Whenever a new debate begins about the lack of morality in teenagers, the inevitable argument is, "Its all the fault of the media." Whatever the media is at the time, its their fault. Now, the problem with this is the incredibly short sighted nature of this argument. It forgets to take into account that this argument has probably been around as long as Socrates and maybe even longer - and has yet to be proven true.
Let's backtrack... In my mind, I am of the opinion that the lyrics I hear on the radio today are extremely suggestive. Clearly, any teenager or kid wearing suggestive clothes or doing adult things must be influenced by the media into doing them. (The argument being that without the media influence, they would, of course, be perfect angels ;)
However, when I was a teen myself I know darn well that there were suggestive lyrics, clothing, television, and movies all around me. To what extent did they get me into trouble? Umm... if I blame them now can I undo some of the punishments I received? No? Well, then, the truth is that I wasn't influenced by the media at all. Nor does it influence me to do bad things now. Oh, sure, occasionally I might hear a great song on the radio and not realize that I've accelerated a few extra miles per hour over the speed limit, but for the most part, no influence whatsoever.
So Bart Simpson didn't make me do bad things. Video Games didn't turn the generation after mine into gang members. And rap lyrics are not responsible for the end of Western Civilization as we know it. Going back... the Beatles didn't end American greatness nor bring about everlasting happiness neither. Comic Books didn't create an entire generation of criminal thugs. TV didn't rot our brains. Jazz didn't corrupt our souls, nor did that Rock and Roll stuff you hear so much about. And, for that matter, classical music, that we know of, has only caused one riot in Paris.
The reason this debate becomes such a huge quagmire is that so many people engage in it without any proof on either side. They see their rebellious teens and they list their teenage passions and they automatically equate the passions with the rebelliousness. And how much easier is it when the rebelliousness and the passion go hand in hand. Admit it, if you liked Pat Boone and your kid, no matter how rotten, also liked Pat Boone, you would never think that Pat Boone was the cause of your child's rotten streak. No. It would have to be something else, something anathema to the way you think and relate to the world, that is causing your child to behave differently than you.
Art is created to reflect life. Adult art is going to reflect adult life. Teen art is going to reflect teen life. And since teen life and adult life are so often at odds with one another, adults are naturally going to be suspicious of the art of teenagers because it likely reflects attitudes that are different from their own.
That being said, Rap still sucks. U2 is still the greatest band ever. Star Wars still rocks. And Rock and Roll still rules the world. And any teen that disagrees with me ought to spend four years in a military boot camp! ;)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Canary in the coal mine
I'd worried this day would come. It appears that a major retailer has started dropping product lines. We don't know whether this is business related or CPSIA related yet, but the curious timing of it coming just two weeks after the CPSIA deadline seems awfully suspicious. If this is CPSIA related, I would expect a great many chains to start following suit on just about everything even remotely related to children.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Suffering of the I-Conomy
I don't know. I don't know what'll work. On the one hand, fiscal conservatives say don't spend a damn thing... yet they were the ones who got us into this mess in the first place. Yet, they also were the ones that made Reaganomics work. On the other hand, fiscal liberals think the best solution is to throw lots and lots of money at the problem and make it go away. Massive government help is what characterized the New Deal of FDR and what got him elected four times. But I think the jury is out on whether that actually helped the economy since a war interrupted the experiment (and I think that's exactly the sort of history we DON'T want to repeat).
What I can say is that there is no one right solution. If there were, economists wouldn't have jobs. What I can also say is that people are suffering. They are losing jobs. They are losing homes. And we're long past the point where those losing jobs and homes are the ones who caused the problems. We're well into the period of serious collateral damage and even fiscal conservatives are starting to lose jobs and homes and retirements. Regardless of what solution works and what politics that solution derives from, it is up to the government at hand to make it happen.
In that, I'm somewhat optimistic that Obama is President. What I don't know about what he intends to do as President could fill an encyclopedia - heck, he's only been President a month. What I do know is that he is not jaded, cynical, nor a slave to party doctrines. I believe that he will do whatever he can to solve the problems of this nation. Whether that is ultimately good enough is something we shall all have to wait to find out.
