Irene Goodnight Leadbelly Song No Irene Go Away!

So here I am trying to figure out our plan for dealing with yet another Hurricane. Been trying to count how many times in my life I have done this? The first one I remember was in 38. I was working for Packard Motor Car. Owned a 1929 Packard Touring car. It was great for driving through water because of its large wheels. Boss at the garage said “here kid take a couple of batteries and some either and for 50 cents go start up stalled cars. You should make a few bucks.” Driving around the Bronx all the way to City Island made about $20 dollars. A lot of money back when gas was .20 cents a gallon and a hot dog a nickel.

Living in New York City you didn’t pay much attention to hurricanes. We didn’t own our own homes and besides the very structures in the City tended to break up the wind patterns. It wasn’t until the fifties when I started going to Fire Island that hurricanes became a familiar experience. Back then, there was no “Weather Channel” or even radio didn’t endlessly scream warnings at us that our world will soon be destroyed via the wind or flood or both. Today I am scared to death of what awaits me comes Saturday Night. Part of my trepidation is my age insecurity. I no longer feel like I “can take on anything and survive.” I’m not sure when I past that point but I have. I am now dependent on others. The other part is the Media scaring the daylights out of us by its ceaseless bombardment.

In the 1950s I bought a little “fixer upper” bungalow on Fire Island. I was spending a weekend underneath the house putting in new posts. Went to sleep and the next morning looked out and there was water up to the porch. Coast Guard guy comes by in a boat, “what the hell you doing here this place was evacuated.?” I don’t know I was sleeping. “You wanna leave now?” No why, it’s a beautiful day?” Well okay but be careful on the beach, it’s a really heavy surf.

Went down to the beach and lo and behold there were all the local yokels with their Jeeps. They were pulling stuff out of the surf deposited by the houses that were being tossed into the sea. That was an amazing site. Whole house being picked up and dumped into the ocean like pancakes on a grill. As I walked along what was left of the beach Poseidon favored me with the gift of a large Dutch frying pan that I treasure to this day. (Have to rescue it from Kate who thinks it’s pretty useless.) Taught me that some things we own have value only for the person who experienced the point of sentimental creation. They're precious memories.

Okay so here we are living halfway out on Long Island. We are sweating out our preparations for Hurricane Irene. Everything that might become airborne has to be put away or anchored. Sixteen feet of a glass wall facing the bay has to be shuddered up with corrugated aluminum shutters from Florida. Everything from the woodworking shop has to be raised up out of the flood that will certainly encircle us. Kate’s got her waist high wading boots ready. The night of the storm we will go stay with some very kind neighbors who live on higher ground. That’s essential as I could easily have a medical emergency. Our home could be in two feet of water and no Emergence vehicle is going to come near it. I hate to leave but we just have to go.

Wow, if anyone can’t see the changing climate patterns they must be totally blocked by their refusal to accept reality. Talk about a “state of denial.”

I recently came upon an interesting study that correlates El Nino with increasing war and social unrest. It goes something like this. The more the presence of El Nino ie. the warming of the Pacific ocean the greater the increase in wars and social unrest around the world. El Nino produces increased drought, intense storms, tornadoes, and flooding. .In other word extreme weather. That's what Climate Change is all about. Why can’t people see that?

So what we are now observing weather wise is a dress rehearsal of more to come. The droughts and hunger in Africa are already putting the migratory pressure on Europe as the African natives run from the drought parched land. (See my blog on 7/10 on Immigration and Climate change.)

The so called“Arab Spring” has yet to produce a single country that has seriously moved to a democracy. I doubt that any will. That's because none of these countries have the raw materials or any tradition of a what democracy even means. Most important no Industrial Revolution to create some surplus. It was Fredrick Engels who suggested that the production of surplus allows a society to create a educated class essential to a democracy or socialism.

In the Arab lands there is a tragedy unfolding as people become disillusioned with the so called revolutions. They are not revolutions precisely because there was no clear vision of what would replace the old with the new. Without that vision the old just comes back decked up in some new clothes and take up where they left off. In Egypt the army ran the country with Mubarack and they still do. Sad, but so true.

Anyhow for me the biggest immediate threat is Hurricane Irene. I promise to stay focused on the wind, the rain, the flooding, the survival of our home and us. Wish us good luck as we may need it. Yet there is a part of natures fury that continues to fascinate me. Not sure why?

Four Years of Blogging "Lord Lord Lord"

Feels like folk song “The Grey Goose”

“They par boiled him lord lord lord and the saw couldn’t cut him lord------, the axe couldn’t chop him lord -------. The last time I seen him he was fl-yin cross the ocean. Goodbye to the Grey Goose.” Not sure why but blogging is somehow is like that. You just keep try-in and I’m never sure where its going to end up. Who cares except me?

