When I heard about that North West Airlines flight that bypassed the Minneapolis airport and kept on going…for another 150 miles, two thoughts immediately flashed through my mind:

1. What if they didn’t have enough fuel?

2. Pilot Fatigue?

Now those pilots say they were having a “heated discussion” about airline policy. Some people think they were sleeping. Whatever they were doing, that was scary!

I’ve been really afraid of flying since Lockerbie, because I was in London, and had just passed through Frankfurt around that time. Since then, airplane crashes and near misses have only reinforced my fear.

Hearing about that incident where pilots, TWO pilots, just let the plane fly itself to wherever on a straight line is not very reassuring.

I decided to look into Pilot Fatigue…and found a report from NASA (America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The NASA report outlines the findings from a study the agency did on pilot fatigue and its implications for aviation safety.

The Deputy Associate Administrator in the Office of Aero-Space Technology at NASA testified at a Congressional Hearing on Pilot Fatigue in August, 1999. 10 Years ago!

He told the Aviation Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, United States House of Representatives, that Pilot Fatigue is a significant safety issue in aviation.

He testified that: “Rather than simply being a mental state that can be willed away or overcome through motivation or discipline, fatigue is rooted in physiological mechanisms related to sleep, sleep loss, and circadian rhythms. These mechanisms are at work in flight crews no less than others who need to remain vigilant despite long duty days, transmeridien travel, and working at night when the body is programmed for sleep”.

According to the NASA official: “Flight crews routinely respond that fatigue is a concern, often admitting to having nodded off during a flight and/or arranging for one pilot to nap in the cockpit seat”.

• The crewmembers napped one-at-a-time in a three-person cockpit with minimal disruption to normal flight operations and no reported or identified concerns regarding safety. The benefits of the nap were observed throughout the critical descent and landing phases of flight. The planned nap appeared to provide effective and acute relief from significant sleepiness experienced by crews in three-person nonaugmented flight operations.

• He told Congres: The Fatigue Countermeasures Program submitted a draft advisory circular to the FAA in January 1993 on “Controlled Rest on the Flight Deck.” Regulatory provisions that would sanction the appropriate use of planned cockpit rest remain under review. Several non-U.S. air carriers have already implemented the procedure.

Congress apparently asked NASA to conduct the Study. NASA’s Ames Research Center created a program to examine whether “there is a safety problem of uncertain magnitude, due to transmeridian flying and a potential problem due to fatigue in association with various factors found in air transport operations.”

Researchers came up with a number of recommendations and countermeasures to address Pilot Fatigue in the cockpit.

Is anyone (Sixty Minutes, Oprah?) asking if the FAA implemented those measures and how many US CARRIERS HAVE SIGNED ON?

Do I have to stop blogging and go do some investigative journalism (which I was trained to do)? I’m sleeping – blogging is much easier! Just like Networks/Media Outlets are sleeping – because it’s also much easier to hire bloviates who promulgate spin, opinion and bull – instead of dealing with FACTS – which by the way are inconvenient things!

If they were indeed arguing, or “heatedly discussing” – maybe those two should NOT work together anymore? Please argue while having a drink (preferably orange juice) at a club – NOT up in the air where it causes you to go 150 miles off course.

I also found this article that appeared in USA TODAY in JUNE. 2009.

Airlines, pilot unions and federal officials have until September first to develop new rules to limit fatigue among pilots, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday in an unusually aggressive move to reach agreement on one of the industry’s most contentious safety issues.

Pilots have rejected attempts to extend the amount of time they can fly and airlines oppose changes that would restrict scheduling.
Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association say they support the government’s effort.

DO YOU NOTE THE SENTENCE BEFORE THE LAST? > Pilots have rejected attempts to extend the amount of time they can fly and airlines oppose changes that would restrict scheduling.

Why not just put a squadron of fighter jets on standby – to escort runaway planes…and bill the airlines/Pilots Union?!

That would get somebody’s attention!

(Please remember: I’m ONLY posting on SUNDAY’S now, due to other commitments).

I always thought that I would not be a good parent because I have a Type A plus personality – quick temper, no patience (notice how many media types have this similar type of personality, with a super big ego?). 

However, I struggled along. I have dreams of becoming a Top Model or winning Survivor (TV reality show) and writing that winning screenplay. But although none of these have happened (yet!) I have managed to not live vicariously through my son. 

Well, confession: I used a mixture of threats, cajoling and bribes to get him to take an instrument at school. I wanted piano, he’s going for drums. But so far, I have not paraded him on national T.V…and there’s been no vomiting. Again, not yet! 

I’m not one of those people who think that parents should not profit off their kids. The little buggers profit off us for decades, sometimes forever! Go ahead, profit off them. Raising a kid is not easy and if that kid has a particular talent or skill that can help take that family off difficult times into the good life. I say, GO for it.

However, please parents, DO NOT USE THESE KIDS AS YOUR MEAL TICKET, even if he/she/they…is/are that meal ticket. 

I cannot stand to see parents parade their little girls on stage pushing them to do things the kids don’t want to do. Some do like it, some do have a natural bent for it and for them it’s OK. But many kids don’t, yet these parents push these kids into the limelight or on stage, because they are blinded by dollar signs. 

