More Alike Than You Think

Marketplace on National Public Radio had an intriguing and even uplifting story recently about an unusual partnership.   Two companies, one marketing kosher meats, and the other selling halal meats, work fairly closely together with common goals.   The Jewish and Muslim dietary laws governing how meat is slaughtered and processed are very similar, and these two companies both decided to take it another step.   They both have rules to ensure the animals they slaughter are not raised in "factory farms" and are treated humanely while they're alive.  The fact that they both came up with this business plan independently and found out about each other via a mutual friend makes the story even more pleasant.   

This story is another example of "we are more alike than different."   And it's nice to hear about a Jew and  Muslim cooperating and working together on similar goals rather than shooting each other.

Will the economy get better?

One of the signs of a lousy economy is that those who have jobs are willing to endure things they wouldn't have a few years ago in order to keep their jobs.   This is perhaps one of the reasons that productivity levels in the US have stengthened during this Recession.   Simply put, fewer workers are performing more work, which makes them more productive.   Less happy, more tired, more stressed, but more productive.    At some point, one would hope, the economy will improve to the point that employers will resume hiring and those already working will be able to have slightly smaller workloads.   I suspect that won't happen soon, because employers won't become nicer until they have to.   

This comic puts the concept of making employees happy in perspective.

Taking the Pledge?

I received a fairly clever email recently in which the unknown author (if you know who wrote it, I'll be happy to attribute it) deflates the Right-wing rhetoric which disparagingly refers to the recent health care reform as "socialized medicine."  The email is in the form of a pledge to avoid a lengthy list of other "socialist" services (the email is at the end of this post).

In the US, the term "socialized medicine" came into common use in the late 1940s as part of the American Medical Association's opposition to President Harry Truman's health-care initiative. The original use of the term referred to health care systems in which the government operates health care facilities and employs health care providers, such as the British National Health Service.  More recently, the term has been expanded to refer to virtually any publicly funded health care system.  It's clearly used as a derogatory term, playing on the irrational fear of "socialism" in the US.  And it was part of the successful defeat of efforts to expand health care to a broader segment of the US population for decades.

I found the email humorous because it pokes holes in the socialist "boogie man" -  as pointed out by Wikipedia:  "Most industrialized countries, and many developing countries, operate some form of publicly-funded health care with universal coverage as the goal. According to the Institute of Medicine and others, the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care."   The term "socialized medicine" has become a ridiculous pejorative because it considers that shared responsibility and shared support is somehow bad.   That is, public funding of health care is bad because it is based on some sort of "socialist" model in which citizens pool resources (taxes) to provide health care to all citizens, rather than the capitalist approach of "every man for himself."

The fact is, shared resources and shared benefits are part of daily life of most Americans, but we don't think of them that way and we don't call them socialist. It seems clear that most Americans wouldn't consider such shared benefits as indoor plumbing attached to working public water and sewer systems a bad thing.   And Medicare.   And products of National Public Television like Sesame Street.  And highway rest areas.  And police, fire, and emergency services.

At any rate, here's the text of the email; see how many of these shared activities and benefits you're willing to forego.

I, ________________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
US Postal Service
Roads and Highways
Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
The US Railway System
Public Subways and Metro Systems
Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
Rest Areas on Highways
Sidewalks
All Government-Funded Local/State Projects. This means every single road that is not a toll road is off limits to my use.
Public Drinking Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
Public and State Universities and Colleges
Public Primary and Secondary Schools
Sesame Street
Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
Public Museums
Libraries
Public Parks and Beaches
State and National Parks
Public Zoos
Unemployment Insurance
Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government grant or research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape, heart monitors/defibrillators and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
Use of the Internet, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops that were grown with, fed with, raised with or that contain inputs from crops grown with government subsidies.
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forgo my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care.
I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of free-admission/taxpayer subsidized socialist locations, including but not limited to:
Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
The socialist Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Jefferson Monuments
The government-operated Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon and all national/state/regional/local parks, forests and monuments
The socialist World War II, Korean and Vietnam Veterans Memorials in every town
The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC. This also includes Post Offices, fire departments, police departments, public schools, libraries and zoos.

SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF ____________ IN THE YEAR 2010

SIGNATURE:

Why Care About The Weirdness In Texas?

The weirdness in question is the behavior of the Texas School Board, which has been in the news lately regarding it's curriculum adoptions.   The Board has been controlled by a group of what many refer to as extremist evangelicals who have determined that all school textbooks in Texas must follow their agenda, which apparently is not primarily based on facts, but on their beliefs.   Case in point: Texas textbooks must teach that the US was founded as a "Christian nation."   The historical evidence is quite the contrary, as this article in the Chicago Tribune points out in some detail.  The list of historical distortion and rewriting is long; read the NY Times article for the gory details.

Why care about what some goofballs in Texas are doing?   Because Texas is so large, and because it purchases so many school textbooks, what it says must be in those textbooks is closely followed by publishers.  The result is that those same books are used in most schools around the country, regardless of whether those other schools subscribe to the one-sided and less-than-factual "curriculum."   

What can you do about it?   Hope that most schools ditch large purchases of textbooks in favor of electronic media sooner rather than later.