Jerry Northington.com

Northington Notes--Distractions

2011-01-30T12:08:00.001-05:00

In my childhood days we had a fair come to town every year and sometimes two times a year. Thetime for celebration was at hand as we children went for the rides, the various sights and sounds, and cotton candy and other sweets until we were ill.

We were told stories of gambling games behind the scenes but were not allowed to participate of course. Adults often played a "shell" game in which a pea was hidden under one of three shells. The player then bet on his/her ability to guess the shell under which the pea lay after the hawker moved the shells about on a table. Talk, hand motions, and other distractions were employed to keep the player at a constant disadvantage in the wagering process.

Today we all suffer the same sort of trouble in our lives. If we approach any issue of life we may be distracted from our focus by the distractions of life. Passing the TV for instance may lead to a period of time watching to see what is coming next. With luck the distraction is a flower garden or a child at play in the neighborhood.

Politicians often use distractions to take our attention away from issues which may get unfavorable attention. Politicians always play to the positive to insure reelection and continuation of the power base that comes with holding office. Talking one way and voting another when in session is a common feature of political distractions.

Major corporations often use distractions to take away attention from their dark side. If we are to believe advertising major corporations are always working for our best interests. One only need follow the recent campaigns promising less salt and sugar in foods marketed in some stores. The idea is a fine one which is necessary in improving the health of our nation as we become increasingly overweight and diabetes continues to rise in effect.

The ad campaign by at least one major corporate chain is a distraction in the sense we are led to believe the corporation is a 'good guy' and not the 'bad guy' so often posited in the media. In fact the dark side continues to live. Said corporation continues to discriminate against women or so the case would seem with women earning less than men and holding far fewer management positions in relation to their numbers than men.

The use of distractions is a common affair in advertising. No one knows better than the energy industry how to distract consumers from the effects of carbon-based fuels on the environment.

Avoiding the distractions on a day to day basis is a difficult proposition. In order to do so we must continue to seek information and keep abreast of changing issues. We must remain vigilant and never allow the issues to be covered up. The times are changing at a very rapid rate these days but the distractions must not be allowed to rule in the end. Look behind the story to find the truth. Follow your instincts when the sound or the look is too good to be true. Try never to fall prey to the distractions.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

One of the points about distractions is that everything that they

do is destabilizing. --Bruce Sterling

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Make Your Mark--Northington Notes

2011-01-16T11:33:00.000-05:00

Each of us gets only one trek through this life. The past two years have seen the loss of three people in my life. Each one died unexpectedly and two were very young. The recent events in Arizona brought back thoughts of death and how very fragile life is for us humans. We cannot know in most instances when we are going to meet our end. That fact makes every moment an important one as we travel along life's pathway.

We should each consider the situation and give some personal thought to several questions. What will people think of and about me when I am no longer alive? Will anyone care? Of course they will, but will the positives outweigh the negatives?

Every day we all have many opportunities to make a variety of choices in our actions. We can choose positive actions or not. We can choose to improve another person's life or not. All of us no matter our individual circumstance have choices these days.

As a child we sometimes ate fruit from a nearby persimmon tree. When ripe the fruit had a purple skin with orange flesh. Before the fruit reached its final stage of ripeness we sometimes took a bite to see what might be the taste. The puckered mouth showed just how unpleasant the taste could be.

There was an expression that arose at some forgotten time and place in my life. "There are some people born with green persimmons in the periodontal spaces." Those people are continually at odds with the world, never satisfied with their lot, and a constant source of irritation to those with whom they come in contact. They make a pretty poor mark on their trek through life.

Spend every day trying to treat others the way you'd wish to be treated and you will manage to make the best mark possible for yourself. At the same time you can manage to improve the lives of those you meet as well as making your own life a better one.

Into each life a bit of rain must fall, but if we carry around a bit of sunshine to make the garden grow the rain will be a supplement and not a detriment. Do your best to make your life mark one of sunshine and not one of rain.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.

--William Wallace

The Ongoing TSA Scam

2010-12-22T09:21:00.000-05:00

In the name of "better airline security" we travelers have over the years come to be subject to increasing levels of invasive searching. Off go the shoes. Now we are groped in the groin in case we have explosives in our underwear. And then comes news of theft of valuables following luggage screening in an airport.

How much longer are we going to tolerate this? The facade of security is just that. We are not one whit more safe today than we have been for years. Yet we must suffer long lines and invasive searches to get on an airline. My family is avoiding flying when we are able. Maybe if enough people stay away this mess will change.

Peace.

Christine PAC

2010-12-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

No real surprises here. Christine O'Donnell having lost her bid for the DE Senate is forming a PAC of her own. "Issues oriented." Maybe issues mean paying herself a big salary. Stay tuned for more news on this one.

RIP Spark Anderson

2010-11-04T15:27:00.000-04:00

Sparky Anderson, the first manager to win World Series championships with teams from both the National and American leagues, died on Thursday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 76.

Political Commentary

2010-11-01T08:01:00.000-04:00

Jeff Stahler gets it about right this week.

Peace.

Northington Notes--Intolerance

2010-10-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

Musings and commentary by
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
October 15, 2010
##################################

Intolerance

My childhood was spent in the far western reaches of

Kentucky in an area called the Jackson Purchase after

the President who bought the area long ago. During the

time of the Civil War that part of Kentucky made an

effort to secede from both the Union and from Kentucky

in order to support the South in its cause. Union armies

put that idea to rest but for many minds the issue

remains alive and well to this day.

Reading a book recently, "Confederates in the Attic",

by Tony Horwitz, brought back many childhood memories.

Our media today tell tales of continued intolerance when

people are interviewed about their views of immigrants or

of people of color. Some politicians are making hay on

those issues of gross intolerance.

The more we find ways to see ourselves as different

from other human beings the more damage we do to

humanity as a whole. Over the course of history religious

and racial intolerance was the driving force of wars in

many regions. Some areas have lengthy histories of

continued violent episodes.

America is no stranger to racial or religious intolerance.

In past times people of color were enslaved and immigrants

of various religions were persecuted. That we fail to

change our course in these times is disappointing.

Children raised in households preaching intolerance continue

to spread the dysfunction through future generations.

If we as a nation or even as a species are to survive far

into the future we must change our ways. We each and

every one must look deep inside at our own feelings. We must

guard against any measures of intolerance. Do not mistreat

any person for reason of their economic situation,

their personal hygiene, their skin color, their language,

their sex or sexual preference, or any other distinguishing mark

that differentiates any person from yourself. If we all live by

the Golden Rule and treat others as we'd like to be treated

we may one day hope to find ourselves living in a much more

peaceful and prosperous world.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance

that is the source of disorder and squabbling.

--Pierre Bayle

Christine O'Donnell is NOT Me!!!

2010-10-05T15:23:00.002-04:00

But Chris Coons is. Chris is the sort of man we need for our Senator.

Peace.

The Age of Reason

2010-09-08T07:52:00.000-04:00

From one of my favorite bloggers come this piece, Age of Reason. If you read nothing else this month this one is worthy.

For example:

The great appeal of Sarah Palin is that bone-ignorant people recognize that she is every bit as bone-ignorant as they are. This comforts, not threatens, them. That is truly the sort of person they want running their lives.(snip)People fear what they don’t understand. It has always been such. And the greatest wrong that the anti-Enlightenment crusaders against objective truth commit, in my view, is that they play to that ignorance, seeding the fear, and thus birth and nurture the hate.

The entire posting is excellent IMHO. Read and ponder.

Peace.

$3 Trillion and Beyond

2010-09-07T16:30:00.000-04:00

The costs of the Iraq War are now pegged in excess of $3 trillion with no apparent end in sight. Give a bit of thought to what those numbers mean. Our great grandchildren will be paying the bills as most of the money is borrowed as part of the national debt. Our infrastructure suffers daily (schools, hospitals, roads, water supplies, and public buildings) while there is not enough money to complete repairs or even to supply regular maintenance.

When ever will the American public awaken to the travesty that was and continues to be the continuation of the Iraq occupation? Bad as the dollars are day by day what about the human lives being lost to this day? We have lost too many already. We have no more dollars to waste and no more children to lose to war.

Peace.

Goodbye, Dr. Laura

2010-08-18T14:16:00.000-04:00

Goodbye and good riddance,Dr. Laura. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Many of us will not miss your point of view.

Avoidance

2010-06-30T08:18:00.000-04:00

Movies are not an ordinary part of my life these days. But one recent presentation about a military veteran caught my attention. In one section of the movie there was a discussion about post-traumatic stress disorder and the mechanisms with which affected troops (or other people, too) live their lives in response to the disorder.

A psychiatrist spoke to avoidance as one means of coping. People avoid situations which may remind them of their past trauma. That was a mechanism I employed after coming home from Vietnam and in some measures continue to apply to this day. Our society today practices avoidance in dealing with the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when we fail to see the images or to hear the pleas of the affected peoples.

The trauma of a war zone cannot be put into words. The experience is not one any human being deserves. Civilians, troops on both sides, and the land involved all suffer damage as a result of any war. In war the major insult is not to the troops but is rather to the civilians, the women, the children, and the aged who have no part in military activity. We must continue to remember every person on either side killed or wounded as a result of our military intervention is a son or daughter, maybe a mother or a father, perhaps a brother or a sister. Every life lost touches the lives of the many who surround that person. The damage spreads ripples throughout the surrounding society.

Walk a moment in the shoes of an Iraqi or Afghan civilian. Imagine your town is occupied by foreign soldiers. Imagine your cousin (or niece or brother) has been killed by the foreigners. How are you going to feel? Would you resist the occupation? What makes the Iraqi people one small bit different from us here in the U.S. or in any other nation around the globe?

Go one more step in your mind. Think about all the children born since the invasion who have known nothing but war in their short lives. How will this childhood affect them in the future? Will they be able to put this behind them and live peaceful lives or will they forever be scarred and turn into terrorists themselves?

I suggest we cease our avoidance and look to peaceful means of resolving world conflicts. The end solutions to terrorism will lie in social and economic change. We need to begin our pursuit of those measures as soon as possible. We must vote for those people offering the most hope of real change. Then we must remain vocal and keep in touch with those we elect to remind them they serve us first of all. Those we elect must lead our nation in the direction we choose. Only our continued action will insure the best course is taken.

Peace.

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Quote of the Day:

In peace, sons bury their fathers.

In war, fathers bury their sons.

-- Herodotus

From Northington Notes, June 30, 2010.

Boycott Arizona

2010-04-24T08:56:00.000-04:00

Given the signing of the most egregious immigration bill in America by the governor of Arizona the time has come for all who stand for human rights to boycott the state. No traveling in the state. Sell all investments. No offering of any support to the state administration or to the people who forged this terrible injustice.

Americans must speak up and be heard to end the ongoing racial discrimination and xenophobic behavior of too many in our nation today. Our nation was founded on principles of justice for all. We must not lose sight of our most important ideals lest we lose too much of what makes America a fine nation.

Peace.

