Author Archive: Bill Black

I'm a baby boomer, lefty Democrat, Boston Irish Catholic, born in 1953. I work as a public affairs consultant in Washington.

My Favorite Twilight Zone Episode

Bill Black | January 3, 2010 | 0 Comments

I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on my all-time favorite Twilight Zone episode, Five Characters in Search of an Exit. It depicts five people with easily identifiable roles, a soldier, a ballerina, a clown, etc., who find themselves in a plain white cylinder that is open at the top. They don’t know how they got there, have no memory from before they got there and don’t know what the cylinder is. Periodically, the deafening sound of bells ringing rattles the cylinder.

The soldier motivates them all to try to escape through the top and they try various means. Finally, one goes over the top and the rest remain puzzled as to where he went. The scene then shifts and the ending is both amusing and deeply depressing.

I’ve read some reviews online that trashed the show. I don’t think they get it. For me, this show is an allegory of the human condition. How did we get here? Why are we here? And what happens when we go “over the top?” Fundamentally, we have no greater understanding of these deep questions than the characters in that cylinder. Maybe I was in my most deep existential angst stage at the time, but that show haunted me for years. Still does.

Twilight Zone Marathon

Bill Black | January 2, 2010 | 0 Comments

The ScyFy channel runs an annual Twilight Zone Marathon every year during New Year’s and I love it. They run back to back episodes around the clock. It allows me to check back in on some of my favorites and discover new episodes. And it reminds me what a genius Rod Serling was. I am also struck by the provocative themes he explores in the show. A recurring theme is Nazis and the Holocaust. I just watched a very vivid episode , entitled Death’s Head Revisited, that follows a former Nazi’s camp guard who revisits Dachau and encounters the ghost of one of the inmates he tortured and killed. While the images in the show are subdued and depict the actual camp and the posts where prisoners were hung, the script is brutal, with some pretty explicit descriptions of what went on in the camp. In the end, the former guard is forced to endure, in his mind, the full range of suffering he inflicted on others. It was powerful.

But there was another episode, entitled He’s Alive, that was amazing in the degree to which it remains relevant today. It starred a very young Dennis Hopper playing a pathetic neo-Nazi whose rantings are ignored until he receives advice from a mysterious, shadowy figure. The show was an hour long, which suggests it was a special episode when it first aired in 1963. The Hopper character gives fiery speeches that, in large part, would not be out of place in one of today’s Tea Party rallies. It’s all about “patriotism” and the degree to which “others” are threatening our freedoms. Very, very timely.

What is clear is that Serling had an acute sense of the fact that all human beings have in them the capacity for evil. And we all need to be very aware of that fact and not pretend that “we” are good, but “they” are evil. We clearly need his voice today. It’s sad that he died so young of lung cancer. Of course, he’s got that ever present smoking cigarette during his intro to each episode, which is a kind of unintentional horror story all its own.

Republican Hypocrisy

Bill Black | December 31, 2009 | 0 Comments

I generally take the position that most people consider themselves good and well-motivated. When people do or say things with which I disagree, I try to understand what they are saying to themselves to justify their misguided ways. Often, I will conclude that they are either deluding themselves or they believe some higher cause is achieved by maybe shading the truth or ignoring evidence that may contradict their view or action.

So, I mostly attribute Republican lies and deceit with willful ignorance or an “ends justifies the means” approach to politics. And their end to to obtain power.

But the Republican response to the Detroit underwear bomber blows my theory. In this instance, they are just evil. Their relentless attacks on Obama are now completely divorced from any credibility and are shameless, hypocritical efforts to destroy our President without any regard to what it does to our country. When Democrats criticized Bush, they were said to be unpatriotic. Republicans, like Dick Cheney, now show no qualms about aggressively politicizing every move Obama makes. It is truly sickening.

Think Progress has a good account of Cheney’s latest outrage. As does Eugene Robinson in today’s Washington Post.

Sadly, the American public doesn’t punish this kind of behavior. It think the only think that we save our country in the next few years is for the voters to smack the Republicans for the third time in a row. Right now, they feel politically vindicated because they have succeeded tainting the healthcare reform legislation by making the process of its enactment as ugly as possible. Eventually, the bill will pass and we will move on to the slow process of implementation. It is unclear what it’s short term political impact will be. They key in November will be the economy. If the economy improves and Obama’s policies are vindicated, they are dead meat. And we might see a new Republican party that believes it has some responsibility to govern. If unemployment remains high and they make political gains, the trench warfare will continue to the detriment of the country. Our steady decline will continue.

God help us.

Iran and New Media

Bill Black | December 28, 2009 | 0 Comments

Here’s a quote from an expert on developments in Iran that says it all for me:

Current chatter of an imminent national strike being planned – an enormous development if it proves to be true – is just one example of how such a structure allows the opposition movement to organize through a decentralized communication network rather than a rigid hierarchy.

Iran on the Brink?

Bill Black | December 28, 2009 | 0 Comments

This morning on CNN Robin Wright, the great journalist on the Middle East, speculated on whether events in Iran represented a “Berlin Wall” moment. While she wasn’t sure, she said it could be. What a monumental prospect. I find events in Iran exhilarating. I’m not deluded into thinking the outcome might turn Iran into a western secular democracy. What it does represent to me is the extend to which justice can prevail, that oppression can be resisted, that, ultimately, the people can rule. I am also hopeful that part of the reason the people of Iran can resist is because information can no longer be permanently suppressed. In an earlier era, the resisters would not have been able to coordinate the way they have, nor could they inform the rest of the world what was happening there. For instance, few would have known that the nephew of Mousavi was killed by the regime. That event appears to have thrown gasoline on a raging fire.

