Make it stop

In the past I’ve spoken about the fact that I am a survivor of partner abuse. I know from the inside what it is like to be with someone who claims to care about you and yet is abusing you mentally, physically and emotionally. I understand how it is possible to defend that person even truly believe that they really do care, despite all evidence to the contrary. I also know with a certainty that borders on faith that if  a person living in such a situation does not eventually wake up and realize the true nature of the reality in which they are living, they will either wind up dead, or so destroyed mentally and emotionally that they may as well be dead.

My question is what exactly is it going to take for the majority of American’s to realize this about the Republican party? READ FULL POST

Not quite a year ago a preacher down in Florida by the name of Terry Jones made headlines by threatening to burn a Qur’an, well-known by now as the holy book of the Muslim faith.  Well recently he’s been back in the news thanks to his publicly putting said holy book “On Trial”, finding it guilty, and as it’s “punishment” burning it up in a fire.

In a move that surprised no one with an age or IQ over about ten, a small group of Muslim extremists used the action as an excuse to commit violence and murder.

Sadly the response to the whole situation from a great many pseudo Progressives is equally unsurprising.  Said response pretty much boiling down to “It’s all Terry Jones’ fault.”

The response not only emboldens terrorist organizations, but also serves to completely delegitimize the Progressive movement in the eyes of most Americans.

Is there any question that Jones’ is a publicity seeking asshole, with no respect for any view other than his own? Of course not. Nor is there any doubt that burning any groups “Holy Book” is in execrable taste. Personally to me book burning always has, and always will be a disgusting reminder of the kind of narrow-minded thinking that comes out of places like Nazi Germany. There is absolutely no doubt in the mind of any rational person that Jones’ would be the first to rail against anyone deciding to burn a copy of the book that he considers sacred.

The problem is that something being in poor taste, or ill-considered, or just plain stupid doesn’t automatically make it “wrong”.  And further more even if it were in either the legal or moral sense wrong, that does not make the decision by a group of radical religious nuts to use his actions as an excuse to commit murder, in any way shape or form, rational, right, or even remotely defensible.

Rather, what the Afghani mob, incited by Mullah Mohammed Shah Adeli did, is text-book terrorism. They used violence against people who were not even remotely related to the person who committed an act they did not like, to attempt to send a message.

That message has been heard loud and clear. The message is a fairly simple and disgusting one.  “Say or do anything that we do not like and we will murder as many people as we can get our hands on in retaliation.”

And do Progressives stand tall and proud and reply with a message of our own, saying that there is never any justification for the murder of innocents, least of all the fact that someone made a statement or committed a symbolic act that you happen to disagree with?

We do not.

Instead we simper about how awful Terry Jones is, and how he shouldn’t have done that, and how he’s endangering our troops, and a trillion and one other hoary old clichés.

Well here’s the simple brutal truth of the matter.  Terry Jones Did Not Kill Any ONE.  Those Afghans did. Period.

To lose sight of that fact, to suggest even indirectly that we should capitulate to those who seek to use terroristic violence to achieve their goals is in fact to abandon true Progressive principles.  To carry on about the wrongs done to someone like Liu Xiaobo because of his governments denial of his right to free speech (a right that most Progressives believe should be held as universal) while insisting that Terry Jones was in the wrong for exercising his, is quite simply two-faced.

And to make matters worse it further distances Progressivism from making any kind of real common cause with the very people we most need to reach out to.  Mainstream, working class Americans.  It gives us the appearance of caring more about not upsetting a bunch of Muslim extremists than we care about true freedom for all.  Freedom to speak one’s mind, and freedom to live, free from the fear of the kind of violence those extremists perpetrated.

The extremists have sent their message.  And now we must send ours.  That even though we may disagree with Jones actions we defend his right to commit them. That we do not view the actions of the Afghans who murdered those people as legitimate in any way, shape, or form.  And that there is never any justification of any kind for mass murder.  To do any less is to give aid and comfort to the enemies of true freedom abroad, and the enemies of Progressivism here at home.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

Hello. If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know that I am openly and proudly Liberal Progressive. Most of the time the things I write are both influenced by politics and intended to advocate for a particular way of thinking on current events. However today although I easily could, I’m not going to do that. The reason being is that the issue I’m going to present is in my opinion much, much too important to play politics with.

The other day Senate majority leader Harry Reid, in attempting to make an emotional appeal on behalf of a bill to extend unemployment benefits said the following,

“Men when they’re out of work tend to become abusive. I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand. Why? Men don’t have jobs. Women don’t have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time. Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive. Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed.”

His concerns are valid and justifiable. But in just one sentence he downplayed, in truth dismissed the experiences of a number of men who are believed to be in the millions. These are men who are survivors of partner abuse.

I am one of them.

When I was in my early twenties I was room mates with a woman who was around ten years older than myself. I’ll call her Grace here, which is not her real name. I had met Grace as a co-worker, and was friends with her fiancee. They needed a third to share rent and it seemed like a great situation. It was my first time being on my own and I thought it would give me independence but at the same time people to share space with so it wouldn’t be quite such a jarring transition. At first things were great. But because of circumstances I knew nothing about Grace’s fiancee left her. What went from a three way split became a two way split. But we both had decent jobs and so it worked out alright. We became friends and in time we became more. Unfortunately there was an aspect to Grace that I really didn’t understand how important it would be to me. Grace was an alcoholic.

