Why Are We Shocked?

It is just days after the latest horrific, peculiarly-American, domestic massacre. This time it was a theatre in Colorado. Once again, we all act shocked. But why?

I am not shocked by the latest grisly massacre of innocents by an individual with an arsenal of guns. Why should I be? We Americans refuse to do anything to stop it, or even to limit it, so why should we be shocked? After all, it happens again ... and again ... and again ... and again ... and we do nothing to stop it.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Isn't that the colloquial definition of insanity?

I cannot believe that most people in this country want another massacre like Colorado, Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc. Yet, we let our silence rule. We let the NRA and the so-called supporters of the Constitution's Second Amendment call the shots, both literally and figuratively. We make excuses: the shooter was deranged, mentally ill. As though that is an explanation for his having free access to an arsenal. >Some even prescribe more guns as the antidote!

The First Amendment, the most important one, has limits, according to the Supreme Court and the other branches of government.  Then, why is the Second one sacrosanct? Do you even know what the Second says? Here it is:

Amendment Two. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. If some court somewhere cannot find some limits to apply to these words, then it is time for the Second Amendment to be repealed. That's right. Repealed. Eliminated from our Constitution. Eliminating the right will not eliminate the guns, but it would be a start.

I grew up around guns. There were guns in our house, and they were not locked up. (They also were not loaded, while not locked up.) My father's unlocked gun cabinet was a fixture in our living room. In our household, guns were a viable means to a legitimate end: meat for our table. I learned from a very early age that guns were dangerous weapons.

I played with toy guns when I was a kid. Once, I pointed my toy cap pistol at my father. I was probably 4 or 5 years old. I was playing, as kids do. My father's reaction was swift and memorable. He said, "You do not EVER point a gun, any gun, at anything you do not want to kill!" To this day, something as seemingly benign as a kid pointing a nerf launcher at a bird makes me anxious enough to need to pass that lesson along to the young perpetrator.

Why, then, do I think that guns should be regulated, that our "right to bear arms" should be eliminated?

The simple reason is that most people don't get the lessons about guns that I did. They don't learn to respect guns like I did. More importantly, they don't learn to understand the consequences of guns like I did. If guns are in the home, they are often hidden from children, or so the parents think. If guns are in the home, they are too often handled inappropriately. (Think about how many people are shot when cleaning an "unloaded" gun.) If guns are in the home, they are often left loaded deliberately. ("What good is an unloaded one?" the thinking goes.)

Increasingly, this is how we try to "protect" ourselves and our children from harm in a society and a culture that is replete with gun violence, real and fictional. Moreover, we have a culture that somehow fails to gift our children with the lesson that guns in the wrong hands for the wrong purpose are deadly. And we make all kinds of guns available to anyone with the money to buy them. And then we are "shocked" when someone walks into a theatre or a school and sprays people with bullets.

Well, I am not shocked. I am angry that such stupidity reigns in this country.

An enduring memory of my first trip to London was seeing police officers (even those in riot gear) without guns. Another was seeing a poster in the Underground warning me of pickpockets. I laughed when I read that poster! I didn't want my pocket picked, but at that time in Washington, DC, one could be concerned about being shot just walking down the street. I lived and worked in the neighborhoods where the Washington sniper and his rifle were picking off ordinary people going about their lives. I remember driving for miles out of my way to get gas, hoping to find a gas station where I was "unlikely" to become another target.

Give me a Nation where I have to be concerned with pickpockets instead of gunmen. Please. And repealing the Second Amendment would be a place to start.

Teacher Appreciation Week

During my campaign for Corvallis School Board, I have said ad infinitum that I owe my life's success to the start I got in the Wirt County Schools.  It is true.  I don't know if everyone was the beneficiary of the same opportunities I enjoyed (I hope they were), but I know that I always had a teacher or several who looked out for me.

One made sure I had a new dress when I went to the State Capitol to receive my Golden Horseshoe (an award for 8^th-grade excellence in West Virginia history).  One made sure my best friend and I got the part-time jobs when the local bank needed skilled hands to transcribe endless tax forms for employees and customers in that pre-computer era.  One made sure I had a home and a stand-in family during my senior year in high school when my father was hospitalized for a month and a half and my mother went away to be with him.  One made sure I had a new dress and shoes for graduation.  The same one kept the secret that my parents would be home just in time to watch me graduate at the top of my class.

Teachers were my role models for middle class living.  They dressed well and lived in nice houses.  In my small West Virginia town, they were the only professionals I experienced on a regular basis.  They opened my eyes to opportunities I could never have dreamed of, and they helped me grasp them.  I owe my life’s success to those teachers and all the others who came later.

The ones who came later encouraged me.  One encouraged me not to drop out of college (I did anyway, but I returned).  Others encouraged me to apply to the Maxwell School’s graduate program at Syracuse University, when I didn’t believe I could possibly get in.  Another mentored me through my graduate program, taught me to be an ethical researcher, and gave me the extra push I needed whenever I needed it.  And, finally, one became my role model for retirement.

