All The News the Media Care to Share

The Catholic Church defines two kinds of sin - sins of commission and sins of omission. It seems that the media commit both, but mainly sins of omission. They decide what stories to print and which not to.

They have stated repeatedly that Russian hacked into the DNC and turned the damaging emails over to Wikileaks. The Russians and Wikileaks have repeatedly denied this. Now it appears possible that a DNC staffer named Sean Rich was the guilty party. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange confirmed as much. Rich was murdered a few months ago. But the media want it to be Russia's fault, it makes for more interesting news and seems to confirm that Russia is evil.

None of the reports I have read tell what U.S did to interfere with fair elections in other countries doing more much more than trying to hack into our actual voting booths. The U.S. got rid of Chile's  elected president, Allende, and put Pinochet in control, for fear that Allende would be too far to the left. The U.S. got rid of Iran's elected official for fear that he would stop providing us with oil and put in his place the Shah of Iran, who arrested and tortured his own people. More recently we helped overthrow the longtime presidents

of Egypt and Libya turning the latter into chaos. We helped get rid of the the elected president of the Ukraine fearing that he would side with Russia and not join NATO. Then President Obama told the English that if they voted for Brexit, they would be last on his list for trade, trying to influence their election.

More recently the media has failed to report the misadventures of the DNC's former leader, Debbie Wasserman Shultz, for hiring IT brothers who were arrested as they tried to leave the country. They had all the correspondence of the DNC and its efforts to elect HRC by getting rid of her opponent Bernie Sanders.

In California, the media has not released the mindlessness of the CHP, which sent 18 officers to guard an unpopular Republican state congressman who backed an increase of the state's gasoline tax. There were about 15 peaceful protesters who left the building and a force of 18 CHP officers were there to guard against them. The Highway Patrol's duty is to patrol the highway. They came in about 18 patrol vehicles including cars, motorcycles and had a helicopter overhead. 

CBS news anchor Elaine Quijano when reporting on incidents involving undocumented immigrants like bus crashes or those crossing the border inside a sealed truck, refuses to call them undocumented immigrants as other stations do, preferring to just call them people, which of course they are.

They do not report that German chancellor Angela Merkel's tragic mistake of inviting all those wanting to leave their lands to come to Europe flooding Greece, Italy and going to England, France and Sweden, countries that have generous welfare programs. Many EU countries have closed their doors to them.

The media doesn't report that most of the 50 Muslim countries refuse to take these refugees citing security concerns. While Turkey and Jordan have taken many in, countries like Saudi Arabia will not accept their fellow Sunnis and Iran will not accept its fellow Shiites  and the other Gulf states have also closed their doors to these refugees. Many refugees who share common religious and cultural values do not seem to want to go to their neighboring countries because even if they were accepted, they would not get generous welfare programs. They also fail to report that the refugees coming to America are treated better than many of our 30+ million Americans who live in poverty, by getting free housing, food vouchers, and even employment opportunities. 

The media does not tell us how undocumented immigrants claiming asylum can wait years to get a hearing and when denied in appeal the  denial which also takes years and then appeal the appeal being denied asylum and ordered deported, they still get to stay to start families and raise American citizens. So millions of people ordered deported because their lives are not in danger in their home country can stay indefinitely. The media does not question the claim that if the parents leave, their American children would be left behind. The media fail to remind us that when parents move to different states or countries the children go with them. This is something we usually take for granted but not so with the undocumented, who also claim that they entered the country to help their family back home that they abandoned to have families here.

The media reports that the GAO guesses that 15 million people would lose their healthcare over 10 years if enrollment would become voluntary. Most of the reports on PBS had guests who said that 15 million people would lose their benefits making it sound like this would happen every year, leaving out the fact that is over 10 years meaning that 1.5 million Americans would lose their coverage each year. Most of these 1.5 million would be those who would drop it if they had a choice. 

The media fail to tell us that the undocumented immigrants are taking jobs that could be done by our poor, mainly hurting minority members, mainly blacks and Latinos who have the highest unemployment rate. They say Americans don't the jobs that are lost. But in most the named vocations the majority of workers are Americans.

The media were loathe to admit that the person accused of the so-called "Stand your ground" murder was found innocent by a jury of six mothers because it was clearly self defense and that the shooter was laying on the ground with young football banging his head into the ground. The police knew it was self evident almost immediately after it happened. The U.S. Attorney General went to investigate and also concluded the obvious - that it was self defense. Then when a young six foot five former high school football player who was thought to have had his hands up when he was shot by a police officer didn't. A grand jury after four months that the young man was coming to the police officer with intentions to kill him. The U.S. Attorney General investigated this and concluded it was self defense. The town's residents rioted for four months looting and even destroying businesses. 

They also failed to report that the young man who died in a police paddy wagon had been resisting his 20th arrest for drug dealing and while angrily protesting in the wagon, hit his head and later died. The Baltimore mayor awarded the young man's destitute mother $6.5 million dollars before juries found the police innocent. She wanted to avoid more riots. The media did report that 56 people were killed in the six weeks following the charges but failed to mention that 55 of them were and were black killed by fellow blacks. 

