Complaint Complainers Just Don’t Get It!

          Some folks just don’t understand the spirit of Chapel Hill. I cite as proof a spate of letters to the editor lately published in the Chapel Hill News. –Complaints – all of them and complaints about the complainers.
          Criticized as ungrateful was a citizen whose letter expressed displeasure at being stopped by police for a driver’s license check. Another berated a previous writer who censured people who opposed the name change to Carrboro High School. A suburban area was annexed to Carrboro recently. Folks who didn’t like that wrote in to say so and the paper published a letter that implied the complainers were ungrateful.. 
          Then there was one against the newspaper itself for printing a notice of a meeting called by people who want to impeach President Bush. Just as bad, wrote another, was publication of a reporter’s new article that a speaker didn’t return her telephone call.   I didn’t quite understand the published complaint about a man who’d burned his tattered American flag in the prescribed dignified manner.
          Finally, there was a screed against Sen. Ted Kennedy for threatening a filibuster against confirmation of Judge Alito for the Supreme Court.
          But to all the complainers, I have my own complaint. They just don’t get it. This is Chapel Hill – bastion of free speech – where the complaint reigns supreme.  Hey, if you don’t like my blog on complaining: Complain to me.
 

 

 

Warning to Windy Speakers

          All of us sinners who voluntarily sit through a church sermon know that no souls are saved after the first 20 minutes. The same goes for successful political speakers.
          This common sense reality is so solid that it has been adopted by civic clubs everywhere. They set their meeting programs for an hour – 30 minutes for the meal, a maximum of 10 minutes for announcements and business, and 20 minutes for the program speaker.
          Realizing this, I was taken aback lately to read about State Treasurer Richard Moore, an ambitious and thinly-veiled un-announced candidate for NC governor. According to a news report he spoke for an hour before the Durham Rotary Club. He is an experienced politico and had a pretty good message. But he likely lost it all by violating the 20-minute rule. Nobody needs to tell him about this because he’ll learn it himself pretty soon.
          This brings to mind the story about the windy speaker at a political rally who talked on and on until only one listener was left. When he finished his speech he  went up to shake the lone person’s hand and thank him.       

          “Don’t thank me,” said the hapless listener. “I’m the next speaker.”
         

An End Run Around the Race Issue

          Race will no longer be a factor in the assignment of pupils to the local public schools, according to a formal statement made lately by the school board.  
          Pupils will be assigned to the school nearest their home. A goal of this policy is to achieve (racial) diversity in each school. Race will not be a factor but “socio-economic status and student achievement” will be considered. The objective is to make the racial breakdown in each school reflect that of the district as a whole.
          It likely will accomplish this — in the sweet by and by.
          But in the meanwhile this vague policy of assigning by “socio-economic status and student achievement” is to a great extent the same old same old.  The facts of economic and scholastic life are that more black pupils are in a lower socio-economic class and presently are lower achievers.
          The goal of this new policy is noble, but this is a complicated issue that will not be simply resolved. The growing proportion of pupils in races other than black and white, mainly Latino and Oriental, also increases the problem.
          Within each public school – and even on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, it is self-evident that racial segregation continues outside the classroom. This is natural, though not necessarily good, because people in general tend associate with those most like themselves.
          The achievement of racial diversity and the best public education are not easily reconciled. The law prohibits racial discrimination in 
our public schools but does not require racial diversity. The law’s intention is to require equal opportunity. To take advantage of that opportunity also requires individual initiative.      
            How blessed it will be when all public schools are truly racially integrated. We look to the time when race will indeed no longer be considered in pupils’ school assignment. When we all accept and appreciate diversity, then the process of teaching and education will be enhanced.
         The new policy is short of that solution, however well-intentioned.  To base a pupil’s assignment to a particular public school on  “socio-economic and achievement” factors could even raise a new constitutional issue: Discrimination against poor folks.
 

