Of goals personal and political

This is a short diary about personal goals, and political goals, under capitalism.

In a really antsy mood, while blabbing with a friend on the Internet, I made a list of things I was “waiting for”:

  • — a job doing something I don’t dislike
  • — somebody to respond to all the essays I sent in for publication
  • — a decent party out here in the badlands east of LA (I’m hoping this will happen Saturday)
  • — a community gardens movement in this area
  • — Congress, to stand up to the Bush administration
  • — baby boomers other than Michael Albert (see the article in the most recent ZMag about SDS, sorry, you’ll have to read the whole thing in the paper version) to recognize the virtues of the new crop of student activists
  • — a movement to get the states (or districts or whatever) to quit the No Child Left Behind Act and keep the next generation from becoming test-taking robots
  • — a worldwide movement to wipe out patriarchy and reestablish feminism’s good name
  • — the politicians and the media to recognize a “global, ecologically sustainable society” as the most important overall goal
  • — being able to afford life in northern California again
  • — an ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education for a professorship that actually leads to a job
  • — a Department of Communication in a university (somewhere) that has absorbed even a small portion of the wisdom I’ve gained since graduating with my Ph. D.
  • — to meet someone whom I can imagine as a potential girlfriend
  • — a health insurance plan better than Schwarzenegger’s crime against humanity

Now, some of these look like bluntly political goals; others look like strictly personal goals.  And I’m not, strictly speaking, “waiting for” all of them; some of them I’m actually struggling to get.

But I guess what’s important about them is that they’re MY goals.  Sure, the personal is political… but there’s a key difference btwn. the two — at least the personal, my personal, is mine, whereas the political is typically irrelevant and will disappear in a few years only to be replaced by some or other fabricated pretexts for elite rule.  This, alone, should account for “issues” like “immigration policy” (keeping people in place while granting capital unlimited freedom to roam) and “politicians” such as George W. Bush (who never really stood for anything besides his promises to his backers from Day One).

Other people, of course, have their own political goals.  I’m sure they can make lists like mine, too, only different ones.  My “political” goals (stuff like “death to NCLB,” stuff which in fact comes out of my older frustration in trying to become a public school teacher and my more recent frustration in teaching unprepared college students) are my own, and that other people (as well) have goals of this sort, only they’re different from mine.

Much of the rest of the world (and here I must be careful; there are plenty of dissenters) wants to live in a world with lots of prisons and slums, for instance, and that explains why they build so many of such things.  They consume lots of gasoline and burn lots of coal because they desperately want to live in a world without polar ice caps NOW and this is the quickest way to do it maybe.  They eat lots of tuna fish because mercury poisoning is fun and the seas are better off dead, and so on.

For all the talk about wealth being in people’s set of goals (and commonplace ideology about how it’s “human nature” to be “greedy”), almost all of America chooses to be relatively poor; this explains, for instance, why the richest 1% owns 38% of all wealth.  Maybe most of the wealth-pursuing crowd prefer striving to “making it” in that sense.

If my goals were smarter than theirs, wouldn’t they (with all their brains) have figured it out, and adopted my goals as their own?  How can I claim to have better goals than theirs?  Who would you trust, them or me?  And why?  How can my goals be wiser if so few people are following them?  NCLB for instance: people are actually carrying out NCLB.  Eh?  Action repeats intention: if you hate NCLB but are carrying it out, then what’s your real intention, and what’s your real goal?

*****

Awhile back I was criticized for quoting Marx.  But the quote actually gets to the heart of what I’m after here.  To repeat:

Accumulate, accumulate! That is Moses and the prophets! “Industry furnishes the material which saving accumulates.” [23] Therefore, save, save, i.e, reconvert the greatest possible portion of surplus-value, or surplus-product into capital! Accumulation for accumulation’s sake, production for production’s sake: by this formula classical economy expressed the historical mission of the bourgeoisie, and did not for a single instant deceive itself over the birth-throes of wealth.

