Airstream Jesus

A church down the street from our house sells Christmas trees and wreaths in its parking lot every year. They always place a mini nativity decoration in front of their sale trailer--to try to "Keep the Christ in Christmas" I suppose.

Each year I chuckle when I drive by and notice the holy family huddled in front of the Airstream trailer. It is a vision that raises all sorts of amusing questions in one's mind. Most of my questions, in all likelihood, being fairly offensive to some.

This said, I believe that God has a very keen sense of humor and may very well enjoy a laugh from the thoughts that come to my mind.

Below are just a few of my questions and thoughts....if you feel inspired, add some of your own in the comments field.

• O.K., I understand that there was no room at the inn. But, wouldn't an Airstream be at least a little more comfortable than a manger?

• The humble beginnings of the King of Kings is charming enough.....but, an Airstream trailer? Come on. Humble is one thing, white trash is another.

• What did the Magi bring---a six pack, beef jerky and a propane tank?

• Maybe the holy family would have blended better with a different wardrobe selection--perhaps cut off shorts and flip flops.

Is There Life After Death? The Banana Bread Proof.

Is there an afterlife that resembles, in any way, the images of heaven many of the major world religions have painted for us? I don't know and it really is not all that important to me.

It will be a wonderful surprise if utopia awaits and all of my friends and family who died before me are waiting to greet me the day I pass to the other side. In the meantime, I have chosen to live the best life I know how to live in the here and now.

But, most of us still can't help but wonder what happens to us after we die. Like I said, I don't know if a "formal heaven" awaits, but I do know that those of us who live full lives don't just disappear. I have proof.

There are plenty who are probably skeptical of this declaration of alleged proof, but here it is.

My maternal grandmother died almost three years ago and I still think of her every day. A part of her is still living within me, my sisters, my mom and other members of our family. All of the good parts of her, as well as her imperfections...she is not gone.

Still skeptical? One of the most common gifts my grandmother would give was banana bread. She would give banana breads to different members of the family (sometimes me), bring loaves to family gatherings and give loaves to neighbors as thank you gifts.

Banana bread fit her perfectly. As a young woman of The Depression, a yummy treat created by not wasting something that has gone bad (overripe bananas) fit her approach to life like a glove.

So how do I know that we do continue to live after we die?

Since my grandmother died, I have yet to make it through a banana bread baking session of my own without a few laughs, a few tears and thankfulness that my grandmother helped to teach me how to bake.

Artful Causes-Community, Healing and Opportunity Creation

Perhaps things come into our lives when we need them most. After a relative dry spell from exposure to or involvement in the arts, two different programs have recently made their way into my life. The interesting thing is, although these two different initiatives are not formally related at all, the spirit of the efforts are quite similar-both view art as a medium for connection, healing and opportunity.

First, The Opportunity Shop founded by Amanda Englert and Laura Shaeffer. The Opportunity Shop is "a transitory, experimental space for new art in Hyde Park" and will consist of temporary gallery and performance spaces within vacant urban buildings in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. Although there is much about the Op Shop that is growing, developing and transforming, I believe an important aspect of the effort is utilizing art as a medium to bring the community together.

Also, to provide an opportunity to artists who may not have had ample opportunity to show their works. Information and performance schedules can be found at www.theopshop.org.



(Top) Window of the Op Shop's current location--1613 East 55th Street, Chicago
(Bottom) Shot of part of the space--11/28/09



(Top) Some of The Op Shop's many truly wonderful and interesting pieces
(Bottom) Amanda Englert and in the background Mary King. Amanda is one of the founders of The Op Shop and Mary is an exhibiting artist.


The second program that has recently come to the forefront of my awareness is the Global Alliance for Africa's Therapeutic Arts Program. The purpose of this program is to provide art therapy programs for at risk children within African communities. Currently, numerous art therapy professionals are providing extensive support and training to the communities within which they are operating. Ultimately, the goal is for the program to be self-sustaining and perhaps for there to be a trade craft element which would provide economic opportunity for the communities.

On December 5, 2009 a house concert and soup night was held at the home of Cathy and Bruce Moon to raise money for the cause. Cathy Moon is the Director of the Therapeutic Arts Program at the Art Institute of Chicago. She will be returning to Africa this summer.

More information about this program can be found at www.globalallianceafrica.org.



(Top) Jim Cubit, Mark Wilson and Bruce Moon--house concert to raise money for the Global Alliance for Africa's Therapeutic Arts Program.
(Bottom)East African artwork for sale at the event



(Top) Cathy Moon and Laurie Cubit
(Bottom) Global Alliance for Africa's Therapeutic Arts Program participants

What Are You Willing to Lay on the Altar of The Whole?

Our society is constantly talking about the importance of community, family and teams. Our neighborhoods, churches, clubs, our global community. Our family and friends. Our work teams, organizational teams, even athletic teams.

“The sum is greater than the whole.” “Two heads are better than one.” Constantly we profess to value, above all else, our connectedness to our loved ones, to those we respect and to the community at large.

However, as a society we nearly worship the individual.

Individualism is so import to us that we strive with focused determination to “be true to ourselves.”

Consumer product companies sell all kinds of products that allow us to distinguish ourselves from others…to express our individual personalities. Psychologists have found that the sound of our own name is the most pleasing sound there is to our ears.

There is little wonder many of us feel conflicted much of the time. Many of us profess that others are more important than ourselves and we work tirelessly to prove this to ourselves and to the world at large.

BUT, we want things our way. Giving up a piece of ourselves borders on a mortal sin within American society. We are petrified of losing ourselves. We are horrified by the thought of selling out.

The conflict comes from the fact that we know that we must give up a piece of ourselves to have successful relationships. We must, to some extent, give way to the whole to make relationships, organizations and societies work. Any of us who are married or have children might be especially aware of this giving of ourselves as without it, it is impossible to have a successful marriage or to raise well adjusted children.

Think about a recent conflict you experienced at work, within your church or within your family. The conflict most certainly resulted from either a misunderstanding and/or the clash of different sets of opinions, needs or positions.

Relationships, organizations and societies typically remain in tact as long as there is enough commonality. As long as the parties involved are willing to lay enough of themselves “on the altar of the whole” --relationships, organizations and societies stay together. When the differences become more important or more numerous than the value of the commonalities….relationships, organizations and societies break apart.

Each of us has to constantly make these judgments. We generally will overlook small disagreements within our marriages, with our co-workers and with our society at large. We are often even willing to overlook very large differences of opinion. However, at various points in our lives we each have to make “Will I Stay or Will I Go?” decisions.

We ask ourselves, “In this specific case, am I willing to lay enough of myself on the altar of the whole to continue my participation in this relationship, this organization or even this society?”

Are Hummers Evil?

Well, contrary to what some committed environmentalists would say, my answer is no. I do not believe that it is possible for inanimate objects to be evil. So, this begs the question…are the people who create them (the company) and/or the people who create the market for Hummers (drivers) evil?

Although evil does exist in the world, I do believe in the inherent good of the vast majority of the earth’s people. So, it is decidedly unfair and unloving to arbitrarily classify a group of people to be evil or even lesser based on their choice of transportation. And, if we classified Hummer drivers to be evil, logic would require us to classify other low-mileage and unnecessary vehicles to be evil. There are a lot of people I truly love, respect and enjoy who drive low mileage luxury vehicles. I do not have the stomach for this type of classification and those living in glass houses should not throw stones (I am far from perfect in the manner in which I use energy and other resources).

So the question introspective people might ask themselves is not whether driving these types of vehicles is good or evil, but is it fair? Is it fair to earth’s current inhabitants? Is it fair to unborn generations?

Regardless of your position on global warming or other environmental issues, oil and consumption/allocation of natural resources is a national security issue. It is a global security issue. Maybe you don’t believe Al Gore and his “Inconvenient Truth,” there are certainly compelling arguments both for and against his positions and facts. However, America is currently and for millennia mankind has warred over access to and control of natural resources. Our current battle of choice is oil; very soon it will be water.

So, the question is…even though my neighbor is a really great guy, does he have the right to contribute to prolonged warfare and battling over the globe’s limited resources? Do I have the right to do the same to my neighbor?

Even though I drive a high-mileage vehicle, does my neighbor have the right to be disappointed in the fact that I forget to turn off extra lights or make other decisions that do not make great use of our shared resources? I contend that he does have a right to be upset by this. And, he does have a right to say something to me. He certainly has the right to participate in movements that have the purpose of pressuring me to do the right thing (peer pressure can be a positive thing).

Our decisions as individuals combine to form national decisions. What we think and how we behave as individuals combines and will determine the world we hand to our children.

At some point, could fashion, status and caring for each other and future generations combine? Could it be one and the same? I have enough faith in the inherent goodness of humanity that some day, yes, I believe it could be.

A Grand Question: Fate -vs- Free Will

I have always believed (with various levels of ability to articulate this belief) that our lives are shaped by a combination of fate (some call this god's will and many other terms) and free will.

I do not believe that we are puppets solely acting out a play while God pulls all of the strings.
However, there is no question in my mind that God sometimes has her own plan that does not always seem convenient or desirable to us.

I believe that God is accessible to all of us, but is not a micro-manger either. God let's us mess up (in my case a lot) and I do believe that God has "bigger fish to fry" than helping me to find my car keys in the morning.

I recently read a wonderful description of fate/God's influence in our lives versus our free will in an outstanding book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love.

"We gallop though our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses-one foot is on the horse called "fate," the other on the horse called "free will." And the question you have to ask every day is-which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it is not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?"--Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Health Care Debate Resources

I implore Americans not to formulate ultimate opinions based on the rhetoric of cable news personalities or extremist (on either side) politicians. There are no proposed death panels...this is not a government plot to kill off the eldery...these kinds of statements and viral e-mails are ridiculous and irresponsible. We are better than this. We are braver than this. We are smarter than this.

I have begun compiling information resources that I believe might be helpful. I acknowledge the reality that most Americans (myself included) do not have time and cannot be expected to read thousands upon thousands of pages of proposed legislation. However, we all MUST MAKE the time to do our due diligence. We must make the time to write our representatives and the White House. Our individual health and the health of our family, friends and children depend on an intelligent debate.

The following are sources of information on this issue that are serious...not based on personalities show boating for ratings. I may not agree with all of the views contained within these resources, but they are none the less resources/idea worthy, in my opinion, of consideration. I will add resources to this post as I find them, so please check back. If you are familiar with helpful resources, please post them as comments. I will edit the post so that they can be added to the resouce library.

Transcript of 9/9/2009 Obama Address to Joint Session of Congress

Video, Part 1 9/9/2009 Obama Address to Joint Session of Congress

Video, Part 2 9/9/2009 Obama Address to Joint Session of Congress

Republicans in Congress Plan

Obama Plan

Five Myths About Healthcare Around the World

Senate Committee on Finance

AARP is updating a landing page that links to the various proposed bills. These bills are lengthy, but please remember that a pdf file can be quickly searched to fact check things that sound "fishy." If something sounds nonsensical, there is a decent chance that it is fabricated spin.

American Medical Association's (AMA) Positions

Politifact.com--a great fact checking website

FactCheck.org--another great fact checking website

Find Your Representatives

Contact the White House

Healthcare Debate Post Comments

The following are comments and ideas from two different people:

Comment from a woman who works in the healthcare industry and is involved in the issue on a state level.

My opinion is a 3 way focus to start fixing the problem:

1) It will be the integration of current (broken) systems into a regulated database format. Digitizing and entire industry can happen under the Dept of Health and Human services...only from the top-down!

2 ) Preventing and teaching of preventative strategies...beginning at the elementary school level, also a Health and Human services project...but implementing systems of life-skills, self care and health/planet care and education to the next generation MUST happen for this civilization to come through this on top.

3) lastly, the sin tax...exactly! Those who make personal decisions that compromise their health have incentive to do so. Reverse incentives can only happen with an overhaul of lobby, corporate greed and installing a bit of regard for human life into out corporate/food priority system :)

This can all happen...if we can see it, it is possible. keep passing the vision along, remember that you're planting seeds that will be sowed!


Small business owner who has had professional exposure to/involvement with a few different areas of our healthcare system.

I do believe that all Americans should have the opportunity to buy health care insurance. If I didn't have my business I would not be able to buy private insurance. Once you reach a certain age, the insurance companies do not want to insure you...they will cite pre existing conditions.

Clearly the system we have now is not working. A few years ago while working for a healthcare publication, I sat through a presentation by a company president extolling the wonders of automating drug dispensing at hospitals and tracking of patient care, electronically. When I commented that the semiconductor business has been offering similar systems for 20 years, he commented that the healthcare business is 20 years behind.

Finally, maybe the government can come up with a cash for clunkers program for the terminally ill

My response (Tonia Becker) to his post:

Thanks for the comment. Yes, the operational side of the healthcare industry (including pharmaceutical manufacturing) is 20 years behind. I do not buy the healthcare industry's arguments that the government stands in their way--the government makes it too expensive to upgrade efficiencies. There is some degree of truth to this. But, European and Japanese regulations are just as and in some cases more stringent than ours and their costs of delivering healthcare is much, much lower. Their systems are simply more efficient.

The US healthcare system (which includes a lot of different types of players--pharma companies, hospitals, doctors, health insurance companies, etc. etc) have not made operational efficiency upgrades because they have not had to. A great deal of profit was being achieved without operating efficiently--why would a private company spend money to increase efficiencies? The simple answer is, they do not.

Healthcare Debate...Thoughts, Opinions, Ideas

I am more than tired. I am in fact weary of the divisive and destructive politics our system has nurtured for the last 30 years or so. I am frustrated with Washington; I am highly annoyed by the entertainers masquerading as political commentators who have built very nice businesses out of the division. But, I am sickened by myself and my fellow citizens. We are the ones who allow all of it to take place.

Hateful division is not helping our nation and is not helping us as individuals. It is, literally, killing us. Our problems, the healthcare debate being no exception, require and deserve more thought than self righteously repeating the rants of television and radio personalities. We owe it to ourselves and to our country to participate productively in the current healthcare debate.

The right to voice differing opinions is a coveted and cherished right in the United States of America. Intelligent debate is the true engine of an effective democracy. Hateful, unproductive comments are simply not American--or it is not the America I want to be part of. Our country, our people deserve better.

In this spirit, all opinions are welcome within this blog. Hateful, meaningless words and accusations will be removed in order to foster an environment within which ideas might be exchanged. Hopefully, our country has what it takes to fix or improve the healthcare situation. To allow politicians and commentators to, again, shut down progress on this issue would be criminal.

The central question of this post, of the entire healthcare issue is:

Do you believe that every American citizen or legal resident has the right to affordable healthcare of reasonable quality?

In other words, should every American have access either—via health insurance through the private sector, a government plan or a combination— to competent and appropriate healthcare?

Please Note: I did not say free, I said affordable.

If you do not believe that every American has the right to access to the healthcare system, if you are not concerned about your own ability to pay if serious illness strikes you or one of your family members, you might want to spend your time doing something other than reading this post. However, if you are interested in exploring ideas to this challenge, please read on. I would love to hear your ideas.

Why are healthcare cost rising so rapidly? In my opinion, several reasons including:

1. Our litigious society—we all know that the “legal machine” is an “industry” to be reckoned with in the United States. Everyone has a right to competent and safe products and services and has the right to claim damages when they have been truly wronged. I think most of us have reasonable common sense when it comes to these issues. If your spouse’s surgeon performs surgery drunk and kills your spouse, you are entitled to reasonable damages. If your doctor uses his/her best judgment and knowledge and your situation does not end as hoped, the situation probably should be chalked up to the complexities of the human organism and to the mysteries of life.

2. Longer life expectancies—longer life spans mean more medical costs over the course of ones lifetime.

3. Advancing medical technologies—medical technologies have given us wonderful life saving advancements, but these technologies cost a great deal of money. In addition, these technologies contribute to longer life spans and often extend disease state life expectancies. These advancements are fantastic, but also present there own challenges. It is wonderful that we have in some cases greatly extended the amount of time people can live with a terminal disease. And, we have in many cases greatly improved the quality of that time. The challenge is that it is expensive. Who is going to pay for this?

4. Preventable diseases—obesity, poor nutrition, smoking, excessive drinking all add to society’s overall cost of healthcare. The percentage of obese Americans— men, woman and children is alarming.

5. Tremendous inefficiencies in the healthcare system. Our healthcare system has not responded like a true market-driven market because, it isn’t a pure market-driven market. The healthcare market is subsidized by different sources namely corporate American (i.e. employer provided health insurance) and local, state and federal governments. Players at every corner of our healthcare system have not addressed inefficiencies because they do not need to—why would these entities look for cost savings when they are very, very profitable without having to change their operations.

A great deal of the medical system still operates using paper record keeping and the horrendous inefficiencies that exist within the pharmaceutical manufacturing and development are just two examples. On top of the fact that many sectors of the healthcare industry have not needed to maintain operational efficiencies, sometimes regulatory bodies create conditions in which making operational improvements is unaffordable given the revalidation of processes and procedures that are necessary if changes are made.

6. Lack of taking “ownership” for personal healthcare issues. Due to the litigious nature of our society, many unnecessary tests and medical procedures are done. Patients need to take greater ownership and responsibility for their own care including the risks and rewards and the costs of those decisions.

Patients need to partner with doctors in order that joint decision making may transpire. Frank and difficult conversations need to happen more frequently. Is it worth $200,000 to extend a terminal cancer patient’s life one more month? When the patient is yourself or a loved one, these costs seem to be worth every penny. But, as a society we are all paying for these decisions in the form of unaffordable health insurance costs and sky rocketing healthcare costs.

My Thoughts/Solutions Ideas:

1. Caps on malpractice settlements.

2. Due to longer life expectancies, individuals and governments need to budget for these new realities—this will mean, for most individuals, working more years.

3. A Health Savings Account approach should be adopted as the norm—preventative care would be covered fully, encouraged and perhaps demanded. A high deductible insurance program is coupled with a savings account that accumulates over time. Care above and beyond preventative care is paid for from the savings account until the deductible is met. After the deductible is met, care is paid for 100%.

If this move is coupled with caps on malpractice suits, billions of dollars of unnecessary spending (CYA spending) will be removed from the system which will lower costs. This approach also shifts some of the decision making back to the patient so that more of a doctor/patient partnership might be reached. For more information on a Health Savings Account approach, please click here.

4. “Sin” taxes should continue to exist for tobacco and alcohol products. And, in my view, a “sin” tax should be applied to “luxury” unhealthy foods (ice cream, fast food, high calorie/low nutrition foods). HOWEVER, the revenue from all sin taxes need to go into the healthcare system and not be used as they are currently to support the lack of financial discipline amongst local, state and federal governments.

I do not support, for example, using tobacco sin taxes to fund road construction. If sin taxes were continued on tobacco and alcohol and applied to unhealthy foods, this would be an extremely fair way to fund healthcare for all. People who statistically are causing the most strain on the system via preventable diseases, pay more into the system through the sin taxes. A “Fair Tax” for healthcare.

Private insurance policies held by high-risk patients could be subsidized in some way by the sin tax revenue. Government provided healthcare for the elderly, the disabled and other identified groups would be funded via sin taxes and the current system of payroll deductions.

5. Every corner of the healthcare system MUST be dedicated to and rewarded for operational efficiencies. Regulatory bodies must not impede this progress and competitive pressures must be realized across the system. The current situation of private/public subsidizing of the system must stop immediately.

6. As individuals we must take ownership of tough decisions. Not playing an active role in our own healthcare decision making is driving costs through the roof and contributes to the frequency of malpractice suits. Americans don’t seem to like to be open and realistic about the realities of life. We seem to like to think of ourselves and our society as invincible and tend to sweep the unpleasantries of life under the rug.

As a society we must be willing to have uncomfortable conversations like—at 90 years old, is it fair to ask the system to spend $50,000 to extend my life a few more weeks? Would we be better off as a society and as a nation if we could come peacefully to terms with the inevitable ending of life?

Maybe a more harsh way to pose this question—at a certain point (whether this point be caused by a disease state or age), is it more fair for us to come to peace with our mortality, to gracefully bow out of the game so that someone else might live?

Let’s get really crass—is society better off paying $50,000 to extend the life of a deteriorating 90-year-old by a few weeks or a few months or spending those dollars to assure quality healthcare for children?

Money does not fall from the sky. When as a society we make decision that life should be extended at all costs, the price of health insurance becomes unaffordable and/or tremendous financial pressures are experienced by governments. Currently, we have both situations—unaffordable private health insurance and government budgets under extreme pressure.


Final Comments

For those crying “communism” and denouncing out of hand a revamp of our healthcare system, it must be acknowledged that we have a form of universal healthcare today—a pretty unpleasant form. Half of all bankruptcies are cause in full or in part by medial costs. These bankruptcies cost our system (eventually individual taxpayers) a great deal of money each and every year.

For those who are railing against the idea of the government having a role in making healthcare decisions for individuals—is the current system of health insurance companies making healthcare decisions for individuals a good system? I argue not. The reality is I want to be in a system where I have more control over my own care—neither the government nor insurance companies controlling the care I receive or the decisions I make.

Misc. Healthcare Facts/Stats

-Best estimates suggest that healthcare costs the typical American family between $12,700 - $20,000 per year.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/how-much-does-health-care-cost-you/

http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml

-Healthcare costs are outpacing inflation by a factor of 2 – 3.

-Although in 2008, healthcare spending accounted for 17% of GDP—a greater percentage than any other industrialized nation— 45 million Americans remain uninsured.

-A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. The study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses.9 Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.

-According to a recent report, the United States has $480 billion in excess spending each year in comparison to Western European nations that have universal health insurance coverage. The costs are mainly associated with excess administrative costs and poorer quality of care.14

-The United States spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health care system than its peer Western European nations.

Our Best Days Are Not Over

I suppose that there are voices in every generation saying that our best days are behind us—the “good old days” are to be remembered longingly and nothing else will ever be as good.

I do not buy this. Yes, we all have fond memories of yesterday, but tomorrow holds so much promise. And, I do have faith in the strength of America and the resiliency of her people. This being said, from my perspective many of the elements that have fostered American strength and resiliency—self-reliance, modest pride, love of community, dedication to family, hard work, doing whatever it takes--have been eroded. A sense of entitlement, lack of personal responsibility and victim-hood has replaced many of our former sensibilities.

We are going to have a very long and for many an unpleasant journey to reclaim a more productive spirit.

The reality is, what has caused our current recession, our healthcare crisis, our education system crisis is a fundamental failure of individuals, our business community and our government. Everything our nation is currently facing has been brewing for a long time and we all knew it—we just chose to ignore it. The day of reckoning has arrived.

How will each of us respond?

Social Media Is Changing the World

This is an absolutely incredible moment in history. Unlike many of the political discussions on Facebook and other social media forums, discussions regarding the Iranian protests are important and are having/will have an impact. While much of the political discussion on Facebook and other sites can become hateful and disrespectful quickly ultimately accomplishing nothing, this issue is quite different.

The Iranian people, knowing that their government would restrict or prohibit international journalists from covering their protests are telling us their story themselves. Tweets on Twitter, blogs, Facebook posts, YouTube videos and other social media entries are sharing a story with the world that the Iranian government has been working actively and violently to repress.

For decades the Iranian government and other extremists governments have used anti-American politics and policies as a very powerful political tool. Think about it...if you did not did not know anything about America or Americans and your government kept telling you how awful and evil Americans are, there is a good shot you would buy into the message. Our government has also given Middle Eastern extremists ample material for their stories of hate and violence. Then we had an American President who for eight years used very strong and divisive language . This posturing strongly supported the anti-American messaging of the extremist Middle Eastern leaders.

The absolutely incredible part of the Iranian Protests tragedy is that there is now a global understanding that people (common people) of the world can talk to each other. Individuals talking to each other and better understanding each other can change the world tiny bits at a time. Masses of common people crying out to other masses of common people for help and support can change the world very quickly.

It is fun to think about an idealistic, yet realistic vision of this power. Let's say, hypothetically, that the German government implemented a policy that caused a negative situation for American citizens. American and German citizens could communicate, exchange their respective views on the situation. German citizens, if so moved, based on their new understanding of the position of American citizens (not the formal position of the U.S. government) could pressure their own government to reverse the policy.

I believe in my heart that 99.9% of people around the world want to live in peace, raise their families, educate their children, provide for their families, etc. It is the one tenth of one percent of very powerful people in the world (government leaders and in some cases very powerful business people) who often do tremendous harm or in some cases tremendous good.

When people, everyday people, can take power back by simply talking to each other, global leaders will be forced to fall in line and govern in ways that has the interests of their people more in mind. This holds true in Iran and it holds true in America.

My heart goes out to the Iranian people and I am praying for them. The good that is coming from this is that the Iranian people have truly changed the world.

We are in a unique point in history in that doing what does not seem like much...sending messages on discussion boards, finding ways to get your well wishes to someone in Tehran, participating in peaceful vigils will go a long way to helping to destabilize an extremist government.

Iranian people seeing American citizens standing beside them means that the anti-American politics will no longer work in Iran and in other extremist Muslim governments. Keeping their citizens fearful of American aggression was a key political tool for these governments and our current President and us as individual Americans are talking that away.

Despite the rhetoric of some who seem to believe that acknowledging a larger world makes us less American, we ALL are global citizens. We all live on one planet and are bound together by nature and the health of our planet. We are also all tied together by economic markets and the cross-pollination of our cultures.

Yes, we as Americans are one people and I am proud to be an American. However, the most patriotic thing we can do as Americans, in my opinion, is to do what little we can when given the opportunity to try to advance peace in our time and for future generations.

So....participate in a local vigil. I think most of us, regardless of our specific political views, can agree that people should have the rights of freedom of speech and peaceful protest. From my understanding vigils are being organized around the world this Friday and have been going on for the last week or so. The Iranian people need to see pictures of millions of Americans and other global citizens standing with them.

Photos of these events will make there way to Tehran via facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets.

The Common Sense Party Platform

Political philosophy versus “perversion” of the philosophy via the actual act of governing is fascinating.

From a philosophical perspective, I love both the ideas of Marxism (core belief that one’s labor should not exceed that which is necessary to produce the goods he/she consumes) and Libertarianism (emphasis on indiv. liberty generally with the goal of minimizing or abolishing government).

Of course these philosophies are more complex and involved than this, and many over the years have presented their views within the framework of these two core idea resulting in many philosophical branches.

Both Marxism and Libertarianism are nice ideas, but neither work in reality once the historic evidence of human nature is truly considered. So, the question becomes….how do peoples and nations effectively implement political ideas in practice?

There are also, of course, many branches of “liberal” philosophy and once society-based contextual considerations along with mud slinging from the other side come into play, lord only knows what we are actually talking about.

So, I think that I am going to start my own political party called The Common Sense Party (unfortunately for me, my definition of common sense does not jive with everyone else). The following would be the party’s core platform positions (of course, like any politician, the details of these positions will only be revealed once I am elected):

• “Fair” capitalism is the ideal practical market structure. People have to have incentive to better themselves and advance or many/most of use would revert to our naturally lazy selves. However, laissez-faire capitalism results in wealth and power being concentrated into the hands of very few. The “lower rungs” of society at that point do not have a fair opportunity for advancement as the rules of the game are decidedly stacked against them.

Rules of the “market” have to be created and adjusted as the market and society adjusts to preserve as much fairness and opportunity for all as possible. Markets are not natural entities, like oxygen, as some “free-market” advocates seem to imply. Markets are man-made structures (big games really) and the rules of the game need to be created, adjusted and tweaked as makes sense given market/game conditions and as new ways of beating the game are innovated by various individuals and organizations. Capitalism does encourage innovation both good and bad. New technologies, products, services and advancements are often, although not always, good. Capitalism also inspires other forms of innovation—besting/rigging

the system and other expressions of creativity.

Governments, comprised of elected and appointed officials are the only organizations that can logically be held responsible for enacting/changing rules (laws) to control the markets. Governments, as they are comprised of human beings, often go too far one way or the other resulting in the fundamental necessity for a changing of the guards—elections.


• A healthcare system in which people go broke trying to take care of themselves and their families (especially within a country as rich at the United States) is absurd. A healthcare system that has become so expensive that more and more people are unable to access the system is equally absurd. A healthcare system that stifles innovation is not best for long term progress. The magic question—where is the balance? France’s healthcare system offers some interesting ideas that should be considered. The British and Canadian systems have very real problems and we need to work to not repeat their mistakes.

• Access to quality education (pre-K thru advanced degrees) is vital to a successful society. Our public school systems, on whole, are broken. Public universities have gotten so expensive that we are excluding more of our citizens from participation. Both public school systems and public universities need to be both better funded and better managed. Throwing more and more money as inefficiently run organizations (which both public schools and public universities are often very inefficiently run) is not the answer. More money and better management has to be achieved simultaneously.

• Taxation policies need to be fair. To improve overall services to our society (healthcare and education to name two big ones) taxes will likely have to increase. However, taxation policies cannot be so stifling that they snuff out innovation and willingness for people to “give it a shot.” If taxes are too high, there is no/limited incentive for people to work hard to advance themselves and society.

• Helping hand up—not long term hand outs. I fully support government subsidized daycare for those who need it, government funded adult education/career repurposing programs, quality affordable education (as mentioned above), etc. However, if citizens are not willing to work and take advantage of these programs/opportunities…if they are not willing to remove their rear ends from the couch and turn off American Idol…they can rot for all I care. There are too many Americans with out of date skill sets and education—something has to be done about this.

• Protecting worker rights is critical. No one should be treated unfairly or work in excessively dangerous conditions. However, many of the labor unions are out of control. They have gotten as greedy and as self-interested as any poorly managed company. American workers are/will continue to pay a very steep price for this. Labor unions should have an important place in today’s world, but they need to make a 180 degree adjustment to their approaches in order to productively help/protect American workers.

• As a reasonable and compassionate society, social safety nets are important—unemployment insurance, social security, welfare programs of various sorts, etc. However, these programs can get out of control. No one in a country as rich as ours should starve or be denied core necessities and core services. Some citizens are just not able to support themselves—handicapped people, disabled people, etc. These people need to be taken care of. However, able-bodied people need to earn their own supper. Incentives for able-bodied people to tap into welfare and other social safety nets long-term cannot exist. Education and job skill training may be necessary in many cases (see above). In addition, many of us fall onto temporary hard times. There needs to be social safety nets for these situations via some of the above mentioned programs.

• We must take better care of our environment/planet. Cap and trade systems and other forced mechanisms are necessary because we are certainly not taking care of our planet under the current systems. Real recycling programs should be mandated. Currently, the higher oil/crude prices are the more incentive the market has to recycle. When oil/crude prices fall, there is disincentive. These practices are killing our planet. Our planet cannot count on us doing what is right as the result of our own free will—clearly we are not doing the right things and we have had plenty of opportunity to make the right choices.

• People owning unnecessary Hummers should be shot at dawn. Few, if any people I know in mainstream American society, need to own a Hummer.

• Social legislation (abortion, gay marriage, etc.) should, for the most part, follow a Sandra Day O’Connor populist model. When the fringes of society (either ultra conservative or ultra liberal) jam their views through the system, a society has very real problems on its hands. You can’t push a society too hard, too fast. You can’t try to hold it back either.

• Our Constitution is a brilliant document and needs to be respected. However, our Constitution, I believe, was designed to be a living document. Constitutional literalists, on whole, are using their “literal” arguments to jam ultra conservative views down the throats of the American people.

• We must respect the views, desires and cultures of other nations. American as a global bully will only continue to exasperate problems.

• We need a strong military, but not a military that mushrooms for no reason. Our military might is a last resort tool—must be used in full force at times (WWII), must not be used for needless and inhumane slaughter (Iraq).

• The religious and moral views of all people need to be respected. The separation of church and state is not an issue than can be compromised—for the good of both the state and the church.

• The Common Sense Party respects the vital and necessary role of government. However, our governments need to focus on doing for the people what they cannot do for themselves. The government should focus on activities that the private sector is not very good at doing. For instance, the private sector is profit driven. Potential profit that is too far down the road or is too small compared to the risk is not a path that the private sector will or should take. The government should have been aggressively funding alternative energy research for decades now—we could have avoided a lot of death and destruction. The private sector, with low oil prices, had no/little incentive until recently. Rapid oil consumption is killing our planet and is a very real national security risk. The role of government should be to step into situations like this—no/little profit in sight for the private sector, but the good of the people is at stake.

• The Common Sense Party embraces fair and productive globalization. However, raping less developed countries for their cheap labor is bad for the people of the world and is bad for Americans.

• Fiscal responsibility is necessary. At times, the government needs to deficit spend (to do for people what they cannot do for themselves). Times of economic crisis, times of necessary war are two cases in point. However, we cannot in good times and in bad spend money like mad and continue to lower taxes. Already, five full months of tax collection (Jan-May) goes to service our national debts. I am sure that the latest (necessary) stimulus spending will tack a couple of months onto this. We are approaching the debt practices of third-world nations. Eventually social services have to be cut sharply because tax dollars go largely to servicing the nation’s debt. Granted, we are fairly far from the numerous Latin American and other countries that essentially starve(d) their people to service their debts—but it could happen if we are not more responsible.

Government's Role: Protect the People From Themselves
The Peoples Role: Protect the People the Government--especially a government gone mad (e.g. the last eight years)

So, given The Common Sense Party platform—do you think we have a shot in 2012? On second thought, the last thing I want it to be elected for anything. I am perfectly happy to let President Obama continue to take a run at fixing the mess we are in.

Please Stop Lying to Me

When we were young children, most of us were taught that lying is wrong. It is morally wrong, hurtful and down right insulting to the person being lied to.

I disagree with a number of the positions of the current Republican Party. Disagreement is fine, it is healthy and good. That is, after all, the most wondrous part of our democratic system.

However, lying and disagreement are two distinctly different things. So, I implore the GOP—a party I have historically supported—to stop lying to me and to the American people. It is annoying, dangerous and down right offensive.

Bobby Jindal, the current Governor of Louisiana and the supposed rising star of the GOP delivered an uninspiring and frustrating rebuttal to President Obama’s February 24, 2009 address to the joint session of Congress. In fact, Governor Jindal’s rebuttal was down right offensive and continues the recently developed GOP tradition of bold lies and blatant misrepresentation of core facts.

1. The stimulus bill DOES NOT include funding for a high speed train to run between Las Vegas and Disneyland. The stimulus bill DOES include $8 billion for mass transit construction. The bill does not specify that these funds will be spent on high-speed train construction and certainly does not specify a train that would run between Las Vegas and Disneyland. Various projects and regions are competing for shares of the $8 billion. The Las Vegas/Disneyland project, which did receive $45 million in funding for an initial environmental impact study from President George W. Bush, is far from a lock.

2. Hurricane Katrina delivered unimaginable devastation to millions within the state of Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states. Millions have behaved bravely and selflessly in the aftermath of the disaster. But, Mr. Jindal please do not suggest to me that the Federal Government did not have a key role in facilitating Hurricane Katrina recovery. Granted, much of Katrina recovery was botched in the short-term and the longer-term after the storm under leadership from a Republican president and ill-prepared Louisiana state officials. But the Federal Government has spent $175 billion on Katrina Recovery.

Recovery spending was 110% necessary, but let’s not imply that it did not happen. Yes, government (especially poorly run government) messes things up at times. The federal government, under President Bush, certainly failed to respond effectively to Katrina in numerous ways. However, let’s stop blaming the “concept” of appropriate federal government and start blaming poor management and poor leadership.

(link to full text of Govenor Jindal's speech is listed at the end of this post)


3. “That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs. But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach.” (quote from Governor Jindal’s 2/24/09 rebuttal speech)

Just a minor point, Mr. Jindal. $288 billion in tax cuts were included in the stimulus bill. Nearly all of the tax cuts requested above were included in the bill.

(links to outline of tax cuts in stimulus bill and Full American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are included at the end of this post)


I am all for alternative ideas. Given the current economic crisis. we need all of the good ideas we can get. But, lying to and misleading the American people is counter-productive and dangerous. Not all of our citizens are as obsessive as I am. Many American citizens do not peck away like a crazy person at their computers during and after important political addresses to fact check fishy sounding claims.

We are free to disagree with each other—that is what makes the country great. But let’s respect each other enough; let’s love our country enough to conduct honest debates rooted in facts.


Text of Bobby Jindal’s full rebuttal speech
Outline of tax cuts in the stimulus bill
Full American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

The Toughest Tasks of All

TARP 1, TARP 2, the stimulus package. Likely more stimuli and likely more TARP-type programs in the months ahead. As nauseous as they make me these moves are, in my opinion, necessary.

The current economic crisis is being compared to the Great Depression and, yes, there are a great number of similarities. The primary barriers between most of us and the soup line are several of the New Deal programs put into place by Roosevelt—FDIC, Social Security, FHA, SEC, etc. But make no mistake; today the majority of us, without the air cushion provided by our federal government, would be in desperate straights. Times are tough, but most of us are not watering down soup, nor living in Hoovervilles.

Although we are being protected from starvation, I do not like being dependent on the largess of Washington to protect myself and my family. In the face of a true melt-down of our financial systems and markets, few of us are protected no matter how responsible we are. I save, I don’t spend money on a lot of unnecessary things, I live in a house I can afford, and I don’t have huge credit card bills. But, if our systems were to collapse, this responsible approach is worthless.

One could save responsibly for years, but if the dollar collapses, truly collapses, it could all be gone in the blink of an eye. I would be selling my wedding rings and scrounging my personal possessions for anything of tangible value to feed my family along with the rest of America.

I do not like this realization one bit. In fact, I detest it. So how do we avoid this type of calamity again?

1. Overhaul our healthcare system. No American should ever fall prey to bankruptcy due to medical costs.

2. Revise bankruptcy laws. With the assurance that no American will go bankrupt due to medical/healthcare situations, revise our bankruptcy laws for individuals and companies. Perhaps re-implement debtors’ prisons. Maybe this sounds arcane and medieval, but I am not kidding. Today, bankruptcy for many businesses and individuals is a financial tool, not an absolute last resort. Our bankruptcy laws facilitate irresponsible spending and unwise risks that fall straight onto the backs of the American people.

3. Institutional punishment for irresponsible corporate governance. A large part of what makes America great is our entrepreneurial spirit—our national desire and willingness to give it a shot. There is inherent risk in this approach, and we cannot snuff out our desire to “go for it.” However, our business leaders are smart people. In their hearts they knew better than to take the kind of greedy gambles that were taken in this and other “busts”—we all knew better (even though many of us chose to ignore our better instincts). But, our culture and our systems do not punish, truly punish, greed and irresponsible risk.

4. Institutional punishment for irresponsible personal governance. Per point #2, bankruptcy should not be easy, without consequence and there should be negative social stigma attached—today there is not. Today, filing bankruptcy is an every day activity hardly more traumatic than taking your trash to the curb.

5. Change the culture of corporate America. Corporate America is nearly entirely driven by quarter-to-quarter earnings. Many, if not most, companies no longer plan their operations for tomorrow—they are nearly solely worried about their next earnings report. Of course, earnings are important. But corporate America propped up (and will certainly do so again) their earnings with many short-sighted measures—essentially freezing wages for the true middle class, creating “exotic” financial mechanisms, cutting R&D investments……

America cannot and will not continue to lead the world with this type of approach. We have cut off, in many ways, the very hand that fed us—our people and our innovation.

6. Change the culture of our government. If businesses and individuals are responsible, so must our government be. We must create a culture of zero tolerance for unethical behavior. Granted, this is a slippery slope. Differing opinions, or mistakes made despite careful thinking are not unethical behaviors. However, the current turbulence has certainly forced more than one rat out of their holes.

Is it possible to avoid hysterical witch hunts, forgive honest mistakes, while holding each other, our business leaders and our government accountable? I believe that ultimately we are smart enough and reasonable enough to pull it off (I think…I hope).

As naïve and simple as it sounds, I often revert to the financial wisdom my father taught me as a child. Money does not fall from the sky. If you want something you have to earn more or spend less.

We can create all of the exotic investment mechanisms and creative business and economic models we like, but at the end of the day are we as a nation, as companies, as individuals spending less than we earn? This is the only question that matters. By posing any other question, by creating “bubble markets,” by creating inflated fortunes on paper, by creating a secular religion of spending more than we earn…we are just kidding ourselves.

The next bust will always be around the corner and at some point Uncle Sam may very well not have the clout or strength to pick us up and dust us off.

So Simple, But So Brilliant - There is Hope for Us Yet

At heart I am still and probably always will be a "moderate" from a political classification standpoint.

I believe in:

• fiscal responsibility
• offering helping hands up, not hand outs
• liberal on social issues (can't we all just get along?)
• we need a strong military, but that strength should be used very, very wisely
• embracing of a fair global economy (emphasis on fair for all sides)
• respectful and interested in other cultures, beliefs, religions and ways of life
• the need for corporate, government and individual responsibility
• government regulation and oversight need to not unfairly impede the private sector, but oversight and regulation need to be there

However, in recent years I have become much more "radical" toward environmental issues. Some of this radicalism is self-admittedly tree-hugging liberalism. However, most of my belief adjustments are simply pragmatic. We are destroying our planet and our energy policies have created very serious national security issues. Economically we are so dependent on a commodity (oil) that we have little control of—businesses and individuals are held hostage in a lot of ways to the oil market and distant nations.

I have been cheering wildly and supporting as much as possible the "green" energy movement. A real green energy industry solves a lot of problems--slowing the damage to our planet, national security issues, the development of a new, profitable American manufacturing industry (we have the rare opportunity to restore America's industrial and manufacturing might).

As a pragmatist and a business person, I know that the green energy movement will not take hold until either it makes economic sense or until the government forces the issue. Government forcing this kind of issue is not the American way, so we are really dependent on the movement making economic sense.

The exciting thing to me is that we are getting there. Wide-spread usage of electric cars solves so many problems. But, I think we can all agree that there are some decided practical issues standing in the way.

Check out this article in this week's Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/178851

The discussed economic model for the viability of electric cars is brilliant in its simplicity - why didn't I think of this? We would own the car, not the battery. So, as battery technology continues to improve we are not stuck with an $8,000 obsolete battery (a decided road block to buying an electric car myself).

Battery technology as it stands today does not allow for practical application in every area or for every person. But with the model discussed in this article, we have today a practical business model for some geographic areas and for some people--enough of a market to fund additional battery technology advancements.

Check out this article--exciting stuff. There are still practical issues at question, but the core of this model is the solution (in my opinion). There truly is very exciting hope for us yet.