What is going on with pensions?

For years now companies have been finding ways to get out of pensions and recently the Pentagon has been complaining about pensions and rising healthcare costs. It is rare now for a company to even offer any kind of retirement plan other than the Russian roulette we call the 401K.

Back to the military.  I find it disingenuous for this country to use and abuse the people, and families, in uniform with all of our foreign adventures and then complain about the long term costs.  Didn't anyone think about that before we began our shenanigans in Afghanistan and Iraq?  Clearly a commitment was made to those people we have put in harms way, those that have been wounded (physically, mentally, and spiritually) knowing that there would be a cost down the road.  Rising health care is not some new phenomena that appeared all of a sudden taking us all by surprise.

All of a sudden decent pensions, good paying jobs, and good benefits are seen as luxury items.  Conversely, insanely expensive weapons systems, policing the whole world, tax breaks for the wealthy, and tax breaks/subsidies for business with a made to order congress to do its bidding are seen as necessities.

Life is not about profit.  It is not about power.  It is about people.  Yet, our political system ignores the plight of the average citizen while working overtime to create a system which is toxic morass for people, but  in which greed and hubris flourish like the noxious weeds they are.

Congressional Investment Geniuses

Evidently members of congress are investment geniuses as evidenced by this story that was covered by the Huffington Post:

Four university researchers examined 16,000 common stock transactions made by approximately 300 House representatives from 1985 to 2001, and found what they call "significant positive abnormal returns," with portfolios based on congressional trades beating the market by about 6 percent annually.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/members-of-congress-get-a_n_866387.html

Here is the citation for the article which was the source of the Huffinton Post story:

Ziobrowski, Alan J.; Boyd, James W.; Cheng, Ping; and Ziobrowski, Brigitte J. (2011) "Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives," Business and Politics: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 4.

This article only added to my disgust of how power in this country has corrupted the political process and money is absolutely the king, or the god, to which we all now must bow. I read stories about people being charged with insider trading while congress has been doing this for years.  I thank the authors of the study for their painstaking work which documents just one of the many abuses

I want elected officials who:

Do not have fake tans
Do not wear cuff links
Are not millionaires
Do not have better healthcare or retirement benefits than I do
Do not show naughty pictures of themselves on social media
Do not cheat on their wife, and take part in raising their kids

We continue to have a political process that elects people who are completely  out of touch with the average citizen. The Tea Party folks are rightly upset at the current political process, but have hitched their wagon to the wrong star.   Also, their movement is one that is being turned against the citizenry rather than one that will liberate it.  Why is the middle class so enamored of cannibalism, so fond of fratricide, and so averse to seeing the truth of their situation?

Democracy In Egypt

In Tunisia and Egypt we have seen unprecedented spontaneous popular revolts against moribund dictatorships. What kind of hubris makes a person think that they can rule over millions of their fellow citizens for decades without elections? These leaders not only rob the national wealth of their countries, they steal the national soul.  Whenever the people rise up to throw off their chains of oppression it is a time for the rest of the world to support and applaud their efforts.

It is time for the American people to support these movements.  Dr. Martin Luther King famously battled with President Kennedy and then President Johnson regarding civil rights reform.  Both leaders urged patience cautioning that the time was not yet right.  There is a famous picture of Johnson and King together at the White House and you can tell from that image things are not going well.  They are disagreeing as to the pace of reforms.  But, those reforms came in their own good time. 

I have been disturbed to hear how it is not in the best interest of the United States for Mubarak to be kicked out of office. Some say that it will destabilize the region and cause problems for Israel.  I do not buy that.  It is immoral, it is evil, to stand in the way and block the will of the Egyptian people as they struggle to throw off their oppression.  Years ago my ancestors strove to throw off the oppression of another Egyptian leader - Pharaoh.

If Mubarak is not removed from office he will go onto punish those who have participated in the uprising and take evasive action to prevent further revolt in the future.  Egypt is not his private fiefdom.  The future of Egypt is not dependent on Mubarak and he is not the savior of the Egyptian people.  They will save themselves if he will only get out of the way. They will save themselves if we gave them our support.

Nothing but Victims

A gentle reply turns away wrath, but a distressing word stirs up anger.
Mishlei (Proverbs) 15:1 

The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is such an immense tragedy because it leaves behind nothing but a trail of victims.  This includes everyone killed, injured, witnesses, the community, and even the nation as it struggles to come to terms with it.  Including Jared Loughner and his parents.  The suspect, from all the information available so far, is mentally ill, and for whatever reason went untreated with tragic consequences.

