We all heard quite a bit of news coverage about mortgage derivitives after the foreclosure crisis had its stranglehold on the country a few years ago. It was, and is, terribly difficult to understand. I listened to countless stories on NPR and read articles until my head was swimming with mortgage industry buzz words. The gist of it was that banks figured out that they could get groups of people to buy into groups of mortgages so that they could liquidate the mortgages faster and make more loans. So, your pension fund might decide that the 6% interest paid on home loans was a better investment than the 4% they might earn in a mutual fund. So, the pension fund pools together money and buys a bundle of mortgages from Bank of America. The pension makes money on the interest, Bank of America made money on the origination charges. And now the pension has a steady stream of income on its investment and Bank of America has fresh cash to use to make new loans. This system allowed cash to be infused into the mortgage lending industry so that big banks could keep making more and more loans. And all was great, until it wasn't.
There has been considerable coverage and multiple documentaries about the mess that was created in the housing market when the foreclosures started mounting. The domino effect of rising rates, falling values, increased foreclosures, and ultimately blighted neighborhoods. But, there has not been sufficient coverage about what is going on now in the housing market. We are supposed to think that the housing market is not rebounding and that the overall economy is still sluggish. But this simply isn't true. In the last eight months, existing home sales are up dramatically. Many realtors in my area say that they have more properties under contract right now than they had at any time during the great boom in 2005-2008. The key is that they have contracts, but not closings. It would be easier to build a house by hand yourself than to try to get a mortgage loan right now, and there are several reasons why.
The first is that in response to public outcry, the federal government under Obama implemented rigorous new regulations for the mortgage lending industry. These regulations were intended to insure that consumers were well informed about their loan and the costs associated therewith before they sat down at the closing table. Lenders are now required to provide a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) with expected closing costs broken down item by item. The fees paid by the consumer directly to the bank, called Origination Charges, cannot increase between the time the quote is given and the actual closing. The lender also has to estimate the fees that will be charged by vendors or other third parties in connection with the closing and there are limits on the increases for these. The paperwork behind these regulations is cumbersome for the lender, the borrower and the closing attorney or title company (depending on your state). And frequently they do not serve the purpose intended. The problem 5 years ago was not that borrowers were not adequately informed about their loans, but that there was no policing of mortgage brokers or lenders who were not conforming to the similar and less cumbersome regulations that were in place at the time. There were plenty of borrowers who didn't understand the loan they were getting or the implications of an adjustable rate, interest-only mortgage, but that wasn't because they weren't given a disclosure ahead of time, it was because they were financially uneducated. They didn't know what the disclosure meant and no one was making sure it was appropriately explained to them. What was needed was not more regulation, but smarter regulation and better enforcement.
The GFE requirements are a pain, but we can live them. They are not the crux of the problem. The real problem stems from the interindustry fallout associated with the foreclosure crisis. During the boom, loans were closed with such speed and so little attention to detail that just about any transaction could find its way to the closing table, no matter how poorly documented the borrowers income or how terrible the title problem. As foreclosures began mounting and attorneys and title insurance companies once again began searching title with more care, the lenders found themselves stuck holding the bag on some pretty undesireable properties. And the pendulum swung in the other direction, grossly over-correcting. The process of obtaining loan approval for a conventional residential mortgage has become as complex as the mechanics of a BMW, as frustrating as trying to get a colichy baby to quit crying, and as tiring as running a marathon!
Folks, I have seen it all over these last eight months. A widow told she needed a death certificate for her late husband dated within 60 days of submission to the lender. Perhaps this particular lender believed in the possibility of a zombie virus raising the undead from their graves and sending them scrambling for home loans? A client whose lender's unnecessary hard pull on a credit report mid-way through the application process sends his credit score tumbling an unbelievable 4 points! Evidently a significant enough drop to cost him an 1/8th of a point on his interest rate and $800 in origination charges. Too late to back out of the loan since the lender has delayed closing more than two weeks past the contract deadline and the seller is ready to walk. Another client this week is being asked to make her way through three years of bank records spread among three banks to dig up every single cancelled rent check she has written for the last three years! Are you kidding me!? You have seriously got to be kiding me! And client, after client, after client calls me up to say, "I just sent them three more bank statements, explained the change in my address for the third time, provided documentation to support the loss on my income taxes from three years ago, and now they want WHAT?!" And time after time after time I spend hours of my day reassuring sellers that its not that the buyer isn't creditworthy. "No, Ms. Johnson. Honestly I don't think there is anything to worry about with Mr. Smith's loan. I know it is two weeks past the contract deadline and he still doesn't have loan approval, but please believe me when I tell you they are all like this now." And repeating that same conversation for buyers and agents.
All of this exuberant verification is being done, not to satisfy Washington regulators, but to satisfy the requirements of the inter-bank mortgage trading industry. If Bank A can't show to Pension Fund D that all of these mortgages were really and truly made to highly qualified and vetted borrowers, they might not be able to package them up and sell them off. So, instead of formulating reasonable requirements that would allow money to keep moving through the economy and spur on the housing market and associated parts of the economy, lenders are perfectly happy to delay a closing by several months, ask borrowers to resubmit the same documentation over and over, and ultimately continue to hold the rest of the economy hostage so that they can continue to sell their mortgages in the secondary market.
I know that the loan officers I work with routinely are sick of me. They are tired of me complaining. They are tired of me insisting that they get on with it, that they not rewrite the contracts of our clients since they themselves are not lawyers, that they act with reasonableness, and, heaven-forbid, that they return my phone calls and e-mails. And clearly my frustrations are directed at entirely the wrong people. It is not my local loan officer who should bear the brunt of my nagging and derisive voicemails and repeated e-mails. If I wasn't spending so much time trying to get just ONE of my 25 currently open property files to the closing table, maybe I could spare a few moments to tell my President and my Congressmen precisely what I think about their poorly thought-out and terribly executed mortgage lending regulations and offer them a few suggestions for how they might wrangle our economy out of the death grip of the mortage lending industry.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Live with Intention
Last year Dylan and I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Patch Adams speak at UNCA. He was more amazing in person than the movie could ever capture. Everything he said was motivation to be a better person, a healthier person, a happier person. He said that people quite often ask him how he can be so happy all of the time. Surely there are things that get him down, make him feel sad. Sure, he says, there are sad things that happen, in life, in our community, in the world. Happiness is not the result of ignoring or burying sorrow. It is the result of embracing that pain, feeling it all the way through, releasing it and deciding that, despite that inevitable moment of sorrow, I will live with the intention of being joyous. Is it hard? Of course it's hard. It takes practice and effort. But it is worth it. The comparison he used, that I will never forget, is this: You live every day of your life with the intention of not getting hit by a semi truck. And so far, you have been very successful! Now, just live every day of your life with just as much intention to be happy. Choose to smile at the elderly driver in front of you traveling 15 miles an hour slower than you would like to be going. She knows something you don't in that moment: that there are very few things in the world worth being in that big of a hurry over. Smile at the crying baby in the restaurant. He is learning how to communicate with the world around him. Smile at the unhappy customer. She has had a long, hard day and your smile will make the rest of it just a little bit brighter.
It reminds me of the lessons taught by the beloved Chad O'Shea at Unity Center in Arden. Since I was 8 or 9 years old, I have soaked up the lesson that no one is responsible for my feelings. I choose my reaction to my surroundings. That sound is annoying because I allow myself to feel annoyed. I choose to put my focus there. I could instead choose to put my focus into enjoying whatever task I am engaged in. Misery is optional my friend. It is absolutely optional.
