I Read The News Today...

Thirty years ago today we heard the terrible news that John Lennon had been murdered outside his New York City apartment building. It is also thirty years since my best friend Ray, he was known mostly as 'Wizard' around north Seattle, was killed by a drunk driver. We used to call ourselves "Twin Sons of Different Mothers" (even before the Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg record came out in '78). I still feel that loss acutely and I miss him every day. Yesterday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy, is also the anniversary of the death of my son, Joshua, in 1996 whom I miss as dearly. The loss that I feel right now is immense and acutely painful.

While The Beatles were the big deal when I was a kid and I liked their music, it was other bands that would capture my devotion and imagination - The Yardbirds, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and on March 27, 1976 I discovered what would become, and remains to this day, my favorite band: Rush. It is important to understand that none of what would become "my music" would have happened if John Lennon and the Beatles, had not happened first, and the Beatles would not have happened unless Elvis happened first, and Elvis would not have happened unless "The Blues" had been around first.

In fact none of the music that we know today as "Rock & Roll" would exist without the influence of American Blues. "Skiffle" was the music that inspired a young John Lennon and James "Paul" McCartney to pick up guitars in the first place. "Skiffle" is generally thought to have originated out of the early New Orleans jazz scene due in part to it's similarity to traditional "Dixieland" jazz from the early 20th century. The New Orleans influence is largely thought to be overstated however. "Skiffle" is generally thought to have derived from merging Blues with influences from western European folk music, mostly Scots-Irish throughout Appalachian areas, as well as Caribbean and western African influences from the slave markets and New Orleans famous "Congo Square" where many of these disparate influences came together. There is a common ancestry and a common heritage shared across generations, cultures and geographic boundaries. This is what music does better than almost any other form of human communication and John Lennon was better than most at speaking to our collective souls about things that still matter thirty years after an assassin's bullet took him from us.

Today is a day, at least for me, to remember and be thankful for the time that I had with the people that I miss and for the legacy that remains for all of us from those greats that have passed on. As the Righteous Brothers sang: "If there's a Rock & Roll heaven, you know they've got a hell of a band" - This is an updated cover version, very well done and an excellent video tribute to some of the greats that died too soon.

A Letter to President Obama

Here is the text of a letter I sent to the White House this morning:

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Dear Mr. President,

I'm just one little voice out here & you have 537 voices, much louder & much closer to your ear, mostly saying, "Hooray for our side!"

However, I talk to people and I watch TV news and commentary regularly so I have some idea of what is happening. This is what you need to know, sir:

Sen. Mitch McConnell yesterday on "Meet the Press" said no taxes will go up, the GOP is claiming victory already!

Do not compromise any further on letting "The Bush Tax Cuts" expire. If the GOP really wants to play chicken, sir, go ahead & PLAY CHICKEN with them. Even if you lose, which you most likely wouldn't, you will have been seen by your key supporters (people like me that you will need in 2012, so will every Democrat running in 2012, BTW) as having actually fought for something. As it is, most people I have talked to say that they feel disappointed because you tend to give away important bargaining chips before the negotiations even began – the “Public Option” & “DADT” are typically mentioned.

If the Democratic Party can find a backbone somewhere I think you ought to use it to stand up to the GOP and force “The Bush Tax Cuts” (have you noticed how that's now “the current tax rates” when referred to by the GOP?) to expire. Then come back in the next session & get a better deal for the middle class and small businesses.

Make the GOP go to the American people that elected them and make their case for the richest 2% - most of whom make more in a week than many (most?) Americans do in a year. I just read that the 74 people who had the highest incomes in 2009 made more than all 19 million people that make up the lowest income levels combined. This who the GOP thinks needs a tax break? Really, sir, you can’t figure out how to stand up to this? I gotta believe that the most inspirational Politician in my lifetime, since “Bobby” in ’68, can rally public support for making millionaires pay another 4.6% - for someone making $20,000 per WEEK that ain’t much. My family and I live on far less than $46,000 per year so no millionaire can tell me that they cannot make ends meet without that extra $46K.

If you want us to believe, Mr. President, you have to give us something to believe in. This is a fight you will win, if you stand up for the middle-class we will stand with you. If the money-men win this one, they will win the country and we end up right back where the "Regan-to-Bush II Years" put us.

Never give up, never surrender! (Galaxy Quest)

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I would encourage anyone that gives a damn to do the same. I am sending copies to Sen. Murray and Cantwell as well as to the majority leadership in Congress - yes, that is still the Democratic Party until January 2011. Feel free to copy and adapt what I wrote, if you wish.

Taxing "The Rich" vs "Don't Raise Taxes On Anyone"

Yesterday morning, Saturday December 4, 2010, I was up watching the television news channels - I am typically up and around by 5:00 am or so everyday - so I was able to get the "Breaking News" update live from CNN and MSNBC that the votes in the U.S. Senate which would extend the current tax rates for incomes below $250,000 ($500K for couples) or $1,000,000 in the proposal from Sen. Charles "Chuck" Schumer (D-NY) failed as was widely expected. The votes were mostly along party lines however there were also 5 Democratic members who voted with the Republicans to raise taxes on everyone if the richest 2% don't get to keep their 4.6% tax cut, too.

The arguments were pretty clear from the outset on this:

The Republicans say, "Don't raise taxes on ANYONE in a recession, period!"

