Karen and Bob and All who worry about our Nation's well being.
What I have read here, posted by Bob, is only one person's opinion.
But Bob is far enough off base that we should do a little fact
checking on his claim that Medicare is bankrupt.
What I post as an example, needs to be read with the understanding
that it is opinion journalism. But it does suggest that the old adage
is true: Figures don't Lie, but Liars sure can figure.
Carl Jarvis
******
In an article in the New York Post, Betsy McCaughey wrote:
As the new Congress convenes, budget cutters are eyeing Medicare,
citing forecasts the program for seniors is running out of money. But
federal bean counters
have erroneously predicted Medicare's bankruptcy for decades. One
reason: They don't consider medical breakthroughs.
Another problem is medical ethicists like Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who
insist the elderly are a burden and that resources would be better
spent on the young.
The facts prove otherwise. New medical findings give plenty of reason
for optimism about the cost of caring for the elderly. Medicare
spending on end-of-life
care is dropping rapidly, down from 19 percent to 13 percent of the
Medicare budget since 2000. Living to a ripe old age shouldn't be
treated like it's
a problem. It's a bargain. Someone who lives to 97 consumes only about
half as much end-of-life care as someone who dies at 68.
Surprised? Myth has it that the older people get, the sicker they are
and the more costly their care becomes. But in truth, disability and
chronic illness
are declining among the elderly.
Dementia, an especially costly condition for seniors, is down a
staggering 24 percent over the last 12 years, according to data
published in the journal
JAMA Internal Medicine.
Octogenarians, and even centenarians, are staying active instead of
languishing crippled in wheelchairs. How?
Medical advances such as carotid artery stenting and thrombolysis
prevent stroke damage, something many seniors fear worse than death.
Scientists call this overall improvement in aging "compression of
morbidity." The elderly live longer, stay healthier and have shorter
illnesses at the
end of life.
All the more reason for seniors to resist making politically correct
end-of-life medical plans or advance directives that forgo medical
interventions,
long before they're actually facing a terminal illness. They shouldn't
rule out the use of tools like respirators and feeding tubes that
could keep them
going during a bout of flu or an accident, allowing them to recover
and resume active lives.
Patients mistakenly assume ventilators and feeding tubes are
permanent. But most patients recover after these interventions. Few
ever remember being on
a ventilator after it's removed because they're sedated while on it.
Why would we emulate Zeke Emanuel, age 59, who swears that at 75, he
will forego all medical care and let death come quickly? "Our older
years are not
of high quality," he insists. He'll skip them.
In The Atlantic magazine,
he dismissed compression of morbidity as "quintessentially American"
wishful thinking, and mocked seniors for trying to "cheat death."
Sorry, Doc. It's not a pipe dream. Science proves old age is getting
better. It's worth living.
Like Emanuel, the federal government ignores this fact and writes off
seniors. Take cancer screenings. Currently the US Preventive Services
Task Force
recommends against routine colon-cancer screenings after age 75. Even
though patients over 75 have the highest risk.
The Task Force also recommends routine mammograms only until age 74.
But Dr. Judith Malmgren of the University of Washington explains, "a
75-year-old woman
today has a 13-year life expectancy" and should get screened as well.
The Task Force's guidelines alarmingly resemble those of Britain,
where patients over 75 are routinely denied knee replacements,
mastectomies and other
surgeries. It's a slippery slope.
Too often, Congress treats Medicare as a piggy bank — raiding it when
money is needed elsewhere. In 2010, Democrats in Congress paid for
over half of ObamaCare's
spending by cutting Medicare. This year, Republican lawmakers eager to
control federal health spending should avoid that error and instead
focus on fixing
Medicaid, the money pit program for the poor, where spending per
capita is growing twice as fast as for Medicare.
Medicaid spending now is nearing $8,000 per recipient. That's
thousands more than is spent on people in private plans. And for all
that money, studies
show Medicaid isn't improving patients' health.
By contrast, Medicare is a success story. It has transformed aging,
enabling older Americans to lead longer, more independent lives than
our grandparents
did. The average man turning 65 today will live five years longer than
in 1970. Not just more years. Quality years. What a gift.
Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.
FILED UNDER
CHRONIC ILLNESS,
DISABILITIES,
ELDERLY CARE,
MEDICARE
On 12/31/17, Bob via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
> Karen:
>
> Who are you kidding?
> Medicare, by any measurement, is not a successful program other than
> for those who receive its benefits. First of all, it is in tremendous
> debt and actually bankrupt. Secondly, there are an untold number of
> providers that don't accept medicare, thus patients. Thirdly, there
> is a tremendous amount of fraud in medicare.
> I am not suggesting that medicare not be available for individuals
> over 65. However, to suggest that medicare should be offerred from
> birth to death is naive.
> Without dispute, state and privately administered programs are far
> better run than federal programs.
> Have a Happy New Year.
>
> Bob
>
>
> On 12/30/17, Dan Weiner via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
>> every time there have been attempts to reform the system in someway or
>> to broaden the safety net, people have been forecasting gloom and doom,
>> not so long ago many self-styled conservatives thought that Social
>> security was a bad idea, after all, why not invest and save for your
>> retirement, I rm remember reading about people saying such things in the
>> halls of Congress no less back in the thirties as a reason not to
>> initiate Social Security programs...never mind that in effect you
>> actually are doing that by working and getting Social Security upon
>> retirement. so is the argument, guys, that we should let people starve
>> and go without medical care? That is fine until it's you or your family
>> who is effected then I bet every one who is against any type of reform
>> will be clamoring for help. maybe we should just give everyone the
>> insurance that Congressmen seem to get for themselves, how about that
>> one--smile.
>>
>>
>> Dan W.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/30/2017 11:51 AM, Karen Rose via acb-chat wrote:
>>> Medicare is a very successful government run healthcare program. All we
>>> need do is extend that so that one not need to have to live to 65 to be
>>> permitted to automatically see a doctor is right. If we extend the
>>> eligibility for Medicare down to the age of birth we've got it!
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On Dec 30, 2017, at 7:48 AM, Clifford <clifford@tds.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear Karen and list members:
>>>> One advantage of having fifty state governments is that one state
>>>> can
>>>> try a program without forcing all of the other states to join that one.
>>>> If California follows your prediction, we will find out soon enough how
>>>> efficient a government run healthcare program works. I am willing to
>>>> bet
>>>> that such a program will be abandoned by California in the near term,
>>>> and
>>>> not because other states don't follow suit, but because you and others
>>>> discover that the quality and availability of healthcare services
>>>> suffer, while costs soar. If, on the other
>>>> hand, California has a wonderful experience, other states will follow.
>>>> I also believe that many healthcare providers will elect to not
>>>> participate and will only treat those who are willing to pay extra for
>>>> their services.
>>>> I am also curious as to whether or not your services will be
>>>> covered by the universal single payer system?
>>>>
>>>> I can recall from years ago that an effort to bring down the cost
>>>> of
>>>> the foodstamp program was being waged in congress, and the opposition
>>>> that sprang up, not from the folks receiving the stamps, but the
>>>> producers and processers were in the hallways of congress lobbying
>>>> against the proposed cuts.
>>>>
>>>> Yours Truly,
>>>>
>>>> Clifford Wilson.
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Karen Rose via acb-chat [mailto:acb-chat@acblists.org]
>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2017 12:42 PM
>>>> To: General discussion list for ACB members and friends where a wide
>>>> range of topics from blindness to politics, issues of the day or
>>>> whatever
>>>> comes to mind are welcome. This is a free form discussion list.
>>>> <acb-chat@acblists.org>
>>>> Cc: Karen Rose <rosekm@earthlink.net>
>>>> Subject: Re: [acb-chat] The Midnight Cry: a voice in the wilderness
>>>>
>>>> And yes the selfish me win with regard to the federal government but I
>>>> suspect that we will simply text ourselves more in California in order
>>>> to
>>>> ensure that at least everyone can see a doctor when needed. I believe
>>>> we
>>>> will go for universal healthcare in the upcoming year.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>>> On Dec 28, 2017, at 9:29 AM, Bob Hachey via acb-chat
>>>>> <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Karen,
>>>>> Well, it looks like those on the far right who favor smaller and
>>>>> weaker
>>>>> federal government could win the day in California at least in the
>>>>> short
>>>>> run.
>>>>> Here's the sad irony. This flaming liberal truly believes that all of
>>>>> us
>>>>> Americans could fare well under a smaller federal government. That's
>>>>> right folks! You read my last sentence correctly.
>>>>> Now for the caveat. In order for such a scenario to work out, private
>>>>> corporations and citizens need to be acting with a long run common
>>>>> good
>>>>> approach in mind. That means, among other things, treating both
>>>>> employees and the environment with respect, moving away from the
>>>>> commodification of basic services such as electricity, running water,
>>>>> gas, heating oil, and the provision of healthcare services. This means
>>>>> that those at the top would earn smaller profits. But, imagine if we
>>>>> could redirect all of the resources that now go into regulatory
>>>>> agencies
>>>>> like EPA, OSHA and the departments of Energy and Education into
>>>>> creating
>>>>> more jobs, higher wages, better-maintained infrastructure, etc? Now
>>>>> that
>>>>> could be a win-win situation for each and every one of us.
>>>>> Time to get my head out of the clouds now!
>>>>> Bob Hachey
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> acb-chat mailing list
>>>>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>>>>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> acb-chat mailing list
>>>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>>>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> acb-chat mailing list
>>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> acb-chat mailing list
>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT PERSONAL ASSET!!!
> TAKE THE CHALLENGE AT:
> HTTP://BOB-CLARK.COM
> Telephone: 800-345-9760
> _______________________________________________
> acb-chat mailing list
> acb-chat@acblists.org
> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>
>
>
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Re: [blind-democracy] By Clasping Hands with Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself as Just Another 'Progressive Except For Palestine'
Shame on Senator Kamala Harris. But if you remember only one point
from this article, forget Kamala Harris and recall the words of James
Baldwin who famously wrote that, "The state of Israel was not created
for the salvation of the Jews; it was created for the salvation of the
Western interests."
It seems to me that a large number of Black Politicians have
compromised their long standing social values in order to appear to be
unquestionable, Patriotic Americans. In so doing, they have been
rendered useless to the cause of Black Justice in America, or Human
Respect among the down trodden billions of the world.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/27/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Alternet
>
> Published on Alternet (https://www.alternet.org)
>
> Home > By Clasping Hands with Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself
> as Just Another 'Progressive Except For Palestine'
>
> By Clasping Hands with Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself as
> Just
> Another 'Progressive Except For Palestine'
>
> By Hamzah Raza [1] / AlterNet [2]
>
> December 18, 2017, 10:43 AM GMT
>
> As the second black female senator in American history, Kamala Harris has
> been a pioneer in American politics. Many consider her to be a serious
> contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Harris has
> even been branded [3] by the New York Times as a "'Top Cop' in the era of
> Black Lives Matter," a tip of the hat to the former California attorney
> general's progressive politics and support for issues of social justice.
> But
> while Harris has been praised as someone who fights racism in the United
> States, some critics feel she has failed to be consistent in that approach
> abroad.
>
> On November 20, California Sen. Kamala Harris met [4] with Israeli Prime
> Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Through the meeting, Harris ignored the
> avalanche of officially sanctioned [5] anti-black racism in Israel, turned
> her back on historic black solidarity with the Palestinian cause and
> ignored
> the human rights demands of Palestinians living under apartheid. She
> revealed herself as the latest in a long line of "Progressives Except for
> Palestine," and one of the most egregious examples given her personal and
> political background.
>
>
>
>
>
> The day before Netanyahu's meeting with Harris, the Israeli prime minister
> announced [9] a plan to expel 40,000 non-Jewish African migrants, branding
> the asylum seekers as "infiltrators" whose existence poses a threat to
> Israel's "Jewish character." This came after years of anti-black protests
> in
> Israel where Israeli politicians across the political spectrum, including
> those from Netanyahu's own party, made statements referring [10] to African
> immigrants as a "cancer" and "emitting a bad stench" and "likely to cause
> all kinds of diseases."
>
> Historical black solidarity with Palestine
>
> For over half a century, black Americans have stood in solidarity with the
> Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. The Student Nonviolent
> Coordinating Committee [11], the Black Panther Party [12], and the Southern
> Christian Leadership Conference [13] were all groups that consistently
> stood
> in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Malcolm X [14], Angela Davis [15]
> and Stokely Carmichael [11] were passionate opponents of Zionism and James
> Baldwin famously wrote [16] that, "The state of Israel was not created for
> the salvation of the Jews; it was created for the salvation of the Western
> interests."
>
> In the present day, black intellectuals such as Michelle Alexander [17],
> Eddie Glaude [18], Alice Walker [19] and Cornel West have all endorsed a
> movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, to pressure the
> state
> of Israel to comply with international human rights conventions. West has
> referred [20] to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza as "the hood on
> steroids." Athlete Colin Kaepernick has endorsed [21] the BDS movement. The
> Movement for Black Lives platform supported the BDS movement and condemned
> Israel as an apartheid state. Black Lives Matter activists have been taking
> yearly solidarity trips to Palestine since 2014. The most recent trip
> included [22] rapper Vic Mensa, who is currently on tour with Jay Z. Black
> artists such as Snoop Dogg, Future and Lauryn Hill have refused [23] to
> perform in Israel, in cooperation with the BDS movement's call for cultural
> boycott of Israel.
>
> Black American solidarity with Palestine has been accompanied by a broader
> international black solidarity with Palestine. The African Charter on Human
> and Peoples Rights, ratified by 53 of 54 African nations, calls [24] for
> the
> elimination of Zionism as necessary to bringing about an end to racism.
>
> A week after Harris' meeting with Netanyahu, Mandla Mandela, the grandson
> of
> Nelson Mandela and Member of Parliament in South Africa, visited occupied
> Palestine and stated [25] that "Palestinians are being subjected to the
> worst version of apartheid." Mandela cited the words of his grandfather,
> who
> said that, "Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the
> Palestinians."
>
> Israel's racist demographic engineering
>
> At a speech at AIPAC in 2016, Harris cited [26] her biracial background as
> her inspiration for supporting the US sending tens of billions of dollars
> in
> aid to the Israeli military. Yet the Israeli government demands its right
> to
> engineer demographic purity through violence, walls and laws that have
> forbidden Palestinian residency in certain areas and even restrict
> marriages
> between Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli
> citizens.
>
> Her opportunism mirrors that of another Democratic black senator in
> Congress, Cory Booker. Last December, I attended [27] a town hall with
> Booker. After the town hall, a constituent asked Booker about illegal
> settlements in the West Bank that were destroying his family's village in
> Palestine. In response, Booker brought the conversation around to Israel's
> "right to defend herself." When I asked Booker if he considered Israel to
> be
> an apartheid state, he responded "no."
>
> Booker is one of the leading recipients of pro-Israel cash, which goes a
> long way toward explaining how he can so shamelessly square his pro-Israel
> politics with rhetorical support for civil rights in America.
>
> Progressive Democrats rally for Palestinian human rights while Harris turns
> her back
>
> By clasping hands with Netanyahu, Harris stood against the historical
> momentum for justice that is even sweeping through the halls of Congress.
>
> This past June, 35 members of Congress wrote [28] a letter in support of
> Issa Amro, an activist from the occupied city of Hebron who has been lauded
> as the Palestinian Gandhi for his nonviolent approach to confronting
> Israeli
> occupation. Israel's occupation authorities had put Amro on trial for 18
> trumped-up charges, ranging from "insulting a soldier" to "assault."
> Amnesty
> International has stated that "the deluge of charges against Issa Amro do
> not stand up to any scrutiny," describing the charges as "baseless and
> politically motivated." In the letter, the 35 House Democrats defended
> Amro's right to peacefully protest.
>
> On November 14, 10 House Democrats co-sponsored [29] the Promoting Human
> Rights by Ending Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act, which
> requires the Secretary of State to annually certify that no American tax
> dollars given in the form of military aid to Israel are used to "support
> military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian
> children."
>
> In an unprecedented move on November 29, 10 Democratic senators wrote [30]
> a
> letter to Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to put a halt to the Israeli
> government's planned demolition of the Palestinian village of Susiya, in
> order to create yet another illegal settlement. Cory Booker and Kamala
> Harris did not sign the letter.
