Osler's Razor

So many great poems last week! But these two made me sad and hungry (in turn)...

From MKS:

Raisins pretending
They are chocolate chips
So disappointing.

And from Amy:

Still crave school cookies,
Thick, round, cafeteria-
Made treats, once a week

Peanut butter, with
criss-crossed fork tines stamped on top,
Chewy, crumbly, oh .. .

Somewhere in N.C.
I hope the lunch ladies are
Still making them.

It might be a false alarm, but yesterday felt like the end of winter here in Minnesota.  It was in the 50's, and the snow was mostly melted away. I went walking by the Mississippi, and you could see it: the rivulets flowing down to the might river, that would carry our little snowbanks off to the sea.

Walking over the Stone Arch Bridge, it seemed like everyone in Minnesota was doing exactly the same thing. By the rail, people would pose for pictures in a t-shirt in front of the remaining snow, or marvel at the passing parade.

We are thrilled by change. It is rooted deep within us to respond to the change in seasons, to new generations, to the wonder of a place that is not our own.

Perhaps that is why people are so often in thrall to political candidates who promise change. We may not even think through what that change would be, and whether it would be good-- we just want a selfie and that vague hope.

Eternal virtues are always there, of course: Humility, faith, service.  They, too, can effect great change-- in fact, those who truly change the world for the better usually do it from this handful of traits.  This might be a good time to remember that.

I am lucky to be surrounded in this life by people who do things that I admire. One of them is my sister Kathy, who is a social worker in Chicago.

Specifically, she works with people who have mental illnesses and would be institutionalized (in prison or a mental ward) but for her work-- she goes to a client's home, works with him, and makes sure everything is ok.

Her advanced training is in art therapy. That is, she uses art to help her clients express and understand themselves and create something worthwhile. Earlier this year, she curated a remarkable exhibit of her clients' work at the ARC gallery in Chicago. The images are striking and real; the true images of how these clients see the world.

Here is part of the description of Kathy's work from the program of the exhibit:

Kathy Osler, ATR, LCPC, is the curator of this art exhibition and works as an art therapist at several Thresholds programs.  She has been working in the field of art therapy for 16 years, developing programs to integrate creative expression in the treatment of mental health.   In working with the artists in this program,  she has observed a transformation in some as they identified themselves as artists and how this empowers them to find their own strength in recovery.  The artwork stands on its’ own,  as objects of beauty and as authentic expressions by individuals who value the process as vital to their personal growth.

It is pretty incredible stuff.  I'm proud to be her brother, and always amazed at what she does.

I'm a fan of cookies. Partly, it is my mom's fault-- she made some great cookies when I was a kid, and still does. Then she did something brilliant: She taught my brother how to make them, and he is also a master. I remember in high school, he used to whip up a batch in between two-a-day football practices.  Even now, I sometimes am the lucky recipient of a fresh batch on a birthday or holiday.

Let's haiku about cookies-- do what you want with this. Here, I will go first:

One of my secrets:
I can't be near lemon bars
It's bad for us both.

Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 formula and have some fun! Feel free to refer to anything that has occurred in the fruit salad of your life.

Continuing my string of Thursday guest-bloggers, my dad sent me this wonderful essay on Bernie Sanders. Very timely, as I (and many others) get ready to caucus on Tuesday!

BERNIE SANDERS WILL LIKELY BE FORGOTTEN BY NEXT YEAR

However, we will be left with a fresh clean whiff of honesty hanging in the air and a memory of his hands waving over his free spirited hair.

This is the unfortunate truth. Bad timing. Hopefully his principles, integrity, decency along with his message will energize the nation’s youth who in the future will insist on taking real actions to address real problems. This is our reason to continue to support Bernie.

We know Bernie can’t fix everything himself. He is the only candidate that authentically uses the word “we”. He actually says that we all have to get to work, pay some taxes so we can then pay for the things that we have been putting off. I get excited when I see this old duffer surrounded by a sea of young faces. I get really excited knowing these young faces are being motivated to address our nation’s challenges with the principles and purpose expressed by Bernie Sanders. I will never give up on Bernie’s message that big money has too much influence.

