Pat Political

NPR and the MEA

Once again the media draws my fire. This time it is not the local media but National Public Radio. I have known for a long time that if I really want to learn what of importance is going on in the world, I need to be awake at 5:00 am to listen to the BBC broadcast. The contrast in the coverage of the same events is usually not flattering to NPR.

This time it is the report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment . This report got several minutes worth of detailed coverage on BBC radio yesterday but barely rated a minute or so on NPR. I looked it up on NPR’s web site to find that a brief summary of the report is sixth down in the list of stories listed in NPR’s expanded coverage of Health and Science, behind such stories as Sesame Street taking on the problem of. childhood obesity and the repair of fossil dinosaurs.

Where it belonged was top of the list along with the story of lice which infect farmed salmon spreading to wild salmon nearby.

This report brings to our attention the serious ecological damage done to natural systems totally necessary for human survival. We are not told by any of the media whether the report itself mentions the basic reason for the problem, but certainly none of the media, and this includes the radio and web site available program on ecological issues Living on Earth, have ever touched it--OVER POPULATION.

It is primarily the agribusiness driven techniques and crops which have caused the harm done to natural systems. These have been developed principally to deal with this over population by our attitude that we have the right to do what we want to exploit this planet rather than learn to live on it in harmony with the rest of the natural world. When we talk about the shortage of clean water, desertification of previously arable land, or the erosion of land on mountain sides, we are stating that we have a problem first and foremost with too many people.

The Chinese are very unpopular with much of the rest of the world right now because they are the only country trying actively to do something about their own grossly overpopulated country. The rest of the world had best get its religious noses out into reality, and, if it doesn’t like the methods China uses, get some of its own up and running in order to decrease the number of people trying to live on this planet or we will not have grandchildren and great-grandchildren to follow us..

Just a few comments...

Comet update-- Should we maybe be taking a comet threat seriously? Here’s the latest on the space scene. NASA will be holding at least two competitions with prizes yet and open literally to anyone who has any sort of new ideas to offer to the space program. The first two are for strong lightweight materials for ropelike tethers and on ways to transmit power wirelessly. These are being sponsored by the Centennial Challenges Program which is part of President Bush’s new vision for space exploration. This new program can be considered from either of two points of view. It may be a genuine expression of interest on the part of the administration or an equally genuine expression of fear that they have too little time. Take your pick.

The courts and Terry Schiavo-- We all need to applaud the courage and dedication to Constitutional principle that the judges who have had to make rulings in this sad case have maintained. Based on the findings that Ms Schiavo had made her end of life care wishes known, their judicial task was to protect her wishes against all of the pressure being exerted on them. This is exactly why we have an independent judiciary in our federal Constitution-- to protect each of us as unique persons from having our individuality crushed by any majority viewpoint. All of the controversial decisions by the courts in recent years have been to protect the individual’s needs against the force of the will of the majority in our so-called democracy. This country is fortunate that there are so few judges who will intrude their personal religious ideologies into their decisions the way Thomas and Scolia on the Supreme Court do. In my opinion those two should be impeached.

Bobby Fischer-- I personally am delighted to hear that this chess genius may be at last safe from further harassment by our government, which seems to have forgotten that he was one of our great heroes of the Cold War when he defeated the Russian champion Boris Spassky in 1972. Instead our government has chosen to focus on his defying economic sanctions on then Yugoslavia in 1992 to play some more chess. He didn’t go there to give economic aid and comfort to the persona-non-grata Yugoslavians. He went to play chess, a totally intellectual pursuit, and the zeal with which he has been pursued by this administration is to me absolutely mind boggling. The effort and money spent on dragging this man back to the States could have much better gone to some of our real problems. The nine months detention in Japan which he has undergone ought to satisfy their punitive proclivities...!

Defining Republican and Democrat

I offer this is for the benefit of some of my younger friends who may quite understandably be confused by the current labels “Democrat” and “Republican”.

People who call themselves Republicans today-- the Bush Republicans-- are easy to define. They believe firmly in Reagan’s mantra that “government is the enemy”. Therefore they are easily persuaded that to achieve the ideal of a smaller government that won’t be the enemy, we need to privatize as much governmental function as can be wrested from the voting public.

Democrats are not quite so easy to define. A lot of people today are calling themselves D when in fact they believe pretty much the way the R’s do. I call this group the ‘Closet Republican’ Democrats, and Bill Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and John Kerry are excellent examples. Think back a few years when under Clinton every bit as much corporate business friendly legislation was passed, with the help of Senators Lieberman and Kerry, as in any R administration before or since.

If we eliminate these so-called Centrist D’s, who is left seems to be pretty much the ‘Old Guard’ whom the R’s usually call the tax and spend, Big Government D’s because these D’s urge legislation to bring about social change. This name calling by the R’s has always been purely and simply sour grapes at the great success of Roosevelt’s programs and many D initiatives since. It is absolutely true that the country had never before seen legislation on the scale that Roosevelt proposed and that R‘s were horrified by it. However, even my very Republican father had to admit that Roosevelt’s legislative efforts to put a lot of everyday people to work in order to revive our crashed economy was bringing the country back to life. The tremendous boost which the economy received with the onset of WWII has blurred this fact but it was very real to us at the time.

One thing, however, is true of both R‘s and D‘s-- Neither believes in all Ten Amendments.

For instance, my R friends state that they will defend the 2nd Amendment to their death but at the same time feel that the 7th-- the Right to Sue-- needs a little curtailing, My D friends are in general the opposite, wanting to limit gun ownership, but leaving the Right to Sue untouched. And both R and D have trouble with the 10th. (Go look it up and think about it for a while....)

So -- here is how the present D and R parties sort out. And as far as people like me are concerned, we fit in neither. So where are we?

People like me are absolutely the most conservative people in the country, probably the world.. We believe without any equivocation that the Declaration of Independence is the spiritual foundation of this country. Therefore it is clear (1.) that we all-- and this includes every person in the world-- are equal; (2.) that every person in this world is unique and has his/her uniqueness protected by “certain unalienable rights” which cannot be taken away by any government, whether based on the rule of the majority as in a Democracy or on the rule of a dictator; (3.) that all of the individuals who together form the community governed are the Government.

Accordingly we can hardly be our own enemy. Accordingly the necessary regulation of all community functions belongs in the control of the community and not in the hands of business trying to make money from them. Accordingly all governmental regulation should be the minimum necessary for the community to work well and should at the same time provide for the maximum of individual variation and expression. Accordingly all elected officials and representatives are essentially our agents or paid servants. They work for us-- they don’t rule us. Accordingly our part of government is to keep a good eye on all of them and to make sure through our elections process that we have good people working for us. Accordingly we believe that our Federal Constitution has given us the best mechanism for a government based on these principles. Accordingly we believe that every one of the First Ten Amendments is as sound and reasonable a basis for community decisions on individual rights that must be made in our lives today as it was when it was first proposed.

Scratch me or any old time Republican or many Democrats or many Independents, and at least some part of these beliefs is what you will find...Maybe what we need is a new party which can embrace all of us under a common name that can stand once again for a set of commonly held values.

I would suggest the name Green Libertarian Union.....

A Winter's Tale...or True Story?

Here’s a winter’s tale for you...

Not too long ago Rama, my son, and I were having a discussion on his internet show Grr Radio about one of the Mayan predictions, a surprising number of which seem to have come true.

This one, however, is still hanging over our heads, literally, since it predicts that a comet will crash into and destroy the earth. The time period for this is pretty close, any time during the next twenty years.

We’ll know to take this comet prediction seriously, I said, when we see a sudden new interest by this present administration in putting men on the moon and exploring Mars.

Well, well, well...

And what’s more they want to put the Hubble telescope out of business, possibly to slow any general understanding of what’s going on out there in space.

But the real clincher for me came with President Bush’s nomination of Michael Griffin to head NASA. He is “a strong advocate of human space flight,” to quote the Times Argus.

Back in the years of the Cold War, when we were certain we were about to be blown to bits by nuclear bombs, I heard that the elite of the nation had established a safe haven deep within some mountains in New York State within which they could safely wait out the worst of the ensuing radiation.

There is an obvious analogy in this space development. We will be seeing hotels on the moon and projected ten year flights out and around Mars for those who can afford them. And guess who will be going.