Spygate in Lower Merion

2010-04-20T09:51:00.000-04:00

The news continues to get worse and worse from the Lower Merion spy cam invasion of high school student homes. Now an attorney for the district confirms

at least 56,000 webcam photographs and screen shots from laptops issued to high school students

How much worse can this get. The district continues to claim no salacious content in the images but the mere fact the images were obtained at regular intervals

The tracking program took images every 15 minutes, usually capturing the webcam photo of the user and a screen shot at the same time. The program was sometimes turned on for weeks or months at a time.

is terrible. Whatever happened to privacy in our nation? Are we no longer allowed to keep our personal lives private at all?

Peace.

Palin's Fiscal Policy

2010-04-17T08:52:00.000-04:00

Some people take a very simplistic approach to the world. Sarah Palin is no exception to that rule. Her fiscal policy seems to be one of "Take care of number one." All else falls far behind.

Peace.

The Party of "NO" Defends Wall Street

2010-04-17T08:46:00.000-04:00

In the face of Democratic moves backed by the Obama admnistration to regulate Wall Street the Republicans once again are up in arms to defend the very institution that brought us the economic disaster we find today. Deregulation under the Bush administration led to the near collapse of our entire economic system. One may argue the bailout was not the way to go but at least as a result of TARP we have slowed the crash and begun to see some measures of recovery. We cannot allow Republican proposals to take the day and return us to the bad old days of a crashing market.

Peace.

Big Banks Crying Over Potential New Regulation

2010-04-15T12:03:00.000-04:00

Proposed regulations aimed at increasing the liquidity of major banking establishments is being opposed by many of the players. The very same Wall Street bankers that brought us the recent economic disaster that ended in TARP funding are now decrying efforts to put in place a system aimed at preventing a second occurrence.

The U.S. banks argue that the liquidity rules could force lenders around the world to sell $6 trillion of new debt to meet the requirements. Under the rules, banks would have to maintain a “net stable funding ratio” of 100 percent, meaning they would need an amount of longer-term loans or deposits equal to their financing needs for 12 months, including off-balance-sheet commitments and anticipated securitizations. This would require that some short-term funding be replaced by longer-term debt.

And what is wrong with liquidity instead of a house of cards credit system?

Apparently the bottom line is the issue here.

Higher capital requirements and a stricter definition of capital may reduce lenders’ return on equity to 12.9 percent from the 13.8 percent estimated for 2012.

A few billions more for the industry or more assurance we taxpayers are better protected in the future.

That is not a real question in my mind. The runaway abuses of recent years by the Wall Street giants must be stopped. The few insiders who benefit do not deserve to live on our backs. We deserve some consideration, too.

Peace.

Bad News on the Environmental Front

2010-03-31T09:32:00.000-04:00

The Obama administration is proposing to open large swaths of offshore areas to drilling for oil.

The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

The administration claims this move is an opening measure in a broad appeal

help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.

Anyone thinking the oil companies are going to appeased by this bribe is not looking at recent history. Corporate culture is not about supporting the environment but is all about making money and more money.

The move for more drilling looks to be one more energy boondoggle in the same range as "clean coal" and increased use of nuclear power. We have a long way to go in this fight.

Peace.

A Bit of Dem Backbone Showing

2010-03-29T13:34:00.001-04:00

The ink on the new healthcare bill was not yet dry when corporations began to cry about the costs to them. And the GOP took hold immediately to tout the purported costs and potential job losses. As usual the truth is yet to be told.

But the reality is less striking than the enormous figures indicate.

When Part D was enacted in 2003, it contained a number of heavily criticized boondoggles for big businesses, but one such loophole offered companies subsidies to continue providing prescription drug benefits to retirees...and made those subsidies tax deductible.

Fast forward to 2010, the newly signed health care bill doesn't end the subsidies, or change the fact that those subsidies are tax free--it simply ends companies' ability to deduct them.

In preparing for the hit, though, companies have summed up the permanent cost of this tax change and plan to write it down all at once. Now, conservatives are citing that overall cost to suggest that these companies will have to bear a billion dollar burden every year. And, of course, the kicker is that this change will not take effect under the terms of the law for three years.

Dems are holding the corporations and Repubs to the truth but will the public hear any of the facts? Time will tell.

Republican Hypocrisy

2010-03-29T09:23:00.000-04:00

From the Wilmington News Journal:

Republican hypocrisy continues to be evident as the health care bill care bill is signed into law.

After complaining first the law was too long, conservative voices began to rant about the law being too short. After pushing hard to get the sort of reforms they desired and watching Democrats move to the right, conservatives voted against the bill. Not one single Republican in the House of Representatives voted to support health care for Americans. How will Republicans explain this vote? Under the Bush administration, the Congressional Budget Office was touted as reliable in its estimates of costs for programs the Republicans desired. Now with the same office saying health care reform will save money for the nation, the same conservative voices are lifted in criticism and opposition to the analysis.

Will the hypocrisy never end? When will the American public awaken to the twisted half truths and outright lies being put forth today by too many voices on the fringes of conservative politics? When will the media begin to seek truth and facts instead of simply repeating the words of any voice available? We live in a time of great change. Only by facing facts and speaking truth will we move forward as a member of world society.

Jerry Northington

Actions speak much louder than words. All one need to is to follow the Republican actions to see the lies that come from their mouths at regular intervals.

Peace.

Who Are the Tea Party Members?

2010-03-25T10:52:00.000-04:00

From Quinnipac:

Looking at voters who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement:

* 74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;
* 16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;
* 5 percent are solidly independent;
* 45 percent are men;
* 55 percent are women;
* 88 percent are white;
* 77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;
* 15 percent voted for President Barack Obama.

Peace.

Airport Security

2010-03-24T13:01:00.000-04:00

A recent poll from the Pew Research Foundation says 74% of Americans favor airport scanning that full body imaging that can see through clothing.

Among liberal Democrats, 61% favor the use of full-body scans while 32% are opposed, the lowest level of support within any political group.

For some of us privacy issues outweigh the small gains to be made in security. For the most part all these scanning and searching techniques are fluff and really do not improve security at all.

Peace.

An Open Letter to Conservatives

2010-03-24T07:51:00.000-04:00

For any who may have missed the posting, Russell King has a most fine rant over at Talking Points Memo.

You're going to have to come up with a platform that isn't built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own; fear of reform in banking, health care, energy; fantasy fears of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps; and more. But you have work to do even before you take on that task.

Your party -- the GOP -- and the conservative end of the American political spectrum has become irresponsible and irrational. Worse, it's tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred. Let me provide some expamples -- by no means an exhaustive list -- of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.

If you're going to regain your stature as a party of rational, responsible people, you'll have to start by draining this swamp:

What follows is one of the finest summations of Republican Party failures and lies to be found anywhere today. Enjoy.

Peace.

U.S. Pulling Funding from Virtual Border Fence

2010-03-17T10:16:00.000-04:00

The boondoggle that is being developed in Texas and across the southwest US as a "virtual border fence" is at last being reconsidered.

The U.S. government is pulling $50 million in funding from a problematic "virtual fence" meant to secure stretches of the Mexico border and is freezing additional funding for the project pending review, authorities said on Tuesday.

The building has been one cost overrun after another with multiple failures along the way. The time has come to pull the plug once and for all on this mess.

The solution to our immigration problems is not going to be found in efforts to seal our borders. That is an effort which may well be impossible at any cost. Real solutions are best found in open borders with more freedom to travel. If people are allowed to enter the nation, work a time, and return to their homes we are much less likely to see long term residents without appropriate documentation. Today if people get in the country they are reluctant to leave as return may be impossible.

And the drug wars are another entire problem without any regard to immigration issues. The list goes on and on but in no case is an electronic border a reasonable course to take.

Peace.

Tea Party Group Posts Stock Photos to Suggest Racial Diversity

2010-03-16T16:03:00.000-04:00

In a big to promote conservative values Clarence Thomas' wife has started her own branch of the tea party. Not to be daunted by their failure to attract real members of diverse racial origins the website has stock photos instead.

Will duplicity ever end with those folks? What ever happened to honesty in our nation?

Republican Healthcare Fail

2010-03-09T07:59:00.000-05:00

--John Sherffius

How many more must die before we change this system?

Peace.

Coons is In

2010-02-03T14:02:00.000-05:00

The speculation may stop. Chris is in for sure.

I am pleased to announce to you, my friends and long-time supporters, my candidacy for Delaware's open seat in the United States Senate. In the coming weeks, I will formally kick off my campaign with formal announcements in each county.

People in Delaware are hurting, and they deserve a Senator who will wake up every day and fight for the people in our great state. That's what my campaign will be about. With your support and help, I can take my record of success here in Delaware and my vision for our future to the U.S. Senate.

Together, we can reach out across Delaware to share a positive message about creating jobs, restoring our communities, and keeping families safe. I can't do this without you. Your financial support and volunteer time is critical in making this campaign a success. Please visit my new campaign web site at www.chriscoons.com to make a contribution, sign up for email alerts, and volunteer on the campaign.

My family and I appreciate and are inspired by the calls and emails of support we received as we came to this important decision. We look forward to working together in the weeks to come.

Sincerely,

Chris Coons

Mighty Little, Mighty Late

2010-02-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

News of NRG's closing three of four units at Indian River is good in the overall. Delays until 2013 for cleaning up the remaining unit are not good.

And there remains the issue of those ash piles. In every other place around the nation where contamination from ash piles has been studied the results are frightening. Will NRG ever allow that testing? If the testing is accomplished what will be done to clean up and end ongoing contamination?

Peace.

Hopeful News

2010-01-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

Among other issues of the day there is good news.

John McCain is not President. What more need be said?

Peace.

Congress, Are You Listening

2010-01-20T08:25:00.002-05:00

The loss of a longtime Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts will be bandied about by the pundits for weeks to come. In my mind the message is clear, the public is tired of a Congress doing too little to aid the common man. We are tired of seeing Wall Street bailouts followed by huge profits and gigantic bonuses while people are losing jobs and homes. The voters want a Congress that gets down to work and does the job of putting this nation back on track.

The Obama administration was voted into office in part as an angry reaction to the Bush administration. The voters remain unsettled and are voicing their unrest by moving against the Democratic mainstream. People want to see change even if that change may not be best in the long term. Trouble is on the horizon. If or not government will respond is in the hands of our Congress, the very best Congress money can buy.

Peace.

Sarah Palin Debut on Fox News

2010-01-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

From Clay Bennett

Some people really are at their best when they say nothing at all.

Peace.

Cheney on Obama

2010-01-07T11:21:00.001-05:00

Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer

What more need be said?

Peace.

Insurgents Hack US Drones

2009-12-17T17:43:00.002-05:00

Today's Wall Street Journal has the story.

Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.

Given the new reliance on drones to fight this loser of a war we are in deep trouble now. And our military has known of this possible leak since the 1990's. How can we expect to win any war with a military organization functioning as low level as this?

Peace.

PS Read more about the Sky Grabber software used by the insurgents here.

Now It is Obama's War

2009-12-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

With the announcement last night of an additional 30,000 troops headed to Afghanistan in coming months President Obama takes the losing war into his own hands. No longer can we blame this mess on past President Bush. The blame for loss or the credit for a good outcome will belong to President Obama.

