The Lloyd House Wednesday Night Salon WEEKLY
A Newsletter published every Thursday from the Lloyd House in Cincinnati
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FIVE SECTIONS, including:
- Table Notes of the discussion at this Wednesday night’s Salon, as recorded by Ellen
- Events and Opportunities
- SPECIAL SECTION: Health Care Reform
- Articles of Interest
- Book, Film, Theater, TV, Music Reviews
- Tri-State Treasures, compiled by Jim Kesner
Submissions: you must have the email copy to me by Wednesday night midnight. Copy the format you see in this Weekly please. (Times New Roman font, text 14 pt, headlines 20 pt. Maroon for Opportunities and Events, Navy for articles.)
The Wednesday Night Salon has been meeting each week of the year (no break for holidays, weather) since July 2001 in pursuit of good talk. Bring a dish at 5:45 pm and join us. We are usually about 10 people of varied erudition and age. We like to talk politics, environmentalism, social issues, literature, the arts, ad any blamed thing we want. Sometimes we have a special presenter. We emphasize good fellowship and civility always. Way fun! Everyone welcome. 3901 Clifton Avenue 45220.
SECTION ONE: Table Notes
These rough notes have not been approved or edited by the speakers and contain inevitable misunderstandings and misquotes. Also, opinions expressed are NOT necessarily Ellen’s.
At the Table this Wednesday:
Ellen Bierhorst, Vlasta Molak,Dennis Kinsley, Robert Alvarado, Janice Alvarado, Mira Rodwan, Mr. G., Carolyn Aufderhaar
We always open with the Preamble, a song, a reading, passing the donations basket ($5 requested), and passing the clean-up chores list.
Announcements at Table:
Discussion:
Janice: the meeting last night of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage (they have a website: consumervoicesforhealth.org) .
The state budeget is nearing passage and has included full funding for the public health centers. This group is mostly interested in state health care reform. (single payer?) No, not really. Most of us would love that, but we are pragmatic. The proposed state budeget has some little victories: employers must offer sec 125 plans for people, a cafeteria plan: an employee can save an amont of his salary for health costs, tax free, like a health savings account. They increased the age of dependency to 28 for the purposes of being on parents’ health policy. But it must be continuous. Mini cobra extended to 12 months. 10 million for health info technology or health care quality. ... Open enrollment period every January, Health insur co must accept new subscribers. Cap on the maximum allowed on premium. Medicaid eligibility (frequency of re-certifying as elligible) extended from 6 months to 12 months. The governor certified 260 million of the tobacco settlement to go to Medicaid; the tobacco industry wants it all to go to smoking cessation and prevention programs.
Kathleen Gmeiner , a lawyer, is project director of Ohio Consumers fo r Health Coverage: these are all small victories. It is a sad day for poor people in Ohio.
These meetings are every month. Second Tues at the Health Foundation at 2:30, 3650 Edwards Rd, corner Smith, at Rookwood Pavilion. (Fidelity Building, 5th floor. Northwestern Mutual Life.)
Planning another town meeting with Driehaus in August. More info at Janice: alvaradoJG@aol.com
Gmeiner also said the federal program is bogged down in costs. They want to limit it to 2.6 trillion over the next ten years. Only 5% of projected health expenses. To make healthcare affordable for Americans, the gov’t will give subsidies towards their premium. The funding has to come from somewhere. They are thinking of getting some of it from reducing the subsidies. Want to limit total expenditure for health for families to 10% of gross annual income. That would be affordable for people. But might have to raise it to 12%.
ROBERT MCNAMARA: do we blame him?
(ellen Read the interchange by History Prof Evan Bukey and his friends... Read this in the Articles section in blue below) ( then we read from the Wikipedia bio of McNamara. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara )
Mira I’d like to know ... He saw it necessary to engage in Vietnam although he was more concerned about Communists taking over Europe and spreading around th e world. Was that because he cared so much about America... Saving the world for communism. Was he sincere? All the death that was caused!
Vlasta: it’s whether “rather dead than red” or “rather red than dead”.
Dennis: didn’t look like a partisan issue to me. Lots of people to blame.
MrG: I don’t want more propaganda from that period. Have watched “the fog of war” movie, followed on TV. I feel I have so little inside information ... This accusation just seems like ranting. I am interested in the subtleties of the period. ... I feel the Vietnam war was mostly wrong. Recently McN. Said he had no choice given that LBJ wanted it. Said, “I didnl’t think it was winable”. So my job was to make it happen as best I could. To lose as minimally as possible. Portrayed himself as a guy in a structure, the government, and had a job to do.
Vlasta: he could have resigned!
MrG: the important question is, when you believe in your “company” (the government) then maybe you are not in a position to quit.
Ellen: Neuremberg... Following orders is no defense.
MrG: I support Neuremberg, but it may not be correct today. ... All this stuff coming out about Bush’s team. People said, “We were just following orders” and it is being accepted! ... Ethics are cultural.
Mira: something new has begun in S Africa. Truth and Reconcilliation Commission. I am not against there being trials; I am against punnishment. Maybe mandatory community service would be ok. Does not help to take a violent solution to violent crimes.
I still want to show the DVD about Palestinians and Israelis, “Encounter Point”. Would like to show it here at the salon. A Palestinian man said, “Humans have been fighting wars for long time; we must find a better way.”
MrG: there is a great movie on Desmond Tutu and the Truth and Reconcillian.
