I know I use this blog to vent a bit about the various shitstems we all have to deal with in this modern world, but I would also like to talk about what is good about the world. I have the privilege of being a Social Worker. This allows me to connect to people that societal boundaries would otherwise exclude me from. (more…)

So driving home from a hiking vacation today, yet another big government bailout is the main story on NPR. This time it is GM and of course, NPR does not give much diversity of opinion. So, I understand the logic, that GM is so large, that its failure would cost the taxpayer more than the bailout, so in that way they do not have a choice. However, is this yet another government involvement with no exit strategy (like Iraq, AIG or Afghanistan)? (more…)

The reason I am so convinced we need a single-payer universal health care system now (basically an expansion of Medicare to everyone in the United States where patients would still choose their doctors) is that my job involves helping people access health care. As a health care social worker, I have to see the cruelty and inhumanity of our current health care system on a daily basis. In a humane society, when someone is diagnosed with an illness they would have a medical support system that allowed them to focus on healing. Instead, (more…)

Until we can actually change our political system into a functioning democratic system, it seems we are stuck with a two party, representative system. I won’t get into the history of how this two party system was actually set up to limit direct democratic participation of the public. What I would like to talk about is our current opportunity to make a meaningful change in the political dialogue. (more…)

Perhaps some of you are aware that my dog Hezekiah (he is OK with being called Hezzie) recently grew a nasty aggressive malignant tumor on his right butt cheek. I first noticed it last November and it continued to grow to about the size of a Hacky Sack! (more…)

Health Care Rights is gaining momentum as a leading US civil rights movement of our time. Polls show that the majority of citizens in the US want a single-payer national health care system. However, politicians, including our beloved president, refuse to even consider this option. On May 5, eight health care advocates were arrested during a senate finance committee “public round table discussion on health care” for daring to request that an advocate for a single-payer national health care system have a seat at the table (click here for a statement from those arrested). Instead this “public” meeting consisted of representative of business, the insurance industry and their supporters. This would be business as usual if not for the actions of these eight citizens who spoke for the excluded majority.

So why do the majority of politicians (especially those with the most political power) refuse to seriously address this basic human right? Why do we have the most expensive health care system in the country yet continue to lag behind Canada, Australia and most other Western European nations when it comes down to basic indicators of health (you know things like infant mortality, life expectancy)? (more…)

In reading the mainstream media, one can see the corporate media machine, yet again, whipping up people’s fear for self serving interests. Of course this is to be expected as corporations now instinctively know that natural disasters & wars spell big profit! The idea of a ‘pandemic’ seems to have some corporations drooling over the opportunities to cash in (and others industries, such as the travel industry in fear of collapse). This is to be expected as corporations serve one master, the dollar, that is just the nature of this beast we have created (for a very enlightening history of corporations, check out the video “The Corporation”). Of course, government is complicit in perpetuating this corruption of democracy through its neoliberal agenda. To think that politicians are not influenced by their corporate sugar daddies or their stock ownership in the companies that profit from human suffering would be extremely naive.

So what is the real story that you will not find in the mainstream media? Could it be an intelligent look at the actual factors that contribute to the evolution of this virus and the public policies that promote the spread of this disease? (more…)

I had the opportunity this week to hear Jared Diamond speak about his book ‘Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed’. He provided a glimpse of his book and touched on the collapse of many of the societies referenced in his book (which I have not read), but chose to focus on the failure of Viking Greenland to illustrate that this could happen to people of Northern European descent (also the ancestry of the overwhelming majority of the audience). He spoke very eloquently of the factors that lead to collapse and provided a fairly convincing portrait of societies that failed to examine their ‘core values’ and adapt their ways in the face of environmental disasters. He further went on to discuss how modern day society is facing a similar kind of collapse on a much larger scale. He provided a very good discussion of environmental, bio-geographical and structural reasons for the collapse of fairly small, remote societies from the past. He concluded by issuing the warning that our society must change to avoid a similar fate.

Before going to the talk I looked on the web for critiques of his work, as I have often noted that biologists that stray into politics can often present fascist, Malthusian based solutions to society’s problems. (more…)

So I spent the time to put this blog together over the summer, started blogging, then just screeched to a halt. What’s up with that? Well, I was actually procrastinating writing a term paper when I decided to put the blog together. Next, I guess my perfectionism took over & made me feel like I had to post regularly in order to keep people coming to the blog. Then I went on vacation to the mountains & came home, started my new internship & never got going again.

I realize that I do need an outlet for thoughts, but I don’t have the motivation to really become one of the blogger types. I am not that much into reading other people’s blogs & commenting on a regular basis, so why would I expect someone to be interested in my blog? Likely it will mostly be people who know me & find it through my web page. Anyway, I am still here and receive comments through the blog, so please feel free to encourage/discourage me or say what you think (don’t worry, not that many folks will see it anyway!)

So, I will try to write more soon!

Peace, Love & Happiness to anyone out there in the cyberworld reading this!