Ravings
1/22/09 Politics, Budgets, Poverty, and Aid
Californias budget has been in the news almost consistently the last several months. There has been lots of drama and politics and nuances, but the gist is that our states budget now has a deficit of $45 Billion. And of course they can't agree on how to solve the problem. One party says no new taxes at all, period. But they only propose a program of cuts that solves about half the problem. And even with the tax increases proposed by the other party, the cuts would be drastic- to education, public transit, medical care for children, early childhood intervention programs, elderly and disabled programs, mental health programs, state employee salaries, you name it. So we're in a huge bind, and to top if off, politics is getting in the way of implementing a solution, so the deficit just keeps getting bigger. But all this got me to thinking...
I have read that California only gets ~80 cents in benefit back for every dollar in taxes we pay to our federal government. I looked up the dollar amounts, and this 20 cents per dollar we lose to the other states incidentally very much resembles our deficit: ~$40-$50 Billion per year.
But then, I thought about this further, in a global sense. Apparently Californias GDP is ~$1.7 trillion. So we give about $45B of $1.7T, or over 2.5% of our GDP away (and I am guessing ~5-10% of our taxes) to other states in our nation as aid. So, California is the 8th largest economy in the world, and we give away 2.5% of our GDP as aid to places that already enjoy living standards that are the envy of 80% of humanity.
For decades, developed countries have been called upon to give 0.7% of their GDP as aid to third world countries, to try to relieve and prevent the utmost unbelievable suffering. Yet most developed countries, including and perhaps especially the U.S., have failed to give anywhere near even that 0.7%. At least some experts, including Jeffery Sachs, author of "The End of Poverty," believe that if developed countries did give 0.7% of their GDP, we could END extreme poverty within 25 years. Literally.
All of this just makes me cringe at the possibilities lost due to poor management. I am certain that with the right laws here in California regarding the publics ability to force spending at the ballot box, and the right laws about the % of legislature approval needed to create taxes, and if we had our 2.5% back, we could easily afford to make services in our state better, not worse, balance our budget and quit taking out loans, and give a full 0.7% of the worlds 8th largest economy to combat poverty.
How come we can't get it to work like that??? And if we could do it, how come the whole US, and all other developed countries couldn't??? ..... Apparently, Politics.
August 2006
This time I am taking the easy way out, and posting raves that I really like that are written by other people, just on the off chance these could be read by one more person, since I think they are good...
6-10-06 This is a picture that I have seen before but actually didn't know exactly what it was. I knew it was of the Aral Sea - which has literally turned into a shriveled prune of its former self in the last few decades because of water diversion to grow cotton. I knew it was a sad picture becuase it was a picture of what humans had done to themselves, knowingly. But what I didn't know was that this is also a picture of humans doing something to themselves so fast that they couldn't escape it. The piles of sand you see in the picture were not a channel that had existed in the lake prior to its drying up, or sand dunes formed after it dried up. The channel you see was a channel they were digging WHILE the lake was drying up. They were desperately trying to dig a channel to the ocean to let thier fishing fleets out. They couldn't dig that channel as fast as they were diverting water for cotton, and so now the fishing fleets rust on the desert that was once the fourth largest lake in the world.
This is a picture that makes me cry. Not just for the Aral fishing fleets, or the people currently being poisoned by what is left of the Aral Sea, but for the world. This situation is one that I hope with all hope can be avoided for the human race and our foolish disregard for human caused global warming. We are at a point right now where we could face a global catastrophe with hundreds of millions of refugees flooded, freezed, or blown (by hurricanes or tornadoes) out of their current home cities, even within the next 10-20 years. If it happened scientists could say "We told you it could. We told you what you could do prevent it. You had the technology to prevent it. But you didn't."
