A thought about the future...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: The Babysitter Song...Dar Williams...
Topic: free trade/equity
I'm still finishing up an I.E.P. (Individualized Education Plan), tonight:):)...

And I had a thought about the future...about what progress might look like for my children's generation...

I've thought about it, a lot...wondering what's over the horizon...as some of the issues of my generation start getting some resolution...

And one of them...that has impact on me...

Is the idea of more inclusive wealth...

Meaning...perhaps...as I become an old man...

Perhaps wealth will begin to wither as an exclusive concept of humanity...and be something that is more genuinely shared...

And that people like me...can freely choose to give up wealth...because they just realize that there's such a thing as too much...or enough...

I'm sure I'll face that day in my own lifetime, I suppose...

But I also wonder if maybe young people won't have to go through the awful legacy of young poverty that we impose on young people getting started in the world...if maybe we will begin, by the time my children are coming up, have a world where debt is a matter easily resolved, rather than prolonged, unecessarily, by efforts to punish and otherwise take advantage of people's difficult financial situations...

I have to think that we can learn the lesson...and create a more genuinely dynamic economy...where financial failure or difficulties can be more easily resolved so that people are active participants in the economy in more substantial ways -- investing and saving and making better choices because of their active engagement in such activities -- rather than the pretty fruitless and pointless hardship that we put people through in such situations...

For that to happen, there would need to be a much more proactive commitment to wealth inequity...which is why I want wealth inequities to get resolved within the market, since free and active efforts have much more potential to not only resolve matters of health care and wellness, child care, vacation and rest, wages and benefits, and other matters of need associated with poverty...

But also to much more substantially address issues of investment, saving, and other efforts that would create a much more active investment in a dynamic economy that would lead more and more people to identify with a dynamic economy and to avoid undermining it out of their outrage with greed and decisions made around profit-margins that impact other areas like the environment and social issues that they care about...

It's a pretty obvious virtuous circle to me, if people would pick up on and support its possibility...including poor, middle class, and rich people, many of whom don't always show the strongest inclinations towards wiser investment and savings...

Better education is key to and underlines all such efforts...since better and more substantial commitments to education help create bigger and longer worldviews that encourage more long-range thinking associated with both taking education and all of the opportunities -- like investment -- more seroiusly...and with making wiser investments and engaging in more forward-looking savings, in the first place...

But what a great world that would be...

If we could get kids and adults in schools on the same page, better, around matters of education...so that they are more likely to support such virtuous circles:):):)...and deserve the trust involved with such an effort...

Just thinking:):):)...while I finish this I.E.P.:):):)...

Have a great night, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben

$25 for Christmas...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Chrystal...Billy Bob Thornton and Lisa Blount...a very beautiful movie when you get a chance...
Topic: free trade/equity
Well...I was able to carve out $25 to spend on some books, this year, for at least some Christmas presents this year...out of necessity, I have to put off bills until my next paycheck...there wasn't enough money whether I wanted to or not...and I don't know where I'm going to have money for my other student loan payment...but I'm sure I'll get something figured out...something always does get figured out...

I'm still in negotiations about my contract...the human resources persons offered a pretty significantly bigger amount than the school board offered...so we still have to get that resolved...if not...I'll guess the student loan folks will have to wait on their money until we negotiate an amount that I can pay...

It's only money, I always tell myself...because when you don't have any...and never have, in my case...you get some perspective on what really matters in life...I've never really been a poor person who was terribly angry about wealth inequity...and always hopeful that it would be addressed...and grew up in a family that believed not only in taking care of its own, as much as it could...but also earning its way through the world...I still know it will...you can't make it go away because you ignore it...and there are clearly major consequences for individual businesses and the economy, generally, from the politics of wealth inequity that imposes all kinds of restrictions and costs on businesses in the name of "doing something" about its sad legacy...

The truth is that wealth inequity will have to be addressed voluntarily by people...just like racism...and sexism...and every other terrible legacy in our country's history...

People's consciences have to change...not any laws...

There is no union...or law...or tax...or whatever...that will make it go away...either we will face our responsibility to create wealth equity in this country...or we will live with its sad legacy on our hearts and minds until we do...and all of the terrible consequences that it has on us and our societies, as well...

We'll figure it out, I'm confident...you can only put off your conscience and your enlightened self-interest and for so long...otherwise, you're culture begins to so degenerate that it doesn't even know who or what it is anymore...

Huh?...sounds like pop culture, these days:):):)LOL:):):)...

People have a natural need for growth beyond that kind of degeneration...poor or rich...so we'll get it resolved...I'm pretty clear...

And...in the meantime...we are responsible for the legacy of the destructiveness of financial pressure to serve our own greed...and our own desire not to get fucked over by own our creditors...by banks...and our various creditors...

It's such a sad legacy...our greed...

It's so self-serving...and hinders so much growth on all our our parts, in the meantime...it's shortsided...a part of the hyper-competitive, hyper-aggressive, ugly side of our natures...that will pass once people stop feeling like such victims...about what they "can't" do..."I 'can't help others and support greater wealth equity" so many businesses reason...I'm here to look out for profits...I have to be selfish, so many business folks, rationalize:):):)...I have no choice:):):)LOL:):):)...

