Working Together for the Common Good

Working Together for the  Common Good

Recently we attended a two day meeting of the Montana Board of Education in Helena. In the audience on the first day we were the only two people who were not government employees. It was a startling reality.

At the meeting on the first day they were discussing the by-laws. They skipped over the part about their constitutional oath of office, but did talk at length about the new department they have established for the deaf and blind with its own superintendent, which is a random growth of bureaucracy by bureaucracy. This is not an isolated example of their self- empowerment and complete disrespect of the legislative process.

They went on to discuss public comment which they feel to be an imposition on their valuable time. There were many suggestions about what to do about it, including a suggestion from their attorney, who also represents other government agencies which most likely could be considered a conflict of interest. His idea was to allow the Chairman to decide who speaks and for how long. In each of the solutions to what they see as a problem, we didn’t hear anything that didn’t sound like censorship of the public. They closed the meeting without asking for public comment, which seemed the most efficient and direct route to censorship. There is little regard for who butters their bread.

The following day the Governor arrived to give a rallying speech about his support for their efforts to implement “new standards” for education (read Common Core) with a focus on preschoolers of 4 years of age. The new terminology now is P through 12 instead of K through 12. He promised the Board that he would be lobbying the legislature to secure whatever funds they need to further “their agenda”.  He even waved his fist in the air, declaring that this is what he wants for his own children. Using words with reference to preschoolers such as “human capital”, “return on investment”, “social issues”, and their eventual ability to contribute more tax dollars; this governor is exposing himself as someone who has no respect for children or their future.

After the Governor spoke there were presentations by people from the various government agencies who spoke of their participation in implementing the “new standards”. They spoke of how they are endlessly working, and congratulating themselves on their input and output, none of it seeing the light of day where the public is concerned. When asked what these new standards and the structure around them will cost, the answer is that no cost analysis has been done. They will implement and then whatever money they need will be provided by a generous legislature.  They have already put up a training web site and are implementing a program that they say is not yet funded or approved. It is enough to go to the OPI web site to see what is being implemented for which the governor has promised funding.

At the lunch hour the Board announced a working lunch. As we were leaving to purchase our own lunch, we saw them at a table under a tree with buckets of food. It is too bad that this Board appointed by the Governors office can’t share with the public, as we would have been happy to join them.

In an article in the Daily Interlake (http://eeditions.shoom.com/doc/daily-inter-lake/10aug14dil/2014081001/#26) penned by  Mr. Bullock, his bio described him as a Helena Democrat, which is somewhat suggestive. He continues to establish himself as a lobbyist although that is not part of his job description. He has declared to want something for his children (pre-school standards) that they by age do not qualify for. When he talks about reducing the absenteeism of working parents, what he means is that they are to be replaced by the state in the “nurturing and educating” of their own children. No longer considered absent from their children’s lives because they are working to contribute more taxes to keep the state alive and well in the lives of their children, the state has rendered them obsolete as parents but necessary as economic support to the grand scheme.

We have to wonder if this Helena Democrat looks at his own children of roughly 7, 9 and 11, as human capital. We have to wonder if he sees them as investment opportunities. We have to wonder if he sees them as a resource for increased tax revenues. We have to wonder if he calculates the return on investment with regard to the cost of educating of his own children and what they will be giving back in the form of net gain to society, as opposed to the enrichment of their own life. We have to wonder if he considers how much money the state will get back for every dollar spent to turn them into “skilled workers” (read tax paying robots). To think that he is seeing children at the age of 4 years in these terms is chilling.

The Governor speaks of children who never have the opportunity to fulfill their potential, yet if his plan is that they fulfill his standardization of them, it is sure that they will never fulfill their own potential, but only his wish for their potential tax dollars. Do we have a charlatan sitting in our state’s highest office?

The truth is that the nanny state is replacing the parent and the family in the nourishing and education of our children, deliberately stifling the beauty and creativity of their minds to grow and learn, while at the same time saying that it is in the best interests of the common good. Plans are put forth but with no criteria.

There have been many who have warned of this intent to undermine the individual, and with it the family and the foundation of a free and productive society utilizing the education system. Our thought to parents is that they keep in mind that no one will ever love their children as they do, least of all the state.

“We’re not a fleet of homogenous robots that function best when somebody programs us…free people are not equal and equal people are not free.” – Lawrence Reed, President -Foundation for Economic Education

 

Co-Authored by Mary J McCracken and Lucinda Hardy

 

 

Another Medusa

The Raft of the Medusa (1818-1819) – Theodore Gerigault

This massive painting, The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gerigault*, measures about 6’x23′. It was completed when the artist was 27.  Standing in front of it is awesome. It reminds me of another Medusa.

