It’s the Worry Season

By

William D. Dannenmaier

It is March 15^th, the beginning of the worry season. Every morning, every night, I must watch the news, not the ersatz news on national television about the sorry sluts parading as Hollywood stars, the real news, the important news, “what will the temperature be in the morning?” 

Here in middle Tennessee my peach trees are budding, eager as teenaged boys on their first dates, lusting to burst into bloom. The pear buds are not far behind. But it is too early, the likelihood of a killing frost is too high, although each day, as I watch the liars who parade as weather forecasters and contrast their mistakes with the thermometer on the porch, I worry about the possibility of warm days which will encourage those stupid peaches and pears to blossom. Then, as the idiots blossom, I worry that a late frost will kill my fruit for the year. Will I again have to cover growing vegetables with my bride’s sheets in the hope of helping them survive?

To date, things aren’t bad. My worrying and watching have paid a dividend. We have arrived at the middle of March with nothing of importance, nothing I care to eat, in bloom. Things appear to be on schedule. My peach trees, in years in which I get peaches, bloom about the third week of March and the pears burst into full bloom during the annual writers’ conference I formerly attended in Knoxville – when I should have been home spraying those blossoms for fire blight. In those years, there has always been danger of that late frost, but I’ve usually gotten fruit. Now, if only coldish, not cold, coldish, weather will stay for a week or two those blooms might be delayed. Every day counts. Each day before they bloom, beginning now, is one less day until the last expected date of a killing frost. Weather forecasters, lie; nature doesn’t obey my wants; I can only wait, watch and worry.

Last year was horrible. Had we been living in rural Tennessee a hundred years ago with such weather, we would have starved through the winter, as too many of our wildlife creatures did. There were unseasonably warm weeks in February and early March, followed by unseasonable freezes in late March and early April. Those late freezes were nicely spaced. The early ones killed all the fruit, the late one killed all the nuts. Not only were there no hazelnuts and pecans, there were no acorns.

Anyway, it’s the worry season. Who cares if the next President is an elderly man whose chief claim to fame is having survived a prisoner of war camp or a woman famed for manipulation and corruption or a black man whose idea of change is to increase the benefits of illegal aliens and welfare plantation slaves? I’m worried about real things. Will I be able to pick fresh fruit from my trees and enjoy fresh vegetables or will I have to buy the stuff in grocery stores imported from the Mexican state of California?

Stray Thoughts

By

William D. Dannenmaier

I may have been blaming House Speaker Pelosi, perhaps erroneously, for her manipulation of House rules preventing the continuation of the anti-terrorist act. I confess I wondered how many factories she and her husband owned in Muslim nations which might be bombed if she didn’t kill the ability of the government to eavesdrop on enemy terrorists telephoning their superiors in other countries. But Robert Novak (“Torts and Terrorism, February 18, Townhall.com) reports that, in a closed caucus, House Democrats voted with a four to one margin to have her proceed as she did. Persons who support their Democratic Representatives should take heed that their Representative helped make the next terrorist attack in the United States possible. The “Blue Dog Democrats,” of whom my representative is one, did not support her action.

On the positive side, reading the tabloid news while standing in line at Murphy’s Cee Bee grocery store, I found a reason to vote for Hillary if she obtains the Democratic nomination. The article said that she and Smiling Bill have an agreement that they will divorce if she loses the nomination, but remain married for appearances sake (which we all know is all it has been for years) if she becomes President. Think of it. Making her President could keep those two corrupt hellions tied to each other for four more years. Defeating her gives them freedom.

Smiling Bill has a public history of treating all women as disposable objects. That must reassure women who have voted for him in the past.

My bride is seriously unhappy with the House for another reason. She points out that they don’t have time to consider such issues as the invasion of the United States by twelve or fifteen million illegal Mexicans, protection of Islamic terrorists, the bankruptcy of Social Security, the defiance of Federal laws by various cities and churches and other issues, but they do have time to worry about baseball and then they take a week’s vacation. She says we have truant officers to pick up children who are truant from school to attend baseball games and we need truant officers for congress representatives more.

Finally, the last of the wood from the sugar maple that fell in the yard is gone. I have pecked at it for two months, supplying firewood to several families (none of whom, I sorrow to say, helped cut it). This past Friday, a friend from the cardiac club, Tommy Patrick, came and helped cut the final part of the trunk. He is a wood carver and, keeping both of our chain saws busy, we cut pieces to his desire. I let him load most of them into his truck although I helped with some of the larger ones. Then he returned on Saturday with his wife, Belinda, who had unloaded the truck when he got home. Fortunately, Stephen and Andrew were home and after Tommy and I sawed half way through the log from the one side, the four of us were able to roll it over and, sawing from the other side, cut it into two, reasonably manageable, lengths. We spent the remainder of the day cutting it up and Stephen semi-volunteered to load them in the truck as we cut. 

Belinda, who had been concerned about all of the lifting and had come to load the truck, spent a mutually happy visit with Sheila, their efforts being limited to supplying Tommy with glasses of water, me with coffee, and frowning as we lit our pipes during rests. Tommy mentioned, and I agreed, that we were fortunate that Mary Ann, who runs the cardiac club with a smile and a bull whip – I think she calls it the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit, wasn’t around to see our pipes. During a recent workout, I suggested she throw out the stupid rowing machine and replace it with a hot tub and called for a vote. All working members present voted in favor, but Mary Ann said it wasn’t a democracy, to forget it.    

I will plant a shagbark hickory, which promises an easily cracked shell (unlike the pignut hickories of which I have plenty) and a tasty nut meat as a replacement tree. Not counting the oak trees which surround my yard, whose acorns are tasty only to squirrels, the yard currently contains four pecans (three young trees and one hundred foot giant in the backyard), three chestnut trees, two English walnuts, one black walnut and five hazelnut bushes. I told my bride that instead of the Dannenmaier house it will be the nut house. I won’t include Sheila’s reply. 

Cell Telephones

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Talking politics, as usual, at the “Cardiac Club,” the conversation somehow wandered off on to cell telephones. Roland said that the ubiquitous use of these telephones is both frightening, in traffic, and puzzling. He argued, I think correctly, that the only valuable commodity people have which is their own, to sell or use as they wish, is their time. 

There was a time when, if I saw erratic, dangerous, driving I assumed the driver was drunk: now I look for, and usually see, a person on a cell telephone. Twice in the past six months I have avoided accidents that would have been caused by other drivers. On both occasions that other driver was on her cell telephone. Roland’s other comment, that the only thing we humans have to dispose of as we wish is ou time, was forcibly brought home to me when Sheila and I did our grocery shopping following our hospital time. 

