El Gringoqueño

With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth concerning health care reform, I don’t know why we just don’t start with something simple.  It is simple, people.  Fix what’s broken.  We do not have to over-complicate this.  Proponents of reform have been testifying mightily about the insurance industry’s agent provocateurs at town hall meetings, their paid ads denouncing choice, and their furious lobbying to crush health care reform.

I have a solution, though, something they would hate, and something they would not be able to combat. The public would love it, because in it, everyone could see themselves.  Everyone could see that there but for the grace of God, go I.

All it would take to start would be one law – one little stinking law.  And there is precedent for this type of law, the kind of law that says, if you want access to this market you can’t discriminate.

Have a store on Mainstreet?  You can’t refuse business to someone because of the color of their skin.  It’s my store, you say.  I can do what I damn well please.  If I don’t want to serve a certain type of person, it is my right.  It’s my store.

A-ha, I say, it’s not exactly your store.  You paid money for it, yes, a pecuniary outlay to build your establishment, but there are other costs too, costs paid by this town.  The town maintains the road that goes in front of your store, the cables that bring electricity, communications, the water treatment plant and distribution system that brings it to your faucet.  We the people have to look at your establishment in our society, in our town, on our Mainstreet, and we have to ask ourselves:  Are we better off for allowing this space to be used by you?  If you don’t let black people in your store, then we will revoke your right to do business here.

We won’t shoulder the cost of your discrimination.  It is too high.

Ownership is a lie.  Operating a business is an implied social contract with certain responsibilities, duties, and burdens.

So, here’s what I propose:  Pass a law making it illegal to deny coverage or raise rates based on a pre-existing condition.

The commons, this commons that we call the US, is the platform upon which business operates.  We the people own the platform, and given some basic rules, we allow people to operate businesses upon that infrastructure.

It has been said that people do not have a “right” to health care.  I counter that corporations and businesses do not have a right to yield infinite profits at the expense of the margins.  If you do business in this fair land of ours, there are certain liabilities, responsibilities that you must shoulder.  There are going to be very sick people among us.  Those very sick people deserve the protection of a just society.  They deserve to be subsidized by those that never get a runny nose.  They deserve to be subsidized by the stock holders of the insurance companies, and the great mass of caring and decent people within our borders.

“It sucks to be you.” Is not an acceptable response to the unfortunate circumstances of a cronic, debilitating, or otherwise serious and incurable medical condition.

If it’s illegal to deny coverage or raise rates based on pre-existing conditions, I think it goes a long way to delivering justice to those burdened unfairly by a simple and cruel twist of fate.  Let’s look after our sick, shall we?  Let’s ease their suffering and we can start with a very simple and easy to understand piece of legislation.

SAN FRANCISCO – An American linguistics student traveling in northern Iraq didn’t go on an ill-fated hiking trip because he had a cold — a twist of fate that prevented him from mistakenly wandering into Iran where his three friends were reportedly detained.

“Dude, we’re going to hike into the northern territory today – see if we can fuck with the border guards.”

“Um, I’m not feeling so well.  You guys go ahead without me.”

“Whatever – It’s gonna be a blast, pussy.  You can be lame if you want.  Cya.  Let’s roll.”

I think what he was really suffering from was an acute case of Not-Stupid.

I was watched a little bit of the last auto executives grilling (smoky flavor), and I have to say they were a huge group of clueless morons.  For all the money they make, you’d think they would get the simple things, like:

Your salary is not a prize, or yours for that matter.  Your salary is a reflection of your commitment, responsibility, and risk you assume heading a company. 

As the cookie cutter executives blathered on and danced around a word, a word that was clearly "victim", I began to realize it’s not the market that brought down these companies, it was their clueless CEOs. 

You see, they are victims just like everyone else.  They are just guys, regular guys, employees at their respective companies, paid just like everyone else and worried about their salaries, families, etc.  I’m just a regular joe trying to fix a problem, they seem to say.  This isn’t about me, they say.  It’s about the company.  Please help us.  Help us poor working folks.  You see, I drove here in a hybrid.  Aren’t I special.

