Growing Up In the Time of Stories

Note: My apology - but the Blogspot program is malfunctioning a bit - some of the font sizes and spacing are off - and its not possible to correct them...


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Photos this week were chosen to give a flavor of the generation before me. ... the generation of story tellers.


Picture a warm Kansas July – its twilight and cricket sounds blend with the murmur of cottonwood leaves... Six or eight visiting relative sit together out in the evening coolness visiting and laughing together.  The conversation always involves the recounting of stories – Remembering times past, personal adventures... it is retelling of who we are as a family. 

Kansas family

I remember my Mother telling how, during the depression, she and her sister and brother went together to the south of Kansas to a place where tomatoes could be purchased for next to nothing – they loaded their Model T with a pressure cooker and jars.  When they arrived they rented a place and then picked and canned tomatoes  to take home for the extended family to use in the wintertime.  They carried home as many filled jars as the Model T could carry!

My father, Anton Zlatnik, delivering the mail with horse and buggy

My Uncle John sometimes told how he and his brother Frank ended up in Northern Idaho at the end of the wheat harvest season.  They encountered a mine owner that hired them to serve as watchmen for the winter.  They were snowed in for months and had to use a dog sled for travel. Being avid hunters, they had plenty of meat. The furs they trapped left them with a tidy profit on the side.  They were warm, well fed, and free to have good adventures! 

Grandfather Antonine and his prize hog

My father retold stories that he had heard from his mother in Bohemia.  Stories of sleigh rides in the wintertime with wolves howling around them, stories of the community of farm families gathering together to cut each persons grain with large hand scythes, then gathering in the shade of trees to share their noon meal together.  She told about leaving the Bohemian town of her birth and going with her new husband first to eastern Poland to take on a land-grant  farm that turned out to be less than they wanted– and then coming to America to the Czech community in Kansas...and the great challenges they had to overcome. He told of the confusion of starting school without knowing any English - and the help he received from his fellow Czech speaking students.

Uncle Fred in W.Nebraska

My aunt spoke of how the young Zlatnik and Fuller and Naille teenagers ( three neighboring farms ) gathered at one of the farms to spend winter evenings singing together around the piano.  How they would pop popcorn and bring apples up from the cellar.  Several of them eventually married....some years later...

Aunt Bertha told of going off into the meadow to practice whistling – She could whistle and blend two tones at once.  She listened to the birds and immitated their calls.  She became quite famous locally and provided special music in church services, and was even approached to whistle on the radio. But when she got dentures she could no longer whistle as before.

Uncle John in the Snake River Canyon Idaho

Uncle Frank told of going up into  the indian reservation to buy cattle for the cattle yard.  One day he was invited by a Potowatomee Indian family to stay for a meal. He happily  accepted.  This meal was particularly tasty – roast meat of some sort...( He was often fed wild game )... After enjoying seconds – He asked what kind of meat it was – and to his surprise found he had been eating roast skunk.

Travel in China

My mother told about her encounters in China as an educational missionary for the Methodist church.  How she would ride in a chair, slung between two carriers using long bamboo poles – out to distant villages where she worked with the lay teachers.  In that time there were no roads between towns – only walking paths between the fields.  She told of temples and markets so very different from anything I knew as a farm child in Kansas.  The told of bandits and revolutionaries having their heads cut off, and hung in the center of town as a warning to others.

Child care

Stories sometimes involved farm tractors sunk in mud up to their axles –and of skunks hidden in feed barrels.  I heard of wind storms and floods, of chicken hawks and marauding coyotes. I heard about surviving steam pressure explosions, nearly being trapped in a limestone cave, about hard work and hairbrain adventures.  I heard about crushing hardships and survival, about courage and kindness.  Everyone had stories to share – and telling stories well was a highly prized skill..

Building the grain elevator - for drying and processing corn and wheat - Delia Kansas

This was a time before  “reality TV“, situation comedies with canned laugh tracks, or non-stop talk shows... Before all that, I lived in a society of people that talked to each other for entertainment.  

I heard a message that told me that it is possible to experience challenging times and to thrive in the long  run.  Some stories told about accepting challenges and taking reasonable risks. I learned to laugh at myself and to try to help others.  

