The Moody's Blues

More good times might be ahead for us . . . I write rather sarcastically.  News sources again have been harbingers of doom:  the speculation is that Moody’s is preparing to announce a downgrade in the United States credit rating.  We frequently read about Moody’s and how important its credit ratings are.  Moody’s is like the Federal Reserve: the market religiously follows its announcements.  If the Moody’s rating is good; the market reacts positively.  If the Moody’s rating goes down a notch; the market reacts negatively.  And so follows the value of your 401K and any other investment you might have, including your home.

Just as I asked about the Federal Reserve, I ask about Moody’s: who monitors them?  As a corporation Moody’s engages KMPG LLP, a noted tax and advisory firm, as its auditor.  However, I’m not interested in the corporate auditor.  I am not interested in the obviously public financial statements.  I want to know who is watching the executives, the decision makers, to insure that they are not profiting personally from their credit rating designations.  Major corporations are held accountable for their business dealings and holdings; executives of major corporations are not.  Moody’s has too much of an influence for its executives not to be held accountable for personal finances.

A week ago I emailed Moody’s asking what procedures have been put in place to prevent insider trading on the part of its executives, and, no surprise, I have yet to receive a response.

Moody's was founded by John Moody in 1909 to produce manuals of statistics related to stocks, bonds and bond ratings.  Following several decades of ownership by Dun & Bradstreet, Moody's became a separate company in 2000, and Moody's Corporation was established as a holding company.

Moody's Corporation is the parent company of Moody's Investors Service, which provides credit ratings and research covering debt instruments and securities, and Moody's Analytics, which offers software, advisory services and research for credit and economic analysis and financial risk management.  In 2011 they had revenue of $2.3 billion.

Moody’s ranks the credit worthiness of borrowers using a standardized ratings scale which measures expected investor loss in the event of default.  Moody's rates debt securities in several market segments related to public and commercial securities in the bond market.  These include government, municipal and corporate bonds; managed investments such as money market funds, fixed-income funds and hedge funds; financial institutions including banks and non-bank finance companies; and asset classes in structured finance. Securities are assigned a rating from AAA to C, with AAA being the highest quality and C the lowest quality.

There are basically two ratings business models:  unsolicited (where Moody’s issues a rating unsolicited by that company) and issuer paid (where a company has paid for a Moody’s rating.

In the mid-1990s, the Justice Department investigated to determine whether Moody’s “unsolicited” ratings amounted to an illegal exercise of market power. However, the investigation was closed with no charges filed.  Moody's pointed out that it has assigned unsolicited ratings since its beginning in 1909, and that such ratings are the market's "best defense against rating shopping" by issuers.  In 1999, it announced it would identify which ratings were unsolicited as part of a general move toward greater transparency.  In 2005, unsolicited ratings were at the center of a subpoena by the New York Attorney General's office, but again no charges were filed.  Following the 2008 financial crisis, the SEC adopted new rules for the rating agency industry overall, including one to encourage unsolicited ratings to counteract potential conflicts of interest by ensuring a "broader range of views on the creditworthiness" of a security or instrument.

The "issuer pays" business model (paying for a credit rating) adopted in the 1970s has been criticized for creating a possible conflict of interest, supposing that rating agencies may artificially boost the rating of a given security in order to please the issuer.  Other alleged conflicts of interest, also the subject of a Department of Justice investigation the mid-1990s, raised the question of whether Moody's pressured issuers to use its consulting services upon threat of a lower bond rating.  Moody's has maintained that its reputation in the market is the balancing factor.  Thomas McGuire, a former executive vice president, said in 1995 that: "[W]hat’s driving us is primarily the issue of preserving our track record.  That’s our bread and butter.”

The following three are Moody’s leading executives, the presidents of its companies.

Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr. is President and Chief Executive Officer of Moody's Corporation.  He holds a J.D. from Emory University School of Law and a B.A. in political science from Colgate University.  He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1984.  From his corporate bio page it would appear that Mr. McDaniel has only worked for Moody’s.

Michel Madelain is President and Chief Operating Officer of Moody's Investors Service.  He is a graduate of the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Rouen, Rouen, France, and holds an MBA in management from Northwestern University.  He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in France.  Prior to joining Moody's in 1994, Madelain was a partner of Ernst & Young.

Mark E. Almeida is the President of Moody’s Analytics.  He holds a BA from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, and an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.  Prior to joining Moody's, he worked in marketing and in regional economics for Chase Econometrics, a consulting subsidiary of The Chase Manhattan Bank.

Let’s review other information about the above three that is not echoic regurgitation from the Moody’s website.

Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr. has been the subject of scrutiny for the timing of his stock sales. "If you look at his major sales in 2007, 2009, 2010, they are all around price peaks and followed by large declines. The likelihood that this is just 'lucky' is very low — it appears he is using inside information to time his trades,” said Jesse Fried, a Harvard University law professor who studies stock trading by CEOs.  In one instance, McDaniel executed a trade for some 100,000 shares of stock on the day the firm received notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company was the subject of probes by the regulatory agency.  The day the announcement of the SEC "Wells Notice" was made public (and following McDaniel's transactions), Moody's stock dropped by 6.807.

In 2010, Business Insider named McDaniel one of the fifteen worst CEOs in American history.  Business Insider reported that, since he became CEO in 2005, Moody’s had gone from being one of the most respected credit agencies to being the target of public criticism, law suits and investigations . . .  that outdated models were used, they were influenced by their clients, and they waited too long to downgrade investments as the collapse in the housing market intensified.  The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued a subpoena to Moody’s complaining that they had not complied with its request for documents and e-mails to aid in its investigation.  The Business Insider wrote that during McDaniel’s watch, Moody’s century-long sterling reputation for integrity vanished and it is almost certain that the value of its brand can never be regained.

In 2011, Huffington Post carried a Reuter’s report in which Michel Madelain said that a European Union plan to impose tougher rules on credit rating agencies is "dangerous" as it is bound to limit the "quality and independence" of the rating process.  "I see it as reflecting an obsession to challenge the rating process itself, and to hold rating agencies responsible for the European debt crisis," Madelain is reported to have said in an interview.  "These proposals cannot make investors confident again nor facilitate the access of companies and European states to credit markets.”

Madelain has been fighting the European Union’s efforts to deny investors access to informed, independent credit views.  He closed a 2011 speech at a Euro Finance Week event by saying “Neither the interests of investors nor the long-term growth prospects of European economies are well served by such policies.”

In an April 2012 letter to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Mark E. Almeida recommended that market signals should not serve as automatic triggers for heightened early remediation, that peer comparisons are essential for effective early warning, and that credit default swap implied default probabilities should be considered in the set of market-based triggers.  His full letter can be read at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/SECRS/2012/May/20120510R-1438/R-1438_043012_107224_613995658948_1.pdf.

Almeida is on the Board of Trustees of the Battery Conservancy which is dedicated to the preservation of the Battery Park in New York.  (I wanted to mention this because it makes at least one of these three guys seem a little bit more human.)

There we have it.  Yet another major financial influence is not held fully accountable.  Together with the Federal Reserve, they make a truly unholy alliance.  Until individuals are called upon to be accountable for their personal financial dealings, you and I will never know exactly upon what they are basing their decisions, decisions that affect you and I, our todays and our tomorrows.  Even if you have no savings, no investments, no mutual funds, you are affected through your cost of living, what you pay for groceries, what you pay at the pump, the price tag on your clothes, and the cost of your health care.

I say, let the revolution begin.

Until the next time, LLAP!

References:

Watching the Watchers: Justice Department Launches Probe of Moody's Ratings". Tulsa World. 28 March 1996

http://www.brookings.edu/press/Books/2006/financialgatekeepers.aspx

Moody's denies threatening firms with lower ratings". Miami Herald. 29 June 1996.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-02-09/pdf/E9-2514.pdf

http://www.kpmg.com/US/en/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.moodys.com/

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/28/98282/timing-of-stock-sales-by-moodys.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worst-ceos-in-american-history-2010-5?op=1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/michel-madelain-moodys-president_n_1096843.html

http://www.malekigroup.com/images/2011_EFW/Speech_Madelain.pdf

http://www.thebattery.org/the-conservancy/board-of-trustees/

http://www.federalreserve.gov/SECRS/2012/May/20120510/R-1438/R-1438_043012_107224_613995658948_1.pdf

In the beginning . . .

We tend to live in our own microcosms of beliefs, histories and mythologies, so much so that we frequently give little thought or consideration to mythologies of other cultures.  Yes, most of us are familiar with the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, but I thought it might be interesting to take a look at a handful of cultures, those unfortunately not customarily referred to or studied by most of us, to see what their creation mythologies are.  To be sure, for the cultures that I have selected, only a very brief summary of those creation mythologies is presented, barely touching upon the individual richness that each possess.  However, they are so fascinating, with such deep meaning, that I must share them with you, even if in a sadly truncated form.

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Africa

Zulu – Unkulunkulu, the highest God and creator of humanity, was created in Uhlanga, a huge swamp of reeds.  From the reeds, he brought forth people and cattle. He created everything that is: mountains, streams, snakes, etc.  He taught the Zulu how to hunt, how to make fire, and how to grow food.