They also failed reveal that the six foot five man 300 plus pound who was obese and suffered from heart disease, diabetes and kidney failure died from a heart attack after he resisted his 30th arrest. 

The mainstream media continue to commit sins of omission. The New York Times should change their motto from printing "all the news that's fit to print" to "all the news we feel like sharing that reinforce our biases."

 

Fixing the Affordable Care Act -Again

The Affordable Care Act is in trouble. While 11 million people getting Medicaid are happy with it, those who have to pay for it aren't. Individuals without health care coverage must either choose a private insurance plan whose price increases every year, because insurers have a captive audience, or must pay a fine. For those who buy coverage, one in five have only one company to choose from. That means they have no choice at all. Insurers are dropping out because they have finally realized that they would need 10-20 healthy applicants to pay for one with serious conditions. Five percent of the population use 50% of out heath care costs. There are 19 states refusing to extend Medicare coverage to our most needy. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans seem able to fix these problems. It's not that hard. Here is the solution.

First make signing up ACA voluntary. Insurers will no longer have a captive audience and will have to compete for healthy applicants. This will bring down the costs.

Make insurers able to reject any applicant for medical reasons. This will increase their profit margin and bring insurers back in the market. It will reduce the need for the government to give them $70 billion to cover their losses. Also let them offer a scaled down plan to cover necessary hospitalization, drug costs, lab tests, and doctor visits. And insurers must stop using deductibles.

Let everyone who is rejected for medical reasons be eligible for the "public option" which would be 100% federally funded as is Medicare with a share of cost depending on income The states cannot opt out just as they cannot opt out of Medicare. This would mean that 100% of our neediest will have coverage and that every American who wants or needs coverage would have it at affordable prices.

Also the government should use its leverage to reduce drug costs that are excessive. Most are very inexpensive but some are ridiculously high.

This will cost the government more but would be offset by eliminating the $70 billion subsidy to insurers and by reducing $100 billion that are spent for waste and fraud by $10 billion a year.

   

Religion Meets Science - Metaphysics and Physics

I was recently forwarded an article comparing the beliefs of my spiritual ancestor, Swami Vivekanada, with those of our scientific messiah, Albert Einstein. I found that they had very different beliefs but shared one: that someday science and religion will meet. I agree and believe that that day has finally arrived.

The swami was a Vedantin monk from India. He is credited with bringing Hinduism to the West in the 1890s. He came to San Francisco in 1899 to establish a Vedanta society here. Vedanta is the mystical end of the Vedas, the essence of Hinduism just as Kaballah is for Judaism, Mahayana is to Buddhism and Sufism is to Islam.

Einstein was a physicist who discovered that space and time were interdependent and that energy and matter were interrelated, different forms of the same thing,  just as were water and ice.

While science has never been my strong suit, I learned to appreciate some of the basic laws of physics and saw their relationship to metaphysics, a subject that has interested me for almost 60 years.

One of the basic laws is that energy cannot be lost in the universe - the conservation of energy principle. Another is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Another is that everything finite is subject to disorganization - entropy. And a more recent finding in physics is the discovery of fractals -  infinitely complex patterns that are self similar across different scales (with the emphasis on infinite). Every finite thing has an infinite number of fractals.

In metaphysics these laws are also expressed if somewhat differently.

The conservation of energy principle is called reincarnation in Mahayana, Vedanta and Kaballah. The soul or energy force of living beings cannot be lost and so is reborn into different forms. Reincarnation explains all our differences and provides motivation to live this life as though it weren’t our first or last. It explains how three year olds sit down at a piano and begin playing or how some are doing math or reading at that age. It also explains homosexuality and transgender inclinations. People who prefer partners of the same sex probably had some experience in a past life that made them so inclined. Transgenders probably had several successive past incarnations as one gender so when suddenly born as the other gender after so many past incarnations, the person feels to be the wrong gender and wants to change. Reincarnation also provides us with a basis for belief in ultimate justice.

The law of equal and opposite reaction is called karma in Vedantin and Buddhist metaphysics. The law of karma says that activities have consequences either now or later. If you are good to others, others will be good to you. If you do others harm, you will later suffer harm, though it might not happen right away or even in this lifetime. The law of karma gives reason to do the right thing because we never get away with anything. Tibetan Buddhism has a most complex understanding of karma relating both to the action and its motivation. So for Mahayana Buddhism karma is based not only on the act itself but also on the thought that goes with it.  If you are generous in this lifetime, you will be rich in the next. But if you are generous because you want to be rich, you will be rich but will suffer in some other way.

Entropy might be the explanation of why there is suffering. While the Buddha thought that suffering was caused by attachment to the finite, the more basic cause could be entropy. Everything finite is subject to disorganization, whether it be a living being getting old, sick, crazy, dishonest, poor, or violent or whether it is a system or thing like marriage, finances, policy, diplomacy, weather conditions, appliances or geography becoming disorganized. Everything that has a beginning will have an end. 

