350th Article at The Other Shoe - Part Three

[caption id="attachment_2203" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Daniel Hanning of The Other Shoe[/caption]

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              Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. This is Part Three of my multi-part celebration of this milestone in publishing. This blog, and this journey, began back on March 22^nd, 2010. I started this blog to create a balanced voice as counterpoint to the hyperbolic and hyper-partisan rhetoric that owned the airwaves back in 2010. From the onset it has been my goal to; entertain, enlighten, and present The Other Shoe in political dialogue.

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Along the way, I have ventured into other realms of creative writing and entertainment. In just the past year I have branched out into, and shared, articles on; Baking, PC Gaming (MMORPGs), and a personal experiment in creative writing ‘The Story of Daniel’.

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It is these series articles, here at The Other Shoe, that I would like to focus in today’s installment, Part Three. In just the past two years I have embarked on three different series articles. Two, of the three, I managed to bring to completion. The third, which was the first, I have yet to complete. It is this series of articles that I begin with, today. ‘The Story of Daniel’ ended up being an nine part (incomplete) series. Today, I bring you my favorite article of ‘The Story of Daniel’!

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• ·        The Guardianship of ‘Doc’ Springfield Part Two – The Story of Daniel : “I turned to my left, towards Russell, and looked in his eyes. Only to see he was distressed. Russell was a totally cool friend, and he had simply brilliant eyes. Right now (this second), his eyes were, like, full and… ‘puppy-like’? Almost cartoonish in nature, and I knew what that meant. Russell would not go easily into that good funeral home. That’s ok, I can be fairly persuasive when I choose to be.” To this day… I go back and read some of this story, ‘The Story of Daniel’… and I just want to keep writing this story. I would say ‘end’ this story, however, as it is the story of my life it has yet to end. My Dear Readers, if you were not around… here @ The Other Shoe back in October of 2012? I was in the middle of one of the single most trying and arduous times in my adult life. I had just been diagnosed with ‘Left Foot Drop’, and I was unable to walk… without assistance. When I did walk? I dragged (still do) my left foot behind me. My neurosurgeon and neurologist both told me that I should no longer be walking. That I should get a powered wheelchair for mobility, [I cannot use a regular wheelchair due to the fact I have greatly reduced strength and feeling in my left arm]and get it just as soon as was humanly possible. I did my best to work with my doctor, to get the power chair (Dr. L. Gorlick – Prohealth Partners Los Alamitos Medical Center). The biggest problem was? Medicare does not pay your doctor to put together all the different reports, studies, and paperwork that is needed for authorization for a power chair. Dr. Gorlick did not want to “work for free”, so that put Danny between a rock and a hard place. I ended up running an Indiegogo campaign. ‘Daniel's Power Chair Assistance Fund’ (click the link to ‘see’ the campaign and all the information and medical reports).


• ·        The Whittling of America : “My Dear Readers, right now we’re watching the ‘whittling away’ of America. Let me take a moment and try to explain. What I see in America disturbs me greatly, more than even I can put into words (and that, My Dear Readers is QUITE A FEAT). I see this now, and I just can’t take this ‘whittling away’ at the very core of our country. I see it every day. We all know right now America is only haves and have not’s. The great thing is most that can read, write and speak ARE ‘haves’.” Second only to ‘The Story of Daniel’ this story of ‘The Whittling of America’ is my most favorite expression of the political, and financial, reality that is modern day America. In this series of articles I take you on an actual physical journey, and through a demographic and financial journey through Southern California. My journey to visit my currnet doctor, Dr. Laurence Gorlick, take me from poor neighborhoods to one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Southern California. This journey exemplifies the disparity in wealth… the great financial inequality that plagues our great nation. 


• ·        The Whittling of America – Part Two – Enclaves : “I remember telling all of you, upon my return from Los Angeles, how this journey… This adventure had not only drained me physically (and left me in horrific pain) but that it had taken me from me an emotional toll, too. Over the next few pages I hope, that by retelling my adventure, you gain insight not only into me myself (Danny Hanning) and that, for maybe a moment, you have a larger view of our America.” This is a continuation of the journey; both physical and financial, that takes me from poverty ridden neighborhoods to one of the single most affluent neighborhoods in Southern California. As well, in this story I share some of my personal past, and how this journey took me back in time, in the life of my current relationship. It takes me back to the days right after my severe head injury that has left me disabled and in severe pain, to this day. There is one more part, to this story.