The stories were not particularly directed at me as a child; they were a form of sharing primarily between adults - but kids were listening and learning too. The stories that I heard let me know who I was as a part of my family and community. I'm sure those stories had a lot to do with the  mental attitude that I developed as an adult. 

I am fortunate to have grown up in the time of story tellers.

Joe Miller and my father Anton - The two rural mail carriers in the early years of Delia Kansas

Dirt Hole and Castle

The start of June bring back memories of summer vacations when our kids were small... We read somewhere that kids needed a place where they could dig...so we set aside a back corner of the yard and give the kids coffee cans to use in digging ... soon this was the favorite activity for all the neighborhood kids.  It was not unusual to see four or five kids all out moving dirt. Over time, this hole continued to grow wider and deeper.   For several years the “dirt hole” was a favorite place to play with toys – to live out fantasies. 

Our boys and two friends in their dirt hole years

When the hole got to be about 4 foot deep and several feet long and wide... a friend of our was working as a construction engineer on the new Dumbarton Bridge project...He said that they had large amounts of remnant wooden timbers that would be great to cover the dirt hole and turn it into something resembling a mine shaft... great... just the thing!  We acquired a big pile of wooden boards and timbers of all sizes.  With all this wood we got the idea of building a castle (the kids were at this time very much into a medieval theme – so they told me what they had in mind and we set to work...

The Castle - dungeon is below and runs to the left

The project began simply and over time expanded... As the structure grew, I was afraid that I might run afoul of the city building code – so I went down to the city office and told them what we had in mind – They got all official with me and started talking about earthquake factors and wind sheer ratios...adequate cement for footings and providing railings... I asked “what would happen if I just went home and built it the way we had it originally  planned” ... there answer was “ Nothing”... so that’s what I did...

The final structure had a ground level floor with a trap door that went down into the “dungeon” (i.e. the dirt hole)... a short ladder went up through another trap door to the upper deck about 5 feet off the ground... then there was a “tower” with a ladder that went up another ladder, through a trap door to the upper platform about 8 feet off the ground... As a responsible parent I made sure that there were safety railings.   On a project like this the work is ongoing  and continual modifications were added to the structure.

Sword fight with cardboard helmets

  This was the site of many amazing adventures.  The boys cut loops from tire inner tubes to make giant rubber bands... it was great fun for them to “shoot” them with wooden rubber-band guns made using my electric jig saw.  The guns had a wooden firing mechanism that could “shoot’ the rubber band for several feet... What epic battles were held in and around the castle!  Note:  Being hit by a loop of inner tube is highly symbolic - there is no danger or pain on impact...

Firing mechanism for rubber band "gun"

Our eldest son escalated the conflict by constructing a wooden catapults powered by multiple rubber bands that were capable of projecting an overripe tomato flying across the entire yard.  I fear that at times our youngest son and his friends took on the roll of “target” – but the catapult was notoriously inaccurate so I don’t recall that they ever hit anyone.

Surviving 'Medieval' shield

On one occasion the youngest son and his friend decided to make a small twig fire down inside on the bottom of the dirt hole...their goal was to roast hot dogs... The neighbors smelled the smoke and fearing the worst looked over the fence, and saw smoke billowing out of the underground... In alarm they called for the boys... who emerged from the hole and sheepishly had to face the neighbors and tell what they were doing ...Good to have observant neighbors.

As the boys moved into their teen years the old wooden castle began to show signs of decay- termites and dry rot... it was a sad day when the tower had to came down and the dirt hole filled in.

2 shot rubber band gun made of 1/2 inch plywood- the rubber bands fit over the front end and then are pulled back and fixed over the firing mechanism - A small downward movement of the lever releases the rubber band

Even today when I dig in the area I feel like an archeologist because I often find wheels from old Fisher Price toys, pieces of construction sets, or plastic action figures.  It is pretty funny  how cut inner tube loops do not deteriorate when buried in the ground.

Notes: 5/25/12

Sunspots an a sidewalk on a normal day - each round circle is a 'pin-hole' image  of the sun...

it was a fine eclipse!  About 6:30PM our local time while the sun was still quite high in the sky, an eerie dimness to the light of day fell over our world.. Once we saw that the eclipse had begun we went out into our street with our mylar filter and passed it around for our neighbors  to look through...There was a kind of celebration about our spontaneous gathering...