Actually, this statement reveals what mincemeat is made of personal goals under the spell of capitalism.  The folks running the show, i.e. the “bourgeoisie” in Marx’s 19th-century terminology, are busy “accumulating” for accumulation’s sake.  Getting wealthy is the mission; it’s the mission of corporations, whose governing boards are chartered to make profits for the wealth of the stockholders.  But it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing, as long as we’re accumulating: that’s what it means when Marx says “Accumulation for accumulation’s sake, production for production’s sake.”  What you do for wealth is something you do for its own sake.  We could be getting wealthy, for instance, at being mercenaries, or embezzlers.  What we make of the world under such a system is of no importance to its participants — it’s what we grab for ourselves that is important. 

To use Marx’s terminology, capitalist labor is “alienated.”  If we are working for someone else, what we are in fact doing matters nothing to us, because our employers hire us to do what they want.  We’ve sold the hours of our lives to them; and in return we get an hourly wage.  And that employer-want (see quote above), is determined by “accumulation.”  (In real life, of course, it’s a bit more complicated; but this is the main gist of it.)

To a certain extent, though, we try to make something of ourselves and of the world anyway.  Capitalism has relegated this to a function of “spare time” — but no matter.  So what are you “waiting for,” in the sense of what do you want to see happen?

Manadated Coverage May Solve Nothing

There are three factions in the war over health care in our country.  In one corner are the advocates of universal single-payer care, which is my favorite team and what all other developed countries provide their citizens.  It is simple, less-expensive, and more effective in delivering health care.  Any American who is proud that the quality of care in our country is on par with Cuba should have their head examined for termites.  Somehow, one of the poorest countries of the world, long hampered economically by a boycott from the United States, is able to provide care as good as we get in this country at a tiny fraction of the cost. Hip hip … um… hooray?  We have 47 million people without health insurance and medical care costs are more than double the costs in other developed countries. 

Universal health care has been branded as socialized medicine by the evolutionarily inept.  To appease those with small brains, even smaller hearts, and no functioning conscience, politicians have looked for bandaids to put on gunshot wounds.  Mandated coverage is the new trojan horse.  Make insurance companies cover people and make people buy their terrible products as the way to increase coverage and presumably give us better health outcomes.  Never mind that forcing people to buy insurance does not guarantee that insurance companies will pay the claims. 

A recent study from Duke illustrates some of the problems with mandating coverage.  The study examined “the use of mental health and pharmaceutical benefits by employees who have identical insurance benefits, including equal co-payments.”  In other words, in a perfect mandated coverage world, with people getting the same insurance benefits on paper, would it translate into equal access and care?  The study, with Barack Richman as lead author and published in the September 11 issue of Health Affairs, answered this important question.

Focusing on mental health coverage is important because of pending legislation in Congress.

Congress is now considering the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007, a renewal and extension of a 1996 law that required certain employer-provided insurance plans to offer mental health benefits that are equal to those provided for medical and surgical care. Several states also have instituted similar mandates. Such mandates might alleviate disparities in health insurance coverage, Richman writes, but until now little has been known about whether equalizing insurance benefits translates into equalizing levels of health services use.

It turns out that mandated coverage does not eliminate health care disparities, even when the benefits on paper are the same. 

Richman found that low-income and minority individuals did not utilize these insurance benefits as often as their white and higher-income co-workers. As a result, insurance companies disbursed more healthcare dollars to whites and higher-income individuals, leading to a likely “wealth transfer” from nonwhites to whites and from low-income to high-income individuals, Richman said.

In other words, mandated coverage increased or contributed to disparities in health care utilization. 

Richman’s study examined the insurance claims of more than 20,000 employees of Duke University and Duke University Health Systems from 2001 to 2004. About 68 percent of the employees were white and 24 percent were African American, and the median annual income rose from $36,000 to $40,500 over the four years of the study. These figures roughly reflect the demographic profile of both Durham County, where Duke is located, and the state of North Carolina.

The study showed that whites were significantly more likely than African Americans or Asians to file claims for mental health benefits.

Income also factored into employees’ use of benefits; as incomes rose, employees became significantly more likely to file claims. Similarly, whites were more likely than African Americans and much more likely than Asians to use pharmaceutical benefits, and as incomes rose so did use of drug benefits.

As a result, whites received nearly four times the annual insurance dollars that African Americans received and more than three times the dollars that Asians received in health insurance disbursements for mental health claims. Whites received $140 to $225 more in insurance coverage for drug claims than African Americans did, and about $500 more than Asians.

The question becomes why these disparities exist, which the Richman study was not designed to answer.