I have chosen a certain level of misery over the course of the past 10 years. I have indulged and overeaten. I have pumped my body full of nutritional garbage. I've been lazy, convinced that because I had so much to do everyday it was okay for me to spend four hours a night glued to the TV, "relaxing." I was wrong. In the past two months I have chosen to redirect my energies. Work is important, but it doesn't come first. My relationship is so very important to me, but it doesn't come first. My children mean the absolute world to me! But they don't get to come first either. Because if I am slowly sinking into a pit of depression by starving my body of vital nutrients and exercise, I am of absolutely no use to anyone! No wonder I was so snappy and moody all the time. No wonder I felt so tired! No wonder I just wanted to be left alone every night to live vicariously through the hour long dramas of prime-time television!
And now that I feel so awake and alive, I want to share this feeling with everyone I know! Put down the Doritos, man! They are KILLING you! All of those artificial flavors, MSG, hydrolyzed this and modified that, and the muck that are artificial sweeteners are confusing your body, making you crave foods that are about as nutritionally complete as a can of beer. And those cravings simply lead you to even unhealthier choices that feeds the cycle of munch, work, munch, sit, munch, sleep, repeat.
You can do two small things this week that will begin to change your life. Swear off high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, and go for a 15 minute walk every day. And when you survive the first week (and you will survive it, I promise!), give yourself a great big hug, acknowledge how hard you worked, and feel the radical awesomeness of your body thanking you by releasing serotonin and helping you be HAPPY!
It reminds me of the lessons taught by the beloved Chad O'Shea at Unity Center in Arden. Since I was 8 or 9 years old, I have soaked up the lesson that no one is responsible for my feelings. I choose my reaction to my surroundings. That sound is annoying because I allow myself to feel annoyed. I choose to put my focus there. I could instead choose to put my focus into enjoying whatever task I am engaged in. Misery is optional my friend. It is absolutely optional.
I have chosen a certain level of misery over the course of the past 10 years. I have indulged and overeaten. I have pumped my body full of nutritional garbage. I've been lazy, convinced that because I had so much to do everyday it was okay for me to spend four hours a night glued to the TV, "relaxing." I was wrong. In the past two months I have chosen to redirect my energies. Work is important, but it doesn't come first. My relationship is so very important to me, but it doesn't come first. My children mean the absolute world to me! But they don't get to come first either. Because if I am slowly sinking into a pit of depression by starving my body of vital nutrients and exercise, I am of absolutely no use to anyone! No wonder I was so snappy and moody all the time. No wonder I felt so tired! No wonder I just wanted to be left alone every night to live vicariously through the hour long dramas of prime-time television!
And now that I feel so awake and alive, I want to share this feeling with everyone I know! Put down the Doritos, man! They are KILLING you! All of those artificial flavors, MSG, hydrolyzed this and modified that, and the muck that are artificial sweeteners are confusing your body, making you crave foods that are about as nutritionally complete as a can of beer. And those cravings simply lead you to even unhealthier choices that feeds the cycle of munch, work, munch, sit, munch, sleep, repeat.
You can do two small things this week that will begin to change your life. Swear off high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, and go for a 15 minute walk every day. And when you survive the first week (and you will survive it, I promise!), give yourself a great big hug, acknowledge how hard you worked, and feel the radical awesomeness of your body thanking you by releasing serotonin and helping you be HAPPY!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Looking out for #1: It's about time
Something has happened to me in the last thirty days. Something changed. In a good way.
I have struggled with my weight since I was thirteen, or maybe even younger. I can remember being self concious in a 2-piece when I was 10 and vowing never to wear one again. At thirteen, I was in a size 9 while my friends squeezed their tiny tushes into size 0's, or heaven forbid into a size 4. I was jealous. I admit it. I envied their tiny frames. I wanted to be able to share clothes like the cool kids. And from then on, I thought of myself as less than. I wasn't thin enough, pretty enough, cool enough, good enough to get the free drink let alone the guy that bought it. At that point in my life I weighed less than 145 pounds. And I thought I was the fat girl. I wish I could go back in time and slap that version of myself!
I got pregnant with Dylan when I was fourteen and gained 55 pounds. I have been trying to lose weight ever since. Sometimes I have been successful, but mostly I have failed. The truth is, I'm terrible at dieting. I don't have the willpower for it. I give in to small indulgences that ultimately undermine the whole endeavor. But recently, something has changed.
I started the TLS Lifestyles weight loss program in May. The program is focused on a low glycemic index diet and taking steps to heal the metabolism, especially through building muscle mass. The more of your body that is composed of fat, the less calories you can burn. More muscle=more calories burned. So the quickest way to burn the most calories is to add muscle. Pump iron! I have found TLS to be very compatible with my inability to diet. For whatever reason, I am perfectly willing to say no to that giant burrito that I love so much because I know that far too many of those calories are not made up of proteins and fiber and that means I'm not giving my body the material it needs to build my muscles. And lord knows there is no measurable protein in cupcakes or ice cream (small tears really because I do love cupcakes and ice cream!).
The biggest change for me came when I started running. I started the Couch-to-5K program from Cool Running. The program is 8 weeks and will have you running, yes running, a 5K by the time you are done. Even if you are out of shape. Even if you are overweight. I have stretched the program a little because I didn't run when I should have on vacation and there have been two particular workouts that I just couldn't get done on the first try and had to repeat. The program is focused on interval training, allowing you to build up the strength of your muscles, tendons and bones by jogging for short spurts over the course of 30 minutes 3 times a week. That's it. Just 30 minutes 3 times a week. I know, I know. You're busy. So was I. I mean, full time job, single mom, going to school, contract work for the Town, volunteer work on the side - I'm busy. But I knew that I could dig up 90 minutes a week, even if it was coming out of my beloved TV time! So I strapped on a pair of running shoes and dug in. The first 90 second interval wasn't a killer, but the first 3 minute interval was surely going to kill me! But it didn't. And this Tuesday, I ran for 8 minutes without stopping! And then I walked for 3 minutes and then did it again! And then, just for kicks and because I felt like I could, I did it one more time! And it felt great. No shin splints, no huffing and puffing breathing hot fire air. Just muscles and bones moving the way they are supposed to and the refreshing trickle of sweat that means I'm doing it right!
After the first couple of weeks I found that I was really liking the way I felt after a run. I liked seeing the progression, that it was getting easier each time was very rewarding. I wanted more of that feeling. My TLS coach, Carolyn (who is AWESOME!) suggested that I try out The Fire. She had been going for awhile and recommended it very highly. It just so happened that I was not taking any classes this summer and technically had some free time so I thought, what the hell! Why not. I signed up for a fitness evaluation and paid for the first 8 classes. I figured if I didn't stick with it or didn't like or it just didn't work for me, I wouldn't have a monthly membership or anything to contend with and at least I could say I tried. You can tell how much faith I had in myself to get this done...Anyway, My 8 classes were spread out over 6 weeks instead of four because I had a vacation thrown in there. But at the end of those 8 classes, I had dropped 3% body fat and lost 3.75 inches in my waist!! What!? Clearly, this was what I had been missing. I had never had success with dieting because I had only been restricting my calories. When you do that, your body doesn't burn off fat first, it eats away at muscle because more energy is stored there. Your muscles whither which means your resting metabolic rate is lower and lower. Translation - you burn fewer and fewer calories living your everyday life. And then, when you abandon your diet and go back to eating the way you had before, your body packs those pounds on as fat, not muscle, meaning that you have now done permanent damage to your metabolism!
