Gotcha, didn't I? Now you wonder, where's this baby going? The answer lies in the variety of pornography and how the term applies to the serious, the mundane and finally, the humorous.
On the terminally unfunny side let me quote the fantastic writer and author Diane Ackerman from her non-fiction work entitled The Zookeeper's Wife wherein the protagonist, Antonina Zabinski, tried to maintain her sense of order and civility in a war-torn Warsaw in 1939:
The savagery didn't serve hunger or necessity, it wasn't a political gambit, the doomed animals weren't being culled because they'd become too abundant in the wild. Not only was the SS ignoring their value as notable creatures with unique personalities, the men didn't even credit animals with basic fear or pain. It was a kind of pornography, in which the brief frisson of killing outweighed the animals' lives. "How many humans will die like this in the coming months?" Antonina asked herself.
On to current events - the ever-thoughtful Jon Meacham, managing editor of Newsweek, recently stated: To rehash the case against Cheney at this late hour in the Bush administration would be the rough equivalent of pornography - briefly engaging, perhaps, but utterly predictable and finally repetitive.
On the the lighter side, we have a senior editor of Atlantic magazine writing an article in the October 2008 edition asking "Is pornography adultery?" He cites, get this, Christie Brinkley's husband's addiction to internet pornography! Come on guy - you're married to Christie frickin' Brinkley for goodness sake!
He also references my favorite hypocritical pol, Elliott Spitzer, the ex-governor of New York - I remember the fawning cover story in Fortune not so long ago wherein they praised him for correcting so much of the "corruption" in many businesses and industries and projected him as a future presidential candidate. No thank you Mr Spitzer, your character comes up short.
Finally, if you search "pornography" in Google, among the first responses is "Librarians in Pornography" - a bibliography of racy books featuring librarians - there are 49 of them - now that's funny!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
How about a Sam Adams?
The USA Today newspaper reports that an appeals court in Washington state confirmed that state law does not bar teachers from having consensual sex with 18 year old students as they are not minors. Holy shit. Do these judges/people think? Could there be an extraordinary environment created in a school setting between an adult educator/mentor/parental figure/leader and a student that offers an exceptional opportunity for an adult to prey on an unsuspecting, possibly innocent, needy, approval-seeking teenager?
There is a state code of conduct prohibiting sex between educators and students so one can be fired and assumedly the subject of a civil suit but there's no criminality.
Reportedly some Washington legislators are attempting to address the "loophole" in the law and will be presenting legislation to invoke a prison sentence for violators.
Has the mayor of Portland conducted himself within the parameters of the law? Perhaps, but is his conduct that of a leader and mentor of young men and women - 17 or 18 - there's a legal difference but the public deserves and expects more of its leaders.
There is a state code of conduct prohibiting sex between educators and students so one can be fired and assumedly the subject of a civil suit but there's no criminality.
Reportedly some Washington legislators are attempting to address the "loophole" in the law and will be presenting legislation to invoke a prison sentence for violators.
Has the mayor of Portland conducted himself within the parameters of the law? Perhaps, but is his conduct that of a leader and mentor of young men and women - 17 or 18 - there's a legal difference but the public deserves and expects more of its leaders.
On to some favorite quotes:
John Adams - In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
Charles McMoran Wilson (Doctor to Winston Churchill) - Courage is a moral quality; it is not a chance gift of nature like an aptitude for games. It is a cold choice between two alternatives, the fixed resolve not to quit; an act of renunciation which must be be made not once but many times by the power of the will.
Ya think there's any relationship between these messages?
There is never just one cockroach
As a CNBC addict I get more info than I need on their series, American Greed, which depicts conmen like Bernard Madoff who perpetrate Ponzi schemes to screw friends, family and the God-fearing public. The episode currently running is about a guy named Lou Pearlman who "founded" the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync and bilked investors out of $500M - he's serving 25 years with Bubba (not my term but one of the victims) somewhere in the Federal prison system but his friends and believers are left holding an empty bag.
Following this theme of multiple cockroaches, I'll share a search I did early on about Fake Oswego, which when searched, gets a response from Google of "did you mean Lake Oswego? and then I searched those responses and found the high energy blog of Cate Garrison who along with many other Portland area residents were scammed by a local fraud named Wesley Rhodes - her blog is Life After Rhodes and it's hugely informative and passionate about fellow victims and bringing another fatman, Mr Rhodes, to justice. Cate is a legitimate writer and her blogs offer humor and erudition.
I contacted Ms Garrison because I had a few questions about the case as I had been introduced to Rhodes when he was a struggling life insurance salesman and he wanted to network with the firm I worked at to further his business opportunities. Although we never consummated any deals of note, I did remember Rhodes smiling as he advised me that he was a registered investment advisor - I didn't know what the hell that was, had no money anyway but somehow his reference to this entitlement stuck in my brain.
It was probably nearly 20 years later as I sat in traffic on Barbur Blvd hoping to make the left turn light at Terwilliger before it turned red and those a-holes from up the Hill had jammed the intersection when I heard an advertisement on the local business radio channel for Rhodes Econometrics. I listened - good radio voice (Wes had a face for radio also) and seemingly provocative information on how to beat the market. I thought Wes must have made it big - surprise, surprise.
Little did I know Wes had made it big - on the backs of others. You see Wes must have been a wannabe - he wanted to have cool cars - he reportedly wrote a check one day to Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo for $550,000 to buy 2 Ferraris for himself and I'll assume wife #3 - he also owned about 30 other muscle cars - Wes must been into muscles cause when I met with him he told me he'd been an intercollegiate athlete @ PSU. As I read Ms Garrison's blog, Wes made off with about $24M from his friends and followers here in Stumptown - now he's going to serve 10 years less a little time for presumed good behavior in Sheridan - good luck Wes - hope you get the diet and exercise you'll need so you can make restitution when you are released - surely, that's now your #1 goal.