Grace had been sober for some time, but as her life grew more stressful she turned back to an old comfort, namely alcohol. At first it was a time or two, then every weekend. Then almost nightly. I was young and fairly naive, and if I wasn’t in love with her, I certainly did care about her. I wanted to be someone good in her life. Someone she could depend on. When she started to grow abusive I did my best to ignore it. It’s just the stress, or the alcohol, or any of a host of excuses I’d tell myself. At first it was just verbal abuse, cutting remarks, belittling etc. But over time it grew beyond the verbal. Sometimes she would hit or scratch. The stress grew increasingly hard to bear. I tried to leave on more than one occasion. Each time she would apologize and promise that she would not do it any more. And I’d feel for her, not want to abandon her, so I’d stay. There’d be a few weeks of peace and harmony, and gradually things would go back to the way they were.

One of the ways that Grace kept control of me and our relationship was by constantly reminding me that if I talked to anyone, or tried to leave she’d tell people I hit her, or tell them that I had raped her. Sometimes she would promise to kill her two dogs knowing that I was emotionally attached to them. I felt trapped and powerless. I desperately wanted to talk to somebody about what I was going through, but I was ashamed. I believed that if I talked to my friends (most of whom were women) that they would at best think I was over reacting, and at worst they would think I was lying. After all abuse is something men do to women, not something they experience at the hands of women. So I tried harder to be a good person. To not let it bother me. But my self esteem kept getting worse and worse. Finally in the midst of some very messed up thinking I wrote a set of “rules” that I would look at to remind myself how to keep what Grace said and did from hurting quite so badly. I honestly don’t remember them all, but the first one I created is burned into my memory.

1: Nobody cares about you.

I honestly had convinced myself that if I could just stop feeling anything, just stop caring, then when she ridiculed me, or when she hit me trying to get a reaction out of me that it wouldn’t hurt so much deep inside.

Finally it got to be more than I could stand. I was close to my breaking point. Finally in desperation I reached out to someone who had been Grace’s classmate at a local college, with whom I had become friends. I told her everything, and when I was done she had tears in her eyes. Very softly she said, “Do you realize that most men would have probably beaten the shit out of her if she’d treated them the way she’s treated you?” I don’t know to this day if it’s true or not. But just having someone after hearing my story not only say they believed me but that they understood felt like the biggest weight off my shoulders. My reply to her was that I had not retaliated because I did not want to become a bad person. I also confided in her that I felt like my ability to deal with the situation was exhausted. She said very simply, “You have to leave, and leave now.”

I resisted, I came up with excuse after excuse. But a few days later I packed up what I could with the aid of an acquaintances truck and moved into a motel room until I could find an apartment. Then I began a healing process that is ongoing.

I’m much stronger now. I have a wonderful partner who loves me with all her heart and is very good to me. We’ve had challenges but what couple doesn’t. But there are still moments where something will spark a memory. And it’s usually not predictable. Just all of the sudden with no real warning I’ll have emotional reactions that are just like the ones I had when I was back in the worst of that situation. Sometimes, not very often these days, I will hear like a bell in my head a voice that sounds like mine repeating, “Rule number one: Nobody cares about you.” It does not happen very often and I look forward to a day when it doesn’t happen at all.

If you are a man, and you have or are being abused by your partner there are some things I’d like you to keep in mind.

1: You are not alone.

There are men all over the country who have been and are being abused by women they share their lives with.

2: There is no less bad abuse.

Some people will tell themselves that it’s not so bad because it’s only verbal abuse, or that since it’s not physical they are being wimps for feeling as hurt as they do. But abuse is abuse.

3: Women, can and do sexually abuse, physically abuse, and even kill men.

Even men that are bigger and stronger than them. If you are in an abusive relationship and the abuse hasn’t turned physical don’t make the mistake of assuming it won’t. If it has turned physical, don’t make the mistake of assuming that it won’t get so bad that you end up dead.

4: It is not your fault.

The abuser has sole responsibility for their actions. Telling you that it’s because you are out of work, or they’re out of work, or because they had a bad day, or because you didn’t say the right thing at the right time, or anything like that is them rationalizing behavior that is just plain wrong.

5: Most people are more understanding than you might think.

One of the things that surprised and touched me over and over again was talking with my friends who were women and them sharing their stories of abusive relationships they had survived. Not a single one of them judged me. Instead they all believed that abuse is abuse and that a man can be victimized by it just as much as a woman.

6: It is not going to get better on it’s own.

Things got so bad between Grace and I that I did not feel emotionally safe reconnecting with her. Perhaps if I had taken action when things first got bad it might have been different. I kept waiting, thinking that I was being noble. I wasn’t. I am lucky in that I did not end up dead, in an institution or in jail. The next man who chooses nobility over action may not be so lucky.

If you are friends with a man who admits to you that he is a victim of partner abuse, listen to him without judging him. Help him find the resources he needs. If he needs counseling, or if he needs somewhere else to go to get out of the situation. Please, whatever you do, do not dismiss what he says, do not assume that it is just the normal friction that can happen in even the healthiest of relationships. Do not assume that it will get better in time. Do not assume that just because the persons female partner is physically smaller or weaker that there’s no way she could not be abusive physically.

The facts are simply this. Women are human beings no different than men. Women get stressed and overwhelmed. Women sometimes act out towards those they are closest to, saying and doing hurtful things. Women can be abusers. Gender does not keep one from being physically, mentally, emotionally or sexually abusive, nor does it keep one from being abused.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope maybe it will do someone, somewhere, some good.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About….)

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Hello again my Brothers And Sisters. Today I’ve been musing on the hypocrisy that we so often see from the Right Wing of American politics. Now one of the best hypocrisy busters out there is Rachel Maddow. She along with Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, and Stephen Colbert, are routinely pointing out the number of things said by specific Republicans out of one side of their mouth, only to later be contradicted by what they say out of the other side.

