Playlist: The Citizens' Guides
Compiled By: Susan J. Cook
If we tell each other what we know about being citizens in this great country, maybe more of us will take part and help sustain participation. The Citizens' Guides are a collection of how-to, what-for and where-with-all commentaries, based on the experience of this writer as she negotiates the passage through being a citizen in this time, in this country, from her neck of the woods..
Teaching A Computer to Find You- A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:29
Internet anonymity now is presented as ‘the standard’ . But being anonymous when online really is optional . If like many other human activities, anonymous engagement on the Internet required mutual consent, many of our new Internet ‘problems’ might soon end.
-Susan Cook-
Misinformation
Unsolicited Pornography
Dangerous Chat Rooms
Trolling and Smearing
Financial Scams
Spam
Bullying
False Information
Computer Viruses, Worms, Bots
Identify Theft
The Narcissist-In-Chief: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:28
From the Trump White House, the latest justification for dismissing legal challenges to the Muslim travel ban is that the Constitution makes the United States look weak. The Trump White House references to the past are largely believed to be manufactured- the well-oiled transition team machine, for example. Obama alleged to have 'wiretapped’ Trump Tower, for instance. And then there’s the 'bourgeois individualism' driving the Trump cabinet members who deny climate change, the need for national affordable health care, threaten world stability for the sake of oil profits, and whose spokesperson claims ’ alternative facts’ which I guess if history is denied are as good as any.
Donald Trump embodies the Culture of Narcissism, a term used in the 1979 best seller by Christopher Lasch. That is the culture after all, which born and reared Trump, the new President. But why didn’t anyone successfully call him out on the limitations of narcissism during the campaign or at the least- every narcissist‘s nightmare, shame and humiliate him. Yes, his competition included some of the most boring and self-absorbed Republicans ever, diminished expectations right before our eyes. But why didn’t anyone know how to explain what he was about so as to diminish his appeal?
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- The Narcissist-In-Chief: A Citizen's Guide
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- Susan J. Cook
-Susan Cook-
How to Have A Social Conscience: A Citizen's Guide to the Psychology of "Less Than"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:09
Millions of women all over this country are protesting the denial and exclusion of women’s rights by the new Washington, DC throne holder. So to explore Social conscience- or at least understand what a Social conscience is when it comes up in the media, you might ask yourself these questions:
If my experience is different than someone else’s, do I believe the person is ‘less than’ me otherwise the person would not have has those experiences? And there are more to ask.
A Citizen’s Guide To The Psychology of ‘Less Than‘
-Susan Cook-
If my experience is different than someone else’s, do I believe the person is ‘less than’ me otherwise the person would not have has those experiences?
If Power Is An Aphrodisiac, Unethical Staff Are Surgical Implants
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:39
The Presidency and being Presidential staff are not power pills that work their way out in sweat and perspiration after swallowing. They are power pills that cause genetic and believe it or not historical mutations. How do we remind ourselves and the public that the newly Powerful may give themselves permission to deceive? How do we hold a new President and his staff accountable?
-Susan Cook-
You may remember a Democrat who got into a compromising (or rather compromised, re-negotiated, compromised again and finally blackmailed) circumstance and lied, distorted and had his staff lie for him. That would be former Presidential candidate John Edwards and his circumstance with videographer Rielle Hunter. His staff's deception in personal , professional and public relationships, however, zoom us to another level in viewing the journey of that substance called power through the human body. As Donald Trump takes The Oath, his staff’s willingness to lie for him must also be a focus of our concern.
Whatever happened to that other White House luminary who said "I cannot tell a lie" whose food must have had a really tough journey through his body because he only had wooden teeth to chew it. I'm talking about George Washington.
People are not just players in a lie, however elaborate. They are not a means to an end. They are the end. Deception is something we need to claim as what we do not like in political life. This is not claiming the moral high ground. This is taking our vitamins, believing they work and hoping they do.
This Political Year of Women: Smears, Cheap Shots and Character- A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 08:11
If you missed the smearing, cheap shots and character assassination against women this year, and one woman in particular, maybe you were cut off from earth-bound communication. This year was ‘proof’ strategies flourish, to undermine the credibility and judgment of women- no matter how many credentials she’s acquired, critical responsibilities she’s taken on or professional advances she’s made. If someone wants to reduce her through name-calling, lie invention, Facebook reputation smearing that she has poor judgment, is a crook, a controlling bitch, a substance abuser, is a 'no filter' big mouth, or indifferent to sexual assault, all they have to do is start saying it. Put it on Twitter, editorialize it in the local newspaper, or post it on Facebook. There you have it. Like a public offering traded on the stock market, the smearing gains value the more it’s traded. It is doesn’t matter if you are Hillary Clinton. Or Madeline Albright. It could be you. It could be me.
Stunningly though, permission for smearing and discrediting of a woman- ‘trial by the court of public opinion’ one Party chair called it to justify a smear campaign he actively took part in- ’taking out to the woodshed’ another Party Chair called it- is shored up by gender-bias. Stereotypes that demean women and give others- including men -permission to keep her in her place, discredit her or not trust her are the archetypes summoned by the fury of the smearing. Even though 59 percent of women in this country identify themselves as feminists, there is a blind spot that hides the spontaneous and willing engagement in sexist smearing- if you are a woman -as not feminism. This is what Madeline Albright meant when she said there is a special spot in hell for women who do not support other women.
This Political Year of Women: Smears, Cheap Shots and Character -Susan Cook- If you missed the smearing, cheap shots and character assassination against women this year, and one woman in particular, maybe you were cut off from earth-bound communication. This year was ‘proof’ strategies flourish, to undermine the credibility and judgment of women- no matter how many credentials she’s acquired, critical responsibilities she’s taken on or professional advances she’s made. If someone wants to reduce her through name-calling, lie invention, Facebook reputation smearing that she has poor judgment, is a crook, controlling, a substance abuser, indifferent to sexual assault, all they have to do is start saying it. Put it on Twitter, editorialize it in the local newspaper, or post it on Facebook. There you have it. Like a public offering traded on the stock market, the smearing gains value the more it’s traded. It is doesn’t matter if you are Hillary Clinton. Or Madeline Albright or it could be you or it could be me. The G-force is heightened when other women take part in it. If you are a woman who criticizes the prevailing regime in this country, that only men become President- you are an attacker. If women join in, it amplifies the case that you are. Stunningly though, permission for smearing and discrediting of a woman- ‘trial by the court of public opinion’ one Party chair called it to justify a smear campaign he actively took part in- ’taking out to the woodshed’ another Party Chair called it- is shored up by gender-bias. Stereotypes that demean women and give others- including men -permission to keep her in her place, discredit her or not trust her are the archetypes summoned by the fury of the smearing. Even though 59 percent of women in this country identify themselves as feminists, there is a blind spot that hides the fact that spontaneous and willing engagement in sexist smearing- if you are a woman -is not feminism. This is what Madeline Albright meant when she said there is a special spot in hell for women who do not support other women. If only permission to smear women was old news. It is not. What is still news is the lack of protest against it by other women. Few labeled what we saw this political year as sexist. Few labeled the women who freely engaged in it- many being paid to do so by through their political jobs- as Not Feminist, Traitors to the Core of Feminist Achievement and Belief, and yes, the progenitors of a return to no reproductive rights, more gender pay inequity, and every other public policy that demeans women‘s judgment and her capacity to choose. Feminist political ideology becomes just so much loose cannon talk and no-filter thinking. You know how women are. Directors of Communication, lofty members of the Judicial branch of Government, - an FBI Director, Attorney General and yes members of the Democratic Party either joined in or couldn‘t really think of anything to say. They said nothing. Where have feminists gone and more importantly why did they go. Sometimes I think it is just a time warp because of all the advancement the women‘s movement has brought and everybody‘s forgotten that the necessary condition for feminism to exists acknowledging that gender makes a difference. I was on a train to the Democratic National Convention and spoke with the leader of a very large Feminist organization. I decried the Democratic Party for openly supporting the Independent man instead of the bright, capable female candidate. ‘It‘s ok, ’ she said. ’He’ll still vote with the Democrats.’ It was not, then, nor is it now ok to ignore the gender of a female political candidate. Femaleness still brings a different voice systematically devalued and overlooked in male-dominated cultures. . Female Genital Mutilation remains a culturally accepted practice in Muslim countries. Women still experience gross economic inequity. Carol Gilligan, the Harvard psychologist, who wrote ‘In a Different Voice-’ openly questioned the exclusion of female subjects from studies used to define human development- from National Institute of Health studies of heart disease to studies of moral development, male experience was routinely seen as equivalent to human. Women’s decision-making about right and wrong is often defined by violations of care for others and one’s self and connection as central to moral awareness. This political year brought back exclusion of women by women . They overlooked gender as a critical political consideration. Carol Gilligan was chosen the first Ms. Magazine ‘Woman of the Year’. She quoted a student of hers who said women become the float in relationship to men-and male culture- the variation in what they think and choose dependent on what males think and choose. Of course, we tend to think women have come a long way from the days when women were humiliated or shamed or bullied into accommodating male beliefs and thinking. I am afraid we have returned to a time when bullying and shaming is the preferred cultural tool for changing what women think. A New York Times columnist editorialized about ‘What Women Lost’ in this political year. I’m not sure that we’ve lost anything. Rather the permission to bully and discredit women has been there all along. This year we had a National stage for it and a male candidate and his team particularly well-versed in pursuing it. And maybe we’ve all just returned to not noticing the women are missing. And women becoming ‘the float’ - bullied, called out as untrustworthy loose cannons and liars, - who change their minds depending on male decisions- like the student Carol Gilligan quoted- that was me - said.
Love In A Time Of Hatred: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:59
Possibilities for a suppression of the Electoral College vote results are gone. We now come to terms with the reality that at least for the next four years, we will be living in a time of hatred. Or at the very least, complete disdain for the interests of millions of American constituents trussed up by hatred. So, the long list begins to form of those whose credibility, work and well-being and safety will be de-legitimized. There are the climate change scientists, those who have health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, countries whose citizens happen to sit on a large trove of oil or other natural resources that the CEO of Exxon/Mobil or any other large oil company covets, immigrants and asylum seekers who have come here to escape oppression in other countries, polar bears, the Middle East, Ukrainians who fear more invasions by Putin, constituents who depend on social policy supported by Federal funding, respect for women’s bodies and their intelligence, Reproductive Rights and the press that the new administration has special vengeance for. Hatred of course also shows up as withholding and exclusion, for example the gutting of Medicare and Social Security.
What saves love? What prevents the ‘normalization’ of hatred? What sustains belief that asking for more from the government of the richest country in the world is not asking too much, that selfish greed is selfish greed is selfish greed no matter who pretends they are not just filling their own pockets?.
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- Love In A Time Of Hatred: A Citizen's Guide
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- Susan J. Cook
-Susan Cook-
Possibilities for a suppression of the Electoral College vote results are gone. We now come to terms with the reality that at least for the next four years, we will be living in a time of hatred. Or at the very least, complete disdain for the interests of millions of American constituents, trussed up by hatred. So, the long list begins to form of those whose credibility, work and well-being and safety will be de-legitimized. There are the climate change scientists, those who have health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, countries whose citizens happen to sit on a large trove of oil or other natural resources that the CEO of Exxon/Mobil or any other large oil company covets, immigrants and asylum seekers who have come here to escape oppression in other countries, polar bears, the Middle East, Ukrainians who fear more invasions by Putin, constituents who depend on social policy supported by Federal funding, respect for women’s bodies and their intelligence, Reproductive Rights and the press that the new administration has special vengeance for.
Hatred of course also shows up as withholding and exclusion, for example the gutting of Medicare and Social Security.
During any armed conflicts, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Vietnam- times of violence escalated- the wounded return with their belief in love severely taxed. But they sustain a capacity to love. One in four children experience abuse and neglect in their lifetime. But just one adult committed to a child’s well-being can help that child find the resilience to flourish despite physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect. And somehow sustain love.
Going Through the Checkout Line Alone, Anonymously Listening to Public Radio- A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:13
Amazon has announced they will soon launch an attempt to eliminate that pesky feature of day-to-day life- ‘the grocery store check-out employee’. Along with that, you will receive the pleasure of the barcode and the brief electronic sound to let you know your transaction has been successful.
This news comes not long after the public radio station in my state actually took away from the northern most part of the state classical music and poetry programming from the Public radio FM airwaves. They now are available only on something called HD radio or the Internet or a smartphone. They did not ask the anonymous population of listeners beforehand. On one morning in Maine in May, suddenly classical music and the enormously popular 5 minute Garrison Keillor's ‘The Writer’s Almanac’ disappeared from the used car’s FM radio and the household one.
Anonymous grocery checkout lines and yes, my state’s public radio pretense that the Internet is just as good for listening ignores the danger of anonymity. We are only anonymous when we let others treat us that way or we choose it for ourselves to protect ourselves. Shared human experience is human, after all, and sharing it is one way we learn how to be human.
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- Going Through the Checkout Line Alone, ...
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- Susan J. Cook
-Susan Cook-
What this public radio station and now Amazon celebrate with these Person-free experiences are- well- person-free experiences. Public radio offered by FM radio signal is an experience shared with other people. The shared experience creates- well, let’s just go back to something we probably learned from Classical music on public radio. It creates ‘A Fanfare for the Common Man’ or person. Like Aaron Copeland celebrated. With public radio, the Fanfare is made up of 150,000 people- in these rural counties even if they’re not all listening. The fanfare’s creation is probably what inspired public radio in the first place.
Anonymous grocery checkout lines and yes my state’s public radio pretense that the Internet is just as good for listening ignores the danger of anonymity. We are only anonymous when we let others treat us that way or we choose it for ourselves to protect ourselves. Shared human experience is human, after all, and sharing it is one way we learn how to be human.There is danger in anonymous experiences misused. We only need to look to history. The executioners’ faces are covered and there is always more than one. I am a psychologist and I sometimes see- oh, I worked with this person- and I honor their privacy. Only then, I try to be as anonymous as possible and let the person - who I may know more about than anyone else has ever known- be completely anonymous. I know at that moment the meaning and value of anonymity. Because that anonymity exists, a former client was allowed to grow and change something in their lives they didn’t like. But the meaning of anonymity is lost on a public radio station and Amazon when they choose it because it is the cheaper- and to them- better alternative. No radio audience sharing the listening experience. No Garrison Keillor reading Robert Frost’s poem about bending birch trees. No wondering if some small child is hearing ‘The Fanfare for the Common Man for the very first time. No going through the checkout line and noticing the checkout person’s pallor. Just a machine’s glassy surface that mirror’s an image- just yours- no one else’s - just you.When I go through the grocery checkout line, I always experience it with these one if not two others- the checkout worker and the bagger. I notice their tattoos, their piercing, Their gray hair, their not gray hair, the speed of their movements, their fixation on the scanner, their eye contact. I wonder how much they are paid each hour, let alone annually, if they have benefits, how long they’ve worked there, if they’re retired and have a 401 K , if they go to school or not. I am grateful when they know which aisle holds the sardines, the Chai tea, the dried cranberries. They moved them recently. At the grocery store, the Fanfare is with just one- sometimes two- the checkout worker and the bagger. Then, of course, if there’ s a line, the other Proletariat members are also waiting with you.What this public radio station and now Amazon celebrate with these Person-free experiences are- well- person-free experiences. Public radio offered by FM radio signal is an experience shared with other people. The shared experience creates- well, let’s just go back to something we probably learned from Classical music on public radio. It creates ‘A Fanfare for the Common Man’ or person. Like Aaron Copeland celebrated. With public radio, the Fanfare is made up of 150,000 people- in these rural counties even if they’re not all listening. The fanfare’s creation is probably what inspired public radio in the first place. But why would a public radio station do this? For a public radio station that has received 58 million dollars- over 90 percent in public funds- over the last 5 years, paying the transmission tower maintenance workers is an expense. To send FM signals to those 14,000 square miles requires transmission towers which cost money to maintain. Probably one or two maintenance workers- one to hold the ladder- 20 dollars an hour. During the most recent heralded one day Pledge drive, the public radio station took in about 206,000 dollars. Alas, if we only had an electronic device to quickly do the math and alert us that this only puts a small dent in the annual salary and compensation of the top CEO. The top 4 managers who made this decision are paid about 600,000 dollars a year in salary and compensation. Paying to maintain those transmission towers- is extra. Between Aroostock, Washington and Somerset counties which comprise the northern part of the state, 150000 people- more or less- live on about 14,000 square miles. In other words, they have plenty of alone time. They now have to buy a special HD radio or have high speed internet access to hear these programs. Smartphones do not consistently reach all areas of these rural areas. You could take your Chinese-made I-phone to the highest Himalyan peaks in Tibet and probably have better smartphone cellular service than you will on part of Rte 9 in Washington County. Or buy a brand-spanking new car with HD radio in counties where used cars prevail because the median income is 41,000 dollars a year. This news comes not long after the public radio station in my state actually took away from the northern most part of the state classical music and poetry programming from the Public radio FM airwaves. These programs now are available only on something called HD radio or the Internet or a smartphone. They did not ask the anonymous population of listeners beforehand. On one morning in Maine in May, suddenly classical music and the enormously popular 5 minute Garrison Keillor ‘The Writer’s Almanac’ disappeared from the used car’s FM radio and the household one. Amazon has announced they will soon launch an attempt to eliminate that pesky feature of day-to-day life- ‘the grocery store check-out employee’. Along with that, you will receive the pleasure of the barcode and the brief electronic sound to let you know your transaction has been scanned successfully.
