Here we are on election day, ready to put x, y or z into office or continue the same. High school civics tells us that a democracy is a form of government by the people wherein we elect representatives to do our bidding. Everyone should know that.

We each have a philosophy of what government should be and the majority rules. Smart democracies don’t make it a winner take all but try to provide for input from all sources. For so many years in our country the middle was where the business got done and the lunatic fringe just swayed us a little to the right or left depending who had the reins. That was then.

I have pointed out in the past that with few exceptions no one gets all the votes. We consider a landslide to be 55-45 but that still leaves a lot of people who did not see quite eye to eye with the winner. Mandates are few and far between but we just can’t seem to wear victory nor defeat very gracefully. Up yours now substitutes for a hand shake and the whole prospect of “we will get them next time” sets a stage for contention and not compromise.

Now you will say it is politics as usual. I say it is politics getting worse. Incredibly we are wusses. It is so easy to throw up your hands and pout. My vote counts for nothing. In the last presidential election 90 MILLION people didn’t vote. Good for you. You exercised your right not to participate. Bad for us.

Unfortunately this turnout leaves the whole process in the hands of very few. An average person can’t get nominated but if they do they don’t have the wherewithal financially to get elected. There are party machines to make sure their select ones get the nod. Then the money machines further winnow the field and then they set about getting payback for their largesse and we all sit here cursing the system while doing absolutely zip about it. The entire process from nomination to election is dependent on one thing…money.

The estimates on expenditures for this election come in around for $4 billion. Most of this has gone into negative advertising. The most bizarre part is that it works. Time after time you can see a race mosaic change colors depending on the amount of mud slung. People are actually swayed. Guess that says something about all of us.

But if we stood up and demanded they talk about issues and not berate their opponent the money would have no effect. Is it just me or is this patently obvious? But as dutiful robots we take what they feed us. I actually think this relates to not only politics but life in general when we accept crummy service or bad attitudes. But that is a whole other story for a different blog.

Enter the hero or heroine. Webster tells us they are someone to be greatly admired for their fine qualities or exceptional deeds.They are willing to make sacrifices and take a risk. Hold that thought.

We have a bad habit of hero worship today whether it be in academia or rap music. We have a great desire or need to look up to people for the slightest bit of excellence. Is it because they are so good or because we are so ordinary or wanting? LeBron, Peyton (maybe not this week), Lady GaGa, Hilary Clinton, Oprah…all bathe in the adulation.

To me the closest thing to a hero is the Sergeant at Arms in Parliament in Ottawa or that female teacher in state of Washington who confronted the student gunman. But in a very practical way they were just doing their jobs. Instead of calling them out for attention I wonder if we should just simply say that’s how we should all be? Is it a sign of our complacency when we call someone out for just being ordinary. I remember after 9/11 the NYSE gave Dick Grasso, the boss, $5 million for just just getting the Big Board open after several days of being down. Wasn’t that his job?

Point being? We are at a critical point in our relatively young democracy where we have to make a decision. First is are we really going to get involved or let the monied and power brokers call the tune? Leave it there and we get what we paid for or should I say what they paid for.

Secondly and more paramount is what are you going to demand? Are we going to meekly let them sling crud and dodge any culpability or are we going to develop a fourth estate of our own? Money talks but so do the people. Look at the umbrella revolt in Hong Kong. Everybody thinks they are gong to burn out but it doesn’t quite look as if the revolt has run its course. Catalonia? Arab Spring? Why not us?

Right now I would demand action on three things. I would say I want a bill on tax reform, immigration and trade. On taxes I would throw out every loophole except for mortgages and charitable contributions..Lower rates and simplify both personal and corporate.   Any other break or deduction would have to be brought up and voted on in a specific bill not a hidden line in a defense appropriation. It would also be a roll call vote.Everything out i nthe open.  Having trouble compromising? You work 10 hours a day, seven days a week and no adjournment until it is done. Handle them all the same way.

Yes, we need heroes and heroines. We need as described above people of exceptional character who are willing to sacrifice and take a risk. But it’s not just the politicos and bureaucrats. It’s us too. That’s right. You and me. Averages Janes and Joes. If this thing is really worth it and even more so what will ensure a prosperous future for us and our kids then it is time to stand up and be counted. A good friend told me he was just too busy to worry about it. Maybe he was being blatantly honest but how incredibly sad.

As always,

Ted The Great

Factoids:

The $4 billion spent on the elections is obscene but even worse when you consider there were only ten Senate and 50 House races that were considered competitive.

In 2010 the financing of congressional elections was as follows:
11% Candidate’s personal or family funds
48% large donors..up to $2500
23% PACS Political Action Committees
13% Small donors…up to $200
5% other

change.org is a site where one can start a petition drive. It outlines every step in the process.

Both Harry Reid and John Boehner have incredible power in what gets to the floor for a vote. I would propose a website of all bills and amendments to current bills be posted on a website, tell where they are in the queue and why they are not moving forward. I would also post how long the houses are in session for that week and what they accomplished from the week before.Lastly both leaders would have to hold a press conference twice a month with unlimited questions from the press.

The 113th Congress was in session 133 days or an average of 2.6 days a week. They spend 40 weekends a year at home. They have 110 days of recess ,travel and state work. The average American works 240 days a year. Kathy and I went on vacation 9/15/14 and Congress was already out of session and they still are out. I am going to have a very tall scotch.

Freaking Out…..

If you are at all timid or concerned about life the last few weeks have been a lulu. Ebola? You get to the point where you start looking around at everything from the locker room at the gym to the server bringing you dinner while you are out. Hand shake of peace in church? Well, maybe a little longer. If I am required to get a space suit for everyday living instead I think I will just put on my bathing suit, light up a fat one and enjoy a larger than normal glass of red.

If you are approaching old fartdom the recent stock market plunges will put the fear of God in you. I am not as concerned about how much I have but rather will it last long enough for Kathy and me to sneak quietly out the door?

The shootings in Canada and Washington were really the coup de grace. Lone terrorist? I have suspected my brother Brian of that for 60 years. If you really let it get to you you would be frozen in place and not prone to any activity. It really got me pondering about this whole fear thing.