• ·        The Whittling of America – Part Two – Enclaves Cont. : “Now I have been to the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills. I have ‘Window Shopped’ on the World Famous – ‘Rodeo Drive’ in downtown Beverly Hills (I used to work right off of Beverly Drive and Rodeo). I have been to many… many malls, here in Southern California, from San Diego to Westwood. Never have I seen a ‘fancier’ outdoor mall in my entire life! It is an ‘Open Air’ mall… but it was clean! The name of the mall was Promenade on the Peninsulaand it was a site to see! There was a; Banana Republic, Anne Taylor, Abercrombie & Fitch, an Urban Underground and a J. Crew there is an Ice Rink, too. It is a three story mall built right into the hills!” This is the final episode to this series of articles. I continue to explain and paint a picture of the stark differences in financial ability, within BLOCKS of one another. How financial inequality harms all Americans and causes undue pain and suffering. Harming, for the long term, people that you KNOW and people that have spent the majority of the formative years and their adult life giving to the communities they lived. This financial inequality strikes without regard to the character of the person, or the abilities of their body. It IS time for all Americans to reach out to those they know suffer with inequality. It is time that every America that can does share with those that have so little… make do without food… and suffer without complaint. Today is the day that all that can afford, give and give some more to those they know that suffer with; hunger, pain and disparity.

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These four articles are prime examples of ‘series’ that I have provided over the past four years. Three of these are political in nature, one (and there are nine in that series) is of a personal nature. I have never put this into print, but today I am going to reveal something from ‘Behind the scenes’. The series ‘The Story of Daniel’ came from an idea proffered by a friend during the ‘Power Chair’ campaign.

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I was hitting some resistance, from contributors, to making donations. I was talking with Jim and he suggested “write articles about yourself. Remind the people who you were in high school. Remind them of the person that made them laugh, and made them think from that stage in Pearland.” That simple suggestion was the impetuous for ‘The Story of Daniel’ a series of nine articles over two months time. In these articles I shared some of the most embarrassing, and most revealing, moments of my childhood and my teenage years, in Pearland.

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I do remember those years on stage at PHS. I remember them well, and I remember how I did touch thousands of Pearland residents… sometimes a thousand at a time. The words, on stage, were not mine… but the emotions… the delivery and the ‘take-away’ from these play was all ‘Daniel’! I used that time, on that stage, to reach out and touch the people of Pearland. I know that I did… I know that I reached them, and I know that hundreds of the people still living in Pearland… and of the people that read this blog… still remember me from that stage.

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Now, I come to entertain and enlighten these same good people with my written word. This blog means the world to me, and I hope and pray that many of the same people that enjoyed my work on stage, enjoy my work right here, today. I have a least two more of this series to share with you, My Dear Readers. Part Four will be about gaming and my work here at The Other Shoe about PC Gaming and gaming in general.

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The final edition of this series? I am going to keep that card very close to my chest. I have planned that the final edition of this series will be published for your pleasure this Sunday. I hope that you come and enjoy all the remaining editions of this series.

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As always I am deeply honored that you come here and read my work. .

Thank YOU!

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="234"] The Other Shoe eBay Store[/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_1812" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Just a shot of a VERY thankful Danny in His Power Chair[/caption]

 

Avarice in America

                      Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. Today President Obama is to make a Presidential address about inequality in America. I heard about this from the Facebook feed to Professor Robert Reich (once Labor Secretary under President Clinton). In the statement the Professor says this:

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“Today the President will be giving a major address on inequality. He can be expected to say it’s the central domestic challenge of our time, that equal opportunity is the keystone of our social compact, that widening inequality threatens our economy and corrodes our democracy, and that he’ll be devoting the rest of his presidency to this fundamental challenge.”[1]

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Another voice, in a growing chorus, seeking to make everyone (yet, mostly Americans) of the severe damage an era of greed has wrought upon our great nation. If you are a frequent reader of this blog, then you will know that America’s Avarice is often a topic of my writing. I have, also, made everyone aware that our newest Pontiff, Pope Francis, has frequently made avarice and inequality topics of his dictums, speeches and press releases. Seriously, one would have to be burying their head in the sand most days, and deaf the rest, not to hear the growing cries against avarice and for equality.

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“The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.”[2] (Also found here: ‘Pope Francis Strikes, Again’ http://theothershoe.blog.com/2013/11/pope-francis-strikes-again/)

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Fact of the matter is that for the handful of Americans get that did get reap the financial benefit of our recent economic upturn, life is quite good and I am sure this is the last thing in the world they want anyone talking about. However, for the rest of the 310 million Americans that saw no benefit, this is a topic that is not getting enough ink. My Dear Readers this is a topic there will always be space for here at The Other Shoe. I am not against my fellow man making a good living or, if they are fortunate enough, amassing a fortune.