I used to take my son to auditions and I would overhear the coaching, the handling, and the managing – the prodding and the bullying and the cautioning: Say this. (You can tell from the parent’s tone/attitude and the child’s reaction which ones are being coerced.) Do this. Don’t do that it will ruin your hair/costume, whatever…and I’d feel sorry for those kids. 

Yes, sorry for those kids. We see what happens to child stars when they are not grounded, and even to some that are grounded. 

We forget that Einstein was not an actor or a basketball player. But he’s more famous and respected and honored than any sports star or Hollywood celebrity will ever be. 

(Please let me know if I am wrong, but:) Bill Gates was not a child star. 

Mother Theresa was not a child star. 

Jay Leno was not a child star. 

Marie Curie was not a child star. 

Do you remember the name of that cute little girl who played Bill Cosby’s youngest daughter on the Cosby show? 

Do you know who Bill Clinton is? HE was not a child star, but she (Keshia Knight Pulliam) was. Which person (not character) do you remember offhand? Would you recognize her in the street today? Would you recognize Clinton? Does she have Secret Service protection?

I’m just throwing out names at random to show that our kids DO NOT NEED TO BECOME YOUNG CELEBRITIES AND OVERACHIEVERS to leave their mark on the world. 

However, in the race for fame, celebrity, money and book deals (which is apparently ALL that counts these days) some of us, parents, seem to be seeing our kids as cash cows that we reckon we should milk every few hours! 

What set me off? The balloon story out of Colorado! 

I came home Thursday afternoon (Oct. 15, 2009) and there was this hot air balloon (home made) drifting in the sky. According to news reports, there is/was a 6-year-old inside and now he’s not, and maybe the kid fell out! 

What! A 6-year-old in a hot air balloon! What was he doing in the balloon, I’m asking my son? Why was he in the balloon in the first place? Was an adult with him? Did he fall out? What if he did fall out? 

I have visions of a broken body in a tree somewhere…

 And then…and then…we learn the kid was safe, hiding in his attic all along. 

Wow! Ok, that’s good. But…? 

Then I listen to the emergency calls and I learn the dad calls a local TV station and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) first, before calling 911. BEFORE calling 911?

 Your 6-year-old son is drifting off in a hot air balloon and 911 is your third call?

 Did he want to ensure that the government did NOT blast the balloon out of the air? Then the best thing would be to call 911, wouldn’t it?

If my son doesn’t get home from the school bus within minutes I’m calling him – where are you? And if for some reason I can’t reach him, I’m already thinking of what to tell the police to convince them that no, he didn’t run away and has never done this sort of thing before.

 So am I going to say it’s a hoax? Nope, can’t say that because for one, I’m afraid of lawsuits. This family seems to have a lot more money than I do. (Plus I make cookies; they make hot-air balloons!) They have an attic atop their garage – I don’t even have a garage! Or a parking spot!

 Police plan an announcement…I’m waiting to hear it.

In the meantime, please parents, (I think) it is better to have an emotionally secure, stable, well-adjusted kid who is not a celebrity, but doing well at school and has friends etc…than one who is getting chased by paparazzi or is paraded on live T.V. and has their embarrassing bodily malfunctions televised worldwide.

 And (in an unrelated incident) would I have let my kid sit on the floor at an awards show just to hold Pamela Anderson’s train? According to news reports, the 9-year-old girl did not have her own seat – she had to sit at Pamela’s feet all night!

Too much to say about this one…but WE are the sanctimonious finger-waggers who criticize child labor in India and other developing countries, where these kids work TO SURVIVE…AND SUPPORT ENTIRE FAMILIES.

See Why I Rave About Hypocrisy!

What do you think?

Hello there… 

I just launched an online endeavor. 

I’ve wanted to do it for more than a year, but I was dragging my feet. I got the paperwork, set things up and was afraid to take the plunge.

I finally launched this week and it’s looking promising. But it takes a lot of my time. And I won’t be able to blog every day like I used to. 

So I’ve decided to bcome a Sunday Blogger. 

I got the idea from a report I saw on TV about a woman who only blogs on Sundays. I thought – perfect! I don’t have to give up blogging – and I can use my weekdays to focus on my enterprise! 

I will have a new post on Sunday.

Please come back. I still have lots of opinions…on everything, and I’m still NOT afraid to say them – well, most of them! 

Thanks,

Conlibe.

Say I commission a group of army families to conduct a study on the impact it will have on them, their families and that area… if their base is closed:

Their Study would probably conclude that if the government closed that base, it would be gloom and doom:

People would lose their jobs and livelihoods.

That area and its economy would be devastated.

The nation’s security will be compromised.

Contracts would be lost, etc.

Accusations that the base is polluting groundwater are unfounded – so far, only one case has been actually linked to groundwater contamination, and it’s yet to be proved that the base is the source.

Ask the affluent neighboring community that’s been agitating to close the base for years, and the results are likely to be completely different:

Only a few people would lose their jobs and livelihoods, most will be transferred elsewhere.

That area and its economy would be NOT devastated, other industries will move in.

The nation’s security won’t be compromised – there is another base in the area.

