The mountain labored, and brought forth a stone.

The Copenhagen Conference on Climate control gathered together leaders from
almost every country in the world, large, small, developed, and developing. They
spent days coming to agreement that global warming represented a mortal danger to
all living species, man foremost. The major polluters, The U.S., China, India and Brazil faced off against the undeveloped countries by demanding they share in the burdens which would arise from reducing industrial and agricultural production
of atmospheric carbon. Those countries resisted, citing their urgent need for developement to feed their people, and demanded aid from the advanced economies, and exemption from any time limits
However, those were not the principal roadblocks to
real progress. The adamant refusal by China of any timeline and inspection regime,
as well as the uncertainty that the US Congress would even approve limits on carbon
dioxide production doomed the prospect for any meaningful agreement.

A final push by President Obama and the supreme leaders of India and Brazil finally led to an agreement that was an exercise in how to avoid hard choices.
The big four accepted the GOAL of limiting emmisions to an amount which would raise the temperature of the atmosphere by no more that 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit). That is enough to inundate many island countries such as Samoa, the Maldives and many others. It would also play havoc with the U.S. coastal areas.
I liken that to feeding someone just enough poison to allow him to remain alive
but not as a functioning being.

The slim hope that the awareness of the problem now occupies the attention of the world, and thus will lead to further progress toward solutions, is the most optimistic assessment that can be made of what took place in Copenhagen. A thin reed
to rely on by a world that is poisoning itself.

Nobility in Science, Futility in Politics

My morning newspaper carried a story stunning in its implications for the survival
of mankind, and another dismally disappointing for the survival of our nation.

The first described a breakthrough medical procedure, performed on a gravely wounded
serviceman. His pancreas had been damaged to the point of non-function and had to be
removed. The surgeons removed it, sent the tissue to a lab in Miami. There some cells were isolated, salvaged, preserved and returned to the surgeons who transplated them into the patient's liver. The cells underwent mitosis and began producing insulin, acting as pancreas once more. The entire procedure was performed without removing the patient from the operating room. An example of the sublime heights to which the mind of man can rise.

The same newspaper contained the story of the failed efforts to pass and fund stimulus legislation directed at producing jobs in a decimated economy. The poisonous partisanship on display in the halls of congress, with Repubs promising to stall debate and progress until the next session, and Dem's surrendering principle to get some kind of bill, any kind, demonstrated the juvenile character of the people we elected to govern. Do they really reflect the electorate that put them in office? I refuse to believe so.

The Great Deceivers

Along with a number of vestigial organs which evolution has done away with was a basic necessity in our manipulative media era, the personal FRAUD DETECTOR.

The internet has eliminated an editor’s control over what
information and misinformation can be disseminated, by anyone, with
any motive, including malice aforethought. Unsubstantiated rumor can
be bolstered by citing fictitious authorities and distributed as fact. Scholarly
sounding tracts, based on zero evidence, are given titles which sound so
ominous that they must be read for survival. DIRE WARNINGS have
become the de rigueur choice of unscrupulous writers whose purpose is to
control behavior, not inform.

Before the extinction of our Fraud Detector, when the quantity of propaganda was more limited, and when the news media was more
honest, the individual reader had the time and self interest to examine
information that was being provided, and use reason and experience
to evaluate it. Now the propaganda is of such volume, and strident, urgent
tone that the reader is overwhelmed. His reason is subordinated to
emotion. He becomes the tool of the writer.

If it were only some individuals being deceived and misled, the harm to the nation would be limited. But when huge numbers of people are fooled, the consequences to the nation can be disastrous. We can be led into an unnecessary war, or to financial collapse. Group to group hate can be fomented to divide and conquer us from within. Our fears can be used to lead us into unwise choices of leaders.

So, lets use good old American ingenuity to reinvent the Fraud Detector for Individuals.
It could become part of the Green Revolution---for people.

Take the broom to the gloom!

Events in the country, and everywhere in the world, have cast a pall of gloom
over what is meant to be a season of love, hope and good will to all. The media in
all forms has fed us a steady stream of violence and despair, all of it real. This blog has also been, with only a few exceptions, a catalogue of ills, which I regret,
but wouldn't change. So in keeping with the season let me remind myself and my
loyal readers of some positives to celebrate.

In the face of an unprecedented worldwide recession America survives, and a compassionate people and government have mobilized to pull ourselves from the brink.
A raucous and angry debate over health care reform indicates that there is still
dynamism in our democracy. Community and individual acts of charity have rescued
many from extreme hardship. We are a nation which gives of our treasure to
people in many less fortunate lands, despite our own national needs.

When frightened or bitter zealots produce hate tracts or commit acts of violence
or vandalism against people with whom they disagree, or look for someone or group
to blame for their condition, voices of reason and amity arise to give the lie,
and to urge harmony in place of rancor. There is a foundation of mutual altruism
which undergirds our national diversity. Thankfully the bad times haven't eroded that.

But the most hopeful sign is many of us realize the danger bad times pose for our
democratic system, and have avoided extreme measures which would threaten it.
America, the land of immigrants, the melting pot of humanity, the once light unto
the nations, still holds its light up to the world. We are a work in progress,
but our eyes are on the stars. We shall overcome, and thrive once again.
,

VIETNAMISTAN

Our war in Afghanistan is not only unwinnable, but there is no definition for
Victory that would be realistic. Afghanistan is not a country. It is a space
inhabited by scattered primitive tribes whose only 21st century skill is producing heroin. We have imposed as a central authority a RICO criminal enterprise under
Karzai. To change the tribal structure would take decades. There is no infrastructure that defines nationhood. The overwhelming majority of inhabitants are illiterate. A national identity is beyond their capacity to accept or understand.

We are perceived as one more in a long line of alien invaders. As long as we continue to pour in money for development, which developes only the foreign bank accounts of the Karzai mafia, the tribes will tolerate us. They will not assist us against the Taliban, who live among them.
They know from experience that we will eventually
become exhausted with the thankless tasks we have undertaken. When we finally leave
they know the Taliban will exact revenge against anyone who cooperated with us.

Pres. Obama's compromise tactics may calm some of the right wing zealots but only
delay the ultimate denouement of the problem. During that interval more precious
lives will be lost, more treasure will be squandered, and the deteriorating
economy at home will be further weakened. It took the educated colonists
200 years to build our nation, against only natures obstacles. How long would it
take us to build a nation in Afghanistan? Get the hell out of there now.

Senators, Have you no Shame?

That now famous question electrified the Senate when it was flung at Sen. Jos. McCarthy during the hearings on his censure, and possible expulsion. The "prosecutor", appalled and fed up with McCarthy's continual
falsehoods and bluster, used it to finally make clear to the assembled senators
the reasons for the hearing, and the dangers to our liberty that
McCarthy's tactics posed.

The Republican National Committee is planning to impose a "loyalty oath" to
the most hard conservative party line for any candidate who seeks their
support. Their tactics in the Health Care reform debate depend on false
and misleading accusations about the administration's intent and what the
consequences of the bill will be. They have reincarnated McCarthy!
The hearings have become a comic opera with the libretto composed by the
insurance industry. If reform fails the insurance industry will have a pipeline
to siphon even more money from the pockets of government, businesses, and private
citizens. Having sold their souls for a pocket of gold, I ask "Senators, have you no shame?"

The Futility of Power

Dear reader, come with me on a journey to the past which holds a moral for our journey to the future.

The great ship Titanic was sinking. On deck a doomed string quartet was serenading
the passengers who had been unable to get into the lifeboats, and who were also doomed.
All the ship musicians had vied for the privilege of playing in that final quartet.
They imagined something noble in that symbolic gesture. But their playing could have no effect on the events to come, and history bestowed no fame upon them.

Now let us visit the congress of the United States. The members are engaged in vicious partisan competition with the end that their party will control congress after the 2010 elections. That control will be purely symbolic, because congress will
be in the grip of events beyond their power to affect. The difficulties they will face---two winless off budget wars, an economy in shambles with unemployment hovering around 10%, our military in tatters, and our standing in the world severely diminished. It will be the responsibility of the controlling party
to deal with these intractable problems, and after a brief interval they will be blamed for the failures which they inherited. So it has been with Obama, and so it will be with the Republicans if congress returns to their control.

The solutions to our difficulties will be very painful, will impact
disproportionately on various sectors of our society,
and will reign in the power of the vested interests that now control congress.
Resistance to change will be so fierce that only a unified,
non-partisan approach by both parties will succeed in reversing our decline.

If each party continues to fiddle to its own music they also will founder with the
rest of the nation. The trend of world events is not in our favor. Our politicians
must at last see where the broader interests of the nation lie, and get at them.
If not now, when?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

At last we have a health insurance bill up for consideration. The proposed bill
does much more than tinker around the edges of the health insurance problem. It
addresses the uninsureds, the arbitrary limitations on who is covered, for what and at what cost. It may even result in reigning in the runaway costs of health care.
All that is good. It could be better by addressing the pay for procedure system but hey, we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Sad to say the conservatives among the Dems, and the Repubs will do all in their power to defeat any reform. That is as their paymasters require. They maintain that
it is better to stick with the failed system, which rewards and subsidizes the for- profit insurance industry, because we know what its defects are and wont be surprised
if it doesn't work. That the present system will destroy our economy in less than a decade is for future congresses to deal with. As for the public interest, sorry, wrong number. That is the bad.

