Mark Knows It All

Simon and Garfunkel is among my favorite groups from the 1960’s. They take me back to the days when I took my date to see The Graduate while my parents were out of town. Scandalous!!! The soundtrack of my life was Scarborough Fair and the Sounds of Silence. The Beatles were going through their classical period, and styles of music melded together in ways that have yet to be replicated. It was a magical time. That was when I began to get passionate about things. Everybody around me oozed passion about everything from politics to love. Today, I am involved in a lot of activities. And I am passionate about all of them. Nothing is ever accomplished with apathy. Nothing is ever accomplished with ignorance. One of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel tunes, The Dangling Conversation, deals with apathetic relationships. And you read your Emily Dickinson, And I my Robert Frost, And we note our place with bookmarkers That measure what we've lost. Like a poem poorly written W...

When my grandmother arrived in the United States in 1905, they asked her where she was going. “I’m-a gonna Yoongs-a-town,” she replied. The industrial revolution in American paved our streets with gold. More than 100 years later, all roads are “gonna Yoongs-a-town” once again. In another stunning statistic, the Vindicator reported last week that Youngstown-Boardman-Warren leads the nation in percentage increase of exports…up 30%. The figures are staggering. Exports make up 15 % of the area’s economy, those exports equaling $2.9 billion (with a “B”). That makes the area 75th in exporting areas in the list of top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States, which is remarkable because media statistics dropped Youngstown out of the top 100 ranking on anything several years ago. The article pointed out metal products accounted for 27% of exported goods, and the bulk of those metal exports are due to RTI International Metals in Niles. The article failed to mention is that Youngstown is als...

Yet another of Barack Obama’s green initiatives has hit the skids with the production stoppage of the Chevy Volt. You remember, this is the “all electric”…no…sort of all electric car…that was supposed to revolutionize how we drive. In theory, it was supposed to get 40 miles on a 12 hour battery charge, unless you decided you needed some things like heat or a radio or a windshield wiper, in which case the mileage would drop dramatically. Let’s not forget the huge government subidy given by Obama to General Motors to make the car, and the even larger tax credits given to those that bought it. Notwithstanding rising gas prices, it’s an idea whose time is yet to come. An article in Business Week this past week has said conventional gasoline engines are more efficient than ever, with models like the Chevy Cruze getting better mileage per gallon than a Prius and other hybrids. Good for our valley!!!! And good for General Motors!!!!! This past week the Vindicator ran a story about...

More and more those under the age of 30 are joined at the hip to their computers, their smart phones and their pads. It is chronic. Social skills are rapidly declining. More important, a phony sense of life is replacing reality. Folks are living in an alternative universe, an ersatz reality, a cyber life. It is clouding clear thinking, if there is any thinking taking place at all. The answers to the difficult questions of life are not found in a computer. I am afraid there is a time coming very shortly in which some of us are going to learn some hard lessons. Rapid communication is a good thing. The wealth of information available to all of us is a good thing. But it cannot replace reality and the hard truths that come with. Life’s problems cannot and will not be solved by looking them up on Wikipedia. Rick Santorum talked about evil in the world. He was poo-pooed. But he was right. There is evil in the world. Hitler was evil. Stalin was evil. Pol Pot was evil. And right now...

It’s time to say enough is enough. Do we live in Nazi Germany? Do we live in Communist China? Do we live in Soviet Russia? Have we reached the point where we are actually paying a public employee to inspect home packed lunches in our schools? My God, is this what we have come to? People make fun of me because of my political activity. Freedom is precious, and our freedom is being overwhelmed by a tsunami of do-gooder government regulations that have taken over our lives. We are watched everywhere we go. The government wants to know everything about you. It wants to know what you spend, where you go and what you do. They even want to send drones up into our skies to monitor you. Do you really want unmanned airplanes monitoring you? Case in point is the four year old little girl in Fayetteville, North Carolina, who had her home packed lunch inspected by the government food police in school. It consisted of a turkey sandwich with cheese, a banana, potato chips and juice. The food police...

The death of Whitney Houston is a tragedy. She was an outstanding talent and part of the soundtrack of our lives. Unfortunately, she is another in a long line of celebrities who practiced self destructive behavior which was condoned by their entourage and tolerated by the public. I want to feel sorry when something like this happens, but the addiction to drugs and booze by one of the most talented persons in America makes me shake my head and wonder what's going on. Self destructive celebrities are nothing new to our culture. The earliest one I remember is Marilyn Monroe, although there are those who still say something was askew in Camelot with that one. Her contemporary Montgomery Clift didn’t fare much better. But things go back even further to W.C. Fields who drank his liver into oblivion. And then there was Judy Garland…who passed her talent onto her daughter Liza Minnelli who also has had her problems with various addictions. Dorothy Dandridge, Lenny Bruce, Elvis Presley, Jo...

