Help a Bitch out.

I know that I've slacked off a bit on postings, and this one is going to be short. I'm just making a quick plug to support an indie media outlet. Watch the video below and then give, give, give. You know you want to!

I know the video is dated, but I'm quite sure they're still in need of support.

The Cost Is Our Health

Walter Cronkite once said, "America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system." I've just read an article that does an excellent job of pointing out how right Mr. Cronkite was.

The article states that as profit margins narrow, some very large insurers "... will not sacrifice profitability for membership."

When speaking to investors, in economic terms, that just sounds like a hardline position a company is taking.  It sounds like a decision executives had to make to insure profits, but the problem is that this isn't the production of a commodity that consumers can choose to or not to purchase (though that is indeed the counter argument that these insurers would make).

The fact of the matter is that the people who can no longer afford the policy can now no longer afford to be healthy, which will directly or indirectly shorten their lives. How much shorter will it make their lives? Perhaps the mismanagement of their health will shorten their lives from 75 years to 72 years, or it very well could shorten their lives from 75 years to 39 years.

I personally have avoided going to the doctor for numerous things because I was on a stretch in between health insurance carriers. In fact, I think I broke my foot last year. Notice I said "think" because I still don't know.  I was a full-time student over the age of 25. That means that I didn't qualify for insurance through my parents.  I could've gotten coverage through my part-time job (which is a rare exception in the working world), but the amount of money that would've come out of my paychecks would've made it very difficult to pay the rest of my monthly bills. The result? I limped for two months and then off and on for another month or two after that. It wasn't too bad, and after all, that's what we're supposed to do as Americans, right? Tough it out? Heaven forbid that we have a right to anything beyond shooting off our mouths and our guns.

The problem here is that there are people out there with corner offices sitting around large oak tables in control of our health.  Their priority is maximizing profits, and often that is at the expense of the service that they are supposed to be providing.  It's frustrating when it makes the average person's life inconvenient, but when it is actually jeopardizing our lives and the lives of our loved ones, it's nothing short of criminal.  There are few countries in the world where citizens will tolerate, and even justify such actions, but you do it everyday.

There's a great program on healthcare systems around the world that was produced by PBS. It's viewable in segments on their site.

As if Wal-Mart needed more reasons for people to hate them...

I just ran across this article. These panties were found in a junior girls department at Wal-Mart in Cary, North Carolina.

Apparently, Wal-Mart intends to teach young girls to commodify their bodies as early as possible.  As common (yet no less distasteful) as the item would be ordinarily in an adult section and with the slow creeping of sexuality into children's lives , I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

Let's just be serious for a moment. Advertisers and average people eternally looking for that one idea that will finally make them rich will do anything to make money. They will convince you of anything. It's not that they want you to believe anything in particular. They're not concerned with your life philosophy. They just want to make sure that you purchase whatever it is that they're pushing that day.

The problem is that they've gotten so good at it that they will alter you. Neither you nor they want to admit it, but they are better served if they can subtly alter you mind. How else would anyone consider buying their little girl panties that imply that girls do not need currency as long as they have something between their legs that men want? Would your grandmother have bought those for your mother? Would your great-grandmother have bought those for your grandmother?

We've slowly moved to this point in our society over the last century. We've changed as a society in a lot of ways. Many of these changes have been driven by the people. They have been gradual changes in culture that were in the works for several hundred years- political revolutions, civil rights revolutions, feminist revolutions. Beyond our gradual cultural change, there have been changes pushed forth for nothing more than greater profit margins for those who are concerned with such things. Once medicine was about health, now it's a race for profit. Once music was about beauty or storytelling, now it's about how much money someone can make. Once panties were about keeping little girl's butts warm, and now...

Well, it's easy to say, "Everyone's just out to make a buck!" and "Greed is destroying our society!" People do that all the time, but when does anyone give you a small everyday example?

Here.

Here is an example of a company taking something from you and your children to make a profit.

