Hickory Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Hearn, and Failure

I have just read one of the most amazing statement I have ever seen in my entire life. Mr. Daniel Hearn, President and CEO of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce, made it in the December, 2009 issue of “Hickory Living” in the column called “Inside the Chamber”.

In an article titled “Campaign for Free Enterprise”, Mr. Hearn stated that “Government . . . cannot compete in the private sector in such areas as health care, for one simple reason. In order for free enterprise and competition to work, there must be the potential for failure.”

My immediate response would come as a question to Mr. Hearn asking him which part of his own health care plan would he like to see subject to failure. Particularly since many Americans have seen their health care plan fail when they were diagnosed with serious illness, or suffered serious injury. And when you do name that part of the American health care plan you would like to see subject to failure, Mr. Hearn, please pick a part of it which has not yet already failed.

While we are at it, I would like for Mr. Hearn to also describe which part of his own retirement plan he would like to see subject to failing, particularly after he had paid into it for forty or so years, like many Americans have experienced with their own retirement plans in the past three or four years.

Mr. Hearn elaborates on his statement by claiming that if a company has no possibility of failure, “ . . . then why would you worry about providing he best quality, service and cost for that product of service?” Obviously he has not noticed that when the big businesses failures of 2009 occurred, it was the “owners” of the companies who found themselves with suddenly worthless stock, while the management floated away on golden balloons.

I think Mr. Hearn has just shown the most compelling reason why the United States Government must control the people’s health care and retirement systems. If anything in any country is too big or too important to fail, then it must be the protection of the health and well-being of its workforce.

Tiger Woods Has Company in High Places

Always amazing that another great man, who appears to have everything that any man could ever desire, would fall victim to a series of sexual liaisons.

Words are slowly bubbling up and floating out across the networks that Tiger has always been a bit coarse with his language and had seemed discourteous to a number of people in the past. Those bubbles could never sail in the presence of his perfect aura - but once that is dinged, then those images begin to fit into place in the new puzzle we find before us.

The work of the National Inquirer, that media counterpart to the earthworms and vultures of nature, pays off again and it has found another one and pulled it out of the mud.

And so what? What business is it of ours that Tiger Woods screwed up? Spitzer, and Edwards and Sanford and Ensign and Baucus and Clinton (Bill), and all those countless others were different. They had taken oaths to enforce the nation’s laws. They presented themselves as candidates for offices of great worth. They sought and still seek the spotlight, they support transparency, they propound family values and present themselves as honest, trustworthy, reliable caretakers of our great values. We need to know about the personal integrity of these officeholders, but what about Tiger?

Tiger Wood’s problem is that he has come - through CONSIDERABLE effort on his own part - to present himself as one of the great role models of all time. Not just for the average golfers either, the guys who are in their twenties, thirties and beyond, but for their children and for kids in general. Fathers have pointed out Tiger Woods to their children. “You too can be like Tiger, someday.” The moral they learn is that if we work hard and learn, and do things right, we can all be like Tiger, and you can too! You can be just like Tiger is. Now what do these fathers say?

Tiger Woods also was a great participant in a significant breaking of a part of that old thing we used to call the “color barrier”. There were some things that black people just couldn’t do. Golf was one of them. Woods smashed that old concept to regions far beyond Pluto. A LOT of people, many, many of them who were white, took great pride in that, and were proud of Woods. And Tiger was such a fine man too, a wonderful role model again. And again, the role model part was played well and embellished by Woods.

One more thing. Sports itself seems to have fallen into the black hole of capitalistic commercialism. Drugs, money, advertising, testimonials and hype seem to fuel all the sports we have, reminding us all that the word "sport" has two definitions. One definition concerns the display of skill and ability, the other refers to making fun of something, to jest, to fool. So now Tiger has shown that he is making sport of us. He fools us, we pay him money, he fools us again. Then the fire hydrant appeared - or didn't appear - at least in time to avoid it.

So is it all about sex? I really don’t think so. I think it has to be a matter of power. These transgressors are people who see themselves as being beyond the masses. They can do things that “people” can’t do. Laws and values and such are for the ordinary folks. These immortals are well beyond that, at least in their own minds, and they can get away with anything because they are so good at what they do. Another thing. All these people have "protectors". These are the people who take care of the famous ones, they open the doors, make the phone calls, deliver alibis, and dispense smoke. They’re good too. But they’re not 100%, not 100% of the time.

What can Woods do now? Now that he has found that life itself is very like the game of golf in that it is also full of holes. Well, he has always been an example standing out there in the open waiting for followers to become part of his gallery. Let’s see if he has the ability to learn and play in this great new game that life has now laid out for him.

Jamie Leigh Jones, KBR, and Senator Burr

Jamie Leigh Jones volunteered in 2005, when she was 19 years old, to work for KBR in Iraq. To secure the position she was required by the company to sign an agreement that any issues she might have with the corporation would be referred to binding arbitration. Shortly after arriving in Iraq she was drugged, gang-raped and beaten by her coworkers at KBR. She suffered serious injuries to her breasts and genitals, and obvious mental trauma. The KBR employees who had assaulted her then prevented her from receiving medical care and kept her locked her in a shipping container for more than a day following the assault. She was told by KBR that if she left Iraq for medical treatment she would lose her job. KBR claimed her assault was part of the job and therefore required to be resolved by arbitration and she could not sue in court. It should be noted from the start that if Ms. Jones had been serving in the United States military she would have had the entire resources of the Universal Code of Military Justice at her service. If she had been simply "visiting" she would have had other options. But because she was an employee of an American corporation serving the Defense Department, that corporation claimed that by signing the contract with KBR she could be denied the constitutional rights of an American citizen.

After 15 months of arbitration, Jones and her lawyers did sue KBR in District Court and the court ruled that the Jones assault was not related to her employment and therefore not required to be settled under arbitration and her lawsuit can go forward.

While this hearing was proceeding, Senator Franken introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill in November, 2009, providing that defense companies attempting to deny American citizens working for them their legal rights in American courts should be denied access to defense expenditures or any other payment from U. S. taxpayer funds. The measure passed 68 to 30. All 30 senators voting against the amendment were members of the Republican Party, Senator Burr being one of the thirty.

I called Senator Burr four times asking him to respond in writing to me about this vote. What did it mean to him, why did he cast it, and what was his intention?

On November 16, 2009, Senator Burr wrote to defend his vote, claiming the amendment unfairly discriminates against American corporations, because employment arbitration agreements can not cover claims involving personal injury, assault, etc. to begin with, therefore Ms. Jones could have brought action against her employer in federal court. The fact that KBR had blocked Ms. Jones attempt to do this for over a year was not discussed by Senator Burr.

Senator Burr also refers to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which he says allows the federal government to prosecute crimes committed by U.S. military contractors working overseas. Senator Burr does not comment however, why the federal government did NOT prosecute these crimes which were committed by U. S. military contractors working overseas - these crimes against an American citizen. Senator Burr can probably still take action to see that the federal government does prosecute these crimes committed by U. S. military contractors working overseas. I hope he will.

Personally, I can’t believe that Senator Burr really wants to place the interests of corporations over justice for rape victims, but I have to read his vote as stating that while he thinks rape is serious of course, and so are some other crimes, still they are not THAT important in this war which has already cost so many lives and run about a trillion dollars. He seems to me to be saying that KBR, in this case, is too important to fail, and maybe we should not make them mad.

But at that point in his letter, Senator Burr - to my mind - rests his case. My question to him now is the same as it was back in November: Why can KBR, by virtue of the fact that it is a major defense contractor, deny access of any American citizen to the federal justice system? I really think the full impact of Senator Franken’s amendment will not fall upon Ms. Jones, but upon other victims who have not had the courage or resources to come forward until now.

This type of action allegedly carried out by KBR is not dissimilar to the attack on the United States on 9-11. It too is terrorism. It too is an attack against American citizens by an organization which is opposed to American principles.

Senator Burr’s vote is also a form of terrorism, an attack against American citizens by an individual who is opposed to American principles. Shame on you Senator Burr, may the shame you have brought to America by this vote find its final resting place on your shoulders.

National Health Care

The wealth and power of any nation depends on the production that its citizens can create. One of the most important resources any nation will ever have therefore, is a healthy workforce. That resource is far too important to be left to commercial corporations who must, by their very structure, subordinate that national need to their own need for profit.

Commercial businesses operate on a short-term basis, usually from one quarter (a three month calendar period) to the next. Commercial health care corporations plan their services and operations based on that calendar system, because the well being of those corporations depend on their profit, and their sale of stock, but the health care of the nation is an on-going, long-term project requiring elaborate planning for events that will occur a generation or more into the future.

