Kaligula

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your eyes! This is written by my good friend Tim Mougenot, an American expat living half the time in London and the other half in Paris. He left after selling everything he owned and taking the QE2 without a plan, as he was disillusioned with the political environment in the US, wisely seeing more problems coming. In fact, he left right before 911. We frequently correspond about all things political, and he used the very interesting term "Kristian Kaligula" in a recent e-mail. I requested that he define this further for posting here- read on....

KRISTIAN KALIGULA

He was a serial power abuser, descended from the first family of Rome, to whom the gods spoke, and who believed that he had become one of them shortly before his own praetorian guard got rid of him because he had pissed off everybody by wrecking the economy with senseless wars (i.e., national defence).

He made the fatal mistake of keeping on the old advisors (though he had little respect for his elders - he was decidedly impious) of his predecessor Tiberius, who he personally smothered with a pillow after a long investigation of the emperor's morals by a Special Prosecutor.

He was very moralistic about everyone else's behaviour, but no one dared to question his, he being divine. His divinity first occured to him at about the same time he gave up the pleasures of the vine, and turned his back on Bacchus. He created a very effective police state, and everyone was so scared of him that no scribe in Rome would write a word against him, and would only leak the names of spies on his say so. He was really into torture and very painful capital punishment.

He treated the Senate and all other Roman institutions with great disdain: he tried to make his horse Harrietus a Magistrate, and arrogated war powers to himself . He fancied himself to be a great warrior like his father, and liked to dress the part on triremes sometimes, though he had never seen battle. Fortunately, his father had been murdered (in a family spat), because if he had lived he might have ended up becoming friends and playing golf with Tiberius on Capri, if Tiberius hadn't been smothered.

His most famous military campaign was a very expensive invasion of Britain, from which he was to bring home treasure and many slaves. But he suffered from ennui while in Gaul (as one does), and came home with chests of seashells from the Normandy coast which he presented to the Senate as gifts from Neptune. Even the rich, who hadn't paid so much as a sesterce in taxes since he became emperor, thought this was a bit over the top since he brought back not one drop of olive oil.

Several years of bad harvests and natural disasters, and an incompetent official response, led to popular unrest. To take their minds off these problems, he spread rumours among the Roman people of imminent invasion by foreigners (i.e., turrists) and accused everyone who demurred (and whose money he wanted) with treason, and had them killed in interesting ways.

In an unusually sensible policy he persecuted the kristians, who were always on the lookout for martyrdom anyway (they were going through an identity crisis, not realising that they were kristians yet, and eating matzos and gefelte fish, which were not easy to find in ancient Rome).

He created a lot of bad feeling internationally, and made enemies far and wide: a lot of influential people in far-flung places began to wonder if they really wanted to be part of his empire after all. This caused diplomatic and trade problems for Rome for many decades after he had been put down - Syrians stopped eating gnocci burgers, for example, and the multinational corporations of the day were not happy.

As always with the assassinated, it appears that a lot of the hijinks with which his name have been associated were the invention of those who arranged or benefited from his removal, as though he weren't monster enough in his real life. He was much too busy building his powerbase, creating and killing enemies, power-biking, and going to bed at 9:00 p.m. to have time for such pleasures.

In fact, he seems to have been personally popular with the Roman people throughout his reign, seen as a straight-talker who got things done, and who kept them supplied with olive oil, kristians and lions fun and games, and glorious wars to bring civilisation to the less fortunate peoples of the world. The Romans, like all imperial peoples, liked to be assured that they were essentially nice and well-meaning, and would be on top of the world forever.

In short, he was a crazy, manipulative, piece of sociopathic work who rocked the boat big time until everyone, including the Senate and the Pentagonium, were in agreement that he had to go. He was succeeded by his Uncle Claudius who appears to have been a bit autistic. Despite a speech impediment, a limp, and his advanced years, Claudius proved to be quite popular just by being a relatively sane human being.

Any uncles in the house?

What was I thinking?

I mentioned in my last post, that I was missing New Orleans for what it gave me in terms of carefree vacationing. Then I started to feel really bad about that comment. I am so lucky, and I know it. I will get back to NOLA as soon as I can to support them. Here is today's lead story from the fabled New Orleans newspaper,"Times Picayune".