As usual, I went to get a cup of the free coffee Kroger’s grocery provides with the intention to sit, rest and sip it while Sheila shopped. Kroger’s also had some free snacks of angel food cake, so I took a piece of that and meandered a bit before going to sit down. 

Coffee and cake in hand I noticed a lady with a small girl, I would have guessed eight or nine years of age who, from their dress, appeared to be Mennonites. I said, “Good morning,” to the little girl and received a shy nod in reply. Then I asked if she had had a treat. When she said, “No,” I said, “Come with me.” As her grandmother watched I led her to the angel food bits and took out two pieces for her. As I handed them to her, she dropped one and stooped to pick it up. The father in me came out and I said, “Don’t pick it up. I’ll do that.”  I got a second piece for her, picked up the other for the trash and then wandered on, noticing a young woman pushing a shopping cart while talking on her cell phone with a small boy wandering behind her.  

Later, sitting at the old men’s table drinking coffee the young girl and her grandmother walked past. I receive the same shy smile and wave from her. 

Also while sitting there a girl – I thought – came up and began using the instant photograph machines. I asked her if they worked the same as the way my wife made pictures on the computer. I received a cool “yes,” to which I replied that I’d like to see how she did it. Slowly, she became friendlier, explaining the procedure to me. When she finished and started to leave, I said, “Wait a second, you’re not going to leave without showing me those pictures,” (a little boy had been in one). Not only did she come to the table with the pictures, but the nearby cashier came to look also. They were photos of two small boys – that girl was older than I had guessed. I commented that the little one looked like he had a bit of deviltry in him. She laughed and said he was full of mischief. By the time she left; she, the cashier and I were all on friendly terms and I knew a bit about her sons’ antics. 

Later, I saw the other young woman, still pushing her cart, still busy talking on her cell telephone the bored young boy still trailing behind her. I could only remember Roland’s comment about how much these cell phone users lost by giving up their time to idle conversation. I know I had a better time in that store than did that woman on her cell phone and I’d be willing to bet that the people I talked with – or to – enjoyed their time in the store more than she did also.   

Still later, leaving another store, I saw a young woman with a bassinet in a carrier which was loaded with other things. Being a sucker, as everyone knows, for babies, I asked “How old is the baby?” “Seven weeks.” We left the store together and her truck was parked a few spaces from my car. I asked if I could help and, following a moment’s hesitation she said, “If you could keep the cart from rolling it would help,” so, in a cold wind, I stood and held the cart while she loaded the infant into the truck. Then she came back and retrieved her groceries, leaving two large boxes in the cart. I said, “Let me get those for you, after a baby seven weeks ago you shouldn’t be lifting heavy objects.” She agreed and, with some difficulty, I got those two boxes in the back of her truck. As I walked away, I received a soft, “God bless you.”

I wondered as we drove home who enjoyed their shopping most, the young woman on the cell phone or me and the people with whom I spoke. Roland is right, using those cell telephones people are throwing away the only thing they truly own, their time. All of those people: in cars, hallways, stores, seemingly everywhere spending their precious time on cell phones while losing out on the beauty, the warmth and the pleasures of the world in which they are living.

Thank You

By

William D. Dannenmaier

In 1952 my mother wrote to me that my father was extremely depressed. At the time I was a 22 year old private drawing combat pay as a radioman and scout with the 15^th Infantry in Korea. She quoted him as saying that he was a complete failure in life, he wasn’t even a salesman: he was just a salesclerk at Sears. I wrote him the following letter, which my sister saved and my nephew found and mailed to me just recently. I’m proud of it, meant it and still mean it, every word. 

“Dear Pop:

In about four days one of those things known as birthdays will arrive for you. Though many have no reason to be happy on this day I think that you are one of the few who can be completely self-satisfied.

In sixty-one years of living you have been privileged to watch the transformation of the horse and buggy to the high powered automobile. You managed to survive not only the depths of a great depression but the equally dangerous periods of high prosperity with good health, honor and a wonderful spirit of giving, and that is something that few men can say.

Among your blessings – which are many – you certainly have one that stands out above all else – your wife. As a secondary factor you also have three children – all of whom you managed to put through college – a rare achievement! Now you certainly have their love and respect – that I know.

And, finally on this day, your birthday, you can look forward to many happy years with your grandchildren – Johnny, Ruth Ann and others that may join them in the years to come.

So Dad, I salute you with a happy birthday and the sure knowledge that there will be many more to come. 

Love, Bill”

My father was a man of honesty, integrity and conviction. An anti-Roosevelt, conservative, Protestant; I listened as he sat and argued politics and religion with men of different beliefs and status in life. His friends included Democrats; Roman Catholics, Jews and an atheist who believed in communism (small c) and Blacks and Whites. Included among them were a millionaire, several small businessmen, a street sweeper and an unemployed workman. All were equal at his table and all were his friends throughout his life. There are millions of men (and women) in our nation like my father, working at the humdrum jobs that life and fate have bequeathed to them who probably, as they approach the ends of their lives, think of themselves as Dad did. 

They are wrong. They are more important to our nation than any Hollywood notable, politician or philanthropist. Such men provide the strength and future of democracies. Were it not for them, there would be no United States.

The letter was wrong in only one place. My father died three months after I returned home. His best friend, Walter Bibbs, the Black unofficial “boss” of the Sears warehouse, told me at Dad’s funeral that Dad came to the warehouse every day at lunch and prayed that I return, uninjured and alive. Walter said his prayer was simple, “Dear God, let him come back and take me in his place.”

So, thank you Dad, have a happy birthday, and thank you God for giving me such a father. 

Stray Thoughts

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Congress and President Bush are united in providing “rebates” of five hundred or so dollars to the population.  This dole should arrive in mailboxes shortly before the elections.  It reminds me of how Roman emperors, following the fall of the Republic would throw coins to the peasants, a practice followed in medieval times by the nobility of various European nations on special occasions.  So our “nobility” are planning on throwing pennies to the people, pennies that serious economists, based on historical evidence, claim will only hinder economic progress, not help it.  Still, people will enjoy the pennies, and the thoughtless will praise the givers.  Who will pay for the pennies?