Our present system has already produced close to 50 million Americans who have no health insurance at all, perhaps 50 million more who are under-insured. Many Americans who do have health-care insurance they like, still depend on their employer to provide it and are dependent upon and bound to that company. They can’t quit their job, or look for another job or move because they may not be eligible for ANY health care if they give up their current plan. And since many American businesses also carry a portion of their employees health care costs they find themselves at a disadvantage when competing in the global economy with companies from other nations who do not carry these costs.

Will a governmental health care plan cause an increase in taxes? Probably. But America is currently paying - for its dangerously ineffective health insurance system - about twice as much as any other nation in the world and getting about half as much in return. Taxes may go up, but the price we are paying commercial insurance corporations may totally vanish! Not only will we become healthier, but we will have more money too. And even if we do pay additional taxes, we will get most of that back in care. And even if you or I do not need health care at all in any given period, we will all still realize benefits from having a healthier national workforce with more discretionary money to spend.

How do we implement this national health care? Begin with Medicare. Expand that to include ALL citizens. Phase it in over say, five years or even less. That will give us the strongest possible public option, we will then have a single-payer, single-collector system, and the prices will be set by health care providers and consumers working together under governmental regulations. Together we can improve this system as new opportunities become available. According to reliable polls the majority of American citizens want a single payer system with a strong public option, and most of the American health care providers want that system too. Medicare has been one of the most popular services our government has ever provided.

What would our founding fathers think? Well, remember they lived before the discovery of the germ theory of disease in a nation of less than four million people, aproximately 15% of which were slaves, and about half of which could not vote (because they were women), transportation depended on horses and the wind, communication was accomplished with quill pens, and the life expectancy of Americans was about 35 years. They designed a magnificant political structure for the world they lived in. We now live in a vastly different world. Hello?

Happy Veterans Day?

Once upon a summertime, some forty years ago, a playful picture was made of a man and his son fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. This seems a proper way to spend a day in the good ole summer time even though on the next Wednesday, this man left his children, his wife and his country. He left to return to Vietnam. His country needed him there. Again.

Someone gave me a card today. It said “Thanks for serving our country. Our veterans are our true heroes.” I didn’t know what to say. I was actually shocked. I wasn’t expecting it. I was kind of embarrassed. Such a thing had never happened before. The last time someone commented about my service to my country was when I returned from my second tour in Vietnam. A wealthy-looking guy in San Francisco airport, wearing a hound’s tooth cap with a red feather in it, spat in my face, and he got away. Next day two people got up and walked out of my church when I attended. One of them called me “Baby Killer!” The priest said I was a hero. I had eight days before I was to return to Vietnam for another tour. Since then there haven’t been any more comments. it has been a form of don’t ask - don’t tell. I don’t tell them I am a veteran and they don’t say anything nasty. It has worked out OK. I don’t need to say anything. Or do I? There are some issues. Here are just four of them.

1) Of those who saw combat in Vietnam, 85% later divorced, leaving their children to swim in uncertain waters and to change plans they had made all their lives.
2) That tonight, like every night, some 100,000 veterans are homeless. Spending the night in shelters, under bridges, on streets, in public parks.
3) That some 2,200 veterans died in 2009, as in every year, simply because they did not have access to health care - that’s six a day, one every four hours. Because they can’t get medical care in the country they served.
4) That in America, which has more people in prison and jail than any other nation in the world, one out of every seven inmates is a veteran.

Military service to one’s country can be fatal. Sometimes it leaves a person maimed or seriously injured. Injuries to the body can be understood by Americans, because they can see and react to that to a degree. Injuries to the mind and spirit and to the soul though, are to be hidden. When they become evident they are seen as a weakness in character beyond hope or care. They obviously can’t be helped, they don’t get better and may get a lot worse very quickly. The proper response seems to be punishment or isolation. And if those people will stay out of our way, and hide and say nothing, we will continue to ignore them and pretend they really don't exist. For one more day.

Happy Veterans Day.

Senator Robert Byrd

Any Requiem for Robert Byrd must include a dirge for his state.

Some comment seems appropriate as a person arrives at a remarkable achievement in our nation's records. Today Robert Byrd will have served his state longer than anyone else has ever served any other state. The people of West Virginia have elected and reelected him some 10 or 11 times either as a representative or senator, the last 56 years as senator. He’s not been around much lately because he is in poor health. So is his state.

Robert Byrd represents MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL. That’s a process in which mountain tops are scraped by vehicles the size of Delaware and pushed to uncover coal that lies under the ground. The tops then slide down into and fill up the valleys that used to carry streams through West Virginia. Byrd has been “unable” to prevent this. Not only that, but his people are still dependent on coal. Not the marketing of it or the selling of it but the other end of it, digging it out and breathing it in.

As Byrd completes his 56th year as their senator, the people of West Virginia rank among the highest in the nation in low life expectancy 46, high infant mortality 40, tooth loss 50, suicide 42, poor education 37 and mental health problems 50th. These are the people who continue to vote for him.

Is it fair to blame the condition of a state on its elected official? Why not? Particularly when they have been in office for 56 years. But I am not blaming Robert Byrd for all of his state’s problems. I am blaming the electorate.

Ft Hood, the Muslim and us, and Gods Galore.

There was a bad shooting on Fort Hood, Texas. Soldiers were killed by a gunman. That is not possible. How could such a thing happen on a military base? Then we find the killer was an officer. The impossible story just became totally unbelievable. More information tells us the kiiller was a MAJOR - a field-grade officer! Now we know this has to be a lie! But there is still more to come - we find out that he is also a medical doctor as well! NO- NO- NO- we can't believe that! And THEN we are told he is a psychairist! This is the craziest tale we have ever heard. Finally, word comes out that he is a Muslim. Oh Thank God!!! Now it all makes sense.

But there is still more . . . because as we learn about the killings and the prelude and the killer and the place and the emotions involved, we finally know that as a nation, that we are falling from the sky, slowly spinning down out of control. Nothing is planned anymore and then carried out, all is simply falling down to crash into the streets. Values are grimly abandoned, guns are grimly bought, hatred grimly simmers, vengence is now OURS dammit, too important to be left to some stupid lord to play around with. God can't begin to understand how MAD we have become. Allah has clearly become a pain in the rear, Yahweh revealed to be an raving child. ALL those Gods have to just cool it and go the hell away - at least for a while - when we get it straightened out then maybe, just maybe, we will give them another chance. Dammit, they just don't understand how MAD we have become!

Could it really be possible as some have already been so bold to say, that first man was created and then man created god in his own image? Are the Lord God, Allah and Yahweh only images graven in mankind's own petty likeness so he can bow down before his own imaginary creations and worship an exalted version of himself? Such a story would account for the world we have now created for ourselves, one in which we kill each other to honor, avenge and even just simply "please" our own separate gods.

Dover Air Force Base

Dover is a large Air Force Base, and like many military installations it is located away from a lot of the country. It is on the ocean and smells of salt and the sea, and the wind seems to always blow in like it is so glad to finally reach land. It will embrace you and it can take your breath away.

There is a lot of traffic in and out of Dover. It connects to Germany and England and sometimes surprisingly far into Europe and also has flights to other strange places like California. It is one of several major international airports right around here, but it is not at all like Andrews AFB, or Baltimore-Washington International, both of which are close by and which also handle a lot of aircraft. Those places are mainly to receive VIPs and for real quick turnarounds for everybody else. People who land there run inside, grab a drink, a bite to eat, they race to another plane and are gone in a hurry. Dover handles a lot of heavy equipment that needs repair, worn-out trucks, beat-up helicopters, and big weapons shipped back for repairs. And it has a morgue. Things slow down in Dover. Dover is the place where time finally comes to an end and quits.

If you are flying out of Dover you will need to park your car in the Long Term Lot. You have to drive a little way past the morgue and secure your car and then walk back to the terminal. You get a good look at the Port Mortuary. It doesn’t look too different from the rest of the base in the daytime, but at night it seems aloof, as if preoccupied in its own thoughts, perhaps more like a poker player who is pretending to ignore you but you know you're being watched carefully. You can’t help notice that the left side of the building has roof that appears to be made of glass, it looks like frosted glass. And it glows in the night as if it is cold inside there. Outside, the night is warm, and the breeze off the ocean builds in intensity.

If you are there at 10:00 p.m., something strange happens. Quietly at first comes a sound that flows across the base, slowly building into a bugle call, softly playing the song we all know as “Taps”. “Day is done, gone the sun. From the lakes, from the hills, from the run. All is well, safely rest; God is nigh.”

And then all that is left is the wind.

Why Fox News IS Different

Not all words can be defined. Most of Plato’s Socratic dialogs argue over concepts that were born without benefit of definition. Many other statements we use today may carry meaning for us but still cannot be defined. “Fascism” is such a word. It can either not be defined at all or else defined in so many ways that it has even less meaning than when the enquiry began.