You’re not showing me anything special, Mr. Auto-exec.  In fact, I’m starting to wonder why we paid you all that money. 

Let me spell it out for you.  Here’s what happens when things go awry.  You take the hit, Mr. Auto-exec, until such a time as the company improves.  It’s your fault, Mr. Auto-exec.  You get the big salary, as an indication of risk, your responsibility for performance.  You have the most to lose, so you get a big salary.  If things don’t go well, we fire you.  We blame you.  It is your fault.  In some cultures, those responsible parties feel such commitment to their company that they commit suicide.  That’s going a bit far, but in this case I’d like to see top executives stick to a few simple rules.

I’ll call them, Jim’s nine rules to successful leadership at a car company.

1. Drive yourself to work everyday in a base model (or car that your company wants to promote).  Love that car, know it inside and out.  Do your own oil changes.
   
2. Get down in the dirt with the mechanics once in a while.  Walk the production floor EVERY single day in some plant across the country.
3. Sit in on and understand engineering meetings.  If you are not an engineer, use your company’s education benefits and get a degree.  This is not an option at a car company.
4. Sit in on and understand marketing/advertising meetings.  If you are not a marketing person, use your company’s education benefits and get a degree.  This is not an option at a car company.
   
5. Understand the finances of your company.  If you are not a CPA, take some courses, and take the certification exam.  If you are not an MBA (which isn’t very likely, I suppose), get one.
   
6. Stay late at the office and talk to the cleaning staff.  Talk to your designers.  Have lunch with union leadership.  Meet with your plant managers, line workers, dealers, customers, all the time, constantly.
   
7. Give up your salary at the first hint of trouble.  Live off your carefully managed investment portfolio. 
   
8. Take blame yourself in the bad times
9. Give credit to others in the good times

And here’s why:

First, I know he’s not going to enter into illegal wars.  I also like the idea that a leader isn’t the doer-in-chief.  He seems to realize that change comes from the bottom up, and that it is the role of the leader to inspire, nurture, or not get in the way.

I like that.

I also don’t think he has a problem sitting down at the table with Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and having a talk.  How can we turn down the tension, he would ask?  He realizes the strong nation reaches out, makes concessions, looks for peace, and isn’t afraid of diplomacy.  It is the weak nation that stonewalls dialog, refuses to listen, and uses the thread of force as a weapon of first resort. 

When I picked up my little dog Billy from the street, he was a nervous little crazy nut.  He was nippy and erratic, a little lunatic.  I reacted to him with anger and authority.  I tried to cow him into compliance.  It just made him more insane.  Then I realized if I spoke softly to him, stroked him gently, put myself on an even plane with him, he was much more reasonable.  It didn’t take anything away from me.  I knew I was still in charge, but if I could make him feel like he was a little bit more in control of his domain, it made all the difference.

I think Obama understands that.  He’s multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, well traveled.  I think those things give you a perspective on the world that makes you less afraid.

I’ve had discussions about the "illegals problem"  I always ask what is this problem?  It doesn’t seem to be a problem to me.  At some point, the erosion of the English language is mentioned.  I would ask again "Okay, so what is the ‘language problem’?  What is this problem? I need to know, because it doesn’t seem to be a problem to me."   Thinking the "problem" self-evident, we end up devolving into game saying and catch phrases gleaned from talk radio, until finally when all is exhausted, out comes the final appeal to authority,"they broke the law."

But it’s just fear, fear that they are bad, and they are bad because you don’t understand them.  I get the impression from Obama, that he sees lack of understanding as an opportunity to understand.  He may not be fully informed on all issues, but he’s not fearful about getting to know them.  He might not speak Spanish, or Farsi, or Arabic, but I think he’s willing to accept that those people are just like our people.  We aren’t that different.  And we shouldn’t be afraid.

That’s the key.  I’m sick and tired of politicians pandering to fear.  Elect the Dems and it’s a vote for terror!  Elect the Dems and dirty Mexicans will overrun the border, take your jobs, and marry your daughter!  Elect the Dems and the economy will stagnate further, turn to socialism and your lives will be over… or worse, be like Europe.