The Democratic Party's argument goes something like this:

"For the last 30 years, since the beginning of "Reganomics" or the "Trickle-Down" theory*, the wealthiest Americans, the top 2% - whose adjusted gross income (AGI) is at or above $250,000 per year - have received an abundance of the benefit of economic policies which have now created a huge problem for the other 98% of Americans and, by virtue of the fact that the US dollar (USD) is the default currency of the entire planet that 'problem' extends far beyond our geographic borders.

The cost of extending "The Bush Tax Cuts" for the top 2% of wage earners is about $700 Billion over 10 years. Because we are already in debt 'up-to-our-eyeballs', and deficit spending is at record levels, we'd have to borrow that $700 Billion, probably from China, and we just cannot afford to keep up this pretense of borrowing ourselves into prosperity. The rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer - the middle-class hardly kept up with inflation and stayed about the same in financial terms but the number of families within the middle-class went down, quite literally, into the poverty levels."

The Democratic Party argument goes on to explain how the deregulation of the financial and other industries, driven by "Reganomics", perpetuated by the Clinton administration and codified by the 2nd Bush administration, has moved America from the leader and envy of the world in just about every respect - education, innovation, technology, you name it and America was, or was thought to be, the best at it. America was called "The Land of Opportunity" by those, like my parents, who came to America in the 1940's & '50's.

Now America is something like 12th in college graduation and falling, 37th (according to the W.H.O.) in health care and falling, 46th in infant mortality, and these are only a few of the places where America is falling behind where we used to lead the way. The answers are not easy and they "require hard choices" and "sacrifice" if we are going to get back to the principles that got America to the top in the first place.

More tax cuts for the top 2% is just insane, on so many levels. We just cannot afford the $4 Trillion price tag of the "Bush Tax Cuts", but the "bottom 98%" could not absorb the brunt of the impact from an across the board tax increase. The overwhelming majority of whom make less than $100,000 per year (less than half of what the lowest earners in the top 2% earn annually) and have far less than $3.5 Million in net worth (the lowest level that is effected by the estate or 'death' tax).

So what is proposed is to extend the "Bush Tax Cuts" - what the Republicans are now referring to as "the current tax rates" - for the 98% of American families that earn less than $250,000 per year and let them expire for the top 2%, incomes over $250,000 would revert back to the 2000 tax rate of 39.6% from the current 35%.

In terms of dollars and cents, here is an example:

Let's say that a person makes $260,000 in 2010. That is just about the bottom of the infamous top 2% of incomes and it gives us some easy numbers to use as a practical example of what this actually means in real numbers.

If the rates go back to the 2000 rates of 39.6% on and a "taxable income" of $260,000 that would be a tax bill of $102,960 leaving an after-tax-income of $157,040. If however, the tax rate on that same $260,000 is only 35% the resulting tax bill would be reduced to $91,000 with a net after-tax-income of $169,000. That is a net difference of $11,960 or a difference of just over 2 weeks of income - $260,000 per year equals $5,000 per week! Most Americans don't get $5,000 per month let alone $5,000 per week!

As you can see by the strength of their argument that the Democratic Party has the right idea and is pretty much right on about what they are saying. Well, actually you could if you were able to accurately comprehend what they were telling you, which most Americans seem unable or unwilling to even attempt. Most Americans are sheep, to lazy and to stupid to see that they are being lead to the slaughter by the "Industrial-Corporate-Military-Congressional Complex". If the people don't get their collective heads on straight this nation is done as a world power and this is not a good thing for the prospects of liberty as a world goal.

Pres. Obama has said that he is hoping for compromise on the tax issue. This morning (Sunday 12/5/2010) Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told David Gregory on "Meet The Press" "It isn't going to happen. All the Republicans and 5 Democrats voted against raising taxes on anyone during a recession." It seems to me that Sen. McConnell and the GOP are willing to stand on their belief that the Democrats in congress will blink first and be too afraid of the tax rates going up for everyone that they'll give-in on the "tax the rich" strategy without getting anything meaningful in return from the Republicans.

If that doesn't bother you you're not paying attention. If it does bother you:

GOOD! YOU SHOULD BE BOTHERED! Now go and do something about it!

Write your Senators and Representatives in Washington, D.C. and tell them that you do not want an additional $700 Billion heaped on the backs of your kids and grandkids just so the fat-cats can keep hording larger and larger portions of the wealth in America. We do not need, want, nor could we withstand, another "Gilded Age" in America.

*More properly called "Supply-Side" economic theory, it basically states that when the wealthy gain in prosperity it will "trickle down" to the rest of society because the rich will spend their additional wealth on goods and services that are provided by the lower financial classes so that everyone will get a benefit. Add the fact that typically it is the wealthiest classes (the top 2% of incomes) that own the majority of the business interests in America, so they will reinvest some of the additional profits into their businesses and thus create more jobs and, again, everyone wins because the net effect is that a rising tide lifts all boats.

"A rising tided lifted all yachts, the rowboats got left behind" - Warren Buffet, appearing on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour" 11/28/2010

Medical Discrimination Toward MMJ Patients

I am looking for a primary care doctor and as a Washington state DSHS client there are limited options within our state's Medicaid system. I was finally able to get an appointment at Pacific Medical's (PacMed) Northgate clinic with a doctor that is accepting Medicaid patients and I was able to be seen the following afternoon, less than 24 hours hence. I was thrilled and quite frankly impressed at the excellence of the service provided the person on the phone that took my information and set the appointment.