A Citizen’s Guide to Small-minded Denigration: A Sixty Second Moral Inquiry, Two and ½ Minute Conspiracy Theory presented in a Sonnet for The Department of Poetic Justice
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:34
In honor of the upcoming Presidential race, The River Is Wide presents a melding of our favorite features. A Citizen's Guide, A Sixty Second Moral Inquiry and Two and 1/2 Minute Conspiracy Theory presented in a Sonnet to place In the Department of Poetic Justice. Random The River Is Wide Series is not.
The topic:
A Citizen’s Guide to Small-minded Denigration (or a Conspiracy to Throw the Ethical Female Presidential Candidate Under the Bus for what She has Never Done).
A Sixty Second Moral Inquiry, Two and ½ Minute Conspiracy Theory presented in a Sonnet for The Department of Poetic Justice
women. Intelligently, insightful,
reliable, prestigious, humanly
accomplished, with sound judgment? Delightful!
What will have nothing to do with the job
she will do is the employee who lacked
judgment and chose a sick ex-husband, robbed
sense. The staffer, small-minded, at the back
of the bus, the Opponent now sinks to
say, should be used to run out the admired
Woman, who should be President, linked to
small mindeds just because of who she hired.
Hostile cruel minds Either sex can be numb.
Formidable President? She’s the one.
What We Don't Get About Violence: The Choreography of Its Aftermath
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:17
I went to a performance "designed to raise awareness surrounding gun violence and its victims" the program said. The Colorado-based modern dance company, Lemon Sponge Cake Ballet performed a 45-minute section of a longer dance, White Fields, Throughout, a man and a younger woman, danced dying. They dance dying, she over and over, small, miniscule, subtle movements, falling itself, movement in its final moments, moving caught in agonizingly slow time, like a web a gun-shot victim must crawl through. Accompanied by music to accentuate what we see, and finally Bach, the dancers danced the verb- dying- not the noun.
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- What We Don't Get About Violence: The ...
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The Choreography of Its Aftermath
-Susan Cook-
A Citizen's Guide to the Public Trust: What Donald Trump Has Done for Me
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:13
When Mitch McConnell and the Republicans snub a duly elected President and the American people who want a Supreme Court nominee to be vetted through public hearings, it always feels hostile and mean-spirited. It’s hard to put your finger on because they’re leaders after all and they learned don’t obviously slander people. But it feels slanderous. And what Donald Trump has done for me is this. He has been so overtly aggressive, hostile and mean that I finally realized. The shut-it-down Paul Ryans and Mitch McConnels are just as bad. They don’t use words to offend us. They use ignoring and withholding what the citizens need and are owed- a fully functioning supreme court. Kind of like Donald Trump going bankrupt and stiffing all the low-ranking plumbers and contractors and carpenters knowing full well they don’t have deep lawyer fees available to fight him. Just like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan know citizens’ cannot automatically have the political clout to remove them from office . So they exploit the moment. Pat themselves on the back, kind of like Donald Trump did to his wife with her moment in the national spotlight to do what she would with the public trust. And that’s what Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have done with the public trust, thinking American citizens will be their fools. I never would have known that a plagiarizing wife for a hostile candidate values the public trust in exactly the same way two elected members of Congress do- before Donald Trump. And now I do. And that’s what Donald Trump has done for me.
-Susan Cook-
He has made feel ill because the one time his wife could be presented as articulate and intelligent he hired a staffer who he paid $350 to write a speech that she plagiarized from Michele Obama’s speech at the Democratic Convention in 2008. Michelle Obama probably not only wrote her own speech- for free- Presidential candidate’s wives are not paid to follow around and give speeches. But it was also true. I was sickened by the exploitation of that national moment for the entire voting citizenry of this country to trust the person allegedly closest to Donald Trump would tell the truth. And she lied. His wife didn’t really think that. Someone told her to think them and she dutifully followed course. If a person can’t tell the truth that the thoughts they are sharing are really their own, what does the person have? All current evidence indicates that no body has perfected the technique of zapping the human mind and grafting on thoughts- unless you are a go-long-to-get-along politician. But Donald Trump’s wife did it in the only venue for what the whole country was hoping would be an opportunity to trust somebody. She mimicked the words someone else implanted. Thoughtless politicians do that who assume they won’t get caught. I’ve caught more than one- prx.org/p/144302.
So what Donald Trump has done for me is brought it right out front- this is what a go-along-to-get-along thought-implanted person does with the public trust. And it happens right there on national television.
Fight Like A Girl: A Citizen's Advanced Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:32
In my state, a few years ago a bright, articulate local woman ran for the state House of Representatives. Her campaign slogan was ‘Fight Like A Girl.’ I’m not sure the local populace knew exactly what that meant. We are mostly use to the “climb-to-the-top-of-the-hill’ and delegate those who disagree with you to an anonymous, invisible heap at the bottom” political mindset. The New York Times whetted the country’s awareness of that approach on the front page this week. They cited a Presidential candidate’s indignation because a Muslim father of a war causality suggested the candidate had not made sacrifices [like the father’s deceased son had] . The candidate said it was inaccurate because he had created “thousands of jobs“. Any remark that implies the candidate’s opponents are ‘less than’ is fodder for the campaign trail. Winning means bigger, better, entitled to claim supremacy over the other. It doesn’t really matter in the long run as long as you get what you want.
This is pretty much the opposite of how you fight like a girl. Fighting like a girl means you know who you’ve left behind and you try to include them in the long Sisyphus-like climb to the top- but there‘s no rock involved- just other people. The candidate implied that leaving Muslims, any Muslim behind is justified.
Gun Control and This Republic of Suffering: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:19
As the battle wages on between the unarmed and the armed, the armed and the armed, the open carry armed and the concealed carry armed, the problem of common sense gun control has not been solved. Guns handled with an excessive quota of fear, guns in the hands of people with known mental illness, guns far, far, far too easily accessed through online sales, assault weapons far too easily accessed, kill people. Not at war. Living their daily lives.
Our governing bodies persist in polarizing the need for gun control. In the House of Representatives, men and women drew from strategies of disempowered civil rights activists in the 1960’s to convince GOP leadership of the urgency and need to act. It did not work.
Since the beginning of human conflict, battle is followed by a time of armistice, however brief, when each side claim their dead. In This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, Drew Faust wrote of that time.
When the fight for common sense gun control makes room- for claiming the dead not by just one side, but by all of us, perhaps then the NRA and this Congress will change their minds because their humanity too has had a chance to surface
A Citizen’s Guide
-Susan Cook-
Stochastically Yours: Hey Nate Silver (and Amy Walter)! Polls Do Not Predict the Future.
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 08:01
The American voting public has become as gullible about Election polls as they are about quick weight loss plans. In Maine, Election eve, 2010, the Times Record newspaper published below page one's masthead, an AP reporter’s article on Rasmussen Reports polls. They showed the Gubernatorial Republican Tea Party candidate Paul LePage polling up. No mention that Rasmussen polls have the highest bias (chance of inaccuracy) of polls and are least respected by other pollsters.
Poll bias is measured by a statistic called "stochastic bias". Rasmussen Reports have the highest Stochastic Bias among pollsters- the most biased. At Princeton University, the Stochastic Democracy Group studies this at length .
All of this suggests, as we move toward Election Day, we all need to make a collective plea to media outlets to never publish polls without explanation of their stochastic bias. Statistics do not predict the future. They are a mathematical model that explains the likelihood of things that have already happened. Not ones that haven’t happened yet.
Political Party Karma: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:49
The real meaning of the Buddhist concept of karma is murky, but the Republican Presidential campaign has become an explanatory sponge for it- fully soaked with karma. That may be where the campaign’s real substance lies- if nowhere else. Every time Donald Trump squeezes out another derisive, degrading insult, flagrantly nullifying any need for the Republican Party’s blessing, he reminds us that the unity ‘they’ espoused in opposition to the last 8 years of the Obama presidency is gone. For every tight lipped, tight jawed, and tight jowled refusal by Mitch McConnell to schedule a hearing for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee- Republican Senators -like prisoner-of-war camp detainees numbly plodding along behind him, there is a loose-lipped remark from Donald Trump.
This is karma proving itself phylogenetically superior to intelligence. Just like the Buddhists say it does. In other words, it’s not what you’re given, it’s what your karma is.
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- Political Party Karma: A Citizen's Guide
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On Being Sane In Insane Places: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:32
The lessons of D.L. Rosenhan's study of imposters pretending to have psychiatric illness on psychiatric units have not been lost on the world of mental health diagnosis. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was published last year and is continuously upgraded by mental health professionals . But for anyone who feels immersed in a system that fails to recognize fakers who are not really suffering from the same despair as everyone else, there are many lessons from Rosenhan’s study.
Enter the United State Congress and the impaired judgment in their decision making.
How does impaired decision-making in an institution happen? How do the sane come to be labeled insane, diagnostic labels misapplied? What lessons are to be learned about Congress where the power to make decisions and impaired decision making are rarely examined? And in the wake of the Orlando tragedy and the failure of Congress to pass gun control legislation, many ask when will sane voices recognizing the impairment in decision-making by the Senate and House be heard.
-Susan Cook-
The Cheap Shot in American Politics- A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:26
We live in extremely violent times. Words can provoke aggression, insult and personal harm very quickly. Politicians spend much time trying to reassure us that they will protect our enormous bodily and psychological fragility with their policies and bravado. But the Cheap Shot gives it all away. And Bernie Sanders has quickly joined the fray- filling his pockets as best he can with what he hopes is political capital.
Then there’s, Donald Trump, who has used every form of cheap shot making known to polarize the electorate- i.e. ‘earn’ votes. He has nationalized cheap shot taking like we have never seen before. It kind of takes your breath away because there used to be a baseline assumption that overt disrespect was not silently accepted as kind of a political asthma we just had to get used to. It’s hard to find a one word slur he has not used to reduce his critics to objects- implying they are not worthy of any respect at all. ‘Pocahontas’ he called a tenured Harvard Law School Professor and United States Senator. As if the anonymity that word cast on Native American women for generations was deserved- they worthy of no mark of distinction or individuality for us to know who they are.
I am making a larger call is for us to stop the Cheap Shot making that now plagues American politics. Cheap shots always say more about the politician who makes them than they do about the person it’s tossed toward whether you are the Bernie Sanders supporter screaming them out at Hillary rallies or Sanders banking on the good will of American liberals to cover him while his rhetoric becomes increasingly hostile. Or Donald Trump banking on the limited attention span of the angry and cash strapped to ignore that the hostility he speaks of is generated by himself.
#Stopthecheapshots I say. Now.
#Stopthecheapshots I say. Now.
Big Fish, Small Pond; Small Fish, Big Pond: An American Conscience and a Vietnam Remembrance
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:06
History is written by the Big and the Small. "The Vietnam War" documentary has reminded us that. The Moving Wall, a half scale version of the smooth black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC which names the 58228 who died in that war, chronologically, from the first in 1959 to the last in 1975 does too. It came to Maine last year. I found my first date’s name- John Leo Murdock, who had just turned 20 when he died. I found his name just days after President Obama visited Vietnam and lifted the decades old arms embargo there. We are friends now, in other words.
I knew long ago that conscience was a big word, not to be thrown around by political office-holders looking for a brand, a legacy. I think President Obama was sincere in his hope to earn us moral lessons from that war. He too, like my first date ‘Jack ’Mad’ Murdock - my mother didn’t know that was his nickname- was once a small fish thrown into the big pond. Obama became a big fish, big power not small, who never quite put aside his small fish priorities which may be what sustains our conscience after all.
I just know I wish I had kissed ‘Mad’ more than once.
-Susan Cook-
Republicanese and Democratese- A Citizen's Guide to Your Hostility Curriculum
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:04
Seventy thousand Google responses to ''Republicans Refuse'' or 37000 responses to ''Democrats Refuse'' say Donald Trump is not the first to bring hostile opposition into Presidential politics. We have been trained to hear it by politicians who thought it made them sound strong. Instead it sounds hostile. And has given some permission to act with hostility. ‘Yes’ in Republicanese or Democratese is translated ''Donald Trumpese''. Google ‘Trump Refuses‘ 481,000 choices come up but at least he‘s not pretending to govern down in Washington.
Republicanese and Democratese- A Citizen's Guide to Your Training In Hearing Hostility -Susan Cook- Maybe it’s time for the Republicans and Democrats to drop their astonishment at the hostility within the Presidential primary race. The public, after all, has honed their auditory and emotional chops for hearing hostility by listening to a language called Republicanese. If you Google ‘Republicans Refuse’ 70,200 choices come up. Do Senate and House Republicans think the public doesn’t hear the hostility and not like it before they choose their favorite Presidential candidate. Yes, there’s Democratese too. But Google ‘Democrats Refuse’ and for some reason you come up with 37,900 choices. Sounds like more on one side than another to me I quote here from several news outlets to sample some ‘Refusing’ Republicanese that has trained the public to not like hostile oppositional Washington politicians. There’s the Supreme Court Nominee process. In a swift statement designed to warn Barack Obama against even nominating a replacement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged to sit on his hands for the remaining 11 months of the president's term. In Republicanese this means ‘I refuse.‘ And then there’s this 3 years ago- ‘After finally passing the Senate’s bill to narrowly avoid the fiscal cliff Republicans put an end to the do-nothing 112th Congress by refusing to hold a vote on Hurricane Sandy disaster.’ Then there’s refusing to talk With the U.S. government teetering on the brink of partial shutdown, congressional Republicans vowed Sunday to keep using an otherwise routine federal funding bill to try to attack the president's health-care law. 'I refuse even to talk,'" said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who led a 21-hour broadside against allowing the temporary funding bill ..of Obamacare. Then there’s lead contaminated water. Senate Democrats have blocked an…energy bill after majority Republicans rejected hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency federal aid to Flint, to fix and replace the city's lead-contaminated pipes. Next refusing to pass equal pay for women President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, the first sweeping gender pay equity law, in 1963... June 5, all Senate Republicans voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act as one. Then there’s refusing each other Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas …refused to call Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a "true conservative" …when he was asked about the race for Speaker of the House… And then of course immigration. Ted Cruz adamantly rejects what he calls “amnesty” pushed by Marco Rubio as part of the bill passed by the Senate in 2013 that would have opened up a pathway to citizenship for some …immigrants . Refusing veterans benefits Senate Republicans have blocked a Democratic bill that would enrich health, education and job-training programs for the nation's 22 million veterans. Seventy thousand Google responses to Republicans Refuse or 37000 Democrats Refuse says Donald Trump is not the first to bring hostile opposition into Presidential politics. We have been trained to hear it by politicians who thought it made them sound strong to us. Instead it sounds hostile. And has given some permission to act with hostility. ‘Yes’ in Republicanese or Democratese is pronounced Donald Trumpese-. Google ‘Trump Refuses‘ 481,000 choices come up but at least he‘s not pretending to govern down in Washington..
A Citizen's Guide to the Odds of Irresponsibility: Get Thee to A Racetrack
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:17
I was reading the New York Times article about the last batch of the 30000 emails released that Hillary Clinton received on her private server- while Secretary of State. Out of the 30,000, four ‘prompted intensified scrutiny of the emails for classified information and a referral to the F.B.I. for a review of the handling of classified information by Mrs. Clinton, her aides and state department officials when she was Secretary of State. ‘ Some of the information in those 4 emails out of 30,000 was classified as ‘secret’ not ’top secret’ - the higher classification. Four out of 30,00. Now, in addition to that four, none were marked as classified when they were sent- and only have subsequently been upgraded to a higher level of security by those doing the investigating.
Reading that 4 out of 30,000 emails had some ‘secret’ information and knowing race tracks in this country are struggling to survive financially what with internet gambling and all- my first thought was ‘Send those investigator folk to the horse racing track’. ‘Let us build up the coffers of the small seasonal race tracks across the country because anybody who is going to go with 4 out of 30,000 as an indication of a larger pattern of irresponsible behavior handling state department emails better have a big fat government pension to fall back on because they are going to be wasting a lot of money at the track. Which is how these race tracks thrive. They would be perfectly comfortable with a horse with 50 to 1 odds.
I wondered what the odds are of haphazard handling secret material if it’s happened 4 out of 30,000 times. I’d like you to sit down now because it might help you out with some of the other odds I’m going to give you.
