"A Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, let's hope it's a good one, without any fear," wrote John Lennon.
And I love the feast of Christmas. It’s the holiday season I hate.
Don’t get me wrong. There needs to be a time for worship, whatever the belief, and there should be a time when the world stops, takes stock, and ponders its future.
But the "PC" commercial world started ruining Christmas for me a long time ago. The pressure to buy something special for that loved one, or feared boss, "when only the best will do.".
Don’t worry about the money. Buy it now. Don’t pay interest on it until June, of 2011. This is America. You’re entitled.
And that’s exactly what we were supposed to do right after 9/11: Go shopping. Yeah, that‘s the ticket.
Maybe my mood will improve if, when I go out to snag that last-minute Christmas bauble, a wave of patriot fervor will wash over me because, by all that‘s holy, I’m fighting terrorism.
I know. There have been wars since the beginning of time. And there always will be.
And the nature of any economy is to be cyclical. We’re just in a down cycle right now. The economy is fundamentally sound.
We’re Americans. We buy things. That’s what we do. We’ll figure it out now; pay for it later. And we’re so entitled that we don’t need cash to pay for it, not even a house.
Quarter after quarter after quarter, everything was fine, great. By September, most were bankrupt.
SEC, hello? Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, hello?
Sorry, but we’re not entitled to anything. Wall Street is. Even Detroit. Corporate executives are--even when their companies fail. Everybody wants to be a power elitist, defilers of the American Dream.
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king and a king ain’t satisfied till he rules everything… The Boss, a benevolent boss, said that.
Sidewalk Santas usually are on my pay-no-mind list. Not this year. People are hurting, need help. Thanks for stepping up, Santa.
My 401K is a 301K now but it’s still outperforming the S & P, hovering at around 201K since 2007.
But Bernard Madoff is probably going to be OK, thank God.
However, I must say I’m glad that the noose is tightening. He’s no longer free to circulate among us from 9 am to 7 pm, now confined to a Manhattan penthouse 24 hours a day.
And they say justice is blind.
If I were cynical I would believe that Madoff fixed it so that he’d get complete house arrest. In his mind, not only could this make him a more sympathetic figure but probably decreases the likelihood of someone busting a cap in his ass.
But not all the news is bad. Because whether you’re religious or an agnostic, on December 25th only 26 more shameful days will remain until the Inauguration, the day the war criminals leave office.
Sorry, I wanted to be inclusive--the spirit of the season and all--but I can’t yet. My daughters are of an age that I shouldn’t have to worry about them daily. But then my generation mortgaged their futures.
And I wouldn’t want to offend anyone. Just like I wasn’t offended when every child in a non-private school was left behind; when my taxes didn’t go down; when my Constitutional rights weren’t upheld; when my privacy was invaded, when I became guilty until proven innocent…
And when covert operatives working for my safety were betrayed; when my countrymen placed in harm’s way were not given equipment equal to the danger; when 4,200 of them died predicated on ideology and a lie; when people in New Orleans didn’t matter all that much…
And when my president opposed the 9/11 Commission and helped cover up health risks associated with cleaning up Ground Zero; when the responsibility for capturing the perpetrator of 9/11, the mortal enemy of my country, was outsourced to Afghanistan; when mercenaries were paid four times that of soldiers fighting only for country.
And when torture--the same kind of torture Great Britain punished by putting water-boarders to death, the same kind of torture that led to the punishment of Japanese war criminals at Nuremburg--became acceptable in America.
So, I’ve a case of the hum-bugs this year and sadly I’m not alone.
“Badlands, you gotta live it everyday, let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay, we'll keep pushin' till it's understood and these badlands start treating us good.”
The day after this is posted my family and friends will put a smile on my face, I’ll raise a glass to the baby Jesus, give thanks that my country allows me to say what I think, and marvel when I realize that the spirit of Christmas lives, whatever the vibe of sustained disbelief.
24 Dec 2008 at 12:58 am | #
“But then my generation mortgaged their futures.”
John, you got that right. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Do you remember our mantra in the late 60s? “We are better than they are.” The ‘they’ being the evil forces of Johnson, Nixon, Mayor Daley, and the dark side of old white men running the world and our country.
