somalia, as well as those in Malaysia and any other countries where Muslims or Arabs live:

"It’s time for the Arab World and the Muslim World to grow up!

"For the last sixty or so years, ever since the United States recognized Israel, you’ve acted like petulant two-year-olds, expecting the Western World, the United States and its Allies, in particular, to grant your every wish just so you wouldn’t throw a temper tantrum and then reach for your guns, your bombs and your knives.

"You kill your own people, even those who share your religious faith.  You outright murder innocent Americans trying to tell your story and – even more horrifying – those attempting to help you, like that Briton you recently beheaded. 

"Seriously, what gives with you people?

"I’m not going to tell you that U.S. policies in the Middle East have been perfect because, I, like so many others, know they haven’t been.  But one thing is for sure – more often not, certainly in the last 50 years, the United States has stood for equal rights, human rights and civil rights and, more importantly, the rule of law. 

"Women have voted in every U.S. presidential election since 1920.  And today many women hold top positions not only in government but also in industry.  Women – and this is critical for all you Arabs and Muslims to understand especially if you think your God-given mission is to put them down – are equal partners with men.  They drive cars, fly airplanes, are in the military, are doctors, scientists, stockbrokers, politicians as well as mothers and wives.

"For those of you who think you need to keep women down, well, all that shows me is how weak you really are.  Strong men never fear strong women.  So if you think Allah wants to you to keep her barefoot and pregnant or remain some third-class citizen, think again.

"This sectarian warfare you wage against those who share the basic tenants of your faith or those who don’t, needs to stop immediately.  Even Northern Ireland, once the scene of many battles between Christians in the Catholic and Protestant wings, is peaceful.  And, in a far earlier time, in the 1640s, Catholics and Protestants stopped fighting one another in Europe – for religious reasons.

'The United States has had strong presidents but never once has it had – and never will it have – a dictator.  We vote and adjust our policies based on those in political power.  And as a result, we’re successful.  You buy our products.  You use our social media. 

"The only thing we get from you is oil.  And given what we’re doing in the United States – what with fracking and developing alternative energy sources – soon the United States and the West won’t need the only thing you have to offer.

"Which means if you don’t change your ways, there won’t be a single reason to invest in your part of the world.  Which means more of you will be unemployed and many more of you will be impoverished.  And if you think turning to your guns, your bombs and your knives – and hijacking your religious faith – is going to solve your problems, keep something in mind.

"The American people have limits.  If we feel pressured, whether it’s to end a war in the Middle East or elsewhere around the globe, any president, including this one, has an arsenal that includes some quite nasty weapons that will end any conflict – quickly!

"Of course, no speech is complete without a proposal.  Therefore, today, I’m suggesting that all the Arab and Muslim nations in the Middle East as well as Iran, Israel, Turkey and the Kurds, come to together to write and agree on their version of the Treaty of Westphalia. 

"For those of you who don’t know about this Treaty, way back in the 1640s, it ended thirty years of fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Europe.  It was the beginning of international law and forced each country to recognize each other’s religious preferences – even if they disagreed with it.  Even if they didn’t like it.  It also recognized the rights of religious minorities in those countries. 

"The United States is prepared to host this meeting or, if necessary, we can find another country, a neutral one, where this meeting can take place.  For the sake of your children, for the sake of your very own lives, for the sake of peace, I highly suggest you take me up on this proposal.

"If you don’t want to come together, then the Middle East will remain what it’s been recently – nothing more than a backwater ghetto.

"The choice is up to you.  And know this – it’s time for the Arab World and the Muslim World to grow up!

"Thank you for listening."

Victory's price

This is not a strategy for victory.  It’s a terror tactic.  And it never stopped the Allied march to Tokyo during the Second World War.

Actions like the above picture, of a Japanese soldier about to decapitate an Australian one, Leonard Siffleet, only compel the Western World to resolve the conflict. 

Eyewitness accounts say the Japanese officer cut off Siffleet's head with one fell swoop of his sword,[i] making the jidhadist carrying out a similar deed, whether it was against James Foley or Steven Sotloff, look like an amateur butcher.

