Healthcare...

I wasn't going to write on politics on this blog anymore-- It was depressing and didn't seem to get me anywhere. But today healthcare passed in Washington and while I am thrilled that we have actually turned our trajectory in a new direction, I am also despairing of a society that can't seem to grasp the great need to adjust the direction we are currently headed. It's as though we were headed into the perfect storm and yet we're so intent on getting all the profits we can out of this voyage that we won't look at the weather report. It would be easier to remove myself- to pretend that I can't change anything so what is the point. I might be happier- more content. I'd have a sort of "Don't worry, Be Happy" kind of life. A life that would amble along, perhaps responsibly (because I would not accept the BAU kind of don't worry lifestyle that they want us to have, of course) but somehow I can't quite come to grips with that. So on I press...

The long and the short of it is this: some Americans crazily think it's okay to give tax breaks to the wealthy and that corporate wealthfare is just peachy- However! any wealth redistributed to the poor is simply outrageous.

I personally think the rich do just fine for themselves- they can buy the healthcare they need and they can hire the lawyers they need when the healthcare they have is not adequate (and that applies to pretty much anything else they need). They can also buy the security they need against any uprisings that might eventually occur (but that is another story).

Unfortunately they can also game the system. And that is where we are.

The rich are not victims. They are using the rest of us to get rich. They do not work or labor- they gather the fruits of other people's labor, sell it and then watch as the rest of us are buried in debt from the system they put in place. Republicans might say "they put it in banks and other investments that make up the capital used to make loans and run other businesses?" That is a laugh. They are apparently unaware that small business loans are down-- ordinary, main street America is having a hard time getting loans for their businesses or for new businesses. That money is not trickling down! They are buying out smaller businesses so that they can become bigger and make more money and they are buying up their own stocks.(see: http://robertreich.org/)

I don't care that the government might redistribute the wealth of the wealthiest-- I don't care one wit. I think it is the right thing to do. We have a responsibility to each other as human beings. And aiding and abetting the ongoing redistribution of wealth to the upper 1% of Americans is wrong. While helping the lower (and higher!) percentage of Americans who cannot help themselves, even if the government has to force it, is right. And it is something I am prepared to fight for (and pay for if necessary- I have a city job where I get pretty good health insurance). As for waiting for "voluntary altruism"-- that grand old American Tradition-- (not just dripping with sarcasm!) well, there has been time for all that altruism to reveal itself and yet... Waiting for the wealthy to decide they want to help the children on the posters that are nailed onto the corner light posts is obviously a failed policy.

Our government should be (and I say "should be" because that is NOT what they are doing today) offering more to the sick and dying in this country.


A diary on Firedoglake had this subject, "Corporate power must not be challenged" http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/36617/

The children always suffer

Child Witches: Accused in the Name of Jesus
Christian Pastors in Congo Paid to Perform Violent Exorcisms; Children Banished From Homes, Abandoned by Families
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7613395&page=2

In Times such as these...

The political landscape coupled with the bleak news on the environmental front leaves me cold. I wonder and worry at the future that faces my children and their children (if they have children which I pray they don't) An evening in front of the telly watching that show that I mention occasionally here and blog about at http://keywesttv.tumblr.com/ with a glass of champagne and some chocolate generally brings my piece of the world back into perspective-- or at least allows me to hide from the ugliness for a while.

When I was a child, books did that for me and I try to review the good ones I read here as well. When I was in high school and college, I discovered that theater held a similar magic for me. I could transport myself into another world and obliviate the pain and ugliness that surrounded me. I was also a music major in college and music became an ever increasing escape for me as I practiced and honed my instrument. Hours in a tiny practice room were spent hooting-- emitting an admittedly horrible sound that I was told would eventually enable me to reproduce the lovely songs of a nightingale. I don't know if I ever reached that Zen phase of a songster, but I still find myself melting to certain vocalists.

To that end, I recommend Claire Tchaikowski. With a vocal quality that floats amidst the clouds, she offers songs that balm the soul and carry it skyward. Virtually unknown amidst the teenybopper sameness on American radio, she offers the listener some of the qualities one might have expected from a vocalist-- such as range and tone quality. You can watch her video and hear one of her lovely songs on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/clairetchaikowski

I'll see you're Tea Party and raise one Coffee Party!

Who says liberals/progressives don't have a sense of humor? Parodying the right's political Tea Party "movement" a group has sprung up called the Coffee Party. The serious side of the movement is an attempt to bring reason into the public discourse. The humorous side of the movement is that they want reason in public discourse. I guess they haven't been paying attention to the ongoing attacks on the originators of the idea-- those anti-godders, the evil trinity, Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris? (Isn't there something incredibly uncanny about how all three names end with "s". Does this not prove that the Debil has had a hand in the success of these three???)By contrast the Tea Party has courted some of the most unreasonable public figures we have yet to witness and in the background lurk the extremist movements that helped to fuel(pun intended) Oklahoma city bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (see Op-ed columnist for the NY Times Frank Rich for more at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28rich.html.) The Tea Party is not simply interested in reforming government and seeing the corruption in Washington end-- they actually believe the government is bad and should be destroyed. And to this end they will use violence.

Clearly someone with a truly refined sense of humor woke up one day and thought, "How can we combat the Tea partiers? Why! With reason of course! Let's get people together to demand that we are more reasonable in our political discourse."


http://www.coffeepartyusa.org/ The mission stated on their website:
The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.

I think it's a worthy idea-- truly. And I joined because I would love to have it be a real movement (I'm still very idealistic I guess) Unfortunately just the juxtaposition of the two group's missions shows how very far apart we are in this country and why we can't seem to make any headway. One group wants a to have a discussion and the other is fighting (literally) to win.