But that damage can be reversed by adding muscle mass. My one month worth of training sessions was $96.00, admittedly more than a lot of people I know can afford to pay to be healthy every month. I get that too. In fact, we are giving up our satellite subscription for the next 6 months so that I can continue to pay for this because it is just that important to me.
At some point in the last six weeks, my health became intensly important to me. Without realizing it, I have been neglecting my health for years. I have been eating crap and refusing to exercise and making excuse after excuse after excuse for why I couldn't do better. I have taken care of everyone in my life, except myself. Maybe its like leaving an abusive relationship. Maybe it just takes 7 tries to really mean it. I've been through at least 7 diets at this point and I am officially ready to divorce my fat self. Sayonara lady! Hit the road! This relationship just isn't working for me anymore!
I'm so excited about my new goals and about encouraging all of the people I love to be healthier too. My children are already healthier since there is no soda, sugar or snacky foods in the house to drive their blood sugars all outa whack. And I know that we will all be happier, even Rick when he decides he is ready to join me in making healthy decisions.
This month The Fire is offering a special. I'll pay for 12 sessions instead of 8 and I can attend as many classes in the month as I want. I'm hoping to get there at least 4 times a week for the month of August. Here's a copy of the schedule. I will be at the 6:30 PM class every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (except the 9th and 13th when the town board meets) and I'm hoping to make at least one and possibly two more classes each week. You can come with me! FOR FREE! Who doesn't like free?? Let me know which time works for you and we'll make it happen. We can go to any of the FireStarter classes.
And I hope after that to be comfortable enough with my workouts that I can take advantage of the free gym at UNCA and save myself some money for the rest of the year and still stay healthy. Since starting my TLS weight loss adventure (which I actually started in February and then abandoned for a few months), I'm down 20 pounds and I've lost 6 inches in my waist. My goal for August is to be down to 190 (12 pounds from where I am now) and lose another 3% body fat. I'm really excited about getting back into those Old Navy blue jeans that have been gathering dust in my closet for the last two years!
And I'm even more excited to finally, finally be taking care of myself. You can take care of yourself too. It's ok. I give you permission. Your family will still love you. Your laundry will still get done. Your children will be there when you come home and you will suddenly have even more energy to play with them. It is not selfish to allow yourself time to exercise. And you don't have to have a gym membership. Youtube that shit! You know you can! Look-up a 20 minute workout and start doing it every other day. Strap on some running shoes and start the Couch-to-5K training! The ACT 5K is coming up in September. You know you want to run it with me!!! Or plan to attend a personal training class with me at The Fire. It is the best thing I have ever done for myself. You won't regret it.
I have struggled with my weight since I was thirteen, or maybe even younger. I can remember being self concious in a 2-piece when I was 10 and vowing never to wear one again. At thirteen, I was in a size 9 while my friends squeezed their tiny tushes into size 0's, or heaven forbid into a size 4. I was jealous. I admit it. I envied their tiny frames. I wanted to be able to share clothes like the cool kids. And from then on, I thought of myself as less than. I wasn't thin enough, pretty enough, cool enough, good enough to get the free drink let alone the guy that bought it. At that point in my life I weighed less than 145 pounds. And I thought I was the fat girl. I wish I could go back in time and slap that version of myself!
I got pregnant with Dylan when I was fourteen and gained 55 pounds. I have been trying to lose weight ever since. Sometimes I have been successful, but mostly I have failed. The truth is, I'm terrible at dieting. I don't have the willpower for it. I give in to small indulgences that ultimately undermine the whole endeavor. But recently, something has changed.
I started the TLS Lifestyles weight loss program in May. The program is focused on a low glycemic index diet and taking steps to heal the metabolism, especially through building muscle mass. The more of your body that is composed of fat, the less calories you can burn. More muscle=more calories burned. So the quickest way to burn the most calories is to add muscle. Pump iron! I have found TLS to be very compatible with my inability to diet. For whatever reason, I am perfectly willing to say no to that giant burrito that I love so much because I know that far too many of those calories are not made up of proteins and fiber and that means I'm not giving my body the material it needs to build my muscles. And lord knows there is no measurable protein in cupcakes or ice cream (small tears really because I do love cupcakes and ice cream!).
The biggest change for me came when I started running. I started the Couch-to-5K program from Cool Running. The program is 8 weeks and will have you running, yes running, a 5K by the time you are done. Even if you are out of shape. Even if you are overweight. I have stretched the program a little because I didn't run when I should have on vacation and there have been two particular workouts that I just couldn't get done on the first try and had to repeat. The program is focused on interval training, allowing you to build up the strength of your muscles, tendons and bones by jogging for short spurts over the course of 30 minutes 3 times a week. That's it. Just 30 minutes 3 times a week. I know, I know. You're busy. So was I. I mean, full time job, single mom, going to school, contract work for the Town, volunteer work on the side - I'm busy. But I knew that I could dig up 90 minutes a week, even if it was coming out of my beloved TV time! So I strapped on a pair of running shoes and dug in. The first 90 second interval wasn't a killer, but the first 3 minute interval was surely going to kill me! But it didn't. And this Tuesday, I ran for 8 minutes without stopping! And then I walked for 3 minutes and then did it again! And then, just for kicks and because I felt like I could, I did it one more time! And it felt great. No shin splints, no huffing and puffing breathing hot fire air. Just muscles and bones moving the way they are supposed to and the refreshing trickle of sweat that means I'm doing it right!
After the first couple of weeks I found that I was really liking the way I felt after a run. I liked seeing the progression, that it was getting easier each time was very rewarding. I wanted more of that feeling. My TLS coach, Carolyn (who is AWESOME!) suggested that I try out The Fire. She had been going for awhile and recommended it very highly. It just so happened that I was not taking any classes this summer and technically had some free time so I thought, what the hell! Why not. I signed up for a fitness evaluation and paid for the first 8 classes. I figured if I didn't stick with it or didn't like or it just didn't work for me, I wouldn't have a monthly membership or anything to contend with and at least I could say I tried. You can tell how much faith I had in myself to get this done...Anyway, My 8 classes were spread out over 6 weeks instead of four because I had a vacation thrown in there. But at the end of those 8 classes, I had dropped 3% body fat and lost 3.75 inches in my waist!! What!? Clearly, this was what I had been missing. I had never had success with dieting because I had only been restricting my calories. When you do that, your body doesn't burn off fat first, it eats away at muscle because more energy is stored there. Your muscles whither which means your resting metabolic rate is lower and lower. Translation - you burn fewer and fewer calories living your everyday life. And then, when you abandon your diet and go back to eating the way you had before, your body packs those pounds on as fat, not muscle, meaning that you have now done permanent damage to your metabolism!
But that damage can be reversed by adding muscle mass. My one month worth of training sessions was $96.00, admittedly more than a lot of people I know can afford to pay to be healthy every month. I get that too. In fact, we are giving up our satellite subscription for the next 6 months so that I can continue to pay for this because it is just that important to me.
At some point in the last six weeks, my health became intensly important to me. Without realizing it, I have been neglecting my health for years. I have been eating crap and refusing to exercise and making excuse after excuse after excuse for why I couldn't do better. I have taken care of everyone in my life, except myself. Maybe its like leaving an abusive relationship. Maybe it just takes 7 tries to really mean it. I've been through at least 7 diets at this point and I am officially ready to divorce my fat self. Sayonara lady! Hit the road! This relationship just isn't working for me anymore!