Driving to the Cardiac Club, the atmosphere changed suddenly.  I commented to Sheila that a black and white kitty had either been run over or had gotten angry at some passing car.  Ruminating on, I said that we were fortunate in this country that skunks were not better organized.  If they were to all get together along the sides of major highways and then spray simultaneously, they could stop traffic and seriously upset the economy.  The only solution would be if we could get members of Congress, Representatives and Senators alike, to line the opposite sides of the highways.  The skunks would leave.  There are some things even they cannot stand.  They are too intelligent, unlike too many voters.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who likes the limelight, must be feeling neglected.  Not an expert on climate and having never lived in “tornado alley” he has proclaimed that “global warming” is the reason for the recent tornados.  Probably he is right, but consider the alternative.  If there were no “global warming” earth would be like Pluto – frozen.  There would be no life.  Thank you God, for global warming.

I read where a member of the “Jena 6” has been arrested for beating up another student at the high school to which he was transferred.  At six foot six inches and nineteen years of age, I assume the other student was smaller and younger.  Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will probably lead a parade to protest the arrest of this “innocent,” youth and he will be featured on the “Black Awards” night, unless, of course, the other student was black.

Black on white crime appears acceptable, even worth praise, never is it a “hate” crime under Federal law.  Living in the Boston area, the news one day was that a gang of young black men ran through the one subway train beating up all whites.  But the government immediately insisted it was not a racist hate crime.  When a group of young black men in Knoxville kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed a young white couple walking home from the library, it was not a race crime.  When a group of athletes at Duke were falsely accused of rape, students at a nearby black college argued they deserved to be punished anyway because of slavery.  When is the liberal media going to recognize that the worst racism, the most widespread racism, in this country is black racism, that the prevalent black racism actually does more harm to the black population than it does to all others, as blacks such as Bill Cosby, Star Parker, Dr. Williams and Dr. Sowell insist.

I continue to chip away at the tree that came down in the front yard, narrowly missing the house.  I’m now down to the last log.  Out of curiosity, I measured it the other day.  At the stump, it is 25 inches in diameter, at the other end, where it branched out; it is 36 inches in diameter.  It takes some planning, with a sixteen inch chain saw, to cut off pieces.  Fortunately a friend, Tommy, at the “Cardiac Club” told me how to do it. 

Working on it the other day, I thought of all the people who have “volunteered” to help in exchange for the firewood.  I have offered it to six people, five of whom said they wanted some.  Only three have shown up, and all three took the pieces I had already cut into firewood, none returned to help cut and split or even for more wood.  I don’t really mind the one lady.  She lives alone and is dependent on firewood for heat.  I am now taking her the split firewood. 

All of those I offered it to are considerably younger than I and healthier.  Five of the six would be described, at best, as poor, perhaps poverty stricken.  It occurred to me that the difference between poverty and comfortably poor is often one of planning.  The ones who did not return for more firewood will need more for next year, but why plan ahead?  They took enough for their needs – for now.  Instead of thinking ahead, they only took for the immediate.  They will be desperate again next winter. 

Liars

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Probably the funniest thing I have read in recent days was an article on the Drudge Report (January 26, 2008) that Senator Kerry accused Clinton (the ex-President not the aspiring one) for “abusing the truth.”  Has anyone “abused the truth” more than Kerry with his three Purple Hearts – without a night in the hospital – and his throwing of “his medals” over the fence in an anti-Vietnam demonstration not to mention the speeches by “veterans” he assembled in Detroit?

I can “get along” with most people. I mean most people, not all.  Persons with whom I’ve worked and socialized and whom I have enjoyed knowing have ranged from two star generals and an assistant to the Secretary of Defense to casual laborers who work only enough to pay for their alcohol and drugs.  Most people have virtues and most have some flaws.  That’s all right.  So do I.  But the one person that I cannot stand is the liar.  I don’t wish to have anything to do with liars if I can avoid it.  The simple truth is that liars lie.  There is no way of knowing if they are lying to you or telling the truth on any specific occasion.  Why don’t people understand that?

Listening to a liar is similar to walking on the muskeg in northern Alberta in the fall.  Not quite frozen, not safely frozen, you are never certain when you are going to sink up to your knees into a foot or more of mud and water. 

Similarly, one never knows when a liar is lying.  No red light shows on his forehead to warn the listener. 

During my years as a required participant/observer at faculty meetings and, later, at meetings held by the military for one reason or another, usually – considering my presence – to discuss research plans and results, I have seen numerous well-intentioned, competent and honest men and women.  I’ve also seen incompetents and liars.  Incompetents are not a problem, not really.  People are quick to recognize a person who is not competent at some task or other and learn not to expect much from them.  Liars are a different matter.  Many liars are amazingly competent at lying.  That is why, once you know a person is a liar, you must tread carefully in your acceptance of anything else they say. 

The amazing thing to me, one at all levels and over all my years of attending such shows, beginning as a twenty-one year old, is the fact that people will listen to, accept and consider seriously statements by people whom they know to lie. 

I am not a liar.  I never have been.  I used to say it was because I turn red and stammer when I try to lie.  There may be some truth in that, but there is also truth in the fact that I don’t believe in lying.  My reason is very simple, I understood it the first time I heard it.  Every time a person tells a lie to someone, he builds a wall between the himself and the person or persons to whom he is lying.  That lie must not be discovered, so that little wall is in place.  Worse yet, the liar must remember the lie and keep the story straight on future occasions.  Every new lie he tells to that person increases that wall and increases the problem of remembering.  Telling the truth does not build such walls.

O. Hobart Mowrer, a professor, practicing clinical psychologist and twice president of the American Psychological Association once told me that he considered lying the most destructive force in human relationships.    

This is the problem I have with the Clintons – both of them.  There have been too many “abuses of the truth.”  I can’t trust anything they say.  Neither can anyone else.

There is one thing that I should point out.  Lies about the number and size of fish a fisherman catches are not lies, mere mild muddles of memory. 

Stray Thoughts

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Jim, a friend from the Cardiac Club, and I occasionally discuss politics.  The other day he said that he hoped God would forgive him, two of his children have become Republicans (Jim is a member of the county Democratic committee).  I told him that evil evens out, two of mine have become Democrats.   In a recent discussion, we agreed that our personal horrors of the coming Presidential campaign would be to have Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee and Rudy Guiliani the Republican candidate.  His favorite ticket, if I recall correctly, would be Hucklebee for President and Obama for Vice-President – an impossible combination, but not a bad ticket.

It is the end of 2007 and everyone is giving awards.  The award for discrimination should go to Southwest Airlines.  My friend Luke’s grandfather died unexpectedly and Luke needed to get from Nashville to Wichita as quickly as possible.  Also, as is true of many in this area, money was in short supply.  Luke called Southwest Airlines, explained his situation and asked if there were any reduced cost options available to him.  The Southwest Airlines representative asked, “Are you a white male between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five?”  When Luke replied, “Yes.” She said, “I’m sorry, we have nothing for you.”  How many businesses can exhibit racial, sexual and age discrimination in two sentences?  Southwest wins my award for discrimination. 