Psychologists will tell you fear is healthy and is a form of information. Your current situation, this wonderful cocoon we have built for ourselves is threatened in some way. Physically, financially or psychologically our fortress comes under attack. The first thing we do is ascertain if it is real or implied. Am I dreaming this up and overreacting or do I have to take action and fast?

It seems to me that we want to control every aspect of our life…and death. We want to make everything predictable. One of life’s uncertainties is health. We have made incredible strides in the area of medicine. We can fix anything. That is why something like Ebola is so frightening.

We spend millions and billions trying to make our products safer which indeed is a noble cause. We worry about wearing helmets and pads on bikes. We panic about batteries being ingested by infants. We have created air bags on cars and are floored when they could be weapons in their own right. We stop and frisk and pat down at airports. Pull out every last stop.

In a truly ironic twist it makes us more vulnerable. As we strive to squeeze every last threat to anything we have greatly impaired our ability to think for ourselves. We are so dependent on others to safeguard us we don’t know how to fend for ourselves. We have lost the ability to be vulnerable and deal with it.

Our education today is designed to be rewarding of the perfectionist and memorizer. We don’t encourage free thinking but rather coloring inside the lines at all cost. And some of you think the nuns were bad? I have made a ton of mistakes over my lifetime but hopefully I have learned from them and become a better person for them. I could have played it straight and been a lot more secure financially but I sure would have missed a lot of fun. I think my family feels that way too.

We all have phobias of some sort. Spiders? Heights? Failure? Those are all valid parts of the human psyche. Show me someone without fear and I will show you someone who has never taken a chance.There have been multitudes of books written on all types of fears.

Take a mom or dad today. They want to micromanage their kid’s lives down to the last minute detail. We have boys and girls in a bubble. I laugh when I think about my mom. She was always there but in the background. If I was stuck up town I learned how to use my thumb. If I was in a crazy situation somehow I figured it out. I think today you would call it street sense but we all seemed to have it back then. My mother had control but in a wonderful way I never knew it.

There are two ways to get over your fears. First is to have a loved one kiss you and make it all go away. Take that to mean we want someone in finance or government or medicine to say we have this under control. Guess what gang? That ain’t happening. Positions of responsibility have failed miserably over the past few years. Better not look there.

The other is to meet them head on and admit our deficiencies. Grapple with it and at least come to terms with it. Our world is tumbling at warp speed and we will have complexities to deal with at every turn of the wheel. For me I would rather get out in front of a problem than get run over by it.

I am afraid for our country but instead of looking for a bunker I am going to try to attack it full bore and bring it up to you. I am not afraid of terrorism or Ebola because I could just as easily get hit by a car walking down the street. I can’t live my life looking over my shoulder for some rogue gunman. Most of all I am not afraid of speaking out. When I write I am not sure how you will take it but that is not the point. It is an incredible feeling to express my thoughts openly and in some small way say I am doing something. I hope in a sense I am speaking for you. But please, don’t let me freak you out.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

Fear: noun
a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined;
Synonyms: foreboding, dismay, dread, terror, fright, panic, horror, trepidation, qualm.
Antonyms: courage, security, calm, intrepidity

Beyond claustrophobia, acrophobia etc there are:
hedonophobia…fear of having fun
prosophobia…fear of progress
Scatophobia…fear of feces
Scriptophobia…writing in public…I don’t have it
Epistemophobia…fear of knowledge
Cenophobia…fear of new things or ideas.

Fear is actually a healthy response to a fight or flight situation and is probably one of man’s(woman’s) oldest and most valuable emotive reactions. It gets your adrenalin going and in a controlled situation can be vital to your survival.

Fear can paralyze you, keep you in desperate situations, and stop you from living the life of your dreams. That should be enough motivation in and of itself to get after it and master it.

Vote Early and Often

I am sitting here contemplating my navel and staring at my mail in ballot. It is one of our most treasured freedoms but I can’t say I am doing handstands to participate. But before I put down my X for this one or that I am trying to figure out just what the hell I am.

About ten years ago I reregistered from Republican to Independent. I don’t think it was any seismic shift in beliefs or values but just one man’s protest against a flawed system. Like most of my other railings it passed without any due notice.

Now I not in favor of big government so I guess I am a Conservative. I am Pro Life with reservations and believe wholeheartedly in the principle of free enterprise. I think the institution of family should be valued and enhanced. Law and oder has to be paramount but it should not be a license to bully.

Now the wall starts to have chinks in it. I really don’t like the status quo. I thrive on innovation and upsetting apple carts. I don’t want to go back to yesterday much less the good old days. I believe our constitution is marvelous document but some facets must be con temporized. Strict constructionist? No.

Guns? I don’t mind if you have a hunting rifle or a hand gun for your house but arsenals in an increasing urban environment just don’t make any sense. It’s kind of interesting that we want the rule of law but don’t want it to apply to us vis a vis regs on the stock market, commerce or drug standards.

I know there are users of the system but I just can’t look at some poor bastard that has lost his job with three kids and say suck it up and go to work at Burger King. I don’t like Obamacare but our market system has not done very well for someone who needs immediate care. I think FDR had it right to provide for poor people or more specifically widows and orphans to have some kind of safety net but as usual we have taken a simple system and turned it into an “Entitlement.” Whether we need it or not.

For all those who feel they are owed something we conveniently overlook actuarial tables and viability. It’s incredible that we have so many MBA’s and market makers covering the land but we can’t read Uncle Sam’s balance sheet and see serious problems. Conservatives don’t want the debt but were blind to a trillion dollars worth of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Liberals say just tax the rich. It’s only fair. Just wonderful.

Now what is a guy going to do as he fills out his ballot? I will try to figure out what a particular candidate stands for. Immigration? We have got to do something about it. Taxes? Yup, we have to get right on that as soon as the new Congress is sworn in. Jobs? Who isn’t for jobs? But first I want to blitz you with ads telling you what a dirt ball my opponent is. I am sorry, that really wasn’t my ad but some obscure PAC that I have no control over who was slinging the mud. Corporations are people too if you haven’t noticed.

I know. I know. But could you possibly give me some specifics as to how you are going to handle, jobs, immigration and taxes? Well you see those are very complex questions that need a great deal of thought and deliberation my good man.We are working on a position paper that will be out shortly but you can trust me to get the job done. Right!

