Peter A. Diamond was given the 2010 Nobel Prize for Economics. To most of us he is not a renowned figure. He was the professor of the head of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernacke.
Mr. Diamond was nominated to fill one of the vacant seats in the Federal Reserve. Unfortunately some of the members of the minority party in the U.S. Senate that has hold hostage this country for the past 4 years have decided that they will not allow President Obama’s nominee to be confirmed. The main one leading this fight is Senator R. Shelby from Alabama, saying that Mr. Diamond is not qualified for the job. I guess Mr. Shelby thinks that he is qualified to decide who is best suited to be one of the board members of the Federal Reserve.
This is the same party and its new spin off the Tea Party that is giving us some unqualified, unprepared candidates that may very well win their races, during a time where people want to take revenge with their government officials for the downturn that they are living. I will not say that they are right or wrong in their anger. What I can say is that we should look closely at this candidates and what they propose: privatizing Social Security, in my book that sounds like doing away with the most successful program in American History, privatizing Medicare and Medicaid, same goes for this program, privatizing the V.A., dido, and we can go on.
This party is also proposing rolling back what they call “Obamacare”. That means re-instituting the clause that allows insurance companies to reject kids with preconditions. That sounds like a humane position. But we should never forget that the insurance companies’ bottom lines come before the health of its insured.
They are running on the pledge to America which is cut taxes for the wealthy, deregulation to banking and increase of military spending. That sounds like the Bush-Cheney dogma that sets us back 10 years.
A friend of mine has told me more than once that I try to figure out people, although I try not I guess it is my nature, and I fall victim to my own temptation probably because after 25 years it worries me seeing this great nation falling behind the rest of the world in every single aspect from education to infrastructure to technology. Having grown up in Argentina and being a neighbor to Brazil the thing we always found amusing about Brazilians was that whatever you would talk about with them they would always answer the same “O mais grande du mundo”, which translated is the greatest in the world, which was a fantasy because they had zillions of problem including 60% of population living in poverty. Now living in the United States American people remind of those Brazilians as I was growing up.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
This past summer
I have not been writing much this summer, and there are several reasons. For starters I went earlier this year to Argentina than I usually go. Instead of going in August or September like I prefer travellin I decided to go in July. I’m glad I did, as I think that it was a productive 2 week visit to my parents.
I then went to Chicago, together with my wife and son, to drop off my daughter as she had been invited to a conservatory. We then went back two weeks later to pick her up. Both the first and second times were very good, as the weather was great and it gave us the opportunity to go to the two tallest buildings in the City of Chicago, the John Hancock and the Sears Tower. The latter has 4 cubicles that were mounted on the side of the building, and, as they are made of type acrylic, you are actually outside of the building on the 103 floor, and whether you look up, side or down you have no concrete blocking the view. It is both exhilarating and scary, depending on your personality. I had a hard time at the beginning but I got used to it after a few minutes. You just have to avoid looking down as much as possible.
We also decided, as we were coming back from picking up our daughter in Chicago, that we would go for during labor day weekend to Cleveland to the Museum of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We had been there in 2002. There is a lot to see, and the location right by Lake Erie is great, together with the fact that it is like a Glass Pyramid.
I have been very busy as well, as people are coming to the realization that with interest rates as low as 3.875 % and prices at their lowest in many years , it would be foolish not to buy a house. There is no doubt that many people are losing their homes, but for those who are able to they know that they cannot let this opportunity slide by.
Of course that something’s gotta give. And it has. I have not been able to get together with the person I was discipling for almost two years until my trip in July. I have spoken to him since I came back but I have not had the time to get together with him. Once this wave passes we will surely go back to our weekly conversations.
I then went to Chicago, together with my wife and son, to drop off my daughter as she had been invited to a conservatory. We then went back two weeks later to pick her up. Both the first and second times were very good, as the weather was great and it gave us the opportunity to go to the two tallest buildings in the City of Chicago, the John Hancock and the Sears Tower. The latter has 4 cubicles that were mounted on the side of the building, and, as they are made of type acrylic, you are actually outside of the building on the 103 floor, and whether you look up, side or down you have no concrete blocking the view. It is both exhilarating and scary, depending on your personality. I had a hard time at the beginning but I got used to it after a few minutes. You just have to avoid looking down as much as possible.