While I remain a staunch supporter of the President in nearly all his actions, this one decision is wrong beyond measure. The President listened to the same tired advice of too many years. Our nation cannot afford to borrow more money to wage a losing war. Never in the history of the Afghan region has an outside power managed to stabilize the area. What makes America a winner today?

Perhaps the best we can hope is not to drag out this mess too much longer. Eight long years in the nation without any measurable success is far more than enough.

Peace.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T07:09:00.002-05:00

Yelnoc, Flickr, Creative Commons

Hope your day is a great one.

Peace.

Senate Healthcare Bill is Revealed

2009-11-19T11:07:00.000-05:00

The Senate version of the healthcare bill(PDF) was released yesterday. Given the title of the bill, The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, we know already we are in trouble. Any time these days our government offers good words we can know the opposite is meant. The employer responsibility, individual mandate, and Medicaid expansion, the exchange, and the public option provisions are pushed back to 2014. In other words the industry gets to keep the status quo in large measures and we get crumb and empty promises.

The howl from us consumers and voters needs to be loud and clear. This bill is bad enough to be unacceptable. A poor bill may be worse than no bill at all once people find out what they did not get. We need real healthcare with coverage for every American. Anything less is not going to move the nation toward the 21st Century. We can ill afford to remain mired in the current deathcare situation.

Peace.

They Are Coming Back

2009-11-14T09:00:00.002-05:00

Military presence in the role of ROTC was banned from many college campuses in the 60's. Now as part of the military's ongoing effort to produce more soldiers a return to campus may be in the air. Return of ROTC may not be so much aimed at producing new officers as to integrate military affairs into ordinary life and so recruit enlisted persons.

As one who spent time in the U.S. military I can attest to both the benefits and the downsides. Today I remain staunchly opposed to continued expansion of our military as the forces are being put to the wrong usages. Our military as a peacetime protective force could be much smaller and less expensive than the current armies of occupation.

Peace.

DKos Calls Out Tom Carper

2009-11-12T11:47:00.002-05:00

Hunter does one fine job of describing Senator Tom "Corporate" Carper as the dog he really is these days in a post at DKos.

Tom Carper, who is the number one recipient of corporate cash vs. individual contributions of all Democrats in the Senate, with about 44 percent of every one of his campaign dollars coming from corporate PACs -- a feat that required him out-grubbing all four of the other top corporate go-to Democrats on that list, Blanche Lincoln, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson and Max Baucus, all of whom have already gone to great and much-publicized lengths to make sure that any bill passed by the Senate is as much of a cash cow for private insurance companies as possible, and who have become regular fixtures in the attempt to gut, water down, or carve away anything that might be the slightest bit inconvenient for those companies.

That is the guy being allowed to push an alternative to a real public option in healthcare.

We, the people of Delaware and the nation deserve better than this. Senator Corporate must not be allowed to have his way and the next election he needs to hear from all of us as we express our disdain.

Peace.

International Study of Healthcare Paints Ugly Picture of Affairs in the U.S.

2009-11-05T07:58:00.003-05:00

A study of physicians in 11 countries around the world paints a pretty sorry picture of the state of U.S. healthcare.

Fifty-eight percent of primary care doctors in the U.S. report their patients often have difficulty paying for medications and care, and half of U.S. doctors spend substantial time dealing with restrictions insurance companies place on their patients' care.

The study of 10,000 primary care physicians found areas where the U.S. could stand major improvement.

Notably, the U.S. could look to improve by using financial incentives to improve quality and efficiency, expanding access to health care and simplifying insurance, expanding the use of health information technology to prevent medical errors, and using a medical home approach to primary care where patients have options for care at any time of day or night, teams of health care providers to manage conditions, and continuity of care.

The report is a worthy read in its entirety. The conclusions include the following recommendations for improvement in the U.S.:

* Covering everyone, with a set of benefits that emphasizes primary care and prevention and which remove financial barriers and support primary care physicians as well as their patients;
* Providing financial incentives focused on value and health outcomes;
* Supporting primary care practices and their capacity to serve as "medical homes" with 24-hour access, use of teams of health professionals, and continuity of care;
* Accelerating the adoption and use of health information technology, including electronic medication prescribing to reduce risks of errors;
* Simplifying insurance to reduce complexity and paperwork for doctors and their staff;
* Investing in information systems with quality reporting and feedback to spread improved care and safety.

The current healthcare reform bills may make some steps in the right direction but I fear we may fall short. We need dramatic reform very soon if we as a nation are to rise to a reasonable level in healthcare for our citizens.

Peace.

Democrats, Listen Up

2009-11-04T07:36:00.002-05:00

Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos and I often find room for disagreement but last night he hit the nail right on the head. In considering the Virginia, New Jersey, and other elections yesterday Markos summarizes points for us Democrats to understand.

1. If you abandon Democratic principles in a bid for unnecessary "bipartisanship", you will lose votes.

2. If you water down reform in favor of Blue Dogs and their corporate benefactors, you will lose votes.

3. If you forget why you were elected -- health care, financial services, energy policy and immigration reform -- you will lose votes.

We as a party need to return to our base and begin to look out for the people. If party leadership continues to pander to the right and to corporate interests more and more elections may be lost in the future.

Peace.

Shauna's Hope

2009-10-24T08:37:00.002-04:00

Shauna Kaufman died in an automobile accident in June of this year. In her honor a new program is being put in place in Delaware.

New Policy Supports Life-Saving Donations in Delaware

Shauna Kaufman recently wrote a poem where she compared her actions to ripples in the water, noting how they seem to continue endlessly and how they can affect others. She hoped that her actions, in turn, would produce positive ripples.

On June 18, 2009, Shauna’s life was tragically cut short, following a car accident that occurred in southern Delaware. But legacy of the 17-year-old will in fact create positive outcomes for countless others, thanks to a policy aimed to facilitate the life-saving opportunity of organ donation.

“Shauna’s Hope” is a new policy enacted by Delaware’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), in cooperation with the Kaufman family – her parents Ian and Amy, and sister Holly – along with Gift of Life Donor Program – the nonprofit organ procurement organization that covers Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.

At the time of her death, Shauna’s family looked to honor her wishes to be an organ donor, but unfortunately, the call to Gift of Life was made too late for the donation opportunity to occur.

As part of this new policy, the OCME mandates that Gift of Life be contacted in the instance of every scene death that meets certain criteria. This collaborative effort will ensure that a timely referral is made and will therefore preserve the donation opportunity for every person.

“Shauna was a remarkable young woman who always looked to help others and treated every person equally,” Amy Kaufman said. “The ‘Shauna’s Hope’ policy continues her passion by making the world a better place not only through organ and tissue donation but through the kindness and compassion that the policy allows for the newly bereaved.”

The OCME has shown a tremendous amount of support toward this measure, signifying its commitment both to those who have made the decision to be organ donors, and those who are waiting for the gift of life.

“Our primary responsibility is to be a voice for the deceased and to ensure that medical and legal issues are appropriately addressed. However, we have a societal responsibility to enhance the health of citizens and administer a key role in the transplantation process,” OCME Deputy Director Hal Brown said. “Enabling increased levels of transplantation through ‘Shauna's Hope’ is one of the few opportunities we have to directly save and improve lives.”

Gift of Life, as an organization, remains committed to facilitating every possible donation opportunity, as the means of helping those waiting for a life-saving transplant. Currently, in this region alone, nearly 6,000 people are waiting for the gift of life – joining the more than 100,000 people nationwide.

“We believe that every person deserves the opportunity to be a donor, no matter what the circumstances are,” said Richard D. Hasz, Gift of Life’s vice president of clinical services. “The state’s OCME and coroner’s offices have been dedicated partners in our efforts for many years, and we look forward to continuing this collaboration with the new policy. We hope that other medical examiners and coroners throughout our region see this as a stellar example and enact similar policies.”

About Gift of Life Donor Program: Since 1974, Gift of Life has served as the link between donors and patients awaiting life-saving transplants in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. In that tenure, the OPO has coordinated more than 28,000 life-saving organ transplants and hundreds of thousands of tissue transplants.

For more information on organ and tissue donation, please call the Gift of Life at 1-800-DONORS-1 or visit its website, www.donors1.org.

What better way could there be to honor the life on one so young but so very wise? The gift of life is one we all should revere.

Peace.

Healthcare Resolution--Progressive Democrats of Sussex County

2009-10-22T10:36:00.002-04:00

The following resolution was drafted by the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County, DE and is supported by the State Executive Committee of the Party along with various other organizations and individuals. Please consider submitting the same or similar resolution to your own organizations and to your own Congressional members.

Many thanks.

WHEREAS, 20,000 die each year in the
United States because they cannot afford to see a doctor, 700,000 go bankrupt because of their medical bills, almost fifty million Americans lack any health insurance at all, and millions more who do have private coverage pay increasingly unaffordable premiums; and

WHEREAS, every developed country except the United States has concluded that providing health care for all their citizens is a right not a privilege; and

WHEREAS, health care in the United States is now in major crisis and affordable health care for all Americans is a matter of the utmost urgency in our time; and

WHEREAS, despite efforts by well funded extremists to disseminate false and misleading information about health care reform, public polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans want health care reform to include, as a matter of choice, a robust public option similar to Medicare in order to create, as President Obama has said, significant competition for the medical insurance industry; and

WHEREAS, co-ops or so-called "triggers" are inadequate in and of themselves to generate either the kind or the amount of competition needed to keep medical and insurance costs down;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County urge
Senator Thomas Carper, Senator Edward Kaufman and Representative Michael Castle to vote for only such healthcare reform proposals as contain a robust public option at all stages of the legislative process including conference and reconciliation, and encourages legislators to use any available parliamentary means to pass such reform;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County shall send a copy of this resolution to all members of Congress who represent its members.

Peace.

Health Care in Hawaii

2009-10-17T09:31:00.001-04:00

The NYT today has a front page article in the dead tree edition concerning state mandated healthcare.

Hawaii law requires employers to offer standardized health plans with low co-pays, no deductibles and few out-of-pocket costs. Cliff Cisco, a senior vice president at the Hawaii Medical Service Association, said that having a standardized and popular benefit has helped keep administrative costs to just 7 percent of revenue, among the lowest in the nation.

If Hawaii can do this why not the nation?

Peace.

Real People for Real Health Reform

2009-10-17T08:37:00.002-04:00

As the healthcare debate continues day by day the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County are leading the parade for real reform. In the News Journal today is a Delaware Voice piece signed by Joanne Cabry entitled "Real People for Real Health Reform".

However, just as our resolutions have grown stronger by gathering more supporters, we are resolved to work until all Americans have affordable, quality health care. In 2010, 45,000 of us will die because we didn't have insurance that would pay for a cholesterol screening or a mammogram. We are resolved to see this is the last year we watch as 45,000 of us die.

The writing makes me proud to both a Progressive Democrat and a member of the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County. Wonderful stuff, Joanne. Keep up the good work.

Peace.