My expectations were shattered that following afternoon. It seems that when I was referred to a PacMed specialist, by a former doctor, the fact that I am a "marijuana user' was included in the referring documentation. The doctor asked me if I still used marijuana before I brought it up, so being honest, I explained that I have had a medical recommendation for the use of marijuana for 2-3 years and that I use marijuana for the relief of nausea, and other G.I. distress, that had worsened as well as becoming chronic, after I had a Gastric-By-Pass operation. I explained that this condition is not relieved by any other method, at least not without side-effects that are at times worse than the condition itself and altogether unwanted in any case.

The doctor had been reading my chart and the notes when I started talking but as soon as it hit his brain that I was saying that I am a "medical marijuana user" he set my chart down on the desk and closed it while he politely listened as I finished my explanation.

Then he said that he had to inform me, "that the clinic has a policy" regarding "marijuana users", without respect to medical vs. recreational use, which states that they absolutely will not prescribe any medications which the clinic lists as addictive or which the clinic determines has a high potential for abuse to people who use marijuana. He would be specifically prevented from prescribing any narcotic pain medication such as Vicodin - whether he felt it appropriate or not - by corporate fiat. I think he added that last bit about the narcotic pain medications because one of my main issues - after the nausea and PTSD/Depression issues - has been severe and chronic pain. He would need to get all my medical records and a UA/Drug Screen before he would be able to prescribe ANY medications at all so I should contact my prior provider for any refills I may need until he can get all the information.

I realized that I was being told that I am a drug addict and was going to be treated like one. So, I asked the doctor this question: "Does this policy apply alcohol &/or tobacco users?" I should surprise absolutely nobody that the answer was, with a hint of humor in it, "No." So, I took it one step further, I asked: "Does this clinic or PacMed as a whole, have a similar policy regarding the treatment of a patient that a doctor knows, or reasonably suspects, is an alcoholic or addicted to nicotine?" Again the answer was, no. At least for the second question he added the qualifier that he wasn't aware of one, he'd have to check. I told him that I was 99.99999% sure that there wasn't and I still stand by that belief.

So, what this comes down to is this: If you use a legal medicine for a condition and that medicine is effective for the condition for which you use it, and they (PacMed) don't approve of that particular medicine, they will not allow their doctors to treat you as anything other than an addict until you prove you are not an addict by quitting the medicine (otherwise legal and effective) that they don't like. If I'd just quit "smoking pot" then I can get Vicodin and Oxy-whatever-I-want. This is silly on it's face as well as being discrimination against medical marijuana users.

I have contacted the Washington State office of the ACLU and they have given me a few resources to investigate and I am looking for a good lawyer to see about bringing a discrimination suit against PacMed. What I would tell every medical marijuana patient is get your complete medical records, including doctors notes and referral notes, to see what information is being shared among your medical providers. You may be branded as an addict or a drug-seeker and you don't know it. You may not be getting your doctors best medical decisions because of a policy that you don't realize is affecting your doctors ability to determine and implement a course of treatment.

I will be doing some more research on this and writing about my experiences here on my blog and I'll be sharing these with Steve over at Toke of the Town and with the good folks over at Northwest Leaf as well as anywhere else that will listen. This is discrimination, plain and simple, and it, as will all prejudice and discrimination, must not go unchallenged. We, the MMJ community, deserve to be treated as patients. We do not deserve to be treated as though every marijuana user is a drug-addict, if for no other reason than the fact that it is just not true.

Supporting The Troops? I Think Not, Pastor Jones!

Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center (Gainesville, Florida, USA) is still determined to go ahead with "International Burn A Koran Day" this Saturday 11-Sept-2010. Here is the email I sent via his Dove World Outreach Center web site:

Please, Please, please do not go through with your "Burn A Koran Day". I am just an American up in Seattle, WA and I can't do anything to stop you, nor should I be able to stop you even if I could, you have every right to burn whatever books you want. This is, after all, America. But that is the point, isn't it? This IS America and we ought to be better than those that burn books which might contain 'threatening ideas' or forbid 'special knowledge' that is too dangerous for public distribution. This is what tyrannical society does to it's citizens, not what any American ought to be emulating.

I hope that you will not do this thing. It will, without question, be used as a 'marketing tool' to prove that this war is, indeed, not a "War On Terror" at all but a direct attack by the "Infidel West" on Islam itself. By burning Korans in a public demonstration, and publicly suggesting that others to do the same in an internationally coordinated protest WILL, not might, not probably but definitely will cost the lives of Americans in harm's way. The blood of those brave soldiers will be on your hands. This is as certain as the sun rising in the east, count on it.

Jesus, were he the god you claim him to be, would tell you to your faces that you are no representative of his or his fathers. Your holy book, the bible, says in Luke 6:27-36 that Jesus' teaching is to LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, look it up, really it is in there, I'm not kidding. So, you are clearly defying what you will say is the "unfailing and holy word of god, perfect in form and fact".

If you have a "Christlike Nature" you cannot justify an act that you already know will enrage your 'enemy'. Antagonism is not a "Christian" trait, is it?