This morning in the sermon, Pastor Roddy mentioned the joy of children at Christmas.  My experience – eight children – is that young children frequently have more fun playing with the wrappings and the boxes than with the encased toys.  It reminds me of the news media and their fascination with the glitter and wrappings of actors and politicians:  they report the wrappings, little of the substance.  Does that mean they consider listeners and readers to have the intelligence and interests of three and four year old children or do they have the intelligence and interests of three and four year olds?

Some people, mostly news people, are concerned about the writers’ strike in Hollywood.  I don’t understand why, the shows are no worse now than they are when the writers are producing their scripts.  Discussing it in the car, I suggested that if producers are really desperate they should go to a high school and hire students who have passed English.  My son Stephen argued that junior high students could do as well, but I don’t believe that.  Junior high students don’t know as many obscene words or have sufficiently vulgar thoughts to write for “family” movies or television.

A doctor, Samuel Wood, claims to have cloned himself to the point of developing an embryo.  On television he said it was fascinating to see himself at that stage of development.  The claim is that if these clones are implanted in a woman’s womb, they would develop into living children.  Consider the horror of this.  Can you imagine fifteen or twenty Hillary Clintons running for President?  Of course only the ego-centric would do this, but there are plenty of these in California and Washington D. C.  Of course there is a downside.  Consider a sixty-five year old who had cloned himself ten years earlier.  Would he be eligible for benefits?  After all he is only ten years old in another chassis.   

Recently, I read a fascinating article by Camille Paglia, (Hillary Without Tears, salon.com., January 10, 2008).  The following are quotes. 

“Hillary’s willingness to tolerate Bill’s compulsive philandering is a function of her general contempt for men.  She distrusts them and feels morally superior to them…which she identifies with her near-messianic personal ambition.  It’s no coincidence that Hillary’s staff consists mostly of adoring women, with nerdy or geeky guys…I remain concerned about her future conduct of high-level diplomacy.  Contemptuous condescension seems to be Hillary’s default mode with any male who criticizes her or stands in her way…She is a brittle, relentless manipulator with few stable core values who shuffles through useful personalities like a card shark…Forget all her little gold crosses:  Hillary’s real god is political expediency… I will vote for Hillary is she is the nominee of my party because I want Democrats appointed to the Cabinet and the Supreme Court.” 

Consider this.  Ms Paglia, a well known and influential Democrat, will vote for a person who she believes despises men, will be unable to work at an international level and whose only dependable interest is herself against ANY other candidate for the Presidency.  She would vote for and “trust” a person of whom she has such opinions to lead our nation for four years.  It makes me wonder if Ms Paglia, and the other leading Democrats of whom she is a member, are more interested in the welfare of the United States and its citizens or of the strong, elitist, group leading the Democratic Party. 

    This morning, I proudly announced to by bride that I was successfully buttoned and zippered.  In response to her muted applause, I told her, “Growing older is a day by day achievement.”

              Occasionally, Sheila and I have disagreements.  At present, we are on a campaign to lose weight.  She does well with less food in her stomach, but I get hungry, so I fill a side plate with vegetables.  She calls them relishes.  Today, I pointed out to her that beets are not relish, even if pickled they are still vegetables, similarly cabbage is not a relish, even if cured with red pepper, cucumbers are not relishes ...  At that point she interrupted me and proclaimed, “When cucumbers become pickles, they are relishes.  So are the others.”  I replied, “They are still vegetables, relishes are like ‘I relish you.”  “You are supposed to.”  “Or maybe the word was ‘ravish.’”  “That too,” she replied.

Since going on my enforced diet, my breakfast three mornings a week consists of one soft-boiled egg (unless I sneak in a piece of buttered, jellied toast or two.)  I like soft-boiled eggs.  The white should be hard, there should be a minuscule hard layer of yellow around the yoke and the remainder of the yoke should be runny – to add flavor to the white.  This morning the egg was perfect.  Normally it isn’t: sometimes the white runs out when the egg is cut, more often the yellow resembles a new form of concrete.  My bride watched me open the egg and noticed its perfection.  “You are really enjoying that, aren’t you?” she asked and continued, “You may think the usual variety I provide you is an accident.  It isn’t.  If I provided perfect eggs every time, you would soon be bored.  You would never get pleasure in breakfast. This way, I keep your morning one of anticipation and provide real pleasure every so often.  This is part of being a thoughtful and loving wife.  You are a very lucky man.”

    I pointed out to my bride that when morning came she fed the dogs first, the cats second, the fish third and the stray cat that has taken up residence on our front porch fourth, then me.  When I asked if there were any significance to this she replied, “They complain, you don’t, but if it makes you feel any better, I feed you before I water the plants.”

    An article in Fox news reported that scientists have noted an increase in allergies among children raised in current pristine environments, noting that farm children have fewer allergies than children from less germ and bacteria laden environments.  When I asked Sheila if she had read the article, she hadn’t, and when I briefed it to her, her immediate response was, “What a good mother I’ve been!”  (In a recent dream, dust bunnies were multiplying and surrounding her.)

    Do you know why so many men are hard of hearing?  It is God’s gift to husbands.

    Well, it’s income tax time again.  As usual, I fear I shall be going to prison after I submit it.  After all, it is much simpler for the IRS to catch and convict an old man making out his own return of a five dollar mistake than it is to catch or convict a billionaire of a million dollar “oversight” by this team of professional accountants.

 
Anyway, despite my predictament as an abused husband, a member of the multitude of abused husbands, I wish a Happy New Year to all, even wives.

Tyranny or Democracy?

By

William D. Dannenmaier

On Fox Sunday morning (November 24), one of the two Democrats on the panel, Juan Williams, argued that the United States had failed in Iraq and should leave: quit, retreat, surrender – what ever you wish to call it.  His point was that the national leadership of Iraq was in shambles.  He quoted Senator Reid (Nevada) on the matter. 

Senator Reid proclaims “democracy” a failure in Iraq because of the weakness of the central leadership.  He wants the United States to leave. 

It is natural for Senator Reid to approve of strong central “leadership.”  He enjoys such a position.  So does his family.  If I recall correctly, his two sons and his son-in-law have highly lucrative jobs with or related to the Federal government.  I don’t know how many others of his relatives, including, perhaps, his wife, enjoy the backwash of his power at the public expense.  House Speaker Pelosi thought her family should similarly profit from her position, at least she wanted taxpayer supplied free transportation for her family, even though as a multi-millionaire she can afford airline tickets much more easily than most of the people she is supposed to represent. 

