Chance or Plan You Decide!

Birthdays come and birthdays go. The years pile up, if you are lucky. Many of us think we are great planners and the successes we have are the result of our planning, manipulations and controlling the situation with a tight fist. But is it all our doings or is it some form of predestination controlled by some powerful spirit making sure we don't shoot ourselves in the foot.

Spiritualists say all of us are put on this earth with a mission to accomplish. Some die very young. Some never have the chance to succeed in terms we mere mortals define as success, wealth, power, always having access to the best this world has to offer including hospitals and medicine only the rich and powerful have access to certainly not the poor. But for most of us our mission may be more like raising a family, helping in some obscure way that we do not even realize we were helping someone overcome an obstacle in his or her life. Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances that seem so unlikely it only becomes likely when we stop and think about how we came to that part of living.

Many years ago a young man who entered the Army when there was no war, late 1950's, found himself in a basic training camp that was far from his home state where his girl lived, and naturally he wanted to stay near his girl but through an error he was sent about a thousand miles away. But through this error he was able to enter the Army Band and get married and live off base. If he stayed at his home base he would have been sent overseas as his buddies were who entered the Army at the same time and took basic training there. Was it just a co-incidence, or design that his life changed forever because of a clerical error made by some PFC in the US Army processing his papers? Who knows if they would have ever gotten married if he was stationed overseas? She could have met someone else. He could have had a fling or two. The children that came from that union would have never happened even if they eventually got married because the children who sprang from them were unique and could only come from the uniting of sperm and egg at that specific time. Just the same as you and I could only be the result of our parents making love and joining together at a specific time because once those carriers of life were gone they were gone forever never to be duplicated.All of this by design or just co-incidence? The mission resulting from this story is clear, new people, new loves and the human race goes on but with specific people not hit and miss. There were other accomplishments and failures also but I shall stick with this example.

There was a man entering middle age when he found himself without a job. He took a job at less pay, less stature because he didn't want his family to starve. He worked at this company for decade and a half. There were some whom he hung around with but none he kept as close friends. He met a nice young lady with whom he struck up a pleasant friendship but she was a young mother and he was a happily married man. They spent some time together walking along the streets of New York and sharing a few lunches. But she left to become a stay at home mom and he eventually was let go from his job. The last time they spoke was in 1987. He went on with his life, she with hers. Seemingly an innocuous meeting between two people who certainly had two different ships bringing them on their sea of life. Both their lives changed greatly during the course of intervening years. Then some twenty-five years later, in the year 2012, they met again through social networking, quite by accident because he really wasn't into all this internet stuff. They met and were pleased that each one remembered the other. They dated a few times. To make it short and brief. They met, fell in love and are quite happily exploring what mission they have to accomplish while they enjoy each other's company. Was it an accident, a co-incident that he was without a job and landed with a company he really disliked but would have never met her who some twenty-five years after they said their last goodbye met again only this time with meaning?. Or was it by some design that they had to meet at the earlier time or they would never have had the time given to them at this later date?

Life is so filled with these happenings that it does make one wonder if so many co-incidences could be happening that will change the direction one takes in life could be another force than mere chance. Co-incidences alone in life sort of makes life one big crap shoot. I prefer to believe in some great gracious, outside force that wants us all somehow to experience life in it's fullness rather than mere chance.      

113th. United States Congress

The 113th. United States Congress sucks.  The Senate is comprised of  53% Democrats and 2% Independent who votes with the Democrat caucus. Yet because of an home made rule if a filibusterer is invoked 60% of the Senate is needed to vote Yea, not a simple majority but 60%. This could have been changed if the Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid took decisive action at the start of this Congress back in January 2013 but he refused to take action that would modify that rule. He refused to take that action because of a political reason not because it was the right thing to do. Mr. Reid was looking forward to the future when the Democrats would be the minority party and then would want to block passage of laws by invoking the filibuster. How noble. Mr. Reid while crying obstructionists now was looking forward to the moment when his party could act in an obstructionist manner. Because of this weaselly move the "Universal Background Check" requirement that would stop people who had mental problems or were criminals from purchasing guns, 54% voted for the bill but the 60% rule was invoked by the Republicans. Of course guns would be gotten illegally but it was a small step forward in getting the violence committed by people using guns under control.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky had the gall to say on Rush Limbaugh's radio show that he was disappointed because the President was using the people of Newtown, Connecticut as "props" as they were lobbying for passage of the bill. These brave people who had lost their children in the horrendous mass killing by a psychopath who had easy accessibility to assault weapons and clips that fired 30 rounds in a minute or less. These great people who couldn't do anything about their losses but were trying to make it harder for others to feel the pain they will endure for the rest of their lives. President Obama was supporting their cause which should be our cause all with the same aim, to try and keep fatalities through gun violence down and this very political man, Rand Paul finds a way to criticize it not because he really wants to support the second amendment to our constitution but because he wants to be re-elected and who knows what, maybe run for President supported by the right wing fanatics of the Republican party. The scary part of all this is that Senator Rand Paul has backers, people who believe what he says and follow him. God save us from our fellow idiots.