I guess what I am looking for is a Democrat who is to the right of left or a Republican who is to the left of right. Confused? You shouldn’t be. I smell something in the wind and it is not a foul odor. I think we as a country see this isn’t working. We are not willing to sit idly by and just wait for the next election. At least I hope not.

I was reading an oped by Mac McClarty in today’s Journal. He was Clinton’s Chief of Staff at one point. He was advocating for Obama to shake things up. He said it worked for Reagan and Clinton. I thought about this. He was calling for injecting new ideas and invigorating the staff. As I thought more about this my thoughts wandered toward our Congress.

The President is elected at most for eight years. My current Congresswoman is going for her tenth reelection. I have not received a piece of material as to where she stands on anything. She is in a “safe” district and couldn’t care less. She is knee deep in the Beltway culture and somehow we consider this to be a good thing…for our state. What about the country? To keep electing the same old hacks over and over is a sin. We are all guilty. Which way do you think I am voting on this one? Not because she is left or right but because we have to shake up the system.

We have had failures at the FBI, CDC, IRS to name a few. These are not failings of underlings but the higher ups. To say they are incompetent is to be kind. When you have a good old boy or girl Congress it sends a message. When the bureaucracy is so convoluted that it takes a long time elected official to understand it we have a serious problem. Mediocracy that gets rewarded breeds more mediocrity. Now, now TTG you don’t understand. Really? I think it is up in flashing lights.

Man, do we need new ideas and fresh faces. They can’t possible be any worse than what we have got. Kids we have to get off our butts and start asserting ourselves. When you look at the ballot don’t just see donkeys or elephants. They both smell. See who is going to attack problems and not just exacerbate a ridiculous situation. I am voting early. I wish I could vote often.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

Political scientists say high turnout is generally seen as evidence of the legitimacy of the current system. That is kind of interesting because you would think if you didn’t like the system you would turn out in force to change it. Disgust or frustration seems to be a strong deterrent.

In 2012 voter turnout in the US was 57.5 % Of the eligible voters 126 million cast their ballots and 93 million didn’t. What that further shows is that approximately 28% of the eligibles elected our president.

The current Rothenberg Report lists 386 of 435 seats in the House to be safe. Of the remaining 49 only 19 are considered to be tossups where either side could win.

Reps Dingel and Conyers have been in Congress for 58 and 49 years respectively. Both are from Michigan. Hmmm. There are 11 others who have been there for 37 years or more. The average age of the House is 57 and the Senate 63.

I have been trying to figure out how to close this thing. By the time we get home tomorrow we will have travelled some 13,000 miles visited over 16 cities and places and met innumerable interesting and wonderful people. Our version of the Great Race. Good thing they didn’t have the cameras on in the rental car for various map readings in Tuscany. Actually it was rather humorous as we circumnavigated a couple of roundabouts several times until we got the right exit point.

Let’s start with countries first. Denmark, Finland, Estonia and Holland were beyond charming. Russia was predictable if not disappointing. Lithuania and Italy were worrisome in their own way. Germany and the UK seemed open for business. Not only each city but their respective countries had their particular quirks and personality traits. It is odd but we have had very little discussion about politics here. It does not seem to be the center point of conversations as it is in the States.

Europeans as a whole stick to themselves and are not overly friendly unless approached. Take the Brits. They appear a tad cold and detached but when you engage them they are both upbeat and quite humorous. Their way of phrasing things causes one to pay attention carefully so as not to offend by saying “What?” several times in a row.And we supposedly speak the same language. The saddest and most forlorn had to be in Russia. The most laid back were the Finns. You felt like you were in Maine.

The Continent as a whole has the same problems and challenges that affect us. Their postal services are somewhat quaint but fast becoming irrelevant due to our cyber world. The pressing problem everywhere is the Aging Generation. People are living a lot longer but their care is becoming more complex and that in turn is putting pressure on the young.Retirement funds of all sorts are unfortunately underfunded.

Russia, Italy, Lithuania and Estonia are seeing populations contract and it is not good. The young people are fleeing in droves for opportunities elsewhere. Those bright lights appear to be in Germany and the UK and you can see it reflective by both the young people on the streets and the soaring real estate prices here in London. With less of a working population to tax the lesser states are forced to curtail services or raise taxes even further. Either way the situation is borderline untenable. Everyone understands that they have to lengthen the retirement age but no one is willing to broach the issue.Sound familiar?

Whether in the more socialistic countries or traditional states the taxes are high…for everyone. They probably range from a low of 35-40% for lesser incomes to 65% on the high end. Everyone pays. Especially in places like Holland and Denmark they really don’t complain because they feel they are getting a lot for their buck and they probably do with free healthcare and education through college.

In the latter they seem to be happy with their lot in life and don’t slack off but don’t become so rabid about their careers that they forsake quality of life. Many of these countries are minimalistic in their life styles. Homes are not chock a block with furnishings and are usually small and functional. I am sure there are manses and estates in the countryside but there is not a large presence in the cities. Square footage is expensive and they make every one of those square meters work.

Most of all these people like to eat….big time. In the morning there are sweet things of all sorts to choose from….almost to the point of distraction. There are croissants and pastries of every description and taste with a cappuccino or expresso to take away.
Lunch features paninis etc and snacks follow mid afternoon. Dinner doesn’t start any time before 7:30 and it goes on for 2-3 hours. That’s not non stop eating but a very leisurely pace between courses. People just linger as meals are an event and not merely a chore to be done with. There is not huge amounts of drinking either. In 30 days we only saw one well inebriated chap and he was a visitor.

I come away from all of this without a true sense that I would move here or there. We have a wonderful country and most definitely more than most. We should be proud but not haughty. As it relates to commerce and national success it is survival of the fittest here. I am not quite sure how the EU will survive if the top two or three have to keep footing the bill for the weaker allies? You get a good or bad feeling coming into the country by the airport and its major cities. Germany and UK are exemplary. Not always the rest. You ask yourself would you invest here or there and the answer is usually quite evident.

As with all the cities I have been to, the nations have a personality of their own. When you see all the countries in relative proximity to one another you can’t help but think of our United States. Some are dynamic and creative and others live off their more successful kin and not really contributing anything to the process. Some assemblies are thoughtful and demanding while others are politicians in the truest sense of the word. More talk than action.

