U.S. - Iranian Relations
Jack Lippman
People
go to psychiatrists and therapists for valid reasons. People “blow off steam” in many ways; some
such "outlets" are harmless like running or exercising and others may be more violent. Some episodes are documented. Others are not. Few find their way into law enforcement
records. 
Job applicants do not readily
volunteer such information as having had to spend an hour after work every day
at a punching bag to work off the day’s frustration with their boss at their last job; who can
judge if this is significant? None of
these things necessarily makes them into killers.
But
perhaps a miniscule percentage of the tens of millions of Americans mentioned above
are potentially dangerous. It is almost
impossible, however, to sift through them all and pick these few out. This is why providing better mental health
care in this country, however desirable it may be, is not the answer. It is just too enormous a task to keep track of all of these individuals. An easier way is to support legislation
controlling the availability of firearms.
This can be done within the confines of the Second Amendment and will go
further toward ending massacres by firearms than searching for needles in the
mental health haystack.
President Obama has been exchanging letters with the new Iranian
President, Hossein Rohani. This may or
may not hint at a thawing of our relations with that country. George Friedman, the noted expert on
geopolitics, has written about Iran at some length in his books as well as in
articles published by his intelligence-providing firm, Stratcor. In fact, two of these articles were
reproduced on this blog. Check out the
postings of January 24, 2012 and April 12, 2012 for information which will shed
light on the kind of issues the President and Rohani may be addressing.
About as trustworthy as the telemarketer who calls you at suppertime!
Try to read these articles before next week, when both Obama and Rohani will be in New York addressing the United Nations. The simplest way to access them is by doing a search in the blog's search box off to the right, on “George Friedman.” Quick links to both articles will appear. (This is material you probably will not find in the newspapers, on TV or elsewhere on the internet.)
About as trustworthy as the telemarketer who calls you at suppertime!Try to read these articles before next week, when both Obama and Rohani will be in New York addressing the United Nations. The simplest way to access them is by doing a search in the blog's search box off to the right, on “George Friedman.” Quick links to both articles will appear. (This is material you probably will not find in the newspapers, on TV or elsewhere on the internet.)
Jack Lippman
Short Story Contest
Here's a reminder that our Short Story Contest ends on December 31. Your entry cannot exceed 1000 words and must start with this sentence: I could hear the floorboards
on the porch, weathered by years of exposure, creaking in the night. Send the entry to me at riart1@aol.com. We already have a few entries, but Sid has provided us with a short story, starting with the required sentence, as an example of what an entry can look like. Check it out .... and try your hand at writing your own. Incidentally, the prize to the winner will be a bottle of 2008 Montipulciano de Abruzzi, a delightful Italian wine that I describe as something like a Merlot, but with a kick. Here is Sid's sample story.
Jack Lippman
Jack Lippman
Eternal Love
Sid Bolotin
I could hear the floorboards
on the porch, weathered by years of exposure, creaking in the night. He had
come for me, just as it had been foretold, and I had left the door unlocked.
I clutched my small tote bag
to my chest and waited for him to enter my room, eager to be finally carried
away to my new life. My parents were not supportive of my decision, and I hoped
that they’d not awaken. Angry protests had drained them, and they had collapsed
in the front room of our modest cottage.
The door swung open, and he
filled the opening, tall, broad, and handsome, his dusky coloring gleaming with
the light from the kerosene lamp. My heart fluttered at the sight of him
holding his gold-capped walking stick with his top hat cocked jauntily over one
eye standing there in his black, cape coat.
“Come, my dear,” he whispered
urgently, “we must hurry before the sun sets. I want you to see my estate for
the first time in daylight. Is everything you’ll need in that one tote?”
“Yes, yes, dear one. I’m
taking just the bare essentials as you suggested. You assured me that you’d
provide everything else in my new life with you. I can’t wait to leave this
hovel and be with you for ever…just as the gypsy described to me.”
Gripping her firmly by the
elbow he guided her past her sleeping parents, out the door, and into his
carriage waiting in the outer yard. Hurriedly he raced the horses toward his
estate in the hills beyond the town.
As they climbed a curve on
the winding road, she gasped, “Oh, my love, it’s beautiful, almost like a
castle. I’m sure that I’ll be very happy here.”
Stopping in the courtyard he
helped her out and ushered her toward the massive front doors while announcing,
“Come quickly; I can’t wait to show you my life’s work in my studio.”
After descending a long
flight of stairs she entered a vast room filled with equipment she did not
recognize and exclaimed, “Studio? You said this was your studio. This looks
like no studio I’ve ever seen. What are all those dials and blinking lights?
And where is your life’s work? As your bride I want to know all about you and
your work.”
“Of course you do, sweet one.
And you will; you will. But in your haste to escape your hovel you must have
misunderstood my proposal. I didn’t bring you here to be my bride. You’re to be
his.”
