What We Miss

Thank goodness we have our computers to watch the fabulous athletes competing in the Paralympics in London, including the sold-out opening ceremony featuring Stephen Hawking.

We in the United States can't see the Paralympians our televisions like in the rest of the developed world. The games are barely covered in major United States newspapers.

Does this have anything to do with our being on the top of our own world hierarchy, and that we overly value bodies that are on the top of our body hierarchy?  Just another example of the richness of life we miss by looking at the world from the top.

You'll enjoy the article below.

http://london2012.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/its-a-shame-paralympic-opening-ceremony-wasnt-seen-by-all/

Age-Old Stories

Now Romney is saying that he can not release his tax information because the Mormon Church does not  believe in disclosing how much donors donate. This new excuse sounds like a trick that some hierarchical Christians have used for centuries – to hide behind religion while building a hierarchy that benefits oneself.

Romney recently highlighted another tax-related practice that helps build big hierarchies – the role of offshore tax havens in helping to ensure big business is "doing fine."

Here's another smokescreen disguised as a noble cause - Instead of the current guarantee that the program pays for medical costs, Ryan's plan would give seniors a set amount of money each year to buy private health insurance. If that sum isn't enough to pay for the necessary coverage -- or to pay for traditional Medicare -- seniors would have to make up the difference. Vouchers to pad the pockets of private insurance companies.

If people in this country weren't so programmed to support hierarchies, then maybe not so many would be believing these hierarchical tactics.

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_21418489/eugene-robinson-republicans-trying-pull-great-switcheroo-medicare

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/aug/28/romneys-reasoning-has-holes/

Risks of Inequality

At Lonmin's platinum mine in South Africa, police shot and killed 34 people while trying to disperse protesters at the mine. Over 78 people were wounded. Prior to this, 10 other people - including two police officers - were killed.

This article states that South Africa frequently tops the list as the country with the greatest income inequality, and the result is public and economic unrest. The conclusion is that such financial division of society is a fatal separation that will eventually implode into conflict.

We look forward to end of the death struggle and the fall of hierarchies in the United States so we can avoid systemic implosion and increased conflict.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/opinion/massacre-is-end-result-of-growing-inequality-1.1368065#.UDfzi918WGo

little people

The addition of Paul Ryan to the Republican presidential ticket places the feet of the Republican party firmly in hierarchy-conservator concrete. They are making their stance even more obvious, in case anyone was questioning.

Both Romney and Ryan have made statements that are typical of people on the top of hierarchies, who believe they have what they have because they have worked harder than other people whom they have placed lower on their hierarchies. Romney and Ryan cannot see the contributions of other people – a primary reason why people at the top of hierarchies are so clueless.

Eugene Robinson's article describes this as: "little people don’t contribute and don’t count."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romney-and-ryan-are-overlooking-the-underclass/2012/08/13/63e917ea-e579-11e1-8f62-58260e3940a0_story.ht

Female Athletes in the Spotlight

Last night a friend called to talk with Harriet, but she told him she would call him back during the commercials. You see, Harriet was savoring watching the Olympics, where only once every four years she can enjoy watching female athletes featured on television in any way in an equal proportion to men.

During the broadcast, the NBC social media report indicated that 70% of the Tweets and Facebook messages involve female athletes, so obviously Harriet is not the only interested fan of women's sports out there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/bruni-at-the-olympics-womens-time-to-shine.html

Reason in Health Care

Hierarchy conservators used "death panel" propaganda to undermine efforts in the U.S. to establish an equitable system of health care that many other nations have. The label of "Death Panels" was created by Sarah Palin when she charged that proposed legislation would allow bureaucrats to decide whether Americans—such as her elderly parents or child with Down syndrome—were worthy of medical care. This myth helped turn Americans move away from a single-payer system and towards a system that benefits insurance companies.

Our expensive health care system will continue to make many individuals and companies extremely wealthy, because they will reap financial benefits from the troubles of other people. They will continue to perform expensive procedures to keep people alive who, without intervention, would die naturally instead of lingering in an undesirable state (see the article below).

In this well-written, thought-provoking article about his mother, Michael Wolff says, "What I would not do for a fair-minded body to whom I might plead for my mother's end."

We're glad we live in Oregon, the state that pioneered assisted suicide.

http://theweek.com/article/index/229621/dementia-the-ending-no-one-wants