Without question, the pictures and videos scare the bejesus out of people, which is the intent.  But similar pictures never stopped the U.S. military from crushing another, including a ragged band of terrorists.[ii] 

The Western World, the United States in particular, handles suicidal enemies the only way it knows – they kill them.  The West is often slow to respond to national security crises.  But in time, as an enemy shows its brutality, it develops a strategy that unleashes far more destruction than the enemy ever imagined it could suffer.

So terrorists, take note.  You may win a few opening rounds with your shock and awe of slicing off heads, but you’ll lose the most critical one – the last.  You’ll pay a price you never considered.

Update:  One diligent reader pointed out that the picture's copyright is held by the Australian War Memorial.  I checked the Memorial's website and learned the picture is in the public domain.  Click this url if you're curious -- http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/101099/

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[i] http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/04/13/beheading-the-flight-lieutenant/

[ii] http://americanpowsofjapan.blogspot.com/2013/07/beheaded-on-new-guinea-honored-in-rhode.html

Common Core: The Industrial Tool

The only thing more disappointing than the changes to the Scholastic Aptitude Test is the reporting by the news media on the event, including by yours truly. 

There’s more to this story than meets the eye:  It’s not just a simple case of vertical integration – which, with rare exception, most of the news media missed – it also comes with an added twist, coercion.

The SAT gives every impression of losing ground to its only competitor, the ACT test, another barometer for measuring college-level academic performance and part of many college applications.

The most recent numbers, as provided by The New York Times, show ACT test takers edging out SAT test takers by about 2,000 students, 1.666 million compared to 1.664 million.[i]

As The Times shows, however, this doesn’t necessarily mean the SAT is on the decline.  At least 12 states, the paper says, “now require, and pay for, all public high school juniors to take” the ACT.[ii]

If you’re David Coleman, president of The College Board, which writes, publishes and owns the SAT, this isn’t good news.

The College Board should flat out own the market – not have to share half of it with its upstart competitor.

So what do you do to increase market share?

Answer:  You adopt tactics and strategies to dominate the market and shape the industry’s standards, similar to what Starbucks and McDonald’s do so well in their industries.

Coleman, a former McKinsey & Co., consultant, studied the trends The College Board was experiencing, seeing that the SAT was under fire as being a meaningless test and the ACT was gaining ground.

As Coleman likely saw it, if ever there was a turnaround situation, this was it.

It’s very likely, during his consulting career, Coleman discussed vertical integration with his former employer’s clients.

Vertical integration, in case you don’t know, is a business practice that makes sense if it’s cheaper for a company to own their supplier instead of just buying its goods.  It can also be sound judgment to vertically integrate if it provides an advantage over competitors in the marketplace.

To turn around The College Board’s fortunes, Coleman teamed up experts in education with ones from American industry and created a curriculum that could be adopted in the nation’s public school system, grades K – 12.

In other words, long before the current crop of elementary school kids even think about college, they’re prepping for the SAT because they’re exposed to Common Core.

In time, if those five states holding off on adopting Coleman’s new-fangled curriculum continue doing so, he’ll say their students didn’t do well on the SAT because Common Core was missing from their education.

Common Core is the means by which Coleman has assured the fortunes of The College Board.  The fact that it comes at the expense of an outstanding K- 12 education, especially in Massachusetts, is no matter.  He’s served his master.

The only thing to worry about now is when the ACT will wake up, realizing it, too, needs to develop its own K – 12 curriculum.

And the only question the journalism world needs to answer -- including me -- is why no one saw this story sooner.  I offer no excuses.

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[i] “Testing, Testing:  More Students are Taking Both the ACT and SAT,” The New York Times, August 2, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/more-students-are-taking-both-the-act-and-sat.html?_r=0

[ii] Ibid.

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!