We also decided, as we were coming back from picking up our daughter in Chicago, that we would go for during labor day weekend to Cleveland to the Museum of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We had been there in 2002. There is a lot to see, and the location right by Lake Erie is great, together with the fact that it is like a Glass Pyramid.
I have been very busy as well, as people are coming to the realization that with interest rates as low as 3.875 % and prices at their lowest in many years , it would be foolish not to buy a house. There is no doubt that many people are losing their homes, but for those who are able to they know that they cannot let this opportunity slide by.
Of course that something’s gotta give. And it has. I have not been able to get together with the person I was discipling for almost two years until my trip in July. I have spoken to him since I came back but I have not had the time to get together with him. Once this wave passes we will surely go back to our weekly conversations.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Repeal of Don't ask, Don't tell
Today, the Party of the past has proved again that it is living in the past regardless of what the American people and the pentagon believe, which is that we should repeal Don’t ask, don’t tell.
Day after day we keep falling behind in the world, as we try to hold on to things that have become irrelevant. If we look around at what other countries do regarding gay and lesbians in the military we can see that they have embraced them. We think that we should keep them in the closet as if they were not homosexuals.
Not only is that a regressive policy, it is bad for morale, discriminatory and should be repealed.
It is time to think and live in the 21st century and not in the 1950s, which is what it seems the Republican Party and its faction, the Tea Party Movement, want us to go back to.
God help us if they take any of the two chambers of Congress in the next election.
Day after day we keep falling behind in the world, as we try to hold on to things that have become irrelevant. If we look around at what other countries do regarding gay and lesbians in the military we can see that they have embraced them. We think that we should keep them in the closet as if they were not homosexuals.
Not only is that a regressive policy, it is bad for morale, discriminatory and should be repealed.
It is time to think and live in the 21st century and not in the 1950s, which is what it seems the Republican Party and its faction, the Tea Party Movement, want us to go back to.
God help us if they take any of the two chambers of Congress in the next election.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Kyler
On September 7th, 2010 Kyler Van Nocker succumbed to Neuroblastoma, a cancer that is found in children, and went to meet his creator. Although I did not meet personally this brave child who fought for his life for over three years and feel like I have. He is another victim to an insurance company and their “bureaucrats” deciding who lives and who doesn’t. I love when people during health care reform said that there would be government death panels deciding who lives and who doesn’t. I guess they are fine with a private bureaucrat but not one who works for the government.
I have criticized health management insurance companies and their defenders in the past, and will continue to do so until we have other options. The same people who say that they are fine with an hmo over charging and under covering us, seem to be the same people who are in favor of BP polluting the Gulf of Mexico. I wonder where they are now that another platform in the Gulf exploded a few days. I assume that we must trust Exxon, owner of the recent casualty, that there has be no spill in this case, just like we should have trusted BP when they said that there were only a few barrels leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
Going back to the subject of this blog unfortunately Kyler will not be the first or the last victim to be in the hands of a clerk who is rewarded based on the amount of rejections that they make, so that shareholders can make money, even if it is will blood money.
At least Judas had the decency and the courage of realizing what he done and took his life for betraying his savior.
I have criticized health management insurance companies and their defenders in the past, and will continue to do so until we have other options. The same people who say that they are fine with an hmo over charging and under covering us, seem to be the same people who are in favor of BP polluting the Gulf of Mexico. I wonder where they are now that another platform in the Gulf exploded a few days. I assume that we must trust Exxon, owner of the recent casualty, that there has be no spill in this case, just like we should have trusted BP when they said that there were only a few barrels leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
Going back to the subject of this blog unfortunately Kyler will not be the first or the last victim to be in the hands of a clerk who is rewarded based on the amount of rejections that they make, so that shareholders can make money, even if it is will blood money.
At least Judas had the decency and the courage of realizing what he done and took his life for betraying his savior.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Withdrawing from Iraq
Today, President Obama fulfilled his promise that the war in Iraq would come to a conclusion, as so combat troops pulled out.
I am glad that he was able to keep his commitment, regardless of criticism from part of the population of this country.