Bah!  Obama says, your future can be as bright as you want it to be.  He says, I’m not going to pander to your fears.  I’m going to be fearless.  I’m going to be a black man running for president in a still decidedly racist country.  I’m not afraid.  You shouldn’t be either.

What the republicans won’t tell you, and this is their dirty little secret:  Lowering taxes does not help the economy.  Raising them doesn’t either, but that’s neither here nor there.  The secret is this:  hope builds the economy.  When people have hope, when they see a future that looks bright, they create.  They build.  They grow.  That is why the economy booms.  Right now the economy is in the tank because people are afraid, and the current leadership doesn’t want to give up that tool of oppression and control.  A vote for McCain is a vote for fear, a vote for more foreign wars, more erosion of the Constitution, and a continued lessening of the collective national spirit.

Obama, I think, has this idealistic, audacious child-like hope, not dashed by fear, not crushed under the heal of bureaucracy.  The grownups at the table might snicker at his audacity, "Son, you just don’t get how the world works, do you?  Let the grown-ups handle things, okay?"

Obama, "And how’s that been going, hmm?"

I was surprised to find out today that Barack Obama isn’t being truthful about his Iraq War Voting record.  I know I know, I’m bummed.  I liked the guy.  Up until today I would have supported him.  Maybe I still do.  But I’m not so sure anymore.  How can people be so disingenuous about such big issues?  And why has no one else mentioned this.

Barack Obama may have opposed the war in 2003, but he never voted against it.  What?!  You heard me right.  He never actually voted against it.  Why?  How? Wha?

He didn’t vote against the war, because he didn’t become a senator until 2005, that’s why.  When the debate and vote on whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction, or whether or not we would go to war with Iraq, Barack Obama was a state representative (local state politician, not national), for the 13th District of Illinois.  He wasn’t there.  He was just a twinkle in his Senate seat’s pants.

What!?  How could this be?  Haven’t we heard about how he was right from day one.  What was day one for him?  How can you be right from day one when your day one didn’t start until January of 2005? 

If we are going to elect people on their ability to be "right" then elect me.  I said in 2002 there were no weapons of mass destruction.  I said we shouldn’t have gone in.  Check this post. I wrote that back in March of 2003.  I knew it was wrong.  Props for Obama as an armchair foreign policy quarterback, but it sure as hell isn’t anything upon which to base your complete campaign.

I like the guy, but if he wasn’t a member of Congress, he had nothing to lose by taking that position.  I had nothing to lose.  I had no authority.  He had no authority.  I had no access to classified intelligence.  He had no access to classified intelligence.

Now, as far as I’m concerned, Obama based his opposition to the war on a hunch.

Sounds remarkably like our current president, doesn’t it?

A short skit to read in the style of Monty Python’s Cheese Shop

Bush:  As a member of the axis of evil and state sponsor of terrorism, Iran is actively seeking nuculer weapons.  

Press: Do you have proof?

Bush: Why of course we have proof.  It’s how this administration operates.  We operate in the realm of truth. Truth is – well – truth.  If it wasn’t truth, it would be lies, and we do not lie.

Press: May we see it?  This proof?

Bush: Well, it’s classified, but trust me.  We have it.

Press:  Well, I have here in my hand an intelligence report which details that Iran stopped its nuclear program in 2003.

Bush: Ah, I see.  Well, there is that, I suppose.  But I’m afraid it’s a bit overstated.  You see.  They WERE actively seeking weapons of mass destruction and may do so again.  If they restart, which is probable, they could have them in a few years.  They could then use them to attack.

Press:  You just told us that they were actively engaged in a program to build nuclear weapons.  We now find out that they stopped and are not seeking to build nuclear weapons.  How is that truth?