Who is to blame?  Not Sarah Palin, not the other conservative pundits, not thirty round clips, but rather a complex matrix of interrelated circumstances which have created an atmosphere not just of incivility, but something more sinister.  We just do not give a damn about other people anymore.  Everyone is mad as hell, everyone hates the other side (liberals hate conservatives and conservatives hate liberals) and the tone of the discourse is horrific.  We use such strong rhetoric, myself included, and we forget that words are powerful. 

The Torah teaches us that the world was created with words.  Words are the basic technology of human communication and everything else, including this medium, are just variations of a theme. It still all comes to words. And we are careless with that precious gift.

When you start using words that talk about killing, "taking out", "in our sights", and all those other phrases that allude to violence you are asking for trouble.  We carelessly use those  euphemisms as if they have no real consequences.  But, it is really not cute, and it is really not clever. Not anymore. It is dangerous. It is no longer just rhetoric, it is fighting words, and words that shape and form the way we deal with each other. It creates an attitude and an atmosphere.  That atmosphere was something that  Jared Loughner picked up on - it was in the vary highly charged and polarized air of Arizona he breathed in everyday. Then he acted upon what everyone else was just talking about.  The symbolic talk of violence, and killing suddenly became real.

Society failed to respond to Loughner's decompensation because of our distraction.  We have other things on our mind.  Jared Loughner is a disturbed person in a society that has been at continuous war for ten years, where people use maps with gun sights (please Sarah, ... your better than that,... they were not surveyors symbols,... they were gun sights) on them in political advertisements,  think they need thirty round clips for their pistol, and where materialism reigns.  One thing by itself is not so insidious, but all together look at the big picture.  It is heartbreaking.  We are arrogant gun slinging cowboys and we scare the crap out of the rest of the world.

This is a great country that has squandered its wealth and reputation.  We are broke.  We cannot heal the sick, feed the hungry, and we are not even willing to try anymore.  We have given up. 

Ostensibly this is a nation guided, at least in large part, by Christian values. I am Jewish, but I admire very much what seems to me to be the core values of Christianity which are beautiful.    Things like the Sermon on the Mount and the blessings it contains such as the Beatitudes.  What would Jesus do?  I don't think Jesus would have much use for a 9mm Glock, or spend the wealth of a great nation  fighting wars in two countries. I don't think Jesus would talk about killing Michael Moore.  I don't think Jesus would go to a political rally with an assault rifle.  I think Jesus would have other things to do.  Things that might make a positive difference. I think Jesus would try to heal rather than hurt or blame.

We appear to be a vindictive, mean spirited, nation of intolerant bigots. We sound like it, and we act like it.  Maybe we are, but I am not ready to concede that yet. Not entirely.  I think that we have allowed our values to be hijacked by leaders in politics and popular culture who are only after money and power.  They steal our soul. The tea party is right about one thing - the leadership of this country has failed us.

So we are all victims of this shooting.  We are all responsible as well.  Whenever we gossip and use the power of language to degrade or dehumanize another for whatever reason we do great harm. Words count.  This incident has renewed in me a respect for right speech.  It must begin with me, then I must work with my family and those within my sphere of influence not by preaching but by example in curbing my own talk.

Preamble to the Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords

Preamble to the Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords

(A found poem)

By Mike Perkins

Prelude

"Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could." – Glen Beck

--------------------------------------------------------------------

We the People of the United States,

"This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington.”  - Sarah Palin

in Order to form a more perfect Union,

"I just wish Katrina had only hit the United Nations building, nothing else, just had flooded them out, and I wouldn't have rescued them." - Bill O’Reilly

establish Justice,

“Capital punishment is our way of demonstrating the sanctity of life." - Orrin Hatch

insure domestic Tranquility,

''The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.'' —Pat Robertson

provide for the common defence,

"When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." – Glenn Beck

promote the general Welfare,

 “God says, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.' ” – Ann Coulter

and secure the Blessings of Liberty

“If you think the United States has stood still, who would have built the largest shopping center in the world?” - Richard M. Nixon

 to ourselves and our Posterity,

"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for." - Rush Limbaugh

do ordain and establish

“Let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work. “ - Rush Limbough

this Constitution for the United States of America.

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee,’ That's just a joke, for you in the media."  - Ann Coulter

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue

"I went to Safeway the movie this weekend with a gun." - Glenn Beck

Dinosauria, we

 The emphasis on the poem below, the bold font, is mine.  It sums up were we are heading as the distinction of civil society, and the obfuscation of democracy,  becomes more and more a reality.