The painting depicts the tragic aftermath of the French Frigate Medusa which ran aground off the coast of Senegal in 1816. The wealthy on board used life boats, while another 149 were forced onto a makeshift raft that was tied to one of the life boats until it was cut loose; they were literally cast off for being a burden. It shows the desperate attempt to signal another ship, the Argus, which did not respond. After two weeks there were only 15 survivors. It was a huge scandal in it’s day. The tragedy was attributed to  an incompetent captain and corrupt governance.

This  is a painting that has stayed with me since I saw it at the Grand Palace in Paris many years ago. The desperate energy, the integrity of the human form, human life abandoned to its own fate, impending doom and desperate hope.

So why do I bring it up? I went to a presentation about our new mandated healthcare and all I could think of was a shipwreck and the desperate victims that would lay in it’s wake. The Raft of the Medusa came to mind….MedUSA, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Notice in the painting the person depicted at the very top is a man of color who is waving a red flag (with his left hand). He is the most hopeful of the lot that there will be a rescue at least for himself.  He doesn’t even appear to notice or be part of the suffering around him.

Just as in Gerigault’s time, we have an incident of huge public interest, brought about by corrupt governance, poor leadership, disregard for fellow citizens, and if all goes according to plan the casting off of thousands, if not millions. The art of healing becomes a travesty as the coercion of death through government sanctioned assisted suicide and denial of treatment is being painted into our landscape.

Just as in the painting a father desperately clings to his son, whose fate has been determined, so does this plan determine the fate of our healthy young who have been set up to pay for a failed scheme, unless we  can alter the course of our own modern day Medusa.

Our life raft has been cut lose by those who consider the majority a burden. There are a few loop holes they have left in place until they who have created this disaster are no longer on the horizon, and thus no longer accountable. Just as the Argus paid no attention to the plea of rescue, and those with life boats cut the cord, so those who govern are ignoring the pleas of the governed, as they have the safety of exclusion from this scheme.

It is my hope that this healthcare mandate will meet the fate of yet another Medusa, who in her mortality betrayed her own honor and became ugly,  and in her ugliness was shunned, abhorred and cast out to wander aimlessly until her own demise.

*Theodore Gerigault rented a studio across from a hospital so that he could study the human body in an effort to depict with integrity his subject. He died at the age of 32.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

The last time that I was “home” for Christmas was about 36 years ago. After moving away, getting back there in winter or from a distance was just never practical, so I didn’t do it. Making the journey this time was not my idea and I have to admit that I had to give it some serious thought. My brother called to tell me that our mother had tripped and as a result her arm bone pushed into her shoulder, cracking the socket or something like that. In any case she was laid up in a sling.  My sweet brother sees time passing and most likely running out. I felt I owed him one.

My brother lives about an hour away from where I grew up. This is a road that I had traveled many times years ago. Now I barely remembered the way. I looked for landmarks and either didn’t see them or they weren’t where I remembered them to be.

As we approached our parent’s house where we grew up, the first thing that I noticed was that everything seemed smaller and more claustrophobic. When we were growing up, there were fields all around and now there are houses; too many houses. Dad was the last hold out and even he sold part of the property and now looks out on a commercial building with parking space. I was told that the buyer had agreed to build a camouflage or something but it didn’t happen; doesn’t look like it’s going to either. It was difficult not to feel like you were bumping into something just looking out a window. Or that the view was through a zoom lens. All of the open space and sense of freedom that I remembered as a child was gone and I felt suffocated.

The swimming pool in the back that at one time was surrounded by grass now has a chain link fence around it and is populated by dwarfs and animals and do-dads that my mother finds tasteful; imprisoned and oblivious. I could remember learning how to dive there when no one worried if anyone was going to drown. Back then it was just a swimming pool with a diving board and grass around it. Now, it too seemed smaller, incarcerated and apologetic; a victim of nanny state regulations.

We were met at the door by my youngest sister who is short and now has gotten a bit chubby, who wears lipstick that is too red, making her seem a bit like a Kewpie doll. She has always displayed an exuberance that is more than what any given situation calls for. This was no exception and long story short, she hasn’t changed much; always the antidote for any situation.

I gave a little hug to my mother and my father who didn’t pretend to think anything of my surprise arrival. My mother spoke a few banalities and my dad not much more than hello, continuing on with whatever discussion he was already engaged in.

After a bit my mother asked my brother in a rather accusing way, why he didn’t tell them about his new girlfriend. At least she knew better than to think I was his mother. He told her that he didn’t have a girlfriend. Indicating towards me with her thumb as if she was hitching a ride she asked, “Then who is that?” To which he replied, “your daughter”.  She asked, “What do you mean?” In her mind all of her children were accounted for…no strays.

She turned and asked me directly who I was in a defensive tone that one would use on an intruder, and I told her that all indication is that I am one of her children. She asked what I was doing there as though my absence from family photos cancelled my existence. She is getting up there and losing vision so anything out of the norm is to be questioned.