I'm so excited about my new goals and about encouraging all of the people I love to be healthier too. My children are already healthier since there is no soda, sugar or snacky foods in the house to drive their blood sugars all outa whack. And I know that we will all be happier, even Rick when he decides he is ready to join me in making healthy decisions.
This month The Fire is offering a special. I'll pay for 12 sessions instead of 8 and I can attend as many classes in the month as I want. I'm hoping to get there at least 4 times a week for the month of August. Here's a copy of the schedule. I will be at the 6:30 PM class every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (except the 9th and 13th when the town board meets) and I'm hoping to make at least one and possibly two more classes each week. You can come with me! FOR FREE! Who doesn't like free?? Let me know which time works for you and we'll make it happen. We can go to any of the FireStarter classes.
And I hope after that to be comfortable enough with my workouts that I can take advantage of the free gym at UNCA and save myself some money for the rest of the year and still stay healthy. Since starting my TLS weight loss adventure (which I actually started in February and then abandoned for a few months), I'm down 20 pounds and I've lost 6 inches in my waist. My goal for August is to be down to 190 (12 pounds from where I am now) and lose another 3% body fat. I'm really excited about getting back into those Old Navy blue jeans that have been gathering dust in my closet for the last two years!
And I'm even more excited to finally, finally be taking care of myself. You can take care of yourself too. It's ok. I give you permission. Your family will still love you. Your laundry will still get done. Your children will be there when you come home and you will suddenly have even more energy to play with them. It is not selfish to allow yourself time to exercise. And you don't have to have a gym membership. Youtube that shit! You know you can! Look-up a 20 minute workout and start doing it every other day. Strap on some running shoes and start the Couch-to-5K training! The ACT 5K is coming up in September. You know you want to run it with me!!! Or plan to attend a personal training class with me at The Fire. It is the best thing I have ever done for myself. You won't regret it.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Why Should the Gays Be Spared the Misery of Marriage??
Unfortunately, I haven't had much opportunity recently to participate in the conversation about Amendment One. Things have just been too hectic. But, I've taken some time in the last few days to read up on the arguments from both the "Protect All Families" website and from the "Restore America" website. And I have to say, what a preposterous waste of time, energy and money! I can't believe that we are having this conversation in the 21st century after battling our way through the ending a few millenia of slavery, we are still fighting to oppress people. I have to think that the writers of the Enlightenment Era must've thought that we would be well past the need to converse about the fundamental human rights of our fellow citizens. I mean, really? Wouldn't all of this energy and thought and argument be better spent deciding how we can improve our schools, or reduce the poverty rate, provide universal health insurance or improve our competitive edge in the world marketplace? Apparently not.
I think most people in my generation would find it completely ridiculous that until 1967 it was illegal in many states for a white person to marry a black person. And yet, at the time a great many Americans thought those laws to be quite justified. And a vast majority of those who supported those laws did so in the name of Christianity. They claimed that God Almighty himself had proclaimed that the races should not mix. What nonsense! I hope that my children will find it just as preposterous that we are now attempting to make the illegality of homosexual unions a Constitutional amendment. I hope that when they are of voting age, they will be voting on issues that impact the efficacy of our school system, welfare system, and health care system and talking about crazy it was that their mother had to talk about whether or not a woman should be allowed to be married to another woman.
There are a couple of arguments that I find particularly troublesome. They are troublesome because they stretch the truth for the purpose of confusing the issues and garnering support from people who may not fully understand where the arguments and facts are coming from. And the truth stretching is happening from both the pro-amendment and anti-amendment camps. These half truths are just as bad as outright lies because they encourage people to vote for the wrong reasons. The proposed amendment should be defeated or approved on its own merits and not on half truths or exaggerations of the truth.
Let's start with the argument that the amendment will suddenly upend the state's domestic violence laws. This is simply untrue. North Carolina's domestic violence laws do not depend on the existence of any type of "Union" existing between the parties, and in this regard the "Restore America" folks win their argument. The notion that after this amendment a battered woman would not be able to seek protection from her batterer is ludicrous. An unmarried battered woman today is able to take out a warrant against her assaulter, and so will she be able to after the amendment is adopted. Apparently this issue was raised as a defense to a domestic violence charge in Ohio after the adoption of their state constitutional amendment, and the state's supreme court found that the amendment had no impact on the state's domestic violence laws. I suppose it is possible that such a challenge would find it's way to North Carolina's court system, but I have to agree that our courts are likely to hold in exactly the same fashion as Ohio's. Point to Restore America.
The amendment is also not likely to have an impact on the current state of health insurance laws. Some health insurance companies operating in the state of North Carolina currently offer an option for domestic partners to be covered under the health insurance policy of the primary insured, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. This option is currently available under my health insurance policy from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. With the simple click of a box online and the payment of an additional premium I could cover my boyfriend and his child if we currently lived together. There is no requirement that I prove that we have been "united" in any type of civil ceremony or marriage, only that we live together. The adoption of the proposed amendment would not impact this ability because the insurance company does not require that we prove that we are in some type of legal recognized civil union. And in this regard, the argument that the amendment affects heterosexual couples in the provision of health insurance is, in my opinion, also incorrect. Again, point to the Restore America camp.
However, the Amendment could be a giant step backward for the efforts of homosexual couples to have access to one another in the hospitals in North Carolina. While the adoption is not likely to have an immediate impact (homosexual couples are already prohibited from visiting each other in the state's emergency rooms because homosexual marriage is already illegal and privacy laws only allow immediate family access to emergency room patients), it would be another hurdle to be crossed by families trying to overturn the current status quo in privacy laws.But, it would not have any impact on the ability of homosexual couples to make decisions for one another under health care powers of attorney or HIPAA agent designations. Point here to the Protect All Families camp, and a wash for the health debate in general.
Finally, there are two things about this debate, both emanating from the Christian Right, that stir up a very passionate (and hateful though I wish it were not) response from me. They are (i) that the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, denounces homosexuality and for this reason we should continue to persecute those who are homosexual, and (ii) homosexuality is a choice. First, let me say that it should be a criminal offense for anyone, particularly our government officials, to persecute a group of people in the name of Christianity. It is the single least Christian thing any person can do. I cannot imagine that Christ would stand in front of a homosexual person and tell him or her that they are in some way less than another person, or that they are not entitled to love, compassion and civil rights. The biblical argument against homosexuality has lost all application for me. Much like the fact that the bible condoned slavery. As we evolve as a race, we must allow for our thought and religion to evolve as well. Much like the Constitution of the United States, the Bible must be viewed as a living document, available to be adapted to the social constructs of the present age. Otherwise, the entire religion is doomed to be relegated to the histories of man as were the religions of the Celts, the Romans, the Greeks and the Zoroastrians.
The reason for the biblical proscription against homosexualilty is simple. In ancient times, homosexuality had to be condemned because it did not foster the continuation of the human race. Homosexual couples could not procreate, and procreation was the most important task any person could undertake in an age when most children did not survive childhood and fertility treatments were not available for heterosexual couples who could not bare children. Much of what was written in the Old Testament, especially in Liviticus, served as an oral history to help a civilization who could not read or write remember how to make their food, which animals were more likely to make them sick, and how to keep clean and prevent infection. All of these things were necessary for people to survive 4,000 years ago. Now? Not so much. But, if we are to take the entire Bible word for word without any adaptation for today's social constructs, then I fully expect all of the Christians I know to stop eating pork and shellfish, to do no work on the 25th day of September (quite convenient for me and my eldest since that is his birthday), to not wear polyblend clothing, to not cut the hair at the temples or trim the edges of the beard, to not get tattoos, and to immediately kill any man or woman who is an adulterer. Clearly the human race, as it has civilized, has chosen to overlook those mandates from Leviticus that no longer seem to have practical application. So should it be for the proscription against homosexuality. It is simply not pragmatic, or civilized, to continue the Biblical argument against it.