Right off the bat I need to say that the cost of the programs Bernie is pushing are doomed in this period of government austerity. For this reason I believe he is unelectable based on the promises he is making at this moment in time.

His programs could increase government spending by as much as forty trillion dollars over 10 years. Hillary Clinton is the only candidate that has presented an economic plan that reduces our debt and finances her promises. Her programs however only prevent us from going in reverse.

The proposed plans of Trump, Rubio, and Cruz cut taxes so radically that that they would add from 8 to 12 trillion dollars to our debt over 10 years of prosperity. In Rubio’s plan Mitt Romney would pay no federal taxes. The plans do not address election reforms nor our serious national goals to curb global warming, health care costs, inequality, childhood poverty and hunger, etc. etc. We will not have funded our crumbling infrastructure and cities, education, medical and scientific resources, environment, and so many other needs. It does seem strange that in all the Republican debates none of these problems were discussed. We are promised an enlarged and expensive military,

privatized social security, corporately directed health care, and more billionaires.

In contrast Bernie’s plan actually starts to look pretty good when you start to think things through. Bernie’s spending does come with an increase in taxes for everyone. Long term we cannot continue not to have single payer universal health care, take the influence of big money out of politics, help with the burden of debt for young people starting out in life, and a robust government that provides jobs and opportunity while tackling our common challenges. Our citizens’ economic health will be better following Bernie’s ideas, if not his plans.

Non-economic differences between Bernie and the remaining Republican troika are very stark.

Unlike Donald he is not likely to delight in the thought of strategically bombing the families of enemy combatants.

It seems unfair to go on and use Rubio, Trump and Cruz to make a contrast for any legitimate candidate for our highest office. Bernie’s deportment should be a model for young politicians.

When Mark’s mother and my politic thoughts were forming, we were both Republicans. At that time Republicans, ideas of what works would be in many cases similar to what Danish socialists are currently doing .

Some things we believed:

Together we could make things better. WW2 proved this.

Greed causes a lot of harm. The depression proved this.

All things were possible. Look at our parents.

War was hell and should be avoided.

Some things we have learned.

Increase in taxes most often leads to increases in employment and wages. We think this a good thing. Postponing taxes leads to debt.

The GOP has shifted from standing up for business to standing up for wealth.

Money seldom trickles down. It goes up to power.

Both parties have not governed responsibly. They have not served posterity as well as they have served their group.

Imagine a time when the country was deep in debt from a world war. We were recovering with massive manufacturing capacity intact. The postwar world was still reeling. America took on the task of helping the world recover, including former enemies.

Racism was present in all communities Women were not considered equal with men. We were fearful of communists. We were fed up with war and the military establishment, but the four freedoms still rang in our heads. Freedom of Religion, Freedon of speech, Freedom from fear and Freedom from want.

Most Americans believed that a good life for their families was certainly possible. We could all afford health care and the doctor might even stop by your home and check up on you on his way home. We paid what we could afford. Medicine was more a profession and less a business. Free education was available that was sufficient to get good employment. College cost a little more. Employment most often was working for someone you knew. The job came with lifetime security and a retirement plan. You and your boss saw each other at PTO meetings where you discussed common problems. Coming out of the war men and women were used to working hard for the common good. They knew the importance of everyone doing their share and when they saw that there were some that where taking more of their share it made them mad.. Even Ike, our Republican President was outraged and thought 90% tax on profits wasn’t enough. We had a real distain for greed. Vast infrastructure projects were built to serve our expanding economy The political system worked to provide the funds. Those working for wages could own a home, some stocks and sometimes a cabin up north. One had a sense of confidence that a lifetime of security for one’s family was a real possibility.

So much has changed. We have had a slow erosion of our promise. Slowly we stopped including Freedon from Want and Freedom from Fear from the American dream.

