Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Is all work that is legal, honorable?

You've been in a minor mishap.  Nothing life threatening, but you need a trip to the ER for a few stitches and to be checked out by a doctor.  An attractive doctor eventually shows up at your bedside, after a wait of one or two hours.  The doctor looks familiar.  Then it dawns on you.  You aren't a fan of pornography, but there was the bachelor party (bachelorette for you ladies) where they showed an old porno.  Your doctor, much younger then, was one of the stars of that film. 

Does your opinion of them change?  Should it change?  Is the work we do to get to where we want to be in life part and parcel of who we are, depending on what it is we did along the way?  Now we know that illegal acts, like robbery, burglary, drug-dealing and the like are crimes and should alter the opinions others have about people who use those methods to get an education.

Making porn films is legal.  There are places where it is illegal to make them, but the gigantic industry of smut goes where it is legal because breaking the law isn't worth the risks.  "Belle Knox" is the name being used by that Duke University for her porn work.  She says she's proud and empowered by the work she's doing in making adult films.

Would it surprise you to learn I once worked on the fringe of the adult entertainment industry?  That while I was serving my country in our military, I had a part-time gig as the cashier in an adult bookstore?  If you're a long-time reader of this blog, it shouldn't.  Now would I act in a porn film?  The chances of that happening are less likely than someone hitting the "perfect bracket" in the NCAA men's basketball tournament and thereby winning a billion dollars.  It isn't ever going to happen.  However, I will not look "down" on anyone who worked in that industry, or as a 'stripper' or any other job that doesn't involve illegality.

Prostitution is illegal only because politicians have to be responsive to the morality of religious conservatives.  Prostitution should be legal, regulated and heavily taxed.  If a married man wants to visit the local brothel and enjoy himself, that is between himself, his wife and their bank balance.  It is nobody else's business.  This is one where Nevada is way ahead of the rest of the nation. 

Now when work is legal, but the work that is done is immoral, then the work is no longer honorable.  The sales agents who worked for Lincoln Savings, convincing elderly depositors to put their money in risky securities rather than in safe deposit accounts knew exactly what they were doing.  They misled their customers into believing that their money was just as safe in these types of investments as they would have been in savings accounts/CDs.  Those depositors lost $285 million in 1989 and the FSLIC did not cover their losses.  Had they kept their money in deposit accounts, they would have been protected.  That is the kind of work that is legal, but not honorable.  Keating was sent to prison for fraud, but his minions who dealt in deceit just went on to their next enterprise.  I'd guess they went to work at Enron.

You may want to judge porn as immoral.  Feel free.  I won't.  If someone enjoys themselves making or watching that kind of movie, more power to them.  And to Ms Knox, for finding a way to pay for college that she enjoys.

* * *

I really want to go play trivia with my friends tonight.  But I'm really beat.  I am going to be very busy starting tomorrow for four days.  The fun decision would be to pretend to ignore the fatigue and just go.  The smarter decision would be to stay home and rest up.  A few weeks ago I'd have gone and played trivia and worried about catching up on the rest later on.

But I had a conversation on the subject with one of my close friends last week.  We both have physical problems that limit our abilities to do things we once did with ease.  She talked about learning to live the life we have now, rather than trying to live the life we once had.  It makes a lot of sense.

In August of 2006 I started a full-time job that required me to work between 42 and 45 hours a week.  At the time I was still finishing up my degree and teaching tax preparation classes.  So I found myself working fulltime during the day, teaching classes three to four nights a week and trying to finish up my degree.  I still managed to have an active social life.  I didn't have issues with fatigue.  That's the life I once had.  The life I can't lead now.

Last night I sat down and thought about what I'd like to do on Wednesday.  Go see a movie, run some errands, then head down for a fun night of trivia.  I'd be up at 6:30 a.m., and wouldn't be home until 11:30 p.m.  That fantasy played in my head for about a moment.  Then I sighed and realized I'd spend all of today and this evening at home.

After tonight, there are only three more Wednesday nights where my ability to go and play trivia will be hampered by work.  I'm pretty sure I'll play on one or two of those nights.  I love playing trivia.  I love getting out of this building and spending time with my friends.  In fact, thinking about that makes me want to go do it tonight.  But I won't.  I'll live the live I have, rather than the life I had.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Given the fiscal disaster known as the budget of the City of Los Angeles, a sales tax increase for the sole purpose of infrastructure repair (streets and sidewalks) is actually a good idea.

