Being Non-News

President Obama was absolutely right about Fox News. Check this out. The deception here by Fox and Rep. Michelle Bachmann is alarming.

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Thank you, Jon Stewart!

Being Productive

In an interview with the Financial Times, Lloyd C. Blankfein, the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs in an effort to explain their multiple billion dollar bonuses said:

I often hear references to higher compensation at Goldman. What people fail to mention is that net income generated per head is a multiple of our peer average. The people of Goldman Sachs are among the most productive in the world.

How is this so when Goldman Sachs had to be bailed out to the tune of mulitple billions and hedged through AIG for additional billions, not to mention that Goldman Sachs doesn't produce anything?

As an investment bank Goldman Sachs employees are largely paper shufflers, essentially debt traders. Debt is about all it produces and that not very well since it need billions in bailout.

By the way, the point above about the "peer average" makes it right, eh? It's not that the industry itself needs reform or that the average is out of wack as Goldman Sachs has far fewer employees as pointed out in the Financial Times article.

Wall Street banks executives are so far removed from reality.

Being a Veteran II

On this Veterans Day may God bless all the veterans and their families. Last week I wrote a piece, Being a Veteran, which spoke of my dad's service in the Army and how this must have affected his life and decisions thereafter. Sunday, I saw Bill Moyer's documentary, "The Good Soldier," which chronicles the lives of four soldiers upon their return. Here is a preview:



Watching this documentary, I could not help but to think of the long-lasting affect that war has soldiers and the lost of life of soliders and innocent civilians. Everything is not fair in love and war. We bear the responsibility of our actions. As the WW II veteran said, "War is about killing" no matter the mission. May God bless us all.

Being in a Wonderful World

Louis Armstrong recorded this rendition of "What a Wonderful World" towards the end of life. He was, in fact, ill at the time of this recording. We often see this great artist smiling with the brightest eyes. You can see that light here but the pain of life is also heard in his voice and tempo. I always heard this pathos even in his most upbeat songs and saw it in his wide toothy grin.

Armstrong was more than an entertainer. He was a dispenser of hope. In spite of his immense popularity, he endured tremendous hardship in the segregated south and as he travelled. Yet, he endured. Even though he headlined major clubs, he could not stay in certain hotels in the south and north. But the beauty here is that he still saw the world as wonderful. Our perspective matters.



It's a wonderful world! Make it so for yourself by how you see it.

Being Goldman Sachs IX

Goldman Sachs executives are sounding more and more like televangelists who say things like "We are doing the work of the ministry. 'Give and it shall be given unto you.' By giving to this telecast you will receive a blessing in due season."

Isn't it funny that giving to televangelists is immediate while receiving for givers is delayed? Often times those who receive rarely give to the givers. Televangelists have done well in this regard, investing in their personal wealth. Many churches have become businesses and use Wall Street as a model. Wall Street executives are now taking their lead from televangelists.

A few weeks ago Brian Griffiths, a Goldman Sachs international adviser, said "We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all...'To whom much is given much is required.'" Now, Times Online reports that Goldman Sachs' Chairman and CEO, Lloyd C. Blankfein, said that he was doing "God's work." Oh, really? Methinks they're all prosyletizing Pharisees.

Here are the words of Jesus Christ:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."

--Matthew 23:15

Many televangelists proselytize all over the world converting people to Christianity but have made them by far worse then they were. (When people convert they are usually looking for a better way of existing.) The new converts follow the bad pracitices of ministers under the guise of Christianity, perverting the message of Jesus.

Goldman Sachs invests all over the world using the beauty of a free market democratic system. But the market needs ethics. Through their practices they have indebted the world, perhaps making some by far worse than they were in the long run. The same kind of practices are then perpetuated by the debtors under the guise of a free market system, even if democracy isn't embraced. Inextricably bound to the highest form of democracy are justice and fairness.

All progression is not necessarily progress and all deliverance is not necessarily salvation.

(By the way, the Times Online article above is a must read. It looks at all sides fairly and is very enlightening.)

Being Unrecognizable

Slugger Sammy Sosa's on the left, but who's on the right?



The photo on the right was taken of Sosa on November 4. Hmm?

Being Goldman Sachs VIII

Goldman Sachs got the same amount of doses of the Swine Flu vaccine that Lenox Hill Hospital got while pregnant mothers and school children went without. Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler "really" tell it like it is during their segment "Really?!?" on SNL. It's right on and very funny!