Two Pillars of the G.O.P., Objecting to ObamaCare, Three More Senate Race Predictions and Sid "Channels" with a "Varmint"!

And Here Are
Three More Paragraphs about Classical South Florida - and I'll shut up for a while.

If you missed it, the July 12 posting contained a comprehensive discussion of my argument with Classical South Florida.  In addition, the reader should be aware that when Classical South Florida acquired WXEL, its press release stated that news and information programming would continue to be provided. Don't take my word for it.  Take a look at CSF's own press release at 

http://classicalsouthflorida.publicradio.org/standard/pdf/WPBI_Press_Release.pdf 

                                      

Of course, the release did not say at that time that such news and information programming would be transmitted from a 250 watt FM transformer instead of WXEL's (now WPBI's) 38,000 watt transmitter and that those unable to receive that signal would have access only via computer, smart phone or HD radio, which  are inadequate substitutes for a readily receivable FM signal.  I do not know if the FCC was aware of this at the time they approved the purchase of WXEL by CSF.  They should have been. 

                                               

Finally, Classical South Florida has just announced the purchase of a station in  Fort Myers which will be broadcasting CSF's musical fare to the Fort Myers area and to the Naples/Marco Island area via a repeater transmitter station.  Contrary to what CSF did to the listeners of non-classical music public radio in Palm Beach County, however, listeners in the Fort Myers area were not deprived of any news and information programming.  Fortunately, there still is a 100,000 watt public radio FM station in Fort Myers (WGCU) broadcasting that kind of programming, similar to what WLRN provides from their Miami transmitter, so folks in Collier and Lee coutnies, like those in Dade and Broward counties,  are much luckier than their fellow Floridians in Palm Beach County.

JL


                                                            


So You're Against ObamaCare ?

Okay, here's an opportunity for you to tell me exactly what there is about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to which you object.   Please Email me at riart1@aol.com.

1. Are you against the Mandate, which puts pressure via a tax on those who choose not to purchase health insurance and sponge off of everyone else by just showing up at a hospital?

2. Do you feel, despite its utilization of private insurance companies to provide coverage, that it is a government take-over of health care, as "Medicare for Everyone" would have been?

3. Do you feel, that despite the Supreme Court's decision, that it is unconstitutional?

4.   Do you feel that while improvements in our health care delivery system are definitely needed, ObamaCare is just a first step toward a "nanny" state wherein we will depend on the government for more and more services, whether we want them or not?

5.    Do you feel, that despite our paying out more per capita for health care than other industrialized Western nations do and having less availabiliity to health care than most do, we just cannot afford such a program?

                               
If you were Mitt Romney, pledged to repeal ObamaCare if elected, what would you do to bring the availability of health care in the United States up to the level of the rest of the industrialized Western world?   Or wouldn't you do anything?
JL



                                                             



The Two Pillars of the Republican Party

In a recent posting, in talking about raising taxes to pay for health care reform, I said that Republicans generally feel that increased taxation falling heavily upon the wealthy creates economic stagnation by reducing the funds available for investing in business growth, thereby creating unemployment and economic hardship.  I have had this “economic” discussion with many Republicans who sincerely believe it, and although I disagree with them, I respect them for their convictions.

On the other hand, I also feel that some of those who might talk this way really don’t give a hoot about how taxing the wealthy impedes job creation.   

Although they won’t readily admit it, I believe that their real objection is to being taxed for providing various benefits such as food stamps, aid to dependent children, Medicaid, welfare payments, free pre-natal nutrition help, subsidized housing and a host of other benefits for people who in their estimation are too lazy to get up and look for a job so that they can support themselves and their families on their own, including immigrants.  They often make the point that that many of these "families" need such help because they are single parent households with more than just one or two children, and to a great extent, not taking personal responsibility  for the situation they find themselves in. And if you inquire further, you might find that their perception of these people has a racial cast to it.

If fighting taxation which impedes job creation is one pillar of the Republican Party, the other one is resentment of the government taxing them to provide all of these benefits for those they consider to be the undeserving poor.  

You won't hear a G.O.P. candidate talk this way, but it's easy to find their supporters saying these things and of course, this stuff is all over conservative talk radio and the internet.