Philosophers live in this type of world. When they examine a word, they begin with its definition. If it has none they can agree on, they begin by listing the most important characteristics that its use conveys. In the case of “fascism” a number of characteristics are readily available. And that’s where Fox News performs a great service for the rest of us.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of a fascist organization is that its entire work reflects and supports the personality of its leader, or the leading faction of the organization. We see the North Korean economy, arts, military, agriculture, education system, and ALL other institutions mimic Kim Jong-il’s beliefs and attitudes. Same for Myanmar and Than Shwe, also for Somalia, Libya, and several other nations. That means that whatever happens in the world will be reported and discussed in those countries through the personality of their leader or the controlling faction. Whether it is even reported or not will be determined by the leading group. If it is discussed it will be colored by the wishes, opinions, prejudices and goals of its leading faction.

The word “fascism” comes from the Italian, “fasces” or “bundle”, and refers to the old demonstration that one arrow can be broken over one’s knee, also two and three, even more perhaps, but eventually the number of arrows (or other items) becomes so great, when they are “bundled together” they cannot be broken. So you have a country, or an organization that is completely united, all aiming in the same direction and each supporting the other. That’s power. It may also be good business when the business is plowing, manufacturing, selling and producing. But it may be counter-productive when the business of the organization is scientific research, medical care, or collecting, reporting and analyzing the news of the day. But a fascist organization will perform its scientific research, medical care and news delivery to affirm the prejudices and justify the goals of its leader.

There are other characteristics of a fascist organization. Most of them try to generate mass movements of public opinion. Don’t most political parties? Yes, but this is where the fascist organizations have a great advantage. The U. S. Democratic Party, for example would NEVER be mistaken for a fascist organization. They may have a huge bundle of arrows but they are all pointing in different directions. Fascist organizations have rock solid discipline and are always united and walking in lock-step. They don't need debate or to ask questions, because the goal has already been determined, all they have to do is what they have been told to do. They also shine with predetermined doctrines and slogans. They almost always exhort reaction to save their country, organization, business from a declining status. They come to rescue their people from humility, and extol purity and patriotism. They need a “great power” that must be resisted to use as their recruiting tool. They have hallowed ground they refer to often, back to their (our) fathers, great historical moments and such.

So Fox News seems to be an organization that is strong and capable of doing work. No one will ever accuse it of shirking its duties. But it is clear that its duties do not include finding, reporting and analyzing the events of daily occurrence in the world. Everything they report comes with a constant, familiar and coordinated spin. Their listeners appear to be a faithful and loyal group. In this world of constant confusion, random events, stress and terror, Fox's followers are never surprised. Especially when the latest happening is explained, as it is presented to them, as having be caused by a great power they must continue to resist to prevent their nation from falling from its glorious historical past into humility, and that theirs is the cause of purity, salvation, glory and honor. And they, the Fox watchers, have important, informed, intelligent and forceful leaders who DO know what to do, even if their elected officials do not know what to do and how to do it, because the Fox reporters demonstrate what we all MUST do by reciting the necessary slogans and defined doctrines to lead our way. These comments are carefully selected and well organized lesson plans.

Balanced? No. Fair? No. News? No. Fox? Yes.

Depends on Whose Ox is Being Stimulated

Concerning complaints from republicans about the stimulus spending, I commented already on the Washington Post ". . . we have fought several wars without tax increases - there has to be some 'consequenches' to that . . ." We are now fighting 2 unfunded wars to nowhere that have already given $3,000,000,000,000 largely to Boeing, Halliburton, KBR and others who are now using our money to buy our congressmen - and though many of the congressmen have been removed, in my part of the country the congressmen are still there . . . and oh yes, the wars still go on too. Still unfunded. Still open spigotted.

You Can Call Me Joe.

At least I got noticed. Page 2B CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, Sunday October 18, 2009. They mentioned that "Joe" Womack, a hickory-based blogger had been de-friended on Facebook by McHenry after comments Womack made on his "Pretty Penny" blog about why even have any health-insurance companies and how McHenry had told Womack that he had a page for friends and another for "other people".

Patrick McHenry and Health Care

Received email from Patrick McHenry about how America has the best health care system in the entire world, and there are some minor areas that need attention. He apparently sees our system as being not-quite perfect but well on the way. My response:

Mr. McHenry, America does NOT have the best health care system in the world, but falls far short of ALL other developed nations in the world, with over 45 million Americans totally uninsured, and perhaps another 45 million under-insured. Additionally, many American businesses find themselves carrying the cost of providing insurance of their workers as they compete in the new global economy - and they are the only ones who have this cost.

Here's what to do. 1) Provide Medicare for All. All Americans would be insured and the waste and additional costs (profits) of the insurance companies could be used for American health-care. The medical profession would no longer have 100+ insurance firms to deal with, but with only one single payer. 2) Failing that, devise ANY system you want BUT provide a public option in that system. Then let the American people make the decision themselves.

John Womack

Disappearing Constituent of Patrick McHenry

Patrick McHenry is my congressman. He represents me in the United States House of Representatives. He is also on Facebook where he seeks "friends" to advise him on matters of our state and nation. I became his "friend" and enjoyed making suggestions to him and asking him questions. Some of his other "friends" apparently did not care for my suggestions or questions, Both my intelligence and my integrity were called into question, then covered with contemptuous comments Finally, I began to notice that no more comments were forthcoming from Mr. McHenry, and slowly it dawned on me that I had been "de-friended". All for asking the one questions of why we even need health insurance companies at all. We have the supply-demand equation between the medical profession and the American people. All we need to add to that is for the federal government to regulate the industry and provide its own insurance to the people, since the nation itself is the real beneficiary of having healthy workers who can be efficient, effective and productive.

After I realized what had happened, I wrote an "Open Comment" to Mr. McHenry asking why I had become de-friended since I was only trying to help him as one of his constituents.

A week and a half later, Mr. McHenry answered saying that "that" Facebook page was for his "Friends", that "others" could contact him on another Facebook page. So I went there and found I still had to become a "Fan" of Mr. McHenry, and I did. Then I wrote that same question from before and sent it. I watched it after it was sent and was rereading it to make sure there were no errors when it disappeared! Wow. So I wrote another question asking Mr. McHenry I can't ask him any questions, sent it and was looking at it when it disappeared too. At least I taped the second question attempt.


Mr. McHenry wrote me again today and said "you can ask me any questions you want." Yeah, sure.

Get Rid of Health Insurance Companies

Why do we even HAVE health-insurance companies? Health care is basically a supply-demand equation and we Americans know how to handle that. We buy groceries, houses, computers, automobiles, clothing, education and so on without any insurance “gatekeepers” to tell us “OK, you can have a Ford but not a Pontiac” or “no, you can’t buy a coat this winter, you bought one last year.” Or "you can't have anymore generic DVDs, you will have to buy these which cost ten times as much." And it’s not like we don’t all use health-care. Americans use health-care to get born, we use a lot of it when we die, and we all need teeth repaired and glasses. From time to time, we all have accidents and get sick and we all need health care. We "demand" medical services and we have a top-notch medical industry of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and organizations who can "supply" those services. Why do we think we need a gate-keeper to tell us we can have this but not that, or a certain procedure will cost more than we can afford so we can't have it, or that pills the doctor has prescribed will cost $600 a month?

We can take care of ourselves together as a nation like we used to do on the frontier, and supply-demand will work in this industry like it does elsewhere. All of the money these insurance companies get is money we pay to them, then they give a little bit of it back to us in the form of permission to get some medical service, and the rest goes for their own profit, to their rich CEOs and to buy off our senators and representatives. Let's get rid of ALL health insurance companies and let the citizens of the United States collectively provide for our own general welfare.

Joe Wilson and Hitler

South Carolina congressman Joe Wilson pointed his finger at President Obama, while the president was delivering a message to the American people, and shouted loudly “You lie!”. Wilson later apologized and said he was sorry. He acted “spontaneously”, he said. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would have shot at the president had he brought his gun.

Wilson’s attempt to disgrace the office of the President of the United States, cast immeasurably more contempt upon the Congress itself, and the house in which he acted. Meanwhile, before the Wilson outburst, the Republican part of the chamber occasionally resembled a snake pit, with the sound of hissing coming from there. There were occasional boos heard also. Some of the Republican representatives had placards, one wore a sign around his neck, others waved pieces of paper in the air. Apparently the Republican leaders felt all this was all part of a civil discourse, even though the only thing they have told the American people for the past seven months is the word "No!".

The Republican Party is beginning to look more and more as if they have been remade into a different political party, with the Hallway Hooligans of Miami as their Founding Fathers. Their new symbol is the belligerent shout and pointed finger, the threat, the talking points screamed again over and over - even though they contain no truth. Talk about Hitler? His real trademark was not his pathetic mustache, it was The Big Lie. That has become the New Republican marching banner. The Screamed Big Lie.