>
> As activists, intellectuals, entertainers, and progressive forces within
> the
> Democratic Party began to advocate for Palestinians living under
> occupation,
> Harris remains a prisoner of her own opportunism. Desperate to remain in
> good standing with the powerful pro-Israel lobby, Harris has attempted to
> reconcile her progressive politics at home with her support for an
> apartheid
> regime that is responsible for racism and violence against communities of
> color abroad.
>
>
>
>
> Hamzah Raza is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
> Tennessee.
> Follow him on Twitter @hr609.
>
>
>
>
> Share on Facebook Share
>
> Share on Twitter Tweet
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [31]
>
>
> [32]
>
>
>
> Sign Up!
>
> Get AlterNet's Daily Newsletter in Your Inbox
>
>
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>
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> + sign up for additional lists
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Source URL:
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/kamala-harris-progressive-except-p
> alestine
>
>
> Links:
> [1] https://www.alternet.org/authors/hamzah-raza
> [2] http://alternet.org
> [3]
> https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/kamala-harris-a-top-cop-in-the-e
> ra-of-black-lives-matter.html
> [4] https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/932684579097534465?lang=en
> [5]
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-white-supremacy-anti-black-
> racism-african-refugees-ethiopian-jews
> [6] https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
> [7] https://t.co/L5qdcgwWG0
> [8]
> https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/932684579097534465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
> [9]
> http://www.dw.com/en/israel-to-deport-40000-african-refugees-without-their-c
> onsent/a-41443084
> [10]
> https://www.thenation.com/article/israels-new-racism-persecution-african-mig
> rants-holy-land/
> [11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z0Etv9BPE4
> [12]
> http://blacklivesmatteralliancebroward.org/why-the-black-panther-party-pales
> tine-solidarity-is-still-relevant-today/
> [13]
> http://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/21/archives/civil-rights-leader-backs-cause-o
> f-plo-after-meeting-at-un.html
> [14] http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/gen_zion.htm
> [15]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/angela-davis-supp
> ort-bds-and-palestine-will-be-free
> [16] https://www.thenation.com/article/open-letter-born-again/
> [17] http://fpif.org/gaza-ferguson-exposing-toolbox-racist-repression/
> [18]
> https://www.huffingtonpost.com/usaama-alazami/princetons-faculty-petiti_b_61
> 29440.html
> [19]
> https://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/28/palestine_conditions_more_brutal_than
> _in
> [20]
> http://portside.org/2015-03-09/cornel-west-gaza-hood-steroids-thanks-israel
> [21]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/colin-kaepernick-pays-p
> rice-standing-justice
> [22]
> https://www.facebook.com/PalestineInAmerica/photos/pcb.1510906112332666/1510
> 905985666012/?type=3
> [23]
> https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171030-growing-number-of-hip-hop-artists
> -cancel-gigs-in-israel-report/
> [24] http://www.achpr.org/instruments/achpr/
> [25]
> https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Mandla-Mandela-Israel-Imposing-Worst-
> Version-of-Apartheid-20171129-0003.html
> [26] https://twitter.com/zaidjilani/status/862028753433702400
> [27]
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/meet-cory-bookers-top-donor-group-
> right-wing-islamophobic-pro-israel-outfit-backs
> [28]
> https://www.fcnl.org/updates/35-reps-stand-up-for-palestinian-human-rights-9
> 10
> [29] http://mondoweiss.net/2017/11/palestinian-introduced-congress/
> [30]
> https://theintercept.com/2017/11/29/in-unprecedented-move-ten-democratic-sen
> ators-write-to-israeli-leader-netanyahu-and-demand-he-halt-demolition-of-pal
> estinian-village/
> [31] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?subject=Typo on By Clasping Hands
> with
> Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself as Just Another
> 'Progressive Except For
> Palestine'&body=URL:http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/kamala-har
> ris-progressive-except-palestine
> [32] https://www.alternet.org/
> [33] https://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
>
>
>
>
from this article, forget Kamala Harris and recall the words of James
Baldwin who famously wrote that, "The state of Israel was not created
for the salvation of the Jews; it was created for the salvation of the
Western interests."
It seems to me that a large number of Black Politicians have
compromised their long standing social values in order to appear to be
unquestionable, Patriotic Americans. In so doing, they have been
rendered useless to the cause of Black Justice in America, or Human
Respect among the down trodden billions of the world.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/27/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Alternet
>
> Published on Alternet (https://www.alternet.org)
>
> Home > By Clasping Hands with Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself
> as Just Another 'Progressive Except For Palestine'
>
> By Clasping Hands with Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself as
> Just
> Another 'Progressive Except For Palestine'
>
> By Hamzah Raza [1] / AlterNet [2]
>
> December 18, 2017, 10:43 AM GMT
>
> As the second black female senator in American history, Kamala Harris has
> been a pioneer in American politics. Many consider her to be a serious
> contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Harris has
> even been branded [3] by the New York Times as a "'Top Cop' in the era of
> Black Lives Matter," a tip of the hat to the former California attorney
> general's progressive politics and support for issues of social justice.
> But
> while Harris has been praised as someone who fights racism in the United
> States, some critics feel she has failed to be consistent in that approach
> abroad.
>
> On November 20, California Sen. Kamala Harris met [4] with Israeli Prime
> Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Through the meeting, Harris ignored the
> avalanche of officially sanctioned [5] anti-black racism in Israel, turned
> her back on historic black solidarity with the Palestinian cause and
> ignored
> the human rights demands of Palestinians living under apartheid. She
> revealed herself as the latest in a long line of "Progressives Except for
> Palestine," and one of the most egregious examples given her personal and
> political background.
>
>
>
>
>
> The day before Netanyahu's meeting with Harris, the Israeli prime minister
> announced [9] a plan to expel 40,000 non-Jewish African migrants, branding
> the asylum seekers as "infiltrators" whose existence poses a threat to
> Israel's "Jewish character." This came after years of anti-black protests
> in
> Israel where Israeli politicians across the political spectrum, including
> those from Netanyahu's own party, made statements referring [10] to African
> immigrants as a "cancer" and "emitting a bad stench" and "likely to cause
> all kinds of diseases."
>
> Historical black solidarity with Palestine
>
> For over half a century, black Americans have stood in solidarity with the
> Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. The Student Nonviolent
> Coordinating Committee [11], the Black Panther Party [12], and the Southern
> Christian Leadership Conference [13] were all groups that consistently
> stood
> in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Malcolm X [14], Angela Davis [15]
> and Stokely Carmichael [11] were passionate opponents of Zionism and James
> Baldwin famously wrote [16] that, "The state of Israel was not created for
> the salvation of the Jews; it was created for the salvation of the Western
> interests."
>
> In the present day, black intellectuals such as Michelle Alexander [17],
> Eddie Glaude [18], Alice Walker [19] and Cornel West have all endorsed a
> movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, to pressure the
> state
> of Israel to comply with international human rights conventions. West has
> referred [20] to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza as "the hood on
> steroids." Athlete Colin Kaepernick has endorsed [21] the BDS movement. The
> Movement for Black Lives platform supported the BDS movement and condemned
> Israel as an apartheid state. Black Lives Matter activists have been taking
> yearly solidarity trips to Palestine since 2014. The most recent trip
> included [22] rapper Vic Mensa, who is currently on tour with Jay Z. Black
> artists such as Snoop Dogg, Future and Lauryn Hill have refused [23] to
> perform in Israel, in cooperation with the BDS movement's call for cultural
> boycott of Israel.
>
> Black American solidarity with Palestine has been accompanied by a broader
> international black solidarity with Palestine. The African Charter on Human
> and Peoples Rights, ratified by 53 of 54 African nations, calls [24] for
> the
> elimination of Zionism as necessary to bringing about an end to racism.
>
> A week after Harris' meeting with Netanyahu, Mandla Mandela, the grandson
> of
> Nelson Mandela and Member of Parliament in South Africa, visited occupied
> Palestine and stated [25] that "Palestinians are being subjected to the
> worst version of apartheid." Mandela cited the words of his grandfather,
> who
> said that, "Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the
> Palestinians."
>
> Israel's racist demographic engineering
>
> At a speech at AIPAC in 2016, Harris cited [26] her biracial background as
> her inspiration for supporting the US sending tens of billions of dollars
> in
> aid to the Israeli military. Yet the Israeli government demands its right
> to
> engineer demographic purity through violence, walls and laws that have
> forbidden Palestinian residency in certain areas and even restrict
> marriages
> between Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli
> citizens.
>
> Her opportunism mirrors that of another Democratic black senator in
> Congress, Cory Booker. Last December, I attended [27] a town hall with
> Booker. After the town hall, a constituent asked Booker about illegal
> settlements in the West Bank that were destroying his family's village in
> Palestine. In response, Booker brought the conversation around to Israel's
> "right to defend herself." When I asked Booker if he considered Israel to
> be
> an apartheid state, he responded "no."
>
> Booker is one of the leading recipients of pro-Israel cash, which goes a
> long way toward explaining how he can so shamelessly square his pro-Israel
> politics with rhetorical support for civil rights in America.
>
> Progressive Democrats rally for Palestinian human rights while Harris turns
> her back
>
> By clasping hands with Netanyahu, Harris stood against the historical
> momentum for justice that is even sweeping through the halls of Congress.
>
> This past June, 35 members of Congress wrote [28] a letter in support of
> Issa Amro, an activist from the occupied city of Hebron who has been lauded
> as the Palestinian Gandhi for his nonviolent approach to confronting
> Israeli
> occupation. Israel's occupation authorities had put Amro on trial for 18
> trumped-up charges, ranging from "insulting a soldier" to "assault."
> Amnesty
> International has stated that "the deluge of charges against Issa Amro do
> not stand up to any scrutiny," describing the charges as "baseless and
> politically motivated." In the letter, the 35 House Democrats defended
> Amro's right to peacefully protest.
>
> On November 14, 10 House Democrats co-sponsored [29] the Promoting Human
> Rights by Ending Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act, which
> requires the Secretary of State to annually certify that no American tax
> dollars given in the form of military aid to Israel are used to "support
> military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian
> children."
>
> In an unprecedented move on November 29, 10 Democratic senators wrote [30]
> a
> letter to Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to put a halt to the Israeli
> government's planned demolition of the Palestinian village of Susiya, in
> order to create yet another illegal settlement. Cory Booker and Kamala
> Harris did not sign the letter.
>
> As activists, intellectuals, entertainers, and progressive forces within
> the
> Democratic Party began to advocate for Palestinians living under
> occupation,
> Harris remains a prisoner of her own opportunism. Desperate to remain in
> good standing with the powerful pro-Israel lobby, Harris has attempted to
> reconcile her progressive politics at home with her support for an
> apartheid
> regime that is responsible for racism and violence against communities of
> color abroad.
>
>
>
>
> Hamzah Raza is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
> Tennessee.
> Follow him on Twitter @hr609.
>
>
>
>
> Share on Facebook Share
>
> Share on Twitter Tweet
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [31]
>
>
> [32]
>
>
>
> Sign Up!
>
> Get AlterNet's Daily Newsletter in Your Inbox
>
>
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> EMAIL:
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Source URL:
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/kamala-harris-progressive-except-p
> alestine
>
>
> Links:
> [1] https://www.alternet.org/authors/hamzah-raza
> [2] http://alternet.org
> [3]
> https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/kamala-harris-a-top-cop-in-the-e
> ra-of-black-lives-matter.html
> [4] https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/932684579097534465?lang=en
> [5]
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-white-supremacy-anti-black-
> racism-african-refugees-ethiopian-jews
> [6] https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
> [7] https://t.co/L5qdcgwWG0
> [8]
> https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/932684579097534465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
> [9]
> http://www.dw.com/en/israel-to-deport-40000-african-refugees-without-their-c
> onsent/a-41443084
> [10]
> https://www.thenation.com/article/israels-new-racism-persecution-african-mig
> rants-holy-land/
> [11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z0Etv9BPE4
> [12]
> http://blacklivesmatteralliancebroward.org/why-the-black-panther-party-pales
> tine-solidarity-is-still-relevant-today/
> [13]
> http://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/21/archives/civil-rights-leader-backs-cause-o
> f-plo-after-meeting-at-un.html
> [14] http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/gen_zion.htm
> [15]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/angela-davis-supp
> ort-bds-and-palestine-will-be-free
> [16] https://www.thenation.com/article/open-letter-born-again/
> [17] http://fpif.org/gaza-ferguson-exposing-toolbox-racist-repression/
> [18]
> https://www.huffingtonpost.com/usaama-alazami/princetons-faculty-petiti_b_61
> 29440.html
> [19]
> https://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/28/palestine_conditions_more_brutal_than
> _in
> [20]
> http://portside.org/2015-03-09/cornel-west-gaza-hood-steroids-thanks-israel
> [21]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/colin-kaepernick-pays-p
> rice-standing-justice
> [22]
> https://www.facebook.com/PalestineInAmerica/photos/pcb.1510906112332666/1510
> 905985666012/?type=3
> [23]
> https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171030-growing-number-of-hip-hop-artists
> -cancel-gigs-in-israel-report/
> [24] http://www.achpr.org/instruments/achpr/
> [25]
> https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Mandla-Mandela-Israel-Imposing-Worst-
> Version-of-Apartheid-20171129-0003.html
> [26] https://twitter.com/zaidjilani/status/862028753433702400
> [27]
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/meet-cory-bookers-top-donor-group-
> right-wing-islamophobic-pro-israel-outfit-backs
> [28]
> https://www.fcnl.org/updates/35-reps-stand-up-for-palestinian-human-rights-9
> 10
> [29] http://mondoweiss.net/2017/11/palestinian-introduced-congress/
> [30]
> https://theintercept.com/2017/11/29/in-unprecedented-move-ten-democratic-sen
> ators-write-to-israeli-leader-netanyahu-and-demand-he-halt-demolition-of-pal
> estinian-village/
> [31] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?subject=Typo on By Clasping Hands
> with
> Netanyahu, Sen. Kamala Harris Reveals Herself as Just Another
> 'Progressive Except For
> Palestine'&body=URL:http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/kamala-har
> ris-progressive-except-palestine
> [32] https://www.alternet.org/
> [33] https://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
>
>
>
>
Re: [blind-democracy] Why the Mere Idea That Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's CIA Is Terrifying
Is that the voice of Tom Cotton, singing the words to the "Battle Hymn
of the Republic", as he urges America onward toward Armageddon?
Checks and Balances have been labeled, "Treason", and the Loyal
Opposition are now Terrorists. Now we can see clearly the "unity"
Donald Trump preaches, as he returns our nation to its former
greatness, and to the "Real News"...
From ghoulies and ghosties / And long-leggedy beasties / And things
that go bump in the night,
Carl Jarvis
On 12/26/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Alternet
>
> Published on Alternet (https://www.alternet.org)
>
> Home > Why the Mere Idea That Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's
> CIA Is Terrifying
>
> Why the Mere Idea That Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's CIA Is
> Terrifying
>
> By Max Blumenthal [1] / AlterNet [2]
>
> December 17, 2017, 12:46 PM GMT
>
> In a recent profile of Tom Cotton, the Wall Street Journal's Jason Willick
> characterized [3] the 40-year-old junior Republican senator from Arkansas
> as
> "hawkish and realistic" and described his worldview as "tinged with
> idealism." Yet it was unclear what the unabashedly Strangelovian Cotton did
> to earn such a charitable description, as he rattled off a series of
> opinions that amounted to a call for world war without end.
>
> Cotton told Willick he favored arming Japan and South Korea with nuclear
> weapons to counter North Korea, an unprecedented escalation that would
> bring
> the region a stride closer to armageddon. China, according to Cotton, is a
> "rival in every regard" that must be isolated economically and confronted
> militarily with aggressive freedom of navigation operations in the South
> China Sea. (The senator ignored a recent Rand assessment [4] that found the
> US could easily find itself outmatched in a duel with the Chinese
> military.)
> From eastern Europe to Asia to the Middle East, Cotton urged regime change
> operations to replace governments that resisted Pax Americana with
> "countries that share our principles." On Iran, Cotton would accept nothing
> short of war, imagining a cakewalk that would only require "several days"
> of
> bombing, as he has previously said [5].