Zimbabwe – Modimo was the creator.  When he distributed good things, he appeared in the east and belonged to the element water.  When he brought drought, hail, cyclones and earthquakes, he appeared in the west and was part of the element fire.  Modimo was also sky and light, earth and root.  He had no past or future.  His name was taboo and could be spoken only by priests and seers.

Ethiopia – Wak was the benefactor creator God who lived in the clouds and covered the vault of the heavens with stars.  When the earth was flat, Wak asked man to make his own coffin, and Wak shut man up in it and pushed the coffin into the ground.  For seven years he rained down fire, and the mountains were formed.  Then Wak unearthed the coffin and man sprang forth alive.  Man tired of living alone, so Wak took some of his blood and, after four days, the blood became a woman whom the man married.  They had thirty children but, because man was ashamed of having so many, he hid fifteen of them.  Wak turned those hidden children into animals and demons.

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Apache

In the beginning there was only darkness.  Out of nowhere a thin disk appeared with a man, the creator, seated inside who seemed to awaken from a deep sleep.  He looked up and light appeared; looking down he created a sea of light; to the east he created the streaks of dawn, and to the west the colorful streaks of dusk.  He rubbed his hands together and thrust them in a downward motion, and a girl on a cloud appeared.  He asked her where she was going, but she did not answer.  She asked him where he was from and he said from the east.  She asked where the earth was, and he asked where the sky was.  He sang four times, which is a magic number.  He flung his hands wide open and then appeared the sun God.  The creator then dropped his hands, and a small boy appeared.  All four Gods were now present and they all shook hands, mixing their sweat together.  The creator then sang, again four times, about making the Earth.  After rubbing his hands together, a brown ball appeared.  He kicked it and it expanded; the girl kicked it and it did the same; the sun God and the boy both took turns; and the ball continued to expand.  He then told the wind to go inside and blow it up.  The creator created more Gods to look over things on Earth.  He had created workers to help with the building of Earth. Once he saw that the work was done, he disappeared, leaving the workers to create the world’s population.

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Australian Aborigine

In the beginning, the land was barren with no light, life or death.  The sun, moon, stars and eternal ancestors all slept beneath the Earth.  Baiame brought the Dreamtime ancestors from under the ground and over the seas.  When the ancestors arose, life came to the barren plain.  They walked the earth in human form, animal form, plant form or a combination of the forms. There were two people that formed out of nothing and, upon their walks across the Earth’s surface, they came upon some half finished plants, animals and humans.  They would then carve heads, bodies and limbs from bundles of plants.  This is how people were formed amongst the Earth’s surface.  Everything that is was made in the Dreamtime, how animals and humans should look and behave, was fixed for ever.  After the work of human creation was finished, the ancestors went back to sleep.  They either went back under the Earth or they stayed here in the form of plants and animals.  They left sacred trails, which can be seen in the forms watering holes, rocks and trees.  Dreamtime is not yet over.  Through the power of the Dreamtime, the very environment is sacred and alive.

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Babylonia

Marduk was created to defend the Gods from an attack plotted by the ocean Goddess, Tiamat.  Marduk will save the Gods only if he is appointed their supreme leader.  The Gods agree to his terms.  Marduk challenges Tiamat to combat and destroys her.  He rips her corpse into two halves with which he fashions the earth and the skies.  Marduk organizes the planets, stars and regulates the moon, sun, and weather.  The Gods pledge their allegiance to Marduk, and he creates Babylon as the terrestrial counterpart to the realm of the Gods.  Marduk then destroys Tiamat's husband and uses his blood to create humankind so that they can do the work of the Gods.

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Chinese

The universe was a big black egg that carried a God, Pan-Gu, inside itself.  Pan-Gu awoke from an eighteen thousand year nap and took his broadax and smashed through to escape from the egg.  The light became the heavens and the heavier parts became the Earth.  Pan-Gu stood in between with his head touching the heavens and his feet firmly planted on the Earth.  All would grow at a rate of ten feet per day for yet another eighteen thousand years.  His breath became the wind and the clouds, his voice the thunder, and his eyes became the sun and moon.  The mountains were formed from his body and limbs, and the rivers and oceans were made from his blood.  The fertile soil came from his muscles, and the roads are his veins. The flowers and trees are from his skin and body hair, where the stars are come from his beard and hair.  Pearls and jade are made from his marrow and his sweat is the rain and dew.