Jack Lippman

                                                        


Predictions for the 2012 Senate Races in Virginia, Wisconsin and North Dakota

A few postings ago, I made the following comments on the 2012 Senate races:

Right now, the Senate is divided between 53 Democrats (including two Independents who usually vote Democratic) and 47 Republicans.  There are 33 Senatorial races scheduled for November and of them, 23 are for seats presently held by Democrats or Independents who usually vote Democratic and only 10 are Republican-held.  It is likely (according to www.realclearpolitics.com) that including those Senators whose terms are not expiring this year and those seats which can be considered to be "safe" seats or at least seats presemtly leaning in their direction, the Democrats will end up with 47 Senators and the Republicans with 45. The other eight Senatorial races are considered "toss-ups" at this point and their outcome will determine the make-up on the next Senate.  

In my most recent posting, I predicted that the G.O.P. would win three of these "toss-up" races where incumbents were running for office (Nevada, Missouri and Montana) and that Democrats would win two (Massachusetts and Florida), reducing the Democratic majority to one seat, 49 to 48.  That still leaves three close races, none of which involve an incumbent, which will determine the final make up of the Senate.  Here are my thoughts on these three races.

Former Republican Senator George Allen and Former Democratic Governor Tim Kaine square off in the Senatorial Race in VIRGINIA.  The race, as of now, is too close to call.  Whichever candidate can get more supporters to the polls on Election Day will win.  The race is so close that inclement weather on November 6 could determine the winner.  My pick, if I am forced to make one, is that Kaine will be elected on the coattails of Barack Obama.

                  Kaine                                       Berg                                                Thompson

Not so close is the race in NORTH DAKOTA where Republician Rick Berg had a slight lead over Democrat Heidi Heidkamp, and will probably win.

In WISCONSIN, the Democratic Candidate is U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin.  The G.O.P. candidate will be determined in a primary on August 14, where Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald,  former U.S. Representative Mark Neumann, former governor and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, and businessman Eric Hovde will vie for the nomination.  Right now polls indicate that Baldwin would easily defeat Neumann, Hovde or Fitzgerald, but would lose to Thompson in a very, very close contest.  I suspect Thompson will win the primary, leading to his election as Senator.

Adding these results to those I have already predicted (See posting of July 12), it appears that the Senate will be evenly split, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats (including Independents who will vote along with them).  The Vice-President, then, will be in the position of casting a tie-breaking vote when necessary.

JL

                                                             

Sid's Corner



 A RACOON SPEAKS   

Sid Bolotin

Have you ever heard of channeling, the phenomena of someone from another dimension, or the afterlife “speaking” to someone “here” to tell their story?

Brian Weiss, a prominent psychiatrist from Miami wrote “Many lives, Many masters” about past life regression, and Helen Schucman, a professor of psychology at Columbia University wrote “A Course in Miracles” in 1965 based on what she called an "inner voice" which she identified as Jesus. 

This introduces you to this true story as “whispered” to me by the raccoon that my son, Scott, killed recently on his farm in Vermont.

“When I saw the bag of trash, I was ecstatic. From its aroma I knew it was full of goodies, so I climbed onto the porch to begin rummaging. Because it was about 10:30 p.m., I figured that everyone was asleep. Now, I must explain that I was not being malicious, I was just doing what all creatures who live on the planet do…microscopic to mammoth, including humans…just trying to survive so that I could fulfill my destiny to procreate.

                             

Suddenly your son came out of the house on his way to close up his chicken coops, caught sight of me, and stamped his feet to scare me off. Well, I was well into my treasure trove of goodies and not about to be shooed away…especially so since I didn’t feel well. So, although I was a good-sized mature adult, I humped my back to make me appear even larger and snarled loudly in an attempt to scare off the intruder.

Instead of backing off, Scott took a hammer from the tool box at his feet, and before I could react, flung it at me as if he was throwing a bowling ball down an alley. The four pound missile slammed into my side throwing me about six feet off the porch. With the wind knocked out of me I scurried away towards the barn.

Dang if Scott didn’t head the same way en route to the coops…his two Golden Retrievers eagerly tagging along. As soon as they caught my scent, they began to bark fiercely, ready to attack. And I turned to face them, snarling and humping up, ready to battle them both. I was fearless as is usual for my species…maybe more so because I suspect I had a touch of rabies. Because he didn’t want to endanger the dogs, Scott pulled them off and headed for the coops, allowing me to circle back to the porch.

