Category Archives: Politics

Humor, Politics

The Onion. Again.

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Yule                                                                                 Stock Show Moon

Clinton Ominously Tells Iowan Supporters To Mark Front Doors With Campaign Logo Before Sundown

NEWS IN BRIEFJanuary 31, 2016

DES MOINES, IA—Declaring that all voting-age citizens who took the measures would be spared, Hillary Clinton ominously instructed her supporters throughout Iowa to mark their front doors with her campaign logo before sundown, sources confirmed Sunday. “All those residing in Iowa take heed: Your home shall bear the mark of my campaign this eve, or may God help you,” said the Democratic candidate after dispatching a phalanx of campaign staffers to all four corners of the state to spread the message of her directive. “Be within your dwellings with the doors closed and locked before nightfall, and do not cross the threshold before the sun rises again in the sky. The emblem of the red-and-blue H will protect my true voters.” At press time, Clinton issued a statement ordering all Iowan supporters who remain on Monday morning to bring forth their progeny between 18 and 34 years of age to the polls.

Aging, Health, Politics, US History

OMG

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Yule                                                                                       Stock Show Moon

My 2015 summary from SecureHorizons, our AARP medicare advantage plan, shows all you need to know that our healthcare system is broken, badly broken. In 2015 I had prostate cancer and as a result had a surgical procedure to remove my prostate, so it was an expensive year with biopsies, diagnosis, procedure and follow-up. I also had a series of physical therapy sessions for an arthritic neck and its left shoulder, elbow and hand sequelae.

Total billed to Securehorizons for the year: $101,000.

Total paid by Securehorizons for the year:    $12,000.

Our share:                                                                   $850.

First reaction might be, really good news! Look how little you had to pay, Charlie, for such an enormous bill. Uh huh. Look more at how little Securehorizons paid for such an enormous bill, about 1/8 or 12% of the total billed. This vast-$78,000-discrepancy says nobody knows what healthcare costs. Nobody knows what’s fair.

Take my very small piece of the total healthcare expenditures in 2015 and extrapolate these ratios. Say hospitals and physicians and other therapies billed $10,000,000,000 to insurance companies. Following the ratio in my 2015 report insurance companies would pay to those vendors approximately $1,200,000,000. That would leave a discrepancy of $7,800,000,000. What happens to the supposed expenses covered by discrepancy? Do hospitals and physicians and therapists go out of business? No, they live to bill another year when the whole sorry mess repeats.

It takes no analytical subtlety to smell the rot. We need to get out from under all these private insurance companies and their administrative rules, their negotiated deals.

Kate’s hair-dresser, to illustrate another problem with this mess, went to the ER when a partially removed splinter in her hand created swelling that made it impossible for her to use her scissors. No work, no money. She had the self-employed persons typical high deductible policy. An E.R. doc removed the splinter. Bill: doc=$1,500, e.r. admittance=$1,800. She refused to pay $3,300 for a splinter removal, stayed resolute and got an 80% reduction in her bill.

Colorado will have a referendum this year to create the first single-payer health plan in the United States. I’m voting for it.

Politics, Shadow Mountain, US History

Election 2016

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Yule                                                                              Stock Show Moon

My sister wrote me today from Singapore: “I’ve never seen such an election as this one-I can’t stand the thought of the Trump as president-is it possible ??? Just seems to so much press here…”

My answer to her follows. It’s how I see the election right now:

His main appeal is to white folks left behind by the current Gilded Age. Is it possible he could be the Republican nominee? Increasingly, amazingly, it seems so. But the Republican establishment, the old and big money doesn’t want him. What he’s doing is splitting the GOP base. That means he’ll be weaker in a general election.

The new demographics of the U.S. imply that people of color, especially Latinos, and younger voters plus the traditional Democratic base of liberal whites, especially women hold the key to the Presidency. If they turn out, and that’s always the big question with the Democratic vote, no Republican candidate has a chance.

However. Both Sanders (my guy) and Hillary have substantial downsides. Still, in an election in which Trump is the alternative I believe the Democratic base will rally-out of revulsion if nothing else.

It is a peculiar election. The one that bears the most resemblance in recent memory might be when George Wallace ran as a third party candidate. He was a right wing populist, too. He carried Indiana and changed its politics ever after. By encouraging the southern diaspora to vote against their economic self-interests, essentially through racist appeals, he moved those voters out of the liberal union voter camp into what would become Nixon’s moral majority and the Reagan Democrats of later years. Much more conservative.  Many of those folks are now in the Tea Party or are rabidly pro-Trump.

One man’s view from the top of Shadow Mountain.

Politics, The West, US History

A Bird Sanctuary? Come on.

