A battle royal is underway
to replace Justice Ginsberg after her recent death. She tried to hang on
beyond the election, but she just couldn’t. Trump and McConnell vow to go
ahead, ignoring the precedent Republicans set when Justice Scalia died. While
not preventing Republicans from going forward, the unfairness might persuade some
principled or vulnerable senators to refrain from voting for Trump’s nominee.
That’s all we can hope for now. At least, it might persuade some voters to
ditch the Republicans.
No doubt, Biden
and Pelosi, whose own personal views may be at odds with Roe, had hoped
that abortion would not be a major issue in the upcoming election. But
now it will be. I’ve already said that it does not surprise me that the
abortion issue (or “abortion rights” issue) remains contentious after all these
years, while gay rights and black rights seem to have gained traction in fairly
short order. Now even Mormons accept African Americans in their ranks, though
not endorsing gay marriage. But abortion still remains controversial. I’ve
already said on these pages that the morning-after pill cannot be controlled
and will be used with or without legal sanction. Also, abortion in the first
trimester, a timeline not always easy to ascertain but representing most
abortions, is supported by a bare majority of Americans and is likely to
persist. Where there could be some change is after the first trimester,
where voters express more ambivalence, especially at later stages. A cut-off of
20 weeks, not the current 24 weeks, would be more acceptable in my view,
due to improvements in neonatal care since Roe, allowing the survival of very
premature infants. Nor should a fetus at a later stage be aborted—frankly killed—without
having some condition preventing its later survival outside the womb. Probably
these issues are already being considered in abortion decisions. Another
concern is whether a doomed fetus is adequately anesthetized for pain according
to its stage of development. The abortion method used in an advanced pregnancy
is rarely discussed.
“Pro-choice” in my view
should also encompass the choice to continue a pregnancy and to be supported in
that. And “prolife” should include elimination of the death penalty, whereas
the Trump administration is now resuming federal executions after a long
moratorium. And is it prolife to dismiss 200,000 Coronavirus deaths, as Donald
Trump has done, saying they’ve been mostly of “old people,” yes, old people
like him. Are these people expendable?
And what about those dying in forest fires and floods exacerbated by climate
change?
If Trump loses, let’s
hope Mitch McConnell goes down as well, though that’s unlikely. Without
henchman McConnell, Trump would not be so destructive. The Senate, like
the Electoral College, it is not truly representative, since a small
population state like Wyoming has two senators, just like California and New
York, while in DC we have none. Wyoming voters might say that prevents “coastal
elites” from dominating, but it’s not one person, one vote.
If the founding
fathers were alive today, would they still support the Electoral College and
2 senators per state? Would they advocate lifetime appointments to the Supreme
Court? If they saw what has happened under the Trump presidency, they might
recommend some changes. Significant voting changes have already
occurred since their day, including voting rights for citizens of all
ethnicities and for women, who now make up at least half the electorate, so the
original system is not exactly sacrosanct.
Donald Trump may not be a traditional politician, but he finds ways to make
the news cycle all about him. Like a naughty child, he throws tantrums and makes
outrageous outbursts. He’s also a showman who enjoys rambling on about whatever
comes to mind, just as he did on The Apprentice, provided that there is now
an adoring (mask-less) crowd gathered to hear him. In NC after Ginsberg’s
death, he boasted that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
but whined that the “fake news media” had barely mentioned it, whereas, his
nemesis Obama was roundly lauded for actually getting the prize.
Obviously, unseen malign forces are trying to take Trump down. Later, he
speculated that Ginsberg had not actually dictated the deathbed wish attributed
to her. We are getting used to his lies, overblown rhetoric, and crazy antics; so
with 4 more years, his brand of toxic politics could become normalized. Already,
he has imitators around the globe.
While there is no way
that Trump can win the popular vote, we all know that he could win the Electoral
College vote once again. And next time around, if he wins, he’s likely to
be even worse. As one lady put it, “Every night, I pray the aliens will come to
take him back.” The whole world is now holding its collective breath. Mr. Trump
has vowed to raise a ruckus if he loses. He doesn’t seem to particularly enjoy
being president, but he doesn’t like being labeled a “loser” either. He and his
acolytes could become a thorn in the side of a President Biden, though he now vows
to retire to the golf course if he loses. Let’s hope he keeps his word.
