#173 – Dick Bernard: Health Care Reform Round One – the last few days

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I write and will publish this post before I know what Rep. Dennis Kucinich says this morning. Except for correcting the usual punctuation and grammar maladies that affect an amateur writer, the content will remain identical. Any new content will be in a specific update.
Barring unforeseen calamity’s, Mr. Kucinich will have the spotlight on himself. It is a most desirable position for a politician.
Depending on what he says, and depending on the point of view of the person or constituency which wants to know his position, he will be a hero, an unsung hero, a goat, or irrelevant. (The unsung hero status will be reserved to his enemies, who hope he says heroic things advancing his own ideology, which can be useful to kill his objective on health care reform.)
Propaganda under any of its names (“spin” is a very common one) is always fascinating. I have been an amateur student of propaganda for many years, dating back to teaching junior high kids about advertising tactics in the late 1960s, to being an intended victim of propaganda in the early 1970s, to being formally taught about it in later years. I know how propaganda works, and how it feels.
Of course, speculation is rampant about what Kucinich will say. Whatever he says, doubtless partisans on all sides have primary and alternative messages already prepared, and roll them out, instantly.
As to the actual vote, whenever it happens, and whatever it is called, and however it happens, nobody knows absolutely for sure how it will go, since a number of Democrats are playing coy with their position. Last night Ezra Klein of the Washington Post observed that this is the normal lying that happens in advance of an important vote. This is the time, members reason, to attempt to extract this concession or that as the price of their vote. It is something of a dangerous game but it is just another proof that just because some legislator carries a label of this party or that, he or she is a free agent, hopefully voting correctly for a majority of his/her constituents as measured in the next election.
Rep. Kucinich is just one of 535, only with a little more spotlight at the moment, and a little more risk.
My personal prediction: Kucinich will say he’ll vote yes, but with a probably long list of expectations and demands. Health Care Reform Round One will ultimately pass House and Senate, and will be shown to be a major (if inadequate) improvement over what is, and will be a platform for future modifications.
Round Two is the November election, and we the people will be asked to decide our future course. My bet is that enough of us will respect the results of Round One, and the risks taken to pass it, that we will not choose to go back to the good old days.
Now I’ll see if I can find out what Kucinich said this morning…I publish at 10:06 a.m. CDT. Update will include a comment about the recent Michele Bachmann anti-Reform rallies in St. Paul and Washington.

#172 – Dick Bernard: "Chickens", meet "Roost"

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I grew up in rural North Dakota, surrounded by all sorts of sayings such as “your chickens will come home to roost” which meant, basically, that ultimately you’d get what you deserved….
This comes to mind with reference to our entire society, which generally does not seem to get it that there is a certain relationship between actions and results. An endless list could be made.
A cartoon in yesterday mornings Minneapolis paper said it well, through the voice of Eric Hoffer, American Social Writer and Philosopher: “Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.”
Quite often my in-box will include something from someone I know, forwarded from an unknown source. More often than not, the forward is demonstrably false, or hopelessly misleading, or not sourced at all. But it is passed along as truth. People who should know better pass the falsehood along, and then get angry when I dare to respond.
Last week someone forwarded a litany of complaints about assorted things like not getting a social security cost of living this year, Medicare costs going up, while Congress was giving itself a raise. “7. Do you feel SCREWED?…Why should they care about you? You never did anything about it in the past. You obviously are too stupid or don’t care…Send the message to [Congress] — YOU’RE FIRED!…It’s time for retribution. Let’s take back America.” The rest of the fairly short mention was similarly angry.
Well, thank you very much.
As I customarily do, I filed a brief response with the person who sent the forward to me, and copied the person who had forwarded it to him. Both are retired professional people who I know, personally.
The initator of the e-mail blasted back to me: “I am receiving less from SS [Social Security] than I did in 2009. Tell me why congress should not take a cut in pay along with those of us on a fixed income? … Simply answer my question.”
So, I did answer the question, but only sent it to him. My answer made him even angrier. “I worked hard in my business and do not need a social security check…Furthermore, following your possible response, I will mark all future e-mail messages from you as “junk mail” so I do not have to waste my time with your typical liberal ideas [this is probably the nub of his issue: “liberal”]. I suggest you do the same.” I thought to myself, lots of people work very hard…if he doesn’t need social security and there’s an economic crisis, why is he insisting on a raise (I think I know why, but that doesn’t make any difference.)
I didn’t bother him with another e-mail, but I did hand-write him a brief U.S. mail letter, including copies of the stuff he had sent me. It’ll soon be in his mailbox at his winter home outside Tucson AZ. I didn’t bother to engage in a reasoned response, or in an angry one. It is a waste of time. My guess is he will remain angry.
There are legions of angry people like him who add to the problem, rather than contribute to the solution in this country. People who felt they had control and now feel they have lost it. People who (they feel) KNOW the answers, but are intolerant of others with opposing but at least equally logical answers as well.
Personally, with attitudes like his, I’m happy his faction is out of power. Maybe there might be a chance to resolve some of the deep problems that we’re mired in.
Unfortunately, on the other end of the political ideology spectrum, there are lots of “my way or the highway” folks as well. I heard one or two yesterday, and I hear people like them every day. These, right and left, are the people who dominate the visible political conversation in this country (what most people see or read), and too often neither end distinguishes themselves.
It will take a lot of work to effect change, but I’m willing to work at it.
We don’t need our country’s “chickens to come home to roost.”