The ugly, is the vicious campaign of lies, distortions and threats which the
insurance industry, supported by the right wing thugs, has foisted on the public.
They are selling poison disguised as public welfare announcements, and large numbers
of the public are buying. If they succeed in defeating reform it will be a huge
step in the decline of our quality of life. We have more than enough of those
already.

The Banalization of Horror

Wars up to the present have been horrors, but at least they contained within themselves certain restraints. Combatants know they can be hurt, maimed and killed. Non combatants know they can suffer the same injuries, plus destruction of their homes, livelihoods, displacement, starvation and refugee status. Combat is a very
personal experience, often involving face to face confrontation or observation of the effects of aerial and artillery bombardment. Survivors of war have deep motivations to avoid repeating the experience for themselves or their fellows.

The advances of science are gradually converting war into an electronic contest in which attacks will be conducted from afar, managed by computers controlling robots
at the command of operators who have not even the remotest physical contact with the resulting deaths and injuries, and are at no risk to themselves. It is becoming a
computer game, but with real, not virtual victims.

Roger Cohen, in an opinion column in the Nov. 12 issue of the New York Times entitled
"Of Fruit Flies and Drones" gives a vivid analysis of this scenario. He explains how science, using information about how Fruit Flies orient themselves in their space, have developed drone planes which, directed from afar can inflict death and injury on
an enemy in some remote location, with the operator who pressed the button then going home to dinner as if after a round of golf. The director of the operation is
godlike, sending a thunderbolt from the sky to extinguish a life, as easily as turning off a lamp switch.

At that point in the descent of man, war will become a banal pursuit, with the
most highly developed scientific society determining the fate of mankind. Perhaps the
extinction of our species will come about in that fashion, instead of by ecological
destruction?

The Demise of Reason

That is what we are witnessing in Washington at this moment.

A widely held definition of a Democracy is a system of government and control whose purpose is to assure the greatest good for the greatest number with the fewest
blatant inequities. Government will not choose winners and losers: it will make available to everyone the opportunity and tools to make themselves a winner.

Over time the winners buy/or gain control of the apparatus of government and exploit it for selfish interest. To prevent this perversion of purpose, regulations must be emplaced to control predatory or dishonest practices. Without due diligence even
regulations can be diluted or evaded, as occurred in our current breakdown in the
financial system and resulting recession-depression. Even in our present state
some winners, including those who caused the problem, still profit. Their control of media even makes the people most injured by the collapse of the economy into supporters who then oppose any real reform for their benefit.

In recent days measures to control risky investment practices such as derivitives,
sub-prime mortgages, etc have been, with Democratic connivance, weakened to impotency. Banks have used bail out public funds to acquire other financial institutions instead of issuing business credit essential for recovery. The obscene
compensation for the malefactors have even increased. All that without any sanction
by the agencies responsible for protecting the public interest.

The health care "reform" process is a massive offense against the public. Private,
for-profit health care insurers are middlemen. They provide no health care, fund no
research, serve no public purpose. They collect premiums, skim off a large share, and
pay claims. In order to protect their share they limit who will be insured, what
treatment can be covered and how much they will pay for that, and even who lives or dies by their fiat. No other developed country permits such a wasteful, anti public
system to exist. Most of them are not Socialist governments, just reasonable.

Back to Primitivism

The increase in child/teen violence and murder should command as much attention
as the Afghanistan or Iraq situations. The degree of savagery that has occurred in the rash of country wide assaults, maiming, murder is a symptom of a decay of our
social morality over ever wider segments of our population. That it has progressed to a point where 20 bystanders could look on a brutal gang rape of a teen age girl
after a school dance, and not intervene, but instead cheer and laugh, and even film the event is mind boggling. And no one called 911 for help!

Too many young people are growing up in homes where the parents practice violence, where they never impart to their children any sense of ethics or morality, and where
empathy for fellow humans is an unknown concept. If the schools would teach those that might compensate for the parental neglect. Teaching those mores in an environment of their peers could have greater impact and acceptance than in the home.
Imprisoning youths for such crimes, without psychological treatment, without teaching
them anger management, will assure repeat behavior if and when they return to the streets. Part of the treatment must virtually put them in the victim's place so they feel the damage they inflict.

Society must tackle this problem now, before the rot spreads into even upscale communities. More youth centered facilities with skilled counselors and planned
activities are needed. We must redirect the macho, violent tendencies into a socially acceptable direction. It can, and must be done with the same priorities
we assign to health care reform, stimulating the economy, and cleaning up the
large financial institutions. Delay poses the danger that we could lose an entire
generation to violence as a way of life.

Uncle Sam--The Don Quixote of the 21st Century

Cervantes, in his brilliant novel, treats his gentle, if addled, hero Don Quixote, as a dreamer with the noble aim of rectifying injustice wherever it was found. His world
was small, limited to a horizon he could reach on horseback. And in his fantasies he performed great deeds of valor, whether jousting with an evil knight who masqueraded as a windmill, or rescuing a virgin princess--in reality a slutty barmaid, from the gypsys, the bar flys. Readers come away inspired to reach for the
stars, as did the Don, for such effort enobles the soul.

The history of our nation for the last half century has been created by a series of Presidents who have been reincarnations of the Don, imbued with missionary zeal
to play the roles of Saviours of Democracy and Capitalism everywhere--in a world
of total accessibility given jet planes and the internet.
Like the Don they were captives of fantasy, enraptured by the might and power of
our country, our wealth, and the "obvious" superiority of our system. So, unaware that the foes we chose were in masquerade, because of our lack of knowledge of their
cultures, political structures and beliefs, we galloped off to remake their world
in our image. In the process we almost lost our world.
We are trying to build a nation in Afghanistan. The characteristics of nationhood are some form of Central authority, with many semi autonomous jurisdictions providing control and services to the people. In our nation we have the central
National government and countless jurisdictions: states, counties, cities, towns, school boards, public safety, health services, public utilities, elections, taxing,
sanitation, roads and streets, and more. All of those form a matrix for providing
for a safe and fuctioning society. Now consider Afghanistan. None of that structure exists now and hasn't in the past. On what will we construct a nation with any chance of survival without our military presence?
Yes chaos will probably ensue if we withdraw, and Afghanistan will revert to tribal
enclaves run by warlords, whose control will extend only as far as their armed forces. The Taliban will return and exercise overall power. It is unlikely that the Taliban will permit Al Queda to return as that would invite retaliation from the West. And we will need to gear up our intelligence services to anticipate and prevent terrorist attacks. But most important, we need to educate our diplomats, congress, and the American people about other folks in other lands,
with other cultures and aspirations. If we don't learn from our errors we will be
nursemaids to failed states in the middle East forever.

Congress, Pay for Results

The nation is faced with a multitude of critical problems, every one of which is leading to serious consequences for the nation and for our citizens if not resolved.
And Congress is effectively paralyzed by petty partisanship, or by obligations to masters who have payed them to vote their way. If their way was the people's way the problems would get solved, but such is not the case.

If government were a private enterprise, our congressmen, who are after all employees of the people, would be fired, and replaced with fresh talent not yet polluted by the money in politics. But we don't have an open enrollement season for
politicians. We get to elect (hire or fire) them only every two or four years, time enough for them to do irreparable harm. And they earn their salary and perks whether or not they produce useful legislation. That offers a possible avenue for forcing
improved performance in the peoples interests.

Let us amend the constitution to eliminate salaries for lawmakers. PUT THEM ON COMMISSION, related to the quantity and quality of legislation they produce, with bonuses for solving problems. The bonuses and rates of commission would be set by
public referendum at the end of each session, with the right of appeal if the pols
can make a case to justify a higher rate. In sum, we pay for PERFORMANCE in the public interest, as determined by the public.

Of course this is an impossible dream. But imagine the jolt that just raising such a radical idea would administer to the politicos who now treat the public with contempt!

The Nobel---the Mirror has two faces

The nation is shocked, SHOCKED, that our president Obama has been granted the
Nobel prize for peace. The right wing pundits and zealots will need life support
to retain their limited version of sanity in order to survive this international recognition of a president thay consider illegitimate and who they are determined to destroy without regard to the damage to our nation.

Our mirror has two faces: the image we have of ourselves, and the one the rest
of the world has of us. Our's is clouded by a fog of racism and partisanship, conceit about our "dominant" position in the world, and an illusion that every aspect of our existence is superior. The world sees us as a giant that was a light onto the nations, but which lost its way and can no longer serve as an example to emulate. They see Obama as an explorer who is seeking a new and more effective way to solve world problems by respecting and joining the rest of the world in the task.
The Nobel prize represents an acknowledgement of the direction he is taking and encouragement that he will continue in the face of the Luddites who cannot accept
change.

Whether Obama succeeds in setting America on a new course is very much in doubt, particularly because the status quo interests are powerful and control a substantial
portion of the media. They have used scare words and false scenarios to bamboozle a
gullible public to resist change, even though their present state of affairs is a failure in many respects.