Now we have the terrible tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing by two immigrants, one of which became a naturalized citizen in 2012, and while this should have nothing to do with the bill under consideration covering immigration  Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa (R) opened with remarks saying the events in Boston should be factored into the discussion. The far right is looking to sabotage any bill which leads to citizenship and wants to have more stringent rules leading to deporting those who are in the USA illegally, without any regards to the humanity in question of people who were born here, or lived here working hard, paying taxes and acting like good members of our society even though they didn't follow the rules exactly. Senator Marco Rubio (R) whose parents immigrated from Cuba is supposed to be championing the immigration bill before the Congress but since he is a Republican he spends much of his time speaking out of the both sides of his mouth because he needs to kowtow to the right wing of his party if he will have any chance at all in winning the primary leading to his running for President in 2016.  The USA has a Senate that seems to be more interested in gaining or retaining power rather than passing legislation that is needed badly.

Our House of Representatives is comprised of 54% Republican and the Speaker, Representative John Boehner  has blocked many a bill by not allowing votes when he doesn't have the majority of his caucus in favor. That means  since we have a divided Government, Senate and Executive controlled by Democrats  very little legislation gets passed. Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor both cater to the far leaning right wing of their party many of which are Tea Party members of the Republic caucus. The far right wants smaller government and less taxes which means they support many issues that favor big business while cutting what they call entitlements and many like to call rights, such as health care and social security. There are many that might argue this premise but when rubber meets the road it always comes down to budgets submitted by Representative Paul Ryan, Wisconsin, that has medicare becoming an unworkable voucher system and cutting taxes on the upper income level while reducing benefits in social security and many suspect, since he does not provide all the details, eventually increasing taxes for the middle class but that part is speculation. But one thing is sure, the 112th and now 113th Congress passes very little meaningful legislation refusing to compromise because of the Republican right wing, and causing many emergencies that have to be met or the America's financial status is questioned, please refer to "the fiscal cliff", "the debt limit" and other such problems that were never problems before.

The Republican far right also challenges the scientific community on global temperature change and its negative effects, woman rights, gay rights. While they claim they want smaller government they don't mind interfering in one's bedroom and making new laws that affect minority voting. I know the voting stuff is on a State Level but it is supported by the Republicans on a national level.

Hopefully America will finally come to it's senses and elect leaders who lead and are worried about what is the right thing to do rather than doing anything that will ensure their re-election. AND THAT GOES FOR BOTH PARTIES!!!!!!!

Baseball, Ball Players, & Family

The first time I that I remember baseball playing a big part in my life I was about four years old. We lived in Corona, Long Island, New York. My whole family lived less than a mile from each other. Somebody was over somebody's house at any time any day. I went over my Aunt Tessie's apartment in a two family house for some reason or another. My Aunt Tessie was a die hard Brooklyn Dodger fan even though we lived in Queens. But she loved Cookie Lavagetto. She always sang, "Lookie, Lookie, Lookie here comes Cookie!". But her son Tommy, was a Yankee fan and had pictures of Joe DiMaggio all over his room. I idolized my older uncles and cousins. I walked into his room and the radio was blaring the Yankee game, Mel Allen was shouting something like"A Ballantine Blast!". My cousin was happy. I was happy. The Yankees won. It seemed to me that the Yankees always won and the Dodgers always lost but had a good excuse if you listened to my Aunt. My Uncle Rock might have been a New York Giant fan but I think he just liked to argue with the Yankee and Dodger fans, or I should say needle them whenever he could. Everybody in my family liked Baseball and when they talked Baseball they were happy so it was easy for me to like being happy so I gravitated towards Baseball. My family also idolized guys like Joe D., Cookie, and all other Italians who were making good. Back in the day the Italians weren't accepted so readily by our fellow Americans so having the Ball Players doing some heroic, athletic things was a good thing for us Italian-Americans. I had other heroes like the heavyweight champ and American hero, Joe Louis. His last name was spelled the same as my first name. But while like every American before and during World War II I idolized him, he wasn't Italian and most important I couldn't fight like he did. So as I said it was easy to be drawn into the world of baseball which by the way I COULD play pretty good!