This study did not attempt to determine the causes of the gap in use of healthcare benefits, but Richman offers possible explanations, including the stigma surrounding mental illness, varying attitudes toward traditional healthcare and differing preferences for delivery of care.

These psychological factors blame the victim.  There are other possibilities.  Physicians may be less likely to ask about mental health issues and make appropriate referrals for people of color and of limited income.  In short, the attitude problem may be in the provider, not the patient.  Maybe medical management of chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease, which tend to be more prevalent in African-Americans, kept the focus of care on immediate life threatening issues. 

These explanations do not address why fewer claims were made and paid for pharmaceutical benefits.  This is perhaps the most surprising finding of all.  Were physicians writing more scripts for generics for African-Americans and Asians?  Were whites and higher income patients given scripts for newer drugs, still under patent?  Maybe the co-pays were still too high for lower income patients, particularly for newer drugs.

A major limitation of the study is that it did not track denied claims.  The numbers were strictly generated from paid claims.  One hopes that insurance companies are blind to race and socioeconomic status, but the cynic in me cannot dismiss the idea out of hand.

The third faction in the health care debate are the free market assholes that think that profit will solve everything and if poor people suffer, too bad. Here is one of the biggest assholes on the planet pushing profit for pigs.

PONY PARTY… the empty stall edition

I’ve grown accustomed to your Face screen name… to see it every day. please don’t leave. me here. surely, you can find your way back.

DREAM Act: Time to Take Action.

(Duke is one of the best bloggers on immigration in the known blogosphere. If you want to get edumacated on this issue, he’s the one to read. (He’s also on our blogroll for his blog “Migra Matters”) – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

One would think that a bill that would allow 60,000 high school graduates a year the opportunity to pursue higher education could garner pretty widespread support in Washington, particularly given our President’s commitment to educational excellence and leaving no child behind.

And if these graduates came from a segment of society which the right-wing continually claims under-performs academically and eventually becomes a burden on society, one would think winger politicians would be falling over themselves to support legislation that would enable these ethnic scholars to become more productive members of society, even if to only supply more to the tax base.

Yeah, I Know..who am I kidding.

We all know that wingers see 60,000 immigrant kids yearning for an education and say: “No way, your American dream ends right here, we don’t care that you were raised and schooled in this country, we don’t care that despite all odds, you’ve succeeded, we don’t care that you’re just as ‘American’ as the next kid.”  …all they see are “illegal aliens”

Each year approximately 2.8 million students graduate from United States High Schools. Some of them will go on to college, join the military, or take other paths in life, hopefully all becoming productive members of society, But for approximately 60,000  of them these opportunities will never be available , not because they lack motivation, or achievement, but because of the status passed on to them by their parents. They cannot attend college,  or otherwise live a full lifes. Children that grew up on American soil, respected the laws of this country, and want nothing more than to be recognized for what they are, Americans….despite the “sins of there fathers.”

But it doesn’t have to be this way

A simple little bill, written by Sen.Dick Durbin(D-Il), can change the situation.

At seven pages long it’s got a few simple provisions that would allow thousands of kids who’ve worked hard and played by the rules to qualify for the exact same rights afforded every student in the nation. … the right to continue their educations and make a better life for themselves and there families.

Wingers call the legislation “just one more shamnsty” bill, because it allows those who have lived here most of there lives, and know no other home, a conditional reprieve from arrest and deportation. It allows them a chance to temporarily shrug off the yoke of their parents “misdeeds” and provides them an opportunity to prove themselves “worthy” of their adopted home.

The DREAM Act would provide a path to legality for persons brought illegally to the United States by their parents as children, or whose parents attempted to immigrate legally but were then denied legality.

To qualify, the immigrant student would have to meet certain requirements:

  • Proof of having arrived in the United States before reaching 16 years of age;
  • Proof of residence in the United States for a least five (5) consecutive years since their date of arrival.
  • Having graduated from an American High School, or obtained a GED.
  • “Good moral character,” essentially defined as the absence of a significant criminal record (or any drug charges whatsoever).

After meeting the above requirements students would be eligible to apply for a temporary six  year “conditional” residence permit which would allow them to live legally in the United States, obtain driver’s licenses, attend college as in-state residents, work legally (including obtaining a social security number), and apply for special travel documents which would allow for travel outside of the country for limited amounts of time.