I confirmed that indeed I am the daughter that they haven’t seen in a while. My hair is now white but other than that I haven’t changed. Perhaps they had left me in a time warp that they were comfortable with. From that moment on no one knew quite what to do or say. I kept myself busy with some wine and snacks that my sister happily provided in an effort to keep reality at bay.

I noticed that on the wall was a photo of the last time the whole family was together. It was over 20 years ago. Next to it there was another photo taken a couple of years ago at our parents’ 60^th anniversary party. I wasn’t there. However there was a small photo of me, just a head shot, perfectly trimmed that had been put onto the top left corner, tucked in the frame. I was looking to my right and so were they. I had, in this way, been given a distant presence.

The inside of the house seemed smaller and full of stuff. There were more Christmas decorations than I remember; more angels, nutcracker soldiers, wise men, Santa Clauses, golden geese and the nativity that used to be populated with miniature statues in a wooden “shed” filled with straw that was built by dad, has been replaced with dwarf size beige statues, no shed, baby molded to the manger, all praying under a modern street light.

The angel on top of the tree now has her own electrical cord that lights her candle and flaps her wings. They apologized for not noticing before they got her to the top of the tree, that her batteries needed to be changed, so her multicolored lights were not flashing, leaving something to look forward to next year.

The main worry now is getting the tree back out of the house. Mom’s in a sling and dad has a bad hip. He broke it 10 years ago when he fell off the tractor, although he didn’t know it until recently when it started hurting, so sometimes he uses a cane. He is not sure how to deal with the tree but I’m sure he will come up with something as he has always been resourceful.

The fireplaces that at one time had fires burning in them were dark and cold, the Christmas music that played in the background was silent. The table once set for many was now set for a few. The abundance of food was now just a simple meal.

Dad, now somewhere in his mid 80’s, spoke as he always has about his war days. I realized that it is a story that needs to be told. It has been suggested that I set myself to writing it. His is a voice like many others that has been affected by the human condition and man’s inhumanity to man. He still cries at the thought of his best friend being blown to bits for a reason that he can’t quite put his finger on.

After a few stories our mother said “When he’s gone, I won’t have to listen to them any more”, as if she saw some sort of relief in her future.  No one reacted as she has always had a way with words, only now gets to the point with fewer of them. He is probably lucky that he has replaced her as the cook.

After a while my brother decided to take me to our sister’s house. Not too much has changed there. I noticed the same dwarf size nativity. They must have gotten a twofer. My brother told my sister ahead of time that I was in tow, not that she would have acted surprised in any case.

She has a house that is always neat and clean no matter how many people are there or what they do. In my house if I’m alone and doing nothing I make a mess. If I have company I have a bigger mess. It is impossible to live life and not make a mess, or at least not leave something out of place. However, my sister defies this notion and I have no idea how. You get the feeling that there is some kind of subliminal warning that says “don’t make a mess or else”. Everyone seems to get it.

One of her kids is 6’7’ or there about and everyone has been justifying for years where he came from. He defies the family in size and scope. In any case he is the one who out of natural curiosity or something had the courage to approach me and talk. He is in finance and when I asked him questions about the financial world and how long he thinks it can defy gravity, he kept referring to what he learned in school. He is about 26 and nothing is out of kilter in his view. Everything he needs to know he learned at school in Chicago. His degree has made him an expert, experience is irrelevant. There were times when some logic got to him, which resulted in a blank stare and mumbling until we were able to move on. He was actually the most enlightening person I ran into there. My brother-in-law offered up some very nice wine. He has a special talent for acquiring good wine  at no cost which tends to make him more generous.

We went back to our parent’s house after a while for dinner of prime rib and baked potatoes. It was a far cry from the Christmas dinners we grew up with. There was nothing to distinguish it from any other meal except for the centerpiece on the table.

We drove back to my brother’s house in the dark, so my mind had a rest. We stopped along the way to view a light display that was timed with the music on the radio. You simply tuned the radio in your car to the proper station and the whole place blinked in time to the music. We are no longer in awe of what man is able to create and produce, we are in awe of the entertainment he can provide. It is everywhere, competing with itself. Entertainment is everything. A Chinese friend of mine told me once that the less people have the more they like to be entertained.

Speaking of which, there is a home near my brother’s place that has lights of every kind and color; lighted candy canes and snowflakes, lights strung on bushes and eaves, trims on doorways and windows, and a bunch of stuff filling the yard. In the middle of it all is a blown up, bigger than life Santa, sitting in a chair, turning back and forth and waving. He must have worn himself out because by the time we got home from our Christmas day, he had completely deflated. I felt sorry and suggested to my brother that we pick him up. For good luck he kept driving. By the end of the following day Santa was re-inflated and waving, and we both agreed that it seemed that there were more lights and Christmas trinkets around him than we had seen the day before. It was concluded that whoever had put this display up, had taken advantage of the day after sales and made a further investment in the time of good cheer.