Dennis: John demjanuk... Accused of being a concentration camp guard, responsible for thousands (29,000) of deaths. He said he was conscripted. I got to tknow the family in Cleveland; his dau worked for us. I always have had an opinion about his guilt or innocence. After all those years, he wore out his appeals and was extradited. Is now in his nineties. Is in German; in custoday. They will bring him to trial.
Has anyone seen the diaries of the troops in europe, recording the movements, activities. Lphotos of the concentration camps. I have a hard time believing john wasn’t guilty as accused. I knew the family in the 80’s when he was fighting the extradition order. The supreme court did not take the case. Then he had a seizure when boarding the plane, so there was a last minute postponement. But now he is in Germany.
He claims the person accused was not him.
Robert: he was prosecuted in Israel and found not guilty. Now he is on trial in Germany. Is this the guy born in Russia or the guy born in Poland. One was involved in the camlps, the other was not. They have pictures but... To me if the Israeli supereme court thinks there is insufficient evidence... That’s all I need.
The Germans are charging him with something else.
Vlasta: my dad who recently died in his 90’s said, “demanjuk is old...let him go!” But in justice, if he is really the guilty person, the victims’ families deserve closure. They say he was saddistic, went beyond his duty.
Mira: whether it is the same person or not, we have to stop killing.
Robert: when you in the military, you follow orders.
Mr. G: I said I agreed with Neuremberg because I wanted to be a good guy; but I realized that I am against the death penalty in any case.
Ellen: A person can break commitments, e.g. Marriage vows, and do it for very understandable, human reasons, .... and still be wrong. And sometimes if they follow the “rules” like uphold marriage vows, but sacrifice other values, they can also feel later that they were “wrong”.
Mr G: I loath the concept of “wrong”. Is violating a commitment wrong? It happens all the time!
Dennis: I don’t know that we, in Vietam, were as “colorful” as the Nazis in Germany ... I think the US military does an outstanding job to obviate responsibility for one’s actions. ... In Vietam, fragging meant murdering your superior officer during combat. ... We don’t seem to hold ourselves to the same standards we want to hold up for others. ... There are degrees of attrocity, of irresponsibility. I am sure that there was a lot of killing that needn’t have taken place.
Vlasta: agent orange.
Dennis: Iam not sure even the regimental or battalion commanders knew the effects of Agent Orange. I have a friend who is dying today from Agent Orange poisoning.
MrG: I would like to discuss what it means to be “responsible”. (definitions) The “social force”. Implies punnishment if you violate. That seems external ... Threat.
Dennis: I am annoyed by people interrupting so much in this group. Makes me reluctant to talk. I think we need improved manners.
Ellen: I like manners... Sometimes forgo them in order to allow passion and interest. I forgive myself, and yet I acknowledge it is wrong.
MrG: I just hate using the word “wrong”.
Mira: years ago I learned about an African Amer. Man talking to a White man. The white man was the boss. The White man says, “isn’t that correct, Rastus?” and the black man says, “Yes Sir, its correct, but it ain’t right!”
... The word “response” is also a gentle word, like “listen”.
... Clarence Thomas doesn’t support affirmative action.
SECTION TWO: Events and Opportunities
Special Presenter at the Salon on (this coming) Wednesday, August 22
A Weekly subscriber, Sue Wilke, suggested after reading my proposal about hiring a Democracy Educator/Advocate (DEA) tht I should contact the CCR. I did, and here’s his response:
Ellen:
Thanks for reaching out. I would love to come out to talk about CCR with your Salon. Potentially I could do it next Wednesday, 7/22, otherwise I would need to look at 8/19. It seems the League of Women Voters does a good job staying on the issues - CCR is more about finding ways to engage citizens and get governments past a public hearing feedback model.
Steve Johns, Director
Citizens for Civic Renewal
3805 Edwards Road #549
Cincinnati, OH 45209
513-458-6736
513-458-6610 (f)
www.citizenscivicrenewal.org <http://www.citizenscivicrenewal.org>
Normally I don’t like to have presenters at two consecutive Wednesdays, since our wonderful Gerry Kraus suggested that we love to have the time just to have discussion on our own topics invented on the spot. However, George (see next announcement, below) was eager to come soon, so ... (Ellen)
NATIVE AMERICAN “LOCAL ROOTS” PRESENTER AT SALON
Hi Ellen,
I'm looking forward to joining you at the Salon on Wednesday, July 29th to share about ARCHE - Art Restoring Culture for Healing Earth. We are currently focused in the Nati Going Native, and aligning, restoring identity campaign of place. We feel that after seven generations since newcomer settlement in the Ohio lands that we are due to root into our place in a deeper, more meaningful way - or as our native elders would say " Taking on the relatedness of our humanhood."
We are also developing a Maketewah Arts Konsortium - Bring Back The MAK!; and the Queen City Green Balls, to masquerade as members of place. We welcome your creativity in pronouncing our nativehood during native American month - November 2009 and in other upcoming opportunities to be a Greener and Greater Cincinnati.
We will spend some time reviewing our ancient symbols, Medicine Wheel, Web, and Tree of Life which we have been working with others to reinstate as integral vehicles for the health of our lands, along with our living archetypes - our species of place.
We look forward to seeing you then.