#171 – Dick Bernard: Big Dogs* out for the kill (who may unwittingly kill themselves, and us, too.)

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Last evening’s 60 Minutes on CBS had a long and very useful segment about the why’s of the Wall Street collapse, and why the Big Dogs on the Street haven’t learned their lessons. It is very worth your while to watch the segment in its entirety. It is about half an hour.
Earlier in the week, and presumably this week as well, the monolith U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been flooding the local TV airwaves with intentionally scary prime time ads against Health Care Reform legislation. The prime target is Rep. Collin Peterson, in Minnesota’s rural 7th District, a sprawling rural district that essentially covers the western third of Minnesota. Peterson is a Democrat, and apparently is viewed as a target because he is wavering on supporting health care reform.
Yesterday, I read an interesting commentary by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its campaign. Succinctly, the U.S. Chamber is not really what it portrays itself to be: a coalition of small business owners across the U.S. It’s funding comes primarily from 19 major corporations who names are not disclosed (and need not be). You can read the commentary, published on Friday, March 12, here.
The Chamber of Commerce’s railing against Health Care Reform seems absurd on its face. After all, all of these supposed “trillions of dollars” and “billions in new taxes” they allege will be spent will flow into Big Business coffers, one way or another. Capitalism will make out big time from Reform. I think the real back story here is that the Chamber fears competition, and regulation, both of which are positives for consumers, but bad if one’s sole objective is making more and more and more money. But…what do I know?
Also, yesterday, in the Minneapolis Star Tribune was a long front page article in the OpEx (Commentary) section about government subsidies to Farmers, who gets them, and why they continue, even though they are dinosaurs which basically benefit the biggest farmers the most, and generally hurt agriculture and the economy. The same Rep Collin Peterson, mentioned above, is the Chair of the House Committee that fails to rein in the subsidies. His problem: reelection. This is not an uncommon problem for legislators. “We the people” regularly kill ourselves by our own greed and stupidity. To be courageous and a lawmaker is an almost certain recipe for political death.
None of these links are uplifting, about our future, but nonetheless they are informative, and worth the time to watch and or read.
And then to act.
Knowledge is power, but only if it is used and shared.
* – My apologies to dogs, for which I have great affection. I’m talking about the occasional destructive rogues.

#170 – Dick Bernard: "Big Brother is [Manipulating] You"

