"Capable Of Anything"

In the motion picture “China Town,” John Houston plays a despicable character.  He had an incestuous relationship with his daughter resulting in a pregnancy.  At one point in the movie Houston laments to Jack Nicholson that he is estranged from his daughter.  Nicholson then asks, “who do you blame for that?”  Houston responds; “I don’t blame myself.  You see Mr. Getts, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place they’re capable of anything.”

Some believe that everyone has a breaking point, a point at which intolerable circumstances could cause a person to be “capable of anything.” 

Shawn Timothy Nelson was a plumber.  His problems began when he suffered back and neck injuries in a motorcycle accident in 1990.  In 1991 his wife of six years divorced him.  In 1992 both his parents died from cancer.  While mining for gold in a mine shaft he dug in the back yard of his San Diego home, his plumbing equipment was stolen from the back of his truck.  Unable to replace the equipment, and therefore without gainful employment, his household utilities were cut off and his house was foreclosed on.  During this time, his live-in girlfriend also died from a drug overdose. 

So on May 17, 1995, Nelson, a U.S. Army veteran, stole an M60 Patton military tank from a United States National Guard armory in San Diego.  He went on a vicious rampage leaving neighborhoods looking like war zones.  This carnage was finally halted when police were forced to shoot and kill Nelson.  Some surmised that circumstances caused Nelson to snap – making him “capable of anything.” 

Mother Teresa also believed we were “capable of anything.”  Her contention however, was a bit different.  “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.  I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”  This too has validation.  It comes in the form of Bobby Kline.   

Bobby has four children.  The youngest is a daughter.  When she was sixteen-years-old the family was informed that Lisa had an inoperable brain tumor.  Nothing could be done.  So for months the family watched and waited for their precious little girl to pass. 

If you had known or met Bobby during this horrible ordeal you would have had no idea of the awful pain he was experiencing.  He was never sullen or moody.  He always had a big smile for everyone and continued his awareness of those who needed a kind word or a helping hand. 

On the day Lisa was put to rest I was given the blessing of having a short chat with Bobby.  It was in a darkened church; in front of a Blessed Virgin Mary alter, where Bobby had just placed some fresh flowers. 

During that painful moment I told him how much I admired his character.  I also asked him how he survived this worst of all possible nightmares.  Bobby said; “Sure, I could have acted like a jerk in hundred different ways and everyone would have probably understood.  But the truth is, I still have a wife and three sons.  They are in as much pain as I am and they need me now more than they have ever needed anyone.  Nothing I could do would save Lisa…but I still had the ability to help Rosie and the boys and I couldn’t let them down.”   

Hence Mother Teresa was correct.  We are indeed “capable of anything.” 

What this and other life altering experiences teach us is that focusing our attention on the needs of others, particularly in times of crisis, will provide us with solace, easing the awful burden that could drive us toward monstrous conduct.  Always remember; we are in control and we have a choice and YES – We are “capable of anything.”  From the motion picture “Oh God.”  “That’s why I gave you one another… All the choices are yours…You can love each other, cherish and nurture each other, or you can kill each other.” 

Shawn Timothy Nelson represents the very worst that lives in the hearts of men, while Bob Kline represents the very best in all of us.  Bobby’s bravery and character acts as a daily reminder that we are “capable of anything” and, even more importantly, that there is no such thing as a bad day.

Bread Crumb Compassion

We have come to accept certain political rhetoric as a means to achieve political acceptance and garner more votes on election day.  However, our further acceptance of such rhetoric should be distinguished and abhorred when it breeds callous reality.  

“The era of big government is over;” so stated President William Jefferson Clinton in his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1996. 

With that declaration the Corporate Democratic politician was established and the “The New Deal”, “The New Frontier” and “The Great Society” were trashed.   A review of the recent history of the minimum wage alone gives us an excellent perspective on just how disastrous this shift in political perspective has affected America.  

Murray Weidenbaum, chairman of President Reagan's first Council of Economic Advisers, has acknowledged they wanted to eliminate the minimum wage; but as the Wall Street Journal reported, "Because that would have been such a 'painful political process,' Mr. Weidenbaum says that he and other officials were content to let inflation turn the minimum wage into 'an effective dead letter.’"   Accordingly, President Reagan was the only modern-day president who failed to raise the minimum wage.  We have come to accept this as both Republican doctrine and agenda. 

In an effort to avoid sharing in this unsavory Reagan legacy, President Obama is asking congress and the states to immediately adopt a $10.10 minimum wage.  The President has taken the lead in this initiative.  He has instituted the $10.10 wage for those working under new government contracts.  This was done by an executive order to bypass congressional Republican opposition.  Thus far, only Connecticut has followed the president’s lead.  However, the $10.10 wage in Connecticut will not take effect until 2017, which will render its impact far less fruitful.   The other positive result from the president’s initiative has seen many states now moving toward adopting a higher minimum wage.  Minnesota is one those states.