Funny thing, though, we turned out to be no better than they.
When we became the political leadership we took just as much graft from lobbyists and interest groups, spewed just as much double talk, and ignored just as many middle class, tax-paying Americans.
Why do you think the blue collar worker deserted the Democratic party in the 1980s? Why do you think Americans with no health care, lower incomes, and foreclosed homes, became nothing more than pawns used to prop up the career of politicians more concerned with getting votes than actually improving people’s lives? Bargaining chips.
We were supposed to be the people who believed “Do your own thing.”
Instead, we changed it—mutated into “Do your own thing unless I don’t like it.” We have taken away people’s rights and replaced them with a new era of prohibition. Can you say—Mayor Bloomberg? Can you say Washington, D.C. Mayor Fenty telling his constituents they had no right to keep a gun in their private home, the U.S. Constitution be damned?
We adopted an attitude of smug superiority, which practically guaranteed an end to reasonable discourse and compromise. We knew better, didn’t we? Maybe we are the ones responsible for the red state-blue state dichotomy in this country.
Maybe we are the people who set the stage for all those anti-democratic things you cite at the end of your column.
It didn’t have to be this way.
24 Dec 2008 at 03:48 am | #
I have the past performances for Friday in hand. Imagine, two days to peruse the entrants of all those claiming races: Calder, Tampa Bay, Fair Grounds, Laurel, and, of course, Aqueduct; and an ample supply of beer.
Having tunnel vision is a blessing.
My wish
for the New Year? That the contributors at this site address issues facing the industry and stop reliving the bygone years; and that (it will take a miracle) a unified marketing program will be create that will finally inform the unknowing that Thoroughbred racing is a terrific option to slot and table games.
24 Dec 2008 at 06:57 am | #
Best of ‘08 blogs!
We, the people!, should take the opportunity of the holiday to take a cold, hard look at what we do on a daily basis to determine the damage we do, be it in the horse racing we love, Wall Street BS, what we demand of our political institutions, and our daily lives. This used to be the territory of God and Church, as you mentioned, but I don’t believe that any religion has the the moral lock on that exacta anymore.
24 Dec 2008 at 09:44 am | #
JP,
Do we have your permission to circulate a petition to Governor Paterson putting your name into consideration for Hilary’s Senate seat?
NK,
It didn’t have to be this way, but—take heart—there’s no situation so bad that it can’t get worse.
With all the problems we’re likely to face in the coming year, the principal bone of contention is Warren’s participation in the Inauguration. I gotta tell ya, I’m a lot more upset with the lack of accountability and forthrightness regarding bank bailout funds.
wmc,
What are you doing over here when VZ virtually dedicated a piece to you, the ultimate anti-fan?
Happy holidays to all. Interacting with the three of you this past year has been stimulating and lots of fun as well.
24 Dec 2008 at 09:47 am | #
You quote Lennon.
I quote Redd Foxx: “When I was a kid, we were so poor my father would go outside on Christmas Eve and fire a gun, come back in and tell us ‘Santa Claus just committed suicide’”
24 Dec 2008 at 09:57 am | #
Found nothing on friday’s brutal FL @ Big A, WMC. Presently speaking, what your leaders do also greatly influences our lives here in Canada; imagine that is true for most of the universe. W’s race has been run; the CA stewards may conduct an inquiry. America’s votes gave Mr Obama to the world. If he is the real deal, no Hilary loves Bill stuff, a Zenyatta, there is hope. The Mayans could be right; we might we down to the last race on our card. We all need you Mr Obama; run a big one. Going to start on SA. Thanks to all who make this space possible.
25 Dec 2008 at 07:03 am | #
This is the year (2009) to laugh a little more . To appreciate what we have a little more.To break from the routine of life a bit more (playing the fool occasionally is great)...simply to have more fun and make people around us smile a bit more and to savor all the moments that make life worth living.
The inevitable bad moments will never disappear but it is the way we choose to react to the difficult moments that indeed forge the way for our future actions.
Happy holidays to all!