We have met incredible people from a plethora of nations and a true diversity of occupations. Fellow passengers, passersby, waiters and bartenders. Hotel clerks, ship board stewards and maids. Talk about interaction. Incredibly there was a minute percentage of rude or obnoxious denizens of our planet. I’d have to think hard to recall them.

People are truly like you and me. They’re trying to make their way on this big blue marble.There are immigrants banging on the door here as well as America. Funny thing how people just want a better life and that is a universal concept. How we can accommodate all of them is our mutual challenge but an exciting one. There are a lot of very smart and talented citizens of the planet Earth.We just have to figure out how use these abilities to everyone’s advantage

As always and Ciao Bella for the last time this trip.
Ted The Great

Factoids:
Too many to figure our for this tired body and brain.
Will close with one thought projected by graffiti on a wall in Florence:
“If it is tourist season,why can’t we shoot them?” I hope not.

Posted from Siena,Italy

Well the trek continues as we eventually are wending our way home. Last seen in Amsterdam the dynamic duo were amazed by the confluence of history and modernity. That city was so full of life and verve. There are some 300,000 bikes for a city of 500,000. They ride them everywhere and in ways they are more dangerous to a pedestrian than cars or busses.

It was not unusual to see a mum or dad riding two or three kids on the velocipede. All without helmets which seem to be for wusses only.They have contrived a wooden bucket of sorts on the front of the bike and of course have seats to the rear. We saw one chap riding four in the front and two in the back. All smiling and somewhat oblivious to danger which is as it should be.

All the while these Dutch have practiced the fine art of engineering and hydrology to a whole new level of expertise. The city was built on concentric circles that have grown throughout the centuries. Starting as a moat at one time they have grown into a fascinating system of canals that tie the city together with serendipity as well as functionality. Yet all the time you get the sense that these are with it people who have fashioned a liberal lifestyle not from hedonism but because they have accepted so many oppressed and battered souls throughout history. Truly one of our favorites.

The trip from Holland to Italy took us through several time warps known as Munich and Genoa. The German hub like its sister, Frankfurt takes air travel and transfer through its paces with ease. There are Lufthansa planes as far as the eye can see. They use remote landing sites and a fleet of busses to speed people on their way. Don’t be late or you don’t get on. The concourses are wide and modern with the blinds and lighting systems geared to synchronize with departure. A short while before the boarding process the fluorescents pop on and the rising curtain of a colorful transparency of imprint of a golf fairway or the like reveal your aircraft on the tarmac. Quite a demonstration of German ingenuity.

Fast forward to Genoa and Chistoforo’s birthplace and behold a step back in time in more ways than one. You immediately understand why the citizens state with a shrug of the shoulders,”That’s Italy.” As we disembarked it was a short walk to the terminal and you climbed stairs to a drab array of carousels. There was only one plane but a lot of capacity. The cart machine was inoperable and you got the feeling they had to wake up the boys to get the luggage off the plane. Customs was not even a cursory look at our passports but a wave through that was equal parts disinterest and disdain.

As I noted last week the Baltics seem to want to work hard to live. The Italianos seem to want to live because there is nothing better to do. They are a charming people and you get a little emotive trying to give your best Bonjourno or Ciao. It’s just fun. The beaches are littered with sunbathers. Speedos and bikinis abound but that’s a problem. Overweight is in season in many parts.…literally Topless is not all it is cracked up to be but hey, who’s looking?

A ride on the Italian Railway System is a study in opposites. You must always change trains and you go from a sleek bullet to an ancient carriage in just a matter of miles. From shiny steel to a graffiti wielder’s canvas. What track is the train coming in on? You get another shrug. It’s whacky but a ton of myrth and merriment.

We are now in Florence. It is probably the most manageable city you can conjure up with pedestrian walks everywhere. It was the birthplace of the Renaissance and the plazas and Duomos reek of antiquity in a wonderful way.Yesterday afternoon we met David face to face and he was beyond incredible. He stands about 17’ tall and weighs 5-6 tons for you who are not in the cognoscenti. The feat of Michelangelo grows in renown when you find out he did the sculpture with no models and no helpers.

He fashioned the masterpiece in a covered courtyard over a two year period. When he revealed it to the Medicis they undertook a journey that was both dramatic and comical if you ever have watched Italians in action. They had to get this behemoth some 5-6 blocks to the town hall. Now just picture the pedestal mounted on a cart of sorts and supported by wooden wheels. They moved it inches at a time and took several weeks. Michaeli stayed with it the whole way sleeping right beside it every night. Everyone brought food and drink….and of course provided plenty of advice on how to do it. Can you just see them talking rapidly and gesticulating every which way for several weeks? Fantastico!
Well I have to go for now. Church bells are ringing out the call to afternoon vino and we are getting ready for dinner. For that we have to cross the Ponte Vecchio. No easy feat for we have to wend our way along a couple of via whatevers. Instead of bikes these people take to motorcycles and scooters of every sort. We figure it is some sort of arcade game where they try to mow down as many pedestrians as possible. The assassins are not just the suave senors but the cutest little seniorae fatales who have murder not lust in their hearts. And they would just as soon cut yours out. Mama mia!

Ciao bela and multa bene.

As always
Ted the Great

Factoids:
We attended Mass in the Duomo today because mea culpa we have been MIA in the church department. The priest, Francis Fox was from Morris Plains NJ right next door to Morristown where Kathy grew up. He knew our good friends and Reverends Paddy O’Donovan and Jack Carroll very well.

The Medicis ruled Florence for over three hundred years from the mid 1400’s to the mid 1700’s. A combination of totalitarian but benevolent rule.They finally went down in flames due to the harshness of Cosmo Medici. So much for term limits.

There are 3000 house boats of every description on the canals of Amsterdam. They cost a fortune even if in disrepair because they have not issued any new slip permits for years. The Dutch were always good traders.

The Dutch play a big part in the history of our part of the world. Think of the Dutch West Indies Company. Peter Minuit bought the Isle of Manhattan for about $29 worth of trinkets and beads. He then sold it all to Donald Trump for billions after promising hair spray for life.