And finally, the argument that Amendment One is not a civil rights issue because homosexuals choose to be gay, and therefor the law is a law against behavior and not against the rights of a class of people. I have to admit that I have known people who have chosen to be gay for a time, or from time to time, and changed their minds. A very wise woman I know once said that she did not choose what form the spirit of her soul mate would take, but she did choose to accept that soul mate in whatever form it took. In other words, she fell in love with the soul of the person, not the body. The fact that it is a choice for some people, does not make it an issue of constitutional import, however. And I also have to say that there have been instances in my life when I have known that a particular person was gay well before he was old enough to make any choice about his sexuality. Aside from several of my high school classmates, there was a boy in daycare with Dylan who, from the age of two, preferred to play dress-up, wear high heels and dresses, and play house or dolls with the girls in the daycare rather than playing guns or army with the boys. He was extremely effeminate...and delightful. We loved him to bits. He was several years older than Dylan, and if he is of age now and in love with a man he believes to be his soul mate, how could I wish upon him the unhappiness of never being able to marry his true love? That would not be a choice for him, but an expression of who is his, through and through, and such a cruel denial of a happiness that he deserves to experience.
In the end, the Supreme Court has already held that the right to marry is a basic civil right which cannot be deined to a citizen (in a case involving the desire of a prisoner to be married). And they are right. It is a basic right. The right to be recognized by your government and your community as a loving couple and family. I have seen homosexual couples resort to the extremes of adult adoption to create a legally binding familial relationship so that they can visit one another in the hospital, inherit from one another, and share the same last name. Why do we force people to take such extreme measures under the law to do what they are already doing, loving and supporting one another? It's preposterous. And it has to stop. We are better than this. And truly, the money that has been spent on the PR campaign for the defeat or approval of this amendment would have been better spent putting food in the mouths of the poor than trying to cement the denial of a basic civil right to homosexuals. We must defeat Amendment One. Protect us all!
Unfortunately, I haven't had much opportunity recently to participate in the conversation about Amendment One. Things have just been too hectic. But, I've taken some time in the last few days to read up on the arguments from both the "Protect All Families" website and from the "Restore America" website. And I have to say, what a preposterous waste of time, energy and money! I can't believe that we are having this conversation in the 21st century after battling our way through the ending a few millenia of slavery, we are still fighting to oppress people. I have to think that the writers of the Enlightenment Era must've thought that we would be well past the need to converse about the fundamental human rights of our fellow citizens. I mean, really? Wouldn't all of this energy and thought and argument be better spent deciding how we can improve our schools, or reduce the poverty rate, provide universal health insurance or improve our competitive edge in the world marketplace? Apparently not.
I think most people in my generation would find it completely ridiculous that until 1967 it was illegal in many states for a white person to marry a black person. And yet, at the time a great many Americans thought those laws to be quite justified. And a vast majority of those who supported those laws did so in the name of Christianity. They claimed that God Almighty himself had proclaimed that the races should not mix. What nonsense! I hope that my children will find it just as preposterous that we are now attempting to make the illegality of homosexual unions a Constitutional amendment. I hope that when they are of voting age, they will be voting on issues that impact the efficacy of our school system, welfare system, and health care system and talking about crazy it was that their mother had to talk about whether or not a woman should be allowed to be married to another woman.
There are a couple of arguments that I find particularly troublesome. They are troublesome because they stretch the truth for the purpose of confusing the issues and garnering support from people who may not fully understand where the arguments and facts are coming from. And the truth stretching is happening from both the pro-amendment and anti-amendment camps. These half truths are just as bad as outright lies because they encourage people to vote for the wrong reasons. The proposed amendment should be defeated or approved on its own merits and not on half truths or exaggerations of the truth.
Let's start with the argument that the amendment will suddenly upend the state's domestic violence laws. This is simply untrue. North Carolina's domestic violence laws do not depend on the existence of any type of "Union" existing between the parties, and in this regard the "Restore America" folks win their argument. The notion that after this amendment a battered woman would not be able to seek protection from her batterer is ludicrous. An unmarried battered woman today is able to take out a warrant against her assaulter, and so will she be able to after the amendment is adopted. Apparently this issue was raised as a defense to a domestic violence charge in Ohio after the adoption of their state constitutional amendment, and the state's supreme court found that the amendment had no impact on the state's domestic violence laws. I suppose it is possible that such a challenge would find it's way to North Carolina's court system, but I have to agree that our courts are likely to hold in exactly the same fashion as Ohio's. Point to Restore America.
The amendment is also not likely to have an impact on the current state of health insurance laws. Some health insurance companies operating in the state of North Carolina currently offer an option for domestic partners to be covered under the health insurance policy of the primary insured, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. This option is currently available under my health insurance policy from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. With the simple click of a box online and the payment of an additional premium I could cover my boyfriend and his child if we currently lived together. There is no requirement that I prove that we have been "united" in any type of civil ceremony or marriage, only that we live together. The adoption of the proposed amendment would not impact this ability because the insurance company does not require that we prove that we are in some type of legal recognized civil union. And in this regard, the argument that the amendment affects heterosexual couples in the provision of health insurance is, in my opinion, also incorrect. Again, point to the Restore America camp.
However, the Amendment could be a giant step backward for the efforts of homosexual couples to have access to one another in the hospitals in North Carolina. While the adoption is not likely to have an immediate impact (homosexual couples are already prohibited from visiting each other in the state's emergency rooms because homosexual marriage is already illegal and privacy laws only allow immediate family access to emergency room patients), it would be another hurdle to be crossed by families trying to overturn the current status quo in privacy laws.But, it would not have any impact on the ability of homosexual couples to make decisions for one another under health care powers of attorney or HIPAA agent designations. Point here to the Protect All Families camp, and a wash for the health debate in general.
Finally, there are two things about this debate, both emanating from the Christian Right, that stir up a very passionate (and hateful though I wish it were not) response from me. They are (i) that the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, denounces homosexuality and for this reason we should continue to persecute those who are homosexual, and (ii) homosexuality is a choice. First, let me say that it should be a criminal offense for anyone, particularly our government officials, to persecute a group of people in the name of Christianity. It is the single least Christian thing any person can do. I cannot imagine that Christ would stand in front of a homosexual person and tell him or her that they are in some way less than another person, or that they are not entitled to love, compassion and civil rights. The biblical argument against homosexuality has lost all application for me. Much like the fact that the bible condoned slavery. As we evolve as a race, we must allow for our thought and religion to evolve as well. Much like the Constitution of the United States, the Bible must be viewed as a living document, available to be adapted to the social constructs of the present age. Otherwise, the entire religion is doomed to be relegated to the histories of man as were the religions of the Celts, the Romans, the Greeks and the Zoroastrians.