 That iconic American, Mark Twain, said it best:  “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

It shows in the comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, justifying his country’s military takeover of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula:

“He … insisted that if Russian-speaking citizens in the east of

 Ukraine ask for Russia's help, Russia has the right ‘to take all

 measures to protect the rights of those people.’”[i]

And from Adolf Hitler as his forces entered Austria – without a shot fired – in what’s termed the “Anschluss” (or union) in March 1938:

            “The Reich will not permit Germans to be persecuted any longer

             in this territory because of their membership of our nation or

their loyalty to certain views … I have, therefore, decided to place

the assistance of the Reich at the disposal of the millions of Germans

in Austria … soldiers of the German armed forces have been

marching across the entire border of German Austria … They

will guarantee that the Austrian people will shortly be given the

opportunity to decide their future and their destiny by means

of a genuine plebiscite.”[ii]

Before long, posters were going up, declaring, “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!  (One people, one empire, one leader!)

Soon after, Hitler broke up Czechoslovakia, by taking over the Sudetenland, where ethnic Germans lived, and, later that same year, with the acquiescence of Great Britain and France, ended the country’s existence (at least until the war ended).

So here we are, facing the greatest fascist since Hitler, figuring out how to prevent Putin from issuing the next order, which will likely send his troops into combat in the Crimea and on a march toward Kiev.

There’s speculation, by one CNN military analyst, President Obama told Putin he wouldn’t commit American soldiers to resolve this problem.[iii] 

So what’s Putin doing?  Biding his time before making a move that will shock the world even more. 

The tragedy of this situation is that it parallels Germany and the 1930s, a time when a forceful response from Great Britain and France, maybe even the United States, to Hitler’s provocations could likely have averted an even greater calamity, a European war that, all totaled up, killed about 40 million people, maybe more.[iv]

Just like today, no western European nation then had the stomach for military action, even a limited amount, which could stop something worse.

Sure, it’s hard to find a reason Americans and its western European counterparts will fight in the Crimea or in Ukraine but it’s better to initiate a standoff now, when the situation is more favorable to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 

In fact, if Putin isn’t forced to withdraw, you can be certain, just as we learned from Hitler, he’ll strike again.  He was emboldened after Obama failed to involve the United States in Syria.  You have to fear what Putin will do next if Obama does nothing now.

Coincidence?

The Anschluss happened nearly 20 years after the end of World War I, a time when many people viewed Germany as a defeated warrior.  It was just over 20 years ago today that Soviet leaders learned they lost the Cold War. 

Right now, many look upon Russia and see what their grandparents and great grandparents saw in Germany up until September 1939 – a country that was.

Putin knows this and, like his long ago predecessor, the czar Peter the Great, he’s reestablishing his country’s former dominance. 

In addition, if this latest provocation shows anything, it’s this:  There’s no such thing as a “peace dividend,” when defense budgets can be cut.  With the end of the Cold War, the world’s more dangerous.

What’s next? 

That’s the question that needs to be answered.  The possibilities are endless but Putin could do any of the following:

• ·      Move against the Baltics.
• ·      Team up with China (one of the few countries supporting Putin’s actions) – it could send one submarine to make sure the United States and its Asian allies are prevented from keeping the South China Sea open to international fishing.
• ·      Align with China to prevent Japan from asserting its sovereignty over the Senkaku islands.  Here again, Russia could send a submarine to make a statement.
• ·      Russia occupies the rest of its former Soviet state, Georgia, also located along the Black Sea.

What can be done?

What’s surprising is that not even The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page editors saw this one.  They suggested deploying the U.S. Sixth Fleet into the Black Sea, long the dominion of the Russian (and, previously, Soviet) navy. 

An even better idea comes from the playbook of the one president Obama likely admires, Jack Kennedy.

On August 13, 1961, East Germans sealed off the crossing points between East and West Berlin and started building the Berlin Wall.  There was a very good chance they would move into West Berlin, kicking out the United States and its allies from the city. 

Instead of playing a weak hand, President Kennedy and his generals played a strong one.

They created the Berlin Brigade and seven days later, on the 20^th, marched 1,500 U.S. troops into West Berlin.[v]  Tensions were high but East Germany and the Soviet Union received the message – the United States would not be thrown out of West Berlin without a fight.