I just hope that my i-conomy can survive until then.
What I can say is that there is no one right solution. If there were, economists wouldn't have jobs. What I can also say is that people are suffering. They are losing jobs. They are losing homes. And we're long past the point where those losing jobs and homes are the ones who caused the problems. We're well into the period of serious collateral damage and even fiscal conservatives are starting to lose jobs and homes and retirements. Regardless of what solution works and what politics that solution derives from, it is up to the government at hand to make it happen.
In that, I'm somewhat optimistic that Obama is President. What I don't know about what he intends to do as President could fill an encyclopedia - heck, he's only been President a month. What I do know is that he is not jaded, cynical, nor a slave to party doctrines. I believe that he will do whatever he can to solve the problems of this nation. Whether that is ultimately good enough is something we shall all have to wait to find out.
I just hope that my i-conomy can survive until then.
Monday, February 23, 2009
I think I'm So Clever!
In my accounting office there are two paintings. The first is a Manet. The second is a Monet. I always walk by and think to myself (and sometimes I say it out loud), "Manet! Monet! Money!"
Friday, February 20, 2009
Twelve Step Jedi - Final
A week from today is the World Premiere of my first film, Twelve Step Jedi.
I've been writing stories since I was in second grade. I'd have a flash of an idea and I couldn't wait to get it down with pencil and paper. To me, the writing was a way of living it - like make believe with words. I'd think up an idea, then I'd act it out in nouns, verbs, and adjectives. At that point, I was content.
The thought of sharing this idea with anyone else was never why I did it. But, of course, you begin to discover that there's a certain notoriety that comes from being a writer. People think you're smarter or a genius or something. And that affects your writing. Its not enough to just write down an idea and enjoy it for a while. No, you have to perfect that idea so that others can enjoy it. It robs the idea of any special power and makes it a commodity to be bought and sold. You begin to be judged as a writer. Its not the worst thing in the world, but it does take away from the special feeling of being a writer.
When I first had the idea for Twelve Step, I thought it would be a good idea for a film and I played with it a little in my mind before I let it slip back into the eternal realm of ideas never to be realized. It was only when Andrew Navarro insisted that we make a film together that I suddenly dredged it up. Together, as we began to talk about it, I started seeing this idea in a different way. For once, this wasn't an idea that I created and that others judged. This was an idea that came out of my head, but that didn't gain traction until others added to it.
All through the long months ahead, Andrew and I fleshed out this idea into a story and finally into a script. At the premiere next week I will be showing actual footage that we recorded of one of our writer's sessions where you can see a character take shape and actual dialog created. The writing process is almost mystical in that when you are watching it, words seem to just fall out of thin air and become absorbed into the brains of the writers. The footage shows us throwing out ideas, rejecting the bad ones, laughing at the good ones, and putting it all down on paper. Its a video record of two people visiting the exact same idea at the exact same time. And at the end of that particular session, we put the script to bed.
Again, I got that feeling of visiting the idea in a new way when we got together with the cast for the first time for the script reading. Here was my idea taking on flesh and blood and sinew and voice. But by now, it wasn't just my idea. Now it was Andrew's and mine idea. It had evolved beyond a simple thought into a full blown script. And here were a group of actors starting the process of bringing those words to life. They were allowing me to hear what my words sounded like and giving me a first glimpse into what my world looked like when seen through my eyes and not my brain. It was just the first sip of a sweet champagne.
Over the next two weeks, we filmed almost the entire movie. We jumped around from one scene to the next and took many takes, and I'd like to say that I found the process as intoxicating and as pleasurable as the script reading, but I was mostly concerned with making sure that we got every line of dialog and every shot of footage that we needed in the time allotted.
When, at last, the film was done and I'd had enough distance from it to at least catch up on my sleep, I started watching the film. And my eyes opened yet again as I saw the first shape of a finished film on my computer screen. Here were the living and breathing characters walking around and talking and behaving as if I'd summoned them off the page. Here were the words I'd first heard spoken at the script reading. Here was the story that Andrew and I had crafted over the course of six months. Here was the idea I'd first noodled with almost a year before... in the flesh. But it wasn't quite perfect.