And with a flourish of his
arm the baron flipped the sheet covering the table in front of them, and
exclaimed, “Meet my life’s work. I’ve created life and your husband for
eternity.”
Politics: “Country Second, Party First” (and a sad prediction)
As
for the Republican controlled House of Representative tacking on a measure "defunding" the Affordable Care Act in their budget bill as a requirement before they would vote for it, I have but one question to ask members of that party, including Speaker John Boehner: Are you Americans first or
are you Republicans first?
Their willingness to use the leverage of crippling the government's operation in order to once again express their opposition to a law passed by both Houses, signed by the President and affirmed by the Supreme Court shows the purely political level on which the G.O.P. operates. Of course, the Senate will not go along with such blackmail nor would the President who has the power of the veto. This tactic will fail, as it will again when then try it once more when raising the debt limit, historically a routine measure, comes to the House floor shortly.
Back in 2008, the Republicans had a campaign slogan, “Country First.” Apparently, so long as the voters chose to put the White House and the Senate in the hands of the Democrats, the G.O.P.'s motto has become “Country Second, Party First.” Each day, they sink to new lows.
Speaker Boehner and Senator Cruz represent differing approaches to the G.O.P.'s mission. Might they be pallbearers at their party's demise in 2016?
Incidentally, the G.O.P.'s budget cutting charade, really no more than an attempt to keep the taxes of many of their rich supporters from increasing, becomes harder and harder to justify as the nation's deficit continues to decrease. Really, there remains little reason for anyone to vote Republican other than to oppose gun control, women's rights, same sex marriage, an increased minimum wage, immigration reform, and of course, health care reform aimed at bringing our country's health care up to the level of other industrialized Western nations.
The most depressing part of this scenario is that mid-term elections, which we are having next year, usually see a resurgence of power on the part of the "outs." This means that the G.O.P (the "outs" in 2014) needs to avoid losing no more than sixteen seats to the Democrats to retain control of the House. Without, a vote-attracting Presidential race on the ballot, that would seem to be an easy task for the Republicans. They might even gain a few seat due to heavily gerrymandered districts. For the same reason, look for G.O.P gains, if not control, in the Senate as well.
Much of this political turmoil focuses on the Affordable Care Act, as its provisions gradually go into effect, despite continued harassment by Republicans even after the Act was passed by both Houses of Congress, signed by the President and affirmed by the Supreme Court. States dominated by Republicans are also attempting to impede the Act's operation. There is a perception out there that the ACA is unpopular with the American people. To the contrary, it most certainly is popular among those who are able to keep their dependent children (especially if they are unemployed) on their policies to age 26 and among those who would otherwise be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions or who reach a lifetime cap on their benefits.
This supposed "unpopularity" stems from the fact that most Americans do have some form of personal or employer-based health insurance. Individuals and employers are reluctant to latch on to something new, despite the fact that it will enable thirty million presently uninsured Americans to be insured, motivated to some extent by the possibility of tax penalties if they do not. Also, some employers object to the Act's making them responsible for offering health insurance to employees in situations where they had not been required to do so up to now. These steps will relieve hospital emergency rooms of the unfair task of transferring the cost of treating those without insurance into increases in what they charge those with insurance.
There also is a fear that the government will meddle with the type of care available to insureds, a fear that also extends to Medicare recipients (Medicare and the Affordable Care Act are two separate and distinct programs.) Right now, today, private insurers and HMOs are already delineating what they will and will not pay for, and insurance obtained from private insurers regulated under the Affordable Care Act will also reflect this. But this tightening of benefits, already taking place, wrongly feeds the public misconception, and that of some doctors and other health care providers, that it is the fault of Obamacare, and contributes to its unwarranted lack of popularity. Republicans in Congress are not reluctant to use such misconceptions as a political tool to get votes.
The Affordable Care Act is good medicine for the country and for the insurance industry and deserves the support of Americans. Too many, ignoring those without insurance today, do not agree with this and like things just the way they are today, blind to the fact that the United States is creeping downward each year in comparison to other nations according to the yardsticks used in measuring health care.
I predict a very depressing, if not disastrous, two years of Congressional misbehavior, including continued attacks on the Affordable Care Act, until the next Presidential election in 2016 at which time the G.O.P. (unless it abandons its tea party orientation) will be swept from both houses of Congress and of course, not come anywhere near the White House. When Americans come out to vote, they do what they have to do, but unfortunately, that won't happen in 2014.
Their willingness to use the leverage of crippling the government's operation in order to once again express their opposition to a law passed by both Houses, signed by the President and affirmed by the Supreme Court shows the purely political level on which the G.O.P. operates. Of course, the Senate will not go along with such blackmail nor would the President who has the power of the veto. This tactic will fail, as it will again when then try it once more when raising the debt limit, historically a routine measure, comes to the House floor shortly.