Ghra Mhor,
George Hardebeck
Does Anyone Know of a Medical Billing Service? I am sick of doing my own billing and there are people dotted about the land who do this out of their homes. I need to find one. Good, reliable, pleasant, and cheap. Ellen 221 1289
Sara Ernst, Lloyd Housemate and Salonista to risk all for the Environment.
Good day!
Through the process of subversive and occasional obvious cohersion, those responsible for my rather simple livelihood have encouraged you to encourage me while I take out my existing vertebrae by paddling on the hostile, shark-ridden Ohio River. And by "shark", I mean "combined sewer overflows", which are much more dangerous and significantly more disgusting.
In all fairness, the river doesn't get enough credit for being the source of drinking water for 3 million people. 150 species of fish can be found here, including the elusive paddlefish, a rather homely fish which I've yet to see.
I'm thrilled to be building raingardens with schools and communities (3100 square feet were planted this spring!) to combat one of the biggest threats to the river- non-point source pollution from rainwater runoff.
Thus, I’m taking part in the ORF paddle-a-thon to raise money for my organization - Ohio River Foundation. http://www.ohioriverfdn.org/
Please make a donation by visiting my Firstgiving page: http://www.firstgiving.com/saraernst
You can donate online with a credit card. All donations are secure and sent directly to Ohio River Foundation by Firstgiving, who will email you a printable record of your donation.
Please send my page on to anyone who might like to donate!
Sara
*** About donating online ***
It's very easy to support Sara online - visit: http://www.firstgiving.com/saraernst to make a donation.
It takes a matter of minutes, is totally secure and you can even leave a message with your donation.
Hi there friends,
- Now here’s an opportunity for you. I am now a fully qualified teacher of the Alexander Technique, and eager to give a lot of lessons this summer. All lessons will be free until the end of June, and then really cheap during July ($10), and pretty darn cheap during August ($20?). Starting sometime later I’ll be charging $78 for a 45 minute lesson, but still eager to make it affordable for you. So please call me to schedule a time and by all means tell your friends and family. 513 221 1289.
Don’t know what Alexander Technique is? Check out http://MissyVineyard.com or http://www.alexandertechnique.com for introductory essays and FAQ.
Thanks for your interest in this wonderful work.
Ellen
"2009 Summer Renewal Series "
With
Fanchon Shur & Friends
A rare chance to work with Fanchon Shur--a master teacher, choreographer and movement therapist who will let you unlock the door to your inner prison. Classes are filled with surprises; you will always experience new things and expand your possibilities--more flexibility, more natural alignment, much greater range of expression, a lot of sweat and an opportunity to interact with others and have fun!
Pure Movement Classes with Fanchon Shur
Mondays from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday from 9:30 - 11am.
$48 for a group of four classes, or $20 for one class
Upcoming Classes:
Tai-Chi with Alan Hundley
Tuesdays from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Begins August 4th, Six Week Series
$60 for a group of four classes, $20 for one class
Tai Chi consists of fluid, gentle, graceful and circular movements that are relaxed and slow in tempo. Breathing is deepened and slowed, aiding visual and mental concentration. The body relaxes, allowing the life force or Qi (Chi) energy inside the body to flow unimpeded. Tai Chi movements help integrate mind and body into a harmonious inner and outer self. A person living in harmony is more likely to be happy, fulfilled and healthy.
Dream Gates with Susan Crew & Fanchon Shur
Thursdays from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Begins September 10th, Six Week Series
$25 per session, a $30 discount will be given if you pay the full price at the first session ($120)
Join us for adventures in dreaming. Outside our conscious awareness there is an ongoing process of healing and creativity. Dreams are gateways into this process. By traveling through this gateway, we can cooperate and co-create with this creative process. We will work with our night dreams through dream re-entry, dream theater, dance, music, guided imagery and shamanic journeying.
What you learn in a class with Fanchon will always stay with you.
To sign up for any of these classes, or if you have any questions, I can be reached at (513)221-3222 or info@growthinmotion.org. In addition, be sure to check out our web site at www.growthinmotion.org.
Lloyd House Monthly Drumming Circle
Every month at 6:45 on the final Tuesday. Bring instruments of any variety. We rock! Dancing. No perfectionism tolerated. Ends at 8:45. Bring Snacks if you like, wine...
Special Presenter at the Salon on Wednesday, August 12: CINCINNATI HEALTH CLINICS
Debbie Dreyfus, nurse manager of the Elm St. (City of Cincinnati Public) Health Clinic will tell us all about these clinics. I’ve been a patient of the Northside Clinic (another of the city clinics) for about ten years and am thrilled with the quality of care. Ellen.
Help Wanted: Side Job for Driver/Delivery Person for local Organic Food Group
The many folks who get meat eggs and milk (local, raw, organic, grass fed) through Dan Kremer out of the Dayton market every two weeks have been struggling along with volunteer member’s driving maybe twice a year to do the pick up and drop offs. Takes about 2.5 hours every other Saturday. Because the person only does it infrequently, they don’t learn how to do it smoothly and many mistakes are made leading to much frustration.
People want to hire a driver who would do it every two weeks. (Or... More often as there are other groups than mine who also get food through Dan). They would need a vehicle that could carry 5 large boxes (c. 3’ x 2’ x 1.5’) , drive to Dayton to the Madison St market arriving 8 am, drive to Fairfield for a drop off just off the Xway, Drive to Pleasant Ridge for a drop off at Shirley’s house, drive to Clifton for drop off my house.