And so, over the past few months I've been messing with the edit and adjusting the color, and fixing some glaring problems with the story, and adding sound and music. And finally, when I pop that DVD into the machine and turn it on, I am visiting this other world that I first imagined more than a year ago. This brief glimpse of an idea has grown into a full fledged movie with story, character, dialog, and music.
When you watch it, you won't see the various layers. You won't hear a line of dialog and think about the creation of that line, or the various lines that didn't make it, or the eight different versions of that line that the actor gave, or what that line sounded like originally before editing and before sound effects and before music was added. You will see Gabriel Hall telling Pad... Monica that he loves her and you will be swept up by the moment as you visit this magical world for a brief forty nine and a half minutes. You will experience a world that popped out of my mind.
And I will experience it as well. Because the truth is, the way I knew the movie was done, was when I realized that I could no longer see it for its individual parts. It had become its own thing. It had started to exist on its own, combined, merits.
For the first time since I started writing way back in second grade, I have finally created something that others can visit and see just the way it first formed in my head. You can be a part of my crazy world.
A week from today is the World Premiere of my first film, Twelve Step Jedi, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have already.
I've been writing stories since I was in second grade. I'd have a flash of an idea and I couldn't wait to get it down with pencil and paper. To me, the writing was a way of living it - like make believe with words. I'd think up an idea, then I'd act it out in nouns, verbs, and adjectives. At that point, I was content.
The thought of sharing this idea with anyone else was never why I did it. But, of course, you begin to discover that there's a certain notoriety that comes from being a writer. People think you're smarter or a genius or something. And that affects your writing. Its not enough to just write down an idea and enjoy it for a while. No, you have to perfect that idea so that others can enjoy it. It robs the idea of any special power and makes it a commodity to be bought and sold. You begin to be judged as a writer. Its not the worst thing in the world, but it does take away from the special feeling of being a writer.
When I first had the idea for Twelve Step, I thought it would be a good idea for a film and I played with it a little in my mind before I let it slip back into the eternal realm of ideas never to be realized. It was only when Andrew Navarro insisted that we make a film together that I suddenly dredged it up. Together, as we began to talk about it, I started seeing this idea in a different way. For once, this wasn't an idea that I created and that others judged. This was an idea that came out of my head, but that didn't gain traction until others added to it.
All through the long months ahead, Andrew and I fleshed out this idea into a story and finally into a script. At the premiere next week I will be showing actual footage that we recorded of one of our writer's sessions where you can see a character take shape and actual dialog created. The writing process is almost mystical in that when you are watching it, words seem to just fall out of thin air and become absorbed into the brains of the writers. The footage shows us throwing out ideas, rejecting the bad ones, laughing at the good ones, and putting it all down on paper. Its a video record of two people visiting the exact same idea at the exact same time. And at the end of that particular session, we put the script to bed.
Again, I got that feeling of visiting the idea in a new way when we got together with the cast for the first time for the script reading. Here was my idea taking on flesh and blood and sinew and voice. But by now, it wasn't just my idea. Now it was Andrew's and mine idea. It had evolved beyond a simple thought into a full blown script. And here were a group of actors starting the process of bringing those words to life. They were allowing me to hear what my words sounded like and giving me a first glimpse into what my world looked like when seen through my eyes and not my brain. It was just the first sip of a sweet champagne.
Over the next two weeks, we filmed almost the entire movie. We jumped around from one scene to the next and took many takes, and I'd like to say that I found the process as intoxicating and as pleasurable as the script reading, but I was mostly concerned with making sure that we got every line of dialog and every shot of footage that we needed in the time allotted.
When, at last, the film was done and I'd had enough distance from it to at least catch up on my sleep, I started watching the film. And my eyes opened yet again as I saw the first shape of a finished film on my computer screen. Here were the living and breathing characters walking around and talking and behaving as if I'd summoned them off the page. Here were the words I'd first heard spoken at the script reading. Here was the story that Andrew and I had crafted over the course of six months. Here was the idea I'd first noodled with almost a year before... in the flesh. But it wasn't quite perfect.