The same play could be used in Ukraine, perhaps in the Crimea, too.  Put U.S. troops, and allied ones on the ground and on patrol, saying very publicly they’re going to make sure the rights of those supporting the Kiev government are protected.

This puts Putin on notice.  If he fires a shot at an American or allied solider, there will be a vigorous military response.  Otherwise, we’re there as a peaceful force.

Journalist Gordon Brook-Shepherd, in his book about the Anschluss, states that Austria was always the world’s rehearsal ground.  Today, it’s in the Crimea and Ukraine.

If the United States and its allies fail to stand up to Putin, where does the stage go next?  How much worse will it be?

These critical questions require answers from President Obama and his foreign policy experts.

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[i] CNN.com -- http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/04/world/europe/ukraine-russia-tensions/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[ii] Gordon Brook-Shepherd, The Anschluss, (New York:  J. B. Lippincott Company, 1963), page 188.

[iii] CNN.com -- http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1403/03/cnr.05.html

[iv] http://www.hitler.org/ww2-deaths.html and http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Austria/Anschluss01.html

[v] http://www.armyheritage.org/education-and-programs/educational-resources/education-materials-index/50-information/soldier-stories/303-berlinbrigade

Arne Duncan -- Clueless Man or Male Chauvinist?

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is the most clueless man in America.

He and is ilk take an Orwellian approach to life, saying Common Core, the latest movement in K – 12 public school, educational reform, was adopted and voluntarily accepted by 45 of the 50 states.

It’s all in how you define “voluntarily.” 

As parents across the country are fast becoming aware, it looks more like this:   Under the cover of the darkness of night, their governor or state board of education pulled a fast one, adopting Common Core without putting it before the voters or their state legislature first.

Compare that to how Massachusetts went about reforming its schools, long before there was anything called a Common Core.  Back in 1993, the state legislature very publicly took up the issue of improving the schools. 

It was hotly contested and received a lot of press, providing Bay State parents with time to look at the condition of the state’s public school education and how it compared to what their peers across the country and overseas were doing.

The result was that the State House decided to reform the schools and, 20 years later, Massachusetts can rightfully claim to have some of the best public schools in the country.

In fact, based on some of the latest international testing results, Bay State kids hold their own against some of the best students in the world.  And it was due to the fact that education was focused on pushing the kids to read, write and understand math and science better than they had before.

Still, in spite of being considered a top state for public school education, Massachusetts succumbed to Common Core's tactics, with the only vote approving this latest reform movement done by the board overseeing the state's department of elementary and secondary education.  

And now Arne and his Common Core co-conspirators have a problem.

Parents are organizing, screaming that Common Core’s standards are dumbing down education – and there are plenty of experts to back that up – and, as a result, some state legislatures are taking a look at this thing, scaling it back or putting it on hold for further review.

This is what happens, Arne, when you insult the voters’ intellect, especially parents, and fail to follow President Abraham Lincoln’s maxim – “I’m a firm believer in the people.  If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.”

Even my elder son’s fifth grade teacher says Common Core is slowing down math education.  It’s not enough to know that 10 divided by 2 equals five; now the kids need to write an essay.  Really?

The public school system in our little Burg may want to treat kids like idiots, but we don’t:  We think our sons are damn intelligent and deserve better.

Which is why, Arne, my wife and I took matters into our own hands and send them to the Russian School of Mathematics.

Which is why, Arne, instead of pushing my elder son to re-read “No Talking,” a book that’s about five steps above “Dick and Jane,” I had him read “Catcher in the Rye.”

Which is why, Arne, from time to time, the boys will read stories in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald.

In the 21^st century, Arne, it’s critical our sons have the skills necessary to compete against kids from South Korea, China, Japan – and elsewhere around the globe – where education is taken seriously and kids are pushed to achieve more, not less.

I don’t know where you’ve been, Arne, but you haven’t been standing on the sidelines of baseball and basketball games or on the decks of swim meets, making casual conversation with suburban moms as their children participate in sporting events.