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Yesterday I went through the aggravating exercise of converting our television to a new system required by our provider, a company not to be named, though it shares the first three letters of “company” as the first three letters of its name.
For some weeks we had been warned by an endless trailer on screen that if we didn’t get their conversion equipment – at no charge, of course – our TV reception would be interfered with until the equipment had been installed. So, I dutifully ordered the box and the remote, which took twice as long as promised to arrive, and set about to install it, always easier said than done.
The installation finally succeeded, after a Helpful Technician for the company, Com…., helped me through it (and before I noticed the toll-free number that would virtually automatically do the same thing.) During the lulls in installation, the Helpful Technician, in response to my question, said this new technology was to make it possible for Com…. to bring more programs to our home. “More band-width”, he described as the function of that new box plugged into our TV.
The aggravating task concluded, I spent some time practicing with the new remote, so that I could at least tell my spouse how it worked.
Scrolling through, I came across C-SPAN, truly one of the benefits of the early days of the cable revolution, and happened across a tape of a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing where Senators were quizzing the CEO of Com…., the son of the founder of the company, about a proposed merger of this mega-provider with another mega-media company. The hearing was interesting enough to spend some time watching.
The Senator from Mississippi got his turn to quiz the executive, and proudly pointed out that Com…. got its start as a tiny cable company in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1963. In the hearing room, out of camera sight behind his son, was the Founder of Com…., now a very old and very wealthy man, who was introduced and poked his head into camera view to be recognized. (For over 40 years, Com…. has headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, hardly small town deep south any more.)
“Tupelo” rang a bell for me. I had purposely been there one time in my life, in the summer of 1966. I had gone through Tupelo because it was the birthplace of Elvis Presley, the music icon who burst out of obscurity when I was in high school in the 1950s (“Heartbreak Hotel”, and on and on). I liked Elvis. It was probably not the best idea for me to go through Tupelo in 1966 with my grey Volkswagen with Minnesota license plates, since those were tense civil rights times in the deep south. But I came east to Tupelo via Oxford, Mississippi, and continued east to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and arrived home safely.
Back at the hearing, the very-smooth testimony continued. Of course, there were only benefits to this proposed mega-merger. Someone else, from the Consumer Federation of America, pointed out from the same hearing table that the distinguished CEO had left out of his testimony one very important fact, and brought that to the deliberation.
I continued to experiment with the remote, and in the end came to the conclusion that the only reason for the modification was to facilitate Com….’s making much more money from consumers like ourselves, and taking business away from lesser providers, like the local movie theaters and purveyors of videos. Ditto for the proposed merger. Now our house can smell of freshly popped popcorn….
Such is how it is in the land of the free and the home of the brave in 2010.
Things have changed since Elvis left Tupelo in 1948, Com…. was born there in 1963, and I passed through in 1966. They haven’t all changed for the better.
Caveat Emptor. My spouse, who watches more TV than I, but increasingly finds it a wasteland as well, wonders how long it would take for the ‘free’ box to result in higher fees for Com…. service.
In the end, we will all lose, including the monopolists who have virtually an open road to riches.

#169 – Dick Bernard: A Crazy Country? How can we win when we fight against our own best interests as a society?

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This week ended with an anti-Health Care Reform Rally at the State Capitol in St. Paul. I wasn’t there, and the local news channel in early evening gave the event only cursory attention and announced that there were perhaps 100 people at the rally – pretty dismal considering the nice weather for this time of year. The visual of the rally supported the low crowd estimate. Later came a blog post which speaks very well for itself about the event, and the intention by organizers of the rally to estimate 4,000 in attendance. There is no shame when it comes to propaganda. (The estimate of several hundred attending, posted in the blog, is probably closest to accurate, but accuracy is of little interest in such matters.)
Probably Monday, I will get a post from my local Congresswoman, organizer of the event at the State Capitol, and my guess is that it will say thousands attended, perhaps even the fantasy number 4,000. I actually look forward to seeing her spin (lie). Whatever she says, whenever she says it, about the crowd, I will insert here, as well as other reports about the mythical marching millions. [UPDATE 7:45 a.m. Sunday morning: St. Paul Pioneer Press, in a hard-to-find Associated Press clip on page 2B: “A rally Saturday against a health care overhaul drew hundreds of people to the Minnesota Capitol.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, in a longer article, with photos, on page B4: headline “Thousands went to State Capitol“…in the body, “Rally organizers said 4,000 people attended, but Capitol police estimated the crowd at 2,000 or fewer.“]
[UPDATE 5:40 a.m. Friday, March 19: Not a peep on anything out of Bachmann’s office, this week. This is very unusual, as there are frequent e-mail bulletins sent to its mailing list on sundry topics. I’m on the list.]
A most telling (and discouraging) comment in the blog entry at the Health Care event was the comment of a mother of several who admitted they didn’t have insurance, yet they were rallying against health care reform.
I wish she were the odd exception, but there are lots and lots of people who for some reason are being convinced to lobby against their own best interests in this society. They are – We are – apparently easy to manipulate.
During the same evening news period came a report from Texas about arch-conservatives successfully revising many long-established portions of the Texas school childrens curriculum to mesh with their own ideological beliefs. (See a Commentary here.) With curriculum comes textbooks, and Texas is a big market, and textbook publishers will tend to revise their texts to fit the Texas market. This is not a new strategy: some predecessors of the current ideologues began pursuing this idea years ago, and now, at least for the short term, have been successful.
All of this happened AFTER I had my own op ed published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune this week. I submitted the column because I am seeing what appears to be an organized though covert attack on basic rights of organized teachers, and it has brought back memories of parents who were teachers and worked in the days before there were any teacher rights. I lived in those “good old days”, that weren’t really all that good.
In the midst of bold (some would say too timid) initiatives to make changes in basic policy like reforming health care, there is a cacophony from a truly radical right wing, demanding that we go back to failed policies of the past few years. The base of support for this initiative is, ironically, the ultimate victims of those urging that change be resisted.
We have no choice but to be vigilant, courageous and active.

