American Omelette

So we are a free country, right? I want to visit Cuba… but my government says no, I can’t go. Or I’ll go to federal prison. Hmmm, that doesn’t sound free. Collar on my neck?

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Regardless, we are a pretty lucky bunch of people living in the USA in 2008, aren’t we? Amidst all the downturns, right-sizing, lay-offs, reductions, bankruptcies, chapter elevening, retractions and losses we live in an amazing place.

And unbelievable opportunity.

What? Opportunity? WTF?

Yep. Opportunity.

A universal enema can be helpful at times. And painful. Thankfully, it also spawns avalanches in creativity, the arts, music, spiritual extensions and prosperity. If one is lucky enough to be at the right place and time, earth can be a pretty cool place. Like today.

It’s downturns like this that produced the Renaissance! What about that saying that it’s darkest before the dawn? Think about it: A major industry in trouble represents an enormous opportunity for the underdog; several markets in the shitter at the same time is a entrepreneurial tsunami. Anyone with an ounce of tycoon blood has to smell it. And I’m not talking about anyone famous. I mean new, fresh, young and old, folks. People who are hungry for expression. This is the best time to be alive. Right now. Right here.

Mark my words, if you have an open mind with no limits, you will recognize an especially important notch in history. Live just one more day and you’ll wonder at the possibilities, but stay ten years, you will be awed at what has happened.

I think main stream everything-everyone-everywhere should be talking, advertising, twittering, networking, blogging, texting and making popular the notion of an opportunity smorgasbord. I guess I’m an optimist, which is good, since pessimists and negative people have never, in the history of mankind, created an opportunity. Just in case you needed one more excuse to be positive.

The possibilities of prosperity are far more interesting than the dismal dark days of despair.

Trust me on this.

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I know lots of things about people. When you come down to it, people are everything.

They are not, however, about organizations, governments, countries, religions, ideology, politics, vengeance or corporations. But they are about protecting their families, feeding their young, healing their sick, preparing their youth and maintaining happiness.

So it is people who will see this stage in history. Brilliant, engaging, fun, creative, courageous, adventurous and entrepreneurial people. That’s exciting.

Opportunity is alive and well because of people and timing. This is the best time of your life. And if you don’t see it, oh well.

Another 9-11 anniversary gone by. A pretty awful day for so many. The world changed that day, but in some ways, it didn’t.

The human appetite for war and killing is still so strong with no end in sight. Countries are always ready to avenge an attack, fight an enemy, march on another country. Government budgets for military research are enormous; the US defense budget is almost equal to all other countries combined.

There are some nasty people out there, especially religious extremists who use their god as their shield to kill. Or dictators hiding behind religion to push down their citizens. Except for our weapons, where we have really excelled, when it comes to people killing people, the human race has not progressed much from where it was thousands of years ago.

But when we look at what the real terrorists are doing to everyone on the planet, we show little of the same flaming passion to avenge our sick, our injured, our dead. Deaths from cardiovascular disease dwarf the world’s war dead. Cancer is a random genocide. Tuberculosis a well armed military destroying everything in its path.

The real terrorists? They are attacking our cells everyday, inserting explosive viral packages for future destruction and sheer terror. They force people to have diagnostic tests whose results could be devastating. They are mutated DNA coding for a protein that inhibits productivity, increases depression and wrecks lives. And these terrorists effect millions of lives every day.

The statistics are startling, aren’t they? It’s clear Americans — indeed the world — are attacked by disease so often that it should arguably be the biggest topic for electoral politics. But it isn’t. In fact, it is rarely mentioned. Global warming gets more airtime.

So where is the outrage? Why aren’t Democrats and Republicans duking it out over how to conquer cancer, attack AIDS, terminate tuberculosis and destroy diabetes? Where is the debate on educating more kids to encourage them to enter scientific fields to bolster our national intellectual property and hence, innovations and prosperity? Regardless of what one may think of the efficacy of government scientific research institutions such as the NIH, why aren’t we increasing its funding to understand the fundamental causes of disease?

The real terror isn’t a women with a burka in a crowded farmer’s market, or a man with a turban sitting next to you on a plane, but a woman feeling a lump on her breast for the first time, or a man being told by his doctor about a high PSA test, or a chicken farmer in Thailand feeling sick. The terror alert should be red for a pregnant woman with no way to afford prenatal care, or an aging veteran without medical coverage.