And they would be pointing thier biggest finger right here at the United States, which creates a full 30% of the greenhouse gases in the world, despite the fact we only have 5% of the worlds people. And among countries of our means, we are doing the least to curtail our greenhouse gas creation. European countries and even China have much higher vehicle mileage standards than the United States. No wonder american car companies are failing....they can't sell thier cars in any other country but our own because they consume too much gas. I mean, really, how stupid are we? Apparently we as a society really hate ourselves and our world, and everyone else on the planet, and we obviously don't care if they all have very good reasons to hate us too. Personally, I care for myself, my community, my country, and the other people in this world and thier communities and countries. Becuase in reality, we are all apart of one community. And for that community to survive we Americans need to change. We need to look at public transportation like it is our last breath of fresh air. We need to move closer to our work and stores, so we can walk or bike, or easily take public transportation there. We need to turn our thermostats down in the winter and up in the summer. We need to install energy efficient bulbs and appliances. We need to turn off the lights (and computer, TV, DVD, stereo, etc) when we leave the room. We need to consume less and recycle more. (Becuase creating and transporting things takes energy and creates greenhouse gases). This would include buying less disposable items, finding a second home for your discarded itmes, using your old things longer than you normally would, eating less meat, buying local and seasonally appropriate produce. We need to demand cars that get 40 + miles per gallon. We need to call our electricity providers and ask to be enrolled in their green energy program, or demand they get one. We need to plant trees. For more ideas, go to http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/
A new and cool perspective on religion in school and "One Nation under...."
If you would like kids, please consider adopting one of the thousands of older children who will 'age out' of the foster care system (and thus never have a family!)
On american meat
11/3/04 That is no mistake. My flag is upside down. This is because I am in distress. My country is in distress. Another election has been stolen by a man (although I wouldn't call him that) and party with no pure morals or values. Stolen by sub-human (or cat or rat or gnat or cockroach) beings that apparently will stop at nothing to get money and power to themselves and their friends. They will lie, cheat, steal from the poor to give to the rich, kill tens of thousands of innocent people, including children, maim 5 times as many, spit on and degrade our environment and planet beyond repair for our and future generations, deprive and take rights from anyone and everyone, and unethically manipulate systems to get what they want. Did I mention LIE?! About everything, all of the time, everything. And then call themselves Christian. Excuse me?!?!?!?!?!
So yes, I am in distress. My country and my religion no longer stand for what they should. So the flag is upside down. Concede! I am not conceding! Anything. Just because some Lucifer stole the election does not mean I will be behind him. As my Sunday school classes taught me: just because it is the status quo and supposedly popular, is no reason to accept and embrace evil.
Right now I am in distress. I have been in distress for four years now, but I had hope. I thought people would listen to the truth, that people would learn, that things would change for the better. But No. No. So hope? We will see, I suppose there is always hope. But at times like these your standards of what to hope for drop a whole lot. Down into the hellfire that America has fallen into. So now you hope for a fire proof blanket, since to ask for much more seems naive and impossible. But this is one huge fire proof blanket America needs right now. When Bush got elected in 2000 I felt that innocent people would die over it, but I prayed to God that they wouldn't. And now they have, more than 100,000, including over 4,000 that had the luck of the draw to be called American. And now, now I do not want to put into words what I feel is in store for our country and world, because I sincerely hope beyond all hope that I am wrong. There are no words in my engineers brain to cover it all. All I can say is that I will do everything I can to stop it, prevent it. But I am shaking. I am in distress. My country is in distress.