Posted from Amsterdam,Holland

We are about to leave our floating hotel. One of the best parts of cruising is you only have to unpack your bags once. The worst part? Trying to keep your waistline intact in the midst of a non stop onslaught of great food. Get your butt to the gym, TTG.
While I pound away on the treadmill or elliptical machine I have a choice of three programs on the TV: BBC,FOX or MSNBC. In the latter two I get to see Hannity or Rachel Maddow. ????? I do flip back and forth from these outer limits of the Twilight Zone and my thoughts turn to concepts such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Success. Common Good. Now there are a lot of calories to be burned trying to figure those out.

We have been a lot of places and met a lot of people.You try to glean what is good and what is bad. You look to see if somewhere hidden is a person who has figured this out. I hearken to Finland, Estonia or even Lithuania to set the scene. These people live simply. As a matter of fact they seem to work to live rather than the contrary. Life is something to be enjoyed and not endured. This does not preclude the denizens of big cities but you do have to make your own way and not get caught up in the flow.

What is success? To me it is making the best use of your talents. Living up to your potential. That has to include making money of some sort but the amount seems commensurate with what’s important in life. If things mean a lot to you by all means make as much do,re,mi as you can. On the other hand being a hermit and eating locusts went out of style a long time ago. You do have to earn a living and here living off the state is proof it has its consequences.

For me it is saying at the end of the day I done good. Or at least more good than bad. I hope I related to people. I didn’t shun responsibility if it was warranted. I hope I made someone’s life a little better by maybe just recognizing them.If I saw I injustice I at least tried to call it out. If I witnessed a wrong at least I said STOP and did not look the other way. I tried to be fair in my judgments but should also realize I have no right to judge. My way is not the highway. Don’t get it right all the time but I am trying.

Most of all it comes down to living honestly. I think in terms of us as a country. We have got to realize that we can’t be all things to all people but democracy says that everyone should have a say. It is interesting when we say so and so won by a landslide garnering 55% of the vote. Hello! There were 45% that didn’t like the winner. But the majority of the vote was just a little right or left of center and not on the radical fringes.

Honestly speaking we have to be mobile. We have seen over here whole populations move to find food and shelter. In the US there are jobs that are wanting but we don’t want to pull up to leave home. That may be true but my grandmother and her sister left home at 14 and 16 respectively to come to America from Ireland.Get the picture?

Honestly speaking we are not all going to make it to the top or at least not in our vernacular. Big houses and bank accounts don’t always mean happiness. There are incredibly gifted people who work with their hands. There is nothing wrong with being ordinary. We seem to have set this goal for everyone to be financially self sufficient by the age of 40. It doesn’t always work this way.We all have a place. Mark Twain said we are all perfect. Just at different things.

Honestly speaking Washington doesn’t work. After seeing the Baltic States you realize how diverse a country of our size is. We started out with 13 colonies within a stone’s throw of DC. We are now 52 and span thousands of miles. We all have different priorities and we have proven we can’t figure that out. One size does not fit all. State and regional governments have to step forward and take care of themselves. On a purely philosophical side we can’t expect the federal government and eventually the state to do everything for us.

Honestly speaking we are the world’s largest superpower. Just like the Yankees or the current NCAA winner everyone wants to bump us off our pedestal. We should be proud of who we are but not haughty. We should not have to put out every fire. We should not have to solve every problem. Diplomacy and arm twisting seem a lot better than swagger every time.

Most of all honestly speaking we have to embrace change. As I study the Renaissance it was a celebration of man’s spirit. A combination of ingenuity and creativity created a whole new era. We are that time line on steroids. The world is moving so fast it would be easy to just say let’s sit this one out. As we travel the interconnectivity of the world is startling. Ports and airfields with shipping and airline companies you have never heard of. The trick is to make it work for us and not be sucked in by the monster.

Most of all the world needs visionaries who are leaders. Corporations and universities should be the breeding grounds but the intense spotlight and meager rewards of public life rob us of some very dynamic minds. We are left with party hacks and lifetime politicians. Just like career bureaucrats they know how to work the system. We wind up losing.

Well, I have now lost 10  pounds with all this thinking while pedaling. (I wish) I know it is a little far afield but I feel like I want to reinvent TTG for the 439th time. Not throwing out all the old pieces but giving them some help with fresh ideas and a new perspective or coat of paint as it were. If you are happy with things as they are I applaud you. Me? The next fun and challenging thing is right around the corner. Gotta look for it.Going my way?

As always,
Ted The Great.

Factoids:
In Sweden the bus driver has to blow into a receptacle to make sure he hasn’t been drinking or doing drugs before the coach will start.

Contrary to current lore the Vikings did not have horns on their helmets. This would have been far too cumbersome in battle. This horn business was dreamed up one time by some idiot Minnesota fan. Actually he was pretty smart because he has made a lot of money. Remember that change and creativity thing.

In Finland it is considered very rude to be late. Considering the normal weather pattern if you are tardy your friend has to freeze their you know what off waiting for you.

We have drunk vodka shots in a bar made completely of ice in Stockholm. We had some local moonshine with an RAF pilot in Lithuania. We were sung to by a choir of old people who survived the gulag in Siberia for 20 years after being ripped from their parents at the age of anywhere from three to five. Life is good. Live it.

Salutations  from  St. Petersburg ,Russia. It is the land of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great so by sheer osmosis it feels very much like home to Ted The Great. There is more gold leaf in the palaces than there is in Fort Knox. It is fascinating that both here and in Copenhagen a palace can be nothing more than a big building downtown.Just something some duke or duchess just had to have. In fact yesterday we passed the biggest of them all, KGB headquarters where I am sure the court is replete with minstrels and clowns including the Major Domo. (I better wait until we are out of Russian waters to post)

As a rule you hear very little of Putin. The locals probably still worry about who is listening. The guides we have had are very pleasant but conspicuously restrained when it comes to talking about anything other than the script. By contrast in Estonia the two young people were quite engaging and downright proud. The young girl who took us on a cross country bike trip relished the fact she had participated in the human chain in the late eighties. She said thousands held hands over many hundreds of miles and won their independence without any violence or their countrymen and women being killed. There is something exciting about that freedom thing.