If self glorification and enrichment, coupled with a reckless disregard of the rights and wishes of working citizens demonstrates the failure of democracy in Iraq, Mr. Williams should consider the behavior and leadership of our Democratic congress, beginning with Senator Reid and House Speaker Pelosi.

Democracies do not arise from the power of central leadership.  Autocracies do.  Powerful leaders established kingdoms by subduing or killing all who opposed them.  Dictators arise similarly.  There are recent reports that the revolutionary guard of Iran killed and threw out of college windows the bodies of students who questioned the rule of the Mullahs.  Control of a nation by a powerful leader and his sycophants has always led to disaster for the people.  That was true of the emperors, kings and queens of history just as in modern times Hitler, Stalin and Mao were able to overthrow fledgling democracies by killing millions and subduing the survivors.  Currently, Putin in Russia and the Mullahs of Iran are moving in the same direction.  The Saudi family is already there.

Democracies arise from the people.  While tribal groups, particularly in ancient Greece and the Scandinavian nations, had a form of democracy, true democracy, the power of the people to govern themselves for their common good, arose with the Protestant Reformation, which probably started with the invention of the printing press and the publication of the Bible into languages common to the peoples of different nations.  The belief in Christianity and the ability to read the Bible gave the working people the belief that all were equal before God and that all should have political equality, a belief kings and their anointed nobility despised and fought.

Democracy did not come easily.  Bloody wars were fought to achieve it.  Kings surrendered their powers only reluctantly.  In England, there were numerous uprisings following the emergence of Protestantism before rise of Cromwell.  A devout Puritan and fervent believer in the rights of the people, Cromwell had unparalleled military success.   Unlike aristocratic leaders who gathered serfs and unemployed in their armies, he did not accept everyone into his army.  Initially leading troops composed of Puritans, he came to accept any “Godly” people, even including Presbyterians, Baptists and Roman Catholics.   Installed as leader by parliament, he defeated all he met with these “Godly” farmers and working men.  When kings were returned to the throne following his death, they never again enjoyed the power of previous kings. 

I sometimes wonder what the history of England would have been had Charles I, whom parliament eventually beheaded, had had Cromwell’s genius and faith in people who believed in God.

The United States is the only nation that began as a democracy.  Geography provided this opportunity.  England permitted dissidents to migrate to the new land and sent convicts there expecting them to die on the frontier.  Living in a new, dangerous and difficult, land; these settlers governed themselves in their isolated settlements for almost two hundred years.  By the time their prosperity received the attention of the then King of England, it was too late for him to enforce his “right to rule.”  Still, it took eight years of warfare for the colonists to establish their independence.  When that occurred the true greatness of George Washington appeared.  Offered the opportunity to assume a crown and become king, he rejected it, solidifying the government we still enjoy.

Do the citizens of the United States still have to fear the possible rise of tyranny?  I believe the answer is yes.  Seventy percent of the people despise abortion, but the federal government – their(?) congress – ignores their wishes.  A majority want our borders secured and our common language maintained, but both the Democratic congress and the President ignore those priorities, preferring to attempt to secure the borders of Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

If the Iraqi people secure control of their own leadership, they will control their own borders just as, if we, the citizens of the United States, are able to establish a federal leadership which faithfully represents us, Congress and the President will secure our borders.

A relatively small group of extremely wealthy individuals, supported by a mass of welfare recipients, social workers (who are the overlords of the welfare fiefdoms) and the powerful union bosses, who include teachers and government workers unions, use their wealth to control our politics.  The leaders they help elect promise much, but deliver mostly to themselves.  If this growing power of federalism continues to increase, we have good reason to fear the rise of totalitarianism in the United States.

Capital Punishment

By

William D. Dannenmaier

The Supreme Court, in its ultimate power if not wisdom, has halted capital executions while considering if death by lethal injection was “cruel and unusual” punishment.  I haven’t heard if they are considering if the murders committed were “cruel and unusual.”  Apparently, that is irrelevant. 

One argument against capital punishment is that an innocent person could be executed.  Studies of executions, however, have never been able to cite a single incident, not one, of an innocent person being executed.  There are no reports, at least no publicized reports, of the numbers of people who have been murdered by escaped or released murderers.  Tennessee had one that I was aware of a few years ago.  A convicted murderer had escaped from prison in Louisiana and moved to Memphis, where he murdered an elderly lady in a parking lot. Had he been executed, that lady would have lived.

Periodically, one hears about similar “incidents.”  No one seems to care about the hundreds who have been murdered by persons previously convicted of murder who have escaped or been released from prison because of their “good conduct” while closely guarded in prison. 

A second argument is that executing murders does not deter other murders.  This is nonsense.  A recent study, covering several decades, compared the number of executions with the number of murders in the United States.  When the number of executions went up, the number of murders went down.  When the number of executions went down, the number of murders went up.  But who cares about facts and statistics?

An example rarely mentioned (Joel Mowbray discusses it in his article “Media Silence: Islamic Terrorist Case Ignored, Townhall.com, November 15 2007), which demonstrates the effect of executions on the murder rate concerns Muslims.  Tens of thousands of innocent people – men, women and children – have been murdered throughout the world in the name of “Islam.”  Occasionally, mention of one or two of the more notorious of these is reported, as in the proud publication by Muslims of the beheading of people they deemed reprehensible or in a particularly brutal act, such as the 9/11 airplane attacks on the twin towers in New York City and the pentagon in Washington D. C., or the train explosions in Spain.  Otherwise, there is silence.

In Holland, a man who wrote an article critical of the Islamic religion was stabbed to death in the street for expressing his opinion.  One does not write critical comments about Islamic beliefs A member of Holland’s legislature, a female Muslim who was critical of the Muslim treatment of women not only had to resign her elected position, but had to flee the nation to save her life.  Islamic apostates must not be publicly critical.  The editor in Belgium who published a series of cartoons about Mohammed was threatened with death and remains protected. 

Recently, a young woman who was abducted and raped by four men in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to ninety lashes for being out without a male companion.  When she went public with this outrageous punishment, she was retried and sentenced to two hundred (yes 200) lashes for arousing criticism of Islam.

Note the silence of the editors of the famed and courageous New York Times as well as other papers concerning such “incidents.”  The editors know better.  Public criticism of Islam could be fatal.