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Korea

The myth of Tangun begins with an already existing earth.  A Heavenly Prince, Hwangun looked down at earth and desired to possess it and rule over mankind.  His father, the Ruler of Heaven, Hwanin, knew that his son would bring happiness to human beings and, looking at the earth, chose Mount Taebak as a suitable place for his son to go to earth.  Hwangun arrived beneath a sandalwood tree where he created a holy city.  He brought with him three heavenly seals, somewhat mysterious in nature, and three thousand loyal subjects from heaven.  Hwangun also brought three ministers, the Earl of Wind, the Master of Rain, and the Master of Clouds.  Hwangun either taught or took charge of 360 areas of responsibility such as agriculture and medicine.  The story moves now to a bear and a tiger both of which desire to become human beings.  Shunning sunlight and eating only the food given by Hwangun, the bear succeeds in earning Hwangun’s approval, while the tiger fails to fast, fleeing into the forest. The bear becomes a beautiful woman, Ungyo, and become Hwangun’s wife. Their son is Tangun, the King of Sandalwood.  Tangun becomes the first king of Korea, calling his country Choson and ruling for 1500 years.  After this 1500 years, he retreated to Taebak-san to become a mountain God.

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Mayan

Two creation Gods, Tepeu and Gucumatz , learn to talk, think and speak.  As they thought of things, those things would be created.  As soon as they thought of lands, skies, mountains, the animals, those things would come into existence.  They first created human beings of clay, but the clay people would fall apart when they would get wet and could not praise their creators.  They then created people out of wood, but these wood people had no hearts and minds, so God wiped them out.  After this, God let them start over and this is how today’s Earth was finally created.

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New Zealand Maori

Io was the Supreme Being and creator of the universe. He created Rangi, Sky Father, and Papa, Earth Mother.  Rangi and Papa produce numerous offspring while they are physically, “cleaved together in a procreative embrace.”  Since their parents block all the rays from the sun, the children are forced to live in darkness.  They become restless and question whether to separate their parents or to kill them for more room and light.  Tuma voices his opinion for death, while Tane wishes to just separate the mother and father so that the earth will “remain close as our nursing mother.”  Most finally agree with the plan for separation with a major dissenting vote from only one sibling, Tawhirimatea.  As the guardian of winds and storms, he fears that his kingdom will be overthrown if the parents are torn apart.  After many attempts to separate the parents, Tane finally succeeds as he places his shoulders against the earth and his feet against the sky.  He pushes slowly with both his upper and lower body. “Soon, and yet not soon, for the time was vast, the Sky and Earth began to yield.”  The Earth Mother and Sky Father bleed and this gives rise to ochre (red clay), the sacred color of the Maoris.  When the separation is complete, there is a clearly defined sky and earth.  One of the offspring states that there is one element still missing, and he urges his siblings to find the female element, ira tangata, to enable the creation of woman.  The search spans both land and sea, and Tane finally consults his mother, Papa, for her advice and knowledge.  She takes pity on Tane and tells him to search an area named Kura-waka.  The children find the element in the Earth and dig it out to contribute in the creation of woman.  Tane then breathes life into it, and creates Hine-ahu-one, the earth formed maiden.

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 Scandinavia

The first world to exist was Muspell, a fiery realm.  Beyond Muspell was the icy realm of Niflhiem.  With the combination of the ice and fire, the air grew mild and once the ice started to melt, the ogre Ymir was created.  While Ymir slept, he sweated and brought to life two males and a female frost giant.  As more ice melted and time passed, a cow was created, who would nourish herself by licking ice blocks.  As the cow licked the ice, she revealed a man who had a son. The son married one of the frost giant’s daughters and they had three sons, who killed Ymir.  Ymir’s blood drowned all the frost giants except for Berglimir and his wife, who created the Earth with Ymir’s flesh and bones.  Odin, one of the sons of the frost giant, spotted two logs on Earth and gave them life, while one of the other brothers gave them brains and feelings, and the other gave them hearing and sight.  Thus man and woman were created.

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Until the next time, LLAP!

References (among many):

http://kestrana.hubpages.com/hub/The-Popol-Vuh-The-Mayan-Story-of-Creation

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/creation.html

http://revelations-2012.com/creation_myths_main/china_creation/pangu.html

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/re/information/creation/australian_aborigines.htm

http://www.indians.org/welker/creation.htm

http://www.reformationmedia.org/schadestudy09/session1/BabylonianCreationStory.pdf

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/doherty/plan2/colbergcreation.html

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/doherty/plan2/liangcreation.html

http://www.realalternativesite.com/zulu-creator-myth-belief-unkulunkulu-a-1329.html

http://www.mythome.org/creatafr.html

The Road and I

Have you noticed lately that when you get into your car you need to first have a private little chat with yourself before putting that engine in gear?  More and more lately it seems that one needs to both steel and calm oneself in anticipation of the species on the road I refer to as “The Stupids.”