Gulliver's Travels

Two days ago I returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic. I visited with dear friends, a prominent family who are involved in almost every facet of the commercial and financial life of the country. Members of the family haved served in their diplomatic corps, as ambassadors to the United States, the U.N., and several other
nations throughout the world. Their family foundation makes great contributions to
the people of their nation, as well as Haiti, to improve the economies, the health of the people, and in cultural affairs.

A good part of the time of my visit was spent discussing the conditions in the D. R.
and the other countries in which they are active, and how the United States is
perceived there.

With few exceptions in Latin America the political status is unstable, some in turmoil. The economies are fragile, with significant unemployment. The current recession in the United States has had dealt a serious blow to their
exports for which they are unable to compensate. None of that was a surprise.

They see the U.S. as a mixed bag. We are the world's largest single economy, but our
unregulated financial sector appears to them as disfunctional and based on wild,
greed based speculation. We are as Gulliver, held captive by the Lilliputs of
a disfunctional partisan congress which has demonstrated that it is incapable of governing, yet won't allow a strong executive to make necessary decisions in its stead. In foreign affairs we are seen as a hubristic bully, ignorant of the cultures
and political realities in far off places, and determined that all should be governed
by what we consider our superior system. They also see us as the most generous of people in times of disaster or tragedy, giving freely of our treasure and expecting nothing in return. Yes, a mixed bag.

They are schooled in English and send their children to our colleges but the graduates choose to live and work in a family centered society back home and give to their people of their wealth and knowledge. We could learn a lot about gracious living from them.

Choices

On life's journey, each twist and turn presents us with choices, and opportunities. How wisely we choose, how open we are to exploiting opportunities, will determine
our success or failure, and the quality of our lives. This is true for society as for
individuals.
Over the last 8 years the overwhelming majority of American people came to realize that the policies by which they were being governed were failed. Those failed policies caused them to lose their jobs, their homes, their nest eggs, their self respect, their pride, their confidence, and their sense of security at home and abroad.
So, in record numbers they voted for change. Now that change is imminent they have panicked. Out of fear, many have concluded that they prefer to stay with the known , but failed, policies of yore than risk new ones which "might" fail in the future, but which also are ones that hold out hope for turning this country away from the downhill spiral it is now on. This fear is fostered and nurtured by the vested interests which have profited from the status quo, at the expense of the public they
are frightening.
For eight years the large financial institutions worked diligently to erode all regulations protecting the public from dishonest and predatory practices. Once they
accomplished that mission greed took over and ran rampant. The result was a collapse of real estate values, which made up much of the wealth of the middle class, the
disappearance of credit which lubricates the gears of business, and a massive loss
of equity values in retirement plans and personal savings.
Having suffered such massive loss of wealth, it would seem logical that the public would clamor for government intervention to rescue the economy and limit the damage.
But the few who have gotten obscenely wealthy under the system as it was, want to keep it as it was. They have the media power to indoctrinate the gullible that the
government, the ONLY institution with enough power to ward off a major depression,
is evil, too big, too wasteful, and too profligate with the public's money to be
trusted. Only the private interests who brought us to this state have the ability, and the resources to solve the mess they put us into.
They are fighting on all fronts, be it health insurance, and regulations controlling derivatives and other toxic investment
products they foisted on a greedy and uninformed public. Even some states, Florida, New York among them, lost huge sums from their employee pension funds under those
nefarious schemes.
Only an awakening by the public that they are being manipulated in assisting in
actions against their own best interests offers any hope that they will wake up
from their thrall before the opportunity to make meaningful changes is lost.

Bribe our way out of Afghanistan?

In my blog "Presidential Suicide Pact" dealing with our dilemma in Afghanistan,
published September 5th, I advocated that we "get the hell out of there" because,
among other reasons, our only allies in the country were the people we bribed. Allies
that are for sale are not a foundation for nation building.
Fareed Zakaria, editor of the International Edition of NEWSWEEK, and a frequent
commentator on the Sunday morning TV news programs, published an incisive article
in the September 12th issue entitled "The Way out of Afghanistan". He recognizes
that our attempt to build a self sufficient nation of Afghanistan by military force
would fail. He recommends that we bribe the Pashtun tribes, of which President Karzai is a member, and who though corrupt enjoys Pashtun support, to reach an accomodation with the Taliban, thus achieving a degree of control.
Hopefully that would enable that agglomeration of tribes to act as a stable, if impoverished, nation. That is an idea worth consideration. The questions associated with it are weighty and have serious implications for the U. S.
Who will fund the bribing? How much will be required? For how long? Who will
control and distribute the funds? To whom? How long will we be involved? How will we
judge success? How will we insure accountability in a sink of corruption?
Does the administration have the political muscle to implement such a policy? Will the American public accept a deal paying bribes to Afghans?

Would such a deal be better than getting the hell out of there?

Last President, and counting.

President Obama made an elequent, moving, and logical speech to the joint session of congress, promising to work with them "in the interests of the nation" so that he will be the last President to have to deal with a failing health care system.

The plan he outlined included many sound solutions to the problems in the existing
heath care insurance system, but contained one fatal omission which dooms any plan to failure. It seems the omission was for pregmatic, political reasons, to win
support from the portion of the public which now has health insurance. He made a catagorical promise that if one now had health insurance one could keep it. The only
changes would be provisions to strengthen protections against cancellation, and unreasonable benefit limitations. Here is where the flaw resides! The existing insurance system contains the seeds of destruction and bankruptcy of itself, and the entire economy of the nation.
Medical care is payed for on the basis of fee per PROCEDURE. The providor of care has a list of procedures on which he checks off what treatment was given. Each
procedure has a dollar value. The checked list is forwarded to the insurer who then
pays the total value of the list. Therefor, the more procedures, the more money earned. Gaming the system, plus unnecessary procedures for defensive purposes is
widepread. Recognizing the profit potential, many providers have established their own lab facilities to which they refer their patients. All the incentives are for inflating costs. Insurance company treatment directives often require diagnostic
tests and procedures which the attending physician may believe are not necessary.
Until the reimbursement policy is changed to a single value for effective treatment
based on outcomes, the inflation in health care costs will continue, and at an increasing rate.

Presidential suicide pact.

As with Presidents Johnson, G. Bush, Jack Kennedy, Obama is embarked on a suicide mission for his presidency, and for the nation. All in pursuit of the chimera, begun
under George Bush, that America is destined to convert to
Jeffersonian democracy the most primitive, tribal, societies in the world, and to prevent the victory of radical economic
ideologies or alien theocracies, wherever they raise their heads. All our missions of this nature have led to disastrous defeats, at enormous costs in lives and treasure, and shattered the cohesion and amity among our people. We are on a slippery slope to third world status, and have squandered the resources, human and capital, to reverse the trend.
Listening to the military, and the super patriots hawks, Obama is about to increase
our troops committment to Afghanistan, in support of a corrupt, cynical government
which exercises no control over any part of a non-existant state structure.
We will use an exhausted military, fighting at an enormously extended logistical distance, in a hostile, unfamiliar theatre, for a cause in which the native population has neither interest or experience. It is an effort which other empires
have tried before, with similar outcomes. We are rightly perceived in the region as alien invaders, and our only "allies" are the people we bribe.
No matter how long we remain there, we will never make any permanent impact for
change, and when we finally leave all traces of our presence will disappear into the desert sands as did the other empires.
Let us declare victory and get the hell out of there. Then we can relieve our brave soldiers, and rebuild the military, while we rebuild our shattered economy.

The Grand Bazaar

The U.S has morphed from a producer to a consumer society, where everything is for
sale; office, honor, public opinion, taste, and intergrity. To stimulate consumption
the marketers expend huge sums of money on surveys to detect the vulnerabilities of the buyers, so they can be lured to become docile and compliant enough to buy whatever the vendor is selling, even if doing so defeats their self interest.

Politicians sell out to contributors, so holding office will become a career. The public interest is only incidental. Reporters, commentators, college professors
sell their opinions to the highest bidders. The public is bombarded with propaganda pushing the agenda of the marketers. The appearance of truth in the propaganda is rare, and only if it happens to serve the purpose of the marketer.

Many purchases are made on impulse, subliminably stimulated. Saturation advertising, much of it covert through respected pundits on Radio, TV and in the print media, couched in so called "objective" terms, intoxicates the public to the point where their decisions are based on emotion, not reason. As a result the nation is controlled by an oligarchy of wealthy corporations with the most resources to manipulate the public, and the media. Nothing in our educational system prepares the public to analyze and deal with the propaganda that bombards them. "Intelligent consumers" is most often an oxymoron. Nowhere is this more evident than in the current health care debate.

