A Thanksgiving Appreciation

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for…HANDS!

My hands that allow me to do so much, SO much!

The hands of others, without whom I would have little life.  The hands of the Shenzen seamstress.  The hands of faceless nameless workers throughout the world who make the countless products I use every minute of every day.

The hands that clean my house.  The hands that rid my trash.  The hands that stock the shelves.  The hands that ring the sale and that are always accompanied by a smiling face and cheerful spirit.

The hands that clean.  The hands that cook.  The hands of colleagues and court clerks.

Thank you for the hands that brew, and for the hands that help me chew.

The hands that plant, the hands that toil, the hands that harvest from the soil.  The hands that pack and prepare for shipping foods of all manner from all the world’s quarter just for me and my belly in the store down the corner.

The hands that prep, the hands that heal, yes, even the hands that polish the still.

The hands that paint, and draw and write, all hands that bring me great delight. 

Hands that hold the camera, hands that hold the script, hands that pop the corn and show me to my seat.

Hands that keep us safe and sweet: the checkers of the flame, the walkers of the beat, the providers of our light and heat.

Hands that tend the gardens, mow the lawns and change the bulbs, hands that trim the trees, the bushes and the shrubs.

Everywhere I look I see reason for thanksgiving.  I have earned NOTHING, I deserve NOTHING, but there those hands are, caring for me, providing for me, saving me.  Especially the hands from above.

So to all those countless hands here and there, near and far, I say--THANK YOU! 
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! 

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PS  and a special word of thanks to….(drum roll) the turkey vulture!  Yes, I just read this piece on the enormous debt of gratitude we owe the turkey vulture.  Fascinating read:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/11/25/how-vultures-evolved-to-live-on-rotting-feces-covered-meat-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them/

The Last Cicada

BZZZZ-Z-Z-Z! BZZZZ-Z-Z-Z! The verdant path through the neighborhood forest now rings with the call of just one. One lonely sycophant still searching for its mate.

Weeks earlier the tropical canopy was a deafening riot of screaming cicadas, each trying to out-maneuver the next. Imagine your lifetime of sexual energy condensed to one 30-day period. The maniacal buzzing and whirring went non-stop 24/7, so loud and frantic it was comical.

For 17 long years these nymphs sucked sap deep underground from the tall trees’ roots. Finally mature, they’ve come out and shed their skin for their summer prom, engagement, honeymoon and funeral all in just a few short weeks.

My evening walk’s now mostly calm, save this last cicada. Why, pray tell, is he still unmated? Pimples? Shy? Two left feet? Too picky? Off key?

Are the females all gone that his wails go in vain?

Or maybe he don’t give a damn, he just wants to be the last man standin’.

The toughest dude in the brood.

The last cicada.

Richard Dawahare

(originally published September, 2005)

RICHIE’S REEL REVIEWS! New and updated

It’s been a while since I have weighed in on the flics. Frankly, there has been a dearth of what I consider commendable films.  I will therefore start with the most recent of the very very few that I have actually seen.  OBVIOUSLY, there are bound to be many films that were I to see them I would heartily recommend.  I put them in the category of “I will always have something to look forward to!”

CHEF

If a movie is not bad, it is generally watchable, meaning I am okay spending the $6-$9 for the ticket and another $7.50 for the popcorn.  I may not see it a second time, but hey, it wasn’t bad.   The vast majority of films are either bad, or not bad.

But sometimes on a rare occasion—just once or twice a year—a movie transcends this categorization and is truly good.  Some are even GREAT! 

Chef is such a movie.  It has it all:  story, humor, drama, music—FANTASTIC latin music—setting, cinematography, acting, and a fabulous surprise ending.  The movie establishes Jon Favreau who WROTE, DIRECTED AND STARS as today’s premiere Hollywood talent.  In short, this film is a masterpiece.

A word about music in movies:  it can either make or break a film.  As an example—the music in Chef enhances the emotions you are supposed to feel at whatever point in the movie it plays.  It does this so PERFECTLY that you can’t wait go buy the soundtrack. 