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A Citizen’s Guide to the Odds Of Irresponsibility : Get Thee to A Racetrack -Susan Cook- Thinking ahead to the Kentucky Derby and who’ll win- maybe a woman- I mean a filly and maybe a female jockey atop her or a female atop a colt or a gelding - I was reminded about the odds of picking the right horse in that race. If there are 20 horses in the field- the odds are 1 in 20 or .05. You have to know more than just the odds because if all you have to go on are odds of 1 in 20, you probably won’t pick a winner, even though in 2009 ’Mine that Bird’ won with odds of 50 to 1, or .02, he a gelding - 3 year old stay-home-on-Friday night kind of horse. I was reading the New York Times article about the last batch of the 30000 emails released that Hillary Clinton received on her private server- while Secretary of State. Out of the 30,000, 4 - ‘prompted intensified scrutiny of the emails for classified information and a referral to the F.B.I. for a review of the handling of classified information by Mrs. Clinton, her aides and state department officials when she was Secretary of State. ‘ Some of the information in those 4 emails out of 30,000 was classified as ‘secret’ not ’top secret’ - the higher classification. Four out of 30,00. Now, in addition to that four, none were marked as classified when they were sent- and only have subsequently been upgraded to a higher level of security by those doing the investigating. Reading that 4 out of 30,000 emails had some ‘secret’ information and knowing race tracks in this country are struggling to survive financially what with internet gambling and all- my first thought was ‘Send those investigator folk to the horse racing track’. ‘Let us build up the coffers of the small seasonal race tracks across the country because anybody who is going to go with 4 out of 30,000 as an indication of a larger pattern of irresponsible behavior handling state department emails better have a big fat government pension to fall back on because they are going to be wasting a lot of money at the track. Which is how these race tracks thrive. They would be perfectly comfortable with a horse with 50 to 1 odds. I wondered what the odds are of haphazard handling secret material if it’s happened 4 out of 30,000 times. I’d like you to sit down now because it might help you out with some of the other odds I’m going to give you. The odds of living to be 100 are .4 - point 4 out of 100 percent or .004. Let us go to the odds of picking six right numbers in a lottery when you can choose from 1 to 44 and one number out of the 44 is eliminated as soon as you pick it (just like the You-Know-What) - For the first number- the odds are .022 For the second number- .0232 For the third number- .0238 lower because now you’re picking from 42 numbers. For the fourth number- the odds are .0243 For the fifth number- .025 For the sixth number- .0256. The odds you’ll pick all 6 are over one in 5 billion. Sounds like the kind of odds those raising red flags about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton track record on handling ‘secret’ material would go for . Because the odds created when you find 4 emails out of 30,000 which contain ‘secret’ material in those emails are .00013. Point zero, zero, zero one three. Get thee to the race track and save those little small race tracks if you think those are odds worthy of the big bill taxpayers foot for the investigation. Of course, numbers do not predict the future. Probability and odds are a guess. Think ‘Mine That Bird’. Getting back to the Kentucky Derby, ‘Mine That Bird’ was ridden by Calvin Borel- who knows the Churchill Downs race track better than - I’ll just say it- Hillary Clinton knows the flaws in the security of the government computer system. Which is probably why she got the private server in the first place. For those who don’t like numbers, it’s simple. Get thee to a race track if you are a retiring government secret discoverer but make sure you know who the rider is.
A Citizen's Guide to Tailoring Moral Outrage
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:38
I read a column in which the author tried to express what I’m guessing is her moral outrage. I am all for expressing moral outrage. At least it puts it on the table for a free speech kind of discussion. Thinly masked hatred or an incendiary invitation to violence is hate speech and hate speech is hate speech . Expression of moral outrage used for hatred defeats the purpose. The writer linked a congressional representative’s boycott of Prime Minister Netanyahu speech to a joint session of Congress to shunning of Elie Weisel, the author of a twentieth century indictment of the Holocaust who attended the talk and then to pro-choice health policy, abortion, and the Holocaust.
What shapes this kind of moral outrage ?How do we distinguish it from moral outrage never updated by the day-to-day awareness of the moral emotions, shame and empathy? Hatred driven actions -those locked into political policy and the political gamesmanship that goes along with it become hypocrisy- the gap between moral outrage and what actually happens. Expressions of moral outrage that become political hypocrisy tap into a very shameful truth in this country- broad disgust with the political process and complete lack of trust by the public in voting - which some see as our only opportunity to tailor some of that outrage.
The piece excluded any mention of the violence of Israel, how children are treated pre-natally, after birth, or during childhood, in utero, in daycare, in their mothers’ arms, at the grocery store, the fact that Elie Weisel’s attendance at the talk was maybe not out of agreement with everything Netanyahu says but -true progenitor of moral outrage that he is- Weisel’s effort to update his own. To be true to intention, moral outrage needs daily updating.
A Citizen's Guide to the Surgical Inoperability of Self-interest from the Political Body
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:04
The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that Arizona’s 2000 law which created an Independent Commission to determine Congressional Re-districting boundaries is constitutional. Arizona ‘s Legislature wanted it the old way: elected legislators deciding who would be in the pool of voters who elect them by defining the boundaries of voting districts.
The attorneys for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission argued that returning redistricting to the legislature would be “the loss of the last great hope for addressing partisan gerrymandering.” The attorneys who wanted re-districting to return to the Legislature wrote that “Plenty of options remain for addressing partisan gerrymandering with the ultimate backstop being the ability to vote the gerrymanderers out.” The last great hope in this case is that respect for constituents- citizens- not the injured Arizona Legislature- is what the Supreme Court would protect and they did.
A Citizen's Guide to the Difference Between Telling the Truth and an Attack
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:51
I heard Jill Abramson , the former executive editor of the New York Times say recently that since the George W. Bush administration, there have been no less than eight lawsuits against members of the press for disclosing truth from information held in government documents.
Because the truth can change people’s beliefs, we are now in a time when telling it has been raised to the “orange alert” stage- the now unused system for alerting the public to danger. Fourth grade girls knew the truth is threatening in this way all along anyway. But as citizens, we have to ask what we lose when telling the truth is called an attack, something to prevent at all costs and thus beyond the reach of our beliefs because the powers that be don’t want us to hear it. The inner fourth grade girl in all of us is silenced and we are left with whatever the real consequences of the abuse of power are- which getting back to the outcomes history has displayed are often far worse, more damaging because the observers and the people in power who could have stopped those dangers did not have truth on their side or chose to ignore it or pretend that truth telling was an attack rather than act of protection.
A Citizen's Guide to Voter Fraud
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:22
Well, we have an enigmatic scandal brewing in my state. Twenty-one ballots- all for a state Senate Republican candidate surfaced inside a sealed ballot box during a recount. In which- before the recount - the Democrat held a slight edge. Now a committee convened by the Republican majority State Senate is to determine if voter fraud happened and who should hold the seat. The naïve assume that only a Republican could do the ballot box stuffing since the ballots would give the Republican a victory. But reality says that winning that one Republican seat would not change the party with the Senate majority and thus leadership power.
Perhaps the committee will consider that this is another favored Democratic strategy- or at least one that’s been used before- called immunization- trying to introduce tarnishing- that can be useful later on.- a strategy at least one Democratic lawyer thought “brilliant.” Republican ballots could have just as easily been placed -post election- in the ballot box by Democrats gloved fingers, to embarrass Republicans by making it look like those old anti-voter fraud Republicans were doing it themselves.
It would not be the first time a political party used deception to create the opposite pubic perception of what has actually happened. In other words, Democrats creating voter fraud to make it look like the kind of voter fraud only Republicans would commit- since the phony votes would make a Republican win. Some things are more important than winning.
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How Corporations Become People: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:50
There is a demand in this country that corporations acknowledge that they are not people. Until corporations wake up one morning, and say, “I‘m really not a person“ ,they can begin acting like a good person. Here are just some of the many ways: bringing milk to all of Coca Cola's existing ends of the earth distribution spots, calm to shopping in Wal-mart, and the nutrition of parsley at McDonald's to children’s skin and bones.
The Ethics of Facebook
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:49
The ethical challenge for Facebook has been to re-create the ethics of community where there are real consequences for using information in a destructive way within the community. Facebook has not yet figured out what those should be and why ignoring ethical considerations is not trivial. They have known for at least 3 years how difficult they make it for users to "block information sharing" with apps. I know that because I wrote to them and told them that, then wrote this for my prx.org series.
Long, long way to go to make sound ethics for the cyber world.On Facebook, in particular.
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The Ethics of Facebook -Susan Cook-
One day, about 3 1/2 years ago, I went on Facebook to try to block information sharing, what people can acquire and take with them in their apps if you are linked to them. I wanted nothing to be shared. A Nothingburger, as we now say. The instructions to do that are the most ambiguous blocking instructions ever- in a section where there are a series of “categories” of information that you do not want someone who has an app linked to your account to share. What is left out of the instruction is whether you have to check the box or leave it unchecked to not have the information shared. Wouldn’t you think the first verb in the instructions would be “check” or “uncheck”?
My thought is "Do not put the person who wrote that sentence in charge of nuclear war button instructions." But that brought to mind the ethics of Facebook and their problems.
Information can be nuclear war; in fact, these days- it is the preferred approach or deterrent. Mark Zuckerberg and his friends seem to have a short-sightedness kind of like the physicists who invented the atomic bomb who did not see its capacity for unparalleled destructiveness. Einstein did. The unethical destructiveness of information used to be tempered by community or in the absence of community an understanding that even the people who wrote the Bill of Rights had. People have a right to privacy. Facebook by using the word” friends” to describe those you let in gives the illusion of community but it lacks the ability to temper or provide the ethical mediation that a real community has. Because it’s cyber- not real- it doesn’t really temper. The ethical challenge for Facebook has been to re-create the ethics of community where there are real consequences for using information in a destructive way. within the community. Facebook certainly doesn’t get harmed or feel the consequences. They have not yet figured out what those should be and why they are not trivial to prevent.
We can’t just blame the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world because using information destructively is glibly accepted as part of our culture, certainly our political culture, in “gotcha politics”.
In a recent Congressional race, the candidate hired as a spokesperson a staffer who at one point had made her primary agenda searching for destructive information she could use to harm another person. She stood in front of a major gathering of possible supporters of the candidate and mentioned trying to find the married name of an individual she was focused on tarnishing. And the political party paid her to do it.
No one batted an eye. So if Facebook has a big blind spot so don’t “gotcha” politicians and their hired hands. who do not see how using information destructively( to tarnish, harm, humiliate) undermines community and certainly at times, destroys it. In rural areas, community is a saving grace because the people you are trying to harm today may be the people who you need to stop and help when you have a flat tire, tomorrow, when emergency road-side services are one hundred miles away. Cyber communities will never do that . Yes they can send a message but the members of them can disappear in a second and will not be driving by you the next day. They can be as far away as they like. The cyber person stopping to help if is not the same as the real person in the real community who knows the translation of “do unto others” is they might need roadside assistance tomorrow. Facebook is a long way from translating these ethics of community into ethics for the cyber world. Let’s hope Facebook and “gotcha politics” for that matter catch up with the ethics of community, and stop pretending they are good candidates to be the “spokesperson” . Their blind spot about the destructive use of information undermines communities and the privacy the game-changer politicians who wrote the Bill of Rights were talking about.
A Citizen's Guide to Political Amnesia
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:30
Political amnesia comes on when political polarization begins as it has with President Obama’s recent executive order about immigration. So, President Obama reminded everyone that changing Immigration policy has been on the table for many, many years and Congress, has preferred to dicker rather than pass a bill. So, the President chose to use Presidential authority, to selectively decide which undocumented immigrants will or will not be the focus of deportation. He has been met with arrogant partisan finger-pointing and bullying which we all now have to listen to.
Here’s where the political amnesia comes in. According to the New York Times, the venerable Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to selectively not deport about 3 million then 100,000 more undocumented immigrants by executive order. In 1990, George Bush granted amnesty to 40% of the undocumented immigrants in this country by executive order. President Obama’s action gives safety to 45% of the undocumented immigrants here. So, what’s with the political amnesia that makes his executive amnesty a target of arrogant Republican bullying?
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Referendums on Arrogance- A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:14
In politics, arrogance can be hired, purchased or -in volunteer organizations- a gratuity that comes with volunteer labor.- or elected. In Maine , the incumbent Governor who was re-elected on Tuesday certainly had very public moments of arrogance. But voters decided - on Tuesday-alongside their bond referendums- who had less arrogance. They decided he had less- 48 to 44%.
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A Citizen's Guide to the "Fear of Gotcha" in American Political Life
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:04
In the 1950’s and 1960’s American citizens and the stalwart among them who were brave enough to run for political office had to learn to live with the “red scare”. The “red scare” was a manufactured and sometimes elaborately embellished accusation that a politician or a citizen was a communist. In a word that meant “horrible” and willing to sacrifice every liberty and freedom we enjoyed. These days, “red scare-ing” has been replaced in political life by “gotcha” and “fear of gotcha” ”Gotcha” you may remember is the “fruit” of the intensive effort in politics to identify -hey, in the information age, “information” about a candidate or officeholder or political operative that can be cast as dirty, nefarious, some tiny window into the heart of darkness that beats inside an individual previously seen as pure and good who also happens to be in or running for office or working for someone who is. Usually, the “gotcha” obtained has nothing to do with or is irrelevant to the tasks or dignity and respect involved in holding political office.
Red-scare-ing changed the political landscape and turned political life into far more of a looking over one’s shoulder activity than was necessary or productive or useful on the taxpayer’s dollar. These days “gotcha” or rather “fear of gotcha” threatens to do the same thing- if it has not already.
What remains most important is how the officeholders do the job, their respect for this democracy and their constituents and their ability to resist the temptations of power- i.e. the abuse of it.
A Citizen's Guide to the Difference Between the Truth and "Gotcha" in "Gotcha politics"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:45
If Woodward and Bernstein and Ben Bradlee had gone for the “gotcha” instead of the truth, the cost would have been the truth. The integrity that Watergate returned to American politics might never happened. There’s no “gotcha” in that. That’s history and the story of the disappearance of candidates with integrity who fall by the wayside because of a Director of New Media, short-sighted journalist or political party operative who are best versed in the “gotcha” and not in the integrity that the truth bring. Let' us pay a little more attention to the difference between the truth and the “gotcha” in “gotcha” politics.
What the Truth Costs: An Advanced Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 11:09
When we see the tools of discrediting the truth happily taken on, now or in history- we might say this. The cost of the truth is, it turns out, the truth.
I attended a conference recently about “Exploring Women’s Testimony: Genocide, War, revolution, The Holocaust and Human Rights”. After hearing how those things might be connected, it occurred to me hat maybe an advanced Citizens Guide to what the truth costs would be helpful. The truth comes at a high cost but the cost exacted varies from culture to culture, person to person, time, and context. The cost can be measured by its consequence. It can be measured by the intricacy, the arduous effort put into discrediting the speaker. This is what the conference was about.
I attended a conference recently about “Exploring Women’s Testimony: Genocide, War, revolution, The Holocaust and Human Rights”. After hearing how those things might be connected, it occurred to me hat maybe an advanced Citizens Guide to what the truth costs would be helpful. The truth comes at a high cost but the cost exacted varies from culture to culture, person to person, time, and context. The cost can be measured by its consequence. It can be measured by the intricacy, the arduous effort put into discrediting the speaker. This is what the conerence was about.
What the Truth Costs: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:23
The truth can be our moral antidote, our moral medicine, the vitamin that- yes, if someone is trying to tell us that nine dollars and something is a living wage when it's really ten dollars and something that is a living wage- keeps us alive and human.
The recent deaths of journalists James Foley and Stephen Sotloff reminds us that the truth remains very, very powerful. It can be exploited, spun, distorted and taken away . No truth is self-evident . These fallen journalists were its witness and prover, its protector, its deeply aggrieved mourner because someone was trying to diminish it and yes, we too are all of things.
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What the Truth Costs : A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:23
The cost of the truth is not tied to inflation. It’s tied to tolerance, inversely. The more tolerance that exists, the lower the price paid for the truth. In places where there is little tolerance, the price of the truth is very, very high, impossibly high at times. Witness the beheading of James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, whose exclusive purpose was to bear witness to the truth where it lives. The truth can be our moral antidote, a medicine, the vitamin that- yes, keeps us alive and human.
The truth remains very, very powerful. It can be exploited, spun, distorted and taken away . No truth is self-evident . These fallen journalists were its witness and prover, its protector, its deeply aggrieved mourner because someone was trying to diminish it and yes, we too are all of things.
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A Citizen's Guide to the Shallow and Inconsiderate in American Public Political Discourse
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:21
The public officials and the political candidates who shape public discourse through the impulsive and shallow convey far more about their ethics than any policy platform could. When their messaging offends and its shallowness is revealed, recognizing it is a first step in returning some level of trust in public officials and political process. Come to think of it, the shallow, the quick, the inconsiderate may have a lot to do with the depletion of trust in our government structures that we currently live with. Thus, this citizen's guide.
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A Citizen's Guide to Silence
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 10:07
Legislative ethics exist to put the brakes on political gamesmanship- whether it’s trading votes to pass a bill, get a fat salaried new Federal job, or for financial gain, all placed ahead of making good governance. But they didn’t work in this case. Congress is at its lowest public approval rating ever. Congressional candidates flaunt “working across the aisle” as a goal. But really they mean “political gamesmanship.” This is not a mystery buried right next to the Gnostic Gospels beside the Tigris River. Just read the daily newspaper.