If you were in the strip of optimal eclipse you would see this 'Ring of fire' - the moon is between us and the sun -
For us in Fremont it was over 80% covered

I took special interest in the appearance of sun images caused by spots of light coming between tree leaves:  Just like a pin hole camera forms a true image inside the camera, so the light through every tree leaf opening will cast an image of the sun - when the sun was in eclipse every image was a crescent:

Each crescent is an image of the sun formed here on a fence

Peak of eclipse - no 'sun circles' but 'sun crescents'

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It is so good to see the national economy once again steadily improving . The investment market is climbing, manufacturing levels are better, unemployment is now back to 8.1% and continuing to get better, home sales are improving, foreclosures are down... Check the US Department of Labor statistics for the latest data:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf    

Used furniture store - Oakland

There is, however, an 'elephant in the room' (something obvious that nobody wants to talk about).  Most of the industrial products sold in the United States are now manufactured in foreign plants.  Our clothing is made in Asia, or Latin America, steel and heavy industry have left our shores, electronics produced in Asia, even household appliances are made in US factories located in Mexico.  Steve Jobs (founder of Mackintosh Computers) when asked by Mr. Obama about the manufacture of iPhones:  “Why can’t that work come home?”  Mr. Jobs replied, “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”

Rural poverty

The purpose of American business is to maximize profits and as long as quality workers can be found willing to work for considerably less than US living wages, manufacture will continue to be exported.  American company profits are being used to start new plants outside of the US where labor is cheaper.  We will never return to the days when our economy will be based on semi skilled work that provided middle class incomes - not until we restructure our economic model! The prime motive of US business in not altruism.

No matter which political party is in power those jobs are not coming back... That’s the ‘elephant’ no one wants to think about...

Where you go when you have bills to pay

It means that we have to think smart and develop in new directions - It is imperative that we have a well educated and well trained population.( the rest of the world recognizes this! ) There was never a time in our history when easy access to quality affordable education was more needed so that we can adapt and survive in this changing world economy

Homeless man in San Francisco - its safer to sleep on a busy street than in a quiet alley...

I am especially concerned that even research and development jobs are now being increasingly exported abroad... Why pay US graduates when quality research can be found abroad...?  Our new college graduates are entering an uncertain job market with massive college debt hanging over their heads.  

President Obama said this week: "My job as president is not to simply maximize profits. The job of president is to make sure that everyone has a fair shot."

A once fine home now divided into low cost rooms for rent

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have a new book : “The Rich and the Rest of Us” that I want to recommend to you:  <http://www.amazon.com/The-Rich-Rest-Manifesto-ebook/dp/B007ST4B1U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1337707626&sr=1-1>

They completed an amazing trip across America speaking to individuals and groups about current economic condition in America - the book is readable and fascinating. 

How do you transport "your stuff" when homeless - A grocery cart!

Here are some of the  facts they list about poverty in America today.

1.  Many people see poverty as caused by a character flaw. For the 150 million American currently in or near poverty their poverty is due to not being able to find work, massive war expenditures, the recession, corporate greed, or income inequality. Many have done everything 'right' but the jobs still aren't there.... 

2.  American manufacturing is not coming back. Over 50,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost each month since 2001...Mostly exported abroad to earn higher profits for American owners.

Living in an impoverished neighborhood - security is an ever present concern

3.  Most of the post recession jobs pay substantially lower wages than previous jobs... Many people with skills and training are now working as cashiers, stock clerks, or in food preparation.   Many people have to hold down two or three jobs to approach a basic living income.

4.  Those receiving support from the government are not just immigrants and people of color... Today nearly 48.5% of all Americans receive some type of government benefit - 70% of food stamp recipients are white.

Lucky to get minimum wage

5.  According to ‘Feeding America’ 50 million American go to bed hungry on a given night. Visits to food banks have risen 30% since the start of the recession.  

6.  The National coalition for homeless veterans estimate that over 67,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.   Services have long waiting periods. This is not right!

