I wrote this a couple of years ago, thought about expanding it, but it was simply fun to write something non-political, not terribly significant.
Charles David Hughes walked along the edge of the empty road. He looked down and knew that Robert, his shift supervisor, would surely comment on the dust, no, dirt, on his black shoes. He took off his uniform cap to wipe the sweat off his face and thought that the dog, captured in mid-stride on the front, also had a light coating of dust.
Robert would probably have a word about that, too. “Greyhound”, he would say, “wants its drivers to look and be professional and dirty shoes and cap doesn’t fit that image.”
Suddenly, another thought struck Charles David Hughes: Where the hell did he put the damn bus? This was going to be the third bus Charlie (as nearly everyone called him, unless they were angry, when it was “Charles” or “Hughes” or, sometimes, an obscenity) had lost in the past couple of weeks. Not exactly “lost”, he thought, maybe “misplaced” would be a better term.
He looked back the way he had come; there was no sign of a bus and one wouldn’t think a huge Greyhound bus, with two toilets and reclining seats, could escape notice. He didn’t think he had any passengers aboard the bus when it went missing, although to be accurate, the bus didn’t really “go missing”. After all, a big Greyhound bus with two toilets, and so forth, had to be somewhere.
Charlie kept trudging along the road. He thought about the other two buses that had been misplaced. Yes, that was much better. Where were they?
Maybe all three buses had found each other, as it were; they were, perhaps, parked in a circle having a real bus-laugh about Charlie. He really didn’t think this probable, but on the other hand, Charlie could not think of anything else.
Robert had been seriously bothered about the first two busses. He was always complaining about the forms he had to fill out whenever there was an accident or damage to one of the monsters. Having to complete a form trying to explain how a driver had misplaced a bus (with two rest rooms and reclining seats) stretched his creativity. Yes, Charlie thought to himself, Robert would surely be annoyed.
Maybe it was time to find new employment, one that allowed one to stay in an office and maybe lose (misplace?) a stapler or something. Certainly not something like a bus.
As he continued to walk along the road, Charlie pondered all of this, all while trying to remember where he had left the darn bus.
Tags: Greyhound, missing bus
Last Friday was our granddaughter’s 25th birthday and we asked Jessica where she would like to go. Her suggestion was that we try a favorite of hers, The Refinery in the Seminole Heights area of Tampa. At the outset, this establishment sets a new and extremely high standard for any place that we visit in the future.
The Refinery is, face it, not in the classiest part of town. It is an old home on a, now, run down stretch of marginal businesses, garages and empty stores. The area to the east has already well-involved in gentrification. The commercial area along North Florida Avenue is still in the process of change as unique and frankly funky businesses start to refurbish old homes and structures in the neighborhood. It is a temptation to just classify The Refinery as a quirky restaurant, but the quality of the food, its presentation and the nationwide recognition of its owner-chef demands that it be taken for what it is: an innovative and wonderful dining experience.
Although The Refinery is a new experience for Joan and me, it has won accolades and renown galore. This restaurant was a semi-finalist for the 2011 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. Out of over 28,000 entries, The Refinery was in the top 33!
Entering the restaurant, one is seated at tables that clearly are well worn, if not really shabby. The floor is hard wood, polished to a gleam and it is obvious that everything in the establishment is surgically clean. At the top of the menu, discussed later on in detail, is the statement, “We use mason jars, chipped plates, and mix-match plates …jailhouse silver…” So if you’re looking for a pretentious and fancy-shmancy place, this isn’t it.
The menu changes every Thursday, depending on what owner-chef Greg Baker finds is local and fresh. The veggies and greens come from local farmers and growers, the names of whom are posted. In fact, fresh and local are the operative words. There is a “warning notice” on the menu, “Substitutions will be politely declined.” Fortunately the menu is perfect the way it is. Our server was more than willing to take the time to explain each menu item and if additional help is needed, owner Michelle Baker is there to guide.
My wife, Joan, and I arrived before Jessica and decided to share a “small plate” of a Vegan “poutine”. Poutine is, originally, a Canadian dish where cheese or curds top French fries; there are endless regional variations and that night, Chef Baker topped the potatoes with a delicious hummus, topped with avocado, red onion and orange. The result was absolutely fantastic. Joan and I had polished off about half of the dish when Jessica arrived to “inhale” the rest. The fries were the best I have had, not greasy, freshly prepared and hot.