The army should not be conducting tests in that area – and they will have statistics to prove how the base is harming the groundwater.

So which poll do you believe?

Now I’ve used a rather silly example to make my point, but studies, like polls, can be manipulated and sometimes are. It all depends on who is doing it…why they’re doing it.

So when the insurance industry comes out with its “Poll” about how expensive health Care reform will be to the nation…I take that with a grain of salt, or in this modern age, a dose of aspirin!

The last thing we need is an insurance company trying to convince us that when we are sick, don’t worry, they will BE there!

They just refused to cover that really huge, 17-pound baby in Colorado. 

They looked ahead and saw a possible lifetime of complaints and complications and told that bay and its family: Oh no – you’re very likely to be sick, you’re on your own, sorry!

Rocky Mountain Health Plans caved in after the public outcry. The company CEO says that policy is appropriate for adults who may be overweight, not for that baby!

So the rest of us are screwed! I’m not overweight, but I’m sure they’d find something to hold over me!

He also says they fixed the situation “without getting all emotional about it…and Washington could take a page out of their book.” Don’t even head to that library!

Yet insurance companies are trying to convince the rest of us that they will hold our hand all the way to the grave. Yep, Mr. nice, caring, sympathetic insurance company…I’m sure you can’t even spell “pre-existing condition!”

The Insurance Study found that: If the legislation the Senate Finance Committee voted (14-9) on yesterday (October 13, 2009) became law, health insurance premiums for the average family (which is what?) would increase by approximately 4-thousand-dollars a year.

They claim that premiums for a single person would go up by another 600 dollars.

Now the accounting firm (PricewaterhouseCoopers) that conducted the study says there are deficiencies in the data it prepared for America’s Health Insurance Plans.

Montana Democrat, Max Baucus, chairs the Senate Finance Committee. It cobbled together the latest Health Care Reform version. 

(Baucus’s involvement in efforts to reform health care amuse me. HE’s number four on the list of Washington congressmen getting donations from the health care industry and the top democrat.)

 He called the report “a health insurance company hatchet job.” Guess he was keeping his toes crossed – we’d see his fingers, or would we?

The Finance Committee’s version seeks to expand insurance coverage to 29 million people who wouldn’t otherwise be covered.  Under that plan, nearly everyone would have to buy a policy and low- and moderate-income families will get subsidies to help them afford premiums. 

The full Senate is slated to begin debate on the Bill the week of October 26.

Look for more studies … coming soon from self-interested parties around the country!

If you are a Boston Red Sox fan and you know this song…please sing along, if you can. Then look for my “Disappointed Fan Version” below…

CRYING TIME

(Owens)

Ray Charles – 1966

Oh, it’s crying time again, you’re gonna leave me

I can see that far away look in your eyes

I can tell by the way you hold me darling Oooh

That it won’t be long before it’s crying time

Now they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder (fonder)

And that tears are only rain to make love grow

Well my love for you could never grow no stronger (stronger)

If I lived to be a hundred years old

Oh, it’s crying time again, you’re gonna leave me

I can see that far away look in your eyes

I can tell by the way you hold me darling. Yeah now

That it won’t be long before it’s crying time

Now you say you’ve found someone that you love better (better)

That’s the way it’s happened every time before

And as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow (‘morrow)

Crying time will start when you walk out the door

Oh, it’s crying time again, you’re gonna leave me

I can see that far away look in your eyes

I can tell by the way you hold me darling. Alright now

That it won’t be long before it’s crying time (2x)

“Disappointed Fan Version”

Conlibe – 2009

Oh it’s Crying Time again…

Angels swept Sox from the Playoffs 

I can see that look of despair in our eyes

I could tell…by the way the Sox were playing

That it wouldn’t be long before the Crying Time….

Now they say that there’s next year and the year after

And our tears will only make Big Papi strong

‘cause our love for him could never grow no stronger

If we lived to be a hundred years or more

Oh, it’s crying time again, the Yankees made it

And they’ll taunt us the next season opener

I could tell – by the way that team was playing

There’d be NO wet tissues on their floor this year

Some fans say they’ve found a team that they love better

That’s the way it’s happened every time before

But if the PATS win each and every game tomorrow

Crying time won’t stop till Red Sox win some more

Oh, it’s crying time again, no AL East games hyah!

Fenway Park will now be shuttered, silent, dark

We all know that Papelbon will not be dancing

And the Swan Boats won’t be parading this year!

Oh well…can’t be all serious and talking about Health Care Reform. Can we? Let’s take time off for some fun…or despair!

There are many issues to blog about.

War, Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Economy – to stimulate or not to stimulate? Health Care…Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs (Angels?) and Boston fans’ new chapter of “Keeping Hope Alive” (which reminds me of Jesse Jackson – why is he so quiet? What’s HE is up to, I wonder!?

I’ll probably touch those topics at some point….

However, to me, the story that slipped under the radar occurred in California.

Does the name: Tom Ammiano ring a bell? Probably won’t to most people.

Does the name: Joe Wilson ring a bell? Probably does.

U.S. Congressman Wilson, (Republican from South Carolina) became a household name after he shouted “You lie” to President Obama during a nationally televised joint session of Congress in September, 2009.