Don't you feel sorry for all the poor people in business and in life who just have no choice but to be selfish:):):)LOL:):):)...it just breaks your heart, doesn't it:):):)LOL:):):)...

We are all such dumbasses, I swear:):):)...oh well...we learn...we fuck it up...we get better:):):)...

It's very much what Dr. Martin Luther King finally came to realize with the civil rights movement...civil rights, Dr. King started to realize, was a matter of changing hearts and minds:):)...there were elements of civil rights that inevitably meant changing the law...because they had to do with how the law and how policy affected African Americans...and how African Americans affected the law and policy...the Voting Rights Act...voting in the South...the murder of civil rights activists...

And something had to be done to improve and change segregated conditions in the South and all over the country...and while forced integration has certainly had a mixed legacy, at best...it served a purpose...

In retrospect...conservatives...like Bill Buckley...and others...who argued -- without racism, I don't think -- that forced integration would just inflame racial antagonisms, more, were probably right...and certainly blacks and whites, alike, have taken issue with the still-remaining legacies of forced integration, like forced bussing...but that particular period in our history -- when National Guardspersons were needed to integrate blacks and whites in public schools and public universities -- is over...the on-going legacy of court-orders in schools around desegration and using force, generally, to resolve race matters -- the NCAA very bad ruling around the use of Native mascots by college sports teams is one that comes to mind, here -- is the darker side of an otherwise noble effort to integrate blacks and whites and teach us to live together...it was a compromise...but a compromise that we have to move beyond, now, into an era where we choose to care for another because it's the right thing to do...and not because we're forced to...

I don't know why so many people fail to learn that very simple and important maxim...

Might doesn't make right...

But they do...persistently...and totally take for granted the wisdom that comes with it...

Does Pope Benedict really believe that if he fires priests and scholars who are gay or who disagree with his belief that homosexuality is a sin...that he'll make homosexuality go away?...or that he'll lead the Catholic Church to believe that way?...and that perversion will finally be eliminated from the fold of the Church?:):):):):):) (the naivete of such a belief makes me chuckle a little:):):)...

Apparently so...though he's a damned fool for thinking so...

Because...in all likelihood...either, 1) Catholics will just start leaving the Church...or 2) Catholics will start changing the way the Church makes decisions...

And in the meantime...really brilliant Catholics, like Father Thomas Reese, are left out of some really important conversations on behalf of the Church -- though I have no doubt Father Reese's thinking will win the day on this, long term...the Catholic Church will become completely irrelevant without open debate and discussion at its center -- by his less brilliant brethren...

Homosexuality is not going away because Pope Benedict forces out priests who are gay...or priests who don't believe that homosexuality is a sin...or who want to have an open debate about whether it is a sin, as Father Thomas Reese -- a far smarter man and a far better Catholic than the Pope...and a serious scholar of the Church institutions -- was advocating at America magazine, before he was forced out...

What the Pope...and the President...and so many liberals and Democrats...and so many people, generally, who try this route fail to recognize...

Is that trying to force a question in your direction, generally -- when the question is a matter of conscience and not a matter of immediate danger -- undermines your credibility...it doesn't make your detractors or their concerns go away...

And that will be true around wealth equity, as well...

Companies that sell their soul for profits -- like Walmart -- are dealing with the consequences of those policies, now, as communities like Lawrence, foolishly, I believe, try to keep them from expanding in our town...because of their reputation with employees and competitors...

And those practices...which have very little to do with real competition, which is about improving and generating value...and are a reflection of the merit of goods and services...not of weasly effots to hurt competitors...they have everything to do with hypercompetitive practices to rationalize self-centered ends...not competition based on merit meant to help others...no reason for me or anyone else to support those practices, whether they come from Wal-mart or any other business or political action group or any other individual or group...

Sam Walton's story is pretty impressive, though, if you get a chance...

Sam Walton...Wikipedia...

I'm just getting a chance to absorb it, right now...

Most rich folks, like Sam...and my parents...have been fucked over along the way...so when they fuck others over...I think they often think it is just part of the game...which is what keeps it going, of course...and the reason why we need to call a spade a spade to get it to stop...but, like my father...Sam Walton was a good man...a really, good man, really...if you check out his biography...a man who started with very little...and built a pretty impressive collection of stores that do so much for so many Americans every day...a man who believed -- for good reason -- in free enterprise and who opposed Communism, funding scholarships for Central American students to study in America and nurture those values, and stem the tide of Communism in this part of the world...

He was ruthless...as were Rockefeller...and Carnegie...before him...and as Gates is, as well, after him...and most major and often minor business people...

But they are also hard-working and often brilliant...and innovating...