The discovery of the existence of fractals which are infinite within every finite being or thing is perhaps most profound. It reveals perhaps the ultimate and essential paradox - the finite is infinite and the infinite is finite. This idea is not new but its expression is. Hindu, Greek, Roman and even Christian mythology point to this paradox. Hindu, Greek and Roman gods were immortal - not finite - but took human forms which were finite. Christ was mortal. He was born, grew older and died. But he was also part of the trinity - the father, the son and the holy ghost - three aspects of G-d. So he was mortal and immortal - finite and infinite.

There is a story about a young man who travels to India to ask a great guru how to find G-d. The guru says “Tat twam asi” or “you are that.” The man is overwhelmed. He runs to the middle of the street and sees an elephant rushing toward him. He orders the beast to stop given his newfound infinite power, but the elephant keeps coming and the young man has to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed. He goes back to the guru and asks him why the elephant did not obey him given that he was G-d. “The elephant is also G-d,” the guru answers.

Some scientists now concede that everything - both matter and energy - is and has consciousness.  Mystics have said that it is all consciousness. That’s why the Vedantins and Buddhists call the material world “Maya” - illusion - the product of consciousness. The Hebrew bible begins with G-d creating the universe saying “let there be.” The mystical belief is that G-d is constantly making the world - thinking it.  A zen koan expresses this by asking what is the sound of a tree falling in the forest if there is no one to hear it. The answer is that absent consciousness, nothing can be said to exist. Consciousness precedes and creates existence. Consciousness is both infinite and finite.

We can finally assure the spirit of our good swami and that of our greatest scientific theorist, that science and religion have been joined - physics meets metaphysics.                                                                                                       

No Truth in Labeling

One of the most interesting and disturbing aspects of this past year’s coverage of the campaign for President was the way the media and people quoted in it found it easy to label people based on remarks or actions. Labeling allows us to quickly react emotionally without having to think much about it and to discredit everything the labeled person says or does to dramatically limit free speech with which we disagree.

The two greatest Russian metaphysicians, George Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, theorized that emotions are much faster than thoughts and that many of us have been conditioned to react emotionally to certain images formed by labels making us more like machines whose reactions are pre-programmed.

During this election cycle we have heard many people label others based on something that person had allegedly said or done. And worse yet, we saw people labeled by extending their past actions to extremes. The examples abound.

The main, but not only, focus was Donald Trump. He said that he wanted to build a wall on our southern border to stop illegal immigration from that direction. He said some illegals were bringing drugs, crime and even rape. This was translated as him saying that all Mexicans are drug dealers and criminals. It was morphed into him being against all immigrants and that he was afraid of other cultures. He was labeled anti-immigrant, xenophobic and racist. When actually he was against illegal immigration. He married two immigrants, hired thousands and started businesses in countries all over the world. How is that being anti immigrant, racist or xenophobic?

He insulted several people. We don’t like people doing that and for good reason. He insulted a famous personality known for not mincing words. She insulted him and he insulted her. For insulting a woman he was labeled a sexist and a possible misogynist. When we heard a tape of him talking like a teenager to a entertainment T.V. host, who happened to be the first cousin of a former president and the nephew of another, with the mic still on, we were convinced. It was vulgar and immature. But it confirmed our label that he was a misogynist especially after a few women came out claiming to have experienced unwanted advances, which were then labeled sexual assaults. Misogynists hate women. That is exactly what the name means. How does what he said or did equal hatred of women? It shows the opposite - an immature attraction to women. People who hate women are very dangerous. They do not have long loving relationships with wives and daughters.

Trump called for a delay in accepting Muslims from dangerous countries until we can be sure that they will not be a threat to Americans. He was labeled as hating all 1.7 billion Muslims even though his comments addressed only a small percent of  the 200 million people who represent less than 12% of the world’s Muslims. This concern about radicalized migrants also was seen as proof that he was xenophobic and racist.

He said he was against intervening in conflicts that do not have anything to do with us. Examples are Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and Yemen. He said that the U.S. is paying too much while other NATO countries are paying too little for their defense. He was labeled a treaty breaker and unwilling to aid other countries. He was labeled isolationist.

He reprinted a poster showing that his opponent was in with Wall Street. The poster had a star with some writing on it. The star was six pointed, the same as a Jewish star and the star worn by many law enforcement officers. But the star associated with money labeled him an anti-Semite. He has a daughter who is married to an Orthodox Jew. Their children are Jewish. His daughter became Jewish. The Prime Minister of Israel supported him. And Trump is anti-Semitic?

The people hear these labels and respond with anger and fear. They take their frustrations to the streets feeling justified to respond violently to someone labeled sexist, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and isolationist. The crowds become angry mobs spewing anger, hatred, vulgarity, and destruction while feeling self righteous and licensed to any level of abuse. The mob-like crowds felt entitled to hate the accused hater, to be intolerant of those labeled intolerant, to be vulgar about vulgarity and racist toward accused racists, seeing no irony or hypocrisy in their behavior.