You have been asked by many in America to stand down your demonstration. You have heard, I suppose, Gen. Petraeus basically pleading for you to not do this, you know that Sec. of State Clinton has asked that you not do this, and now you hear from an ordinary American who loves his country and what this nation is supposed to represent to the rest of the world. If you burn korans as you say you plan to, you will be doing more to help the radical Muslim factions around the world than anything they could every buy with all the money in the world. You are proving their case that this is a "Christianity v. Islam" fight. Please let reason reign in this instance and demonstrate the meaning of the phrase, "Grace Under Pressure".

Respectfully,

J. A. Burleigh

I don't think he'll change his plans, but that is up to him.

Hempfest 2010

As I was visiting with the Sensible Washington folks at their booth during HempFest this year I was slightly surprised and extremely disappointed in the apparent lack of interest in actually doing something tangible toward reformation of the marijuana laws in Washington State, or anywhere else for that matter. People just walked on by not bothering to signup for anything, even e-mails about the marijuana laws. What are these people thinking? I often hear people saying, “Somebody ought to do something…”, but rarely do I hear anyone saying “How can I help?” It seems like it’s always up to somebody else. How would it be if more people stopped waiting for someone else to do something and became determined to be that someone they have been waiting for?

It seems to me that if there is going to be a serious effort to make real change in the legality of medical marijuana and the distribution of medical marijuana through legal, safe and licensed dispensaries then we, the medical marijuana community, must be the ones who start to forge a new reality, closer to the heart (that is your gratuitous RUSH reference for the day). It will take the concentrated effort of dedicated volunteers to bring about the changes that we seek in the drug laws, and it will not be an easy sell to the general electorate by any stretch. This is going to take time and it’s going to take money and it’s going to be done is steps, not all in one go.

I think that part of the issue with the previous effort is that it went too far, too quickly, for many voters in Washington. Legal “medical” usage and distribution based upon state laws in Washington, along with the other medical marijuana states, will be the first steps toward the ultimate goal of making marijuana as legal as liquor and tobacco products are today.

It is my belief that there is a greater need at this time than trying to make marijuana completely legal, and also will be more likely to enjoy a broader range of support from those opposed to outright legalization. Our greatest need at this time is the establishment of a codified dispensary system in Washington State. There are dozens of “provider dispensaries” in operation within the Puget Sound area and many more in other parts of the state. The problem is that they all operate more or less autonomously and since there are no laws or guidelines for dispensary operation it is difficult for patients (and the dispensaries) to protect themselves and stay within the ‘spirit of the law’ as there is currently no ‘letter of the law’ with respect to dispensaries and safe methods of obtaining medical marijuana. A straight forward set of operational parameters that apply to every dispensary will make it easier to open a dispensary if one wished to do so and easier for patients to establish themselves with dispensaries.

While nobody really likes the idea of taxation and regulation, it is unreasonable to expect that any of this going to happen without the government getting their piece of the pie, so to speak. In reality government regulation is not entirely a bad thing. Yes, it will bring about taxation of marijuana and the dispensaries will be required to obtain licensing that will involve fees and regulations. This is what every single business in this state has to deal with so it is silly to expect that the marijuana business is going to get a free pass from the state. We need to have a seat at that table, folks! We need to have a voice in that discussion so that we, the marijuana community, can work within the establishment of government to create the laws, set the tax and fee rates, and determine where the revenue generated by our tax dollars gets used.

There is one major item that MUST get changed before any of this will be seen as legitimate by the general public. Marijuana must be moved off of the DEA’s Schedule 1. Aside from just being stupid, having marijuana classified in the same category as Heroine, it is necessary for marijuana to be re-scheduled in order to eliminate the threat from Federal authorities and allow medical professionals to prescribe/recommend marijuana without fear of losing their DEA license to write prescriptions. These is a measure in the US House of Representatives that will do exactly that, it was introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D MA-4th) and is currently sitting in committee. I have written a letter of support for this measure to Rep. Frank and also to every member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, I encourage everyone interested in the furtherance of the medical marijuana cause to do the same.

Three Pillars

I have always believed that is has been my penultimate good fortunate to be born into this place and at this time in history. The span of my life has seen the greatest advancements in science & medicine as well as in human engineering and technological achievements of any half-century in all of recorded history.

It is my ultimate great fortune to share this most wondrous epoch in history, and the adventure of living in it, with my true love, Tamara.

Here are "Three Pillars" upon which we may begin to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure of America. There are many areas where the physical, 'brick & mortar', infrastructure of America is in desperate need of repair, and that may the best place to start, but it doesn't end there. There are many areas where our "human infrastructure", so to speak, is crumbling as well. Too many in America are finding that what used to be referred to as "The Great American Dream" is just that, only a dream.

If America is going to be the nation that leads the world into the future, as we would like to think, it will require two major changes in the mindset of a plurality of Americans. First, we must learn that we lead by example. As people and as a nation our actions speak louder than our words. Second, Liberty is priceless but it is not painless. As Americans we are "endowed...with certain unalienable rights" and these rights have been protected and preserved for us at great cost in "blood & treasure", we owe our children's children's children nothing less than to protect and preserve these rights, these precious liberties, and to leave the world a better place than we found it.