Churches like this often provide a range of physical as well as spiritual support to the poor

7.  The causes of the national deficit are not caused by government 'handouts'... Look at the evidence - Bush era tax cuts and the massive expense of the Iraq/Afghani wars, the trade deficit, the mortgage crisis and the recession... those are the real causes,

Link of the week: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/22/1093906/-Obama-did-not-go-on-federal-spending-binge-Pace-of-increase-now-lowest-it-has-been-in-decades

8.  The wealthy is America pay only an average of 21.5% of their wealth in taxes - with the Bush era tax cuts they pay only 5.5% on all capital gains. Records show that the money they save from lower taxes does not ‘trickle down’ - it is not used to build American factories - not used for American wages - but saved in massive savings accounts or used to finance overseas operations and overseas salaries. 

Oakland homes and rentals - many who are one paycheck from being poor may live here...

9.  Rising health care costs are the major contributor to the rise in bankruptcy filings among elderly.    If the health care bill is not supported by the Supreme Court the number of uninsured will sky rocket.  For many, they will postpone care until their is an emergency need, and then they will use already overcrowded emergency rooms.  45,000 people died each year without health insurance before the National Health Care plan was implemented.

10. Poverty is not just an inner city phenomenon -  The number of poor people living in the suburbs of US cities rose by 24% in 2010, poverty in central cities rose by 20%.


11.  We can also forget the idea that someone can't be poor if they have a television and a washing machine...America is awash in cast off used appliances available for a bargain price... Many people acquired these "luxuries" in years past when they had a little more disposable income...

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Notes 5/17/12

Photos this week are from our trip to visit our youngest son when he was in the Peace Corp in Kyrgystan... The photos are a mismatch to the content of my blog this week - but I chose them because they reminding me of great travel experiences shared with my wife Judy.

A.  Judy's operation and recovery

1.  MONDAY 1:25 pm: I have been sitting in the hospital waiting room while my wife Judy had now been in surgery for over 4 hours now. There is a TV screen in one corner with patient information showing in three colors ...pre-surgery, in surgery, and in recovery room.  Judy should be coming out of surgery any time now. It is an anxious time to sit and wait...According to the monitor there are 16 other surgeries going on at the same time and the families and friends of the patients are all waiting with me

Samarkand 

2. 1:40 The surgeon came out and told me that she was pleased with the surgery and Judy was doing fine!  What a relief.  While the procedure was not for a serious life-threatening situation, the quality of Judy's daily life will be improved. It was done using remote monitoring, two small incisions in her abdomen, miniature camera and remote controlled arthroscopic surgical tools!  Amazing!  I went in to sit with Judy while she came out of her anesthetic - another hour.  Each sleeping patient has an RN sitting with them observing the data as it appears on a TV monitor.   - She will spend this first night in the hospital. 

Judy in Gazebo

3.  TUESDAY: The hospital released Judy at 1 pm today and she is now resting at home under my watchful care and three somewhat subdued dogs that seem to realize that "their Judy" is not able to be as playful as usual.  Friends have brought over tasty good food, and I have done my best to prepare delicious food too.  Neither Judy nor I like to take any more pain med than necessary and so she is attempting to go "cold turkey" today.  She is in surprisingly good humor considering all that she has been through.

Market Bazaar

4.      THURSDAY:  Now the challenge is not to return to normal activity too quickly.  Judy is by nature an active person and I keep telling her to be a little patient with herself - go slow... not easy for her... In this situation she is however quite attentive to the needs of her body ...most of the time...there are things she wants to do...

We are so thankful that the procedure went well, and that her recovery seems to be progressing on cue. 

5.  FRIDAY - Judy made her first outing on her own today - she had a hair appointment and then went to visit a favorite gelato shop that had closed for remodeling and was now holding a grand reopening.   She still gets very tired at times but is showing steady improvement.

When you travel, you must hire a car and driver... here he buys gasoline

B.  Solar Eclipse: Check this map ( link below )  to see if you live anywhere along the path of the solar eclipse on Sunday May 20th - we won't have a total eclipse here in Fremont, but quite a good partial eclipse.  There is something very primal about seeing the sun lose its light in mid day - Eclipses have long been seen as sinister or a "sign" of something usually bad that is impending.  