You may notice that little of this focuses on instruction in the classroom.  Well, they did that too.  From Mrs. Swearingen’s 1^st-grade  phonics drills to Dr. Mueller’s endless patience with my endless questions in graduate school statistics, they all made my academic achievements possible.  I can no longer name them all, but they all played a major role.  While growing up in Wirt County, where the curriculum was basic and the budget tiny, nearly all were inspiring and challenging, including every one of my elementary school teachers.  How can this be?  It seems impossible by today's standards.  But it is not.  IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE.

This past week was devoted to teacher appreciation.  For all my teachers past and present, I say, Thank You! for everything you did.

Why Am I Running for Corvallis School Board?

Below is a copy of the statement I provided for the Benton County Voters' Pamphlet for the Special Election, May 17, 2011.  It summarizes my background and why I want to serve on the Corvallis School Board.

OCCUPATION:  Consultant (part-time)

OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND:  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS):  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1998‑2008; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 1997‑98; Agency for Healthcare Policy and Research, 1985‑98.  Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1993.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:  Ph.D., M.P.A., Public Administration, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.  B.A., Political Science, West Virginia University.

PRIOR GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE:  U.S. DHHS, 1985‑2008.  Maryland Health Care Commission Institutional Review Board, 1999‑2008.

OPTIONAL INFORMATION:  

I believe that a quality education is every child’s key to the future.  For me, education paved the road out of poverty.  I owe my life’s success to exceptional teachers and mentors, all committed to high standards.

Depending on the incentives they face and the priorities they pursue, our schools can succeed or fail in preparing our kids to live and work in the 21^st century.  As the School Board fulfills its role in this system, I aim to represent the interests of every Corvallis child, from the most affluent to the most disadvantaged.  To do this, I will listen to families, teachers, administrators, staff, and my conscience to identify what is best for the kids.

In terms of technical competence, I bring over 20 years’ experience in public service, where I managed large projects, contracts, multi-million dollar budgets, cutbacks, stakeholders, and staff.  I made tough decisions as circumstances required; and I brought people together to find practical solutions to problems.  My firsthand experience with Corvallis schools comes through my partner’s two children who, so far, have attended Garfield, Hoover, and Linus Pauling.

Arts and crafts

I've never considered myself an artsy-craftsy kind of person. So, it took me awhile to figure out how to comply with Ricky's wish to have his name ... his complete first name ... on his bedroom wall.

My first idea was to stencil it using commercial stencils. That is, until I learned how much seven (or ten) stencils of the necessary size would cost. Next, I considered stick-on vinyl letters. Again, prohibitively expensive and limited in font and color. Back to stencilling. I decided to cut the stencils myself. I've stenciled before, but the idea of cutting and then using homemade stencils to do script letters (yes, he requested script) really stymied me.

For months, I cogitated. There must be an easier way.

Finally, two weeks before Christmas, it came to me! Find a font on the computer; print out the letters one per page; enlarge them to the necessary size at Kinko's; apply the letter/templates to foam core (only $1 a sheet at the Dollar Store!) using clear packing tape; cut them out with a craft knife (another couple of dollars for new, sharp blades); paint them using leftover latex primer and paint (the exact color he wanted); then, adhere to the wall using removable foam sticky squares.  With Mina's help, of course.

It worked. He is happy. About this, anyway.

Primroses redux

After the yellow primroses come the orange ...

and then the red ... 

In Oregon, the result is a prolonged spring.  That which began in February is still blooming in May.  Sigh.

Destruction in Need of a Solution

The Oregon State University women's basketball team is in a state of dysfunction and disintegration. Star players are leaving (several have already gone) and the University and media are strangely silent. Charismatic coach LaVonda Wagner appears to be at the heart of the problem

By the end of last season, which can only be described as a debacle, it was clear that something was VERY WRONG.  That wreck of a season included a 16-game losing streak from a team that had started the season young and inexperienced but with promising sparks.  It was a downward spiral.  Every fan I spoke with criticized LaVonda's "strategy" of incessant substitutions.  How can a 5-player team gel, when they never get to play together longer than a few minutes?  How can a player improve, when she gets pulled off the court and publicly berated every time she makes a mistake?

Does this seem like an inconsequential thing to be commenting on?  It is not world peace; it is not health reform.  I know that.  But when you follow a team, you get to care about the people.  You get to think you know them (even though you know you don't).  They get to be part of your life.  For example, I'm going to miss Talisa Rhea, and I'm sorry that what became her last season at OSU turned into such a disaster.  I'm going to miss the OSU announcer celebrating, "That's a three-a for Rhe-a!" several times during any typical game.  When she was on, she could light up the court (and the scoreboard).  And how hard must it be to leave your team and your school for your last year?  Now she has to sit out a year before she can play again (NCAA rules).  How hard will that be?  And will she be able to come back at anything like the level she could have been?  What a waste.  And, to date, no solution.