That Old "Can Do" Spirit

The late eighteenth century until the mid twentieth century was the era of the dominance of the American Dream. Our creative juices were flowing. There wasn't anything we couldn't accomplish. We conquered a vast continent and turned it into
a giant productive powerhouse with a booming population, burgeoning cities filled with huge business towers, museums, parks and universities. We made scientific discoveries that eliminated plagues, took us beyond the surly bounds of Earth to
other planets, and explored the unknown oceans. Along the way we accumulated a
small empire, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, and a passel of small
islands.
There were some serious stumbles in our passage; the Civil War, a number of lesser
Imperialistic foreign wars, and the Great Depression. Those lapses were more than balanced by our participation in the two great World Wars, in which we were instrumental in defeating powerful dictatorial empires and assuring the flowering of prosperity and democracy in much of the world.
Something happened in the last half of the twentieth century that made us lose our "Can Do" spirit. We became embroiled in a number of conflicts in distant lands where we mistakenly assumed our vital national interests were at stake. Without
genuine public support for those ventures, we lost, and in the process we lost our optimism and faith in America's invincibility. The costs of the Korean, Vetnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in lives, treasure and international esteem are beyond measure and have contributed to the drastic economic decline of our nation. The huge national debt, and unsustainable deficits far into the future have constrained our capacity to invest in modernization of our educational system and maintenance of our infrastructure and manufacturing base, as well as provide universal health care to our citizens.
A public attitude that sacrifice is for someone else, that someone else can fight our wars and pay the costs of our past profligacy, will do nothing to halt our decline into third world status. We need a rebirth of the "Can Do' American spirit and resolve. Partisan bickering makes that unlikely--petty politicians make for petty citizens. We need our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, to be statesmen, to counsel together, not for party advantage, but for the survival of the American Dream!

Washington, keep your f....g hands off my health care (A Satire)

Any rational discussion of the health care financing problem has been submerged beneath a fog of propaganda, dishonesty and fear mongering. Lets get to the heart of the matter: As long as the PURCHASER of the health care is not the main PAYER for the care, there will never be effective cost control. Such a system is welfare based, not market based. The for-profit insurance companies make it market based
by controlling what care they will pay for. That includes provisions for overhead, advertising, profit, perks and costly claims administration. Reducing premiums under such conditions is an oxymoron. Cost control can come either from limiting treatment, or selecting only clients with little likelihood of using services for many years to come.

Here is a suggestion: Remove all cost sharing methods, including Medicare, from the medical care scene and require everyone to pay for medical care from their own resources. If there are no resources there will be no care. If lack of care increases mortality that conversely lowers the number of persons to be cared for.
To compensate citizens for their new responsibility, payroll taxes for Medicare will no longer be collected. Medicaid and state insurance for poor children will be eliminated so state and federal taxes will be further reduced. As private insurance will be ended, the billions in premiums, overhead and profits will reside with individual citizens. Government assistance will be limited to a burial allowance,
perhaps $500, as a reward for getting the government out of the health care business.

Of course, such a radical change will have a severe impact on bureaucracies within government at all levels, on insurance companies, and health care providers. But we are an infallible Capitalist society, and we know the market, on its own, will adjust and set things right! And BIG, SOCIALIST, INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT will have gotten out of a large part of our lives!

A Fable for our Time

One morning in the year 2009 a passenger ship set sail from Los Angeles on a cruise to Indonesia. Aboard were 400 passengers, and a crew of 200, and a Captain of color, with an unusual name. He had been hired by the shipping line after a majority of former and future passengers complained that they had lost confidence in the previous Captain because of his incompetence. The new Captain had been selected from a panel recommended by a number of Travel industry organizations, and former passengers.

Among the crew, some 80 were loyal supporters of the former Captain, and resentful of the new skipper, who they considered illegitimate. They vowed to sabotage his performance by disobeying his orders, even to the point of mutiny.

While in mid Pacific the ship struck a huge mound of mostly submerged debris, resulting from a Typhoon in Taiwan. The hull was breached and the ship began taking huge amounts of water, more than the automatic pumps could expel. The Captain ordered the crew to take turns manning the manual pumps, but the 80 recalcitrants
refused, intending that the sunk ship would destroy the Captain's career. As the pumpers became exhausted and were unable to continue, the ship foundered and sank.

As they sank beneath the surface for the last time, the leader of the mutineers was heard to exclaim "that black S.O.B. got what was coming to him", one of the pumpers exclaimed "we tried!", and one of the passengers cried out "you bastards were being payed to protect us!".

Moral: If you cut it off to spite your face, it becomes very difficult to blow your nose!

Life can be Beautiful!

Amidst the "sturm und drang" of the stressful political and economic era in which
we live, it is wise, from time to time, to stop and smell the flowers. It can restore some perspective and optimism in our lives.

In mid August I watched a recorded performance of Romeo and Juliet by the Royal
Ballet, music by Prokofiev. The music, dancing, costumes and production were superb.
To see the dancers defy gravity with such grace and power was sheer joy. They conveyed such deep emotion without a single spoken word that I watched through tears
of pure pleasure. After three viewings I am as much enthralled as the first.

On Sunday, August 9th I watched a live telecast of the Mostly Mozart concert from
Lincoln Center. The featured soloist was the virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, one of the most sublime compositions ever for the violin. His interpretation was powerful, lyrical and enchanting. Joshua, the orchestra and conductor merged into a single complex instrument. As the music washed over me, and poured into me I felt as if out of body.

Those two events renewed my belief that the human mind is capable of producing creations of superb beauty, and of solving any problem if allowed. But sadly, it is mankind's baser nature that holds the stage. Sadder still, there are many places on this earth where beauty never gets the spotlight because of the abysmal darkness which prevails there.

Why can't we devote more effort to planting flowers than we do to destroying them?

Fertilizing "The Age of Anxiety"

These are anxious times, and the pols in Washington are aware of the economic difficulties facing the almost 7 million citizens who lost their jobs in the past 18 months, and who have, or will soon exhaust their unemployment benefits.

It is weird that those very people in greatest danger are agitating against the only agency that can rescue them---big government! Standing on the brink of bankruptcy they are ranting against deficit spending, the only tool available in time to save them.

If big government is the enemy, is NO government their friend? In the name of reigning in the evil of big government, big business, in the last 8 years, succeeded in wiping out, or greatly curtailing regulations designed to control risky and dishonest business practices which could harm the public. They got their wish, almost destroying the world economy, and shafting Mr.& Mrs. Average American. The public bought the mantra and is paying the price. The malefactors were bailed out by money from the very public they screwed, and are continuing to harvest obscene bonuses, instead of being fired or in jail.

Even the lowest species in the biological pyramid retain a survival instinct. Why have the highest order, humans, in the U.S. apparently lost theirs? Has our educational system failed us? Are we so narcotized by packaged entertainment that we have lost our ability to reason? Can we no longer distinguish between propaganda and facts?

There are none so blind as those who WILL not see. I am tempted to root for Congress
to revoke all stimulus legislation, just to administer a very basic, almost primitive lesson in economics. In a recession you don't reduce government spending,
you use it to revive a staggering economy.

Assisted Suicide

The tumultuous protesters at the health care town hall meetings have a death wish which was created within them by the skilled, completely unscrupulous health insurers.
Sadly, they don't recognize their peril, and the blatant contradictions in the propaganda they have swallowed. They have been indoctrinated with false fears. For example they are told that an OPTIONAL public insurance system will result in health care rationing. In reality it is the for-profit insurers that are at this very moment doing the rationing! They tell the physicians and hospitals what treatment they can provide, which and how many test procedures they will pay for. They even
will refuse to pay for life saving treatment if, in their opinion, the costs of treatment are not balanced by the value of the continued life!!!!!
And there is no regulatory authority that can hold them to account.
Also, is it not rationing to deny insurance to those who have a pre-existing condition, no matter how trivial or how long in the past? Or to price it out of reach of millions, who have no alternative?
In my career as an actuary, involved with the insurance industry, never have I seen such predatory practices as in the health care reform process, and never have I encountered such widespread public gullibility against their own best interests!

Duped Again!

In the Health Care debate we have seen the power of the new cummunication technology.
HARRY AND LOUISE have morphed into pundits and writers in the thrall of corporate
special interests, whose sole aim is to retain the profitable status quo, without regard for the damage done to the public and the economy.
These interests have embarked on a fear campaign that exceeds in scope the Harry and Louise strategy. Not only have they revived the bogey-man of Socialism, they have
upped the ante by the spurious claim that seniors will be "executed" in some manner
to control the costs of providing health care to everyone.
Particularly onerous is their use of the Big Lie technique, in which they present
a completely unlikely disaster scenario and employ so-called objective authorities
to make it sound plausible. By funding overwhelming amounts of fear propaganda, they enlist normally rational people into their campaign.
The facts are that for millions of our citizens the private health insurance system
has been a DISMAL FAILURE. Not only has it put many businesses into danger of failing, it has resulted in corruption of the system of dispensing care at all levels. As a side effect it has stimulated the growth of a tort system which in
turn causes the practice of defensive medicine, which inflates costs and malpractice insurance premiums.
Insurance is supposed to operate on the principles of spreading the risk and sharing the costs among large numbers. Is it insurance to deny coverage to millions who
may allready be in need, and to price it out of reach of more millions? No, that is
exploitation of a corrupt system. If it were otherwise would the nation be perpetually confronting a health care crisis?
How ironic that the victims of the system are enlisted in perpetuating it.