Times have certainly changed since I was young. There are seven children in our family and none of us wanted to give up Santa so he came every year no matter how old we were. The last time I was thrilled by the surprise visit was when I was about 22 years old. We needed nothing more than a Christmas tree, a nativity, homemade treats and carols. Now Santa is everywhere, wood cut on the mantle, twinkling in the front yard, flying across the roof and all too often deflated without ever having done anything.

Gone are the days of the live nativity in the front yard, our mother finding yet another way to make her herd of children useful, and making our dad responsible for the sheep and cows she rounded up for her display and the traffic jam she created.  Now there are Santa’s and reindeer and lights and stuff…everywhere, not always with rhyme and reason. Just stuff….no purpose.

We returned the following day by way of the back roads so my brother could show me the vineyards that now replace the wheat and pea fields that used to fill the landscape. He showed me a village built by a rancher for his seasonal crew that included an adobe mission style church, similar to what the Franciscan missionaries built when they came to tame the Wild West. Ours really is a culture of theater and pacification.

We drove through small towns where we used to go for ball games, the park on the Snake River where we used to go boating and passed by many things that I had forgotten.

We stopped to sample some wine and mentioned to the owner that our great grandfather was the first to plant grapes there in the late 1800’s. That was before it became fashionable to be a vintner. He most likely planted them because he was homesick for Italy and the culture that he knew. They froze in 1955. Anyway, that was a long time ago and this wine maker couldn’t relate to such an historical event. He was from California and his is a commercial enterprise, as if the wheel had just been invented.

After driving all over the place and seeing houses, wineries, shopping malls and box stores where there was nothing but open space before, we stopped at last at our parents’ house. My nephew and his soon to be bride were there. I had noticed the evening before that her entire back is tattooed. When I asked my brother where these kids get the money for the extravagance of defacing their own body, he told me that small tattoos’ only cost $100. Money lost its value way before we noticed. Subsidizing parents adopted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” way before the government did. No one batted an eye. After some small talk it was time to go.

As we were saying our good byes my mother told me in her own nonchalant way that although they understood that it had to be difficult for me to be there, it was worse for them having me. We all took her comments in stride as if they were terms of endearment, which to her they might have been. My dad, as was his habit, did not react to her remarks and just went about his business as he followed us out the door.  As we were driving out, I asked my brother what dad was doing and he replied “it’s Monday, he’s taking the trash to the front”.  Cane in one hand, garbage can in the other he was heading towards the street as he followed us out. As the daylight was dimming, there was melancholy in the air.

As we were leaving, we were observing a routine take back its now usual place, the good cheer of the holiday forgotten as if it were some sort of imposed time out. You could almost feel the cover of a book gently being closed.

It has been a while since we celebrated a baby’s birth and having been good all year. We used to say Merry Christmas and now not to be offensive it is simply the emptiness of Happy Holidays. It was sad to recognize the passing of time and the lost comfort of tradition and the simple things that gave us joy.

For the many changes I witnessed, there are some things that will remain as they have always been, ever oblivious to the passing of time.

Dum differtur, vita trancurrit – Seneca

My siblings and I in our front yard every evening the week before Christmas with the sheep Pete and Gladys 

Set Display by Dad, Costumes and PR by Mom’s Real Life Theater

Circuses and Rhinos

Neapolitan Circus by Jennifer Li

After a couple weeks of turmoil and flying emails over the announcement by the new president of Pachyderm of his own appointment to the position, nerves were still on edge.  As bad taste had now made its way to the podium, with a speechless audience in attendance to bear witness to this outcome, what ensued was a public display of truth telling regarding his inappropriate behavior toward women, cowardice on behalf of the board, iffy proclamations to cover a history and just plain bad judgment. He had the last word through his own endorsement of his high level of integrity, claiming his own perception of what people think, and brushing off any efforts to scratch the surface to see what might be behind the facade of a fat wallet.  As in the circus, there will be true colors, distractions and eventually the mask will come off.

Of course the circus didn’t stop there. As his position had been secured and his power endorsed, he took it upon himself to prohibit one of the men who had written to protest his ascent from speaking in a public forum at a luncheon which he is now formally conducting.  In a “don’t get mad get even” move, he took easily to his self imposed tyrannical powers and didn’t waste time silencing someone who he found to be out of his favor ala another president who does the same thing, albeit one with more perks.

It would seem that when this latest exercise in bad taste occurred it may have been perceived that damage control was in order before the meetings went further down hill. Therefore a former president was in attendance the following week when I showed up. It was clear that he was there to keep the meeting from running amok.

