{"id":9079,"date":"2009-07-01T13:16:03","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T20:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=9079"},"modified":"2010-05-17T15:59:54","modified_gmt":"2010-05-17T22:59:54","slug":"its-a-wonderful-life-a-eulogy-from-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9079\/its-a-wonderful-life-a-eulogy-from-california\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s A Wonderful Life – A Eulogy from California"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you check out any of my social media profiles you’ll come to find that “It’s a Wonderful Life” with James Stewart is my absolute favorite of all time. Sure, I’m a Star Trek fan, a Dirty Harry fan, and lots’ more, but this movie captures the heart and soul of both an individual man, his family, and the community in which he lives. It is simply a great piece of art.<\/p>\n

Usually I don’t think about “It’s a Wonderful Life” until December, since that’s when the movie usually plays on TNT, or the mainstream stations. But today, after seeing a clip from a financial news show with a colleague, I was suddenly dumbstruck with something that just has to get out of my head now.<\/p>\n

It so happens that today is the first day of California’s umpteenth failure to pass a balanced budget, so it’s not as if I haven’t lived through this before. California’s budget, like those of the counties and cities that make up this Golden state, have been turning putrid for quite some time.<\/p>\n

Some thoughts and insights have fomented and seethed in me for over a year now, and perhaps using “It’s a Wonderful Life” as an example, I can at least unleash the demons that beset my thinking on this recurring and repulsive problem.<\/p>\n

Take seven minutes and watch the America I grew up in. It’s a wonderful piece, with a message we’ll talk about down below.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Sorry, I had to wipe some tears again. I’m a real softy when it comes to communities, straight thinking, generosity and courage.<\/p>\n

What stuck to my craw this morning when I was forced to think again about California and its problems was the fact that our sense of community is almost gone, forfeited by years of greed, selfishness, NIMBY’s and the pervasive idea that “I’ll take all I can get, when I can get it, from whomever I can get it.”<\/p>\n

Teri, not Dayton, of course.<\/p>\n

Here’s the heart of my heartbreak. With schools about to lose and children losing more, medical care being shut off, community programs Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you check out any of my social media profiles you’ll come to find that “It’s a Wonderful Life” with James Stewart is my absolute favorite of all time. Sure, I’m a Star Trek fan, a Dirty Harry fan, and lots’ more, but this movie captures the heart and soul of both an individual man, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-group-therapy","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":594,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/594\/what-word-needs-to-get-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":9079,"position":0},"title":"What word needs to get out?","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"November 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Thank you, Greg! That was such a flattering (and nice) introduction - now I have to eventually write something useful or at least interesting or I've let you down. I really appreciate you making room for me like this here on your blog - that is very generous of you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15249,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15249\/what-a-wonderful-thing-it-is-to-live-indoors\/","url_meta":{"origin":9079,"position":1},"title":"What a wonderful thing it is to live indoors…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The deck at my father's house in Connecticut this fine morning. I don't care where you live, if you're in real estate, snow is a great closer...","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6534,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6534\/the-wild-wonderful-web-we-weave-how-tightly-wound-it-will-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":9079,"position":2},"title":"The Wild Wonderful Web We Weave. How tightly wound it will be.","author":"Brad Coy","date":"January 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was Teri Lussier's Birthday in case you missed it.\u00a0 If you did, then by all means go and give her your well wishes already. Aside from working on your birthday, Teri and I have a few things in common.\u00a0 Beyond real estate, our shared interest might have a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14277,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14277\/if-you-have-any-time-to-spare-from-catching-all-those-paper-fish-on-twitbook-i-have-a-no-fee-referral-for-a-bloodhound-in-mckinney-texas\/","url_meta":{"origin":9079,"position":3},"title":"If you have any time to spare from catching all those paper fish on TwitBook, I have a no-fee referral for a Bloodhound in McKinney, Texas.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My tenth house for this year is closing today, and I may be leasing up my two vacant rental properties between now and five o'clock. I know, I know -- I'm missing out on all those wonderful paper fish on TwitBook, but my experience is that paper-fish chowder doesn't make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1265,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1265\/going-fishing-try-to-land-the-whales\/","url_meta":{"origin":9079,"position":4},"title":"Going Fishing? Try to Land the Whales","author":"Brian Brady","date":"April 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are a Boiler Room movie fan, you'll remember when Ben Affleck's character said, ACT...AS IF \"Act as if...\" meant that you got on the telephone and asked people who were loaded to invest money. You didn't worry about your youthful appearance, inexperience, or immaturity because they would never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4507,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4507\/im-off-to-see-the-wizards-the-wonderful-wizards-of-blogs\/","url_meta":{"origin":9079,"position":5},"title":"I’m off to see the wizards, the wonderful wizards of blogs","author":"Teri Lussier","date":"September 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Oz is calling. My aversion to conferences has been pushed aside, and in the middle of the night I'll be boarding a plane for\u00a0Blog World in Vegas- possible only with the help of Dramamine and Pepto Bismol. It means that Friday morning I will land in Las Vegas loopy and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9079"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12007,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079\/revisions\/12007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}