The part of the population that was opposed to the conclusion of the war is the same sector that believes in a military power that is unsustainable with expenditures of more than 750 billions dollars a year, more than all industrialized nations combined, even though we are boroughing the money from the Chinese and the Japanese, the same people who believe that the top two percent of the population should get all the tax cuts at the expense of the national debt, because it is also given on boroughed money, so that the rest of us pays for those cuts, and the same people that want to do away now with social security and medicare, even though social security is capped at less than 100 thousand dollars.
It is also wonderful to see the same people demanding that the president give credit to former president Bush for the surge, although there is no proof that in itself it may any difference. These are the people, as I said earlier, who always have the same two prescriptions to every single problem in life, tax cuts for the wealthy and a big Department of Defense.
What they have to understand is that we would have never been there and lost all those lives, BOTH AMERICANS AND IRAQIS, if President Bush and Vice-President Cheney would have not lied to the world about weapons of mass destruction, and the “supposed” danger that Saddam Hussein was to the U.S.
Unfortunately it is not a total withdrawal of troops from Iraq as almost 50 thousand will stay there, so it doesn’t do the whole trick, but at least it is a beginning.
Now the next steps will be the eventual total withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan as well.
I am glad that he was able to keep his commitment, regardless of criticism from part of the population of this country.
The part of the population that was opposed to the conclusion of the war is the same sector that believes in a military power that is unsustainable with expenditures of more than 750 billions dollars a year, more than all industrialized nations combined, even though we are boroughing the money from the Chinese and the Japanese, the same people who believe that the top two percent of the population should get all the tax cuts at the expense of the national debt, because it is also given on boroughed money, so that the rest of us pays for those cuts, and the same people that want to do away now with social security and medicare, even though social security is capped at less than 100 thousand dollars.
It is also wonderful to see the same people demanding that the president give credit to former president Bush for the surge, although there is no proof that in itself it may any difference. These are the people, as I said earlier, who always have the same two prescriptions to every single problem in life, tax cuts for the wealthy and a big Department of Defense.
What they have to understand is that we would have never been there and lost all those lives, BOTH AMERICANS AND IRAQIS, if President Bush and Vice-President Cheney would have not lied to the world about weapons of mass destruction, and the “supposed” danger that Saddam Hussein was to the U.S.
Unfortunately it is not a total withdrawal of troops from Iraq as almost 50 thousand will stay there, so it doesn’t do the whole trick, but at least it is a beginning.
Now the next steps will be the eventual total withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan as well.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friend
A little bit over 36 years we were starting our last year in high school, we were the seniors, just like we had been every year since 8th grade, as we were a new school and we were always the oldest. But this year different, we had lost some of our schoolmates, but we got two new ones, a girl who came from one of the best schools in town and a guy that had, in his words, had enough with the naval high school. It was too rigid for him, and he was ready for a different atmosphere. I eventually ended up falling for the girl, although nothing ever came out of the relationship.
On the other hand he seemed like a friendly guy but because he decided not to come with most of us to our graduation trip, so we never really had time to grow a deep relationship. He was a lot closer to another of our mates. Once we graduated I saw him again at our first reunion at one of our mates who was getting married the following year. Very shortly after I got a call from a common friend telling me that his older brother, just two years older than us, had passed away, and off we went to his brother’s wake.
We started dating each others’ wives around the same time, and together with a common friend we would go out the six of us. They came to our wedding and we were at theirs. Even with all this our relationship never seemed to be really deep. My father in law once said that in order for two couples to get along well the women need to get along well, if possible, be friends.
Then, my wife and I moved to the US. We saw them when they came to the area the following year, and although we only spent a couple of days together we had a nice time with them.
Then from 1986 through 1995 we did not see each other, my family’s visits to Buenos Aires were usually short, and we would spend most of the time with family, as part of my wife’s family was already living in the country, hours away from Buenos Aires.
In 1996 the school we had gone to was organizing a reunion, and we met again. But then after that there was a period of several years that we did not see each other.
Then one year I got his shop’s address and I went to see him. We spoke for a little while, talked about our personal lives, our struggles.