Other smaller sized portions included pulled pork and a crispy pork belly. We noticed that many items reappear on other menus, but nearly all with variations based local availability or the chef’s creative imagination. The small sized portions, perfect for a shared appetizer, run about $7 or $8; all items on the menu are marked, if applicable, “V” for Vegan and/or “GL” for Gluten Free.
Then on to our main course; I chose the Fire Burger. As far as I am concerned, hamburgers are my favorite thing to eat. Not the fast food variety but thick, juicy and rare. In fact, I believe that a restaurant should be judged by the character of its hamburgers! Perhaps a bit extreme, but in this case, the rule is affirmed. The Fire Burger is a work of art. First the burger itself is huge, thick and, as ordered, very rare. Sitting on the top of the meat, was a relish of chilies, cheddar cheese, and roasted onion banana pepper. Joan had her Fire Burger with just onion because she was concerned that the relish would be too spicy for her. Actually, the relish has a kick but it is incredibly tasty.
Jessica made a super choice, the Hanger Steak. I hadn’t been familiar with the cut of meat or the term. In the past it was sometimes known as “butcher’s steak” because butchers would often keep it for themselves rather than offer it for sale. It is closely related to a flank steak or a skirt steak, and, like everything we enjoyed, tender, juicy and rare. It was accompanied by roasted potatoes. It was the most costly item on the menu ($19) and well worth every penny.
Other items on the menu make us want to return. I really want to try the pork dishes, including a shoulder roast dish, and a fish meal. On the menu this night was a sturgeon meal that that sounded interesting. My personal wish is that when a whole fish is served that the head be missing but that is my personal hang-up. I really don’t want the fish looking at me.
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- The Hummus Poutine
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- The Fire Burger
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- The Hanger Steak
At this point, none of us had room for desserts. More the pity!
Joan and I looking forward to the menu in coming week; we’ll surely return.
Tags: Chef Greg Baker, hamburgers, hanger steak, James Beard Awards, Michelle Baker, Seminole Heights, Tampa restaurants, The Refinery
Part 2: How to redirect our country’s direction – Modest proposals for debate.
We, as a nation, have a contract with our citizens to provide the safety net, to protect the elderly and infirm. We should also have an obligation as a nation to make certain that no one is denied affordable health care. This means, in my opinion, a single payer government program. Notwithstanding common belief that government cannot do that well, one may look at the very successful VA programs and Medicare, the latter being feared and condemned for the first ten years of its existence. It also means adequate compensation to health care providers. (I acknowledge some bias in this area; my daughter and her husband are practicing physicians. I am now in a Tampa hospital where the staff is talented and dedicated.) When I hand a letter to the Post Office, I have a belief if not a certainty that within a day or two, it will arrive at the door of the named recipient.
We do not have a contract with everyone in the world. The age of “pax Americana” cannot be continued. The last three wars in which the United States was involved had several similarities, all of which had created the budget crisis in which we find ourselves. These wars, prosecuted by both Democratic and Republican administrations and Legislatures, were unfunded –provoked by a wish to replace a corrupt or evil government with something that resembled Jeffersonian democracy. There was the other “enemy” in the case of Vietnam, the threat of communism and the “domino effect” and in the latter two wars, the threat of terrorists.
A major task given to the military was to build a nation. (In Vietnam where we withdrew and the communists took over the South Vietnam capital of Saigon, that city now appears to be chock full of expensive stores and a prosperous economic climate!) In 2006, I wrote about our entry in the Iraq war:
The President and his administration state that, to leave Iraq precipitously would create more chaos in the middle-east, would result in a loss of credibility with respect to the Unites States and would encourage terrorist states such as Syria and Iran (as well as North Korea) to intensify their efforts to support and export terror. Moreover, the inevitable civil war in Iraq would result in even more instability in the region. This would conceivably translate into greater danger to this country.
They are right.
