Terminology - Sticks and Stones

A few days ago I posted my reasons for planning to vote Democratic on Tuesday. In that piece I used the term "Republicants" as a response to the habit of GOP members to call my party Democrat instead of Democratic.

My intent was to make a point with a bit of humor. Response to my post caused me to second guess the use of this word. The attention of those opposing my positions tended to focus more on this one word than the points I was trying to make. My own, visceral response to the term "Democrat Party" should have warned me that would happen. Not long ago I listened to an interview with a Republican candidate on the radio. Much of what he said sounded reasonable and well-thought out. But he kept interjecting the term "Democrat Party" into his responses and every time he did, it made me less inclined to accept him at face value. For that reason, I have reconsidered using the term "Republicant."

I established this blog to state my positions (opinions) on issues that matter to me, hopefully in a manner that will convince those who differ to at least consider another side of those issues. Most opponents will be unmoved by my prose, some will react with anger and vitriol no matter how much logic and temperance I employ, but perhaps some few will pause and think "so that's where the other side is coming from."

I try to listen to different viewpoints. I even occasionally adjust my thinking after listening to those viewpoints. I do not come to my positions lightly and I do not expect others lightly to come by theirs. Screaming at each other in an attempt to drown each other out solves nothing, but oh, it is an easy pitfall in which to fall. I know it well. It is the reason I stated my intention to try to tamp down on my own tendency to rant when starting this blog.

Why I will vote Democratic on Tuesday

On November 2 I will vote Democratic because:

• I believe Senate Republicants had a genuine opportunity to positively affect legislation over the past 24 months and sacrificed it for political gamesmanship.
• I believe Republicant cries for fiscal responsibility lack credibility.
• I want to fix Social Security, not toss it on the tables of Wall Street casinos.
• I believe infrastructure investment is essential to this country's economic future.
• I believe in pro-active energy and environmental policies and regulation of food, drugs, the financial industry, trade and product safety.
• I am pro-choice, pro-gay rights and believe in the separation of church and state. I do not think the Republicant Party supports any part of this "agenda."
• I believe the 2008 presidential election was fairly won and I resent conservative right claims it was not.
• I believe the Democrats have a superior human rights record.
• I believe the interests of the super-wealthy and multinational corporations are more important to the Republicant Party than the interests of the American voters.
• There is no viable third party.

Note: When the Republicants stop using the term Democrat Party, I will stop using the term Republicant.

Getting Medical Attention

It hurt. It was late evening. I drove myself to the emergency room, parked and walked in. Registration asked if I needed help. I replied "Yes, please."

As I gave my insurance information and described my complaint, someone took my blood pressure, temperature and pulse. I was ushered into a cubicle, interviewed further, and the diagnostic tests began - blood, urine, ultra sound, MRI, X-ray. An IV was started. Yes, there was waiting between tests. But there was a process. I was being attended to. A diagnosis was made. Arrangements were made for admission. There was a further wait for a room. In the early morning hours I was taken to that room. Admittedly it was a bare bones affair in the section reserved for "overflow" patients, but I was receiving care.

After two days of care and additional tests, I got the operation I needed. A day and a half later I was discharged with careful instructions and meds.

I admit it. I take it for granted that if I am really sick, I will be able to get the medical help I need.

I worry about the recovery process and the arrival of the bills for the care I received because that is what I do - worry I mean. BUT, the health insurance my company struggles to pay each month will cover most of the costs. I am fairly confident I will be able to manage the rest without too much hardship.

I feel very fortunate. I cannot imagine how I would handle not being able to get that care. Yet I know that this country's health care resources are strained. We are not training enough physicians and other medical professionals to adequately serve our population and that population is aging. We have a new health care system that theoretically will make medical care available for just about everyone. But will we have the hospitals and personnel to back up that promise?

This past week brought home to me personally just how important that promise is.

Three Cheers for the Nursing Staff

As I sit here waiting for my final clearance from the surgeon so I can leave the hospital, I hear two different patients abusing the long suffering nursing staff. The patients are in the hospital because they are sick or injured. But their misery and complaints kept me awake all night and tried the patience of the nurses and aides. Health care professionals who already were over burdened by staffing shortages caused by illness and budget cuts. As I listen to staff's patient courteous response to these difficult patients I am impressed.