However there are on occasion examples of hypocrisy that are not necessarily attributable to any one specific individual, but rather to Republicans as a whole. Today I want to discuss two recent examples.

The One About The World Republicans Want To Hand To Our Grand Children.

Recently a lot of Republicans have claimed that their objections to things like offering health care to millions of Americans, or extending unemployment benefits to those that in this incredibly harsh job market still have not been able to find work, is based on principle. They worry about what kind of a country will we be handing to our children and grand children if we increase the deficit to enact these programs. The most recent person to proclaim this concern was Senator Jim Bunning. He stated it was his reason for blocking the bill that would have extended both unemployment benefits, and COBRA, which allows people to keep the health care plan they had at their previous employment if they quit or are fired. Another notable who has used the future of our kids and grand kids as their reason for objecting to pretty much any even remotely Progressive legislation is Senator John McCain.

Now if I were the kind of person who enjoyed shooting fish in a barrel I’d go for the easy hypocrisy and stop there. You know things like the fact that Republicans didn’t seemed to terribly worried about the deficit and it’s impact on the future when they were passing everything on Jr.’s wish list with absolutely no attempt what so ever to pay for it up front. With no concern at all for how they were growing the deficit. Or there’s the hypocrisy of their part in growing military spending with nary a concern for the domestic situation. But no I’m not one to shoot fish in a barrel (It shreds the fish and you keep having to pick bird shot out of your filet) rather I’m going to talk about an even larger hypocrisy.

Republicans are wringing their hands now worrying about the state of the countries future finances, but the state of the livability of the planet, not so much.

That’s right I’m talking about that old bugaboo “Climate Change.”

I know that this is a hotly debated topic, even amongst many on the Left. And I certainly am open to debate about how much effects humans have, and what has the worst effects etc. And I do not doubt that some of the things we are seeing are at their core natural, and cyclical in nature. Having said that however, human beings in the last hundred and fifty years, have been doing an awful lot of polluting. And it’s really only been in the last fifty years that we started to make any efforts at all to clean up our act. And that’s just in the industrialized “First World” nations like the US and Europe. There are places like China and India that are starting to catch up to us, and there are many so called “Third World” nations that are beginning to head toward being part of the problem, usually not of their own accord but because a corporation has set up a factory or ten there, because there are few if any standards of any kind that can’t be gotten around with money. Given all those facts to proclaim that there is no climate change, and to further proclaim that even if there is humans have nothing what so ever to do with it, is frankly ludicrous. I’m no ecobiologist, but as I understand it the earth is a sealed system. That means that nothing comes in or goes out except for radiation. So all that pollution? It’s not going to magically disappear. Pollution from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution might conceivably still be having some kind of an impact. So even if things aren’t as dire as some predict, why wait until they are that dire to do something about it? Here, let me offer you a little joke to basically sum up my feelings on the situation.

“Charlie decided to go and have a night out with the boys which he hadn’t done in a long time. So he went out with four other friends and they well and truly tied one on. Having drunk up most of their money they had pooled to share a cab to his house as it was the most centrally located figuring they’d sleep it off and worry about getting to their respective homes when they woke up. Finally sloshing home at four in the morning Charlie cautioned everyone to be very quiet as they walked in the door. After being shushed for the fifth time one of Charlie’s friends said in exasperation, ‘Jesus Charlie what do you keep shushing us for?’ Blearily Charlie replied, ‘My wife hates it when I drink and if she catches me coming home at four in the morning drunk as a skunk she’ll never let me hear the end of it.’ The friend looked at him quizzically, ‘But Charlie your wife has been dead for three years now, we all went to her funeral.’ Without missing a beat Charlie said, ‘I know. But I’m not taking any chances.’”

Well that pretty much sums up my feelings on Climate Change. Why take chances? Why not enact policies now, that start to get the problem under control? If things aren’t at the total catastrophe level why wait until they are?

But the Republicans don’t seem interested in doing anything at all. Primarily because some of the solutions of necessity would have to involve more closely regulating corporations and their many processes especially manufacturing. It would also mean accepting that we are one part of a greater whole and adopting some policies that would benefit the whole world not just us. Republicans are categorically unwilling to do that.

So while they fret and worry about the financial state of the country, they apparently are not the least bit worried about whether or not that country will exist on a planet that is capable of making human life bearable or sustaining it at all.

I can just picture little Pizza Delivery Boy Jr. choking out his last as the two hundred degree summer temperature gives him his final fatal heatstroke. And as he dies he thinks to himself, “Thank God that my grandparents generation didn’t burden us with national health care.”

Keep Reading My Brothers And Sisters!

The One About In The World In Their Head That The Republicans Live In Breaking The Senate Finance Rules Or Calling Someone A Bad Name Is A Far Greater Wrong Than Torture (Which Isn’t Wrong At All.)

Apparently Charles Rangel of New York has been a naughty Legislator. It seems that he went on trips, paid for by corporations without disclosing where the funding for the trips came from. Amongst a great many other things. The Right is of course having a field day with this. They dearly love it when a Democrat is proven to be as corrupt as many Republicans have been proven to be. I suppose it makes them feel less alone.

Then of course there was the recent flap around Rahm Emanual showing his incredible lack of class, or sense by referring to Progressives who disagreed with Obama as “Fucking Retards”. Well Sarah Palin who is raising a child with Downs Syndrome was outraged. She proclaimed that anyone who used that term should be summarily dismissed from their position.

Now I could point out the free pass she just a day later gave to Rush Limbaugh. But that’s already common knowledge.