What is the price of political gamesmanship by legislators and Congressional Representatives and Senators? Five years ago, I - one person- tried to engage legislators in finding proof that a rural asphalt plant would harm the migratory bird population- and the environment because of the noise and pollutants it creates. Let us- now 5 years later - go the migratory bird site. It does not take many years before migrating birds go elsewhere or die because they can‘t find another place. Birds must hear each other to breed and survive. This is why the music of birdsong evolved. It kept them alive. Without them, and citizens who can voice their concern, there is silence. Here is one citizen's guide to that silence.
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Legislative ethics exist to put the brakes on political gamesmanship- whether it’s trading votes to pass a bill, get a fat federal job, or for financial gain placed ahead of making good governance. But they didn’t work in this case.
Congress is at its lowest public approval rating ever. Congressional candidates flaunt “working across the aisle” as a goal. But really they mean “political gamesmanship.” This is not a mystery buried beside the Tigris River. Just read the daily newspaper.
The Problem with Internet Search Engines: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:37
Internet search engines have no way of taking context into consideration. The closest Google has come is to hone the search by user’s zip code, which is none of their business anyway. They have not, and probably won’t ever, come up with an algorithm able to take into account all the contextual features of the above scenario that would make the results as useful or irrelevant as possible. We have no way of knowing absolutely what is like for another person in their context but being a good observer of context and sorting through its relevance to our thinking is probably one of the things that has brought us to the top of the food chain. Thus this Citizen's Guide.
My 500 Pound Gorilla: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:11
I watched a program the other night about a 500 pound gorilla, or maybe it was a monkey whose owner taught him sign language. Whatever. I am beginning to think that maybe it was the gorilla who taught the owner to sign. That gorilla, all grown up- would move his finger an inch off his massive thigh- and that owner would coo and delight with immediate recognition. “Oh, that’s his sign when he’s whispering- kind of like at a cocktail party when you tell someone something from across the room so no one else will know.“ I would prefer a gorilla- any day- his place or mine- who was more straightforward. Or maybe- since I don’t know any gorillas personally- people who are straightforward.
This reminds of many things in life, but since the political season is upon us let’s start there. We have become a populace that will fill in the rest of the sentence, thought, public policy and legislative document for any gorilla. The gorilla gestures “gun control”, we fill in the sentence. The gorilla says “pro-life”, we fill in the rest. The gorilla says “fiscal irresponsibility”, we know what he means. I take this opportunity to remind you, we don’t know what the gorilla actually thinks. This is worse than sound bites. This is human beings reading gorilla’s minds.
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My Bi-partisan Family: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:19
I have a bi -partisan family. Maybe you do too. It makes understanding politics all the more difficult because sometimes people don’t agree. When there's a policy at the state level of government or something comes up the pike from Washington, DC where all those distinguished office-holders are in Congress, there's always the possibility that someone won 't like it, in the family, I mean. Sometimes it's not just that someone in the family doesn't like a political policy or a plan. Sometimes it makes the person feel bad.The details, I mean. In a bi-partisan family, maybe the details one person misses, are the ones someone else in the family is paying attention to and maybe that’s the good thing about a bi-partisan family. They keep each other honest. A lot of people in this country think politicians have a long long way before they keep each other as honest as a bi-partisan family will.
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- My Bi-partisan Family: A Citizen's Guide
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The Bi-partisan Family: A Citizen’s Guide -Susan Cook- I have a bi -partisan family. Maybe you do too. It makes understanding politics all the more difficult because sometimes people don’t agree. When there's a policy at the state level of government or something comes up the pike from Washington, DC where all those distinguished office-holders are in Congress, there's always the possibility that someone won 't like it, in the family, I mean. Sometimes it's not just that someone in the family doesn't like a political policy or a plan. Sometimes it makes the person feel bad. Like maybe they live down in New Jersey and the mom is late picking up the child from daycare because she gets caught in gridlock. Maybe the child starts crying and starts getting nervous and the child starts worrying that something happened to Mom and that's why the parent isn't there yet to pick up the child. Maybe couple weeks after that the child wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare he’s had about the day the parent didn't show up to daycare on time. Then the parent finds out the reason all that gridlock was there because somebody had a political agenda and threw up some orange to make one lane of traffic where there was no reason on earth why there couldn't be two lanes. Then the parent finds out that it's a certain political party that’s responsible for that. Now, that parent may decide- since the child isn't of voting age- that the political party will never get a vote from that Mom again. But then the grandmother finds out and the Mom tells her about the boy waking up and having a bad dream about waiting and waiting at daycare and the grandmother feels angry too because she - well, you know how grandparents are about grandchildren. They don’t want anything to ever make them feel bad ever. So the grandmother feels hurt for the grandchild and she might have been the most loyal Republican in the world and she will never let her pencil go near a Republican name on the ballot because her grandchild suffered because of a political trick. It doesn’t even have to be a big political trick. It can be just a little one and the grandmother is done. Now, it could be a Democrat’s trick or a Republican’s trick or even an Independent who is playing out some kind of political vendetta that has nothing to do with good government or democracy. It has to do with the smallness that forgets about the small, the children in daycare waiting for their parent to come get them. If you have a bi-partisan family and something makes the grandfather feel bad, say, then it also may make the uncle feel bad and then because the uncle feels bad, it might hurt the nephew who feels bad because his father feels bad and then pretty soon, because they’re bi-partisan, nobody in the family can pretend that it’s only one party that does nasty things because they watch one party do it to someone on the other party and then they watch the other party do it to someone in the other party or to the Independent. One day, let’s say, one of the uncles says, “Oh that other party does terrible things. My political party would never do that.” And the niece says, “Oh yes they do. Look what they did to your wife.” And the uncle doesn’t say a word, because he knows it’s true. Then one day, nobody in the bi-partisan family can get anybody to be active in politics anymore because they know either side would leave the child at the daycare and they’ve seen it happen. Details, details details! In a bi-partisan family, maybe the details one person misses, are the ones someone else in the family is paying attention to and maybe that’s the good thing about a bi-partisan family. They keep each other honest. A lot of people in this country think politicians have a long long way before they keep each other as honest as a bi-partisan family will.
Big Fish, Small Pond; Small Fish, Big Pond: A Citizen's Guide to Conscience
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:50
At a jazz performance, the lady next to me and I struck up a conversation. During World War II, she, a Czechoslovakian, and her family were exiled to Latvia. They were sent to an American-occupied section of Germany at war's end, and lived in Displaced Persons Camps for six years. "Then we came to America", she said. She, her husband and their daughter were there listening to the daughter's boyfriend play saxophone in a jazz quintet. She was, I knew, a woman who knows what it is to be a small fish in the very large pond called the world.
Dutifully, as mothers in every pond since the beginning of time have done, she took a sip of her daughter's just purchased martini. Turning in my direction, the mother grimaced as if she had just tasted 1000 proof alcohol retrieved from an ancient civilization where it was a fire substitute. Here was the mother as the forever big fish in the small pond in which her adult daughter still swam in which no martini eludes the mother's discriminating tongue to see how strong the drink.
These are the life experiences of which conscience is made, if we remember them: that we are always small fish in very big ponds and large fish in the very small pond of our home, our lives, our communities, our quotidian routines. It is the tension between keeping both in mind at the same time, the remembering the two- going back and forth as we live- that makes conscience available but also elusive to us all.
A Citizen's Guide to Entitled Derision
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:04
When politicians talk about "working across the aisle", they talk about it as if they are endorsing a great ethic. But working across the aisle is not an ethic. It's a carpentry essential. Its absence contributes to a structural failure of the institutional structure . We witness how badly the legislative process in Congress now sags.
But if working across the aisle isn’t an ethic, where are the real ethics in contemporary politics? When did entitled derision - the disrespectful messaging politicians daily speak- written for them by their Communications Directors and Directors of New Media- replace an ethic of respect?
Of course you might ask "What's wrong with entitled derision?" “Doesn‘t it“, as I heard one party hack say, a law school student nodding her head in agreement- "depend on what they did." Entitled derision is - after all- the belief that you are entitled to demean, insult or degrade the other because of what the person believes, says, does or votes. Distinguished candidates, senators and representatives using the language their Communication Directors and Directors of New Media write for them do it. Just taking part in the democratic process, in someone else’s view, justifies entitled derision and justifies making the candidate or the other legislator a target.
We see it in state, local and national government and politics. At all levels. We have also seen it in Northern Ireland, in Cambodia, in Tibet, in Vietnam, at Abu Grabh, and yes we saw it in Nazi Germany because someone convinced someone else the insulted, demeaned, derided "deserved" it. Entitled derision.
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domestic violence so I know empirical studies show race and social class strongly influence who is or is not believed and thus identified when a patient tells a health care professional about abuse. So there were no studies. Rather, that week, a State Senator used her ‘entitled derision’ to demean domestic violence workers.
A Citizen's Guide to Gunnel Grabbing in American Politics
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:03
Expert canoe paddlers know that a predictable sign that swimming is imminent when the canoe starts to tip in rough water is the grabbing of the canoe's gunnels by the resident paddlers. "Swimming" is the euphemism for what occupants do in the water after the canoe tips over. The gunnels are the railings that hold the canoe together. More experienced paddlers know that there's a far better chance of staying afloat if the paddler holds firmly to the paddle and leans in the opposite direction of the tipping.
If you are hearing an extremely helpful metaphor for understanding the political process in this country, you are thinking clearly.
The gunnel grabbers in political life are never the candidates or elected officials themselves. "Gunnel grabber" is a delegated position taken on by the Directors of new media or communications or the chiefs of staff or director of some other important activity to control how that the office holder or candidate is presented to the public or their fellow "team players" in the legislature or Congress.
Understanding some of the historical problems with gunnel grabbing in American politics just might help us understand how things get, well, turned on their sides in government and what might help righ them.
A Citizen's Guide to the Civil Liberty Called Freedom of the Press
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:36
The civil liberties of the Constitution are wholesome, pure, and good. They sometimes require holding two ideas in the mind at the same time, not easy some days. And they can be exploited. Freedom of the press, our reliable civil liberties vacuum for the unseemly and dirty then placed on public display can be exploited very easily. The exploitation is non-partisan, can come from either side because civil liberties are non-partisan.
Even the venerable newspaper editor Abe Rosenthal at the even more venerable New York Times distorted facts about the iconic example of urban social decay, the Kitty Genovese murder, by claiming that more than a dozen passive bystanders listened for a very long time to her screams and did not call the police. In fact, there were only two, who thought it was a domestic dispute, a man beating a woman, which was not then and yes even to this day is often not- considered an entirely atrocious act calling for police intervention.
Here in Maine, what does the civil liberty "freedom of the press" mean in the wake of revelations that the upper echelons of state government with held and then shredded public information about the rating system for giving out "Healthy Maine Partnership" fund. Shall we soon expect some chest-thumping about which party civil liberties truly belong to?
A Citizen's Guide to Passion and Political Gamesmanship in Democracies
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:47
The protesters in Ukraine are showing us on a very public stage that criticism free from harassment and ridicule of the actions of public elected officials is or should be what a democracy allows. The protesters in Ukraine, those who we memorialize for their passion and those who stand and testify through their actions remind us that what we have in this country is always up for grabs- if not from foreign threat but from each other. We really do not know how democracy sustains itself here. Speaking up is dismissed as “passion”. Passion is the code word for somebody who doesn’t know that the preferred approach is Political gamesmanship even as it erodes- day in, day out, as we see in Congress and state governments the democracy we live in.
A Citizen's Guide to Political Gamesmanship and Environmental Contamination
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:50
Winning is the short view of Political gamesmanship.Fake news creation is part and parcel of it. Environmental contamination is the long view when environmental policy is on the table. In many environmental policy decisions, the environment takes a back seat to the political gamesmanship at play, including creation of fake news. Recently 2 examples of environmental issues tainted by fake news in Maine showed up.
A Citizen's Guide to Limiting the Influence of the Internet and the Digital Age
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:03
Are you concerned about your child emailing too much? Are you concerned about the effect on a child's spine of a head bent over a gaming system for hours on end? Are you concerned about the constant checking and re-checking of text messages or people who don't talk to each other anymore, just text?
Parents- any parent- has the skill to combat this proliferation of the Internet and the Digital Age. First, you say, "Give me your phone, please."
A Congressional Guide to Ending Gridlock
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:26
Having survived the most recent episode of Gridlock by the skin of the Nation's teeth, we beyond the Beltway need to put our collective relational conscience together to find a way to eliminate gridlock in Congress.
Any practicing psychotherapist knows that the language you use can be the basis for interpersonal remediation because the heart and mind may follow the words that are used. This is what we're going to be talking about today: new rules for the language Congress uses when they talk about each other.
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Who Rules The World and Why It Matters
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:00
Boys' State is an experiment in Democracy that a select group of high school boys attend in Maine this week. We can hope they will learn about the dangers of the cooption of the democratic process. The current administration leaves us all wondering what do they do down there in Washington, sometimes. Using political party membership as a sledgehammer to force agreement just one questionable technique. A democratic process stolen by a small number of Senators or Representatives or Presidential executive order - those who want their opinion to count more than anyone else's matters enormously.
This incident described happened about 12 years ago but it raises some of the same questions about the Democratic process the new administration does . So we re-visit: Who Rules the World and Why It Matters.
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A Citizen's Guide to What to Eat During a Government Shutdown
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:02
Citizens are being reminded these days of everything they don't have control over. Any nutritionist will tell you that the one thing you always have control over is the food you put into your mouth. Times like these require food with substance and comfort.You would be surprised at the comfort and substance found in the grocery store (as long there were not federal dollars involved in getting it there because of the You-Know-What.) A Citizen's Guide is here today about what to eat during a government shutdown.
A Citizen's Guide to Civility
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:36
To understand what civility is these days in times of tweets, smart phones, blogs and Facebook, we first have to look at "uncivil" and how "uncivil" comes to be.
There are three ways :
There's uncivil by you, yourself; uncivil by Chief of Staff or staff and Uncivil by Lawyer.
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A Citizen's Guide to Freedom
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:58
The parades and camaraderie of the Fourth of July celebrate freedom.
This nation-wide celebration doesn't mean that the freedoms we have can’t be corrupted. Just this week, the Supreme Court eliminated laws originally intended to prevent states from interfering with the right to vote that has been broadly criticized as a corruption of our freedom to vote. What are the freedoms and rights of citizens?
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A Citizen's Guide to Updating Your Truth
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:07
"Updating your truth" is a term not much used these days. We read that somebody "denied", "vetoed", "denounced", "maintained", "refused to consider", "filibustered", "opposed", "fended off", or "attacked". But we never hear that someone has "upgraded their truth".
"Updating the truth" might lead us all to be in better service to the truth, less frightened of the real information that presents itself and says "Give this some real consideration". We know that currently, people often don't seriously consider new information because there is no safe way for them to change their mind. In psychotherapy, its called "resistance". In developmental psychology, "updating your truth" is what children and adolescents do, profoundly, albeit with subtlety, when they reach 2, 5, 8, 10, 13, 18,- whenever a great developmental epoch begins or ends. Isn't "updating your truth" what human experience is anyway?
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A Citizen's Guide To Being Sane In Insane Places
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:18
The lessons of D.L. Rosenhan's 40 year old study of psychiatric patients "plagerised" psychiatric diagnosis to see if they would be detected as frauds on psychiatric units have not been lost on the world of psychiatric diagnosis. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is soon to be published in its 5th version, a continuous upgrading used by mental health professionals to elevate diagnosis beyond the simple dichotomy of sane-insane that Rosenhan presented.
How have the observations of this ground-breaking study been generalized to every day life? Enter the United State Congress and the legislative process.Can Rosenhan's observations help make sense of that decision-making process? Position in the psychiatric hierarchy in no way insured judgment that is ethical, rational, sound or true. Might that be true of Congress?
Welcome to "Me Radio": A Citizen's Guide to Why We Need A Solid Political Party Structure
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:37
A solid political party structure broadens the focus of campaigns from the "me' to the "we", the electorate. Me Radio is an example of how that might not happen.
Where Mean Spiritedness Hides- A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:48
Spirits are invisible, never caught in the flesh, imaginary presence usually. Children think they hide under the bed, in dark places, the darkness a perfect place for mean spiritedness to hide. Unseen, mean spiritedness is accountable to no one.
The Bad Guy View of the World
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:13
Many six year olds believe that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The President of the NRA, is of the same mind, or at least that's what he says. The offensiveness of his use of a child's view of the world to discuss the Newtowne massacre stands beside the reality that many aspects of the real world prove him wrong. Drone attacks, Mahatma Gandhi and the Tarasoff Law that mandates that mental health professionals must inform potential victims of a mentally ill patient with intent to kill all suggest that the President of the NRA (and fast forward to 2022, remarks by Senator Ted Cruz to the NRA) are incorrect. Many things stop homicidal people from killing.
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The "Bad Guy" View of the World
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Many six year olds believe that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The President of the NRA, is of the same mind, or at least that's what he says. The offensiveness of his use of a child's view of the world to discuss the Newtowne massacre and the Florida high school murders stands beside the reality that many aspects of the real world prove him wrong. Drone attacks, Mahatma Gandhi and the Tarasoff Law that mandates that mental health professionals must inform potential victims of a mentally ill patient with intent to kill all suggest that Mr. LaPierre is incorrect. Many things stop homicidal people from killing.