 

‘Cadillac’ Cost for Parking

 

          This country and certainly this community is dedicated to having all the automobile parking spaces that it is economically possible to have. It is simply natural for progressively  lazier human beings to do this. But this concession to sloth comes at a high price. Each space in an off-street surface parking lot costs more to build than the average new car – conservatively $25,000. Each space in an underground parking garage will cost more than a Cadillac, or over $50,000.
          The University recently abandoned its plan to build a 300-car underground parking lot on campus to serve its Arts Common because of the Cadillac cost of such construction.
          Meanwhile the Town of Chapel Hill is proceeding with plans for  an even larger underground parking garage nearby. This would be on its downtown surface parking property on which a combined business and residential project is to be built. The University, naturally, is very interested in this, and would like to have that project enlarged to accommodate some of its otherwise unmet needs.
          Unsettled at this moment is how the Town could afford to build an underground “Cadillac” parking garage when the University cannot.  The taxpaying citizens of the Town of Chapel Hill eye this possibility hopefully — and skeptically.

One Percent More for Gas

            Of all the complaints for the new year, North Carolina’s higher gasoline  tax is the least significant.
            The automatically-triggered 2.8 cents per gallon increase amounts to slightly more than one percent at this time. Over the course of a year it will cost the average driver about  $15,  we are informed.
            State legislators shed crocodile tears when they bleat that a special session of the General Assembly should be called to give at least temporary relief from the tax increase.        We’re all slaves to our passenger automobiles. We can easily economize to drive one percent less. And there’s not a one among all of us who’d want to decrease the highway maintenance money this tax provides.
 

Iran’s Outrageous Claim

            The President of Iran insists that the Holocaust was a myth – that the World War II Nazi extermination over six million European Jews did not occur.        In light of this amazing claim the forthcoming negotiations with that hostile middle Eastern empire have become simpler.
            The complex diplomatic talks over nuclear arms have been difficult as Iran says its nuclear experiments aren’t destined to manufacture bombs.
But they won’t permit inspection to prove this claim.
            If Iran will lie so outrageously   about the Holocaust, what’s to be trusted on its nuclear weapons claim?
            Fortunately, at least on this issue, the rest of the responsible world is united in disbelief.
 

China Is What’s Happening Today

Friends, it has been several weeks now since I have fingered the cybernetic keyboard as the Old Codger Blogger, so I want to give some accounting for the hiatus.
In mid-September Helen and I took a two-week package tour of China through Viking River Cruises. It was, in a sense, a spur of the moment decision after we happened to read one of the myriad travel brochures that all of us usually toss out every day. This one offered an all-expense junket to Beijing, the Great Wall, Chungking, Sian and Shanghai, plus a four-day cruise on the Yangtze – price $2,250 per, plus $650 round-trip air fare. It sounded almost too good, but it turned out to be even better.
Admittedly these places are the prime tourist spots, and it was a group excursion for 30 of us. But – with our limited time, funds, and knowledge of this exotic territory, what alternative would you recommend?
Viking Cruise Lines delivered precisely what it advertised, and more. Only extra expenses were well-deserved tips for guides, one of whom was with us start to finish.
Summary impression: We’d all better learn about China and accommodate ourselves to it. China is what is happening in the world today – and fast; an ultra-modern country of dedicated people with a pioneer spirit. We found it discerningly totalitarian but successful for its population which embraces its effect if not its cause.
 

I Luv Our (Speed) Fuzz

            There’s a crackdown on speeders, we were told in the news media. Slow down, or pay the consequences! That’s fine with me, I thought. When I’m driving I stay in the slow lane, obey the speed limit and give way to anybody who’s in in a hurry.
            This causes me (and sometimes the driver behind me) some occasional resentment, but I am compensated by the knowledge that I am being a good boy and a careful driver. Well, it doesn’t always work that way, but at least the law of safety averages is on my side. I feel confident in stating that the general driving speed on interstate highways is 80 MPH, and lane changers at 90 are not rare.
             Of course a lot of those speeders are good and  relatively safe drivers, but the law limits are for the protection of all of us and the violators deserve to be penalized.