What I don’t understand, is how do the Republicans think that they have any authority, any high ground from which to expound about matters of morality when members, not just members but leaders of their own party, namely George W. Bush and Dick Cheney committed crimes of the highest order? From the theft of the 2000 Presidential election, to involving this country in a war in Iraq, based on lies, to approving the torture of suspected terrorists, the things that were done under Bushco. were not just ethically questionable, they were flat out criminal.

Now I’m not saying that what Rangel and Rahm did wasn’t wrong. And in Rangel’s case certainly deserving of some kind of punishment. But to get so het up about things that have not even a fraction of the moral debt that Bushco. accrued? Further more to have gone to incredible lengths to make certain that there is not any kind of investigation, that no responsibility or culpability is assigned, let alone actual litigation, and then to carry on about acts that did not involve us in a war, did not result in people being tortured, did not result in people being killed?

Perhaps you Right Wingers should pause briefly from thumping your bibles and actually open them and read. Because there’s this whole thing about motes and beams and getting the latter out of your own eye before worrying about the former in everyone else’s that you might do well to pay attention to.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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Many people mistakenly believe that the Eastern Martial Arts like Karate, and Jiujitsu They are really not. Rather they are about the application, direction, and management of force. Whether it is physical, mental, or in some cases political.

One of the best and easiest to learn lessons of martial arts is that if you are being attacked, it is often for the best to not meet force with force. In fact what is best is if you can just move out of the way of the enemies attack, and let their excessive force cause them to over balance, leaving them vulnerable to your attack. What is even better is if they have put so much energy into attacking that they end up damaging themselves without you having to lift a finger.

Now I hear you asking, “How does this apply to politics?” Well consider this exchange between President Obama and Arizona Senator (and Not The President) John McCain,

“MCCAIN: I would just make one comment. Why in the world, then, would we carve out 800,000 people in Florida that would not be — have their Medicare Advantage cut? Now, I proposed an amendment on the floor to say everybody would be treated the same. Mr. President, why should we carve out 800,000 people because they live in Florida to keep the Medicare Advantage program, and then want to do away with it?

OBAMA: I think you make a legitimate point.

MCCAIN: Well, maybe….

OBAMA: I think you do.

MCCAIN: Thank you very much.”

And there you have it my Brothers and Sisters. Right there in that brief exchange is the symbol and symptom of everything that is wrong with the Republican party.

They are so consumed with being obstructionist and resisting even the least little common sense idea from Democrats, that McCain quite literally does not know how to respond when Obama, not agrees with him mind, but when he does not resist him. When Obama does not meet rhetorical force with force of his own McCain quite simply does not know what to do next and so he just stops.

Sometimes this can be our best tactic when engaging with Republicans. Don’t meet force with force, but rather be fluid like water and let them simply speed past you into the brick wall their own obstinate obstructionism has built for them.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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Alright my Brothers And Sisters, the word has come down, and I doubt if many, if any of us are surprised. Once again the public option has been sacrificed, in the hopes of getting enough votes to pass Some kind of health care reform bill. And I can hear the sounds of outrage and betrayal from the ones out there who have more hope than sense. And I’m sure that there will be renewed calls to kill the bill etc. Well you know what? It’s time to look to a new source for inspiration about how Progressives should proceed.

Athletes.

Yep you heard me right. Athletes

I mean let’s face it, athletes are kind of by the very nature of what they do, not real bright. They play in the rain, the snow, the blistering heat. They play their hearts out even when they are down by such a vast margin that they have seemingly no hope of winning. Hell they play hurt. And I don’t just mean stitch in your side, stubbed your toe hurt. These dumb mother fuckers play with concussions, and broken bones. But they do not quit. They do not wait until conditions are just perfect to play. They do not stop playing when Everything seems against them. They Just Don’t Stop!

And that’s what Progressives need to start doing. We need to reserve talk of bill killing for those times that there is absolutely nothing to be gained from a bill passing. Most of the time we are going to have to accept that pretty much every bill that is created is not going to go far enough, be Progressive enough to suit us. And that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. But what we need to do is support the most Progressive bills we can find, even if it is only one percent Progressive. And then when it’s passed we keep the pressure on to make it better.

Believe me, I understand how awful the final bill is likely to be. And I’m not dismissing the possibility that in the end we will still need to mobilize to get it killed depending on what other concessions Democrats make to the Regressives. But if we advocate for the final bill to die, we need to understand that means that we start all the way back at the beginning. It’s not going to be easier next time. In fact it will be harder next time, because nothing fails like failure. And frankly as awful as the final bill might be, right now there is one powerful reason to support it.

THE REPUBLICANTS WANT IT DEAD!

I mean seriously, think about it for a moment. Now everyone with eyes to see knows that Democrats are largely in the hip pocket of the corporations. The much hated individual mandate proves that. But if Democrats are in the hip pocket well Republicants are deep in the crotch, working the shaft and cradling the balls.

Democrats for all their sins and failings do want to see exclusions for pre existing conditions ended, they do want ceilings on fees, they do want an end to coverage caps and gaps. But because they are in bed with corporations they want to entice the insurance companies into going along by offering them up a juicy gift. Us. Well it sucks, to be sure. But consider the alternative.

The Republicants Don’t Give A FLYING FUCK about us. You see they don’t want an individual mandate, not because they care about the people not being burdened but because they don’t care, Period! Because they don’t want there to be Any Reform At All! Limits on rates? They don’t want them! An end to the use of preexisting conditions to deny coverage? They don’t want it! An end to annual or yearly caps on coverage? They don’t want it! Plus they’d be more than thrilled to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid. And if they get their way, we will be left with nothing. Understand that. We won’t be left with a crappy and imperfect bill. We won’t be left with weak reforms that we have to bust our asses to improve. No, we will be left with JACK SHIT! If the Republicants have their way.