The first thing that happened after the flag salute and a prayer was that the new president had been put in a position to have to apologize to the man he silenced through his tyrannical behavior the week before. This man’s only transgression was to protest the ascendancy of the man, now president, who had ceremoniously shoved a $20 bill down his wife’s dress at a dinner in front of witnesses, then gloating to the husband as he left the dinner, drunk on his butt.  Not one to be put on the spot over his own transgressions nor in possession of an ounce of humility, I doubt that this is over. I expect that it will be continued in a back alley…..

Through his tyrannical behavior he has shown to all of those he believes concur with him, of his real level of integrity. He is his own best disillusioned endorsement.

The meeting progressed with our legislators, who had just finished with the legislative session, giving their reports about the goings on at our state capital. The two minute timer was in the hands of the former president as it may have been decided ahead of time that the new president, who was already over his head trying to conduct a meeting, would take all day to figure out how to set it. He fumbled off to the side while a recovery of the whole mess was being attempted, having lost sight of what he was doing and what his notes were for.

The first to speak was Sen. King Tut. He raved about his accomplishments, which amounted to siding with the wrong side and throwing more money at bad and failing programs.  No one bought it.

As each one took his or her turn it became more apparent that those who had gone to Helena to accomplish something on behalf of their constituents were disgruntled with those who bathed in their own glory and morphed into rhinos, keeping at bay any kind of progress on behalf of the public for which they were sent there in the first place. These decent leaders were timed more closely as a consideration of the first amendment.

It was obvious from the reaction of the crowd which of these leaders was better received. There was clapping at the telling of the traitors and the call to improve on our officials. There was cheering for those who spoke of the break in their ranks by the unfaithful and the need for repair.

As those in attendance showed ever more support for those leaders who demonstrated integrity, suddenly Sen. King Tut was called back for rebuttal by the former president who by now was feeling some heat in the room. The result was a near booing as this anointed one with tilted and tarnished crown made an attempt to explain himself to the unruly masses.

Following this failed attempt at redemption, each one of the legislators in the room took a turn to reiterate their previous position and it was clear that the good guys were winning this one.

As the new president made an attempt to figure out how to close the meeting and still hear himself speak while trying to figure out how to turn his notes right side up and perhaps find out why he was there, the former president stepped in, now visibly out of sorts, to bring some order.  As it appeared that no one cared, he became red faced and announced in a loud and harsh tone, arms flapping “ We are all Republicans in this room and we will all agree with each other, no dissension, no questions, no unruly behavior, we all think the same”. Spoken like a true Orwellian….what theater!

It is clear that this group has morphed to the level of circus with rhinos carrying the clowns.  As they say in a song, “Send in the clowns….don’t bother they’re here.”

The Voracious Beast

Recently I have been in communication with friends in Europe. They have been filling me in on what it is like for them being part of the current European mess. It has been 5 years since I left there and things have changed quite a bit.

My former neighbors who are now in their 80’s related how it has now been determined that they have too many assets (he is a retired successful CPA and she a retired postal employee) so they have been cut off the social medicine plan. They now are personally responsible for any medical needs that they may have. They also found out that they are getting too much in retirement benefits so their taxes have increased. The renter is not paying the rent as they have no work. They are hoping that Italy will leave the union. As bad as it used to be, it is now much worse.

Another friend who has a very successful olive oil and wine farm with beautiful guest rentals told me that he is being shredded by regulations and taxes. Businesses are closing at the rate of at least 200 per month.

I spoke to a friend who is from England, but who was living in the town where I was living when I decided to return “home”. She told me that she went back recently for a visit and that many of the places that we frequented are now closed and the sidewalks are sadly without pedestrians. For an Italian to walk around is part of their social fabric. The fabric is now worn.

I spoke to another friend in Spain who told me that unemployment is at 27%. She works for a luxury hotel and said that they have been quite busy with people from the north of Europe getting away from the cold. Some people still have money but  as the beast hungers for more how long will they who have it  enjoy the luxury of their wealth?

All of these stories are reflective of what is happening since “the bubble burst”. This madness is cross cultural and non partisan;  it will affect everyone equally.

There are those who think that government funded everything is the answer but the truth is that the backbone of these cultures are the private businesses and their freedom to transact. Without them the house falls. Same for us.

This backbone consists of people who are hard working, diligent about their money, caring of their tradition and culture and responsible in how they live their lives. When they are crushed what’s left? Where does the greedy beast called government turn?

It is not just the Europeans that are made obliged to feed a voracious beast, we have one too, with ever more mouths to feed as government programs expand with reckless abandon. Without our ability to freely transact, trade and produce wealth, it is not difficult to figure out how far this beast will go to feed itself.

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” – Ayn Rand 

Punishment of the State

There has been a battle in the legislature over the issue of physician assisted suicide. On one hand there are those who are opposed to this act creeping it’s way into our state, and on the other hand those who are saying that we need to have it because we already do. In other words if they say it is so often enough they will make it a fact. As a result all efforts to definitively stop it have failed and the presumption that it is legal is becoming a fact.