It will require a strong commitment to the role of America and a belief in the value of American leadership in the 21st century, a strong enough belief, in fact, to spur action in pursuit of its realization. As Neil Peart wrote in the lyrics of the song "Second Nature": "Folks have got to make choices, and choices got to have voices."

The middle-class of America, once the single greatest driver of the American economy, has been getting smaller, as a segment of the overall population in terms of percentage of wealth, for most of the last fifty years. The rich have gotten richer, the "middle-class" has gotten smaller and the ranks of the poor, working or otherwise, have grown larger. The division of wealth between the top 20% and the other 80% of us that actually do the work, the living, the dying, the sacrificing for our children's sake, the 80% that did the things that built the nation we have been fortunate enough to inherit, has grown wider and wider over the last 35 years. We need to rebuild and replenish the American middle-class if America is going to remain relevant into the 21st century.

How we, as a nation and as individuals, respond to the challenges ahead of us will determine the role America will play in the world going forward. Here is my "3 Point Plan" for how America can lead the world, by example, into the 21st century:

1. Energy Independence is vital to our national security.

We must never allow this nation to ever again become dependent upon anything, especially an energy source, which we cannot produce, in sufficient abundance for our needs, domestically. To do so is to risk surrender of our liberty, even our national sovereignty, to the whim of another country's allegiance. There is no better example of this than energy and oil:

America has become utterly dependent upon petroleum. America does not have the capacity to produce enough of it to meet our own demands, thus we are at war in the Middle-East against a group of religious zealots and a tactic (Al Qaeda, the Taliban and 'terrorism'). This is a war, so we were told, for the purposes of establishing and maintaining a "stable, democratic state" in the region.

The stability in the Middle-East that is most important to America and the American economy is the flow of oil to the west. We must end this situation and we must end it now!

I am absolutely convinced that this country, the nation that put man on the moon in less than 10 years, is more than capable of achieving complete (100%) domestic, sustainable and environmentally sound energy production in less than 25 years. Looking back at any 1/4 century period in our nation's history we can see examples of how America faced a challenge and was able to overcome the odds, emerging stronger and freer as a people and a country. This has always come at a cost, sometimes at the ultimate cost in 'blood & treasure', sometimes at a financial cost (taxes), sometimes at great personal sacrifice (public service). Americans have, in times of greatest challenge, always known that this is the price to be paid for the security, protection and defense of our liberties.

2. Liberty is priceless but it is not painless.

It is, in my opinion, the ultimate act of selfishness to take the rights, privileges and other advantages that accompany American citizenship while at the same time being unwilling to serve your community or the country that has preserved those rights for you to enjoy.

The rights enumerated in the constitution are not granted by the government or by the power of any military force, they are the natural rights of all people endowed upon them by their creator. The government of the United States of America is charged with, among other things, the protection of those unalienable rights for all Americans. Since the government of the United States is, when you get right down to it, a government "of the people, by the people and for the people", it seems proper that all Americans take an active part in making our governance truly representative of the governed. This is why I believe that some form of "Compulsory Service" for all Americans between the ages of 18-24 is necessary.

The expectation should be that every American should serve their community in some capacity as a (relatively) small contribution toward a collective debt of gratitude that every American owes to the men and women that sacrificed of themselves to preserve, to protect and to defend the liberties we are able to enjoy today. This does not mean military service only! While I do believe that we owe those men and women who do choose to enlist in military service, and serve their country honorably, are due a special premium commensurate with their sacrifice. No American military veteran should ever be allowed to want for anything, ever.

To allow our greatest servants to go without the medical and mental health services they require, to go hungry, to go homeless, or to go through life believing they are unappreciated for their sacrifice and commitment to America is utterly shameful. We, who have never known that level of sacrifice, owe the US military veteran the respectful gratitude they have well-earned by their service.

There is, however, plenty to do for everyone. Those that do not wish to engage in military service can opt for some form of civilian service within their local neighborhoods or communities. Serving on a city, state or even on a national level for a couple of years, either full-time or spread out over 5-6 yrs on a part-time basis, similar to the Army Reserve or National Guard. Giving one weekend per month and 2-3 weeks during the summer for a few years is not too much to ask and it puts a little "skin-in-the-game" for everyone. It might make getting into situations like being lied into a war over WMD's, that never actually existed, more unlikely.

3. The greatest defense of America's national sovereignty, the greatest "Homeland Security" that America will ever achieve will be for every American child to master the fields of mathematics & science, of global history and politics, of the world's religions and mythologies.

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price 1789)

It does not make it easy to govern when the people being governed are well educated and well-informed, but it is the solid foundation upon which Liberty stands. To this end, I believe that a full public education ought to be the birthright of every American. I do mean a "full education" through a 4-yr degree or vocational training program for every American. If you can pass the entrance exam to get into a University or College you should be able to take advantage of the opportunity to get that education, and the benefits that will come with it, without having to worry about paying for it. You pay for the services your country provides to you when you provide your service to your country.

I've Been Sick - Sorry

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything lately, I was quite ill for a while. Ended up in the hospital getting a bunch of fluids pumped into me, I was extremely dehydrated from 3-4 days of almost constant vomiting.

I am on-the-mend and should be posting again soon. I'm watching "Meet the Press" right now and I have a couple of great rants about the lies the Republican leaders are telling and the failure of Democratic leaders to stand up to the lies and call the GOP lackeys as the shameful shills for "Big Business" that they are.