The choice, 30 years later
The above article is a pretty good one on abortion, but I wanted to write a little more here about the history of birth control and abortion. After recently watching "Mona Lisa Smile" with my mother, I was shocked to find out that she didn't know that birth control had been illegal in the U.S. in her lifetime, and that Margaret Sanger and her organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America (yes the same one now demonized and protested by christian right wingers) were pivotal in making birth control available and legal in our country, and thus abortion less common. The story behind Mrs. Sangers life work was what was going on in the world at that time. Her own mother had been pregnant 18 times in 30 years, giving birth to 11 living children; worn out and sick, she died at age 50. Mrs. Sanger had three children of her own and worked as a nurse and midwife in New York around 1910. Since the 1873 passage of the Comstock Law written by a conservative christian senator, contraceptives and contraceptive information were deemed obscene and illegal. Only a few rich women had access to them. So poor women kept getting pregnant even if they couldn't afford to feed or otherwise care for the children (and this was before governmental welfare programs). Poverty and disease were rampant, and the death rate among women and children was exceedingly high. The only option for these women was abortion, which was also illegal and very dangerous, sometimes resulting in death of the mother. One incidence such as this, where a poor mother of three died after a self induced abortion, was what impelled Mrs. Sanger to start to fight for womens rights to contraceptives and contraceptive information. She wrote alternative newspaper articles with reproduction information, which were declared obscene under the Comstock Law. She was arrested after one of these newspapers with the information was sent through the mail. She was jailed in 1916 after opening Americas first birth control clinic. In 1921 she organized the American Birth Control League, which was later known as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. By 1932, more than 80 birth control clinics operated in the U.S. Despite this, birth control was still illegal in many states - until 1965 (5 years after Mrs. Sanger died), when the Supreme court declared contraception a constitutional right of married couples. And not until 1972 did the court declare that unmarried couples had the same right as well. And only in 1973 did abortion become a legal, and thus reasonably safe, procedure. So in conclusion, all I can say is: everyone, please have some more compassion for your mother, because she really did grow up in a whole different world. (and please DO NOT vote republican, so we can assure that this horrible past does not become our future - at this point we still constantly need democratic views on this so that each new generation can be educated about thier bodies, reproduction, and contraception - AND we do not need to be keeping other less developed countries at the state where we were a hundred years ago, by refusing to fund contraceptive information and distribution in these countries simply because the organizations tell women all of thier options...) If you think this is all history and we can now all live in happy contented, sexually educated and equipped awareness, consider that Japan only allowed "The Pill" in 1999 (yes, THREE nines) and right wingers in America are currently waging a war on womens reproductive rights (such as pharmacists in three states refusing to fill contraceptive prescriptions, the federal government refusing to follow scientific advice from the whole medical community and allow the morning after pill to be sold over the counter, attacking condom use and blocking legislation that would require insurance companies to cover prescription contraceptives (click here for more information).
1. BACKROOM INHUMANITIES - There is function that our government performs that I would estimate at least 50% of the populace doesn't know about. You don't get a bill for it every month. It's not even one of those annoying hidden charges on any of your bills. You don't pay extra rent for the service. The funding for it is not plainly listed as part of your sales taxes, or property taxes, or income taxes. They have a building, near your house somewhere, in your community, but it's usually well hidden, in an semi industrial or outlying area. Maybe you've seen the building, maybe you even know generally what it is or have been in it. Maybe. Maybe you even know this "secret" that so many people don't know.
What I am referring to is the euthanasia of cats and dogs (a.k.a - "putting to sleep", or killing). Estimates vary, but we here in america, pay for the killing of 5,000,000 to 13,000,000 animals each year. On the lower end (5 million a year) this works out to one animal killed every 6.2 seconds, every day, all day, all year.If you put that into work-day hours, it is 41 animals killed every minute "animal shelters" are open. And, only with in the last few years, have gas chambers been started to be phased out. Now, most animals die by lethal injection. That is someone's job (or actually thousands of people's job). To go to work, hold down healthy, sweet, loving animals, with shiny, trusting eyes, and wagging tails, and inject Sodium Pentobarbital into their veins and hold them while they die. The turnover in these jobs is one of the highest for any job; the people who have these jobs are usually animal lovers . I find it highly disturbing that in a country where the execution of a serial killer who hacked to death an 81 year old grandma, or raped and killed an 8 year old on her way to 2nd grade meets with highly publicized criticism, the execution of ~14,000 animals per day goes unnoticed. In my volunteering with humane societies, and working with the public, I was surprised, shocked, and dismayed to find that about 1/4 to 1/2 people that came and talked with me did not know that animals are killed every day at the pound. And this was of the people who were actually interested enough to come and initiate a conversation with me! I would fathom to guess that 60 - 100% of the rest of the people had no clue that animals are killed, let alone how many are killed.