Recently, Miller Brewing Company helped finance a gay “rights” celebration in San Francisco which included a float mocking Christianity.  That was safe.  The owners of Miller know better, however, than to finance anything which mocks criticizes, much less mocks, Islam.

Hiding behind the twin gods of Multiculturalism and Diversity, newspaper editors, judges and important politicians have little to say about the seriousness of the Muslim terrorist threat.  Even college professors are careful to avoid the topic.  One cannot offend Muslim killers: offenders – or their families – might be murdered.  I know that I have heard of moderate Muslims, but where are their voices?  Like newscasters and other prominent “leaders,” they know the penalty of criticism.

The wealthy and important can argue that capital punishment does not deter crime.  They can afford such attitudes.  Living in guarded mansions, protected by guards in their public excursions, they don’t need to walk the streets to shop or work as do most people.  They have no fear of casual muggers, rapists and murderers.  But they are careful not to offend the “radical Islamists” by caricaturing their religion – as they do Christianity – or even by reporting the deeds of Muslim radicals accurately.  They know they and their families as well as any innocent bystanders would be executed in reprisal. 

Who says capital punishment doesn’t work?     

Stray Thoughts

By

William D. Dannenmaier

This morning, I proudly announced to by bride that I was successfully buttoned and zippered.  In response to her muted applause, I told her, “Growing older is a day by day achievement.”

I belong to the Cardiac Club at our local hospital, reporting for punishment two mornings a week.  This is not its official hospital name, which I believe is Cardiac Rehabilitation, but I long ago decided none of us would put up with the torture, called rehabilitation, that the nurses put us through if we didn’t enjoy the comradeship, which out weighs the suffering we endure. 

Anyway, viewing my fellow members the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, it occurred to me that we all know how to eat.  We might not be gourmets, who enjoy wafer thin slices of food served as delicacies, but we would all qualify as gourmands, who know how to stuff it in.  Even a casual observer would agree to that!

I ran out of tobacco this morning.  Finally, desperate, I asked my bride if she had a package concealed.  When she asked me how I wanted her to answer, I said, “Truthfully.”  A few minutes later, sitting on the porch watching the rain with her I said, “You know, when I die you might slip a pouch of tobacco and my pipe in the coffin.  I don’t expect to need matches; no doubt the fire will manifest itself.”  I don’t recall her answer.

When I brag, I only succeed in entertaining myself and boring the listeners.  My bride is much better at it.  Her brags are much more useful.  I thought about this the other day while making bean soup.  She is always telling people, in my presence, about the wonderful soup I make.  It is true.  I make soup.  I use a three or four gallon pot and when it is finished Sheila freezes it in the empty gallon ice cream containers we save (and of which we have plenty).  Then, when she doesn’t feel like cooking, out comes the soup.  For the last two days, for example, we have had chicken soup for light meals.  It was from the second last container of frozen soup, so it was time for me to make more.  Since the batch before the chicken had been pork and barley, it was time for bean soup.  All the time I’m working, of course, she tastes and brags about me.  It makes me proud and I cook on. Notice now nicely these soups fit into her cooking plans.  Notice how useful her brags are. 

Talking with Andrew the other day, somehow the physical fitness of our congressmen arose.  His first suggestion was to do a study comparing the fitness (physical) of congressmen to people in general.  Then, on reflection, he said, “But you should compare otherwise equivalent groups, and everyday people aren’t equivalent.  Maybe we should compare them with convicts.”  I replied that this wasn’t fair either.  Convicts spent their days working out in gyms to increase their strength so they would be more effective criminals in fighting law-abiding citizens and police when they got out.  On the other hand, congressmen had to go to all these expensive parties and do all of the drinking.  Just think, at present Senator Reid is taking an all taxpayer paid tour of South America.  Consider the parties he will have to attend: the meals he will have to eat and the cocktails he will be required to drink.  It is not fair to compare congressmen with other, convicted, criminals.”   He agreed.

I would like to suggest that any reader click into Townhall.com/columnists for November 28, 2007.  There are a slew of excellent articles, the best in several days in my opinion.  I was particularly impressed by Kathleen Parker, Walter E. Williams (as always), and Michelle Malkin.  For just plain fun, Mad Mike (Mike S. Adams) is his usual self.  He makes one wonder what California taxpayers are getting for their money as every organization he mentions uses university facilities and had faculty sponsors who are paid for their time – probably by released time from teaching real subjects.  As a combat veteran who despises Kerry (I never before knew of a Purple Heart recipient who didn’t spend a night in the hospital) I also liked Michael McBride. 

I believe that the local song birds have my number.  When I go out on the back porch to smoke my pipe, the bird feeder will be empty with not a bird in sight.  As soon as I light the pipe, a bird arrives.  Not wanting it to go away hungry, I fill the feeder while it watches from a nearby branch.  As soon as I finish, before I even return to my seat, he is at the feeder.  By the time I have the pipe smoking, birds are arriving in droves: chickadees, tufted titmice, song sparrows – they know that my smoke indicates food is on the table.

Stray Thoughts

By

William D. Dannenmaier

John Edwards, pursuing his quest for the Democratic nomination for president, advocated college for everyone. That’s just what professors’ need, more below average bodies in class, including morons and idiots.  On second thought; considering the writings and proclamations of many professors, particularly in such intellectual areas as popular psychology, sociology, social work, feminist studies and black studies; we have many professors who will communicate well at the level of less than intelligent and stupid students.

The worst thing that happened to higher education was when President Johnson flooded the universities with federal money.  It provided stipends for students with no experience in life to gain doctorates and become professors.  Uneducated in the reality of life, they taught from books written by other professors uneducated in the reality of life.  As a student, I never realized how excellent an education I was getting in my little teachers’ college as a result of being taught by professors who had successful prior experience in actually teaching in the public schools.

Stephen, who is in college, was unhappy with his low pay (six dollars an hour) in his part-time job.  It made me think of my past.  As a seventeen year old freshman in college I was making five dollars a day as a stock boy in the men’s clothing department at Famous-Barr in St. Louis.  One of my first purchases was of a red and black plaid jacket, a left-over from the previous year’s stock.  It was on sale for four dollars.  I desperately wanted a pair of Levi jeans, but they cost eleven dollars – more than sixteen hours of work.  I also worked as a theater usher, three dollars a night and as a lab assistant in the biology department, a dollar an hour with a maximum of twenty hours a month. 