>
> Cotton's remarks are especially disturbing in light of rumors of his
> potential nomination as CIA director. Reports surfaced this November of a
> coming reshuffle that would move Mike Pompeo, a longtime stooge of the Koch
> Brothers and evangelical Muslim basher, from CIA to Secretary of State,
> dislodging the insufficiently loyal Rex Tillerson, who Trump has trashed as
> "weak on everything." While the Cotton appointment may not happen in the
> immediate future, he still appears to be next in line to take the helm at
> Langley in the Trump administration. If the move ever takes place, one of
> the key hubs of the national security state would fall into the hands of a
> militant neoconservative whose worldview was formed through prolonged
> cultivation in a right-wing hothouse.
>
> Cotton would hardly be the first ideologue to take the helm at Langley.
> During the 1950s, Allen Dulles used the CIA as a vehicle to recruit a
> collection of Nazi war criminals and mafia henchmen for covert
> anti-communist campaigns across Europe, develop the failed mind control
> program MK ULTRA and plot assassinations and international intrigues in
> order to topple popular governments. Then there was Bill Casey, who painted
> the Soviet Union as the puppet master of international terrorism in order
> to
> justify secretly funding Central American death squads through the world's
> most unsavory third parties.
>
> But Cotton is in a class of his own, not because he is an unbridled zealot,
> but because he would be the first fully developed product of the
> neoconservative movement to rise to such a sensitive position. If
> appointed,
> he is almost certain to militarize intelligence in the service of the
> Saudi-Israeli axis and drive their destabilizing anti-Iranian agenda to
> terrifying extremes.
>
> The path to power, from Harvard to Iraq
>
> Cotton's grooming as a neocon cadre began at Harvard University, where he
> won a fellowship [6] from the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank
> in California that fused the anti-gay kulturkampf with libertarian "starve
> the beast" economics. At the Harvard Crimson, Cotton emerged as a prolific
> voice of preppy reaction, promoting [7] divorce-proof "covenant marriages"
> as a remedy for social decay, upholding political apathy as a virtue [8]
> and
> activism as a vice, and hailing the valor of professional golfers. "Without
> great soldiers, we can receive such instruction, for instance, from Justin
> Leonard, whose sixty-foot putt on the seventeenth hole after two-and-a-half
> days of poor play sealed the American victory," Cotton wrote in September
> 1999, likening [9] the Ryder Cup to the Battle of Antietam.
>
> Cotton's senior thesis at Harvard was an ode to the most elitist,
> anti-democratic themes contained in the Federalist Papers. "Inflammatory
> passion and selfish interest characterizes most men, whereas ambition
> characterizes men who pursue and hold national office," Cotton wrote [10]
> of
> the Founding Fathers. "Such men rise from the people through a process of
> self-selection since politics is a dirty business that discourages all but
> the most ambitious."
>
> His own ambition vaulted him into the ranks of the U.S. Army as it barreled
> across Iraq and sent the country spiraling into a sectarian bloodbath. From
> inside armored personnel carriers and behind the barrel of a gun, Cotton
> experienced his only substantive engagement with the people of the global
> south. It was clearly a formative period that left him brimming with
> hostility. "One thing I learned in the Army is that when your opponent is
> on
> his knees, you drive him to the ground and choke him out," he reflected
> [11]
> this October. Though he failed to earn any special distinction on the
> battlefield, Cotton resorted to opinion writing to earn a bit of fame back
> home.
>
> In January 2006, New York Times correspondents Eric Lichtblau and James
> Risen revealed [12] the existence of a warrantless CIA program that
> examined
> the financial records of American citizens suspected of terrorist
> involvement. The story appeared almost simultaneously in several other
> papers, triggering a public tantrum from Vice President Dick Cheney. From
> his garrison in Iraq, Cotton saw a perfect opportunity to rally the
> conservative shock troops back in the States. He fired off an indignant
> email to the New York Times and cc'ed a right-wing blog, Powerline, for
> good
> measure. Citing his credentials as a Harvard Law grad and former law clerk,
> Cotton demanded Lichtblau, Risen and their editor, Bill Keller, be jailed
> [13] under the Espionage Act: "By the time we return home, maybe you will
> be
> in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind
> bars,"
> he thundered at the journalists.
>
> George W. Bush's approval rating was hovering around 30 percent by this
> point, public support for the war had evaporated and Americans were coming
> home by the thousands in wheelchairs and coffins. But here was a young
> platoon leader-a Harvard Law grad, no less-willing to defend the war on
> terror against the treasonous nabobs of negativism. When Powerline
> published
> [14] the letter, Cotton became an instant folk hero among right-wing Iraq
> war dead-enders. Before he had even returned home to his family's cattle
> farm in Arkansas, his political career had been made.
>
> The great neocon hope
>
> Cotton first entered Congress in 2012 as a representative from the formerly
> Democratic Arkansas district that contained Bill Clinton's hometown.
> Iran-bashing became his hobby horse, prompting him to introduce an extreme
> "Corruption of Blood" bill [15] that would have forbidden trade with the
> relatives of Iranian individuals who were under sanctions, from their
> great-grandchildren to their nieces and uncles. Panned as an outrageous
> violation of the Constitution, the bill died on the House floor, an
> embarrassing rebuke to the self-styled constitutional law expert. (Article
> III of the Constitution forbids punishing the relatives of those convicted
> of treason, while the Fifth Amendment grants due process even to
> non-citizens charged with crimes.)
>
> Cotton struck out the following year on a campaign to unseat incumbent
> Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. On the stump, he demonstrated all the charisma
> of a filing cabinet, compensating for his lifeless delivery with incendiary
> warnings [16] that a coalition of ISIS terrorists and Mexican drug cartels
> would overrun the country unless the southern border was sealed off with a
> Maginot-style wall. Cotton won in a landslide, sailing into the Senate on
> the strength of surging anti-Obama sentiment and piles of cash from
> Likudnik
> oligarchs.
>
> As Eli Clifton and Jim Lobe reported [17], the second largest source of
> funding for Cotton's senate campaign was Paul Singer, the pro-Israel
> venture
> capitalist who has bankrolled a who's who of neocon outfits in Washington.
> Cotton also benefited from nearly a million dollars in supportive
> advertising from the Emergency Committee for Israel, a right-wing group
> founded by the face of the neocon movement, Bill Kristol. ECI operated for
> a
> time out of the offices of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, the
> group that drummed up support for regime change in Iraq. This office also
> housed [18] Orion Strategies, the lobbying firm that has represented the
> governments of Taiwan and the Republic of Georgia, two of the key US-backed
> bulwarks against China and Russia.
>
> A relentless drive toward war with Iran
>
> In the Senate, Cotton's obsession with Iran deepened by the day. Within
> weeks of his swearing-in, he orchestrated an explosive letter [19] signed
> by
> 46 Republican senatorial colleagues and addressed to the "Leadership of the
> Islamic Republic of Iran." Published on Senate letterhead, the missive
> aimed
> to convince Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to disregard the power of
> President Barack Obama to implement the internationally brokered P5+1
> nuclear non-proliferation negotiations. The arguably unprecedented stunt
> led
> to accusations that Cotton had violated the Logan Act, which forbade
> diplomatic freebooting.
>
> While the White House fumed, Cotton tweeted a translated version of his
> letter to Khamenei, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and President Hassan
> Rouhani. But in his haste, it appeared Cotton had acted without the help of
> a native Farsi speaker and simply run the letter through Google translate
> [20]: "We hope while the nuclear negotiations are progressing this letter
> enriching your knowledge of our constitutional system and mutual clear
> understanding elevating," the concluding line read.
>
> A day after the diplomatic fiasco, Cotton scrambled off to a private event
> [21] with the National Defense Industrial Association, the lobbying arm of
> America's top arms merchants. Cotton's rhetoric on Iran was music to the
> ears of the weapons industry. "The policy of the United States should be
> regime change in Iran," he declared [22]. "I don't see how anyone can say
> America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism."
>
> Ironically, the senator hasound a natural ally in Riyadh, the political
> vortex of theocratic despotism. When Trump inked an unprecedented $150
> billion arms deal with Saudi kingdom, Cotton chimed in with his effusive
> approval. "This arms deal sends the right message to both friend and foe
> alike," Cotton stated [23], describing it as a step "to maintain peace in
> the region."
>
> Cotton has insisted that "there are no mythical moderates" among Iran's
> leadership. Even worse, according to him [24], was the fact that the
> Iranian
> government was "already in control of Tehran." While Cotton melted down
> over
> the Iranian government's presence in its own capital, most Iranians seem to
> have accepted that the United States was comfortably in control of
> Washington.
>
> Trump's open embrace of the Saudi-Israeli axis has elevated Cotton's
> influence, transforming him into the administration's congressional Iran
> whisperer. While advising efforts to whittle away at the Iran nuclear deal,
> he has co-sponsored legislation to make it easier to reimpose sanctions
> despite Iran's faithful compliance with the agreement. Cotton's presence in
> the Senate is so central to the neocon agenda that the Weekly Standard's
> Fred Barnes has argued against [25] his promotion to CIA director. But as
> Cotton made clear in his senior thesis long ago, he views himself as a man
> of destiny driven to the heights of power by limitless ambition. Before
> long, the world could become a laboratory for his own "inflammatory
> passion."
>
>
>
>
> Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project at AlterNet, and
> the award-winning author of Goliath [26], Republican Gomorrah [27], and The
> 51 Day War [28]. He is the co-host of the podcast, Moderate Rebels [29].
> Follow him on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal [30].
>
>
>
>
> Share on Facebook Share
>
> Share on Twitter Tweet
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [31]
>
>
> [32]
>
>
>
> Sign Up!
>
> Get AlterNet's Daily Newsletter in Your Inbox
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> Source URL:
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/why-even-idea-neocon-senator-tom-c
> otton-might-run-trimps-cia-scary
>
>
> Links:
> [1] https://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
> [2] http://alternet.org
> [3]
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-foreign-policy-for-jacksonian-america-1512774
> 761
> [4]
> https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/09/us-could-potentially-lose-next-war-to-russia
> -or-china-warns-rand.html
> [5]
> http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/08/politics/tom-cotton-bombing-iran-several-days/
> index.html
> [6]
> http://www.claremont.org/page/fellowships/publius-fellowship/publius-fellows
> hip-alumni/
> [7]
> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/10/3/promises-and-covenants-pmen-are-
> simple/
> [8]
> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/2/18/one-cheer-for-apathy-pwalter-rat
> henau/
> [9]
> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/9/27/editorial-notebook-all-glory-to-
> the/
> [10]
> https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-making-of-a-conserv
> ative-superstar/380307/
> [11]
> https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-iran-nuclear-deal-senator-tom-cotton
> [12] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html
> [13]
> http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/tom-cotton-arkansas-new-york-tim
> es/#
> [14]
> http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/10/a-fateful-letter-to-the-editor
> -of-the-times.php
> [15]
> https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/tom-cotton-corruption-of-blood_n_3
> 322251.html
> [16]
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/10/07/tom-cotton-terr
> orists-collaborating-with-mexican-drug-cartels-to-infiltrate-arkansas/?utm_t
> erm=.faa8e4abb78c
> [17]
> https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/16/trump-ignores-advisers-iran-de
> al-follows-money
> [18]
> https://thinkprogress.org/washington-post-conservative-blogger-aligned-with-
> the-pro-israel-far-right-b70db28bccf9/
> [19]
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/09/world/middleeast/document-the
> -letter-senate-republicans-addressed-to-the-leaders-of-iran.html
> [20]
> https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/30/sen-tom-cottons-farsi-version-of-his-ex
> plosive-letter-to-iranian-leaders-reads-like-a-middle-schooler-wrote-it/
> [21]
> https://theintercept.com/2015/03/09/upon-launching-effort-scuttle-iran-deal-
> senator-tom-cotton-meets-defense-contractors/
> [22]
> https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/25/trump-iran-foreign-policy-regime-c
> hange-239930
> [23] https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=677
> [24]
> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tom-cotton-us-senator-appar
> ently-does-not-know-the-capital-of-iran-10111640.html
> [25]
> http://www.weeklystandard.com/dont-do-it-why-moving-tom-cotton-to-the-cia-is
> -a-bad-idea/article/2010794
> [26]
> http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
> [27] http://republicangomorrah.com/
> [28] https://www.amazon.com/51-Day-War-Ruin-Resistance/dp/156858511X
> [29] http://moderaterebelsradio.com/
> [30] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
> [31] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?subject=Typo on Why the Mere Idea
> That
> Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's CIA Is
> Terrifying&body=URL:http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/why-even-idea-n
> eocon-senator-tom-cotton-might-run-trimps-cia-scary
> [32] https://www.alternet.org/
> [33] https://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
>
>
>
>
of the Republic", as he urges America onward toward Armageddon?
Checks and Balances have been labeled, "Treason", and the Loyal
Opposition are now Terrorists. Now we can see clearly the "unity"
Donald Trump preaches, as he returns our nation to its former
greatness, and to the "Real News"...
From ghoulies and ghosties / And long-leggedy beasties / And things
that go bump in the night,
Carl Jarvis
On 12/26/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Alternet
>
> Published on Alternet (https://www.alternet.org)
>
> Home > Why the Mere Idea That Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's
> CIA Is Terrifying
>
> Why the Mere Idea That Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's CIA Is
> Terrifying
>
> By Max Blumenthal [1] / AlterNet [2]
>
> December 17, 2017, 12:46 PM GMT
>
> In a recent profile of Tom Cotton, the Wall Street Journal's Jason Willick
> characterized [3] the 40-year-old junior Republican senator from Arkansas
> as
> "hawkish and realistic" and described his worldview as "tinged with
> idealism." Yet it was unclear what the unabashedly Strangelovian Cotton did
> to earn such a charitable description, as he rattled off a series of
> opinions that amounted to a call for world war without end.
>
> Cotton told Willick he favored arming Japan and South Korea with nuclear
> weapons to counter North Korea, an unprecedented escalation that would
> bring
> the region a stride closer to armageddon. China, according to Cotton, is a
> "rival in every regard" that must be isolated economically and confronted
> militarily with aggressive freedom of navigation operations in the South
> China Sea. (The senator ignored a recent Rand assessment [4] that found the
> US could easily find itself outmatched in a duel with the Chinese
> military.)
> From eastern Europe to Asia to the Middle East, Cotton urged regime change
> operations to replace governments that resisted Pax Americana with
> "countries that share our principles." On Iran, Cotton would accept nothing
> short of war, imagining a cakewalk that would only require "several days"
> of
> bombing, as he has previously said [5].
>
> Cotton's remarks are especially disturbing in light of rumors of his
> potential nomination as CIA director. Reports surfaced this November of a
> coming reshuffle that would move Mike Pompeo, a longtime stooge of the Koch
> Brothers and evangelical Muslim basher, from CIA to Secretary of State,
> dislodging the insufficiently loyal Rex Tillerson, who Trump has trashed as
> "weak on everything." While the Cotton appointment may not happen in the
> immediate future, he still appears to be next in line to take the helm at
> Langley in the Trump administration. If the move ever takes place, one of
> the key hubs of the national security state would fall into the hands of a
> militant neoconservative whose worldview was formed through prolonged
> cultivation in a right-wing hothouse.
>
> Cotton would hardly be the first ideologue to take the helm at Langley.
> During the 1950s, Allen Dulles used the CIA as a vehicle to recruit a
> collection of Nazi war criminals and mafia henchmen for covert
> anti-communist campaigns across Europe, develop the failed mind control
> program MK ULTRA and plot assassinations and international intrigues in
> order to topple popular governments. Then there was Bill Casey, who painted
> the Soviet Union as the puppet master of international terrorism in order
> to
> justify secretly funding Central American death squads through the world's
> most unsavory third parties.
>
> But Cotton is in a class of his own, not because he is an unbridled zealot,
> but because he would be the first fully developed product of the
> neoconservative movement to rise to such a sensitive position. If
> appointed,
> he is almost certain to militarize intelligence in the service of the
> Saudi-Israeli axis and drive their destabilizing anti-Iranian agenda to
> terrifying extremes.
