Gus diZerega: June 2009 Archives

I am amazed that I have heard so little as to why the purely private option no longer works for medical insurance and never will again.  The reason lies in the very logic of capitalism and the market.  While right wingers have made the national debate pretty mindless over health care, as over everything else, I will do my little bit today to add some rationality.

Insurance works on the principle that a certain number of people in a population will need help, that number is predictable, but we have no idea who among the population will be the ones affected.  Therefore we pool our resources to cover everyone's risk, a few paying less than they will need, most paying more (because they will need nothing) and everyone being safe from the financial impact of that particular disaster.  It is very simple logic, and works for car insurance, home insurance, and many other kinds of insurance.

It does not work for medical insurance.

I've just finished Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce's  new book, Wild Justice: the Moral Lives of Animals.  Theirs is a wonderful book that in less than 200 pages has deeply changed how I look at our other-than-human neighbors on our planet.  It has moved me still further from the sociopathic assumptions that increasingly define modern attitudes.  It also has important connections to many themes I've discussed on this blog.

Last week I went with a Pagan friend to the Marin Interfaith Council's meeting, to hear Barbara McGraw give a talk on church and state in America.  McGraw is author of Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground,  a very good discussion of how our Founders anticipated relations should be between church and state. California's spiritual diversity was well represented by the people who turned out to hear her.  Along with Pagans, at least the Catholic, Presbyterian, Jewish, Bahai. Episcopal, Zen Buddhist, Brahama Kumari, Taoist, Unitarian, UCC, and Sufi traditions were all represented.  

The forgiveness thread Cheryl started is a wonderful one, and I want to give it special placement.  Forgiveness is a fascinating topic.  I have a remarkable story that offers an inspiring perspective on that issue.

This is open to whomever to bring up whatever.

From an Iranian student on her blog.  Look for 3:09 PM."I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I'm listening to all...

This weekend marks Midsummer, the Summer Solstice celebration.  Pagans of many different types will be celebrating Summer Solstice 2009 in small and large groups across our country.  Because we focus on the Sacred as immanent in our world, everything that...

I was intrigued with the finding in the Pew poll that those Americans who did NOT go to church were the most opposed to torture.  Over 60 percent of white evangelical Protestants supported torture, the highest percent of ll groups...

Franklin Evans in commenting on the last post suggested I host a discussion of what these words mean because he says they are often confused by people.Perhaps they are.  Let's see,...

We now have quite strong statistical evidence that conservative Republicans are way out of step with the rest of the country with regard to how they see empathy as a virtue.  Daily Kos commissioned two polls, with fascinating findings, here ...

Politics is a free-for-all of men and women made crazy by their love of power, and  even the best of politicians often find what seemed possible before winning was impossible once in power.  America's system favors the status quo, even...

A few blog commentators have wondered whether I might be walking close to the line, or even stepping over it, in describing the enablers of murder as moral monsters who are committing treason against the United States.  I appreciate their...

In the past year there have been many murderous terrorist attacks in the United States, and all have been from the radical right. Jim Adkisson killed two Unitarian church members and wounded others because they were "liberals." Kieth Luke, a...

While visiting Walla Walla, Washington, where I had taught for some years at Whitman College, I took a side trip over to northeast Oregon, one of the most beautiful and least known parts of our country.  There I visited the...

While I was in Portland visiting a Pagan friend who was studying acupuncture, I mentioned my stroke last year, and my belief that I had recovered so quickly because of my many years of energy work, aided by my friend...

I just got back from a great trip through the Pacific Northwest.  I left Cave Junction, Oregon, this morning, oogled the scenery in Redwood National Park, saw old friends and their chickens in Arcata, and made it to Sebastopol by...

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield over at Windows & Doors has a good post from a Jewish perspective on Newt Gingrich's latest idiocies regarding Pagans. He makes the very astute observation thatit seems to me that many of what we might rush...

Newt  Gingrich, the thrice divorced defender of family values and Catholicism, warned "I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator." ...

Pagans are famous (infamous?) for taking seemingly mundane occurrences and finding something deep and meaningful in them. We can take just about any occasion and turn it into a sacred, festive celebration. Whether it's an ancient seasonal festival, the feast...

Hello, this is T. Thorn Coyle, stepping in for Gus today.   One of the things I do in life is act as a spiritual director. Recently, one of my clients was talking about a struggle with the fact that...

Given the negativity that so easily can come to seem the defining feature of this society, it's good to be reminded of why so many of us push back against the forces of dark ignorance.  Drew Dellinger's poem is a...

This week some new bloggers will appear.Today I finished a manuscript I've been working on for 4 years.  It's working title is "The 60s, the Culture Wars, and the Return of the Divine Feminine."  I am fried. ...

Here is another open thread where folks can explore what they want, unconstrained by my choices.  Based on the successes of last week's, I will offer a new one every week....

There is only one variety of committed opponent to the legality of all or most abortion who holds a position I can respect as indicating personal sincerity, a sense of responsibility,  and moral integrity.  Only one....

Thomas Berry has died today.   He had been a central figure in helping Western Christians, those willing to look and learn anyway, re-establishing connectedness with the sacred immanence we Pagans find in nature. Other giants in ecological and spiritual thought...