#168 – Dick Bernard: Martti Ahtisaari, Peace Prize winner and a teacher

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The posts for March 7&8 relate to this post. UPDATE March 15, 2010, Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial writer John Rash wrote a column about Mr. Ahtisaari.

Friday, March 5, I had the opportunity to observe a great teacher in action: 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari speaking to school children; Martti Ahtisaari participating in a low-key and very casual lunch and conversation with ordinary people; Martti Ahtisaari talking about mediation of the worlds greatest problems to an audience of adults.
In each venue he appeared to be at ease, comfortable with his company, comfortable with himself.

Martti Ahtisaari speaks to children at Augsburg Nobel Peace Prize Festival March 5, 2010


Mr. Ahtisaari is a little older than I am, and certainly far more famous, and by all accounts far more accomplished as well.
But he tended to burst that celebrity bubble by his demeanor in person, and by his comments both to school children, and later to adults, at the Nobel Peace Prize and Forum.
Ahtisaari quietly asserted that the dynamics for settling even the most difficult problems resides most effectively with leaders in local communities. He mentioned at one point a wait of two years before the most effective mediator within a particular society was identified – a person who could help bring parties together to settle a long festering conflict.
Even from far away, you could sense that this man is a listener, one who wants to know to whom he is speaking, and listening even while speaking. In the evening we were in a dark auditorium, and he asked for lights so that he could at least see those to whom he was speaking.
I have participated in many mediations over the years, and came to feel that skill as a mediator is as much a gift as it is a specific set of professional tools and tactics. Someone like Mr. Ahtisaari has to be a very keen observer and a very active listener. When he asked for lights, he was saying much about his style, talking with, more than talking at, an audience.
Another essential skill for a mediator is the ability to be very, very patient.
After receiving the Peace Prize in 2008, he was invited to join The Elders, a prestigious group of leaders with a world reputation.
Among his role models were Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu of South Africa, both of whom are legendary in reconciliation with enemies who most would have found difficult to forgive.
I don’t recall anything dramatic in Ahtisaari’s talks (at any rate, the auditorium was too dark to take notes!). He was a down-to-earth man, seeming to be completely congruent with his roots in rural Finland.
Someone asked him to comment on his successor as Nobel Peace Prize winner, Barack Obama. He said he was honored to precede President Obama. Someone else asked about Obama’s military engagement in Afghanistan. To this listener, Ahtisaari understood the quandary faced by the U.S. President.
We tend to set on a pedestal people of Martti Ahtisaari’s stature.
Mr. Ahtisaari in his quiet but persuasive way said to all of us, “you can do it, too, and you must….