The lack of truth in labeling has brought out the worst in some of our people. Labeling is the gateway drug to bigotry. 

Political leaders and journalists have to be aware that they reach a wide audience and that the words they write or speak affect different parts of the population differently. Some take in the reports and balance them with other sources of information. But others with serious issues to deal with take this misinformation and overreact to it.

Now we hear that immigrants are worried and live in fear of immediate deportation from the Promised Land. Even though the president said he would close the border and end illegal immigration, it does not mean that he will immediately deport 11 million people. He has said that he wants those who are involved in criminal activity to be identified and sent packing first. Then those who have arrived recently could be repatriated. Still, we hear that even those not subject to removal are living in fear.

We hear reports that women are rushing to get birth control before Trump ends the Affordable Care Act as though that would happen immediately. If they would think rather than feel, they would realize that it would take at least a year or two to make any real changes to the ACA and even with them, they will still be able to get birth control. They are frightened without reason and it is not helpful.

Muslims living in this country are saying that they don’t feel safe now. This concern even though the issue has been accepting future refugees from countries having radical activity until they are fully vetted. It is not against all Muslims or all immigrants.  

We are seeing that there is a great cost to sensational, superficial and subjective reporting. This latest wave of examples is the most exaggerated form of it.

If we are at the beginning of a revolution against the status quo, let this status be no longer quo. Let us begin to insist on fair, honest, in depth reporting free of political bias, editorializing, and sensationalizing. And let us learn to think before we react with emotion-driven violent protest.

And please don’t label me or this column something for being against labeling, but if you do, I will not label you as narrow minded or of limited intelligence.  

Hopeful Predictions for the Near Future

The Sufi mystic, Meher Baba, believed that if a person is honest and speaks the truth, whatever he predicts will come true. Mindful of that I am making the following predictions, hopeful that they will come true.

While the mainstream media continue to be sensationalist, superficial and subjective, my constant mantra, believing that we believe and react to whatever we are told without thinking it through, I believe in actually thinking about things and coming to my own conclusions.

These are my hopeful predictions:

On the Affordable Care Act

I believe that a compromise can be found to save the best of the current law while also greatly improving it. As I have written before, I think that the answer is to make applying for health care voluntary. Privater insurers could then reject any applicant for medical or financial reasons. Those denied coverage would be immediately eligible to the “public option.” It would be run as a federal program, much like Medicare. Those denied for medical reasons would get coverage with a share of cost but no deductibles. Those denied for financial reasons would get coverage with little or no share of cost and no deductibles. Private insurers no longer having a captive audience, would have to compete for the low risk applicants by lowering costs and eliminating deductibles. The states would have no say as they do now with Medicaid expansion. Nineteen states have refused to expand their Medicaid base denying our poorest Americans health coverage. This would no longer be the case. The extra cost of the public option could be offset by dramatically reducing medical billing fraud and by needing to pay less to subsidize lower income applicants now paying the higher rates.

On Illegal Immigration

I believe that the administration will focus first on illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes. They will then work on deporting recent illegal immigrants who have arrived in the past few years and are awaiting deportation. Sanctuary cities that have refused to cooperate with federal authorities by notifying them of known criminals in their systems that should be deported will be encouraged to do so without having to go out of their ways to find undocumented residents in their communities who are law abiding and contributing to their communities. They will be safe and will be granted legal status. This status will mean that they are safe here to work and be paid as well as their American citizen coworkers are, but would not be entitled to welfare benefits or future citizenship.

The U.S. will build a wall to discourage future attempts to enter America without invitation, but we should also help Latin American nations like Mexico, Guatemala El Salvador and Honduras improve their conditions so their citizens will not feel a need to leave their beloved homelands to live elsewhere. Cultures can radically change for the better as we have seen in Germany and Japan after World War II. 

On Legal Immigration

I think that the criteria for legal immigration might be revised to favor applicants with skills and training that would make them most likely to succeed and thrive in this country. Immigrants must be willing to accept American values especially around the treatment of women and minorities. They must want to embrace American cultural norms. Those seeking entrance from war torn lands will get more extensive screening to ensure that they will not endanger American residents.

On Iran

The agreement between Iran and the Western powers will be honored by Iran and the West, including America.

On Foreign Military and Humanitarian Aid

The U.S. should continue to staff military bases abroad to secure the host nations. In return, those nations will be asked to pay the entire cost. The U.S. currently has more than 800 military bases abroad from South Korea and Japan to Europe. Host countries can decline to pay for their own defense and the U.S. will leave those locations.

The U.S. should re-evaluate its foreign aid totalling more than $40 billion a year. Should Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt and others still get our aid? Should Israel get funding to build more settlements in what is considered the West Bank? Is our humanitarian aid being used as efficiently and effectively as possible?

The U.S. now paying 22% of all NATO costs. Would having host countries pay for our presence reduce that amount? If not, should we re-evaluate what our share of cost to defend other countries be?