Elliot Spitzer, casualty of the war on terror

A friend of mine recently wrote this intending on submitting it to his local paper, but due to the length, was unable. After reading it, I decided that it was important that it see the light of day.

16 March 2008--Austin, Texas.

Elliot Spitzer, New York Governor, has resigned effective Monday March 17, recently being exposed for visiting a prostitute. A man elected by an overwhelming majority of constituents. A man who previously held the high profile position of State Attorney General where he made a reputation for fighting for living citizens over corporate citizens. This man was trusted by many to make important and fair judgments for the public good, and performed time and time again. A distinguished career wiped out by a poor personal decision; an indiscretion made by many in all classes and walks of life. Does this punishment fit the crime? Will citizens of New York and the country be better or worse for this resignation?

More importantly, who will benefit most from Spitzer's absence from public life? And why was he found out in the first place? These questions may have been mentioned by "mainstream" (read corporate) media but never received any traction since the tabloid type stories are much less controversial to corporate citizens and focus all the attention on Spitzer and his poor judgment.

It has been reported Spitzer raised red flags in a computer program that analyzes all bank transactions that occur in the United States to identify terrorist financing and money laundering. A program that looks at all bank transactions you and I make as well. This set into action an investigation by Federal investigators to figure out the destination of the suspicious funds. When it was determined that the money had gone to a prostitution ring this information was acted upon and Spitzer was ruined.

This is a perfect example of why the government should not be granted special powers to investigate Americans in the name of Terror. Without excusing the actions of the Ex-Governor of New York, it is quite obvious he has become a casualty of the War on Terror. When it was obvious that the flagged transaction was not supporting terrorists why was the investigation pursued? Why have none of the other "Johns" names been disclosed?

I suggest that there is much more to this case than is being publicly reported. This very well could have been a witch-hunt made possible by legislation intended to execute the "War on Terror". If this is the case, this legislation needs to be reexamined for usefulness in achieving its intended goals. If it can pick up is a man trying to hide his visit to a prostitute, and ruin him, maybe it can see too deep into our personal lives. If this is how the legislation is to be used it certainly needs to be repealed.

The Constitution protects us from illegal search. No law was broken with the funds transfers yet this “suspicious” activity began the humiliating chain of events.

The Bush justice department has investigated Democratic to Republican politicians 6 to 1. There is no evidence that they are more or less corrupt than the other side. Is this politically motivated? You bet! These types of personal matters with little to no bearing on public policy scream of last ditch efforts to oust a better opponent. Who will be next?

-Brad T.

It, like most things in life, is generational.

I look at the world we live in, and sometimes I think our problem is generational mentalities. Now, you may have been born in the decades immediately following World War II, and if you were, I'm probably about to offend you.
Baby boomers are the most destructive generation in human history.
For the most part, these weren't conscious negative decisions, and in all honesty, it was the generation of the baby boomers' grandparents who set them up for this awe inspiring achievement. I don't look at the intent of the majority of baby boomers with much contempt, but at some point, I do think they could've made a choice. There are, after all, a huge number of people of that generation who are quite aware of the problems they've created. That number is still such an insignificant proportion of the total that it makes little difference.
How can a generation be so significant? How could anyone we know make such a negative impact in the grand scheme of all of human history? Questions like that attest to the problem. Questions like that are asked by the baby boomers themselves. It's a way of shifting blame- of placating one's conscience. People who say that we are insignificant in the run of mankind also, in the same breath, will tell you that modern times are the most enlightened and accomplished. They'll say that we have advanced more in the last one hundred years than humankind has in the last two thousand, but then they tell you that we're too insignificant to affect anything such as the environment. So, which is it?
I started down this path of thought when I tried to imagine what my grandchildren might be doing when they're my age. What will be their issues? It occurred to me that they will still be trying to fix the problems of the baby boomers, but to my grandchildren, the baby boomers will be an abstract historical group of people. There won't be the face of mom, dad, grandpa, or grandma, to associate with the generation. It will only be a group of people that created a huge number of problems that they are still trying to solve. It was at this point that the baby boomers became something different in my mind. How do I explain that my parents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and friends took a bad situation and made it worse?
I look at our world, and I'm forced to see it as a generational struggle. I see one generation taking advantage of the world, and another, taught to be apathetic, watching everything get worse and worse- year by year. What happens when the former steps down? What happens when retirement, ill health, and death leaves the reins of our people in the limp hands of my generation? Will it be business as usual or will we have the courage to step up and live our lives for us?