Had you been doing so, you’d come to know them the way I do – incredibly intelligent, committed to their professional success and their children’s education.

In addition, there’s something else, Arne, you don’t know about suburban moms – they’re educated, holding college degrees and then some.  

Maybe they didn’t all go to Harvard like you did, Arne, or Columbia, like your boss, but their college degrees are just as good as yours.

Because today they’re doctors, lawyers, cardiac nurses and registered ones, too, FBI agents, securities regulators, pharmacists, writers, journalists, public relations executives, bank regulators, accountants, sales, marketing and advertising executives, teachers and one I know pretty well manages a sizeable city in a western state.

So Arne, they’re not going to stand for being disparaged as a bunch of no-nothings, and they’re not buying snake oil either!

The taxpayers, Arne, pay your salary.  In this democracy of ours – as suburban moms will be happy to remind you – you report to us!

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/18/who-are-the-enemies-of-common-core/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/24/more-states-delay-common-core-testing-as-concerns-grow/

http://mrsmomblog.com/2013/10/02/how-common-core-is-slowly-changing-my-child/

Our Three Tragedies -- The Ancient Greeks and the Affordable Care Act

The debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, is looking like a Greek tragedy – not one but three.

The first tragedy is President Obama’s age and experience. 

While no one chooses his or her birthday, Obama’s lack of political experience, especially guiding something as tricky as a near overhaul of health care in the United States, is his responsibility.

Had he not been a young man in a hurry in 2008 – and certainly a better student of American history – he would have delayed his presidential ambitions. 

Instead of seeking his party’s presidential nomination, Obama would have gained executive suite experience as either a governor or a Cabinet member in a Hillary Clinton Administration.  But he pressed on, winning his current post.

Which is unfortunate.  Because if Obama was a better history student, he would know the most effective presidents – the ones with the chops for the job – came to the White House with one or two characteristics:  Prior executive experience as either a governor, a general or a Congressional leader and, usually, 50 years old.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan – some of the country’s best presidents – possessed one, if not both, attributes when they became the country’s leader.

If Obama demonstrated patience, he’d be watching this debate from the sidelines, not find himself in the middle of it, showing what he really is – a political novice whose inability to manage the new law may very well sink his presidency and his party, too.

The second tragedy is the law’s name.  The citizenry is finally hearing – loud and clear – it’s called the Affordable Care Act. 

But when there are, potentially, as many as 50 million people facing cancelled health insurance plans because theirs don’t cover every disease, test and possible treatment required under the new law – and facing large increases in their monthly premiums – then this new law doesn’t look “affordable.”

It looks expensive.

In California, the Los Angeles Times reported, some self-employed people paying less than $100 a month for their monthly health insurance premium are looking at an increase of about $140 a month so their plan is in synch with the new law.

The McClatchy News Service reported as many as 40 million people in the United States, buying health insurance through their employers, may see their policies cancelled because they don’t stack up with the law and another 11 million people buying policies on their own are also likely facing the same problem.

And, of course, everyone heard – or saw by now – the infamous video of President Obama saying, “If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it.”

That statement didn’t come with any caveats. The American people took him for his word.

But now Obama’s eating his words, attempting to find wiggle room to keep that promise while, at the same time, attempting to maintain his signature legislation, something that’s more difficult by the day.  Especially when he’s receiving “help” from former President Bill Clinton, who also made a run at changing how health care is managed and paid for.

The third tragedy is economics.  Its first law is that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and if that isn’t understood by now, it may never be.

A to Z health care coverage – and then some – is costly.  This isn’t like buying a liability policy for your car – usually sold for fewer dollars – so anyone you hit is paid off.

The new law requires you to buy a comprehensive health care policy covering you for anything and everything even though the likelihood of you needing such coverage might be statistically remote.

So what everyone is suddenly learning is that the Obama Administration, through the Affordable Care Act, sold off the American public to the insurance industry.

You’ll pay their rates – and you’ll enjoy it!

And given the Supreme Court’s ruling, there are few legal challenges available.

The Ancient Greeks thought no tragedy was meaningless.  There’s always a lesson. 