Have you ever opened up your mailbox only to have a plethora of coupons and papers and circulars and more coupons and more circulars, all touting BIG SALE 50% off, fall all over the street or the driveway or your front porch? It pisses me off. There I stand in the middle of the street in my business suit, my car running, and my butt sticking up in the air picking up all of this stuff that I neither requested nor wanted. Geez oh man, how many sales do they run? Macy’s is just one big sale, after sale, after sale. Come closer and I will show you where you can put that star. Grocery stores are worse still. I HATE coupons!!! My wife and I both work full time, and have neither the inclination nor the time to sit around and figure out how to save 10 cents off a bottle of Prell. Do I really need a coupon to buy peanut butter? And then there are those freakin’ loyalty cards. I had to have special pants made to carry all those cards in my wallet. All I want is a loaf of bread…wh...

Tony Bennett and Queen Latifah - Who Can I Turn To? Tonight is the end of a bad Friday ending a really bad week. Outside it’s cold and windy, drizzly, usual northeast Ohio weather!!! A cold that I got over last week liked me so much it has decided to visit me again. My nose is running like sieve. What’s a body to do? Television is filled with more Republican debates and discussion and pundits yakking away on the same stuff they were talking about this morning, yesterday, last week…enough already. And television just plain sucks. People actually get paid to write this stuff! I must have picked the wrong profession. So it was with a degree of trepidation that I sat in my chair dressed in my pajamas and robe, wrapped in my throw blanket with an angel stitched into the fabric to watch over me, and channel surfed hoping against hope to find something worth watching. I struck gold tonight. PBS aired a ninety minute Great Performances program of Tony Bennett’s Duet II al...

Sunday was my birthday. Normally I am NOT a birthday person. I find them a tad more retrospective than I can tolerate. Let’s start with the ten pounds I gained since my last birthday. Don’t even talk about surprise parties. My wife threw me a surprise 40th birthday party, and I thought the house was being robbed. All I saw was this round thing pointed out the front door of my house right at me in the dark. Turned out to be a camera!! I thought it was gun. Took three years off my life! My friend has the opposite attitude. He loves birthdays, especially his own. He says he looks good for his age, feels better than most his age, and there are several his age who no longer have to worry about birthdays, if you get my drift. I envy his attitude. Notwithstanding, this year is different. This year is a landmark birthday. I turned 62. I can retire!!! So this is what retirement age feels like! And don’t forget all the additional senior discounts that come with the territor...

How’s that no inflation thing working out for you? In case you haven’t noticed, things are getting mighty expensive notwithstanding what the government and a supplicant press wants you to believe. Check out the cost of Peanut Butter, Crisco, Cereal (oatmeal in particular), almonds, olive oil, orange juice. Then look at the price of clothing, men’s shirts and shoes in particular. How about the cost of gasoline? Have you gone to a movie lately? Even deals in electronics don’t look like such good deals anymore, but rather desperate ploys to get rid of last year’s merchandise at last year’s prices. I did not see the bargains for electronic goods this year that I have seen in the past. Inflation is bubbling all around you. Have you tried to have a home appliance repaired lately, or have someone come in to do some electrical or plumbing work? Nail tech’s and hairdressers are off the charts, with prices rising almost weekly. Don’t even mention the cost of hotel rooms and airplane tickets. Th...

It’s tax time. And one of the lawyers in my office was going ape over IRS requirements on filing various forms. Specifically, the IRS has decreed that all W-2’s must be filed electronically. If you file a handwritten W-2, it will be assumed that there is fraud and the filer will be subject to audit. The rules are a little less stringent with 1099’s, but still you have to be a Philadelphia lawyer and CPA to figure who does or does not get a 1099. All of this, of course, must be verified by YOUR signature on YOUR tax return under the severest of penalties…and the threat in the booklet reads like a horror movie. Another gift from your friendly progressive Obama who is afraid you may make a nickel. Even more disturbing, and almost poignantly sad, my buddy who has several grandchildren, went to buy his granddaughter a birthday savings bond. Guess what!!! No more paper savings bonds. Instead, you get an electronic account that you may only access through use of a computer...

This is an odd topic. Notwithstanding, the older I get, the more I have come to believe in it. I have become a firm believer in holistic medicine. This comes from three chronic illnesses in my life that were treated conventionally for years, and ultimately resolved by an holistic approach to the problem. Let me qualify my comments by saying that I fully believe in conventional medicine. I would never counsel ANYONE facing a serious illness to forego the medical doctors and the miracles modern medicine has to offer. Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs did, and an untreated curable form of pancreatic cancer cost him his life. On the other hand, one shouldn't overlook holistic approaches to illness to compliment whatever the doctors are recommending. Many modern medical centers offer holistic supplements as a matter of course. The human body is wondrous mechanism, and as I can personally attest, acts in strange ways to odd thngs. After I graduated from college, I was diagnosed wi...