Nontheless Wilson may have really accomplished something of worth - something that President Obama couldn’t do on his own: the unification of the Democratic Party.

The New American Imprint

It wasn't really the fault of the “No Child Left Behind” act, but the law was new and available, and particularly after the attacks of 9-11 it worked. Here's how.

In order to implement that program a series of procedures and tests were developed and added to the practice of education in the United States. This included a cascading series of program measures and performance standards implementing several new and different methods of teaching and providing measurement of the effectiveness of all teaching. New standardized tests were designed so any qualified manager or administrator, including those with no knowledge of the profession of teaching, could evaluate the work of the teaching professionals and these controls were fed back into the schools. Teachers and administrators who trained their students to score well on those tests were rewarded and those whose students did poorly on the standardized tests were sometimes remediated, demoted or even eliminated. Retention of teachers began to depend upon their students’ scores.

One of the results of this program is that an increasing number of students are now being taught answers rather than processes. Instead of learning to observe, analyze, test, question, evaluate, make decisions and then express their conclusions in writing, they are learning that the finding and identification of answers is the ultimate objective and goal of the education process. Too many of our children now go through school, taking tests, passing them, graduate and go on into the workforce still looking for answers without ever having ever learned how to ask important questions or to explore unfamiliar circumstances.

Now come issues into their lives. Health care for example. Not having been truly educated, they quickly look for answers. And answers are always available. News programs appear before them. Some provide an overview of applicable events with discussion and analysis, others provide authoritative answers that are often attributed into or authorized by religious, cultural or regional belief systems which also provide only answers, and which also prohibit any observation, analysis or questioning.

Now, once you know the answer (THE answer) to an issue, any counter claim is clearly specious. If people attempt to develop counter-observations, it would have to be because they don’t know the right answer. If they continue after they have been told the right answer, their purpose is deemed false, insulting and pernicious, and often tied into alien religions, cultural, regional or even racial prejudices. Scientific theories fall under the power of religious "knowledge", progress into new technologies are regulated by laws and understandings of the late 1700s, economic conquest of the free market system is OK because it is good to be selfish - economically, that is.

Thus the groundwork has been set to develop and nurture a generation of young adults who appear smart, act confident and seem knowledgeable. Yet they are also unable to function in a political, economic and social environment that is or has been filled with confusion and uncertainty. Their training leads them to provide answers, or to look for them. Under these conditions, a SMALL GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS in any country can begin to insert their intentions into a stable order. An issue is made to become contentious. An assembly of the people is called, then interrupted by demonstrations, discussion by screaming and shouting. Claims are advanced and connections are shown to traditional religious, ethnic, cultural or regional beliefs. Under conditions such as these, particularly when people have been properly imprinted during their learning years, fascism and totalitarianism can appear to be friendly, familiar, comfortable and intelligent alternatives. Here is where the answers are provided after all, and the instructions can not be far behind.

Health Insurance, or Insurance Insurance?

No one should die because they cannot afford health care. No one should go broke because they get sick. No one should be denied medical care by their own insurer or because of any preexisting conditions. No one should stay in a job because they are afraid to lose their insurance.

What we have in America now is not concerned about anybody's health, or even about medical care. It is only about money. It is a way of transferring money from working people to hugely profitable insurance and pharmaceutical companies. If you can't pay money, they don't want you. You can go die for all they care. Their ONLY objective is to make more money this quarter than they did last quarter. What do they do with all that money? A lot of it goes to pay your senators and congressional representatives to "help them out" with money for fundraising in return for favorable legislation and regulations. (And if those in congress don't see it the way the companies want, that money can go for someone to run against them!)

The idea that you can only buy medical insurance from the place you work makes no more sense than if they had to approve of your wife or husband before you could get married. That you lose your insurance if you quit or move means that people who are now ill or injured HAVE to remain with that same company the rest of their life - or until they get let go. That the businesses themselves have to pay part of their employees medical insurance is to severely handicap them in the current global economy - German businesses don't pay those costs, neither do Great Britain's, or France's, or Canada's, or Spain's or anywhere in Europe.

We have a GOOD government health care now already in place. There is Medicare and the Veterans care programs. Medicare For All can be implemented quickly. The insurance companies don't like Medicare because it sets prices at a fair value, not the inflated value charged by the doctors and hospitals. The problems that Medicare is now encountering is because doctors and hospitals don't want to have to settle for that "fair" rate because they need more money so they can pay THEIR insurance companies.

The insurance companies want to continue the current program because they can now negotiate with 50 different states, and a large number of different hospitals and providers. That creates inefficiencies, inequities, confusion and forces most of the states and providers to negotiate from a position of vulnerability and uncertainty.

Let's have one payer, one collector. Let it be the United States Government. The bureaucrats will not check your pulse, palpate your prostate, listen to your lungs or anything else - they will monitor the costs, help medical people develop generally accepted medical procedures and tests, and provide for the payment of all bills.

Taxes will go up? What do you call the "tax" you now pay to your insurance companies for continued apprehension and uncertainty? With government regulating the single-payer system, you will not only have real medical care but you will also have MORE money left over. And you can't EVER get wiped out if you get really sick or have a really bad accident. All the rest of us will help you out like back in the old frontier days. How's that for REAL insurance?

Western Carolina Peace Initiative

A Presentation by John Womack

A speech delivered at the
Western Carolina Peace Initiative
Western Carolina University
February 28, 2003
by John Womack


 Friends, I salute you for standing out here in this cold rain and making an important commitment for democracy and world peace. Today we are poised at a great turning point in world history and we watch together in awe as great energies sweep across our country and the world. Problems seem to create more problems and we all know that something has to be done, yet many Americans are uneasy with a constant focus on war as the solution to any of those problems. Quite literally, issues of heaven and hell are being secretly decided in Washington, D.C., and the people of the world have not been consulted, and have not been listened to. Well, this is our response!

First, congratulations on the name you have chosen: the Western Carolina Peace Initiative. I applaud your important emphasis on "peace" rather than war. If someone is antiwar, they are tied to a war, and on some level they need a war so they can continue. But if you work for peace then you have a different objective, a different focus, and will build and serve a different agenda. In some ways it is too bad the Vietnam antiwar movement dispersed, but they were not able turn their great momentum into a force for peace. The message we learn from their victory and subsequent dispersal is that a lack of a war is not necessarily Peace. But those antiwar people of a previous generation did their job well and they prepared the ground for those who would follow them. Now, it is our job. Understand this: we are not trying to overthrow our own government - or any government for that matter. The only "regime changes" we seek are those that take place through peaceful and legal procedures. What we are saying by gathering here today and tomorrow, and all those other tomorrows yet to come, is that: War Doesn't Work! War is no longer a legitimate way to solve problems! Our message becomes simply this: We Must Find Another Way!

Let's be fair about it, we are not rejecting war out of hand. We are not faulting war on some theoretical concept, but on absolute empirical proof. We have tried war; we have tried and tried and tried again - all of us are guilty, every nation - Americans have tried especially hard to make war work. We gave it our best shot - and it still didn't work. We have fought everybody in the whole world: the British, the French, Germans, Russians, the Spanish, Mexicans, Chinese, Iraqis, Iranians, Koreans; we've fought Japan, Italy, Panama, the Philippines, Cuba, our own Native Americans, the black slaves and Asian coolies we imported to do our dirty work for us, and we've fought each other too. Forgive me, did I forget Vietnam? No, I will never forget Vietnam. I served three combat tours over there and it is a part of me still today and will be for the rest of my life. By the way, it didn't work either.

The war we face today in Iraq is not a preemptive war. That occurs when two belligerent nations face each other with armed troops and one of them strikes first because they think the other is about to do the same. That is how a large number of wars do start. This war in Iraq is not a preemptive war, it is an elective war by a powerful military force against one too weak to resist; it is a "war" of opportunity that is being promoted by some in our administration as a great "adventure," our president has even called it a "crusade." It is not a war we "need" to fight, it is a war our president wants to fight. It is a war of domination and imperial conquest. We have inspectors present on the ground in Iraq currently disarming the country we are preparing to attack. It is a cowardly assault on a nation that poses no real threat to us. It will not be a war with Iraq, it will be a war in Iraq. We hear about "shock and awe," a "tactic" that will scare the Iraqis into peace. The real message though, will not be for Iraq, but for the rest of the world. Last time that happened, it was called "blitzkrieg." That one scared the rest of the world so badly everybody united together to fight Germany, and six years later Germany had lost 3.5 million troops and 3.8 million civilians; their ports, autobahns, and railroads were gone. Many of their great institutions of commerce, education and religion were destroyed and their survivors were totally at the mercy of the four nations who had taken their country away from the German people. Blitzkrieg was bad; Shock and Awe could be worse. Our leaders speak of "collateral damage" and sadly shake their heads, they appear to worry for a moment about all those children who will be "left behind," then they brighten up and go forward, possibly now thinking about the "collateral profit" that will fall to them and their families from this war; important people these American rulers are, associated with international giants of corporate and imperial enterprises whose brand names are as familiar as family to those who give orders from the Oval Office.