There was even a doctor from Missoula who openly admitted that he has assisted with three suicides, yet there is nothing that clearly states that this activity is legal. I would suspect that the premise sets a president. If this doctor is not legally challenged this hideous crime will become defacto law of absolution.

The last thing we need is the privilege of a few to think that they are absolved from responsibility in their actions regarding the life of another. This coming at a time when healthcare mandates are being imposed on people, families, doctors, hospitals. These mandates relate directly to economics which will relate directly to outcomes.

Someone asked me, “So what are we supposed to do with the old, the sick and the dying if our healthcare system is financially unstable?” Good point.

This at a time when we have FDA approved drugs killing more than 225,000 people per year. The USDA certifying GMO products, shown to cause horrendous health problems.  On it goes in a society that loses sight of it’s values, setting a course for it’s own failure.

One lawyer   I spoke to who works in real estate/land use, told me that when the Bush tax breaks were set to expire and inheritance taxes were going to be negatively affected, that people came to him and wanted to know what their options were regarding “gramps” who was getting old or perhaps even on his death bed, to facilitate the demise before the end of the tax year so that they could take advantage of the current tax break.

Or those who, faced with mounting debt, thought it only rightful that they should be able to get their hands on the much needed inheritance.

Once we allow the ethics and morals to be officially removed from our standard of living, we have nothing left but acts of greed, malice and murder with no dirty hands or guilty conscience.  People have a way of finding their way to these dark solutions without the state having to give them a hand, but with the state as accomplice where will it all end?

If a doctor, family member or friend can kill someone with no recourse how can we have recourse against what we consider a common criminal that does the same thing?

Sadly, those who cling to their moral integrity are on the short end of the stick as we are further legislated into an abyss.

Ponder On This

In a letter to the editor of the Daily Interlake titled Is parental responsibility the missing link in education success?, published on March 29, 2013, Gil Jordan who is the Executive Director of the Museum at the Central School stated: “It baffles me why we’re required to take a written and road test to be licensed to drive, but any couple can produce children with no requirements, training, or experience whatsoever.” This is by any stretch of the imagination a hefty thought.

First of all, taking a written and road test to be licensed to drive a car does not guarantee that one is capable or responsible enough to be driving a car. It is simply an excuse to tax and regulate. I have already touched on that subject here and here.

Moving on to Mr. Jordan’s idea of regulating the reproductive cycle, sounds to me like someone has been studying eugenics; “It is a social philosophy advocating the improvement of human hereditary traits through the promotion of higher reproduction of more desired people and traits, and reduced reproduction of less desired people and traits.” –Wikipedia

It is true that Mr. Jordan is coming to the defense of teachers. I am not surprised to learn that teachers are overwhelmed. However, it should be pointed out that the school system is already in the hands of government mandated regulation, tenure and selective indoctrination. This control of learning stifles the very nature of children to explore, question and create. By implementing a cookie cutter rote based curriculum, children are kept from pursuing their interests, curiosity and talents, and their eagerness to learn is diminished. This controlled system exists to the detriment of many children and offers frustration to many decent parents.

“Schools stifle family originality by appropriating the critical time needed for any sound idea of family to develop – then they blame the family for its failure to be a family.” 
– John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year 1991

Mr. Jordan goes on to further state: “I don’t believe people should elect to have children unless they’re willing to commit to providing the supportive home environment, discipline, ethics, morals and motivation for their children that would allow them to arrive in the classroom ready, willing and eager to learn.”

It used to be that a liberal believed in freedom. The modern liberal believes in regulation of everything and is the first to condemn a natural right. Parents and children are part of a natural reproductive cycle. This cycle is to be respected in spite of Mr. Jordan’s frustration and bafflement. Besides more regulation which is a liberal’s answer to government failure will only result in more failure.

In all fairness to Mr. Jordan however, one has to wonder if his profound thoughts have motivated him to lead by example.

 *An edited version was published in the Daily Interlake 

A Look At Bureaucratic Management

A Stunned Pig At The Trough

This morning I read an article in the paper regarding the lack of funding for the state parks and monuments in the state of Washington. They seem to be at their wits end trying to figure out how to save the mess they have created with a lack of funds in the state trough. Fallen trees, leaky roofs, building repairs, shuttered hotels and other signs of neglect and abandonment. They are not sure where to look for enough money to restore this boondoggle under bureaucratic management. They are thinking of raising  fees; in essence giving people less for more.

It has not occurred to these exasperated bureaucrats to look to the private sector where accountability, competition and wealth creation would solve a lot of problems. I’m sure that even if they had come up with this simple idea they would then go into further confusion about how to create paper work and fees just to allow someone to go about making an honest living. Win-win are odds that are always at odds with bureaucrats. Maybe they are confused about how to get their fair share at the trough without the investment of human action.