Paying for Health Care--Not a Zero Sum Problem

To understand the ramifications of any plan to finance health care, it would be helpful to explore the economic life cycle of most Americans. That cycle involves three phases. The first, an initial period of Dependency, begins at birth and lasts until the individual starts to earn a living. During that period he/she is a consumer, but not a producer.
The next period is Independancy. It is the period when he starts accumulating assets
and retirement benefits, from private and government retirement plans. It is also the period of high expenses for creating and raising a family with all the costs involved. During Independency he is both a producer and consumer.
The last period is again Dependency, supported by accumulated assets, retirement plans, and/or relatives. During this period he is still a consumer, but no longer a producer.
The purpose of health care is to improve the quality of life by reducing
Morbidity (illness and incapacity), and premature Mortality, and extending the life
span. A successful health care program will thus increase the length of
the final dependency period. It is in the final years of that period that the individual consumes the greatest amount of health care resources and incurs
the greatest expenses. Thus the dilemma.
There is another factor which is increasing the cost of health care to a large degree. Many of the more common ailments now have medications and treatments which
yield cures at modest costs. The more exotic and chronic ailments of age, such as Alzheimers, and degenerative conditions, do not respond to the most common medications. Much experimentation is ongoing for drugs for those conditions. Such
experimentation, and testing, is very costly. That cost must be amortized over a relatively small patient population, so the cost per patient is very high, and can continue over long periods, making those ailments very expensive to the health care
insurer, whichever type. That leads to proposals to limit treatment for such patients, a form of triage or euthanasia.
What plan we finally adopt will reveal a great deal about what kind of society we are, or pretend to be.

Thunder on the Right

There has been a marked upsurge of bitter, threatening articles, talk show screeds,
and circulating Emails denouncing President Obama, and his policies at home and
abroad. They contain accusations of treason, conspiring with Muslims to undermine
this nation, betraying our ally Israel, deliberately bankrupting the nation, and replacing our Capitalist system with Socialism.
Some writers are advocating turning to guns to undo the election miscarriage which
brought us a black Muslim President. Such talk arouses the fringe nut cases like the
ones who murder physicians, museum guards, police officers and even presidents
with whom they differ, or against whom they have some imagined grievance.
From some investigation, it appears that many of the disgruntled writers and ranters are GOD fearing, white, pistol packing papas and mammas who voted for someone else
and can't recover from the loss. Many of them feel that their party, or cult, has
a GOD given mandate to govern this country and they intend to do so, by force if necessary. Persuasion is for sissy liberals (who are ashamed of our country anyway).
The bad economic times add to their stress, and could easily push them into rash
action. That would be the ultimate betrayal of our democratic ideals and values.
They would destroy the nation to "save" it. If there are any rational leaders of
this radical movement. now is the time for them to demonstrate some leadership
to calm the brewing storm.

HAVES vs HAVE NOTS--2nd Inning

The G8, then G17, meeting on what to do about global warming ended with a whimper.
The underdeveloped countries rightly blame the highly industrialized countries for the huge volume of accumulated CO2 that has fouled our atmosphere. Appealing to the have not nations to control CO2 emmisions means they would remain in a perpetual underdeveloped state. Development and industrialization require tremendous amounts of
energy, which are presently derived from coal and petroleum, both of which are major polluters, but relatively cheap to use. To expect the have not nations to forgo
industrialization is to keep them in perpetual poverty. They will never accept that, so it remains for the haves to take the lead, on two fronts.
First, they must be serious about finding alternative, renewable and clean sources of energy and incorporate them into energy efficient means of production.
Second, they must make those new energy sources and efficiencies available, cheaply, to the have nots, even if this results in their becoming competitors. Such competition would spur innovation and creativity, which in turn lead to better
products, cleanly made, at fair prices. All of those measures will reduce greenhouse
gases, in turn reducing global warming. Equally important, they would improve the standard of living and health all over the globe. That could reduce
terrorism and political conflict as the new haves acquire a stake in a peaceful, prosperous world.
This approach requires some altruism on the part of the haves, and an appreciation
of the new global interdependence which our communication and transportation technologies have brought about. It requires that our politicians think as world statesmen, not Repubs or Dems. Are they up to it, now that a statesman is President?

Convergence/Divergence

In the post WWII era the world was divided into two opposing blocs, the Western Alliance led by the U.S., and the Eastern/Asian Alliance led by the Soviet Union. The Cold War was characterized by numerous skirmishes on the bloc peripheries, such
as the Berlin Blockade/Airlift. The effective balance of military and nuclear power led the acceptance that armed conflict between the blocs was unthinkable. The
MAD doctrine (mutually assured destruction) kept an uneasy peace between the
principal antagonists. China was the main player outside the two blocs, with its
own expansionist goals and an increasing nuclear and missile capability. China's greatest concern was internal developement and industrialization. For that she needed
export markets, which exercised a restraining influence on her expansionist and
foreign adventures.
The present era confronts the two former great powers with new challenges from
rogue, radical countries that already have or will have nuclear weapons, awakening giants such as India and China, and rebellious client states on the periphery of
Russia.
In the Western hemisphere the U. S. sphere of influence is disintegrating. Nations such as Venezuela and Bolivia and others supporting them, are going their own way,
spurning U.S. policies. Their support in foreign affairs, and in the United Nations
can no longer be taken for granted.
In response to these new trends and power facts Russia and the U.S. are tentatively exploring a convergence of of interests. This could lead to new arms controls and reduction in nuclear armaments, more cooperation in international disputes such as with Iran,
the North Korean bellicosity and threats, and in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
President Obama's meeting this week with the Russian leaders has produced progress
on some of these issues and promises more to come. China appears ready to engage as well.
The President has some serious housekeeping to do in our own hemisphere, where divergence is the trend. He can't do it all alone. Now is the time for Hillary
to put on the steam!

Revolution requires Resolution

The people's revolt in Iran will likely not succeed in its immediate goal of
reversing the outcome of the fraudulant election. The suppresive power of the
reactionary state will wear down the protesters, because they lack dynamic leadership. Mousavi did not begin the protest to bring down the theocracy that
rules. He was protesting a fraudulent election which deprived him of the political power he sought for himself. The youthful population wanted change from a medieval, autocratic system which deprived them of opportunities to join the modern world and improve their material condition. Their only rallying point was that frail reed Mousavi. If he, or his more dynamic wife, had seized the reins of the protest and
accepted goals larger than his self interest, the revolt would have galvanized
the vast majority of Iranians to drive on to success. The bloody suppression by
the ruling council would have been self defeating by exposing their interest in control, not the general welfare of he nation.
The game is not over. The seeds of change, fertilized by the blood of martyrs such as Neda, have been planted. The vulnerabilities of the supreme Mullah and the Council
have been exposed. That will stimulate the opposition. They may change tactics,
but the trend has begun and will increase in momentum each day. Despite efforts to suppress communication among the dissidents, modern technology, combined with individual ingenuity, enables the revolutionaries to communicate and coordinate.
Time and evolution are on their side.
The role of the West is to keep the spotlight of public opinion on Iran, and to apply diplomatic and commercial pressure on the ruling clique. If it can be done in a manner which deprives the rulers from claiming that the revolution is foreign born, the West should provide clandestine assistance to the rebels.

Health Care Insanity

A popular definition of insanity is "repeating the same actions and expecting a different result".
The private medical expense insurance industry has been around in one form or another for more than sixty years. The insurers trumpet the mantra that the industry
offers healthy competition in benefits and costs, so if it ain't broken, why fix it? Particularly if the evil, ineffective "government" would get involved in the fix.
The facts contradict the industry's hype. If the private system is so efficient, and benefits are provided to everyone, at reasonable cost, and the quality of the care
for which they will allow payment is so high, why have we had a health care crisis over more than 40 years? Why is congress spending so much time in every session
on the subject?
Under the surface many in congress are aware that a single payer system would be the
best solution. The powerful vested interests that are arrayed against such a solution control the votes of enough members to prevent such a plan from coming to a vote. So they will come up with a patchwork plan with just enough changes to give the appearance of progress but which will preserve the status quo, and the problems
and inequities within it.
Health care consumes such an enormous share of the nation's assets that recovery
from the current depression cannot occur unless its costs are reigned in. The status quo will mean deficits increasing annually, a drag on business recovery (to say nothing of expansion), and an increasing portion of the public without health care insurance. Don't we have a right to expect better from our Congress?

Health Care--Redux

The conservative pundits, George Will in the lead, are savaging Obama's proposal
for a gov't run alternative to private, for profit insurance plans that presently
cover an estimated 250 million persons. Their mantra is that such a plan, because it
would use the enormous bargaining power of the government, would price the private plans out of the market, limiting choice and diminishing the benefits of "healthy"
competition. If the private plans are so healthy, and competitive, why are we in a health care crisis?
The private health insurance industry consumes hundreds of billions of dollars annually, in which about 33% goes to overhead, profits and dividends. That 33% grows annually by inflation while producing no benefits to patients. In addition, because the insurers must control costs to assure profits, they impose costly and onerous
burdens on providers by pre-treatment approvals, limits on permitted procedures, and claims filing and paperwork. The practice of medicine has become an assembly line business with office managers, computer techs and automated claims and billing.
Medical care is NOT a commodity. Seeking it is not like purchasing an auto, or a Dunkin Donut. Illness and accidents are not optional, and treatment must be sought
without regard for ability to pay. Therefor society must provide it, but in the most efficient manner, recognizing that public resources come from the public.
If a single payor non profit plan were established, the premium dollars allready being payed, plus the savings of 33%, and cost reductions to providers, could easily cover the cost of insuring the 45-50 million currently uninsureds.
There would be some painful readjustments for the for-profit insurers, but we cannot
maintain a failed system just to avoid those.
It will take political courage by the President and Congress to effect such a change.
It is easier to accomplish now, when public pain is fresh, the failures of the status quo are so evident, and the private sector has no solutions to offer. Go for it Mr. President!