2. (MIS)TREATMENT OF ANIMALS - If you know me, you might know that I have worked at a veterinary hospital and have volunteered with humane societies. One day while I was working at the vet hospital a woman came in with her cat. She had found her cat under some garbage behind her shed; it could not walk and had blood coming from its nose and eyes. Upon looking at it she realized it had been shot, and she was able to get a bb pellet out of it. She took it to our hospital. After x-rays were taken we found that the cat had SIX MORE pellets in it. Two were in its head, and one had broken its front right arm. The doctor went in and did reconstructive surgery on its arm and removed the pellet there. The other five he decided to leave in, because it would just do more damage to try and remove them. The next day this woman's 27 year old neighbor informed her that he had held her cat down and shot it point blank with the bb gun seven times. In front of his children. And he threatened her (I don't know with what) not to inform the authorities of this. And she hasn't.
Everything about this angers me. 1)someone could and would do this to a cat 2)he admits to it and threatens her 3) she isn't turning him in and 4)if he did get turned in the MAXIMUM he could get (if they could prove in court that he did it) is one year in prison. In some states he would get pretty much nothing, because it is considered a misdemeanor. At least here it is considered a felony. To me this is outragious, that the abosolute maximum someone could get for holding an innocent being down and shooting it seven times is one year in jail. Some one who could do this type of thing has absolutely no respect for any form of life except their own. I could almost gaurantee you they are abusing all other animals in their life, and most likely their chilren and spouses as well. And for someone to do this in front of their children only exemplifies this type of abuse: this man was showing his kids his power, what he could do to this cat, and to them. And he was teaching them that it is okay to treat other people and animals in such horrible ways. In my book there is no difference between abuse to (or neglect of)animals and abuse (or neglect) to children. To me this mans actions is the same as him holding down one of his kids and shooting it seven times, and he should be punished accordingly.
3. PARENTING
I have a message for everyone. If you can not, will not, or are not ready to be a good parent, DON'T HAVE CHILDREN. And if you have kids already, make sure you put 150% of your effort into being a good parent. I have no great tips on how to do this, because I have no kids. But I can say that if YOU'R OWN LIFE is not in order and stable you shouldn't have kids. If you have the slightest drug problem, cannot completely support yourself, have your own emotional, mental, financial, psychological, relationship, etc problems you are not ready to have kids. Don't have them. Every little thing you do (or allow others to do) or don't do will affect them.
I guess the point I am trying to make is best summed up by a quote from Dr. Drew Pinsky"We have a culture where surviving impaired parenting is the main problem." I think this is very sad, but very true. How are children supposed to learn how to live healthily and happily and they do not grow up in a healthy and happy environment?
Personally I think people need to actually THINK about a certain decision before they make it. This decision is when, or if, to have children. People need to really think about their lives and what they want right now, and in 5 years, and 10 years, etc. And if they would be able to support a child, both financially and emotionally. Actually sit down and make the budget for a child (hint: professionals estimate the cost to raise a child to be ~$170,000 - $380,000, depending on your marriage status, location, lifestyle, college expenses, etc, etc). Also think about what you would have to do to take care of the child and how that will fit into your life.
One tip I do have if you already have kids is to make sure you take thier education seriuosly. The more serious you take it, and from an earlier age, the more likely they are to take it seriously. Be active in thier schooling. Make sure they are learning everything they should be, because unfortunately the schools aren't always doing this.