They would need print out the emailed invoice before leaving home, to check the orders to see that all the product is loaded, and off load the right stuff at the right places according to the invoice. Not a hard job, especially if you have done it recently. Much flusterment if you haven’t.
I am thinking you know some lovely person who would be interested... Perhaps an underemployed person in their 20’s. I don’t know what it might pay... Perhaps $10/hour plus gas money? Easy , pleasant, righteous work.
One way it could work is that the person whose turn it is to drive on the rotation would have the choice of either giving this paid driver $30 or driving themselves.
Interested to hear your responses.
ellen
Michael Moore's 'Sicko' on T.V.
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
The Movie Channel, this evening, (tonight) will be airing the Oscar-nominated documentary, "Sicko," Michael Moore's film about a villain known as the health insurance industry. With the debate raging in Washington, D.C. -- Republicans trying to scuttle it, the President trying to hang on to his public option, and nearly a hundred members of Congress pushing for a single-payer system -- showing "Sicko" tonight is very timely. Mike lays out all the facts and the arguments as to why the private insurance companies are never going to side with what's best for the American people.
"Sicko" airs on The Movie Channel tonight at 8:00 PM. It's also scheduled to air on The Movie Channel on July 27th at 4:05 PM and on TMC Xtra on August 2nd at 10:45 PM and August 5th at 2:15 AM and 7:30 AM. Click here for showtimes. http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product.do?episodeid=131802&seriesid=0&seasonid=0
There are people around the country who are holding "Sicko" viewing parties this weekend in their homes. Check out this call to revisit "Sicko" on the Daily Kos this week. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/13/752879/-Fun-with-SICKO.
We are in a critical time regarding which direction the health care debate is going to go. Make your voice heard. And be armed with the facts. Watch "Sicko" again!
Thanks.
Webmaster
MichaelMoore.com
webguy@michaelmoore.com
Info on Health Care Reform:
From: Bob Witanowski <bobwit@earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:56:35 -0400
Some of the best info (on Health Care Reform) is at Physicians for a National Health Plan – http://www.pnhp.org
Also HealthJustice.org <http://HealthJustice.net> and http://healthcare-now.org
(One of them ??) has a faxing service that many folks I know have found very useful for writing to elected officials in DC.. (I couldn’t find this...ellen)
Independent polls show between 60% - 75% of the American public and a solid 59% of U.S. physicians support single payer financing of health care. But the health insurance companies are spending $1.4 million dollars a day in DC trying to get health care planning to go their way - the same route that has brought us to this crisis. ...
Health Insurance Co.’s Plot to Discredit Moore and “Sicko”
Wow, this is amazing. Watch the short clip linked below (youtube). Please mobilize your networks to pressure congress not to listen to the health care industry’s lobby but to give us viable public option or single payer NOW.
ellen
------ Forwarded Message
From: Michael Moore <maillist@michaelmoore.com>
Reply-To: Michael Moore <maillist@michaelmoore.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:57:56 -0400
To: Ellen Bierhorst <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
Subject: Bill Moyers Show Tonight Reveals Insurance Lobby's Secret Plan to Attack 'Sicko' and Michael Moore
Bill Moyers Show (last Friday) Reveals Insurance Lobby's Secret Plan to Attack 'Sicko' and Michael Moore
Friday, July 10th, 2009
ALERT: We've just been informed that Bill Moyers, on his show later tonight, will expose for the first time the health insurance industry's secret campaign against Michael Moore and his film, "Sicko." It contains a stunning revelation and admission by a top health insurance executive -- the former head of publicity for CIGNA, one of the top health insurance companies in the country -- that the disinformation and attacks on Michael and the film were extensive and well-planned. Their job was to stop the movie from reaching a wide audience (and, more importantly, from having the widespread political impact the industry feared "Sicko" would have).
Wendell Potter, former Head of Corporate Communications at CIGNA (which provides health insurance to nearly 70 percent of the Fortune 100 companies) admits that, in fact, "Sicko" "hit the nail on the head" and told the real truth about how much better people in other countries have it when it comes to their health care.
The show airs tonight (last Friday) at 9:00 PM on PBS. (Check your local listings for exact times. Many areas show it on Saturday night, too.)
You can check out the segment about Michael and "Sicko" here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv1FwOCNoZ8
Be sure to tune into Bill Moyers Journal tonight (last fridayj) at 9:00 PM for the full program. Check here for local listings (and rebroadcasts):
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html
If you get this email too late, their website will soon post the full show soon:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers
Finally, the truth comes out. From one of their own. Amazing.
Yours truly, Webmaster
MichaelMoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com/>
Blood Drive for Health Care Reform
- The Lloyd House team to support the president’s drive to get health care reform legislation through the congress this summer (before the summer recess that starts July 31) met and decided our service project would be a blood drive through Hoxworth blood bank. The service will be to promote blood donation in our name (Cincinnati Groundswell for Health Care Reform) and the aim is to increase the numbers of folks calling their representatives in Washington asking to control rising health care costs, guarantee choice of doctor, and assure high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. We also hope to gather more volunteers willing to support this campaign by making phone calls, knocking on doors, writing letters to the media, etc. etc.
We would like to gather 100 blood donors in the next two weeks, and more in the weeks to follow. We’d like this to not only save lives but also to attract public attention for our purpose.
What can YOU do?