A wooden mosque - this is a Muslim land

Look at the facts

1.   The eclipse is caused by the moon passing between the sun and earth, casting its shadow onto the earth.

2.  The shadow covers only a narrow strip as it works its way across the surface of the earth.

Traditional summer yert - used by nomadic herdsmen - still in frequent use

3.  Eclipses have occurred somewhere on earth at predictable intervals for as long as the moon has travelled around the earth.  The human response to eclipses is fascinating!

Primitive people knew and dreaded there occurrence.
In pre-modern Asia - it was said that a dragon was eating the sun...

"Fast food" market - BBQ grills kebobs

Judy and I last experienced an eclipse when we were in Samarkand... people there crashed metal pans together to end the magic of the eclipse. Judy and I went around like two teachers telling everyone not to look at the sun ( which  many were doing ).

Even today, there are regular predictions that an eclipse is an indicator for the approach "end times" -

Blocks of animal dung to be burnedin kitchen heating and cooking

Something to do during our eclipse: Do you recall how a pinhole camera works?  Light enters a small  hole and forms an image on the screen ( like a camera ) .  The same thing happens normally when sunlight passes between small holes between the leaves of a tree. Round images of the sun are shown on the ground underneath a tree.  They are called "sun circles". Notice them now before the eclipse.  During the eclipse the images formed under the tree will not be round but crescent - each on an image of the eclipsed sun!   Look during this eclipse - it will amaze you!

Rice merchants

I"m sure you remember not to look at an eclipse directly with your eyes - don't try to use smoked glass, photographic film, or dark sun glasses... None of these can protect you from permanent eye damage.    It only takes a moment to scar your retina! There are special solar viewing filters  that you can buy or welders glasses for safe viewing. Go to a shop that sells welders supplies and ask for #14 welder's glasses - they cost about 5-6 $.

Kyrgystan has 4 major ethnic groups: Kyrgyz, Usbek, Chinese muslims, and Russians -
... this man is Russian

Eclipse links:

http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/slider/ring-of-fire-road-trip-eclipse-chasing-in-sf/

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2012.html#SE2012May20A

We spent a few hours collecting wild mushrooms - good for a mushroom and meat stew!

Notes 5.11.12

Photos this week: I keep a few cactus plants in large terra cotta pots around the perimeter of our patio, and they are now blooming!  Many cactus blossoms last for only one day ( some for only one night ) - many are pollinated by bats or insects of the night.


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It is the season of "Pomp and Circumstance" of flat black hats, academic stoles and Hawaiian leis...  Graduation! As I sit and observe the line of students receiving their diplomas, it is a time of reflection for me.  I think of the hard work that went into this moment for each student , and the wonderful sense of release .   Commencement means "beginning", but really, this is only a stage in the process of becoming.  I think of the many choices made by each student to reach this point...Few people experience a smooth path in their journey to "becoming”.  Working with young adults,  I am convinced that this time in life  is one of the most challenging,  because it is a time of such critical decisions, made with limited  resources.

barrel cactus

In my own life, I  remember the effects of chance conversations that opened up new directions for me. Sometimes it is only a casual word that planted an idea and helped me to make a critical decision.    But, there were times when I had to draw on whatever resources I had to make the best decision I knew how to make at that time... to choose either the safe path or the path of challenge.  (How do we teach a young child to walk the stony path between 'good' challenges and avoiding dangerous risks?)

Night blooming Cereus

I guess this is where the school of 'hard knocks'   comes in.  There are most certainly times of frustration and anguish when the way seems foggy and steep....  Many tough decisions are lonely.  What is the invisible, non-verbal, something that we learned as a child that keeps us going when we cannot see the way? It can make all the difference.

Mammillaria sp.

I wonder about the random events that have been thrust upon us - moving to a new location as a child, meeting person X who played a pivotal place in life.  I think about who we are and the decisions we have made about others - We create wide or narrow circles around the people we encounter...  We either accept or reject others into or out of our community.  I suppose this is really about fear - are we afraid of what we might lose by opening up to others?   Who are 'the others' that we recognize as separate from ourselves.   Where did we learn this?  What are we afraid of?

Opuntia  sp.

