Being Truly Pro-Life

I find it incredibly ironic the conservative right's and their sanctimonious ownership of being, as they claim, "pro-life."

It is a label that (for them) is riddled with obvious irony. For if you ask a typical conservative regarding other issues pertaining to "life" you will easily find their answers contradictory.

• Do you believe in the death penalty?
• Are you a pacifist?
• Do you believe in the right to own an automatic weapon?
• Are you a vegetarian?
• Do you believe in DNR?
• Do you believe in neutering animals? What about euthanizing them?

I'll ask these questions of any self-proclaimed "right to lifer." I will respect the opinion of those who's answers show consistency with their position. If all life is sacred to you, than life of criminals, soldiers, strangers, and animals are also sacred.

No? Does your opinion on saving "lives" stop after feti and embryos? Than you are not pro-life. You are simply anti-choice.

I have a lot of respect and admiration for religion and for those who would not choose abortion for themselves, a position many have here in the US.

A TRUE right to life believe believes that all Life is sacred.

However, when a man who can claim a life with a gun proposes and does so in the name of saving lives, the argument goes the pieces. Hypocrisy at it's clearest.

Nuff said today.

Separating individuals from the issues

Just to go on record saying that while I support healthy peaceful protest and satire, I do not support anyone singling out individuals and in any way threatening them or even remotely exposing them to harm.

For example I thought it hilarious that protesters placed a huge inflatable Bush in DC during the inaugural do people could throw shoes at it. I do not support the Iraqi guy who threw his shoe at the actual man. Would one have been meaningful without the link to the first, perhaps not, but my point is this, be loud, be heard, but be civil at all times.

The anarchists at the G20 and other protests are undermining the legitimate protests against our flawed underegulated system by destroying property and striking terror in persons. This is not protest it is a mad mob.

My good friend works at AIG and has nothing to do with the CDS crisis. He should not fear for his safety.

I support the healthy expression of general frustration and anger. That is only effective when people see the frustration displayed by rational law abiding people, not by those who try to hide their violent tendencies within the crowd.

Testing Mobile Blogging

Thought I'd try mobile blogging, since most of my thought come to me on the bus and pulling out my laptop is a bit much. Let's see if this works.

Bancos = Ladrones, and the Latin way of showing public emotion

When I was working at Merrill my clients included some of the largest pension funds in Argentina. They didn’t produce much revenue as they could only trade a certain percentage of their holdings in the US, but they were important clients and it was a good experience for the junior sales guy within my middle markets international group.

I’d visit them about once a quarter, and at the time, the country was just recovering from a major default, a freezing of banks, and a peso devaluation. The government had instituted tight controls of foreign exchange, among other things, as they battled the global investment community who wanted to recoup their losses.

Whenever I went to Buenos Aires, I’d take in the beautiful architecture and scenery of one of the grandest cities of South America. I’d also notice the barely hidden hatred of the financial community by its population. There was nary a bank who didn’t have graffiti scrolled on its façade indicating some type of negative assessment; “Bancos = Ladrones” was the common slogan, indicating to all who understood that the impression of the local citizenry was that the financial industry robbed its people.

I’d have lunch with clients and hear in the streets below the roars of street protests. Lunch time protests were common place in Buenos Aires according to my client. Basically, people would stop work (those who worked), they’d join the students from the university, march down the streets with placards and whistles bemoaning the issue of the day, then quietly go back to work/school/home. I remember walking for 2 miles and getting to my last meeting two hours late due to a transit strike during the evening rush hour, which was over by the time we finished our after-meeting dinner. I was impressed with the efficiency and peacefulness of these displays of populism as I was taken aback by its passion and audibility.

I believe we may be headed in the same direction here in the states. I’ve always felt that US citizenry, despite our history of struggle for civil rights, the Vietnam & Iraq war protests, etc, are a relatively docile bunch. We are very content to assume that someone else is fighting our battles, be they politicians, university students, or bloggers over the web. We focus our attention on a handful of iconic “trouble makers” like Al Sharpton and Cindy Shehaan, watching them do most of the rabble rousing from the comfort of our couches. These days, most popular sentiment is expressed through editorials and national “polls” and people make good livings trying to pretend they speak for the “average Joe” on the 24 hour news networks. It’s very civilized, if perhaps a bit bland for a population writhing in suppressed frustration. I guess our puritan heritage shines through in these times, as we commonly think that passionate discourse is, while entertaining to watch, a disdainful practice for the average person.

The problem of course, is all that suppressed frustration manifests itself in less healthy ways. Gun sales are up, violent crimes seem to be making more headlines, and xenophobic sentiment is steadily increasing.



Compare our current sentiment versus 2006 in Puerto Rico in the midst of their fiscal crisis. Citizens took to the streets to protest their frustration with their government's mishandling of the situation and forced law makers from opposing parties to work together to get a solution.


Perhaps we should do some venting of all that suppressed American anger at the banks and our government in a cathartic and positive way. This may actually be very healthy for us as a nation. People need to feel that they are participating in change, a notion the Obama Campaign capitalized on well. We have proven that the people control the political climate and we feel secure in that power. But what about the corporate climate? The problem is that we see banks like Merrill Lynch/Bank of America, AIG, CitiGroup, etc, doing things with our money that in many minds amounts to stealing. Our politicians seem impotent, relegated to admonishing CEOs at hearings and bloviating on Sunday Morning talk shows. CEOs and GOP lawmakers often scoff at populist sentiment, as if unless you own majority shares or large donor cards, you should just stay shut and let them settle this mess.