When you study the history of the region you pick up a lot more of the subtleties or maybe I was just asleep during those lectures too many moons ago. War is a part of the culture not only for Russia but also Denmark, Norway, Germany and one of the biggest thugs later in the millennium was good old Sweden. I thought they just skied and knit sweaters there. There are fortresses and turrets of old in every hamlet and quiet harbor. The paintings depict this battle or that. Countries are played like pawns on a regional chess board. Finland Knight four to Russia Castle five.

The intrigue is that over thousands of years, countries and shires were formed by tribes migrating from Mongolia et al. Some stayed in one spot and others moved on. The language took hold in one place and then was adapted in another. All was well until one particular tribe wanted to grow and needed more space. What else would one do but send over some Goths or Vikings or whatever and rape and pillage all in the name of the Motherland? And all this has continued relatively unabated for millennia .

Russians have borne a lot of the brunt. They have been laid siege by the French under Napoleon and the Germans under Hitler even they thought they had non aggression pacts with each. The abhorrence of Mein Feuhr is pretty evident in any presentation. Here in St Petersburg they were bombarded for 900 days straight during WWII. The various churches, museums and government offices were numbered one through ten on the Luftwaffe hit parade. The Hermitage was number nine.

I questioned why Russians always look so dour, sad or even angry? They say it is cultural but I think the right term might be environmental. Since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 the state was in control of everything from media to your home life. You were afraid to say anything of a personal nature for fear you would be reported, questioned and very possibly sent to Siberia.These were not idle threats. If you thought Lenin and Trotsky were bad you would not believe the cruelty and savagery of Joe Stalin’s boys. It is always ironic for me to see Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin yucking it up in Yalta as they divvied up the spoils of war.

Imagine your country has been blown apart by warring factions over many centuries. The weather is bad and only gets worse with mind numbing cold and snow in the winter. I think I would be a bit paranoid about both my allies and my enemies and from the weather point of view wondering why I would want to live here? Look at the tenor of the writings of Dostoyevsky or the music of Tchaikovsky. They reflect the times and you can hear it. I did ask one guide what the difference was between Pre 1991 and after? She said the jury was still out. There was freedom to make as much money as you want but at the same time there was risk. There were positive things in the security of the state. Very interesting.

As for our view of the metropolis Kathy and I found it depressing in many ways. The city has a grimy facade that is rusted and crumbling in many spots. Most of the buildings are monochromatic grey and have the feeling of the old Cabrini Greens or lower East Side projects. Contrast that with the Hermitage and Winter Castle with over a thousand rooms you really wonder if things have just been replaced by a new aristocracy. The truly odd part is that while BMW’s, Range Rovers, Audis and Mercedes are in ample supply, the inhabitants don’t seem particularly well dressed. Maybe it is all part of the enigma that is Russia today. .

Overall you get the impression that once again the country is spending its resources on building up industry and by extension its military. Corruption is still rampant which is on display for a stadium being built for the World Soccer Cup. It was started in 2004 and scheduled for completion in 2007. It still looks only halfway finished and is the laughing stock of the denizens for its snail’s pace and the lining of several bureaucrats’ pockets.

There is no doubt the Palaces, gardens, fountains and Hermitage are spectacular. You hear about Sotheby’s auctioning off a Picasso for umpteen zillion and yet in the above there is a room with twelve of them. Cezanne, Monet, Rembrandt ? How many do you want? But beneath the surface as with any good patina it’s where the rubber meets the road. You have to look at the bones of the structure. From this man’s vantage point it feels old and tired. That’s it for now.

As always
Ted The Great.

Factoids:
Josef Stalin took power in the twenties right through to his death in 1993. It is estimated that during his rule from executions, starvation and war dead the number rises to almost 43 million lives lost.

There is a hotel in St Petersburg where Hitler planned to have his party celebrating the conquest of Russia. He had invitations printed with both the time and the place.

St Petersburg is actually a series of islands that hold some 5 million people. During the war there were 1500,000 shells lobbed at it during the siege. They removed all the paintings, furniture and chandeliers from museums and palaces and transported  them inland. Hitler’s troops tried to destroy any vestige of the Russian culture.

It is interesting to note that a large portion of the art we viewed here and around Europe has a religious theme. Huge cathedrals have been built and everything from tapestries to paintings to sculptures reflect interpretations of the bible. Yet not many people go to church anymore. Hmm.