Slap on the Wrist, Pat on the Head!

President Obama has released his grossly inadequate plan to improve regulation of large financial institutions. I am deeply disappointed. It is tinkering around the edges without addressing the rot that greed has planted in our banks, investment firms, insurance companies and mortgage brokers. They will evade its provisions with ease.
Obama was elected with a substantial mandate to fix the corrupt system which arose from the De-regulatory zeal of Congress in the 1990's. The traditional business models for commercial banks, savings banks, and insurance companies, which established
separate and distinct functions for each, carefully regulated, and which had served the nation and its economy well, was suddenly abolished. In its place we got an "anything goes" model. When anything goes, GREED goes fastest.
In his campaign Obama promised to overhaul the system to re-establish accountability
for the financial institutions, and to put in place a traffic cop to keep them in their traditional roles.
I am aware that his governing technique is to build concensus for change, and he is
by nature a cautious man. But with his broad public support he could ram through major reform. If he rallied the public for that, even the powerful financial lobbies
and their purchased congressmen would be overcome. After all it is the public which lost jobs, homes, retirement portfolios and savings. If they are informed of what is at stake, they will choose to do the whole job, not a band-aid. There may not be another opportunity when the public pain is fresh and the causes of our problems are so obvious, to pass the reform legislation which is so necessary to prevent another financial meltdown.
Mr. President, this is no time for timidity.

BANG! You're dead.

Daily life can be stressful. In bad economic times the stress level rises, and not everyone is equipped to cope. The sane, normal person recognizes that events are
not always in his/her control and rolls with the punches. But in all societies there are failed personalities that look for places and people to blame for the the turn of events and their own inadequacies. There are among them persons who are obviously insane as manifested by bizarre, violent or anti social behavior. They are easily
identified and can be dealt with. But the disaffected person who is functional is
difficult to identify if he wishes to remain obscure. That is the individual who represents a great danger to society because at some point he will act upon his frustrations by striking out at the imagined cause of his difficulties. His act
could be directed against an individual, as in an assassination, or a symbol of the institution he abhors, such as a Timothy McVeigh.
The frustration is aften directed against entire groups, such as the Nazi anti-jewish crusade, or the KU KLUX KLAN against people of color.
In order to carry out a violent act a weapon is required, be it a physical one, or
a psychological one such as mass hysteria stirred up by a dynamic personality--
a Hitler, or a David Duke.
For the individual hater the weapon of choice is a firearm. A gun is easy to conceal, it kills from a distance so human contact with the victim does not interfere with the task at hand, and allows distance to escape. With the universal
availability of guns in our violent society, any nut case can be as powerful as the head of state, even to the point of igniting a world war as the asassination of
an Archduke did for WWI.
And we love our guns---more than our children; witness the number of children who kill themselves or other children after finding a loaded gun in the home. The parents could have avoided that tragedy by locking up the gun, but then "it wouldn't be handy if I had to shoot a burglar."
When an agitated hater is stirred up and validated by extremist politicians and pundits, on Radio, TV and in the press, he feels that he is performing a noble service to society by murdering a museum attendant, a physician, a government official who is "coming to take away his guns", or a President who is selling out the nation to the Muslims. Aren't those rabble rousers accesories to the crime?

What happened to civility and tolerance for other opinions in politics? Why do the divisive, strident voices dominate the debate? Is it because they can't win in the arena of ideas?

Medical care; Who gets, who pays?

The nation is now engaged in a vigorous, and sometime heated, debate about universal
medical care insurance. On one side are a broad spectrum of private, for profit, insurers, including insurance companies, the Blues, HMO's, Preferred Provider networks, and a variety of physician and hospital sponsored plans. These are offered
primarily to large groups sharing some common affiliation, by employers, and in somewhat limited fashion to individuals.
On the other side are plans offered by various government agencies such as the one
provided to members of congress, municipality employees, Medicaid, children in low income families, and the like.
Overlying all are Medicare and Veterans care facilities.

Certain facts and vested interests influence the debate:
The total cost of medical care in the United States has been increasing at a rate far greater than the rate of general inflation.
Approximately 50 million Americans have no health insurance, and millions more
have limited coverages which subject them to expenses beyond their ability to pay.
There are tens of thousands of employees and executives on the payrolls of
the private plans, and stockholders who invest in them in the hope of profit.
The cost of health care for the uninsured is borne by taxpayers, in the form
of higher premiums, by providers in the form of unreimbursed services, and the
uninsureds in the form of neglect of treatment with all the consequences that implies.
The overhead costs, profits, marketing expense, dividends, increased administration procedures, etc in the private plans add at least an estimated 33%
to the cost of medical care, with no commensurate benefit to patients. Inflation
increases that load each year, on top of the increase in the cost of providing the care itself.
Despite the high cost the quality of care in the U.S. is inferior to that in most of the other highly developed countries, which provide better care at much lower cost, to everyone.

There is also the philosophical question; Is health care a basic right for citizens
which must be addressed by government? Is it the responsibility of each individual and therefor a matter of survival of the fittest? Is untreated illness a danger to, and a burden on society as a whole, and thus society's responsibility?

Because health care is one of the largest fiscal crises facing the nation
everyone must become involved in the debate, not just the vested interests. The
forgoing information may be helpful. Let your opinion be known to your members of
Congress!

Obama in Cairo

Obama's speech in Cairo was masterful. An American President told it like it is, ignoring domestic politics, false sensitivity and hypocrisy.
He asked the contending factions in the East and West to recognize their common
humanity, set aside partisan parochial interests and compromise on the goal of a better life for all.
To reach that goal everyone would need to abandon Alphonse-Gaston behavior; "after
you Alphonse, no after you Gaston", so neither passes through the door. Perhaps a
neutral party could arrange a simultaneous compromise so both make
the passage at the same moment. Once on the other side the obvious benefit would generate its own momentum.
An obstacle to this happy result has been the "camel in the tent" syndrome. Israelis have learned that concessions to the Arabs are absorbed as in a sponge; as a down payment on more in the gradual erosion of the Jewish state. The Arabs think in terms of centuries, the West in decades. It is not only the Jews that must be expelled from Arab lands, it is all unclean infidels. If Israel falls, Lebanon is next, then Pakistan goes Taliban. From where would the U. S. mount a counter offensive?
Our highly developed, densely populated nation is particularly vulnerable
to Pakistani nukes in the hands of fanatics. Their societies are much less vulnerable. And their culture of death accepts the consequences as a passport
to Paradise.
Until there is a deep seated and sincere change of heart among the Arabs, we face
a choice of Confrontation from a position of strength or Accommodation and eventual defeat. Where is a Solomon when we need him?

The Genie Has Escaped

Reviewing events now occuring in North Korea, Iran, and Israel-Palestine, it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that we will not resolve the problem of nuclear proliferation by diplomatic means. That Genie is allready at loose in the world, and it won't take long before he will be at the service of the most unstable terrorists.
MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction, worked in the case of US vs Soviets because both sides had too much to lose, and their leaders had strong survival instincts.
In the radical states, fanatical elements with strong death wishes are immune to such restraints.
The Arab states will consider real peace with Israel as unacceptable, until their fear of a nuclear, Shia, Iran overcomes their hatred of a Jewish state in their midst. By the time they awaken to where their best interests lie, it will be too late.
In Asia, a bellicose No. Korea will continue to be provocative, blackmailing the
world with threats. Deteriorating conditions within their own borders may lead them
into some incident which could potentially lead to a nuclear confrontation. They may also provide a weapon to terrorists to use against the West. Such an attack, without a return address, could result in mass, indiscriminate retaliation--the Apocalypse.

As it appears we cannot learn to live together harmoniously, I fear we may be destined to perish together erroneously.

Memorial Day

The annual Memorial Day concert from Washington has just concluded. It was a joy
to participate in an orgy of pure patriotism and memorial for the millions of our
war dead and maimed. Throughout our history a relative few have given up so much for the safety and security of the many, in our, and other lands.
Ours is a great, unique, nation. Our founding ideals speak to the noble natures that can reside in all mankind, but we have perfected and nurtured them more than any other peoples. We have rescued large parts of the world from tyranny, at the cost of
great material and human treasure, expecting no spoils for ourselves. We have used our wealth for the aid and comfort of billions of depressed people whether by disease, natural disasters, or genocidal conflicts.

Yet, in one arena of human relations we have not succeeded in living up to our ideals. We have failed to anticipate, or avoid war by our intellect and statecraft.
War is a failure of diplomacy. It is an attempt to resolve disputes by the most
primitive means: "I will make my point by killing and maiming more of your people, and devastate more of your real estate, than you do mine. That will convince you
that right is on my side". Of course, solutions by intellect and diplomacy require the consent and efforts of all sides. That may be nearly impossible to achieve, particularly when our opposites do not share our ideals, or possess our wealth.

Which way is a more desirable resolution, therefor requiring whatever amount of effort and time short of surrender, to solve the problem?

From Gitmo to where?

