How I will vote ...

If you have more than a passing interest in how I will vote on Election Day, then please continue reading...

Although we live in one of the most advanced democracies on this planet, we are still light years away from enjoying the ultimate promise of democracy. How absurd it is that regardless of all the vital issues that affect us individually and collectively, one has to cast either a Republican, Democrat or tentatively Independent vote. To retain my voting integrity, I scrupulously avoid being pandered to and I will never allow myself to be mindlessly hostage to a particular party. At election time, I make every effort to select from the chaff, the single most important issue confronting our nation and I will vote for or against it regardless of how that vote may affect my other personal preferences.

Of transcendent importance to me now, is that we are under relentless physical attack by Islamic Jihadists. But Muslims feel that they too are under unceasing exploitation and predatory attack by us. For more than a thousand years this conflict between East and West has raged. Peaceful coexistence continues to elude us. And now, with weapons of mass destruction becoming universally available, the intensity of this conflict has risen exponentially. Without a serious and mutual effort to reconciliate, our drift into Armageddon, is inevitable.

And now to the vote: Lofted by unfathomable wealth and perversely misdirected by Senator Kennedy, a man often drawn to peripheral pathways, John F. Kerry has become a latter day Pied Piper. Carrying oversized knapsacks bulging with plans, his egotistical certitude preordains him to lure his followers and himself into the waters of Chappaquiddick. What totally eludes him is the tactical wisdom of our current efforts to inoculate Islam, a vast and restless community which has long been in a stage of arrested development, with a vibrantly democratic Afghanistan and Iraq.

But on the other hand, though he is neither a Messiah nor a Moses and by his own admission is not endowed with a scintillating intellect, Bush finds himself securely and energetically mounted on a foaming Trojan Horse. This fiery steed is carrying him and us onto a singular battlefield that actually has a burgeoning opportunity to reconcile Islam and the West. All that really needs doing, in order for everyone to be truly victorious, is to start freeing Islamic women from their bondage. Fate will do the rest. Ergo, my vote for Bush.

Footnote: Had I voted in 1864, I hope I was among those who cast their ballots for Lincoln and the continuance of his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. I cannot imagine I would have succumbed to the intensive support given to McClellan by the NY Times. Nominated by the Democratic Party, he was committed to negotiate an immediate peace with the South and allow it to retain its institution of slavery. In retrospect, utterly disastrous!

A Murderer talks!

I just read a half-page report published in the October 24th edition of the New York Post. Like the Ancient Mariner, Kenneth Payne who was set free from prison on October 23rd is evidently telling everyone who stops to listen to him, that it was thru the impact on the NY State Court of Appeals of signed petitions from his fellow residents on Shelter Island, that his murder conviction was reversed. Nowhere in the Post’s article does he express his gratitude to R.B. Kenney, the attorney who represented him. Indeed, nowhere in the article is Kenney’s name even mentioned. Indeed again, my son-in-law tells me that he has yet to hear Payne say, thank you!

Addendum: Meanwhile, back in Venice, gondolas by the dozen are tied to the dock of Roberto Chenni, Avvocato Straordinario. Their occupants, his clients, are impatiently awaiting his return from the Court of the Doge. How this gifted attorney saved Antonio from losing a pound of his flesh to Shylock was now widely known throughout Italy.

Assisted Living !

People who become increasingly infirm and dependent as they age, are sometimes compelled to enter an Assisted Living program. That is a semi-institutional kind of life where room-service, meals, wheel chairs and whatever, are provided.

Well, when I take a really candid look at myself, it becomes abundantly clear that I’ve been in Assisted Living for some time now. My tireless and infinitely benevolent provider has been and still is my wife, Lenore. She cleans the house, shops for food and necessities, takes out the garbage, makes the bed, does the laundry, cooks, brings me my pre-prandial drinks and whatever else I need or ask for. She even provides me her body warmth in bed. All I now do for myself is tap at my computer and surf the web. How deeply and irredeemably in debt I am to her!

As everyone already knows, we need only four letters to spell her name, L-O-V-E

Aging and Self-Restoring

Aging people discover to their great dismay, that many of their newly acquired infirmities no longer run a self-terminating course. Disabilities linger and even worsen. For agers, it's much like when one asks Windows to "restore" itself after a major computer glitch and it reports "Sorry, Windows was unable to restore to that date." And when it comes to analgesics, oldsters find them frustratingly less effective than before, perhaps because of our steadily diminishing capacity to secrete dopamine and other feel good hormones. No doubt about it, the capacity to self-restore swiftly withers with age. But there is a definite upside to getting older ~ as the years go by we have much more to look back upon, providing we have retained our memory.