See ya soon

Republican Apologists for the Oil Industry

Rep. Joe Barton tells Tony Hayward, CEO of BP: "I'm ashamed" of the "$20 billion shakedown" by the Obama administration and "I'm sorry."

There was an audible gasp from my wife & I as we sat and watched the morning session on C-Span3. I have to admit that I do love DVR, I had to rewind the broadcast to make sure that I had, in fact, just heard a member of the United States Congress, on national television, tell the CEO of BP, the corporate felon that has admitted responsibility in the largest environmental disaster in the nation's history, that he is sorry for the way that the US Government has asked BP to provide assurance for the payment of damage claims.

The words are still ringing in my ears, the sting still fresh in my mind as I attempt to find a way to adequately describe my feelings and my thoughts about a sitting member of the US House of Representatives, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX 6th District), apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the White House "shakedown" for a $20 Billion "slush fund" contribution. The clear implication is that, in exchange this $20 Billion "slush-fund" the U.S. government will let BP off the hook for potential criminal or civil penalties.

It is important to note that no such agreement, expressed or implied, exists and it was clearly stated by President Obama that the $20 Billion is not a cap and that it is the intention of the US government that BP will pay all damages regardless of the amount. BP has accepted liability for this accident and has stated publicly, numerous times and Tony Hayward repeated it today as well, that BP will "make this right", no matter what it takes in terms of time and money, and the Gulf Coast will be better than before.

Okay, I'll admit that the 'better than before' thing is probably a conceit on the part of Mr. Hayward, but the public commitment on the part of BP to admit their responsibility and put up a security deposit against the potential claims is something that I just can't imagine an American company doing without a serious court fight including years of appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. The British still believe, as Winston Churchill said in 1946:

"All that is needed is the resolve of...men and women to do right instead of wrong and to gain as their reward blessing instead of cursing."

So a "shakedown" is when the injured party (the United States and the citizens of the Gulf Coast, for starters) asks that the responsible party (BP) put up some tangible, meaningful assurance that they can, in fact, pay for the damage which they admit they are responsible for. It's not like there are insurance policies for this kind of thing. Not even Lloyd's of London would insure such a risky endeavor. Hell, AIG wouldn't even be stupid enough to touch this one, and they'd transfer the risk to the US government anyway and STILL they wouldn't be that stupid.

I hope that the good citizens of the Texas 6th district will have the memory of the oil soaked shores of the Gulf states, including theirs, in mind when it comes time to choose their representation in congress. Rep. Joe Barton is so far out of touch with the people of his own district and with the people of America that he should be voted out of the House of Representatives at the earliest opportunity. Anyone, of either party, that wants to run against this idiot needs no other campaign ad than what will eventually become known as "the apology clip".

Joe Barton & Michele Bachmann are defending BP!!! I wonder what the Tea Party thinks about that?

The "10 Word Answer"

President Obama made an appearance at a senior center in Wheaton, MD to talk about the practical implications of the recent health care legislation as well as addressing specific questions from seniors on health care legislation issues. It is amazing to watch Pres. Obama as he takes on the role of 'educator-in-chief'. This is an extremely complex issue that will radically change the way that Americans get and pay for health care. The republican opposition will run, partly at least, on a platform that will include promises to "Repeal and Replace" the health care legislation and to put a stop to, what they call, a "big government take-over of the health care system".

It will be much easier to run against, rather than run on the health care issues. Simply put, it is not really possible to put the essence of the health care issues that face America and are addressed in the health care legislation passed this year into a "10 word answer" or an easy to chant slogan "Repeal and Replace", "Drill, baby, drill!", etc.

"Ten-word answers can kill you in political campaigns. They're the tip of the sword. Here's my question: What are the next ten words of your answer? Your taxes are too high? So are mine. Give me the next ten words. How are we going to do it? Give me ten after that, I'll drop out of the race right now. Every once in a while... every once in a while, there's a day with an absolute right and an absolute wrong, but those days almost always include body counts. Other than that, there aren't very many unnuanced moments in leading a country that's way too big for ten words." (From the television series The West Wing, season 4, episode title: Game On)

The only problem with the next ten words, and the 10 after that, and so on, is that the more complicated a situation is to explain, the less likely it is that you're going to be able to keep the attention of the American people long enough to understand it, let alone sufficiently long enough to actually embrace it.

It is easier to put together ten-word answers (a.k.a. "sound-bites") that can be repeated over and over again until you achieve something called the "Liberty Valance Effect" (thank you Robert Wuhl). "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The conservatives are really good at this, you may remember some of these gems from various neo-conservatives in recent years:

• "Drill, baby, drill"
• "Big government take-over"
• "Corporate Bailout"
• "Taxed Enough Already"
• "Free Markets will regulate themselves"
• "Government isn't the answer to the problem, government is the problem"
• "The American people know how to spend their own money better than the American government does"
• "Government has never, ever created a single job." I shit you not, Michael Steele actually said this!
• "Where's The Birth Certificate?"

The problem that the left faces in the debate is that the attention of the average American is so splintered in the 21st century. In this age of instant information, 24/7 news and live coverage of just about everything, just about anywhere on the planet there is precious little time to convey a complex message. The future of America and the future of our planet is an extremely complex issue with many components and no simple "ten-word answers".