This is my 4th anniversary of blogs. 215 later. That’s amazing. How did it happen? Well, you know it all started as a challenge from a Grandson and Son In Law. Both computer geeks. “Grandpa you seem to know some-thin about everything why don’t you write a blog?” Aha, there was the challenge. Nothing Grandpa likes more than a challenge. What is a blog? Son in law Robert has one on Poker Playing in Las Vegas. Read it. Wow that was really interesting.

Can I do it? How often do you have to say some thing? Why would anyone care? Yee Gods there are a million blogger's out there. Do we need another one? No, The issue is do you have anything to say? So far my answer has been, yes indeed. Ask my patient wife Kate. If the truth be told she’d say “ Except when he’s thinking about it or writing his blog, or working in the wood-shop he never shuts up.”

As I look back over the four years I am beginning to see patterns. Some friends have suggested I bring some themes together and do a book. Ah, a book is a different species from a blog. Oh, sure you could just string the blogs together sort like on a wash-line but that would quickly get boring. I’m going to see how the themes line up and then try to look at what I might say that would be of some interest for me and the reader.

That's how you do it. First it has to have interest for the writer, A lesson. A well known documentary film maker working with me on a Ford assembly line said, “Schrank, lets stop your tired and the camera doesn’t lie.” In some way writing is like the camera. If the writer is not excited by the subject why should the reader be? However in the meantime.

I do think, maybe ruminate a lot about everyday occurrences both in the news and in everyday life. That’s because long ago I learned that no matter what news might be shaking the world somehow or other everyday life goes on.

Ahaa, It was a cold winter day in 1936. Fortunately I was working, as a Plumbers Helper. (I really wanted to be on a March to Washington with an upraised fist demanding Unemployment Insurance. Fact is I wasn’t unemployed!) Working to clear a clogged up sewer main in a 30 story apartment building I got the greatest shit shower ever poured on a man. A bunch of plumbers had one hell of a laugh trying to clean me up as they hosed me down. First of many ha-zings in the world of plumbers.

After that I figured at any moment of any day somebody somewhere's is in a shit shower from a stopped up sewer line or a farmer spreading a similar material in a meadow, or someone peeling potatoes in a restaurant, or Firemen cooking a meal in the Firehouse or a bunch of stock brokers on a computer screen. Coal miners a mile down mining coal. Or women getting their hair curled in a beauty parlor. And on and on. All part of everyday life.

I guess on balance I like that gnawing curiosity that is always sending me to go learn. What is it, how it works, why is it here, who invented it, how is it made, what makes it fly, when will it crash and on and on and on.

Oh, I can see a blog on Curiosity. Or maybe on “Leadership and why we haven’t any.” Or why have men been losing their testosterone? Growing mouth beards instead. How come the very smart Israelis keep screwing things up? Why are we having 15 month election campaigns? Stuff like that.

See what I mean about curiosity? Stay tuned. I’m sure there’s a “Curiosity” blog in the making. That’s how it works. You just suddenly start thinking about a word, a thought, a happening and why and why. A blog is born. Happy anniversary. Love to you all wherever you are. Roberto

London Riots Lessons from the Sixties

The social unrest that is rocking London is probably a direct result of the Cameron governments austerity program. The worst thing a country can do when faced with high unemployment and an unstable financial situation is to institute an austerity program. NO,no, no That's like putting out a fire by pouring gasoline on it.

If folks would just pay attention to what FDR did in the 30s it was just the opposite. His Administration went on a huge spending spree to get the economy moving. The objective was to reduce the unemployment rate and if necessary CREATE JOBS. That’s how I ended up first on the NYA and later on the WPA. (NYA National Youth Administration Yupp I was a Detective looking for wife deserters.) On the WPA I worked on the building of Orchard Beach in the Bronx.

In the 60s we saw the some of the worst social unrest in US history. One major city after another was rocked by riots. The problem, not unlike London, was large numbers of bored, angry frustrated unemployed Black and Latino youth. How to respond?

Early on in the 60s Robert Kennedy the Attorney General had set up the National Committee on Juvenile Delinquency. That was an effort to deal with the social unrest problem among the 16 to 21 year olds. One of the experimental efforts to deal with this crisis was Mobilization for Youth, MFY. It was Located on the lower East side and sponsored by Columbia University. It was the beginning of the anti poverty efforts that Lyndon Johnson would make part of the Anti Poverty program.

MFY was setup as demonstration project to help poor mostly Black and Latino youth make it in the white mans middle class world. I was head of the work programs. I saw my job as providing successful real work experiences for 600 youth 16-21. These jobs at real work-sites would help them in transitions to jobs in private sector. We had managed to setup a restaurant, gas station, woodworking shop. print shop, sewing shop etc. Okay, It was the print shop that would get us into severe conflict with the Police and City Hall.

After a street altercation a police officer by the name of Gilligan had shot a black boy in Harlem. Much like we are seeing and hearing from London. The New York Daily News accused MFY of printing a poster with a skull and crossbones backdrop that said, “Get Gilligan the child killer.”

