2018 Summer September 11 Tuesday

63 degrees this morning, walk 34:11 minutes, 94% humidity 

Again a coolish walk this morning.  As with yesterday, I probably overdressed a little too warm.  

Pace was 13 seconds slower than my goal pace.

Glad to get back into walking again after the recent rains, although I miss sitting on the patio afterwards while I write this.  It is too cold for me, I have to have it at least 70 degrees before I’ll sit outside.  This is while it is dark, it can be much cooler when the sun is out and still be comfortable.

Listening to the biography of Robert Moses, it is hard to avoid getting angry over his gross abuse of his power and the harm he did to literally generations of residents by his selfish, short-sighted and obsolete transportation and housing policies.  

Of course, what is even worse is the incompetent elected officials who let him get by with his policies , complacent news media and the engineers, contractors, bankers etc. who were bought out by him.  

You actually have to listen to or read the biography to realize how criminal he really was and how he literally destroyed the lives of millions of people because of his selfish, power hungry activities.  

What really enraged me was listening to how one of his toadies was laughing (this is years later)  about how they deliberately thawed mass transportation by designing highways so it was impossible for mass transit to develop including making bridges too low for buses, not leaving enough right of way for subways etc. The thought they actually realized the impact of their policies and thought it was “funny” is sickening. 

It was an example of the term “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and “as power increases, moral sense decreases” etc.  

I have seen similar scenes myself where an appointed or elected official is allowed so much power that it basically destroys the goal of democracy.  Obviously “power” is both good and bad, which is why oversight is so important.

That brings “apathy” into the discussion again.  “Apathy” by the news media, the public, officials who are supposed to provide oversight etc. can be disastrous as persons step into the vacuum.  

I also have observed that many people (especially the news media, and public etc.) don’t realize the influence of all of the “contractors” who make huge fees off of both public and private projects and activities.   

Such influence is somewhat natural, which is why more oversight is necessary.  If the public really realized the profitable “fees” by bankers, engineers, architects, “financial consultants” etc. they would be stunned as well as the profits by construction contractors.  

Unfortunately, the high profits are frequently used as “contributions” to influence more projects that benefit them etc. rather than the public.

(This is all illustrated by the author of  the biography of Robert Moses.)

Probably the worst example  is the “private prisons” who give huge “contributions” to try to get excessive jail terms for various crimes!  Really makes me sick to think of it.  

That’s it for now, Tuesday, September 11, 2018.