Bush:  Ah, well, I did say that, didn’t I.  Look, this President defines "thinking about building nuclear weapons" as part of the process of obtaining nuclear weapons.  You see, you have to think about it. That’s research.  Some of that research could go on in the heads of scientists.  Who am I to say that they are not thinking about it actively right now?  Can you say what they are thinking about?  They could be thinking about it.  And that’s enough for me.  It could be a threat to the US or our interests if the Iranians are thinking about building a nuclear weapon.

Press: …

Bush:  You see.  Thought leads to action.  If you are thinking about something, then you are actively engaged in the process of doing it.  It is my job as Commander in Chief to head off these programs of thought that exist to destroy the United States.  Would you rather that we go about our business while they think their dirty little terrorist thoughts?  I don’t think so.  That is why I reserve the right to think about attacking Iran for their dirty little thoughts.

I shall forever honor the tip of the sword, for how could I but honor such a perfect edge. It is as clean and sharp and brilliant as anything has ever been. No, my rancor is held for the dirty paw that wields it with such vulgarity and dishonor.

I am frequently asked if I would spit on the blade for its acts, its dealing of death, its bloodshed, or its willingness to do violence. What sort of fool asks such a thing? It does what it was designed to do: slice and slay.

Ah, but to throw hot spittle unto the beady-eyed twit that waves it around like a bright red banner, a beautiful sash to adorn his craven soul. If I could but spit in his eye, I would.

For the generation of swords whose surfaces are pitted with rust, dripping wet with the saliva of the masses, I spit on this troll for you.

Since I started as a chaplain in the juvenile prison system in Puerto Rico, about 5-6 years ago, there have only been a couple of kids that sent chills through me. There was a deadness in their eyes, something that made me immediately think, "God, I hope I don’t ever find myself face to face with this kid and on the wrong end of a gun." My mind flashed to the cold feeling of a pistol barrel thrust to the back of my head as I am carjacked. I took too long, I looked at him wrong, or he just wanted me out of the way. In any case, he pulled the trigger looking through me with those dead eyes. He didn’t care if I lived or died, didn’t really matter at all. I was not a person, just a thing, a plaything and in his way.  I was between him and what was now HIS car. Look at that, bullet holes. This thing got blood all over me. The holes look cool though. Let me dump it by the side of the road, wipe myself off.

Those were the thoughts that went through my mind on two occasions. Sometimes I meet with kids who are sullen, withdrawn, unresponsive, but there’s still something there, fear, trepidation, low self image. When I asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, they would say, "I dunno." When asked what their talents were, they would say none. Friends? Dunno. People you admire? None.

There was still something though.  It’s hard to try to pry something positive out of the experience, but I never felt like I wasn’t talking to a person, a real living breathing, but hurting and damaged person.

These other two that I met, though, I don’t know what they were, but I only remember never wanting to see them again.  They seemed to be soulless zombies, walking dead, animated bodies with nothing inside, no flickering light.

I am reminded of this after the Virginia Tech shooting and all the information about the shooter, Cho Seung Hui by all accounts, a sullen loner.

We all know people who keep to themselves, who aren’t sociable, friendly, or engaging. It’s not often, however, that we say to ourselves, I’m afraid of this person. I’m afraid he will do something horrible as was the case of the VT shooter. He had creeped out his teachers, his classmates. There was something not just sad about him but deadly.

I read the "plays" he had written, supposedly violent and disturbing. I didn’t find the violence disturbing. They were not actually very violent, in fact.

The plays were disturbing to me for their lack of natural dialog and oddness of language. The interaction between the characters was just wrong, weird, not natural. The anger wasn’t natural. It seemed stilted, like written by a small child with no understanding of conflict, someone stunted developmentally. His plays sounded to me like they had been written by someone from another culture, an alien with no comprehension of how a domestic dispute might go down and what might be said. So, while the plays had violent themes, what was disturbing was how far they missed their marks connecting that rage and emotion.

Cho Seung Hui couldn’t emote or understand emotion or have any empathy.  Maybe he sensed it.  Maybe he knew he couldn’t connect and it drove him mad.