So is the moral to the story beware of greed - our own and others? or beware of false idols - trust but verify? - your call.
Following this theme of multiple cockroaches, I'll share a search I did early on about Fake Oswego, which when searched, gets a response from Google of "did you mean Lake Oswego? and then I searched those responses and found the high energy blog of Cate Garrison who along with many other Portland area residents were scammed by a local fraud named Wesley Rhodes - her blog is Life After Rhodes and it's hugely informative and passionate about fellow victims and bringing another fatman, Mr Rhodes, to justice. Cate is a legitimate writer and her blogs offer humor and erudition.
I contacted Ms Garrison because I had a few questions about the case as I had been introduced to Rhodes when he was a struggling life insurance salesman and he wanted to network with the firm I worked at to further his business opportunities. Although we never consummated any deals of note, I did remember Rhodes smiling as he advised me that he was a registered investment advisor - I didn't know what the hell that was, had no money anyway but somehow his reference to this entitlement stuck in my brain.
It was probably nearly 20 years later as I sat in traffic on Barbur Blvd hoping to make the left turn light at Terwilliger before it turned red and those a-holes from up the Hill had jammed the intersection when I heard an advertisement on the local business radio channel for Rhodes Econometrics. I listened - good radio voice (Wes had a face for radio also) and seemingly provocative information on how to beat the market. I thought Wes must have made it big - surprise, surprise.
Little did I know Wes had made it big - on the backs of others. You see Wes must have been a wannabe - he wanted to have cool cars - he reportedly wrote a check one day to Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo for $550,000 to buy 2 Ferraris for himself and I'll assume wife #3 - he also owned about 30 other muscle cars - Wes must been into muscles cause when I met with him he told me he'd been an intercollegiate athlete @ PSU. As I read Ms Garrison's blog, Wes made off with about $24M from his friends and followers here in Stumptown - now he's going to serve 10 years less a little time for presumed good behavior in Sheridan - good luck Wes - hope you get the diet and exercise you'll need so you can make restitution when you are released - surely, that's now your #1 goal.
So is the moral to the story beware of greed - our own and others? or beware of false idols - trust but verify? - your call.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Second effort
But really just getting started with this blogging stuff - hope the print is large enough for you senior readers. BTW, I read The Reader about nine years ago (had Oprah discovered it then?)and was fascinated by the first 15 pages - every teenage boy's dream - but was impressed with the story and how conflicted ordinary people can be - how easily we can be led from our behavioral norms into a world we never wanted to experience.
If I could do the technical stuff, and I may be able to someday, when you sign onto my blog you'd be met by a high resolution photo of a Navy F-18 with afterburners firing as the fighter jet roars off the carrier to the sounds of David Bowie's Space Oddity (which is currently being used by Ford Motor Company to launch a new model Lincoln) aka "ground control to Major Tom."
I love Oregon, Portland and Lake O and have always quoted the following bumper sticker to friends here - "Not a native, here by choice" - some of the guys I golf with actually grew up in L.O., some even lived on the Main Lake! More to follow on that subject.
When you retire, people project you'll either be bored and keep going to the office hoping you're still relevant or you'll find new things to learn and do and I'm in the latter camp - enjoyed work for the most part, value friends and associates there but made a commitment to stay away and let my successor be everything that he could be which is certainly superior in many ways as youth and smarts will be served.
That said, I commited to learning to flatwater river kayak in my first year of retirement and I'll relate my experiences more extensively soon and I re-joined Big Brothers which I had done in the early 80s in San Jose, CA with a young man named Robbie. My current little bro is a great kid and I'll share some of that soon also.
Not sure you'll find anything newsworthy here today but I seek feedback from readers as time goes on and I'll keep learning so I can improve the site and always strive for better communication.
If I could do the technical stuff, and I may be able to someday, when you sign onto my blog you'd be met by a high resolution photo of a Navy F-18 with afterburners firing as the fighter jet roars off the carrier to the sounds of David Bowie's Space Oddity (which is currently being used by Ford Motor Company to launch a new model Lincoln) aka "ground control to Major Tom."
I love Oregon, Portland and Lake O and have always quoted the following bumper sticker to friends here - "Not a native, here by choice" - some of the guys I golf with actually grew up in L.O., some even lived on the Main Lake! More to follow on that subject.
When you retire, people project you'll either be bored and keep going to the office hoping you're still relevant or you'll find new things to learn and do and I'm in the latter camp - enjoyed work for the most part, value friends and associates there but made a commitment to stay away and let my successor be everything that he could be which is certainly superior in many ways as youth and smarts will be served.
That said, I commited to learning to flatwater river kayak in my first year of retirement and I'll relate my experiences more extensively soon and I re-joined Big Brothers which I had done in the early 80s in San Jose, CA with a young man named Robbie. My current little bro is a great kid and I'll share some of that soon also.
Not sure you'll find anything newsworthy here today but I seek feedback from readers as time goes on and I'll keep learning so I can improve the site and always strive for better communication.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Maiden voyage for new blog
Fake Oswego is an area adjacent to Lake Oswego, Oregon which is city of Portland land but the residents' children may or may not attend L.O. schools and may or may not have an L.O. zip code - go figure - it's meant to bring a chuckle because some Lake Oswegans refer to our fine city as Lake Ego...
Let's hope there's "humor in them there hills"...more to follow.
Let's hope there's "humor in them there hills"...more to follow.
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