By comparison, I sat halfway through a really bad film (Grown ups 2) earlier this year that is typical of most bad films in that the music is forced, as if putting a popular song in a terrible movie will somehow save it.   This was very amusing to me—way more than this horrible film (thus my early exit).

A HUNDRED YARD JOURNEY

Quite a coincidence that the two best movies this year involve chefs and food!  Helen Mirren is the owner (Madame Mallory) of a one-star Michelin restaurant in a French village near the Swiss border.  She is obsessed with getting another star.  

A family from India, led by “Papa”—whose wife was killed in the fire that destroyed his Bombay restaurant—stops in this village because their car broke down.  Papa determines to open his new restaurant in a vacant building right across the street from Helen Mirren’s classic French establishment.

His son is an expert Indian chef, who turns out utterly delicious food.  Madame Mallory can’t stand this new competition and fights back.  Her and “Papa” go at it and the hilarity begins!

Without giving the plot away, all I can say is that this is a deliciously satisfying movie.  Everything works, no wasted words, scenes, music, or dialogue.  Rich colors, superb acting, fitting musical score and a tight script.  Oh, and everything Helen Mirren is in is outstanding!  This is one great movie!  GREAT!

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Another “MARVEL-ous” entry, perhaps the best of the Marvel Comics collection of movies.  This movie is shockingly great!  It works best for me as a COMEDY and MORALITY play, but of course there is action and special effects galore.  Chris Platt is the hero.  Glen Close, John C. Reilly, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista are all outstanding.  Platt plays Peter Quill aka “Star Lord”, who leads a crew of intergalactic misfits on a hunt for a mysterious all-powerful orb.  The music, as in the other films on this list, fits p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y!

I tell you, this is what movies should be all about:  humor, creativity, action, messaging—and in this case, a high moral message that leaves you feeling great at the end!! GREAT.

BAD WORDS

You may not have heard of it—it only stayed in the local theater a week or so, but this is one of the best, most entertaining, funny movies of the year!!  Jason Bateman is a 40 year old who finds a loophole in a middle school spelling bee and competes for the championship.  Nearly everything he’s in is good , especially THE CHANGE UP—see it if you have not—so I knew this would probably be good.  It is GREAT!

LUCY

Scarlett Johansson is a college student in Taiwan who is kidnapped and force to be a mule of for a Chinese drug lord, who sews a bag of a new drug—CPH4—that causes the human brain to increase its capacity (humans only use 10% of it—this new drug can get it to 100%).  She gets kicked in her just opened stomach and some of the drug enters her bloodstream.  Then look out!

This is a French-made sci-fi film shot in Taipei, Paris and New York.  It’s a really good movie.  Though  the end is a little weird, it’s well worth watching. Not bad.

THE GIVER

You know…it’s okay!  In 2048, after “the big war” leaders create futuristic world designed to maintain peace by taking all humanity, all emotion and all color away.  There is no romance, no love, no kissing, no competition, no nothing, except a contented community.   The apparent utopian society starts to unravel as we learn more about it.  A young man, under the tutelage of Jeff Bridges, escapes and strives to return the world to its former humanity.  Watchable, not bad.

2012-2013  MOVIES:  (listed simply as “GREAT” “GOOD TO GREAT” “NOT BAD” or  “BAD”

GREAT:  Philomena, 42, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Side Effects,

GOOD TO GREAT:

 Argo, Walter Mitty, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Draft Day

NOT BAD: 

The Avengers, Moonrise Kingdom, Life of Pi. The Great Gatsby, Die Hard 5, Safe Haven, Emporer, Olympus has Fallen, Place Beyond the Pines, Mud, We’re the Millers, Rush, Gravity, Her, American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, Divergent, 50 to 1, Captain America, Bears

BAD:

Skyfall, Les Miserables, Looper, The Cabin in the Woods, Django Unchained,

The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Cloud Atlas, Burt Wonderstone, Pain and Gain, The End, The Way Way Back, Two Guns, Elysium, Insidious, The Wolf of Wall Street, Anchorman 2, The Monument Men, Robocop, Son of God, Heaven is Real, God is not dead, Noah, Neighbors. 