Regarding the minimum wage, Minnesota Democrats, like their national counterparts, have also demonstrated a callous disregard that wasn’t prevalent before the Clinton’s proclamation. 

With a clear Democratic majority in Congress in 2010 the Democrats choose to enact “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA dubbed Obama Care) rather than providing single payer universal health care.  The PPACA bill was passed solely on the strength of a Democratic Party vote. 

Minnesota also has a Democratic majority in the state legislature.  Therefore, one might
have reasonably surmised that the immediate $10.10 wage would have gained serious
traction and even easy passage.  But like the PPACA legislation, the Democrats have
instead provided Minnesotans with a watered-down minimum wage law.   The $10.10
figure is nowhere in sight and, like Connecticut, by the time the increases are realized
they will have far less effect in stimulating the economy or alleviating the financial
stress of those in real need.  Another golden opportunity squandered. 

In the case of Minnesota, it was a chance to make up for some serious lost ground.  It
has been nine long years since the state increased its minimum wage.  During that time,
Republicans and the Democrats who heralded President Clinton’s battle cry
(“The era of big government is over.”) directed the state downward to one of the lowest
minimum wages in the country. 

For decades the Democrats were the only political means through which poor, underprivileged and middle-class causes were championed.   The lack of courage and resolve to champion these humane needs in any meaningful manner by today’s Democrats is now demanding the same acceptability as Republican doctrine and insensitivity. 

Bill Clinton presided over the ideological death of his compassionate predecessors and never shed a tear.  For us to now be embracing this demise as acceptable is a national travesty. 

U.S. Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) 

Poverty lines as established by HHS 

Family Of Three $21,960.00

Family Of Four   $26,500.00 

$10.00 Per Hour $20,800.00 

$15.00 Per Hour $31,200.00 

Minimum Wage $10.00 Per Hour – 40 Hours x $10.00 = $400.00 Per Week - $400.00 x 52 = $20,800.00 

Minimum Wage $15.00 Per Hour – 40 Hours x $15.00 = $600.00 Per Week - $600.00 x 52 = $31,200.00

“Worth The Fight”

“Inequality for All” is the official Facebook page of economist and author Robert Reich.

 The following is a post from Wednesday March 5^th.  

 It is offered because it is an excellent and extremely accurate perspective worth our consideration.

“How many of you recall a time in America when the income of a single school teacher or baker or salesman was enough to buy a home, have two cars, and raise a family? That used to be the norm.

 For three decades after World War II, we created the largest middle class the world had ever seen. During those years the wages of the typical American worker doubled, just as the size of the American economy doubled.

 More than a third of all workers belonged to a trade union -- giving average workers the bargaining power necessary to get a large and growing share of the large and growing economic pie (now, fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers are unionized).

 CEO pay then averaged about 40 times the pay of the typical worker (now it's over 300 times).

 In those years the richest 1 percent took home 9 to 10 percent of total income (today the top 1 percent gets more than 20 percent).

The tax rate on highest-income Americans never fell below 70 percent; under Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, it was 91 percent (today the top tax rate is 39.6 percent).

 Some of this money was used to build the largest infrastructure project in our history, the Interstate Highway system; some to build the world's largest and best system of free public education, and dramatically expand public higher education.

We enacted the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to extend prosperity and participation to African-Americans; Medicare and Medicaid to reduce poverty among America's seniors; and the Environmental Protection Act to help save our planet. And we made sure banking was boring.

Then came the great U-turn, and for the last thirty years we've been heading in the opposite direction. The collective erasure of the memory of that prior system of broad-based prosperity is the greatest propaganda victory…the privileged have ever achieved.  But the fact we did it then means we can do so again -- not exactly the same way, of course, but in a new way, fit for the twenty-first century and future generations of Americans. It is worth the fight.”

 I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood.

 The McGraw’s (4 kids), the Magneson’s (6 kids), the Scott’s (6 kids), the Hass’ (4 kids), the Malat’s (5 kids) and everyone of those families, as well as the other families in that neighborhood, could provide for their families.  They could own a house, buy a new car every couple of years, take a family and a couples vacation every year.  They could put their kids through college, had enough discretionary spending to enjoy hobbies (boating, golf, fishing, snow skiing, ball games) and save enough money for a comfortable retirement.  This was accomplished by dad working the same job in the same profession for 20 to 30 years while their wives would stay at home and work at the toughest, most important, most rewarding job in the world - being mothers and care givers to their families.   