During the six years of conditional status, the eligible immigrant would be required to either:

  1. graduate from a two-year community college,
  2. Complete at least two years towards a 4-year degree, or
  3. serve two years in the U.S. military.

After the six year period, an immigrant who meets at least one of these three conditions would be eligible to apply for legal permanent resident (green card) status. During their temporary time, immigrants would not be eligible for federal higher education grants such as Pell grants, though they would be able to apply for student loans and work study.

If the immigrant does not meet the educational or military service requirement within the six year time period, their temporary residence would be revoked and he or she would be subject to deportation.

During the six years, the immigrant must not commit any crimes other than those considered non-drug related misdemeanors, regardless of whether or not they have already been approved for permanent status at the end of their six years.

Being convicted of a major crime or drug-related infraction would automatically remove the six year temporary residence status and he or she would be subject to deportation.

If the immigrant meets all of the conditions at the end of the 6-year conditional period, he or she would be granted a permanent green card with the same rights as a permanent resident alien, including the right to apply for U.S. citizenship.

It’s a simple enough bill. No hundreds of pages of legal-speak and loopholes like most immigration related legislation.

The qualifications are simple and cut and dry, The “benefits” and obligations easily understood. You can read a copy here to see for yourself.

Wingers are already gearing up to fight this bill. Their spin machine of obfuscating rhetoric is ready to go. Numbers USA has already sent out hundreds of thousands of action alerts to oppose the legislation. Michele Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Relly and Lou Dobbs are already spreading their foul bile and propaganda.

But there’s not much to debate here.

One either sees these children raised and schooled in America as future Americans …or sees them as nothing more than the products of their parents “misdeeds” who must be punished the rest of their lives as such.

CALL YOUR SENATOR NOW (call between 9am and 5 pm)

OR E-MAIL YOU SENATOR

OR BETTER YET, FAX YOUR SENATOR NOW




THE SWING VOTE LIST

The following Senators have not yet committed on the DREAM Act

If any of these are your Senators, contact them through the direct channels provided above.

If not,  phone them by contacting the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121

Alabama:  Shelby
Alaska:  Murkowski, Stevens
Arkansas:  Pryor
Colorado:  Allard
Georgia: Chambliss, Isakson
Idaho:  Crapo
Indiana:  Bayh
Iowa:  Grassley, Harkin
Kansas:  Brownback,Roberts
Kentucky:  McConnell
Louisiana:  Landrieu
Maine:  Collins
Michigan:  Stabenow
Minnesota:  Coleman
Mississippi: Cochran
Missouri:  Bond, McCaskill
Montana: Baucus, Tester
Nebraska:  Nelson (Ben)
Nevada: Ensign
New Hampshire:  Sununu
New Mexico:  Bingaman, Domenici
North Carolina:  Burr, Dole
North Dakota:  Dorgan
Ohio:  Brown, Voinovich
Oklahoma:  Coburn
Oregon:  Smith
South Carolina:  DeMint
South Dakota:  *Johnson, Thune
Tennessee:  Alexander, Corker
Texas:  Cornyn, Hutchison
Utah:  Hatch
Vermont:  Sanders
Virginia:  Warner, Webb
West Virginia:  Byrd, Rockefeller
Wyoming:  Enzi, Barrasso


and let them know;
you support the children,
you support education,
you support fairness,
you support opportunity,
you support the Dream Act.

TALKING POINTS
1)  SUPPORT the Durbin DREAM Act Amendment to the Defense Authorization (H.R. 1585)

2)  Each year, thousands of immigrants who graduate from high school and who have grown up in the United States are unable to pursue their dreams of going to college because they lack legal immigration status.

3)  This amendment would provide deserving undocumented immigrant students with an opportunity to apply for legal status and to continue their education.

4)  Children who were not old enough to make their own decisions when entering the United States should not be held responsible for their parents’ actions. They should be given an opportunity to go earn legal status and contribute to this country.

5) Providing these children with the opportunity to come out of the shadows and maximize their potential will strengthen the nation’s economic foundation and remedy a clear injustice in our immigration system.

