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Chanticleer Calls - April 6, 2000
I
do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer
in the morning,
standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.- Thoreau
IN THIS ISSUE:
* * * * * *
CROWING
I'm pleased as the proverbial punch to tell you that ThisIsNotThat.com hits the "Big Time", or at least the New York Times, this weekend. William Safire, well-known syndicated columnist, mentions my site and general semantics in his weekly column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, April 9th. I should mention, however, that the mention does not necessarily result from an endorsement of content, but rather is made in the context of "interesting" website names. * * * * * *
QUOTE: "It is not disbelief that is dangerous to society, it is belief." - George Bernard Shaw
* * * * * * HOW TO GET THERE FROM HERE?
One of the reasons that this edition of Chanticleer Calls showed up (crowed up?) late is that the author has, within the past month: accepted a new job offer after seven months of a former-employer-supported 'sabbatical'; bought a new car; took a driving tour of the Midwest including St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee; and started said new job.
The new job is a wee bit beyond clear across Dallas, so the new car has already seen much road time. The new commute represents a conundrum in that ... there's not really a 'good' way to go, either coming or going. At first, I believed it was a piece of cake since the new North Central Expressway is completed from downtown all the way north to Plano. I believed I could zip into downtown on Hwy 114, get on North Central, and zoom against the traffic to Plano - even during rush hour. The alternatives included taking the more direct, but frazzling, I-635 across north Dallas, or using the Dallas North Tollway, which is usually clear but it's a pain getting on and there are two major toll booth areas to get through.
After a week, I might have changed my belief about the 'best' (more like 'least worst') route. I tried them all. However, I realized that there were so many data points I needed to consider that - truly, the answer to my dilemma was, "It depends." For example, in the morning it makes a big difference what time I leave. And the road conditions and visibility certainly factor into it since the downtown route has two major freeway merges to contend with, both of which face right into the sun at this time of year. And there's no accounting for where the wrecks and breakdowns will be - truly a random distribution.
So I no longer cling to any beliefs about which route represents the 'least worst' or 'best'. There are too many variables to deal with, too many things happening that I can't control or understand, and the predictability is really nothing more than a guess. But the fact that I don't believe in a 'best' route doesn't keep me from getting up in the morning, hopping in the car, plugging in to some tunes, and heading off to earn a little chicken feed. * * * * * * GIGABITE GULLIBILITY
CBS Marketwatch reported the arrest of a Houston day trader named Fred Moldofsky. Seems he participated on one of the Yahoo! message boards set up to discuss individual stocks (in this case, Lucent Technologies (symbol: LU). (Aside: I've 'participated' on several of these boards as well, and actually, the mere participation on some of these boards ought to constitute a misdemeanor.)
But Mr. Moldofsky did a little more than 'participate'. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he posted a message formatted to look as though it was distributed by the company (Lucent) as an official press release. His message (a.k.a., the "press release") warned that Lucent was forecasting lower profit levels than previously announced a few weeks earlier.
"We allege (Moldofsky) modeled this fake release on (the actual warning), which gave it the appearance of reality," Erich Schwartz, assistant director enforcement at the SEC, reported to CBS.MarketWatch.com.
Marketwatch reported that the stock dropped 2 5/8 on March 22 (the day of the fake release) and traded as low as 60 3/8 on March 23 before the fake release was denied.
So, apparently, quite a few people believed that what they read on a stock message board, amidst posts such as "Shorts Suck!" and "If you're long you're WRONG!", to the degree that they sold their stock. Just because they read that somebody said, they believed. * * * * * * ATTACK ONE, ATTACK ALL
During the last half of February, the Dallas Morning News (DMN) published several letters from local Muslims after an article linked some Muslim clerics to terrorists. One letter, from Aqeel Siddiqui, expressed his belief that:
How strongly do you believe that holding strong, sincere beliefs represents a virtue, without respect to what is believed? * * * * * * WHATEVER HAPPENED WAS MEANT TO HAPPEN
You may have heard that we experienced a little meteorological event here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on March 28th. To a lot of folks in Fort Worth and south Arlington, what they experienced was a tornado.
The storm damaged much of downtown Fort Worth, including Calvary Cathedral and its five-story prayer tower. (Curiously, just a few blocks away, the First Methodist Church escaped unscathed ...)
On April 2nd, the church held makeshift services nearby. Rev. Bob Nichols said he believed it was time for "thanksgiving and celebration." According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the three-hour service:
"Nothing but good can come of this," said Jinx Thompson, a longtime church member whose River Oaks home sustained minor damage.
"Our pastor has been wanting to build a new gym, and now the tornado has broken ground for us," she said.
"Vickie Denny of Saginaw said she had been scheduled to be in what members call the Power Tower, a 24-hour prayer vigil that members have maintained for five years in the church tower. She said she had the 6 to 8 p.m. shift but was delayed at work.