I don't believe in capital punishment for fiscal responsibility reasons.  I do believe that a state has the right to continue to use capital punishment if that is the will of the majority, no matter how bad a choice that is.  But what Oklahoma is doing, in not disclosing the drugs they plan to use in conducting executions, is just plain wrong.

I can only imagine the "heat" a man would get when coming home from a sale with an egg that cost $13,000.  Right up until the moment the buyer learns that the egg is worth more than $33 million.  At that point an apology would be in order.

I've kind of stopped watching "Rizzoli and Isles" but I plan to catch up on season 4 so I will be ready to see how they handle the departure of Lee Thompson.  Thompson took his own life last year.

Anyone who thinks that J. C. Penney's is the only large retailer that hikes the "regular" price and then puts the item "on sale" at a price close to the original price, is delusional. 

If it were up to me, we would walk into the auditorium to see "Star Wars - Episode VII" knowing nothing about the film we are about to view.  I don't want to listen to the endless drivel that will be spewed between now and opening day about how J. J. Abrams is ruining the vision of George Lucas.

The high school principal in Arkansas who chose to exclude a student's profile from the school yearbook simply because he "outed" himself,, should be ashamed.  Oh, and she should be fired.

Considering how much pizza delivery businesses, sports bars and the like make from March Madness and other collegiate sports, maybe they should chip in to help pay the student-athletes.

What kind of idiot tries to pose for a selfie while sitting in the lap of a centuries old statue?

The first time a college or university makes a mistake and notifies students who were rejected or waitlisted that they were admitted is understandable.  But to happen a second time within five years should definitely raise an eyebrow or two.

Chad Thomas is a high school student and was offered scholarships by 150 colleges.  Not just for his football skills, he is also a very talented musician who plays nine instruments.  This guy could play the first half, and then be the marching band all by himself at halftime.

* * *

March 19th in History:

1279 – A Mongolian victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots.
1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
1812 – The Cádiz Cortes promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.
1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
1885 – Louis Riel declares a Provisional Government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph.
1918 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1941 – World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the US Army Air Corps, is activated.
1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Rail Yard.
1944 – World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
1954 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour.
1954 – Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio. The record still stands today.
1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
1962 – Highly influential artist, Bob Dylan releases his first album, Bob Dylan, on Columbia Records label.
1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
1966 – Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four with an all-black starting lineup.
1969 – The 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.
1987 – Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
1989 – The Egyptian Flag is raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the peace negotiations in 1979.
1990 – The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureş begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.
2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.
2004 – Konginkangas bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
2004 – A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the three crewmen are left in place, pending further investigations.
2004 – 3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
2011 – Libyan civil war: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.

Famous Folk Born on March 19th:

Ashikaga Yoshikatsu (became Shogun at age of 8, died in a fall at age of 10)
William Bradford
John IV of Portugal
David Livingstone (yes, the one who was in the question "Dr. Livingstone, I presume."
Williams Jenning Bryan (Forced to address a crowd while standing on a manure spreader, William Jennings Bryan was equal to the occasion. "My friends," he thundered, "this is the first time I have ever spoken on a Republican platform.")
Wyatt Earp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1YnGhofJGQ [long] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiofo-Ly1A8)
Alfred von Tirpitz
General Joseph Stilwell
Earl Warren
General James Van Fleet (this guy earned three Distinguished Services Crosses...amazing)
John Sirica
Albert Speer
Adolf Eichmann
Robert G. Cole (Medal of Honor recipient)
Tige Andrews (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl52fDiDXpE)
Peggy Ahern
Patricia Morison
Pamela Britton (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bED3HD9hI-4)
Brent Scowcroft
Patrick McGoohan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoG7m1V6aw)
Gene Selznick (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlZkus7Al7U)
Philip Roth
Renee Taylor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Q29j2gll4 I had no idea she was nominated for an Academy Award for writing an adapted screenplay)
Bert Metcalfe
Ursula Andress (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3lAjyUUS1g)
Clarence "Frogman" Henry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT6cDQhyaxA)
Joe Kapp
Sirhan Sirhan
Glenn Close (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYHeZCEFwhI)
Harvey Weinstein
Bruce Willis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pILXoPluHtw)
Neil Labute (wrote and directed this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oubnr-4_RCo)
A. J. Lee