As I sit here in my perch I am watching the sun come up in Colorado for the last time for a bit. We are heading out on the latest version of TTG’s Magical Mystery Tour. It is strange and yet incredibly exciting to know that tomorrow that big orange ball will pop up a lot earlier thousands of miles away in Copenhagen. I hope I never lose that childlike enthusiasm for things that are new. I spent yesterday morning as the Shuttle Assistant for the Hike For Hospice in Morrison. It is actually very cool to be in the foothills a mere 30 minutes from downtown Denver. The people, the housing, their way of looking at life are really quite different. Now my title got me a bucket replete with towels and disinfectant in case one of the rider’s dogs got so excited that he or she couldn’t hold it. I kid you not. It was my job description. Lo how the mighty have fallen. The round trip between the parking lot and the base station for hikers was about twenty minutes. Going to, yours truly held court and thanked people for coming. On the way back I struck up a conversation ( surprising huh?) with my driver. Gary. The tale unfolds. It seems he came to America from the former Socialist Republic of Georgia. He and his wife and three kids pled for and were granted political asylum. Six years later they became citizens. The system works. He and his family came to Denver because a cousin had already settled here. He said with the mountains it reminded him of home. For the next few hours between runs he extolled the virtues of the United States and dissed his former homeland. Some were obvious and others were quite intriguing. As so many others he didn’t speak the language at first. He could have remained in the captivity of an ethnic neighborhood but he plunged head-on into learning the speak and the ways of his new home. He wasn’t particularly gifted in book smarts but he had the look and sound of a survivor. And here he was driving for Grey Lines. He kept repeating what a wonderful country we had here. People were friendly, outgoing and courteous. Maybe he bypassed the Big Apple. He said in Russia the locals were quiet and almost demeaning. Never look out for your neighbor. You are in it for yourself. It is a hard life and if you were poor you were shunned as unworthy. No welfare. No food stamps. If you were homeless or a drunk you died from the elements. No one even stopped to pay you any matter. As a resident of a Moscow satellite they hated the so called motherland.They had seen subservience since the days of Stalin and it never sat well. I asked how come the polls say they love Putin? Interestingly he said those were the native Russians not the occupied hinterlands. He said the people were old and naive. The fortunate young and oligarchs had fled or were too busy partying to worry about such mundane things. The remaining ones were happy to rally behind a politico that would rub the sweet salve of nationalism on their broken psyches. As we made our final run I could see a man that maybe had hoped for more in his life but was so incredibly grateful for what he had. At sixty four years of age he had to keep working but that was okay. The sixty or so hours of driving were worth it. When he got home there was a glass of wine and maybe some Georgian music. Life is simple. Just live it. As we shook hands and bade good by I felt a kinship. I thanked him for sharing…for letting me know how lucky I am. I had my new buddy and also so many that had come to remember a loved one. I asked one group who they were there for. A lovely young woman spoke up and said it was for her daughter. She was twelve years old when she died. Another was there for her dad whom I recalled visiting. He was ninety two. Funny how death doesn’t pay attention to time in service. What an incredible day. As I drove home I thought about many things. I looked at the housing developments where Toll Brothers or Shea had carpet bombed hundreds of residences in large swathes. I drove the back streets of Denver and saw mansions and bungalows that go so far back in time. So many people. So many different ways of living. So many outlooks and political persuasions. How are we ever going to get us pulling on the same oar? We are going to many cities and burgs on the Continent. We will meet Danes and Poles. Swedes and Finns. Italians and Brits. Sure there will be museums and churches and palaces of every description. But I am really going to try to meet just ordinary folk. People like Gary. I am going to do my best to ask questions and just listen. I might just have plenty of reason to reinvent myself. God help my poor wife. I will write when I can but won’t guarantee to greet every Wednesday morning. Hopefully there will be lots to ponder and share. I’ll let you know if I run into Putin. Ciao or whatever. As always, Ted The Great Factoids: Until the 1930s most legal immigrants were male. By the 1990s women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants. Contemporary immigrants tend to be younger than the native population of the United States, with people between the ages of 15 and 34 substantially overrepresented. Immigrants are also more likely to be married and less likely to be divorced than native-born Americans of the same age. Seven out of ten immigrants surveyed by Public Agenda in 2009 said they intended to make the U.S. their permanent home, and 71% said if they could do it over again they would still come to the US. We get an average of 3 million immigrants a year. Denver’s population grew 8.2 percent between 2010 and 2013. Since 2000, Denver has grown 17.3 percent. Must be doing something right. Butterfly Hospice cares for kids under the age of eighteen either in residence or usually in the home. If you want a dose of reality go to your nearest Children’s Hospital, get a cup of coffee and just sit in the lobby. It’s a wake up call.

I got into it with a dear old friend this week. It was not pretty and I am not proud of my overreaction. He made a statement that I have it in for rich people. I am Irish and I am stupid. I got on a tear about arrogance. You can figure out the rest. The whole process has stuck in my craw over these last several days.

By definition arrogance is thinking that you are better than most if not all of the world. You look down on people. You want to exercise your superiority which in my mind is a prelude to insecurity but that is another story. You really don’t care about the rest of the world. It’s all about you. It has nothing to do with being rich or poor. You see, arrogance is all around us.

I really locked horns with Archbishop Chaput when he was here in Denver. He is now in Philadelphia and no doubt happy he is far away from me. I told him I really had a problem with priests being holier than thou. Ironic huh? In a pastoral way he tried to tell me that priests were in their own realm and had a special calling from God. I in no uncertain terms told him we all put our pants on the same way and we are all in this together. Kind of like what Francis is saying now. I really do have have to call him soon to see if he is in line with Rome’s teaching on this one. Was he exercising his superiority?

Of course there is the arrogance of power. Whether you hold the purse strings or the finger on the trigger you have swag. It is a false hubris but a mighty one. The most obvious correlation is to the very rich. But that is far too easy. They can be anyone or anything they want. When you live in an ivory tower the world always looks the same….below you. It doesn’t let the rest of us off the hook.

Think about a fully armed SWAT member or a gang member with a 357 Magnum. You can be in your perch on top of an armored vehicle or a rooftop. You’ve got power. Just walk down the street on a dark night in your local hood. The cops on one side and a Crypt on the other. You are talking about severe disdain for your fellow man on either side of the barrel.

How about the gender thing? I am a guy. I’m big. I’m strong and I can kick the crap out of you a la Ray Rice. I can also berate you and make you feel like dirt. I am lord and master of the mansion. Hunter gatherer and all that BS. This is beyond sinister and yet it goes on in the confines of trailers as well as mansions every day. You don’t think that is arrogant?

I could go on and on but it touches everywhere. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, judges. All have their little fiefdoms over which they hold court and wield power because of their implied expertise. Don’t you dare question me. Do you know who I am? Yeah I do, so back off.

Even in casual settings. A few weeks ago I got in the Foretees Lottery for a Saturday morning tee time at our club. After the drawing I was scheduled to play at 8:30 AM with a +3, a 2 and a 4 handicap. That sounded like fun. They were young guys and I was looking forward to getting to know them. Lo and behold they bailed out Friday afternoon for greener pastures at another time. Why stoop to play with a lowly 14? I was left to fend for myself and wound up not playing. Sounded on the surface as a little arrogant to me. Maybe they had heard of my golf swing?

Coincidental with this type of thinking is the appellation of genius or super star to just about anybody. Genius is a strong term connoting an exceptional natural capacity of intellect as it relates to science, art music etc. Webster’s words, not mine. Einstein? I can do that. DaVinci. Easy peasy. Oprah? Nick Sabine? Bill Clinton? Maybe we are on different wave lengths. But as long as we adulate success, personality and beauty and consider them pinnacles to be sought after then maybe we should be subservient.Being looked down upon? Why not? I think a genius comes along once or twice in a lifetime as opposed to once or twice a week. But then again that is just me and therein lies the rub.

From the top of the world here I could get a big head. I could revel in the fact that with all my pondering I have it all figured out. Maybe I can put words down on paper but I shouldn’t delude myself into thinking I am real smart. I truly am like every one of you. I am a schmuck trying to make my way in the world and in some way hope to make it a better place.

I am passionate about my causes. I try to convince people that my way is better or they should be looking at the world around them and at least scratch below the surface. Just think! I really do try to listen but I guess if you feel strongly enough about something you ought to defend it to the death.