>
> The path to power, from Harvard to Iraq
>
> Cotton's grooming as a neocon cadre began at Harvard University, where he
> won a fellowship [6] from the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank
> in California that fused the anti-gay kulturkampf with libertarian "starve
> the beast" economics. At the Harvard Crimson, Cotton emerged as a prolific
> voice of preppy reaction, promoting [7] divorce-proof "covenant marriages"
> as a remedy for social decay, upholding political apathy as a virtue [8]
> and
> activism as a vice, and hailing the valor of professional golfers. "Without
> great soldiers, we can receive such instruction, for instance, from Justin
> Leonard, whose sixty-foot putt on the seventeenth hole after two-and-a-half
> days of poor play sealed the American victory," Cotton wrote in September
> 1999, likening [9] the Ryder Cup to the Battle of Antietam.
>
> Cotton's senior thesis at Harvard was an ode to the most elitist,
> anti-democratic themes contained in the Federalist Papers. "Inflammatory
> passion and selfish interest characterizes most men, whereas ambition
> characterizes men who pursue and hold national office," Cotton wrote [10]
> of
> the Founding Fathers. "Such men rise from the people through a process of
> self-selection since politics is a dirty business that discourages all but
> the most ambitious."
>
> His own ambition vaulted him into the ranks of the U.S. Army as it barreled
> across Iraq and sent the country spiraling into a sectarian bloodbath. From
> inside armored personnel carriers and behind the barrel of a gun, Cotton
> experienced his only substantive engagement with the people of the global
> south. It was clearly a formative period that left him brimming with
> hostility. "One thing I learned in the Army is that when your opponent is
> on
> his knees, you drive him to the ground and choke him out," he reflected
> [11]
> this October. Though he failed to earn any special distinction on the
> battlefield, Cotton resorted to opinion writing to earn a bit of fame back
> home.
>
> In January 2006, New York Times correspondents Eric Lichtblau and James
> Risen revealed [12] the existence of a warrantless CIA program that
> examined
> the financial records of American citizens suspected of terrorist
> involvement. The story appeared almost simultaneously in several other
> papers, triggering a public tantrum from Vice President Dick Cheney. From
> his garrison in Iraq, Cotton saw a perfect opportunity to rally the
> conservative shock troops back in the States. He fired off an indignant
> email to the New York Times and cc'ed a right-wing blog, Powerline, for
> good
> measure. Citing his credentials as a Harvard Law grad and former law clerk,
> Cotton demanded Lichtblau, Risen and their editor, Bill Keller, be jailed
> [13] under the Espionage Act: "By the time we return home, maybe you will
> be
> in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind
> bars,"
> he thundered at the journalists.
>
> George W. Bush's approval rating was hovering around 30 percent by this
> point, public support for the war had evaporated and Americans were coming
> home by the thousands in wheelchairs and coffins. But here was a young
> platoon leader-a Harvard Law grad, no less-willing to defend the war on
> terror against the treasonous nabobs of negativism. When Powerline
> published
> [14] the letter, Cotton became an instant folk hero among right-wing Iraq
> war dead-enders. Before he had even returned home to his family's cattle
> farm in Arkansas, his political career had been made.
>
> The great neocon hope
>
> Cotton first entered Congress in 2012 as a representative from the formerly
> Democratic Arkansas district that contained Bill Clinton's hometown.
> Iran-bashing became his hobby horse, prompting him to introduce an extreme
> "Corruption of Blood" bill [15] that would have forbidden trade with the
> relatives of Iranian individuals who were under sanctions, from their
> great-grandchildren to their nieces and uncles. Panned as an outrageous
> violation of the Constitution, the bill died on the House floor, an
> embarrassing rebuke to the self-styled constitutional law expert. (Article
> III of the Constitution forbids punishing the relatives of those convicted
> of treason, while the Fifth Amendment grants due process even to
> non-citizens charged with crimes.)
>
> Cotton struck out the following year on a campaign to unseat incumbent
> Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. On the stump, he demonstrated all the charisma
> of a filing cabinet, compensating for his lifeless delivery with incendiary
> warnings [16] that a coalition of ISIS terrorists and Mexican drug cartels
> would overrun the country unless the southern border was sealed off with a
> Maginot-style wall. Cotton won in a landslide, sailing into the Senate on
> the strength of surging anti-Obama sentiment and piles of cash from
> Likudnik
> oligarchs.
>
> As Eli Clifton and Jim Lobe reported [17], the second largest source of
> funding for Cotton's senate campaign was Paul Singer, the pro-Israel
> venture
> capitalist who has bankrolled a who's who of neocon outfits in Washington.
> Cotton also benefited from nearly a million dollars in supportive
> advertising from the Emergency Committee for Israel, a right-wing group
> founded by the face of the neocon movement, Bill Kristol. ECI operated for
> a
> time out of the offices of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, the
> group that drummed up support for regime change in Iraq. This office also
> housed [18] Orion Strategies, the lobbying firm that has represented the
> governments of Taiwan and the Republic of Georgia, two of the key US-backed
> bulwarks against China and Russia.
>
> A relentless drive toward war with Iran
>
> In the Senate, Cotton's obsession with Iran deepened by the day. Within
> weeks of his swearing-in, he orchestrated an explosive letter [19] signed
> by
> 46 Republican senatorial colleagues and addressed to the "Leadership of the
> Islamic Republic of Iran." Published on Senate letterhead, the missive
> aimed
> to convince Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to disregard the power of
> President Barack Obama to implement the internationally brokered P5+1
> nuclear non-proliferation negotiations. The arguably unprecedented stunt
> led
> to accusations that Cotton had violated the Logan Act, which forbade
> diplomatic freebooting.
>
> While the White House fumed, Cotton tweeted a translated version of his
> letter to Khamenei, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and President Hassan
> Rouhani. But in his haste, it appeared Cotton had acted without the help of
> a native Farsi speaker and simply run the letter through Google translate
> [20]: "We hope while the nuclear negotiations are progressing this letter
> enriching your knowledge of our constitutional system and mutual clear
> understanding elevating," the concluding line read.
>
> A day after the diplomatic fiasco, Cotton scrambled off to a private event
> [21] with the National Defense Industrial Association, the lobbying arm of
> America's top arms merchants. Cotton's rhetoric on Iran was music to the
> ears of the weapons industry. "The policy of the United States should be
> regime change in Iran," he declared [22]. "I don't see how anyone can say
> America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism."
>
> Ironically, the senator hasound a natural ally in Riyadh, the political
> vortex of theocratic despotism. When Trump inked an unprecedented $150
> billion arms deal with Saudi kingdom, Cotton chimed in with his effusive
> approval. "This arms deal sends the right message to both friend and foe
> alike," Cotton stated [23], describing it as a step "to maintain peace in
> the region."
>
> Cotton has insisted that "there are no mythical moderates" among Iran's
> leadership. Even worse, according to him [24], was the fact that the
> Iranian
> government was "already in control of Tehran." While Cotton melted down
> over
> the Iranian government's presence in its own capital, most Iranians seem to
> have accepted that the United States was comfortably in control of
> Washington.
>
> Trump's open embrace of the Saudi-Israeli axis has elevated Cotton's
> influence, transforming him into the administration's congressional Iran
> whisperer. While advising efforts to whittle away at the Iran nuclear deal,
> he has co-sponsored legislation to make it easier to reimpose sanctions
> despite Iran's faithful compliance with the agreement. Cotton's presence in
> the Senate is so central to the neocon agenda that the Weekly Standard's
> Fred Barnes has argued against [25] his promotion to CIA director. But as
> Cotton made clear in his senior thesis long ago, he views himself as a man
> of destiny driven to the heights of power by limitless ambition. Before
> long, the world could become a laboratory for his own "inflammatory
> passion."
>
>
>
>
> Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project at AlterNet, and
> the award-winning author of Goliath [26], Republican Gomorrah [27], and The
> 51 Day War [28]. He is the co-host of the podcast, Moderate Rebels [29].
> Follow him on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal [30].
>
>
>
>
> Share on Facebook Share
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> Share on Twitter Tweet
>
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>
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>
>
> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [31]
>
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> [32]
>
>
>
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> Source URL:
> https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/why-even-idea-neocon-senator-tom-c
> otton-might-run-trimps-cia-scary
>
>
> Links:
> [1] https://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
> [2] http://alternet.org
> [3]
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-foreign-policy-for-jacksonian-america-1512774
> 761
> [4]
> https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/09/us-could-potentially-lose-next-war-to-russia
> -or-china-warns-rand.html
> [5]
> http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/08/politics/tom-cotton-bombing-iran-several-days/
> index.html
> [6]
> http://www.claremont.org/page/fellowships/publius-fellowship/publius-fellows
> hip-alumni/
> [7]
> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/10/3/promises-and-covenants-pmen-are-
> simple/
> [8]
> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/2/18/one-cheer-for-apathy-pwalter-rat
> henau/
> [9]
> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/9/27/editorial-notebook-all-glory-to-
> the/
> [10]
> https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-making-of-a-conserv
> ative-superstar/380307/
> [11]
> https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-iran-nuclear-deal-senator-tom-cotton
> [12] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html
> [13]
> http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/tom-cotton-arkansas-new-york-tim
> es/#
> [14]
> http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/10/a-fateful-letter-to-the-editor
> -of-the-times.php
> [15]
> https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/tom-cotton-corruption-of-blood_n_3
> 322251.html
> [16]
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/10/07/tom-cotton-terr
> orists-collaborating-with-mexican-drug-cartels-to-infiltrate-arkansas/?utm_t
> erm=.faa8e4abb78c
> [17]
> https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/16/trump-ignores-advisers-iran-de
> al-follows-money
> [18]
> https://thinkprogress.org/washington-post-conservative-blogger-aligned-with-
> the-pro-israel-far-right-b70db28bccf9/
> [19]
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/09/world/middleeast/document-the
> -letter-senate-republicans-addressed-to-the-leaders-of-iran.html
> [20]
> https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/30/sen-tom-cottons-farsi-version-of-his-ex
> plosive-letter-to-iranian-leaders-reads-like-a-middle-schooler-wrote-it/
> [21]
> https://theintercept.com/2015/03/09/upon-launching-effort-scuttle-iran-deal-
> senator-tom-cotton-meets-defense-contractors/
> [22]
> https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/25/trump-iran-foreign-policy-regime-c
> hange-239930
> [23] https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=677
> [24]
> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tom-cotton-us-senator-appar
> ently-does-not-know-the-capital-of-iran-10111640.html
> [25]
> http://www.weeklystandard.com/dont-do-it-why-moving-tom-cotton-to-the-cia-is
> -a-bad-idea/article/2010794
> [26]
> http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
> [27] http://republicangomorrah.com/
> [28] https://www.amazon.com/51-Day-War-Ruin-Resistance/dp/156858511X
> [29] http://moderaterebelsradio.com/
> [30] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
> [31] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?subject=Typo on Why the Mere Idea
> That
> Neocon Senator Tom Cotton Might Run Trump's CIA Is
> Terrifying&body=URL:http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/why-even-idea-n
> eocon-senator-tom-cotton-might-run-trimps-cia-scary
> [32] https://www.alternet.org/
> [33] https://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
>
>
>
>
another loose thread in the unraveling of the American Corporate Empire
It has been some while since I mentioned the American Oligarchy, so I
thought I'd send along this piece I wrote to another list. I
understand that Oligarchy, when used to describe our great...or soon
to return to being great nation is over simplification. But I do have
what so many of my critics, and some friends describe as "a simple
mind", so I reduce complex gobble Dee gook, to terms I can understand.
For example, I see our Class System as a Two Level System, The Ruling
Class and the Working Class. It's easy to tell the folks apart. If
you never lift a hand to do anything of value, you are a member in
good standing of the Ruling Class. Everyone else belongs to the
Working Class, because some or most of what we generate is sucked up
by the Ruling Class.
But I digress.
The "Great Wizard, DJ Trump" AKA President Trump, has nurtured a
climate of chaos. Donald Trump is a Grand Master at turning the many
American factions against one another, while proclaiming that he is
working toward unity.
I know, some folks will disagree with my position, but I can only
suggest that time will prove whether I speak wise words or simply blow
smoke. Anyway, having lived through such a period in our history,
back in the late 40's and early 50's, I share the following: ***
Randy Credico was on Flash Point this morning, adding substantially to
the claims by Jill Stein that the Senate Intelligence Committee's
inquiry is evidence of a "new
era of McCarthyism."
Poor old Lady Justice not only wears a blindfold these days, she is
bound and gagged, too.
Jill Stein was on Democracy Now last week, explaining the conference
she attended, the 2015 celebration of RT America's tenth anniversary,
and the fact that she paid her own way, and has the receipts to prove
it. Stein hobnobbed with "subversives" like former Minnesota governor
Jesse Ventura and his family, and Lee Camp, a left-wing political
comedian who hosts the popular RT program, "Redacted Tonight."
But just as in the Golden Days of the House UnAmerican Activities
Committee, merely being mentioned is tantamount to being found guilty.
And so, my dear ones, a new and mighty leader has ascended to the Oval
Office, blessing Witch Hunts in all nooks and crannies of his
Empire...except when fingers point his direction. And only the names
have changed, to protect the Oligarchy.
Carl Jarvis
thought I'd send along this piece I wrote to another list. I
understand that Oligarchy, when used to describe our great...or soon
to return to being great nation is over simplification. But I do have
what so many of my critics, and some friends describe as "a simple
mind", so I reduce complex gobble Dee gook, to terms I can understand.
For example, I see our Class System as a Two Level System, The Ruling
Class and the Working Class. It's easy to tell the folks apart. If
you never lift a hand to do anything of value, you are a member in
good standing of the Ruling Class. Everyone else belongs to the
Working Class, because some or most of what we generate is sucked up
by the Ruling Class.
But I digress.
The "Great Wizard, DJ Trump" AKA President Trump, has nurtured a
climate of chaos. Donald Trump is a Grand Master at turning the many
American factions against one another, while proclaiming that he is
working toward unity.
I know, some folks will disagree with my position, but I can only
suggest that time will prove whether I speak wise words or simply blow
smoke. Anyway, having lived through such a period in our history,
back in the late 40's and early 50's, I share the following: ***
Randy Credico was on Flash Point this morning, adding substantially to
the claims by Jill Stein that the Senate Intelligence Committee's
inquiry is evidence of a "new
era of McCarthyism."
Poor old Lady Justice not only wears a blindfold these days, she is
bound and gagged, too.
Jill Stein was on Democracy Now last week, explaining the conference
she attended, the 2015 celebration of RT America's tenth anniversary,
and the fact that she paid her own way, and has the receipts to prove
it. Stein hobnobbed with "subversives" like former Minnesota governor
Jesse Ventura and his family, and Lee Camp, a left-wing political
comedian who hosts the popular RT program, "Redacted Tonight."
But just as in the Golden Days of the House UnAmerican Activities
Committee, merely being mentioned is tantamount to being found guilty.
And so, my dear ones, a new and mighty leader has ascended to the Oval
Office, blessing Witch Hunts in all nooks and crannies of his
Empire...except when fingers point his direction. And only the names
have changed, to protect the Oligarchy.
Carl Jarvis
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Re: [acb-chat] The Midnight Cry: a voice in the wilderness
Just goes to show you, Eric. Bob called it garbage and you called it
priceless. But the question remains, is it news or is it fake news,
or is it just the wanderings of an old man's mind?
These days we hear a great deal about "Fake News". Like it suddenly
popped up out of nowhere. Well, forgetting the news prior to 1935,
the year I blessed the world with my appearance, Fake News has been a
way of life, here in the good old US of A.
My most favorite Fake News came back in 1948...I know, I know, most of
you folks were not even in Fetus status yet. But there it was,
shouting out from the front page of the Chicago paper. "Dewey Wins!
Yes my gullible young Pips, Thomas Dewey had just become the 33rd
president of these United States of America. But, just as it will be
with so much of the Donald Trump True News, by sun down Thomas Dewey
was looking a lot like Harry Truman. Of course for you young
Historians, we could travel a bit further into the mists of Time, to
that day when President Herbert Hoover assured Americans that we would
all be taken care of through the "Trickle Down" of the riches being
amassed by the top millionaires of our Great Nation. As a boy, during
the Second World War, my dad took me to see the remains of the
collection of shacks dubbed "Hooverville" on the tide flats of Elliot
Bay. So much of our Great Nation's wealth had been sucked up to
enrich the rich, that it took ten years and a world war to bring the
Middle Class back from near death. Another "Fake News" item was one
of many, "Not a cough in a carload", or, "So round, so firm, so fully
packed, so free and easy on the draw", or L S M F T, Lucky Strike
means fine tobacco" or finally, "Nine out of ten doctors smoke Old
Gold". Even Santa Claus smoked Chesterfields instead of his pipe.