The first game I saw was around 1942 or 43. My Mother knew how crazy I was for the game but only had radio (no TV back then) she decided that she would take me to see the Brooklyn Dodgers on Ladies Day. Ladies day let the ladies in for free or a quarter and I got in for the kids price which was about a quarter, I'm not sure because I didn't pay she did. She got all gussied up in a pretty dress, nylons or whatever war substitute was available, a nice hat and high heels. We took the subway from Flushing to Brooklyn, a long way with a change or two, for only a nickel each each way. All I remember is Ebbets Field  a real nice small easy field to sit in and watch the game. Almost a decade later I had my try out there. They moved to California in 1957, "dem bums".  Anyway, Chicago Cubs won the game and Stan Hack hit a home run. Hack was a veteran third baseman probably playing because all the young ball players were in the service.

No later than 1944 my cousin Tommy, the one I mentioned at the beginning of this story, took me with a friend of his to see the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium, the one built in 1923. Boy that was a big stadium. I was at a Red Sox game and a Cleveland game when I was older that had 74,000 packed into the place. This was a day game. We drove to Wood-side  Queens and took the Subway to the Bronx with a change or two, and the price was still a nickel, five cents.  My cousin Tom went into the Army shortly after that and was shot up pretty bad in the Battle of The Bulge. Left for dead on the battlefield but finally picked up and brought back for many operations. He still carries some bullets and shrapnel in his 89 year old body. And he still has to fight for his veteran benefits. BUT that's another story for another day. So here we were at Yankee Stadium but Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto and the rest were in the Army. In center field was Johnny Lindell  a converted pitcher. He was about 6'6" tall and he could hit and field. On one play, I can still see it in my mind's eye, he came in for a shoe-string catch (they don't make those catches today) Caught the ball in his glove hand and did a tumble sauce coming up on his feet running in showing the ball in his glove held over his head. I was in love. He was a pretty good player through the glory years that followed for the Yanks and I wore his number whenever I played with a uniform on, number 27. Lindell finished his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates as he started, a pitcher, relief instead of a starter, had a knuckle-ball that was pretty good.

I patterned my stance after DiMaggio. Purchased bats that were too heavy because I read that Babe Ruth used a 44 ounce bat, mine was 36 ounces, 36 length. I knew all the players. There were only 16 teams, 8 in the National and 8 in the American league. Had a stack of cards with pictures on the front and statistics on the back. We'd flip them in a game where the second one who flipped had to match the ones the first one threw. I hardly ever lost. Those cards would be worth a fortune today but my Mom threw them out with all the comic books my brother and I had because she was a neat freak. I say all this with great but bitterly felt love! The years that followed included TV and going to games. The thrill of those games I saw as a kid were never matched. Radio and newspapers were our connection with the game. Marty Glickman, a well known sportscaster of times past, had a 15 minute replay show with recorded and edited game replays which we listened to with great attention even if we heard the game on the radio only a few hours before. Everyone I knew, except for Clifford Von Ark, one of the few guys that got A(s) in school, wanted to be a ball player. The off season was called the "Hot Stove League" because the newspapers said in the "old days" in the winter men would sit around a wood burning stove in the general store and discuss baseball. We didn't have a big heater to sit around but we discussed baseball waiting for spring training to begin.

The was a comedian named Bill Dana who used a made up ballplayer called Jose Jimenez who used to say in a Spanish accent, "Baseball's been very very good to me!", and it always got laughs. But in truth Baseball has been very, very good to me and all the kids I grew up with. The game brought us closer as a family. This family includes my relatives, Father Mother, cousins et. al., and my friends I grew up with. Somehow our love, excitement, many thrills and heroes are all connected to the great game called Baseball.