Healthcare Snowe Job

2009-10-14T11:02:00.002-04:00

The Senate Finance Committee passed its long awaited measure yesterday with the support of one Republican Senator, Olympia Snowe. Now the conference committee must reconcile the House version (which will likely contain a strong public option) with the Senate option which more likely contain a "trigger" instead of a public option. All this in order to keep the support of a single Republican and claim bipartisan support.

The noise in response to Senate Democratic Party fail on this one should be loud and clear. The majority of Americans today know enough to support a public option. All the ongoing conversation about "triggers" and other ways of killing real reform need to be buried in an avalanche of public outcry. If we fail to get real reform with a robust public option from day one we may not have another chance in our lifetimes. We have waited too long for this reform. People are dying on a daily basis as a direct result of delay.

Peace.

State Legislators Support Healthcare Reform

2009-10-08T11:43:00.003-04:00

Across the nation nearly a thousand state legislators signed a letter to the President urging healthcare reform.

As leaders in state legislatures across the country, we urgently call on President Obama and the U.S. Congress to take up and pass comprehensive health care reform in 2009.

Key priorities for reform are reflected in recent state initiatives and public opinion polls which show that Americans want more choices and options for quality health care. Americans recognize that the private sector alone has proven incapable of creating a high-quality, fair, and accountable health care system that works for all families. Therefore, a key priority for reform is the choice of a public health insurance plan that is available to businesses, individuals, and families. Another key priority is strengthening and expanding the Medicaid program with the help of enhanced federal support so that it can serve all low-income Americans. Related priorities include: guaranteeing affordability for individuals and businesses; preserving consumer choice of doctors; eliminating racial, ethnic, gender, and rural health disparities; ensuring shared responsibility among employers, individuals and government in financing health care; and, cost containment strategies that eliminate waste and inefficiency and improve quality, especially for people with chronic illnesses.

From Delaware only Representative Brad Bennett is a signer. Where are the rest of our elected officials when we are in such dire need?

Peace.

Coal Ash Ponds Leaking in North Carolina

2009-10-08T11:04:00.002-04:00

Analysis of ground water surrounding coal ash ponds in North Carolina

revealed that all of them are contaminating groundwater with toxic metals and other pollutants — in some cases at levels exceeding 380 times state groundwater standards.

Does anyone care about Indian River and its coal ash storage? Will DENREC ever get around to sampling the river and surrounding ground water to check?

Peace.

John Kowalko on Healthcare Reform

2009-10-08T10:57:00.001-04:00

Health Care Reform

I think it’s important to make a few things crystal clear in defining the Health Care reform debate.

I’ve been actively engaged in the discussion at the state level and the federal level for more than 4years now. I testified on behalf of HB 62, (a State Single Payer bill), authored by Dr. Floyd McDowell and sponsored by State Rep. Dennis P. Williams. It was presented before a Banking/Insurance Committee chaired by former Rep. Donna Stone and had about 60 people in attendance although the numbers dwindled as the committee continued with an agenda of innocuous items until approximately 6PM. At that time most committee members had left. There was not a quorum present for further action and that seemed to be the point of the delay. However as the testifier on behalf of A Philip Randolph Institute and joined by those steadfast supporters of “true” Health Care Insurance Reform it was apparent that this was a significant moment since this type of legislation had never before, nor since, been given a public vetting before a Delaware legislative committee. As a civilian activist this moment gave me a distinct perspective of how public enthusiasm can be dampened and disregarded and may have been the deciding moment of commitment to politics for me. With Rep J.J. Johnson I have sponsored a resolution in support of the Federal legislation known as HR 676, a Medicare like single payer program to insure all Americans from cradle to grave. This resolution did not get out of committee either.

The point I’m trying to make now is that we must not succumb to the false and misleading positions that are the munitions of the pharmaceutical and insurance industry waging a life or death struggle for their overpaid executives, over-compensated shareholders and politically connected supporters.

The “public option” is not “single-payer” but it may be a way-station on the track to single-payer. This is a politically palatable risk that probably should be taken.

But make no mistake about it, “Non-Profit Health Insurance Cooperatives” are nowhere near the tracks and are devoid of wheels even if they are forced onto the tracks. They would impede all traffic.

Consider that the Blue Crosses and Blue Shields are “non-profit” entities that exist as cooperatives, (consumers being the members of the co-op, contributing the co-op fee in the form of skyrocketing premiums). These fee amounts are not reflective of the needs of expenditures benefitting the co-op members nor are they regulated or controlled in any way to protect the investments being demanded of these members.

You see we already have “non-profit co-ops” in our Health Care delivery system and they are bankrupting Americans and their families. They are bankrupting American businesses and putting those businesses at such a global disadvantage that revitalization and stabilization of the United States economy is rapidly approaching the undoable stage.

The worst possible scenario is that false messaging and irresponsible alternatives cause a stagnation of real discourse and debate and we are left with the status-quo of guaranteed failure.

Go, John. Keep up the good work. Some of us are at your back pushing hard.

Peace.

The Climate Debate

2009-10-06T08:51:00.002-04:00

While healthcare takes much of the forefront in the media today a second problem, climate change, is on the table and must be met by Congress this year. We are already very late in this game if we are to preserve a future in which humankind is able to survive.

Bill Becker gets it right in a recent posting on his blog, Solve Climate.

1. Climate Change is Not a Matter of Belief

Climate change is a matter of science. All the current evidence points to real changes in our world climate. Congress and the public in general must not be allowed to ignore the facts in order to live their personal beliefs.

2. There Is No Such Thing as Business as Usual

Business as usual to protect coal and other industries got us into much of this mess. We must not continue the current course. Compromises must be made to insure real change in the way we do business these days or there will be no business left to do.

3. We Are Not An Island

The U.S. is part of a world economy and global climate. We must accept responsibility for all our actions and move to insure the entire world changes. We may lead this process only if we begin to act with purpose and move to benefit the entire world.

Each of us would do well to read the report, Regional Climate Change Impacts, issued by a consortium of Federal agencies. The facts are scary enough. If our Congress critters were to pay real attention to the truth instead of listening to the words of far too many lobbyists maybe they could find the strength to take evasive action. Otherwise we will continue down the failing path of climate change that appears on our horizon today.

Peace.

WINNERS!!!!!

2009-10-01T07:50:00.002-04:00

somethingstartedcrazy, Flickr, Creative Commons

For the third straight year the Phillies won the National League East title. Now on to the playoffs. Congratulations, Phillies. Keep up the good work.

League of Women Voters Considers Public Option Essential

2009-09-30T12:41:00.003-04:00

From the League of Women Voters today:

Public Option Essential to Health Reform
Senate Finance Committee Fails to Protect Consumer Choice and Control Costs

WASHINGTON - September 30 - Today League of Women Voters national President Mary G. Wilson expressed disappointment with the Senate Finance Committee votes defeating amendments to include a public option in health care reform legislation in the following statement:

"The public option is the key to consumer choice and to lowering health care costs. Both are essential elements of health care reform. The Finance Committee’s failure will hurt consumers and result in higher costs. How could they be so short-sighted?

“The current health care system is endangering our economy, our health, and our national security. Congress needs to pass comprehensive health care reform and the public option is vital. It is universal coverage that will determine the humanity of our system and a public option will make that possible for Americans who cannot obtain coverage through the traditional employer-sponsored plans. We believe that health care reform legislation must guarantee access to comprehensive and essential benefits to all U.S. residents.

“But the possibility of universal coverage is not the only advantage of the public option. We must control costs and the public option is the best chance to bring costs into line with reality. As a nation, we are spending $1 out of every $6 we earn on health care. Offering everyone the choice of a government administered health insurance plan like Medicare that would compete with private health insurance plans is key to lowering costs and providing real choice to consumers.

"The public option is critical to health care reform. Congress and the President need to demonstrate real leadership and move forward, not backward, with true health care reform."
###
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. The League's enduring vitality and resonance comes from its unique decentralized structure. The League is a grassroots organization, working at the national, state and local levels.

Well said.

Peace.

Carper Fail on Healthcare Reform

2009-09-30T12:17:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Senator Carper cast his vote on two amendments to the pending healthcare bill in the Senate Finance Committee. The first amendment offered by Senator Rockefeller and offering a robust public option failed when Carper and other Democrats voted against the amendment. Seeing his chance to play the minds of the voting public, Senator Carper voted to support the second amendment offered by Senator Schumer knowing full well the amendment would fail. But he still gets to tell the unknowing public he voted for the public option.

The behavior of some politicians is disgraceful. Senator Carper's actions in supporting the corporate healthcare system at the expense of real reform to benefit the people is unforgiveable.

Peace.

Cluster Bombs, The Gift That Keeps on Killing

2009-09-30T09:30:00.002-04:00

Children continue to die in Lebanon and other parts of the world as a result of remaining cluster bombs. These weapons are delivered by a single device carrying many small bomblets. Some of these bomblets fail to detonate on arrival and remain on the ground or in trees and bushes to kill or maim the unwary.

In August alone, six children were hurt in cluster bomb explosions in Lebanon.

How many more must die before we as a civilized world put an end to these weapons?

The U.S. continues to be the largest manufacturer of military hardware around the world. Cluster bombs and their delivery systems are part and parcel of this manufacture. We must stop. These weapons have no place in a world claiming any measure of humanity.

Peace.

AFSCME Carper Event

2009-09-29T16:55:00.001-04:00

Not that it will change Senator Carper's mind, but many will be in place to show him how we feel about real healthcare reform. Join in if you can. The more the better. Carper needs to feel the heat for his failure to support real healthcare reform.

Sen. Carper:
Real Health Care NOW

Join us

Thursday, October 1 at 4:00 PM
The Circle, Georgetown, DE

To tell Senator Carper

Health Care reform must include:

· A Strong public option!

· Big Corporations pay their fair share!

· No taxes on our health care benefits!

We will deliver thousands of letters from Delaware residents to Senator Carper’s office on the Circle.

Press conference begins at 4:00 pm.

Questions or RSVP:

Call Courtney @ 916-494-3325

Or Morgan @ 773-515-4093

Why Fight for Healthcare Reform

2009-09-28T08:10:00.004-04:00

Here are a few good reasons from the United Steelworkers.

• Every 12 minutes an American dies because they lack health insurance (45,000 annually). This is more than the number of deaths due to drunk driving or homicide.

• The average health insurance plan for family coverage currently costs $13,375. Over the past decade, premiums have increased by 138 percent. If the current trend continues, by 2019 the average family plan will cost $30,083.

• 46.3 million Americans are uninsured. When they can’t pay, the costs for their care shift to the insured. On average, insured Americans are forced to spend an additional $1,100 in premiums due to this cost-shifting.

• Between 2000 and 2008, the percentage of employers offering health insurance coverage to their employees declined from 69 to 63; for firms employing less than 10 workers, the decline was even greater – from 57 to 49 percent.

• From 2000 to 2008, the percentage of employees with an annual deductible greater than $1000 increased from 1 percent to 18 percent. Among small businesses, more than one in three workers must spend at least $1000 out of pocket before their health benefits kick in.