Oddly, even the cry for genetic testing of Adam Lanza who carried out the Newtowne atrocityand all the massmurderers who have followed him argues against Mr. LaPierre's belief. After all, if genetic testing found a gene that is linked to killing then all the good guys on earth with guns won't ever stop the bad guys with guns. Adolf Hitler and the many wars in which thousands have died suggest that one bad guy with a gun and one good guy with a gun lead to two bad guys with guns and two good guys with guns and on and on and on.
If there is a gene ( and we know that a gene is only important as a phenotype- that is- how it plays out in the real world) then guns wouldn't help. Gene therapy would. Many geneticists don't believe there is such a gene in the first place.
In our nationwide speculation about what stops one mentally ill person who has been given access to a gun from killing people, the pharmaceutical industry has been oddly silent. There is always the possibility that they have a drug on their back burner that stops bad guys from killing, if the drug is prescribed and taken. The pharmaceutical industry already has many drugs that assuage homicidal or suicidal impulses. They also have psychotropic drugs that carry the potential side effect of intensifying agitation and impulsive aggression. It would be the drug industry's ethical responsibility to tell us which of their kitchen cabinet of psychotropic drugs has the potential for creating this agitated aggressive side effect in patients. Doesn't it make sense that before we conclude that every school in the country have its own arsenal, that we ask about the psychotropic medications that Mr. Lanza and the young man in Denver and the one in Tucson, and all the other bad guys who had regular contact with mental health professionals were prescribed? And if impulsive aggression and agitation that some of these drugs have as potential side effects contributed to their behavior that the NRA President attributes to their "bad guy" side? Isn't that a question we need to ask?
A Citizen's Guide: How To Gut A Fish
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:12
When people say things like the quote published in the newspaper the other day, they don't seem to realize what's at stake. So, this Citizen's Guide on how to gut a fish might help people realize what is involved in gutting a fish. Oh, the quote in the newspaper was this:
"There's a general realization that if we're going to solve the public's problems, we've got to get over this idea of party."
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This is how you gut a fish.
First, you find the tiny, dusty-rose colored, nickel-sized pulsing heart, located somewhere between the dorsal fins and the spine. It is the heart that, even though it is nickel-sized- holds the belief that people are basically good and worthy of being heard. Pull out the spoon section of your Swiss army knife that the bank gave you when you opened your account there in Switzerland and lift it out. Put it in the freezer- you might be able to sell it later.
Next, you grab the fish by the fins, the dorsal fins. It is these fins that move the fish from left to right. They have- since the beginning of political advertising on television- allowed the fish to get away ( among flying fish, to fly) and not hear the constant hostility and negativity. Away, they can make up their own minds, based on support for the issues. Rip out the dorsal fins and the fish’s sway from left to right or right to left is entirely dependent on the prodding of polls: poking, jabbing in a taunting, merciless way. Remember, you have already removed the heart.
A Citizen's Guide to the Difference Between Before and After
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:34
Party structure has always provided the legs for a candidate to stand on- supporting and staying in touch with a candidate's focus: the voters. Participation in that party structure has always been absolutely free- participation the only "dues" anyone pays. There are no oaths of loyalty. Voting by poll result, not grasping the difference between before and after and the reality that some people change their vote based on what a poll says, endangers fully this free enterprise- a party system. Without a standing party structure, that exists before, after and even without the highs and lows of the election season, candidates- so-called- "independents"- will re-invent that structure every time- or rather "buy" it. Electing candidates will become a matter of capturing- guess what- the most money- not the most voter credibility and trust.
Buying Up Democracy One Hybrid Lobbyist At A Time
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:52
The Mayor of New York held a big fundraiser in New York recently to support candidates who want consensus in Washington. As we listen to Mr. Bloomberg's approach to "finding consensus in Washington" by paying millions to candidates that agree with him- oh, I mean, want consensus- let us pause and anticipate- like water that someday will not be free- what we lose when we hand over to Mr. Bloomberg and his wealthy allies the nitty-gritty ground game of the political process in our democracy.
A Citizens' Guide to The Brand: Democracy By Fear and Branding
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:55
The Constitution does not say "We, the Brand Consumer". It says "We, the... thinking , questioning, remembering, mind-changing, advocating and yes, voting... People". We are Constituents. But The Brand has become the new approach to getting a candidate elected.
Getting The Brand off the ballot, and the Candidate back on, is what we the People do simply by doing what we do: asking, questioning, remembering, trusting our perceptions, telling the truth and yes, voting.
Credibility in Business Casual: Sexism Wears a New Outfit
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:46
The Republican attack on women, a not- so thinly veiled attack on credibility, the females, that is, is not new. Women, you may remember, require more “proof” that they are telling the truth than men do. Women’s credibility remains the non-credentialed, not appropriately dressed, inarticulate sweetspot where, when hit just right, sexism implants its tendrils and goes viral, its derision entitled, origin unknown, because we are talking about women.
Much is heard about the "new" Republican attack on women, a not so thinly veiled attack on credibility, the females’, that is. Women, you may remember require more “proof” that they are telling the truth than men do. Women’s credibility remains the non-credentialed, not appropriately dressed, inarticulate sweetspot where, when hit just right, sexism implants its tendrils and goes viral, its derision entitled, origin unknown, because we are talking abut women.
Many women don’t realize that today’s war on women’s credibility is like that faced by Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearing either because they now have credentials that they hope protect their credibility or they were not old enough or not allowed to watch that spectacle as it unfolded on national television in the early 1990’s. During the hearings to admit Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, Anita Hill, an African-American attorney was subpoenaed to testify about the sexual harassment she endured at his hands at his previous job.
I still have my “I Believe Anita Hill” button. Many women don’t. Many men never got one in the first place. The smug confidence that Clarence Thomas evinced during those hearings has metastasized into complete silence, as he now sits on the Court. He perhaps now believes he doesn’t have to say anything to have credibility as he has not said or asked any questions during the oral arguments for something like 6 years.
Some believe that blatantly different standards for male and female credibility have gone away. We need go no further than the recent trial of John Edwards for federal campaign law violations for “proof” that sexism’s new business casual dress does not mean standards have changed.
Criminal law trials are about credibility. The “designer” proof presented by John Edwards that he was telling the truth was this: A video of his nationally-televised appearance lauded as his moment of truth-telling, the “tell-all” in which he stated that he had a brief affair with Rielle Hunter but it had ended and his unethical staffer had fathered her child.
This “truth telling” explique was presented to the jury as evidence that the man before them was really not telling the truth then, even though he said he was before a national television audience, but he was telling the truth now. This, strategized his defense team, was, yes, a wardrobe failure in credibility that would now be restored with that ever-trustworthy safety pin- the fact that John Edwards is a man. They knew that would hold up better than the fact that Edwards is a lawyer. One word captures how a woman engaging in such tactics would be characterized: Flighty!
The Credibility dress standard is not the same for men and women. Credibility remains an icon of sexism that presumes that women have to meet different standards of proof than men do. There are cultural and social questions that we all must ask about the different standards for “proof” that apply to men and women, that are as unfair and unequal now as they were when Anita Hill was subpoenaed to testify about Clarence Thomas.
When we ask for proof from men and women, do we ask each of them, equally, no matter what the context, no matter who has been privileged with the presumptive “truth-teller” status? When the ” court of public opinion” is courted, really deep down, don't you think you can overlook what she says is true? That what everybody else thinks is better proof? That any other truth that she might offer is really just her reaching for a safety pin- when really- there isn’t one big enough to fill the gap?
A Citizen's Advanced Guide to Political Hostage Taking
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:49
Seldom do citizens witness the workings of that Refinery known as Political Hostage Taking. There is much to learn from the John Edwards' trial about how to recognize Political Hostage Taking when it is happening. There is hope that this Refinery in which what goes in at the beginning comes out at the end, cruder, dirtier and more likely to cause disease will be shut out of politics some day.
If Power Is An Aphrodisiac Than Unethical Staff Are Surgeons
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:30
Deception is something we need to claim as what we do not like in politics and political life. This is not claiming the moral high ground. This is seeking to return politics and politicians to a respectable level of credibility with the public. But their staff members have to be equally accountable.
A Sense of Belonging and Health: The Limits of Logic in Creating Well-being
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:45
As the Supreme Court Justices listen to lawyers try to find the legal logic in requiring people to buy health insurance, let us remember that people do not always use logic in making sense of the world. Thinking that logic will bring people to buy health insurance without a law is, well, not logical.
A Citizen's Guide to Organically Grown Political Influence: How to Experience Being One Vote
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:30
No matter how many lawsuits are filed to make political influence available to the highest bidder, there is one kind that you can't pay for or create with your debit card. It's organic, it's free, and you have to show up to make it.
A Citizen's Guide To The Truly Presidential: Candidates Caught Without Their Meetings
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:33
We listen to the billow of candidate debates to answer bigger questions: who among them truly has the character and qualities to be President of the United States. But perhaps there is a better format for exploring this question: The Meeting or rather the Meeting they missed. To become President of this country, the truly Presidential have attended many meetings. But what happens if they are denied? A meeting, I mean.
A Citizen's Guide to the Petty and Small-minded
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:29
As the dust settles from the Iowa Caucuses , it is time to sniff, dig and if necessary chew and swallow pettiness and small-mindedness where found. How to distinguish the petty and small-minded from the profound and truly significant? And yes, I am taking a lead from the dogs in creating this Citizen's Guide, specifically as they explore the yard.
The Abuse of Power Department
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:12
A new collection of observations from E.B. White, the Brooklin, Maine writer, has been culled by his granddaughter, Martha White. He was once described as a man who never "wrote a mean or careless sentence". That distinction falls to few in good times; during the Iraq War, more fell out of contention. Many saw the invasion of Iraq, as premised on a falsehood: that Weapons of Mass Destruction were hidden there, an evening of a political score tallied by one President, settled in the wrong country.
The enormous human suffering and sacrifice of Iraq will leave many granddaughters whose grandparents will never be known to them...
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Is My One Marshmallow Better Quality Than Your Two: Trump Era Lessons for GEN X, Y and Z
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:57
Delayed gratification has changed. Social science experiments often mirror cultural values and our best learners absorb them well. They do what the advisor recommends. The children in the Marshmallow study are told to wait before they eat one marshmallow, and they will then earn two. Those marshmallow waiters sit and think, “Oh but the next one will be worth it. “ In the study, those kids who waited went to college, took out student loans, on good faith that they would be able to get jobs with health insurance when they finished. Occupy Wall Street told us that is the wrong lesson. We do not teach kids to ask- “How many marshmallows are there? Why 2? Is anybody getting 3? Show me the whole bag.” These are the questions of our time. Not- “Can you wait for the second marshmallow?”
I was at a meditation workshop when the teacher mentioned the marshmallow experiment reported on NPR as a reason why these new meditators should stick out the day focusing on the breath, in order to learn to meditate. The children in the reported study who could wait until the experimenter came back before eating one marshmallow sitting in front of them would get two, while those who wolfed down the first one wouldn't get anymore.
Delayed gratification has changed. Social science experiments often mirror cultural values and our best learners absorb them well. They do what the advisor recommends and wait for the marshmallow. Those marshmallow waiters sit and think, “Oh but the next one will be worth it. “ In the study, those kids who waited went to college, took out student loans, on good faith that they would be able to get jobs with health insurance when they finished. Occupy Wall Street says that is the wrong lesson.
Of course we can wait. It is in the human genome. Manjushree, one of several incarnate Buddhas, it is said, took one breath his whole life. Of course, we can savor one marshmallow. But asking where the whole bag of marshmallows is and what a fair share is? We only ask those questions when those who took the whole bag and make us wait for two destroy the financial system. For most of us, getting the whole bag is not based on merit or delaying gratification. It is based on believing there is nothing wrong with taking the whole bag, or with health insurance companies paying CEOs multi-million dollar salaries while the entire country ‘s economy goes under because health insurance premiums are unaffordable. Our children need to be taught to ask where the rest of the marshmallows are and claim the moral statement: “It is unethical for Wall Street to thrive at our expense.“ And then do something like occupy Wall Street.
A Citizen's Guide to Acupuncture
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:54
Acupuncture is an ancient intervention for helping
raise "chi"- pronounced "GEE" in English. For those for whom acupuncture treatments have enhanced the "Gee", whose pain is freed, who feel better when their energy finally runs true, what a discovery! Well, re-discovery because it's been around 5000 years. But, once they try it, reality seems clearer! And who is not made better by a genuine, legitimate, valid check with reality?
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Is My Thirty Bucks Better Quality Than Your 2.4 Trillion: A Congressional Guide to "The Quality of Money"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:12
As our Elected Officials struggle with Debt Ceiling Reduction, perhaps some homework on how my 30 bucks can be better quality than their 2.4 trillion would help
A Citizens' Advanced Guide To Cynicism
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:08
We now know that Rupert Murdoch and his "gang" have an ability to grasp the difference between the imaginary and the real similar to that of many two year olds. And so we recruit them- one and all- for a new scientific study called "Violence in Media Changes Perception of Reality."
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-Susan Cook-
A Congressional Guide to The Problem of Pretending To Be Someone That You Are Not
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:36
Thank Former Congressman Weiner for reminding us of what civilization loses when we pretend to be someone that we are not- online or in life.
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A Citizen's Guide to Cynicism
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:04
Eleven years after I posted the first commentary for The River is Wide series, this remains true: Speaking and seeking the truth is not cynical.
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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Government Critic and the Anonymity of Fake News Creators
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:53
Fourteen years ago this month, Maine Public Radio fired the host of a 30 year popular jazz program, The humble Farmer because he criticized the Iraq War. His criticism of Real News led to Maine Public Radio demanding he sign Guidelines to not make ‘political statements’ on air. He refused.Fast forward 3650 days, and we now see Fake News displacing Real News. A Bangor Daily News reporter who was formerly the Communication Director for Sen. Susan Collins in one particularly outrageous example created his own Fake news to demean me. He lied. Period. Fake news is the scourge of the free press and free speech. But it only ends when ethical individuals call Comunication Directors and reporters out on it. In the incident described, explaining the ethical problem in his reporting falls to me. I'll do it.
-Susan Cook-
Anonymity and loneliness drive many social ills- including suicide. If every ethical journalist and public radio station in this country responds to the Fake News threats by not tolerating anonymity then we might see those who create ‘air time’ for it- what they are- unethical. And we might see Government legislators who hire them taking the long distance view of violation of civil liberties.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Government Critic and the Anonymity of Fake News Creators
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:53
Fourteen years ago this month, Maine Public Radio fired the host of a 30 year popular jazz program, The humble Farmer because he criticized the Iraq War. His criticism of Real News led to Maine Public Radio demanding he sign Guidelines to not make ‘political statements’ on air. He refused.Fast forward 3650 days, and we now see Fake News displacing Real News. A Bangor Daily News reporter who was formerly the Communication Director for Sen. Susan Collins in one particularly outrageous example created his own Fake news to demean me. He lied. Period. Fake news is the scourge of the free press and free speech. But it only ends when ethical individuals call Comunication Directors and reporters out on it. In the incident described, explaining the ethical problem in his reporting falls to me. I'll do it.
-Susan Cook-
Anonymity and loneliness drive many social ills- including suicide. If every ethical journalist and public radio station in this country responds to the Fake News threats by not tolerating anonymity then we might see those who create ‘air time’ for it- what they are- unethical. And we might see Government legislators who hire them taking the long distance view of violation of civil liberties.
The Kindness of Strangers: What Fools These Mortals Be
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:03
There is not a single insurance company in the country that has gone out of business because of the ACA . They’ve created new alliances, to wit Optum; the United Health Care, Harvard Pilgrim Health, Aetna creation to oversee and dole out mental health services. I would ask the reputable journalists at the New York Times to show me a list of Insurance Executives who have taken a pay cut because of the ACA. I don’t think any have. They claim to lose money on the Health Exchanges, but since every insurance company receives their full premium from the kind stranger known as the US Dept of Health and Human Services, tell me how have they lost money.
Now that President Donald Trump has fired 47 United States Attorney Generals, this bizarre effort to seize power probably has something to do with the current Republican effort to dismantle the greatest kindness by strangers this country has seen in many many years. By that I mean, the Affordable Care Act, the creation of which is not unlike the creation of the New York City subway system . In 1891, the possibility of a subway was described ‘as vital to the body politic’ ‘as [it is] for the body physical‘. The Affordable Care Act has been described as vital now. Both provided something that the wealthy did not need that opened well-being to the great anonymous mass of humanity, inexpensively. Both came out of the kindness of strangers, easily foiled by Attorney Generals.
Reducing health care to a privilege for the economically stable is like making the New York City subway system available only to the elite. If it’s too great a stretch to think of the benefits of kindness to strangers, think for a minute about many, many Days Without the New York City Subway. The cost- is almost unimaginable. The Affordable Care Act’s benefits are not replaced by tax benefits for the economically stable.
Never Take Money For What You Love Deeply: Money Hustlin' in D.C.