All is now clear and is clearly logical regarding Bush’s economic policies.

When this comet hits-- if the planet survives at all-- there will be physical disasters beyond our wildest imaginings. Tsunamis that make the recent one in the Indian Ocean look like a ripple in a child’s wading pool...At least three years of sun-blocking dust clouds that will kill off most vegetation. And much, more...

The worthies who plan to get off the planet for long enough to ride out the results of this catastrophe need every cent they can lay their hands on to finance their project.

Accordingly tax credits need to be kept for fast available cash because it is highly unlikely that the tax payer can be persuaded to pay for it all..

And who in the know really cares if our huge deficit keeps on growing or if China owns an ever bigger mortgage on the country because when the comet hits, none of this will matter anyway.

I am so glad to understand at last how completely reasonable Bush Republicans actually are about our present economy, because otherwise their approach looks like pure insanity...!

Health Care Solutions

Governor Douglas is once again obfuscating the issue of health care. He is trying to keep our attention on curing Medicaid woes and ignoring the simple fact that if we can set up a universal health care system, we will at the same time have cured Medicaid. The same can be said for worries about the high cost of Workman’s Compensation. Any work related injuries would be covered by the new system and any law suits would be connected with safety issues rather than health.

It is pretty clear that Vermonters are ready to look at some sort of universal health care, and it is this that the various committees of the House and Senate need to make their primary effort.

I shall not be able to attend the meeting at the State House Thursday evening because I am both elderly (79 years old this year) and needing a walker and so I am sending the following email to the various legislators concerned.

May I offer the following statement since I am unable to attend the meeting tonight because of my age and disability.

Vermonters are clearly asking for some sort of general health care system. And as we create it, we will at the same time cure the Medicaid deficit So general health care needs to be looked at first.

You will be needing to create a mechanism for this health care system and a way to pay for it.

Senator Ted Kennedy proposes that Medicare be used and expanded as a basis for a national health care system. But until this happens nationally we can use the model of Medicare for a Vermont system and expand it to fill our needs.

And we can do this in a very Vermont sort of way.

The first enrollees should be everyone on the present Medicaid list. Enrollment from this point on should be voluntary, since seniors on Medicare will not be eligible and some people may feel their present coverage is adequate.

But payment should be mandatory and should be based on a small tax, say .005%, on all gross income generated in the state. This would mean taxing all of the out of state corporations like Wal-Mart and Hannaford’s and Staples, which presently, as part of the corporate “business community”, state that they owe nothing to the communities from which they make their money.

Having such a minimal tax be mandatory on us all will be far less expensive than the present projected cost of the Medicaid deficit by itself.

Thank you for giving this your attention. Patricia Hejny, Williamstown, Vermont

My long silence

Sorry to have been so long with a new posting...I have been having some health problems involving tests and doctor visits over the past couple of weeks, and probably will require surgery.

And there is nothing like the thought of serious surgery and its possible impact on one’s mortality to bring one firmly back to contemplation of the spiritual.

I was prodded further in this direction by a referral to www.psychomatrix.com from the blog of a good friend, norsehorses.turf.blogspot.com

I took the test of one’s spirituality offered there and at the end posted the following spiritual story:

I am now an old woman. I characterize myself as a spiritual biologist, and find no conflict in either my spiritual or my biological approach to the tightly interconnected web of life on this planet. All other life forms express their faith in this connectedness without question. Only mankind with its gift or curse, depending on your take, of "Free Will" debates it, despite the obvious fact that reality is reality no matter what intellectual opinions one may hold! My parents were deeply spiritual but not devoted to any orthodox religion. I now see my adult life experience as bringing me back to the absolute faith in a loving and caring "heavenly parent" which I had as a young child as evidenced in these two stories. (And I have just realized that the first interruption of this faith came as I began school!) When I was about three I fell out of the front seat of our car in the middle of downtown traffic. A couple of years later my father had me and my grandmother out in some heavy surf on the New Jersey coast and we were knocked over by the first of three huge waves. I went to the bottom and my father managed to find me and put his foot firmly on me. Both times I can clearly recall feeling a strong and comforting voice telling me just to lie very still and wait until my daddy picked me up.

I was glad today to be reminded of the absolute faith of my childhood....