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan, I’ve come across a great web site with a very sophisticated analysis of events in Iran, called “the newest deal.” Here’s a sample:

So when word of yesterday’s bloodshed reaches the country’s religious centers – and it surely will in the midst of the chaos that has erupted during the last forty-eight hours – outrage can be expected in Qom. This may soon put Iran’s clerics, both conservative and moderate, in an unenviable position: sacrificing their coveted theocracy in order to salvage their religion’s sanctity. For if it was unclear up until this point, there is surely no way that any clerical scholar of Islam can any longer defend the actions of the Islamic Republic – especially when such actions are committed in Islam’s name, for that matter.

What is happening in Iran seems truly historic. Yet, American media seems strangely oblivious. While they appear late to this realization, at least CNN is devoting the appropriate attention. Meanwhile, on the Today Show, the news at the top of the hour devoted maybe 10 seconds to Iran.

Krugman on the Team

Bill Black | December 26, 2009 | 0 Comments

Paul Krugman is making it his business to prove to the left that the healthcare reform bill will be a major progressive win. In his blog, he displays a very impressive graph from the Kaiser Family Foundation that shows how much the average family will be subsidized, based on family income.

But, best of all is this opening paragraph:

A couple of notes to address complaints about the Senate bill from the left and the center. (There’s no use addressing complaints from the right; in general, the safest thing when dealing with crazy people is to avoid eye contact.) Emphasis added.

Celebrating Healthcare Reform

Bill Black | December 25, 2009 | 0 Comments

I have to admit, my admiration for Paul Krugman varies proportional to his support for President Obama. Since he supported Hillary during the primaries, he’s not particularly invested in Obama as an individual. So, generally, when he’s critical, he comes at Obama from the Left and I get conflicted. But, when he lines up with Obama, all is right with the world.

Today, he comes out in strong support of the Senate healthcare reform bill. Yes, it is a compromise, but a compromise that represents and massive change in direction in American politics. Of course, he does take a gentle shot at Obama by pointing out that the bill is closer to Hillary Clinton campaign proposal than to Obama’s. But his conclusion is strong:

And for all its flaws and limitations, it’s a great achievement. It will provide real, concrete help to tens of millions of Americans and greater security to everyone. And it establishes the principle — even if it falls somewhat short in practice — that all Americans are entitled to essential health care.

While I am pretty far to the Left ideologically, I am also a pragmatist when it comes to policymaking. As I’ve noted in a previous post, the bill will be seen as one of the great legislative achievements of the past fifty years. I’m glad Krugman agrees with me.

Christmas 2009

Bill Black | December 25, 2009 | 0 Comments

There’s an interesting Christmas tradeoff as you move through life. When Santa rules the day (i.e. the kids are young), the stress is high leading up to the big day. Are there enough gifts? Have we visited enough Santa’s? Have all the rituals, I mean traditions, been served? By the time Christmas arrives, you’re exhausted….and then you have to get up at 5 am to start opening presents. But the delight the kinds exhibit is precious and almost makes it all worthwhile.

When your kids are 19 and 15, the stress is much lower. There’s no “magic” to be preserved, although there are traditions. It remains a special time of year, but in a more authentic way.

And you get to sleep in.

Our day has been relaxed and very pleasant. We attended midnight Mass at St. Anselm’s Abbey, stayed briefly for cookies and to wish the monks a Merry Christmas. We didn’t get to bed until 2 am and I was up at 7. The kids got up at 11. We opened gifts and everyone came away happy. Now, we’re just gliding through the day.

Notwithstanding all the pleasantness, it is a very different Christmas, the first without my mother and without Rita’s Aunt Gen. We won’t feel the full brunt of their absence until with get up to Boston tomorrow. My mother and Gen were true lovers of Christmas and there will be a big empty place in this holiday season.

Also, this is the first Christmas in which we won’t be staying in the attic room in Rita’s mother’s house in Brookline. Year after year, I would chafe at the confined quarters and wish we could stay in a hotel. Admittedly less so in recent years as Rita and I have learned to accommodate each other’s needs during this annual pilgrimage. But I have to say, I will miss the old house and will chafe at new inconveniences at the Dedham Hilton.

So, all in all, a nice, but somewhat bittersweet, holiday.

Healthcare Reform

Bill Black | December 23, 2009 | 0 Comments

Lots of commentary on healthcare reform today. Suffice it to say that opinion is mixed on Obama’s accomplishment in this area. Looking back, I predict this legislation will be considered a stunning achievement. Yes, it is much less that most liberals want. It’s less than Obama wants. But it is what it is. And what it is is the most significant piece of social welfare legislation since Medicare.

Obama suffers from the size of his original ambition. As we begin to focus on what’s in this bill, you realize that, two years ago, anyone who would have predicted legislation of this kind be enacted into law would have been considered delusional. The Patient Bill of Rights, 30 million more people covered by health insurance, free preventive care, thousands of new community health center, etc., etc. While the left criticizes Obama as to timid, as his change incremental, he’s changing America.

For a more articulate account of Obama’s brilliant first year, check out Jacob Weisberg’s piece in Slate Magazine. It declares Obama’s first year on par with FDR and LBJ. I think he’s right.

Baucus Calls Out Republicans