And the tobacco industry bought themselves a roomful of scientists and
doctors who told us that smoking would not cause cancer or heart
failure or consumption. And what about the Fake News that warned
Americans that Labor Unions were hotbeds of Communism? And the Fake
News that taught children that rich men were rich because they were
more intelligent and worked harder than the rest of the lazy
Americans...especially the non white ones.
Well, Eric, the trouble with all of this is that Bob will not explore
the news to figure out which is fake and which is real. As old
Chester A. Riley used to say on his radio program, "My head is made
up. Don't confuse me with facts."
Have a most rewarding day, Eric, and everyone. We really can debate
the news and still respect one another. So I close with respect for
Bob's opinions, as well as for Eric's.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/24/17, Eric Calhoun via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
> Carl, that was priceless! I loved it.
>
>
>
> ..
>
> Eric from Los Angeles reminds you to try to be good to each other. Never
> sweat the small stuff; always reach faster; higher; stronger. Eric on
> Facebook, eric@pmpmail.com; please join my Facebook group:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/631397660379317/
>
> ..
> Original Message:
> From: Bob via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org>
> To: "General discussion list for ACB members and friends where a wide range
> of topics from blindness to politics, issues of the day or whatever comes to
> mind are welcome. This is a free form discussion list."
> <acb-chat@acblists.org>
> CC: Bob <buildyourownwealth@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [acb-chat] The Midnight Cry: a voice in the wilderness
> Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2017 21:29:07 +0000
>
> Hello Carl:
>
> One would think that you would have better things to do with your
> life on Christmas Eve than post garbage like this. Is this your
> creativity or did you steal it from CNN?
> It is garbage like this, along with fake news, that perpetuates the
> unrest and dissention in this nation.
> Fact: Minority unemployment is at a 20 year low.
> Fact: Illegal immigration is down significantly.
> Fact: Contrary to what is reported by the press, low to middle
> income earners will receive larger paychecks next year.
> Fact: several corporations have already raised their minimum wage
> and paid bonuses to their employees since the passage of the tax
> reform act. Yes, the supposed rich and corporations receive bigger
> tax breaks: They should: they pay most of the taxes in this country
> and generate most of the employment.
> Fact: With the passage of the new tax reform act, many lower/middle
> income people will pay no taxes at all.
> One can argue about Trump's style: However, to date, it is difficult
> to argue with his results.
> Finally, when the liberals/progressives stop their obstruction to
> legislation, This country will reap far greater benefits. Doesn't it
> just amaze you that the democratic leadership in the senate pulls the
> strings of its puppets? At least, there were a few independent
> thinkers in the house.
> Politicians should put the welfare of the country first rather the
> welfare of the party.
> Just keep that hand extended.
>
> Bob
>
>
> On 12/24/17, Carl Jarvis via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
>> As 2017 comes to a close, I offer my thoughts on the coming Greatness of
>> 2018.
>>
>> All Hail the Mighty Emperor!
>> Heil...uh, I mean Hail, Hail, Hail.
>> The mightiest emperor Donald Trump, Last in a long line of mostly Ho
>> Hum presidents, and First of the Emperors of the American Corporate
>> Empire(ACE).
>> His vow to "Make America Great Again," sends a war whoop through the
>> White Men of this Promised Land. It sends a shudder through the
>> Black, Indian, Mexican, Asian and Jewish Americans. It has the Muslim
>> Americans and the Gay Community scrambling for shelter. It has many
>> mothers buying chastity belts for their daughters, and for themselves,
>> too.
>> And even as the White Men raise their voices and their glasses to this
>> new Emperor, somewhere a little child's voice whispers a little song,
>> "Jesus loves the little children. All the children in the world. Red
>> and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight. Jesus
>> loves the Children of the World".
>> Carl Jarvis
>> _______________________________________________
>> acb-chat mailing list
>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>
>
>
> --
> YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT PERSONAL ASSET!!!
> TAKE THE CHALLENGE AT:
> HTTP://BOB-CLARK.COM
> Telephone: 800-345-9760
> _______________________________________________
> acb-chat mailing list
> acb-chat@acblists.org
> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>
>
>
priceless. But the question remains, is it news or is it fake news,
or is it just the wanderings of an old man's mind?
These days we hear a great deal about "Fake News". Like it suddenly
popped up out of nowhere. Well, forgetting the news prior to 1935,
the year I blessed the world with my appearance, Fake News has been a
way of life, here in the good old US of A.
My most favorite Fake News came back in 1948...I know, I know, most of
you folks were not even in Fetus status yet. But there it was,
shouting out from the front page of the Chicago paper. "Dewey Wins!
Yes my gullible young Pips, Thomas Dewey had just become the 33rd
president of these United States of America. But, just as it will be
with so much of the Donald Trump True News, by sun down Thomas Dewey
was looking a lot like Harry Truman. Of course for you young
Historians, we could travel a bit further into the mists of Time, to
that day when President Herbert Hoover assured Americans that we would
all be taken care of through the "Trickle Down" of the riches being
amassed by the top millionaires of our Great Nation. As a boy, during
the Second World War, my dad took me to see the remains of the
collection of shacks dubbed "Hooverville" on the tide flats of Elliot
Bay. So much of our Great Nation's wealth had been sucked up to
enrich the rich, that it took ten years and a world war to bring the
Middle Class back from near death. Another "Fake News" item was one
of many, "Not a cough in a carload", or, "So round, so firm, so fully
packed, so free and easy on the draw", or L S M F T, Lucky Strike
means fine tobacco" or finally, "Nine out of ten doctors smoke Old
Gold". Even Santa Claus smoked Chesterfields instead of his pipe.
And the tobacco industry bought themselves a roomful of scientists and
doctors who told us that smoking would not cause cancer or heart
failure or consumption. And what about the Fake News that warned
Americans that Labor Unions were hotbeds of Communism? And the Fake
News that taught children that rich men were rich because they were
more intelligent and worked harder than the rest of the lazy
Americans...especially the non white ones.
Well, Eric, the trouble with all of this is that Bob will not explore
the news to figure out which is fake and which is real. As old
Chester A. Riley used to say on his radio program, "My head is made
up. Don't confuse me with facts."
Have a most rewarding day, Eric, and everyone. We really can debate
the news and still respect one another. So I close with respect for
Bob's opinions, as well as for Eric's.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/24/17, Eric Calhoun via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
> Carl, that was priceless! I loved it.
>
>
>
> ..
>
> Eric from Los Angeles reminds you to try to be good to each other. Never
> sweat the small stuff; always reach faster; higher; stronger. Eric on
> Facebook, eric@pmpmail.com; please join my Facebook group:
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/631397660379317/
>
> ..
> Original Message:
> From: Bob via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org>
> To: "General discussion list for ACB members and friends where a wide range
> of topics from blindness to politics, issues of the day or whatever comes to
> mind are welcome. This is a free form discussion list."
> <acb-chat@acblists.org>
> CC: Bob <buildyourownwealth@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [acb-chat] The Midnight Cry: a voice in the wilderness
> Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2017 21:29:07 +0000
>
> Hello Carl:
>
> One would think that you would have better things to do with your
> life on Christmas Eve than post garbage like this. Is this your
> creativity or did you steal it from CNN?
> It is garbage like this, along with fake news, that perpetuates the
> unrest and dissention in this nation.
> Fact: Minority unemployment is at a 20 year low.
> Fact: Illegal immigration is down significantly.
> Fact: Contrary to what is reported by the press, low to middle
> income earners will receive larger paychecks next year.
> Fact: several corporations have already raised their minimum wage
> and paid bonuses to their employees since the passage of the tax
> reform act. Yes, the supposed rich and corporations receive bigger
> tax breaks: They should: they pay most of the taxes in this country
> and generate most of the employment.
> Fact: With the passage of the new tax reform act, many lower/middle
> income people will pay no taxes at all.
> One can argue about Trump's style: However, to date, it is difficult
> to argue with his results.
> Finally, when the liberals/progressives stop their obstruction to
> legislation, This country will reap far greater benefits. Doesn't it
> just amaze you that the democratic leadership in the senate pulls the
> strings of its puppets? At least, there were a few independent
> thinkers in the house.
> Politicians should put the welfare of the country first rather the
> welfare of the party.
> Just keep that hand extended.
>
> Bob
>
>
> On 12/24/17, Carl Jarvis via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
>> As 2017 comes to a close, I offer my thoughts on the coming Greatness of
>> 2018.
>>
>> All Hail the Mighty Emperor!
>> Heil...uh, I mean Hail, Hail, Hail.
>> The mightiest emperor Donald Trump, Last in a long line of mostly Ho
>> Hum presidents, and First of the Emperors of the American Corporate
>> Empire(ACE).
>> His vow to "Make America Great Again," sends a war whoop through the
>> White Men of this Promised Land. It sends a shudder through the
>> Black, Indian, Mexican, Asian and Jewish Americans. It has the Muslim
>> Americans and the Gay Community scrambling for shelter. It has many
>> mothers buying chastity belts for their daughters, and for themselves,
>> too.
>> And even as the White Men raise their voices and their glasses to this
>> new Emperor, somewhere a little child's voice whispers a little song,
>> "Jesus loves the little children. All the children in the world. Red
>> and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight. Jesus
>> loves the Children of the World".
>> Carl Jarvis
>> _______________________________________________
>> acb-chat mailing list
>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>
>
>
> --
> YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT PERSONAL ASSET!!!
> TAKE THE CHALLENGE AT:
> HTTP://BOB-CLARK.COM
> Telephone: 800-345-9760
> _______________________________________________
> acb-chat mailing list
> acb-chat@acblists.org
> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>
>
>
Re: [blind-democracy] Oklahoma Poised to Cut Off 20,000 Disabled and Elderly People From Life-Sustaining Home Care
Years of hard struggles to inch forward and provide a few basic
supports to our elderly and disabled citizens are wiped out by one
stroke of a pen. "So sorry" say the Legislators, "No room in the
budget."
Isn't it time we faced up to the fact that we can't keep fighting for
little gains, and hold them against the crushing financial hammer of
the Corporations? Until we change the System, we will always be
hustling, trying to hold the line. As long as Profit is ahead of
People, we lose. As long as the Rich and Powerful remain the Rich and
Powerful, we will lose.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/20/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Oklahoma Poised to Cut Off 20,000 Disabled and Elderly People From
> Life-Sustaining Home Care
> Wednesday, December 20, 2017
> By Rebecca Anger, In These Times | News Analysis
>
> In early November, the Department of Human Services (DHS) in Oklahoma sent
> letters to more than 20,000 disabled and elderly residents informing them
> that the in-home care services they were currently receiving as part of the
> ADvantage Waiver and In-Home Supports Waiver for Adults programs could be
> cut in one month. The full consequences of eliminating such vital programs
> are unimaginable but include reduced quality of life, poor health outcomes,
> extensive job loss and increased care costs.
>
> I know firsthand that these cuts pose an existential threat to disabled
> people in Oklahoma, because I am a disability rights advocate and concerned
> waiver program recipient in Illinois. Medicaid waiver programs allow the
> disabled and elderly to receive long-term care services -- such as bathing,
> dressing, toileting, feeding, cooking and cleaning -- in their own homes,
> instead of institutionalized settings. These services are critical for
> protecting the rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly -- and
> allowing people to contribute to society as productive members. The
> programs
> ensure a higher quality of life for all recipients and are fiscally
> responsible for states, when compared with higher costs of
> institutionalized
> care.
>
> So why would a state decide to eliminate these programs?
>
> DHS says they have no choice. The state is facing a $215 million deficit in
> 2018. The agency needs $69 million to fund all the programs it is cutting,
> including the Medicaid waiver programs, for the 2018 fiscal year. Earlier
> this year, the legislature tried to increase the tax on cigarettes by $1.50
> a box, but then lobbyists from Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds
> challenged the increase and won at the state Supreme Court level.
> Frustrated
> lawmakers then attempted to impose a six-cent increase on fuel, which also
> failed, despite Oklahoma having one of the lowest taxes on fuel in the
> country.
>
> Cutting vital waiver programs that provide life-sustaining care to disabled
> and elderly residents is not the answer to a budget shortfall. People who
> are unable to afford assistance on their own could see a dramatic erosion
> in
> the quality of their lives, or could even lose their lives. Thousands of
> workers will likely lose their jobs, and those who are lucky enough to go
> to
> a nursing home will cost the state at least three and a half times more. We
> cannot let Oklahoma get away with these cuts, nor can we accept this action
> as a dangerous precedent.
>
> During the first part of November, the Oklahoma legislature did manage to
> agree on a stopgap budget, which dipped into the state's rainy-day fund to
> finance the waiver programs through March 1, 2018. Beginning in February 1,
> 2018, DHS intends to send another round of letters explaining that the
> waiver programs will be eliminated.
>
> This delay buys people like Richard Anderson an extra three months to find
> alternative care. Anderson is a founding member of the Oklahoma chapter of
> ADAPT, a national grassroots organization that advocates for community
> living. Thanks to the ADvantage waiver, he lives independently with
> cerebral
> palsy. "You'll see people go into nursing homes, which ironically would
> cost
> the State of Oklahoma three and half times more," he tells In These Times.
> "[The state] is leaving transitioning up to the individuals and their
> families, if they even have family."
>
> Anderson says that there are not enough beds available in nursing homes
> throughout the state to accommodate the influx of new people needing care
> --
> and that people will die without services.
>
> The elimination of the waiver programs will also have a major impact on
> Oklahoma's workers. More than 450 provider agencies will lose their main
> source of income, and it has been estimated that at least 10,000 nurses,
> home care workers and caseworkers will lose their jobs.
>
> Many people with disabilities who are served by the program work or
> volunteer in their communities. Without the home care workers who get them
> ready for the day, they will be forced to stop participating in all aspects
> of society. The elimination will also impact the economic capabilities of
> family members who will have to leave the workforce to take care of their
> loved ones.
>
> These cuts are poised to roll back decades of gains that were hard-fought
> by
> disabled communities. For the last 40 years, disability activists and
> organizations like ADAPT have tirelessly worked to gain the right to live
> in
> the community. Eliminating waiver programs will erase this work, and people
> with disabilities will again be shut out of the community.
>
> We have seen this before. Until 2010, in Tennessee roughly 97 percent of
> people with disabilities lived in nursing homes. Residents in the 1990s and
> early 2000s were so desperate for freedom that a center for independent
> living in Memphis arranged for people to leave nursing homes in the middle
> of the night and flew them to Colorado, where in-home services were
> provided.
>
> With the help of the ACLU of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Disability Law
> Center, Anderson and others have filed a class action lawsuit challenging
> the state's elimination of the waiver programs. In doing so, Anderson hopes
> "to save the waiver programs in Oklahoma and send a message to other states
> that this is inhumane."
>
> Activists say the law is on their side. Title II of the Americans with
> Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that, "A public entity shall administer
> services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting
> appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities." The
> Supreme Court in their 1999 Olmstead decision stated that the ADA protected
> people from a segregated setting, such as a nursing home.
>
> However, the US Department of Justice has provided guidance that explains
> states can violate the ADA and Olmstead decision because of budget cuts,
> but
> public entities have "a duty to take all reasonable steps to avoid placing
> individuals at risk of institutionalization."
>
> The lawsuit argues Oklahoma has not taken reasonable steps to avoid the
> institutionalization risk, and Oklahoma still has options before lawmakers
> cut these vital services. The legislature could make cuts to other
> non-vital
> services that would not have blood on their hands. Slashing a program that
> saves money in the long run does not make sense when there is a budget
> deficit.
>
> In the meantime, Anderson and other activists from the Oklahoma chapter of
> ADAPT will be engaging with lawmakers and protesting their rights to live
> in
> the community. He encourages others to get involved and call state
> legislatures to educate them on the importance of the waiver programs. "I'd
> like to think," he said, "it would rally more persons with disabilities to
> speak up and fight for their lives and rights."