The U.S. now pays 25% of U.N. costs. Is that too high a price to pay for the benefits we receive? The U.N. should work with regional alliances like the
Organization of American States, the ones in sub Sahara Africa, the Arab states to form mini U.N.s in their neighboring countries.

On Energy

The U.S. must and will continue to expand our efforts to produce energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric and faze out dependence on coal and oil. We should be no longer reliant on foreign sources for our energy needs.

On Trade

We will negotiate trade agreements that are focused on providing for American manufacturing jobs and making us self reliant for our needs for products and services. While we used to produce 90% of our products, we now produce only 2%. The U.S. must be self sufficient again. Products produced for foreign markets, can be produced in those countries and regions to reduce transportation costs. Foreign companies who sell their products in America should be encouraged to produce them here.

On Taxes

Corporate taxes and unnecessary restrictions should be reduced to encourage investment while tax loopholes that are not productive should be eliminated.

Individual tax rates should be lowered but only after itemized deductions are eliminated and replaced by standard deductions. The top marginal tax rate could be lowered to 35% for incomes of one million and up, but the rate would be for the total income with all forms of income considered equally taxable, so $50,000 in dividends would be considered the same as $50,000 in interest, or pensions or earned income minus FICA withholding. This change would make doing one’s taxes something that takes minutes, would reduce IRS audits because everything would be on the W2 or 1099 and minimize the temptation to defraud.  It would also raise tax revenue, with the rich paying their fair share.

On Social Security

Currently, 6.2% of an employee’s earned income up to about $110,000 is collected from each employee and also from the employer for a total of 12.4%. This could be immediately raised to being 6.5% for each for a total of 13% of the first $250,000 in earned income. Social Security benefits to retirees would be fully taxable with all the taxes collected going back into the Special Fund for future Social Security payments. This would extend the life of the fund’s viability. If this is found to be not enough in the distant future, the withholding amount to be gradually increased to be a maximum of 8% for employee and employer to keep the fund viable. 

On Medicare

This is going to be the most difficult issue. Currently, 5% of the recipients use 50% of Medicare dollars. The fraud cost is estimated to be more than $100 billion a year. We must find a way to reduce fraud and to better treat the 5% who are most in need of services. Efforts should be made to dramatically reduce the root causes be they substance abuse, obesity, smoking and/or lack of exercise.

On Abortion and Birth control

This administration believes in states rights. I do not believe that they will try to overturn Roe versus Wade but leave it up to the states to establish guidelines for abortions. No one dreams of someday having an abortion and yet we abort 20% of our pregnancies. Half of all pregnancies are unintended and 40% of them are aborted. How can unwanted pregnancies be avoided? Gays and lesbians have no accidental pregnancies and yet they enjoy a healthy and enjoyable sex life. Birth control devices have been found to be not reliable to prevent pregnancies. What practices could be encouraged to avoid the need to take human life?

On LGBTQ Rights

This issue will also be considered up to the states. It does not appear that many changes will be enacted. Discrimination because of sexual choices will continue to be unacceptable but allowances will be made for the exercise of deeply held religious beliefs. If several vendors offer the same service but one does not choose to, that one need not be forced since others are more than willing to get the business. If a clerk refuses to issues a marriage license to a rare gay couple wishing to marry in a county, other employees can be empowered to do the service.

When the use of bathrooms for transgender students or adults becomes an issue, the first question must be how many people are we talking about. Since this is a very rare choice, there might be only one student who is affected. Given the rarity, an accommodation can surely be made. But if the first thought is the principle, disregarding the number involved, overreactions can cloud decision making. This too will probably be a states rights issue and not dealt with by the federal government.

On Racial Violence

There has been a dramatic rise is racial violence over the past few years. It is most prevalent in inner cities with large concentrations of minority youth. The focus must be on not only increasing police presence but also in improving conditions there be it in infrastructure, housing, education, skills training and entry level jobs that can provide ladders up to the middle class.

On Israel

A two state solution is a necessity but the barrier has been the refusal of many Palestinians to accept Israel’s right to exist. The twin governments ruling the Palestinian regions cannot rule the future state. My suggestion, though an unlikely one, is for the West Bank and Gaza to once again be part of Jordan, which has a stable, peaceful government and already is 50% Palestinian. Palestine was a part of Jordan until 1967. The Palestinians must be persuaded to completely disarm leaving their defense in the hands of Jordan. Israel will need to donate many of their West Bank settlements to the Palestinians.

In Conclusion

While all these predictions might not come true, I hope that the vast majority of them are possible and likely. Partisan politics and our sensationalist media have made resolution of these issues seem almost impossible with the worst case scenarios seeming most likely. I beg to differ. I am an optimist but also a realistic one, I hope.

Let’s stay tuned to see how much of this is correct.  


   

The Obama Legacy

When a young junior senator from Illinois ran for president in 2008, he promised to bring us hope and change. Now eight years later, what is his legacy?