If I had been born a woman, or black, or six feet 4" tall, how would any of these changes  have affected who I am today?  Suppose I had been born in Afghanistan or North Korea ... What different decisions or opportunities would I be facing today? Suppose instead of growing up in a loving home, I had been raised by abusive or impoverished  parents...  My parents each produced a great variety of gametes all potentially available to fertilize the egg that became me - talk about random chance - if I were the product of any different gamete combination I would be a different person today!

Echinocereanae sp.

When I work with interns I may appear as someone who has  my "ducks in a row" with regard to my teaching skills. I wish these folks could know the challenges, blind alleys, and daily courage  that led me to where I am today...(Far from feeling like I have all the answers - I feel like I have all the questions... and some working conclusions that work for me most of the time...). 

Mammillaria sp.

I am aware of problems and questions in education that I wish I could answer.  I care so much for individual students who for some reason don’t feel connected to the world of hope and possibility - but have turned away by the age of 15 or 12...   I see bright capable kids growing up in blighted poverty ridden communities... with half a chance they could make major contributions to our  collective future... but their chances of surviving the streets, or receiving the help they need... it is oh so slim...  I look at a classroom of these kids so full of hope and positive energy and I think about the chances of success... It makes me wish so much that I could do more...

Barrel Cactus

I fret over whether these eager new graduates will find work in todays economy, do they have the skills that they need?  And then I remember the resilience of the human spirit.  These folks will do alright .  Most of them have the knowledge and adaptability to adjust to the world as they find it.  Many will thrive.   For them all, the processes of change and growth are not coming to any end with commencement - but instead truly "commencing" ... a new beginning.

So all these thoughts and more go through my mind as I sit listening to the names of all the graduating students being read.  Adams to Zamora...

Cereus detail

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Notes - May 4

Photos this week are the Northern California Pacific Ocean coast

1.  Ah! it is a beautiful day in May - the native grasses are high, and many plants are sending their perfume into the air! It is nearing the peak of the growing season.  Eons of natural adaptation have prepared native vegetation to grow when there is winter rain and then when the rain stops to survive through the long dry summer hibernation with deep roots or seeds.  We humans who live here can either work with the natural system or fight it... We can seek out native plants or plants from elsewhere in the world with the same growth pattern and allow them to thrive in our garden... or we can try to grow things that are foreign to this habitat - things like green lawns, roses, and petunias... If you want those plants you should live in a location with lots of summer rain...

Temperature all year is mid 50 degrees F

2.  May Day happened this week!  There were many groups who marched in the Bay Area on Tuesday, and it is fascinating to see how various news sources covered the same event.  It is a reminder to me that public opinion is formed by the sources that we choose to read rather than events on the ground.  

Sea Anemone in low tide - when the water in high their tentacles are extended

Some news sources stressed the sincere frustration felt by many Americans toward the concentration of national wealth in the hands of a few wealthy people, inequalities in taxes leave the very wealthy paying disproportionally less than the working poor, there is a growing disregard for the public good that is being moved from concept to law, our congress that has been held hostage by Republican ideologues. What do you do when you are wild with frustration that just seems to be getting worse? If you listen to Fox news, you might think that the protesters were only a brainless body of vandals and troublemakers looking for excuse wrack havoc... Who is paying them to tell us that message?

Under the board walk - Santa Cruz

Here are eleven points from Robert Reich's book "Beyond Outrage" - that help me to understand our present situation.   I am a concerned American. There are times when I feel compelled to speak out...  You and I  have voices, and now is the time to speak up. Is it not being a good American to only say "We are the best" and " Don't you dare say anything critical about  my country"...  When the system is broken its up to us to speak the truth and do what we can to make it better...

1.  Government Size isn't the Real issue - It's for whom the Government is being used.  A recent Pew poll found that 77% of Americans questioned said that too much power is in the hands of a few rich people and cooperations.   Wall street can get bailed out - but 1 out of 3 homeowners with a mortgage in now underwater - they have not gotten helped.  Bankruptcy laws prohibit reorganization of personal mortgage loans... but cooperations can freely use the bankruptcy laws...Lobbyists at work!

Breaking surf -about 5 ft high

2.  Republicans love to talk about the budget deficit - but the biggest source of the deficit is big money's corruption of Washington.  One example:  Medicare's administrative costs are 3% - private companies average 10%. Health ad. costs. The insurers made sure that the "public option" died in its tracks - they would have stood to lose big money! (All they had to do was to cry 'socialist'!)