Advice to “W” and His handlers

          As a nouveau but devoted Blogger, I have no unique wisdom to offer on the major problems of the world. I leave such comment to wiser heads and writers.
          But I do have a helpful, an urgent, and a fundamental  message for President “W” and his handlers. This has been on my mind for several of his predecessors, too. It is a simple suggestion that the political power elite can easily understand. It will appreciably help “W’s” abysmal ratings, which are pure perception, of course.
          Hey, listen up, Mr. President. You can and should do this. Change the inflection of your voice. That’s all. This is important and will make a big difference in your popularity.
          First, some history to illustrate this point: Ronald Reagan –  the “actor,” regardless of what you thought of his politics – was a prime communicator. His inflection was UP.  
          The worst was Jimmy Carter. For all his idealism and honesty, he was an atrocious speaker — not for his message, but for his delivery. Carter always spoke in three-word phrases with flat inflection. He ignored punctuation and the intention of his words.
          There is no excuse for this. A President has all the help anybody needs immediately at hand from his staff. This applies to “W.” Almost everything he says in public is defensive in tone.
          I have just watched him announce the nomination of Samuel Alito as an associate justice. The words written for him were well and carefully crafted. Their effect was ruined, or at least damaged by the unhappy “down” tone of his voice. It sounded like he dared the US Senate to argue with him.
          Come on, “W.” You have trouble enough with your policies.
          You can, and you should, for your own good, improve the way you present yourself.
  

 

Freedom — and Life Is Good!

            Many times every blessed day in the last couple of months I have suddenly realized, “By God, I’m 80-years-old. That’s supposed to be OLD!”  But, I don/t feel old – I feel FREE. This cheerful feeling is heightened by the fact that I am in good physical health, slightly bothered only by stiffness in almost all joints.
            This joyful freedom, which began at formal retirement 10 years ago, is inspirational. It means that I am free to plan each day, to make my own decision as to what I choose to do with the hours that begin each morning.
            Basically I have no obligation to an employer or to society. I have willingly passed on the torch to those in the younger generation, to let them improve on what I’ve tried to do, and to make some of the same mistakes I’ve made. I’m grateful for the perspective that I believe I’ve gained in these four-score years.
            Best of all, I don’t care look back. There’s simply nothing I can do about the past, except trust that I’ve learned from it. Honestly, I look ahead, because this freedom gives me the great opportunity to seek new endeavors that the obligations of making a living didn’t previously permit.
            In terms of “passing on the torch,” too, I find true satisfaction in public service – a thing I used to accept as an obligation. Now I find real happiness in such service.
            Through all of this, I also find peace – contented peace. I know there are a limited number of years ahead for me. I’ve already had so much grace and good fortune that if it all ended tomorrow I’d have no regrets. Many times each day I tell myself — Life Is Good.
            (PS: Blog is good, too. I’ll probably say more on the topic.)

North Carolina: To Be Rather Than To “Scheme”

            At this moment the enactment of a lottery for the Old North State is understood to be one vote shy of commitment to passage in the State Legislature.
            Proponents of this well-established scam bleat that we need it for “education” – that its (ill-gotten) monetary gain will provide needed funds for improving the public schools.  That reasoning is as fallacious as the pea-under-the-shell game that it mirrors. There is no panacea to supporting better education.
            North Carolina pays for its public schools with public taxes. A lottery is a scheme that will appeals to the poorest among us, to the least educated, to people who would like to get rich quick.  The fact is that only the lottery operators get rich   in this manner.
            The supposed largess of a lottery is simply a shell game that substitutes its profits  for legitimate revenue that is then appropriated for other purposes.  The cause of education ends up no better off in the switch.
            North Carolina was the last of the original 13 states to approve the US Constitution. It was the last to leave the Union and join the Confederacy. It is the last state on the east coast to hold-out against the get-rich-quick snare of a lottery.
            Its motto is “To be rather than to seem.” In considering a lottery the Tar Heel State should adopt a more realistic stance of “To be rather than to scheme.”
            As the vale of humility between the djoining states that it calls “mountains of conceit” it has a proud heritage of thoughtful deliberation to preserve. That proud heritage is against a state lottery.