The administration’s critics assert that continuing our present activities in Iraq spreads our resources too thin, preventing us from giving meaningful attention to terrorist-supporting states such as Iran, Syria, and even Saudi Arabia, and from focusing on the Israel-Palestinian quagmire, endangering the only true democracy in the region. This is to say nothing of the killed and wounded Americas engaged in Iraq, as well as the thousands of civilian Iraqis. As to civil war in Iraq, it is upon us now.
They are right, too.
I concluded that
We should leave Iraq to the Iraqi people, civil unrest notwithstanding. We should devote our military and diplomatic power to address and eliminate real terrorists throughout the world. We would find cooperative allies and not be the focus of hatred, everywhere.
Much of our deficit is a result of military expenditures in attempts to create or sustain democracy in societies that are unstable and disinterested. In addition to the human cost of tens of thousands of young men’s and women’s death and the larger number injured, the financial expenditures have caused much of the problem. In Vietnam, the war cost about two- thirds of a Trillion dollars (adjusted for inflation). Estimates of the cost of the Iraqi wars have been between $690 Billion and $1.7 Trillion. Worse, both wars were essentially paid for with borrowed money, neither President Johnson nor Clinton nor either President Bush wanting to be honest with the American people and call for higher taxes.
Meanwhile the fighting in Afghanistan is costing roughly between $1.2 and $1.8 Million every day!
Wars to create a stable government have several similarities. There is no clear, unambiguous and non-subjective goal and the war cannot be won! The Iraqi and Afghanistan people have to create whatever they want and then implement their wants. The inevitable civil war will take place if they cannot find a peaceful solution, but that’s their problem.
We simply cannot afford to be the policeman of the world; we should withdraw totally from Iraq and Afghanistan. Not in a year or two, but next Thursday.
We must use our military, with the use of our intelligence agencies and those of other nations, to defend us from terrorist attacks and to kill terrorists, our true enemy. Do we really need permanent stationing of troops in Germany and South Korea? During the Cold War, perhaps, but now?
We always fight the last war. We are no longer fighting formal armies; our enemies are not state-run. Terrorists exist outside and separate nation-states. We should impose economic or other sanctions against nations that support them but massive numbers of troops are no substitute for intelligence and surgery-like strikes against terrorists
This withdrawal should result in a reduction in sending. There must also be an open and candid discussion about reducing entitlements. For this we need grownups in government.
The vast majority of Americans are politically somewhere in the middle, some slightly more left or right, but moderate. Generally, Republicans favor less government regulation (they call it interference) with private business; Democrats are willing to have government strengthen and enforce laws that support individual rights. Moderates, for the most part, dislike taxes – as do we all. At the extremes are those on the Right who favor strong government intrusion (sometimes) to promote their social views, as in issues of gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research; the Left has its own fringe elements, including some few truly crazy believing that the attack on 9/11 was understandable and justified, but is fragmented and not that effective.
In order to reduce or restructure the entitlements, we will require cooperation between the political parties and this cannot occur now.
The GOP has allowed itself to become dominated by spokespersons that celebrate lack of knowledge as an asset and conversely treat any knowledge of history and basic information as a liability, much as the mid-19th century “Know Nothings” a political party/movement, fostered by anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant prejudice and fear.
Both parties have to aim at President Reagan’s “Big Tent”.
Winning the 2010 mid-terms will weaken the GOP in the long run and make debate and compromise impossible.
In the meantime, until the grown-ups arrive, offer suggestions, please.
Tags: 2010 election, Afghanistan, compromise, far right, fringe parties, GOP policies, Iraq, liberals, military budget, obama, Tampa Bay, terrorism, us economy, war against terror
It isn’t going to be easy nor will it be pleasant, but the focus of our people has to be changed and, pain tolerated. This and the following post are designed to be spring boards for alternative views.
Unfortunately, in the third post of this series, I explain why I am not as optimistic as I was two or three years ago.
I am lying in a hospital bed in Tampa, having nothing to do but mull over thoughtful and astute comments by my grandson, a remarkable young man who has already made us so proud.
Nearly everyone agrees that our high school graduate rate has dropped to about 19th worldwide. Some of the consequences are that those who fail to receive even a basic high school education are more likely to be unemployed, homeless, receiving welfare and incarcerated. A four-year study in San Francisco found that 94 percent of young murder victims were high school dropouts. A recent survey indicates that United States students rank somewhere around 15th and 20th in math and science knowledge.