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My problem lies with my fellow man’s avarice. Avarice. Now there is a very old word, a very old word indeed. King Midas had dreams of avarice. King Solomon is what most would see is the epitome of avarice. What follows is the dictionary definition of avarice;

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“extreme greed for wealth or material gain”

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“Extreme greed” is the textbook definition for avarice. Aye, there’s the rub! For it is in that one word… That one adjective that I see the frailty and disease of mankind. Extreme, as if there isn’t enough of that already today. Extreme poverty. Extreme religion. Extreme governance. You see it is in fact, where mankind so often falls, that goes before the fall. As a young boy my father, God rest his soul, warned me of extremism… Of steel and zealotry. You still me it was a good thing to be diligent, it was a good thing to persevere, and it was great to Excel . however, he warned that extremism field and zealotry always came before the fall . So I say to you today it is with America. So I say it is today with the extreme right wing of our Republican Party; the tea party. Today’s tea party is the group most responsible for the intransigence of the last two sessions of Congress. Most tea party members will freely admit that they are extreme and that they are selling. You see, that’s when they lost me. And, My Dear Readers, that is where they should have lost you, too. Extremism demands so much from its followers, takes from everyone else and leaves the world behind it in shambles. All too often, in this life, I and I know you to as well have seen the evidence. The zealotry and religion of the Spanish Inquisition that fell a tree of the third Reich needing to the second world war. In the extreme bigotry and racism of the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch society’s.

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One simply cannot trust seal… Extremism… Zealotry… Or fanaticism. For when you give up all that is you to become your believe? One news is one’s self. Today America is gripped in the throes of extreme capitalism. We hear the cries of the devout

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“too much regulation will strangle growth…”

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Yet, when asked to provide proof that what they’re saying is true? None is forthcoming. As a matter of fact time magazine, just last year, ran a very short article about the regulatory practices of all the industrialized nations in the world. I found it most enlightening to see that the greatest growth in commerce was in India, at the time of this article. However, most ironic India was also the nation with the largest growth and regulations. Looking back just on the history of our nation. One can quite easily see a very recent parallel. The 60s saw this single largest expansion of the middle class, and our national economy, and the history of our nation. Not surprisingly, the 60s were also the time of the greatest growth of regulations and regulatory agencies in the history of our nation. It was the 60s when”tree huggers”started their campaign to save our national ecology. It was the beginning of the environmental protection agency. I apologize that I don’t have the time nor in my of the strength to fully document the expansion of regulation we saw in the 60s and the 70s in America. I know that most of you, My Dear Readers know that what I say is true and I ask for your understanding. So I see it is no coincidence that one time magazine, and 2013, looks to find the single largest growing economy on the face of the earth they find it that very nation is also the single largest growth and regulations. I dare any of you to go and find me proof that the opposite is true.

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I have not written in the past three days. Not only is my body wracked with an unusual level of pain I just keep getting these fevers. Thankfully Allen is working nearly every day. When his paychecks catch up with the hours might actually be able to eat better, again. However, I am afraid that I have to bring this article to a premature close. I am getting quite dizzy and have a growing extreme headache. I apologize I was just beginning to gain some wind in my argument. You all know this won’t be the last time I come here to speak to you of the disease like state of avarice in our nation. I use the word disease most accurately. For avarice has infected our nation. Greed has infected the minds the hearts and souls of too many good people that I knew and grew up with I pray every night for the strength and the lack of pain so that I might complete my novel. One day soon regardless of my condition I will finish this novel. And it is my prayers that my novel is quite popular. And that that popularity I through the the strength of my will and the sharpness of my wit translate into a good deal of wealth of my own. And then I can stop talking about avarice and I can show you… I can show you all what should the done with any wealth. More children go to bed every day right now today in America than any time in our nation’s history. Children, not adults… Not crack whores are welfare moms but children! What ever did children do to deserve to live in poverty and sleep in the hunger?

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Avarice

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As always I am very flattered that you come here and read my work. I hope and pray that in the coming days I will feel better so you get back to writing on more daily basis. I apologize for my absence and I just hope and pray that I feel better soon because I have so very much to say to you all.

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Thank you!

P.S. Please excuse any typos or errors. In my current... condition... I apologize, I jst didn't have the strenthto prof prior to publication. I will check, tomorrow... when I feel 'better'... o less, depending on the malidy.

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/#!/RBReich

[2]http://www.scribd.com/doc/187329248/Pope-Francis-s-Nov-24-2013-Evangelii-Gaudium