Montebello E-News

 September 25, 2008 

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835 – 1910,
better known by the pen name "Mark Twain", was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer.  Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the "Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and European royalty. 

 [A colorful way to make the point of “all talk and no action”.]  

 1.  “No” Friend Is the Best Friend

2.  The Beat of a Different Drummer, Part 3

3. Announcements

4. Fun Facts:  “Blowing Off” Steam

5. The Flashback Quarterback:  Diversity or Perversity?

6. Be Aware and Share:  A Problem Which Schools Cannot Solve

7. About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”

“No” Friend Is the Best Friend  

You have heard of the phrase “’yes’ men” in reference to sycophants?  How about “’no’ men” or, better, “’no’ friends”, people who truly are interested in our welfare and are ready to say “no” to dissuade us from doing something foolish?  

Do you think that the woman here could have used a “no” friend?

Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt
by Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times , July 20, 2008  
The collection agencies call at least 20 times a day. For a little quiet, Diane McLeod stashes her phone in the dishwasher. 

"We have become a nation of shoppers. Our heroes? 'Sex and the City' types. Consumerism has replaced soulfulness."  

But right up until she hit the wall financially, Ms. McLeod was a dream customer for lenders. She juggled not one but two mortgages, both with interest rates that rose over time, and a car loan and high-cost credit card debt. Separated and living with her 20-year-old son, she worked two jobs so she could afford her small, two-bedroom ranch house in suburban Philadelphia, the Kia she drove to work, and the handbags and knickknacks she liked.  

Then last year, back-to-back medical emergencies helped push her over the edge. She could no longer afford either her home payments or her credit card bills. Then she lost her job. Now her home is in foreclosure and her credit profile in ruins.  

Ms. McLeod, who is 47, readily admits her money problems are largely of her own making. But as surely as it takes two to tango, she had partners in her financial demise. In recent years, those partners, including the financial giants Citigroup, Capital One and GE Capital, were collecting interest payments totaling more than 40 percent of her pretax income and thousands more in fees.  

Years of spending more than they earn have left a record number of Americans like Ms. McLeod standing at the financial precipice. They have amassed a mountain of debt that grows ever bigger because of high interest rates and fees.  

While the circumstances surrounding these downfalls vary, one element is identical: the lucrative lending practices of America ’s merchants of debt have led millions of Americans — young and old, native and immigrant, affluent and poor — to the brink. More and more, Americans can identify with miners of old: in debt to the company store with little chance of paying up. ...  

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2008 by a local nonprofit organization. 

1. What is a “’no’ friend”?

(a) Somebody who looks after our best interest.

(b) Somebody who is willing to dissuade us from a bad decision.

2. What is a lesson to be learned from Ms. McLeod’s case?

(a) We cannot trust the big corporations to look after our interest.

(b) The unforeseen does happen and can have a major adverse impact on our lives.

If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.
Henry David Thoreau, July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862,
 was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, sage writer and philosopher. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, “Civil Disobedience”, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

…We have valued grades and scores more than learning. We have forgotten to teach you that all understanding begins with wonder and with following unexpected discovery in unknown directions. We have tried to stomp the wonder out of you by getting you to choose a track and stick with it. We have asked you to excel in every endeavor and to avoid anything that might diminish your record of excellence. When we rewarded you only for following all of our rules and not for making any of your own, we did more to close your minds than to open them. … I am sorry that we have taught you to value economic success over passionate engagement with your work. … http://www.theroot.com/id/46623
Melissa Harris-Lacewell  

If you were to combine the two quotations above, what would you conclude?  That we have taken the “different drummer” out of the classroom?

Let us continue our respite from talking about problems by talking about solutions.  Below is information about a simple, effective stopgap.  How do we go beyond a stopgap to a sustainable solution?

Plumpy'nut is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste in a foil wrapper. It tastes slightly sweeter than peanut butter. It is categorized by the WHO as a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).

Plumpy’nut requires no preparation or special supervision, making it easy to deploy in difficult conditions. Plumpy'nut is very difficult to over eat and keeps even after opening. It has a 2 year shelf life when unopened. The product was inspired by the popular Nutella spread. It is manufactured by Nutriset, a French company, that specializes in making food supplements for relief work in their factory near Rouen in northern France. The ingredients are: peanut paste, vegetable oil, milk powder, powdered sugar, vitamins and minerals, combined in a foil pouch. Each pack provides 500 Calories.

Plumpy'Nut contains vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, E and K, and minerals calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, iodine, sodium, and selenium. ...

Plumpy’nut is frequently used as a treatment for emergency malnutrition cases. It helps with rapid weight gain, which can make the difference between life and death for a young child. The fortified peanut butter–like paste contains a balance of lipids, sugar, and protein (macronutrients), vitamins, minerals (micronutrients) and calories. Peanuts contain mono-unsaturated fats, which are easy to digest. They are also very high in calories, which means that a child will get a lot of energy from just small amounts (important because their stomachs have shrunk). They are rich in zinc and protein — both good for the immune system, and protein is needed for muscle development. Peanuts are also a good source of vitamin E, an antioxidant that helps to convert food into energy. ...

Plumpy‘nut was first used during the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan. There, it was fed to some 30,000 children and aid officials there say it has helped cut malnutrition rates in half.