Richard Nixon changed Phyllis and my political lives. His transparent appeal to our fear of others began with his callous political use of “the silent majority”. He governed better than he campaigned. Ronald Reagan was a master politician. He ran against all the Republicans ideas we had liked in our youth while deriding those in want. He also governed better than he messaged. Their rhetoric worked for their purposes and can still be heard in today’s GOP campaigns.

No wonder we were Republicans then and for Bernie now. He reminds us that we count for something

In the end Bernie will be able to hold his head up in a country that at this moment isn’t looking for such an authentic man. We kids noticed and have hope.

When the primaries are over there is only one candidate whom I could walk up to and say. “Well done.”

The joke is over.

It appears that at the very least, Donald Trump has a good and realistic chance to win the Republican nomination.  The Washington Post sees his route to the nomination as relatively clear.  Especially if both Rubio and Cruz stay in the race (and as long as they are locked in a battle for second, they will), Trump will likely continue to win the most delegates as the primaries continue.

If he does, and Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, Donald Trump very well could be president.  This is an outsider's year, and Hillary Clinton will never ever ever be an outsider.

Establishment Republicans are frustrated of course, and unsure what to do beyond funding Rubio.

Of course, it is that same establishment that created the atmosphere Trump has flourished in. They have promoted a pervasively negative ethic: That government is bad, and the people in it are bad.  It worked; millions of Trump voters are convinced of exactly that.

A Trump nomination certainly is not a foregone conclusion, of course, and a Trump presidency might not be as terrible as some fear. Minnesotans I have talked to recognize that the state did not fall apart when Jesse Ventura was governor-- in fact, his independence from either party created some good opportunities.

There is still, of course, a lot of this election cycle still ahead of us.

Maybe I was pushing it by having the theme of haiku Friday as "chores," but I loved this one from MKS, which echoes my own experience:

Our yard is quite small.
Our mower is a reel one.
Soft clickity-clack.

 As always, too, Renee came through:

Her hands loved the dust
But mostly what she uncovered
With an ancient shirt

A photograph of
A baby's toothless smile,a
Depression glass sugar

Bowl from Aunt Ida
A single mother in the 30s
A tiny book of

Burns her ex-husband
Gave her it's red cover told
What might have been,this

Is why I cry when
I dust,remembering,remembering
My tears are like wine.

[Note to IPLawGuy: No, you don't get credit for that!]

As those who follow the Razor know, I have been trying hard to make the Constitution's Pardon Power a principled tool to reduce the incarceration of those over-sentenced for narcotics.

It's been, at times, a discouraging task.  However, I have some great collaborators and rays of hope now and then. This week I had a few key meetings in Washington and New York, and hope that we can keep the pressure on. There is a lot to hope for, even with the challenges of bureaucracy and delay that we have faced.

On the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Scalia, I had a little writing spree which resulted in this piece which appeared Thursday in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and this one which came out yesterday in the Waco Herald Tribune. It seems that I feel compelled to publish in all my hometown papers, or maybe just those with the word "Tribune" in their title...

Isn't there something, at least one thing, that you love to do around the house? People often talk about the chores they hate, but I know there are some that we love-- or at least like better than the others. Let's haiku about that this week.

Here, I will go first:

Cleaning out gutters--
Handfuls of wet, icky goo
So satisfying.

Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula, and have some fun!

After the success of last week's post by the Waco Farmer, I asked IPLawGuy to follow up with his own thoughts. I was especially intrigued by his support for John Kasich, who I think is one of the more appealing Republicans.  For those who don't know, the DC-based IPLawGuy knows a thing or two about politics. Among other things, he worked for six years on Capitol Hill for John McCain, and you learn a thing or two doing that. 

There is this one moment that I re-live over and over.  I'll be at some event, and people are ordering drinks. They are confident and sophisticated, and look over their shoulder as they say something like "I'll have a Rocky Top, and keep it light on the fizz." The bartender will nod knowingly, and get to work.

I never have any idea what they are talking about, and when it comes to my turn, I'll reach for a beer or point at what someone else is having. It's not that I don't drink mixed drinks; I just am not very good at it, and don't do it often.  I suppose it seemed like somewhere in life people learn how to do that, and I was off doing something else. In whole, that might have been a good thing.