Martii Ahtisaari with World Citizen founder Lynn Elling, March 5, 2010

#167 – Dick Bernard: Words Affirming Human Oneness

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The posts for March 7 and 9 relate to this post.
I would invite you to read the Affirmation of Human Oneness, and then scroll through the translations into over 40 languages of that Affirmation. Later return to the site to read more about the history of the Affirmation, about its author Joseph Schwartzberg, and also about Lynn Elling, whose Declaration at the same site is the reason for the site.
Friday, March 5, 2010, was the first appearance on the internet of the now-42 translations of Professor Schwartzberg’s Affirmation of Human Oneness, a statement he had first crafted in 1976, and over the years has been slightly modified* (link noted in previous paragraph). Also on March 5, I displayed for the first time a notebook including all of the translations for a display at the Nobel Peace Prize Festival and Forum (see #166 for March 7).
The Affirmation remains a work in progress. Dr Schwartzberg notes that amongst all the languages and dialects of the world, “at least one of these languages [on this website] will be understood by well over 95% of the world’s literate population”
It was interesting to note the reactions of people of all ages to the translations. A number of visitors either came from or had grown up in a country with a language other than English.
If their specific language appeared in the book, their eyes lit up; if not, they were disappointed.
Language, whether written or only verbal, is a very important part of the identity of people. (Dr. Schwartzberg continues to seek proper translations into many other languages.)
I noted something else from the visitors as well. Some would look at a specific translation (each prepared by someone with recognized competence in the language), and suggest that an incorrect word* or interpretation had been used to represent a specific word in Professor Schwartzberg’s original. This is an inevitable problem when persons seek to interpret a language, including their own.
But even with these disagreements, it was still enjoyable to see persons eyes light up when they saw that the Affirmation had been presented in their language, and in its own unique script. That the words were there on a piece of paper conveyed a sense that their culture was valued.
The internet, which was barely taking off by the early 1990s, when Dr. Schwartzberg sought the translations, has become a major means of conveying knowledge and understanding, and now the Affirmation in many languages is on the ‘net, instantly accessible anywhere in the world.
Diverse persons can now dialogue about the words and their significance, and about how we all, regardless of language, can better relate to each other. This is a hopeful development, and I’m happy I could be part of it.

Some of the Title Lines of the Affirmation, in 21 world languages.


* – Part of this discrepancy flows from the fact that the Affirmation is still a work in progress, and on occasion over the years a word or phrase was changed after a translation had been made.
PS: There is a footnote to this story. When I developed the idea for www.amillioncopies.info in 2007, my specific intention was to make it as a tribute to Lynn Elling. But I also knew, at the time, of Dr. Schwartzberg’s Affirmation of Human Oneness, and it seemed an ideal companion to the Declaration of World Citizenship. So the two separate works have appeared side by side, with the permission of both men.
It was not until the evening of March 5, 2010, that I learned from Prof. Schwartzberg that Lynn Elling, back in the 1970s, had in large part helped to inspire him to read the book that inspired the Affirmation (See Dr. Schwartzberg’s Prefatory Statement.)

#166 – Dick Bernard: Nobel Peace Prize Festival at Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN March 5-6, 2010

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#167 & #168, published March 8&9, relate to the following post as well. (Here’s a photo album of some pictures I took at the Festival.)
After lunch on Friday, March 5, I was seated on the dais with four others, opening the afternoon program of the 15th annual Nobel Peace Prize Festival.
Seated to my left was high school exchange student Naweed A., an impressive young man from Kabul, Afghanistan, who is spending the year in Minneapolis. Naweed and a number of his colleague students attended the Festival. They are here under the auspices of the World Link program. To my right was my friend, Lynn Elling, now 89 and co-founder of the Peace Prize Festival, founder of World Citizen, and recipient of the 2010 World Citizen Award (presenting this award was my reason for being on stage). To Mr. Elling’s right was Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, and Dr. Geir Lundestad, Director of the Nobel Institute in Oslo, the organization which grants the Nobel Peace Prize each year. It was inspiring for me to be part of this program, and a privilege to be on stage with them.

Dick Bernard and Naweed A, March 5, 2010


Earlier in the program, 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Martti Ahtisaari, dipomat and former president of Finland, spoke to the several hundred elementary and secondary school students. He also spoke later at the more adult-oriented Nobel Peace Prize Forum, since 1988 an annual collaborative event which rotates among the five midwest Norwegian Lutheran Colleges (in Minnesota: Augsburg (Minneapolis), St. Olaf (Northfield) and Concordia (Moorhead); in Iowa, Luther (Decorah); and in South Dakota, Augustana, (Sioux Falls).
Mr. Ahtisaari is an immensely impressive diplomat, recently invited to become part of the outstanding leaders group known as The Elders. Men and women in Mr. Ahtisaari’s profession of mediating disputes know the rout to “yes” is slow, often torturous, but worth the trip. It was a privilege to meet him.