All The Way

The day was bright but the news wasn't. North Korea was making war time noises again. With their new young leader they were crazier than ever. He just didn't know how far a nut like that would go without causing much damage and disruption. Iran was just as crazy as ever.

The local cable news was full of disturbing news about the mistreatment of women. He could kid about the USA getting on the road to hell when they got the vote. This was done just to annoy the women in his life. The news was not kidding when it reported the sex trafficking world wide. In the USA alone there was thousands of women being held prisoners for sexual purposes. Places like India still had reported immolation of women who were not wanted by their husbands. Afghanistan was fighting just to get schooling for young girls with one reported beaten severely because she wanted to go to school. Keep women unschooled you keep them prisoners of husbands because they have no chance to earn a living at any but the most menial jobs. It is reported that in Thailand children are used for sex and human trafficking.

The poor of the war live off garbage dumps scavenging for whatever they can get so they can eat. Yet we have the ability in the civilized world to produce enough food to feed the world. Even when we give away food some despotic governments let the food rot on the piers rather than distribute it to their poor.

The world is well aware of these things as well as the genocide being conducted in certain parts of Africa, yet nothing is done by the civilized world to correct these atrocities. No matter how bright and warm the day was he couldn't shake off these disturbing reports and return to his little bubble where his problems seemed so insignificant compared to what was going on in the world. Yet he knew he had to live his life with gusto and verve because it did no one any good to become depressed over things that were beyond his control. He did what he could and then tried to get his life on course.

He felt he had been thrown a curve because he was pretty comfortable with his life as he had set it up. He was making enough money to live comfortably for him. He was enjoying good restaurants, plays, movies and concerts. He met some very interesting ladies. He felt OK. Then he met one gal that upset everything because he had the bad judgement of falling in love with her. This meant making commitments. This meant doing something about a situation he could control. It wasn't like the world problems that he could do little about. He would have preferred just a casual relationship but it turned into something more and with that there came commitments like fidelity, putting one's own desires in the background and concentrating on making her feel happy rather than just himself. He thought about breaking off their relationship but when he finally came face to face with that idea he realized that he'd be the most miserable person in his world without her. He knew there was only one thing he had to do and that was to take action.

He came to the conclusion that was what life was all about, taking action about what you care deeply about. Maybe he couldn't change this lousy way women are treated in this world but he could send some money to the causes trying to correct these problems. He could also change his attitude and speech with regards to the things in the world that really bothered him. He could also support those who were fighting for justice in this world. Not be afraid of what his friends might say even if he sounded like a radical or God forbid, a socialist because he would want the poor to be uplifted even if it meant redistribution of wealth. He would have to go all in, do what he could, all in all the way.

This thinking translated very much to what he was feeling about this lady whom he was having such deep feeling about. He would have to commit to love all the way. They had a dinner date that night and he decided to tell her of his feelings and if she reciprocated  then he would read her the lyrics of a song he heard in his youth that would describe his commitment perfectly. His only problem would come if she reached another stage and she only wanted to be friends. He decided not to think about that and headed for the shower to get ready for tonight's date. He always sounded good singing in the shower and he did so this time:

When somebody loves you
It's no good unless he loves you all the way
Happy to be near you
When you need someone to cheer you - all the
way

Taller than the tallest tree is
That's how it's got to feel
Deeper than the deep blue sea is
That's how deep it goes - if it's real

When somebody needs you
It's no good unless he needs you - all the way
Through the good or lean years
And for all the in-between years - come what
may

Who knows where the road will lead us
Only a fool would say
But if you'll let me love you
It's for sure I'm gonna love you
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net]
All the way
All the way

Taller than the tallest tree is
That's how it's got to feel
Deeper than the deep blue sea is
That's how deep it goes - if it's real

And when somebody needs you
It's no good unless she needs you - all the way
Through the good or lean years
And for all the in-between years - come what
may

Who knows where the road will lead us
Only a fool would say
But if you'll let me love you
It's for sure I'm gonna love you
All the way
All the way

I'm gonna love you all the way

Songwriter(s):Mathew Sargeant, Charles Robert Simpson, Irving Berlin, James Bourne