Perhaps what’s needed is some old fashioned taking to the streets in peaceful venting, so that people feel they have made themselves heard in the ivory towers of these corporate boardrooms, and so these titans of industry understand that they answer to more than just their shareholders, especially when their adventures in “side street” investing has been financed for decades by the pensions and 401Ks of laymen investors, and these same people are now paying double by giving them their tax dollars with the intention of keeping these banks afloat and “loosen credit.” They must know that using this money to shore up balance sheets and pay for bonuses for top managers who either actively or passively created our current crisis, while legal, will not be taken lightly by the people. If that isn’t deserving of a “Bancos = Ladrones” sticker on the side of a building, I wonder what would?

Of Guns, Monkeys and Letters

Below is a letter to the editor I wrote to the New York Post today. I've been getting emails all day from friends about a cartoon by Sean Delonas in today's NY Post linking the recent killing of a pet Chimpanzee with the "writer of the stimulus bill." Any follower of History or someone with social sensitivity can see in the image too many disturbing references to violence and racial undertones. Anyway a lot of people have written to the editors over this. I won't recreate the picture, but if you do find it and want to write a letter yourself, send it to: letters@nypost.com

Dear Editor,

The cartoon where an artist connected the shooting of a troubled monkey with the economic stimulus plan, and specifically to the author of that plan (most commonly being attributed to Pres. Obama) is callous humor at best, violence inciting racism at worst, and a poor reflection of your newspaper, company, and management.

In a country where violence towards our political leaders is a common occurrence in our history (hopefully Lincoln's 200th birthday reminded us of that) , and where there has been a dehumanizing tradition of racist cartoonists making connections between African Americans and primates, I find it glaring that you would publish a cartoon which reflects both these shameful attributes.

It is bad enough that our President must endure the extra measures of security because of his race, and because of the times we live in. We do not need newspapers bringing up violent imagery in connection to our political leaders.

That being said, I understand the 1st amendment allows cartoonists to reflect their views via their art. But the 1st amendment does not force editors to publish such submissions.

Therefore it is more a reflection of the flaws in your decision making abilities that such a cartoon graced your pages and website.

Your cartoonist should apologize to the people and more specifically to the "writer of the stimulus package." Your editorial staff should also apologize for allowing this image to enter our common discourse.

Remove this stain from your paper and company.


Respectfully Submitted,
Miguel Guadalupe
New Jersey

The Plumber is dead, long live the Pilot

On the day Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III is to receive the keys to New York City, I think it appropriate to note that while His daring actions saved 155 people, one person was indeed left at the bottom of the Hudson river.

Well, not a person exactly, but an icon, horrifically thrust on the American stage by a desperate presidential campaign in its last throes. That icon now in a watery grave is “Joe the Plumber.” Yes that’s right. Sully killed Joe the plumber. The citizen who challenged Obama on a campaign stop name Joe, who isn’t really named Joe (it’s Samel), who said he was a plumber but really wasn’t (no license), who was going to buy a business but had neither the means, skills, nor opportunity to do so. “Joe” relished his position in the spotlight, so much so that he still clings to whatever will get him in front of a camera, from “reporting” in Gaza to showing up at Republican strategy meetings (really?).

This man, who offered nothing but his claim of being average, with no real skills or training, but with a willingness to be exploited for the sake of ratings and campaigns, was being presented as some sort of nightmarish symbolism for America. This image of mediocrity was somehow supposed to inspire some mythical “base” of people to a point where they would vote against their economic interests in favor a party who’s lead them astray. We all know the outcome of that gamble.

Thankfully, with a new year, a new image emerges to kill the era of “the plumber” and lift American iconography from the sewer to the sky. This all came about as a seasoned commercial pilot and his crew do the miraculous – land a plane full of passengers without engines, power, or even land. At the center of this is Captain Sullenberger, AKA “Sully the Pilot.” With over 30 years flight experience, safety expertise (he even coauthored papers with NASA), additional skills as a glider (which is what saved that plane), and a focus and professionalism that kept him in control during the most uncontrollable of situations, He represents everything Joe the Plumber does not; skill, education, focus, altruism, professionalism, and true leadership in crisis. He showed additional merit by taking a slow approach to addressing the throngs of media, of doing his job first, and of spreading credit to his passengers and crew members.

America has a new love. The reluctant hero is the ultimate icon, a man doing his job well under special circumstances resulting in extraordinary success, and avoiding unspeakable tragedy (unless you count the geese). But more than anything, this would not have been possible without his training, education, and his striving to be more than “just average.” That is the image that America needs, and the image that best represents our future.

Thank you “Captain Sully,” and long live the Pilot.

Another picture worth a thousand words.

This is great. This image is amazing. Man-sized cue-cards of a curse-riddled quote of a corrupt governor attempting to sell the vacated senate seat formerly held by the President of these United States of America. You can't make this stuff up.