Last summer I went for a hike on Avalanche Trail  in Glacier National Park (UNESCO’s “peace” park). It sort of reminded me of Mirkwood from The Hobbit. I asked the person I was with how come there were logs that were sawed just laying around. The response was that they were cut to clear the trail and just left by the side. The trail could be maintained as that is for tourists, to give you an idea of the thought process.  Since this did not seem like maintenance to me, but the  irresponsible lack thereof, I asked how come a private party wasn’t allowed to come in and recover the downed trees and sell them off for a profit. I was told that this  “government owned” entity is kept in it’s natural state which in simple terms means that as a policy the park is not to be properly maintained.  This excuse not to be responsible  seemed to me to be a total waste.  I interpret “natural state” to mean an excuse not to perform ones due diligence and take responsibility for ones ownership claim.

A private logging company,  would be aware that irresponsible management of a forest could result in disease, fire, higher production costs, etc. and would therefore have the incentive to harvest in a responsible way as it is their bread and butter.

The bread and butter of a government agency is always the taxpayer and/or tourist. In any case the picking of a pocket in lieu of honest production and wealth creation, will always result in a loss.

The last time I was in the park on a snow shoeing tour led by a nice young Canadian man, we were led to a spot for viewing of the river. On the other side as far as one could see was the devastation of a 2003 fire that burned 136,000 acres. It is now referred to as a “transformed area”. Transformed indeed….And to think that those who are of the mind that the forest needs to be “protected”, encouraged a situation where it will take decades for the natural growth to return. So much for complaints of clear cutting…..By the way, the park was closed that year due to “extensive devastation”.

According to Wikipedia, “Glacier National Park had an operating budget of $13,190,000 for fiscal year 2008. The 2008 budget was an increase over 2007 and was used to increase employee staffing levels, but monies for maintenance projects and road work was not forthcoming.”  Imagine a private sector business spending $13 million on wages and perks and not producing anything.

Let’s analyze this for a moment. If I remember correctly 2008 was a year of devastation regarding our overall economy with many companies going broke and people going bankrupt, and yet the park had an increase of revenue to increase staff. While productive companies are laying off valuable employees, the park is increasing staff that produces nothing. While a productive company needs to make personal investment in maintenance and up keep, the bureaucrats can’t figure out how to use the unearned money in the trough to make repairs.

It so happens that Laura Bush, the lovely wife of George W, visited the park in 2011 and was the special guest for a fundraiser for the Glacier National Park Fund. In an interview with the Daily Interlake, “Mrs. Bush  called private philanthropy more important than ever in these days of budget cutbacks. She said the money raised by the Glacier National Park Fund has supported many park improvements, including contributing to the renovation of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.” Mrs. Bush referred to philanthropy as an obligation (like death and taxes?).

A loose interpretation of this means that in spite of the government claiming ownership of  the park (public property) , and the taxes and fees collected (through obligatory taxation and entry fees to a public area) and a raise in largess from the public trough, that more money is needed in the form of personal obligation to pick up the slack, making write offs a handy tool. Talk about an insatiable enterprise.

As the value of money dwindles, and the value of income dwindles, the need for tax write offs will diminish, and short of confiscation, the perceived obligation to maintain a failed bureaucratic system will diminish as well.

As in all monopolies the monopoly the government has over our public lands is unaccountable. Without competition there is waste, abuse, irresponsibility, a lack of value and a false expectation. Competition creates value, wealth, quality and return.

The article I read, which more than anything reflects the panic of public employees faced with the reality that their monopoly has provided diminished returns through unaccountable top heavy bureaucracy and wide spread irresponsible failure are concerned for their future. They are like spoiled children looking for a parent to fix the problem.

If  those who have had viable businesses and who could not sustain them in our current economic environment due to the imposition of too many taxes, too many regulations and too much destruction of wealth by those making the rules, perhaps there is a chance that bureaucrats will hit the wall as well.

“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders – What would you tell him?”

I…don’t know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?”

To shrug.” 
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Girl Scouts and Orangutans

It all started in 1917 and there are few of us alive today who don’t recognize the annual sale of Girl Scout Cookies as an expected event. It is difficult to say no to these young girls peddling their wares for a good cause.

Now that we are arriving at the 100 year mark of this annual event, I read in an article that two  Girl Scouts had started a petition to ban using palm oil in the famous cookies. This petition comes about five years after these young girls discovered that  clear cutting, which is part of the harvesting of the palm trees, is threatening the habitat of the orangutan, our close relative. These two young girls  have managed to get the support of the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Biological Diversity, Cultural Survival, Orangutan Foundation International, and RAN (Rainforest Action Network).

In a different article I read that a girl in Orange County started a petition about the GMO products in the cookies and then I found another article that spoke of a petition that has been floating around, again by a Girl Scout,  about removing allergens from the cookies. Although all these young girls are labeled courageous, the bottom line is that all these petitions have so far been ignored, except that the GSUSA has a new policy that they will certify the use of sustainable palm oil where it is feasible to use it.