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:05
Selling whatever this country has, for money, of course, at every turn, even at the highest echelons of government, has become the highest priority in the new administration.
Even the President's daughter- who you would think had all the money she needs- tries to sell more of her clothes so she can make money too. I re-watched ‘Madame Rosa’ the 1977 French film in which Simone Signoret stars as an Auschwitz survivor now an aging or aged-out prostitute who earns her living as a foster parent to the children of Paris prostitutes. From her sixth floor walk-up on Place Pigalle, she is the magistrate of care and mediates between the harsh indulgences of Paris street-life and the tender vulnerabilities of the children she gives harbor to.
While the pimps and ladies and men of the night, transgendered and otherwise come in and out, she tends to all of them and sees to the things that will make their lives their own in a world that- in its own indifference- or for the sake of what others will pay money for- lust, indulgence, sex, earthly pleasures- has left them at her door. She makes room for them all- even the immigrant Nigerian who has become ‘the King of Kings’ on Pigalle- the most influential pimp of them all who she can influence to put an end to the cruelties other pimps mete out. The King of Kings dictates letters to Madame Rosa that he will send to his Nigerian village- letters touting his success and his promise to return home with lots of money to build roads, bridges and make infrastructure improvements.
Like on the streets of Pigalle, in this country hustling to make a buck- and better yet getting it- seems more important than love- love of morality, ethics, human decency, human integrity, respect. Money the cure-all and not having enough the problem. Even worth selling your ass for, as Madame Rosa acknowledged doing. But never ever ever ever take money for what you love deeply and best. It is the only way to keep it.
Finding the Better Angels of Human Nature:How Congress Will Take Away Health Insurance
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:11
How does a whole country find its better angels. We hear that this new administration’s policies will deny care to the most vulnerable, escalate nuclear tensions, at a very large human cost, for those who have little to spare anyway. There are many nominated for cabinet posts in this administration who seem to have little interest in human angels let alone benevolence toward all Americans. Department of Health and Human Services nominee, Georgia Rep. Tom Price, has a record, ‘demonstrating less concern for the sick, the poor, and the health of the public, and much greater concern for the economic well-being of physicians.’ He would end the subsidies that make health insurance affordable which are now based on income and the price of the health insurance.
The secret beneficiary of the Affordable Care Act has always been private insurance companies because no matter how much they raise insurance premium costs, the cost is subsidized for those who cannot afford the premium. Private insurance companies get their premium money anyway- even if they raise deductible levels.
A Citizen’s Guide to Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price and Health Care
-Susan Cook-
Like A Bird on the Wire: Human Rights and the Asylum Network
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:40
There is always, someone, somewhere who "like a bird on the wire" from Leonard Cohen's song, is trying “in [his or her] way to be free“.
Since 1989, Nobel Peace Prize winner Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has provided to asylum seekers medical and psychological assessment of injuries from past victimization and its persistent symptoms. Asylum seekers are those in the U.S. with temporary legal documentation who have a well-founded fear of scorn and harm through any number of methods, including torture, if sent home. The culturally, if not government endorsed, perception that they are of no use to anyone gives tacit if not explicit permission to harm, an entitled stance taken on by their adversaries in their country of origin. PHR's Asylum Network of volunteer health care providers then write affidavits to accompany lawyers' presentation of the Asylum Seeker's request to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or the Dept. of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. It is a long and complex process.
We- yes, we- do not understand that in many countries, political activism is a privilege not a right. I cringe when I see individuals- on both sides of the aisle- here in Maine and now in a Donald Trump administration turn political activism back into a privilege- not a right. The LePage plan and the Donald Trump immigration stance that withholds basic food and shelter from asylum seekers kicks in the shins this protection of political activism for its own sake and treats it like a special privilege that only those who can run fast enough to get away deserve. Our entire country exists by virtue of and to protect that right. It’s how Mr. Lepage and Donald Trump got where they are- through the right of political activism that did not lead to their persecution, arrest, sexual assault, starvation, homelessness or the disappearance or murder of friends or family.
In Memory of Leonard Cohen
-Susan Cook-
Here, we assume that individuals won't be publicly scorned or physically or mentally harmed for criticizing government leaders or by belonging to a religion, race, gender, political party or social group fallen from favor. Asylum from sanctioned harm is what our ancestors emigrated toward. In their countries of origin, they were often candidates for persecution that leadership felt entitled to bestow.
Persecution comes in many forms, as the following excerpt from an asylum seeker's de-identified PHR affidavit validates. S states that his work as a journalist in Iran has led to his alleged arrests and detention...In 2000, S was ordered by the Iranian Ministry of Information to engage in no further publishing of any newspapers or magazines...In 2001, he published an article about a reformist Mullah who resigned from the government in protest, despite warning from the National Security Council that he could not print this article. In summer of 2002, the Iranian government shut down his newspaper. S also gave a BBC Persia interview about the shutdown of the paper...[He was subsequently detained 4 times where he was repeatedly tortured.] In February 2012, Iranian colleagues (an Iranian human rights activist living in the US) asked S to attend and report on an opposition rally planned by...a reformist group. S did publish an anonymous account...S was arrested again… He was severely beaten and told to confess to the authorship of his articles...He refused to confess, and in fact, denied that he had written the articles...After the beatings, [the interrogator] threw him in the hallway...and called his family...who took him to the hospital...[The interrogator] and another official came to his bedside to warn S that if he kept writing, he would be referred to a higher-ranking prosecutor who would tie him up and cause him further pain and suffering." (pp. 85-87. "Aiding Survivors of Torture and other Human Rights Abuses: Physical and Psychological Documentation of Individuals Seeking Humanitarian Protection in the United States", Physicians for Human Rights' Asylum Program, Boston, MA., March 2012.)
So I Guess Donald Trump's Sexploitation of Women Really Didn't Matter
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:11
As women in this country grieve the lost opportunity to elect a woman President, the widespread sanctioning of Donald Trump’s sexploitation is there to haunt us. As we struggle to regain our footing, it might serve us to remember that where this particular kind of human rights violation lives, at least in my state, is no further away than the largest newspaper.
-Susan Cook-
The young woman who was held in sex slavery (the human rights term for prostitution) by Mark Strong, the Thomaston insurance agent barely mentioned by Mr. Nemitz or his newspaper. After her trial, in which she was sentenced to 10 months in jail, she announced that she ‘was feeling free’. Few grasped that anyone who says she is ‘feeling free’ after being sentenced to 10 months in jail has been imprisoned by far worse jailers.
Making Water Visible at Standing Rock : Ecotourism and Environmental Genocide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:15
The Standing Rock Sioux are protesting the construction of the 1200 mile Dakota Access oil pipeline because it threatens and places at enormous risk a major water resource. It abuts Lake Oahe, a Missouri River wide spot. Three federal agencies have now stepped in to stop construction near the water resource. The Sioux have been joined by many many other Native Americans and environmentalists. Most recently, 141 of them were arrested because the Texas company building the pipeline, Energy Transfers said they had trespassed on private property. Loud, visible Native American protests have risen and disappeared in the past- Wounded Knee, the site of the 1973 American Indian Movement rising comes to mind. Will the protesters at Standing Rock succeed in maintaining the visibility they have given environmental genocide- the death of natural resources on their land?
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Will the Standing Rock Sioux become invisible too? Will the waters at the wide spot in the Missouri River become invisible too let alone water aquifers that oil spills seep down into and contaminate. Will loud protest be reduced to cynical comment? Ecotourism in its way prevents environmental genocide- the one the Standing Rock Sioux are trying to make visible before it happens.
The Little Prince and His Imaginary Rose: Her Imaginary Care and The Proprietary Life
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:17
I’m not sure how one marries the proprietary "I give the right to life” to the “I give the right to life free from emotional and physical torment”. Like “The Little Prince” in St. Exupery’s book, the rose some in our society imagine they "give the right to life” becomes even more imaginary when it comes to her care, drawn only on paper. And even when the roses are real, a judicial system that gives only a verbal warning to an alleged sexual abuser to have no contact with children gives only imaginary protection to them.
Her Imaginary Care and the Proprietary Life
-Susan Cook-
At the same time, personal choice after conception to continue a pregnancy - or not- what an individual can claim as theirs to decide- is always being disputed by those who claim to be the better judge than the mother of whether she has the emotional, physical and social capacity to bear and raise a child free from abuse, neglect and torment. It is only the child who suffers from their misjudgement and the shaming and humiliation of a woman who does not believe she can give a child a safe life. Nobody contests the average 6 year sentence in Maine of murderers of young children. Nobody contests the gross inadequacy of a judicial system giving a verbal warning to an alleged abuser to have no contact with children under the age of 16. Ownership of the damage and suffering children experience when raised by parents whose reckless self indulgence or deprivation take precedence over a child’s well-being may be nowhere to be found. It does not freely follow from the sole-proprietor “I give the right to life" claim.
Seeing Things As They Are, Updated
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:05
This US Presidential campaign has been characterized by a striking absence of empathy. No empathy between candidates and a Social Code that defines appropriate behavior focused on exaggeration of flaws and differences between them. When Hillary Clinton withholds information- a minor 2 day delay in announcing to the world she has pneumonia , it becomes news, a possible indication of inferiority, her physical well-being repeatedly bandied about. The empathy-impoverished hate speech of Donald Trump continues unabated. Empathy for others intends to make us equals. Democracy the great progenitor of the Social Code of what’s acceptable intends to make us equals too. In this election, one has to wonder which Social Code has taken over as an influence on voters, which group’s social code they now align themselves with.
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The Beginning of Mean: This Country's Epidemic of Permission For Meanness
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:01
The widespread permission in this country to be mean, to arm oneself to be as mean as possible is deeply alarming. The beginning of this permission to be mean, to use language to demean, to arm oneself with weapons, to act impulsively on meanness came from somewhere. No one would disagree that meanness in this country is rampant- violence and retribution over and over. Where the entitlement to be mean, to use mean to control , to act as if the meanness need not be accountable to any authority is a question we have a moral imperative in this country to answer.
Moral imperatives I think can be fostered by human experience. So my question becomes how does this country tell the truth about the meanness we find ourselves in and how do we use the truth to stop it.
Bringing The Truck To Yoga
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:00
I am trying to care for the health of someone special by bringing him to my yoga class and his insurance is required!!..
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And Always From Behind: Where Women Are Now
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:00
International Women's Day is a time for women to acknowledge how women are discredited by others. And yes women too discredit women. All of this contributes to a character ceiling for women which lies much lower than the one men negotiate.
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My We-Contained Democrat
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | :59
If we live in a we-contained world, shouldn't we all be Democrats?
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David Brooks' new book raises a big question: When is he going to be a Democrat?
75 seconds on When The Wind Blew:Reading the Constitution With The Representative From Tennessee
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:00
How NPR Lost Funding
Behind the Counter: What Labor Really Looks Like
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | :57
See what Labor looks like and does at your local convenience store.
Managed Car:210 Seconds on How To Triple Car Insurance Premiums
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:16
Think Managed Care has changed health care? Wait until your car insurance company switches to Managed Car!
The Joy of Derequiring: A New Word for New Health Care Policy
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | :57
We need a new word for those who think "required" health care coverage is pesky and unconstitutional.
The Birth of Managed Care: An Historical Allegory
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:00
The birth of managed care was surrounded by sounds called Click and Clack coming from an AM car radio.
Seeing Things As They Are
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:53
David Brooks excels when his vast analytic abilities are brought to his fondness for Republicans. In the New York Times, he ventured into an area he has not devoted a lifetime of thought to: specifically, writing about "The Limits of Empathy" and its failure to create acts of human kindness.
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Emotionally Shallow Waters: Drowning In Two Inches of Water
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:31
We wade into emotionally shallow waters when we look at the media's recent coverage of the important consequences of the Penn State revelation that sexual assaults of children by their sports administrators were visually observed. And nothing done to prevent future incidents by the perpetrator (or any others) or treat the damage to the children.
Casting A Blind Eye, Silencing Unspoken Words
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:17
The peculiar thing about the News is that very often events of senseless tragedy and despair are juxtaposed with News of hope and compassion. Sometimes, the two kinds of News are on the very same page in the newspaper.
Here, There and Everywhere: Locally Upholding Human Rights
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:28
In this season of gratitude, speak. Uphold civil liberties, the human rights that we have, that others will travel thousands of miles for, and when you see them violated, no matter what the justification others may offer, speak up. Here, there and everywhere.
Here, There and Everywhere: Locally Upholding Human Rights "Civil Liberties is a product delivered locally", page 49 of my American Civil Liberties Union copy of the Constitution of the United States. These are our human rights. We do not need to travel far to find countries where winning an election holds priority over upholding Civil Liberties. The New York Times tells about a Russian political critic Leonid Razvozzhayev- of Russia’s Vladimir Putin. who last week traveled to Ukraine seeking political asylum, “somewhere in the West” for a lawyer to file on behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He was tracked, stalked, finally abducted and is now in jail. A political critic of Vladimir Putin- not a terrorist. No one in this country- here, there and everywhere- should have to live in fear that they will be intimidated, derided when they exercise the right to free speech because of Amendment 1 which says "Congress shall make no law ...prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the right of people to peacably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” No one in this country- here, there and everywhere- should have to live in fear that they will be subject to surveillance, search or intrusive "background checks" because "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searchs and seizures shall not be violated." Held together in the mind at the same time, this means: no one anywhere in this country should live in fear that if they speak freely in a peacably assembled group, they will have their privacy invaded by tracking, intrusive background checks, be intimidated, have the freedom of the press of this country harnessed to publicly invite others to embarrass or deride them or cast the person or their human rights as throw-aways". That goes for the people you disagree with, for people who like what a Governor says and does, for the people who don't like what he says and does, for his staff and the public who attend any of his events, here, there and everywhere, in this country. People enrolled in a particular party want their candidate to win. I say never at the expense of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. In this season of gratitude, speak. Uphold civil liberties, the human rights that we have, that others will travel thousands of miles for, and when you see them violated, no matter what the "entitled" justification of others, speak up. Here, there and everywhere.
No Reason: Asking Questions About Guns
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:35
I am a licensed psychologist. One question routinely asked is; "Do you have guns in your home?" If they say yes, I ask, "Are they in a locked cabinet? Do you use gun locks?" When there is some one in the home that has a mental illness diagnosis, removing guns from the home or locking them and keep the key in a secure place, can keep people safe. I ask the question because children, adolescents and adults who kill or maim with a gun have had access to a gun, very often owned by someone they know. Why don't all health care providers ask these questions?
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No Reason: Asking Questions About Guns -Susan Cook- I am a licensed psychologist. Every parent or adult who comes into my practice is asked, sooner or later, "Do you have guns in your home?" If they say yes, I ask, "Are they in a locked cabinet? Do you use gun locks?" When there is some one in the home that has a mental illness diagnosis, I say, "I recommend that you either remove the guns from your home or lock them and keep the key with you." I ask the question because children, adolescents and adults who kill or maim with a gun have had access to a gun, very often owned by someone they know. The question addresses the use of guns by people who have a mental illness diagnosis, not whether there is a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. There is no reason not to ask the question. No reason. There is no reason why, when people register guns, they shouldn't be required to answer: "Will this gun be accessible by children, adolescents or adults who have a mental illness diagnosis?" "Will this firearm be kept in a locked gun closet or have a gun lock when it is not in use?" When people apply for a driver's license they must answer whether they take prescription medications. There is no reason not to ask these questions. No reason. Registering a gun once, registers a gun once. We re-register cars, trucks, boats and dogs annually. There is no reason why we shouldn't re-register guns annually. No reason. Children in my state can get a Junior Hunter's License that allows them,. at age 10, to hunt with an adult. Do we really need to begin teaching children at age 10 what firearms do? Why not wait until they are the same age that they begin to drive? Or vote? None of these questions eliminates the Second Amendment. None of them control the use of firearms by responsible adults. We limit access to vehicles by people who are not responsible, who are impaired by alcohol or drugs or medications or a history of bad driving. These questions address how guns are used and the creation of regulations about their use. We as a society often create regulations when we finally realize that not having the regulations is dangerous, that there is no reason not to ask for them. No reason.
Managed Car: Another 210 Seconds On How To Triple Car Insurance Premiums
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:38
The last we checked on managed car , a disappointed car owner was unable to receive prior authorization from his Automobile Behavioral Health customer service representative for a front end alignment. Managed Car you may remember is the automobile insurance industry's version of managed care. Now, he would like to get the car's oil changed.
"Welcome to Automobile Behavioral Health. Please be advised this call may be recorded for quality assurance. Please press one if you are a member and two if you are a car mechanic. BING. Please enter your Car Mechanic provider ID or your Automobile Behavioral Health member ID. BING. For eligible repairs, press one. For prior car authorization , press two. Please be advised that prior authorization of car service or repair does not guarantee coverage. Please hold for our next managed car representative."