> Originally published at InTheseTimes.com.
>
>
>
>
>
> Rebecca Anger
>
>
> Rebecca Anger is a disabled social activist and an aspiring attorney in
> Chicago, focusing on health and civil rights law.
>
>
> Related Stories
> Elders a (Labor) Force for Social Change
> By Marc Freedman, YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
> Elders a (Labor) Force for Social Change (2)
> By Marc Freedman, YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
> Elders in the United States Live on the Edge
> By Margaret Santjer, Equal Voice News | Report
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
supports to our elderly and disabled citizens are wiped out by one
stroke of a pen. "So sorry" say the Legislators, "No room in the
budget."
Isn't it time we faced up to the fact that we can't keep fighting for
little gains, and hold them against the crushing financial hammer of
the Corporations? Until we change the System, we will always be
hustling, trying to hold the line. As long as Profit is ahead of
People, we lose. As long as the Rich and Powerful remain the Rich and
Powerful, we will lose.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/20/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Oklahoma Poised to Cut Off 20,000 Disabled and Elderly People From
> Life-Sustaining Home Care
> Wednesday, December 20, 2017
> By Rebecca Anger, In These Times | News Analysis
>
> In early November, the Department of Human Services (DHS) in Oklahoma sent
> letters to more than 20,000 disabled and elderly residents informing them
> that the in-home care services they were currently receiving as part of the
> ADvantage Waiver and In-Home Supports Waiver for Adults programs could be
> cut in one month. The full consequences of eliminating such vital programs
> are unimaginable but include reduced quality of life, poor health outcomes,
> extensive job loss and increased care costs.
>
> I know firsthand that these cuts pose an existential threat to disabled
> people in Oklahoma, because I am a disability rights advocate and concerned
> waiver program recipient in Illinois. Medicaid waiver programs allow the
> disabled and elderly to receive long-term care services -- such as bathing,
> dressing, toileting, feeding, cooking and cleaning -- in their own homes,
> instead of institutionalized settings. These services are critical for
> protecting the rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly -- and
> allowing people to contribute to society as productive members. The
> programs
> ensure a higher quality of life for all recipients and are fiscally
> responsible for states, when compared with higher costs of
> institutionalized
> care.
>
> So why would a state decide to eliminate these programs?
>
> DHS says they have no choice. The state is facing a $215 million deficit in
> 2018. The agency needs $69 million to fund all the programs it is cutting,
> including the Medicaid waiver programs, for the 2018 fiscal year. Earlier
> this year, the legislature tried to increase the tax on cigarettes by $1.50
> a box, but then lobbyists from Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds
> challenged the increase and won at the state Supreme Court level.
> Frustrated
> lawmakers then attempted to impose a six-cent increase on fuel, which also
> failed, despite Oklahoma having one of the lowest taxes on fuel in the
> country.
>
> Cutting vital waiver programs that provide life-sustaining care to disabled
> and elderly residents is not the answer to a budget shortfall. People who
> are unable to afford assistance on their own could see a dramatic erosion
> in
> the quality of their lives, or could even lose their lives. Thousands of
> workers will likely lose their jobs, and those who are lucky enough to go
> to
> a nursing home will cost the state at least three and a half times more. We
> cannot let Oklahoma get away with these cuts, nor can we accept this action
> as a dangerous precedent.
>
> During the first part of November, the Oklahoma legislature did manage to
> agree on a stopgap budget, which dipped into the state's rainy-day fund to
> finance the waiver programs through March 1, 2018. Beginning in February 1,
> 2018, DHS intends to send another round of letters explaining that the
> waiver programs will be eliminated.
>
> This delay buys people like Richard Anderson an extra three months to find
> alternative care. Anderson is a founding member of the Oklahoma chapter of
> ADAPT, a national grassroots organization that advocates for community
> living. Thanks to the ADvantage waiver, he lives independently with
> cerebral
> palsy. "You'll see people go into nursing homes, which ironically would
> cost
> the State of Oklahoma three and half times more," he tells In These Times.
> "[The state] is leaving transitioning up to the individuals and their
> families, if they even have family."
>
> Anderson says that there are not enough beds available in nursing homes
> throughout the state to accommodate the influx of new people needing care
> --
> and that people will die without services.
>
> The elimination of the waiver programs will also have a major impact on
> Oklahoma's workers. More than 450 provider agencies will lose their main
> source of income, and it has been estimated that at least 10,000 nurses,
> home care workers and caseworkers will lose their jobs.
>
> Many people with disabilities who are served by the program work or
> volunteer in their communities. Without the home care workers who get them
> ready for the day, they will be forced to stop participating in all aspects
> of society. The elimination will also impact the economic capabilities of
> family members who will have to leave the workforce to take care of their
> loved ones.
>
> These cuts are poised to roll back decades of gains that were hard-fought
> by
> disabled communities. For the last 40 years, disability activists and
> organizations like ADAPT have tirelessly worked to gain the right to live
> in
> the community. Eliminating waiver programs will erase this work, and people
> with disabilities will again be shut out of the community.
>
> We have seen this before. Until 2010, in Tennessee roughly 97 percent of
> people with disabilities lived in nursing homes. Residents in the 1990s and
> early 2000s were so desperate for freedom that a center for independent
> living in Memphis arranged for people to leave nursing homes in the middle
> of the night and flew them to Colorado, where in-home services were
> provided.
>
> With the help of the ACLU of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Disability Law
> Center, Anderson and others have filed a class action lawsuit challenging
> the state's elimination of the waiver programs. In doing so, Anderson hopes
> "to save the waiver programs in Oklahoma and send a message to other states
> that this is inhumane."
>
> Activists say the law is on their side. Title II of the Americans with
> Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that, "A public entity shall administer
> services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting
> appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities." The
> Supreme Court in their 1999 Olmstead decision stated that the ADA protected
> people from a segregated setting, such as a nursing home.
>
> However, the US Department of Justice has provided guidance that explains
> states can violate the ADA and Olmstead decision because of budget cuts,
> but
> public entities have "a duty to take all reasonable steps to avoid placing
> individuals at risk of institutionalization."
>
> The lawsuit argues Oklahoma has not taken reasonable steps to avoid the
> institutionalization risk, and Oklahoma still has options before lawmakers
> cut these vital services. The legislature could make cuts to other
> non-vital
> services that would not have blood on their hands. Slashing a program that
> saves money in the long run does not make sense when there is a budget
> deficit.
>
> In the meantime, Anderson and other activists from the Oklahoma chapter of
> ADAPT will be engaging with lawmakers and protesting their rights to live
> in
> the community. He encourages others to get involved and call state
> legislatures to educate them on the importance of the waiver programs. "I'd
> like to think," he said, "it would rally more persons with disabilities to
> speak up and fight for their lives and rights."
> Originally published at InTheseTimes.com.
>
>
>
>
>
> Rebecca Anger
>
>
> Rebecca Anger is a disabled social activist and an aspiring attorney in
> Chicago, focusing on health and civil rights law.
>
>
> Related Stories
> Elders a (Labor) Force for Social Change
> By Marc Freedman, YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
> Elders a (Labor) Force for Social Change (2)
> By Marc Freedman, YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
> Elders in the United States Live on the Edge
> By Margaret Santjer, Equal Voice News | Report
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
The Midnight Cry: a voice in the wilderness
As 2017 comes to a close, I offer my thoughts on the coming Greatness of 2018.
All Hail the Mighty Emperor!
Heil...uh, I mean Hail, Hail, Hail.
The mightiest emperor Donald Trump, Last in a long line of mostly Ho
Hum presidents, and First of the Emperors of the American Corporate
Empire(ACE).
His vow to "Make America Great Again," sends a war whoop through the
White Men of this Promised Land. It sends a shudder through the
Black, Indian, Mexican, Asian and Jewish Americans. It has the Muslim
Americans and the Gay Community scrambling for shelter. It has many
mothers buying chastity belts for their daughters, and for themselves,
too.
And even as the White Men raise their voices and their glasses to this
new Emperor, somewhere a little child's voice whispers a little song,
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children in the world. Red
and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight. Jesus
loves the Children of the World".
Carl Jarvis
All Hail the Mighty Emperor!
Heil...uh, I mean Hail, Hail, Hail.
The mightiest emperor Donald Trump, Last in a long line of mostly Ho
Hum presidents, and First of the Emperors of the American Corporate
Empire(ACE).
His vow to "Make America Great Again," sends a war whoop through the
White Men of this Promised Land. It sends a shudder through the
Black, Indian, Mexican, Asian and Jewish Americans. It has the Muslim
Americans and the Gay Community scrambling for shelter. It has many
mothers buying chastity belts for their daughters, and for themselves,
too.
And even as the White Men raise their voices and their glasses to this
new Emperor, somewhere a little child's voice whispers a little song,
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children in the world. Red
and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight. Jesus
loves the Children of the World".
Carl Jarvis
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Fwd: [Wcb-l] FW: [leadership] Article: FDA approves first gene therapy targeting rare form of inherited blindness
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve Fiksdal <steve@fiksdal.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2017 22:52:30 +0000
Subject: [Wcb-l] FW: [leadership] Article: FDA approves first gene
therapy targeting rare form of inherited blindness
To: "wcb-l@wcbinfo.org" <wcb-l@wcbinfo.org>
From: Kelly Gasque via leadership [mailto:leadership@acblists.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 12:42 PM
To: leadership@acblists.org; announce@acblists.org
Subject: [leadership] Article: FDA approves first gene therapy
targeting rare form of inherited blindness
FDA approves first gene therapy targeting rare form of inherited blindness
Article link: https://www.statnews.com/2017/12/19/gene-therapy-blindness-fda-approval/<https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/www.statnews.com?p=eyJzIjoicnJwemFUYkYwOUJZZWZDeEFnbmNGa3lERUVZIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5zdGF0bmV3cy5jb21cXFwvMjAxN1xcXC8xMlxcXC8xOVxcXC9nZW5lLXRoZXJhcHktYmxpbmRuZXNzLWZkYS1hcHByb3ZhbFxcXC9cIixcImlkXCI6XCI1YzYyMjhkMjVhYWI0ZTViOTM2ZmFhMWI2OGI0NTAxN1wiLFwidXJsX2lkc1wiOltcIjU4OTE2MDcwNmU0ZGQ5MTM5MTFlMzVlMzRhODRkMmM1OTc5NmJlYTVcIl19In0>
A first-of-its-kind gene therapy received approval from the Food and
Drug Administration on Tuesday to treat a rare, inherited form of
childhood blindness.
The FDA marketing clearance of Spark Therapeutics's
Luxturna<https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/www.statnews.com?p=eyJzIjoidnpVNjFiTGxUZ2dZakdxWTBOS0x3NUV5bHdZIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5zdGF0bmV3cy5jb21cXFwvMjAxN1xcXC8xMFxcXC8wOVxcXC9zcGFyay1nZW5lLXRoZXJhcHlcXFwvXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiNWM2MjI4ZDI1YWFiNGU1YjkzNmZhYTFiNjhiNDUwMTdcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCIwNWQ4ZGZhNmVjYzQzZjY5ZTliY2ZkMDFhOTQ0NWNlZTk3NjlhZjRhXCJdfSJ9>
is historic for scientific and financial reasons. Luxturna is the
first gene therapy approved in the U.S. that targets a disease caused
by mutations in a specific gene.
A Spark spokesman said the company will not disclose the Luxturna
price tag until early January. Wall Street analysts expect the gene
therapy to command a $1 million price tag — another first, but not
necessarily a welcome one. At a time when drug prices are coming under
intense scrutiny, Spark will need to convince insurers, politicians,
and pharma critics that the benefit to patients offered by Luxturna
justifies its high cost.
The Institute for Clinical and Econonic Review (ICER), an influential
non-profit that studies the cost effectiveness of new drugs, is
holding a meeting to review
Luxturna<https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/icer-review.org?p=eyJzIjoic1dqYTVLYnVwamtVTU1tOEhuTkRrTzlwUzMwIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ljZXItcmV2aWV3Lm9yZ1xcXC90b3BpY1xcXC92b3JldGlnZW5lLW5lcGFydm92ZWNcXFwvXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiNWM2MjI4ZDI1YWFiNGU1YjkzNmZhYTFiNjhiNDUwMTdcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCI0YjZkZGEyMjRiYTcwOTBkMGMzYTI1OWI0NmZmNzMxNzA4MmMzODdkXCJdfSJ9>
on Jan. 25.
Spark CEO Jeffrey Marrazzo called the FDA announcement a landmark
moment "decades in the making for the field of gene therapy."
"This one-time gene therapy for an inherited disease represents a
first-of-its-kind breakthrough that may lay the groundwork for the
development of gene therapies for other conditions that are not
adequately addressed today," Marrazzo said in a statement.
Like other gene therapies, Luxturna inserts a functional piece of DNA
into cells in order to replace or override a defective,
disease-causing gene. For Spark, the injection site is the eyes of
people, mostly children and young adults, who have a type of inherited
retinal disease caused by a mutation in a gene called RPE65. People
born with mutated RPE65 genes suffer from severe vision problems,
including night blindness. As the disease progresses, people lose all
functional vision and can eventually become totally blind.
Luxturna is not technically a cure. The surgical injection — one in
each eye — aims to halt disease progression and restore some
functional vision.
Wall Street analysts, on average, are forecasting 2018 Luxturna sales
of $78 million, growing to $238 million in 2019 and peaking at $445
million, according to Bloomberg. These estimates carry a
higher-than-normal degree of uncertainty, however, due to the
uncertainties about Luxturna's price and reimbursement.
Based in part on the Spark approval process, the FDA plans on
unveiling a "modern, comprehensive framework of how we'll advance the
field of gene therapy" in the coming year, FDA Commissioner Scott
Gottlieb told reporters.
The agency will release a series of guidance documents, he said, that
will give companies a better idea of how to create safe development
pathways, optimize clinical trial design, and develop meaningful
clinical endpoints. The documents will focus in on areas where there's
already a lot of interest in gene therapy — particularly single-gene
disorders — and help companies better use expedited regulatory
pathways, such as the FDA's breakthrough designation.
Beyond inherited disease, gene therapy is showing a lot of promise in
autoimmune disorders, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS,
said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research.
"Still, we also have a good deal to learn about how these products
work, how to administer them safely, and whether they will continue to
work in the body without adverse side effects," Marks said.
Spark shares were up 4 percent to $50.82 following the FDA's announcement.
From: Steve Fiksdal <steve@fiksdal.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2017 22:52:30 +0000
Subject: [Wcb-l] FW: [leadership] Article: FDA approves first gene
therapy targeting rare form of inherited blindness
To: "wcb-l@wcbinfo.org" <wcb-l@wcbinfo.org>
From: Kelly Gasque via leadership [mailto:leadership@acblists.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 12:42 PM
To: leadership@acblists.org; announce@acblists.org
Subject: [leadership] Article: FDA approves first gene therapy
targeting rare form of inherited blindness
FDA approves first gene therapy targeting rare form of inherited blindness
Article link: https://www.statnews.com/2017/12/19/gene-therapy-blindness-fda-approval/<https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/www.statnews.com?p=eyJzIjoicnJwemFUYkYwOUJZZWZDeEFnbmNGa3lERUVZIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5zdGF0bmV3cy5jb21cXFwvMjAxN1xcXC8xMlxcXC8xOVxcXC9nZW5lLXRoZXJhcHktYmxpbmRuZXNzLWZkYS1hcHByb3ZhbFxcXC9cIixcImlkXCI6XCI1YzYyMjhkMjVhYWI0ZTViOTM2ZmFhMWI2OGI0NTAxN1wiLFwidXJsX2lkc1wiOltcIjU4OTE2MDcwNmU0ZGQ5MTM5MTFlMzVlMzRhODRkMmM1OTc5NmJlYTVcIl19In0>
A first-of-its-kind gene therapy received approval from the Food and
Drug Administration on Tuesday to treat a rare, inherited form of
childhood blindness.