Martti Ahtisaari and Lynn Elling March 5, 2010


At the Festival (for the past 15 years an annual program at Augsburg), the program which flowed from the adults to the students was basically verbal. From the students to the adults and their fellow students the messages sent were musical and visual, singing, instrumental music, displays and interactive projects celebrating peace and past laureates.
It strikes me each time I see this dichotomy of communication, that if adult words could somehow be replaced with or at least augmented by music, art or dialogue, our conversation amongst peoples might be a bit different than it is. More on this tomorrow.

All the adult speakers were clear that the future is for the children to build.
Mr. Ahtisaari, who was born in Finland in 1937, and became a refugee at two years of age when his part of Finland was taken over by the Soviet Union, would have been the age of Naweed in about 1954. I thought of Naweed in context with the Nobel Laureate.
In not too long, Naweed and his generation will be the ones responsible for the future of their planet. My hope is that they will be better stewards of the earth than we have been. They will have to be better stewards, or there will be no future for them. Particularly in the 20th century, we had the unfortunate luxury in the west to waste and destroy earth’s riches. We also built the means to destroy ourselves. The next generations need to preserve and rebuild.
My hope for them: that they do not repeat, and indeed start to reverse, our abundant mistakes.
To Naweed and his generation all over Planet Earth, my best wishes for a great future.
I invite you to read the post to follow on Words, at this space, March 8, 2010.
And listen to this song on YouTube, forwarded by a friend today.

from left: Geir Lundestad, Lynn Elling, Ahweed Ahmadzai, Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Dick Bernard


World Link Exchange Students with Martti Ahtisaari at Augsburg Nobel Peace Prize Festival March 5, 2010


Naweed Ahmadzai and Martti Ahtisaari at 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Festival

#165 – Dick Bernard: the End Game for Health Care Reform

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NOTE TO READERS: I have had to disable the “comments” feature due to serious spam problems. My apologies. You can find my e-mail address on the “About” page of this site.
Over night came some poll numbers, purportedly from CNN, which show that 25% of Americans are in favor of the current Health Care Reform proposal; 73% apparently want it scrapped, and Congress to start over.
To the 73%: there could be nothing more ill-advised, or against your long-term interests, than for Congress to follow your own advice.
Over the past year I have followed the Health Care Reform issue about as carefully as it is possible for a “civilian” to do. I have written a lot about various aspects of the issue at this space (they are all gathered in the Health category accessible at right, beginning July 24, 2009). There are a great number of posts. This is an issue in which I have a deep and very personal interest (I have been on Medicare for a number of years).
Coming from a long career of representing (including negotiating for) people, I can fairly say that I know more than a little bit about short-sightedness, threats, fear and all of the negative aspects of any negotiation. People can be easily convinced to sell themselves out, and to attack the very people who are advocating for their long-term best interests.
This particular Health Care Reform negotiation, of perhaps the most complex topic imaginable for over 300,000,000 people, is well suited to fear-mongering, lying, misrepresentation, and on and on and on. I would guess that those in Congress (including many Republicans who dare not say so) know that deep reform of our Health Care and Insurance delivery system is essential, but are terrified of the consequences of voting for any version of it. It is too useful as a potent political ‘divide and conquer’ issue.
I hope and pray that the “American people” do NOT get what they apparently richly deserve, which is nothing. There will be no starting over, except for pitiful tinkering. The train will continue on the track to health care disaster for ever increasing numbers of us.
Of course, I have no idea why the 73% polled by CNN yesterday want to scrap the bill and start over.
I would guess that 73% includes a large percentage who don’t think the proposal goes far enough; and lots more who think it goes too far.
Then, there are lots and lots of people on Medicare and Social Security who, back when they were young, would have voted against both Medicare and Social Security (“socialist” programs, you know), but now are terrified that these “socialist” programs they have become accustomed to (and depend on) might be changed in some disadvantageous way to them. (As that woman railing against socialist medicine so famously said last summer: “don’t touch my Medicare“.)
There are some who believe that reform will unleash a swarm of baby-killers, killing fetuses with abandon. A lie, but a saleable one. And many, all of whom should know better, believe the “death panel” mythology that has been trumpeted loudly (and quietly) along the way.
And some who think it’s no problem: they’re young, healthy, have good benefits at work.
Meanwhile, life goes on its merry, uncertain way.
Tuesday – two days ago – was the last day at work for my 45 year old son-in-law. Laid off from his corporate job. Single parent. Ten year old son.
I asked his Mom, my spouse, what he’d be doing for medical insurance. She’s not sure. He’s probably okay for a month or two or three, but unless he gets very, very lucky, he and his son will soon be joining the ranks of the tens of millions of uninsured in this country. He can only hope he doesn’t get sick.
Bottom line for me: the people who vote against Health Care Reform, even the inadequate bill that will ultimately be voted on, deserve to never serve in Congress again.