Bravo to Mike
Bloomberg for offering to pay outstanding fines so Florida former
felons can vote, this after voters approved their right to vote and then the
Republican legislature tacked on a provision that fines must be paid first. The
vote in Florida was close last time, as, indeed, it was in most states where
Trump prevailed.
My neighborhood
Washington, DC, Amnesty Int’l group, 211, is helping a local Afghan
refugee family adapt to their new life here. The father has passed the
driver’s test, but now needs a car.
As pandemic spreads, the Cuban government moves to silence independent journalists
September
11, 2020 https://www.yahoo.com/news/pandemic-spreads-cuban-government-moves-110000528.html
"Havana Syndrome" symptoms identified in Canadian
tourist who visited Cuba https://news.yahoo.com/havana-syndrome-symptoms-identified-in-canadian-tourist-to-cuba-204030206.html
Barbados to remove Queen Elizabeth as head of state
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54174794
‘We’re not gonna be manipulated.’ Cracks form in Trump’s Cuban-American base
September 21, 2020, https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-gonna-manipulated-cracks-form-100000274.html
Haiti moves closer to
constitutional referendum, elections.
Reuters
https://www.yahoo.com/news/haiti-moves-closer-constitutional-referendum-183102748.html
Harry
Truman was not my
favorite president because he authorized the atom bombing of a civilian
population. Conventional warfare, while not desirable either, would have won
the day, given a little more time. Nor were 2 city bombings necessary. What
about bombing an uninhabited island, just to show the Japanese military what the
bomb could do?
However,
Truman does deserve credit for his efforts to enact universal health care coverage,
something that physicians defeated as a threat to their income. As a
result, we now have an overly costly, complicated, uneven, and administratively
top-heavy system that resists reform. If it ever were reformed, many billing
clerks and administrators would lose their jobs and probably the pay for
healthcare providers would be capped. So now there are many forces with vested
interests resisting change, not just doctors as in Truman’s time.
I worked for
16 years for the American Occupational Therapy Association where we
continually made the case for more payment for our members’ services. And,
indeed, pay for OTs in the US was so much higher than in Canada that
Canadian therapists would come here to work for a time and the same was true of
other health professionals. Payment to health care providers is higher here
because of non-stop lobbying and because fee-for-service is an incentivize
for providing more services, though more is not always better in health
care. We cannot turn back the clock on reimbursements for health services, but
they can be stopped from growing so fast.
Fear of
control of earnings was what led physicians to defeat Truman’s plan by calling
it “socialized” medicine. “Socialized” anything is undesirable only if
citizens have no control, as in authoritarian or communist systems, but
patients/clients who are voters could actually have more control than under the
present system where doctors and other practitioners decide on their services
and charges. Additionally, a government-sponsored health plan could cut down on
red tape and administrative costs through consolidation, though those now in
administration would lose jobs. And many unnecessary and even risky treatments
would probably be eliminated if the financial incentive for providing them were
removed.
After seeing
how American health care works from the inside, then providing care myself in
Honduras as a Peace Corps health volunteer working under very straitened
economic circumstances and also later as a medical brigade volunteer, I’m
convinced that there are ways to maintain or even improve health outcomes by
reforming or replacing the current system. Doctors, nurses, and therapists can still
earn more here than in other countries and in most other professions, but
without the runaway costs and cost-incentives of the present system--or
non-system.
Kaiser Health, to which I belong, provides a
model. It costs less than other plans and its services are all conveniently located
in one place, with no incentives for providing unnecessary care. Yes, clients/patients
must do much of the work on-line, such as in communicating with providers, there
is often no choice of providers, and there may be delays. However, genuine medical
needs are addressed.
Daughter and husband during my last visit to Honolulu.
The pandemic
and lockdown not only present financial and social challenges but also to what
we called “purposeful activity” at the OT association. People not only
want to be safe and able to put food on the table, but also to feel useful.
Some engage in home fix-it tasks, while others go on closet-cleaning sprees. Still
others, like me, do on-line volunteer human rights work and write a blog. But I
do miss the kids I got to know through being an interpreter for hands-on
therapists. I wonder how they are doing now, probably without therapy, and
whether they think we have all abandoned them? Some children communicated only with
computerized devices.