Write letters to the editor, e.g. enquirer: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/EDIT0202/302160003
Go to http://my.barackobama.com and create an account; (2 minutes) then follow suggestions to volunteer, to attend events, to host an event. They walk you through. It’s easy and fun.
Tell everyone you know that it is important to stop the hemorrhage of our society through a broken health care system. Yes we can get meaningful progress this summer if we mount a groundswell effort to defeat the “no change” effort of the powerful health insurance industry lobby.
Give blood! Tell the person at the registration at Hoxworth that you are donating for “cincinnati Groundswell for Health Care Reform”. 513 451 0910 for centers near you and to make an appointment.
Return address
100 Main Street
Anywhere, US 10000
- June 9, 2009
The Honorable Congressperson
(Room #) (Name) House/Senate Office Building
United States Senate/House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510
SEND VIA FAX or email. (snail mail is delayed for security checks.)
Dear Senator/Representative:
As one of your constituents, I urge you to support President Obama’s efforts to reform healthcare. If we don’t enact change, millions of Americans will continue to suffer under a broken system. My story illustrates the urgency of the situation. {INSERT PERSONAL STORY HERE, IF RELEVANT.}
In seeking your support, I understand that no specific bill or legislation is yet under consideration. I realize that this enormous challenge has no easy solution. And I realize that no one has all the answers. I certainly don’t. But there are a few non-negotiable points, I ask you to consider. One, any plan must reduce costs. Many are asked to pay thousands of dollars a month just for basic insurance coverage. Others can’t afford life-saving medication or treatment. Two, any plan must allow patients some reasonable measure of choice in their coverage and their medical provider. Some are satisfied with their present coverage. Why force them to change it? Three, and most importantly, any plan must be available to all Americans. Because of pre-existing conditions, many Americans are uninsurable, yet have incomes that make them ineligible for Medicaid. We must create a plan of public health insurance to operate alongside the private plans.
Healthcare reform is a moral decision. At this moment in history, modern medicine gives us the ability to extend, enrich, and preserve human life like never before. Yet countless of us are denied the fruits of this progress by an inability to pay or a lack of access. At the same time, millions –– perhaps even billions –– of dollars go to waste in our present, inefficient system. We have talked a long time about change. The time for that change is now.
Respectfully,
Your name here
Brown, Sherrod - (D - OH) Class I
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
phone (202) 224-2315 Fax (202)228-6321 Web Form: brown.senate.gov/contact/
425 Walnut Street, Suite 2310
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
p (513) 684-1021
f (513) 684-1029
Toll Free 1-888-896-OHIO (6446)
Voinovich, George V. - (R - OH) Class III
524 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
phone (202) 224-3353 Fax: (513) 684-3269
Web Form: voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact....
Senator Jim Bunning, Kentucky Senator
District 4 - Ft. Wright (Main State Office)
1717 Dixie Highway, Suite 220
Ft. Wright, KY 41011
Main: 859-341-2602
Fax: 859.331.7445
Toll free: 1-800-283-8983 Web Form http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Senator Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Senator
1885 Dixie Highway
Suite 345
Fort Wright, KY 41011
Phone: (859) 578-0188 Fax: (202) 224-2499 Web Form mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm -
Jean Schmidt 2nd Congressional District
8044 Montgomery Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45236
Phone (513)791-0381 Fax: (513) 791-1696 www.house.gov/schmidt/contact.shtml
Steve Driehaus First Congressional District
441 Vine St. 3003 Carew Twr., Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone (513)684-2723 Fax: (513) 421-8722 https://forms.house.gov/driehaus/contact-form.shtml
John H. Boehner 8th Congressional District
7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Rd. B, West Chester, OH 45069
Phone (513)779-5400 Fax (513) 779-5315 http://johnboehner.house.gov. <http://johnboehner.house.gov>
Geoff Davis, 4th Congressional District Kentucky
Fort Mitchell District Office
300 Buttermilk Pike, Suite 314
Fort Mitchell, KY 41017
(859) 426-0080 phone
(859) 426-0061 fax http://geoffdavis.house.gov/Contact/
(Our thanks to Joan Friedland for correcting the mistakes in this contact list and for adding the fax numbers!)
Read Article by Dr. Tom Firor on Health Care Reform, below in blue Articles section
SECTION THREE: Articles
- Salonista On The Road Nendawaahb (Rob) Milton
- Tom Firor, M.D. On Health Care Reform
- Food Police squeeze out Amish Farmer
- Evan Bukey and Friends on Robert McNamara
Nendahwaab Travel Notes - The scenic route from Cincinnati to Oregon via RV
Ellen, Sorry haven’t sent update sooner. No contact or no time it seems. Please share.
I spent all of June & 1st week of July in the SW desert, canyon lands & mts. Visited Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon & Grand Canyon, canoed CO River from Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry, spent 3 days parked in canyon at end of Forest Service road next to San Juan River in UT surrounded by buffs & much beauty (saw big horn sheep & hear coyotes), visited friends in Santa Fe & Albuquerque & spent 8 days at National Rainbow Gathering in NM Mts. (1st time I’ve been really comfortable in SW, due to cooler temps, 9600 ft elv). I had done some Rainbow regionals & 4 days at MI national 5 years ago. 8 days too much for me (too many people) & this one seemed to lack the harmony I experienced at other Rainbow gatherings.