He promised to get us out of the Middle East after his predecessor invaded Iraq based on false information cost us thousands of American lives and trillions of tax dollars. He got us out of Iraq as promised and made plans to get the Afghans to take over protecting their country from radical Muslims called the Taliban. He made it clear that this was not anything against Islam, a religion dedicated to peace. The Afghans are still not able to protect their people against the Taliban and need some of troops to stay to help.

He promised to make healthcare coverage affordable and voluntary. He wanted to have a public option to complement or compete with private carriers. No longer would applicants be denied coverage for preconditions.

We did get a healthcare reform but it was not the one he wanted or promised. Americans without coverage would be forced to get it or face financial penalties. Healthy Americans were needed to offset the cost of unhealthy ones, we were told. There would be no public option. Those who could not pay would be subsidized by the government. This was not what he wanted but was persuaded by the House leadership under Nancy Pelosi that this was the only way.

The Affordable Care Act was neither affordable for the middle class nor did it provide care until the premiums and the deductibles were met. Sometimes this meant that in addition to paying $6,000 a year for the insurance, there was a deductible of as much as $5,000 to $10,000 a year, meaning that this was not coverage but rather insurance for any amount above the combined annual cost. Private insurers were dropping out because they were losing money. They became aware that one unhealthy patient could cost as much as 50 or 100 healthy ones. There would be no way to have the healthy ones make up the difference.

The president, his health secretary and his minority leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, were advised that there was an easy way to fix this deteriorating situation. They could make enrollment voluntary and allow private insurers to reject any applicant for medical or financial reasons. Those rejected would be immediately eligible to the public option, which would be more like Medicare than Medicaid. Those denied for medical reasons would have a share of cost but no deductible and those denied for financial reasons would have little or no share of cost and no deductibles. This then would be affordable health coverage as opposed to unaffordable health insurance.

He and his people rejected all solutions and insisted on pressing on no matter what.

He was facing an economic collapse and took steps to save the banks and two of our car companies, one of which is now owned by the Italian carmaker, Fiat. He helped the private sector create 16 million jobs that were lost during the crisis. The unemployment rate went from more than 10% with 800,000 jobs lost each month to a rate of almost down to 4.5% with more than 200,000 jobs added each month for a record number of months. The stock market went from 6,000 to almost 20,000. But he gave up on getting back any of the manufacturing jobs we lost through outsourcing. His people claimed the low skill manufacturing jobs were lost forever and blamed automation instead of outsourcing.

He advocated raising the federal minimum wage to at least $10.10 per hour from its current $7.25 per hour rate. Since then many cities and states have raised their minimum rates to as high as $15 per hour. Average worker incomes have increased by almost 3% as a result.

He had appointed his former Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, a former First Lady, to be Secretary of State in 2009. She promised to reset our frosty relationship with Russia and to champion human rights, especially in the Middle East where women and minorities were being subjugated. Encouraged by the fall of Iraq’s strong man and then by the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, she promoted efforts in Egypt, Yemen and Syria to overthrow their longtime dictators, thus interfering with the internal politics of their countries. What followed was the destabilization of Iraq, Yemen, Egypt and Syria. This chaos gave rise to radical Islamists known as Al Qaeda and later ISIS in this area. Our relationship with Russia has never been worse.

He promised to close Gitmo and did much to reduce the population there but was prevented by congress from moving the remaining prisoners to available American prisons. Those who remain there are costing an estimated $10 million a year each.

He promised to unite us saying that there was not a red America or a blue America, no white America or black America. We would be one nation, indivisible. Eight years later, the country is more divided than ever.

When a young high school football player was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, the president sided with the young man saying that it could have been him as a young man or his son had he had one. It turned out that the young man was killed to stop him from beating the volunteer to death all because the man had asked him what he was doing in the gated community.

When a police officer shot and killed a six foot five inch 300 pound former high school football player, the president again sided with the young man who was killed. It turned out that he too was killed in self defense and did not have his hands up when he was shot. He was trying to kill the officer who stopped him for having committed a strong-arm robbery minutes before. The president did not intervene and the town rioted for more than four months.

Whenever cases like these came up, it seemed that President Obama sided with the assailant rather than the police who risk their lives daily to protect us. It happened again in Staten Island when a six foot five inch 400 pound man with severe heart, kidney and diabetes problems resisted his 30th arrest. He died of a heart attack while police tried to arrest him. 

It happened again in Baltimore when a young drug dealer reacted to his 20th arrest of the year and hit his head accidentally while being transported to jail. The mayor of that city immediately decided that the police were guilty and awarded the young man’s destitute mother $6.5 million before the case went to trial. It turned out that none of the six cops were found guilty. In the next six weeks there were 56 homicides. All but one victim and one killer were black. That year there was a record number of homicides almost all affecting black victims.

His siding with alleged victims of police overreach resulted in a 50% increase in homicides of police officers making some police less motivated to aggressively pursue the criminal element. The result in the president’s own Chicago neighborhood has been a dramatic increase in murders to almost 800 this year with 78% of the victims being black and 17% being Latino.  

But this past year, the president really went off track. He decided to enter the presidential race to promote his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton. Unlike any sitting president before him, he went on the campaign trail for her, along with his wife, Michelle, and his Vice President, Joe Biden,  presumably using taxpayer money for the tremendous expense it entailed. Truman did not campaign for Stevenson. The very popular Ike did not do it for his own vice president, Nixon. Reagan did not do it for his V.P. Bush. Clinton did not campaign for his V.P., Gore. Young Bush did not campaign for Romney.

The president insisted that Hillary was the best prepared to be president, more than anyone ever was. He forgot that Bush Sr. had been Vice President for eight years, head of the CIA, a congressman and a war hero. He forgot that Nixon had been a V.P. for eight years, a congressman and naval officer. How well did they do?

The president promised that Mr. Trump would never be president. He then had to eat his words. When a minority of Americans tried to undo the results of the election, he did not step up and tell them that what they were doing was un-American and was an assault on our democratic system. As a result, some Americans felt encouraged to do whatever they could to overthrow the results.

He had tried to reduce the number of immigrants who came to the country illegally until a few years ago when those on the left decried it. He then allowed and encouraged hundreds of thousands of interlopers from Central America to enter the country unimpeded and to disperse into the American countryside with hopes of future citizenship.

And just this past month, he gave Israel, our country’s greatest ally and the homeland for the world’s most besieged people, a knife in the back by instructing his U.N. representative to not veto a resolution that every other administration had. I
The president’s legacy is both great and unfortunate. He overcame great obstacles but put others in his way. Many of us voted for him and believed in him. He has left us with a mixed legacy.

       


 

Why a Lifelong Voter for Democrats No Longer Is One

I was born to European immigrants who always voted Democrat.

My parents always voted Democrat, because of FDR, who defeated Hitler and granted my mother and her first husband a special visa to enter this country.

I have always voted Democrat. I voted for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton twice and believed that Clinton completely reflected my beliefs. When stories came out about his infidelities, I blamed his behavior on his difficult childhood - never knowing who his father really was and having to deal with an alcoholic step father. I easily forgave him his trespasses.

When George Bush succeeded him, I hoped that he would do well because our country depended on it. I was terribly disappointed. I couldn’t believe that we had invaded Iraq and feared his tax cuts for the rich would cripple our economy. My worst fears were realized.

I was so relieved to see a young senator from Illinois become our next president. He seemed very pragmatic and centrist. I disregarded claims that he was against white Americans or that he had some hidden agenda.

He promised to get us out of the Middle East and to bring about healthcare reform. He promised to make healthcare coverage affordable and voluntary. He wanted to have a public option to complement or compete with private carriers who would no longer reject applicants for preconditions. He promised to unite us saying that there was not a red America or a blue one. We would be one nation, indivisible.

We did get a healthcare reform but it was not the one he wanted or promised. Americans without coverage would be forced to get it or face financial penalties. Healthy Americans were needed to offset the cost of unhealthy ones, we were told. Those who could not pay would be subsidized by the government. This was not what he wanted but was persuaded by the House leadership under Nancy Pelosi that this was the only way.

He was facing an economic collapse and took steps to save the banks and two of our car companies. He helped the private sector create jobs that were lost during the crisis.

He got us out of Iraq as promised and made plans to get the Afghans to take over protecting their country from radical Muslims called the Taliban. He made it clear that this was not anything against Islam, a religion dedicated to peace.

He had appointed his former Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, a former First Lady, to be Secretary of State in 2009. She promised to reset our frosty relationship with Russia and to champion human rights, especially in the Middle East where women and minorities were being subjugated. Encouraged by the fall of Iraq’s strongman and then by the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, she promoted efforts in Egypt, Yemen and Syria to overthrow their longtime dictators. What followed was the destabilization of Iraq, Yemen, Egypt and Syria. This chaos gave rise to radical Islamists known as Al Qaeda and later ISIS in this area.

The president declined to call this an Islamic-based radicalism not wanting anyone to think that there was any relationship between the religion and violence.

He promised to close Gitmo and did much to reduce the population there but was prevented from moving the remaining prisoners to available American prisons. Those who remain there are costing an estimated $10 million a year each.

The Affordable Care Act was neither affordable for the middle class nor did it provide care until the premiums and the deductibles were met. Sometimes this meant that in addition to paying $6,000 a year for the insurance, there was a deductible of as much as $5,000 to $10,000 a year, meaning that this was not coverage but rather insurance for any cost above the combined annual cost. Private insurers were dropping out because they were losing money. They became aware that one unhealthy patient could cost as much as 50 or 100 healthy ones. There would be no way to have the healthy ones make up the difference.

The president, his health secretary and his minority leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, were advised that there was an easy way to fix this deteriorating situation. They could make enrollment voluntary and allow private insurers to reject any applicant for medical or financial reasons. Those rejected would be immediately eligible to the public option which would be 100% federally funded. Those denied for medical reasons would have a share of cost but no deductible and those denied for financial reasons would have no share of cost and no deductibles. This then would be affordable health coverage as opposed to unaffordable health insurance.