"There are so many miracles in this. This can only bring Calvary closer," Denny said.
"Nichols' sermon was based on Exodus, Chapter 17, in which the Israelites complained that Moses and God had led them to the desert, where they had nothing.
"He said that just as the relationship between God and his people was tested in the desert, the Calvary congregation has a similar opportunity and will be better for it.
"'The desert is a place where we get rid of our stuff, but we also get rid of our fear, our disbelief and our blaming of others,' Nichols said."
Meanwhile, in neighboring Lake Worth to the northwest, 19-year old immigrant Juan Carlos Oseguera left the cover of shelter during the accompanying hail storm to move his pickup truck. He was struck in the head with a softball-sized hailstone traveling over 100 miles per hour. He was kept alive on a respirator until the next day, when his family decided to remove the respirator. They agreed to donate his organs donated, which immediately went to help two people in Fort Worth and four people in Houston.
Meanwhile, in east Fort Worth, Adele Warren, 62, and her grandson, Ashlyn B. Dickens, 24, died when their car was swept away during flash flooding.
I suppose that sometimes there just aren't enough 'miracles' to go around. And I guess that a prerequisite of believing that "Nothing but good can come of this" is that, well, you gotta be there to say it. And I reckon that not everybody can pass the test. Still, it seems to me - I believe - that four lives represent a steep price to pay for a new church gym. * * * * * *
During the same week in my city of Irving, a disgruntled man who had been fired from his job at a car wash for allegedly exposing himself to customers, went back to the car wash and shot and killed six people. According to the Dallas Morning News, Robert Wayne Harris has apologized to the families of the victims and "said he spends most of his solitary time praying for forgiveness.
AND FINALLY - A Unique Tribute
I have mentioned my friend and devoted Chanticleer Calls reader Katy Beth before. Her sister Vikki died on February 21st after a seven-year battle with breast and liver cancer. Katy Beth shared in an email that:
I found it very special and meaningful and asked her if I could mention it in a newsletter. She replied:
And if anybody asks what they can do - tell them to go to the post office. Or www.usps.gov and buy the breast cancer stamps, they're pretty and the extra seven cents goes to research. So far, just by people spending an extra seven cents per stamp, the post office has raised $10.9 million to "fund the fight."
Just wanted to tell you that I think this last Chanticleer is outstanding. Particularly the intelligent and well-researched way you've rebutted Robertson's phone pitch in Michigan. Unfortunately, there are a lot of poor, deluded people out there who need to know the sort of things you've covered here. Mucho congratulations. - Bill C. in Dallas
From my perspective, both Robertson and Rudman have "sinned", and the paintbrush applied to Robertson, especially that of labeling and propagandizing, tars Rudman and the author of this portion of Chanticleer Calls as well. - K. Cox, Oregon
I liked the things that you shared about Pat Robertson. I've never trusted this guy and am just amazed at those who buy into his thinking. I am getting fed up with those who think only Republicans are worthy enough to be leaders of our country. There are a lot of church-going, God-loving, responsible and respectable Democrats out there. Robertson marks the whole lot of us off. A stack of the Christian coalition "voter guides" found its way onto our church front steps a few years ago, and I was the first one to get to church and find them. Not one Democrat was endorsed for any political office. Our pastor, an avid Democrat, threw the whole lot of them into the trash (where they belonged). Here is a poem that I wrote to myself as a New Year's Resolution. Yes, it applies to me and I have a LONG list of those to whom I'd like to send it to, including Pat Robertson:
The older I grow,
I must say that this latest message was very dear to my heart! I enjoyed your insights tremendously on "American Beauty" and the so-called Christian Coalition. Did you enjoy the part with the neighbors "Jim and Jim"? Keep up the good work! - J.K. in New York
Here, Here!! I too found this movie ("American Beauty") thought-provoking. "Relentless honesty"... beautifully put, Steve. Since having a child, going to the movies is a luxury. I'm glad I spent my time on American Beauty. I noticed that for me, it was a new experience, where I found myself associating/empathizing with the "parents" instead of the "children." I left the theater with "Wow." For me, one of the things that this movie was 'about' is the meaning of "ordinary", and our efforts to be or be 'beyond' ordinary. (So, ordinary is the measurement, but of course, indefinable as a baseline. You don't know how to define it, but you know ordinary when you see it, right?) Then there's all of those people who are out-of-the-ordinary. Once they are recognized, then who is left to be ordinary? Is ordinary permanent, or are you sometime ordinary and sometime something else (extraordinary, out-of-the-ordinary)? Or does ordinary itself change?) I left wanting to see it again… The symbolism was fantastic - rose petals, roses in vases, guns and drugs, dead birds and plastic bags, watching life through the camera ... - Robbyn in St. Louis
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