Trying to reach family about my silently suffering cat who is suffering from kidney failure. Irony rules as means of communication have proliferated, but effectiveness, quality and satisfaction with communication have plummeted-as least for me. Phone calls not answered....text messages with too few words too convey clear meaning. Makes growing older a pleasure knowing you all will be living in this unconnected world where means of communication will continue to proliferate and the meaning of it all diminish.

Why the Beatles?

My God, what great fortune to be young as these brilliant, root based, musicians were producing music that expressed the highly charges emotions and attitudes of a generation facing induction into a dested war, some killed, some fleeing, most damaged. The variety of musical expression quite unequealed in pop music,the Beatles. This group was part of the inspiration for a huge generation of  young people who were inspired by their genius expression to create, to perform, to work hard for what we found in ourselves and thought could change the world.....Please embrace and encourage those who inspire today's young to dream bigger, work harder and believe in their own ability to change the world!

Letter to Editor:

Remarkable that few have put together the significance of the headline news. Yes, the Affordable Care Act MAY reduce full time employment and cause small businesses to hire fewer workers, but Boomers are delaying retirement and young people experience lower success finding jobs and setting up separate households. The mostly obvious conclusion is that some Boomers find themselves suffering chronic illnesses that limit their job effectiveness or want to take a chance on their own business venture and would like to retire early or at least work part time which will open job opportunities for others-middle aged or young.

Small businesses still suffer from very conservative lending standards and loan covenants that make them reluctant to hire more employees, so their avoidance of ramping up hiring is not based simply on the potential imposition of costs or fines based on health care law mandates. Rational economic analysis suggests that all businesses-not just small ones-rely upon complex evaluations of employee productivity, sales increase probability and bottom line potential net revenue. . If a small business views costs of health insurance as a detriment to growth, then they are unfortunately in a low margin, limited growth business. The government cannot solve that.

Lastly, we Boomers have had a great run! We enjoyed fabulous low cost/high value education opportunities; high growth economic times and expanding technologies while the US dominated world economic well-being.  We are reaching late 50’s and early 60’s healthier than our parents. But, we are burdened by financially supporting not only our parents, but our children who have not thrived as we did. So, we may be willing to cut expenses and scale down in order to preserve our assets, take the time to care for ailing parents, and perhaps motivate children to accept financial independence. Besides, determining the value of a bigger house, more expensive clothes and investments diminishes for most of us as we see more clearly the sources of joy in our lives.

Early retirement or acceptance of part time employment for people over 60 will surely make more jobs available to younger people in this country since Boomers have filled roles that are less likely to be digitally transferrable offshore.

So, there are many winners in this transition-people able to cut back on work as they seek quality of life over wealth, struggle with chronic illnesses or early onset disabilities of aging. Business growth based on careful evaluation of opportunities and net income growth underpins all sound business decisions. Most important, enabling millions of young people to find jobs or improved jobs is necessary for many who were harmed by the recession in ways that have postponed their independence and careers.

Let’s look at the Big Picture-not headline stories portraying narrowly focused impacts, not portraying the larger implications and longer term effects.  

Maybe They should Suceed

Can't help commenting on the remarkable events that truly depict the Old South/Continental divide. Recent legilation in North Carolina, Arkansas, Texas and Florida have made clear the essential disagreements about values that suggest these southern states were correct. They should seceede.

I am from the upper Midwest a state with a wildly swinging political base...home of the Republican party and Joe McCarthy as well as fighting Bob LaFollette and Senators Russ Feingold and Tammy Baldwin moving to Massachusetts in 1991, I encountered the Bluest state and learned it was far from that. Dominated by a socially conservative and corrupt Democratic Party, the legislature was a sharade, espousing oportunities for all while taking paybacks, manipulating voting districts and demeaning public teachers. Shameless, and that system remains in force. Speakers of the House have been indicted, convicted suffered disbarrment and been imprisoned, but the "system" prevails.

Yes, the understanding of Democratic/liberal values varies accross this great land; but there is agreement about the priority of rights and government comittments. Fiscal conservatives in Wisconsin resist union worker claims, but have not pressed for Stand your Ground and related "Gun Rights" laws. Lacking racial and ethnic diversity, Wisconsinites overall lack the racial and ethnic distrust and hatred that are an essential element of the culture of Florida and its Southern neighbors.

The Southern Sate mentality is anithema to the day to day experiences of most Americans. We live side by side with people of different religions, cultural backgrounds, races and sexual oreintations, and we make day to day efforts to reach out, be friendly and approach them with the most optomistic intrepretation of their intentions and goals. We assume the best and in nearly all intsances are rewarded.