Back in 2008, the Republicans had a campaign slogan, “Country First.” Apparently, so long as the voters chose to put the White House and the Senate in the hands of the Democrats, the G.O.P.'s motto has become “Country Second, Party First.” Each day, they sink to new lows.
Speaker Boehner and Senator Cruz represent differing approaches to the G.O.P.'s mission. Might they be pallbearers at their party's demise in 2016? Incidentally, the G.O.P.'s budget cutting charade, really no more than an attempt to keep the taxes of many of their rich supporters from increasing, becomes harder and harder to justify as the nation's deficit continues to decrease. Really, there remains little reason for anyone to vote Republican other than to oppose gun control, women's rights, same sex marriage, an increased minimum wage, immigration reform, and of course, health care reform aimed at bringing our country's health care up to the level of other industrialized Western nations.
The most depressing part of this scenario is that mid-term elections, which we are having next year, usually see a resurgence of power on the part of the "outs." This means that the G.O.P (the "outs" in 2014) needs to avoid losing no more than sixteen seats to the Democrats to retain control of the House. Without, a vote-attracting Presidential race on the ballot, that would seem to be an easy task for the Republicans. They might even gain a few seat due to heavily gerrymandered districts. For the same reason, look for G.O.P gains, if not control, in the Senate as well.
Much of this political turmoil focuses on the Affordable Care Act, as its provisions gradually go into effect, despite continued harassment by Republicans even after the Act was passed by both Houses of Congress, signed by the President and affirmed by the Supreme Court. States dominated by Republicans are also attempting to impede the Act's operation. There is a perception out there that the ACA is unpopular with the American people. To the contrary, it most certainly is popular among those who are able to keep their dependent children (especially if they are unemployed) on their policies to age 26 and among those who would otherwise be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions or who reach a lifetime cap on their benefits.
This supposed "unpopularity" stems from the fact that most Americans do have some form of personal or employer-based health insurance. Individuals and employers are reluctant to latch on to something new, despite the fact that it will enable thirty million presently uninsured Americans to be insured, motivated to some extent by the possibility of tax penalties if they do not. Also, some employers object to the Act's making them responsible for offering health insurance to employees in situations where they had not been required to do so up to now. These steps will relieve hospital emergency rooms of the unfair task of transferring the cost of treating those without insurance into increases in what they charge those with insurance.
There also is a fear that the government will meddle with the type of care available to insureds, a fear that also extends to Medicare recipients (Medicare and the Affordable Care Act are two separate and distinct programs.) Right now, today, private insurers and HMOs are already delineating what they will and will not pay for, and insurance obtained from private insurers regulated under the Affordable Care Act will also reflect this. But this tightening of benefits, already taking place, wrongly feeds the public misconception, and that of some doctors and other health care providers, that it is the fault of Obamacare, and contributes to its unwarranted lack of popularity. Republicans in Congress are not reluctant to use such misconceptions as a political tool to get votes.
The Affordable Care Act is good medicine for the country and for the insurance industry and deserves the support of Americans. Too many, ignoring those without insurance today, do not agree with this and like things just the way they are today, blind to the fact that the United States is creeping downward each year in comparison to other nations according to the yardsticks used in measuring health care.
I predict a very depressing, if not disastrous, two years of Congressional misbehavior, including continued attacks on the Affordable Care Act, until the next Presidential election in 2016 at which time the G.O.P. (unless it abandons its tea party orientation) will be swept from both houses of Congress and of course, not come anywhere near the White House. When Americans come out to vote, they do what they have to do, but unfortunately, that won't happen in 2014.
JL
Better
Mental Health Care vs Gun Control
Most
of the perpetrators of recent massacres carried out with firearms, it turns
out, have had a history of emotional or mental problems.
Single
or multiple incidents may have been reported in their histories which hindsight
says should have provided warning signs.
Disproportionate reactions to employment problems including firings or
layoffs, marital disputes, drug or alcohol related stresses, a low anger threshold,
abuse or bullying by peers and diagnosed psychological histories, alone or in
combination, can push an individual over the edge. But there are tens of millions of harmless Americans
out there who, if you look into their educational, employment and medical
histories, present one or more of these things.
JL
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 clicking on Riart1@aol.com and sending me an Email. BY CLICKING ON THAT
ADDRESS, (shown above in red) YOU CAN ALSO SEND ME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED IN
THIS BLOG AS WELL AS YOUR COMMENTS. I
am just a click of your mouse away.
Also, be aware that www.Jackspotpourri.com
is now available on your mobile devices in a modified, easy-to-read, format.
* * * * * * * * *
To view older postings on
this blog, just click on the appropriate date in the “Blog Archive” off to the
right, or scroll down until you see the “Older Posts” notation at the
very bottom of this posting. The
“Search” box can also be used to find older postings.
To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the
envelope with the arrow on the "Comments" line directly below. Even better, let me know their Email address so
that they may be alerted to future postings.
Jack Lippman
No comments:
Post a Comment