Today, the world confronts another despicable dictator, one not unlike Hitler and those many other despots who will always haunt history. This time his name is Saddam Hussein. The difference today is that the U.N. is there. We, the people of the United Nations of the World have Iraq surrounded, and our inspectors are at work in his country destroying his weapons. Charges may be brought against Hussein, he may be indicted and tried as a war criminal either in person or in abstentia. It is said that he is "evil," and the charges against him are awful, so give him his days in court! Want to impress the rest of the world? How about that for real Shock and Awe? And how's that for sending the right message to the right people! And think for a moment how it could have been if the League of Nations had been there, on the ground, destroying German weapons in the 1930's. Think of the difference that might have made. Perhaps we could have gotten rid of Hitler and prevented the Second World War! Perhaps such a disarmament could have saved 64,000,000 people from being killed in the hatred which followed. The League of Nations was ineffective though, because of the United States. Even though the League was created largely by U.S. efforts, our senate refused to ratify the treaty because of political reasons, and the League functioned under that great disability until it was terminated in 1946 to make way for the United Nations.


Perhaps the most important aspect of our opportunities today is that such options have never existed before. Not that every nation is ready to lay down its arms, we are far from that, but at this moment the great military and political powers of the world could unite into a great force for peace that might include France, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Spain, Russia, China?, Japan, South Korea and others too. Many issues would remain to be resolved, many fights would continue to flare, but if the UN worked for peace using the resources of those nations just named, it's influence would be immense. That is the prize for which we work today, and that prize is slipping out of our grasp, not because of Saddam Hussein, but because of the United States! Our president now stands alone as the most powerful man who has ever walked the face of the earth, and he sometimes seems intent on using the power which belongs to the American people for the secret purpose of a very narrow right-wing group of extremely wealthy people.


Yet, the force that confronts the United States president is more powerful than he. That force is the people of the United Nations of the World who are forming together as one nonpolitical body, not going over the heads of our own governments, or discarding our governments, but working together with each other to fulfill the higher purposes for which each of our governments were instituted. We are calling our elected officials to an accountability for their actions, not seeking perfection or infallibility, but honesty, integrity, and devotion to our common ideals. We are affirming that Peace is a right of all people, and that none can have Peace unless all have Peace. We don't have to slide back down that gory slope into the pit of war again! Peace is possible today, but people have to make it happen. Our president says "We gave peace a chance . . ." then he pauses, raising his eyebrows and clenching his fist, the glare in his eyes implying that peace didn't work. But Mr. Bush, Peace is more than just a game of chance, it needs a home, a place to grow, somewhere it can be cared for, watered, fed and cultivated. It needs to be protected and cherished and it needs to be shared. Too many times people work hard for war, spend money for war, train young men and women for war, are always ready to fight, and then will give peace just "a chance." While wars are caused, peace is left to happen by accident. If we are ever to have real peace it will have to be wanted, prepared for, paid for, trained for and we will need specialists who can become experts in the arts and sciences of peace. Impossible? Not really. What if we did create a Department of Peace in our national government? Just started it off and gave it a place to grow, supported it and shared it? We might find a miracle there someday, instead of just more consequences. How do we get such a radical thing started? It really begins at home, right here at Western Carolina University, in Sylva, Dillsboro, Cullowhee, Franklin and the other small towns of our great southern mountains. Peace is not like a game of chance at all, it's more like planting a garden, or raising a child. Peace must be caused to happen.


Peace will not be handed to us by our government. In order to achieve Peace, we must want it enough to work for it, plan for it, and strive for it. We may have to seize that right in the same manner as the Suffragettes did in the 1920s, as Ghandi did in the 1950s and the Civil Rights workers in the 1960s. There are people who profit from war. They are rich and they possess much power and have influence in the highest levels of all governments, but they always have to work on hidden agendas and invoke false issues like patriotism, nationalism, glory, and emotional appeals to base instincts - all of which are aimed at the common fears of people. They try to divide people into groups and pit them against each other. Increasingly, we members of the world community realize that those unimportant divisions of mankind are neither significant nor dangerous. We must make our government leaders understand that war is no longer acceptable. Only then can we experience the joys and cares of Peace.
Peace will not be a state of endless bliss; it is always a balance between different forces. It will be messy. It will require hard work and will be frustrating more often than it will be fulfilling. Only when war is no longer a valid or legally accepted way of solving problems will all nations be willing to engage in the vexatious, frustrating, and often confusing balancing act of making Peace happen, and treat Peace as if it were really important. But the prize of Peace is a double prize. The first prize is that Peace will give us all those things for which we fight wars, and which war, by its very nature, also prevents us from obtaining. The second prize is the absence of war. Remember this: War kills, it is not a game like Mr. Rumsfeld sardonically implies, it kills; the people it kills don't come back, except maybe as ghosts - they don't raise their children or work for a better world. Almost every single person killed in war is innocent of any significant crime or error. Our president says that getting rid of Saddam Hussein is worth any cost, Does he mean that to include up to 100,000 Iraqis - some 99,992, of whom, presumedly are innocent souls? Maybe they don't "count" in some fundamentally apocalyptic way since they are Islamic, not Christian? Mr. President, you haven't explained that very well. Those who suffer most in any war are always the children. Children get killed in combat, they get injured by falling things, they get run over and run down, they become sick and there is no medical help available. One might shout out "No child left behind!" for a campaign boast, but in war that is a savage joke. Children get lost all the time and they are always left behind. Some die of hunger, some from lack of care, or a broken heart, some are actually scared to death. Many who do survive are raised by those ghosts who haunt such places, and they grow through childhood quickly and become terrorists with enough hatred in their souls to give their life to kill anything.


Finally, we are the first people in history to know that we live on a planet that is dying. We need to spend some time with our lovely planet and care for it with love in its days of its last, great sickness. Perhaps if we can end wars and find ways to live together, we can share not only Peace but even find ways to heal our planet together.


Friends, I salute you! Your work is important and your cause is the most noble in all of history!

Namaste.

Health Care

Congress has the athority in section 8 of the constitution to lay and collect taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States. What could be more significant to the nation’s general welfare than one of the its greatest resources, the health of its citizens? Health care also provides for 1/6 of the entire national production of goods an services and is the leading cause for Americans declaring bankruptcy.

Insurance companies have been protecting the health of the United States for many years, and now almost 50,000,000 Americans have no health care at all, and an unknown number are not sure of what they have. Meanwhile, the amount of money Americans pay for their second (third?) rate health care is TWICE as much as the citizens of any other developed nation in the world pays.

President Obama and SOME members of the Democratic Party have a plan for a big change in this program. The Republican Party and the "Blue Dog Democrats" just say no. No program, no plan, no change. Just "no".

Think about this for a moment. The insurance companies are making enormous profits. Many of their CEOs are making one million dollars a month. When the republicans vote "no" - and have no plan - what does that tell us about who they represent?

Pull the Public Option? Really?

One of the most important resources of any nation in the world is the health of its citizens. That is too important to be left to a commercial industry who must subordinate that resource - the health of American citizens - to its own need for profit.

Commercial businesses operate on a short-term basis, usually quarter-to-quarter. The health care of the nation is an on-going, long term project.

Our present system has produced probably 50 million Americans with no insurance at all, perhaps 50 million more who are under-insured. Those Americans who depend on their employer to provide their health-care, are dependent upon and bound to that company. American businesses who have to carry this additional cost find themselves at a disadvantage as they compete in the global economy with companies from other nations who do not carry these costs.

It will cost money in additional taxes? Probably. But America is currently paying - for its dangerously ineffective system - about twice as much for health care as any other nation in the world and getting about half the benefit that they do, Taxes may go up, but the price we are paying for health insurance may vanish! Not only will the nation begin to become heather, but we will have more money too!

Finally, health care can not be a free market service. No individual can negotiate on a free market basis with health-care insurance companies like Blue Cross or Cigna, or any of the others. Health care must be regulated by government.

Town Hall Meeting with Patrick McHenry.

Attended the "Town Hall" meeting of Patrick McHenry, the representative of North Carolina's 10th district. I left after about an hour and a half and there were still large numbers of people standing in the aisle to ask him questions or make comments. It was a demonstrative audience of perhaps 1,000 people and the meeting was very civil with no arguments or shouting being apparent. And of course, it was a meeting for a republican representative.