There was a spark that had just been sleeping. For some magic reason we starting communicating through messenger, over the phone, and our relationship starting building. I discovered what kind of a person he was, something that I had not noticed. I cannot blame it all on him, it was probably my fault as well. He showed me his true self, with his insecurities, his authenticity, his kindness, and our friendship blossomed. His heart is so full of love that everybody that he touches feels it. He also has a side that has pain, and possibly, to a certain degree, anger. A lot of it is to his parents, probably because, when he needed them, they were in such pain as he was, so they didn’t know what to do. It is very easy to be Monday morning quarterback, but many times we react in a strange way when tragedy hits us.
He told me once that the pain of the loose of his brother was just a strong as it was 35 years earlier when it happened. I could not believe it.
Talking to his parents once they admitted to me that they were in pain as well. The loose of a child is considered the most stressful event in a person’s life.
Although, as I said earlier in this blog, he was with us for the last year of high school, since we had our first reunion, and through the power of the internet and email, he has shared his love, his affection, his enthusiasm, with the rest of the classmates.
I tell him, whenever I have an opportunity, that I have received a lot more than what I have given him, I am thankful that he calls me his friend. I am proud to call him my friend, and even though he is still going through a bit of a bumpy road with his affections and his kids, he has a lot more to give than he realizes.
A few days ago I lost a friend to cancer, and although I am thankful that I was able to see him still alive, even though it was a heart braking to see him in the condition he was in because of his illness, my biggest regret is not having been able to tell him that, even though we had our many differences, I loved him, and valued him as a friend. So from now on I will not let the opportunities pass me by, so through this method I say, I love you brother.
On the other hand he seemed like a friendly guy but because he decided not to come with most of us to our graduation trip, so we never really had time to grow a deep relationship. He was a lot closer to another of our mates. Once we graduated I saw him again at our first reunion at one of our mates who was getting married the following year. Very shortly after I got a call from a common friend telling me that his older brother, just two years older than us, had passed away, and off we went to his brother’s wake.
We started dating each others’ wives around the same time, and together with a common friend we would go out the six of us. They came to our wedding and we were at theirs. Even with all this our relationship never seemed to be really deep. My father in law once said that in order for two couples to get along well the women need to get along well, if possible, be friends.
Then, my wife and I moved to the US. We saw them when they came to the area the following year, and although we only spent a couple of days together we had a nice time with them.
Then from 1986 through 1995 we did not see each other, my family’s visits to Buenos Aires were usually short, and we would spend most of the time with family, as part of my wife’s family was already living in the country, hours away from Buenos Aires.
In 1996 the school we had gone to was organizing a reunion, and we met again. But then after that there was a period of several years that we did not see each other.
Then one year I got his shop’s address and I went to see him. We spoke for a little while, talked about our personal lives, our struggles.
There was a spark that had just been sleeping. For some magic reason we starting communicating through messenger, over the phone, and our relationship starting building. I discovered what kind of a person he was, something that I had not noticed. I cannot blame it all on him, it was probably my fault as well. He showed me his true self, with his insecurities, his authenticity, his kindness, and our friendship blossomed. His heart is so full of love that everybody that he touches feels it. He also has a side that has pain, and possibly, to a certain degree, anger. A lot of it is to his parents, probably because, when he needed them, they were in such pain as he was, so they didn’t know what to do. It is very easy to be Monday morning quarterback, but many times we react in a strange way when tragedy hits us.
He told me once that the pain of the loose of his brother was just a strong as it was 35 years earlier when it happened. I could not believe it.
Talking to his parents once they admitted to me that they were in pain as well. The loose of a child is considered the most stressful event in a person’s life.
Although, as I said earlier in this blog, he was with us for the last year of high school, since we had our first reunion, and through the power of the internet and email, he has shared his love, his affection, his enthusiasm, with the rest of the classmates.
I tell him, whenever I have an opportunity, that I have received a lot more than what I have given him, I am thankful that he calls me his friend. I am proud to call him my friend, and even though he is still going through a bit of a bumpy road with his affections and his kids, he has a lot more to give than he realizes.
A few days ago I lost a friend to cancer, and although I am thankful that I was able to see him still alive, even though it was a heart braking to see him in the condition he was in because of his illness, my biggest regret is not having been able to tell him that, even though we had our many differences, I loved him, and valued him as a friend. So from now on I will not let the opportunities pass me by, so through this method I say, I love you brother.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Eduardo
I went to say goodbye to a good friend of mine today, he was only 68 years old and he had been sick with cancer for the past 3 years receiving chemotherapy and radiation.