A Murderer walks!

<> With the aid of an exceedingly well crafted and meticulously fashioned argument, my son-in-law, Robert Bruce Kenney, Attorney at Law, is about to have the cage of a murderer unlocked. He persuaded the Appeals Court in Albany to dismiss the "depraved indifference" murder charge under which the murderer, Kenneth Payne had previously been convicted and declare that he should have been convicted of "intentional murder." The Court's 5-2 ruling to that effect, was issued today, October 19, 2004. And now, since Payne may not be tried twice for the same offense, he will undoubtedly be set free.

<> This man, who has been imprisoned for six years, will return to Shelter Island where a laurel wreath will very likely be placed on his head. A joyful celebration by his family and fellow Islanders will almost certainly ensue. His victim, Curtis Cook, has long since been consigned to the perdition and eternal damnation he deserved. But Payne's reputation, which underwent some blemishing during that process, is about to be restored. It is expected however, that his "elephant" gun will be securely and permanently sequestered by the community.

Addendum: Antonio, walks! By virtue of the Venetian Court's ambiguous directive to Shylock, Antonio retains his flesh, is absolved of his debt and is awarded half of Shylock's worth. In the meantime, Jessica, Shylock's daughter, leaves her father and marries Lorenzo, her Christian lover. With the remaining half of his estate confiscated by the Duke, Shylock is left with nothing but to wander off into oblivion as a forcibly converted Christian ~ and so on, ad infinitum, ad absurdum ~

A deja vu Election?

1864 ~ Lincoln vs McClellan ~ How would you have voted? The Civil War still rages. Sherman is marching through Georgia. The Writ of Habeas Corpus has been suspended and the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves, was formally issued. Meanwhile, casualties are becoming uncountable and the end is not in sight. The Army of the Potomac is now commanded by General U.S Grant. General McClellan was dismissed by Lincoln because of his propensity to keep his army garrisoned. They had had many serious disputes about strategy and objectives. At the Democratic Convention held in Chicago, General McClellan was nominated on a Peace Platform to run against President Lincoln. At that time, most of New York was outspokenly opposed to Lincoln because of his bloody pursuit of the War against the South and also because of his unpopular suspension of civil rights. As a voter, you would surely have known that McClellan was being vigorously supported by the NY Times. Lincoln won, 2,206,938 to 1,803,787 Popular, 212 to 21 Electoral.

<> Isn't it odd that 212 was later to become NYC's Area Code?

2004 ~ Bush vs Kerry ~ How will you vote? On 9.11.01, nineteen Saudi Jihadists hijacked four passenger planes. The first two were flown into our Twin Trade Towers. The third, perhaps headed for the Capitol, crashed in Pennsylvania following a struggle between passengers and terrorists. The fourth plane was rammed directly into the Pentagon. There were casualties by the thousands! Our immediate response was to invade Afghanistan where we routed the Jihadist sheltering Talibans and quickly installed an interim government. Iraq, a potential terrorist sanctuary, was attacked next. Saddam Hussein was captured and an interim regime was later installed there too. Although casualties continue, Afghanistan just held a democratic election and Iraq is scheduled to do so in January. Here, much is being made of our economy and a lapse of our civil rights. Government spending is high and we are in serious deficit. But Bush is determined to stay the course and Senator Kerry, whom the NY Times vigorously supports, says, "Everything this president is doing is wrong! I have "other plans."

Et tu, NY Times ?

By the time I was ten (80 years ago) I was already an inveterate reader of the New York Times. It is hard now to say why I was drawn to it and why I became so trusting and loyal a reader. Perhaps its objectivity fascinated me, even though I could not then have clearly defined that concept. In any case, I do remain a loyal reader to this very day, although I am no longer as trusting as I used to be.

My first major disenchantment with the Times occurred when I was a student at NYU. While browsing in the Archives Section of the NY Public Library, I came across copies of the Times that were printed in the early 1860's. They startled me! To my surprise, its editorials were strongly opposed to Lincoln and the Civil War and strongly supportive of General McClellan, whose reluctance to fight eventually caused Lincoln to put General U.S. Grant in his place. And I also recall that I was equally struck by how even the State of NY was opposed to Lincoln and the Civil War. In retrospect, how could the Times and NY State have failed to grasp that Lincoln’s goal to preserve the Union and end Slavery was of such transcendent importance. In retrospect, who can dispute that the Times then, was clearly on the wrong side of history. Is it possible that this newspaper's current stands will be similarly judged as wrong, by history still to be written!