The FDA marketing clearance of Spark Therapeutics's
Luxturna<https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/www.statnews.com?p=eyJzIjoidnpVNjFiTGxUZ2dZakdxWTBOS0x3NUV5bHdZIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5zdGF0bmV3cy5jb21cXFwvMjAxN1xcXC8xMFxcXC8wOVxcXC9zcGFyay1nZW5lLXRoZXJhcHlcXFwvXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiNWM2MjI4ZDI1YWFiNGU1YjkzNmZhYTFiNjhiNDUwMTdcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCIwNWQ4ZGZhNmVjYzQzZjY5ZTliY2ZkMDFhOTQ0NWNlZTk3NjlhZjRhXCJdfSJ9>
is historic for scientific and financial reasons. Luxturna is the
first gene therapy approved in the U.S. that targets a disease caused
by mutations in a specific gene.
A Spark spokesman said the company will not disclose the Luxturna
price tag until early January. Wall Street analysts expect the gene
therapy to command a $1 million price tag — another first, but not
necessarily a welcome one. At a time when drug prices are coming under
intense scrutiny, Spark will need to convince insurers, politicians,
and pharma critics that the benefit to patients offered by Luxturna
justifies its high cost.
The Institute for Clinical and Econonic Review (ICER), an influential
non-profit that studies the cost effectiveness of new drugs, is
holding a meeting to review
Luxturna<https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/icer-review.org?p=eyJzIjoic1dqYTVLYnVwamtVTU1tOEhuTkRrTzlwUzMwIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ljZXItcmV2aWV3Lm9yZ1xcXC90b3BpY1xcXC92b3JldGlnZW5lLW5lcGFydm92ZWNcXFwvXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiNWM2MjI4ZDI1YWFiNGU1YjkzNmZhYTFiNjhiNDUwMTdcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCI0YjZkZGEyMjRiYTcwOTBkMGMzYTI1OWI0NmZmNzMxNzA4MmMzODdkXCJdfSJ9>
on Jan. 25.
Spark CEO Jeffrey Marrazzo called the FDA announcement a landmark
moment "decades in the making for the field of gene therapy."
"This one-time gene therapy for an inherited disease represents a
first-of-its-kind breakthrough that may lay the groundwork for the
development of gene therapies for other conditions that are not
adequately addressed today," Marrazzo said in a statement.
Like other gene therapies, Luxturna inserts a functional piece of DNA
into cells in order to replace or override a defective,
disease-causing gene. For Spark, the injection site is the eyes of
people, mostly children and young adults, who have a type of inherited
retinal disease caused by a mutation in a gene called RPE65. People
born with mutated RPE65 genes suffer from severe vision problems,
including night blindness. As the disease progresses, people lose all
functional vision and can eventually become totally blind.
Luxturna is not technically a cure. The surgical injection — one in
each eye — aims to halt disease progression and restore some
functional vision.
Wall Street analysts, on average, are forecasting 2018 Luxturna sales
of $78 million, growing to $238 million in 2019 and peaking at $445
million, according to Bloomberg. These estimates carry a
higher-than-normal degree of uncertainty, however, due to the
uncertainties about Luxturna's price and reimbursement.
Based in part on the Spark approval process, the FDA plans on
unveiling a "modern, comprehensive framework of how we'll advance the
field of gene therapy" in the coming year, FDA Commissioner Scott
Gottlieb told reporters.
The agency will release a series of guidance documents, he said, that
will give companies a better idea of how to create safe development
pathways, optimize clinical trial design, and develop meaningful
clinical endpoints. The documents will focus in on areas where there's
already a lot of interest in gene therapy — particularly single-gene
disorders — and help companies better use expedited regulatory
pathways, such as the FDA's breakthrough designation.
Beyond inherited disease, gene therapy is showing a lot of promise in
autoimmune disorders, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS,
said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research.
"Still, we also have a good deal to learn about how these products
work, how to administer them safely, and whether they will continue to
work in the body without adverse side effects," Marks said.
Spark shares were up 4 percent to $50.82 following the FDA's announcement.
Re: A week ago today:
me mistaken for someone else. I've never met you, nor supported you.
But I will tell you as you slip into your new US Senate robes, Senator
Jones, your actions will speak for you. You do not need to send me
these sorts of BS. Joe Biden may be a fine fellow, but as a defender
of the American Working Class, he has missed the mark more often than
he has hit it. I have a friend, too. He is a 43 year old blind man
with a family to worry about. He has a Masters degree from the
University of Washington and prior to becoming totally blind, had a
good job as a community college instructor. Lately our federal
government has turned on higher education...indeed, if Donald Trump is
any example our government has turned on all education, and between
shortage of funding for teacher positions and a lack of understanding
regarding the abilities of someone who happens to be blind, my
friend's prospects of work are slim and none. So many of our hard
won social services are being gobbled up by greed possessed
Billionaires. And our once great Democratic Party has crawled under
the back stairs to whimper that they are really trying.
Very trying!
Senator Jones, there are good Senators in congress just waiting for
leadership. Can you promise me that you will step up and take that
role before the Democratic Party dries up and blows away? The Working
Class needs strong leadership if America is going to truly care for
the needs of All its People.
Can you say without reservation that you will keep our backs?
Carl Jarvis, Director
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services
2510 Snow Creek Road, Quilcene WA 98376
phone: 360-765-4239
email: carjar82@gmail.com
On 12/19/17, Doug Jones <info@americanpossibilities.org> wrote:
> Folks --
>
> Just about 41 years ago, while I was a law student, I had the
> opportunity to introduce a U.S. Senator who'd traveled down
> to our school to give a speech.
>
> His name was Joe Biden.
>
> Since that moment, I've had the pleasure of calling him my
> friend. And a week ago today, after the people of Alabama
> turned out to vote and I learned that I would be our state's next
> senator, he was one of the first people who called me.
>
> I have to tell you, when I first took that stage after having been
> declared Senator-Elect, I almost didn't know what the hell to say.
> But I found my words, and I sure have them now.
>
> Thank you. Thank you to my wife. My family. Thank you to the
> millions of Alabamians who believed in me enough to give that
> most sacred gesture of confidence our democracy guarantees
> us: A vote. Thank you to my friends -- both those I've met on the
> trail these past months, and old friends, too, like Joe.
>
> And thank you, folks. Thank you for letting Joe know that you
> believed in me. That you wanted your donations to help support
> our campaign. Thank you.
>
> The work you do here, with Joe Biden, matters. When you speak up,
> when you share the local leaders that you believe in -- not only does
> this outfit hear that feedback, they listen to it. They make decisions
> based on what you say. I'll tell you, that's not how most political
> organizations work in this country. But it should be.
>
> So, let's keep going. Keep speaking up. Keep talking to your friends,
> your family, your neighbors, about the qualities you'd like to see in
> a new wave of American leadership.
>
> And, if you can, give to the organization that's going to continue to
> work to change the face of leadership all around this country -- city
> by city, district by district, and state by state.
>
> I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in
> common than what divides us. Last Tuesday proves it. It will be one
> of the greatest honors of my life to represent the people of Alabama
> in the United States Senate.
>
> Thank you. Let's go do some work.
>
> -Doug
>
>
>
>
> ----
>
> This email was sent to carjar82@gmail.com.
>
> To unsubscribe, go to:
> https://go.americanpossibilities.org/unsubscribe
>
>
But I will tell you as you slip into your new US Senate robes, Senator
Jones, your actions will speak for you. You do not need to send me
these sorts of BS. Joe Biden may be a fine fellow, but as a defender
of the American Working Class, he has missed the mark more often than
he has hit it. I have a friend, too. He is a 43 year old blind man
with a family to worry about. He has a Masters degree from the
University of Washington and prior to becoming totally blind, had a
good job as a community college instructor. Lately our federal
government has turned on higher education...indeed, if Donald Trump is
any example our government has turned on all education, and between
shortage of funding for teacher positions and a lack of understanding
regarding the abilities of someone who happens to be blind, my
friend's prospects of work are slim and none. So many of our hard
won social services are being gobbled up by greed possessed
Billionaires. And our once great Democratic Party has crawled under
the back stairs to whimper that they are really trying.
Very trying!
Senator Jones, there are good Senators in congress just waiting for
leadership. Can you promise me that you will step up and take that
role before the Democratic Party dries up and blows away? The Working
Class needs strong leadership if America is going to truly care for
the needs of All its People.
Can you say without reservation that you will keep our backs?
Carl Jarvis, Director
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services
2510 Snow Creek Road, Quilcene WA 98376
phone: 360-765-4239
email: carjar82@gmail.com
On 12/19/17, Doug Jones <info@americanpossibilities.org> wrote:
> Folks --
>
> Just about 41 years ago, while I was a law student, I had the
> opportunity to introduce a U.S. Senator who'd traveled down
> to our school to give a speech.
>
> His name was Joe Biden.
>
> Since that moment, I've had the pleasure of calling him my
> friend. And a week ago today, after the people of Alabama
> turned out to vote and I learned that I would be our state's next
> senator, he was one of the first people who called me.
>
> I have to tell you, when I first took that stage after having been
> declared Senator-Elect, I almost didn't know what the hell to say.
> But I found my words, and I sure have them now.
>
> Thank you. Thank you to my wife. My family. Thank you to the
> millions of Alabamians who believed in me enough to give that
> most sacred gesture of confidence our democracy guarantees
> us: A vote. Thank you to my friends -- both those I've met on the
> trail these past months, and old friends, too, like Joe.
>
> And thank you, folks. Thank you for letting Joe know that you
> believed in me. That you wanted your donations to help support
> our campaign. Thank you.
>
> The work you do here, with Joe Biden, matters. When you speak up,
> when you share the local leaders that you believe in -- not only does
> this outfit hear that feedback, they listen to it. They make decisions
> based on what you say. I'll tell you, that's not how most political
> organizations work in this country. But it should be.
>
> So, let's keep going. Keep speaking up. Keep talking to your friends,
> your family, your neighbors, about the qualities you'd like to see in
> a new wave of American leadership.
>
> And, if you can, give to the organization that's going to continue to
> work to change the face of leadership all around this country -- city
> by city, district by district, and state by state.
>
> I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in
> common than what divides us. Last Tuesday proves it. It will be one
> of the greatest honors of my life to represent the people of Alabama
> in the United States Senate.
>
> Thank you. Let's go do some work.
>
> -Doug
>
>
>
>
> ----
>
> This email was sent to carjar82@gmail.com.
>
> To unsubscribe, go to:
> https://go.americanpossibilities.org/unsubscribe
>
>
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Fwd: [blind-democracy] A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a Mayo Clinic OR
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2017 08:23:08 -0800
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a
Mayo Clinic OR
To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
Garrison Keillor, a victim of our latest Witch Hunt. While I have no
knowledge of the private man named Garrison Keillor, I am warmed, and
have been warmed for so many years, by the Garrison Keillor who has
presented himself in the form of a gentle, caring, kind, and not so
great of a singer.
On the other hand, NPR has once again shown how quick they can be to
distance themselves from potential negative press, not understanding
that shoving Garrison Keillor to the Wolves will do nothing to protect
Public Broadcasting from the Trumpsters.
And now, my own feeble attempt at a Limerick:
NPR has joined the hunt,
Garrison Keillor, has born the brunt.
A Witch in the Cellar,
and behind closet door.
Away with all Witches,
Keillor, and Roy Moore!
Carl Jarvis
On 12/16/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a Mayo Clinic OR
> By Garrison Keillor, Star Tribune
> 16 December 17
>
> When you come to the hospital, you come back to basics.
>
> Coming to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, I'm surrounded by men and women
> in blue who did well in high school math and chemistry, and here I am, who
> frittered away those years writing limericks and parodies and barely made
> it
> to graduation, depending on science for survival. It's an awakening for a
> gent of 75. I used to look down on science nerds as dull and unimaginative
> and now I am grateful for their competence.
>
> I'm here for the implantation of a pacemaker, my heart having decided to
> sometimes hesitate 3.8 seconds between beats. At 5, you faint and fall down
> and bang your head on the desk. So I get out of my suit and tie and into a
> gown and lie on a gurney and am wheeled into Surgical Prep. I have brought
> paper and pen, thinking to take notes, and my nurse, Kim, who has been
> fussing with tape and an IV, says, "You're going to be sedated, you know."
>
> "When?"
>
> "As of five minutes ago."
>
> Well, a man needs a challenge. So I write her a limerick. I've been doing
> this all my life. I can do it sedated or excited, in a moving car or flat
> on
> my back.
>
>
> A cardiac nurse name of Kim
>
> Says, "The chances of failure are slim.
>
> You're not going to die."
>
> And she points to the sky.
>
> "Any questions? Address them to Him."
>
> No patient ever wrote her a limerick before. She is impressed. It isn't
> that
> easy to impress young people these days. Meanwhile, she wheels me into the
> O.R.
>
> It's a beautiful sedative. I'm still cognizant of people around, voices,
> the
> clink and beep and hum of hardware, and I appreciate the coordination of
> the
> team, and the anesthetist who keeps me informed of what she's putting into
> me, as if I actually understood.
>
>
> Meredith who did anesthesia
>
> Said, "It won't lead to amnesia
>
> But this sedation
>
> May cause constipation.
>
> We recommend milk of magnesia."
>
> I wrote this as Dr. Bradley was scoping out the incision site. A very nice
> man whose parents were doctors, a neurologist and a pathologist. He grew up
> in southeast Minneapolis. He was a little kid running around on the
> playground when I was a grad student at the U. I asked what type of
> pacemaker he'd be installing and he was glad to discuss the merits of
> Medtronic vs. Boston Scientific vs. another one, I forget the name. So I
> wrote a few lines for him.
>
>
> The electrophysiologist Bradley
>
> Said, "This pacemaker I install gladly
>
> In your chest today
>
> Is a new Chevrolet
>
> Nova and it works not that badly."
>
> The device is the size of a wristwatch, minus the band, and a wire extends
> from it down into the base of your heart where it's anchored by a screw
> that
> your heart creates scar tissue around, and there it sits, stimulating a
> steady 60 beats per minute for the next ten years until the battery needs
> to
> be replaced. You carry a plastic ID in your billfold to show TSA so they
> won't be alarmed when the scanner beeps. Several uncles of mine pitched
> over
> and died who might've been saved by this device. One may or may not feel
> better as a result, though the device is doing its work. It does not confer
> immortality.
>
> I feel better. My niece works for Medtronic and a cousin works for Mayo and
> to me, St. Marys is Minnesota at its best, high competence combined with
> great kindness and good humor. Back when I had heart surgery here in 2001,
> Sister Generose Gervais was still patrolling the halls, the former hotel
> administrator, retired but not really, a Franciscan nun of the Our Lady of
> Lourdes congregation, one of the last of that line of valiant women who
> founded the place in 1889 in collaboration with the clinic of Will and
> Charles Mayo up the street. She died last year at 97.
>
> The procedures I've watched people work on me were front-page news when I
> was a boy and now they're more or less routine, but that spirit of kindness
> and good humor is permanent. Our society today is plagued with the strain
> of
> You-Can't-Possibly-Understand-Me-Because-You're-Not-Me but when you come to
> the hospital, you come back to basics: we're blood and bones and skin, we
> depend on the goodness of others, and it is here to be found, thanks to
> people trained to be precisely competent.
>
>
> e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
>
>
>
>
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2017 08:23:08 -0800
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a
Mayo Clinic OR
To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
Garrison Keillor, a victim of our latest Witch Hunt. While I have no
knowledge of the private man named Garrison Keillor, I am warmed, and
have been warmed for so many years, by the Garrison Keillor who has
presented himself in the form of a gentle, caring, kind, and not so
great of a singer.
On the other hand, NPR has once again shown how quick they can be to
distance themselves from potential negative press, not understanding
that shoving Garrison Keillor to the Wolves will do nothing to protect
Public Broadcasting from the Trumpsters.
And now, my own feeble attempt at a Limerick:
NPR has joined the hunt,
Garrison Keillor, has born the brunt.
A Witch in the Cellar,
and behind closet door.
Away with all Witches,
Keillor, and Roy Moore!
Carl Jarvis
On 12/16/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> A Few Thoughts, in Limerick, From a Mayo Clinic OR
> By Garrison Keillor, Star Tribune
> 16 December 17
>
> When you come to the hospital, you come back to basics.