What will it take to focus the American people on how to solve the energy issues that face us? The fact that 9/11 didn't do it, and the 1973 OPEC embargo didn't do it, really worries me. What will it take to rouse the sleeping giant once again?

WTF: They Need Help In the Gulf Region

There seems to be a set of common themes coming from the local citizens in the Gulf region:

They need more hands-on help! Some of the things that I have heard in the last 24-48 hrs include the following:

• The clean-up of areas already being damaged
• Prepare for areas that oil is going to impact
• Lay and maintain the containment booms (more effective containment)

They need more effective clean-up methods as well as the equipment, tools, supplies and support required to implement a comprehensive disaster recovery plan.

I have heard some really excellent ideas discussed on Hardball with Chris Matthews and the folks that have these ideas are frustrated with the "suggestion box" mentality. I have seen some very promising technology including a type of containment boom that is designed for deeper water containment over longer periods of time. Chris Matthews is telling these people to go through the White House, he even gave out the White House Press Office direct phone number over the air, instead of wasting time trying to go through BP.

What is the problem with this picture? This is a national emergency, in progress daily right in front of our eyes, causing environmental and economic devastation to tens of thousands of families and businesses that depend on the Gulf of Mexico for their livelihood. So I had a thought, let's give our nation's youth something to do this summer that will help the Gulf and also will help them with future education costs. Here's a brief synopsis:

High School Graduates and College/University students/grads recruited to help in the Gulf during the summer (4-6 week 'tours', maybe). These students/grads would work in the Gulf as needed and be provided with transportation to/from, basic room & board (Flotels, yeah!), a reasonable per diem, and when each student completes their commitment they get an educational credit of, maybe, for example only $5,000 - $10,000 depending on the individual's school costs and need. Okay, it needs work on the details, but an idea is at least a place to start and this is only one idea that could work now and for the future, too.

When I was a young boy spending time with family in Scotland I was introduced to the concept of "Compulsory Service". It was during that period of American history when there was an active draft, the Vietnam War was still going on and the massacre at Kent State was still a fresh memory that I told my father that I would not go to Vietnam if I were to be drafted. In the interest of full-disclosure I will say that I was only 14 yrs old and as my dad gently reminded me at the time, I wouldn't have to make that decision for a while yet.

What my father told me next it what I have tried to remember and to practice whenever possible. He told me that he had always opposed US intervention in South East Asia and told me of the history and the rationale for his position. My father told me that if I wanted to go to the UK and sit out the Vietnam War, should that be necessary 4-5 yrs hence, he would support that decision with one, non-negotiable condition: That I serve my community in some capacity. He explained both in words and he demonstrated in his daily example his belief that freedom isn't free, it is earned and it must be vigilantly guarded or it will be lost. Giving something back, contributing to something greater than yourself, remembering to honor those that gave us what we have, these are the the values that I was taught.

I am not sure what will happen, but I think that we need to make the idea of service to the community an obligation of citizenship. I see this as nothing less than a practical "thank-you" to our country for the rights, the freedoms, the liberty that we enjoy. For each of the 'rights' that we enjoy in America there is a responsibility that accompanies it. We have the right to vote, but we have an equal responsibility to actually exercise that right and use the vote we are given. We have a responsibility to those that paved the way for us to help pave the way for future generations.

Service, in this sense, need not be military service. There are many, many areas where service is needed and would be valued from a local city level all the way to federal programs and, of course there is nothing stopping anyone from the honor of military service if they choose that route.

Are American's ready to put feet to their high minded rhetoric, or are we left with only proud words on a dusty shelf.

We've Never Done this Before!?!?

As I listened to Adm. Thad Allen's press conference this morning I heard the Admiral used an approximation of the phrase, 'This [repair attempt] has never been tried at 5,000 feet (below the ocean surface) before'. This is not the first time I have heard some version of that phrase used regarding the repairs being attempted on the oil wellhead that has been gushing thousands upon thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

More than six weeks into this man-made disaster the oil still flows from the broken pipe as BP has tried various repair techniques with campaign-slogan sounding names like the "Top Hat", "Top Kill", and of course the most recent "Cut & Cap" procedure underway as I write this post. These are, as we have been reminded frequently, stop-gap measures that might reduce the amount of oil flowing into the waters of the Gulf. The "ultimate fix" is the pair of relief wells that are currently underway with an extremely optimistic, and purposely vague, completion estimate of "August". We are asked to remember that this is "unprecedented", these procedures have never been attempted at the depths and pressures involved in this situation.

The problem, of course, is that this is not, in fact, unprecedented (see previous post "When will we ever learn"). The ability to deal with a catastrophic failure like the one that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon has not kept up with the inevitability of such catastrophic failures. Yes, such a failure is "relatively rare", at least on the massive scale of the Deepwater Horizon spill, if you consider every 30-40 yrs to be rare. On a geological timescale such intervals are literally blinks. The ecological damage to the coastal wetlands will take many generations at least, probably centuries, to recover, if they can recover. The damage to the ocean and the environment beyond the beaches, marshes, swamps, etc. is equally incalculable. And it is going to happen again, I am absolutely convinced that this is not the last time we will see this "mini-series" remade with a new cast.