Even a Democratic controlled congress won't help Obama solve the detainees problem. Many congress members have simultaneously come down with the NIMBY disease. Yes, they say, close Gitmo, disperse the inmate population to various states (but NOT
MINE) and put them on trials. The Republicans oppose dispersion, even to the most secure prisons, which house our most dangerous mass murderers and child predators, because they could be a risk to their constituents, (including those noble murderers?)
In fact dispersion would reduce the dangers of blackmail by terrorists threatening
disaster to the residents of those many states if the detainees were not set free.
It would require more resources than they could muster.
The frights that the Repubs have also provide a great excuse for our "allies" to beg off. It is expensive to house, and try such detainees. Many of our allies have large
numbers of Muslims among their populations. which do represent a greater risk.
The only downside to keeping that Gitmo status quo is the blatent hypocrisy
which we demonstrate to the world when we preach the nobility of our constitution. We show that becoming smarter in outwitting terrorists has less value than acting as terrorists ourselves.
How's this for a solution? Board all the detainees on an overage airliner, piloted by
a terminally ill pilot who is ready to die for his country, apparently to fly them
to the US mainland. En route the plane crashes, with no survivors. That is rendition
without involving other countries. American ingenuity at its best!

The Grand Illusion, Part II

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are about to meet. Obama will
be pressuring Israel to make major concessions to the Palestinians for a two state agreement. The assumptions are that such an agreement, which will significantly reduce the survivability of Israel, will turn Iran from its expressed intention to eradicate Israel, relieve Iran of its concerns about an Israeli preventive strike, and persuade it to abandon its creation of a nuclear arsenal.
I have searched the annals of history to find an example where appeasement as a foreign policy has succeeded in averting armed conflict. History supports the opposite view.
Does anyone believe that if Israel were to disappear the Iranians would give up their drive for nuclear status? Israel is merely a tool the Iranian government
uses to persuade their citizens to accept the huge investment required for nuclear
developement and the economic hardship that imposes. Iran wants to be the dominant
Muslim power and defender of the faith in world affairs. To realize that goal it
must possess "the bomb".
Reducing Israel to impotency will remove a powerful counterweight to Iran's drive
for hegemony.

The Grand Illusion

The Obama administration has ramped up the momentum for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It appears that they have assumed a mirage is reality.
Without exception every leader in the Muslim world, religious or political, believes that a democratic Jewish state in the middle east is an abomination. They are unanimous that it must be eliminated--that the land must be cleansed of every trace of Jewish presence. Where they are not in unanimity is in tactics and time span to
bring that about. Some have publicly announced that they are willing to accept two
states for a time, during which they count on demographics to weaken the Jewish nature of Israel, while they arm and prepare for its final extinction. None are willing to make the attempt now because of Israeli military power, and the will of its people to survive.
What the Arabs do not understand, and the Western world barely understands, is that
"never again" is the existentialist core of the Israelis. When a final solution attack comes, the Israelis will unleash Armageddon on its attackers. Almost all will perish. The Israeli policy is to try to avert the catastrophe now by quarantining
the Palestinian territories, maintaining its nuclear deterrence and military
power, keeping its eastern border settlements for strategic depth, and reaching out
for peace to any reasonable, honest broker. Concessions now by Israel are seen as
rewards for the Arab tactic of piecemeal erosion of the Jewish state. Will the U.S.
and Europe be more secure without a secure Israel?

One Hundred Days and No New World?

God created the universe in six days. The right wingers are complaining that Obama, after a smashing campaign victory, has not solved the problems of this little planet
in all of 100 days.
God started with a clean slate. When he finished he had only two people to deal with.
Obama inherited a collapsed world economy, and a nation brought down from the most exalted status to wallowing in a depression and a continuing down hill slide.
The critics who are responsible for this failure took eight years to bring it about.
Now they want Obama to continue their failed policies as the prescription to reverse the depression in only 100 days. And Obama has 6 plus billion diverse people to contend with because this crisis is worldwide.
The selfish interests of the haves who are secure enough to weather the depression are well represented in Congress. The economic lives of the former middle class are in immediate jeopardy. Who but Obama is their champion?
If the well off think that "beggar thy neighbor" will leave them safe they ignore the tides of history. When the "downs" hit bottom they turn on the "ups".

WHAT'S A LITTLE TORTURE BETWEEN ENEMIES?

The release of the Bush administration's torture memos has also released a torrent of right wing outrage, and left wing hypocrisy. The outrage should be coming from the average American citizen, who was taught in grammar school that ours is a constitutional democracy, based on three independent branches, to assure checks
and balances among them. The President is not an absolute monarch.

Because of its critical role as the protector of equal justice for all, and the defender of the Constitution the Justice Department must be free of domination and control by the executive, and must hold the government to its obligations under international treaties and agreements to which it is a signatory.

In the aftermath of 9/11 President Bush, influenced by Rove, Rumsfeld and Cheney, enlarged the powers of the presidency, and used the compliant Attorney General and Justice Department attorneys to ratify his actions. Congress, intimidated by the tragedy, and wishing to appear staunch in protecting the nation, abandoned its independence and meekly acceded. The results were illegal wire taps, a stampede to war, torture, rendition, and illegal arrest and incarceration of American citizens.

As shabby as that behavior has been, the most disturbing aspect is the apathy of the public to this rape of the Constitution. The fact that they have not been seized and put into handcuffs blinds them to the gradual stealthy theft of their liberties.

Perhaps a national TV program like Treasure Hunt, offering a million dollar prize to anyone who finds a BRAVE and WISE Representative or Senator might stir some attention.

Wake up America. Get a voice. Meekness is a twin to Weakness.

Education, does it cost or pay?

A provocative column by Thomas Friedman in the N. Y. Times of April 22 deals with the
economic damage to the United States by our failing educational system. He quantifies the loss of GDP in the multi billions. The fault he says lies with our schools, teachers, principals and administrators. I would trace it to what happened to the child before entering school.
Education begins in the home. How a child will learn in school, his attitude toward attending, his respect or lack thereof for his teachers will have been molded by his parents and peers in his pre-school years. If a child has been raised in a broken, or single parent home; if the parents have little education of their own; if they struggle for economic survival and have little time or interest to devote to stimulating a desire to learn, the child will have no incentive to accept the limits on freedom that come with compulsory schooling. If the street culture in which he grows up denigrates nerds and learning, his need for acceptance will lead him to do the same. School will be a nuisance to be suffered because of the truant officer; a prison from which to escape at the earliest possible moment. If he can't keep up, frustration will lead him into disruptive, anti-social behavior. That child will be on a course to failure. How can we turn that widely prevalent situation around?
If learning begins in the home, during the pre-school years, can we change the attitudes in the home? That will require involving the parents, by innovative means. It will require incentives---monetary, home care assistance, and participation by community leaders and role models. Above all it will need us to accept the goal as worth the effort, and demand volunteer public service from many of us.
Are we up to it?

WHO IS FOR THE NATION?

The Old World and the New now have one thing in common---a fetid financial failure.
And as we try to construct a life boat, a vessel that will keep us afloat until we come up with a solution, the people who most need to cooperate if they are to survive, are putting perceived self interest before the common good. That is a guarantee that we will all sink.

The international banking system is no longer made up of individual nation central banks.
Ours is a global, interwoven and interdependent system. Failure in one country triggers decline and possible collapse in others. The capital structure of a single nation’s banks now includes stockholders and investments from many other nations.

The United States is coming out of an era of unilateralism, based on hubris that our economic power compels other nations to dance to our tune. The change in our fortunes
has given the others the confidence that they can play their own music, and they are!
So we can’t expect them to follow our prescription for the malady that affects us all.
Which means the cure must begin here. Teamwork, for the good of all, is now more important than pushing parochial interests for the good of a political party.

What can we make of the Republican party determined to say no to everything Obama is trying to do? Are TEA PARTY protests against taxes a substitute for policy? Will the economy recover if more jobs are lost, unemployment checks stop coming, food stamps are cancelled, more homes are foreclosed? If we abolish ALL taxes on people earning more that $250,000 per year will their savings trickle down to create more jobs, rescue failing companies, keep people in their homes, and restore health to sick banks?

To the party that prides itself as the party of Lincoln I say Come On, get off your
sore loser backside and come up with positive ideas to help the nation recover. Compete on the field of ideas, not fear and rancor. The country needs you as partners in progress.
GET WITH IT.

Welcome to the New World dis-ORDER

Our President and first lady acquitted themselves famously at the G-20 and subsequent meetings. To the diplomats of the world they were such a refreshing change, they were treated as Rock Stars.
The same cannot be said of the policy initiatives the President put on the table.
He asked for the other countries, the EU, Russia, China and India in particular, to open their treasuries and spend enough to stimulate their economies in significant
scale. The US can't bail out the world as it once could. We are no longer in a commanding position to lead the world to our will, and our faltering economy can't exert enough leverage to have a dominant impact on that of the others. The best he came away with was a non-enforceable commitment (read that intention) to contribute a trillion plus to the IMF for aid to underdeveloped countries.
This is not to diminish the value, to our influence and international image, of the
close personal relationships the President was able to forge with the other world leaders. The office now enjoys new respect abroad. Obama's obvious intellect and open mindedness has made him a force to be reckoned with.
The outcome on the foreign policy front was negligible. The rest of the world never approved of our Iraq venture. They did initially support our action in Afghanistan. When we diverted from there to Iraq, we lost them. They are not coming back to help--once burned.....
We have shed the pariah image. Hopefully that will open a path to cooperative efforts to revive the economy. I call it a good beginning.