• A recent study found that 62 percent of all 2007 bankruptcies were linked to medical expenses. Of those filing for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance.

• The cost of healthcare now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds.

How much more does anyone need to know? Call your Congress critters today. Write that letter-to-the-editor. Tell all your friends and neighbors. We must not let the opportunity for real reform pass by.

Jeff Parker, Florida Today

Peace.

Carper on Healthcare

2009-09-23T11:37:00.002-04:00

And Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said it

"just doesn’t seem fair" that Democrats would renege on the initial bargain with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA.

“Whether you like PhRMA or not,” Carper said, “we have a deal.”

That deal promises big pharma no price negotiations from the White House. Congress may press for such (and we all know that will not happen) but the administration promised not to pursue that course.

Deal or no deal we deserve better treatment than this from our elected officials. Senators should represent the voters not the corporate interests of our nation.

Peace.

Rising Concern Over U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan

2009-09-23T10:06:00.003-04:00

Changes in the course of the Afghanistan occupation mean U.S. troops find themselves at increased risk these days.

In July and August, the number of Afghan civilians killed by coalition forces was 19, compared with 151 for the same two months last year. Over the same period, U.S. troop deaths in the war more than doubled -- 96 this year, compared with 42 last year.

Many see this change as reason to worry the new procedures may be giving the Taliban increased opportunity. Members of Congress, family members of troops, and others across the nation are seeing the increased risk and expressing concern.

The question remains how long will we continue to put our forces at risk for what appears to be a losing cause? Why cannot we leave the country or change to a course that promises much better results without all the military force? Democracy or any such change will not be instilled from outside the nation. That idea has not worked at any point in history and is not likely to work today. The Soviets failed once in Afghanistan and now the U.S. is following the same downward slide.

According to recent polls Americans support for continued use of troops in Afghanistan is waning with a majority of Democrats favoring bringing our troops home. I stand firmly in that corner. We have no more children to lose.

Peace.

Industry Loves the Baucus Faucus

2009-09-22T16:43:00.002-04:00

President of American Health Insurance Plans, Karen Ignani, penned a letter (PDF) to Senator Baucus expressing her gratitude for his bill.

On behalf of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), I am writing to thank you for your leadership in the health reform debate, acknowledge the important contribution that you are making to advance the national reform discussion, and outline our views on your Chairman’s Mark for the “America’s Healthy Future Act.” We thank you for your efforts to lead an unprecedented and rigorous bipartisan process. We view the introduction of your proposal as an important milestone in this debate and stand ready to lend our technical expertise to help create proposals that are workable and sustainable over time.

Ignani is one of the lotter winning CEO's with a 7-figure salary who could care less about real insurance reform. She supports measures that force people to buy insurance from hers and other companies. She expresses opposition to any measure of taxation that increases the already exhorbitant cost of policies.

Ignani continues with a veritable laundry list of suggestions to make the Baucus bill more amenable to industry. Since the current bill is so very favorable to the insurance companies at the expense of consumers any more bending to the will of industry is purely unconscionable.

We are losing enough with the Baucus offering. We have lost too much and waited too long already. The time for honest reform including a strong public option available on day one is the only acceptable option remaining today.

Peace.

The Rural Brain Drain

2009-09-22T10:48:00.002-04:00

In lower Delaware one often hears tales of young people finishing an education and leaving for other parts of the country. The issue is one of national importance as other parts of the nation suffer the same problem these days. In an article in The Chronicle for Higher Education a pair of university sociologists examine the problem and the causes.

The most dramatic evidence of the rural meltdown has been the hollowing out—that is, losing the most talented young people at precisely the same time that changes in farming and industry have transformed the landscape for those who stay. This so-called rural "brain drain" isn't a new phenomenon, but by the 21st century the shortage of young people has reached a tipping point, and its consequences are more severe now than ever before. Simply put, many small towns are mere years away from extinction, while others limp along in a weakened and disabled state.

...hollowing out results from a combination of macro forces reshaping nonmetropolitan America: the unfettered rise of agribusiness and big-box retailing that has suffocated local ownership, the decline of unions and blue-collar wages, employers' increased reliance on exploited undocumented workers, and the systemic underinvestment in younger workers entering the new economy's labor force without college degrees. The rise of agribusiness has meant that there are hardly any farmers left in America's agricultural regions: Just 2 percent of Americans operate farms now, and 42 percent of Midwestern farmers earn less than $20,000 per year. Independent family farmers today live more like sharecroppers, and, as the new film Food, Inc. so powerfully shows, the "Jeffersonian ideal of pastoral life" has been subsumed by a farming system dominated by mega-farms and hog hotels.

What can be done to prevent or to correct this? Education and changes in the way we educate our children today is part of the proposed solution.

The single-minded focus on pushing the most motivated students into four-year colleges must be balanced by efforts to match young people not headed for bachelor's degrees with training, vocational, and assorted associate-degree programs.

Another step involves matching university and community college training centers with local businesses to provide internship opportunities for those students not bound for a four year post-high school education.

There must be national changes, too. Immigration reform is necessary in order to provide a stable workforce in some areas. Immigrants need to be welcomed and encouraged to seek citizenship.

To that end, national immigration policy should also be reformed away from the costly and often counterproductive interdiction efforts toward ones that offer longtime undocumented workers a pathway to citizenship and encourage a more complete participation of immigrants in their home communities.

In the final analysis there is much which must change if we are to reverse the current trend.

The residents of rural America must embrace the fact that to survive, the world they knew and cherished must change. And, on a national level, rural development must be more closely linked to national economic growth priorities, and policies must be created to help these communities prepare for a future that is already here.

We are late in the game, but the final score is yet to be seen. Delaware as well as the rest of the nation must begin to face the problem and to develop solutions which work for our state if we are to lead any part of the future.

Peace.

Ezra Klein on the Baucus Faucus

2009-09-17T08:59:00.002-04:00

Ezra Klein has a laundry list of postings in the past two days about the Baucus heathcare proposal. Klein does a fine job of first analyzing the bill and then today offers his recommendations for improving the bill.

1) Kill the "free rider" provision. Kill it now. The employer mandate in the HELP bill raises more money and hurts fewer people. If that's too onerous, then you can lower the penalties. But whatever you do, do not let this provision survive. It's one thing to see a policy spin off the rails because of unintended consequences. It's a whole other thing to build in a time bomb that will inflict completely foreseeable damage.

2) Increase the subsidies, and in particular, put more money toward out-of-pocket caps. The bill does a lot for the truly poor, and quite a bit for the nearly poor, but it doesn't do enough to protect working families from the costs of illness. This costs money, of course. But that's money you can get from implementing fail-safe policies like those advocated by David Cutler and Judy Feder. And it's money that will prevent a massive backlash when struggling, sympathetic families are told they have to buy insurance they can't really afford to use.

3) Phase in Ron Wyden's Free Choice amendment. This has three effects. The first is that it makes the bill better for the currently insured, as it gives them a clear benefit: the freedom to change their health-care coverage if they don't like it. Second, the Lewin Group estimates that it raises more than $300 billion over 10 years, as workers choose more affordable plans and the government loses less tax revenue through the employer tax deduction. Third, it makes the system better by building out the alternative to the employer-based system. What's not to love?

Speaking of the Health Insurance Exchanges, the Baucus plan deserves plaudits for opening the exchanges to businesses of all sizes. But it takes too long to do so. Rather than starting the five-year process in 2017, either shorten the process to three years or start the process in 2015.

4) Create real competition in the insurance industry. Baucus's plan doesn't include a public option, doesn't include a public option trigger, and even neuters the co-op option. I'm among the few who think there's a real possibility that the new regulations will lead to a much more efficient and humane private insurance industry, but it is, after all, only a possibility. It's much likelier to happen, however, if they're protecting themselves against real competition in the market. And if it doesn't happen even in that scenario, then at last people will actually have somewhere to go.

5) Create incentives for bipartisanship. This bill was built amid a long, bipartisan promise. Baucus made real concessions to attract votes from his Republican colleagues. He made the bill cheaper, and eliminated the public option, and strengthened the protections against federal funding of abortions and benefits for illegal immigrants, and built in hard funding mechanisms that actually improve the deficit. Everything Republicans originally wanted is in this bill. It is, in fact, a moderate Republican bill. It looks like nothing so much as the bill Republican Senator John Chafee Sr. proposed in 1994.

The remainder of Klein's posts offer a worthy read and there is real reason to believe he is not yet finished.

Peace.

This Day In History

2009-09-17T08:39:00.003-04:00

On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was adopted as the law of the land. In spite of many ups and downs over these 222 years the Constitution stands today as the measure by which America runs. The opening paragraph summarizes the major principles underlying the Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We would do well to remember those summary principles each and every day these days as our nation sets a course for the future.

Peace.

The Baucus Healthcare Faucus is Released

2009-09-16T08:59:00.002-04:00

The so-called Bipartisan Six released their plan (PDF) at last. No public option. Required purchase of healthcare insurance from the industry. Cooperatives. Lots of delays. Less than nothing. This plan is a disaster.

We need a strong public option from day one or we have too little reform to count. Massachusetts and their required purchase plan demonstrates the abject failure of such a course. The nation cannot afford to take the same track.

Peace.

The Cloud of War

2009-09-14T10:41:00.002-04:00

As we contemplate the ongoing healthcare mess in Congress and hear some words about immigration reform and other pressing social issues across the nation let us not for one moment forget the monstrous cloud of two ongoing wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. The pressures of supporting those military events may prevent the Obama administration from enacting the kinds of social and economic reform the country expected with the election.

James Carroll in a posting today says it all.

The scale of President Obama’s military mistake is becoming clear exactly as the moment of his greatest opportunity to improve American life has arrived. The tragedy, as with Lyndon Johnson, will be the destruction of his proposed social transformation by his simultaneous opting for war, as his core supporters among liberals and Democrats feel bound to oppose him. The day after Obama’s unifying speech on health reform, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, sent a foreboding warning on Afghanistan, ahead of an all but certain request from the Pentagon for a major escalation there. The storm cloud approaches.

If we are to have any real future in this nation of ours we must end our militaristic policies and begin to seek peace for one and all around the globe.

Peace.

Peace Underfunded in Increasingly Militaristic World

2009-09-12T07:49:00.002-04:00

The world is over-armed and peace is under-funded

says United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

They are destabilising societies and feeding the flames of civil wars and terror.

I could not have said it any better.

The United States leads the world in military expenditures. When will we ever learn we are losing this race? Peace is a much better course to pursue.

Peace.

Drought in Mexico a Sign of Things to Come?

2009-09-08T11:58:00.002-04:00

Water shortage in Mexico is at crisis proportions in the current drought.

Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital's water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century.

Will the U.S. be next? The current problems with oil may look pretty small in the face of a looming water shortage around the globe.

Peace.

New Afghan Strategy Looks Same as the Old

2009-09-05T10:42:00.002-04:00

Administration claims to the contrary the "new strategy" in Afghanistan looks just like the same old losing mess.