3.  America spends more on its military that do China, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, and Germany combined! Armament lobbies insist on buying outdated weapons that even the army doesn't recommend.  At least allow decisions to be made by practical people in the military and congress... not the lobbyists who are seeking to make big profits!

Wave swept beach sand and rocks

4.   Under Eisenhower the top income tax category in America paid 91% of their income.  (No body called him a socialist!)  As income and wealth have accumulated at the top so has the power of lobbyists to reduce taxes.  The Bush tax cuts capped the top rate at 35%, and reduced capital gains taxes to 15 %. Last year according to the IRS the 400 richest Americans paid an average of 17% of their income in taxes.  Mitt Romney paid 13.9%.   The only major tax increases in recent years have fallen on middle/lower income Americans. what is wrong with this picture?

5.  What happens to the money acquired by the wealthy from reduced taxes? - Some is used to buy US Treasure bills. Much of the money that major corporations spend to expand their companies is spent overseas - places with cheap labor - Central America, Asia, Eastern Europe... Research and development projects are increasingly being moved to China, India, and Europe because of the pool of well trained imaginative young minds available... so much for trickle down...It is a myth long since disproved.

Wave battered rocks - great place to search for organisms!

6. How are we going to compete at a nation if we don’t train our brightest and best?  The top 1% can afford to send their kids to good universities, but what about the rest of us - what about our bright kids that can not achieve their potential without access to quality education and affordable loans.  China is currently building 3 major universities equivalent to MIT to provide trained technical workers for their future in research and development.  - Our students are faced with fewer course offerings and higher priced college debts.

7.  So far this year 23 states have reduced education spending in addition to cuts in 2011 and 2010.  43 states are cutting back on funding for public colleges and universities.  UC Berkeley has increased tuition costs by 32 and reduced enrolled for incoming freshmen by 2300 students.  Currently the average 15 year old in America cannot answer as many test questions correctly as the average 15 year old in Shanghai

Deep water - rocks are exposures during low tide

8. The vast majority of new jobs inAmerica today are service jobs - not producing hard products that add to the economy - A worker who is making the minimum wage as a dog groomer is hardly making a living wage, is not contributing to the growth of the US economy, but is not considered unemployed.  The world economy today does not need traditional factory workers as much as it needs workers trained in technical skills - if we aren’t training them here - there are certainly other countries training them for the future.  - American corporations are increasingly seeking the talent they need from other countries. 

Sea Palm - a variety of large marine algae - also an indicator of low tide

9.  Henry Ford did a radical thing he paid his workers far higher than the prevailing wages of his day... other companies complained to him!  He said he was doing it so that his workers would be able to buy his cars... The idea grew else where... the result was the rise of the American middle class.  At the current time so much of the national money is concentrated in the hands of the top 1% that there isn't enough money in the hands of the shrinking middle class to spend the economy more rapidly out of its slump...

10.  What do we as individuals gain if collectively as a nation 50 million Americans are forced to give up their health insurance?  What do we gain if we get lower taxes but out infrastructure decays and increasingly can not function properly, What do we accomplish if we make government smaller but can no longer provide for the common good?  Instead it will serves to support a small group of industrial and financial giants.  And what do we gain if we permit the great corporations to receive still lower taxes... ?  We certainly wont be able to continue to call ourselves the "greatest country on earth" if we allow these changes to take place.

Breaking wave

11.  We should forget the terms 'liberal' and 'conservative' and replace them with 'progressive' - (planning for the future), or 'regressive' (attempting to return to the past - return to the social and labor practices of before the first world war and some want to regress back to the "gilded age" of 1880 when industry ran unobstructed. True 'conservatives' want to conserve an established tradition - these folks want to throw out our progress of the past decades and go back to an imagined time long ago...

Not a bad metaphor for our economy...

 There are those among us who pretend that none of this is true or important - they would prefer to be an  ostridge and bury their head in the sand... Educate yourself - communicate with your elected officials - vote intelligently - educate others- and dont be a pawn to the lobbyist financed press paid to engineer our opinion.

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