Ammiano is a Democrat, a state assemblyman from California. He shouted “You lie!” to California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who dropped in on a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco Wednesday night, (Oct. 07, 2009).

Schwarzenegger who can be gracious (when he’s NOT castigating gays or immigrants, he’d probably want me to say illegal immigrants, which is more convenient) laughed it off by saying that: He got an even rougher ride when he decided to marry his wife, a member of the Kennedy clan. (His wife’s mom was sister to U.S. President John F. Kennedy).

What has happened to graciousness, politeness and courtesy? Here you have a moderate republican like Arnold Schwarzenegger, (don’t we all have our flaws?) who was brave enough (he’s the Terminator, after all) to drop in at a Democratic fundraiser and speak…

And instead of listening to what HE has to say and engaging him in discourse and dialog, the morons there were booing and disrespectful.

So if George Bush comes to a function here in Boston, do we shout: The English are coming back!? Is that it?

I thought it was extremely rude of Mr. Ammiano (and I use the Mister with reserve) to shout “you lie” to the California governor. You dummy!

And that’s NOT all. According to published reports (I’ve never heard of Ammiano and know nothing about him) Ammiano is a veteran gay rights campaigner. Schwarzenegger’s stance that marriage is between a man and a woman is unacceptable to gays.

However, instead of cornering the governor after the function and talking to him, which would be too much of a polite thing to do in today’s America, Ammiano reportedly walked out, shouting as he left: “Kiss my gay ass.”

I doubt governor Schwarzenegger wants to kiss your gay ass, Ammiano. For that you may need to see another republican…the one who was hiding in the airport bathroom stall…

The event’s host, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, invited Schwarzenegger, INVITED him, to the event.

So why is nobody outraged?

• Is it because it was NOT president Obama, whom I admire and adore?

• Is it because Schwarzenegger is just a governor, and too low down the Totem Pole – he’s NOT president or a U.S Representative or Senator?

• Is it because Schwarzenegger is a Republican? They’re dissing everybody so let’s diss them too?

• Or do we not care anymore?

Hypocrisy at work!

How clearly can we see through the thick haze of “enclave politics” (have I just coined a term?) that’s now permeating this country?

Ammiano’s reasons for disagreeing with the governor may be sound and valid. Apart from their sexual preferences, there’s also the legislative feuding between California’s republican governor and its legislature.

Schwarzenegger wants lawmakers to agree on a plan to upgrade the state’s aging water system and was threatening to veto everything. (He lifted his veto threat today, Oct. 12, 2009.)

Ammiano is a stand-up comedian. But while many of us will agree that politics and politicians these days are becoming a joke, this is NOT funny!

This “New Rudeness Deal” started with the republicans (well, rudeness didn’t start WITH them) but they do propagate it and nurture it to suit their ends.

Hillary Clinton was a bitch? Remember? A former first lady…of the country – but because they don’t like her, they feel no compunction to be respectful?

Just as now they see Obama as a little black boy…and they’ll be damned if they will respect him.

Democrats, people of good sense, Americans…don’t go down that path…tempting as it may seem.

Remember, what you sow…as the Bible they supposedly read says…is what you reap. (Supposedly read, in between having their adulterous flings … and corrupt dealings … and planning new strategies to screw working people and poor people so their rich friends can buy another yacht).

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s infamous “You lie!” outburst has reportedly paid off for him, big time.

And he’s poised to have the most lucrative fundraising quarter of any member of Congress.

Hey, rudeness pays. Don’t you dare tell your kids NOT to tell that person who could use that shower that junior won’t kiss him/her because said person doesn’t smell good. Don’t you dare!!

Encourage them, urge them to go on…say it! Then give the kid a treat! Good job!!!

Shortly before news broke about the sexual shenanigans of one David Letterman, CBS’s resident Don Juan (forgive me, I studied Keats); I came across this article about a “bad lovers” poll.

Seems some countries have good lovers, others have great lovers and some, like America, have bad lovers!

You heard right. Americans are bad lovers. Nothing was said about the number of lovers that one has – just the quality of the loving.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Latin lovers are the best. Seems those hot-blooded Spaniards take the cake, literally.

U.K. marketing firm, OnePoll, put Spanish lovers on top – followed by Brazil, Italy and France.

Remember gentle peoples, 20 million Frenchmen cannot be wrong! And for the cartoon lovers, think Pepe Le Phew! The love-struck, over-aggressive skunk that’s into white stripes! Perpetually chasing Le pussy ferocious! La belle femme skunk fatale!!

Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Canada round out the Top Ten BEST Lovers List.

I wonder if there’s something in olive oil, virgin olive oil that people are missing out on here in America?

In the bad lover category, Germans are number one. They’re described as unhygienic – too smelly; and the worst in bed.

Ironic, I guess, that the perfume style called Cologne or Eau de Cologne originated from the great German city of: Cologne! An Italian perfumer launched the fragrance there in 1709.

The poll of 15-hundred women from 20 countries rate English men second on the Worst Lovers List. Seems English chaps are too prim and proper…and lazy. Hey Simon Cowell – how about that?