It's time for this legacy to end...the cutthroat competition...the hypercompetitiveness...the ugly side of markets and capitalism that is so self-defeating...both of the nurturing of values that support free markets and free societies...but also of those markets, as cutthroat competition has so many terrible consequences for the market -- regulation that limits innovation, consumers and competitors that are cheated, taxes that produce resentment amongst those who pay them often begrudgingly and hurts more general generosity around issues that Americans and others otherwise care about, support for big government on the left that often fuels the self-delusion of both poor communities and greedy capitalists, alike, and has led to a very tragic legacy of too many failed and repressive leftist socialist and communist governments in the the world to count...and the illusion that socialism can really create the equity that it promises...which, of course, it can't...

I can't tell you how many conversations I have with Canadian leftists who refuse to acknowledge, honestly, the problems their health system has with shortages, rationing, and problems with their research and development...all to defend the very worthy commitment to equity that socialism offers...

The United States, on the other hand, has one of the finest health care systems in the world...largely because of our commitment to the free market...and all the ways that Americans take for granted how markets care for their needs...even as it does so at far too much expense to all of us...especially poor folks like me:):):)...

And...the United States has one of the most promising and voluntary efforts to create universal access within this far better health care market...the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, I believe, both reported within the last year about efforts by major health insurance companies and providers to find a path to universal access, as a very wise effort to come to terms with the legacy of wealth inequities in the health care system...and to preserve the many wonderful qualities that a free market health care system provides...

But that will not be enough, obviously...

Businesses and financial groups of all kinds will need to follow suit...

And begin taking economic equity seriously...

They will, I'm confident...it will just take time...as more and more people become aware -- if you read David Brooks, these days, it's very touching how committed a conservative can become to resolving issues of wealth equity -- their consciences will be pricked...as Martin Luther King said they would and needed to be during our earlier civil rights period...

We have Martin to thank, in large part, for why this most recent round of fruitless political warfare over economic issues -- as is much of the what has been going on, lately, between Democrats and Republicans and in various courts, as much as the war in Iraq -- has not taken a far worse turn...

It was Martin's commitment to a world whose conscience would be pricked around matters of wealth inequity that animates the best of wealth equity commitments, right now...amd serves as alternative to the more manipulative efforts of radicals and liberals that seek, fruitlessly, to muscle their way to minimal equity...rather than commit ourselves, freely, to full equity...

It is Martin's legacy that has, largely...led to richer nations forgiving debt...that inspires the bulk of folks who attended Live 8...and the support of efforts like the funding of international aid efforts to deal with AIDS, and tuberculosis, and malaria, right now...and support for more equitable school funding...

Though I should make clear that these efforts really will have to transfer...slowly...progressively...to voluntary and decentralized and market-driven approaches -- indendently run public and charter and private schools, in the case of education...and private, non-profit efforts, in the case of international aid -- to funding such issues and resolving matters of wealth equity...they may provide an important stop-gap, right now...but such measures also produce resentment, as long as peoples' consciences are not pricked...as consciences are pricked, that kind of resentment becomes less of a problem...but the potential of voluntary and decentralized fund-raising is still foregone....government funding simply does not have nearly the fund-raising potential that voluntary efforts by decentralized and diverse institutions have within a healthy market...decentralizing international aid and schools and health care efforts...and leaving their funding up to the American people and peoples of the world to either step up to take care of...or to be responsible for the consequences when they don't...private fundraising not only has far, far more potential ability to raise more money for such efforts, and to begin to deal with wealth equity issues inherent in them...but freeing up the economy will mean creating more money to spend on such efforts...

The scared, bullying liberal approach of regulating and taxing the economy is a long-failed approach...that has been giving way, for a quite a long time, now, to a liberal and conservative and independent and non-partisan commitment to a freer economy and the economic benefits that provides...as well as the benefit of having decentralized institutions that are each individually responsible for the results they achieve...

And, similarly...equity efforts in that economy will best be achieved by free people making free commitments...

To follow Martin Luther King's lead...

To allow their consciences to be pricked...

And to start doing the right thing...

And they will:):):)...

You know why I'm so confident of that?...

Because no matter how many very terrible mistakes humanity has made over the course of its history...

It always finds a way to clean them up...

And this generation will be no different...

Right now...it is just a matter of finding our way...

And find our way we shall...

Merry Christmas, everyone...it's now, officially, December 24th, here where I am:):):)...

I have so much more to write on this issue...about non-profit and for-profit markets in education and health care and other areas of critical importance to wealth equity...about the psychological benefits of such an approach to poor and rich people, alike...about becoming whole and decent human beings...about communities and societies that take responsibility for ourselves and each other...freely...without coercion...

About the path to our being better people...a path of freedom...of free will...as every major religion I'm familiar with tells us is needed for people to choose moral and good lives...

As Jesus believed and lived a life of that commitment...

Can you think of one person that Jesus tried to take down to make the world a better place?...

I can't...not one...

What a great man he was...and Happy Birthday to him...

Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls...Merry Christmas, you old Building and Loan...

Merry Christmas, George...

Merry Christmas, everyone...and Happy New Year...