Whither goest thou, my falsely esteemed Gray Lady? Your stridently partisan editorial pages have become so divisive and so alienating, I now feel "disenfranchised" from you. So unalterably partisan have you become, it would not surprise me to see you endorse the Devil himself, if he were to decide to run against a Republican opponent. Your Letters to the Editor section, has morphed into your editorial writers' echo chamber. Indeed, it sometimes seems that many of its letters are ghost-written by them. Although you allot token space to one or two conservative columnists, your echo chamber has already shelved Safire and it has begun to do the same to David Brooks, one of the brightest young thinkers to grace your pages in decades. In the meantime, your choir unceasingly genuflects to your Liberal columnists Krugman, Kristof and Herbert and it has practically canonized Maureen Dowd, whose brand of venom properly belongs on a tabloid.

Debate #2

<> Last night's debate was more animated and somewhat more interesting to view than the one held last Friday. The Town Hall format untethered the President and the Senator from their podia. It allowed them to move around the stage more freely during their responses.

<> Except for an occasional query by Charles Gibson of ABC, all of the questions put to the debaters were asked by a small group of relatively undecided voters. Most were phrased with surprising candor and because the debaters had no previous knowledge of their content, the questions did seem to evoke a bit more spontaneity from Bush and Kerry than these gentlemen usually display. But invariably, after making only glancing responses to the thrust of each question, both men reflexly resurrected the rote and boilerplate of their tiresomely crafted stump speeches.

<> As before, no dramatically new content was introduced by either man. And while the same ad hominem attacks and counterattacks were mounted, neither contender gave ground or faltered conspicuously. In my view, President Bush showed somewhat better command of himself and Senate Kerry added little or nothing to a persona that continues to project more facade than genuine substance

Tuesday Morning League

The Tuesday Morning League, established several years ago, plays its matches on the West Hill Course of our Somers Pointe Golf Club. Its season just closed with a luncheon at the Pinnacle Restaurant.

<> Profound gratitude was expressed and heartfelt paeans were once again paid and sung to Paul Cipes, creator and organizer of our TML. It was Paul who introduced all of us to the TML tournament concept. So popular has this program become for our weekday and retired players, that our Good Shepherd is now obliged to limit how many of us he can enroll to play.

<> Cipes assigns an adjustable Quota number to each of us. He bases it on our changing handicaps and weekly performance, parameters he follows very closely. When play is concluded, our Quota number is subratcted from the points we earned according to how many aces, eagles, pars and bogeys we scored during the round. The resultant is either a positive, a negative or zero figure. It represents our individual point score and it is added to or subtracted from the Team score.

<> The competition, each Tuesday morning, with so very many players of various ages and skills playing from different Tees, is spirited and thoroughly joyful. The prizes we win as individuals and as Team members, are paid out as gift certificates, redeemable at our Pro-Shop. And, believe it or not, our restless, creative Shepherd is already thinking of using other interesting formats next year. <> Molte grazie, Paul

Debate (VP)

For me, last night was another 90 minutes of futile expectation. Not a single dreary word was uttered by Cheney or Edwards that I haven't heard many times before. Sadly, while the effects of events that impact upon us grow exponentially, the intellects of the people we depend upon to control them, seem to be undergoing entropy. But truly, does it really matter who won or lost?

I fantasied that Omar Khayyam was watching with me and when the "debate" was over, I distinctly heard him say, "Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint and heard great Argument about it and about: but evermore came out by the same door as in I went."

R. B. Kenney, Attorney

<> <> <> In his non-appellant mode <> <> <>

Murder, yes...but (?)

Robert Bruce Kenney, my son-in-law, is an attorney. He has just plead before the New York State Court of Appeals, what could eventually be a precedent establishing case.

Six years ago, Kenneth Payne, a Shelter Island resident, shot and killed his former best friend. His victim, after being charged with sodomizing an 8-year old girl, had evidently also threatened to sodomize Payne’s girl friend and daughter. Payne was subsequently convicted by a Suffolk County Jury and sentenced 25 years-to-life. The jurors were given the choice of convicting him because of "depraved indifference" or "intentional murder." Unaware that the sentences for each would be identical, they declined to convict him of "intentional murder" because they were evidently impressed by some ambiguous statements he had made prior to and just after he shot his victim.