Congestion Pricing

"The Congestion Mitigation Commission issued its final recommendation last week. After hundreds of hours of testimony and dozens of public meetings, the jointly appointed panel of experts voted 13-yes, 2-no, 1-abstain and 1-absent in favor of congestion pricing as the best way to reduce car and truck traffic and improve mass transit.
Now the [New York] City Council and then both houses of state government must review the plan and vote on it before March 31st or else risk losing $354 million in federal transit aid.

In brief, the plan that will be voted on would raise a half-billion dollars annually for transit by charging motorists $8 to travel into Manhattan south of 60th street between 6 am and 6 pm on weekdays. Trucks would pay $21 to enter the charging zone. The money raised by the charge would go into a "dedicated transit account" for funding the MTA capital plan, which is scheduled to be released before the end of March (the sooner, the better).

To ease concerns about potential parking problems in the charging zone and on its perimeters, the commission recommended an increase in meter rates inside the area and residential parking programs for the neighborhoods on the zone's periphery. Funds raised by these programs would go to "additional transit, pedestrian, bicycle, and parking management improvements." For an in depth look at the commission's report check out Streetsblog's coverage here."
article from transalt.org

I think this is great. Let's be serious. No one in traffic likes traffic. No one walking likes getting hit by cars while crossing the street. Most people enjoy riding bicycles. Our doctors tell us we need to walk more. Rushing all the time causes more stress.
If someone almost hits you while driving, you scream at them. You find it completely unreasonable. If someone bumps into you while walking, you apologize to them.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Oh- no, it was my fault. I'm sorry."
How often does that happen after a traffic accident?

I haven't started my car in at least two months. (It's a manual. I'm not that worried about it.) I ride my bike, and my leg muscles are bulging. I walk, and I know where restaurants and little shops are that I otherwise would've flown past in my car. I ride the bus, and I've learned the layout of my city better. Riding the bus also allows me to read while in transit. Total up how much money you spend on gas in two months, and that's how much I've saved. I never have to worry about parking or parking tickets. Car maintenance is never on my mind, and I've found a bicycle co-op where I do any repairs my bike needs for practically nothing- not to mention all the nice people I've met there.

The longer I do this the more reasonable it becomes. After two months, I know how to get anywhere I need to go without ever getting in a car. I visit my girlfriend on weekends or go to doctor appointments by train. I look up from that book I've been meaning to read for months or from a movie on my laptop and I see people in cars. They always look angry and frustrated.

Politicians scream about dependency on foreign oil. They talk about alternative fuels. They don't say the easiest thing.
Walk.
Do you even know how much a bus costs in your area?
How thick is that layer of dust on your bike?
The research on biofuels is still years away from a viable alternative.

I've research it. The best biofuel I could find is a bagel and a glass of juice. I can bike 60 or 70 miles on just that.
When they figure out how to run a car on orange juice, call me.