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: How Can You Tell When Political and Moral Ground Are Too Different From Each Other?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:04
With the election season over, the next phase of elected politics has settled on our plates like a bowl of jello. How can you tell when the age-old moral question “What is right or wrong- civil liberties-style-?” is still high on the legislative agenda? When it’s camouflaged under a political party claim “You are us and we are you and…“ thus leaving you to complete in your own mind the sentence the party wants you to fill in without you first asking “How so?“
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: What's Wrong With Targeting Individuals?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:40
In many parts of the world, torture, harassment and persecution are used to target individuals who criticize , believe, have secrets or religions (like Tibetan Buddhism by the Chinese ) disliked by those in power. It happens everywhere even in this country. Thus the Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks: What’s wrong with targeting individuals because of what the individual criticizes or believes?
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: What's Wrong With Politicians Placing Political Gamesmanship Above Honoring the Public Trust?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:19
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks questions about what is right and what is wrong. Today's Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks what is wrong with politicians placing political gamesmanship above honoring the public's trust? When did political gamesmanship become more important to Senators, Congressional representatives and state legislators than respecting the public trust? Is it wrong, as Gallup polls tell us has happened, to destroy the public trust just so the “politicians” will be winner of the day at political gamesmanship?
-Susan Cook-
The Nepal Earthquake and An American Mothers Day Dime
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:55
Not long before the earthquake in Nepal, I drove by yet another SUV with the bumper sticker “No child left a dime.” Then, as now, I am reminded again of the deceitfulness of that slogan. It is simply not true that we do not have enough money in this country to take care of people and it is certainly not true that it will bankrupt us.
But, the slogan brings to mind how enormous a United States dime is in Nepal. I know this because for some time, I sponsored Buddhist’s child education, I never for one single minute thought it was some grand act of generosity because I knew it wasn’t. Money is very very easy to come by in my country for many, many people and a dime-is almost negligible. I will tell you that the waves of appreciation from Sonam, the boy, who’s now an adult, and the drawings of the yaks, the prayer flags, the stupas (a Buddhist monument), the lotuses, he’s sent me over the years put my American Buddhist teaching that it’s not about me to the maximum test. On Mothers Day, it tells me there are many ways to mother.
Dear Susan Cook,
The Conscience of Anonymity:Naming Native American Artists
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:25
I went to an exhibit of Native American basketry recently- made by Maine Penobscots and Passamaquoddies. The reception was as polished as any other art exhibit opening- except in one respect . None of the artists whose work was displayed were named. No brass plate. No calligraphy on an ivory placard. The artists- all of whom- were Maine Indians -were anonymous. With the exception of the one Indian artist whose talk explained the origin and lineage of the art of basket making, none were named- no birth date- no home town- no tribal affiliation. At an exhibit intended to warmly acknowledge, they were excluded by being made anonymous. What is it that lingers when gifted artists of a brilliant tradition are not given the recognition any artist in any art gallery or museum in the country is given- a name? The consequence of cultural anonymity is often indifference . Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island given different names as they left, Jews with their identity papers taken as they board a train, young men first targeted because of race . Making people anonymous makes it easier to hurt them.
-Susan Cook-
Native American Indians have so often been anonymous to popular culture, except through stereotype. The ones history gives names to are those who fought back- and died- or the ones who provided some indispensable service to white men. Most are anonymous. Not in the graveyards of tribal reservations. I remember walking through one, at Peter Dana Point, in Maine, one time, and reading the names- of Indian men whose dates of death subtracted from their dates of birth- for many- meant they died at age 45, 38, 49. By 2000 the average age of death among Native American Indians in Maine was 60. The average age of death among whites in Maine was 74.1 years then. Now in 2012, for whites it is 79. (https://www1.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/files/nar/nar.htm)
Harper Lee' s American Mirror
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:07
Twenty four hours or so have passed since a portrait of the older Atticus Finch as a bigot, complaining about the integration of “Negroes” into the culture, has been given to us by Harper Lee in the newly published "Go Set a Watchman". She has given us a mirror of the struggle to sustain and protect deep compassion, that is, in many, many ways a uniquely American mirror.To Kill a Mockingbird could not have been published when it was in many other countries. And in another country, or culture- maybe this Atticus Finch in Go Set a Watchman wouldn’t have stung quite as much - because the good one is no longer purely good. But so many people here feeling the sting- recognizing that is part of this country too. We all are the watchman in our own way.
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"It's Not What You're Given, It's What You Do With What You Get: An Antidote to Donald Trump World"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:57
Recently, two Washington Post reporters looked at how human beings are valued in Donald Trump world, now, and as he turned the $200000 his father gave him into billions. The values of Trump world are very different from a rural state like Maine where deer, beavers, fish, rare endangered wildlife , serene forests, trucks that work, no traffic and enduring cold, long winters well have special value. There are Maine virtuosos who celebrate the values of rural life. Listening to them is an antidote, to the queasy feeling left in the stomach by the lip-smacking exclusionary greed of Donald Trump world.
"It's not what you're given. It's what you do with what you get," the bootstrapping virtuoso blues singer, Pat Pepin, sings. She riffs about free Wal-mart’ overnight parking for campers and RVs , and cherishes her “long-haul trucker”. Another virtuoso is Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer, whose oldtime jazz radio program is now making its way into New York City radio air waves. Humble’s program was removed from Maine public radio for - I guess you could call it - political insubordination - for criticizing the Iraq War. Humble has all the qualities necessary for a Donald Trump world antidote because humble really does value money, not quantity, but every breathing atom and neutron and ounce of chemical valence on its surface.
We hope his listeners will drink deeply of this antidote, the radio detox- for the money culture-the Donald Trump world that’s forgotten that $.99 can be far far better quality than several billion because, as Pat Pepin sings, it isn’t what you’re given. It’ s what you do with what you get.
In Donald Trump world, quantity of money takes precedence over quality of money . Thus the welfare tenants of his New York apartments and Mexican immigrants are devalued because they don’t have any money. If he allowed welfare tenants into his apartments, Trump said , “there would be a massive fleeing from the city, not only our tenants but the community as a whole.“ In Donald Trump world, people shouldn‘t get caught. Thus, he said Senator John McCain is not a hero because, as Trump said, he likes people who don’t get caught. The measure of the man is his money, no matter how he got it; the woman, her physical appearance, no matter the cost in self-devaluation or sexual exploitation. After all, he told the reporters, as a young man, he dated often. “These were beautiful women. but many of them couldn’t carry on a normal conversation.“ One might ask, why then seek their company, because in Trump world, the true measure of success is not getting caught -without physical attractiveness, money or by the atrocities of war, or I suppose, a good lie. The values of Trump world are very different from a rural state like Maine where deer, beavers, fish, rare endangered wildlife , serene forests, trucks that work, no traffic and enduring cold, long winters well have special value. There are Maine virtuosos who celebrate the values of rural life. Listening to them is an antidote, to the queasy feeling left in the stomach by the lip-smacking exclusionary greed of Donald Trump world. “It’s not what you’re given, it’s what you do with what you get” Maine’s bootstrapping virtuoso blues singer, Pat Pepin sings. She riffs about free Wal-mart’ overnight parking for campers and RVs and cherishes her “long-haul trucker” who’s in it for the “long haul” Another Maine virtuoso is Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer, whose oldtime jazz radio program was removed from Maine public radio for - I guess you could call it - political insubordination - for criticizing the Iraq War. Like Donald Trump world, “humble” values money, every breathing atom and neutron and ounce of chemical valence on its surface, but he goes for quality. On his early American jazz program, humble, immodestly complains about how expensive Goodwill stores have become- what with shirts that used to cost $.99 now going for over seven dollars. And his gustatory taste well satisfied by a can of spaghetti uncooked. Eaten. And then there is his trademark reference to his wife Marsha as “the almost perfect woman” which - raised the hackles of our assertiveness trained Maine feminists who assumed his remarks were drawn from the one to ten scale of physical attractiveness of Donald Trump world. And yes, Donald Trump regaled the days when he observed several “well-known super models” in a fast-track New York night club engaging in let’s say- physical actions on a bench in the center of the room “each one with a different guy”. But, no, “humble” wasn’t referring to a Donald Trump world one to ten rating. When finally asked what would make his wife perfect, humble said, “If I was 19.“ And thus an 80 something man valuing a woman in the same way Adam and Eve did is an antidote to the Donald Trump world, which is not exactly like the garden of Eden- even if he was only watching. Recently, The humble Farmer has announced that his radio show is indeed bound for the New York City radio waves. On WFDU at 89.1FM . There we hope his listeners will drink deeply of this antidote, the public radio detox- for the money culture-the Donald Trump world that’s forgotten that $.99 can be far far better quality than several billion because as Pat Pepin sings, it isn’t what you’re given. It’ s what you do with what you get.
"It's Not What You'reGiven, Its What You Do With Wat You Get: An Antidote to Donald Trump World""
-Susan Cook-
Two Washington Post reporters recently looked at how human beings are valued in Donald Trump world, now and as he carried on while turning the first $200000 his father gave him into billions.
Carrying Stuff Up Mt. Everest: Spirituality and Job Definitions
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:13
A Town Clerk in Kentucky has refused to give out a marriage license to a gay couple, risking jail time, because the two of them marrying “does not fit God’s definition of marriage“, which presumes that there are job definitions , including for civil and government jobs, that go along with her religious beliefs.
Now, we can get out our Constitutions and re-visit the part that separates the power of the church from the power of the state. But then there’s the issue of separating the individual’s perception of their own power from the government job they do- in this case a town clerk whose whole beating spiritual heart has infused her job, or visa- versa. But politicians and government officials do that all the time and never get called out on it because they neatly avoid public displays of how much their own beliefs infuse their perception of their personal power- thus the job they do- the communication directors adding a tone of derision and insult against someone who does something she doesn’t like, the government lawyer giving out favors to someone who will return the favor later on. Town Clerks do the nitty-gritty of daily life so when one of them confuses her personal power - in this case- a heart laden with spiritual belief- with a paying job- well, the abuse of power becomes more obvious. But, this particular form of the abuse of power likely happens far more often than we notice.
This all came to mind when I told my grand-nephew I'm a Buddhist and then said "You probably don't know what a Buddhist is." "Yes, I do. They help people carry stuff up Mt. Everest." Thus a need for clarification between the personal power spirituality brings and infusing one's work with it.
"Carrying Stuff Up Mount Everest: Spirituality and Job Definitions" I was driving with my 13 year old grand-nephew the other day when he picked up a little Buddha I have on my dashboard. “Where did you get this?“, he asked. “Somebody gave it to me.” I said. “I’m a Buddhist.” “You are? I didn’t know that,” he said. I said, “You probably don’t know what a Buddhist is.” “Yes, I do. They help people carry stuff up Mt. Everest.” For just a minute, I wanted to say yes, a part of me self-serving, imagining, someday, Buddhism might give me an in- to go and sit in a nice little nylon folding chair and watch these powerful, remarkably muscular Sherpas helping wealthy foreigners accomplish something. One never hears the Sherpas trying to lift a little turbo charge of power from their role as they do their work: allowing wealthy foreigners to stand atop Mt. Everest as if they did it all by themselves. “No, those are Nepali Sherpas. They live in Nepal. They might be Buddhists but that’s not what all Buddhists do. The Buddha was a very very nice guy who tried to care. “ This brings to mind the Town Clerk in Kentucky who refused to give out a marriage license to a gay couple, risking jail time, because the two of them marrying “does not fit God’s definition of marriage“, which presumes that there are job definitions , including for civil and government jobs, that go along with her religious beliefs. Now, we can get out our Constitutions and re-visit the part that separates the power of the church from the power of the state. But then there’s the issue of separating the individual’s perception of their own power from the government job they do- in this case a town clerk whose whole beating spiritual heart has infused her job, or visa- versa. But politicians and government officials do that all the time and never get called out on it because they neatly avoid public displays of how much their own beliefs infuse their perception of their personal power- thus the job they do- the communication directors adding a tone of derision and insult against someone who does something she doesn’t like, the government lawyer giving out favors to someone who will return the favor later on. Town Clerks do the nitty-gritty- of daily life so when one of them confuses her personal power - in this case- a heart laden with spiritual belief- with a paying job- well, the abuse of power becomes more obvious. But, this particular form of the abuse of power likely happens far more often than we notice. If Nepali Sherpas- with their spiritually-laden hearts- this time with Buddhism - abused that power in doing their job-there would probably be many non-compassionate foreigners, disrespectful of the environment and others, carrying their own stuff, or not going up Mt. Everest at all. If we were better at recognizing that kind of abuse of power among our government staffers and officials, we might end up with government at all levels that’s more respectful of others or less likely to abuse power when they feel slighted because someone else does not equate their personal sense of slighting with climbing the Mountain or having a Mountain to admire at all.
The Nutritional Requirements of Hatred: Food Stamps and Reproductive Rights
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:32
In my state the Governor has decided that any childless adult who owns more than $5000 in cash or leisure vehicle assets cannot receive food stamps. Who he is targeting is difficult to say. Many pregnant women in this state eat because they receive food stamps. Previously, he has made every effort to drive away asylum seekers who cannot work for six months after applying for asylum. Then there are the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed, and unemployed women who then become pregnant. This Governor refusing to allow any single pregnant woman who has put away more than $5000 in assets from keeping it, if she wants to feed herself and her unborn child is a withholding that is yet another example of hatred, now accepted as a political fuse in this country. If you read what a pregnant woman needs to eat- to bath the baby- once born- in love and health, you'll see that the nutritional requirements of hatred are not enough and never have been.
The Nutritional Requirements of Hatred: Food Stamps and Reproductive Rights In my state the Governor has decided that any childless adult who owns more than $5000 in cash or leisure vehicle assets cannot receive food stamps. Who he is targeting is difficult to say. Many pregnant women in this state eat because they receive food stamps. Previously, he has made every effort to drive asylum seekers who cannot work for six months after applying for asylum, away. Then there are the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed, unemployed women who then become pregnant. Actions that withhold can carry as much hatred as any other. But this policy is yet another example of the permission politicians in our country have to infuse policy discourse with hatred. Many of this Governor’s actions have gone hand in hand with hatred - public shaming by insisting people have photos on their food stamp cards- and now a kind of public strip search - If a childless person has more than $5000 worth of anything this Governor will make the person remove it or lose food stamps. But hatred is now a nationally accepted political fuse, can come from both the far right and far left. To see hatred in political discourse, one does not need to travel too much farther - in my state- than the weekly free community newspapers . In one local free community newspaper, there is one columnist who every time she writes about abortion and reproductive control, laces her remarks with accusatory, demeaning , insulting a hateful tone. Then there are the protesters jeering and insulting women entering Planned Parenthood clinics. Hatred fused by what another human being is afraid to do, cannot do, or refuses to do is now accepted as just another part of the political discussion around reproductive rights and pregnancy. Of course, when political debate about reproductive rights and abortion is laced with hatred its louder message to childbearing age women is that the prospect of the birth of a child is not bathed in love and nurturance. Women have always been the target of whatever hatred has existed around unwanted pregnancy- shaming, physical abuse, anonymous sequestering until a child is born only to lose any identity connected with the child after birth. In fact recognition of hatred around unwanted pregnancy since Margaret Sanger’s time (and before) has always been a driving force behind the Reproductive Rights and Choice movement. All that hatred attached to reproductive rights does nothing to address unwanted pregnancy as a social problem that must be addressed. Which brings us back to this Governor refusing to allow any single pregnant woman who has put away more than $5000 in assets from keeping it, if she wants to feed herself and her unborn child. If that withholding doesn’t make clear how hatred is now accepted as a political fuse, then please get out your Human Development books and read what a pregnant woman needs to eat- to bath the baby- once born- in love of health. The nutritional requirements of hatred are not enough and never have been.
Disguising Hatred- The ACLU Lawsuit Against Torture
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:10
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against two psychologists who developed a program to pair torture with interrogation of “suspected” terrorists held in the CIA’s Afghanistan prison, code named COBALT. The psychologist defendants created practices that intricately examined every aspect of human suffering , then made a program to pair torture with interrogation.The practice of Psychology is premised on compassion, not hatred. The discovery of human tools to sustain compassion in the face of atrocity, is one of its accomplishments. The ethics of the field are, as always, a work in progress because the actions human beings come up with to deny compassion and manifest hatred change all the time .The violations cited by the ACLU suggest that the professional guilds of psychology have not been vigilant or vociferous enough in rejecting exploitation of psychology’s mantle to mask political intentions. Hatred manifests differently all the time. And there is no question that finding sustenance for compassion in time of great violation is very difficult to do. But hatred disguised as compassion is still hatred. I am a psychologist who provides intervention. If psychology and its professional guilds cannot provide sustenance for compassion- in the face of great human atrocities- then we should all just go home and get different jobs. Because understanding why people disguise hatred is an ethical use of psychology. Making up and selling techniques up to do it is not anything other than more hatred.