Does anyone else have this challenge?

I'm with the 99 members of the Senate who can't stand Ted Cruz, but I have to give him some evil-genius props for this shot-for-shot remake of the famous Office Space scene:

What a week it was for the Razor! First, both the Farmer and commenters knocked it out of the park with a fabulous discussion of the Presidential election. The whole thing is worth a read.

Great haiku, too, on the subject of the British. I had a hunch that Renee had something good in her, and I was right:

Fleeing icy
Fingers of rain,I enter
Clarinda's Tea Room.

The Bard of Scots regards
Me from the wall,salivates
At the sight of

Cucumber sandwich
Scone rife with Devonshire cream
Strawberry jam.

Clarinda"s grave
Is on the way home,she whom
Burns loved.I leave red rose.

Christine turns out to be an Anglophile, as well, and this was my favorite of hers:

Who was Hadrian...
and why does he have a wall
rambling east to west?

I think Jill Scoggins poem was inspired by actual events:

Unclaimed luggage at
Heathrow? ‘We just blow it up,’
said bobbies, laughing.

As was IPLawGuy's:

Wrong side of the road
I drove over Hyde Park and
Into Harrod's. Oops.

If you are interested in the election, I would highly recommend last Thursday's great post by the Waco Farmer and the comments (25ish, so far) that follow, which you can see here.  In that strand, IPLawGuy points out how odd it was that the Democratic candidates were fighting about Henry Kissinger:

The fact the HENRY Kissinger came in the Dem debate at all is somewhat troubling. Hillary would be considered OLD, OLD, OLD in any other election year. But Bernie is 74! Not only is the first Jew to ever win a Presidential Primary, he's the OLDEST candidate to ever win a primary, blowing away John McCain's record by 3 years.

But since Bernie and Hillary both became legal voters before a majority of American were even born, Kissinger and Vietnam were burned into their consciousness. KISSINGER left office 40 YEARS AGO! And the actions that Bernie deplores, the Cambodian incursion, for example, took place even earlier. This would be like Reagan and Carter debating over whether FDR's pre-war foreign policy team gave him the right advice in the late 30's. Or Nixon and Kennedy arguing over the Versailles Treaty.

Certainly good questions for historians, but TOTALLY IRRELEVANT in 1980, 1960 and today.
 

My family is English on both sides, which may account for the wacky eccentric streak we bear.  Bad teeth, allergies, pale... yeah, that's me.

Still, the British have made some positive contributions to the world. Shakespeare, sure, and the sandwich (though it appears they aren't good at making them any more).

So, let's haiku about the British! Perhaps you have been to Britain, and have a good story, or just were fascinated by Princess Diana. 

Here, I will go first:

The room was so cold!
And then I found the coin box
That started the heat.

Now it is your turn! Just make the first line five syllables, then seven for the second and five for the third. 

Oh, and write in English. Unless you are the medievalist-- he is on his own.

I am blessed to have friends who often are more articulate than I am, including people like IPLawGuy, CraigA, and Waco Friend, among others. Fortunately, they often represent viewpoints and positions different than my own.

One of those friends is the Waco Farmer, who graciously offers up the following reflection in the wake of the New Hampshire primary, and invites further discussion:

I suppose I should have figured that women are more interested in shoes than men... and it brought in some great poems! Like this one from Renee:

Leopardskin mules,Dad
And I saw in Edina.
He said,"Buy at J.C Penné."

Then sent cash to "Buy those
Darling shoes." Do you see now
Why I'll never throw them away?

Christine had this:

So buttery soft,
hand crafted, finest leather
purchased in Brazil

Came in a felt bag
Worn on special occasions
Re-soled many times.

And I was very intrigued by Amy's bargain-hunting skills:

Kate Spade spring pumps on
Consignment, twenty-two bucks.
Oh, those kitten-heeled

Gems, purple-flowered,,
Low-heeled; felt like royalty,
Took the edge off work.