What Patriotism Means to Me

            Patriotism is not FASHIONABLE  and is sometimes ridiculed.in this community and nation. Many people feel it denotes blind allegiance to an imperfect nation. And so our nation is imperfect. But my patriotic allegiance to it is a broader faith that far outdistances its imperfection. To point out, to admit America’s imperfection is not a sin. But to fail to be a patriotic American is.
            I can only speak to my own feeling of patriotism, which I believe matches that of my comrades of World War II and  for those of the previous wars who are commemorated in this building, North Carolina Memorial Hospital.
            The great journalist Tom Brokaw has famously called  those of us who served in the military of World War Two “the greatest generation.”  I’ll not quibble about that label. It is a gracious statement, to say the least. But let me take you back to the fierce days of World War Two and how we felt about it.
            To be here today almost all of us had to be teen-agers in WWII. We were all preparing to enter the military, as we would be required to do. We certainly did not feel “great.” But– we did not feel any doubt. We were a bit fearful, and not anxious to lead a charge across the trenches.
            But we had absolutely no doubt about the cause and the outcome of the war that was thrust upon us. And we positively believed that  victory was necessary and inevitable. There was nothing heroic nor great, to us, about serving. It was simply our time. ALL OF US WERE CALLED. That generated a quality of patriotism that has never left us through these 60 years since.
            It was a fearsome time for most of us. Even today we grieve for our comrades who died beside us in combat..  We are especially lucky and blessed to be living today.
            And we are proudly patriotic of the success of America’s cause, and also as Bob Patton has so eloquently spoken, of the freedom that this patriotism has preserved.  Appreciation of freedom is born of patriotism  — of a belief in the dignity and integrity of every human being as an individual.
            Earlier this year I revisited a combat scene of our 100^th Infantry Division  in the rugged Vosges mountains of France. This was the last town to be freed in France, a modest village called Bitche. (As a result we are proudly known as the Sons of Bitche – to us the highest compliment we could have as soldiers.                 
            On that 60^th anniversary of the liberation of Bitche this year  we were welcomed by those citizens whose area had been for six years a part of Germany during World War II. Their heartfelt gratitude to us, three score years later, and to America as a country, gave us the ultimate appreciation of patriotism.         
             I value this quality all the more as a result of that recent experience.      And I hope you also feel patriotic for our great country.

Hospital Harassment — Have You “Had It?”

            Dealing with bureaucracy is a necessary part of our contemporary lives – the federal government, big business, and, hospitals.
            If you have had a similar experience to this one at Duke Hospital, let me know. Through the years we have had generally good relations with this massive bureaucracy. But for ITS own good, I’d like to help them by confronting them with the following experience. If you recollect something kindred, let me know and I’ll enclose your statement.
            At 5:30 PM on Sunday evening, January 9, I received a recorded telephone call from Duke Hospital that my spouse should report to the operating room there at 5:30 AM the next morning. The rapid-fire message was delivered by a woman with a barely-decipherable foreign accent. My spouse had no prior notice, no reason to expect such an appointment, and did not go. I telephoned the number left on the message – no answer.
            I then asked for the hospital director’s telephone extension and, of course, there was no answer there, so I left a message. In a polite, businesslike way I related these facts. I also said that the mistake in the system needed to be corrected for Duke Hospital’s own benefit, and requested that I be telephoned toward this end. Of course, again, I received no response.
            If we all simply lay back and accept gross inefficiency like this it will continue and grow. I want to do my part to help Duke Hospital improve and correct its faulty system. Do you?
 

Ban Highway Panhandling

           Panhandling has long been a touchy issue in soft-hearted Chapel Hill. Stereotypically it’s just not Chapel Hilly to be tough on panhandlers.
            The ordinance that prohibits begging on the public sidewalks at night is scarcely enforced, although it was passed as a public safety issue in behalf of harried pedestrians and merchants.
            This issue of public safety on the streets and highways has become a compelling issue – both for the automobile driver and the panhandler. Panhandlers who confront motorists when they stop at busy intersections can make a good living off the guilty conscience of drivers in a few moments.
            Constitutional freedoms of expression and peaceful activity are sometimes complicated by gray areas of violation. But panhandling on the public highways is simple to interpret and doesn’t merit this protection. It should be outlawed.. .
 

It’s Carrboro High School — for Good Reason

            Oh, we’re all proud of Chapel Hill and the positive image this name brings to mind: Nice place to live. University community. Friendly folk.
            The good state of North Carolina evokes this picture, too, by its straight-forward motto: To be rather than to seem.
            That’s a principal reason why the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School Board recently chose to name its new high school Carrboro High School. It is in the Town of Carrboro.
            A citizen email movement has arisen to modify the name to a hyphenated “Chapel Hill/Carrboro.” The rationale, say the petitioners, is that “Chapel Hill” evokes a better image around the country.
            Indeed, it may do that for many people. But schools aren’t about images. They are created to teach and to educate – not to float an image. What somebody somewhere else happens to envision about the name of a school doesn’t matter a hoot. 
            By whatever name it bears a school that accomplishes its mission is successful. The “image” means nothing. It is well that the school board has realized this in selecting a simple and factual name.