Now camped near Forest Service road in valley housing head waters of upper Arkansas River in central CO. I have cold & haven’t had chance to do much hiking & kayaking yet. Need to make trip to Englewood on Fri. to pick up mail & do banking. Will travel to Black Fork of Gumnnison over the Great Divide on Sun or Mon. Then N to WY & the Great Salt Lake.
Due to high cost of RV maintenance & lack of income (condo in Cinti still not rented), I am taking more direct route to Oregon from Salt Lake. I expect to get there by 2nd week Aug. Harry Potter movie due out this week. Reread book since I had cold & hope to see movie next week. Saw new Star Trek movie in Page AZ (really sucked).
As most of you know, I was a news (NPR) junkie before I left. I haven’t hear much news since I’ve been traveling. Ignorance is bliss. Glad I’m doing what I’m doing. I hear things are getting worst in Cinti. Hope you are all well & happy.
Blessings & Balance
Nendahwaab
Dr. Tom Writes on Health Care Reform
By Dr. Tom Firor, MD; Integrative Medical Doctor
(Dr. Tom is a much loved and brilliant local holistic/complimentary/integrative physician with offices in Middletown.)
Dear Mr. President, Part Two
Last week, I wrote (see Cincinnati Enquirer, letter to the editor) that our health care system must change at its core by paying primary care physicians for time spent with each patient and for applying preventative and cost saving [sometimes alternative] treatments. The current system pays us more for a short visit, diagnostic testing, prescribing medications and referral to specialties. Testing and referral generate income for the healthcare structure, so there is very little incentive to change the system.
In terms of core changes beyond physician incentives, the healthcare structure must be reoriented to public health and disease prevention. Treating an emerging disease epidemic, for example, is vastly more costly than preventing the disease in the first place, yet our public health infrastructure has become less capable of such management over recent decades.[i] <#_edn1>
Preventing diseases such as cancer would eliminate untold misery in our country and across the globe and is quite feasible if we effectively regulate industrial toxins and implement incentives for whole food, non-synthetic farming, local food distribution and thus sound nutrition. In fact, by doing so we would prevent much of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune disease and obesity, saving millions for dollars spent. Unfortunately, no significant fraction of our public health money, including our tax dollars, is spent on such initiatives despite what could be accomplished on a national scale.[ii] <#_edn2> [iii] <#_edn3> [iv] <#_edn4> [v] <#_edn5>
Providing universal health coverage is a healthy social evolution but currently remains the achievement of other modern nations. Among these, we do not come higher than the median score for almost any positive health outcome. Others are leaving us behind and are moving ahead in many areas of social and environmental justice. Europe, for example, regulates disease causing industry by-products throughout the union and is perhaps ten years ahead of us in doing so.[vi] <#_edn6>
In addition, creating universal health care can be a step toward once again establishing a large middle class and an equitable distribution of wealth, returning us to a better economic model.[vii] <#_edn7>
Social and environmental justice issues lead us to the consideration of our basic social and community assumptions. We have attempted to place the common good variables of our lives in the rather mechanical hands of corporate models. While this might have perpetuated short term profits, it has not effectively provided adequate health care and in fact has not enhanced our political and social being, which rather than comfortable, is consistently stressful. In our attempts to manage our nation via a business/government partnership, both neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism have created an intense confusion: Our governance itself is confused over what it should regulate and what it should not.
The only way to have a guiding light going forward, in health care, business, governance and our existence itself, will be to put common good variables into the economic equations.
And to put them first.
----------------------------------
[i] <#_ednref> Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health, by Laurie Garrett [Hyperion Books, 2000].
[ii] <#_ednref> Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War, by Samuel Epstein, MD [Baywood Publishing, Inc. 2005].
[iii] <#_ednref> The Secret History of the War on Cancer, by Devra Davis [Basic Books, 2007].
[iv] <#_ednref> The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD [BenBella Books, 2006].
[v] <#_ednref> Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes, by Neal D. Barnard, MD [Rodale Inc., 2007].
[vi] <#_ednref> Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being, by Nena Baker [North Point Press, 2008].
[vii] <#_ednref> The Conscience of a Liberal, by Paul Krugman [W.W. Norton and Co., 2007].
The food police are really trying to stop our local food access. Nutrient dense organic food is the first step to good health. Local food is a big step toward lessoning our carbon foot print.
http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/alert-ohio-farm-food-and-health-alert/
Yours,
Shirley Reischman
Bukey and friends on McNamara
>
> on 7/15/09 8:58 AM, Evan Bukey at ebukey@uark.edu wrote:
>
> > Hi Chusti! (this was my childhood nickname...ellen)
> > I noticed that your Table spent more time discussing the death
> > of Michael Jackson than that of McNamara. If you start at the bottom, you
> > may find this exchange on McNamara worth reading.
> > Love and kisses,
> > Evan
> > PS Isn't there a birthday looming any day now?
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 12:12:50 -0500 (CDT)
> > From: ebukey@comp.uark.edu
> > To: Dave Bukey <bukey1@seanet.com>
> > Subject: RE: Super-Mac (fwd)
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 10:49:17 -0500 (CDT)
> > From: ebukey@comp.uark.edu
> > To: James Briscoe <jbriscoe524@hotmail.com>
> > Subject: RE: Super-Mac (fwd)
> >
> > This is one of those discussions that go nowhere, since you force me to
> > defend Kissinger-Nixon's war crimes. But it's fatuous and wrong to lay all
> > the blame on the Republicans, if for no other reason than NSC 68 became
> > official US policy long before Joe McCarthy arrived on the scene. And if
> > you re-rad my brother's note, you'll notice he refers explictly to the
> > lies of the LBJ-McNamara regime. PBS showed a clip of McNamara
> > acknowledging that the war could not be won before dispatching US forces.