'Times-Picayune' Writer Offers Special Thanks on Thanksgiving

By E&P Staff

Published: November 24, 2005 9:00 AM ET
NEW YORK On this Thanksgiving day, some people have more to be thankful for that others. Then there are people from New Orleans.

While they have much—-too much—-to complain about, they also have many who came to their aid after Katrina to thank. Dave Walker, the Times-Picayune writer, thanked a whole city today, opening his article with “Thank you, Baton Rouge.”

Then he explained: “In our time of meteorological crisis, you took us in and made us feel if not wholly at home, then reasonably comfortable in a home-away-from-home--right down the very congested road from home--home, such as it is.”

Here are more excerpts.

*
We know it wasn't easy for you.

We know we overloaded your schools overnight.

We know we pushed the line at Chili's out the door and into the parking lot. (And is that Mike Brown moving to the front of the line? Hey, no cuts, FEMA Boy!)

Thanks for not laughing at us when we called to ask if you had any (motel, apartment, trailer park, campground, youth hostel, retirement home) vacancies. At least not every time.

Thanks for the overwhelming generosity you demonstrated by making room for our kids in your day-care centers and schools. Also your jails.

Thanks for so efficiently refilling all of those Xanax prescriptions.

Thanks for letting us discover the differences between our cities, the things that make them so different, yet so similar; the things that make us siblings joined by a river, an interstate and a deep appreciation of fried food.

We noticed, for example, that your city has Jimmy Swaggart. Our city is where Jimmy Swaggart comes to party.

Many of your businesses close on Sunday. Many of our businesses are closed forever.

Huey P. Long's grave is a tourist attraction in your city. People cross the Huey P. Long Bridge to come to our city to visit the graves of Louis Prima, Ernie K-Doe and Marie Laveau.

The hippest sector of your town is located beneath an I-10 overpass. The people who populated the hippest sectors of our town are now populating Houston and Atlanta.

Thanks for not being Houston and Atlanta.

Thanks for Smiley Anders.

Thanks for giving some of our most important cultural institutions -- Magazine Street boutiques, the Saints, Galatoire's -- emergency second homes.

Thanks for letting us wander around in a daze. Sorry if we sometimes did that behind the wheel of a car.

Thanks for letting us grieve, frequently in public, for our former lives.

Thanks, Baton Rouge. It would be great if everyone in your city would join us the next time Mardi Gras comes around.
You may have to drive home to find a place to stay, but the invitation stands.

note to self: find a way to get out of here

As I face the inevitable holidays, and a trip to Texas, I am wondering: How, realistically, can I go on vacation, and where will I go? Texas is not a vacation, it is a family visit to Wal-Mart country. That is the view I can see from my window at the luxurious Comfort Suites- a Wal-mart and an oil pump (you know, one of those rocking horse things). The entire week I will try to entertain my mother while avoiding spending any time in her apt. She is a heavy smoker.



My usual winter getaway was New Orleans. This is no longer a possibility, at least not this year. I need to go someplace where I feel free from worries and any need to take care of work projects. Key West? I am already bored of the Caribbean. I love Europe, especially Amsterdam, but it is cold there in the winter. I will take a mini-vacation or two to the casino in Ct., only an hour away, but that is brief. I can go to NYC to see David but it will be cold there too. I can go to Israel with Ami, but that is a LONG trip. And it also involves lots of family stuff, so not entirely carefree.



There is always San Francisco. I never really get tired of that- or maybe Hawaii? Another LONG trip. Where is it warm? Mexico? Aruba? Maybe. I want to have FUN, not just lay on the beach. New Orleans is a huge loss in this regard. Maybe Key West....

bush exit strategy

bush exit strategy
will require real player

Pandemic Flu!!!!!!!

Pandemic Flu Preparedness

As an Executive in a non-profit agency, I must frequently respond to requests/demands they make for information, but this was a new one on me. Not that I wasn't keeping up with the news, but when you have to write a plan things become more scary and real. I attended this training session recently and it was not very reassuring.

Notes:
Here is an overview of the training session I attended today. The Commonwealth, at the direction of the federal government, must submit this plan. EOHHS is working with MEMA on the plan.

We have been directed to submit a statement that we have a completed plan, using their guidelines. This plan must be signed by the CEO, the Chairperson of the Board and the person who developed the plan by December 2, 2005 (an extension from the original date). The people signing will do so electronically through a website.