There is a way that this kind of thing can be avoided. If the determination, political and popular, existed to make the United States truly energy independent we could reduce our use of fossil fuels to self sustaining levels within 15-20 yrs and have alternate sources of energy sufficient to reduce to almost zero, if not completely eliminate, the need for petroleum production within 50 yrs. There is no way that the energy companies, as they operate today, are going to make this an easy or attractive proposition. Corporations have at least one thing in common with actual people, survival instinct. They will resist with everything that is within them any threat to their existence and this is the single biggest threat that the oil and fossil fuel industry perceives. A true transition to clean, renewable, American power threatens the powerful interests in the status quo.

Israel Makes a Big Mistake!

This is huge error in judgement on the part of the Israeli's.

Attacking an unarmed relief ship in international waters would be, and should be, considered an act of war against the Palestinian people - that is if it were any other nation except Israel, in the eyes of the United States at least.

If there were weapons on board that vessel the Israeli's had better have unimpeachable proof, and have it in spades, to justify this massacre of unarmed civilians on a mission of mercy. Outside of irrefutable evidence to the contrary Israel is guilty of, at the very least, the unjust deaths of at least 9 people. How does the United States, especially the most devout supporters of Israel, the conservative "Christian" right, respond? This will be interesting...

When Will We Ever Learn?

The oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster that occurred on April 20th in the Gulf of Mexico continues to flow from five thousand feet below the surface of the Gulf at a rate of somewhere "between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels" (@ 42 US Gallons per barrel, FYI) per day. It is now day 43 since the explosion and fire that sank the drilling rig and began this disaster.

As it has been mentioned elsewhere - The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC for one - the technology to drill at ever deeper depths has vastly exceeded the capacity to deal with a "potential catastrophe". The fact is that when the permits were issued for these deep water drilling leases the regulation and permit issuance agencies were totally at the mercy of the oil companies to "guarantee" that the disaster we see happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico wasn't supposed to be possible. It appears that we, the American people and the American Government, may not have been told the entire truth about the risks and the preparedness of the oil companies for those risks. Here is the 'dirty-little-secret', this isn't the first time this has happened.

On June 3, 1979 the oil rig Ixtoc I suffered a failure of it's blowout preventer and caused an oil spill that dumped over 3 million barrels of oil into the Bay of Campeche off the coast of the southern tip of Mexico. If you want to know how that spill was eventually resolved (it took nine months to finally stop the oil flowing) see the Deepwater Horizon story unfolding daily. The same methods were tried and they failed to work in 1979 just as they have failed today. The only sure fix then is the same only sure fix today, a relief well drilled to intersect the blown well head so it can be capped.

How is it possible that we have been so blind as allow this to be the case? It makes me wonder, as I have for quite some time now, what happened to the greatest minds of my generation? When there was a war that the American people felt was wrong, when there was discrimination that denied rights to a group of Americans, when there was corruption in government brought to light there were demonstrations in the streets to stop the war, there were civil protests and marches to promote civil rights. What happened? Where did we go? What will it take to generate the kind of civilian uprising that took place in the 1960's and '70's? Will we see anything like the demonstrations that lead to the end of the Vietnam war?

It seems like we are in a long, deep slumber. Almost rousing briefly from time to time, as if to get comfortable and drift back off to sleep, never waking to the reality that has been unfolding around us for over 40 years now. Can the great sleeping giant that was roused after Pearl Harbor in 1941 be awakened? Why wasn't 9/11 enough? Did we get lulled back into our comfortable oblivion by false impressions of security with little or no sacrifice on our part? How much liberty have we surrendered in the name of security? Benjamin Franklin has been famously quoted, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Do we still believe in the cause of liberty? Are we willing to give up more of our essential liberty for the feeling of false security and painless prosperity?

What Happened?

It is the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. It has been a busy couple of years for 30th & 40th anniversaries of events that have shaped our world and are now recognized as pivotal in US and world history.

Tet Offensive, 1968

Assassinations of Dr. King & Robert Kennedy

Race & Anti-War demonstrations

1968 Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago

The "Chappaquiddick" car accident that ended Teddy's chances at ever being president

Apollo 11

Woodstock

Altamont

Kent State

This is just a short list of the events to which I am referring and is not meant to be a thorough timeline.

In 1973-74 I was getting ready to obtain my first drivers license and was taking "Driver's Ed" through the high school I was attending. The OPEC oil embargo was going on during this period as well and just as I was getting my license to drive, the price of gasoline more than doubled. Gas prices went from 28-30 cents per gallon to 60-65 cents per gallon in only a few weeks. I remember having to get up really early in the morning, like 4am early, so I could go with my mom or dad to the local gas station to line up to buy as much fuel as the station would allow. Many times there was a limit of 10 gallons per customer. This was over and above the fact that there was a restriction on buying gas based on your license plate number, "even/odd" days and no gas sold on Sundays at all.

The oil disaster in the Gulf of Texaco brought this to mind as I was thinking how it might have been different if we'd have learned the lessons would have ended our dependence on foreign energy sources, if not completely ended our fossil fuel consumption at least in the US. Could we have done it? Had we, as a nation, determined that we would never let such a thing happen again and if we had spend the 35 years since developing what we call today the "alternative" energy sources of wind, solar, hydroelectric, bio-diesel, etc. it is my firm belief that the US would be 100% energy independent today.