Swedes are criticized for being too quick. My aunt is married to a Swede. Have you ever been to Sweden – in the winter? It is cold! Who wants to be uncovered that long?

Number four on the bad lovers list is Holland: Too dominating. Maybe they’re gotten too used to conquering…dams-els?

Which takes us to number five: Americans. Now usually when referring to Americans, I say us and we. Not this time. Sorry. In this instance I’m from the Caribbean.

According to the poll, Americans, YOU – are uncomfortably rough. Please guys; you have already conquered the West! OK.

Greeks – too annoyingly lovey-dovey! Aristotle…lovey- dovey?

The Welsh are too selfish. Now we understand why Princess Diana…never mind! We’ll keep that low down to ourselves!

Scots too loud – MY OH MY!

Turks are too sweaty…

And Russians are too hairy. Hey I’ve seen Putin in shorts (only on TV – Russian secrets are safe) and he looks grrreat!

I notice they didn’t poll in black countries. (I bet South Africa was white South Africa). They didn’t go to Soweto! Come on!

(The saying about black men – and women: Once you go black, no looking back!)

Having bitten the good lovin’ bug, I wanted to know more. So I…Googled, of course…and this came up.

When it comes to sex, seems sports are a game stopper. According to website areyouromantic.com: (Well, are you?)

One in four men would give up sex for at least a month to ensure that his favorite team wins the Super Bowl!

15-percent would give it up for the entire season. 11 percent would give it up for however long it takes.

17-percent of men think their team’s performance on the field affects their performance in bed.

Nearly 30-percent of men think they have better sex after their team wins!

And about one in five sports fans delay sex until after the game is over!

I don’t know the nationality of these men. But based on the previous poll, I’d say they are not Spanish!

The Germans (Visigoths) invaded and occupied Spain in the 5th to 8th centuries. However: as History tells us, they did NOT leave much of a permanent mark on Hispanic culture. Otherwise, Spanish men would probably be up there with Germans on the Worst Lovers List.

Coming soon: “The Art of Seduction” by David Letterman.

Oops, I forgot. He’s American. Sorry Dave…

I read the following article in Boston Magazine and immediately decided that I would reproduce it on my blog.

The article is reproduced as it appears in Boston Magazine. Thanks.

SEX AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Desperate to catapult its schools into the upper ranks, (the Massachusetts town of) Arlington brought in a savvy businessman to be its superintendent. But then came the threats, and the raunchy e-mails, and the scandal that showed just how divided the town really is.

In 2004, when the Arlington school committee went looking for a new superintendent, it realized it had a momentous opportunity. The reputation of the town’s schools had been slowly improving for decades, but now ambitious parents could finally hire a change agent from beyond the academic bureaucracy, somebody who could finish the transformation of the school system from, as they said, “good to great.” The man they settled on was Nate Levenson, a 44-year-old with a Harvard M.B.A. and more than a decade of experience running a multimillion-dollar company. The outsider seemed like exactly the kind of leader Arlington wanted.

For the first two years of his tenure, as test scores improved and he got the school budget back on track, Levenson’s businesslike approach won him a devoted following. So it was a surprise when, in March 2007, an angry mob poured into a school committee meeting to demand his head.

At issue was Levenson’s decision to get rid of a popular middle school principal named Stavroula Bouris. Wearing a tie decorated with yellow school buses, Levenson sat in the center of the room as the crowd of 250 parents and teachers encircled him, the way teens close ranks around a schoolyard brawl in the hope of seeing some blood.

“It is truly a sad day for Arlington,” a middle school teacher said, when a principal can be subjected to “such a callous and immoral act on the part of the superintendent.” Playing to the crowd, the teacher told them the faculty at Bouris’s school had just taken a unanimous vote of no confidence in Levenson. Then he addressed the superintendent directly: “I know that you think we will go away, but we will not. Realize that truth may be hidden for a while, but it will never die.” The shouts and tears and applause that followed didn’t die down for more than four minutes.

Levenson’s decision—and the reaction to it—caused even one of his strongest allies on the school committee to turn against him. “I could go on and on about how I’ve seen your shortcomings…about your lack of understanding of this community and the people in it…about your self-promotion, and about your hubris,” Martin Thrope said. “Whether or not Stavroula Bouris goes or stays,” he added, “you’re finished in this town.”

What followed over the next few months, in what would come to be known as “Nategate,” was a series of revelations that forced Levenson from his job, divided the town, and even called into question the grand ambitions that had led to his hiring in the first place. In the end, it turned out that Levenson had made the mistake of thinking that when Arlington residents said they were ready for change, they actually meant it.

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say there are two types of people in Arlington, and you can tell them apart by where they do their grocery shopping. The townies prefer the rough-around-the-edges Johnnie’s Foodmaster because, well, it’s good enough. Then there are the newcomers, who go to the newly renovated Stop & Shop (but wish it were a Whole Foods). When it comes to most things, townies tend to like Arlington as it is, thank you very much; newcomers look to neighboring Belmont and Lexington and covet their farm stands, yoga studios, and—most of all—superlative schools.