My observations: There is the presence of power here. It is evident in numerous small groups of men standing together, looking very knowledgeable. But the feeling went much farther than that, I felt an echo from my childhood back in a different place and a very different time. But there was the feeling of hidden power. McHenry made a number of disparaging remarks about the current administration but was not directly disrespectful to the president. It was apparent from the applause that President Obama is extremely unpopular with the group here present and so is the Democratic Party. Most of the derogatory remarks toward Obama were made by a few of the questioners. One man who identified himself as an MD here in Hickory, stated in absolutely positive terms that Obama's health care plan would place him in the role of advising older patients to terminate their life and he didn't like that. (I would have thought him to be a "plant" except for his claiming to be a local MD - someone in the audience mentioned though that he was an outspoken critic of Obama). A woman said that the 48 million people with no health care was due to illegal immigrants (Loud applause). McHenry himself indicated that many of those 48 million people were under the age of 25 and thought they would live forever. Another woman said that because of Obama's plan, our tax dollars would be used to pay for abortions - she didn't think that was right. (Very loud applause). McHenry made some awkward comment about there being several versions of the plan, and the abortion thing being smuggled into it while he and other men were in the rest room. (Or something like that - several times I found myself wondering if McHenry was intentionally playing the role of bumbling confused person simply to dodge an issue and change the topic - I suspect that is one of his characteristics.)

McHenry said he wants to provide tax credits so we can buy insurance, and he wants no discrimination for pre-conditions. Again my observations indicated that most of the people who were questioning or commenting seemed to be looking for help, many of them seemed open to government sponsored health care. There was a small group of people who applauded that idea on three or four occasions. Whenever McHenry seemed confused he would run to his platitudes and make a comment about Obama, or end of life screenings, or abortion and the applause would bring a satisfied-looking smile to his face. One woman asked McHenry why the administrative costs of the average insurance company was 30% of their total costs while Medicare and Medicaid were only 3%. I could not hear his answer to this because of a baby screaming in the audience.

Signs of plants? 1) Certainly when McHenry came in, a small tight group of men in the front rows stage right rose with shouts and clapping. Most of the crowd then rose too. 2) Clearly the doctor seemed to be a plant, although one wonders if an MD would compromise his position in the community. 3) When Tort Reform was mentioned, that same group of men stage right in the first several rows whopped, rose and cheered - and of course, so did the rest of the audience. 4) Again when one woman blamed the illegal immigrants for the medical problem, and 5) When a couple of women said we would all have to pay for abortions. In summary, if these were plants they fell far short of the "Hallway Hooligans" of the Florida Recount, and would have been pathetic in comparison with other contemporaneous ones we have seen on TV, and they were basically washed away by the personal stories some of the people told.

I Don't Care if I Ever Get Back

“Beer!” Someone shouted loudly over to my left.
The pitch comes in hot and a little high. “Strike two”, the umpire said matter-of-factly.
Not to be outdone someone on the right called out “Cold Beer!”
The next pitch came in slow and low “Ball two” said the umpire very quietly.
ICE Cold Beer” Someone else behind me screamed out above the crowd.
The next pitch hit the batter. “Take yer base,” the ump pointed toward first.
Somebody right in front of me screamed out as if in pain, “PeaNUTS!, Get yer peanuts HERE!”
And there are “Hot Dawgs!” here, and “Coco COla!” there . . . how quaint that all seems today.

Yes, those were the good old days. Time between innings were spent in casual, sometimes elegant conversations among friends and even strangers who were sitting around you. You talked mostly about baseball, how the game was going and what would probably happen in the next inning. We were telling each other what to look for. There was some music, usually the National Anthem before the game began, and then the “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the 7th inning, but otherwise it was all pure baseball abmience, usually watching the shadows lengthen and pool into darkness as the nighthawks swooped above the brilliantly-lit playing field.

Today it is different. The game is no longer so matter-of-fact. Things are always spectacular now. The umpires dance and spin and shout out and gesture. The players hop like bunny rabbits over wrongs, whether actual or perceived. There is constant music, or just plain amplified noise, interrupted for breathless moments of pregnant silence as the pitch is delivered, then - thank God, the music starts up again with its mindless ditty which is never completed because there is always another next pitch.

The vendors in the stands too have changed their wares now, here in the year of our Lord, 2015. You still hear the cry of “Beer”, ICE Cold Beer”, and “Peanuts” but now we have come to hear “Get yer Steroids Here!” Somebody over to the left will shout out “AnaBOLIC steroids!” “Hot Dogs!” calls out somebody else, and a kid over to the far right calls out “Stanozolol! Get it NOW”. A sprightly -looking old codger carries a tray and shouts out “Human Growth HorMOAN!” A sign up on the concession stand reads “Deca-Durabolin” and beneath it is written “Need a Dr. prescription? - We GOT a doctor! Come on up! Get Yours NOW!”

Well, looking back now we can see that these performance-enhancing drugs made their entry into our society through the games played by young boys. Somewhere around the 1960s and 1970s, money got into the game in a really big way. Those who were good got paid well, those who were very good got paid very well. Then the drugs quietly tiptoed into the scene. Skinny players popped out like the Michelin Man, hallowed records were shattered into oblivion. The need to get into drugs crept down from the major leagues right onto the sandlot and highschool games. And as every sports fan knows, if you don’t begin “developing” until high school, it will be too late for you and you will miss out on glory. And worse, on the money too.

So instead of getting drugs out of the game we had to admit they were “necessary” to help the human body and mind reach the Performance-Enhanced levels required to cope in modern life. So we made them legal. Now that everybody is using them, where can you go to stand out now? “Psssssst . . . let me show you something

Sgt. Crowley Did Act Stupidly.

So did everybody else involved in this mess. Dr. Gates apparently acted even more stupidly. But perhaps most stupid of all was President Obama for calling Crowley stupid after saying he (Obama) knew nothing about the issue. But talk about the perfection of stupidity will lead you to swoon in admiration over the brilliant stupidity of the nation’s press, no longer a contender for any mythical “Joe Friday Award” for patient questioning and keen observation, but now the clear winner of a “Headless Chicken Award” for most spectacular flapping and running around wild while your head lies in the dust unseeing but still screeching.

Originally, I even thought the most stupid of all was Lynn Sweet for wrapping up the press conference with her dumb question which just lay there for a moment before slowly unfolding into a Harry Potter-like death-eater, and flying with the speed of the internet through the minds of the civilized world. EVERYbody involved with this now looks stupid. Even the lady who called the initial 911 call was made to look stupid by some in the press before she caught on and started acting stupidly on her own. I’m sure I look pretty darn stupid for having even noticed it, even more so for writing about it.

But. Beer heals all. Too bad Gates didn’t offer Crowley any that night. Too bad Crowley didn’t bring any with him. It would all be different now. We all know beer will calm disagreements. Ask any bartender. Or bouncer. What will they serve? My recommendation is a beer from the Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado. It’s the one they call “Mama’s Little Yellow Pilz”, a smooth pilsner which makes all other things seem irrelevant.

Still, questions remain. This was presented as a pretty simple breaking-and-entering thing, right? So why did Sgt. Crowley along with an unknown number of Cambridge and Harvard police officers botch up this nonevent so badly? The police Incident Report doesn’t say how many police officers were called in to back-up Crowley but it indicates that Crowley called them all out to take care of administrative matters only. According to the report, the Cambridge police were just to question Ms. Whalen (the 911 caller)! The Harvard University police were called only to verify that Dr. Gates Harvard University identification card was valid! (Apparently Sgt. Crowley did not call the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to verify that Gates’ drivers license was actually legitimate - at least that is not mentioned in the report.)

One More Thing - Let's remember that Dr. Gates was still in the act of returning from China. So you could make a pun and say he was dis-oriented - and I have never returned from China - but I do know that whenever I return from Europe, I am also disoriented for a day or so - it's a big change. We schedule NOTHING for the first day back. Dr. Gates might have handled the incident differently had he had not just come from the other side of the world.

Now let the blame fall where it may, but this much is to be remembered - Incidents such as this can be expected more often as police increasingly trade in their traditional constabulary role for that of the military assault team. Look out. It could be playing in a theater near you soon.