There’s a great moment in Star Trek Three: The Search For Spock that is apropos. Captain Kirk has rigged the Enterprise to self destruct and transported down to a top secret experimental planet known as Genesis. The Klingon Commander Kruge has discovered this and has been taunted by Kirk into beaming him up. Kirk tries to get Kruge to beam up Spock who has been freshly re-incarnated without his essence. Kruge says no, and Kirk asks why, and Kruge responds simply. “Because you wish it.”

Well when asked why you still support Health Care Reform simply say, “because The Republicans Want To Kill It.”

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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Hello again. Well yesterday we took a look at laws seven and eight, of The 48 Laws Of Power. Today we look at the next two laws, one of which is incredibly important for Progressives to start following.

LAW NINE: Win through your Actions, Never through Argument

Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Wow. This one is huge. And it’s one that Progressives often have a hard time with.

We often have a tendency to think that if we can just keep talking we will get people to see the sense of our ideas. Generally speaking all that does is make people tired of listening to you. While there is nothing wrong with talking, we must also make certain we are acting. Now the ideal action would be to get Progressive legislation passed and have people see how successful it is. But that is problematic since we are usually out of power more often than we are in. Fortunately that does not mean that we have no other options.

One of our best options is the formation and usage of Non Governmental Organizations or NGO’s. Now this is tricky since central to the Progressive message is that reasonable responsible government is a good thing. However if our message is one of reluctant warriors we have the potential to go far. If we are constantly reminding people that if government were doing what it’s supposed to do in protecting the people and ensuring their well being their would be lessened need for NGO’s. The main thing is that any extra-governmental steps we take must be presented as not a refutation of government but rather as a criticism of governments failure to act.

Another problem we have regards those who oppose us and our seeming disability to disengage with them. So often I see Liberals and Progressives who will debate with a Conservative until they are blue in the face. This is always a losing proposition. I’m not saying we should not engage. But we should do so in the manner or, and to the degree of our choosing. It is easier to do that if you keep a couple of key facts in mind.

1: YOU ARE NOT COMMUNICATING TO ATTEMPT TO EDUCATE A CONSERVATIVE PARTISAN.

Here’s the thing, broadly speaking Conservatives are our enemy, ideologically speaking. They may be good people, love their kids, hug puppies etc. But never forget that their entire world view is based on the idea that people should stand on their own unless they have absolutely no other recourse, and then dependence on private charity is preferable to government intervention. They reject the notion that government ever helps. They believe it always and only hurts. They believe that businesses if left unregulated will generally do the “right” thing and that government regulation again only makes things worse never better, etc. etc. They are fanatically devoted to this mindset and message. So strictly speaking on such matters there really is no point in even talking to a Conservative is there? But you are not talking with them for their sake. Rather the point is to get the Progressive message out there to those who have not made up their minds yet. This is why it is important for Progressives to comment on Conservative blogs, call conservative talks shows, write letters to the editors of Conservative newspaper and magazines etc. But it is important to put forth our message or talking point, and then to disengage. Now you may sometimes feel like follow up debate, and that’s fine, but be selective where and how you engage. Most of the time you will only be expending time and energy that is better spent elsewhere. Also keep in mind that the window of open mindedness can be rather small. So a reader of a Conservative blog reads the comments section and sees your point and they think about it. But if you keep coming back to defend yourself they will see you as weak, and defensive. Now they disregard your original point, hell they don’t even remember it. The window is gone and instead of lodging a Progressive point in their heads they now are even more filled with Right Wing ideology.

2: PICK YOUR MAIN POINT AND THEN HIT AND RUN.

Progressives often want to refute every point that a Conservative makes, but most people find that tedious, especially from a responder. If you want to make a point by point refutation save it for your venue that YOU control, be it blog, TV show, what have you. When you are in the realm of someone else’s control, the briefer and more to the point your message is, the harder a time they are going to have distorting it.

REVERSAL OF THE LAW:

It’s not precisely a reversal, but the fact is that in this day and age, there is not getting away from talking. Ours is not an age where it is generally possible to have one’s enemies killed, or exiled etc. without running into a large number of problems, and you can’t do it publicly. So we talk, which is why they call it a war of words. And while there is strength in silence we must be careful about what message the silence communicates. It must be a dignified silence that says, “I’ve said all that needs to be said and I trust the people to understand what I’m saying.” rather than the fretful fearful silence that conveys a message of weakness and fear. Often times once you have disengaged on a particular point with a particular opponent the worst thing you can do is reengage. It will make you look weak. I understand that no one likes it when your words are twisted around but the truth is that is something Conservatives excel at. So you break your silence to explain yourself, to clarify, and they twist that, so you break silence again. Quickly it becomes clear to everyone who is really in control, and it’s not you.

LAW TEN: INFECTION; AVOID THE UNHAPPY AND UNLUCKY!

You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

This is one of the ugly realities of politics and it is one that as much as we might wish were otherwise no one, not even Progressives can escape. It is the reason why even though we know the circumstances beyond his control that led to Jimmy Carter’s presidency being perceived as a failure, we also know how he is perceived and generally hold him at arms length. It is why no Progressive gets too close to Ralph Nader. It’s the reason why Howard Dean after getting his message across about his fundamental problems with the current Health Care Reform bills, stepped back from saying that it would be best to start over. He wanted to make certain he was no identified with Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake who in the eyes of the general public, and a great many Progressives has destroyed her credibility. Now obviously we don’t want to cut people loose the first time they have a defeat or suffer a reversal. But ultimately there comes a point, like it or not that we have to be ruthlessly pragmatic, and when the very mention of someones name taints the Progressive Movement, we’ve got no choice but to distance ourselves from that person. If we do not, then it hampers our ability to do anything worthwhile.

