It's all about fairness

Unfairness can hurt people.
Unfairness can destroy lives.
Unfairness can kill sometimes too.

My father was treated unfairly.
He was a master aircraft mechanic and worked on the team that designed an aircraft engine known as the "Twin Wasp". Two Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" 13 cylinder radial engines coupled together.
The engine that made the B-17 "Flying Fortress" viable by enabling it to carry substantial bombloads.
The engine that made Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's trip to Tokyo, Japan in 1942 possible.
The engine that played a significant part in our winning WW2.
He helped DESIGN it!

But in his youth he was a union organizer.
Because he believed in fairness.
Some of the people he worked with were "Wobblies".
Some people in this country considered all "Wobblies" to be "Communists".

In the early 1950's he was subpeonaed to testify before HUAC.
The House UnAmerican Activities Committee.
Chaired by Congressman "Tail Gunner Joe" McCarthy.
They ordered him to name names.
He refused.
So they revoked his FAA Aircraft Mechanics License.
He never worked in aviation again.

Being Irish, he had always been a drinker, but not to excess.
When they pulled his license, it broke his spirit.
He made a living for a while as an auto mechanic.
But mostly he drank.
To try to forget the unfairness of it all.
He became an alcoholic.
Eventually, many years later, he drank himself to death.
One too many cans of "Sterno".

His cousin, not wanting to waste money on a funeral, donated his body to the Jefferson Medical Facility in Philadelphia, a teaching hospital.
One of the best in the country.
The doctor who disected his corpse said he had "the most sclerotic liver, I've ever seen" in a person who didn't die directly from sclerosis.
They put it on display in a glass jar filled with formaldehyde.
With his name on the jar: Joseph McFadden.

My brother discovered it several years later.
When I went out to Philadelphia for my mother's funeral, he took me up to Jefferson.
And we visited my father's "grave".


It's all about fairness.


Mac

An abuse of power

Like most of us I am both a student and a teacher.
I learn new things every day. (Blogging for instance)
And I "teach" by sharing anecdotes about my life experiences.
Sometimes (make that 'usually') there is a point to which story I choose to share at a given time.
People don't always get the point, but that's not my fault.


I have two friends. The first is named Bill. He is currently a State Senator, but he used to be the Mayor of 'the town across the river' from Eugene. He is a retired school teacher, so he is neither unintelligent nor uneducated. My other friend was named Rick (he is deceased now, from a combination of drug abuse and homelessness, either of which can be deadly in itself, but together are a lethal combination).

Rick used to "fly a sign" asking for money donations (begging) along Pioneer Parkway on the north side of town. He was one of the more visible members of the homeless community. And one of the more outspoken. There came a time (and I don't recall the details) when he and Bill 'got into it'. Face to face, nose to nose, a high volume dispute. I think Rick got the better of the argument and Bill ended up backing down. This didn't sit well with Bill and he happened to be the Mayor at the time. A position of significant power. Rick on the other hand, being homeless, had only the power of his personna, a well reasoned argument, and the vocabulary of an educated man.

Bill came before the City Council shortly afterwards and convinced them to pass a City Ordnance prohibiting solicitation on the public roadways. So it became illegal for ANY homeless person to "fly a sign" in Springfield. Rick flew his anyway, in defiance of the law, and was cited. He took his case to court claiming his First Amendment rights to free speech. The City Ordnance didn't make it illegal to stand holding a sign, only to 'solicit'. Rick claimed that the Ordnance was designed to only punish certain speech based on content.

The Courts eventually ruled in Rick's favor and the homeless were once again allowed to fly their signs without being penalized by the City. I guess the Courts recognized that the treatment received from SOME of the public was punishment and penalty enough.

Bill had a problem with one individual and used his position of authority to pass a law that affected hundreds of people. Most of them being people he didn't know, hadn't met, who had never done him any injury. He did it "because he could".

And that is an example of "abuse of power".
When a person in a position of authority does something "because they can" without any underlying argument or only one they have rationalized. When their action affects many people because they have a problem with one person. When they are motivated by personal feelings, not the public good.

Even though Rick is gone now, whenever I see Bill, I always ask him, "How's Rick?"
It's my way of reminding him not to abuse the power of his position.
The expression on his face tells me that he finds my question irritating.
Good! People in positions of power should get irritated now and then.
It helps to keep them honest.

And just what does my tale have to do with anything going on in the world today?
Nothing.
Not a thing.
;-)
(Did you read the first 5 lines?)


Mac

My ESS Swan Song

My Farewell Post at the ESS message board:

Mac McFadden post March 12, 05:54 PM Post #78

applying McFadden's razor*
Group: Members
Posts: 6,516
Joined: 7-October 05
From: Eugene, Oregon
Member No.: 4,387


I grow weary of "the dance".

I was asked where is my usual insight. This is what my insight tells me:
Senihele was not banned because of anything she posted on this board. Or any other board for that matter. She was banned because she chose not to accept being harassed over the telephone and filed a report with her phone company. For this she was punished (by the harasser I asume since the other people with the power to ban appear innocent) by being banned untill 2034. Senihele is not the only poster at this board who received harassing calls, but she is the only one who filed a report.

LeeB was not deleted because she requested it, nor was she deleted because she posted a "vicious personal attack" nor because she attempted to "organized a boycott" of the Ed Schultz Show.
I find it curious that WE are being asked to provide PROOF of "wrong doing", when that is exactly what WE are asking in regards to LeeB's post or posts being "over the top" and "the straw".
Shouldn't the burden of proof be on whoever deleted her account ? (By their own words this was NOT the work of Matt, nor Plunderer. Anyone care to guess who that leaves?)
No warning was sent that her posts were too viscious. No admonition to back away from the edge. No DEMAND for an apology.
Just POOF! and she's gone into the cyber ether.

And of course, one result of her complete deletion is that any possible evidence of her guilt (or innocence) is likewise gone, vanished, disappeared.

Sorry, but I NEVER buy a pig in a poke.

My insight tells me that LeeB was actually removed from the board for the grevious act of posting some of her opinions about the ANS/AAR debacles elsewhere on the internet (particularly at DailyKos) where her posts were read by a certain radio show producer.
Matt has suggested to Doc Morbius that he either forgive or move on. Like the good Doctor, I cannot give forgiveness that has not been ASKED for. (It's called "an apology".)

Apparently apologies only seem important when they are owed TO people in high places. I guess that's why they are the "ruling class" and we are all just peons.

In any event, I hope you all have a good life.
And I'll see some of you in the funny papers.
Fare thee well.

Mac


"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."
- The Declaration of Independence


The "dance" that I grew weary of was "the Issue That Must Not Be Named" (or talked about)
In a free society, such a beast cannot be accepted.
Only in a fear-riddled society can it flourish.
I chose not to abide in a fear-riddled society.
I chose not to fear "what MIGHT happen" in the future.
I suppose that's why al-Queda doesn't frighten me.

The tragedy of the departure of so many of the best writers from ESS, is that it need not have happened. A simple (non-apology) apology such as "I'm sorry so many people were offended by my choice of words." (without even an admission that the choice was wrong) could have healed the rift. At this point in time even such an apology and the reinstatement of banned members would be "too little, too late". Some of us require at least the appearance of sincerity.
How ironic that the "Poster of the Year for 2006", author of the "Individual Post of the Year for 2006" has left the building.

So life moves on.
The one true constant in the universe remains: change.
I settle in at other message boards like AirAmericaPlace.
And begin anew.
Making new friends, earning new respect, retelling old jokes they haven't heard yet.
"When one door closes, another one opens."

Backpack slung, walking stick in hand, I trudge down the road towards the horizon to an unknown destination. Remembering that life is not a destination, but a journey taken.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring.


Mac


* the principle of "McFadden's razor" is to use a sharp instrument to slice through the bullsh*t and get to the gist of an issue.