Maybe we’re finally learning that if we paid own doctors, out of our own pockets, with our own money, instead of receiving a subsidy from the insurance industry, as we have since World War II, then health care’s prices will drop.

We need to stop acting like crack addicts and wean ourselves off the insurance industry.  If we don’t, health care prices will continue to be inflated.

Sources:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-health-sticker-shock-20131027,0,2756077.story#axzz2kj7MCbYZ

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/07/207909/analysis-tens-of-millions-could.html

http://itsfourthandlong.blogspot.com/2008/03/history-of-american-president-what.html

Your Life in Two Paragraphs

If Barack Obama were assassinated today, how would he be summed up? 

As the first African American elected president who also failed to deliver his signature piece of legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, on time, leaving millions worried they would be fined – or worse – if they failed to sign up for health insurance as instructed by the law?  As the president who made the United States a laughing stock, at least in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s eyes, because he didn’t bomb Syria as previously threatened?

That might sound good if you never voted for Barack Obama.

But what if you did?           

You might say he’s the first African American elected president who not only killed Osama bin Laden but also delivered a health care law that benefits all Americans while being judicious in his use of military force.

Is either assessment fair and accurate?

Well, they’re both about right. 

Mr. Obama was the first African American elected president.  He ordered the assault on Osama bin Laden once his whereabouts were known; and, while his health care reform law was passed, and even blessed by the Supreme Court, the website enabling Americans to sign up for health insurance, scheduled to be running by October 1, 2013, wasn’t ready on time; finally, after sending strong signals about a possible attack on Syria, President Obama didn’t attack, deciding to let Congress decide U.S. actions.

Are these failings or achievements?  It depends on your political point of view.

So what are we supposed to make out of John F. Kennedy, whose presidency is undergoing a reassessment? 

Apparently historians are downgrading him because he was less than prescient with his actions, failing to understand that his moves against the Communist enemy we faced in the early 1960s would bring about a response.

If we’re to accept how some historians look at Kennedy, he should never have allowed the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 because it only led to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which took the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust.   Seriously, what was he thinking?

In addition, none of his most significant pieces of legislation, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and his tax cut, were passed during his time in office.  It took Lyndon Johnson’s deft legislative skills to make sure Congress turned them into law.  Finally, America’s intervention in Vietnam can also be blamed on Kennedy, some historians say.

But we should keep in mind that the Civil Rights Act and the tax cut weren’t proposed until 1963, Kennedy’s last year in office.  Had he not been assassinated, it’s possible he could have signed them into law. 

Kennedy’s actions in Vietnam were consistent with Cold War policies; for that matter, the country, during his time in office, felt as threatened by Communism as we have, recently, by terrorism.

Historians face the challenge of summing up someone’s life, meaning, if they’re doing their job properly, they’ll consider the culture in which their subject lived as well as their significant experiences. 

Gerald Sorin said it best:

“ … we biographers, even those such as myself who want to write cross-over books accessible to the educated lay public, don’t simply chart the course of a life from womb to tomb; we examine our subjects in dialectical relationship to the multiple worlds they inhabit, social, political, and cultural.”

Like any president, Kennedy came into office with a host of life events, including being a member of a large family; considered, at times, the son who wouldn’t live up to his potential; a combat veteran; a Cold Warrior; an accused philanderer; it’s also thought, by some, he didn’t write the books he authored; a loving father; a Democrat who didn’t always fit in neatly with his party’s philosophy.

Did any of this make Kennedy a bad or a good president?

Unlike the vast majority of presidents, Kennedy’s one of the few who died in office.  His abbreviated term – lasting less than three years – leaves more question marks than exclamation points. 

His biggest drawback is likely the same one that afflicts Obama – a lack of executive and leadership experience prior to becoming president. 

While it’s easy for some to see black and white when it comes to presidents they like or dislike, we should keep in mind that none of us, including our leaders, are one-dimensional.