> > I suppose the only thing that can be said in defense of the entire gang is
> > that success in Korea fostered the notion that a similar approach might
> > work in Vietnam, especially as we now know that in 1960 the Politburo
> > decided to extend the Cold War into the so-called Third World. Even so,
> > the Joint Chiefs initially opposed US intervention. There was, in short, a
> > kind of avoidable inevitability to Vietnam. this was NOT the case with
> > Iraq. It thus follows that the crimes of the Cheney-Bush regime transcend
> > those of their predecessors.
> >
> > EB
> >
> > On Wed, 8 Jul 2009, James Briscoe wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> I certainly concur with your brother with regards to Kissinger. What you
> >> fail to acknowledge is that the cold war attitudes that fostered, I might
> >> even say, engendered, the Vietnam intervention were assiduously cultivated
> >> and made central to official Washington thinking by--the Republicans. It was
> >> they who made the loss of China into a central critique of Truman's policies;
> >> it was they who instilled the notion of a global struggle against "godless,
> >> atheistic communism". I grant the Democrats (people like Rusk and Rostow and
> >> Bundy in particular) were fully complicit, but they worked within the
> >> ideological framework created by the Republican "red-baiters". You will say
> >> that Eisenhower had a sounder grasp on world affairs, but my counter-argument
> >> is that, in that case, he did too little to make his positions public.
> >>
> >> You mention 60,000 American dead (I think it is closer to 53,000) but the
> >> majority of those deaths occurred on Nixon and Kissinger's watch. So did most
> >> of the 2 to 3 million Vietnam dead. It was not that McNamara knew the war
> >> could not be won in 1965--I don't think he did--but that he felt he had no
> >> choice except to try to win it--otherwise the Democrats would be pilloried
> >> for having "lost Vietnam". Johnson certainly felt this way. Of course
> >> neither Johnson nor McNamara had any real understanding of the situation in
> >> SE Asia--nor, I suspect, cared.
> >>
> >>> Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 13:54:19 -0500
> >>> From: ebukey@uark.edu
> >>> Subject: RE: Super-Mac (fwd)
> >>> To: jbriscoe524@hotmail.com
> >>> CC: PLSteiner@toast.net; Howard711@fuse.net
> >>>
> >>> From my brother.
> >>>
> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >>> Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:32:53 -0700
> >>> From: Dave Bukey <bukey1@seanet.com>
> >>> To: ebukey@uark.edu
> >>> Subject: RE: Super-Mac (fwd)
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for including me. I have these thoughts which you should feel free to
> >>> pass on or not.
> >>>
> >>> Those who think of war as a solution to insoluble problems are often guilty
> >>> of extreme hubris, which McNamara had in spades. That is why it is best that
> >>> people with the power to wage war have either a sense of humility or great
> >>> historical knowledge, or brilliance which means that they will win no matter
> >>> what jerks they were. McNamara had none of the above.
> >>>
> >>> McNamara ran a car company and had only cameo understanding of history,
> >>> highlighted by the carpet bombing experience of WW II. He lacked the
> >>> knowledge or self critical ability to understand that the idea of a measured
> >>> war to achieve a political settlement was either a flat wrong assumption or
> >>> very dangerous. (Worth reminding ourselves of this in Afghanistan.) But he
> >>> was not the only one who bought into this illusion. He was a product of a
> >>> time in which we thought technical know how and being smarter than the other
> >>> guy would win out. He and JFK were reacting to Berlin, Cuba and Indonesia. I
> >>> have ALWAYS opposed the Vietnam War (yes, I know, the true liberal's measure
> >>> of purity), but even allowing for a different point of view - such as that
> >>> expressed by HK Smith in his autobiography that in the early 60s we did not
> >>> know that most of SE Asia would in fact become capitalist and not go the way
> >>> of Sukarno or Patrice Lumumba, etc. - this does not excuse consistent lying
> >>> to obtain the objective. The breadth and depth of the lies is what set
> >>> McNamara apart from others and which is LBJ's sin as well, all of which so
> >>> well documented by McMaster. It is a direct cause of a generation's distrust
> >>> of government, only just now in the process of being rectified with Obama.
> >>> McNamara's deceit was at a higher level, but of the same type as MacArthur's
> >>> aides who lied about the intelligence showing that there would be a Chinese
> >>> intervention in Korea resulting in incalcalculable misery, and many other
> >>> examples. It is not the same as FDR's admitted lies after Pearl Harbor. Well
> >>> intended or not, McNamara has much blood on his hands.
> >>>
> >>> It is helpful that he grew to appreciate many of his errors, but if one
> >>> watches The Fog of War, even there he continued to minimize his own
> >>> responsibility and, if I recall correctly, flat lied in response to one
> >>> question. He also refused to answer others. So it is a flawed effort at
> >>> redemption.