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Yule                                                                            Christmas Moon

 

Malheur   National Wildlife Refuge | Oregon

People and wildlife have been drawn to the resources of this oasis of wetlands in the high desert of Oregon for thousands of years. With over 320 bird species Malheur is a mecca for birdwatchers.

 

Birdwatchers?

The militia (sic) occupying the bird sanctuary. My solution? Cordon them off, leave them alone. Arrest them when they come out. Invoke laws focused on terrorist acts on American soil. Try them. Lock’em up.

As to the inciting cause. Geez, guys and gals in the federal judiciary. Don’t let somebody out, then say, oops, we need more of your time. That’s cold. No matter what the crime. Also, makes you look like the gub’ment. That makes us all look bad. A bit of understanding would have stopped this incident before it began.

Sage Brush Rebellion. Revoke their grazing permits and other land use permits for federal land. Arrest them for all violations of state and federal law. Prosecute. Jail or fine. Repeat as necessary.

However. When both the protesters and the government act like the Three Stooges, maybe it would be best to call NBC, declare all of this reality tv and make a little money. Vote them off the bird sanctuary. That sort of thing.

A new westerner’s two cents on this silly issue of our time.

Commentary on Religion, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Holidays, Jefferson County, Mountains, Politics, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase

Lights by the Lake. With Latkes

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Samhain                                                                 New (Winter) Moon

Watched several different people, a rabbi, a politician, a cantor, a newspaperman and a Chamber of Commerce woman struggle with lighting a menorah on the shore of Lake Evergreen. We’ve had chinooks for the last few days and though muted at night they still made the bic auto-match flicker and the temporarily burning wicks blink out.

The politician, Tim Neville, is a conservative Republican. He had real difficulty getting the shamas lit. It was as if the winds were saying this one has no light within him. To be fair, others had difficulty, too.

This was a pan-Judaism event with Beth Evergreen, where Kate and I have attended educational classes, Judaism in the Foothills and B’Nai Chaim reform synagogue collaborating. It was not a huge crowd, maybe 75 to a 100 people: a few boys with prayer shawl fringes dangling beneath their t-shirts, two rabbis and a cantor, tables with Hanukkah gelt, dreidels, a two table set up for the latke cookoff* and an adorable two year old girl whose body posture said she was ready to rule the world.

The evening was enough for Kate to say, “I want to join.” She means Beth Evergreen.

I was happy the event took place to a giant fir tree festooned with many lights. That’s my religious tradition, Germanic paganism.

*Kate’s latkes are superior, in every way, to the ones I tried last night.

 

Commentary on the news, Faith and Spirituality, Great Work, Politics, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase, US History, World History

Sad

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Samhain                                                                       Thanksgiving Moon

Routine disrupted. My loft computer is now downstairs where I can hook it up to the internet. On Monday I have a serious computer service company coming out to create a wi-fi or hardwire setup. Calmed down after I made a decision to get it done once, then forget about it. My problem is that I obsess about these things until they get taken care of. If I’m trying and failing to fix things, then I keep obsessing. Tiring.

Sad about guns, about the killing, about terrorism, about the obtuse beliefs of NRA fanatics, about climate change deniers, about the too slow pace of change toward a sustainable future. Angry, too. Yes, angry. In the past sadness and anger have pushed me into political work. Got started when I was a freshman in high school and found the school itself a barrier to learning.

Today, though, I find myself on the sidelines watching a circus where the acrobats miss the trapeze, where the fire eater gets consumed by his element, where the animals smash the cages and trample the crowd. The world has once again sunk into madness.

Yes, the world is always mad. War began thousands of years ago. Slavery, too. People without power did terrible, unthinkable things to break free. So, in a way, the diagnosis of madness, of chaos and insanity, is a tautology. The world is. The world is mad.

It’s also true that any one action, any one person, even any political movement has little chance of creating change systemic enough to bring sanity. Yet, as Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” It might be this action, this person, maybe you. It might be this political movement, this one you choose to support.

Where am I going here? What I want to say is that the only way to avoid despair is to choose to act in some way. I won’t be on the sidelines much longer, the projects of our making this home ours will finish and I’ll find somebody to team up with. Somebody to shake a fist with. To make what strangled sort of cry we can. Fatalism just doesn’t work for me. Might be about the third phase and our lives in it.

Colorado, Politics, US History

Enough, Enough, Enough

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Samhain                                                                              Thanksgiving Moon

This week’s Colorado shooting. Yes, he’s a terrorist. Yes, a black man in a similar situation would most likely be dead. Yes, he lived in the middle of South Park, the huge high plain only 50 miles here. Yes, his home was a trailer without sewer, running water or electricity. Yes, he was from South Carolina.