Among the most significant influences on students are dedicated and competent teachers. Here, the education establishment has failed to meet our needs and we, generally, have failed to meet its needs. Fifty years ago, a young woman wanting a profession career had two choices, nursing and teaching. Today, over half of medical, business and law schools are women. Whereas in the past, there was no real competition for teachers, there is now. We can be fussy!
A teacher needs more than courses on “how to teach” (although this is vital); he or she must be knowledgeable about the subject taught. A math teacher must know and understand concepts and theories. A history teacher must know and understand national and world history, where we came from and how to discern patterns to discern where we are going. That knowledge cannot cover the past 20 years only; it must cover history over the last 20 centuries!
In the “olden days”, as young grandchildren preface questions about conditions before the dawn of history, before the last Ice Age when I was in school, my city’s schools determined where each individual entering ninth grade would go: the regular high school for those students thought “collage material” (girls were sent to the High School to learn stenography, cooking and other girl-things); other boys were sent the Trade School to become proficient electricians, mechanics, plumbers and other trades that remain in high demand. A good mechanic could repair an automobile engine or that of a jet!
Today the High School also has something new: a program entitled the “Classical Academy”, a school-within-a-school program and has a prescribed a rigorous curriculum consisting of entirely honors and AP classes.
I was not able to find out if the Trade School still exists but this might grab the attention of what, at times, seems to be a lost generation that equates dancing with crotch grabbing.
Our educational system, in K-12 grades, needs to be redirected. In an effort to measure teacher and school competence, a prerequisite to accountability, we missed the point. Students need more than memorizing math and science rules; they need training in concepts, theory and the importance of imagination. Instead we have been requiring that schools “teach to pass the test” rather than the broader and more difficult instruction in problem solving. I’ll leave it to professional educators as to how one gains accountability with more subjective criteria; perhaps an examination of how this is done in other countries, especially in Japan and Germany where they have figured it out.
If we want to attract the best and brightest and most innovative teachers, we have to pay those selected far more income. It is absurd that a dealer in stocks and bonds or commodity futures (who “neither sow nor reap”) and produce anything new or innovative will earn many, many times what we pay those who are primary educational models for our children.
In return, the education establishment has to be willing to eliminate many administrative and management positions, individuals who are not absolutely necessary to the teaching of our children
Employment in the United States over the next generation will be science oriented and will be in areas that have not been invented yet. Who, thirty years ago, could have conceived the ever-present Internet, semi-conductors and computers that fit in one’s hand with more capacity than the room sized machines of not that long ago? Who, 100 years ago, would have imagined supersonic airplanes?
It’s going to cost enormous amounts of money to pay teachers what a truly good teacher should receive. How are we to pay for this? In the next part of this posting, I’ll toss out some ideas.
Our country needs mass investment in Research and Development. That investment has, traditionally, come from Government. For example, computer expansion was initially developed by the United States military for its purposes; innovation and imagination and development in space has been funded by the Federal government; many developments in medical research are now funded partially or totally funded by Government grants. No individual corporation or industry can afford to invest enough in Research and Development.
We have spent billions to prop up financial institutions and brokerage and insurance companies, which thereupon paid out millions to individuals who produce nothing! That has to stop! Reward those who expand a business; do not reward the parasitic hangers on.
The Government must invest in a physical and information transmission infrastructure to allow rapid expansion of information and material. Many of our major cities, such as Tampa and the Tampa Bay area refuse to spend resources on mass transit and advanced light rail, while others bite the bullet and are willing to make the investment; but all need Federal coordination and money just as was done 55 years ago with the development and construction of the Interstate Highway system under President Eisenhower.
The opposing political parties in the United States have been, forever, all about the allocation of resources. Democrats have, for the most part, stressed the importance of a “safety net” of social programs to benefit the poor, elderly, the infirm. Republican have been disturbed about the redistribution of those same resources from the wealthy to the “unworthy non-producing segment of the population. The rational people in both parties are coming to the realization that we must practice austerity in which both interests will be impacted – greatly and negatively.