I often wonder why we bothered to enact laws against driving while holding a phone up to your ear.  Forests died putting through the paperwork for those laws.  (Where were the greenies when that was happening?)  I don’t blame the police for this; I blame legislators who enact laws without the manpower to enforce them.  Worse than the phone, is the text.  You know when a driver is texting.  His head is pointed downward too long as he taps his message on his keyboard; or he holds his phone up to the steering wheel, maneuvering his two-ton weight piece of machinery while placing more importance to the “LOL” he’s texting than to controlling his vehicle.

There seem to be an awful lot of open-bed trucks on the road, or trucks missing their rear gates.  Please, Mr. Truck Driver, watch what you put back there and realize that your tools, toys and trifles can fly up and out if you hit a bump.  Several years ago, driving down Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, a tire iron bounced off the back of the truck in front of me and not only imbedded itself in my tire, but destroyed the bumper as well.  I considered myself fortunate that it hadn’t flown into my windshield.

The number of drivers concerned about wearing out their turn signal fuses is awesome.  Aren’t they the ultimate environmentalists?  Why else would you not signal a lane change, especially when that change is made with less than a car length to spare.  Could it be the cost of the fuse?  Maybe we need to start a “Fuse Foundation” so these poor souls will not worry about being poised on the brink of financial ruin should a fuse replacement be necessary.

Some suffer from select hazard discernment; if they don’t see a hazard, to them it doesn’t exist.  For those reason-deprived individuals, I have two words:  black ice.  You don’t see the black ice, but it’s there, and unless you want to shorten your life span dramatically, and take someone else with you, be aware that you might be driving on it.

Let us review one of those forgotten words in the new vocabulary of the year 2012, “hydroplaning,” which is what happens when driving too fast on a wet day.  A fun way to fly; not a fun way to land.

Okay, just because you drive a truck, it does not automatically mean that your tires and brakes are magically endowed with the power to grip a snowy or icy road.  In the DC area (and this happens just about every other place where snow kisses the road), I saw more trucks swerve 90 degrees, slide into the side walk, the median strip, down gullies.  I know you’re riding high up in that truck and it makes you feel that you truly are above us all, but your truck is not Santa’s sleigh.

Where is the person’s brain who drives 70mph in pea soup thick fog?  Is his brain fogged up too?  Oh, I know.  That brain is being sat upon.  If you kill yourself, that’s one thing, that’s Darwin’s Law doing its job.  Just don’t kill anyone else.

Okay, let’s have a kumbayah hands-holding moment and speak the unspeakable.  If you are a cyclist, please please please please realize that the rules of the road apply to you too.  I will respect you if you respect me.  Actually, I’ll respect you anyway because I refuse to be responsible for a two-ton object under my control knocking down a forty pound bike and its rider.  At least go through the motions of respecting me.

I currently live in Sunnyvale, California, and the main road in this microcosm of the universe is El Camino Real.  The posted speed limit is 35mph; a reasonable rate you would think.  However, there seems to be a shared delusion here that 15mph is the fastest that should be driven whether in the right, middle, or left lane, and it doesn’t matter if its rush hour or the middle of the day.  If you are a new driver and are unsure of yourself, if you have a fragile load in your car, if you don’t know where you are going, drive in the far right lane.  The next time you drive that 15mph take a look in your rear view mirror (cars still come with that accessory, don’t they?) because while there might be no traffic in front of you, it sure as heck is piled up behind you.

Another regularly exciting occurrence along the El Camino Real (although friends and family in other parts of the world have assured me that they too have shared in this experience) relates to the above-mentioned 15mph driver.  Only this particular 15mph driver is quite politely driving in the far right lane, so definitely no complaints from my end.  Then, like The Most Holy touched their heads in inspiration, they ram the gas pedal and fly across two lanes of traffic.  If you are not watching with that extra pair of eyes you got for Christmas last year, you could be doomed.

            Driving down a highway in Florida a few months ago, a driver stopped dead right smack dab in the middle of the road, leaving the cars behind him screeching their brakes, including yours truly.  He sat there for a second, looked around, pointed off to some mysterious location off to the left, and nodded his head as if to say “Oh, yes, that’s where I want to go.”  A profoundly speechless moment.

Don’t you just love it when no one will let you merge onto the expressway?  Yes, we all know that the merging lane is to cede right of way, but when traffic is bumper to bumper and no one is really getting anywhere any faster than anyone else, would it kill you to be courteous?  Ooops.  I just remembered that courtesy is obsolete in 2012.  My bad.