Given the long tough hours, difficult working conditions and sometimes downright abusive ingratitude, it amazes me anyone actually sticks to the profession. I am very, very grateful they do. I am especially grateful to all the RN's and health care professionals at Columbia Memorial Hospital who contributed to my care and comfort over the past week.

Campaign Finance: When you cannot follow the money... .

When you cannot follow the money behind hundreds of millions of dollars paid for election campaign ads on TV, radio, in the newspapers and the daily mail, you know the following:

• There are people and institutions that are willing to spend a great deal of money to get their candidates elected.
• These contributors do not want the public to know who they are.
• Even the shareholders of public companies cannot learn to whom and how much their companies are contributing.

Some concerns arise:

• Are the institutions using their funds in an attempt to "buy" the government?
• Do these anonymous donors have a secret agenda of which even the recipients of their largess are unaware?
• Since the donors are anonymous, is it possible foreign institutions, even foreign governments are trying to influence the U. S. elections?
• Many of the ads contain inaccuracies and out and out lies that only the well informed can discern.

When I, as an individual, contribute over $100 to a candidate's campaign, it always seems to become public. When these huge contributors, hiding behind so called charitable institutions, contribute millions, they appear able to do so without public fanfare.

This does not feel like American voters are engaged on an even playing field.

Foreclosure Moratorium Bad?

I hear the reasonable, soft-spoken voices of experts voice concern that a moratorium on foreclosures will prolong the housing crisis and delay the eventual recovery of the real estate market. They fear it will put the mortgage lenders in a difficult position. (Click on this post's title for a Wall Street Journal article on the subject.)

Just because these lenders forged paperwork when they could not locate the mortgage documents. Just because they attempted to streamline the foreclosure process with a tiny bit of perjury and skipping over a few minor details, like providing proof they owned the mortgages, surely is no reason for Draconian measures?

We all know they own these mortgages, right? Didn't they tell us so? Why should the lenders seeking foreclosures be tied up in red tape just to protect a few million homeowners and property titles for any new purchasers?

Ah, but wait. Wasn't it the mortgage lenders who tied up those mortgages in all that red tape to begin with?

Why Chile's Mining Rescue Grabbed Worldwide Attention

Mining is a dangerous occupation, carried on in narrow dark places deep in the earth's bowels by tough, hard-working people. Mining disasters rarely end with good news. The extraordinary effort made at Chile's San Jose mine that resulted in the rescue of all 33 miners and six rescue workers riveted our attention because it was technically difficult, there were many, many opportunities for missteps, until the last rescue worker returned to the surface there were no guarantees and it was an unprecedented event.

I often bemoan the media's obsessive inability to cover more than one story at a time. On Wednesday I checked in on the story throughout the day, rejoiced as the miners began to reach the surface and sighed in relief when the last rescue worker was once again safely above-ground.

In April 2010 no survivors were found and 29 miners died in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. It was the worst U. S. mine disaster in 40 years. The explosion came in the wake of eight citations of the mine during the preceding 12 months for methane-related mine safety violations. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/us/10westvirginia.html

On August 6, 2007 six miners were killed as the result of a catastrophic coal outburst at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. Ten days later, three rescue works died in another coal outburst and rescue operations ceased. The U. S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) subsequently fined the mine operator (Genwal Resources, Inc.) $1.64 million, citing violations that "directly contributed to the deaths of six miners... ." The operator was cited for 11 additional, noncontributory violations. Engineering consultant Agapito Associates Inc. was fined $220,000 for faulty analysis of the mine's design. http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2008/NR080724.asp

Coal mining, with its vulnerability to catastrophic explosions is especially dangerous. In addition to the West Virginia accident last April also saw an accident in China's Shanxi province in which 153 miners were trapped when an underground pit flooded. Most were rescued. But in another province 40 were killed in an underground explosion. By some estimates China loses thousands of miners to accidents every year. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1978668,00.html

So witnessing the spectacular rescue of 33 men who had been trapped 2300 feet under the earth's surface for 69 days was an intense, memorable experience we can only hope may somehow, someway improve the odds for all miners.