The reason for the biblical proscription against homosexualilty is simple. In ancient times, homosexuality had to be condemned because it did not foster the continuation of the human race. Homosexual couples could not procreate, and procreation was the most important task any person could undertake in an age when most children did not survive childhood and fertility treatments were not available for heterosexual couples who could not bare children. Much of what was written in the Old Testament, especially in Liviticus, served as an oral history to help a civilization who could not read or write remember how to make their food, which animals were more likely to make them sick, and how to keep clean and prevent infection. All of these things were necessary for people to survive 4,000 years ago. Now? Not so much. But, if we are to take the entire Bible word for word without any adaptation for today's social constructs, then I fully expect all of the Christians I know to stop eating pork and shellfish, to do no work on the 25th day of September (quite convenient for me and my eldest since that is his birthday), to not wear polyblend clothing, to not cut the hair at the temples or trim the edges of the beard, to not get tattoos, and to immediately kill any man or woman who is an adulterer. Clearly the human race, as it has civilized, has chosen to overlook those mandates from Leviticus that no longer seem to have practical application. So should it be for the proscription against homosexuality. It is simply not pragmatic, or civilized, to continue the Biblical argument against it.
And finally, the argument that Amendment One is not a civil rights issue because homosexuals choose to be gay, and therefor the law is a law against behavior and not against the rights of a class of people. I have to admit that I have known people who have chosen to be gay for a time, or from time to time, and changed their minds. A very wise woman I know once said that she did not choose what form the spirit of her soul mate would take, but she did choose to accept that soul mate in whatever form it took. In other words, she fell in love with the soul of the person, not the body. The fact that it is a choice for some people, does not make it an issue of constitutional import, however. And I also have to say that there have been instances in my life when I have known that a particular person was gay well before he was old enough to make any choice about his sexuality. Aside from several of my high school classmates, there was a boy in daycare with Dylan who, from the age of two, preferred to play dress-up, wear high heels and dresses, and play house or dolls with the girls in the daycare rather than playing guns or army with the boys. He was extremely effeminate...and delightful. We loved him to bits. He was several years older than Dylan, and if he is of age now and in love with a man he believes to be his soul mate, how could I wish upon him the unhappiness of never being able to marry his true love? That would not be a choice for him, but an expression of who is his, through and through, and such a cruel denial of a happiness that he deserves to experience.
In the end, the Supreme Court has already held that the right to marry is a basic civil right which cannot be deined to a citizen (in a case involving the desire of a prisoner to be married). And they are right. It is a basic right. The right to be recognized by your government and your community as a loving couple and family. I have seen homosexual couples resort to the extremes of adult adoption to create a legally binding familial relationship so that they can visit one another in the hospital, inherit from one another, and share the same last name. Why do we force people to take such extreme measures under the law to do what they are already doing, loving and supporting one another? It's preposterous. And it has to stop. We are better than this. And truly, the money that has been spent on the PR campaign for the defeat or approval of this amendment would have been better spent putting food in the mouths of the poor than trying to cement the denial of a basic civil right to homosexuals. We must defeat Amendment One. Protect us all!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
What is Entitlement Reform?
There has been considerable talk over the last two years from both sides of the aisle about the need for "Entitlement Reform." This is a talking point that is used to turn the tide of public opinion. "Entitlement Reform" brings about a mental image of someone who is not working by choice so that they can live off of the government because they are entitled to do so.
In reality, this has been used as a euphamism for cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits, which we don't actually need to do. The truth is that the United States Defense budget in 2011 was $741.2 BILLION dollars.( US Defense Budget) In comparison, we spent $606 Billion in Social Security benefits, which were more than paid for by the $701 Billion in Social Security payroll taxes collected from the public. An audit of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund can be accessed here: Social Security Administration Audit
One fun way that I started educating myself about the federal budget was by Ben Cohen's Oreo video. Ben was one of the founders of Ben & Jerry's. He breaks the budget down using oreo's to represent dollars, which I found to be entertaining and informative. You can watch his video here: http://www.truemajority.com/oreos/ Ben's movie was made during the last Bush administration (around 2006-2007 I think) and at that time the defense budget was $400 Billion per year. That means that during this period of extreme economic downturn when the federal government can't find money to do Anything! they have managed to scrounge up an additional $241 billion for military spending. Doesn't this make you angry? What kind of good could have been done with that $241 billion?
So, homework for you for tonight. Watch Ben Cohen's 3 minute video about government spending and start deciding how YOU think your government ought to be spending your money. After all, you work hard for it.
And tonight's Occupy Wall Street message: Part of the problem with the current federal budget is that it is so complex because it is divided into such a huge web of administrative divisions that it is impossible for you or I to really have any oversight or any say as to what our dollars are spent for. I for one am not okay with my government spending my money for the USDA to negotiate a contract with Domino's pizza for them to add more cheese to their pizzas for the benefit of dairy farmers. Ironically, at the exact same time that contract was being negotiated, another department within the USDA was formulating a recommendation that American's start eating less cheese. So, from OCCUPY - stop allowing corporate interests to influence how our tax dollars are being spent!
In reality, this has been used as a euphamism for cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits, which we don't actually need to do. The truth is that the United States Defense budget in 2011 was $741.2 BILLION dollars.( US Defense Budget) In comparison, we spent $606 Billion in Social Security benefits, which were more than paid for by the $701 Billion in Social Security payroll taxes collected from the public. An audit of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund can be accessed here: Social Security Administration Audit
One fun way that I started educating myself about the federal budget was by Ben Cohen's Oreo video. Ben was one of the founders of Ben & Jerry's. He breaks the budget down using oreo's to represent dollars, which I found to be entertaining and informative. You can watch his video here: http://www.truemajority.com/oreos/ Ben's movie was made during the last Bush administration (around 2006-2007 I think) and at that time the defense budget was $400 Billion per year. That means that during this period of extreme economic downturn when the federal government can't find money to do Anything! they have managed to scrounge up an additional $241 billion for military spending. Doesn't this make you angry? What kind of good could have been done with that $241 billion?
So, homework for you for tonight. Watch Ben Cohen's 3 minute video about government spending and start deciding how YOU think your government ought to be spending your money. After all, you work hard for it.
And tonight's Occupy Wall Street message: Part of the problem with the current federal budget is that it is so complex because it is divided into such a huge web of administrative divisions that it is impossible for you or I to really have any oversight or any say as to what our dollars are spent for. I for one am not okay with my government spending my money for the USDA to negotiate a contract with Domino's pizza for them to add more cheese to their pizzas for the benefit of dairy farmers. Ironically, at the exact same time that contract was being negotiated, another department within the USDA was formulating a recommendation that American's start eating less cheese. So, from OCCUPY - stop allowing corporate interests to influence how our tax dollars are being spent!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
You disagree with Occupy Wall Street?
As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains momentum, I am increasingly dissappointed in the response I hear coming from its critics in the public. I find that most people are perfectly happy to be spoon fed their opinions by the corporate sponsored media rather than taking time away from Dancing with the Stars and The Biggest Loser to investigate and really form their own opinions. I have taken some time over the past couple of years to become sufficiently outraged, and I'm going to take some more time now to share my outrage with you and I hope that you will spread it and educate everyone else you know about the legitimate reasons that the 99% is justified in its outrage.
Our criminal justice system has been corrupted by private corporate interests. We have allowed our jails to be privatized. In the last decade crime rates have continually decreased while rates of incarceration have skyrocketed. In 2009 New Jersey Judge Mark A. Chiaverelli, Jr., and his colleague Michael T. Conahan plead guilty to accepting more than $2.6 million from the private company running the state's juvenile detention center. These judges sentenced juvenile offenders to exhorbitant sentences in the facility for extremely minor offenses. You can read more about this particular reason for outrage here: NY Times This particular type of corruption means that our government officials and representatives are more interested in creating a situation that leads to increased incarcerations, instead of helping to identify and remove the causes of crime.