In today’s world, many things are much less expensive.  At six dollars an hour, one eight hour day would pay for a shirt and a pair of Levi pants.  It is only non-essentials that have gotten so more expensive.  We bought White Castle hamburgers for a nickel, now they cost a dollar.  A better hamburger, which cost us then a dollar, is now four dollars.  People on middle-class incomes, with no children, buy three and four bedroom, and bathroom, homes.  In my youth, people with young children had two bedroom homes, boys and girls slept in the same room.  As infants became children they would gravitate to three bedrooms; one for parents, one for boys and one for girls.  One bathroom still did the job.  It is still possible to live inexpensively if you control the big items: the meals and the home.  Home made soups are extremely inexpensive (and much better than the canned soups sold), if you make them yourself and homes are reasonable, if you purchase to fit the family.

Judge Judy (other than football and local news) is the only program on television that I watch.  Recently, however, after two years of watching I’m able to predict most of the cases.  A young man and woman are living together, anywhere from two or three months to two or three years, and have now separated.  They met through the internet, at a bar or worked together, briefly, at some business.  During this time he or she borrowed several hundred or thousand dollars from her or him to pay rent or debts or bail.  Now the borrower has left to return to a wife or husband or former lover.  The rejected one is bitter and wants the money back.  This is almost a standard case.  It occurred to me the other day (it is beginning to get boring) that I have yet to hear of a single case in which the couple attended and met at the same church.  Neither can I recall couples who met in college and married.  

Ordering a Stark’s Brother’s catalogue, I held the young man on the telephone while I hunted for a pencil.  While looking I commented that my wife always hid things to write with and he started laughing.  Asking if he were married, he said, “Yes.”  I came back with, “At the age of 77 let me say that if you are married to a good cook, you can overlook a lot of lesser things.”  He agreed whole heartedly and said, “And there are always a lot of lesser things.”

The reason this is late is that a branch that came down from our maple tree in a wind gust has occupied my mind – and efforts – for the past two weeks.  Before the cries of “age will tell,” let me comment that four feet from where it joined the tree, the branch was 58 inches in circumference.  Yes, four feet, ten inches, round.  I still haven’t cut up that segment. 

Why Buy the Cow?

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Waiting for the computer to warm up, I play solitaire.  I lose a lot of games, many more than I win.  It seems that when I must choose between one of two or three alternatives, I always select the wrong one.  That reminds me of life.  We always have so many alternatives to choose from, and so many of them are wrong, leading us away from where we wish to be.

As a beginning psychologist, I was always amazed by the number of young women who found life not as they wished.  After we came to know one another, they often confessed they would like to marry and have a family with someone they could trust.  I recall one young woman who had had three husbands, all of whom proved unfaithful.  I asked her were she met them.  Guess.  In taverns.  I suggested to her that she might have better luck visiting some churches. 

While not everyone who attends church is trustworthy and dependable, I would be willing to bet that she would meet a much higher percentage of men who would make good husbands in church than in any tavern she could name.  Another who started coming for advice on college courses (she was intelligent and attractive) eventually admitted that she was dating a young intern.  She didn’t live with him, but she cooked his suppers, did his wash and slept with him.  I quoted the old saying to her of “Why buy the cow when the milk is free?”  She didn’t like that.  She quit coming to see me.

I am a “Judge Judy” fan.  An amazing number of her cases are “couples” who have lived together, anywhere from three or four months to three or four years and then separated – with recriminations, mostly from the women.  In a recent case a young woman was suing to get back money she had “loaned” to her former partner of a few months for either car repairs or bail.  Sitting next to the man she was suing was another young woman.  When Judge Judy asked who she was, she replied, “His fiancée.”  This reminded me of when my wife and I worked for the Census. 

After the first or second day of interviewing people – we had to ask how many lived in the house – Sheila asked me if I had noticed that if a woman answered our questions at the home of an unmarried couple, she always replied that she and her fiancé lived there.  If a man answered he would say, “My girlfriend lives with me.”  I began paying attention to that, and the people I interviewed who were living together, unmarried, answered in the same way, the woman would describe the man as her fiancé, the man would say his girl friend.  Sheila pointed out that the implication of this was that women in such situations typically saw “living together” as a prelude to marriage, the men never did.  I think she was right. 

Years ago, one of my sons had lived with a young woman for two or three years.  I wrote him a long letter saying that they had lived together long enough to know if they wished it to be permanent.  If she did, and he didn’t, he was stealing from her years when she might find a man who would give her the love, stability and family that she wished.  It was a long letter, one I didn’t wish to write, but felt it was my responsibility as his father.  I didn’t hear from him for a long time and feared I had alienated him (we are now close friends).  Several years later I told him of my fears and asked what happened.  He said that when he received it, he read it and handed it to her.  She read it; and moved out a few days later.

Nature has divided the reproductive opportunities for men and women.  Men can sire children well into their fifties and sixties – I ate a breakfast for seniors – legally – the morning following the birth of my youngest child.  But men cannot have children, only women can.  On the other hand, nature sets limits on women.  The best times, in terms of the health of the mother and child, for a woman to bear children, is in her twenties.  Research in the sixties found that women who bore their first child after the age of thirty-five, had one chance in five of the child having some kind of a birth defect: spina bifada, Down’s Syndrome, etc.  Men who simply live with women, with no intention of providing permanence or family, are stealing from those women their opportunities to have an enduring family.  Perhaps, to spread the blame, I should say that women who choose to spend their twenties sleeping with men who have no intention of permanence, signified by marriage, are throwing away chance for long term happiness.  Yes, twenty year follow-up studies at a major state university found the happiest people were married men, the second happiest were married women.  The least happy, divorced men led, but were closely followed by single women.

The old timers had it right, why buy the cow if you get the milk for free?  If young women don’t wish to think of themselves as cows giving free milk, they shouldn’t put themselves in that position.

Family Affairs

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Since going on my enforced diet, my breakfast three mornings a week consists of one soft-boiled egg (unless I sneak in a piece of buttered, jellied toast.)  I like soft-boiled eggs.  The white should be hard, there should be a minuscule hard layer of yellow around the yoke and the remainder of the yoke should be runny – to add flavor to the white.  This morning the egg was perfect.  Normally it isn’t: sometimes the white runs out when the egg is cut, more often the yellow resembles a new form of concrete.  My bride watched me open the egg and noticed its perfection.  “You are really enjoying that, aren’t you?” she asked and continued, “You may think the usual variety I provide you is an accident.  It isn’t.  If I provided perfect eggs every time, you would soon be bored.  You would never get pleasure in breakfast. This way, I keep your morning one of anticipation and provide real pleasure every so often.  This is part of being a thoughtful and loving wife.  You are a very lucky man.”

