Respect and Review

What happened to respect in this country? The other day, I was commenting to my neighbor that — when I was a kid — no one’s parent’s had first names. Everybody’s parents’ first name was “Mr” or ” Mrs.”  I know we don’t believe in hierarchy in this country and we act like everyone’s equal, but Dang! The guy with no teeth on Jerry Springer who slept with his wife’s girlfriend while drunk may be the same in God’s eyes as somebody who worked, has a degree, and runs a state or the country. They may even get the same treatment in my office because of God’s view of their worth. The President of the United States is still  The President of the United States. In the last two days, one person in the media called The President of the United States a slang word for for the male sex organ. The next day, a Republican senator told the same President of the United States to “take a valium and calm down”.  What is going on here?  When Clinton went to a aircraft carrier years ago, soldiers mocked him openly. Was he not the Commander in Chief (aka their boss of bosses?) 

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t protest the government or have the right to real discussion or even their opinion of the President, but he is the President. Have some respect, people! Is it just me or wouldn’t this have sent somebody to Guantanamo for the first 10 years of this century? Not that the President would have done it himself, but there would have been teams dispatched by Dick Cheney (it’s ok, that’s his name) to lambaste the person on Fox News for being unpatriotic, careers would have been destroyed,  death threats would have been issued.  Does anybody remember the Dixie Chicks? All they said was, “we’re ashamed of our President”. Their careers went through hell.  The man who used the “D” word got suspended , not fired. The Senator from today? I haven’t heard. The Senator who said “You Lie!” during Obama’s State-of-The-Union a few years ago got a good tongue-lashing  (ewwww… scary!)  from his colleagues privately. No death threats, no calls for him to resign, no teams dispatched to the talk shows. 

Then Obama finally gets mad — about a real issue —  and is told to take a valium?  Are you kidding me?!! I’m getting really sick of the bullies complaining that they’ve been hurt.  I’m sick of the liberal view being attacked, and I’m sick of liberal people being attacked. Jon Stewart called a racist, indeed!!! You’re kidding, right? Fox News has their nickers all twisted because Stewart deigned to pick on one of the Republican candidates. The group that foments race-baiting is mad because he picked on an African-American? The group that said Obama isn’t really an American and maintained that he didn’t have citizenship here really has the audacity to call out Jon Stewart?  Come on. 

And, while I’m on it, this liberal, (except when he’s not) wants to point out that things I have said in this blog that have come to pass:

1) The president’s voice gets drowned out by right wing zealots  (“If The President Felled a Tree…”)

2) The president is not that liberal and Republicans are obstructionists  (“You Haven’t Done Nothin’ “)

3) Helen Caldicott’s not a whack job. Nukes are a bad idea.  (“The Not-So-Thin Line Between Prophet and Whack Job”) Fujitama is still melting down. Oh, and now there’s that nuke in the mid-west being flooded.

4) The economy is really messed up. (My last two blogs.) 

Folks, we liberals don’t make this stuff up. We deserve a little credit and a little respect.  Thanks. 

 

Peace,

 

John

Economics – 101

On my birthday, my family and I went to one of those restaurants where they have TVs in various spots around the room. The TVs were all muted with captions and my seat faced the financial channel that features “Mad Money”, followed by a bunch of other Talking Heads (sorry, not the band with David Byrne) explaining why the stock market did this or that, why oil prices were getting higher even though mpresident Obama is releasing some part of the Oil Reserve. Needless to say, I didn’t catch most of it. Given the choice between my family, good Tex-Mex food and financial opinions, the latter didn’t stand a chance.
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But here’s what I was able to make of it:

The Stock Market goes up or down because:

1) Somebody rings a giant bell at the beginning of the day.
2) Some analyst with his own show yells a lot. The louder his volume, the higher the volume of trading is for that day.
3) A stockbroker’s dog ate his homework.
4) The giant ticker on the floor of the Stock Market is really a random number generator.
5) It’s 5 o’clock in Tokyo, London, Miami, or New York. Or, as Jimmy (or is that Warren?) Buffett says, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”
6) Because they say so.
7) Each day, the Boston Herald-American publishes a daily number on the cover. If the number is even, stocks drop. If it’s odd, stocks go up.
8) Each brokerage firm is given a Magic 8-Ball. Stock quotes are based on this.
9) There was an earthquake in Paraguay, which left a man dead in Brazil after a woman slipped on a banana peel in Taiwan.
10) The coffee harvest was smaller in the Antarctic than was previously estimated, causing demand for the beans to skyrocket (same concept as Libyan oil at 2% of our oil use).

While I’m on the topic of economics, I read an article on the potential collapse of the American economy if the Congress and White House can’t compromise on the debt issue. The article said that Americans are divided and many don’t actually care if we don’t pay our debt payments.