We must not forget those who tailgate.  Does your vehicle truly need to engage in some sort of exotic dance of coitus with my bumper?  Is that extra five miles per hour that vital to your well being?  If your objective is to force me to move into another lane so that you can go on your merry way, unless the next lane is clear, why on earth should I put myself at risk while driving 60mph on the expressway.  When the lane is clear enough, I’ll move.  Until then, cool your jets.

Last week I was merrily driving along.  Hardly any traffic at all.  I saw a car ahead of me on the right waiting to turn into my lane.  In my rear view mirror, I could see there was no one behind me.  As any normal thinking person would, I figured she was waiting for me to drive by so that she could proceed onto the road behind me.  Nope.  She waited until I was almost right there, almost right in front of her, and she pulled out in front of me.  What is the name of this maneuver?  Does it fall within the “I want you to hit me so I can make a bundle from a huge insurance settlement?” category?

Now for my ultimate traffic pet peeve.  To me, it doesn’t get much worse than this:  the driver who will not pull to the side of the road to let an emergency vehicle pass.  God forbid that you or someone you care about should either need that vehicle or be in that vehicle.  Frequently a matter of seconds determines whether a person will live or die, whether they will be healthy or an invalid.  Wherever you are going, wherever you need to be . . . it isn’t as important as that emergency vehicle getting to where it needs to be ASAP.

Every now and then I want to lower my window and shout out that line from Network “'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore.”  . . . but, of course, I do continue to take it, because to do otherwise would be insane and I choose to steer my own personal insanity along other pathways.  Besides, road rage is the end result of letting "The Stupids" win.

Until next time, LLAP!

Campaign Slime

            The 2012 presidential campaign is in full bloom.  Hooray for us!  Actually, the fun began from both sides more than a few months ago when it became apparent that Mitt Romney would be the Republican candidate choice:  the name calling, the contrived scandals, the personality attacks, the placing of personal blame for world poverty and global warming.  We no longer wait until after the conventions for the ink to splatter against the wall.  Now we know months beforehand whose seats will be the dunking cage targets.  I think it is safe to say that the name-calling began right after the last election, and now a catch-up game is being played on Romney’s behalf.  The same amount of invective name calling spews from both parties.  Both are just as guilty.  Even at its best, a presidential campaign is covered with a thick film of sludge.

It might be worthwhile to remind ourselves that negative campaigning is not a new phenomenon.  Political mud has been slung for hundreds of years.  To perhaps gain a better perspective, let’s take a look at past mud fights, starting with our more recent history, working our way back in time:

During the 2004 George W. Bush vs. John Kerry campaign, the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" produced a commercial, "Any Questions?" (http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004/any-questions/) which cast doubt on Kerry’s Viet Nam War experience claims.  “He is lying about his record.”  “John Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star.”  “When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry.”

Also in that 2004 campaign, the subject of gay marriage was brought up at one of the debates.  Kerry raised the issue of the sexual orientation of one of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughters.  He thought he was making a point to criticize the Bush administration, but it backfired and the reaction was furious.  The outrage that Kerry would bring up a family member was so harsh that it led to him sinking in the polls.

George H. W. Bush’s campaign in 1988 used what is referred to as “The Revolving Door” commercial against Michael Dukakis (http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1988).  While Governor of Massachusetts, Dukakis had supported a prison furlough program under which a murderer was released who committed a rape and an assault after being furloughed.  In the commercial, which follows prison guards, the announcer states, "His revolving door prison policy gave weekend furloughs to first-degree murderers not eligible for parole."  Then a revolving door formed by bars rotates as men in prison clothing walk in and back out the door in a long line.  "While out, many committed other crimes like kidnapping and rape."  "And many are still at large."  "Now Michael Dukakis says he wants to do for America what he's done for Massachusetts."

In September 1964, Lyndon Johnson’s campaign ran a television commercial (http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/peace-little-girl-daisy), what is referred to as:  "Peace, Little Girl/Daisy," to make a point about his opponent, Barry Goldwater.  From watching it, it seems that the point was that a vote for Barry Goldwater was a vote for nuclear annihilation.  A cute little girl plucks petals from a daisy while counting from one to nine, messing up her numbers a bit as she does so; a male announcer counts down from ten.  At zero, a nuclear blast fills the screen, and Johnson speaks:  "These are the stakes–to make a world in which all of God’s children can live, or to go into the dark.  We must either love each other, or we must die."  This ad was so incendiary (no pun intended) and controversial, it was only aired once.

