One Equals Zero

To my son Tommy,

During this latest debacle in our legislative branch of government, all sides had plenty of "facts" to point at in support of their positions.  The problem is these facts were at best biased opinionated facts and at worse bold faced lies that they were parading out as fact.  From what I can tell, people have real difficulty distinguishing between fact and fiction.  I blame the entertainment media that is masquerading as news outlets.  We have lost our subjective hard hitting investigative reporters that people can actually trust in exchange for loud mouth shock jocks who bring in better ratings or more twitter followers whether they tell the truth or not.  I am not sure what is worse, a bought Congress or a bought news media.  Perhaps the existence of the latter allows the former to exist.  

It thus falls on the average Joe to figure out the truth for himself.  You would think telling the difference between fact and opinion is pretty easy, but I have seen some very smart people fall into this trap.  They hear a persuasive opinion filled with tons of biased facts and a pseudo logical transgression and get caught up in the emotion rather than relying on their own understanding and intelligence.  Before you disparage anyone for this error, let me give you an example of how this can happen with one of the most verifiable fields of knowledge, mathematics.  Here is a "proof" much the same that many news media outlets give you "facts"

We start with x = y where y is not zero. 

Then multiply both sides by x to get x² = xy. 

Subtract the same thing (y²)from both sides to get x² - y² = xy - y². 

Then dividing by (x-y), we obtain x + y = y. 

Since x = y, we substitute y for every x and see that 2 y = y. 

We now divide both sides by y and thus 2 = 1, since we started with y nonzero. 

Subtracting 1 from both sides, we "prove" 1 = 0.

Seems pretty logical right and a good mathematical proof is an axiom.  However this is not a good mathematical proof.  It has a big hidden flaw when you divide by (x-y) which since x = y means (x - y) = 0 and, according to the rules of math, you can't divide by zero.

That is how these opinion people on TV (I refuse to call them news reporters) pass off fiction as fact.  They throw in a flaw and make it sound like it is perfectly acceptable and hope you don't question or catch it. Politicians do the same.  So do confidence men and other such scam artists.  Each are in search of the same ultimate goal which is money.  The TV "news" guy gets more money because he can get better ratings because his channel can sell more toothpaste.  The politician gets more money from "supporters" with "donations" to their campaigns and super pacts.  At least confidence men will admit what they are after, sadly making them the most honest in the bunch?  It is a difficult world you are living in my son filled with pitfalls and traps masquerading as fact and logic and truth.  One might not equal zero in math, but one bought news media system equals zero accountability for our government and that is something that we should strive to change my son.

Sincerely 

Spin

To my son Tommy,

Since I have taken such an interest in what our Congress is doing (or specifically not doing), I have started an ongoing compare and contrast between you and them.  It is only fitting because Congress is acting like a bunch of preschoolers.

I have shared with you how your negotiating techniques trump those of Congress, and that continues today.  In fact this morning as we readied you for school there were many comparisons throughout the process.  You refused to wear a sock which had a tiny hole in it.  You delayed taking your vitamin for a whole 5 minutes after breakfast.  You allowed me to brush your teeth but were reluctant to let me get the backs.  And you only allowed me a cursory combing of your hair.  Each of these can be compared to various actions of our legislative bodies.  But the biggest action you did today was "spin"!

Spin is when you point to something and try to sell it as something it isn't.  Sometimes you try to sell a negative as a positive.  Sometimes you point to a problem and attribute the cause to something other than the real cause.  When you woke up this morning, you were soaked.  You stretched and complained and told me, "I am all sweaty".  I guess that could have been the cause, or you could have spilled your water cup, but chances are there is another explanation and that is not sweat.  Oh well, accidents happen and it wasn't worth arguing with you that you weren't all sweaty.  We got you up, out of your pajamas, and bathed, and then went through all those previously mentioned politics of the morning, and off to school we went.

Unfortunately, some members of the House of Representatives are trying to spin things their way.  They are telling me it is raining and that the other side is responsible.  But just like it wasn't sweat that made you soaked, this downpour from the Congress is not rain and the small pathetic hose that it is coming from doesn't seem to be connected to the other side like they said was the cause.  Okay now I am being childish.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

Negotiation

To my son Tommy,

Congress would be wise to learn from your negotiating skills.  Come dinner time you start wheeling and dealing on bite count.  You use delay tactics and misdirection and even a little fuzzy logic to achieve your goals.  In fact, if you were dumber and had less morals and were more self centered and totally oblivious and become accustomed to not telling the truth, you could have a very successful career in either the House or the Senate.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