He and his people rejected all solutions and insisted on pressing on no matter what.

The president failed to unite the nation when he repeatedly took the side of black Americans. When a Harvard professor was seemingly mistreated by a Cambridge, Mass. police sergeant, Mr. Obama sided with the professor before knowing the whole story. When a young high school football player was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, the president sided with the young man saying that it could have been him as a young man or his son had he had one. It turned out that the young man was killed to stop him from beating the volunteer to death because the man had asked him what he was doing in the gated community. A jury that included six mothers found the accused innocent because he killed in self defense. The Attorney General promised a full investigation and found that from day one it was obviously a case of self defense. The shooter, though innocent, is still considered a pariah by the unthinking public.

When a police officer shot and killed a former high school football player, the president again sided with the young man who was killed. It turned out that he too was killed in self defense and did not have his hands up when he was shot. He was trying to kill the officer who stopped him for having committed a strong-arm robbery minutes before. The president did not intervene and the town rioted for more than four months.

Whenever cases like these came up, it seemed that President Obama sided with the assailant rather than the police who risk their lives daily to protect us. It happened again in Staten Island when a six foot five inch 400 pound man with severe heart, kidney and diabetes problems resisted his 30th arrest. He died of a heart attack while police tried to arrest him. When the mayor of New York came out against the grand jury findings that the police were not at fault, the president sided with the mayor.  Days later a person killed two New York police officers feeling justified because even the mayor was against the police.

It happened again in Baltimore when a young drug dealer reacted to his 20th arrest of the year and hit his head accidentally while being transported to jail. The mayor of that city immediately decided that the police were guilty and awarded the young man’s destitute mother $6.5 million before the case went to trial. It turned out that none of the six cops were found guilty. The rioters broke into pharmacies and stole drugs that could be sold on the street. In the next six weeks there were 56 homicides. All but one victim and one killer were black. That year there was a record number of homicides almost all affecting black victims.

But this past year, the president really went off track. He decided to enter the presidential race to promote his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton, his former opponent turned secretary of state. Unlike any president before him, along with his wife, Michelle, and his Vice President, Joe Biden, he went on the campaign trail for her, presumably using taxpayer money for the tremendous expense it entailed. No other sitting president in memory campaigned for his successor. Truman did not campaign for Stevenson. The very popular Ike did not do it for his own vice president, Nixon. Reagan did not do it for his V.P. Bush. Clinton did not campaign for his V.P., Gore. Young Bush did not campaign for Romney.

The president insisted that Hillary was the best prepared to be president, more than anyone ever was. He forgot that Bush Sr. had been Vice President for eight years, head of the CIA, a congressman and a war hero. He forgot that Nixon had been a V.P. for eight years, a congressman and naval officer. How well did they do?

The president promised that Mr. Trump would never be president. He then had to eat his words. When a minority of Americans tried to undo the results of the election, he did not step up and tell them that what they were doing was un-American and was an assault on our democratic system. As a result, some Americans felt encouraged to do whatever they could to overthrow the results.

The president told us that our country was created and made great by diversity. He perhaps forgot that the founding fathers, every president before him except one, and almost every legislator was a white Protestant. This is clearly a white Protestant nation.  Diversity is fine but it did not make this country what it is today, for better or worse.  He neglected to consider this obvious fact because it appears that he wanted to change our culture to make it less white and less Christian. He refrained from wishing us Merry Christmas for fear offending the few who might take offense by it.

He had tried to reduce the number of immigrants who came to the country illegally until a few years ago when those on the left decried it. He then allowed and encouraged hundreds of thousands of interlopers from Central America to enter the country unimpeded and to disperse into the American countryside with hopes of future citizenship.

And just this past week, he gave Israel, our country’s greatest ally and the homeland for the world’s most besieged people, a knife in the back by instructing his U.N. representative to not veto a resolution that every other president had. It gave false legitimacy to the Paletine region by declaring that its sovereignty had been violated by Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The residents of this region had never had self rule or national status. They had been part of Jordan until the Arab states invaded Israel in 1967 in an attempt to destroy the new nation that was established by the U.N. Israel was victorious humiliating the many Arab states and took back the Sinai, Gaza and the West Bank for security reasons.

In an effort to promote peace in the region, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt and later deserted its settlements in Gaza giving its residents autonomy. The people of Gaza reacted by putting in power Hamas, a terrorist organizations that vowed to drive Israel into the sea. The terrorists sent 20,000 rockets into Israel as a thank you note. Knowing this, President Obama still seemed to side with the Arabs against Israel.

The President now has one last choice to make. He can fully endorse his successor, encourage his fellow Americans to do likewise and show his solidarity by attending the inauguration on January 20th.

He would be well to realize that people remember the end more than the beginning. He should do whatever he can in his last few weeks in office to help us remember him well. He owes it to all us who believed in him and wished him great success. He owes it to simple decency.

I hope he does the right thing in the end.