Oh man the Press was all over us when Robert Kennedy arrived unannounced to see for himself, “what the hell is going on here.” As I sat in the Police car with him, (he often showed up unannounced in a NYPD police car.) I explained that there was no way that we could have or would have printed such a poster. I toured him through all of work sights on the lower East side that made it crystal clear that we had absolutely no poster printing ability. As he told us to keep up the good work he departed with one of his staff saying, “the Attorney General was very favorably impressed with what you and your staff are doing.”

For most of the era of the sixties I would be involved in the youth employment issue. The point about our experiences at MFY was the bitterness of the right wing against anything the government was trying to do in dealing with the social unrest. While London concentrates on what the cops can do differently they better look closely to programs that will address the issues of the unemployed youth.

Yes, increased police presence will deter the rioting but it does not get at the underlying problems. To Lyndon Johnson’s credit he was determined to try to do something about the issues that lead people to act out in the streets expressing their bitter frustration with lives that simply had no place to go. In my years of working in that vineyard I learned the very tough lesson that simply increasing police deterrence will not make the problem go away. Oh yes it can hide the real problems but like a plugged up pressure cooker eventually it will explode and then lookout.

Along the way I became convinced that even without an overall solution it is better to address the problem with some actions than leave it to fester. It was in the Hot Summers of the 60s that we had as many as 50,000 youth on work projects. That was example of “action.” As Deputy Manpower Commissioner for Youth Employment the Mayor would remind me. “Your job is to keep the City from burning.” And indeed it was. This is how the London folks need to start thinking. How about a Summer Youth Work Program that can help in school youth engage in something more useful then smashing shop windows?

Out of the sixties experience of MFY came the Job Corps. It remains to this day as a residential job training program that has effected the live of millions of youth. A couple of million kids, 16 to 24 have gone through Job Corps training. Is it a solution to all the ills that ghetto youth are prone to? Of course not. It is what I call an “imperfect adjustment” to a social economic problem of today's society. For some time I have believed that is the best we can do in our present circumstance is to make “imperfect adjustments.” That’s what the folks in Britain need to think about otherwise they will be sweeping a hell of a lot more glass on their main thoroughfares. Especially the fancy ones.

What Goes Around Comes Around

The Stinger Surface to Air Missile

Remember “Charlie Wilson’s War”

Yes, that was the name of the movie about the Congressmen from Texas who seemed to single hand-idly got us involved in the Soviet Afghan war. (1979-1989) Wilson had made it his life's work to get the US to do everything to defeat the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. It was going to be Russia’s Viet-Nam.

In the course of that effort Wilson was successful in getting the US to arm the Afghan rebels with the FIM Stinger Shoulder Held Missile Launchers. They were so successful in bringing down Soviet Helicopters that many military writers credit them with defeating the Russians. And boy did those very same missile launchers proliferate. We ended up selling them as if they were kitchen doilies to anybody and everybody. Around this time my friend Hugh Jones was working In India. He tells how an arms dealer offered to sell him a Stinger Missile. Hugh asked if he expected him to just take it home on the plane? Needless to add it was very profitable for Raytheon.

Okay, so here comes the, “Comes Around.” Day before yesterday we suffered our worst Day In Obama’s Afghan War. A Boeing Chinook Army Helicopter with 35 men, some of them amongst our very best were killed as it was brought down with, you of course have already guessed it a “shoulder held surface to air Stinger Missile.” Oh, I’m pretty sure nobody is going to report that our elite fighters were killed by our very own missile. God it pisses me off how stupid our Military leaders can be.This brings me to the Black hawk Sikorsky Helicopter downed in Mogadishu in 1993. That ended up as a movie, “Black Hawk Down.”

So, how did the US Army get into the Helicopter business?
At the end of WW2 the Army Air-force Generals decided they wanted their very own military unit and so the United States Air Force was born to the great disappointment and chagrin of the Army. Some time before the Army had lost its old Horse Calvary Unit. It was made famous in our Western movies. They were the great saviors of the white man in the wild west. As we watched and waited sure enough here came the “Old 7th cavalry singing to the rescue.

Somehow the Army needed their very own flying ability and so the Helicopter as part of the infantry was born. I was not able to get the exact number of Helicopters shot down since the 1950s but it has been a lot including the famous catastrophic failure to rescue our Iranian hostages. That probably cost Jimmy Carter his second term. There was that famous failure in Mogadishu in 1993. That led to the movie “Black Hawk Down. So much for the Army Helicopters in wartime. Now this latest flop in Afghanistan. Shot down by one of our very own Missile Launchers.

As I write this I am haunted by those Obama election promises to end the Afghan war. Mr. President, war is not some abstract policy. It’s peoples lives that are being spent and for what? That is the question, and for what?