I have to say that although I am glad that he is no longer suffering it was very devastating to see him in the condition that he was. He seemed to be way under 100 pounds. I left just a couple hours before he went to be with his creator, and at the time he was breathing with difficulty and what sounded like a snore. As I was leaving one of the people from hospice was arriving and she said that he was very close to his death.
It will take the family some time to recover from such a great lose, especially his daughter, as she took care and lived with him. His daughter was at his side day and night. But she has the reassurance that he was not alone at any time, even at the time of his departure, as God was there in the midst of all. His final wishes are to be cremated and that his ashes are poured on top of his parents graves in Spain, so she will take his ashes back to his place of birth and give him his place of eternal rest.
But there is also a different side to this story, and this is what gives us comfort and strength. God is compassionate, loving and omnipotent. My friend always would say that he was disenchanted with God and with everything that was related to Jesus Christ, he even went ahead and stated in his facebook page that he was an agnostic. In fact he was really disenchanted not God but with the Catholic Church, the institution itself, and its various positions. This goes back to his childhood, as my friend had been born after the end of the Spanish civil war, and, like he used to say, could see how the church had taken sides with the Nationalists, even though there were many abuses, including of civil liberties. This reminds me of the Catholic Church’s position during the dirty war in Argentina from ’76 and ’83 of staying quiet even though everybody knew of the all the abuses and disappearances. But that is the subject for another blog.
Going back to my friend, his daughter was telling me that for the last few years he had been praying every night, which goes to show that he had a relationship with his creator and his savior.
God uses every opportunity for the good, and uses every single of us as a tool to enlarge his kingdom.
Eduardo, you will be greatly missed, your “reprimands” as you used to call them, our conversations about the US, Europe, Spain, Argentina, politics, and many other subjects, but knowing that you are with your creator is of great comfort to those of us who loved you, appreciated your friendship, your thoughtfulness, as you always put other people first. It was a privilege for those of us who met you, and for those to whom you called a friend as you always had a caring heart.
The pain is over, the suffering has ended. Now you are in God's safe hands.
Rest your soul in peace.
I have to say that although I am glad that he is no longer suffering it was very devastating to see him in the condition that he was. He seemed to be way under 100 pounds. I left just a couple hours before he went to be with his creator, and at the time he was breathing with difficulty and what sounded like a snore. As I was leaving one of the people from hospice was arriving and she said that he was very close to his death.
It will take the family some time to recover from such a great lose, especially his daughter, as she took care and lived with him. His daughter was at his side day and night. But she has the reassurance that he was not alone at any time, even at the time of his departure, as God was there in the midst of all. His final wishes are to be cremated and that his ashes are poured on top of his parents graves in Spain, so she will take his ashes back to his place of birth and give him his place of eternal rest.
But there is also a different side to this story, and this is what gives us comfort and strength. God is compassionate, loving and omnipotent. My friend always would say that he was disenchanted with God and with everything that was related to Jesus Christ, he even went ahead and stated in his facebook page that he was an agnostic. In fact he was really disenchanted not God but with the Catholic Church, the institution itself, and its various positions. This goes back to his childhood, as my friend had been born after the end of the Spanish civil war, and, like he used to say, could see how the church had taken sides with the Nationalists, even though there were many abuses, including of civil liberties. This reminds me of the Catholic Church’s position during the dirty war in Argentina from ’76 and ’83 of staying quiet even though everybody knew of the all the abuses and disappearances. But that is the subject for another blog.
Going back to my friend, his daughter was telling me that for the last few years he had been praying every night, which goes to show that he had a relationship with his creator and his savior.
God uses every opportunity for the good, and uses every single of us as a tool to enlarge his kingdom.
Eduardo, you will be greatly missed, your “reprimands” as you used to call them, our conversations about the US, Europe, Spain, Argentina, politics, and many other subjects, but knowing that you are with your creator is of great comfort to those of us who loved you, appreciated your friendship, your thoughtfulness, as you always put other people first. It was a privilege for those of us who met you, and for those to whom you called a friend as you always had a caring heart.
The pain is over, the suffering has ended. Now you are in God's safe hands.
Rest your soul in peace.
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