Through the looking glass

The American public has pulled an Alice and stepped through the looking glass into an upside-down world of morality and justice. Unaware, and insidiously we have accepted, and rewarded, criminal behavior if it is of grand scale, while continuing draconian punishment of criminals if their offense is of minor scope, affecting only a few.

Examples: AIG , Merrill, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide Bank, etc. The financial whiz kids at those firms devised financial instruments based on inflated valuations, false appraisals, and in complete avoidance of sound risk management principles. These were marketed to investors, banks, pension funds, foundations, etc,
without recourse. The purchasers were induced by AIG, which sold them Credit Default
Swaps. Those guaranteed face value reimbursement if the investment lost value, usually as a result of default by the borrowers.

For reasons already known, the investments lost most of their value, damaging the capital structures of the banks which had purchased huge amounts, exposing AIG to claims far beyond their capacity to pay. Failure to pay the claims could result in bankruptcies and collapse of the entire banking and credit structure of the nation.

The whiz kids who designed and marketed those toxic assets and credit default swaps should be punished for the fraud they committed and the enormous losses they caused. RIGHT? Almost half the world's paper wealth has disappeared. Instead they have received enormous bonuses as an inducement to stick around and unravel the chaos they caused and identify the co-conspirators (so they can receive bonuses?)
and victims, before they take off for a luxurious European vacation. But a poor, laid off worker, who in desperation snatches a purse or sells a joint, faces 10 or more years in prison.

The moral is "if you are a big enough scoundrel and thief you will be rewarded beyond your dreams. Just don't be small scale in your plundering."

A doleful anniversary

Today marks the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war, a day on which the U.S. abandoned
all reason and went to war to break Iraq as it was, and make it over into a western style Jeffersonian democracy. We now own it and are stuck with it. We now recognize our illusions and are groping to salvage a trace of positive outcome in a morass of conflicting interests among the Iraqui ethnicities.

We forgot the lessons of all wars. War STINKS. It makes heroes out of kids by tearing their bodies to shreds, and depriving them of their future, and the future they could give to their families, community, and nation. It turns them into legal killers and dulls their souls against the horrors around them so they are forever
scarred in body and mind. And for what? Are there any winners in war? Certainly not humankind, or the dead and maimed,the children deprived of fathers and mothers, parents deprived of a son or daughter, wives and husbands left bereaved and devastated. Yes, there are victors, but no winners. We honor the heroes, but the fact that we do so testifies to our failure of statecraft, and as "intelligent" creatures. Victory is never worth the noble lives it took to gain it!

And now, on to AFGHANISTAN where we once again
forget the lesson of war to our peril.

The more things change.........

As a tireless worker and supporter of the Obama campaign I expected that he, unlike all the previous candidates elected, would keep his campaign promises to change the way Washington does business, and to eliminate pork from the bloated federal budget.
I saw him as the outsider, a knight in shining armor, mounted on a white charger, slaying the dragon of corruption in congress.
By accepting a congressional budget containing an estimated $7.7 billion in pork, he has turned from knight to page, mounted on a donkey, carrying the baggage of the corrupt congress. His justification for the turnabout is that he has to bribe congress so that his next huge bailout request will get a favorable reception.
That is a delusion. Having successfully rolled the President this time, when the next bailout bill comes to them, congress will demand another bribe in the form of even more pork.
In this case even the appearance didn't change.
I believe that the President underestimates the support the majority of our citizens would give him for a firm position on a pork free budget. The $7.7b would save a lot of homes from foreclosure, repair a great many run down schools, raise teacher salaries, reduce class sizes in the early school years, and perform many other tasks which are vital to our economic recovery.
With sadness I contemplate ending my support of the President.

KILLING THE GOLDEN GOOSE

Getting ourselves out of the recession-depression we are in will require major sacrifices from all segments of society. But from the debates in the Senate, it appears that the Repubs would prefer to solve it on the backs of the middle class and blue collar workers, leaving the financial wizards who created the mess untouched, and bonus richer.

We can't reverse globalization, or undo outsourcing. Manufacturing will always find the lowest cost venue, which is now in the heavily populated Asian region. To attempt to compete against a national policy of "development at any price", as in Asia, we would need to create a permanent underclass of American workers. In our consumption based economy that would be a solution worse than the problem.

Our strengths that made us the 20th century world leader were innovation by well educated individuals, entrepreneurship, a work ethic, high workplace productivity, and the drive to leave the world a better place for our offspring. That was easy when large parts of the world consisted of Third World countries. They were our market, not our competition.

By permitting our educational system to decline, starving it for funds, and treating teachers as useful baby-sitters, we have frittered away our relative advantage. Products and services that were exclusively ours are now available in Asia. To make them here we import engineers and designers from there. Yet Congress is wrangling over a stimulus package from which they eliminated aid funds for education and funds for hard pressed states, whose own deficits make it necessary to reduce support for education at all levels.

How can we, average Joe or Jane, get through the swamp of partisan politics, to inform our Congress that enough is enough with neglect of education?

New Day, New Nation, New People?

In the wake of the euphoria of the peaceful transition to a new administration,there are many shoals and rapids through which the ship of state must navigate. The hull is leaking, the crew is disconsolate and bewildered, and the passengers are in a panic. The previous captain belittled charts. He set his course by gut feelings, convinced that the seamasters of old were wrong in believing the earth was round. Now the new, inexperienced, captain must patch the hull, inspire and revive the crew, and calm the passengers, while steering a course through unknown waters back to a safe shore. All of that with a disabled engine and torn sails.
The folks in port are waiting for the ship bearing their loved ones. Will they organize a flotilla of boats to tow the ship to port,or will they be bystanders and rely on one man to save the day?

Confidence?

The current mantra to explain our deepening recession/depression is that the public has lost confidence that the the market will solve the problems it created. Therefor, even those still employed have stopped all unnecessary spending. Coupled with an almost total constriction in the credit markets, this is a near fatal blow to our consumption based economy.
During the great depression, one of the mechanisms which was used to alleviate the unemployment problem was the CCC---Civilian Conservation Corps. Millions of men and women were employed by the government on public works projects, which made permanent contributions to the infrastructure and well being of the nation. We could use three C's again: Competence, Certainty, and Confidence, in that order.
If the public sees that the politicians it elected mean what they promised, and are proceding competently to tackle the problems in the economy, not with idealogy, and not for the benefit of the well off and well connected, a sense of certainty that things will get better will gradually grow. As jobs are created again Confidence will
rise again. We will return to the optimistic, "can do" American spirit that made us the economic engine of the world. But, along with the three C's must come the realization that never again will a giant, free wheeling economy such as ours be allowed to function without a traffic cop and a set of rules and regulations which will prevent it from derailing again in the next market cycle. A totally free market is a vulnerable market.

Recession or Depression?

By any name the economy is on a slide down a slippery slope, with no brakes on the sled. Underlying the descent is FEAR, but that fear is rational and justified. Ours has evolved into a consumption economy based on easy credit. To sustain such an economy we must have high employment, high wages and ever increasing but controlled inflation in asset values. In the last decade government policy has undermined all three of those requirements.
The outsourcing of our industrial production, encouraged by the administration under the assumption that lower production costs increase volume, eroded the blue collar
segment of our population. This drove down the bargaining power of labor, leading to higher unemployment and lower wages.
Promoting easy credit for consumption led to a massive accumulation of debt and the almost complete disappearance of savings. Speculation in real estate and a mortgage industry that completely abandoned good risk management in exchange for quick and easy profits, laid the groundwork for the collapse of the over-inflated housing market. This eroded the asset base of the financial institutions and resulted in the drying up of credit.
To turn all this around will require time, which we don't have during our free fall. The new administration will need to be bold; to take huge risks, and to do
things which would be imprudent in other times. And they must be quick! That may be the rub. The Republicans in the Senate will resist the amount of spending required, under the guise of deficit control, and in the hope of discrediting the new administration. It will be our responsibility, the middle class of voters, to hold their feet to the fire and force them to act for the public good.

The Dance of Death

Once again Israelis and Palestinians have locked arms in a macabre, and futile dance of death. Hamas, which has no future to offer the Palestinians, pursues the dead end of seeking Israel's destruction. In the process, Gaza, and any hope for a decent life for the Palestinians, is devastated.
Frustrated Israel, harassed by Hamas's asymetric tactic of intermittent rocket attacks on its civilians, and unable to modify Hamas's intransigent charter calling for the elimination of the Jewish state, attempts to up the ante for Hamas by punishing, violent blows. In the process the hapless Gaza residents endure a life of constant deprivation, fear, helpless rage, death and injury.
The other Arab states are happy to use the plight of the Palestinians as a propaganda tool against Israel, and the United States. The welfare of the Palestinians occupies no space in their agenda. In fact a peaceful resolution of the conflict could endanger the controlling oligarchies by eliminating the value of the conflict to divert their subjects from their failed governance.
Some conflicts defy resolution. This may be one. The most that we can hope for would be a shaky, but prolonged armistice. Then time, globalization, and technology might stimulate a gradual evolution into peace.