So Out Of Touch They Should Lose Their Job

To my son Tommy,

The politicians are at it again.  They are playing political brinkmanship and acting like a bunch of four year olds.  Actually that might be an insult to four year olds.  The government is going to shutdown because people didn't get their way and are taking their ball home.  The problem is they are so out of touch that they don't even realize it isn't their ball to take home in a childish tantrum.  The power of the purse was a gift entrusted to these politicians and now is being held hostage for personal gain and private interest and not being used to serve the greater good.  Each side is pointing fingers and blaming the other but I am done trying to figure out the complicated game of who is doing whose bidding.  The only responsible thing is to not vote for any incumbent in our Congress.  Each and every single one of them must lose their job in response to their inability to do their collective job.  It won't be fair for some who in good faith are trying their hardest, but it might be the only way to move on.  Unfortunately, voting them out of their job is the only recourse we have.  I don't think we could successfully sue them for at least the amount of their salaries due to their incompetence and breach of contract and failure to do anything but line their own pockets and play to their own power hungry political aspirations.  There probably are more appropriate punishments for their failures but the days of public execution by the guillotine disappeared with the French revolution.  Nope, all we can do is attempt to take back the power that we the people, that they were supposed to represent, gave to them.  Sad and pathetic times for democracy and the tune from a Les Miserables song keeps coming to my head...

"Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!"

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

Attention For Baltimore

To my son Tommy,

Recently some big names have been weighing in on crime in Baltimore City.  You would think this is good and I suppose having a bit of the spotlight shining on our city's concerns is always welcome.  But it is also ironic and sad at the same time.  To some of these names, Baltimore is either a skeleton in the closet or a quick sounding board for more votes.

Our current Governor Martin O'Malley (and previous mayor of Baltimore City) has dreams of running for President of the United States in 2016.  The problem is his campaign crew most likely pointed out that he can't distance himself from the crime rate of one of the largest cities in his state.  It is like a boil on his bottom that any opponent can point out.  So he is pressuring the current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to "clean up this mess".  Just last year he penned an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun where he praised the current mayor (found here ) saying she did great following his Believe campaign.  Now in his lastest op-ed (found here oh my how much changes in a year) he says, and I of course paraphrase and put imaginary words in his mouth, "When I was mayor I just threw everyone in jail and crime went down" which is for the most part accurate but whether that made city life better or worse is certainly up for debate.  Usually people would pick sides on that debate depending on what side of the city line they lived in.  Mostly only those who lived outside the city with no real skin in the game were the ones applauding the effectiveness of these civil liberty abuses.  I am not sure I would lump myself in with the applauders because I have much more common sense, but being white and living in the county at the time I certainly didn't pay it much attention.  The whole concept sounds like a great idea in theory if you don't have to live it.  Either way the tactic was enough to lower crime rate (at least on the books) and make him look tough on crime and get him elected from mayor to governor.  Now he just wants to do it again long enough to get himself elected up the chain to POTUS.

To add to that, we are starting to gear up for another gubernatorial election with a couple declared candidates.  The current Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and the Attorney General of Maryland Doug Gansler both seem to say that if we elected them governor it would be better for Baltimore City.  I guess they think they can make some quick campaign promises and snag a few votes or preempt the current mayor from running for governor too.  I am not sure I buy it and think that once either got elected governor they would forget about the city until the next election.  To be honest though, I am only starting to look into who these people are and what they did so far.  I didn't even realize there was a third candidate declared, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Heather Mizeur.  But when it comes time to vote, rest assured, I will be better informed on any decision and not just base my vote on the media blitz that we are about to endure.

So all this renewed attention has once again focused on our lovely city.  Everyone has an idea of how to fix our crime rate.  There will be some grandstanding and maybe some big show and political arm bending and then everyone will get elected to wherever they are going to end up and we will see you all in four more years when we can yell and scream and point fingers for the same old problems that we won't solve andget re-elected.  I wish my letter to you could offer some real and concrete solutions for the city that you will most likely grow up in for the next 13 years till you head out to college.  All I can offer is some intuitive feeling that it somehow starts in the heart and soul of every citizen of Baltimore, be they cop or criminal or average joe, and that somehow starts with you and me.

 Of course, it also starts with me getting informed and realizing they redrew the legislative districts and figuring out just who I am anymore and who represents me.  We used to be Maryland Legislative District 41 but evidently now due to a redraw that took effect in 2012 because of the 2010 census are Maryland Legislative District  44-a, a fact that had eluded me until a recent (incorrect) twitter post of mine.  About 3 blocks down the street it is still district 41 if you are on the north east side of the street.  Sometimes they make it so hard.  I should have realized this change when I got my voting sticker last year but after waiting in line for so long I didn't give it much thought.  I guess that is the price we pay for living right on the border of the city and the county and some gerrymandering wasteland.  Oh well live and learn and learn again when they change it.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo