Is Healthcare Worth the Pain It Causes?

The NYT's journalistic obedience

The NYT's journalistic obedience

The More Things Change

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?
From The mourning bride by William Congreve, in , 1697:

The Other Spock.

Benjamin Spock lived in near Rogers, Arkansas in Esculapia Hollow in the 70’s & 80’s.  His step daughter attended Rogers High School.  At one time, his book,  Baby and Child Care, sold more copies than any other book than the Bible, even after his political opponents spread the false charge that he was for “permissiveness” in child care.  He was an Olympic gold medalist, political activist, and presidential candidate.  It saddens me that many people under 40 have never heard of him, even in this area where he lived.  Whatever you thought of his politics, he was sincere, straightforward, engaging and difficult not to like.   He was a wonderful man, but fame is fleeting.   He wouldn’t care.  You can read more about him at http://www.tititudorancea.com/z/benjamin_spock.htm

Memories of Pillstroms, Snakes, Birth & Death.

Dr. Lawrence Pillstrom lived in Rogers when I was a kid, He invented “Pilstrom Snake Tongs” while a medical student in the 1953. His daddy, Dr. E.W., “Pilly,” Pillstrom, had a small hospital in Altus and delivered me on a hot July afternoon in 1947 before air conditioning. He insisted that Dad be in the delivery room so he could see what misery he caused and not do it again. Dad said that Dr. Pillstrom was wearing a sleeveless undershirt and shorts, and smoking a cigar. Witnessing my birth was a most unpleasant experience for Dad. (It wasn’t so touchy-feely in them days) The lesson didn’t take though because Myra came along a little over 2 years later. Dr Pillstrom delivered her too. The best I can tell, he was a dang good country doctor. At a family get together when I was a fairly small, one of my aunts announced that Pilly had been killed. There were the expected gasps and cries of “What happened?” She said he was delivering a baby and was shot by a pistol packing momma. Now that was a good one. Take it away Bing.

In the photo above, the people are: back row: Mary Ann Pillstrom Young, Newton Pillstrom, Dee Pillstrom Shaffer, Lawrence Pillstrom front row Sally Jane Pillstrom Mayner Jones, Dr. E.W. Pillstrom, Mary Adeline Newton Pillstrom, Edward William Pillstrom Jr.

A POETIC TAKE ON THE REPUBLICAN MIDTERM ELECTIONS/TAKEOVER OF THE HOUSE.

We told the folks we'd plug the debt in our rehearsal.
 It was our pick-up line, we got the part, our voice was universal!

 But now it seems we're missing the testiculars
To really force our way on the particulars--

 That's not to say we don't have the cahones
To wager Social Security on the ponies!

This poem was revealed to JT who sent it to me with this explanation-"It ain't no lie I never wrote that poem.  I never wrote any poem.  That poem was revealed to me in the January of 2011!"

Economic Reality & Our Sense of Purpose and Direction.

"This country last knew itself, had a sense or purpose and direction when it was going to the moon, when it was committed to the public education of its children and their physical health, was at war with true totalitarianism, when marginal tax rates on the income of the well to do were north of 90% and the President could stir the public with, 'ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.'”  The Mad Tea Party; A Looking Glass View of Economic Reality in Over the Edge by James T. Bruce.   This thoughtful piece can read in its entirety by clicking here. 

St. Valentine and love

Legend has it that St. Valentine was martyred in Rome about 270 AD. While in prison, Valentine was befriended by his jailer's daughter. On the eve of his execution, Valentine thanked the child for her care and kindness in a note signed "Your Valentine". Thus, the tradition for exchanging such notes.
I've read that one of the laws of the universe "is that the more we love, the more we will be loved. If we try to hoard our love, we will end up with nothing, for love cannot exist in the same space as possessiveness, dependency, or selfishness. The very essence of love demands that we give it away." Paul Tillich wrote that the first duty of love is to listen.

I Loved True Grit and Mattie's Everlasting Arm.

The Coen Brothers have done it again.   The dialogue was marvelous.  Humor, sadness, and pain were beautifully merged.  The acting, including the performance from 15 year old Hailee Steinfeld, was excellent.  The background music was perfect and  Iris Dement was the perfect vessel for the lyrics. 


 However, at that point in the movie, perhaps Leaning On The Everlasting “Arm” would have been more appropriate.
It was good to hear Arkansas names and towns on the screen too.  The Rosses are still around.  So are the LaBoeuf’s, but they’ve anglicized their name. I met Sleepy himself at Blue Moon Music a few years ago.  Here he is singing about his ancestor.

HOT SPRINGS MAYOR, A TEA PARTIER, SAYS MARRIAGE LAWS "REDUNDANT" AND "UN-BIBLICAL", NEWSPAPER DECLINES TO PRINT CITIZEN REBUKE.

The Mayor of Hot Springs Arkansas advocates that we don’t need secular law to address issues, such as marriage, dealt with in the Bible.  My Friend Cliff Jackson wrote a letter of dismay to the Hot Springs paper which refused to print it.  

It is difficult to know whether to be more shocked by the paper’s actions or the mayor’s mentality but both reflect the growing empowerment of the ignorance demographic in America.  

The following is Clift's letter and his comments on the paper’s action.  

If you are a glutton on the subject, links follow to my own related thoughts.

BILL CLINTON'S HOMETOWN MAYOR, A TEA PARTIER, SAYS MARRIAGE LAWS "REDUNDANT" AND "UN-BIBLICAL"

by Cliff Jackson on Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 10:52am

Dinosaurs and Humans in Eden

 NOTE: The local paper declined to print this letter perhaps because of the new politically correct pseudo-civility after the Giffords' shooting or, perhaps, because the paper strongly identifies with the business interests of Hot Springs, Arkansas---a national park that depends on tourism dollars---and my letter might tarnish the image of our fair city. Regardless, when the Mayor of Bill Clinton's hometown publicly expresses such views, such is worthy of facetious and sarcastic commentary, is it not? To the uninformed, David Barton is the guru of a "Christian America" and the speaker at a First Nazarene Church event for all newly-elected Tea Partiers (Republicans won all but two contested city and county offices).

Dear Editor,

I am goggle-eyed and aghast at the remarks of Mayor Ruth Carney as quoted in a recent Sentinel-Record article. Quite clearly, she endorses David Barton’s idiotic view that where the Bible speaks on a matter, as interpreted by the literalists, there is no reason for secular laws.

As an example, the Mayor mentioned marriage laws, which presumably would also include divorce, child custody, and other family matters. Here is her quote:

“Marriage was from the Bible, so when man takes it and re-creates the marriage statute, then it’s against what was Biblical-based. That was just one little example (that David Barton gave) of making laws to define something that has already been defined.”

How else is any sane person to understand these comments except that our Mayor, who may indeed be a fine Christian lady, supports the creation of a Christian theocracy in America based not on the Constitution and our separation of church and state but on literalists’ interpretation (which, quite literally, they deny “interpreting” literally) of the Bible?

This is an appalling development in Bill Clinton's hometown where, according to the Mayor, we apparently simply need to repeal redundant marriage laws and follow the Bible. Which Biblical verses would she have us follow? Polygamy? Women as chattel? Divorce only for adultery? Gays an "abomination"? Verses where God approves concubines? Women being silent and submissive to men? Having sex with one’s daughters? Stoning of women (but not men) caught in adultery or children for sassing their parents?

Yes, each of the above is from the Bible that all Christians, including myself, deem as “holy” and “inspired” by God. However, I don’t read the Bible “literally and infallibly” as do the denizens of the Religious Right who seek to impose their Stone Age literalism on this secular and pluralistic nation.

May I ask Mayor Carney this: Is her husband Ken Carney (pastor at First Nazarene) gonna preside over ecclesiastical courts for all the marriages and divorces and concubinage dissolutions in this new theocratic regime? Will he apply the verses about stoning sassing children---even though he and the Mayor might just have (as do we all) a child who from time to time speaks his or her mind in a disrespectful manner?

Maybe if Hot Springs acts quickly and extends a tax break, we can beat Kentucky, which just approved tax benefits for the building of Noah’s Ark at the Creation Science Museum in Petersburg,Kentucky. Here is how its website describes itself:

“state-of-the-art 70,000 square foot museum (that) brings the pages of the Bible to life, casting its characters and animals in dynamic form and placing them in familiar settings. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. Children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden’s Rivers.”

In fact, Hot Springs could go one better: Let’s make the Arkansas School of Math, Science, and the Arts into the nation’s leading high school teaching “creation science”. Just add “Creation”” before “Science” in the name, and the school will be inundated with youngsters from everywhere eagerly wanting to learn how humans survived the man-eating dinosaurs who lived 5,000 years ago. 

Jesus saves, so I believe, and my sincere prayer is that He will save us from those who invoke His name to promote an exclusivist, intolerant, literalist, and dogmatic religious/political agenda.

If the Mayor's above-quoted comments are echoed in similar public pronouncements, Hot Springs is gonna become the laughing-stock of the nation. She is, of course, entitled to free speech and, as of now anyway, to freedom of religion. What she believes religiously is her own business, but she needs to realize now that, as Mayor, everything she says reflects upon Hot Springs and Arkansas.

We already are viewed by the nation as a passel of rubes and yokels, and we don’t need people like David Barton cementing this image by telling our newly-elected Republican officials to apply Biblical laws instead of our Constitution and secular statutes.

That’s bad publicity enough. Even worse, the Mayor agrees with him.

Cliff Jackson 

P.S.

That Jackson’s letter may not have been printed on grounds that it would violate a post Gifford shooting civility standard for public discourse is particularly disturbing.  One could see this Judo maneuver coming from the extreme right, the instant the connection was made between the shooting and the demagoguery of certain media/political personalities.  

Cutting argument advanced in pursuit of sound policy and truth must not be confused with fraudulent exaggerations purposely calculated to incite hysteria and potentially violent emotional reactions in extremist segments of society for purposes of personal political or material gain.  Demagoguery is not legitimate argument and Legitimate argument is not demagoguery.  To confuse the two is to unilaterally disarm reason and leave the demagogues with an even freer hand to manipulate the ignorance demographic. 

On marriage, the state and religion you might enjoy:

http://jamesbrucemcmath.blogspot.com/2009/03/gay-marriage.html

If you like sarcasm:
http://jamesbrucemcmath.blogspot.com/2010/03/redneckus-giganticus-americanus.html

Good Question

"Y'know, 2012 is just around the corner, and pundits are falling over themselves to handicap the race.  Will the GOP choose Mitt Romney...Sarah Palin...or just a gun with a flag pin?" ---Stephen Colbert

Is the Ruling Class Being Taxed To Death?

No.  See, Who Rules America, Wealth, Income, and Power by G. William Domhoff. Thanks also to Evans.  Introduction by James T. Bruce.-"This article is intelligent, reason based material, which in this country today makes it "left leaning." At one time it would have been seen as center.  Left thinks while right believes and today consciously misleads."  This is an excerpt: Though Do Taxes Redistribute Income? It is widely believed that taxes are highly progressive and, furthermore, that the top several percent of income earners pay most of the taxes received by the federal government. Both ideas are wrong because they focus on official, rather than "effective" tax rates and ignore payroll taxes, which are mostly paid by those with incomes below $100,000 per year. But what matters in terms of a power analysis is what percentage of their income people at different income levels pay to all levels of government (federal, state, and local) in taxes. If the less-well-off majority is somehow able to wield power, we would expect that the high earners would pay a bigger percentage of their income in taxes, because the majority figures the well-to-do would still have plenty left after taxes to make new investments and lead the good life. If the high earners have the most power, we'd expect them to pay about the same as everybody else, or less. Citizens for Tax Justice, a research group that's been studying tax issues from its offices in Washington since 1979, provides the information we need. When all taxes (not just income taxes) are taken into account, the lowest 20% of earners (who average about $12,400 per year), paid 16.0% of their income to taxes in 2009; and the next 20% (about $25,000/year), paid 20.5% in taxes. So if we only examine these first two steps, the tax system looks like it is going to be progressive. And it keeps looking progressive as we move further up the ladder: the middle 20% (about $33,400/year) give 25.3% of their income to various forms of taxation, and the next 20% (about $66,000/year) pay 28.5%. So taxes are progressive for the bottom 80%. But if we break the top 20% down into smaller chunks, we find that progressivity starts to slow down, then it stops, and then it slips backwards for the top 1%. Specifically, the next 10% (about $100,000/year) pay 30.2% of their income as taxes; the next 5% ($141,000/year) dole out 31.2% of their earnings for taxes; and the next 4% ($245,000/year) pay 31.6% to taxes. You'll note that the progressivity is slowing down. As for the top 1% -- those who take in $1.3 million per year on average -- they pay 30.8% of their income to taxes, which is a little less than what the 9% just below them pay, and only a tiny bit more than what the segment between the 80th and 90th percentile pays. What I've just explained with words can be seen more clearly in Figure 6. Figure 6: Share of income paid as tax, including local and state tax Source: Citizens for Tax Justice (2010a). We also can look at this information on income and taxes in another way by asking what percentage of all taxes various income levels pay. (This is not the same as the previous question, which asked what percentage of their incomes went to taxes for people at various income levels.) And the answer to this new question can be found in Figure 7. For example, the top 20% receives 59.1% of all income and pays 64.3% of all the taxes, so they aren't carrying a huge extra burden. At the other end, the bottom 20%, which receives 3.5% of all income, pays 1.9% of all taxes. Figure 7: Share of all income earned and all taxes paid, by quintile Source: Citizens for Tax Justice (2010a). So the best estimates that can be put together from official government numbers show a little bit of progressivity. But the details on those who earn millions of dollars each year are very hard to come by, because they can stash a large part of their wealth in off-shore tax havens in the Caribbean and little countries in Europe, starting with Switzerland. And there are many loopholes and gimmicks they can use, as summarized with striking examples in Free Lunch and Perfectly Legal, the books by Johnston that were mentioned earlier. For example, Johnston explains the ways in which high earners can hide their money and delay on paying taxes, and then invest for a profit what normally would be paid in taxes.