the Republican lie

I'm reading an excellent book called Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War, by Joe Bageant. Mr. Bageant has returned to his small hometown in Virginia after many years and uses it as a back drop for a discussion about the sad state of affairs for this country's tens of millions of poor laborers (mostly white, uneducated). Most interestingly, he discusses how the Republican party has so successfully deceived this part of the population into believing that the GOP is the party for them, despite the reality that it is the party least likely to fight for their well-being. They've pulled this off by feeding on the fear and ignorance of these people, telling them that the Dems are going to give away their jobs to Mexicans, that the Dems want to destroy religion, that the Dems want to take away their guns, that the Dems are Commies, etc. The list goes on and on.

I've always been so frustrated by this, by how poor whites vote against their interests. I'm not under the illusion that the Democrats would sweep in and take care of all these people's problems, but I don' t think there is any question that the Dems are the ones most likely to fight for bettering these folks' lives through better education, social programs, support of labor, and more. The problem seems to be that the Dems gave up on this portion of the population, concluding that they were already lost, and so, especially during the Clinton era, became more the party of the liberal elite, the intellectual, Volvo-driving environmentalists. (Which in turn only turned these people away even more) WHat the Dems need to do, and what it seems that they are finally doing under the Obama campaign, is re-engaging the poor rural whites, sitting down with them and explaining why they and not the GOP understand their pain and will fight for them. If Obama wins, this will be a why, a return to a Democratic party that truly fights for all people. There may yet be some hope for this crumbling nation...

bailout? you betcha!

What times we live in here in the ol' US of A. In the midst of a presidential race that shouldn't be close but is, we are facing the greatest economic crisis of at least my time (that's what they tell us, anyway). And after watching Bush dismantle social programs, veterans' benefits, and much more over the last 8 years, while spending nearly a trillion dollars and thousands of lives on a useless war, what does Bush and Congress do but take $700 billion of OUR money to "rescue" the economy. How are they "rescuing" the economy? Not by creating jobs, reducing health care costs, or any other option that would truly benefit the people. No, they are giving away our money to their already disgustingly rich Wall St. cronies who fucked up the market in the first place! Now, I will admit that I am not an economist and in fact don't know shit about the market, but it is clear to me that there is obviously a systemic problem at hand, and instead of fixing the problem, our leaders are putting a very expensive band-aid on the problem. I'm a doctor, but you don't have to know anything about medicine to know that when you're looking at a gaping wound with tons of blood loss, a friggin' band-aid ain't gonna hold! My feeling is that we should let the market collapse, come what may, analyze the wreckage and figure out what caused this (hmmm...Reagan-style deregulation perchance?) so that it doesn't happen again. Most importantly, don't use OUR money to save the asses of these greedy fat cats. But, back to reality, yesterday the House caved in and accepted this $700 billion give-away, despite the protests of the vast majority of Americans. Gee, in case it wasn't already clear, who does the Congress and the President really serve? Indeed, what times these are (property in Nova Scotia is looking better and better all the time!)

Minnesotans are terrible drivers!

It's true. They may be, as statistics show, well-educated, but when it comes to driving, whoa! I've reserved making this declaration to anyone other than Kris for as long as possible, hoping that I would be proven wrong, but I can hold my tongue no longer. I've seen the driver's ed cars, so I know they at least have driver's ed, but somewhere in the process of learning how to drive sensibly something has gone horribly awry. I grew up hearing Ohioans say Hoosiers were terrible drivers and vice versa, but this takes it all to a new level. Here are a few of the problems I've witnessed all to often: the failure to consider that someone may be in the lane next to you before you move on over, the failure to understand that the red light means stop (and that's truly scary!), the absence of the notion that you stay between the lines rather than straddling them, the inability to understand that the first person to a four way (or two way) stop gets the right of way, regardless of if he/she is turning left. The list goes on and on. Anyhow, I hate to be a disser or complainer, but it is truly mind-boggling how bad they are. It's nothing against Minnesotans personally. I just think they should either learn how to drive or go back to mushing with the dog sleds!!!

An uncanny ability to witness animal sex

Sometime in the past year, Kris and I were at the Indianapolis Zoo and came upon a male zebra (very well endowed!) mounting a female zebra. It actually seemed sort of traumatic, but that's just nature I guess. The best part of that was the horror on the face of a mother of a toddler standing near us. Her child is undoubtedly scarred for life! Anyhow, that was that and we thought we were just lucky (or unlucky) to happen upon that scene. Then there was today. We were at the Como Zoo here in St. Paul ( a great free zoo, unlike to $15 fee you'll pay in Indy). We were watching a male and a female lion, who as usual were very chill and not too concerned to do anything exciting for us onlookers. Or so we thought. Suddenly the female got up and started nudging on the male. They proceeded to play around a little bit (foreplay I guess) and then, before we knew it, they were going for the gold. After the show was over, some of us onlookers clapped, drawing nasty looks from some of the mothers with young children (chill out people!). Both the lions lit up cigarettes and that was that ;-). But the question is, are we just very lucky? Or is it our mojo that draws out the best in all of us? Hmmm.....

Bumper stickers

I wonder when bumper stickers first came on the scene. They're sort of interesting to think about, because I think they represent a sort of passive aggressiveness that is especially prevalent in America. Basically it's the notion "here's what I really think, which I won't say to your face or in a crowd, and to which you don't get a chance to respond". I don't mean to say that they're all bad; anyone who knows me knows that my cars have had more than a few stickers on them. But I do think they represent a real aversion by many to confront others in any meaningful way, even when confrontational dialogue has the potential to be very productive. I think it falls in line with how we Americans will often answer "fine" when asked how we're doing, even if in actuality our day has been a catastrophe. It suits the asker just fine, because he/she doesn't really want to know the truth anyhow. Way too messy! It all represents my desire to stay inside my protective shell, one that exudes happiness, bubbliness, etc., but then there's that nagging desire to express myself, safely, hence the bumper sticker (and the blog!). Now remember "Live simply that others may simply live" (please, no responses to that) ;-)

Starting out...

Greetings world. This is my first stab at blogging, so here we go....

Today is a glorious day in the City of Water (Minne-apolis, Dakota). It's sunny and warm, a very welcome change from the monsoon we've experienced over the last month or two. There have been record rainfall amounts here, with some devastating flooding. Anyhow, today is great. Sadly, I'm stuck in clinic, but as you can tell, I'm not too busy at the moment. That said, I probably should do something like see a patient, look at an Xray, something.

Until later....