>
> Coming to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, I'm surrounded by men and women
> in blue who did well in high school math and chemistry, and here I am, who
> frittered away those years writing limericks and parodies and barely made
> it
> to graduation, depending on science for survival. It's an awakening for a
> gent of 75. I used to look down on science nerds as dull and unimaginative
> and now I am grateful for their competence.
>
> I'm here for the implantation of a pacemaker, my heart having decided to
> sometimes hesitate 3.8 seconds between beats. At 5, you faint and fall down
> and bang your head on the desk. So I get out of my suit and tie and into a
> gown and lie on a gurney and am wheeled into Surgical Prep. I have brought
> paper and pen, thinking to take notes, and my nurse, Kim, who has been
> fussing with tape and an IV, says, "You're going to be sedated, you know."
>
> "When?"
>
> "As of five minutes ago."
>
> Well, a man needs a challenge. So I write her a limerick. I've been doing
> this all my life. I can do it sedated or excited, in a moving car or flat
> on
> my back.
>
>
> A cardiac nurse name of Kim
>
> Says, "The chances of failure are slim.
>
> You're not going to die."
>
> And she points to the sky.
>
> "Any questions? Address them to Him."
>
> No patient ever wrote her a limerick before. She is impressed. It isn't
> that
> easy to impress young people these days. Meanwhile, she wheels me into the
> O.R.
>
> It's a beautiful sedative. I'm still cognizant of people around, voices,
> the
> clink and beep and hum of hardware, and I appreciate the coordination of
> the
> team, and the anesthetist who keeps me informed of what she's putting into
> me, as if I actually understood.
>
>
> Meredith who did anesthesia
>
> Said, "It won't lead to amnesia
>
> But this sedation
>
> May cause constipation.
>
> We recommend milk of magnesia."
>
> I wrote this as Dr. Bradley was scoping out the incision site. A very nice
> man whose parents were doctors, a neurologist and a pathologist. He grew up
> in southeast Minneapolis. He was a little kid running around on the
> playground when I was a grad student at the U. I asked what type of
> pacemaker he'd be installing and he was glad to discuss the merits of
> Medtronic vs. Boston Scientific vs. another one, I forget the name. So I
> wrote a few lines for him.
>
>
> The electrophysiologist Bradley
>
> Said, "This pacemaker I install gladly
>
> In your chest today
>
> Is a new Chevrolet
>
> Nova and it works not that badly."
>
> The device is the size of a wristwatch, minus the band, and a wire extends
> from it down into the base of your heart where it's anchored by a screw
> that
> your heart creates scar tissue around, and there it sits, stimulating a
> steady 60 beats per minute for the next ten years until the battery needs
> to
> be replaced. You carry a plastic ID in your billfold to show TSA so they
> won't be alarmed when the scanner beeps. Several uncles of mine pitched
> over
> and died who might've been saved by this device. One may or may not feel
> better as a result, though the device is doing its work. It does not confer
> immortality.
>
> I feel better. My niece works for Medtronic and a cousin works for Mayo and
> to me, St. Marys is Minnesota at its best, high competence combined with
> great kindness and good humor. Back when I had heart surgery here in 2001,
> Sister Generose Gervais was still patrolling the halls, the former hotel
> administrator, retired but not really, a Franciscan nun of the Our Lady of
> Lourdes congregation, one of the last of that line of valiant women who
> founded the place in 1889 in collaboration with the clinic of Will and
> Charles Mayo up the street. She died last year at 97.
>
> The procedures I've watched people work on me were front-page news when I
> was a boy and now they're more or less routine, but that spirit of kindness
> and good humor is permanent. Our society today is plagued with the strain
> of
> You-Can't-Possibly-Understand-Me-Because-You're-Not-Me but when you come to
> the hospital, you come back to basics: we're blood and bones and skin, we
> depend on the goodness of others, and it is here to be found, thanks to
> people trained to be precisely competent.
>
>
> e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
>
>
>
>
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Re: [blind-democracy] The Power of a Caring Touch
To Bob and All Huggy touchy Folk, everywhere!
After not seeing my former boss, Shirley Smith, for several years,
Cathy and I drove to Sedona, Arizona to spend the day with her. When
we arrived Shirley gave Cathy a huge hug and then embraced me.
Stepping back she exclaimed, "My goodness, you've finally learned how
to hug!"
During my time as an assistant director with the Department of
Services for the Blind, I was the only male on the four person
executive team. Shirley, Bonnie and Faye were all old friends from
years of working together. Our executive team meetings always began
with group hugs and friendly, personal chatter. Having been raised by
parents who seldom touched in public, never hugged by my mother, and
most certainly never by my father, and only kissed lightly on the
forehead when being tucked into bed, I was called, "The Stick" by my
Team Mates at work. I asked Cathy, whom I hugged every chance I got,
and she said, "Yeah, you are a bit stiff when you hug other women." I
told her that I was going to correct this flaw in my otherwise
flawless persona. She rolled her Italian eyes and said, "Either you
got it, or you don't. I'm not sure there's any hope for you." I
began daily drills. I hugged her in the morning, even before we rose
from bed...enough of that! But still, when the Team met I fell back
into being Stiff Old Carl. I wisely decided to avoid practicing with
my female staff or the young female students, but my daughters and
close female friends became subjects to my crude hugs. So it was a
proud moment when Shirley finally declared me to be a bona fide
hugger.
Folks like Shirley, and most of all, Cathy, were important in my
efforts to learn that hugging was not always an effort for a guy to
"get next" to a woman. And then I began hugging my son and my adult
grandsons, and my sons-in-law,.
Something else that we did not learn to do when I was growing up was
to say, "I love you". Cathy and I agreed that this was going to be a
much used word, not only between ourselves, but with our children.
And so love ruled our home. But I would never in a thousand years
tell another man that I loved him. Children, yes, but once they
reached manhood, never!
Then this young macho bull rider galloped into daughter Jennifer's
life. And with him, Don brought a gaggle of fellow Bull Riders.
These young guys amazed me. They joked easily together, slapped one
another on the shoulder, hugged when it came time to leave, and said,
"I sure love you, buddy".
The contrast between those stiff, more formal years and the warm
hugging world I now live and love in, is amazing. Whatever we do,
let's agree that this current Witch Hunt will not undermine our desire
to hug one another and tell our dear friends and family, "I sure love
you". I understand that it is Sex that advances our Race, but it is
truly Love, that gives Life meaning.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/15/17, Bob Hachey <bhachey@verizon.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I sure do hope we can truly reduce the occurrences of sexual harassment in
> the workplace and in society generally. But I also hope we don't go too
> far.
> (see below).
>
> Bob Hachey
>
>
>
> The power of touch, good and bad . By Roland Merullo . I come from a family
> of touchers. Grandparents, parents, a multitude of aunts, uncles, cousins -
> we hugged and kissed without reservation. Often, when we spoke, we'd put a
> hand on the listener's shoulder or forearm. There was nothing strained or
> affected about this: It was as natural as making eye contact, as shaking
> hands, as reaching out and straightening the crooked shirt collar of
> someone
> we loved. This comfort with physicality occasionally got some of us into
> trouble. A cousin of mine went to see a new priest at the local church,
> needing to speak with him about a difficult matter. After an hour-long
> face-to-face, my cousin thanked the priest, reaching out to squeeze his
> upper arm as he did so. "Don't touch me! the priest shouted, recoiling. My
> cousin left the church wondering if he'd ever step back inside. In an
> unpleasant encounter with a local police officer, after a traffic incident,
> I happened to reach toward him - not in a threatening way, but as a gesture
> of reconciliation. I wanted to touch him on the shoulder and refine the
> point I was trying to make, offer an avenue to agreement. He responded,
> loudly, fiercely, just as the priest had done. "Don't you touch me! In
> Russia, where I've spent a lot of time, it's common to see two male friends
> walking along the sidewalk arm-in-arm. The same is true in Italy. It
> doesn't
> mean they're lovers; it's not sexual, simply human. But in certain American
> circles, touch between straight men is all but forbidden, as if the
> Puritans
> are still casting their long shadow over us. One of the things I enjoyed
> about having young children was the almost continuous physical contact. You
> lifted them up when they were tired. You sat them on your lap when reading
> to them. You touched them a hundred times a day, and each of those touches
> -
> like those between my cousins and parents and aunts and uncles and me - was
> a wordless "I love you," an assertion of a bond of trust. The touch of
> adult
> lovers is the epitome of this wordless acceptance. We all remember our
> first
> kiss, our first hand-holding, even our first slow dance. It is touch,
> ultimately, that keeps the species going. And so it's particularly
> distressing to me, as someone who takes joy in physical contact, to witness
> all the recent revelations of what must be called a perversion of that
> contact. If allowing a friend or loved one to touch you speaks to a
> wordless
> trust, then putting your hand on someone who doesn't want to be touched
> speaks to a poisonous rupture of that trust. It's a violation, perhaps the
> prototypical violation. As much as it troubled me to hear my cousin's tale
> of his bad moment with the priest, and as unpleasant as it was to have the
> police officer feel threatened by what was obviously a slow and
> unthreatening gesture, I believe people have the right to decide when and
> how they want to be touched, or if they don't want to be touched at all. I
> was discussing this with a young woman recently, a bright 22-year-old, no
> stranger to unwanted attention. We were wondering if the flood of recent
> revelations would actually lead to better behavior - at least on the part
> of
> some men. "It might change things," she said guardedly. "I just hope it
> doesn't mean that nobody touches anybody anymore. In almost every case I
> can
> think of, the intent behind physical contact is unambiguous. You know when
> it feels wrong, and when it doesn't. Grown men know when they're giving a
> co-worker a friendly embrace - in moments of congratulation or deep
> sympathy, say - and when they're angling for some illicit sexual thrill, or
> asserting a weird dominance. Even children can often sense when someone is
> creepy or not. Like my young friend, I hope the revelations by women who've
> been assaulted give the creeps pause and lead to an atmosphere of greater
> respect. And, like her, I hope we also find a way to continue to be able to
> touch each other, when it feels right - for both parties. Roland Merullo's
> latest novel is "The Delight of Being Ordinary: A Road Trip with the Pope
> and Dalai Lama.
>
>
>
>
After not seeing my former boss, Shirley Smith, for several years,
Cathy and I drove to Sedona, Arizona to spend the day with her. When
we arrived Shirley gave Cathy a huge hug and then embraced me.
Stepping back she exclaimed, "My goodness, you've finally learned how
to hug!"
During my time as an assistant director with the Department of
Services for the Blind, I was the only male on the four person
executive team. Shirley, Bonnie and Faye were all old friends from
years of working together. Our executive team meetings always began
with group hugs and friendly, personal chatter. Having been raised by
parents who seldom touched in public, never hugged by my mother, and
most certainly never by my father, and only kissed lightly on the
forehead when being tucked into bed, I was called, "The Stick" by my
Team Mates at work. I asked Cathy, whom I hugged every chance I got,
and she said, "Yeah, you are a bit stiff when you hug other women." I
told her that I was going to correct this flaw in my otherwise
flawless persona. She rolled her Italian eyes and said, "Either you
got it, or you don't. I'm not sure there's any hope for you." I
began daily drills. I hugged her in the morning, even before we rose
from bed...enough of that! But still, when the Team met I fell back
into being Stiff Old Carl. I wisely decided to avoid practicing with
my female staff or the young female students, but my daughters and
close female friends became subjects to my crude hugs. So it was a
proud moment when Shirley finally declared me to be a bona fide
hugger.
Folks like Shirley, and most of all, Cathy, were important in my
efforts to learn that hugging was not always an effort for a guy to
"get next" to a woman. And then I began hugging my son and my adult
grandsons, and my sons-in-law,.
Something else that we did not learn to do when I was growing up was
to say, "I love you". Cathy and I agreed that this was going to be a
much used word, not only between ourselves, but with our children.
And so love ruled our home. But I would never in a thousand years
tell another man that I loved him. Children, yes, but once they
reached manhood, never!
Then this young macho bull rider galloped into daughter Jennifer's
life. And with him, Don brought a gaggle of fellow Bull Riders.
These young guys amazed me. They joked easily together, slapped one
another on the shoulder, hugged when it came time to leave, and said,
"I sure love you, buddy".
The contrast between those stiff, more formal years and the warm
hugging world I now live and love in, is amazing. Whatever we do,
let's agree that this current Witch Hunt will not undermine our desire
to hug one another and tell our dear friends and family, "I sure love
you". I understand that it is Sex that advances our Race, but it is
truly Love, that gives Life meaning.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/15/17, Bob Hachey <bhachey@verizon.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I sure do hope we can truly reduce the occurrences of sexual harassment in
> the workplace and in society generally. But I also hope we don't go too
> far.
> (see below).
>
> Bob Hachey
>
>
>
> The power of touch, good and bad . By Roland Merullo . I come from a family
> of touchers. Grandparents, parents, a multitude of aunts, uncles, cousins -
> we hugged and kissed without reservation. Often, when we spoke, we'd put a
> hand on the listener's shoulder or forearm. There was nothing strained or
> affected about this: It was as natural as making eye contact, as shaking
> hands, as reaching out and straightening the crooked shirt collar of
> someone
> we loved. This comfort with physicality occasionally got some of us into
> trouble. A cousin of mine went to see a new priest at the local church,
> needing to speak with him about a difficult matter. After an hour-long
> face-to-face, my cousin thanked the priest, reaching out to squeeze his
> upper arm as he did so. "Don't touch me! the priest shouted, recoiling. My
> cousin left the church wondering if he'd ever step back inside. In an
> unpleasant encounter with a local police officer, after a traffic incident,
> I happened to reach toward him - not in a threatening way, but as a gesture
> of reconciliation. I wanted to touch him on the shoulder and refine the
> point I was trying to make, offer an avenue to agreement. He responded,
> loudly, fiercely, just as the priest had done. "Don't you touch me! In
> Russia, where I've spent a lot of time, it's common to see two male friends
> walking along the sidewalk arm-in-arm. The same is true in Italy. It
> doesn't
> mean they're lovers; it's not sexual, simply human. But in certain American
> circles, touch between straight men is all but forbidden, as if the
> Puritans
> are still casting their long shadow over us. One of the things I enjoyed
> about having young children was the almost continuous physical contact. You
> lifted them up when they were tired. You sat them on your lap when reading
> to them. You touched them a hundred times a day, and each of those touches
> -
> like those between my cousins and parents and aunts and uncles and me - was
> a wordless "I love you," an assertion of a bond of trust. The touch of
> adult
> lovers is the epitome of this wordless acceptance. We all remember our
> first
> kiss, our first hand-holding, even our first slow dance. It is touch,
> ultimately, that keeps the species going. And so it's particularly
> distressing to me, as someone who takes joy in physical contact, to witness
> all the recent revelations of what must be called a perversion of that
> contact. If allowing a friend or loved one to touch you speaks to a
> wordless
> trust, then putting your hand on someone who doesn't want to be touched
> speaks to a poisonous rupture of that trust. It's a violation, perhaps the
> prototypical violation. As much as it troubled me to hear my cousin's tale
> of his bad moment with the priest, and as unpleasant as it was to have the
> police officer feel threatened by what was obviously a slow and
> unthreatening gesture, I believe people have the right to decide when and
> how they want to be touched, or if they don't want to be touched at all. I
> was discussing this with a young woman recently, a bright 22-year-old, no
> stranger to unwanted attention. We were wondering if the flood of recent
> revelations would actually lead to better behavior - at least on the part
> of
> some men. "It might change things," she said guardedly. "I just hope it
> doesn't mean that nobody touches anybody anymore. In almost every case I
> can
> think of, the intent behind physical contact is unambiguous. You know when
> it feels wrong, and when it doesn't. Grown men know when they're giving a
> co-worker a friendly embrace - in moments of congratulation or deep
> sympathy, say - and when they're angling for some illicit sexual thrill, or
> asserting a weird dominance. Even children can often sense when someone is
> creepy or not. Like my young friend, I hope the revelations by women who've
> been assaulted give the creeps pause and lead to an atmosphere of greater
> respect. And, like her, I hope we also find a way to continue to be able to
> touch each other, when it feels right - for both parties. Roland Merullo's
> latest novel is "The Delight of Being Ordinary: A Road Trip with the Pope
> and Dalai Lama.
>
>
>
>
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