And to all my Jewish friends...Happy Hanukah, here in a couple days...I'll be lighting candles, at some point, this year...mabye with my very Catholic family, this year...just to spice things up, a bit:):)...

And Happy Kwanzaa...I don't think I'll be making my peachy bread pudding, this year, for Kwanzaa...as I have for past Kwanzaa's:):):)...but maybe I'll find some time to reflect on the reason for that season, this year, as well:):):)...and maybe we can do some Kwanzaa celebrations with my very redneck family, this year:):):)...

And Happy New Year...I have no plans for New Year, this year...I'll have to talk with Melissa and see if she's going to be back in town for New Years (she's in Milwaukee with her family, right now:):):)...Merry Christmas, Melissa:):):)...and Judy and Melissa's dad and Melissa's brother:):):)...

And Merry Christmas to all of you:):):)...and your families:):):)...and families all over the world...

This year...when my mom's family sings Let There Be Peace on Earth...it will be a very special time to sing that song, I think...as I hope we all hope for peace...as we navigate a world that is far too often too nasty and violent and destructive and hyperaggressive and hurtful...

Have a nice holiday, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben

Kenny gets me thinking...
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: U2...I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...off the Rattle and Hum album...
Topic: free trade/equity
OK...

Kenny's comments on yesterday's post got me thinking...

He's right...

Bono is actually one of the least bullying of liberal activists...and his comments in the article actually make that clear...so while he's not ideal...and noone is, really...not me...nooone...my ideas just point us in a direction...they don't give us a final destination...

Bono's big strength...ironically, I think...

Is that he's rich...

Meaning...unlike me...Bono doesn't get fucked over regularly...so he doesn't carry any of the bitterness about that I clearly still do, though I've tried to let go of it...it's just hard when it persistently happens with little hope of it abetting...

Poverty is not just about how little you can afford...it imposes costs of its own...if you can't pay something on deadline...then you pay additional costs...even if your failure to pay is based on inability to pay or not...meaning, you're doubly fucked, even though the original issue is not something within your control...but most people could give two shits about whether you can pay something or not...they've got house payments and car payments to make...and they get fucked by the bank or mortgage company or whatever if they don't...so it's just one big fuck fest, while we all cover our own asses...

Bono understands this, I think...and realizes it's unjust...but he's rich...and he has the means to stay rich and get richer...meaning, he doesn't get fucked by the bullshit that passes for how financial matters are handled currently nearly as much...

Which is actually a strength in this discussion, I think...

Because rich people know they're fucking people over...

They just feel like they have no choice...because they love their stuff...and if they have to choose between their stuff and someone else...they'll generally choose their stuff...

And Bono embraces the self-centeredness that this kind of thinking embodies...

Which is a good thing, I think...

I do, too, actually...even as I consistently get fucked by it...

Because I know...as Bono knows...

That I love people despite their greed...

My parents can be pretty greedy sometimes...and they wear it on their sleeves in some pretty insensitive ways, sometimes...especially my dad...who forgets that I lived with him through all the lean times...

It's just little things he says...

"There's not much in the world that you can't buy with money"...

Apparently oblivious to the fact that teaching doesn't pay very well...and that this comment totally takes for granted every teacher and everything that every teacher ever did for him...which, since he's not a big fan of school, I don't know if he really gives a shit, much of the time...

Or it may just be that there is this legacy of resentment...

Between the world of schools and universities...of education...

And the world of business...

Because business people make more money, generally...though teachers often do better and more work, if you've worked with the right school or university, that is...

But what I love about Bono...

Is that he embraces the money...and the greed...and all the rest...

He doesn't try to pretend that he doesn't love being a rock star...and rich...and living a life of luxury...

He embraces it...

And I guess that is the upside to the totally fucked up music/entertainment culture I see right now...

Embodied by the success of such pop hits as "Golddigger," by Kanye West, "Beverly Hills," by Weezer, and "If I Were a Rich Girl," by Gwen Stefani...

That even though they have very little substance at all, to them...

That...they just kind of embrace the greed...

Instead of fighting it...

Which is what liberal activists so fruitlessly and foolishly often do...

And the reason, likely, why Bono is one of the least bullying activists on this issue...

Is because he's rich...and he totally identifies with the desire of rich people...to just enjoy their wealth...and not feel guilty about it, all the time...

Which is what I want too...

Largely...

Because I know that the less guilty rich people feel about their wealth...

The less defensive they feel about their greed...

The more they embrace it...

And the more they want to share what they have...the more generous they become...

And the more we all benefit...

It's definitely true...

The market has some fucked up priorities...I totally acknowledge...and I think most people would, if they were really honest with themselves and others...

Is Arnold Swartzinegger the best actor in Hollywood, since he brings in the biggest revenue?...

Obviously not...have you seen "Terminator"?...a decent movie...but Oscar-worthy it is not...except maybe around technical direction...

And Arnold is definitely not a dramatic actor of any significance...

And unless you are totally self-deluded...there is no way you could argue that his money is made by being good...

His money is made by chasing money...