Over the past 20 years, (EBT) has replaced paper checks for the delivery of public assistance benefits and food stamps. One reason that EBT systems have become so popular is that states have found that they can save millions of dollars by "outsourcing" the provision of these benefits to big financial firms. In fact, JP Morgan is the largest processor of food stamp benefits in the United States.JP Morgan has contracted to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 states and the District of Columbia. JP Morgan is paid for each case that it handles, so that means that the more Americans that go on food stamps, the more profits JP Morgan makes. In addition, JP Morgan also distributes unemployment benefits in 7 states and profits from each unemployment case they process. You can read more about this particular outrage at The Shriver Brief
Monsanto is the company that produces Round-Up. They also happen to have created a genetically modified type of soy bean that is resistent to their own weed killer. This would be fine, except that they also copyrighted the seed. Over the last several decades, Monsanto has agressively used the US legal system to sue small farmers when Monsanto's "inspectors" found its genetically modified plant growing in farms that had not purchased their seeds from Monsanto. Unfortunately, for these small time farmers, it is extremely common for seeds to blow in the wind from a neighbor's farm (who had purchased seed from Monsanto). It seems not to matter whether they find an acre of plants, or one single plant growing in a 20 acre field. They sue the farmer and use agressive legal tactics to starve out the farmer with large legal bills. All the while, Monsanto offers to have this "problem" go away by having the farmer contract to purchase their seed from Monsanto forever and ever amen. This has all been made perfectly legal through a complicated web of laws and legal decisions all bought and paid for with Monsanto's lobbying money. Food, Inc. is a fantastic documentary that tells the plight of farmers fighting against Monsanto and going out of business because of it.
The frozen food industry has recently invested significant lobbying resources to convince Congress that 2 tablespoons of tomato paste on a frozen pizza should be classified as a vegetable for purposes of the school lunch program. The same bill will continue to classify french fries as a vegetable, all because our government officials would rather receive the money from the industry than insure that rates of childhood obesity begin to decline. You can read more about this atrocity here: LA Times
(I am running out of time to list my grievances against the government. But, NOT TO WORRY! Just as soon as I finish my term paper this week, I'll be back with more!)
I am so disheartened by our country's apparent loss of compassion. If a person doesn't have a job, they must be a lazy drain on society. Tell that to the 26% of college graduates who are unemployed. These graduates aren't looking for a handout. They aren't looking for an excuse not to work. They didn't fight their way through 4-8 years of grueling school work so that they could sit around and draw welfare. Unfortunately, our tax policy has continued to encourage American companies to reduce the size of their workforce, reduce the amount of benefits they offer, and move profits and job overseas. And its all well and good to say that "there are jobs available, they just don't want them." Those jobs that you say are so readily available, most paying less than $9.00 an hour, will not begin to put a dent in the student debt wracked up by these graduates, nor will it provide for sufficient housing or health insurance. You can't have it both ways. You can't tell people to go take that crappy job and then also say that people with crappy jobs must just be lazy and not working hard enough so they don't deserve luxuries like health insurance and housing.
Why is it so unbelievable that the Occupy Wall Street movement might be a legitimate protest by people who are fed up with the systematic purchase of their government by corporate interests? Maybe it's so hard to believe because Good Morning America, Fox News, and CNN are telling you that the encampments are filthy, that they are costing cities thousands of dollars and are rampant with crime; when in fact these camps are well organized, completely sanitary and nearly completely free of crime.
It is not a legitimate argument to say that the protesters should "stop wasting the taxpayer's money." I am a taxpayer and I say that I would much rather see my government spend money on police presence as a result of domestic non-violent direct action, than to see trillions of dollars spent on seemingly endless foreign wars. We do not consider the tax money spent on women's sufferage protests, worker's rights protests, civil rights protests, anti-war protests during the Vietnam era, or anti-war protests during the 1st and 2nd Gulf Wars, to be a waste. These protests are not a waste either. We cheer the protests in the middle east as those countries cast off the shackles of oppressive governments, but chastize our own citizenry for exercising the same right. Is the hypocrisy not glaringly obvious?
I hope that my fellow citizens wake up to the atrocities being committed against us by our own government and the corporations that own it. I hope that we are able to collectively turn off the TV and begin to form our own opinions based on our own investigation of how our government functions. I am sincerely freightened by the prospects for our country if we do not.
Seriously, more outrage coming later...
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." ~ U.S. Declaration of Independence
Our criminal justice system has been corrupted by private corporate interests. We have allowed our jails to be privatized. In the last decade crime rates have continually decreased while rates of incarceration have skyrocketed. In 2009 New Jersey Judge Mark A. Chiaverelli, Jr., and his colleague Michael T. Conahan plead guilty to accepting more than $2.6 million from the private company running the state's juvenile detention center. These judges sentenced juvenile offenders to exhorbitant sentences in the facility for extremely minor offenses. You can read more about this particular reason for outrage here: NY Times This particular type of corruption means that our government officials and representatives are more interested in creating a situation that leads to increased incarcerations, instead of helping to identify and remove the causes of crime.
Over the past 20 years, (EBT) has replaced paper checks for the delivery of public assistance benefits and food stamps. One reason that EBT systems have become so popular is that states have found that they can save millions of dollars by "outsourcing" the provision of these benefits to big financial firms. In fact, JP Morgan is the largest processor of food stamp benefits in the United States.JP Morgan has contracted to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 states and the District of Columbia. JP Morgan is paid for each case that it handles, so that means that the more Americans that go on food stamps, the more profits JP Morgan makes. In addition, JP Morgan also distributes unemployment benefits in 7 states and profits from each unemployment case they process. You can read more about this particular outrage at The Shriver Brief
Monsanto is the company that produces Round-Up. They also happen to have created a genetically modified type of soy bean that is resistent to their own weed killer. This would be fine, except that they also copyrighted the seed. Over the last several decades, Monsanto has agressively used the US legal system to sue small farmers when Monsanto's "inspectors" found its genetically modified plant growing in farms that had not purchased their seeds from Monsanto. Unfortunately, for these small time farmers, it is extremely common for seeds to blow in the wind from a neighbor's farm (who had purchased seed from Monsanto). It seems not to matter whether they find an acre of plants, or one single plant growing in a 20 acre field. They sue the farmer and use agressive legal tactics to starve out the farmer with large legal bills. All the while, Monsanto offers to have this "problem" go away by having the farmer contract to purchase their seed from Monsanto forever and ever amen. This has all been made perfectly legal through a complicated web of laws and legal decisions all bought and paid for with Monsanto's lobbying money. Food, Inc. is a fantastic documentary that tells the plight of farmers fighting against Monsanto and going out of business because of it.
The frozen food industry has recently invested significant lobbying resources to convince Congress that 2 tablespoons of tomato paste on a frozen pizza should be classified as a vegetable for purposes of the school lunch program. The same bill will continue to classify french fries as a vegetable, all because our government officials would rather receive the money from the industry than insure that rates of childhood obesity begin to decline. You can read more about this atrocity here: LA Times
(I am running out of time to list my grievances against the government. But, NOT TO WORRY! Just as soon as I finish my term paper this week, I'll be back with more!)