And so, over the past few months I've been messing with the edit and adjusting the color, and fixing some glaring problems with the story, and adding sound and music. And finally, when I pop that DVD into the machine and turn it on, I am visiting this other world that I first imagined more than a year ago. This brief glimpse of an idea has grown into a full fledged movie with story, character, dialog, and music.
When you watch it, you won't see the various layers. You won't hear a line of dialog and think about the creation of that line, or the various lines that didn't make it, or the eight different versions of that line that the actor gave, or what that line sounded like originally before editing and before sound effects and before music was added. You will see Gabriel Hall telling Pad... Monica that he loves her and you will be swept up by the moment as you visit this magical world for a brief forty nine and a half minutes. You will experience a world that popped out of my mind.
And I will experience it as well. Because the truth is, the way I knew the movie was done, was when I realized that I could no longer see it for its individual parts. It had become its own thing. It had started to exist on its own, combined, merits.
For the first time since I started writing way back in second grade, I have finally created something that others can visit and see just the way it first formed in my head. You can be a part of my crazy world.
A week from today is the World Premiere of my first film, Twelve Step Jedi, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have already.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Perils of Living In The Moment
Over the past weekend I have been challenged by a series of blog posts by my good friend Randall Sherman talking about the reactions to those Germans of the World War II era who lived through one of the most heinous regimes in modern history by their children who had to grow up with the knowledge of their parents activities during this period. As Randall so aptly pointed out, for children of American's who participated in the war, we wanted to know what our parents did, but for children of German's during the same period, their children wanted to know what their parents didn't do. I am challenged by this notion as well by being in a class that is reading the great sermons of Martin Luther King Jr. His comments about the civil rights movement while it was happening seem to mirror some of the same discussions being conducted at Randall's blog. Namely, what is evil? How do we recognize it? And what is our responsibility as citizens to confront it? And finally, to what extent are we complicit in the perpetration of this evil?
The Nazi regime and its crimes seems to be a great touchstone for modern people to discuss evil. We have awoken to the notion that for evil to exist it needs a great deal of fertilizer to grow. Some of this fertilizer comes from the use of strength and fear to subdue those that would stamp evil out. Some of the fertilizer comes from the control of information. Some comes from lies and deceit. But the greatest portion seems to come from the manipulation of our own baser instincts to hate things that do not conform to our world view. When hatemongers seize on our natural hatreds this way, an entire people can be moved to do horrendous things.
Which isn't to say that all German people did horrendous things. No. Far from it. But, point of fact, horrendous things were done by German people and a great many people knew about it and did nothing to stop it. And these people who were not doing horrendous things were normal people. They were church goers. They were respected citizens. And many of them would never even contemplate lifting a finger in violence to their neighbors. Which is what causes the mind to boggle at the nature of things that were done on their behalf.
Martin Luther King reminds us of the horrendous things being done to his people on behalf of church going, respected, peace loving citizens of America. In sermon after sermon he tells us of the evils being perpetrated to an entire class of people in order to maintain the status quot. What were your parents doing during the Civil Rights struggles of the 50's and 60's? What did they do before that period? How complicit were they in the oppression of that period? These aren't easy questions to answer.
Pastor J.D. Ward, our Christian Education leader, reminded us on Sunday night that all generations are judged by the rules of tomorrow's society. Right now we are committing evil in the eyes of generations to come. Things that we are doing, that we are not even aware is wrong, will be judged in the future as evil and we will be called to task for our complicity in it. We might be judged for the raping of the planet. We might be judged for the Iraq war. We might be judged for the horrid laws we have passed against our brothers and sisters of the Gay/Lesbian persuasion, or our neighbors from the South looking for work in this country. Or perhaps it will be something that we're not even aware of at this moment, some act of madness that we can not even imagine yet that will have its roots in our current practices today. No matter how much we try to see beyond this moment, we are still forced to live in the now and to work with the knowledge of what is good and what is evil that we have available to us.