(The bottom photo - the police Incident Report will enlarge if clicked upon)

NRA , Sotomayor and Treason

The NRA wrote a letter to Senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnel, and copied all 100 senators calling for a "no" vote on Judge Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. The last paragraph reads:

We believe any individual who does not agree that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right and who does not respect our God-given right of self defense should not serve on any court, much less the highest court in the land. Given the
importance of this issue, the vote on Judge Sotomayor's confirmation will be considered in NRA's future candidate evaluations. (emphasis provided here is mine).
Thank you for your attention to our concerns. Should you have any questions or wish to discuss further, please do not hesitate to call on us personally.
Sincerely,
Wayne LaPierre Executive Vice President Executive Director Chris Cox NRA NRA-ILA
cc: Members of the United States Senate

This type of action highlights and underscores the serious problem that is - in fact - destroying the government of the United Sates of America. Our nation has become a corporate nation now. We citizens are still permitted to contact our senators, we each have two of them, and our single representative, and we can ask them to please do or not do a certain thing, maybe donate a small amount of money and that's about it. The great corporations and organizations though, like the NRA, or Blue Cross, or those in the pharmaceutical or armament industries, contact 100 senators, and 435 members of the House, and lobby the president's administration, with expertly designed propaganda, LOTS of money, and now as the NRA letter shows - THREATS.

So what is the recourse? What should we do? First - we should become aware of what has already happened. Then we should examine and verify that it has occurred. Then we need to talk with each other. We are living in a time of treason. If we act early enough we can save our nation, many in government share our concern.

Second Amendment

A big vote today on authorizing people to carry concealed weapons across state lines. It was defeated but the vote was close. Why now? This seems strange in light of the number of people who have been shot and killed in our country over the past several weeks. Policemen sometimes find themselves out-gunned in exchanges with criminals, and we are shooting ourselves down far better than the Taliban or Al-Qaeda could ever do. Even the number killed on 9-11-2001 is racked up again and again about every 40 days by American terrorists using guns. And while I sit here and write this I almost KNOW that another big shooting is coming later this week or maybe next week.

What is the second amendment anyway? Believe it or not, most people don't know. What does it really say? What does it mean?

I sometimes tell people that the second word in the second amendment is the word “regulated”. That’s not quite true but it's not far off the mark. Actually the amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It’s pretty simple. A single sentence with two clauses. Five words immediately stand out. "Militia", "State", "people", "Arms", and "infringed". These words can be very interesting.

"Militia". This word has many different meanings, but their common connection seems to be related to a concept of “military” control, with various civilian modifications. There seems to be no doubt that all militias will perform under the authority and guidance of a responsible leader who had been chosen and deputized by the officials elected by citizens of the “state” which would be protected by these militias. It is the authorizing clause of the entire amendment and clearly the reason upon which the second clause is dependent.

"State". Almost certainly refers to the individual states who will ratify the constitution of the United States.

"People". Interesting use of the designee of this right. It does not say “citizens” or “persons”. There is no right for “citizens” to keep and bear arms . . . or for “people” to do so. The right is assigned to “the people”.

"Arms". Fascinating choice of words here with many meanings from anatomical to clothing and nautical and several others. The two main ones which probably apply to this amendment are 1) the ability to physically carry a weapon and 2) to serve as a member of a military force. Which one applies here? Obviously, the one related to being part of a military force would complete the first clause of the amendment which refers to “militia”.

"Infringed". To "infringe" is to weaken a right that has been awarded. For example, if “citizens” had been the subject of the Second Amendment instead of “the people”, all American citizens would now be able to carry their guns, concealed or otherwise, into airports, onto commercial airliners, military installations, schools, jails and prisons, the House of Representatives, the Senate, into presidential press conferences, sporting events, and many other places where the carrying of guns are currently, and traditionally have been "infringed" - by being prohibited.

Going back to “arms” we wonder about assault rifles. That would seem to be applicable to the “militia” part, but then why not hand grenades too? Or flame-throwers, tanks, rockets, high explosives, phosphorus chemicals, mustard gas, Agent Orange, atomic and nuclear weapons, missiles, air planes and so on? They could all come in handy on various occasions. Even when the amendment was written, back in the late 1770s, the scope of military “arms” included weapons sufficient to destroy fortified castles. This seems to reinforce the understanding that the right which is reserved to “the people” to “keep and bear arms” in “militias” for the purpose of providing security for “the State” is to be accomplished under the direction and control of deputized personnel who are acting under the authority of that state.

So what does this bill that would permit unknown people to secretly smuggle guns across state lines have to do with the second amendment? It looks like a way to shoot holes in the constitution. Come on Senators Hagan and Burr, you can do better than that - who do you REALLY represent?

John Womack

This post is not copyrighted and is intended to be in the public domain.

Wise Latina? Hmmm.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,”

Bold statement? Well, she didn't claim that those experiences WOULD lead to better conclusions but only that she HOPED they would. I really doubted that she knew what she was talking about. However, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn, Jon Kyl, Orin Hatch, Mitch McConnell and several other white males who had evidently not lived very rich lives proceeded to exhaustively PROVE she was RIGHT. Boy, those senators are really good, aren't they?

Apollo - The Great Mistake

40 years is a long time even in biblical terms, but it seems even longer since Apollo 11 made its journey to Tranquility. Many of us who were already in the missile business at that time felt that it was a mistake to go to the moon before we were ready, but even we had no ideal that it would turn out to be as bad as it did.

The great alternative of course was to build space stations. Not just one but several. One basic pattern called for six. Four of them would be spaced evenly around the earth more or less equatorially and two others in a general polar orbit, one north, one south. Another plan called for placing a collection of stations together in one area of the sky to be used as a storage/repair/construction/command location. From these staging stations, journeys to the moon and elsewhere in the solar system would be much easier since they would be free of the heavy lift required to escape the earth’s gravity and also free of the earth’s weather. A true Space Command would become an integral part of the United States Air Force available for both defense and humanitarian missions, and accidents like those which destroyed the Columbia could have been easily avoided.

How much money would this have cost? Not that much - considering what we did spend elsewhere. The total cost of the Apollo space program itself is commonly given as $25 billion, adjusted to 2005 dollars this would approximate $135 billion. Meanwhile, the American war against Vietnam cost $686 billion in 2008 dollars, and the American war against Iraq has cost over $900 billion in 2008 dollars. We could have several permanent stations on the moon and explored Mars for those outlays alone. And of course, the money spent on the space stations would have had positive results for our national economy, education system, military defense and opportunities for international leadership and cooperation.

But when Project Apollo reached the end of its road with number 17, the ships and rockets were taken apart, the facilities were stripped down, the engineers and scientists let go to get a “real” job, and that incredible capacity for space flight was blown into the void. Now, 40 years later, we’re still trying to build one space station. And we currently have no space ships left to even reach that one station. Russia, China, India are moving on. America is fighting needless wars and celebrating footprints in the dust.

The News Issue

In a capitalistic system, if you are going to go public, your company will have to not just make a profit, but to increase that profit each quarter. To do that you will have to 1) cut expenses, 2) increase prices, 3) increase market share, 4) introduce new products, or 5) expand into other commercial activities.

Your biggest bang for your buck is to get rid of people - amazing, your productivity will always increase, current costs will drop quickly and balance sheets will rise, legacy cost decreases will lift your P & L and make your stock shine, beep, and say “howdy” on the market. You won’t have to charge customers more money for your product, become creative, try to kill one of your current competitors, or take on a new batch of competitors.

Newspapers have been in an increasing downhill spiral since the radio began broadcasting news. Now with radio, TV, internet, Twitter and all, newspapers have been shoved out of the “breaking news” business all together, and their “scoops” now come in the form of in-depth analysis and prolipsis announcements that can only come from great knowledge about the places and things about which they are reporting.

The business of news - call it The Press or The Media - has clearly changed dramatically in the last twenty years. We always long for the “good old days” to return, no matter what the issue. Truth is, they don’t - they never do - because they can’t. (And we would be miserable if they did!) News has not only become faster but also more fragmented. We’ve always had propaganda and sensational information but now they mingle with reputable news organizations. Paul Krugman publishes on the Steven Colbert program, they each have a part of the news - together they get “it” (meaning something) out to more masses.

It may be that in the same sense that IBM moved from the typewriter business into the information storage and retrieval business, so too newspapers have changed from the newsprint business into some new business. To name this “new business” will take someone who is more familiar with the issue than I.

The BIG TRICK is how to pay highly qualified people an income commensurate with the work they do - much of which requires comprehensive technical and professional expertise, and also has an extremely low productivity factor in sometimes lengthy initial stages.

There is a lot more to be said on this issue but it will have to come in another post. I need discussion from someone else.

A Meeting of Raw Emotions?

Wow - the computer hiccuped and published a White House statement on Facebook in Spanish, "Las declaraciones iniciales de la Jueza Sotomayor". The United States then erupted into in a great collision of comments by both erudite readers and those barely able to grunt. After reading this fascinating recital of Comments, I have a new outlook on my country. Now I see more clearly that the term “United States of America” refers not to New York, Texas, California, Kansas, Florida and such others, but rather to Schizophrenia, Borderline Personality Disorder, Rationally Normal, Narcissism, Obsessive-Compulsive, and oh yes, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Me, I’m now clinically depressed. And by the way, FaceBook says they translate through 64 languages - all but Urdu, the 6th most spoken language, I am told, on the planet.