#164 – Dick Bernard: Haiti, an Anniversary

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Six years ago today – actually it was February 29, 2004, Leap Year – Haiti’s President was loaded on a United States aircraft and removed from Haiti. The United States called it a “resignation” by Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide – who should know – said it was not a resignation. Whatever the case, President Aristide was history, and the six subsequent years have not been kind to Haiti, not the least of which have been the natural disasters visited on Haiti by four hurricanes in 2008, and the earthquake of January 12, 2010.
Whatever problems Aristide and his government supposedly had were not solved by the coup/resignation. Haiti’s continued problems and even acceleration of those problems the last six years have simply been “disappeared” by our government and the media.
In a very sad way, the collapsed Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince symbolizes Haiti today. Places like the Palace are symbols. Haiti’s symbol is in ruins….

Presidential Palace, Port-au-Prince, December 7, 2003


Elections which were supposed to be held in February or March, 2010, have been postponed, and in any event, the major party, Lavalas, which was Aristide’s party, was to have been kept off the ballot due to some technicality or other. Lavalas represented the poor constituency in Haiti. The poor apparently deserve no representation or right to select their own candidates. That is my “spin” of how elections are managed in Haiti..
Two personal insights come to mind this day:
1) In November, 2003, a month before I left for my first trip to Haiti, I was seated next to a Catholic Priest from Port-au-Prince at a dinner in Minneapolis. I knew next to nothing about Haiti at that point, and made the (apparent) mistake of commenting favorably about what I had heard about Aristide. The Priest, who I did not know, “bobbed and weaved” his way out of having to comment. He was very uncomfortable. It struck me as curious, then, but not for long. I entered my experience with Haiti, trusting U.S. Government sources for honest information about Haiti. Within a year I completely lost that trust. I came to find that I was either lied to, or ignored, when I asked questions.
2) Most recently, within the past two weeks, I was at a session where an American survivor of the quake spoke. The speaker had arrived in Port-au-Prince just a few hours before the quake, and a few days later was evacuated from the country. The individual had stayed in the U.S. Embassy prior to departure.
During the session, I asked about that new United States embassy in Port-au-Prince, which is a new structure, and is by all accounts one of the largest U.S. embassies anywhere in the world. It was observed by someone in the audience that photographs of the embassy are all but forbidden around the Embassy; further that while the Embassy was built to withstand earthquakes, and in fact was basically undamaged, everything in the vicinity of the Embassy, outside its walls, had been severely damaged or destroyed in the quake.
It was then I remembered an exercise in frustration during 2004-2006, when I tried to find out where a purported $50 Million in U.S. Aid for Haiti had gone. It was listed in a December, 2003, news release on the U.S. State Department website, and I had simply asked the question “who got the money?” I thought it would be an easy question to answer. But two years and a Freedom of Information Act request later, I had gotten no further than learning that the people who could answer my question were at U.S. AID and Department of Defense. It became very clear that neither one wanted to answer my question, and in the summer of 2006 I finally dropped the quest.
I wondered, sitting in the meeting room a couple of weeks ago, if some of that money – that supposed “Aid” to Haiti – had gone to build that Embassy in Port-au-Prince, that edifice that neatly survived the 2010 quake that killed well over 200,000 of its neighbors.
I don’t know.
Keep seeing Haiti.
RESOURCES: Perhaps the most comprehensive and thoroughly documented book I’ve read on the recent history of Haiti is Peter J. Hallward’s “Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment” (Verso, 2007). Another is “Mountains Beyond Mountains”, by Tracy Kidder, the biography of Dr. Paul Farmer, long-time physician to the poor in Haiti and currently Deputy U.N. Envoy to Haiti.
My web reference to Haiti is here.