4. SCHOOLS - Well for any of you who looked at my poems page and read down through the quotes, I am sure you realized I feel that the American education system is lacking in many areas. Recently I remembered a conversation I had in my freshman year of high school with my Algebra teacher, Mrs.Gustie. I think had I remarked to her that I was suprised that so many of the students in our class were Juniors and Seniors. What she told me was shocking; it immediately became painfully obvious that I, as a 13 year old freshman had more sense the the whole school board. Apparently several years ago there had been a requirement at the high school that every student had to pass Elementary Algebra in order to graduate. (As it is now each student is required to pass two years of math, but it doesn't matter what math - Remedial Adding will do). Apparently so many students could not pass Elementary Algebra that the district decided to drop the requirement. I couldn't believe that! Instead of figuring out why so many people couldn't pass a course that everyone has the ability to pass and doing something about it, the district just dropped the standard. Obviously the prepatory math classes are lacking in several ways if so many people couldn't pass algebra. But the district didn't see it that way. Obviously they weren't thinking at all, or they don't care at all. Either way, they need to be replaced. And this is not the only district like this. I have lived in several places and gone to several schools. In my seventh grade at a junior high in Oregon, the school refused to put me in Algebra, even though they had records that said I had passed pre-algebra with an "A" already. Even after my mother had them give me math tests that I passed with flying colors they would not put me in the Algebra class. They insisted I had to be in the seventh grade pre-algebra course. Obviously they weren't interested in doing what was best to eduacate thier students. These are just a couple of incidents that I have direct contact with. I have heard dozens and dozens of stories about schools all over that are obviously not interested in doing what is best for the students. All I can say is something needs to be done. So if you are out there and think, "well my experience with schools where I live wasn't bad" or "I don't have kids so why should I care if schools are good or not?", please think again. There are good schools, but there are a ton of schools that have serious problems. And even if you or your kids don't go to them, there are kids in your city that do. And the first place to start fighting violence, crime, welfare abuse, domestic abuse, drug abuse, and just plain ignorance is in the schools. Programs to put more police on the streets or do rehab are just treating the symptoms, not getting rid of the roots of the problem. Eduaction needs to start early and have the highest quality; our survival, not only as a country, but as a species depends on it. P.S. (added 12-7-99) I recently read about a new requirement for schools in the state of California: students have to now pass Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra II by the end of the 10th grade! I think this is definately great, although I do feel sorry for the first wave of students for the next 4 or 5 years who will not have the background knowledge to do this. But in the long run, this is Wonderful!
5. COLLEGE COSTS
There are some really screwy policies having to do with financial aid for school. Did you know that at a UC it costs more to take 2 courses in the Summer than 4 courses in the Fall! There is a $300 fee simply for processing! And the outrageous summer tuition does not even include all the benefits your fall tuition does (ex: health care). And summer classes are NOT covered by the normal grants or loans offered to students. So this means that in order to take summer courses, you have to come up with tuition out of your pocket (up to $2700 + books if you take 4 classes!) And the really stupid thing is that the state not spending money on summer tuition could actually lead to them spending MORE total on the student. Let me explain: if I had not decided to scrimp and save and use part of my normal year laons to pay for summer school (~$1400 in my case) I would not graduate next year, I would have to be here an extra TWO quarters to finish my classes (not just one quarter because the classes I am taking in the summer are pre-requisites for specific courses I have to take next year which are offered in the Fall and Winter ONLY - so if I took the class I am in now in the Fall I would have to wait until the following Fall and Winter to take those courses) Since normal school year tuition does not depend on the number of units taken my tuition for those two quarters would be ~$2500. So I have a feeling the (excuse my french...but) STUPID government is giving $2500 in grants rather than $1400 in grants (or similiar situations) to tons of students, just becuase of their backward policies! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
P.S. (as of ~Jan 2001) They just started offering financial aid for summer school at Universities of California, and now that the government is picking up the tab, the $300 processing fee is $100. This I feel is very good, but it tastes bitter sweet to me because even though they are doing this now, I am still ~$2000 more in debt than I would have been otherwise for my classes last summer. :-(
6. GUNS
P.S. (6/01) Well some new stuff on this topic, again maybe stuff that many of you knew already. I guess I have been kind of republican in my views of gun laws until recently. I thought: what good would outlawing guns do? I would assume that outlawing guns would just take guns away from normal, law abiding citizens, as they would be the only ones to follow the laws anyhow; all the criminals would still get guns from the "black market" or whatever, so all gun outlawing would do would be to leave us defenseless. Well, I part of me still wants to think that, but I have read recently some facts from I would assume an objective source (a social psychology textbook) that pretty much blow that wonderful thought process to pieces. Here are the statistics: Britian bans handguns, it has 1/4 the population of the U.S., and 1/16th of the total murders of the U.S. (not just 1/16th the gun murders, 1/16th TOTAL murders) (for comparison of the handgun murders the U.S. has about 10,000 per year, and Britain about 10). Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) and Seattle, Washington (U.S.) are very similar in location, climate, economy, population, and rates of criminal activity and assaults; however, Vancouver bans handguns and has 1/5 as many handgun murders, and a 40% lower overall murder rate than Seattle.