Bob McNamara

Whiz kid. Phenom. The best of the best and the brightest of the brightest. But he was wrong. Terribly wrong. Tragically wrong. Brilliantly wrong. His reasoning was right - it always was. But he was still wrong. He knew too much, but he didn’t know the story. He had facts like some people have collections of crystal, or fine works of art, or great writings in literature - Bob had his facts. And he KNEW. He really did know. But he was wrong because he couldn't see the story, and his ignorance was responsible for the deaths of more than two million human beings. Why? Because he didn’t know the story that was taking place all around him. He didn't know the story that he himself was telling. He only knew the facts.

How did this happen? McNamara was open to John Stuart Mill’s art of questioning power, he loved logic and he lived to reason with other people. He held nothing so “sacred” that it could not be challenged. “Challenge me!” He seemed to beg, with that famously confident McNamara smile which seemed to say “I want to know if I am wrong - PROVE to me that I am wrong!” But he lived in a world of facts, not a world of stories. His facts told him what he already knew was true. But that wasn’t the way things really were. There was a real big story involved here and Bob didn’t know anything about it.

He held his own with the press of the world. He answered ALL their questions and they finally shut up. He met with the congress of the United States. He answered their questions. He would sit at the table in the senate meeting rooms that became silent following all their questions and he would ask THEM - “any more questions?” They would stare at their tables. If they had questions, he had answers. And his answers all had facts. He KNEW. And he knew he knew. And they knew he knew. But he was still wrong because he didn’t know what he was really talking about - he only knew the facts - he didn’t know the story. When other people would begin telling him the story he would interrupt them with facts, and they would stop.

So, anyway - McNamara built a great edifice of Facts. Facts on how to kill, how to bomb, how to destroy, how to deny, how to contain, how to blow up. He was good at his facts. But he didn’t know the story. He didn’t know any of the stories. He had degrees in economics, philosophy and a Harvard MBA. He taught at Harvard, served in the military for three years, rose to Lt. Colonel, selected targets for General LeMay, Was Kennedy's second choice for Secretary of Defense but got the job anyway, leaving Ford as its CEO. He was the mastermind of the American War against Vietnam.

McNamara apparently died a bewildered man. He knew everything except why the war didn’t work. He was probably the most rational man who ever lived and he knew how every thing worked. That’s probably why he didn’t understand war, or people, or democracy, or life.

He knew his facts and he could string them together but what he never did know is that the world is not rational. Bob McNamara was a freak. And that is a fact. And that is also the story.

Independence Day 2009

As we celebrate our national day of Independence from the British crown, let us also acknowledge the presence of some the things upon which we have become dependent.

We have a declining status in the world in part because our citizens are DEPENDENT upon an education system which is not preparing our children to live in the modern world. OECD scores now rank America 31 out of the 57 nations it rates, in spite of the money America spends on education. An increasing number of American schools have ended instruction in arts, music, literature, foreign languages, philosophy and other “unimportant” subjects to “save money” and to “improve” test scores.

Our “criminal justice” system now houses more prisoners than any other nation in the world both in numbers and percentage. Almost none of its inmates are being prepared to live independently after release. Americans are DEPENDENT on this system which creates different forms of terror, one affecting the law-abiding citizens, another for those who break the laws and are caught and sentenced.

Our health care system is ranked 37th among industrial nations in terms of effectiveness and is the most expensive in the entire world. The main reason that Americans now declare bankruptcy is for medical bills. We resist governmental health care because of “higher taxes” yet many families are DEPENDENT on private policies for which they pay cost close to $1,000 every month, and which can suddenly increase in price or even terminate, especially if they lose their job or are laid off.

Americans are DEPENDENT upon automobiles for transportation. Buses, trolleys, subways, and trains are not available for the average American. Most families must have two or more cars for their basic transportation. And to drive these cars, America is totally DEPENDENT on foreign oil.

The American people are DEPENDENT on an economic system which has frozen the purchasing power of the average American wage since the late 1970s. This has happened during a period of astonishing increases in productivity, since almost all of its increases in capital have been accumulated by fewer and fewer owners and the American middle class has not prospered but appears to find itself shrinking.

Americans are DEPENDENT upon supporting a Capitalistic system which proclaims the virtue of the “free market” and “private property” even as it seizes and destroys both of them. To Americans, Capitalism IS a free market because the Capitalists tell them it is free, even as their purchasing options continue to be restricted. Americans believe a “free” market is one which is “free” FROM government control, instead of understanding that a truly “free” market is really “free” because OF governmental regulation. No one would believe the outcome of a major football game played without referees, much less one in which the referees were all hired and paid by one of the two teams, but that is the kind of system that Americans are DEPENDENT on for their economy.

America is totally DEPENDENT upon waging war. We not only wage “wars” against poverty, cancer, disease, terrorism, pollution, global warming, drugs, AIDS, obesity, pornography, but we have been almost constantly at war with some sovereign nation. We have fought the British, the French, Germans, Russians, the Spanish, Mexicans, Chinese, Iraqis, Iranians, Koreans; we’ve fought Japan, Italy, the Philippines, our own Native Americans, the black slaves and Asian coolies we imported to do our dirty work for us, and we’ve fought each other too. I fought in our wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and we have fought since then in Kuwait, Iraq, and now Afghanistan (and Pakistan?). And that is overlooking Granada, Cuba, Guatemala (three times), Panama, Nicaragua, Venezulea, El Salvador, Columbia, and others right here almost at home. Now American is building one of the largest mercenary armies in the world, arming people who are not sworn to fight for their country and bound by its laws and treaties, but to kill for a for-profit corporation. Americans are DEPENDENT upon providing for its vast military to “protect” itself from the world.

Americans are DEPENDENT upon corporate cabals which rule its legislative and executive branches of government. Powerful groups from pharmaceutical and medical, financial, petroleum, prison, religious and armament industries among others, direct the nation's actions and determine what is in its “national interest”. One such single group, the National Rifle Association rules congress with a “cocked pistol” held to the Congressional and presidential “head” even though somewhere between 14,000 and 30,000 Americans are killed by guns (by other Americans) every year. If a foreign terrorist kills 3,000 Americans in one day, that is cause for a Trillion dollar, never-ending war, but American terrorists kill that many about every 40 days - year around.

Americans are virtually DEPENDENT upon a press which has become a 24/7 presentation of opposing fascist propaganda machines. Truth - absolute Truth - is no longer sought by the American press except that both sides seek it out to find it out and kill it before normal people find out about it. The American press has become dedicated to misinform and detract its viewers from reality.

Americans are increasingly DEPENDENT upon actions from a religious fundamentalism which creates fear and hatred among its followers and denounces selected scientific findings with totalitarian fervor and threats of “eternal damnation”. Any attempts to operate “independently” of this religious fundamentalism may be met with terrorist activities which include warnings, threats, intimidation and even killings as “directed by the will of God”. No American can any longer support scientific findings without at least considering the impact they may have on the Christian fundamental terrorists in this country.

So - let’s pause for a moment and try to think - what are we Americans to do this Independence Day? Well, we can watch TV, we can drink beer and eat hot-dogs, watch fireworks, and - oh yes - wave the flag (better carry your gun too). That’s important because no matter how DEPENDENT we have become, it is very important that we act like we think we are “independent.”

I wonder what people from other nations is the world really think. But I would only want to hear from them if they were willing to also list some of the main things they are DEPENDENT upon. And if anyone reads these words and disagrees with them, please let me know what has been misstated or needs clarification and I will check that out and correct any errors I find.

Somewhere there has to be a basic “thing” that we can all call “humanity”, and somewhere there has to be a will to build on the wreckage of those great ideals upon which all our nations were once founded and which are still good and sound, but need to be applied to the real world in which we all now live.

Sanford - Resign? No - Impeachment and Trial.

Mark Sanford, still the sitting governor of South Carolina is trying to figure out whether he should stay on or step down. That should not be his decision. He has violated his oath of office, deserted his position and stolen money from the people of his state. People in South Carolina who hold up a convenience store and get $15 can go to prison for years, he should be treated no differently. He has earned the right to a fair trial.

In America we almost always don't hold our elected officials to the oath they took when they assumed the authority and responsibilities of their office. Even if they intentionally violate that oath, we tend to say - in effect - "aw shucks, well, maybe he has learned something."

Sanford says he wants to show his boys how someone "can pick themselves up and carry on. . . " He needs to show them what happens when someone disappears from his job, violates sacred oaths he freely took, and steals from other people.

He has earned an impeachment and a fair trial.