So many of my friends piss me off for exactly the opposite reasons why I love Bono and my parents...

Because my parents and Bono, generally, are just honest about it...

They like money...they don't try to pretend that they make money because what they're doing is good...they do what they do to make money...

Bono stopped making really great music back in 1988...he doesn't pretend, I don't think, that his new stuff is as good as his old stuff (and if he does, then he's wrong...no matter what the rationalizations of his more sell-out fans)...

He's a rich dude who likes making money...

No problem with that with me...

Same with my parents...

They aren't noble for making money...

They're rich...

And that's what they wanted...

They traded off the one for the other...

And they got rich...

It's not the same thing as noble...but it's not evil, either...

And like every other deadly sin...

Greed should be embraced...and openly...

Just as I parents do every time I see them now (secretly to rub it in that they've got it and I don't, I always suspect)...

But I don't want to resent this...

What I resent, most, really...

Is people pretending...

Rich is not noble...

Rich is rich...

So if that's the path you take...

That's the path you get...

Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates are taking the more noble route from rich...which is to share the wealth...

And what is great about Bono...

Is that he's not ashamed of being a rich rock star...

Which he shouldn't be...

He's not Martin Luther King...

But he's not Osama Bin Laden either...

I do wish Bono would produce a decent album, again, someday...something more along the lines of Rattle and Hum...or the Joshua Tree...U2's last decent albums...

But I don't want to begrudge him his money...

No matter how much I keep getting fucked by the greedy among us...

Which is everyone, at some level...plenty of poor people...in the developed world, at least...are plenty greedy, too...

So no need to point fingers at the rich...

They feel plenty guilty as it is...

They need to feel less guilty...

So they finally get over it...and themselves...

And...in the case of Bono...

Start making good music, again...rather than the shitty, guilt-ridden bullshit he's been making since '88...

And same with all my other friends looking to ride the gravy train...

They need to get over it...

So they can start doing good work, again...

Instead of the total shit they've been settling for ever since they decided to sell-out...

I'll keep thinking on this...

Because the truth is...I wouldn't want any of my friends to give anyone one red cent...if they'd just stop bullshitting me and everyone else...about how much their efforts suck...ever since they started selling out...

Same with Bono...

Bono...your last like 6 albums have sucked big nasty horse testicles...

Go do a bigger and better Rattle and Hum...or go fade away as a has-been, already...because I'm tired of hearing your shitty albums because though you could find it in your heart to help all the starving Africans, you just couldn't find it in your heart to do a decent album in almost 2 decades...

This one is clearly not finished in my heart...

Have a great week, everyone...

Love,
Ben

Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates Time Magazine's People of the Year...
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Birth...another really terrible movie for Nicole Kidman...
Topic: free trade/equity
Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates Time Magazine's People of the Year...

Mixed feelings for me on these very dedicated folks being named...

Initially...Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono have been working for a very long time on the very important efforts to reduce and alleviate global poverty...it's effort worthy of recognition...
I think each of them recognizes that they will be remembered far more and better for their efforts to alleviate poverty than each of their efforts to accumulate their wealth...though U2's music efforts and Bill Gates' efforts to mass market the personal computer are very important efforts in and of themselves...and it's nice to see authentic leaders -- not propagandists and fear-mongers like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Kruschev, and Ayatullah Kohmein -- be named Persons of the Year...

But some disappointing praise for less worthy aspects of these folks' efforts...

As Nancy Gibbs writes in her cover article...

"2005 is the year they turned the corner, when Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world's richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed by the poorest; now those countries can spend the money on health and schools rather than interest payments—and have no more excuses for not doing so."

I'm reading that line -- Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world's richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed by the poorest -- and thinking...

You mean bully like all the bullying everyone is -- rightly -- trying to end in schools, right?...

You mean bully like liberal leaders like Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates and others are -- rightly -- critical of President Bush for being in his international policy?...

You mean bully like what all of us -- presumably -- tell our children that we don't want them to be towards their brothers and sisters and friends and other kids and students?...

Nancy saves herself and Bono with a later description of his work...

"Bono grasps that politicians don't much like being yelled at by activists who tell them no matter what they do, it's not enough. Bono knows it's never enough, but he also knows how to say so in a way that doesn't leave his audience feeling helpless. He invites everyone into the game, in a way that makes them think they are missing something if they hold back. 'After so many years in Washington,' says retired Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, whom Bono recruited to his cause, 'I had met enough well-known people to quickly figure out who was genuine and who was there for show. I knew as soon as I met Bono that he was genuine. He has absolutely nothing to gain personally as a result of his work. In fact, he has opened himself to criticism because he has been willing to work with anyone to find help for these children who have taken his heart.'"

Liberals, like conservatives, hate to be bullied...

And most people, really, hate being bullied, themselves...but don't have a problem with bullying others to get their way...

In kid-parents language it's called, "Do as I say, not as I do"...

And in simpler language its called hypocrisy...or a rationalization...

And, specifically...it means rationalizing all the bullying that rich liberals, conservatives, independents and others engage in as a part of amassing all that wealth in the first place...

