Donnie Douchebag

Sometimes, my mind wanders to strange subjects. Today, I was thinking of nicknames. Many people throughout history have had famous nicknames:
- Al "Scarface" Capone
- Richard the Lionhearted
- George "Babe" Ruth
- George "Blood and Guts" Patton
You can probably think of dozens more, belonging to famous people or friends and acquaintances of your. Nicknames are often given because of physical attributes (during WW II, author William Manchester was known as "Tripod" by his fellow Marines; you can probably guess why). Others may earn their nicknames because of their personalities.
Our current president is fond of giving unflattering nicknames to people who piss him off:
-Joe "Sleepy Joe" Biden
- Jeb "Low Energy" Bush
- Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren
- Ted "Lyin' Ted" Cruz
and the list goes on and on.
In my musings, I was wondering about a nickname for our President. This week, "Mr. Sharpie" would be fitting, but it would become obsolete as memories fade or move on to whatever stupid thing he says or does the next week.
If you wanted to give him a nickname related to his appearance, something about being orange would be fitting but, in my mind, not good enough.
This leaves his personality, which creates almost endless possibilities. I am somewhat at a loss to list his positive qualities, although I am sure many people can identify something about him that they view as positive. For those who can, you may be a better person than I am, and that's OK.
From my observations, this is what I see:
- lying is like breathing (12,000+ lies since taking office and counting)
- being ethical is a waste of time; it doesn't make money
- he is never wrong (according to him)
- cheating on your spouse (all of them) is normal behavior
- he thinks he is the best at everything (finance, trade, international relations, estimating crowd sizes,
 meteorology, etc.) (I would point out that being modest is not a strength of his.)
The President likes to brag that he has been on the cover of Time magazine more than anyone else. Even among Presidents, he's not even close. Here are some comparisons:
Nixon: 43
Reagan: 39
Clinton: 35
Obama: 23
Trump: 14 (this includes both before and during office)
I came across the above picture of a Time Magazine cover. I am sure it's a fake (Trump was famous for displaying  fakes of Time Magazine covers featuring him at his various properties). Even though I am sure the cover is satire, I think it provides the perfect nickname; one which will stand the test of time.
This week, he may be "Mr. Sharpie", but, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, if the United States would last for a thousand years, he will always be "Donnie Douchebag".

Lincoln for President in 2020?

Other than giving you Bernie Sanders running President, Vermont has not contributed much to politics lately. Much of the time, I have difficulty taking politics seriously, so I found it refreshing that the citizens of Fair Haven chose to elect a Nubian Goat named Lincoln to be their mayor (they have a Town Manager, so the mayor is a ceremonial position). 

Lincoln has great potential as a politician (maybe even President) more for what he doesn't do than what he does do. Unlike the current occupant of the White House, Lincoln is unlikely to bully or demean anyone, is unlikely to lie or to encourage others to be racist or otherwise intolerant. He also won't be considering or granting any pardons to undeserving evil-doers. His attitude toward women? No doubt respectful, especially if they feed him. Building walls? He'd rather not have any.

Would Lincoln be a great President? Perhaps not, but it's too early to tell. Let's see how he does as mayo firstr. If he does OK, he could move up to  maybe Senator (we are basically down to one Senator since Bernie is largely absent campaigning). Eventually, things could fall into place with a run for the White House. We've had two Presidents named Adams, and two named Bush. Why not two named Lincoln?

So far, Lincoln is off to a good start. His first official act after being sworn in as mayor? He pooped.

Giving money and power to govenment is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys

The title of this piece is a quote from political humorist PJ O'Rourke. It pretty much reflects my view toward the Federal government (see my earlier blog entry "Monkeys with Guns") and some State legislatures (like New York and Pennsylvania) who are known for significant levels of corruption.

While there are many smart, ethical, and reliable people who work in State and Federal government (I know many personally) there are others in positions we should be able to trust who can't be relied upon to act in the best interests of the taxpayers.

Examples from past and present administrations are legion: The Bay of Pigs, Watergate, the Iran/Contra Affair, Invasions of Panama, Grenada, Iraq, and Afghanistan, support of corrupt foreign governments (such as Marcos in the Philippines and the current Saudi regime) and many others you can probably name quite easily. 

On a national level, you can look in the news every day to find examples of things you find objectionable: police shooting unarmed people, inept disaster response (Hurricane Katrina and Puerto Rico stand out),  the Border Patrol stopping cars 100 miles from the border to challenge individuals' citizenship, and a plethora of other examples.

Congress serves as an outstanding example of waste and inefficiency. They "work" less than half the days in the year, and would be hard-pressed to identify many real accomplishments. They hold hearings and press conferences, but much of their time and energy is spent bashing members of the opposite political party. On top of that, they have granted themselves perks to create a separate class, such as free unlimited air travel (the bills go to the Department of the Treasury, who pays them without questions), they have a free platinum-level health plan, laws are passed that they are exempt from following (such as insider trading), and they have a pension that any other American citizen would love to have (and which will never be underfunded).

The current administration continues the trend of waste. "Drain the Swamp" has come to mean frequent golf trips, inept and unqualified political appointees, ignoring Federal regulations on such things as air travel and purchasing, telling our allies that they are a threat to our national security, complimenting (and envying) dictators, starting trade wars that are resulting in layoffs and business closing, and a host of other unflattering acts. While I respect the office of the President, I find it challenging to extend that respect to the current occupant, who seems incapable of telling the truth or accepting any responsibility for anything negative he or his minions have said or done.

I guess I can comfort myself in knowing that, based upon how little Congress is in session and that a term for President is only four years, things could be a lot worse. I guess the best we can hope for is to keep the whiskey and car keys are out of reach as much as we can.