Some folks
in Honduras, including those I’ve met annually at local health centers
and medical brigades in my yearly visits, must feel abandoned as well. I have
no idea if or when I might go back. And my plan to return sometime for a 6-month
stint with Peace Corps Response, a short- term assignment once
offered to experienced volunteers, may now never happen, as Peace Corps, like
the rest of the world, in on hiatus.
When I was a
Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras (2000-2003, first book title
above right), not only was I busy daily with health and educational efforts,
but everyday tasks in my rural village took time. We bathed by throwing water
over our bodies in the open air from a backyard pila, a water collection
basin. We washed dishes and clothes with the same bar soap and pila water,
hanging the clothes up to dry. We ground corn, made tortillas by hand, and
cooked them over a wood stove. Whenever I gave a talk or took folks to a
medical brigade, that all required advance planning and effort, so without TV
or internet, we were always busy, always feeling engaged in “purposeful
activity.” Now, all volunteers have been
brought home. But I do hope the Peace Corps can come back after the virus is
tamed, as it’s been a very useful service for all concerned.
I was pleased
to get a recent message from Amazon where my books are sold about an overseas
educational fund that I‘d designated for charitable donations, together with some
other authors.
|
Australia, to incentivize charitable giving,
has minted some visually distinct “donation dollars.”
I once lived
in California, so am no stranger to forest fires, but back in the
day, we never saw fires so wide-ranging and destructive as those now ravaging
the west. Their smoke has been so abundant that it’s even drifted back to us now
in the east, causing overcast skies and irritating our eyes.
Climate change does not
exist for Trump’s diehard fans, who act like followers of a guru or a wife who
maintains faith in her husband’s fidelity while ignoring telltale signs. These ever-Trumpers
are going to cling to the guy no matter what, through fires, floods, and hurricanes.
As he’s said, he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and they wouldn’t flinch.
Mr. Trump accuses Biden voters of “drinking the Kool-Aid,” but that characterization
applies more appropriately to his own followers. He discourages face masks and
encourages in-person rallies, where some of the faithful have paid with their
lives. Some of us had regarded GW Bush under Dick Cheney’s tutelege as
perhaps the worst president in our lifetime. As Bush himself has ruefully noted,
now he doesn’t seem so bad.
Trump asks for less
testing so that stats won’t look so grim and declares that he knows better than
the CDC. And now Biden is not only being labeled “sleepy” and a false prophet,
but also a pedophile, just like Hillary. Do you believe him? Apparently, some folks
do.
The $12 million Breonna Taylor settlement cannot bring her
back, but does call attention to disproportionate police action against black
people and other minorities. However, something seldom mentioned is that her
boyfriend kept a firearm in their home. Apart from the unjustified no-knock
warrant, another important factor in her death was the shot he fired hitting a
police officer. If he had not fired that shot, no one would have fired back and
killed Breonna. Ever since my son Jonathan was wounded by a bedside pistol
dropped by another 11-year-old, I’ve questioned whether keeping firearms at
home is really protective. So many family members have been accidentally killed
as intruders, so many murder-suicides and child accidents have occurred with
personal firearms that it’s doubtful that they provide net-protection. But
under Trump, that issue is off-limits for statistical analysis. If the
Republican Party is truly the party of “life,” gun violence and gun “rights”
deserve closer scrutiny.
A Honduran friend
who teaches at a public school in Tegucigalpa told me that classes there
have been suspended because most families don’t have the means to access remote
learning. Many poor families have abandoned the city, since all their work has dried
up and they feel safer from the virus in rural areas. They’ve mostly returned
to their native villages, crowding in with relatives already living there, all
trying to eke out survival from planting crops and tending animals, resulting
in a big setback in personal and national development. Additionally,
remittances from family members in the US have mostly stopped. The global
recession has hit poor people in poor countries hardest.
If you have gmail,
you will notice it flagging misspellings, something it also does in Spanish,
including when an accent mark is omitted, as often happens when I’m writing in
Spanish, as accents require an extra step. Google will also suggest simple message
replies in either English or Spanish. There are no secrets on the internet.
Finally, I
must apologize for occasional grammatical errors on this blog, which is often
written hastily without review. Sometimes I notice minor errors later, but
don’t go back to fix them, as the meaning is obvious and we’ve already moved
on. Thanks to my faithful readers for your kind indulgence.
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