Jesus said, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." We are blind to the possibilities of the great evils that we are perpetuating right now. All we can do is pray for enlightenment before we have done too much harm.
The Nazi regime and its crimes seems to be a great touchstone for modern people to discuss evil. We have awoken to the notion that for evil to exist it needs a great deal of fertilizer to grow. Some of this fertilizer comes from the use of strength and fear to subdue those that would stamp evil out. Some of the fertilizer comes from the control of information. Some comes from lies and deceit. But the greatest portion seems to come from the manipulation of our own baser instincts to hate things that do not conform to our world view. When hatemongers seize on our natural hatreds this way, an entire people can be moved to do horrendous things.
Which isn't to say that all German people did horrendous things. No. Far from it. But, point of fact, horrendous things were done by German people and a great many people knew about it and did nothing to stop it. And these people who were not doing horrendous things were normal people. They were church goers. They were respected citizens. And many of them would never even contemplate lifting a finger in violence to their neighbors. Which is what causes the mind to boggle at the nature of things that were done on their behalf.
Martin Luther King reminds us of the horrendous things being done to his people on behalf of church going, respected, peace loving citizens of America. In sermon after sermon he tells us of the evils being perpetrated to an entire class of people in order to maintain the status quot. What were your parents doing during the Civil Rights struggles of the 50's and 60's? What did they do before that period? How complicit were they in the oppression of that period? These aren't easy questions to answer.
Pastor J.D. Ward, our Christian Education leader, reminded us on Sunday night that all generations are judged by the rules of tomorrow's society. Right now we are committing evil in the eyes of generations to come. Things that we are doing, that we are not even aware is wrong, will be judged in the future as evil and we will be called to task for our complicity in it. We might be judged for the raping of the planet. We might be judged for the Iraq war. We might be judged for the horrid laws we have passed against our brothers and sisters of the Gay/Lesbian persuasion, or our neighbors from the South looking for work in this country. Or perhaps it will be something that we're not even aware of at this moment, some act of madness that we can not even imagine yet that will have its roots in our current practices today. No matter how much we try to see beyond this moment, we are still forced to live in the now and to work with the knowledge of what is good and what is evil that we have available to us.
Jesus said, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." We are blind to the possibilities of the great evils that we are perpetuating right now. All we can do is pray for enlightenment before we have done too much harm.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Saved by Absurdity?
As an update to the CPSIA nonsense I wrote about last week, so far, nothing has happened. And nothing has happened precisely because this law is so badly written that nobody has any idea what it actually says. Even the governing body of the CPSC is having such a hard time interpreting the law that a Federal Court struck down one of its interpretations.
Of course, this regulatory Mexican standoff can't last forever. Sooner or later, someone's going to pull the trigger and then all heck is going to break loose with the potential that manufacturers and consumers and the government might spend the rest of the decade in court trying to sort all of this mess out.
So let's call this the sitzkrieg - the phony war - where everything appears to be sunny and warm without a bomb in sight. The distant thunder you hear on the horizon, however, tells you a different story.
Of course, this regulatory Mexican standoff can't last forever. Sooner or later, someone's going to pull the trigger and then all heck is going to break loose with the potential that manufacturers and consumers and the government might spend the rest of the decade in court trying to sort all of this mess out.
So let's call this the sitzkrieg - the phony war - where everything appears to be sunny and warm without a bomb in sight. The distant thunder you hear on the horizon, however, tells you a different story.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Filing up my time
No Movie. No classes. No youth group. No vacations. No houses to build. And soon, no basketball. What's a man to do?
Come on, after 608 posts, you know me better than that. If there's one thing I'm good at, its filling up my time with new projects.
So, I'm now working with a group that's trying to get a mission project off the ground in Kenya. I'm also making a return to church politics (as a member of the Nominating Committee). And I'm taking a short course through the church on the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King.
I'm also donating my SUV to Habitat for Humanity (you'd think it'd be easy, but its not), trying to find out what happened to the fishing pole I sent in for repair, running a Girl Scout Cookie service on the side, and catching up on a lot of reading and TV. Thank God I finished all of my previous projects before both LOST and Battlestar Galactica came back on the air.