Bono's not a bad guy, at all...he's actually a really great guy, actually...

But bullying and morally blackmailing politicians is one of the less graceful/more shameful parts of his legacy...not ones to be given higher praise...liberals just forget this, I'm learning, when their causes are at stake...and fight it, when the causes of others are at stake...

And that's why I love them...and conservatives, too...because when one threatens to bully on any particular issue...the other group will often step up to defend...though there are some issues where everyone wants to bully to get their way...and everyone loses as a consequence...

Poverty and international equity issues should be resolved as a matter of genuine, freely adopted conviction...I don't care, personally, how much guilt Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates have to wipe from their consciences...I don't want conservatives or independents or apolitical folks to be bullied into to working on poverty issues...because it doesn't build a sustainable future for poverty efforts...you can't bully forever...eventually people get wise to what an asshole you're being...and eventually, you lose track of the very relationship that was necessary to deal constructively with the issue that you said, at least, that you cared about...

And most importantly...because when you start bullying...you forget and start to take for granted the generosity that was the basis for folks' commitment to such issues...and once you do that enough...they'll start blowing you off...and you'll deserve it...

Self-governing people need to be able to make their own decisions...to come to their own conclusions...to make independent judgments...and that, more than anything else, is what we need more of, here and abroad...and what will build more and more equitably distributed wealth, here and abroad...

But Bono's ability to reach beyond conventional political lines is what distinguishes his work, in particular...and why I admire his work in ways that are different from how I admire the very important work of his colleagues on poverty alleviation, Bill and Melinda Gates...

Bill and Melinda do a terrific job of both giving and maintaining accountability for money spent on equity efforts...and Bill, in pariticular, has a reputation for mastering the more minute details of, say, malaria, which, along with AIDS and tuberculosis, is one of the more serious killers of people, internationally...

But Bono's strength, in particular, is his ability to bring folks like Jesse Helms and Pat Robertson into the fold...something that I admire very much, actually...and is much more supportive of a more genuinely liberal idea of broad-mindedness, independent thinking, and inclusion...an idea that is compromised -- unnecessarily, unfairly, and with a wrong-headed sense of priorities -- when folks like Bono bully and morally blackmail those who disagree with him...or are often just unaware of the issue, in all its depth and complexity, as well as advocates for a cause...

But it is nice to see people who care about a cause...and have put their money and their efforts where their mouth is...and have avoided more simplistic answers to complex problems...get recognition for their work...

Congrats to Bono and Bill and Melinda...and good luck with the work...

Love,
Ben

I was made to do this work:):):)...
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Hoop Dreams...Let the Church Say Amen...
Topic: free trade/equity
After doing my paperwork, last night, for the Eisenhower position...I went downstairs in the same building to Kansas City Kansas's public library:):)...

An amazing collection of movies, books, CD's, etc...

Being in Kansas City had totally brought back all kinds of memories of Kansas City when I would visit Brandi while she was working downtown at the United Way of Wyandotte Country...and similar memories of living in Washington, D.C...mine and Brandi's two big city experiences...two young kids from Wichita, Kansas:):):)...a good sized city...but not a Kansas City:):)...or a Washington, D.C.:):)...

And working at Eisenhower has me totally inspired about working in the inner city:):):)...I forget that it is some of my favorite work in the world:):):)...and I'm honored to be able to do it:):)...

So I picked up some of this really pretty incredible collection of DVD's and movies and CD's:):)...

I picked up two movies about the inner city...Hoop Dreams...the story of William Gates and Arthur Agee...two Chicago grammar school and high school basketball stand-outs...and their journey through life in the inner city and the ranks of competitive basketball in the big city of Chicago...and their growth and learning and maturity through those experiences:)...

And Let the church say amen...a Filmmovement independent documentary about the work of Pastor Bobby Perkins, Dr. JoAnn Perkins (and education doctorate from George Washington University) and their family and church to provide a place of hope and deliverance for the inner city poor of Washington, D.C.:):):)...

Two brilliant documentaries about efforts that take place all over the country to provide hope in communities often far too lost in hopelessness:):):)...

And inspiring as all hell:):):)...

In the summer of 1998, this was the work and the mission of two kids from Wichita, Kansas:):):)...

Brandi and I were totally dedicated to efforts like Brandi's National Days of Dialogue, dedicated to race dialogue...and Americans Discuss Social Security...a dialogue effort directed at including and engaging average citizens on the complexities that surround issues of retirement and social security:):)...

We saw the Reverend Eugene Waters...who did very similar, broader work in Boston, Mass...with Cornell West, the radical philosopher and race thinker who, at the time, was a professor at Princeton:):)...and two folks totally committed to the growth and development of America's inner cities:):):)...

It was a brilliant and eye-opening time for two kids from a relatively quiet, moderate-sized city...exploring the big city...and all the virtues and vices it had to offer:):):)...mostly virtues, though:):)...with two pretty inspired kids looking the change the world:):):)...