Like those scary kids that I met, my only conclusion is that some people do not have the ability to see other’s pain, emotion, or feel a connection of any kind with the world around them. Are they born that way as psychopaths or shaped as sociopaths by abuse or violence and then become cold, disconnected, and inhuman?

I’ve got a bunch to say since Asier was born, but I wanted to weigh in on the Walter Reed scandal by telling a story from my experiences in the Army.

We were in the field, doing a training exercise. We had planned it for months and were executing it for some much needed operational training and team-building. As we were setting up I was notified by the battalion XO (operations) that we would have to stop what we were doing and go on a police call (cut grass, pick up any trash, paint, pretty up the range), because our the Division commander (General) was coming for a visit.

"Don’t you think he wants to see us training?" I asked.

"Just fucking do it, Captain!" was the Major’s reply. This was to be beginning of a beautiful friendship, for sure.

So we reluctantly dropped our months of preparation by the wayside and prettied up the range. My soldiers were extremely pissed. The 1SG fumed, but as all good soldiers, we went about, "making it happen."

Brigadier General Rosado arrived with his staff, CSM (Command Sergeant Major, top enlisted man in the division) and assorted sycophants. They walked around, buzzed in and circled, talking to no one but the top officers of the battalion, all the while insulated by his staff.

I’ve got to do something about this. I don’t fucking care if it gets me in trouble. I wormed my way up to the Command Sergeant Major and took him aside.

"Do you want to know what’s really going on here?" I asked him. "Do you want an honest assessment of the training and readiness of your battalion here and now?"

"Of course," he answered.

"Don’t tell us you’re coming. That’s it. Don’t announce, don’t make a big hullabaloo. Come here quietly, just the two of you, show up unexpectedly, and talk to the enlisted soldiers. Ask them what they think, get them to be frank. That’s all I ask."

"I’ll let him know," he replied.   The Sergeant Major seemed to be a thoughtful pro-enlisted guy, so I hoped that my comments were welcome. I think he really took them too heart. He seemed a decent fellow. This might work.

A few months latter the CSM resigned and from what I heard through the grapevine, it was over styles of leadership. The CSM wanted to get his hands dirtier. He wanted the hands-on pro-soldier approach that I suggested, but Gen Rosado, for whatever reason, would rather have had his little buzzing snapping field of sycophants.

Whatever.

I bring this up, because the Walter Reed scandal smacks of the same ol’ shit. Forget the fact that the General in charge of Walter Reed had only been there six months. Many are saying he is but a scapegoat. How could he have changed things in six months? Poor guy. It was his predecessor that screwed it all up. Why should he take the blame?

My question to him is this: How many times did you visit the facilities, directly inspect with no announcement to the staff working in those places, talk to patients, demand frank ugly reports from your subordinates? Six months is a long time to be unaware of the problem.

You weren’t fired for not fixing the problem. You were fired for not even knowing about the problem.

But unfortunately, this is the problem with much of the military. Gen Patton said it best, "The more senior the officer, the more time he has to go to the front." Why? Because that’s where the operation is and guess what, Mr. General, YOU’RE IN CHARGE! I’d also add that the more senior the officer, the less time he should give before an inspection. The General should want to know what is really going on in his command. He should trust nothing but his own eyes, his own perception. He is the General. He is in charge.

Stop grooming yourself for bigger and better things and DO YOUR FUCKING JOBS!

With that said, our new Secretary of the Defense, Robert Gates, is really getting on my good side. I like that guy’s attitude, very pro-soldier.

WP: Some unaware of King’s dream – washingtonpost.com Highlights – MSNBC.com

I’ve said it before ( In Observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day ), but it seems to bear repeating.

Last night, I was at a party and one of the party goers, an American, mentioned that he had to leave.

"Oh, the party’s just getting started," I offered, hope to cajole him into staying.

"I have to get up at 4:30."

"You have to work tomorrow?! What? They are making you work on the birthday on one of the greatest Americans who ever lived?"

"Who might that be?" he asked with a frown.

"Um, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," I replied, not sure what he was getting at.

He smirked, "Oh, him."

I was unsure if I had just experienced a racist moment. I suspect I had.