In 2004, the hunt for a new superintendent seemed the perfect time to remake Arlington’s schools in the image of its neighbors’. “We felt that Arlington was ready,” says Suzanne Baratta Owayda, who chaired the search committee. “With the right leadership, we thought we could compete with the Lexingtons and Needhams, and even the Wellesleys and Westons.”

To fulfill that ambition, in 2005 the committee picked Levenson, making him the first superintendent in the state not to have come up through the ranks of the education system. It was thought he would bring dispassionate business principles to the task of managing cash-strapped schools. And, perhaps in a sign of how badly the committee wanted drastic advances, it was willing to overlook the fact that, save for two years assisting a small-town superintendent, Levenson had never worked in a school system.

Levenson jumped into the new job. He knew he couldn’t compete with wealthier school districts in raising cash, so he had to be creative. He found huge savings when he hired a staffer to troll eBay for used textbooks, and came up with a plan to make thousands in profit by charging foreign exchange students to come to town.

Some thought Levenson was cavalier, however, when it came to stickier personnel decisions. He eventually dismissed a broad swath of school administrators, along with some 15 other employees (and briefly considered shuttering an elementary school). Though he redirected $500,000 of the cash he saved into programs that cut the number of students reading below grade level in half, the layoffs did not sit well with many in town. “These were people, not commodities,” says one longtime resident.

For Levenson, Ottoson Middle School symbolized much of what needed fixing. In 2005, it was the lone Arlington school that failed to meet certain federal standards in math. As much as this frustrated Levenson, he also knew that many of the Ottoson faculty saw him as little more than an MCAS-obsessed theoretician. “Nate was from outside of Arlington,” says Glenn Koocher, executive director of the state’s association of school committees. “He brought a different perspective that posed a threat to the people whose main opposition was never having done it that way before.”

It was inevitable, then, that Levenson would butt heads with Stavroula Bouris, the Ottoson principal, who liked to consider her staff and students part of one big family. She arrived early each morning to greet the kids and teachers, chatted easily with parents, and once stood in the rain to direct traffic when a crossing guard didn’t make it to work. For his part, the balding and bespectacled Levenson would never be mistaken, as one friend admits, for someone “warm and fuzzy.”

When Levenson decided Bouris wasn’t buying into his plans for improving the school, he moved to oust her, a decision that plenty saw as New Arlington trying to get rid of old Arlington.

Shortly after that heated school committee meeting in March 2007, Levenson backed down and agreed to keep Bouris on. But just two months later, something curious happened: A school employee gave Levenson a stack of e-mails between Bouris and one of her teachers, Chuck Coughlin. By the end of that summer, Levenson had fired them both.

At 9:11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, Coughlin sent an e-mail from his school account to Bouris’s. “My privates are killing me,” the married teacher wrote to his married principal. “Should I be concerned?” Similar notes followed, such as this one from April 2007: “You make me feel like a high schooler again. I appreciate everything you do for me. Promise we can continue to play ball and that we will do something for your BDAY. I agree low-key would be wisest as well. Maybe a romantic lunch in downtown Arlington from 10-2??????”

To Levenson, the e-mails suggested the two were carrying on an affair, or at least exchanging sexually charged banter on school time. According to some former colleagues, though, Coughlin was merely a bawdy, back-slapping guy who joked that way with everyone. “There wasn’t an affair, I would bet my life on it,” says one. “If Stav made a mistake, it was not telling him to cut it out.”

Levenson has said he initially didn’t want to do anything with the e-mails, but the school’s attorney told him they needed to be investigated. When Levenson informed Bouris and Coughlin the racy e-mails meant he would have to dismiss them, he hoped they’d go quietly. Instead Coughlin began mobilizing support, and the two educators hired a bulldog lawyer named Frank Mondano.

As rumors of the scandal began to circulate in town, a Levenson supporter on the school committee leaked the e-mails to the local press. The news stories that followed included excerpts from a second packet of e-mails, which Levenson said had turned up anonymously in his office. “You know what would look good on you? Me!” read one that Coughlin addressed to “my hot principal.” “Here is a term you may be familiar with[:] MILF,” he wrote in another. “You would also qualify as a PILF.”

About the only thing that made these e-mails different from the first set was that several had been exchanged after school hours and through personal e-mail programs, including a Gmail account Coughlin had set up for Bouris. It seemed as though someone had used Bouris’s Gmail password, which Coughlin had sent her on school computers, to hack into her private account.

Many came to believe that Levenson had been looking for a way to fire Bouris ever since his failed attempt three months earlier. “My personal opinion is that someone went on a witch hunt,” says Ron Colosi Jr., an Ottoson guidance counselor who heads the Arlington teachers union.

But if Levenson engineered the leak of the e-mails to turn public opinion against Bouris—as her attorney has alleged, and his has denied—the plan backfired. Residents took to the Arlington List, a 4,000-member online bulletin board, to lament the damage done to the town—and to criticize the man they felt responsible. One wrote, “[Levenson] is, for the second time in the space of a few months, once again at the epicenter of a wrenching, bitter, town-wide controversy, which is once again, like a recurring nightmare, pitting teacher against teacher, friend against friend, and neighbor against neighbor.” An Arlington teacher who supported Bouris says some neighbors wouldn’t look him in the eye; a parent who defended Levenson at a playground was berated by other parents.