 The year was 1960 when the average or median family income was $6,691.  $10,000 was considered an exceptional income and provided an excellent living.

 The argument is often made that while a new Mustang today may cost $40,000 while costing roughly $2,500 in the mid 1960’s, that that inflation isn’t viewed as unreasonable because incomes were lower.  Inherent in that logic is the absence of the fact that a high school student working part time during the school year and full time during the summer months could save the $2,500 for the car.  Not Today 

In the military a young man stated he had one objective during his three-year-tour of duty in Germany.  It was to buy a Porsche.  Shortly before leaving he paid cash for that brand new Porsche and had it shipped home.  He managed it on military pay and odd jobs he worked on base.  Not Today.

 The stories are endless on how much further a dollar went in the 1950’s and ‘60’s.  Ask any grandmother today and she will tell you that she could feed her family of 4 or 5 on roughly $120.00 (includes meat, toiletries and cleaning products) per week.  Not today.  

The strongest economy the world has ever seen was the American economy of ‘50s and ‘60s.  That success was predicated on the creation of the most affluent middle class the world has ever known.

 The size of an Americans income only has value in its spending power.  That spending power for middle class America has been ravaged and along with it a meaningful and prosperous quality of life that fostered a sense of pride in accomplishment.  To recapture that lost prosperity, that far better way of life, that sense of pride that this nation once exhibited is certainly “worth the fight.”   

Time for All to Meet Marie

Some met her when she was a Florida beauty queen.  Others may have met her when she was married to a boxer. Others made her acquaintance when she divorced him after he turned alcoholic and began beating her.  With three small children in tow, and refusing to accept any financial support from the boxer, she moved in with her mother to begin a new life.  While waitressing at a bar others met her.   But it wasn’t until she attended Vanderbilt University on a scholarship that T. Edward "Eddie" Sisk met her.    

 

Shortly after graduation Sisk became legal counsel to Tennessee’s newly elected Governor Ray Blanton.  Shortly after she graduated, Sisk offered her a remarkable opportunity to serve as an extradition officer.  She found herself being quickly promoted to the prestigious and powerful position as the chair of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles.  Her financial headaches were over, her children were secure, and she had a blossoming career.  

 

However, while in her new position, she discovered something most disturbing. There was a “Cash-for-Clemency” program within the governor’s administration.  She naturally felt compelled - against the strong objections of Sisk - to bring it to Governor Blanton’s attention. 

 

After notifying the governor she was shocked to see the program not only continued but flourished to include violent and sadistic felons. 

 

She met with Sisk several more times.  She made it clear she would not parole undeserving inmates.   As pressure grew to get her in line, she made a demand.   Either the program ends or she will go public with it.  They responded by giving her a substantial raise in pay, making her the second highest paid government official in Tennessee.

She persisted.  What followed was a nightmare of incredible proportions.   At one point she was arrested and jailed on trumped up charges.  When none of that worked, they fired her.

Gone was her livelihood.  Gone was the children’s security.  Gone was her blossoming career.  That would have stopped most people dead in their tracks; but not this lady.

 

She was determined to end the graft.   She now knew her only hope was to make it a matter of public record.  She therefore decided to sue the state of Tennessee for wrongful discharge making the hideous “Cash-for-Clemency” program the linchpin of her argument.  

 

Finding an attorney brave and ethical enough to take on the state became her next challenge.

 

Before he was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee and before he was an accomplished actor, Fred Dalton Thompson was an attorney – a good one and a brave one.  He risked his career by agreeing to expose this very powerful and corrupt state government in a trial that he believed he could never win.

 

The essence of their struggle was a key component in Thompson’s closing argument to the jury.

 

 “But you know a remarkable thing happened.  She didn’t collapse.  She fought back.  Not just for a job, but because she had to.

 

Have you ever fought a fight – alone – knowin’ you were gonna have to pay a price for it but you did it anyway because it was the right thing to do?  I hope I never see the day when I stop believing people do that sort of thing.”

 

And with that, a public record of Blanton’s malfeasance was finally achieved.

The sad truth is that the mention of Marie Ragghianti almost never conjures up any recollection.  It is a fervent hope that that will soon be corrected.  Her extraordinary courage and character need to be indelibly etched in our minds.  

 

Leadership is born of courage.  Without courage, progress and change are impossible.  Our country badly lacks such leadership today.

 

It is now time for all of America to become acquainted with Marie Ragghianti.  It is also time that we too pray that we “never see the day when (we) stop believing people do that sort of thing” and that a Marie Ragghianti will be found to lead us, very soon.

 

Note:  To learn more reference;

          Book: Marie: A True Story by Peter Maas

Film: Marie: A True Story - 1985