Chilean Miners Begin to Reach Surface

I awoke this morning to learn nine of the Chilean miners whose months' long imprisonment deep in the earth's bowels captured worldwide attention have been rescued!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39625809/ns/world_news-americas/

As I watched the ninth miner emerge from the San Jose Mine in the the capsule designed for the rescues, I burst into tears. The courage and stamina of the miners inspired the world. The dedication and ingenuity of the rescue team, the concern not only of the miners' families, but of their country and the international community, have been profoundly moving. Perhaps the techniques developed to rescue them will benefit others in the future.

The difficult painstaking rescues, in which one man at a time is slowly raised to the surface will continue for at least two days. The integrity of the tunnel dug for the rescue is critical. Until the last man safely reaches the surface, neither rescue workers or the families will rest easy.

After months of hardly daring to hope, the world got a little good news today. Thank God.

Hungary's Red Sludge: More Corporate Devastation of the Environment

According to The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/world/europe/12hungary.html?_r=1&hp

Hungary has arrested the managing director of the company responsible for polluting waterways with a poisonous red sludge that has killed eight, injured hundreds, devastated plant and animal life and destroyed millions of dollars in private property.

The government also retook control of the formerly state-owned MAL Zrt. In the meantime the officials are racing to construct a concrete barrier and emergency dam to contain the sludge before three huge gaps in the remaining wall fail.

Critics accuse the government of overreacting for political gain. Supporters claim it had no choice if it were to protect the public interest.

According to a report in the October 10 Bloomberg/Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-06/hungary-red-sludge-threatens-danube-commission-says.html, the release of the red sludge could reach the Danube River and threaten water supplies in neighboring countries. Hungary is engaged in heroic efforts to prevent the spill from spreading that far. The highly toxic sludge is a byproduct of alumina production and spilled from the Magyar Aluminum Zrt. Reservoir.

Are we helpless to prevent these constant attacks on our life support systems by the institutions that control our lives? Are we trying to commit species suicide? And if so, why oh why do we have to take so many other species with us?

Friedman on U. S. Goverment Dysfunction

(Click on this post's title for the article.)
Sometimes I read something that expresses my concerns far better than I can. Today it was Thomas Friedman's op-ed piece in The New York Times.

I consider this one a "must read."

Caveat Emptor: Customers as "Marks"

The 21st century style of cold calls or sales.
The office telephone rings. You answer and the caller demands, "I need to talk to the person in charge of the utility (or telephone, credit card, business insurance) account." You ask, "Who is calling?" The sternly toned response is, "Are YOU the person in charge of this account?"

The tone is officious and demanding. It intimates this call is from officialdom or from a vendor who has missed a payment or found a discrepancy in your account. Careful questioning is met with confrontational demands to "speak with the person in charge." The implication being no one else can be told what the caller has to say -- further creating the impression of a problem with an existing account.

If you ask to take a message, the caller usually refuses, asking when the person in charge will be available. If you say you are "the person in charge," the confrontational tone does not end. They are seeking to sell you a product change or addition. But the approach is that if you do not accept their product, you are making a serious mistake that could compromise your position and/or your business.

One such caller demanded, "Don't you know what deregulation means?" As if by resisting I was violating some kind of regulation.

The only way to terminate the call is to hang up. As long as you refuse their offers, they will continue to badger you.

Initially I assumed these callers were ill-suited to their jobs. Yesterday I had an Epiphany. The cold callers are TRAINED to bully the potential customers they call. It happens far too often to be accidental.

We inhabit a world in which customer abuse and lies have become the foundation of commerce. You cannot trust your banks, your credit card providers, your superstores, your computer hardware and software providers, the providers of your utilities, or your insurance companies. Every one of them will cheat and lie to you on a daily basis. It brings new understanding to the Roman saying "caveat emptor."

Fraudulent Foreclosures

Click on the post title for the New York Times article.

Financing giants JPMorgan Chase and GMAC "robo-signed" thousands of foreclosure documents without personal knowledge of the facts. This calls into question the legality of many previous foreclosures and clouds the titles on subsequently purchased foreclosed properties.

Surprise, surprise. The esoteric financial instruments into which mortgages were bundled and sold and rebundled and resold makes finding the mortgage paperwork almost impossible. This is probably the reason so many lenders have adamantly refused to renegotiate mortgages that are in danger of foreclosure. They have no idea how to proceed! This has not, however, deterred them from initiating foreclosure proceedings, which they confidently processed without doing the arduous homework.