REVERSAL OF THE LAW:

As The 48 Laws Of Power, says there simply is no reversal of this law. However I think for both our image, and for our spiritual well being, we should be careful in how we apply this law. We must not become a group that cuts someone out the first time they run afoul of circumstances (generally speaking obviously there could be a situation that a person has done or said something so horrible that to be seen supporting them for even one instant more would be destructive to our goals) and we should usually try not to be seen demonizing former allies and leaders who have fallen from glory. Again Carter and Nader are great examples. We are more than happy to allow with Carter on things like Habitat For Humanity etc, but we are careful to make certain that he is not seen as influencing either the directions our policies take, nor the reactions we have to current events. Nader is a popular columnist, and a very intelligent person but any time the subject of his making another Presidential run comes up most smart Progressives find a way to say something nice that amounts to either “Well it would be nice if he could win, but in the current climate I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Or even better, a nice sounding statement that amounts to “No comment.”

Alright everyone, that’s it for this installment of The One About Book Club and for this weekend. Check back next weekend when we’ll be diving into laws 11 and 12, and 13/14. Plus remember to check in every day for the weekly edition of The One About…. This week I’ll be looking at topics ranging from the problem with religious exemptions, to the Conservative double standard around Obama engaging with “Religious Extremists”, and I’ll even have tips on how to use martial arts to stop a Republican dead in their tracks. Until next time….

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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Hi all. Welcome back to The One About….’s special weekend feature, The One About Book Club. For those of you who are new readers to The One About…., let me recap for you. On the weekends I write in depth about a book that I feel is of significance to Progressives, looking at one or more chapters per post. For the complete introduction to the project you can go here. My pick to inaugurate this project is The 48 Laws Of Power. So far I’ve offered an introduction and overview of the book, and written about Chapters(or in keeping with the tone of the book Laws) 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. So I bet you can guess what comes next.

LAW SEVEN: Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Now so far I, taking a fairly pragmatic view have made suggestions for ways that Progressives could, one might even say should, be using the prior laws of power. This law however is one that I must strongly caution we must avoid being seen using at All Costs!

Progressivism should be, and more importantly must be seen to be, a populist movement, and a largely egalitarian one. While no one expects every single person who might play a minor role to receive some huge acknowledgment, there is a general expectation that credit will be given where it is due. It is by eschewing and being seen to eschew this law and it’s adherents that we can better establish our core identity and values. Hogging the spotlight, hoarding the power, that’s what “They” do. Sharing the glory, empowering everyone, that’s what “We” do.

REVERSAL OF THE LAW:

For Progressives the thing we have to watch out for are Fame Whores. People who wish to be famous, and have no real investment in our cause. Such people when they are found out should be kept as much out of the limelight, and as far away from power as possible and they should quickly move on to the next venue to fame.

LAW EIGHT: Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

This law is a hard one, practically speaking for Progressives to follow right now. We have precious little real power so it is difficult to be attractive enough to have others come to us. However we would be well advised to get to work on changing that. One very simple step is to stop whining about not being included. I heard this repeated over the last couple of days with some Progressives complaining about there not being any advocates for Single Payer speaking at the recent Health Care Summit. Such whining makes us look weak and is not attractive. Rather the official Progressive position should be one disdaining the Summit as just another example of the Right and Left arms of The Corporatocracy getting together to foul the atmosphere with hot air in hopes of fooling the people that they are actually doing something. It should be the same for anything we are not allowed to take part in. In the meantime we absolutely must continue to get organized, and we should be forming PAC’s that are large enough and strong enough to suggest that we could deliver a sizable block of votes. Then the first time that Democrat leaders or the President call upon us to meet with them, we should politely decline. Then on the second invite we should graciously but grudgingly accept.

Now of course the above is merely an example. Politics is a dynamic situation and we need to always be on the look out for how best to act and react in any given situation. The important thing is that we must be seen Not running to the beck and call of non Progressives in power simply because they’ve snapped their fingers.

REVERSAL OF THE LAW:

Basically we must be sensitive to the situation and our position at any given moment. Once we have managed to get some unity and some effective PAC’s formed we will be in a better position to make people come to us. Until then we should be careful not to over play things. Again the recent summit is a great example. Since we were not invited we should be seen to disdain the event, but had we been invited, we should have gone.

Alright gadies and lentlemen, that’s it for today’s installment. Check back tomorrow when I’ll be looking at Laws 9 and 10. Until then….

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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One of the few Republican ideas brought up at Thursday’s Health Care Reform summit that seemed to be really popular with both parties was suggested by Senator Tom Coburn. The idea basically is to have people go and visit doctors, and try to get them to break Medicare rules. I presume that if they created such a program for Medicare they would try to see to it that it was applied to Medicaid as well. It has been compared to the practice that many fast food restaurants and retail clothing stores have been employing for a while now, commonly known as “Mystery Shopping“. This is a horrible idea for several reasons, and the comparison to the Mystery Shopper, is frankly weak and ultimately inaccurate. More importantly I have a suggestion that contains none of the yuck factor of Under Cover Patients, and could potentially play a significant role in changing the way that doctors and patients relate to one another.

WHY UNDERCOVER PATIENTS ARE A HORRIBLE IDEA….