I’m hard pressed to give Kennedy a bad rap, and I’m uncomfortable pronouncing him a hero.  His successes and failures speak for themselves.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/us/textbooks-reassess-kennedy-putting-camelot-under-siege.html?ref=us&_r=0

http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/_blog/The_ProsenPeople/post/Writing_Biography_The_Historian’s_Challenge,_Part_1/

Web Experts: New Social Website to Outpace Twitter

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – With the Silicon Valley’s eyes focused on Twitter’s initial public offering on Wednesday – expected to put the company’s market capitalization between $14 and $18 billion – another new comer to the social media space will also debut its stock this week, possibly surpassing the microblogger’s value.

Despite having less than a quarter of Twitter’s users, $100 million less in annual revenue than the microblogger, and having yet to show a profit, Silicon Valley venture capitalists and a Greenwich, Conn., hedge fund manager see a robust future for FuckyouIhateyou.com (Ticker: FUKU).

“Hate can be perpetual and now there’s an ad play for that,” said Diane Smartskey, managing director at venture fund Market Stretch in Menlo Park, Calif. “Besides, it’s easy to understand.”

“Nobody like really likes anyone,” said Joseph Lindler, managing director of hedge fund OPM in Greenwich, Conn. “I hate being friends on Facebook – as well as LinkedIn.”

FuckyouIhateyou.com shows promise as the Valley’s next hot stock when it starts trading on NASDAQ on Friday, with a valuation, some experts say, reaching $20 billion.

“This thing could easily have a market capitalization of $20 billion by Friday afternoon,” said Smartskey.

Initially the website offered shares at $40. But as the frenzy over the website’s potential increased, the per share price jumped, at first, to $45 and, then, later, to $60, optimism for the website’s future grew.

"Right now, the sky's the limit on the stock price," Smartskey said

“The best thing they have on their website is the ‘b.s.’ button,” she added.  “It allows users an opportunity to tell people what they think of their posts and, if you’re really angry, there’s even one with the letters “f.y.”

Hate groups and racist ones, like the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Muslims, are sponsoring these buttons so every time a user clicks on them, a message from the group pops up in their feed – and gathers up all their personal information so they can be added to their mail lists or be targeted to attend a cross burning or any other event a hate group is planning.

Other major advertisers include the National Rifle Association, Planned Parenthood, divorce attorneys, political parties as well as therapists offering services to help people overcome their hate.

FuckyouIhateyou.com has become the place where people, of all stripes, tell others what they really think of others – out in the open for everyone to see.

“Right after John Kerry was sworn in as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton became a user,” said Bonnie McMurtey, a San Francisco-based Internet industry observer.  “President Obama was first on her shit list, so you can see where this thing’s going.”

“We’ve got Democrats hating Democrats, Republicans hating Republicans, Republicans hating Democrats, Democrats hating Republicans – and Tea Party people hating everyone, including one another,” said the website’s 28-year-old CEO, Joe Lee. 

“Vladimir Putin hates Obama; Obama hates German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who’s also hated by Putin, as well as by most of Greece; and the Syrian president – what the fuck’s his name? – hating Obama,” he added.

It’s a great place for divorced couples, too.

“People drop friends, husbands, wives and lovers – sometimes even their siblings and their children – on Facebook and professional colleagues on LinkedIn and then use those names to build out their shit lists on FuckyouIhateyou,” said Alliance Capital Managing Director Marvin Stumps in an earlier interview, before the website announced it would go public.

Alliance Capital, also based in Menlo Park, was an early stage investor in FuckyouIhateyou.com and stands to make billions when the stock starts trading.

Hate groups are forming on the website, too, says McMurtey.

“The Starbucks one hates the Dunkin’ Donuts one,” she said.  “Just like McDonald’s customers can’t stand Burger King people.”

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffet also uses the website.

“He hates the website but loves our financial performance,” Stumps said, "which is why he owns millions of shares.

The site has an international version, too, for places like Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries at war. 

“Afghanistan is a particularly wonderful place for FuckyouIhateyou.com,” said McMurtey.  “There are whole families and clans hating other whole families and clans – for centuries! – which only increases user lists, propelling more ad dollars from various international arms dealers.”