For more information see: National Immigration Law Council

Les Fruits de Mer.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

This is Mr. KrisC, on his fathers’ boat out of Provincetown.  Mr. C. comes from a long line of Portuguese fisherman and his people have been fishing these waters for five generations.  We have made a wonderful living because of it, as have the previous generations. 

The industry is dying, however.  Everybody sees it, and it affects us all.
Hold your breath and dive into the big blue below the fold……

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The fishing industry is very well regulated and since the adaptation of on-board global positioning systems, very well managed.  Most of the fishermen I know and love are respectful of the regulations, the ocean and its’ marine life.  However, dragging the bottom of the ocean or over-fishing has serious consequences, which of course, results in fishing ground depletion. The fishing village of Provincetown has become more of an LGBT destination since the town people have had to move from the fishing industry into a seasonal tourist mecca. 

The fish market that once thrived on the pier has closed while a lone cold storage truck awaits the catch from the incoming boats.  Sail boats and small motor craft are slowly replacing the large and rusty, iron ladies usually named after the owners children. 

Therefore, it is increasingly necessary to move away from state waters into federal waters in order to find the catch.  That requires that the boats be larger, to fare the open sea, trips become longer in order to reach the fishing grounds and the permits become more expensive since the catch is increasingly dwindling.  It is the typical American nightmare (as opposed to the American Dream), the larger corporations, in this case, the larger commercial boats take over the market and close out the smaller family run businesses.

The owner of a large commercial dragger or trapper holds permits in both state and federal waters, is given an amount of fishing days for each permit and is given a schedule of when and where he can fish/drag/trap. He is also given limitations to his catch and a minimum size requirement, just as in recreational fishing. 

These regulations are constantly being reviewed and changed in accordance to the stocks themselves.  There are “open area” trips where boats with these types of permits have an alloted amount of time to catch as many bags of (let’s say) scallops in that time as possible.  The captain is given specific coordinates to fish and is heavily fined if he is caught outside of these coordinates.  This is closely watched by GPS. 

There are also (very expensive) permits for “closed area” trips.  This is an area that has been closed for a certain amount of time to replenish its’ stock-scallops require 7 years for example. These are usually the best type of trips, reaping the best tasting fruits and retrieving the highest price per pound.  These trips, too, are heavily regulated and sometimes require an “observer” from the Division of Fisheries.  They will record data pertinent to that specific area for future regulations.  Observers also watch that the crew are not taking anything other than what they are permitted to take. 
This is the type of boat Mr. C. works on and is gone for 16 days at a time, he is on one right now, as a matter of fact. 

I’m sure many of you have seen the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch”, it’s an awesome series.  The Discovery Channel has also been airing “Lobster Wars” filmed in the vicinity of Georges Bank filming boats from Mass. and Rhode Island.  These are great depictions of a fisherman’s life.  I am proud to be a part of this amazing lifestyle, even though I await my husband with bated breath.  (Umm, ewww!) (What the hell is “Bated” breath anyway?)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
  Long Point Lighthouse-Provincetown, MA

Fuck George W. Bush — Look To New Orleans Instead!

I like to read the local NOLA blogs, one riffs off the other, you put ’em  together and get a wonderful kaleidoscopic view of life in the great city of New Orleans.

Don’t have much to say, just wanted to share this video I found at Ashley Morris: The Blog of Clint Maedgen and the Preservation Hall Band.

Fuck George W. Bush!!  Remember New Orleans!

I know it said “there’s more.”  But there isn’t any more.  Fooled ya!

PONY PARTY… hay, are you happy?

As economists, psychologists and biologists try to determine what makes a person happy or unhappy, one factor stands out as especially powerful. To a large degree, it seems, happiness is inherited.

Well, that might be good news for some. Kinda takes the pressure off, doesn’t? Trying to figure out why oh why nothing fits? Why you default to a frown instead of a smile or how it is that puppies tend to piss you off and babies… well, let’s just say you wouldn’t be a good campaigner.

Here’s an old article from Forbes on happiness or lack thereof.

So tell me… are you happy? or just happy to learn biology sets you free: embrace the curmudgeon within…

_____________________________
Pony Party is a gathering place. Please don’t recommend as we do not want to take up space in the recommended diary list.

hay now hay now, it’s pfiore8 in the corral… so go ahead then… talk, play, and remember to be excellent to each other

Fuck George Bush