Tuesday, May 24, 2016

A BEER WITH BERNIE

     Sooner or later, in this political season, or perhaps it has already occurred, the arguably frivolous question will be asked: “Who would you rather sit down with and have a beer?’ I would take a pass if the only choices were the odious  pair who are currently favored by  their respective parties. Still, there may be merit in posing an alternative simple  question: “With which candidate would you feel comfortable, were that person to become mentor, or, heaven forbid, a presidential example for your children?” Neither! In my view, however, Bernie Sanders comes close. I think I would even enjoy having a beer with him.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

A FINE 1930'S SUMMER EVENING



Siblings gather on the front porch steps,
Engage in small talk and soft laughter. 
A crimson sunset  fades  into dusk.
Someone says, “Sunny day tomorrow.”
A bugle sounds taps
From the direction of Cheever’s Woods.
A World War I veteran pays respects
To his fallen comrades.
Crickets, peepers and tadpoles suffuse the air
In a  combined chorus.
A whip-poor-will calls from a nearby tree.
Its mate cries back from afar.
A captured firefly passes through cupped hands,
Faintly illuminating our faces.
We wonder how bats, flitting by,
Home in on night-flying insects.
Radar hadn't been invented yet.
So many stars -
How could you tell which one
Would come through on our wishes? 

-e. hujsak

Sunday, May 1, 2016

DECEPTION



Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

My Dear Trill,
A good  question, Trill. You are getting to be quite perceptive. You don’t find deception among the seven deadly sins. Yet, as practiced by individuals, merchants, companies, corporations,  armies, governments and even internationally, it may well be the deadliest sin of all.

Sadly, deception and its consequent companions, corruption and fraud, have come to be a way of life, locally, nationally and internationally, at the highest levels of government and corporations. Entire economies can come crashing down as the result of deceptive practices by financial houses in order to acquire personal or corporate riches. Journalists have fertile fields for investigating and revealing activities that run counter to a smooth running society. 

Fraud cannot exist without deception. It occurs on a massive scale in government funded programs. For example, a physician billing Medicare for foot surgery when a patient appeared for treatment of a sprained ankle. On a much larger scale is the case of Jacques Roy, who created a bogus health care organization that  fleeced the government of $375 million in falsified Medicare billings. He was caught and jailed for life, but the money cannot be found. Similarly, within the military, officers have been bribed for directing naval repair services to foreign shipyards. Deception was rampant during World War II in the arms industry until Harry Truman took the corporate leaders to the woodshed. 

Deception does have a proper place in entertainment. That’s how magicians make their living. It has a place in filmdom, drama, and literature. It also has a place in games, where the person most skilled in deception is likely to come out the winner. It is a common tool of warfare, dating back to the famous Trojan Horse and  previous conflicts between warring parties and nations and carried on in various ways to the present.

On the darker side, it is common among married couples, or partners, feeling the urge to experience adventure, to pursue purient interests, or  simply a change from a humdrum life. This may be seen to reside within the definition of fidelity, or infidelity. Its affect is local,  mostly confined to individuals, but distress often extends to immediate families and friends.

Likewise, it is common in the drug and alcohol addiction culture, often creating a path of wreckage in what otherwise would be normally functioning families.

Revealing deception is difficult, because so much of what goes on is secretive. So when whistle blowers appear like Edward Snowden, the as yet unknown person who released the Panama Paapers, and Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou), who blew the whistle on the secretive 9/11 investigations (they were jailed for it), accolades may be  due for their courage.  They obviously have little to gain, and may be putting their lives on the line, Sure, the injured will predictably trumpet that great damage  was caused, national security was compromised, but the greatest damage  is arguably loss of faith by citizens in the various operatives who have been revealed to have self interest as first priority, or a false sense of what should be kept from the public, the public be damned. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what is contained in the missing twenty eight pages of the post 9/11 investigation? Why shouldn’t we know? Deception is at work at the highest levels.  

Deception is practiced  blatantly in the commercial world. False advertising is illegal, but it is widely practiced, protected by cleverly crafted nuances. Morality has no place in this venue. Money is everything. Examples are the recently revealed  Volkswagen  machinations in tricking their automobile computers in order to pass emissions tests and more recently, Mitsubishi’s falsification of fuel economy in their automobiles, General Motors  response to ignition switch and break failures, and the claims of electric car manufacturers that their cars are emissions free, though plug-in cars are dominately supplied by fossil fuel burning power plants and oil companies funding climate change denial papers.The list is long, in constant flux, and does not exclude the millions spent by industry to deny climate change, or the cigarette companies who fund studies to prove that smoking does not cause cancer.

Deception appears strongly in the advertising of pharmaceuticals, in which the media  have become modern day drug pushers. A prime example is the marketing of  blood thinner Equilis by Bristol Myers. Bristol-Myers replaces its own products, Plavix and  Warfarin, but benefits, if any, are hard to detect. Plavix and Equilis have similar side effects. However, Equilis dosage is recommended at two pills a day, thus doubling income, as well as ballooning the cost to the consumer. Accompanying their advertising is a bad-mouthing of their own product, Warfarin, which is far less profitable.

At our level, I would contend that any statement that follows the introduction “To be honest with you,” or “Let me be honest with you,” or “To tell you the truth,” labels the speaker as a practiced  deceiver. You don’t know when or what  to believe, so caution is advised.

For better or worse, Trill, this is the world we live in. A world shaped by human inventiveness, both good and bad. You cannot escape it, so develop your skills to make the best of it, keeping in mind, always, the “eight deadly sins,” especially Deception.