But mostly I've been writing again (and not a moment too soon). I'm trying to get a whole bunch of projects going all at once so that as interest wanes in one project I'll have another project to work on. I'm writing one novel and six scripts. The novel is science fiction. The scripts are science fiction, detective story, romantic comedy, historical fiction, super hero story, and an adaption of a true life story. My mind sometimes reels as I go from one project to the next, but that's okay because it keeps my mind off the streets and from joining a gang. Honestly, sometimes, where it will gooooooo...
So, that's it. Back to my busy life that is still somehow a vacation from the previous year's projects... ;)
Come on, after 608 posts, you know me better than that. If there's one thing I'm good at, its filling up my time with new projects.
So, I'm now working with a group that's trying to get a mission project off the ground in Kenya. I'm also making a return to church politics (as a member of the Nominating Committee). And I'm taking a short course through the church on the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King.
I'm also donating my SUV to Habitat for Humanity (you'd think it'd be easy, but its not), trying to find out what happened to the fishing pole I sent in for repair, running a Girl Scout Cookie service on the side, and catching up on a lot of reading and TV. Thank God I finished all of my previous projects before both LOST and Battlestar Galactica came back on the air.
But mostly I've been writing again (and not a moment too soon). I'm trying to get a whole bunch of projects going all at once so that as interest wanes in one project I'll have another project to work on. I'm writing one novel and six scripts. The novel is science fiction. The scripts are science fiction, detective story, romantic comedy, historical fiction, super hero story, and an adaption of a true life story. My mind sometimes reels as I go from one project to the next, but that's okay because it keeps my mind off the streets and from joining a gang. Honestly, sometimes, where it will gooooooo...
So, that's it. Back to my busy life that is still somehow a vacation from the previous year's projects... ;)
Friday, February 06, 2009
Greater Depression Watch #3
Remember this date... February 11th, 2009... It will long be credited as the day the Greater Depression really hit its stride. Why? Because Congress has got its head somewhere that you and I don't want to visit.
The gist of the problem is this. Congress, in trying to be seen as being 100% safe for children, has created a law called the CPSIA (I may have mentioned this before). This law states that lead and pthalates shouldn't be too high in children's products - which is a good idea. However, on February 11th, this law goes into effect nationwide on all products - even ones that are already on the shelves - and any children's product that hasn't been tested (and passed) for lead or pthalates must be removed from the shelves and destroyed. Unfortunately, what Congress didn't explain fully is what a children's product is. They are leaving that to the CPSC to decide. The CPSC hasn't even formulated rules to figure out how they're going to figure out what's a children's product or not, much less given any sort of clear definition. Should they happen to come up with some workable guidelines in the next hour or so, that would give manufacturers exactly four days to test every single product they have for lead and pthalates or have their products removed from the shelf and destroyed.
Now, lest you think I'm exaggerating this problem, I'm telling you that this will effect the entire country in profoundly disturbing ways. Teachers will have to basically strip their classrooms of all toys, books, furniture, rugs, and any other product created for the use of children - and destroy them - or face fines of up to $100,000 per offense. And good luck replacing all those items, because the stores that sell the items will be pulling them off the shelves (Micheal's is one chain that I know of) and destroying them, then asking the manufacturers to reimburse the store for the lost merchandise. And the manufacturers? Well, without the ability to sell new merchandise to anyone until they have their products tested and with requests to reimburse their customers for all the products sold, these companies will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy and close their doors. Which will mean that not only will millions of people lose their jobs in the next month, but the banks which thrive on the money they lend manufacturers will collapse as well taking the rest of our fragile economy with it. So basically, its pretty much financial armageddon.
Now, the CPSC has tried to resolve this conflict. They've said that there will be a stay of enforcement until February of next year. But yesterday, the Federal Court in Atlanta basically said that the law will remain in effect come February 10th. And Congress's reaction? They've called for the resignation of the head of the CPSC because of her inept handling of the law (thus making it virtually impossible that any clarification will occur between now and February 10th, by the way). So, basically, we're screwed.