When Washington D.C. adopted a law restricting handgun possession, the number of gun related murders and suicides both dropped abruptly 25% - and there were NO changes in the other methods of murder and suicide, nor did adjacent areas outside the reach of the law experience the declines. Personally, I think all those facts speak for themselves, and, well, it's kind of hard to say much else.
Well, I have a few thoughts on this subject; recently a few things have sparked my thinking about this subject. 1) the shootings in a Springfield Oregon High School that left two dead and several injured. And 2)something I read in "Wampeters, Foma, and Grandfalloons" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The shooting came to my attention first, and obviuosly I was shocked, dismayed, sickened, the same as everyone else. A similar thing happened in May 1992 (the same year I started high school) in a high school within half an hour of where I started High School. A senior who got a bad grade walked onto campus in a trench coat; he was actually stopped by a staff member about not being in class, but let go (obviously they didn't see the gun.) The boy then continued into a classroom and shot and killed the teacher and three students, and wounded several more. Of course in this case and the one in Springfield everyone got (and has gotten) extemely upset, asking questions such as "How come CHILDREN can get thier hands on guns?!? That's not right! Children shouldn't have access to guns! We need to make sure kids can't get guns!" And on and on. I have touched a gun, I have held a gun, I have fired a gun. I am no where near thinking about going anywhere and firing one at any living thing. The gun isn't the problem. Taking it away won't solve the problem. Granted in these cases, the people who died probably would not have died as they did if the gun wasn't there. Who's to say though that in Springfield if the boy did not have a gun he would not have used one of his several bombs to kill even more
people. I am not making this up; the kid had like 5 real, ready to go bombs in his house. All I am getting at in this is that anyone who wants to kill badly enough will do it one way or another. And some ways aren't quite as nice (if getting shot is "nice") as with a gun.
BUT... to see things from the other side (is the grass greener here?) On to my quotes from "Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons." One is just rather poetic and image invoking. They both sent shivers through my spine; and the second made me remember soemthing probably completely obvious to many of you. Well, to the first: "Now then - about machine guns: They work sort of like a garden hose, except they spray death." Nothing like looking at something through Vonneguts eyes. Now to the next, and most important:"Guns should give us the heebie-jeebies. They are killing machines. That is all they are." Agian, cheers to Vonnegut; he can get to the point, a modern day Samuel Clemmens. Vonnegut is completely correct. What are guns made to do but to kill? Kill animals, humans and otherwise. An instrument of death should give us all the heebie-jeebies. What sends shivers through my spine is the fact that we live in a society where it doesn't. It is not just our society (as in America, now) but it is practically all societies throughout time. How else were all the wars of the past fought, without dehumanizing the "enemy," making his death not matter. The same goes for animals. Somehow we humans have it in our minds we can kill, maime, torture, eat, and experiment on the other creatures of this planet. Their deaths do not matter. This is why I get upset over everyone blaming guns, and the TV and all that for the violence in this world. Violence hasn't been around just the last few hundred years since guns and TV's. Read your history books.
You are the person to have actually read all this since July 30th 1998!