In Texas, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and  its kin in contiguous states, these day to day experiences are approached with distrust and veiled aggression. Poor people are viewed as undeserving and lazy, black and Hispanics as inferior and gays as immoral. The "12 Years a Slave" mentality lives deep in the heart of long term and recent immigrants to these states; and they quietly accept the premise of dicrimination that informs their illusions of superiority.

More to follow....too aggarvated to continue now.

Fabled Past Forsaken Future

The ghost of FabledPast/Forsaken Future visits a child about lapse into slumber…

Good night, sweet child. Dream of the America that once was a moral and economic leader of the world. I am sorry, but your parents and grandparents watched as the Beacon of Democracy fell to corruption and self delusion. They watched as the merely Lost fought to be Survivors, ultimately sacrificing your future for short term false security.

Good people and smart read reports of corporate fraud, dishonesty and collusion that diminished savings, assets and emboldened the Captains of capitalism to ever more deceitful practices. As SIV’s, CDO’s, hedge fund derivatives and myriad financial charms drained hundreds of billions from the economy, political leadership languished in fear of offending those who funded campaign war chests.

But, darling child, those responsible for your lost dreams are indeed those who loved you most. Adults across the nation allowed the invasion and war in Iraq to not only drain trillions of dollars from the US financial base, but destroy the power, respect and leadership role of America in the Global economy we had embraced. Americans read of the billions wasted in war related efforts…hundreds of millions literally disappeared, unaccounted for in Iraq, Afghanistan, Washington DC….”US based” firms used tax laws to avoid paying hundreds of million in US taxes and employee benefits…government paralysis, ineffectiveness outright failure reached epidemic levels. Public officials wrung their hands, and your Mom and Dad scurried off to work, believing that their personal financial fortress would keep you safe.

No, child, not by way of ignorance or stupidity, but simply by not paying attention, by neglect, by reckless disregard of the obvious…that is how your future was stolen.

Romance, Relaxation and Dinner for two

MID WINTER 2008 SPECIAL
Shake off the mid-winter chill with a little osso bucco and a bottle of something red and luscious from Umbria or the hills of Montalcino, then make your way under the soft gaslights of Beacon Hill to the Charles Street Inn, where you and your special one curl up in front of the fire, warm and snug and away from the cares of the world for a while…Come stay at the Charles Street Inn and Dine at the newly renovated Toscano’s Restaurant one block away at a great combo rate!

+ Toscano’s dinner for two new menu with salad, entre dish, dessert, tax and tip included. Drinks are up to you and excluded.

+ Breakfast served to your room with quiche, fruit, pastries and more.

Price/Terms: $335 Queen weekday $385 Queen weekend plus room tax

$385 King weekday $435 King weekend plus room tax
Toscano for Two - 3 Course Dinner included
Offer good as long as inventory lasts or until February 29, 2008. Valentine’s Day excluded.

Go to the Toscano web site at http://www.toscanoboston.com/ to see their beautiful new décor and extensive menu of Italian favorites and wines.

Also consider an in- room massage to make your stay even more refreshing. Rolling River Massage provides incredible 1 hour long massages for $125. Go ahead-Pamper yourself!

Check out our http://www.charlesstreetinn.com/ website for room availability and/or call us toll free at 877-772-8900 to take advantage of this special offer while it lasts!

Boston Snow In

Boston recovered from the absurdity of last nights snow-in with commuters wondering what on earth they'd do if an emergency evacuation was required. Now they know. Yes, the snow removal crews were not coordinated with police escorts to clear sections of roads of cars so that they could be methodically cleared. Yes, there needs to be a thorough investigation of what went wrong over miles of roadways in Eastern Mass. But, the fundamental challenge to commuters remains...there are too many of you crowding into too few roadways. The expressways are clogged daily with solo drivers indulging in their talk radio/handsfree cell phone/music interlude. Just as the nation shut down when 9/11 caused closure of airports, our failure to support train travel seriously limits our options when car travel is the only choice available. There are not enough police details, snowplows or other public assets to offer commuters comfortable, reasonably timely transport when emergencies or acts of nature make "normal" slow commutes impossible. Huge public subsidies flow to car commuters from those of us who live near work and walk, take trains or subways, or work from a home office. Road building and maintenace are extremely capital intensive, and it is becoming clear that Mass. cannot afford to do an adequate job. Stop the wasteful solo commute or stop the whining.