So why aren’t more people demonstrating in the streets against these invaders; these harbingers of death? Why haven’t we lobbied for a surge for cancer? A national disease-defense program? A department of health security?

It’s because we are not wired that way, I believe. There are war heroes, but no scientific heroes. Our history books teach how the battle of Gettysburg was fought, but little on the battle on cancer. We have parades for victorious troops, but not victorious mass spectroscopists. That’s just a guess.

Lest you think I am some crazy guy who hates war and wants every disease on the planet cured… wait! I am. Yep.

So fight on science! Maybe one day the brain will rule the brawn as the main way to delegate resources… until then, write a grant and hope for the best.

Today a wonderful, gifted person passed. He was 47. Randy Pausch was a computer science expert teaching at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for many years.

More important, he was a man with an incredible message. He told the world to count their blessings, go after their dreams and be grateful. Grateful for their opportunities and gifts.

If you haven’t yet reached into his brain (w hich is kind of interesting in a post-human state) you haven’t sampled some of his wit and dignity.

To his family, a wonderful wife, Jai and their 3 kids… thank you for sharing him… we tip our hats to you.

Okay… everyone… raise your Joel Gott, Jose Cuervo, Belvedere, Red Stripe or finely rolled Sensimilla Hooch… and let’s agree that this guy was fucking great.

Rest in peace Randy… and thanks for your wisdom and grace.

Listening to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews today you’d think Bill Clinton was still the president. His take is that since Hillary’s concession speech on June 7th —something like 46 days— Bill and Barack have not been seen together. I say who cares? Sure, it’s an interesting piece of information, but face it, the Clintons are only human, and they’re probably still sore about losing. But Matthews’ placing such significance on this is overstated, because Bill Clinton is no longer the Democrat’s lead dog.

He is no longer relevant to who will be elected president in 2008.

However, Hillary Clinton will rise again . Although she will never again have the chance at the presidency she had in this election, she will dive into her New York Senate job and continue to do a good job for New Yorkers (sorry, although I have great respect for Hillary, her reliance on Bill is what ultimately sank her).

Bill Clinton’s Teflon coat tarnished a bit in 2008. He showed a cockiness that didn’t work very well this time around when he was out-boxed by the newcomer Barack Obama, and he miscalculated the mood of the American people; it’s a very different world from the 1990s; Bill may have been a good president for many Americans during his tenure, but his showing as a barker for Hillary proves once again that sometimes it’s good to hang up the jock strap when your time is up.

I wonder if Brett Favre hears that?

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But it may be time to leave since the window of opportunity has closed.

Why now? Because we missed our chance at really making a difference in Afghanistan and must now consolidate our position.

Here’s my thinking.

First, yes, it is honorable to be fighting the good fight against the shitheads that hit us on 9-11. We hit them pretty hard back in 2001 but should have continued until the Taliban and every other nut-case out there was safely back in their place of worship or six feet under them (sorry, but the insane-radical-evangelical-self-righteous-dying-to-go-to-heaven crowd has no place in running countries). We also should have used the planet’s goodwill to further our causes in the Muslim world by showing them that moderate thinking is better than crazy-paranoid-god-told-me-to-attack thinking. Instead, we decided to go the crazy-paranoid-god-told-me-to-attack route in Iraq and the rest, as they say, is history. So here we are… five years later justifying our existence in Iraq, while Afghanistan is going to hell and the Taliban are winning over the hearts and minds of their people with their silly god-fearing rhetoric. Again.

You see, without helping the poor people of Afghanistan with things like eating and staying warm, the Taliban will promise them salvation (and food) if they follow their extreme teaching; a common revolutionary tactic. And with the bad guys running back to Pakistan —their safe zone— each time they attack and kill American and NATO troops and civilians, we have little chance of beating them. Think what you will about the Russians , but their mighty army took a beating in their ten year war. They took 400,000+ casualties… with more than 14,000 dead. I am certain American forces are better equipped and trained, but fighting a guerrilla war where the attackers can retreat to a friendly country is a recipe for failure.

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