SPECIAL NOTE—all the “religious” movies were really, really bad.  Truly sinful!

Charlie Chaplain--so much more than silent screen superstar!

Charlie Chaplain.  The image those two words conjured up in my mind was always that of the funny mini-mustached “Little Tramp" who waddled with a cane in a bowler’s hat.  It was not until I saw The Great Dictator on Turner Classic Movies that I learned how supremely talented, and more importantly how supremely PRINCIPLED Mr. Chaplain was. 

Charlie Chaplain stood tall for peace in the face of war.  He wrote, directed, scored and starred in The Great Dictator, which parodied Hitler and the Nazi’s in 1940.  This was at a time when Britain and the U.S. were reluctant to become involved.  They tried to discourage Chaplain from releasing this controversial movie, which in reality was a soaring political, moral and philosophical statement.  

By standing up for what he KNEW to be right Charlie Chaplain bucked power, he bucked public opinion, he bucked governments.  He was the FIRST entertainer, if not the first major public figure, to stand up to Hitler, fascism, injustice and the inhumanity of greed, human exploitation and war.

Below appears his rousing final speech, one of the best you will ever see.  Mr. Chaplain essentially states his purpose for making this movie in his plea for love, charity, compassion and justice, which will create peace and happiness for all. 

Charlie Chaplain is in fact a prophet, proclaiming human morality as the one and only sure path to peace and prosperity.  His speech applies as much today as then, and will tomorrow, too. 

To be sure, his is not the only voice for truth.  But I guess my discovery that such an intergalactic vocal statement came from the superstar of silent film made it all the more impactful.    

To actually see this incredible speech please go here Charlie Chaplain final speech in The Great Dictator.

HERE'S THE SPEECH:

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor.  That’s not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone.  I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white.  We all want to help one another.  Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery.  We don't want to hate and despise one another.  In this world there is room for everyone.  And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.  The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.  We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in.  Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.  Our knowledge has made us cynical.  Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little.  More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together.  The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all.  Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair.  The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.  The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.  And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. .....

Soldiers!  Don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.  Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!  You are not machines!  You are not cattle!  You are men!  You have the love of humanity in your hearts!  You don't hate!  Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers!  Don't fight for slavery!  Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man-- not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness!  You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite.  Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.  By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!  Now let us fight to fulfil that promise!  Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.  Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!"

  

 

 

Mom, what's a Jewish

This true life tale appears on my new blog, Dog on God: http://dogonegod.blogspot.com/ http://dogonegod.blogspot.com/

NEW blogsite: Dog on God

     I have create a new blog, Dog on God.  "Dog" is the nickname that my beloved fraternity brothers at Phi Gamma Delta (Kappa Tau chapter University of Tennessee '77) bequeathed to me.  It is short for "Doghair" which was a variant of my last name that followed me most of my childhood.

     I love dogs.  I love God.  But God is a mystery, dogs really aren't.  This blog will contain my musings on God, a lifelong work-in-progress.  I start in no particular order.  The first post is my latest article in our church newsletter, The St. Raphael Herald.  

      Here is the link to the new blog:  http://dogonegod.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-word-of-god-yes-but-which-word.html.  http://dogonegod.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-word-of-god-yes-but-which-word.html

The New Aristocracy

Hello!

It's been a while since I last posted (2012!) but as the Lexington Herald-Leader recently published a condensed version of my observations about how the New Aristocracy is threatening our nation's future I felt it necessary to post the full version.  I will say the Herald-Leader did a great job of editing to make the piece fit the limited space available, so this is no criticism of them.  I'm actually thankful for this opportunity to re-engage!
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                                                            The New Aristocracy

Money isn’t speech, it’s volume.  And corporations aren’t people, they’re a legal fiction.  Yet today’s so-called “conservative” Supreme Court majority has radically redefined the Bill of Rights, and in the process further enhanced the power of the ultra-rich, the corporate supremacists, and the favored few, i.e., the New Aristocracy.  