Obama vs. Clinton vs. McCain

You've got some awkward decisions ahead of you.
Today former governor Mitt Romney dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He took one for the team. While dropping out of the race, he made a plug for party unification against the Democrats. It seemed like a quick move to circumvent you actually thinking for yourself. He says he's out of the race because you must be united against the Democrats.
Should you unite against the Democrats?
That's a question he prevents you from asking yourself. He ignores what your concerns are and makes you think you're concerned with that which he wants you to be. It's sneaky.
Another part of his dropping out is that, in the general election, Romney vs. Obama would be a nightmare for the Republicans. The truth of the matter is that there aren't enough "morally conservative" voters to carry any candidate. The majority of voters in the United States are moderates. They are not 'liberal" nor are they "conservative."
What Republican strategists want is Clinton vs. McCain, and for this they're counting on two things.
First, despite John McCain's talk of late, he's not much of a conservative. They're depending on McCain's ability to appeal to moderate voters. Now, Hillary Clinton's ability to appeal to moderate voters is just as strong as McCain's, but that's where factor two comes in.
Hillary Clinton has been a polarizing figure in the past, and they think that in a campaign to demonize Clinton, McCain is a practical alternative. Now, people like to demonize Hillary Clinton because she plays the man's role in politics too well, but there's currently no room for a woman in politics that doesn't play a masculine role. This often gets her called "bitch," but it's no fault of hers.
For Republican strategists, the ideal match-up for the general election is Clinton vs. McCain. What happens if it's Obama vs. McCain? Well then the Republicans actually have to fight a fair fight.
When you are voting in the fall, do you want to be voting for the candidate you believe in, or do you want to be voting against the candidate you oppose?
The next ten months will be trying. You will have to endure ad after ad after ad. You'll hear hateful language, insecurities, and deceit.
The most important thing to remember this year is that for all our dissimilarities, we are more alike than unalike.
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reprogramming

I've just come from a film screening at UCSC. The film was called "American Blackout." I can't think of anything to occur in the last ten years of as much significance as the voting fraudulence during the 2000 presidential election in Florida. Despite this significance, it is still so poorly understood by the general population. There were so many things about the situation that there was no precedent for in the United States.



You can watch the film in its entirety here.

One of the reasons why I'm passionate about this is because little twenty-year-old Adam was voting in his first election in 2000. My vote was not counted because the process of recounting votes was stopped (unconstitutionally) by the Supreme Court.
This is something that they are trying to do to you. If you don't think your vote will be counted, how likely are you to show up to vote?

Does anyone remember...?

Does anyone remember the arguments leading up to the war in Iraq?
Everyone talks about the weapons of mass destruction and the lies, but think back to exactly what the reasoning was. The Bush administration told us- told everyone that if President Hussein would just let the inspectors do their job, and if Hussein would suspend his weapons programs, we could leave him be. But, because he wouldn't do those two things, we were forced to take action.
We have some really good perspectives on this now. First of all, we know that there weren't any active weapons programs in 2002-2003. We also know that the Bush administration knew this through officials within the administration that have since quit. Now stay with me because my point isn't that we were lied to. That point has been beaten to death. My point is the way an argument was and is being presented.
So presently, we are presented with the fact that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons programs in 2003. When Bush was trying to build support for the war in Iraq, suspending the weapons programs was all that he required, but now that he has proof of Iran suspending its programs, he says that's not enough. He says that they could start it up again.
Is this real? Are we going to act with hostility toward nations that might start a weapons program... and after that might develop nuclear weapons... and after that might attack someone? There are roughly nine nations worldwide that have nuclear weapons, and so far the only people that have ever attacked someone with them is the United States.
Why does the Bush administration think they can get away with this?
They know that you'll let them get away with it. Consistency is irrelevant. Their arguments don't even have to make sense anymore. You've proven you won't stand up and say anything.

Iacocca?

To be honest, I'm from a generation that remembers "Lee Iacocca" to be a funny name I heard a lot on the news as a child. That is to say that I was too young to understand his significance at the time, but do remember the frequency at which his name was said.
He was a Ford executive in the sixties and seventies, and then saved Chrysler from certain death in the eighties. He's never held political office, but has endorsed and supported to varying degrees both Republican and Democratic candidates.
My mother forwarded me an excerpted from his book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" (ISBN: 9781416532477). There's a few finer points that I can tell I probably disagree with him on, but the overall tone of the excerpt is definitely inline with how I feel right now and the tone of this blog.

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the "America" my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest 'C' is Crisis !

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day, and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero.

That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq; a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.

A Hell of a Mess

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy Assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to "Action" for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough."

So, can you get mad? Can you stop trying to turn off the world around you?