No, mental illness is not the problem. All but a handful of persons with mental illness, myself included (Generalized anxiety disorder), do not pick up guns and shoot people. No, Planned Parenthood is not the problem. The escalation of the rhetorical war in the so-called pro-life movement is a contributor. No, religious belief is not the problem. The absurd use of religious belief to justify already existing biases and hatred is so clearly a problem: ISIS, al-qaeda, Jim Jones, mongers of all apocalypses.

This is the second mass shooting in Colorado Springs in the last few weeks. In the first incident the eventual shooter was seen walking the streets carrying a loaded rifle and other weapons. When police were called, they said they could do nothing. Open carry is the law in Colorado.

I’ll say again. Let’s put the NRA on the list of those providing support to terrorists. Let’s emphasize the well-regulated part of the second amendment.

I also like making gun ownership applications similar to getting a driver’s license and, like driver’s licenses, make owning a gun a privilege not a right. I also like making gun ownership application processes equivalent to the most rabid right wingers dreams for vetting women wanting abortions.

And, let me say too: Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Enough, enough, enough.

Politics, US History

Despair and Fear

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Samhain                                                                    Thanksgiving Moon

Despair and fear crown the pronouncements of GOP candidates about ISIS. Watch mosques. Don’t let in any refugees. Make all Muslims wear an identifying marker. Yes, it’s easy from the left to see these notions as simply stupid, xenophobic canards, but they mean more than that.

At least I think they do. When I listen, I hear people who fear for the stability of their lives. People whose current situation seems so fragile that difference could make it shatter. The economy has consistently displaced the working class, leaving with them no job options that can support a family.

Veterans come home from fighting our misadventures in the Middle East, veterans whose personal origins are most likely working class or even lower on the socioeconomic scale, and find no work. The hawks who wanted them to stave off the coming tide of this group or that group want more money for defense but not for the defenders, especially the defenders now out in the work world after their military duty is over.

The flag wavers, the stars and bars loyalists, signal not so much love of country, but fear of missed or fading opportunity. We’ve created a unique, even Alice down the rabbit hole world where those whose lives are being ruined by the oligarchic 1% pin the blame on people fleeing the very same radical terrorists they want to eliminate.

It’s easy for a Ben Carson or a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz to ignite the flame of discontent among these Americans. The lesson for those of us not taken in by these poseurs is that the anguish in this country is real. Life in the U.S. has been tainted by decades of war, by trickle up economics, by blindness to the history of this almost 100% immigrant nation.

These dark currents in our common life will not find resolution soon. We (the left) need to convince the Trump, Carson, Cruz voters that we do in fact care as much about them as we do about the Syrian refugees and the struggles of just folks in the Middle East. This sounds like a subtle difference, but it’s not. There is no choice, either us or them. No, we must use that very word, we, to include Americans and victims of terrorists worldwide. Life does not present us with only one option or the other. We can choose both.

And we must.

 

Humor, Politics

Peeved

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Samhain                                                                              New Thanksgiving Moon

Docent friend Tom Byfield passed this along. Since I know many of you who read this share his affection for John Cleese and the Monty Python gang, I thought I’d post it.

Thanks, Tom.

ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2015 EUROPE
From JOHN CLEESE

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country’s military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbour” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels ..

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be right, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is cancelled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

Regards,
John Cleese ,
British writer, actor and tall person

And as a final thought – Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC.

Life is too short…

 

Great Work, Politics, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Sierra Club

Yes

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Samhain                                                                             Moon of the First Snow

Keystone rejected. Booyah! Bill McKibben wrote a while back that the amount of oil slated to pass through the Keystone pipeline would be enough to push us well over the 2 degree centigrade warming some folks still see as the maximum allowable. (My understanding is that 2 degrees is baked in and the key moves now are to keep us from going very far over that mark.)

Jeff Mirkley (D-Or) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) have introduced Keep It In the Ground legislation. I like the phrase. It’s short and to the point. Fossil fuels not mined or fracked or pumped cannot add to the carbon load of our beleaguered atmosphere.

Momentum seems to be shifting, at least so it seems to me. Big coal is on the defensive. Keep It In the Ground shifts the conversation. 350.org has organized a new mass movement for climate change. The Great Work has begun to capture more and more attention. The rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline signals, I hope, a willingness to challenge big energy in specific instances, not just in rhetoric.

On the homefront Kate and I shifted our money out of energy stocks earlier this year. We’re installing solar panels.  If each of us align our lives as we can, to the Great Work-creating a sustainable human presence on earth, then those larger societal trends will have a strong base of political support. No action by any one of us will stop global warming; but, no action by all of us will cook our grandchildren.

Too, individual actions like owning an electric car, supporting President Obama’s climate initiatives, adding solar panels, taking money away from big oil and big coal, can have a ripple effect. As others know what you’ve done, they will consider what they might do. And, even if they do nothing more than change a vote, support candidates with strong environmental policies, then you’ve begun to create the kind of math that can change things.