1912 must have been a fun year with its four-way contest between Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Eugene V. Debs.  Taft called the previous president, the third-party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, a “dangerous egotist” and a “demagogue.”  Roosevelt called his formerly hand-picked successor (Taft) a “fathead” with the brain of a “guinea pig” and a “flubdub with a streak of the second rate and the common in him.”  Wilson labeled Roosevelt “the most dangerous man of the age.”  Roosevelt countered that Wilson was “a damned presbyterian hypocrite and a Byzantine logothete,” “an infernal skunk in the White House.”

During the 1884 race between Grover Cleveland and James Blaine, Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock, which led Blaine supporters to chant what became a national slogan: “Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa?”  After Cleveland won the election, his supporters answered: “Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!”  A Presbyterian minister, spoke at a gathering of pro-Blaine clergy in New York City just days before the election: “We are Republicans, and don’t propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been Rum, Romanism, and Rebellions.”  Accusations of Blaine’s corruption, as well as charges of his own sexual scandals, also dominated the debate.  At campaign rallies, Democrats chanted, “Blaine! Blaine! James G. Blaine! The continental liar from the state of Maine!”

In the 1872 election between Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley, a pamphlet was circulated by Greeley’s supporters calling the Grant Administration the “crowning point of governmental wickedness” and accused Grant of bringing forth a “burning lava of seething corruption, a foul despotism….”

In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was mocked as being "ape-like" for his tall stature and Kentucky twang.

Stephen Douglas called Abraham Lincoln, “You hatchet-faced nutmeg dealer.”  (Nutmeg dealers were frequently accused of selling fake nutmeg and got the reputation of being frauds.)

In the 1828 race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, Adams supporters published a series of "Coffin Handbills" in which Jackson was called an adulterer, his mother a prostitute, his wife an adulturess, and stated that Jackson had executed deserters during the War of 1812 and The Creek War.

The campaign of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was a particularly nasty one:

 Jefferson was accused of being a misogynist and of having an affair with a black lady (which would have been quite a scandal at the time and which, it turns out, was true).

Fliers pictured Adams as “a blind, bald, crippled, toothless man who wants to start a war with France while he’s not busy importing mistresses from Europe he’s trying to marry one of his sons to a daughter of King George.  Haven’t we had enough monarchy in America?”

From Thomas Jefferson:  “John Adams is a hideous hermaphroditical character with neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

“Murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood and the nation black with crimes.”  (Adams re Jefferson)

“Are you prepared to see your dwellings in flames? Female chastity violated?  Children writhing on the pike?” (Adams re Jefferson)

“Jefferson is the son of a half-breed Indian squaw raised on hoe-cakes.”  “Hamilton is a Creole bastard brat of a Scotch peddler.” (Again from Adams)

            As we can see, compared to the past, modern-day mudslinging is more like throwing buckets of water slightly tinged with the color of dreck.

            I guess we should be pleased with ourselves that our politicians and their supporters have come so far in elevating the quality of their invectives.  I guess.

            Until the next time, LLAP!

References

http://pcl.stanford.edu/common/docs/research/iyengar/1996/goingneg.html

http://www.insidepolitics.org/ps111/candidateads.html

http://www.prlog.org/10135675-even-the-founding-fathers-ran-negative-political-advertising.html

http://book.consumerhelpweb.com/

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2010/10/29/some-historical-perspective-on-negative-campaigning/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zTN4BXvYI

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1988

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004/any-questions/

http://werehistory.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

 

The Turban

            After the Sikh massacre by a white supremacist in Wisconsin which resulted in the death of six and injuring of four, I was more than a bit disturbed with comments made by callers to talk radio.  The recurring thoughts expressed by these callers reflected an ambivalence because “the Sikhs are so different” from us (whomever that assumed “us” might be).  The Amish conduct an atypical way of life and dress unlike most of us, but yet we all were horrified by the 2006 massacre in Pennsylvania.  So why this apparent ambivalence towards the Sikhs?  Shauna Singh Baldwin, in her August 11th column for CNN News quoted a young man:

"They're saying we're an obscure religion. How can 23 million people be obscure?"

          The word “Sikh” comes from the Sanskrit shishya for “learner” or “disciple” or “seeker of truth,” and Sikhs consider themselves life-long students.  Due to the religious requirement that they refrain from cutting their hair, turbans are worn to cover their long hair.

            Sikhism is a religion which originated in the Punjab region of India.  It goes back to the 15th Century, when Guru Nanak expressed the vision that humanity is one, rejecting social inequalities, caste hierarchies, gender discrimination, and religious persecution.  Nanak called for devotion to the One Divine, justice and equality, and a commitment to divinely-inspired service. He taught that each person has the potential to develop his or her own relationship with the Divine.  When a Sikh leader was beheaded for defending the right of all communities to freely practice religion, his head was brought to his son who asked if there were any Sikhs in the crowd to stand up to the injustice.  He declared that from thence on, the Sikhs would never hide.