Western forces were engulfed in bitter controversy yesterday after Nato air strikes on two oil tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan led to carnage with a fireball killing 95 people, dozens of them civilians.

More civilians killed as "collateral damage." We do not win friends this way. Our influence following such attacks is to move more people to the insurgency.

How much longer will our government continue this failing course? Can our leaders not see the failure of their ways?

Peace.

The Public Option Continues to Struggle

2009-09-01T08:55:00.002-04:00

RobertAriail.com

And Congressman Castle continues to oppose any thought of a public option.

We need more time to understand the process. ... there's a lot of misrepresentation that makes it extremely hard for all this to move forward.

How many years must we wait for this to move forward? How many must die before real healtcare reform is offered?

Congressman Castle and many more in Congress continue to live in the pockets of the healthcare industry. I guess a man considering a run for the Senate needs to look out for his major contributors at the expense of his electorate.

Peace.

US Wants 20,000 More Troops For Afghanistan

2009-08-29T07:52:00.002-04:00

More bad news this morning on the war front. Reports of requests for an addtional 20,000 American troops are circulating.

The commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan will ask for 20,000 more international troops as part of his new strategic plan for the alliance's war against a resurgent Taliban.

When will enough be enough? Will we never learn the solutions to Afghanistan do not lie in military force?

I continue to be distraught at the mess we are generating. For the amounts of money being spent on military force we could feed, house, educate, and medicate an entire population in a nation like Afghanistan. Continued pouring of funds into the black hole of military action is futile. We must change our course if we are ever to have any measure of "victory" in this quagmire.

Peace.

Resolution--Health Care Reform

2009-08-28T14:40:00.001-04:00

From the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County, DE, comes this fine resolution. Please feel free to modify and distribute with your organization's name and to your Congress critters. This issue is important enough we every one need to spread the word as far as possible.

Peace.

Resolution - Health Care Reform

WHEREAS, 20,000 die each year in the United States because they cannot afford to see a doctor, 700,000 go bankrupt because of their medical bills, almost fifty million Americans lack any health insurance at all, and millions more who do have private coverage pay increasingly unaffordable premiums; and
WHEREAS, every developed country except the United States has concluded that providing health care for all their citizens is a right not a privilege; and
WHEREAS, health care in the United States is now in major crisis and affordable health care for all Americans is a matter of the utmost urgency in our time; and
WHEREAS, despite efforts by well funded extremists to disseminate false and misleading information about health care reform, public polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans want health care reform to include, as a matter of choice, a robust public option similar to Medicare in order to create, as President Obama has said, significant competition for the medical insurance industry; and
WHEREAS, co-ops or so-called “triggers” are inadequate in and of themselves to generate either the kind or the amount of competition needed to keep medical and insurance costs down;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County urge Senator Thomas Carper, Senator Edward Kaufman and Representative Michael Castle to vote for only such healthcare reform proposals as contain a robust public option at all stages of the legislative process including conference and reconciliation, and encourages legislators to use any available parliamentary means to pass such reform;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County shall send a copy of this resolution to all members of Congress who represent its members.

DFA Hiring Field Organizers in DE

2009-08-27T16:02:00.001-04:00

Democracy for America is hiring state-level Public Option Field Organizers for an intense three-month pressure campaign to pass a public option as part of healthcare reform.

We're upping the ante and are looking to put full-time, hired, grassroots field organizers, on the ground to pressure elected leaders to pass healthcare reform with a public option in your state.

You can see the entire job description here: DemocracyForAmerica.com/PublicOptionApply

You know your state better than anyone and you have better contacts. We need your help to get the word out because time is critical and we have a very tight timeline to hire additional staff.

Can you pass this position onto anyone you think might be a good fit? Can you post this on a local blog? Send it to a local email list?

Public Option Field Organizers will have their work cut out for them. They need to hit the ground running to build grassroots pressure and get Senators and Representatives off the fence in support of the public option.

If you know anyone interested in joining this intense three-month campaign to get a public option passed, please send them this link:

DemocracyForAmerica.com/PublicOptionApply

Thank you for all that you do,

-AQ

Adam Quinn, Field Director
Democracy for America

P.S. Questions? As always, feel free to contact me and the rest of the DFA Field Team at field@democracyforamerica.com.

Status Quo Anxiety

2009-08-25T09:54:00.003-04:00

In the continuing healthcare debate sentiment is rising against reform among some people who should know better. The New Yorker online has a discussion of

the so-called “endowment effect”: the mere fact that you own something leads you to overvalue it.

The end result is for people who already have health insurance they tend to wish to keep their status no matter how flawed the system.

More strikingly, talk of changing the system may actually accentuate the endowment effect.

So in effect the more we discuss the possibility of change the more resistant some people may become to any such idea.

The issue of cost cutting becomes an inordinate problem for many.

The problem is that once you start talking about cost-cutting you make people think about what they might have to give up. And that makes them value what they have more highly.

And resistance to reform builds.

What we may need to accomplish as progressives interested in real reform is modify the message.

Changing the system so that individuals can get affordable health care, while banning bad behavior on the part of insurance companies, will actually make it more likely, not less, that people will get to preserve their current level of coverage. The message, in other words, should be: if we want to protect the status quo, we need to reform it.

Time to get to work. Healthcare reform is necessary. We have no time to wait.

Peace.

The Facts of Malpractice Claims and Healthcare Cost

2009-08-24T14:59:00.002-04:00

Want the facts about the impact of malpractice claims and healthcare in America today? Check this (PDF) out.

• Medical malpractice premiums, inflation-adjusted, are nearly the lowest they have been in over 30 years.
• Medical malpractice claims, inflation-adjusted, are dropping significantly, down 45 percent since 2000.
• Medical malpractice premiums are less than one-half of one percent of the country’s overall health care costs; medical malpractice claims are a mere one-fifth of one percent of health care costs. In over 30 years, premiums and claims have never been greater than 1% of our nation’s health care costs.
• Medical malpractice insurer profits are higher than the rest of the property casualty industry, which has been remarkably profitable over the last five years.
• The periodic premium spikes that doctors experience, as they did from 2002 until 2005, are not related to claims but to the economic cycle of insurers and to drops in investment income.
• Many states that have resisted enacting severe restrictions on injured patients’ legal rights experienced rate changes (i.e., premium increases or decreases for doctors) similar to those states that enacted severe restrictions on patients’ rights, i.e., there is no correlation between “tort reform” and insurance rates for doctors.

Tort reform may or may not be a necessary process but to put this issue into the current healthcare debate is dishonest.

Peace.

Radioactive Wreckage, Landmines Blight Iraq

2009-08-24T08:29:00.002-04:00

After many years of war in Iraq the fallout in terms of landmines and radioactive material remains in large measures untouched.

...only a fraction of tanks and other wartime vehicles contaminated with depleted uranium have been successfully treated and disposed of by the Iraqi authorities.

And landmines continue to kill and to maim Iraqis day by day. The issue is a pressing one but other concerns keep this on the back burner. Security concerns keep much of the damage hidden. Money is not available to decontaminate known areas as those dollars are considered to be more necessary for security.

When ever will the Iraqis see the end of this mess? Radioactivity is known to linger for long periods of time. Even though the exact damage caused by depleted uranium is not known we may surmise the damage will continue for generations to come.

As always it is the women and children who suffer most.

Peace.

Take Time

2009-08-21T16:42:00.002-04:00

From Northington Notes, August 15.

In our all too busy lives these days time to stop and enjoy our surroundings is sometimes overlooked. The pressures of constant contact (cell phones, twitter, the internet, and other means of electronic communication) leave us without much time to ourselves if we allow life to consume our being. At least once a day (and many more times is even better) taking the time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sights and sounds of our natural world is an investment in mental health which will pay dividends for all our remaining lifetimes.

My personal pleasure is the garden. Sitting in a chair
watching the grass grow as the breeze moves leaves
and flowers about at intervals not predicted or controlled
by me lends a measure of pleasure hard to match.
The serenity that comes from such times allows my mind
to continue functioning in response to the daily pressures
of life (family, self, friends, and job). Without those times
of quiet contemplation life can begin to wear on my own mindset.

Just think a moment about the people in our government today. What about the pressures they face? In the world of today the forces at work are nothing short of monumental. Maybe if government took a few moments for collective silence and meditation even those processes would move along with a better tempo.

But our society is not yet ready for collective periods of contemplation. So it is to the individual such times are left. Each of us is responsible for our own well being. To that end we need to be sure we each have those periods of quiet which refresh the mind and renew the spirit. As my father often said, "All work and no play makes a dull boy." I agree.

To subscribe to this biweekly e-mail posting for yourself send a note to Jerry at JerryNorthington dot com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Peace.

2009-08-21T16:00:00.003-04:00

From Nate Silver a few days ago.

The fundamental accomplishments of a public option-less bill would be to (1) ensure that no American could be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition or because they became sick; (2) subsidize health insurance coverage for millions of poor and middle-class Americans.

These are major, major accomplishments. Arguably, they are accomplished at too great a cost. But let's look at it like this. The CBO estimates that the public option would save about $150 billion over the next ten years -- that's roughly $1,100 for every taxpayer. I'm certainly not thrilled to have to pay an additional $1,100 in taxes because some Blue Dog Democrats want to placate their friends in the insurance industry. But I think the good in this health care bill -- the move toward universal-ish coverage, the cost-control provisions -- is worth a heck of a lot more than $1,100.

I'd be happy to save that money for years to come. So why are we still seeing Democrats arguing to put the money into the pockets of industry instead of proving a true public service?

Peace.

Can Iraq Get Any Worse?

2009-08-19T12:07:00.002-04:00

Every time I begin to think there may be a small ray of hope for the situation in Iraq a new report of increased violence comes to the fore. Today's news of 95 dead in a series of attacks proves the point.

Taken together, the attacks were among the most devastating in Baghdad since the withdrawal of American forces from street patrols at the end of June. American soldiers and officials in the area were left helpless, as witnessed by six soldiers snapping a few quick pictures of the devastation from personal cameras before ducking out of the streets.

At least under Saddam Hussein this sort of violence did not exist. With the collapse of government, the failure of U.S. forces to bring a stable government, and the ongoing lack of real redevelopment or any other sort of actual solutions the violence is likely to increase over time. At this point in time one would be hard pressed to find a rational solution to the devastation we have created. The stain of Iraq will linger long on the American conscience.

Peace.

Psychology Helps Explain Our Slow Reaction to Global Climate Change

2009-08-09T07:34:00.002-04:00

The American Psychological Association released a recent paper suggesting reasons why people are so slow to respond to the threat of global climate change. In spite of polls showing a majority of Americans seeing climate change as a major problem, the issue is most often ranked far below other current problems.

Uncertainty – Research has shown that uncertainty over climate change reduces the frequency of "green" behavior.
Mistrust – Evidence shows that most people don't believe the risk messages of scientists or government officials.
Denial – A substantial minority of people believe climate change is not occurring or that human activity has little or nothing to do with it, according to various polls.
Undervaluing Risks – A study of more than 3,000 people in 18 countries showed that many people believe environmental conditions will worsen in 25 years. While this may be true, this thinking could lead people to believe that changes can be made later.
Lack of Control – People believe their actions would be too small to make a difference and choose to do nothing.
Habit – Ingrained behaviors are extremely resistant to permanent change while others change slowly. Habit is the most important obstacle to pro-environment behavior, according to the report.