Why should they? There are a number of reasons why they don’t.
1) If economics were that important, they’d teach it in elementary school — or at least before college. Why would we care about the GDP if we don’t know what it is? No one understands the whole debt crisis. How can they care?
2) What we do understand in America– we can simply transfer our debt to another credit card at a lower starter rate for the next 6 months. Can’t the government do that?
3) Ask anyone who has ever declared bankruptcy — some times things are so messed up, it’s easier to simply stop trying.

That’s economics in-the-red 101.

Peace,

John

Utopian Capitalism…

“The Nation” magazine is having an essay contest — re-imagine capitalism – in 400 words or less.

I’ve been thinking about ethics and money a lot recently, so I thought I’d give it a shot and see if I can do it…

We need to remember that economics is a human construct, rather than people being an economic construct. Given that, we should START with people and go from there. Therefore,

1) We need to go low-tech in order to create jobs and give people’s lives meaning. Instead of ATMs, banks could spend all of the money the ATMs presently make and hire tellers. When they are hired, they should be given benefits, decreasing government costs and increasing personal health. In most places where people can do a job, they should.

2) When people receive money for food from the government, they should be given — among other things– vegetable seeds. This will cost less, give people better nutrition, and tie people more to nature. Plus, it will make farmers “experts” and in demand in the city as people learn how to plant. Besides, it’ll lower stress on farm land and maybe decrease pesticide use.

3) As there is a psychological limit after which money doesn’t make you happier (I think it’s 4 million dollars), no one individual’s wealth should increase more than 4 million dollars per year. If a person makes more than that, they should have the option to: a) give it to the federal government; b) give the excess to a community or state or c) give it to a 501(c)3 (non-profit charity) where more people get use out of it. Among other things, people will be able to see the national pastime with their present income and entertainment (like movies) will become cheap enough to see at a theater again.

4) New law: no building in America can be built without AT LEAST some form of passive solar energy built in. Walls facing the proper direction, clotheslines included, solar water heaters — something. This will decrease need and decrease the need for wars over oil.

5) Combat veterans should get free medical care for life from any doctor they choose. And yes, the government should pay for it.

6) Everyone in America should be required to volunteer a year of their lives to others when they turn 18. During that year, they should receive free health care at the doctor of their choice. Same thing re: government paying for it.  Feds, state, city, whichever government get sthe benefit of the work.

7) There should be better limits set on interest that can be charged. The norm should be no interest loans paid back. No pay back, no more loans.

8) Daycare should be affordable and safe without so many regulations. Your average mentally healthy mother or father ought to be able to have a small daycare.

9) especially if you receive a check from the government due to disability, you should do what you can to take care if your little part of the world – your sidewalk, the road in front of your house, a nearby park should be cleaned and street sweepers (humans with machines) ought to not have jobs. Even if you don’t your area of public space is your responsibility.

That’s it. It’s not everything, but it’s a start. 543 words is the best I can do.

 

What do you think?

 

Peace,

John

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhh! A Response to the Republican “Town Hall”

My daughter was home sick today and so she got to watch her father yell at the TV screen this morning as I watched lie after lie after lie after lie come from my screen.

To be fair, there was a woman from CBS with a clear liberal view asking questions and a couple of Republican newbies who seemed genuine and interested in making politics work in Washington.

But darn, they’re dumb, or missing the point or just plain lying. Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh! It makes my blood boil.

So, here’s my response to their “view”:

1) I don’t EVER want to hear about the budget deficit without somebody on the Republican side admitting that THEIR man destroyed a surplus through a war that he couldn’t justify, simply because he felt like having one. Until they take responsibility for getting us in this mess, I don’t want to hear that I’m supposed to trust them and their financial plans. They have to EARN my trust by taking responsibility for their own actions and explaining how they’re going to fix the mess they made.

2) A question came from the audience, “since the government employs 20% of the labor force, how can you cut government without increasing unemployment?”. First off, nobody answered the question, which I’d never even thought about before. Secondly, I’m sick of people saying that “government doesn’t create jobs”.If someone is employed, by definition, they have a job! If they work for the government, the government has created a job! It may not be a “sustainable” job, but it does help people and they pay taxes and use the economic system just like people in factories do, so government can create jobs, and does.

3) I don’t want to hear how by cutting people’s $400 per month welfare checks we’re going to save the economy and balance the deficit, without asking people who make millions to help do the same. By simple math, you have to save a lot of $100.00 bills to make up for a million dollar corporate tax break or a tax break for the wealthiest 1%. The rich need to get over themselves and pay their fair share!

4) Preventing someone else from doing something is NOT the same as doing something yourself. If you are not going to compromise, don’t tell me you’re interested in moving things forward.

5) Something is changing in the world of economics. Big companies make big profits … and keep them. They don’t reinvest and they don’t create jobs with their money. They want more for less from their employees, they want to mechanize, and they would rather do anything but hire someone with benefits. Trickle down economics is — in actuality — a lie because nothing is trickling down. Demanding that we use old formulations of how things work when they don’t work that way is just blowing smoke and the Republicans I saw today were demanding just that! Enough already! Unbridled capitalism doesn’t work any more than unbridled communism does. The excesses put forth by ANY system need to be controlled. The people I saw this morning want to control excesses where there aren’t any and free up people who already have too much freedom! Again, enough already!

