Fixing Health Care in the U.S. is not the sole province of Democrats

We expect elected U.S. Senators and Representatives to be our eyes and ears tackling the often thorny issues that are best solved with a national perspective. We don't want state legislatures to spend time re-inventing the wheel on problems confronting us all - what to do on behalf of military veterans, or the mortgage foreclosure crisis, for instance, are challenges for the national government.

It's easy to blame that government for being slow to solve problems: the bodies that craft the laws are deliberative by nature, the departments they oversee are engaged in large undertakings - getting the government to change course or take up new challenges is not trivial. The perception that government isn't quick to solve problems has led to calls for privatization of various functions over the years - retirement accounts, for instance. The far-reaching effects of deregulating our financial institutions and the credit-default swap game have shown us the downside of privatizing.

Partisan posturing placates lobbyists, postpones problem-solving.

Putting health care administration into the hands of the insurance industry has arguably had similarly disastrous results. We spend more per capita than other nations, yet their innovations have thus far led only to higher costs that keep rising faster than inflation, faltering quality,and red-tape, with non-medical personnel making decisions about treatments and medications.

We've given the responsibility to big insurance companies because we expected creative, cost-effective solutions that improved the delivery of health care services; that's the strength big business brings to any challenge, right? That's why they earn the big salaries and lavish bonuses. Yet the insurance industry hasn't helped get health care right. The costs are out of control, and with millions of Americans - from children through the elderly - uninsured, their system is plainly failing.

"In 2009, Congress must take up and act on meaningful health reform legislation that achieves coverage for every American while also addressing the underlying problems in our health system. The urgency of this task has become undeniable."

~Senator Max Baucus, (D-MT)
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee
12 November 2008

When the Senate Finance Committee gets involved it's because the repercussions of the current mess are dangerous for the entire U.S. economy. One innovative solution with bi-partisan Finance Committee support is The GREEN HOUSE^® Replication Initiative. The concept of Green House^® homes is residences for 6 to 10 elders who require skilled nursing care and want to live a rich life. We're talking about significant departure from traditional skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities, organized to foster community and services by enhancing both autonomy and support. Creating places for senior citizens to enjoy calling home without the necessary assistance and care becoming the focus of life seems an obvious idea, doesn't it?

Success:
more than bottom line numbers

Insurance actuaries and CEOs know the number of elderly Americans is on the rise, and that their health care is costly - but the solutions haven't been coming from their industry. This particular solution is coming from NCB Capital Impact (the nonprofit affiliate of NCB) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We need to re-define success. Big business is ignoring the problem, looking instead to their separate bottom lines, while non-profit organizations are bringing real innovation and proactive thinking to bear. We need insurance profiteers out of the health care industry - now.

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Note: THE GREEN HOUSE® is a registered trademark. Only projects with an executed sub-license agreement may use the "Green House" term, or a confusingly similar term, in association with a long-term care facility.

Feminist Advisory Board

The Feminist Advisory Board [FAB] for Obama is now an official group within Organizing for America.

The founder, Madama Ambi, is now exploring turning FAB, which first gained notice during the 2008 Presidential campaign, into a platform for communicating with The White House Council on Women and Girls. She also hopes for the women's movement to "unify and strengthen its networks, but this doesn't mean that any one group has to be dominant." In Ambi's opinion, "the smart way to organize when you have so much talent is to create a horizontal, transparent network with high-powered communication infrastructures." Certainly staying within the construct of Organizing for America provides tools for that work.

"We are all in this together.
No one is free until everyone is free."

A draft proposal is available for comment at http://needia.blogspot.com, a needs-based women's media network driven by user interactivity. The draft proposal may also be posted at Wikipedia so that it can "take advantage of crowd-sourcing and collective intelligence." Ultimately, despite a feminist focus, you do not have to consider yourself feminist in order to participate in FAB: the group seeks support for dismantling the systems of domination that deprive all people of their human rights.

In the words of U.S. President Barack H. Obama,

"...it's up to us to carry that work forward, to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievements -- and that they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers never dreamed of."

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Tempest-tossed (two-boat) Irish Immigrants not welcomed in U.S.

While the history of the "No Irish Need Apply" signs may have grown in the telling, there was resistance to Irish immigration to the United States; the Ku Klux Klan greeted the newcomers (with their unpopular Christian religion and their strangely fair skin) with the intolerance, rumors about lifestyle, and prejudice previously reserved for non-white people. Perhaps the KKK was confused by the term "Black Irish." There is abundant evidence that such "NINA" signs were prevalent among a certain class in London in the early 1800s, (the British had famously broken away from the Catholic Church under Henry VIII) and scattered elsewhere throughout continental Europe, and no doubt they appeared in the USA as many Irish were fleeing violence and famine in their native land - arriving in America full of dreams and hope.

Regardless, today the President of the United States, Barack Obama, traces some of his ancestry to the Emerald Isle, and one of the better-known "ethnic" holidays in the USA is St. Patrick's Day, and people from all walks of life will take note of it today. Many will adopt caricatures of Irishness for the day, hats fit for a Leprechaun, green buttons and shirts saying "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" as they celebrate Irish culture, tradition, and people. Reporters and journalists across the country will cover people across the country enjoying parades and parties where people sing in faux accents, marvel about Irish jigs, drink beverages from Ireland, and put an O in front of their last name while overlooking the fact they'd never venture into a Catholic church and aren't quite sure how to pronounce shillelagh.

This is a success Americans could do well to reflect on as they consider their current struggle with immigration laws and issues. More than a president noted for an ethnically rich heritage, the United States is a country strengthened by the nature of being an alloy of many cultures and philosophies. The Irish endured invasions over the centuries, yet retained a unique (albeit somewhat misunderstood) cultural identity: both unity and diversity persist proudly on that one smallish island. Surely there is room in the United States for all who dream of freedom and hope to improve their lives.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

It's time for the great minds of American leadership to embrace the American dream, to bring immigrants who treasure the opportunities embodied into our constitution into full participation in our way of life. They must be required to abide by our laws, to value their citizenship and patriotism as highly as their neighbors, to participate in our democracy in every way, and if they don't want to participate wearing green on St. Patrick's Day they must at least recognize that it's about more than a Catholic saint - it's about valuing diversity by walking a mile in somebody else's shoes for one day each year.

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