Meanwhile, the Medievalist held down the fort for us guys, and I think I have seen these shoes:

Black with a white swoosh,
Comfortable tennis shoes,
To Iceland and back.

But.... why did a Spanish Medievalist go to Iceland?

Like many others, I was saddened to hear about the resignation of Deborah Leff as the United States Pardon Attorney. She is a remarkable person, and a quiet hero.

One of my problems with American culture-- and one that tears against the Christian faith-- is its celebration of "heroes" who have become rich or famous or both.  That is contrary to what we see in the Bible, where the heroes rarely are celebrated, rich, or famous (at least in their own time).  The people Jesus cites as worthy are the widow who gives her only coin to the poor, the Centurion who shows faith, and the Good Samaritan, among the many others who were unheralded but for his noticing their efforts.  Our contemporary faith is lousy at recognizing those quiet heroes (who often are not Christian, and rarely are rich or famous).  Instead our eyes are drawn to shiny objects created and propelled by a media with its own agenda.

Debby Leff toiled in a difficult place in adverse circumstances, according to NPR. She did so with a generous heart and firm will.  She may never be portrayed as a hero in the press, but that does not change a truth too few will see.

Yeah, you got 'em. You wear them. And you probably care about them more than you let people know.

My favorite pair of shoes gave up on me after years of dutiful service, and I miss them.  Here is my ode to those shoes:

They came in a box
From Texas, a great surprise
Note: "You need these, Mark"

Joy Tull (the sender) was right about that.

Now, you go-- haiku about some shoes. Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula, and have some fun!

This coming Tuesday, New Hampshire will host the first Presidential primary in the country. Last Monday, of course, we saw the Iowa caucuses play out, with some interesting results:

-- Ted Cruz won on the Republican side, while Donald J. Trump (when did he add the "J," and isn't that a little too much like Homer Simpson?) came in second. Surprisingly close at 3rd was Marco Rubio.

-- Far behind, with less than 3% of the vote was Jeb Bush. It was estimated that he spent about $2,800 in Iowa for each vote he received. Aren't these Republican big spenders tired of their money going down the drain, with this on top of the Romney loss in 2012?

-- On the Democratic side, it was a virtual tie between Sanders and Clinton (with Clinton ahead by a miniscule 0.3%).  Many people are seeing it as effectively a win for Sanders.

-- Martin O'Malley, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum have now dropped out of the race.

What will happen in New Hampshire? Here are my predictions:

-- Sanders and Trump will win.
-- Rubio will be second.
-- Bush will be far behind, and then drop out.
-- There will be a muddle between Kasich, Christie, and Carson.

What do you think?

[and yes, that is a real Ted Cruz coloring book, available at Barnes and Noble. Also available: The Donald J. Trump Off-Color Coloring book.]

This morning, I should be on NPR talking about clemency-- it is an unusual week for that subject. The Pardon Attorney, Deborah Leff, announced that she was leaving effective at the end of January, but no replacement has been named. I really have no idea what is going on with that-- it is a mystery being closely guarded within the administration.

The last year of the Obama administration is one in which he can do great good, in this and other areas.  The attention of the political reporters will be elsewhere as the election contest rages on, and the scrutiny will be lessened.

There are simple steps he could take to fix the clemency process, as I have described before.  If he doesn't, I expect that there will be a moment in ten years when he regrets that choice.

Some of you may remember Washington insider Grar the Panda, who so famously ran for president back in 2008.  I asked for his comments on the Iowa caucuses of yesterday.

Renee did a lot of good work last week, but the one that struck me deepest was this:

It's basement proved a
Safe Haven to young lovers,still--
Little Brother lurked.

That pretty much paints a picture, doesn't it? I love the image of the brother lurking.

No one made out in the basement of the house I grew up in-- there was too much stuff in there. Still, it was a fascinating place (and still is, in fact).  There is a lot of art, and old wine, and record albums and forgotten projects and sports equipment (misc.).  It's an amazing place to explore, and that has been one of my hobbies for the past four decades.