They (MEMA and EOHHS) are operating under the assumption that a pandemic flu is coming. A person from DPH reviewed the way the disease is spread and why it is such a deadly virus. The virus is spread by airborne droplets produced when people cough or sneeze, or by touching the virus on a surface such as a doorknob or countertop. It can remain viable for “days”. They want us to teach everyone “Cough etiquette” (which they realize cannot be taught to some people). They suggest we all have the alcohol based hand sanitizer (we have the ingestion problem here, so we will need small bottles that staff can carry). We need lots of training on Universal Precautions, and we all need to wash our hands with great frequency.

They stated that we would likely know about 2 weeks in advance that it is coming our way, as small pockets of it will begin to show up in the US. They also said that it takes 6-12 weeks to “go through” a community. They discussed the issue of stockpiling enough food and water for 6-12 weeks, and enough medication.

We need to develop a plan that assumes we have a 40% reduction in staff. We cannot assume the same for clients, especially in a residential program. The hospitals would likely be inundated and staff would be caring for the people at home.

Contingent Assumptions:
• Staff levels may be significantly reduced due to high levels of illness and hospitalization
• Staff may be lost due to significant mortality associated with the disease
• Remaining workers may be psychologically affected by disease, family concerns, concerns about economic loss, or fear, and require behavioral assistance (I guess they mean mental health assistance)
• Staff may be reduced by the need for some workers to attend to family illness or to children remaining at home due to school closures.
• Human resource (staff) reductions may be temporary or may be long-term depending on the severity of the influenza strain.

For the administrative part of this exercise, we must determine and list:

• The essential functions of each agency. By this they mean the things that people cannot live without. In our case this is primarily residential.
• There must be a written succession plan with written delegation of authority for essential components of running the agency. This includes management, fiscal and IT support. This needs to cover all top management functions and is there in case we are sick or worse.
• We have to cover “devolution”. How do we organize the agency if the entire top leadership is gone?
• We need communication plans with a list of emergency contacts and everyone should have a cell phone.
• We must develop an inventory of essential tasks and cross train management so that these can be carried out if needed by an alternate person.

They discussed that large congregate settings such as day programs and schools would close if this pandemic hits. People asked about the efficacy of quarantine and wearing masks. We were told that quarantine would not be very helpful in this day and age, as government can’t control people as much as they could in 1918. There was a physician in the audience who was very troubled by this, and pointed out that you cannot have staff coming and going in a situation like this, and the idea of “Clean rooms” was discussed. They suggested that the patients/clients wear masks, but of course that is unlikely to work with our population.

I spoke, and said that I expected that DPH would be very directive about what to do if a person has symptoms, or you see a cluster of people with symptoms. They were actually non-committal. There was much talk from others in the audience about regulatory and licensing concerns. The DPH people said that there would be “Alternate standards of care” that would have to be accepted under the circumstances.

For more information go to www.ma.gov/hhs/coop
This presentation will be on the website. They want us to send in questions and comments. They seemed very confused about things themselves and many people in attendance felt that we would be left to fend for ourselves and they are shifting the liability to agencies by making us sign this plan.

on Dick Cheney

Oh, how I dislike Dick Cheney. It is a very profound dislike. It is unwaivering, unchangable and burning inside of me like Frangelico, champagne and lemon schnapps: consumed in succession one night in Provincetown.

Is it paranoia? That seems to fit. But I want to understand: What are his REAL motives for what he does? Don't tell me it is patriotism. Don't even say its about power. Saying that its about money is too simplistic.

The man has an agenda. Scooter will go to jail to defend that agenda and his boss. But the worst it could come to is three years. Forget the talk of Scooter in jail for 30 years. Bush will pardon him on the way out. There is nothing whatsoever to lose.

Is self indulgence shallow, sinful, selfish?

It doesn't have to be. I find my self indulgent nature is often beneficial to others. For example: Say I want to go somewhere interesting. I state this to someone. Their immediate answer is "I can't afford it", or "I'm too tired". Then I tell them that I am going anyway. Knowing this, the person now wants to go. We have fun, we make an adventure out of it, if just for an evening or for 24 hours. We make the absolute most out of the time, talking, laughing, dancing, meeting new people. The person who was initially reluctant to go is now so very happy that they did. They are realizing that life is short, and what difference did it really make financially? They had a wonderful experience and that is much better than anything else.