> >>>
> >>> Notwithstanding all of the above, I reserve more culpable circles of Hell
> >>> for Henry Kissinger et al, who did understand history, knew the war was
> >>> unwinnable, but still callously sent more soldiers to their death than
> >>> LBJ/McNamara did, not to mention the hard to justify face saving bombing of
> >>> N Vietnam and subsequent faux stab-in the back theory that it was only
> >>> Watergate that prevented the country from coming back and saving S Vietnam.
> >>> Of course Cheney is in an even more damnable category of criminals.
> >>>
> >>> One of the real perks of having our wonderful new President is that he is
> >>> not a product of the Vietnam generation and doesn't feel he has to stop and
> >>> write long emails such as this one to clarify 40 year old sentiments and
> >>> confused feelings. But there are lessons to be learned - that lies and
> >>> arrogance give birth to senseless death and suffering, that the hubris of
> >>> believing that technology and superior know how will offset the realities of
> >>> conflict and that real heroism is the ability to know and admit when one is
> >>> wrong and to learn from other's mistakes. All good things to keep in mind in
> >>> - say, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and of course Gaza. I prefer the humility
> >>> and clairvoyance of Grant's Memoirs ("We should not have attempted that
> >>> assault [Cold Harbor]") to anything that came out of Robert McNamara's mouth
> >>> since 1962.
> >>>
> >>> Thoughts?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> David B. Bukey
> >>> Law Office of David Bukey
> >>> 1501 4th Ave. Suite 2150
> >>> Seattle, Washington 98101-3225
> >>> phone:( 206) 382-1787
> >>> fax: (206) 340-1936
> >>> Bukey1@seanet.com
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> IMPORTANT: The information contained in this e-mail may be confidential,
> >>> privileged, and legally protected from disclosure. If you have received this
> >>> message in error, please contact the sender at the above address.
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: ebukey@uark.edu [mailto:ebukey@uark.edu]
> >>> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 10:29 AM
> >>> To: Dave Bukey
> >>> Subject: Re: Super-Mac (fwd)
> >>>
> >>> You may find this exchange interesting.
> >>>
> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >>> Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 12:25:46 -0500 (CDT)
> >>> From: ebukey@comp.uark.edu
> >>> To: James Briscoe <jbriscoe524@hotmail.com>
> >>> Subject: Re: Super-Mac
> >>>
> >>> I dissent. As Anita sagely remarked, McNamara wanted it all ways. Pace
> >>> Robert Musil, McNamara was a man of "too many (contradictory,
> >>> inconsistent) qualities." Underneath his feigned self-reflection and
> >>> criticism, he remained an arrogant know-it-all, a point David Halberstam
> >>> made
> >>> in the NYT shortly before his death a few years ago in a car crash. Unlike
> >>> the
> >>> Iraq War, there was admittedly a kind of inevitability to Vietnam. But as
> >>> Hal McMaster reveals in DERELECTION OF DUTY, even Curtis LeMay intially
> >>> opposed US intervention. Both McNamara and LBJ knew the war was lost
> >>> before sending in US troops. For that reason alone McNamara should be
> >>> judged a first-class war criminal. He lived to be 93, but denied nearly
> >>> 60,000 Americans, not to mention a million Vietnamese, the chance to live
> >>> to be 23. Nor did McNamara ever visit the Vietnam War Memorial. I hated him
> >>> then. I still do.
> >>>
> >>> EB
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, 7 Jul 2009, James Briscoe wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> For better or worse, this sums up what I think about McNamara.
> >>>>
> >>>> From a column in today's Guardian:
> >>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/07/mcnamara-viet
> >>> nam
> >>>> "McNamara should be blamed for the Vietnam war, but he should also be
> >>>> recognised as a pioneer of a technocratic style of government that,
> >>>> however flawed, still dominates much American thinking on foreign
> >>>> policy today. On this legacy, he was fully self-reflective and critical
> >>>> later in life, as evidenced by his reckoning in Errol Morris's
> >>>> documentary The Fog of War.
> >>>> For all his many sins, this reckoning may be what sets him apart from
> >>>> those who followed him in office, including Dick Cheney and Donald
> >>>> Rumsfeld. He admitted he was wrong. With reluctance and equivocation,
> >>>> McNamara took responsibility for some of what he did in government,
> >>>> such as the fire-bombing of Japan in the second world war; he resisted
> >>>> only coming to terms with the worst of what he done in Vietnam.
> >>>> "He
> >>>> learned to cast aside his natural arrogance and question his
> >>>> assumptions in the hope of helping those who came after him to learn
> >>>> from his mistakes. As he grew older, he became less and less certain of
> >>>> what he knew. Who really believes that the architects of the Iraq war -
> >>>> McNamara's intellectual descendants - will have the courage to do that?"
> >>>>
>
>
>
>
SECTION FOUR: Book, Film, Theater, TV, Music, Restaurant Reviews
Please send us notes of what you are reading or seeing. It’s entirely up to the readers to make this section interesting. We want to know what is turning you on!
Yvonne Lake sends this, “best Thai food in Cincinnati”:
As promised, the restaurant I spoke of:
Thai Namtip <http://restaurants.iaf.net/businesses/category:Mexican,+Thai,+Seafood+Restaurants/location:North+Bend,OH/1820929360/details.html>
5461 North Bend Road
Cincinnati, OH 45247
(513) 481-3360
SECTION FIVE: Tri-State Treasures by Jim Kesner
again am unable to send the weekly when it contains the Tri-State Treasures. Suggest you email Jim and ask to be added to his sub list: JKesner@nuvox.net
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