In the business world, a CEO can unilaterally fire someone and make it stick, but that isn’t a luxury afforded to superintendents like Levenson. Coughlin and Bouris battled his decision at every turn. In a bid to get their jobs back, they each entered into a set of confidential arbitration hearings with the school system.

During Levenson’s testimony at Coughlin’s arbitration last summer, the affair took another unexpected turn. At the lunch break of one hearing, Levenson walked away and didn’t come back; two days later, he resigned.

Explaining his departure in a public letter of resignation, Levenson made oblique reference to personal notes he had taken during the early days of the e-mail scandal. Although he said he didn’t share his notes with anyone, he did say that on one point they contradicted the official record of events he had prepared. The notes, which remain part of the confidential arbitration proceedings, have been the source of much speculation among Levenson’s critics. Many believe that when they come to light, they will call into question his assertion that he does not know where the second batch of e-mails, those from Bouris’s personal account, came from.

In his letter, Levenson said the discrepancy between the two accounts was an innocent mistake. “Based on the last three years, I knew many would find this a small issue,” he wrote, “but those that oppose my decisions and the new direction for the district would turn this into fuel for the ugly division that splits the community.”

Coughlin’s arbitration—which has become the longest of its kind in state history—is expected to conclude by next month. An arbitrator will release a ruling, as well as possibly make public the personal notes that prompted Levenson to resign. Bouris and Coughlin’s attorney, Frank Mondano, claims that what will emerge is that Levenson was behind a plan to hack Bouris’s Gmail account in an attempt to find more evidence he could use to discredit the two. (Through his attorney, Levenson says he never sought out the e-mails, and that the firings were justified.) “Levenson went so far down the road to ruin them that he blew himself up,” Mondano says. “How crazy is that?” If the pair prevails in a civil suit against Levenson and the town, he says, awards could run into the millions. “If this breaks wrong, it will be hurting Arlington for years.”

Nate Levenson turned out to be a change agent after all—just not the kind the town had hoped for. In the year since his resignation, the school committee has split along the predictable lines of Old Arlington versus New Arlington and its members aren’t even close to choosing a new superintendent. In a school system of some 400 teachers, 67 have resigned over the past two school years, many, says union head Ron Colosi, because they lost faith in the administration. There’s even a rumor going around that some Lesley College professors are urging their education graduates to steer clear of Arlington.

“This is a nice place to live,” says Martin Thrope, the former school committee member. “When this stuff gets on the six o’clock news, it’s not good for the town. It turns us into a laughingstock.”

Originally published in Boston magazine, October 2009

The Soviets invaded and occupied Afghanistan but it was such a headache – they packed up and left. Well they didn’t pack up that much – they just left!

The Soviets started moving into Afghanistan December 24, 1979. The last Soviet troops started withdrawing in 1988 and by February 1989, they were all gone.

The U.S was best friends with the “resistance” then – the Mujahideen. The CIA armed/supplied and trained the Mujahideen to the tune of 600 million dollars per year. (Multiply that by 10 and tell me again why we can’t fund Health Care for Americans?).

Is yesterday’s Mujahideen today’s Taliban?

Over a million Afghans were killed in that war. Millions were displaced within their own country and millions more sought refuge in neighboring countries like Pakistan and Iran…

Millions more were maimed or wounded and according to Wikipedia: In the 1980s, one out of two refugees in the world was an Afghan.

Today, when we talk about the Afghan War, we’re not talking about the Soviet’s Viet Nam – we’re talking about our current quagmire.

In October 2001, a U.S. led invasion ousted Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September Eleven terror attacks were Taliban protégés.

But instead of focusing on Afghanistan, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq.

That wild goose chase was a mistake, a distraction, a dead end, a regional destabilizer and anti-American incubator.

Now President Obama’s top Afghanistan commander is asking for as many as 40-thousand more soldiers. Congressional Republicans are also pushing for more troops. No surprise there – these people would send troops to fight Polar Bears in Iceland!

But there is division among the ranks. The Pentagon’s top three military commanders overseeing the war want to accept McChrystal’s recommendations. Others, like Vice President Joe Biden, want the U.S focus on counterterrorism. That would involve using unmanned drones and Special Forces to target top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders…without involving more troops.

So which can we afford or are willing to pay for? More troops and more war – or Health Care?

It would have been easier to decide if things were quiet. But a fierce Taliban attack over the October 4 weekend killed eight U.S. soldiers – and added to the pressure.

So what can America do? What can President Obama do?

There are at least three things that He/America CAN do.

1. He/we can pack up and leave.

Either tell the Afghans to heck with you…

I’ve had enough of your corruption, your flawed elections, your infighting and your traditions that don’t make sense to me. In short, I’ve had enough of you.

Or:

Thank you very much. But I don’t want any more dead soldiers. I don’t think Afghanistan will ever be “safe” and “secure” and “democratic” – whatever that means.

I/We tried. We really, really wanted to help. But this war is too expensive and we, regrettably, have to leave now.

To which the Afghans will say: You’re screwing us (would they say screwing? maybe not) deserting us again.

And we say: Sorry!