I am so disheartened by our country's apparent loss of compassion. If a person doesn't have a job, they must be a lazy drain on society. Tell that to the 26% of college graduates who are unemployed. These graduates aren't looking for a handout. They aren't looking for an excuse not to work. They didn't fight their way through 4-8 years of grueling school work so that they could sit around and draw welfare. Unfortunately, our tax policy has continued to encourage American companies to reduce the size of their workforce, reduce the amount of benefits they offer, and move profits and job overseas. And its all well and good to say that "there are jobs available, they just don't want them." Those jobs that you say are so readily available, most paying less than $9.00 an hour, will not begin to put a dent in the student debt wracked up by these graduates, nor will it provide for sufficient housing or health insurance. You can't have it both ways. You can't tell people to go take that crappy job and then also say that people with crappy jobs must just be lazy and not working hard enough so they don't deserve luxuries like health insurance and housing.
Why is it so unbelievable that the Occupy Wall Street movement might be a legitimate protest by people who are fed up with the systematic purchase of their government by corporate interests? Maybe it's so hard to believe because Good Morning America, Fox News, and CNN are telling you that the encampments are filthy, that they are costing cities thousands of dollars and are rampant with crime; when in fact these camps are well organized, completely sanitary and nearly completely free of crime.
It is not a legitimate argument to say that the protesters should "stop wasting the taxpayer's money." I am a taxpayer and I say that I would much rather see my government spend money on police presence as a result of domestic non-violent direct action, than to see trillions of dollars spent on seemingly endless foreign wars. We do not consider the tax money spent on women's sufferage protests, worker's rights protests, civil rights protests, anti-war protests during the Vietnam era, or anti-war protests during the 1st and 2nd Gulf Wars, to be a waste. These protests are not a waste either. We cheer the protests in the middle east as those countries cast off the shackles of oppressive governments, but chastize our own citizenry for exercising the same right. Is the hypocrisy not glaringly obvious?
I hope that my fellow citizens wake up to the atrocities being committed against us by our own government and the corporations that own it. I hope that we are able to collectively turn off the TV and begin to form our own opinions based on our own investigation of how our government functions. I am sincerely freightened by the prospects for our country if we do not.
Seriously, more outrage coming later...
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." ~ U.S. Declaration of Independence
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Timing is everything
It took several years for me to say out loud "I am going to go to law school." And it still feels weird. I feel arrogant saying it to people. But it's true. I'm going to law school. Once I finally made up my mind and learned to say it out loud I decided that it would be best if I timed it so that I finished UNCA the same year that Dylan graduated from high school. That way he wouldn't have to change schools and I wouldn't be too pressured to finish in a hurry. I mean, my life at any given moment is like a busy metro station, with people going here and there and a different train departing for a different station every 15 minutes. I really didn't want to feel like I needed to finish school in a hurry.
Well last week my law professor looked at me in sheer exasperation and disbelief rolling his eyes and saying, "Oh no. Seriously? 2015? You need to shorten that up and get out of here." Um, oh, well...I mean, I hadn't really, I just...was gonna. Hmmm. Ok.
So, I changed my tack, just for hypothetical purposes, and re-evaluated my game plan and as it turns out I could probably be done at UNCA by Spring 2013, as in like 19 months from now. WHAT?! It sounds crazy right? It is crazy. But what if I did it?
Well, if I did it the kids would have to change schools. Tayler and Dylan would both have to start a new high school for their junior year, and Daniel would be starting a new middle school. I had to change schools three times before I was in the fifth grade. It was hard. And I always envied my friends who could share stories about our classmates from their kindergarten year. I wanted my kids to have that. I didn't want them to have to change schools. But yesterday at lunch with a local attorney, one of the most brilliant people I know, he pointed out to me that maybe it wouldn't be so bad for the kids to get a chance to expand their worldview for a year or two before they head off to college. And, they're kids. They will adjust. And he's probably right. But try explaining that to a 14 year old who doesn't want to move!
So then I add a whole new layer of guilt to my school journey. As if it's not bad enough that I have to spend so much time away from them every single week going to class and doing homework, now I'm going to uproot them from everything they've ever known for three years so that I can go to college NOW because I'm not patient enough to wait another couple of years??? Well, Mr. Dillard points out, there are several very good arguments for getting on with it. One, I am paying the full fees for school every single year I attend and would actually save some money by shortening things up. And he also suggested that I consider the burnout factor. The longer I force myself to take night classes while working full time, the more likely I am to just fizzle out, or to have some major life event happen that prevents me from finishing. So, he says, "Get on with it."
So, just for kicks today I took a practice LSAT. With no preparation and with a head cold, I managed a 159, which would qualify me for scholarship money at several of the law schools I'm looking at. And I have to admit that that got me kind of excited. What if I prepared for it, practiced some and managed a 170? What if I really am ready to get this show on the road? Will the kids adjust? Will they hate me forever for screwing up their high school years? Should I just wait for their sake and stick to my original plan? These decisions all just feel too big for me to make. I need a fairy godmother to swoop down, wave her magic wand, and make it all work out in a perfect timeline of events that will keep everyone happy and well adjusted. Can you make that happen please?
Well last week my law professor looked at me in sheer exasperation and disbelief rolling his eyes and saying, "Oh no. Seriously? 2015? You need to shorten that up and get out of here." Um, oh, well...I mean, I hadn't really, I just...was gonna. Hmmm. Ok.
So, I changed my tack, just for hypothetical purposes, and re-evaluated my game plan and as it turns out I could probably be done at UNCA by Spring 2013, as in like 19 months from now. WHAT?! It sounds crazy right? It is crazy. But what if I did it?
Well, if I did it the kids would have to change schools. Tayler and Dylan would both have to start a new high school for their junior year, and Daniel would be starting a new middle school. I had to change schools three times before I was in the fifth grade. It was hard. And I always envied my friends who could share stories about our classmates from their kindergarten year. I wanted my kids to have that. I didn't want them to have to change schools. But yesterday at lunch with a local attorney, one of the most brilliant people I know, he pointed out to me that maybe it wouldn't be so bad for the kids to get a chance to expand their worldview for a year or two before they head off to college. And, they're kids. They will adjust. And he's probably right. But try explaining that to a 14 year old who doesn't want to move!
So then I add a whole new layer of guilt to my school journey. As if it's not bad enough that I have to spend so much time away from them every single week going to class and doing homework, now I'm going to uproot them from everything they've ever known for three years so that I can go to college NOW because I'm not patient enough to wait another couple of years??? Well, Mr. Dillard points out, there are several very good arguments for getting on with it. One, I am paying the full fees for school every single year I attend and would actually save some money by shortening things up. And he also suggested that I consider the burnout factor. The longer I force myself to take night classes while working full time, the more likely I am to just fizzle out, or to have some major life event happen that prevents me from finishing. So, he says, "Get on with it."
So, just for kicks today I took a practice LSAT. With no preparation and with a head cold, I managed a 159, which would qualify me for scholarship money at several of the law schools I'm looking at. And I have to admit that that got me kind of excited. What if I prepared for it, practiced some and managed a 170? What if I really am ready to get this show on the road? Will the kids adjust? Will they hate me forever for screwing up their high school years? Should I just wait for their sake and stick to my original plan? These decisions all just feel too big for me to make. I need a fairy godmother to swoop down, wave her magic wand, and make it all work out in a perfect timeline of events that will keep everyone happy and well adjusted. Can you make that happen please?
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