So what’s in a Girl Scout Cookie? This from GMOinside.org:

 “A look at the ingredient list of these Girl Scout Cookies should horrify anybody! Not only are most of these ingredients from predominantly GMO crops, the second ingredient listed is “hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean” oil. These are dangerous trans-fats, from possibly the two most dangerous seed oils in the U.S. today. Cottonseeds are sprayed with pesticides more than any other crop, and the oil from the seeds is simply a cheap by-product of the cotton (non-edible) industry. The U.S. soybean crop is also heavily sprayed with pesticides, and is over 90% genetically modified.” Other ingredients  you will find these cookies are high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, artificial flavor and caramel coloring among other things. There is plenty of information about the detrimental affects of consuming any of these ingredients.

A spokesperson for the Girl Scouts states, “Our health and fitness programs encourage girls to adopt healthy fitness and eating habits early in life and to continue them into adulthood…. Girls are also taught to consider ingredient contribution to their overall diet and portion size when choosing snacks” . The organization also states that the cookies are a treat which “shouldn’t be a big part of somebody’s diet.”

So just how many cookies do the Girl Scouts sell? According to Wikipedia, as of 2007 the estimate was 200 million boxes were sold per year. Who makes the cookies? Keebler owned by Kellogg and ABC Bakery owned by George Weston Ltd. out of Canada.

When the organization was asked why they didn’t change the ingredients to more healthy options, the reply was that they have asked the suppliers to look into it.  Looking at the breakdown of the profits, 10-15% goes to the local troops, 50% goes to the local Girl Scout Council (locally that would be Montana and Wyoming), and the rest to the supplier. I really don’t see any incentive by the supplier to alter the value of their share, ditto for the local council.

One of the most striking things to me about the petitions is how two young girls were able to get support from several environmental organizations, even earning the girls an award for their efforts to save orangutans, when there is absolutely no support to change the cookies for the health of those humans who are buying them to support this group and it’s worthy cause.

On this one, it looks like the orangutan wins.

The Dark Side of Human Nature

Lately I have been busy traveling back and forth to Helena, the seat of Montana’s government. I was invited to attend a hearing on assisted suicide and join the effort to keep this from becoming part of our states landscape. I readily agreed.

It was interesting to listen to the proponents who after a while sounded like people who have been promised a perfect world and have no qualms about transferring the responsibility to provide this perfect world to others in the form of a law allowing them to be free of the burden of guilt when it comes to murder.

Just as they would condemn a forest to save a tree, they are willing to put the population at risk of being bumped off for greed or convenience as long as they can lay the responsibility on someone else. There are those who would prefer that instead of making their own decision to just “pull a plug” as their free choice would allow, to have someone else (a doctor who takes a Hippocratic Oath) to be given permission by the state to do it for them. It becomes  a matter of convenience and a refusal to take responsibility for ones choices and actions. It is akin to living in happy time as promoted during the past century by the likes of Edward Bernays, the father of the propaganda movement. There is a documentary about this titled The Century of the Self. Here is a link: http://vimeo.com/20861423  I recommend viewing this film as it demonstrates how there has been an organized agenda experiment to create a consumer society that would fulfill it’s needs through abundant credit, greed and perceived need creating a “feel good” nation.

To be clear, I do not wish to see anyone suffer. As a child I watched my grandfather whither away from cancer. He was taken care of by his family at home until the end. My youngest brother was born just before my grandfather passed away. This was my first experience with the life cycle. No one thought to end my grandfather’s suffering anymore than anyone thought that my younger brother was one too many.

Just as we are told that if our neighbor has a new car so we deserve one, we are led to believe that we should live in a perfect world where the government will provide and fix our problems.  What the government does is provide for a break down of society, destruction of wealth and a never ending string of problems that need to be solved by way of additional laws, loss of freedom and personal wealth.

As a society we need to find our moral compass. When we are willing to absolve a doctor of the responsibility of his Hippocratic Oath (reducing that oath to a sham), or sanction the convenience of taking a life, or allow ourselves to make arbitrary decisions about the length and quality of another persons life, we are no better than those who we believe to be terrorists.

There exist today countries where one can go on a vacation of assisted suicide. That amounts to going on a holiday to have yourself murdered in the company of loved ones or perhaps someone interested in your demise. I imagine it like going to a theme park and picking your fun ride. I’m sure that even Dante in his Divine Comedy couldn’t have come up with this.

I am reminded of what the Marquis de Sade wrote from his prison cell at the Bastille, about looking out a little window and watching people all dressed up with their picnic baskets going to the square to view the latest torture as if it were the opera.

Edward Berneys and his uncle Freud understood all too well the dark side of human nature and the diabolic result of  bringing it out.