Uh oh! I guess that means I am arrogant. Thinking sometimes I know better and yes maybe at times feeling like I have a little more going on upstairs. Guilty as charged. What it really comes down to is the difference between that so called passion and being a jerk about it. For some of you I am truly am sorry if I have crossed the line. Hopefully my malady is not terminal. My heart really is in the right place.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
I have just returned from a luncheon where the guest speaker was Marcus Luttrell, former Navy Seal and author of the Lone Survivor, about a raid gone very bad in Afghanistan. He was the only one of four to make it back. He told the story with incredible candor and poignancy.You could have heard a pin drop. Before the festivities my good friend John Horan aka The Body Snatcher made it possible for me to attend a private meeting with Marcus. There were the parents of two of the three killed in action. The small suite was also fortified with three other Seals currently on active duty and just returning from deployment. Wasn’t sure if i should feel secure or scared to death. As I looked around the room I realized they can all be as arrogant as they want. They were certainly heads and shoulders above me…and probably most of you.

I was struck by an article in the paper today that told of helicopter moms hiring decorators for their son or daughter going off to college. In the age where everyone is screaming about their college loans are you kidding me? Once again we have proven that an annual rite of passage has to be gussied up and improved upon.

Forget about the fact that going to college has for time immemorial been about learning and trying to figure out things on your own like trying to get rid of that huge zit on your nose before your big date. I can just imagine telling my father that I almost flunked out of Georgetown my sophomore year because the atmosphere just wasn’t quite right. Or my room was not the right shade of mauve. The fear of God,my father and Vietnam got me back on the right track not Martha Stewart or whoever she was way back then.

Now ambience is defined as the feeling or mood associated with a place, person or thing. That is very cool. As I conjure up thoughts of this or that I definitely can get elated or depressed in one fell swoop. Abject terror was rappelling down a fifty foot cliff in survival school. Bliss can be achieved by viewing the Pacific from a Hawaiian island with a tall vodka and tonic in one’s hand…..or as a young parent knowing that the rug rats are finally asleep. But the funny thing is no one had to tell me how to do that.

Today is different. We need consultants and books for everything from dressing to eating to sleeping and the like. I am sure people look at me with my ten year old Brooks Brothers polo shirt or my faded khaki shorts and think how ghastly. At a party one time a fellow invitee subtly dropped the idea that he had owned a similar shirt to mine… ten years ago. Up yours, Mac. I am just breaking it in.

My daughter Megan is a decorator and wife Kathy is a closet one. They gather weekly to rearrange every piece of furniture in our humble one floor abode. If I was blind I would be dead from walking into things that were over there the week before. What do you mean you like that chair? We have to recover it or buy a new one. How else are we going to keep this economy humming ? You have no sense of fashion TTG. None.

Enter Feng Shui which is not pronounced anything like it shows. It actually translates into “wind water” which like anything that costs a lot of money makes no sense whatsoever. The goal is to harmonize everyone with your surrounding environment. I think this was dreamed up by some gay Chinese dude trying to increase his lot in life. If this is so cool why does pictures of the annual Chinese Party Congress look like a throwback to the old Apple 1984 Super Bowl ad?

They describe polarity as one creating exertion and the other receiving it. Yin and Yang. I thought that was invented by Cheech and Chong but what do I know? Actually it is more like Pelosi and Boehner or O’Reilly and Maddow. That’s not exactly a revolutionary thought but then again it might be in Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book.

I was watching the Broncos preseason game in my office on my eight year old Vizio TV. This used to be our main mode of visual reception but it has been replaced by a bigger and jazzier version of a one year old Samsung in the living room. I have now been told that the incredible picture I am now getting is obsolete. I have to have a curved screen that will allow that 350 pound lineman to jump right into my space. Really? Pretty soon we will be able to have sweat smells wafting from the box. Special, huh?

We have a bunch of things that are drastic improvements over the old. I grew up in an old colonial house with seven people and three very small bathrooms. With three brothers it bordered on disgusting but we lived to tell about it. When Grandma Shorty came to stay and fell asleep on the john it became downright difficult. I would have loved to put one through the hoop in quiet meditation rather than having brother Brian beating down the door but that’s life. And many of you had only one salle de bain for the ship’s company. How did we ever survive?

Point being is that ambience is truly a feeling or mood. It can be Ralph Lauren or Coco Chanel or even better grassy field or a dock on the bay. It can be the staccato beat of Spanish Harlem or South Beach. Perhaps just sitting by the river with some wine and cheese. Who says the South Platte can’t be the river Seine? You can look out to the Rockies or the Poconos. Sheepshead Bay….or San Francisco Bay. It really doesn’t cost much. It’s what you make it and they are all just perfect on their own.

We are a consumer society. We crave new and different. Gotta keep up with the latest trend. It’s incredible when we see a home built in the 90’s and consider it dated. It was the cat’s meow back then. Whether it is cars or suits, place settings or coffee makers there is always something new and different around the corner. When that creates vibrancy and innovation it is refreshing. When it makes us slaves to Madison or Fifth Avenue it is sad. It blows me away how we are made to be beholding to fashion and fads all the while someone telling us how we are supposed to look. Really?

I am going to pick my spots and do my own thing. Surprising eh? Sure I am an old fart but hopefully not a codger. I hope my grandkids still think I am crazy but in a good sense. The best ambience of all is when I can sit here in Command Central and try to pound out thoughts that will get you to think. Nothing more. Nothing less. I don’t have to pay anyone to show me how that is done.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
The National Retail Federation reports that we will spend $48 BILLION this year on electronics, furniture, bedding and supplies for our little darlings to feel at home while they are away.

IKEA was founded in the Netherlands in 1943. It now totals 350 stores in 43 countries. It has annual sales totaling more than $25 billion US. God knows how much you have to pay someone to put together the furniture once you buy it.

You can get a bottle of presentable red for $10, some cheese for $5 and a box of crackers for $3. The blanket comes from your house. Not a bad date for under $20 .

In the US we spend about 7% of our household budgets on food for about $50 billion. Russian families spend 38%. On the other hand we spend $225 billion on clothes per annum but a far cry from Europe who is leading the way at $350 billion. It costs to be trendy.