One simple solution is immediate feedback. People are more likely to buy energy efficient appliances if they can see how much money and energy are being saved by using that appliance. Just think about cars with their mileage meters. And for those with solar panels there is a meter showing the daily production of electricity and the amount of CO2 saved from the atmosphere. Immediate positive reinforcement is a strong motivator of human behavior.

Peace.

The War We Can't Win

2009-08-06T13:28:00.002-04:00

Andrew Bacevich in a posting speaks to the war in Afghanistan in terms that are straight forward and easy to understand. Bacevich points out the ongoing institution of war as adopted by President Obama after the fall of President Bush.

The misguided and mismanaged global war on terror reduced Bush’s presidency to ruin. The candidate whose run for high office derived its energy from an implicit promise to repudiate all that Bush had wrought now seems intent on salvaging something useful from that failed enterprise—even if that means putting his own presidency at risk. When it comes to Afghanistan, Obama may be singing in a different key, but to anyone with an ear for music—especially for military marches—the melody remains intact.

Fixing Afghanistan is not only unnecessary, it’s also likely to prove impossible. Not for nothing has the place acquired the nickname Graveyard of Empires.

Six-plus years after it began, Operation Iraqi Freedom has consumed something like a trillion dollars—with the meter still running—and has taken the lives of more than forty-three hundred American soldiers

Among the dead is Bacevich' son.

Given the embarrassing yet indisputable fact that this was an utterly needless war—no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction found, no ties between Saddam Hussein and the jihadists established, no democratic transformation of the Islamic world set in motion, no road to peace in Jerusalem discovered in downtown Baghdad—to describe Iraq as a success, and as a model for application elsewhere, is nothing short of obscene. The great unacknowledged lesson of Iraq is the one that the writer Norman Mailer identified decades ago: “Fighting a war to fix something works about as good as going to a whorehouse to get rid of a clap.”

The continuing distortions of U.S. security run rampant. The administration continues to increase foreign commitments in the name of national security when Mexico is rife with drug wars and governmental corruption. Yet not one politician is suggesting we invade Mexico in the name of national security. Given his criticism of the Bush war during the campaign, Obama's current position remains inexplicable.

Will any of our politicians ever learn? War has never been a solution. Every war sows the seeds of the next conflict. Until and unless humankind learns those lessons we are doomed to ever more violent interactions in the names of "security" and "diplomacy."

Peace.

Hiroshima, 64 years ago today

2009-08-06T08:28:00.003-04:00

The tragedy that marks the bombing of Hiroshima was 64 years ago today.

Nearly 70,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 70,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950.

And yet we as a species continue the nuclear arms race to this day. Will we never learn?

Peace.

Keith Olbermann Gets It Right

2009-08-04T13:03:00.003-04:00

In a special comment Olbermann says it all.

I warn you all. You were not elected to create a Democratic majority. You were elected to restore this country. You were not elected to serve the corporations and the trusts who the government has enabled for the last eight years.

You were elected to serve the people. And if you fail to pass or support this legislation, the full wrath of the progressive and the moderate movements in this country will come down on your heads.

Explain yourselves not to me, but to them. They elected you, and in the blink of an eye, they will replace you.

If you will behave as if you are Republicans - as if you are the prostitutes of our system - you will be judged as such. And you will lose not merely our respect. You will lose your jobs!

Every poll, every analysis, every vote, every region of this country supports health care reform, and the essential great leveling agent of a government-funded alternative to the unchecked duopoly of profiteering private insurance corporations.

Let us all hope Americans of every ilk awaken to the travesty that is our healthcare system and the best Congress money can buy.

Peace.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

2009-08-04T08:30:00.002-04:00

President Obama turns 48 today.

hugovk, Flickr, Creative Commons

May the day be blessed with all the goodness of another birthday. And many happy returns.

Peace.

Censorship Returns to Iraq

2009-08-04T08:18:00.002-04:00

In the name of Democracy and protecting its citizens the government of Iraq is stepping back to the dark times of Saddam Hussein and instituting media controls which limit the availability of literature and web access. The doors of access to music and media were thrown open in the initial U.S. invasion in 2003. Now those doors are to be closed once again.

This month, the government has started to require dozens of Internet cafes to register with the government or be closed.

This spring, the government contacted the handful of Iraqi book publishers still in business and asked them to compile lists of their books, along with a description of the subject matter.

Once again we are reminded of the failure of the U.S. course in Iraq to bring real democracy. Never in the course of history has democracy been instilled by a foreign power. The Iraqi people deserve the choice for themselves. If or not this current government course will stand depends in large measures on the people themselves. We shall see...

Peace.

New Rewards Program for Lawmakers

2009-08-04T08:12:00.002-04:00

In the wake of all the sex scandals across the nation involving our leaders in DC, a Nevada brothel is offering free passes for all those lawmakers.

(Owner Dennnis Hof)encourages all of our government officials to salvage their careers, public reputation and families by partying discretely and legally at the Moonlite BunnyRanch.

But will this violate ethics rules against gifts over $50?

Peace.

More Delaware Politics as Usual

2009-07-30T07:32:00.002-04:00

The New Journal this morning has a front page piece about State Senator Venables and the infamous French Fry vending machine. Senator Venables heads the Bond Bill Committee and managed to adda $50,000 grante

in order to speed Fry Manufacturing's progress in building a prototype countertop french-fry vending machine to demonstrate to DEDO officials, without forcing the company to wait more than a month for the next meeting of the Council on Development Finance.

In the process Senator Venables failed to mention the owner's being a relative. Venables' niece is the wife of Mike Ruggiero, co-owner of the company getting the grant.

While no rules were broken along the way continued dealings like this without transparency give people in the state no reason to trust their legislators. We need a process in which our elected officials are held accountable. In order to insure that accountability there must be transparency. Back door deals without all the facts being available are not acceptable.

Peace.

Basic Facts: They're Important

2009-07-29T08:11:00.002-04:00

Ezra Klein points the way to a posting about basic healthcare facts. Since the Republican pundits continue to spout their version of twisted truth and outright lies the time for real facts is upon us.

Let us begin with Obama's plan for healthcare.

Obama has never said that he favors a British-style health care system. Britain does not have a single-payer system. It has a socialized system, where the government directly employs all health care providers.

And how about the costs of government sponsored programs like Medicare.

Suffice to say, the growth in per-person spending for Medicare has been significantly slower than private health insurance over the past 20 years, and its advantage has widened in recent years.

And what about U.S. life expectancy in comparison to Canada?

O'Reilly argues that the U.S. naturally has a shorter life expectancy than Canada because we have ten times more people. That means ten times as many accidents, crimes, and what have you.

That one defies rational explanation. The man has no idea what he is spouting if he thinks that argument has any measure of rationality included.

And the right wing punditure goes on and on without reservation these days. Too bad they find no cause to stick to facts and continue to make up the story as they speak. Then the media allows this to continue without question. Where is responsible journalism?

Peace.

We Are in Grave Danger...

2009-07-27T07:52:00.002-04:00

Kavips is right on with a post about our failing healthcare system. We cannot afford this system one more day, let alone far into the future.

We do have the right to receive preventative health care at other taxpayers expense because over time, IT SAVES US ALL MONEY. It saves each and everyone of us money if we provide government health care as a nation to each of our citizens. That money saved, is sorely needed to bolster our economy right now…. That money saved, does go to creating new jobs.

There are few people in this world with whom I agree without question. Kavips is not always right either, but in this case we see pretty much eye to eye. Why our politicians cannot see the state of affairs and find real solutions escapes me. (Ooops, I forgot. We live under the best Congress money can buy.)

Peace.

Carper on Healthcare Reform

2009-07-26T07:55:00.002-04:00

While we await decisions in Congress the situation becomes more serious by the day. Leadership in the Congress makes small talk about vacation time instead of a vote. Our very own Senator Carper says

What we want to do is make sure, whether it's a public option, whether it's a cooperative, whether it's a fallback plan or trigger plan with a public option, we want to make sure that we're going to hold the private sector honest. "e're going to make sure that competitive forces work.

Mr. Free Market is still at it. Competitive forces have failed to date. Since the rapid conversion of healthcare to for-profit beginning in the early 90's we have seen nothing but increased profits and less healthcare.

No bill that fails to contain a public option for every American on day one can be acceptable. We have waited too long. The market force is killing us slowly. The time for real change is here no matter what Senator Carper has to say.

Peace.

Reid Delays Healthcare Bill for Republicans

2009-07-23T13:52:00.002-04:00

Republican opposition to any measure of healthcare reform has been steadfast for years. Corporate contributions insure their remaining in opposition for the foreseeable future. The Republican course is intended to insure failure of the Obama administration to effect any real change in our national healtcare system. Every one of us in the nation suffers for that course.

Now Harry Reid admits he is delaying the bill so the Republicans can have more time.

Reid said Republicans, who have shown intense resistance to President Obama’s push for health care reform, had asked for more time to work out a package.

Why on earth did we elect a Democratic administration and give control of Congress to Democrats if we get this sort of treatment? My blood is boiling.

Peace.

Making It In America

2009-07-23T08:50:00.002-04:00

Robert Borosage offers an interesting analysis and opinion piece about the economic and political future of America. The first sentence is a real wonder of perspective and accuracy in words.

Washington's special genius is for gridlock.

Holding to the same old course is the DC way. Inertia prevents much in terms of real action as we see every day in the healthcare morass.

Borosage continues to take a look at the future of America in a changing world economy.

We haven't even begun an adult conversation about the fundamental question of America's global economic strategy. What is the economy we will build out of the ashes of the old?

How we begin to face this question will determine the economic future of our nation. We cannot remain isolated and dependent on other world nations for our manufacturing.

President Obama sees the problem.

The fight for American manufacturing is the fight for America's future.

The question becomes one for Congress. Can our elected officials overcome inertia and find real solutions that protect the environment and encourage American manufacturing at the same time?

The future is in our hands in large measures as Borosage sums up.

Little will get done until Americans show politicians that while the lobbies can pay for their campaigns and provide employment in retirement, they can't defend them against the justified anger of a citizenry no longer willing to put up with gridlock.

With barely more than 60 percent of eligible voters going to the polls in the last Presidential election we must get organized and do better if we are to save our future.

Peace.

Serial War as a Way of Life in America

2009-07-22T09:21:00.002-04:00

In an impassioned essay, David Bromwich, puts into fine words what many of us have said or thought over the last several years. Bromwich begins by mentioning the casual way Americans discuss war these days. He then points out the difference in today's culture from years past.

For two centuries, Americans were taught to think war itself an aberration, and "wars" in the plural could only have seemed doubly aberrant. Younger generations of Americans, however, are now being taught to expect no end of war - and no end of wars.

The change is monumental.