Russian Spies in Acadia

The Schoodic Peninsula lies across Frenchman Bay from Mount Desert Island. Both contain parts of Acadia National Park. Up until 2002, the Schoodic Peninsula was also the location for the Schoodic Point Naval Base. Established in the 1920's as a radio station, the base evolved into a sophisticated communication facility that sent and received messages with submerged nuclear submarines. In its' final iteration, it was part of a network who used high frequency direction finding (HFDF) to target "enemy" ships for cruise missile attacks.
So what about Russian spies? During the mid 1990's, I managed an Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Sharon was one of the nurses who worked with me, and her husband, Joe, was an FBI agent.
I met Joe at a party. When he found out that I had lived on Mount Desert Island, he told me of one of his experiences following Russian spies up there. The story starts in New York. Back then, Joe's job was to conduct surveillance on Russian intelligence agents who were part of the Russian diplomatic presence in New York. Joe and his partner were following two Russians, who headed north and ended up in Bar Harbor. It was pretty obvious they intended to gather whatever intelligence they could on the Schoodic Point Naval Base, and staying in Bar Harbor allowed them to blend in with the tourists and not attract a lot of attention.
The Russians checked into a hotel. Joe and his partner were nearby and deployed listening devices so they could eavesdrop on the Russians. The Russians only spoke English, even in private.
Joe described how they had the television on and were watching a Western. Spy #1 reportedly said, "That's John Wayne; I really like his movies." Spy#2 somewhat harshly corrected him, saying, "You asshole; that's not John Wayne, that's East Clintwood!" Joe and his partner were far enough away that their laughter did not give them away.
I doubt that anything amazing or surprising came of the trip to Maine, but it was a common practice for Russia and America to spy on each other and continues today. There's no way to know for sure, but who knows? Perhaps one of the Russian spies was a young Vladimir Putin.

Organic Firewood? Really?

I just returned from a week in Acadia. In my travels, I spotted many signs, including "Pete's Pretty Good Ice Cream", "The No Frills Oil Company" and "The Pickled Wrinkle" (a restaurant). The sign that stood out the most was for Organic Firewood.

Along with deluxe, premium, and gourmet, organic has become a word so overused as to become pretty meaningless. Supposedly, organic items are supposed to not have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals. Using the term "organic" in describing a product (or using one of the other terms) seems to be give permission to charge more for the product, even if it isn't any different from the same type of product that is not described as such.

I guess, if you think about it, almost all trees (except some fruit trees) could correctly be described as "organic". That being said, would you pay extra for a few pieces of oak because you "always buy organic"? 

While I can understand the term "organic" associated with a number of food products, applying it to things such as firewood begins a slippery slope which could make future product naming quite interesting. What's next? Organic Condoms? Organic Snow Tires? I guess it depends upon how daring an individual cares to be. 

As for me, regular firewood is good enough.

"Looking for someone incredibly competent"

The title of this piece is a direct quote from someone at the highest level of an organization in reference to someone I worked with after the decision was made to terminate him. The statement was describing what they wanted in a replacement.

While he did not say directly that the individual was incompetent, the implication was certainly there and was, from my perspective and that of many others, correct and well-deserved. It was a situation in which someone driven by ambition took on a job for which he was unprepared, not even remotely qualified, and who was unable or unwilling to develop the necessary skills to be successful. 

Although the decision to place this individual in a very responsible position was deeply flawed, it was compounded by allowing the person to remain in the position through three changes in organizational leadership, long after it was obvious he shouldn't be there. It is an unfortunate example of not making a difficult, but necessary decision in a timely manner, and many paid the price. While I would say "shame on you" to the individual who made the original decision to place this individual into the position, equal blame goes to the successors who decided to just hold their noses and to allow it to continue. Difficult choices sometimes need to be made, and they all failed.

While I am glad that this individual is elsewhere, and hopefully where he can do no harm, I think about how devastated I would feel if one of my superiors made a similar statement about my competence.  I have a reputation for being honest and competent at what I do. One of the keys to my success was that I was always careful not to take on jobs that were clearly beyond my skills and capabilities. While having ambition may be helpful to some, It was never something that drove me. I never had a desire to be vice president of anything, and I am OK with that.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with many skilled and talented leaders. Unfortunately, this individual just wasn't one of them.

Indiana Jones in Acadia

In 1910, J. P. Morgan purchased bought Great Head and Sand Beach on Mount Desert Island as a gift for his daughter. His daughter had three bungalows, a barn, and a superintendent's house built above the beach. In 1915, she had a round stone tower tea house constructed. 

In 1947, a fire swept over much of the eastern side of Mount Desert Island. Many large summer homes, known locally as cottages, were destroyed. The tea house was damaged and the other buildings on Great Head were destroyed. 

Two years later, Great Head and Sand Beach were donated to Acadia National Park. The tea house was later torn down for safety reasons, leaving the foundation.

If you look at the photo above, Great Head has a few small trees, but is otherwise bare rock with some low vegetation. Today, the peninsula is heavily wooded with a few hiking trails.

Most people who hike Great Head are unaware of the history of the tea house or that the foundation is still there. One has to look for it, for it is not obvious to those passing nearby. 

Other remnants of the past can be found nearby. Near the elementary school in Bar Harbor is the remains of a stone wall from an estate. At Compass Harbor, south of the town, you will find a set of granite steps and the remains of a foundation from a waterfront home. 

For those who want a different experience in Acadia, delving into the past can offer a glimpse at an interesting time in recent history and the lives of Rockefellers, Fords, Morgans, Du Ponts, and many others.