Dinosauria, We by Charles Bukowski

Born like this
Into this
As the chalk faces smile
As Mrs. Death laughs
As the elevators break
As political landscapes dissolve
As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
As the sun is masked
We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this
Walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Muted because of this
Castrated
Debauched
Disinherited
Because of this
Fooled by this
Used by this
Pissed on by this
Made crazy and sick by this
Made violent
Made inhuman
By this
The heart is blackened
The fingers reach for the throat
The gun
The knife
The bomb
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
The fingers reach for the bottle
The pill
The powder
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness
We are born into a government 60 years in debt
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
And the banks will burn
Money will be useless
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs
Land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shake the earth
Radiated robot men will stalk each other
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante's Inferno will be made to look like a children's playground
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night
Trees will die
All vegetation will die
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The sea will be poisoned
The lakes and rivers will vanish
Rain will be the new gold
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
The petering out of supplies
The natural effect of general decay
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/91839-1

Denial of Freedom

Are we in China?  The government is now in the business of censoring what we can see on the internet.  So information about what our government is doing, all that embarrassing stuff, is now effectively classified with such truely horrendous stuff as child porn.  Here is what you get now instead of the Wikileaks page:

Why are all these extralegal steps being taken instead of using the courts?  Why did the real attack on Wikileaks start not with the military information but with the release of the diplomatic information and the talk about the site releasing massive amounts of banking data?  The argument that Wikileaks is risking lives is simply not true and is not the reason the site is being attacked. But, then again not only will we believe anything we will put up with anything this government decides to stick us with.

Is this the real reason we have this energetic attack on Wikileaks:

http://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/next-target-for-wikileaks-will-be-a-megadump-of-banking-information/

The Portland Bomber

Mohamed Mohamud was cynically used by the FBI as a terror weapon.  Mohamed, a terrorist wannabe and overall sad case, was like putty in the hands of the agency which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a threat that wasn't there yet.  This unsophisticated kid could eventually have proven dangerous and some intervention needed to be made, but he is no terror master mind.  By all accounts he was an emotionally unstable young man who was more angry at this family than anyone else after his parents divorce. 

Who was the real victim?  The people of Portland Oregon who were made to believe that somehow Mohamed was a real threat, and whose city was used for this theater of the absurd.  Mohamed was used to scare the American people and as a means of intimidation for the Muslim population.  An unintended, but not surprising, side effect has been the real fire bombing of the Salman Al Farisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, Oregon.   That  is widely believed to be related to the play acting drama that unfolded with such drama at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  Even the venue of the "bomb," had to have been picked with cynical care as something sure to raise the hackles of every red blooded American as this vile foreign threat attempted to violate such a scene of goodwill and harmony as a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  Oh, it was probably a "holiday lighting ceremony." 

This high profile media event which was, at least at first, announced with a bit of hysteria in the media was overplayed.  There were many points earlier where he could have been arrested.  Instead the event was carefully orchestrated for the largest amount of drama and media play.  Kind of like a Sylvester Stallone movie.   You can't tell me that when that kid dialed that cell phone number and nothing happened there were not some law enforcement officials setting around laughing their heads off.

$arah, how is that drilly baby drill working out for cha?

In my last post I got after $arah Payme for making light of those who hope and think that things can change - for the better.  Now, I want to point out that she was all for loose restrictions on offshore drilling and provide you some pictures courtesy of the Huffington Post.  So, anyone that thinks that this is a disaster, and probably  will soon morph into a global ecological disaster, is a greenie tree hugger.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html

Greed, arrogance, and stupidity know no bounds.  

Palin Makes Fun of Hope and Change

At a recent Pitty Potty Tea Party rally Sarah Palin mocking President Obama in her gum chewing breezy glib way said:  "How is that hopey changey thing workin out for yah?"  Is Ms Palin capable of using correct English?  Anyway,... thank you Sarah now I realise what you and the tea party are all about.  You have abandoned the hope of modernity that each day can be better than the day before, and that we can make the world a better place for everyone.  It is the cynicism of Fox News and the usually fellow travellers of doom, gloom, and despair having given up hope.  This was a remarkable revelation for me.

We have been indoctrinated through civics classes (do we even teach that any more?) that America is a place where you can make it, where you have a chance, and where hard work pays off.  Even Ronald Reagan believed that. It was not too bad of a social construct!  It provided the conscious of the civil rights movement and the women's movement.   The current bunch of hard core conservatives do not believe that stuff anymore..

The current tide of conservatism is cynical, greedy, and has turned its back on American values instead embracing some kind of Christian capitalism, Ayn Rand philosophy of the damned.  I opposed Ronald Reagan on some issues but I NEVER doubted his optimism.  He was many things but not a cynic. 

Our current struggle is not with communism, Islam, or any of that stuff.  It is much more insidious and much more powerful.  It is materialism. We have drank that hemlock.  Is it a fatal dose?

Reading, Texting, and Mindfulness

When I go to the park nobody is reading anymore.  It used to be that you would see people reading under trees, or parents reading to their  children.  Now everyone is talking on the cell phone while they are in the park.  I went into Barnes & Noble to get a copy of the Paris Review and there were two people outside smoking as they were texting on cell phones. Are they more addicted to cigarettes or their cell phones?  As a matter of fact companion texting, texting while somebody else is with you, is probably our number one social interaction besides, well,... texting.  Have our lives become defined by that little screen?  Probably.

47 percent of teens can text with their eyes closed.  Fact.  And, I bet less than 17 percent can diagram a sentence.  Texting is replacing talking.

I went to a meeting the other day and there was an executive setting there texting through the whole thing.  Then a colleague tells me they go to a board meeting and there is someone there with not one, but two, phones texting throughout the meeting.

See a movie?  Cell phones.  Somebody is running or cycling?  They are listening to music with those ear buds blocking out the world.We are not content to read, smoke, run, drive, or do any of life's little tasks which define us as human without a distraction.  We have to be doing something else.  Do people text while having sex?  Apparently so.  Scroll down to the comments:  Weird Texting Moments from Womens Health Magazine:  http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/weird-texting-moments.  The interesting thing is not so much that the women sent a text to her mom during sex but that she read it in the first place.

By the way, we are still a long way from understanding the social or even health consequences of cell phones. Here is an interesting article from GQ magazine: http://www.gq.com/cars-gear/gear-and-gadgets/201002/warning-cell-phone-radiation

Here are some more things to think about:
"The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.  When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." Thich Nhat Hanh

So, turn off that cell phone and read Peace in Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, or the newspaper, or really talk and listen to someone for a change, or maybe even do nothing.  Whatever you do, please don't text me.  I will not text back.

As Much Free Speech As You Can Pay For

The supreme court ruling which came out regarding corporate spending, not limiting the money corporations can spend in the political process,  is a fraud and a scandal.  It fails to recognize the fundamental fact that the nature of corporate entities to acquire and concentrate capital far accedes the ability of individuals to do so.  It in fact limits the free speech of individuals and amplifies whatever message business wants to promote turning the arena of politics into just another marketing platform.  Even more so than it was before.

Allowing corporations to spend at will in the political process dilutes the participation of the common citizen to the point of being inconsequential.  The groans and cries for relief from the people will be drowned out by the shrill shilling of the business special interest.

America is no longer a democracy.  It is a country where the will of the people has been suborned to the will of big business.

Now I Get It: What College Is Now

I finally figured it out.  I  have been thinking about college in an outdated way and my new approach to understanding higher education now helps me to make sense out of all this.  College is no longer the realm of the intellectual elite.

Of course I knew that college was now a mass institution and that the forces of commodification have worked their magic but the obvious implications of that alluded me.  I kept assuming that higher education was still the realm of lofty thoughts, seeking after truth, and a meritocracy.  I was, of course, wrong.

Now higher education is market driven and the key to market is increased production, and market growth as well as cost containment.  The last frontier in the commodification of higher education is cost containment and we have yet to see the Walmart of higher education emerge.  Instead, the cost of a college degree has continued to rise beyond all reasonableness fueled by usurious student loans where the government acts as the enforcer. Miss your payment and Bruno will come down and break your knees.

Cadillac Health Plans and Splitting the Democratic Alliance

President Obama was elected because he manged to create an alliance of voters who might otherwise have strayed into the independent and Republican camps.  These are marginal voters who often swing elections and they are incredibly difficult to define before-the-fact (as during an election or as an event is unfolding) since they are swayed by fractional micro-issues of an  uncertain pattern or logic.  One example would be a very liberal person who is adamantly against any kind of abortion, or conversely a very conservative person who was for gay marriage.  Yet, those examples are more broad and predictable than what I am talking about. Obama won his election on the margins and inevitably those margins are too fragile to hold up under the stress of a volatile political environment with as much polarization as ours has. Complicating this issue is that the Republicans have utilized a scorched earth approach as to dealing with Obama with a profound inclination to disavow any legislation he proffers just because of it's pedigree. Now the Republicans are exploiting a fundamental weakness in Obama's support by working stealthily to alienate labor from the administration. It is an opportunistic work of genius worthy of that archdemon Karl Rove. The exquisitely  ironic part of the whole debacle is that President Obama is doing the heavy lifting.  The conservatives are just setting back reaping the benefits regardless of the outcome.  The damage will have been done.