To my disappointment the trash was gone. Hoping to find where he moved it, I was searching the backside of the wraparound porch when Scott returned and began to stalk me. Not wanting to face off with him, I found various hiding spots among the piles of wood planks, furniture, and fireplace logs that are stored on the porch. I was able to evade being found, hoping that I could escape later.

Unbeknownst to me, Scott had decided to take desperate measures…maybe he had noticed me shaking from the rabies, or assumed my aggressiveness to be caused by the disease. He called his friend, Jim, to come over with his gun, a 357 Magnum, and end the dispute.

In a short while Jim was on the scene, found me, and shot me dead with one shot.

Scott was humane…placed me in a bucket, carried me way far out in the field, and buried me deep so that scavengers would not tear my body apart. And, when Scott reported the incident to the game wardens the next day, they decided not to exhume me to run an autopsy…leaving me to rest in peace.

I harbor no anger toward your son. He and I were simply doing our thing as two of the multitude of species that inhabit the planet.”


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 ABOUT MY WRITINGS

Sid Bolotin

Although my recent ode to my muse addressed a singular person, in truth there is an other, a secondary person in my community who whispers critiques in my ear. This individual professes love for my writings that appear in our community magazine but says that my stories are mostly sad and heavy. To which I reply that they reflect the reality of life. This other then says, “I have enough reality in my life. What I want to read is fantasy, Sid. Lighten up!” This other is unaware that many of my “light” writings are rejected by the editors of our community magazine because they are too long or considered inappropriate.

In contrast muse number one reads all my drafts and lauds my writings because: “They’re from your mind, your heart, your gut.”

So, although I do strive to honor the request to lighten up, I invariably fall back on influences from my earliest, formative years, my readings of Kafka, Saki, Greek Tragedies, Shakespeare, combined with metaphysical/spiritual pursuits of Eastern culture, Zen Buddhism, Kabbalah, Joseph Cambell, and New Age teachers ala Alan Watts and Ram Das. Adding to this eclectic mix Victor Frankel, Jon Kabat-Zin, Dr. Herb Benson, Old and New Testaments, Woody Allen, the writings of Alice Hoffman, and a slew of others…along with studies of psychology, neurology…my writings formulate with a life of their own, sometimes light fantasies, sometimes not, especially now that I’m almost an octogenarian and the patriarch of my clan – seeing phases of my life being duplicated by my children and grandchilidren.

Some influencing aphorisms garnered over the years are:

“Human beings keep so busy because it distracts them from knowing they’re going to die.” is a Woody Allen quote that is humorous, dire, and truth.

Zen teaches that the world is perfect just the way it is…warts and all.

Buddhist teachings present “the Five Remembrances”:

I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill heath.
There is no way to escape having ill health.

I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature of change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My deeds are my closest companions.
I am the beneficiary of my deeds.
My deeds are the ground on which I stand.

The first four evoke sadness; the fifth evokes hope of being remembered after the others take effect. Is this heavy, light or both? Aren’t all just the Isness of Truth?
                                       

Buddhism teaches that human suffering is caused by our desire, our attachment to cling to what we like while striving to get rid of what we don’t like in our life…and suggests acceptance (not resignation) of what is.

A message taught to my sons and they to their children:

Bring the rainbow to whatever you do…doing it with a little bit of love, leaning into it with your best effort…even if you don’t like doing it.

Joseph Campbell, famous mythologist, who wrote “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” has opined that each of us is the hero of our own personal saga with all the elements of any heroic odyssey…seeking, losses, death. And triumph. 


                                                                    


Most readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by contacting me at Riart1@aol.com.  

Also, be aware that www.Jackspotpourri.com is now available on your mobile devices in a modified, easy-to-read, format.

Our family of web sites includes:   www.computerdrek.com  - www.politicaldrek.com  -  www.sportsdrek.com  -  www.healthdrek.com.   
Check all of them out, find out what “drek” really means and feel free to submit your thoughts and articles for publication on these sites, which, while still “under construction,” already contain some interesting content.

Additional new material will continue to be posted on www.politicaldrek.com until the Presidential election.  New material will resume being added to the other three “drek” sites after November of 2012.

Jack Lippman

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