And being in Kansas City...and thinking about the really great opportunity to work in a school like Eisenhower...a school with 70% of their kids receiving free or reduced lunches...in a fairly debilitated part of town:):)...

Had me remembering this very inspired time in my life...almost as inspired as today:):)...but not quite:):)...

But I have to admit the prospects of working at Eisenhower have me pretty incredibly inspired, these days:):)...

I'm thinking about showing these movies in my classes...Hoop Dreams, especially...since it's about two teens making it out of the hopelessness that often pervades the inner city:):)...

This is the work I was made for:):):)...

I love all the work I do:):)...the international policy work...the work in economics...the work in psychology:):)...

But this work...education...and, in particular, this inner city education work...

Is the work I was made for:):):)...

I am filled with the spirit of Reverend Eugene Waters, building a Boston that everyone can be proud of:):):)...I am filled with the spirit of my man, Fred, my co-worker who introduced me to the Ninth Street Baptist Church:):)...where I got to get back:):)...I am filled with the spirit of the Hoop Dreams of Steve James, Frederick Marx, Peter Gilbert, Gordon Quinn, William Gates, and Arthur Agee:):):)...

I love this work:):):)...and there is nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that you are doing real, substantial good in the world:):):)...

I got a TB test, a provisional certification, some bills, and other stuff to look into today...it's raining in Lawrence...so, no work for the lawnmowers:):):)...

Hope your day is going great:):):)...

God bless:):)...

Love,
Ben

Reflections on rich and poor...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: I miss my friend...Darryl Worley:):)...
Topic: free trade/equity
We worked the house of the rich couple, again, today:)...

And I have to say that I'm having different feelings about rich and poor, today, than I had, say, three years ago or so:):)...

I do think it's important to note that rich does not necessarily mean responsible...or good...

But I'm learning quickly enough...that poor...or middle class...don't either...

And today was an excellent demonstration of that:):)...

My boss, yesterday, says that we're going to work for this "rich bitch" whose lawn we've mowed before:):)...

We go to her house...and she's really nice to us, actually:):)...she has a really nice lawn...and nice garden:):)...and she wants to make it nice for the coming year:):)...she offers us water:):)...and is very encouraging:):)...and cuts much slack:):)...

And today...I'm noticing the contrast between this woman's behavior...and the behavior of the poorer/lower middle class boss and co-worker I'm working with, today:):)...

My boss is a pretty decent guy:):)...though he can be a real dick, too...and has been for part of the day for almost every day I've worked with him, except that first day:):)...he's not terribly bright, my boss...and seems to make almost no effort whatsoever to change that:):)...

My co-worker is almost a stereotype of poverty...he's uneducated in a serious way -- meaning, I don't think he even has a lot of high school skills...he's obnoxious...and self-centered...he's insensitive...and often rude:):)...he makes jokes that only he finds funny:):)...and though I consider him a friend -- because I consider everyone a friend, really, no matter how obnoxious -- he's, generally, terribly annoying, much of the time:):)...and definitely not trustworthy except to try to show up every day, to give his best, and then to go home and figure out how to get drunk or high...and that, it appears, is the entirety of his life...

This rich woman we're working for, on the other hand, is nice...smart...decent...sensitive -- she's catching everyone's names as best as possible...something I do that I notice most of the folks that I work with at most joe jobs don't seem to notice or appreciate very much:):)...she's not naggy...and she's really encouraging and cuts much slack:):)...

And I'm thinking about all of my friends...rich...poor...middle class...

And noticing a similar trend...the more money they seem to have or to have had contact with...the more long-term they seem to think...at least intelligent rich folks...which may be the real common denominator, here (something tells me that Eminen is not the nicest dude to work for:):)...

Middle class folks...are more responsible than a lot of the poorest folks...but meaner, generally, than their richer and more intelligent brethren...

And poor folks are often -- not always...I grew up poor and I don't think behaved this way...even as a kid -- are just obnoxious...self-centered...living only in the moment...no long-term future or plans...the basest interests in life:):)...and very little thought at all going into their lives:):)...

And I'm thinking this entire time...

I wonder if I was unfair with Greg...Brandi's husband...and his family...if I got a bad first impression and just ran with it, unfairly...I would totally understand if Brandi was angry with me because I got cynical not knowing Greg and not having any contact with him...now that I've been through that...having friends being cynical with me after not seeing them for awhile...I know now that it doesn't matter...it's not fair...and it doesn't matter how much they wanted or didn't want to see me...or how much I wanted or didn't want to see Brandi...it's not fair...

Rich folks are often pretty decent folks, I'm learning...my parents are rich...and after meeting a broader swath of people in the world, these days...I totally appreciate just how decent and wonderful they are...even with their flaws...

I hope Greg and the Raymond family are good people...for Brandi's sake:):)...and if they are...I feel like a real dick...and maybe I deserve to not have some contact with Brandi if that turns out to be the case...though I do hope she'll find it in her heart to make some contact with me, at some point...just so that I know that she's doing ok:):)...