I have discussed areas in which government has to increase spending. We also have to use our resources to better advantage. We must reassess priorities and reallocate those expenditures, just as a family must do. I will make suggestions in the next part of this essay.
As we proceed, let others join in!
Tags: 2010 election, GOP policies, high schools, Interstate Highway, liberals, mass transit, prioities, research and development, Tampa Bay, teacher salaries, trade schools, us economy
Actually, “the Man” in my case consists of a very attractive and sharp young couple who is in the process of building a franchised business and are the sort of people that both political positions agree to be the source of jobs as the business grows.
A small digression: after approximately 25 years, I retired from the Florida Department of Revenue and relieved the subsequent boredom by working as a tax preparer and then office manager, for one of the three major companies in the business. This fall I am teaching a class for a franchisee of another of the companies in the field and will be manage one of its stores. Last week I was extremely flattered to be invited to a training and award meeting of the most successful franchise owners in the company and met and listened to the founder of the operation.
This man is acknowledged to be the leader in the field and has been remarkably successful; he is smart and has numerous awards and honors to his credit. The audience at the meeting consisted of the best and brightest, the most “entrepreneurish” of entrepreneurs and, so long as the speakers stuck to the business operations and models, I could not find any fault. Certainly, the people in the room were enthusiastic and excited. And then, the leading figure in the industry started giving political opinions and, in my opinion, demonstrated how successful the Republicans have been in ignoring reality and history and how accepting many otherwise astute people have bought into the fantasy.
At the end of the meetings, the gentleman started to make disparaging remarks about a barely conceivable Congress with enough Democrats that a disruptive GOP could not have influence. There was laughter in the room. The question was then asked of those present if they wanted the GOP in control and the room erupted in cheers.
It has been said many times. Everyone has a right to his or her opinions. One does not have the right to his or her facts.
In a recent essay, I remarked on the Right’s insistence on its version of history and, to my dismay, the acceptance of that fantasy as true. This is neither a new or exclusive observation, See for example, my posting
We have allowed the Republicans to adopt what David Rosman calls the “the repugnant mindless dribble that is the propaganda of the right.” President Clinton left office with a budget surplus of about $127 Billion; President Bush left office with a deficit of about $1.2 Trillion! How? Two wars and totally unfunded ones at that. Tax cuts for the richest one or two percent of the population. A Medicare drug program that also was unfunded. A fiscal policy that allowed the rape of the middle class by their friends on Wall Street and the top insurance company executives.
Yet Republicans “”warn” Americans that a continuation of the progressive programs would result in financial disaster and unbridled deficit. Everyone agrees that, all things being equal and no economy in the dumps, further growth in the Federal budget deficit is a bad idea. But things are not in that place and government spending, not frugality, is the way to recovery.
The Bush (the Younger) administration, along with a GOP-controlled Congress had no problem with Federal spending that created a massive deficit. The very candidates who decry stimulus spending because of a poor economy (but accepted the money to saved state run services) are the people who wholeheartedly supported the very spending that created the mess! I would suggest the reason is part memory loss along with a large dollop of hypocrisy.
I also addressed the paradox in connection with the “big lie” theory of the Nazi regime in the thirties. I noted
the relentless drum beat of the far right talk radio spokespersons, the Tweeter and Facebook-driven Sarah Palin, the extremists of the Tea Parties, all following the precepts of Joseph Goebbels’ Big Lie technique: “a lie, if audacious enough and repeated enough times, will be believed by the masses.” I, personally, like the definition by Richard Belzer, “If you tell a lie that’s big enough, and you tell it often enough, people will believe you are telling the truth, even when what you are saying is total crap.”
See also for further exposition:
www.examiner.com/politics-in-tampa-
www.examiner.com/examiner/x-900-Tampa-Politics-Examiner~y2009m2d28
www.examiner.com/politics-in-tampa-
/www.examiner.com/examiner/x-900-Tampa-
www.examiner.com/politics-in-tampa-bay/the-paucity-of-ideashe-party-of-NoNobay/further-evolution-of-gop-
www.examiner.com/politics-in-tampa-bay/the-paucity-of-ideas
Tags: 2010 election, Constitution, far right, Florida, GOP policies, stimulus, tea parties. tax protests, us economy