Ugly, ugly example how today's super-corporations conduct business. Make no mistake, to them we are not considered customers, we are "marks."

Perhaps it's not perjury unless you get caught?

What NYS Dems and Repubs have in Common

Come November New York State voters in both major parties will have to hold their noses and up their blood pressure meds before casting their votes for governor.

I have heard life-long loyal Democrats express anger at having to vote for Andrew Cuomo. In my not-so-humble opinion, he just barely scrapes by as the lesser of two evils. Carl Paladino was discovered to have sent out racist, misogynistic and pornographic emails. Cuomo, on the other hand, is reputed to have built a impressive career stepping over the bodies of better men. Many suspect his behind the scene maneuverings in the downfalls of both Elliot Spitzer and David Paterson.

Moving on to the Senate and Assembly races one can only hope a tidal wave will sweep through both bodies and somehow cleanse the slime. Hope is the key word here. Neither party has anything to boast about, but the Democrats actually come out worse following their complete botching of the majority they achieved in the Senate at the last election. A plague on both their houses. Throwing out incumbents should be a voter priority.

They're Wagging Their Fingers at Me?

Election season is in full sway. The robo-calls and phony surveys are constant. As a registered Democrat, I get lots and lots of automated calls, usually just as I have sat down for dinner or become absorbed in a favorite TV show. The week before the Primary was very heavy.

The television ads range the usual mix of down home, love my family and community feel-good spots to the mysterious Over 60 group's attack on my congressman for "following Nancy Pelosi's agenda". This one even trumps the Paladino and Cuomo ads on the nasty meter.

The Democratic Party is holding onto my membership by a thread, largely because the Republicant Party has veered so far to the right and steadfastly clung to its failed policies of the past decade, I quite simply cannot go there.

So how does the party to which I have belonged all my adult life seek my vote?
Vice President Biden tells me to "stop whining." President Obama stands behind his podium wagging his finger at me and telling me the election is too important for me not to vote, no matter how unhappy I am with the limitations and shortfalls of the party's achievements since his election.

When all else fails, attack your base? Are these guys TRYING to lose their Congressional majority?

Perhaps, as Thomas Friedman suggests in his op-ed piece in today's New York Times, there is another way. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/opinion/03friedman.html?_r=1&hp

Change

Every liberal elitist like myself, should have a wonderful, conservative Republican friend like my friend, Bob. It helps to keep me grounded. The following post is an email Bob sent to me:

I'm dreadfully worried about the real possibility of a time of deflation. No matter how good the government is at dissembling and obfuscation, the truth will out. The signs are all there and unless there has been a "Jim Jones"-like drinking of the waters of the River Teethe, our leaders must, surely remember what led to the Great Depression.

Impossible, they say. Too many safeguards.

The truth of the matter is that, no, we are not a nation in transition from an agrarian society to a manufacturing one as we were in 1929; however, we are in a dramatic transition from a manufacturing society to an information-based society. All change exposes our underbelly and so makes us vulnerable to mortal wounding. This is our situation today.

The sea change underway is riddled with underwater challenges that make the journey difficult to navigate and treacherous -- possibly fatal to a nation that sets sail on these challenging waters with no navigational guides. The acceptance of a global marketplace is the only chart available that can be followed. Absent our embracing of this Absolute, deflation and continued degradation of our financial system are certain. I'm so worried about this possibility that I usually don't even discuss it, lest it become, somehow, self-fulfilling.

One cannot pick up a factory and move it easily from one place to another to take advantage of a more favorable business environment. Static brick and mortar edifices are so "yesterday." Today, a person sitting at her computer while on vacation in Puerto Rico can order raw material from Africa, have it sent to China for manufacturing, hire a phone marketing firm in the Philippines to sell the product and contract with Fed Ex to warehouse the product and to provide third party logistics to ship it anywhere in the world. One never needs to see or touch one's product! All that is required is a five hundred dollar laptop.

This is the new paradigm. The whole world is in play. This IS our world today. Many mistakes will be made and hopefully we will learn from them. The waters will roil as they strike unforeseen and hidden obstacles. Such is the way of change. The miracle is that we will survive and thrive. I know this to be true.