I'd like to think that cooler heads will prevail, but I think people have become so blase to doom and gloom pronouncements that they simply refuse to see the writing on the wall. I've been dealing with this problem now for four months - trying to steer my company on a path that will ensure its survival - and everytime I've thought my pronouncements of doom and gloom were over the top, I've been proven wrong. It'll be much worse than I've ever thought - but only so long as the people in charge of implementing this law continue with their heads in the sand. If cooler heads and wiser thinking prevails, this need merely be a small blip in the business world (tougher testing, yeah, okay, we can handle that - no problem). However, these people are not keeping their cool and seem intent on bringing this situation to the brink. They are barreling towards a precipice despite all the danger signs simply because they refuse to believe that the danger exists in the first place. And by the time they go sailing out into the void, it'll be too late to undo the damage.
So, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best, or come February 11th (four days from now) watch as every news channel in the country starts talking about empty shelves and manufacturers folding left and right and wondering how this could possibly happen.
The gist of the problem is this. Congress, in trying to be seen as being 100% safe for children, has created a law called the CPSIA (I may have mentioned this before). This law states that lead and pthalates shouldn't be too high in children's products - which is a good idea. However, on February 11th, this law goes into effect nationwide on all products - even ones that are already on the shelves - and any children's product that hasn't been tested (and passed) for lead or pthalates must be removed from the shelves and destroyed. Unfortunately, what Congress didn't explain fully is what a children's product is. They are leaving that to the CPSC to decide. The CPSC hasn't even formulated rules to figure out how they're going to figure out what's a children's product or not, much less given any sort of clear definition. Should they happen to come up with some workable guidelines in the next hour or so, that would give manufacturers exactly four days to test every single product they have for lead and pthalates or have their products removed from the shelf and destroyed.
Now, lest you think I'm exaggerating this problem, I'm telling you that this will effect the entire country in profoundly disturbing ways. Teachers will have to basically strip their classrooms of all toys, books, furniture, rugs, and any other product created for the use of children - and destroy them - or face fines of up to $100,000 per offense. And good luck replacing all those items, because the stores that sell the items will be pulling them off the shelves (Micheal's is one chain that I know of) and destroying them, then asking the manufacturers to reimburse the store for the lost merchandise. And the manufacturers? Well, without the ability to sell new merchandise to anyone until they have their products tested and with requests to reimburse their customers for all the products sold, these companies will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy and close their doors. Which will mean that not only will millions of people lose their jobs in the next month, but the banks which thrive on the money they lend manufacturers will collapse as well taking the rest of our fragile economy with it. So basically, its pretty much financial armageddon.
Now, the CPSC has tried to resolve this conflict. They've said that there will be a stay of enforcement until February of next year. But yesterday, the Federal Court in Atlanta basically said that the law will remain in effect come February 10th. And Congress's reaction? They've called for the resignation of the head of the CPSC because of her inept handling of the law (thus making it virtually impossible that any clarification will occur between now and February 10th, by the way). So, basically, we're screwed.
I'd like to think that cooler heads will prevail, but I think people have become so blase to doom and gloom pronouncements that they simply refuse to see the writing on the wall. I've been dealing with this problem now for four months - trying to steer my company on a path that will ensure its survival - and everytime I've thought my pronouncements of doom and gloom were over the top, I've been proven wrong. It'll be much worse than I've ever thought - but only so long as the people in charge of implementing this law continue with their heads in the sand. If cooler heads and wiser thinking prevails, this need merely be a small blip in the business world (tougher testing, yeah, okay, we can handle that - no problem). However, these people are not keeping their cool and seem intent on bringing this situation to the brink. They are barreling towards a precipice despite all the danger signs simply because they refuse to believe that the danger exists in the first place. And by the time they go sailing out into the void, it'll be too late to undo the damage.
So, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best, or come February 11th (four days from now) watch as every news channel in the country starts talking about empty shelves and manufacturers folding left and right and wondering how this could possibly happen.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
The Curious Case of the Kamikaze Bee
One of the many things I learned on my recent trip south to help build homes was that if you haven't done something to rile up the Devil today, you're not trying hard enough in your Christianity. Or to put it in the words of the Asst. Reverend of the First Baptist Church of Pearlington, MS, "If the Devil ain't hoppin' mad at you, you ain't praying hard enough!" Thanks to these wonderful words, I now have this mental image of Satan in a battle control center watching my every move and either high-fiveing his minions when I totally screw up (too often, I'm afraid) or throwing things at the monitor when I do something right. But just so you know that Satan isn't above a little cheating and unsportsman-like behavior from time to time, he can throw things at me as well to show his displeasure and try to get me off my game.
Needless to say, I must have really pissed him off lately. After a successful mission trip, I immediately set to work with a new mission group looking to help with street kids in Kenya. And I've also been starting up the hard work of our nominating committee looking for new church leaders. Beyond that, I'm starting to finally get my act together now that I'm done with film classes and my film. I've gotten back to my workout routine and my diet that I reluctantly abandoned when I went back to school last fall. I've been getting more sleep, reading more books, spending more time in prayer and in community with others - basically all the things that Satan really hates.
Which is why he sent the kamikaze bee after me yesterday.
I was walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden there was a streak of something and WHAM! my lower lip hurt like hell. I looked around, dazed, for the culprit but saw nothing. My eyes teared up with the sudden wave of pain and I gingerly touched my lip to feel it raw and throbbing already. But, after a minute or so, my head cleared enough for me to figure out that I'd probably been attacked by a bee and that I was either going to go into anaphylactic shock or I was just going to be in pain for a while. When I didn't go into shock, I started to walk back to my work.
A second later I realized something was crawling on my neck and WHAM! the darn bee stung me again - this time in the neck. Stupid terrorist bee! One suicide attack wasn't enough?! This time I shook the bee loose and tried to deal with it Jack Bauer style, but the bee flew away laughing as it did.
So, yesterday, as I sat around my office with an ice pack on my Free Botoxed lower lip, and sucked up the pain like a man (I kept the crying for my mommy on the inside) I suddenly thought of those words and realized that Satan had merely been trying to get me off my game by sending his Killer Bees at my Dome. I guess I must have made Satan hoppin' mad! And that made me smile... but only for a little bit before the pain made me reapply the ice pack.
Needless to say, I must have really pissed him off lately. After a successful mission trip, I immediately set to work with a new mission group looking to help with street kids in Kenya. And I've also been starting up the hard work of our nominating committee looking for new church leaders. Beyond that, I'm starting to finally get my act together now that I'm done with film classes and my film. I've gotten back to my workout routine and my diet that I reluctantly abandoned when I went back to school last fall. I've been getting more sleep, reading more books, spending more time in prayer and in community with others - basically all the things that Satan really hates.
Which is why he sent the kamikaze bee after me yesterday.
I was walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden there was a streak of something and WHAM! my lower lip hurt like hell. I looked around, dazed, for the culprit but saw nothing. My eyes teared up with the sudden wave of pain and I gingerly touched my lip to feel it raw and throbbing already. But, after a minute or so, my head cleared enough for me to figure out that I'd probably been attacked by a bee and that I was either going to go into anaphylactic shock or I was just going to be in pain for a while. When I didn't go into shock, I started to walk back to my work.
A second later I realized something was crawling on my neck and WHAM! the darn bee stung me again - this time in the neck. Stupid terrorist bee! One suicide attack wasn't enough?! This time I shook the bee loose and tried to deal with it Jack Bauer style, but the bee flew away laughing as it did.
So, yesterday, as I sat around my office with an ice pack on my Free Botoxed lower lip, and sucked up the pain like a man (I kept the crying for my mommy on the inside) I suddenly thought of those words and realized that Satan had merely been trying to get me off my game by sending his Killer Bees at my Dome. I guess I must have made Satan hoppin' mad! And that made me smile... but only for a little bit before the pain made me reapply the ice pack.
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