But because my son-in-law believes that Kenneth Payne showed neither "recklessness nor indifference" as to whether his victim lived or died, and because he used an elephant gun to shoot him at point blank range, he should have been convicted of "intentional murder." RBK is trying to persuade the Court that the jury committed a judicial blunder. If the Court agrees, Kenneth Payne could be released from prison.

In retrospect, it is possible that this jury, with fate’s connivance, had sought and found a legitimately judicial way for a community to express its gratitude to one of its good old guys for exterminating one of its really bad old guys. Perhaps the jurors intuitively knew that by their "contrived decision" this man might one day be set free?

<<>> As the Court weaves its path through thickets of judicial ambiguity, I am mindful of how Shakespeare’s Venetian Court carefully phrased its directive to Shylock (in order to keep him from exercising his valid demand for his debtor’s pound of flesh) ~ "Therefore [Shylock] prepare thee to cut off the flesh. Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more but just a pound of flesh. If thou takest more or less than a just pound . . . thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate!" Shylock won, but lost! Payne lost, but may yet win!

We will revisit this case when the Court of Appeals hands down its decision.

Testiculi habat!

On April 17th, my grandniece Mara Strasberg was married to Robin Freeman, Jr. Their wedding reception, a memorably magnificent affair was held at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York. They could not have had a more or auspicious initiation into matrimony. But unhinged a bit by their euphoria, they asked "me" to address the assemblage and say a few commemorating words:

<> I opened by recalling that the very first house call I made, following my return from WW II, was to this very Golf Club. I had been summoned here by the manager of this Club's Hotel Facility, to treat a young widow, whose husband, an inept Golfer, had gone into cardiac arrest while trying to extricate himself from a sand trap. Following his death she began seeing him everywhere she directed her gaze. Unprepared for this syndrome, I immediately asked room service to bring us two tumblers of Jack Daniels. Then, after we drank to her husband's inglorious memory, I quickly and discreetly withdrew.

<> Before approaching the climactic point of my nuptial address, I felt constrained to allude to that period during the Papacy when one or two Borgia women may have insinuated themselves into the papal lineage. Based on those rumors, the Vatican formed a committee to officially attest to every newly elected pope's masculinity. A committee member was then to stand on the balcony beside each newly elected Pope and with his right fist raised high, he was to proclaim to the gathered multitude in St Peter's Square, "Testiculi habat."

<> So similarly, and to allay any disquieting notions that might possibly be incubating among the guests, I hastened to reassure everyone present, that not only is Robert ept, he is also indisputably virile and very properly endowed. And I further declared, that for each of his sperm filled testicles his ravishingly beautiful bride Mara would bring to their union an ovary bursting with ovae. On that fertile note everyone spontaneously rose and joined with me to wish Mara and Robert an unceasingly happy and procreative future.

To my surprise, it was not generally known among our guests that the Latin word "testicle" signifies "little witness." Medical history tells us that early anatomists nearly always had a ball, when they gathered to name each body part they dissected.

Debate #1

<> How I wish we could all be transported to the site and time when Lincoln debated Douglas on the transcendent issue of their day, slavery. They spoke their own minds, and their remarks were neither filtered nor moderated by an interlocutor. A score was not kept. But it took our cataclysmic Civil War to eventually resolve the issue they debated.
<> What we saw last night, was an accomplished orator take on a somewhat inarticulate incumbent president. But it would be a mistake to use that perception to assess their respective intellects. Consider, for instance , what it must take to learn how to pilot one of America's most sophisticated interceptor aircraft and what it takes to learn how to steer a motorboat. If glibness is a valid parameter to use when selecting our presidents, we are most fortunate indeed. What a vast reservoir of used-car salesman we have!
<> If these debates are expected to help "undecideds" to decide, let us not be deluded. It is a rare person indeed whose way of thinking about almost anything, isn't already immutably established. In my professional psychiatric experience, I very seldom encountered anyone who was really capable of substantively altering the way they thought. And I include myself in that sweeping generalization. The neuronal synapses we establish, tend inflexibly to obey Newton's Laws.
<> What will finally help us to decide how to vote on Election Day will be events, not words.