Billy, I believe the second oldest man in church - next to me - patted his paunch the other day and said, “The better I treat my stomach the more it grows and the worse it treats me.”  What a beautiful parallel to our welfare system: recipients, social workers, managers et al.  The more they receive, the more they want and the more complaints we hear.

I’ve been spending our money on books recently.  I purchased Ann Coulter’s If Democrats had brains, they’d be Republicans.  It was a fun read if you like irony and sarcasm with occasional novel points, which I do, but I rather regret the $15, as Sheila quit after a half dozen pages.  On the other hand, the autobiography My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas was outstanding and should gain a lasting place in literature.  Talking about it to my son Eric, he said he had heard it was a very angry book.  Not at all.  Detailing Thomas’ life and employment progress, it gave a vivid picture of the growth of a man from a poverty stricken childhood, through a radical demonstrating youth to conservative maturity.  He is highly critical of black “liberals,” in fact of liberals in general, but if chronicling specific political figures, their lies and failures, is anger, we need more of it.  Incidentally, he is highly complimentary of many people, including, interestingly enough, the residents of Jefferson City, Missouri, where he worked for several years for several years. 

Next month will continue the wild spending on books.  Doug Giles, in his blog on Townhall.com (October 21), which is always worth reading, described two books, What’s So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D’Souza ($17) and The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible by Robert Hutchinson ($14), both of which sound quite interesting.  (My prices are all from Amazon.com.)      

I slept late one recent morning.  It was almost six o’clock and Sheila was still asleep, or so she seemed.  Affectionately, I put an arm around her and, quite accidentally, touched her ribs.  There was an immediate giggle and she pushed my hand away (so much for affection).  She claims that it is unfair of nature that I am not ticklish anywhere and she is, everywhere.  I tried to explain it was not nature’s fault.  My older brother and sister tickled me mercilessly when I was small and helpless.  There were even times when, had it not been a hot dry summer day, I would have had to change my pants later.  Anyway, perhaps preparing me for Sheila, they taught me not to be ticklish.

Something, perhaps the above, reminded Sheila of a saying Ruby Leach believed and told her.  Shortly after we were married, while I was at work, Ruby was visiting and saw Sheila preparing a special treat for me.  Ruby asked what she was doing, and Sheila explained it was a treat for me.  To this Ruby responded, “Remember Sheila, dogs and men are easy to spoil, but hard to fix.”  That is feminist slander of course, but Ruby was, and Sheila is, an old fashioned feminist, one who has little trust in the competence of men. Husbands who have great cooks for wives can always accept a bit of such nonsense.

Currently, we have five dogs in the house.  We are baby sitting a small one for Joanne, Brandy and Leslie Edwards that is the most spoiled dog I’ve ever seen, more so than Joyce Melton’s Paisley, who held honors until now.  The darned thing will stand at the top of a one step stair and bark to be carried down.  It also considers thunder the barking of a distant dog which must be answered.  During a thunderstorm the other night, late the other night, it answered each clap of thunder, no matter how distant, with a round of barking.  Now, to complete the picture, Megaera and Shane arrived for the weekend bringing with them a four month old German Shepard puppy, a non-house trained puppy which thinks it must be with humans at all times.  I’m considering moving to a motel until Monday when our canine visitors return to their respective homes.

Hillary Care

By

William D. Dannenmaier

Rabid Republicans and other thoughtful people believe the most recent health plan put forth by Hillary Clinton is simply a reincarnation of her proposal that so horrified them several years ago.  The claim that 45 million people do not have health insurance is a distortion of statistics, as those 45 include 15 million illegal immigrants, new born children, and those who don’t wish to buy it as well as those who wish health insurance, but can’t purchase it. One study examining the 45 million and breaking it down into different groups concluded that there were fewer than a million people who wanted health insurance couldn’t afford it: people like my son Stephen who remains a student but is now too old to be included in my family policy.

Then there are those who could easily afford health insurance, but choose not to buy it.  A neighbor fits this category.  As the owner of a construction company, he makes more money a year than I ever made as a teacher.  Democrat Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, in an impassioned defense of the “new” plan, introduced two children who had been severely injured in an accident.  They were his examples of the need for this free coverage.  Michelle Malkin (Townhall.com, October 10, 2007) reviewed their case as no major media “reporter” bothered to do.  These children’s parents, who reported a taxable income of $45, 000, live in a home valued at $300, 000.  They have two new looking automobiles and a new looking truck in their driveway.  He owns his own business and employs his wife, who has a second job.  The children attend expensive, private, schools (There are two other children.) and both sets of grandparents are wealthy.  Mr. Reid reported their insurance would cost them a thousand dollars a month, but a blogger reported that it would be possible to purchase full coverage for five hundred a month.  To me, this combination sounds more like a case for investigation by the IRS then one for charity.

Another writer points out that the inference in the political tears for the uninsured 45 million is that they don’t receive health care.  That is not true. There are numerous government programs helping those in need – another neighbor, for example, learned that by remaining unemployed and single the government would pay all expenses when she had her baby.  She had a private room and received all necessary equipment – high chair, crib etc., - all new and all “free” except to taxpayers.  Additionally, most, if not all, hospitals accept people who need assistance but can’t pay for it, adding those costs to the bills of those who can pay.

The truth is that Hillary’s health plan is not designed to help the poor who are ill and probably wouldn’t receive health care.  The hidden agenda is to help the economy.  Notice that her proposed law would require that everyone – EVERYONE – have health insurance.  Consider what this means.

New born infants would be required to have insurance.  Every hospital would have to employ guards to stand at the doors to check a newborn’s health insurance card (HIC) before it could leave the hospital.  Additional nurses, beds and guards (to check for HICs) would be employed to care for the infants without HICs until their parents could provide them.  This would be an assist to the economy, all paid for with taxes from across the nation. 

Many states, including California, currently require everyone to have automobile insurance; else they are subject to penalties, perhaps including jail time.  Driving without insurance is a crime in California.  But one estimate is that twenty percent (20%) of California drivers do not have insurance. 

Now we shall have Living without Health Insurance (L/HI) crimes for the entire nation.  Consider the boon to the economy.  More police, more judges, more jails and more jail construction.  This last will help the construction industry, which has had a slow down in home building.  Everyone will be happy, except those facing additional and increased taxes.

All of this increase in taxes means less money in the pockets of working people to spend on such frivolous items as housing, food, clothing and education.  But, what the heck, Hillary will have provided “free” health care for everyone: those currently receiving “free” care through welfare, those who choose not to purchase health care and those who are currently paying for health insurance through union and company payment plans.

Who says there is no Mrs. Santa Clause?

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