One of the pillars of organized labor has been to secure for its members good, no great, health care benefits.  Labor has even given up wage increases and other benefits for better health care coverage.  Desperately seeking a middle way to help the health care reform initiative pass the remaining hurdles the idea of taxing Cadillac health care benefits (see the excellent explanatory article by Slate:  http://www.slate.com/id/2232434/) has gained significant purchase.  Time magazine has a pretty good article explaining the basics of that strategy as well as their disapproval of it:  http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1913147,00.html

Is it a good idea to initiate some kind of tax on the so called Cadillac health care plans?  I do not know.  I do know though that it creates some animosity between organized labor and the Obama administration.  Even if labor leadership decides to stand with Obama on this emotional issue will the fabled "rank and file" stand?  Isn't it strange and disconcerting how all issues are now emotional as if our whole society has the mentality of an immature adolescent? An emo?  I think I liked hip hop better because I can not stand whining.  Think about it, Rush Limbaugh is more emo than hip-hop.

Obama will probably get his health care reform. Unfortunately in our current system of spite and animosity there is the very real danger of it being a Golem with no soul. Keep in mind that in Hebrew golem has the literal meaning of a shapeless mass.

Health care reform has turned into a conflict between those that have (no matter how little they have), and those who have nothing.  Those who have even a little bit have been cleverly convinced that health care reform is the hellish vision of a Muslim president who is not even a citizen out to destroy us all with the contradictory swords of Islam and socialism.  So, relax, turn on Fox and make a list of how illegal aliens (code for anyone who is Hispanic, gay, or well,... just different than you the pure blooded American) is ruining this country.  In the end you get exactly the government you deserve despite the efforts of those who would like to salvage some decency out of the ignorant morass we have become.  If  you are lucky there may even be a tea party within driving distance this Sunday after church.

Here is the problem with health care:  It costs money.  Even bad health care costs a lot of money.  Providing health care at any level is exponentially more expensive than a can of beans and a bag of rice and arguably we are not doing such a great job of even feeding the hungry.  So it is no surprise we are not willing to pay for their visit to the doctor.  In the end, health care reform is really about sharing the cost and anything that does not promote rank selfishness, requiring us to help others, is called socialism.  It is sad to see that we are a country that is more committed to the principles of Ayn Rand than Judeo-Christian values.  When Cain killed Able he haughtily  asked God "am I my brothers keeper?"  In American we are increasingly answering that question with a resounding "NO."

Items Left Behind at WalMart or Where are the bananas?

My wife just asked if anybody had seen the bananas she had purchased last night at Walmart. That is when we realized that she  had left them behind last night with several other items.  The ironic part of this is that she had gone back once already earlier today to claim a cartoon of eggs that had been left behind on that crazy carousel system for bagging they use.  The lady at the "customer service" desk consulted a list of items she would not let my wife see.  A list of items left behind by customers.  So we got the eggs we left behind but instead of saying, "Oh, here are the other items you left behind." and giving them to us we got silence.  There was a list and I am sure our bananas as well as other items we have not yet discovered missing were on it too.  What else was left behind?  We have no idea.

Enough with questions I cannot answer.  Here is a question I can answer:  What does Walmart do with the items that customers pay for and leave behind and do not claim?  They put them back on the shelf and sell them again. I would feel a little better if those items were donated to local charities instead of enriching the pockets of multinational corporation which is already doing fine in a tough economy.  Heck, they do well in a good economy.

This is a dishonorable business tactic.  It is a mitzvah to return an item back to its proper owner and the practice as executed by Walmart is dishonest either through policy or oversight.  Either way it is wrong.  If a customer comes back with a receipt, and if the Walmart system works correctly and the left behind items are logged the way they are supposed to be (which does happen a reasonable amount of times) then the customer should get all their things back with no games.

There is a huge problem with items being left behind at Walmart.  They are taking advantage of a confusing checkout system, the fact that most people will overlook forgotten items when they put their purchases away, and the fact that most people will not bother to put themselves through the ordeal of having to go back and hassle with them over a one or two dollar item. But, one or two dollar items ad up.  The internet has many stories about this being a problem and our family looses dozens of items each year because they have a checkout system which is prone to error.  I would estimate that we leave something behind 1 out of every 5 visits we make.  Although some checkers are conscientious, and we have learned to check ourselves, it is still confusing - it is a system that needs to be fixed. 

We have many friends who out of principle do not shop at Walmart and I think it is time that our family reconsiders our own shopping habits.