That son grew up to be the next Sikh leader, and he formalized the standard identity. He gave Sikhs their articles of faith, and declared that the lasting teacher would be the sacred scriptures, their religious text called “Guru Granth Sahib.”  All were required to drop their surnames to avoid any reference to social status and embrace a shared surname: women adopted the last name "Kaur" and men took the last name "Singh."  Sikhism integrates Hindu ideas about karma with Muslim monotheism, and their scriptures include writings from the gurus, along with testimony from Muslim and Hindu prophets.

        Sikhs have 5 symbols known as the Five Ks: 

Kanga:  a special comb that represents cleanliness.

Kesh:  uncut hair which symbolizes spiritual power.  All practicing Sikhs wear the turban out of love and as a mark of commitment to the faith.

Kirpan:  a religious sword that encapsulates an initiated Sikh’s solemn obligation of courage and self-defense. It denotes dignity and self-reliance, the capacity and readiness to always defend the weak and the oppressed.  It is symbolic of their spirituality and the constant struggle of good and morality over the forces of evil and injustice, both on an individual as well as social level.  Some people a necklace which has a miniature kirpan on it.

Kachera:  an undergarment which is a reminder of the need for self-restrain over passions and desires.

Kara:  a bracelet which is a reminder that he or she is a servant of the Guru and should not do anything that may bring shame or disgrace. It is round and seamless, the sign of eternity.  God is one and has no end.

The Sikh legacy infuses the turban with deep meaning.  It embodies a commitment to devotion, honor, and service to all. Sikhs are the only community for whom the turban is religious, and nearly every person who wears the turban in the United States. is Sikh.

            The Khanda is the symbol of the Sikhs and reflects some of the fundamental concepts of Sikhism. (see http://www.sikh-studies.co.uk/khanda.htm)  The symbol derives its name from the double-edged sword which appears at the center of the logo and is a metaphor of Divine Knowledge, its sharp edges cleaving Truth from Falsehood.  The circle is the Chakar, a circle without a beginning or an end symbolizing the perfection of God who is eternal.  The Chakar is surrounded by two curved swords called Kirpans, which symbolize the twin concepts of Temporal and Spiritual authority.  They stress the equal emphasis that a Sikh must place on spiritual aspirations as well as obligations to society.

Through the 18th century, Sikhs were captured, tortured and executed before giving up their turbans or their faith.  The Sikh ideal became the warrior-saint: to live a life devoted to God and fiercely committed to fighting injustice in all forms.  Through the centuries, thousands of Sikhs died fighting alongside people of many faiths against political oppression.  When India was conquered by the British, Sikhs joined fellow Hindus and Muslims to fight for independence.  In recent history, Sikhs have continued to struggle for rights in India, and many Sikhs fled religious persecution in the 1980s to settle in the United States.

One of the fundamental ideas of Sikhism is the idea that all people are equal, regardless to race, class, creed, or cultural origin. Sikhs also believe that they have a duty to protect people who are poor or in need, whether or not they are fellow Sikhs.  The saint-soldier precept of Sikhism states that Sikhs should devote their lives to prayer, contemplation, and modest living, but that they should also be prepared to fight or even lay down their lives for those in need.  As a result, many Sikhs have military training, and they are in fact heavily represented in the Indian military.  They are also directed to integrate charity and service into their lives and they practice tolerance and love for all mankind, praying for all mankind as part of their daily prayers.

Sikhs belong to the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and are more than half a million strong in the United States.  However, Sikhs continue to encounter racism and religious bigotry.  In the aftermath of 9/11, Sikhs have been bullied in schools, profiled at airports, barred from workplaces like the military, and targeted in hate violence.

Sikhs do not proselytize, but their temples are open to all, and they are happy to talk to curious people about their religious faith.  In communities with a large Sikh population, it is also common to see Sikhs active in various charity efforts, and many Sikh temples host regular vegetarian dinners which are open to the entire community.

Bigotry should be an anathema to us all, and massacre that arises out bigotry should leave us not only outraged with the loss of life and the aftermath, but also enraged with the injustice of executed judgment based on perverse perceptions.  No bigoted massacre should be considered “lesser” because of a lack of understanding of the victims.

         Until the next time, LLAP!

  

References

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valarie-kaur/sikhs-turbans_b_1770366.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/who-are-the-sikhs.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/opinion/baldwin-sikh-community/index.html

http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/

http://aboutsikhs.com/

http://www.sikhs.org/art12.htm

http://www.sikh-studies.co.uk/khanda.htm