Sometimes it takes a century

Health care reform is finally a reality. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime. Here is my view of it all.

When I started graduate school back in 1980, I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. With all the boldness of the young and naive, I stated that I wanted to be the first woman to run the national health insurance system. I actually believed that there would be one. Silly me.

Come 2003, I was one of those nameless, faceless 500 who worked on Hillary's Health Care Reform Task Force. It was an honor to be part of the effort. Then, after all that work, we watched it crash and burn as a result of LIES. More lies than I could imagine. And those lies went uanswered. Harry and Louise were the chief purveyors of the lies, you may recall. Harry and Louise were the well-financed creation of the private health insurance industry.

When Obama was elected, I was pleased to know that health care reform was going to be his #1 priority. But I didn't really expect much to come of it. There had already been so many tries -- Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon (didn't expect to see that name, did you?), Bill Clinton -- and they all ended in failure. The wounds of the Clinton failure were still a bit raw.  Lyndon Johnson came closest. He managed to get Medicare and Medicaid enacted. Did you know that Medicaid (public health insurance for the poor) was added to the Medicare (public health insurance for the elderly) legislation in an attempt to kill it? Today, millions of people reject "government health care" but think Medicare is sacrosanct, just like Social Security. 1965 … the good old days, when the President and Congress could get big things done.

Then, Obama turned responsibility for reform over to the Congress. Big mistake, right? Well, no, it wasn't. Rather, it demonstrated that President-O had learned an important lesson from Bill Clinton, i.e., it is Congress that eventually has to pass the bloody bill. He learned another important lesson too:  expose the lies, of which there were plenty.

And what did Congress do? They dithered ... and negotiated ... and politicked ... and did what Congress does. But eventually, the House of Representatives passed a bill. It took Speaker Pelosi a good long while, and she had to cut some deals, and eventually she had to cave to the anti-choice crowd, but she got the bill passed. (I won't criticize her for caving. Obviously, she knew that she would have another bite at the apple during reconciliation of the House and Senate bills.) And then all eyes and hopes turned to the Senate. And what did the Senate do? They dithered ... and negotiated ... and politicked ... and, well, you know, they did what they do. Senate Majority Leader Harry Ried's constituents in Nevada applied pressure (lots of it). Ted Kennedy died. What a mammoth loss! But eventually, on Christmas Eve, the Senate also passed their bill, depending on their razor thin margin of 60, without which a filibuster from the Republicans would have been the bill's death knell. What a Christmas present!

All that remained (or so it seemed) was for the House and Senate to get together in January, reconcile the two bills (that is, work out all the differences between them and make them identical), and then pass the reconciled bill. Simple, right? WRONG. The differences between the bills were major in several areas, not the least of which was how to pay for it and whether there would be a "public option." A public option (in the House bill, but not the Senate one) would have provided a public insurance option to compete with private insurers. An amazing number of people (many Republicans, for instance) who say they love competition in the marketplace reject this kind of competition, so the public option was a really big difference to reconcile. And, of course, everyone wants benefits but no one wants to pay for them, so how to finance health care reform was equally big and divisive. These weren't the only big differences, but they are illustrative of just how far apart the House and the Senate began their reconciliation negotiations.

And then Massachusetts threw a new monkey wrench into the machinery by electing a Republican to fill the Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy. And with that one fell swoop, the Senate Democrats no longer had that filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. Death to health reform? Near death, certainly. And after it became clear that no Republican would compromise even a little, only one option remained. The House had to pass the Senate bill AS IS. That was the only way. The Senate couldn't pass a bill, any bill, anymore. It was all up to the House, and Speaker Pelosi. Of course, they did maneuver a way to make some reconciliations. If the House would pass the Senate bill, then both the House and the Senate agreed to pass some amendments, and the Senate decided (with Senator Byrd's blessing) that they could pass the amendments under rules for budget reconciliation, which cannot be filibustered. In other words, the Senate could pass the amendments with 51 votes, not 60.

And they did it. The House passed the Senate bill, and the House passed the agreed-upon amendments. The anti-choice Democrats were placated with an executive order that probably means nothing. The Senate has now passed the amendments; they had plenty of votes to do it. President Obama signed the health care reform bill into law. In short, they made history.

Is it a good law? Absolutely. Is it a perfect law? Absolutely not. Policy like this gets made through compromise, hard-fought give and take. Making policy is like making sausage. It is not pretty. It was not designed to be. But they got it done.

But did they do the right thing? Winston Churchill said, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else." I’m not sure we’ve tried everything else, but we’ve tried health care reform failure (again and again), and we’ve tried a stupid, immoral system of letting people die for lack of insurance, and we’ve tried health insurance for the well but not the sick. We’ve tried being the only industrialized nation in the world not to have health coverage mandated for its citizens. Yes, they did the right thing. And it is well past time.

That is my view.