The primary reason is that the practice will create a climate of fear in doctors. They will be looking at every new patient wondering, “Is this person sincere or are they here with a hidden agenda?” Further more it runs the risk of warping the doctors focus. Instead of focusing on how well they are treating the patient, they will instead be more likely to focus on whether or not they are following all the rules so as to not risk getting in trouble. In short order doctors will come to resent their patients and it will increase the likelihood that more doctors will be unwilling to go through the hassle of seeing Medicare or Medicaid patients. The idea is also a terrible one, because it is highly unlikely to be all that effective. Good doctors will either try to continue to focus on doing what is best for their patients, and so might be caught because of not having an encyclopedic knowledge of Medicare rules. Bad doctors, will be in a state of heightened alert and will most likely mind their P’s and Q’s around new patients until they feel they have weeded out the undercover agents. It is also massively disrespectful to doctors. It says that essentially they are not to be trusted and that their time is not valuable, since every time they have to see one of these undercover patients is time they will not be spending with someone who truly needs to be seen. And finally on the list of reasons why this is a piss poor idea, is the fact that it seems like ultimately it would expend money on hiring, training, and employing these agents, some of whom would just about have to be sent on long term missions to have even the slightest hope of effectiveness, without there being much hope of the expense really being justified by what ever slight “savings” there might be from the relatively low number of doctors that you might catch. And even if you did catch some it would not surprise me if a high proportion of cases were thrown out of court for breaking laws against entrapment.

UNDER COVER PATIENTS AND MYSTERY SHOPPERS ARE VERY DIFFERENT THINGS….

One of the things that is being used to sell the undercover patient idea, is comparing to the practice of employing “Mystery Shoppers” engaged in by many in the retail and service industry. The mystery shopper idea in brief is to take an ordinary person, give them a check list to fill out, and then send them to a store or restaurant to act as a customer, fill out the form and report their impressions. It can be an effective tool to help a business discover areas in which they could be performing better. But the undercover patient idea is similar in only the most minimal of ways, and there is one very important difference. Mystery shoppers are not attempting to get anyone to break the law. Whereas the undercover patients would be.

MAYBE I’M PARANOID BUT….

I honestly have to wonder how sincere the Republicans even are with this suggestion. Frankly it sounds like something that they came up with figuring that it would so outrage the Democrats that they would reject it immediately and so they could continue to push their, “The Democrats won’t listen to any of our ideas.” meme. Further more, what better way if such an idea was put into practice, to continue their campaign of destroying people’s confidence in government as the legitimate organ of managing the people’s well being. How much do you want to bet that if the undercover patient program came to be, that the Republicans would quickly denounce it and demonize it as “Your government spying on you!”, making certain of course to distance themselves from being the ones to originally suggest it. Obfuscating the fact that they are part of that very same government.

THERE IS HOWEVER A BETTER POSSIBLE WAY….

I am not unaware of the need to not only ferret out actual fraud, and other misdeeds, but also to make it easier for patients voices to be heard. So instead of doing it in a way that breeds fear and suspicion, let’s do it in a way that is honest and open, while still protecting patient privacy.

We can use websites designed for customer reviews as a model. The idea behind such sites is that people go and rate on a scale (usually one to ten) how the service they received, and they leave messages discussing what was good or bad. A similar site attached to the main White House site could be created. Furthermore doctors and hospitals who take Medicare patients could be required to distribute surveys that could be sent postage paid to a department tasked with collecting, reading them and tabulating the results. There could also be an 800 number available. Then if a pattern was noticed there could be a follow up investigation. But why just use it to weed out the bad? It could also be used to reward the good. Doctors who were consistently getting excellent ratings could be rewarded some way.

This would be totally above board since doctors would know that all patients were empowered to utilize the PERN (Patient Experience Reporting Network) they would strive to give excellent service to all patients, but would not have to live in perpetual fear that new patients were in reality undercover government stoolies. Any wrong doing on the part of doctors that was discovered would be a great deal more likely to stand up in a court of law since there would not be the taint of entrapment. The cost to benefit ratio would be considerably higher I suspect than if one attempted to maintain a network of what are to put it bluntly spies. Plus it would help patients feel like they truly had a channel for sharing their experiences both good and bad, and that their voice was being heard. I myself would call that a win for doctors, a win for patients, and a win for the bottom line.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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Allow me to make a confession. I was being naive thinking that I had any hope in hell of managing to come up with a coherent analysis of today’s Health Care Reform summit in time to have it up any time today. In fact I’m not sure if it will be ready before next week. But never let it be said that I don’t come through with at least a little something for my loyal readers.

Today’s article comes from a comment that one of my readers at Daily Kos made in the comment section of my look at Obama’s suggestions for Health Care Reform. He opined that he felt it was inappropriate for Doctors to ever have an investor interest in providing extra services. I said something to him in my reply, that the more I thought about it today seems more and more true.

I said, “What’s more I’d like to see us return to a very old fashioned notion that there are simply some jobs you take expecting to not get rich. Medicine used to be one of those.”

And I kept thinking of that, over and over again, especially every time today during the Health Care Reform summit that one of the Republicans would carry on about doctors getting paid through Medicare and Medicaid a lower percentage than what they get paid via insurance companies.

The more I think it over the more I think that I’m right, and that I’ve hit upon a problem that is an important part of why Health care in this country is so horribly broken.

ONCE UPON A TIME…

Here’s the thing, once upon a time, generally speaking the talent for being a medical practitioner, doctor, nurse, what have you, was considered a gift. People generally were aware that the ability to take in and retain such complex knowledge and be able to act on it, under incredible pressure was not something everyone had. Most people felt that while in a way it set them apart, it also gave them a duty to their fellow human beings. Kind of a, “Of those to whom much is given, much will be demanded,” mentality. Generally speaking the ideal was that a doctor would often have well off clients who could afford to pay in full, and they subsidized the doctor spending some time treating those patients who could not afford to pay much if anything.