I just wrote Brandi to apologize...if that's the case...which it very well may be...

Because I've learned for sure...in the three years I've been out of school...and worked mostly working class jobs with folks with not very much education...

Is that my professors...and educated folks, generally...were/are much more decent than I ever gave them credit for at the time...no matter my frustrations with them...the contrast with working class folks -- who tend to be kind dumb, kind of mean, and much more bossy, as a rule -- is just so stark in my head, any more...that I just can't deny just how much better my more educated professors were to work with...than any of the jobs I've had since then:):)...

The world is a lot more complicated than I ever gave it credit for...even as someone who gave much more credit to the idea that it was more complicated than most people understood than most people do:):):)...

I hope everyone's doing well:):)...

Love,
Ben

A big thank you and congratulations to my Kansas City RESULTS group:):):):):):)...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Top of the World:):):)...Patty Griffin:):):)...
Topic: free trade/equity
I want to take a moment to congratulate Sharon Bock, Jo Ann Nelson, Brigid Triggs, and the rest of our little Kansas City RESULTS poverty education and lobbying group:):):):):):)...

Two VERY IMPORTANT milestones were completed in two days:):):)...

First:):):)...

Sharon met with Democratic House Representative Dennis Moore's office:):):)...and his aide, Laura Hall, was able to persuade the Dennis to sign onto House Resolution 1409, a bill which seeks to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries...

This bill is primarily sponsored by MY FAVORITE Republican Senator and Congressperson, Richard Lugar of Indiana, and co-sponsored by several Republicans and Democrats including Senators...Republican Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island, Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon, Democrat Barbara Boxer of California, Republican Norm Coleman of Minnesota...and Representatives... Republicans Jim Leach of Iowa, Henry Hyde of Illinois, Dan Burton of Indiana, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, and Democrats Jim McDermott, a practicing doctor from Washington who visited Africa and learned how to work with AIDS patients, Dennis Moore of Kansas, Tom Lantos of California, and Jose Serrano of New York...

This resolution authorizes the President to provide assistance to programs in developing countries that provide basic care and services for orphans and other vulnerable children, such assistance to include:

1)establishment of community-based organizations to provide basic care
2)school food programs
3)elimination of school fees and other barriers to education
4)provide employment training
5)protect inheritance rights
6)provide culturally appropriate psychosocial support
7)treat children with HIV
8)Authorizes the Secretary of State to appoint a Special Advisor for Assistance to Vulnerable Populations

I've been concerned and attentive to budget deficit issues when we've discussed this and other legislation that RESULTS sponsors...and increases in the international aid budget -- which typically makes up something like less than a half of a percent of the overall budget -- can easily be increased to become even a slightly more equitable proportion of the overall budget...meaning other programs should be cut long before this bill that provides life-saving monies for treating HIV and AIDS in children and adults and works to break down obstacles to access to education and food for children so that they may dream of, hopefully, a far better tomorrow...

It's a very good bill, I think:)...and some really wonderful heartfelt people -- Sharon Bock, in particular -- from Kansas City working on it got Dennis Moore's signature:):):)...

Congratulations, Kansas City RESULTS and Sharon:):):):):):):)...

The second milestone was the appearance of an editorial board sponsored editorial on AIDS and hunger in our local Kansas City paper -- and the major paper in this area -- the Kansas City Star:):):)...

Fighting twin scourges of AIDS and hunger...

Please check it out:):):)...it is very to the point about the linkages between both AIDS and hunger...

But...for those still skeptical of these efforts...this editorial does a REALLY WONDERFUL job of explaining the linkages between the hopelessness of hunger, death, and chronic persistent poverty...and the breeding ground that it creates for terrorism:):):)...please check out this article if you have any concern at all about hunger, poverty, AIDS and HIV, or terrorism...and the ways these issues overlap in Subsaharan and the main continent of Africa:):):)...

This is a PARTICULARLY good editorial, I believe, because of the linkages it makes to terrorism...making clear the long term and short term stakes in this very important effort:):):)...

And if you'd like to find out how YOU might be able to get involved with the passage of this bill, with getting an editorial in your own paper on this issue:):):)...or with joining RESULTS or similar such efforts:):):)...

You can email me at:

benfrankln@hotmail.com
...or...
benfrankln@yahoo.com
...or...
...you can visit the RESULTS website at...

RESULTS International...

...and I or they can help link you with people in your area who can support you in doing this kind of work:):):):):):)...

Thanks so much, Sharon, Jo Ann, Brigid, Janet, Patty, James, Scott and all the other official and unofficial members of our little Kansas City RESULTS group:):):):):):)...

...and thanks to Sam Dailey-Harris, Meredith Dodson, JoAnn Carter, and all the other folks who keep RESULTS going in one of favorite towns in the world:):):)...Washington, D.C.:):):):):):)...

...and perhaps this will inspire me, and maybe others:):):), to get a similar editorial about homelessness, tuberculosis, AIDS, hunger, poverty and other similar issues in our local Lawrence Journal World here soon:):):):):):)...

Have a great day, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben