Amazon bookstores should replace public libraries

Last weekend, Forbes magazine published an online article by a regular contributor named Panos Mourdoukoutas, in which he advocated replacing pubis libraries with Amazon bookstores in order to save taxpayers money. The article triggered an immediate and angry response, and the article was withdrawn almost immediately. According to Forbes, the article was withdrawn “because the article was outside of this contributor’s specific area of expertise, and has since been removed”. That’s a polite way of saying that the guy didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

The day after the article was published, Forbes issued a statement confirming the fact that libraries “play an important role in our society.” Twitter, of course, buried Forbes with a flurry of comments, and the Kansas City Star published a lengthy article on July 23 that enumerated the benefits of public libraries.

 http://amp.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article215349175.html

Andrew Carnegie realized the importance of libraries, which is why he devoted a substantial part of his fortune to the erection of public libraries.

 

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2018/04/read-you-idiot-read.html

 

Despite our strong public support for libraries, America does not have the most total libraries, nor do we have the highest number of libraries per capita. The country that has the most libraries is India (with 323,605), followed by Indonesia, Russia, and China. The Vatican has the highest number of libraries per capita (1498 per 100,000 of population), followed by Slovakia, Palua, Finland (107), Belarus (97), Czech Republic (91), Ukraine (88), Armenia (83), Maldives (83), Russia (79), and Canada(55). We are #26 on the list, with 30 per 100,000 of population, slightly below Japan (35).

https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-most-libraries-total-and-which-has-the-most-libraries-per-capita

What America DOES have, though, is the world’s largest library. The Library of Congress, which was founded in 1800, has 164 million items available for review. Its annual budget of $642 million is a lot of money, but it is less than 1/10 of 1 percent of our 2018 defense budget, which will be INCREASED to $716 billion in FY 2019. At today’s price of $94.6 apiece, $642 million would buy exactly 6 F-35 jets, with a little money left over.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_libraries

Apart from their obvious value as educational tools, the articles contained within libraries are worth a LOT of money. Earlier this week, 2 men were arrested for stealing $8 million in rare books from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, a crime that is eerily familiar to the fictional theft from the Princeton library that John Grisham wrote about in his 2017 novel, Camino Island. If your local library happens to have a copy of the Book of Mormon, they should keep it under lock and key, since an original edition sold in 2017 for $35 million.

 

https://pittnews.com/article/133625/featured/2-men-arrested-for-stealing-over-8-million-in-rare-books-from-carnegie-library/

In addition to their literary treasures, there ARE a number of libraries in the country that have resident cats. The most famous feline is a cat named Dewey, who lived in the library in the Spencer, Iowa library for 17 years. Not only did he leave a lasting impression on the town, he also attracted visitors from around the world, including a film crew from Japan.

 

 

With a net worth of $143 billion, Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. In addition to his ownership of Amazon, he also owns the Washington Post, and Whole Foods. At the end of 2017, Amazon was the 5^th largest book store chain, but the number of its brick and mortar stores is significantly less than the number owned by Barnes and Noble, which was the largest general trade chain in both 2017 and 2011.

 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bea/article/73837-bookexpo-2017-amazon-will-be-the-fifth-largest-bookstore-chain.html

In its quest to eliminate anything of value from American society, the Trump administration (in February of 2018) proposed the permanent elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, as well as the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (and virtually all federal library funding), In all, federal library funding only comes to $231 million, while the NEA and the NEH each have individual budgets of $145 million.

 

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/76047-trump-renews-bid-to-eliminate-library-funding-nea-and-neh.html

In the last 30 years, it is doubtful that the tweeter in chief has read more than a handful of books, including the ones that he published that were actually written by ghost writers. If he would take the time to read books instead of watching television 6 hours a day, he would be more likely to appreciate how dumb cuts to library funding actually are.

There is absolutely no way that Amazon, or ANY book store chain, will ever replace public libraries in our country, and that would definitely please the Scottish immigrant who was the riches man in America at the turn of the 20^th century. During the last 18 years of his life, Andrew Carnegie gave away $350 million, which would be slightly more than $9 billion in today’s dollars. He left a legacy of 1687 Carnegie libraries in every state in the country, as well as 1 each in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.. Arizona has 4, but Indiana has the most, at 156, so it’s highly likely that Mike Pence has actually been in a few of them.  

Sorry, Mr. Moutdoukoutas. You may be the chair of the Department of Economics at Long Island University, but your ideas about libraries just don’t add up. Stick to numbers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Condor Pasa

Even if I am alone, I rarely have the radio on in the car, but today was an exception. On the way back from Chuz health club, I decided to listen to some classic rock/ folk singer music on Pandora. One of the songs that came on was “El Condor Pasa”, a song that was popularized by Simon and Garfunkel in 1970. As I listened to the song, I realized that the lyrics simply did not make any sense. If you listen to the video below,  I think you’ll agree with my thoughts on this one. WHAT were these guys thinking of? (EL Condor Pasa, incidentally, translates into “the condor passes”).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pey29CLID3I

 

When I got home, I did some research on the song to see if there was any hidden meaning, and I came across the link posted below. The short version is that the song was composed in by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles in 1913, and was based on traditional Andean music, specifically folk music from Peru. After its release, the song became wildly popular, which resulted in THOUSANDS of versions around the world. In 2004, Peru declared the song as part of its national cultural heritage, and it is now considered the second national anthem of Peru.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_C%C3%B3ndor_Pasa_(song)

In 1965, Paul Simon heard the song being played by the band Los Incas when he was in Paris. He asked permission to use the song in production, and they agreed. Ultimately, it became part of the 1970 album, Bridge Over Troubled Water.

 

Although the lyrics written by Paul Simon sometimes have you scratching your head, he IS a master of composing music that is pleasant to listen to, and has done a better job than most musicians of incorporating music from other cultures into his sons. The 1987 song, “Under African Skies” still gives me shivers when I listen to it. In 2013, he produced a documentary with the same title.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85rr5SqrCZI

 

  

I've come to realize that are few coincidences in life, and today was no exception to that rule.

 

The History Channel this morning mentioned that the Peruvian landmark Machu Picchu was discovered on this day in 1911. In the native Peruvian language, Machu Picchu means “Old Peak”. Since its discovery, the lost city has become one of the world’s top tourist attractions, and it attracts an average of 300,000 people a year, one of whom is a former neighbor of mine

 

 

 

The odds of hearing an old Peruvian song on the same day that a Peruvian landmark makes the news are fairly slim, but I’m convinced that it’s a sign of good luck. I guess I’d better buy a lotto ticket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PT 109

PT 109

 

 

The PT (patrol torpedo) boat was used heavily by the Navy during WWII. The boat was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and was prized due to its maneuverability and speed.

 

Surprisingly, WWII was not the first time that PT boats were used, since their first use was in the early part of the 20^th century. The boats during WWI were heavier and slower than their WWII replacements. The more recent versions were used against enemy warships, transports, tankers, barges and sampans. The typical boat included 4 torpedoes and twin 50 caliber machine guns, The boats were powered by THREE Packard V-12 engines, each of which produced 1500 horsepower, and later versions produced 1850 horsepower.  They were very effective against the Japanese, who called them “devil boat”.

 

The most famous PT boat, of course, was PT 109, which was launched on June 30, 1942. A little  more than a year later (on August 2, 1943), almost exactly 75 years ago, it was sunk by a Japanese destroyer named Amagin, which crashed into the PT boat while traveling at over 40 miles per hour.

 

 

The impact cut PT 109 in two, and immediately killed 2 men. Although 11 members of the crew survived, 2 of them were badly injured. Since the crew was approximately 3.5 miles from Plum Pudding Island, the nearest piece of land, they decided to swim for it. Their commanding officer, Lieutenant junior grade John F. Kennedy was on the Harvard swim team, so elected to tow his badly burned machinist (Patrick McMahon) to shore using a strap from a life jacket clenched between his teeth.

  

The explosion of August 2 was spotted by an Australian coast watcher, which sent 2 natives in a dugout canoe to look for the survivors, and finally found them by accident 6 days later. Since the canoe could only hold 2 people, Kennedy scratched a message on a coconut, and asked the two canoeists to deliver it to the closest PT boat, which turned out to boe PT 157, which made the final rescue.  After they were rescued, the coconut was returned to Kennedy. Ultimately, it was preserved in a glass paperweight and kept on his desk in the Oval Office. It is now on display at the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

The PT 109 story came to me this week as a I started to read Robert Kennedy Jr’s latest book, whichis titled “ American Values – Lessons I Learned from My Family.” JFK’s parents, Joseph and Rose were strict but loving parents, and they expected nothing but the best from their children, which is why THREE of the brothers became senators, and one of those three eventually became president of the United States.

 

Like them or hate them, the Kennedy family was one that raised children with CHARACTER.  Due to his bad back, JFK could have avoided military service altogether, but he enlisted the help of his father to get INTO the service. Once he got in, he later volunteered to attend the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center in Melville, Rhode Island. After completing his training on December 2, 1942, he was assigned to take over the command of PT 101. which was assigned to Panama. Because he wanted to get into combat duty, he transferred to another squadron, and was assigned to PT 109 on April 23, 1943.

 

The story of PT 109 beame a song in 1962 (see below) as well as a book and a movie. Revell also made scale models of the boat, which we owned for a period of time before it got lost in of our many moves.

https://youtu.be/vADboJwbHCs

 

History does not record whether of not JFK had bone spurs, but there is no doubt that they would NOT have kept him out of the service. His leadership during his brief tenure as president was a period of remarkable achievements, including the actions he took during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of WWIII. As a result, he is consistently rated as one of our 5 best presidents.

 

Without giving away too much of the contents of the book, I would simply urge you to read it as soon as you can. Although it provides some unsettling comparisons to today, it also does provide a way forward in today’s perilous times. The current occupant of the White House will NEVER be considered the best president our country has every had  (at least, not by rational people) but he absolutely would need to be considered one of the most dangerous politicians alive today. Pages 17 through 22 detail how our country has became a fascist state under his watch. The same pages, though, show how FDR overcame similar challenges during his presidency, which means we will be able to take corrective action once we once again have responsible leadership running our country.

 

John F. Kennedy has his share of enemies, and there are DOZENS  of conspiracy theories about his death, but the reign of JFK was, in many ways, of time of magic in America. Pages 263 – 284 provide more details on the highs (and lows) of Camelot, so I’ll simply close with a song.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7E5rtnFH4

(If you would like to read more about the conspiracy theories, click on the link shown below:)

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7431976391999907996#editor/target=post;postID=8953851075908406358;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=185;src=link

 

Camelot  youtube

Roe V. Wade is in the news again

The pending retirement of Justice Kennedy has triggered a lot of conversation in the last week or so. The Democrats are still smarting over the fact that Merrick Garland was cheated out of his rightful place on the court, and the Republicans are happy about the fact that Donald Trump was able to get a conservative judge (Neil Gorsuch) appointed to the Court. The fact that three dubious cases were decided this past week by a 5-4 vote (Texas redistricting, public employee union dues, and the Muslim ban) should be cause for concern by BOTH political parties, but most of the anguish will be on the liberal side.

The fear of many folks on the liberal side is that the 1973 case of Roe v Wade will be weakened if Trump gets another conservative judge on the bench. Since Trump has a long track record of nominating the worst possible people for positions (including the members of his cabinet) there is certainly probable cause to be worried. Since Trump’s selection is scheduled to be made public on July 9, we’ll know in the near future if we should be concerned. However, there IS speculation that Chief Justice Roberts will now swing more to the center, which may help keep things on an even keel. Regardless of who is chose, though, Republican Senator Susan Collins has gone on record that she will not approve any candidate who does not support Roe v. Wade, so things are going to get very interesting in the near future.  

Just like gun control and immigration, abortion is simply one of those topics that always generates the strongest emotions. Before you go any further, though, read the article below, which I published in January of 2011.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2011/01/roe-vs-wade.html

Once you are done doing that, I would next recommend reading “Scarlet A’, a novel by a professor named Katie Watson, I read it earlier that year, and found it to be the MOST comprehensive coverage of all sides of the issue that I have ever read. Another book that is worth reading is Jodi Picoult's book titled, "A Spark of Light". One fact that stands out in the book is that in Mississippi, there is only ONE abortion clinic in the entire state, and there is a law on the books that a woman who gets an abortion ban be tried for murder, and receive the death penalty.

How in the world can that be considered pro-life ?

Although abortion is prohibited by virtually all religions, the fact of the matter is that religion has little bearing on which women will have abortion, since Catholic women choose the procedure just as often as women in the general population.

 https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/01/24/catholics-are-just-likely-get-abortion-other-us-women-why

The real surprise this year was that abortion was legalized in Ireland, which is considered one of THE most Catholic countries in the world. By the time all the votes were counted, the “yes” votes were 66.4% of the total for the referendum, which was known informally as “Savita’s law”. Although the article posted below goes into more detail, the short version is that a 31 year old dentist named Savita Halappanavar was not allowed to induce a miscarriage for her brain dead fetus, and died as a result.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/ireland-votes-by-landslide-to-legalise-abortion

A little closer to home, a local columnist named Joanna Allhands had a very similar experience 4 years ago, and recently published her story in the paper:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2018/07/03/nicole-arteaga-walgreens-miscarriage-prescription-abortion-debate/753252002/

The irony of the abortion issue is that both sides have the same goal in mind – fewer abortions. Unfortunately, too many members of the Republican Party are following precisely the WRONG approach to solving the problem.

The number of abortions performed annually in America is at a 40 year low. The ONLY ways to reduce the number of abortions even further are (1) mandatory comprehensive sex education for ALL high school and middle school students (2) INCREASED funding for Planned Parenthood and (3) elect public officials who aren’t under the sway of extremist groups like the Center for Arizona Policy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Arizona_Policy

Your personal sex life is nobody’s business but yours, unless you are a public figure, and your sex life is inappropriate (think Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, and Bill Cosby, for starters, but don't forget to include Brett Kavanagh.

For the same reason that doctors don’t write laws, politicians should not be allowed to interfere in medical decisions that you and your doctor make in the privacy of his office.

 I’ve seen enough fireworks in my lifetime that I don’t need to be sitting outside this coming Wednesday, but I have a feeling that once Trump announces his nominee for the Supreme Court, the fireworks will start in earnest in Washington, D.C.

Enjoy the show!

Fireworks pic