            No surprise really, for this is all part of the Reagan/Randian trickle-down ruse. They promised that slashing taxes for the rich would flood their pockets with so much wealth that a little would eventually trickle down to the parched peons below.  Yeah, right.

Three decades of trickle down have exposed the fraud that it is.  Inequality has reached pre-Depression levels.   An October, 2011 report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office showed that since 1979 incomes of the top 1% grew by 275%, the middle by only 39% and the low by a mere 18%.  The top 10% took over half of the nation’s income in 2012, the most ever in a century of recorded history according to noted economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty.  

            Likewise their “tax cuts fuel job creation and economic growth” promise was breathtakingly wrong.  After his famed tax cuts in 2001 President George W. Bush presided over the worst economic performance in 70 years.  According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics average annual job growth during his tenure was a mere .2%, the lowest ever since Herbert Hoover.  GDP grew at the slowest pace since WWII, while consumer debt reached pre-Depression levels. 

But this is nothing new.  America’s greatest periods of prosperity have always coincided with higher tax rates.  In the 1950’s, when the top marginal rate was 90% real average growth averaged 4%, more than twice that of the Bush years, when the top rate was just 35% according to Michael Linden, Director of Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress.  All told, when the top rate was less than 39.6% growth averaged 2.1%, compared to a robust 3.8% in years the top tax rate was 39.6% or higher.

This is not to say that higher rates necessarily lead to higher growth.  But the facts most definitely show that conservatives’ justifications for cutting taxes are completely wrong.  Yachts aside, boats not only did not rise, they have nearly capsized from the crushing wake of consumer debt as concentrated wealth cuts its way across the waters of one of the world’s most quickly dissipating democracies.

The flip side of trickle down is “pour up.”   While Republicans seek to slash spending on social welfare, they shower it on those at the top who already have it all (Democrats are also complicit in this).   A Huffington Post analysis by Bill Quigley, law professor at Loyola University New Orleans, listed some examples of corporate welfare and welfare for the rich.  These include direct federal subsidies total nearly $100 billion a year, with state and local governments adding another $80 billion; special breaks that cut corporate tax rates from 35% tax rate to just 13%, costing us $200 billion a year.  Most galling is the federal tax breaks for hedge fund managers that allow them to cut their top tax rate from 35% to only 15%, costing taxpayers $83 billion per year.  

            The fact is that the nation was strongest, and more people lived better when taxes were higher, when the wealth gap was narrower, when social services were more plentiful and when the government truly regulated in the greater public interest. Currently we’re paying less federal income tax than at any time in the last 60 years.   Worse, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that most of the rich pay a lower overall tax rate than the middle class, thanks largely to a capital gains tax of only 15%.

Top income earners must pay more.  Corporations must pay their full fair share.  Steeper progressivity in the tax code and elimination of illogical and unfair tax breaks and subsidies are the keys to properly funding government and narrowing the inequality gap.  

           And lest you think that this is not so important please think again.  700 global experts at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos listed the chronic gap between rich and poor as the world’s biggest risk in the next decade.  Income disparity and social unrest go hand in hand.  Accordingly, the Forum warned of a "lost" generation of young people coming of age who lack skills and/or opportunities.  "Disgruntlement can lead to the dissolution of the fabric of society, especially if young people feel they don't have a future," said Jennifer Blanke, the World Economic Forum's (WEF) chief economist.  "This is something that affects everybody."

Thus, we all must be part of the solution.  Such collective action for the greater good is as American as apple pie.  It was our founders’ credo.  Ironically, our forefathers depended upon it to escape the grasp of the corrupt English aristocracy, just as we must do to break the choking hold of today’s money lords.

 As John Adams said (in a 1776 letter to Mercy Otis Warren): "There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty. And this public Passion must be Superior to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society."

            Better the truth from a lion of American history than the false and divisive rhetoric from would be destroyers of our social compact.