Of all the words in the English language that I have learned to fear and despise, the phrase that sends chills up and down my spine the most is "new and improved."   The new part is probably right, at least partially, but the improved is open to question.   It usually translates to confusion, work, and money.   This is especially true of the computer geeks at Google, You Tube and Facebook, along with all of my stock programs.   Those are particularly aggravating because I actually pay a monthly fee for some of these digital age gems. What is wrong with these people?   Do they take delight in terrorizing hundreds of millions of people by making them figure out how to get a program or site to do what it used to before they made it better?   Case in point is Google, the most used search engine in the world.   Google does everything for you now but go to the bathroom, and it can probably give a print out for that too.   I think it can actua...

The other night I was browsing through some choral music selections I could recommend as possible songs for my community chorus next year. I came across one of my favorites. It is called Seasons of Love from the award winning Broadway musical Rent. I always thought it was a catchy tune, but never paid much attention to the words. So I listened, and it hit home. Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes How do you measure, measure a year; In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. How do you measure a year in the life? How about love? Measure in love! Seasons of love! How will you measure this past year? We have many standards. I have a friend who measures how far he has pedaled his bike. I have another friend that looks at golf scores. I might look at how much money I made or what professional accomplishments I have achieved. Others look at how their favorite sports team performed. We all have different...

I'm not really a Christmas person. I have come to the conclusion that Christmas is the one holiday in the year that the cards are stacked against you. Too much money, too much food, too much work, too much decorating, and too much depression as different people come to different ends of impossible trying to achieve the ideal. It's tough, and I have been at the fuzzy end of the lollipop one too many times. But.... If there ever was a season for a joyful noise, Christmas is it. And those of us who live in the Mahoning Valley do our fair share of noise making. So put aside the Christmas drudgery and go buy some gift cards, forget the diet, stop the decorating, and screw unpleasant and difficult family and friends. Sample what this area has to offer. It has an embarrassment of riches. We are so fortunate to have access to some of the best events in Ohio at a level of excellence those of us who live here don't truly appreciate. It doesn't get any better than right here. T...

There are 350 million people living in the United States. So for all of you folks who are afraid of offending someone….GET OVER IT!! With 350 million people, I can guarantee you that no matter what you say, no matter what you do, or whatever your good intentions, you will offend somebody. Even if it is just getting out of bed in the morning, you will offend somebody. And therein lays the fallacy of a politically correct Christmas. What is wrong with people? The facts are simple. Accroding to ABC news, 83% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Although we don’t have an official religion, Christianity and the Judeo/Christian ethic permeate our society. It is the basis of our consumer society. The financial success or failure of much of our economy rests on the last five weeks of the year. “Holiday” shoppers aren’t shopping for the hell of it…they are shopping for Christmas. So can someone please tell me why the liberal types have to bastardize Christmas with the fear ...

Last week I had the privilege of attending a seminar on social media and mass marketing. It was sponsored by the local Power of the Arts and the Wean Foundation and ostensibly aimed at non-profits. It was moderated by Tyler Clark of Tyler Clark consulting and held at the Youngstown Business Incubator. I went expecting a ho-hum seminar, more curious about the Incubator than the seminar topic. Was I wrong!!! The topic was fascinating, and was probably the most informative 1 1/2 hours I have spent over the last several years. Mr. Clark did an outstanding job in presenting difficult material. To often with tech savvy folks, the assumption is the person to whom they are talking is the know much more than they actually know to start out hence losing everybody's attention within the first five minutes. Mr. Clark was patient with those in attendance who obviously had only a limited grasp of how these things work, and answered more technical questions in a concise manner. The subject mat...

During the next weeks you will notice a change in Western Reserve America and Mark Knows It All . We have been working to establish Western Reserve America Group as a 501-(C)-3 non-profit corporation established for the purpose of promoting conservative education in Northeast Ohio. Donations to Western Reserve America will be tax deductible. The stated purpose is as follows: 1) Establish an endowed chair for Constitutional Studies at a local university. 2) Develop a supplemental curriculum for secondary schools emphasizing conservative political thought. 3) Develop in-service materials for educators demonstrating the importance of teaching personal responsibility in the classroom. 4) Establish scholarship funds for conservative high school students who demonstrate excellence in governmental studies and wish to pursue a degree in journalism or education. A major fund raising campaign will begin mid-January upon completion of the paperwork. In order to comp...

I am going to be taking some time off next week, so I want to wish all of my readers a Happy Thanksgiving a little early. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It caps a beautiful fall season. It is an eating holiday, so there is no muss or fuss with gifts and cards outside of the preparation of one of the best meals of the year. I’m not a turkey fan, but I love everything else that comes with the dinner package… and my wife makes the best stuffing ever. But mostly Thanksgiving is the only time of the year, at least for me, for some quiet contemplation. We can give thanks to our God for all of the blessings of this life, and hopefully in the one to come. Thanksgiving forces us to look at the good things in our lives, centering on family, friends, health and freedom. And let’s not overlook monetary issues. Even in the hardest of times, as a country we are still better off than most of the rest of the world in our standard of living and way of life. We face challenges. But w...