6) You can’t say you are against government spending and then ask for disaster relief or educational funding or money from the Feds for building roads. You can’t say you’re against earmarks and earmark tax breaks for corporations. If you really don’t want government, don’t ask for it. If you say “People aren’t allowed to have needs and shouldn’t expect help”, then states shouldn’t either. You can’t have it both ways.

I could scream for hours, but that’s as much ranting as I want to do today…

 

Editor’s additional note: My friend Becky was in a tornado in the South recently and apparently has had problems with FEMA. If the government is going to be of help, they should do it better. Also, of course, Becky isn’t complaining about getting government assistance. Whether her state is not is another question.

Peace,

John

Is The Landlord Evicting Us?

I was planning on taking some time off from writing, but I got attacked by a tornado.  I kid you not.  Yesterday, on my first day back at work in my private practice, a tornado’s center came down the street two blocks over from where I work. In my office, I saw bits of tree fly by (my office faces away from the street) . As I stepped out onto the street a bit later, to my left I saw this:

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and to my right I saw this:

All of this took place in Springfield, Massachusetts yesterday. When was the last time Springfield had a tornado? Never.  Springfield is about 1500 miles east of “tornado alley” if i remember correctly. My housemate said last night, “Not to downgrade your experience, but have you seen the pictures from Joplin? It looks like just a bunch of sticks”.

We have gone from a brutal summer — incredible heat — to an even more brutal winter — the worst in a very long time to unusually high temps in the last few days to… tornadoes. What the heck is going on??!!

We know what the heck is going on. We have messed with the environment too much and it is fighting back. It’s as simple as that.  In today’s newspaper this morning, there was an article that says “environmental security found lax at Nuclear Plant”. The article goes on to talk about the plant in Japan and how engineers didn’t take the threat of earthquakes or tsunamis seriously enough. Ya think?

My wife is far more knowledgeable about the environment and climate change– she’s one of those people trained by Al Gore and she gives presentations on this stuff. People stuff is more my thing. Remember when Hummers were all the rage and Detroit kept putting out bigger and bigger vehicles?  I — and nearly everybody thought that was just stupid for the environment and unnecessary in any city. Potholes would have to be craters for those things to be needed. We all knew this, but it was our way to thumb our nose at reality because we didn’t want to be told what we could and couldn’t buy.  Compare John Prine’s song “Paradise” which talks of devastating strip mining “”where Paradise lay… Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away” and James Watt — who headed the Interior Department under Ronald Reagan who said something like “It doesn’t matter if bulldoze forests, the world’s going to end soon anyway”. My point is that we know what we should do, but we thumb our noses at it like we’re running things.  Yesterday’s tornado  confirmed what I already knew: we’re not.  The more stupid stuff we do, the more deadly things we’re going to see.  The planet is kicking us off.

How and why? “Natural events” seems to be how and why is because the planet that’s bigger than all of us wants to survive. Rather like an old Star Trek episode, we think of ourselves as “life” while a bigger context reveals us to be an invading body like a bad cold or at least a foreign body.in a much larger larger system. When that body poses a problem to the larger body, the larger one fights it off and gets rid of it.

Years ago, this was called the Gaia hypothesis, “Gaia” being the Goddess of the Earth or what we would call “Mother Nature”, the premise was “what if the earth can be seen as a system with it’s own way of finding balance — a balance we disrupt with our actions? Mother Earth will get mad.”Rush Limbaugh scorns the Gaia hypothesis because he sees it as related to Goddess worship and radical feminism and whiny liberals. Rush, for years, didn’t believe in “Global Warming” aka “Climate Change”, either. While I don’t worship the planet as Goddess, my friend Cathi — a Pagan — does.  Even if Rush is right about Cathi (she IS a feminist AND a liberal — oooo, scary!), he might be wrong about the Hypothesis.

As a Christian, I don’t worship the earth,  but I try to respect it.   Biblically, we are told we have “dominion over” it. As my friend Charlie Crook ( a fairly conservative baptist, said years ago, “That doesn’t mean we get to do anything we want. A King or Queen doesn’t get to kill the people under them. That’s bad dominion”.

As a systems therapist, as I wrote in my book, “All systems do  3 basic things: 1) Take things in 2) Use the good stuff and 3) “rid of the bad stuff”. If Earth is a system, it takes in light and water and gives off carbon dioxide and — us?

Just because God created the Earth, doesn’t mean it’s not alive. God creates all kinds of life, as we in the Judeo-Christian tradition already know.  And if it’s alive, we better behave. We know what we need to do and what we shouldn’t. Let’s start acting on the good.

Peace,

 

John.