Bromwich speaks to the morass that was Vietnam saying

So the lesson of Vietnam came to be: never start a war without knowing what you want to accomplish and when you intend to leave.

How very soon we forget those lessons. Neither Afghanistan or Iraq have any real end in sight. There is no plan offered to the public. Meanwhile we continue to lose lives and dollars in the endless spiral of war.

The essay continues with a discussion of American intervention in Kosovo as a "humanitarian war effort." When ever in the course of history has war even had any humanitarian connotations? War kills without reservation. Innocent civilians, women and children, bear the brunt of the damage in any war effort.

The lingo of today in the press and in our culture speaks to wars of the future as though there were a timeline in which there will be no time without war. We seem to seek war instead of looking for peaceful solutions.

Thus the word "wars" - increasingly in the plural - is becoming the common way we identify not just the wars we are fighting now but all the wars we expect to fight.

How much more wrong headed can any society be?

Bromwich ends with consideration of the war which led to the founding of our nation. We fought at the time for liberty, not for domination or control.

You cannot, it said, continue a free people while accepting the fruits of conquest and domination.

Let us all hope one day we find a course toward true freedom and away from the present direction for our nation. Peace.

Healthcare Lobbying

2009-07-21T12:25:00.001-04:00

It may be no wonder if healthcare reform is beaten this year. In the first quarter of this year the healthcare industry spent $127 million on lobbying efforts.

In the second quarter of 2008, 28 health care concerns reported spending at least $1 million lobbying.

The final second quarter reports are not yet available, but the numbers are staggering.

What chance do we, the American public, have against these dollars? We see the effects of the best Congress money can buy these days. I fear for the health of our nation on many fronts.

Peace.

The Bloodiest Month Yet

2009-07-21T11:11:00.004-04:00

In spite of assurances from on high about Afghanistan, July is already the worst month on record for both American and Foreign casualties. The month is not yet over and already 30 Americans are dead as a result of ongoing violence in the nation.
Secretary of State Clinton says this loss is "regrettable and tragic." I'd say this is not acceptable on any level.

When will this all end? We have no more children to lose.

Peace.

The Race to Ever Greater Weapons Systems Contines in the US Today

2009-07-20T15:36:00.002-04:00

In spite of a threatened veto, the F-22 fighter jet program looks to be on the way to approval in the Senate. One more case of the big dog getting a bigger stick so all the other dogs will compete for the same.

When will humankind ever learn the answer to our problems does not lie in weaponry? Militarism breeds militarism. Peace will not be found at the business end of a club. As an author whose name I have lost just this moment once said, "Peace will not be built on the bones of dead women and children." Fighter jets such as the F-22 have only one purpose--killing. That innocent civilians are often on the receiving end is not taken into account.

Let us hope the Senate finds the good sense to forego this program. Otherwise we must hope the veto stands. If the bill passes we will watch many millions of needed dollars going to more military force which we clearly do not need if protection of our nation is our only goal. We have enough firepower available already to turn the entire globe into a cinder. Why more?

Peace.

This Day In History--July 20, 1969

2009-07-20T08:30:00.002-04:00

Forty years ago today Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. At the time he spoke the famous words heard live by billions around the globe.

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

There were five more successful moon missions ending in 1972. At the time the impetus was to beat the Russians to the punch in space. Once the goal was accomplished the program lost much of its attraction for reasons that are difficult to understand.

Maybe with the advent of an administration more focused on science we can return to the days of major space exploration. The fallout from those days improves all our lives on a daily basis. The funding for basic and applied sciences in those days supported projects that may not otherwise have seen the light of day. If we pursue the appropriate course the entire world stands to benefit over the course of time.

Peace.

More Fallout From the War In Iraq

2009-07-20T08:11:00.002-04:00

Poverty is rampant around the world these days with many people forced to live on less than $2.20 per day. In Iraq (and other nations as well) the abject poverty drives a trade in organs for transplant. Donors with the ability to pay find dealers who buy organs from impoverished donors.

Hundreds of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other organs through dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year.

In Iraq estimates of unemployment run as high as 32 percent with about 18 percent living in poverty. The degree of need drives people to seek any possible source of revenue. Speaking of the organ dealers

one of their customers said that he had paid more than $15,000 to one of the dealers outside the hospital.

About one-third of the fee went to the donor. The rest remained in the pockets of the dealer. With the growing demand for organs and an apparent supply in Iraq there are beginning to be stories of people traveling into the country to buy an organ for transplant. The entire situation is out of hand.

Why does our world allow these situations to continue? Why cannot we find ways to help our fellow man rather than continuing the downward spiral for so many? The course we take today will set our future for many generations to come. If we fail to change our direction I fear for our descendants.

Peace.

New Jobs But At What Cost???

2009-07-19T07:46:00.002-04:00

Today's NJ has an article about a local company excited about the prospect of new jobs within the next very few years. The news of job creation is good but the cost of those jobs needs careful consideration. The company

makes replacement parts for existing nuclear power plants and new parts he ships overseas

The excitement reported in the article is all about the potential of new nuclear plants here in the U.S.

At what cost are we willing to let this happen? The economic costs to the nation may be measured in trillions of dollars above the costs of generating the same amount of power by other means. The costs to future generations in terms of waste storage and potential exposure to radiation cannot be measured. And there is the risk of accident or even of meltdown. In spite of the industry's arguments about safety we have seen the results of the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island incidents. The economic impact let alone the health impact are gigantic.

We as a nation cannot afford nuclear power generation using today's technology. If at some point in the future a new process is developed allowed cheaper and cleaner power generation maybe we should reconsider. Until that time continued opposition to any new nuclear power plants is the only rational course. We as a nation cannot pay the bills for those plants.

Peace.

R.I.P. Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009

2009-07-18T06:41:00.003-04:00

Journalist Walter Cronkite has died. The world lost a major influence.

May he rest in eternal peace.

Cronkite was the epitome of journalism, the face of real news for many years through so many trying times. He shall be missed.

Peace.

On War

2009-07-17T10:47:00.002-04:00

In 1917 a short book written by Harry Emerson Fosdick entitled, The Challenge of the Present Crisis, was published. Fosdick crafted an impassioned argument written with a very Christian perspective of his time.

Frome the standpoint of every high ideal, war is unchristian--essentially, hideously uncrhistian.

Perhaps some of today's leaders would do well to listen to Fosdick's words.

Fosdick argued against all are responsible for support the war effort if such an effort is undertaken but he saw the end result as failing to bring final resolution.

War, like all use of physical compulsion, is at its best a surgical operation. By surgery you may restrain an alien growth, but surgery never cures...Its work is all negative, eliminative.

Right he was. War eliminates people, cultures, nations, and wealth.

While he argued people were obligated to support the nation in its inevitable war course, he also put the Christian perspective in place telling all to pray for the enemy, the Germans. Fosdick seemed at heart a pacifist but he was not wholly in the pacifistic mode as he saw the need for war as a surgical exercise at times in the face of overwhelming evil.

Even though he did not apparently experience war firsthand, Fosdick got the gist of the situation very well indeed.

War now is dropping bombs from aeroplanes and killing women and children in their beds; it is shooting by telephonic orders, at an unseen place miles away and slaughtering invisible men; it is murdering innocent travelers on merchant ships with torpedoes from unknown submarines; it is launching clouds of poisonous gas and killing men with their own breath. War means...men with jaws gone, eyes gone, limbs gone, minds gone...it means mothers who look for letters they will never see and wives who wait for voices they will never hear and children who listen for footsteps that will never come.

We would all do well to keep in mind the vision of horror that is the reality of war. To that end may we all seek peaceful ways in the future. War will never bring solutions to the problems of humanity. The sooner humankind comes to that realization the better for all.

Peace.

Feeding the World

2009-07-16T09:18:00.002-04:00

How to go about increasing global food security (preventing hunger around the world) is a growing issue today. A presentation in the foreign press in recent days suggests maybe the current U.S. approach is not correct at least in our approach to Africa. Africa has many problems including governance issues which are difficult to resolve. The issue the author takes on has to do with the specifics of food security and agricultural sustainability.

Remember the old Chinese proverb

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Today the U.S. approach to world hunger is more often through food subsidies and gifts of U.S. grown products such as rice and corn. Rice is a particular problem with the subsidies given U.S. and European farmers by their governments.

"Food security" will never lead to African food sovereignty and independence until Europe and America do something about their own agricultural subsidies, which they pour on their own farmers.

These subsidies out-compete and ravage Africa's agriculture.

As a leader nation in the world today we must examine our policies to insure we bring the best possible course to all peoples of the globe. We must teach people to be self-sufficient rather than forcing dependency upon them. Self-sufficiency brings increased confidence and breeds content in nations. Dependency leads to unrest in too many instances and breeds resentment which may lead to resistance among impoverished peoples.

We as a nation can do better than we manage today, but we will need to review our practices and perhaps make some major changes to our current course. The Obama administration has made and will continue to make needed changes. The supply of food around the world is one more arena which must be taken into account and given full consideration over the course of time.

Peace.

John Yoo--Wrong Then and Still Wrong Today

2009-07-16T08:01:00.002-04:00

John Yoo served in the Justice Department during the Bush administration. He was the author of some of the most infamous of the torture memos and is now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today Yoo defends the Bush administration actions which uprooted Constitutional protections for citizens across the nation.

Yoo begins by describing the failure of our intelligence organizations.

t was instantly clear after Sept. 11, 2001, that our security agencies knew little about al Qaeda's inner workings, could not detect its operatives' entry into the country, nor predict where it might strike next.

The failure was one of mostly administrative dysfunction with failed communications between organizations. In addition there was too much information to be analyzed by the agencies which were short of Arabic translators.

Warrantless wiretapping is justified in Yoo's mind since the FISA rules of the day forced too much time lag or too many restrictions. Since a warrant is required under the law before any wiretapping is undertaken and the FISA Court has denied only a handful of requests his ideas are tough to swallow. In addition the government is allowed to put the wiretap in place for several days while the request for a warrant is considered. Only an administration steeped in its own quest for power would consider moving outside the Constitutional balance of power and protections of civil rights.

Yoo goes on to call FISA an "obsolete law" and claims the President should be unlimited in his powers.

To limit the president's constitutional power to protect the nation from foreign threats is simply foolhardy.

The Founding Fathers knew the risks of just such power and installed a balance of power arrangement to prevent the sorts of abuse unlimited power is likely to bring about.

In conclusion Yoo wants the nation to continue the same course as under Bush.

As we confront terrorists who remain intent on attacking the U.S., using weapons we cannot anticipate, we should be skeptical of those who insist that we radically change the way this country has always made war.

The way our nation has always made war has brought little credit to us over the course of history. We need to be very careful to reexamine the issues on which we base war. Too many times our nation has invaded sovereign nations without adequate justification.

And beyond that war is no reason to deny Constitutional protections to one and all. Our Constitution has stood tall for more than 200 years. We have no reason whatsoever to abuse the protections offered in those fine words. If we are to continue another 200 years into the future as a leader nation we had best return to our Constitutional roots and hold to the principles of our founding.

Peace.