In Niger, where this product was also used, there has been a huge reduction in illness and death from malnutrition. In 2005, the region that Plumpy’nut was applied had the highest malnutrition rate in Niger. The region now has the lowest malnutrition rate in the country. After widespread use, Plumpy’nut now treats more than 120,000 children (the UN estimates that 150,000 children under 5 are severely malnourished in Niger and a further 650,000 are moderately malnourished). … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpy'nut

FOR EVERYONE.  Blowing your fuse from overload.  "The world isn’t run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money.  It’s run by little ones and zeros, little bits of data.  It’s all just electrons.... There’s a war out there... and it’s not about who’s got the most bullets.  It’s about who controls the information.  What we see and hear, how we work, what we think, it’s all about information.”  For more on this, go to http://www.mymontebello.com/young_thinkers_tc_iw.

FOR EVERYONE.  Book sale.  Montebello library, 1550 West Beverly Boulevard.  Friday, September 26, and Saturday, September 27, 2008.  Operated by Friends of the Library.  For more information, 323.722.6551.

FOR EVERYONE.  Big decision coming.  Over forty million Americans do not have health insurance, and tens of millions more are underinsured.  The situation is becoming worse.  What is the right course?  A publication which will help you in making a decision:  10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care, www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1711.

FOR EVERYONE.  Surprising news?  Iran is expressing frustration with NATO over a lack of progress in dealing with the rise in cultivation and exportation of narcotics from Afghanistan. Production in Afghanistan -- source of 90% of the world's opium -- has increased fivefold over five years. Drug addiction is on the rise in Iran, as the drugs are both stronger and more prevalent. The Guardian (London) (9/11).  What does this say about America’s view of Iran, shared values, and the possibility of dialogue?

FOR EVERYONE.  Commission meeting.  The Montebello Traffic Safety Commission is holding its regularly-scheduled meeting on Wednesday, October 1, 2008, at 7 p.m. at city hall.  The meeting is open to the public.  For more information, 323.887.1200.

Heron of Greece suggested the used of steam power in 50 BC. But the leaders of the day thought that it would cause unemployment which may lead to unrest and the invention ran out of steam.  Plato, in his Hero of Alexandria of 150 BC, mentioned some 70 steam inventions. But the steam engine reappeared again only in 1698 when Thomas Savery invented a steam pump. The first practical steam engine was the atmospheric machine of Thomas Newcomen in 1701. It was used to operate pumps on coal mines. In 1769, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot drove his steam tractor, officially the first known motorcar, down a street in Paris. In 1804, English inventor Richard Trevithick introduced the steam locomotive in Wales. In 1815, George Stephenson built the world's first workable steam locomotive.  http://www.didyouknow.cd/firstfax.htm

Is there tolerable or intolerable diversity?  How might we accommodate opposing viewpoints?

Fashion Police: Flint Cracks Down on Sagging
by Jessica Bennett and Mary Chapman, Newsweek, July 18, 2008

It's 90 degrees in downtown Flint, Mich., and Jayson Miguel is shirtless, in a pair of gray sweatpants. He's hanging out, minding his own business—and breaking the law. It's not that he's loitering (he's on his way to meet a friend). It's his pants: they're hanging off his hips, below his butt to reveal a pair of gray boxer shorts. "I've been sagging since the fourth grade," the 28-year-old says. "I'll be sagging when I'm old and gray."  

Young people call this unkempt look a fashion choice. But for David Dicks, Flint's new police chief, it's a national nuisance. Dicks has ordered his officers to start arresting "saggers," as some aficionados of this sartorial style call themselves, on sight, threatening them with jail time and hefty fines for a fad he calls "immoral self expression." He later told a local paper the style could give officers probable cause to search saggers. ...  

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union doesn't like it, either—and has given Dicks an ultimatum: stop the policy or face a court battle. They say Dicks is taking the law into his own hands, and violating citizens' freedom of expression in the process. Sagging to show boxer shorts doesn't even violate the city's conduct policy ... . http://www.newsweek.com/id/146803

How will this problem affect us in Montebello?  What can be done about it, given that there never will be enough money to solve the problem?  

The Great African-American Awakening
by Myron Magnet, City Journal, Summer, 2008  

... With a 50 percent high school dropout rate and a 70 percent illegitimacy rate, with African-Americans committing half the nation’s murders though only 13 percent of the population, black America—especially the poorer part of it—is in trouble. “We cannot blame white people,” [Bill] Cosby asserted in his incendiary speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board school desegregation decision. “It’s not what they’re doing to us. It’s what we’re not doing.” As Jesse Jackson used to say, Cosby recalls, “No one can save us from us but us.” ...  

Why do so many blacks, especially men, find it so hard to grasp the opportunity that is theirs for the taking? Why are “so many of our black youth squandering their freedom?” Cosby and Poussaint’s answer is that the social structure and culture of poor black neighborhoods distort the psychology of the children who grow up there, often shackling them in “psychological slavery.” The authors zero in on the permanently destructive effects of fractured families and slapdash child rearing—much more slapdash than middle-class parents, with their years spent nurturing, encouraging, and cajoling their children, could easily imagine. “In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on,” Cosby told the NAACP. “You have the pile-up of these sweet beautiful things born by nature—raised by no one.” ... http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_3_african_american_awakening.html

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter, and for submitting stories to “Montebello Memories” at the Web site.