Or:

A combination of the above where we say: To heck with you. We tried and we
got nowhere.

2. He/We can say: I AM sending more troops. I am NOT leaving until I am sure that the elements of the Taliban I’m after are completely routed from Afghanistan AND Pakistan! Not only will I send more troops, if you kill those troops, I will keep on sending troops until that corner of The Axis of Evil is no longer evil!

Or:

He/We can keep the status quo – no new troops and limp along.

I’m just happy I’m not making that decision, but if I was, I’d pack up, call the Soviets, ask them the easiest way out of Afghanistan, then get the hell out! Fast!

Leaving would be sad. We’ve poured billions of dollars into that war and have little, if anything, to show for it. Yet we can’t afford health Care Reform.

America – are you listening – and deciding? Or are you too busy returning to your old shopping ways to bother about trivial things like the Afghan war or Health Care Reform? No demonstrations, no phone calls to representatives, no town-hall style denunciations – Nada?

According to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs:
“I don’t think we have the option to leave. That’s quite clear.” Sometimes I wonder about Gibbs! You don’t have the option to leave? Why? We started off with it, I hope? So where did that option go?

When President Obama installed Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan earlier this year, Obama asked the general to assess the war. McChrystal told the President that if America did not significantly increase its troop strength in Afghanistan, the U.S. would NOT be able to gain the upper hand over the Taliban and Al-Qaida.

Supposing he’s right and we rout out current Taliban elements, what are the guarantees that future elements will not appear?

White House officials say the President is likely to take weeks before making a decision.

So here we are, back at Square One. President Obama could of course take the middle road and say: I don’t support sending more troops, but since the general is there on the ground and HE wants more troops, I’m going to send some more. If things don’t turn around by a set date, I’m pulling the plug.

Let us remember, though, that bombs are not necessarily the way to go, these days. The new century calls for a new kind of war. Schnitzel has become more potent than shrapnel. Détente is more embraced than detonations.

…..Meantime, A new poll finds 42-percent of Americans now think we made “a mistake” in sending military forces to Afghanistan”.

A similar poll in January 2002 found only 6-percent of Americans thought the Afghan war was “a mistake.

1. Rent out that bachelor pad atop his studio – you are not a bachelor anymore

10. Hold on dearly to that lawyer of his

I have never really watched either the David Letterman Show (CBS) or The Tonight Show with or without Jay Leno (NBC) – and I don’t intend to start now.

Whenever I’m up late and these shows come on, I usually switch to a news/sports channel.

On Monday night, I was a bit lazy to get up immediately, because I was just a few minutes away from finishing what I was doing, so Letterman came on.

I must admit, I was a bit curious as to what HE would say, given the revelations about his alleged Sexual Liaisons Room – or Bachelor Pad – or bedroom, whatever above his set in the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway.

Monday’s show was Letterman’s first show since announcing, Thursday that a CBS producer had tried to blackmail him for 2-million-dollars over the late night host’s sexual relationships with women who worked for him.
The producer pleaded not guilty to extortion charges, last week.

Scandals seem to be good for ratings. Letterman got a lot of applause when he came on. The gist of Letterman’s comments are in italics, not necessarily verbatim. He started off (his monologue?) by asking the audience about their weekend:

His weekend?: It just flew by…and that he’d give anything right now to be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. (Reference to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford who was visiting his mistress in Argentina. An aide said the governor was hiking along the Appalachian Trail “to kind of clear his head after the legislative session.”) Lots of applause.

He got into the car in the morning and the navigation lady wasn’t talking to him (applause) ouch! Lots more applause…there’s a possibility that he will be the first talk-show host to be impeached…applause…it’s fall in New York City…he spent the weekend raking his hate mail…applause…cold too, chilly outside my house, chilly inside my house…more laughter.

I turned my T.V. off at this point. In the past, whenever I spoke about Mr. Letterman before, it was usually to refer to his salary.

According to a 2002 Forbes article (The Celebrity 100: The Producer, by Peter Kafka), Letterman’s five year contract renewal with CBS for The Late Show, was worth some 350-million-dollars; more than $155 million of was slated to go straight to Letterman

CBS pays Letterman a $31 million salary on top of the license fees it pays to his production company: Worldwide Pants. CBS even lets Letterman’s people run the shows as they wish, from staffing decisions to celebrity bookings.

According to Forbes, Letterman’s contract with CBS included:

1. Letterman, rather than the network, would own Late Show (11:30 p.m.)
2. Letterman would also have the opportunity to control and own a show in the time period that followed it
3. He would have a development deal funded by CBS.

Jay Leno did not own a stake in the Tonight Show.

Months before Letterman’s contract was set to expire in August 2007, Letterman inked a contract extension with CBS that expires next year, 2010. He is currently paid 40-million-dollars (according to Forbes; others say $31 million) a year.

40 million a year breaks down to: 3.3 million a month. Just under 800-thousand-dollars a week.

Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants does own the program that follows Letterman’s Late Show: It’s called: “The Late Late Show.” Worldwide Pants is also behind hits like Everybody Loves Raymond.

With a production company called: Worldwide Pants, I’m not shocked he can’t keep his pants on.

Isn’t there some subliminal significance there?