This worked well enough although imperfectly to be certain. There were always those doctors who didn’t give half a shit for anything other than making money, and thanks to The Great Depression the number of people who needed medical help but could not pay was enormous.

It was in part because of the Depression that ideas like Medicare and Medicaid came into being. The idea at least in conception was that rather than leave people dependent on charities, which are not immune from the ups and downs of the economy, and during lean times might have to cut back on the help they give, or on individual doctors who could easily get overwhelmed and simply decide to stop seeing hardship cases, better to create a program that would guarantee that doctors, nurses, technicians, etc would get paid something. It might not be much, but it would still be more than nothing, and might serve as in incentive for more doctors to see impoverished patients.

I like to think that this suited most, if not all doctors (and by the way from here on out I’m going to be using “doctor” as a generic term since it’s quicker and easier to use than Health Care Professional over and over again) and that the majority were happy to be able to treat people in need and not have to worry quite so much about being able to make a living.

 THINGS CHANGE AND NOT FOR THE BETTER…

But then something insidious in this country happened. We had a steady and persistent decay in our core values. Like most things it did not happen in a day, or a week, not even a year or a decade. But bit by bit, we lost sight of the idea of service to our fellow human beings, being one of the highest callings one could have. Slowly it started to seem that making money and serving oneself became the highest calling. The ideas behind that ethos seemed to coalesce and become codified during the ’80’s. Everything about that decade seemed to be people trying to justify greed and selfishness. That’s what Gordon Gecko’s speech in wall Street is about, and that at it’s core is what “Trickle Down” Economics is about. It’s not actually an economic theory. What it is, is an attempt by people to rationalize and justify greed. “Well it’s okay that we have all this and keep getting more, because just by doing what serves us, just by doing what feels good, it’s benefiting those below us, so we’re actually helping them.”

The next factor in this moral warping involved envy. People in parts of society that were not usually easy paths to riches saw how much comfort and what nice things those with lots of money had, and they wanted it too. You know what? I can empathize. I really can. This is something I don’t talk about much but when it’s relevant and important to understanding the story I do not withhold the truth about my life and experiences from my readers. When I was young my father worked in the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest, and during the late seventies early eighties it was still a boom time. We were working class, but he was involved in both production and management, roughly the equivalent of middle management, and he was paid very very well. My mother did not have to work outside the home. There was nothing we did not have. Doctor visits? Not a problem. Nice cars? No difficulty. A nice house, good food, clothing. The only time I didn’t get something was because my parents didn’t want me to have it. Whether or not we could afford it was not an issue. And then over night the bottom dropped out of the timber industry. If my father had savings they were not much, why save when things were going to go on forever like they always had. Suddenly we were just one bad moment away from being not merely poor, but destitute. We lost our house, we moved back to the town where he had grown up and moved in with his parents. Suddenly every purchase had to be carefully monitored, food, clothing, doctor visits, all had to be viewed with an eye towards money and if we would be able to pay for it.

And do you know something? I hate it. You see I was just old enough to understand the ease that having money brought to our lives, and to understand how difficult things became because of not having it.

So I do not demonize people who looked at those who lead lives of ease and comfort and wanted to have a piece of it. To just not have to work quite so hard to have a decent life.

 WHICH BRINGS US TO TODAY…

And so a little at a time over many years, the Health Care landscape changed. More and more doctors specialized, the general practitioners became fewer and fewer, because specialization was seen and not wrongly so as where the big money was. Meanwhile the general practitioners that were left wanted more, so they started to change the way they did things, many of them. They started to see more and more patients, and often rather than really handling cases themselves simply determined what relevant specialist they could refer them too, often a specialist that they had made a deal with to receive a gratuity for every patient referred to them. Often times it was a flat fee per patient, sometimes it would be a percentage of what the specialist received from the patient. Ultimately though health care, increasingly became a volume business.

The acquisition of a large number of hospitals by large corporations did not help matters, more and more the focus went from changing to changed. It became about almost nothing but the bottom line. This has led us to today. Giant insurance companies boast record profits. Profits which they in part achieved by raising rates astronomically, and then by canceling policies out from under those who dare to actually make use of the service they’ve been paying for. And when called to account for such practices they shuck and jive and say, “oh well, it only looks like we’re making money, in truth we’re almost poor ourselves. Why we’re practically down to our last million.”

And in the midst of all this we hear about how doctors are refusing to see Medicare and Medicaid patients, because essentially they don’t get paid as well billing the government as when they see patients who have private insurance.

To put it very simply if we are going to have any hope at all, of fixing this incredibly broken health care system and the country it sits within, we are all of us going to have to make some changes.

 IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER…

It is time for doctors who enter the medical profession because they want to help people, not because they want to get rich, to go back to being the standard, instead of being an exception. It is time for us as a society to make the well being of our citizens and those who care for them more important than the well being of multinational corporations and the CEO’s that run them. It is time for us to begin the move back towards the idea that some professions you choose, not for the money, but for the chance to do something good for your fellow man. We need to return to a mindset where doctors look at the money they make from those who have public insurance and feel grateful that it’s presence means they are able to treat those who most desperately need their help, without having to be wholly dependent on their own resources for the wherewithal to do so. Basically to look at Medicare and Medicaid as a gift that helps make it possible for them to serve their community, not as a burden preventing them from making the big money.

To be certain this change alone will not fix what is broken within Health Care, nor within our nation as a whole. But I think that it would be an important first step, and would help to make all the myriad of subsequent steps that must be taken possible.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

(This article originally appeared at The One About…)

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