Disguising Hatred- The ACLU Lawsuit Against Torture -Susan Cook- The practice of Psychology is premised on compassion, not hatred. The discovery of human tools to sustain compassion in the face of atrocity, is one of its accomplishments. The ethics of the field are, as always, a work in progress because the actions human beings come up with to deny compassion and manifest hatred change all the time . Internet harassment, for example, is not a kind of hatred we witnessed 20 years ago. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against two psychologists who developed a program to pair torture with interrogation of “suspected” terrorists held in the CIA’s Afghanistan prison, code named COBALT, during the post-911 terrorist vendetta. The psychologist defendants created practices that intricately examined every aspect of human suffering , then made a program to pair torture with interrogation, waterboarding, for example, an experience in which the victim is lead to believe he will drown. The CIA spent 81 million dollars to fund these atrocities to extort “truth” from the 3 plaintiffs in the ACLU case, detained at COBALT. All 3, Suleiman Abdullah Salam, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud and Gul Rahman (who died because of the hypothermia caused by the torture), were later proven to have no affiliation with Al -Qa’ida. Psychology has always The atrocities described are like those of any setting where war , prejudice and indifference are seen as justification for suppression of compassion. The activities explicitly violate the American Psychological Association Ethics Code which mandates respect for others, non-discrimination, avoidance of harm, or misuse of influence , avoidance of exploitive relationships, research competently conducted with due concern for the dignity and welfare of participants and then there is the larger mandate to first do no harm. Psychological inquiry and intervention is completely undermined by any subversion of the intent to understand human beings for the betterment of all. Martin Seligman the psychologist who developed the theory of learned helplessness did so to grasp how people become dis-empowered. The CIA psychologists exploited the term to claim that science justified their cruel tactics to make prisoners completely powerless. The violations cited by the ACLU suggest that the professional guilds of psychology have not been vigilant or vociferous enough in rejecting exploitation of psychology’s mantle to mask political intentions. Hatred manifests differently all the time. And there is no question that finding sustenance for compassion in time of great violation is very difficult to do. But hatred disguised as compassion is still hatred. I am a psychologist who provides intervention. If psychology and its professional guilds cannot provide sustenance for compassion- in the face of great human atrocities- then we should all just go home and get different jobs. Because understanding why people disguise hatred is an ethical use of psychology. Making up and selling techniques up to do it is not anything other than more hatred.
Clean Elections and the Credibility of History
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:44
Clean elections protect constituent rights so wealthy individuals or self-serving personal interests or six-figure job candidates don’t exploit the election process - and constituents- to influence elections.This month, on Election Day, voters in Maine will vote on a Clean Elections referendum to fund campaigns of legislative candidates.
If those now speaking out about Clean Elections, don’t understand how clean elections protect civil liberties or are communicating out of both sides of the mouth, by disrespecting constituents while making up cute phrases about clean elections, well, that ‘s the historical track record- spoken , written, and available on-line. That does not add credibility to arguments for clean elections and all we're left with to understand why constituents are or are not respected by clean elections legislation is history- which it turns out- is often the most credible of all.
A Clean Elections referendum to fund campaigns of candidates for public office will be on Maine ballots this month. Both sides have spokespeople who some years back led a fierce negative media campaign against a constituent criticizing a legislator for disrespect of constituents. Spokespeople whose track records don’t respect constituents in the first place doesn’t legitimize clean elections.
On August 23, 2011, I testified before Maine’s Congressional Re-districting Commission. There were big stakes. The chair of the Redistricting Committee was up for a six figure politically appointed job as head of the Small Business Administration New England Region. The ousted Democratic attorney general wanted a Democrat legislative majority the next year to re-elect her. The Legislature’s partisan staffers and the Chief of Staff for the Second District Congressional District wanted to keep their jobs. None of them wanted districts redrawn so Republican voters held majorities. The usual gerrymandering of redistricting was replaced by fat salary jobmandering.
There was little or no focus on constituents.
My testimony protested the Republican proposal to move the first congressional representative out of her own district and Maine’s climate of disregard for constituents - a referendum to eliminate same-day voter registration and a State Senate President who recorded constituents calling him.
Civil liberties protect critics of public officials from being deemed enemies of the state. All the government-paid job seekers and holders became angry that my “irritation” of the Republican party leader might make the other side less cooperative or create election losses two years later. The party chair gave permission to coordinate a negative media campaign against me for criticizing the legislator. I was defending constituents.
In 2015, a Clean Elections referendum is here. Supporters say this is not welfare for legislators but fairness for constituents. But the spokesperson for clean elections supporters, Liz Reinholt told the media following my 2011 testimony that I had no proof for my criticism of the legislator, circulated high-tech like that my testimony was an ‘antic‘. Now, she never asked me about my proof- an important Republican warning me that calling the aforesaid legislator about local environmental pollution would result in a recorded phone call- after- I already made that observation. Freedom of the press is helpless to protect civil liberties if the media is not told the truth.
Then there’s the new spokesperson for the Maine Heritage Foundation. On August 23, 2011, still on Senator Susan Collins’ payroll but just two weeks after leaving his job as her Director of New Media, Matthew Gagnon wrote on his website Pinetreepolitics.com, a series of lies, slandering me about my two minutes of testimony defending constituents. ’She’s a lunatic’ he wrote on his blog. ’Rambling, slurring’… he wrote about my testimony defending constituents on his website. Lies. Not a word from him about constituent respect.
Last week, the Maine Sunday Telegram quoted Matthew Gagnon as complaining that Clean Election supporters are hypocrites because they take money from the outside sources the referendum will forbid.
The problem here is not hypocrisy- the problem is no respect for constituents and the civil liberties that aim to protect them- the right to criticize government officials without enduring harassment or public slander as an enemy of the state. Mr. Gagnon’s record of constituent disrespect when constituents exercise civil liberties is there for the reading.
Clean elections protect constituent rights so wealthy individuals or self-serving personal interests or six-figure job candidates don’t exploit the election process - and constituents. But targeting government critics because someone wants the fat government salaried job does what clean elections are supposed to prevent. It exploits constituents one person at a time.
If those now speaking about Clean Elections, don’t understand how clean elections protect civil liberties or are communicating out of both sides of the mouth, by disrespecting constituents while making up cute phrases about clean elections, well, that ‘s the track record- spoken , written, and available on-line. That is history which is often the most credible of all.
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry:What's the Difference Between the Political Candidate as Demigogue and the Political Candidate as Demigod?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:21
Today’s Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks :As politicians one-up each other, what’s the difference between the candidate as demagogue- who openly appeals to popular passions and the demi-god -the candidate who implies right-hand access to God?
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry : What is the Difference Between the Political Candidate as Demagogue and the Politica Candidate as Demi-god -Susan Cook- Today’s Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks : As politicians one-up each other, what’s the difference between the candidate as demagogue- who openly appeals to popular passions and the demi-god -the candidate implying right-hand access to God? Does the candidate claim God’s direct influence on their candidacy- saying the candidate will be the best President of the United States God ever created- as if God creates with one eye on the ballot box? Does the candidate exaggerate events in their own lives by affiliating them with God’s intervention- for example- the timing or place of either their own birth or that of offspring - like the influence God had on Jesus being born in Bethlehem? Does the candidate promise direct policy-making by God in the Presidential cabinet - through the federal executive branch that is the demi-god President -elect . Or is the candidate a strongly spiritual human being but one who does not imply direct electrical stimulation of the brain from God like a demi-god would?
Where Have All the Women Gone: Forgetting How She Got to Where She's Gotten
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:03
Riding on the train to the Democratic National Convention one year, I had the good fortune to talk with a former president of N.O.W. For young twenty-something women, that stands for the National Organization for Women, the 1970’s political machine that galvanized women’s rights. As we talked, I mentioned my state’s US Senate race and my support for the bright, articulate, ethical woman on the ballot- and that her opposition- a wealthy independent former Governor -would be difficult to overcome.
‘It’s ok, though,’ she said. ‘If he wins, he’ll vote with the Democrats.’
We now come to 2016 and Hillary Clinton ‘s womanhood threatened with invisibility in her 2016 Presidential race. In New Hampshire, she came in second by 20 points, losing to a kindly liberal 70-something man. Where have all the women gone- Is the grand opportunity to validate women like never before by electing an ethical woman as President an after thought?
Where Have All the Women Have Gone: Forgotting How She Got to Where She's Gotten -Susan Cook- Riding on the train to the Democratic National Convention one year, I had the good fortune to talk with a former president of N.O.W. For young twenty-something women, that stands for the National Organization for Women, the 1970’s political machine that galvanized women’s rights. As we talked, I mentioned my state’s US Senate race and my support for the bright, articulate, ethical woman on the ballot- and that her opposition- a wealthy independent former Governor -would be difficult to overcome. ‘It’s ok, though,’ she said. ‘If he wins, he’ll vote with the Democrats.’ At that point, my inner 108,000 prostrations - Buddhist-style- to a former President of an organization that I see as giving women opportunity beyond the kitchen- and the bedroom- went on hold. That the honest, skilled, ethical candidate is a woman was not a minor matter. Let alone that she was running against a former Governor who had profited financially- or seen the opportunity to profit - at every turn- from his public service. The media had scrupulously avoided any mention of the turning-his-own-dollar decisions he had made. So I later did-. In a lengthy- but accurate re-write to a familiar patriotic tune whose refrain I changed to ‘Oh Beautiful for Spacious Me‘. The lyrics recalled the former male Governor purchasing a waterfront property at bargain basement prices after the state agreed to sell it to him. The song spoke of his receipt of TARP funds - he a multi-millionaire- for his wind power business,. Then there was the memorable money the state of Maine paid for improvements to his primary residence because he didn’t want to live in the official Governor’s residence. The media put all that on the back burner. And the fact that my candidate was an ethical, not-a-go-along-to -get- along- self-serving woman, was put of course on the back seat too- and casually by a former President of NOW. We now come to 2016 and Hillary Clinton ‘s womanhood threatened with invisibility in her 2016 Presidential race. In New Hampshire, she came in second by 20 points, losing to a kindly liberal 70-something man. Where have all the women gone- Is the grand opportunity to validate women like never before by electing an ethical woman as President an after thought? Who is doing the invalidating? Not men. ‘Don’t diss her because she’s a girl’ may be one of the enduring NOW lessons. That leaves one other gender- female. The ones who are ignoring Hillary’s womanhood - appear to be young females. Most of them voted for the 70-something genial progressive male. So maybe it’s because Hillary has downplayed her womanhood herself in achievement after achievement. Or maybe it’s because- as any woman who lives in this time knows- yes- women turn on each other. Sisterhood is not equivalent to unconditional loyalty. All the passive aggressive techniques are the fallback- the ones women used to survive prior to NOW. You know what passive aggression is- anonymous, behind-the-scenes, almost invisible- but aggressive actions- undermining, smearing, stealing reputation and the golden apple- of course- credibility. The ancient code words for woman as threat- readily recognizable to men- controlling, aggressive and of course- flighty and unpredictable are there in a pinch. The voice and stature women have now was not easily acquired. Like non-cancer producing birth control , affordable, it took years and tears and years. Election of an ethical woman President would not be a minor accomplishment- it would turn the validation N.O.W sought into an accomplishment never seen before.
A Hackle o' Meter in Every Home, A Not-Politically Fit bit On Every Wrist
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:19
Elected officials or politicians aspiring to be elected officials say things that would register on our Hackle o’ meters and our Politically Unfit Bits- if someone would just invent these tools. Our Hackle o’ meters would go up because well, our hackles would go up. And our Politically Unfit bits would practically fall off our wrists because of all the calculations of political unfitness they’d be making.
I am not taking about You-Know-Who. I think You-Know-Who, for some people, raises adrenaline by stimulating the amygdala- the part of the brain which raises adrenaline and fight-or-flight hormones because something feels dangerous. Dr. Joseph Ledoux , a neuroscientist says the path signals take to the amygdala is fast and spontaneous, thus he calls it the Low Road. We also respond to danger, he says, by signals sent to the Frontal Cortex when we sense danger but those signals are slower so he calls that path the High Road.
A Hackle O’ Meter or a Politically Unfit Bit works very differently. Both work from subtle, subtle visual and auditory cues. And they might be good for the country.
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A Hackle o’ meter In Every Home; A Not Politically Fit Bit On Every Wrist -Susan Cook- Elected officials or politicians aspiring to be elected officials say things that would register on our Hackle o’ meters and our Politically Unfit Bits- if someone would just invent these tools. Our Hackle o’ meters would go up because well, our hackles would go up. And our Politically Unfit bits would practically fall off our wrists because of all the calculations of political unfitness they’d be making. I am not taking about You-Know-Who. I think You-Know-Who, for some people, raises adrenaline by stimulating the amygdala- the part of the brain which raises adrenaline and fight-or-flight hormones because something feels dangerous. Dr. Joseph Ledoux , a neuroscientist says the path signals take to the amygdala is fast and spontaneous, thus he calls it the Low Road. We also respond to danger, he says, by signals sent to the Frontal Cortex when we sense danger but those signals are slower so he calls that path the High Road. So when we listen to You Know Who, your amygdala might get revved up and you turn off the television, radio or click ‘Power Shutdown’ on the PC. If your Frontal Lobes start firing, you just say ‘I am not voting for him.’ A Hackle O’ Meter or a Politically Unfit Bit works very differently. Both work from subtle, subtle visual and auditory cues. We Observe Mitch McConnell for the 450th time say he will not give President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee the time of day. We see the visual image of his clamped shut jaw, creating a glacier of pale skin beneath that jaw. I hope he has a sense of humor because really, landscape metaphors work best. I am not saying the man is dangerous ala’ Gorilla walking into your living room. But he may well get your Hackle o’ Meter going and if you had a Not-Politically Fitbit, it might fall off your wrist with its calculations going wild. Now, there are Democrats who effect Hackle o’ Meters and Non-Politically Fit Bit. Some of the ones in my state register so strongly on the Non-Politically Fit Bit, I had to take mine off. If only someone would invent these tools. It would be good for the country. Someone could slip one on Mitch McConnell’s wrist or one of the Politically Unfit Bit high registerers in my state and very gradually- it’s better to go slow- the Hackle o’Meters and the Politically Unfit Bits would convince them. Not their job to undo the US Constitution, not their job to use Internet Bullying to trade votes with Republicans, no amnesia about policy positions and no blocking duly nominated Supreme Court nominees.
Sexism at the Five-and-Dime: Discrediting Women for a Dollar or A Dime
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:42
In my state, this week, leaping off the lower right hand corner of the Front Page of the state’s largest newspaper was this “Educator who won one million dollars denies stealing $14.99 blouse“.
One of the state’s most gifted educators who against many, many odds started her own successful school, has written textbook ‘best-sellers’ on teaching children the literary arts went to the local expanded Five and Dime store to return a blouse. Having done so, the sales associate told her to go to the clothing rack and take another one to replace the one she returned. She did.
End of the story? No. The security personnel, who were watching, saw her take the replacement and put it in her bag. Immediately alerted, the ‘guard’ called the local police chief who came over and watched the store’s security camera and, unable to identify the woman in the film, placed the picture on the department’s Facebook page. Within an hour, the gifted educator called the police department and explained the situation. End of story? Believe her? No. She was charged with a misdemeanor crime and given a court date. The exchange with the clerk who took the returned item was not on the camera. End of story? No. The Portland Press Herald deemed it worthy of Front Page lower right hand corner announcement.
The school spokesperson said it is a misunderstanding.
Why does this “misunderstanding” not get resolved by the woman who just received a one million dollar prize presenting her proof that she was not shoplifting a $14.99 blouse? The story tells us - once again- that sexism is alive and when a woman’s credibility is questioned the first and primary place the media, this culture, lawyers and yes, many women go, is that her proof is not good enough and there just might possible be something wrong with her to have committed whatever it is she committed.
Sexism at the Five and Dime: Discrediting Women For a Dollar or a Dime -Susan Cook In my state, this week, leaping off the lower right hand corner of the Front Page of the state’s largest newspaper was this “Educator who won one million dollars denies stealing $14.99 blouse“. Whew. Front Page. Lower right hand corner. One of the state’s most gifted educators who against many, many odds started her own successful school, has written textbook ‘best-sellers’ on teaching children the literary arts went to the local expanded Five and Dime store to return a blouse. Having done so, the sales associate told her to go to the clothing rack and take another one to replace the one she returned. She did. End of the story?. No. The security personnel, who were watching, saw her take the replacement and put it in her bag. Immediately alerted, the ‘guard’ called the local police chief who came over and watched the store’s security camera and, unable to identify the woman in the film, placed the picture on the department’s Facebook page. Within an hour, the gifted educator called the police department and explained the situation. End of story? Believe her? No. She was charged with a misdemeanor crime and given a court date. The exchange with the clerk who took the returned item was not on the camera. End of story? No. The Portland Press Herald deemed it worthy of Front Page lower right hand corner announcement. The school spokesperson said it is a misunderstanding. Why does this “misunderstanding” not get resolved by the woman who just received a one million dollar prize presenting her proof that she was not shoplifting a $14.99 blouse? Because sexism is alive and when a woman’s credibility is questioned the first and primary place the media, this culture, lawyers and yes, many women go, is that her proof is not good enough and there just might possible be something wrong with her to have committed whatever it is she committed. No filter. No impulse control. Under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Suffering from a deep irreversible character disorder that must have showed up earlier in life. Or maybe she - you know women- spent the one million already. Please bear in mind that even a woman claiming sexist treatment since men were made more aware of sexism thanks to the Gloria Steinems of the world- is also often considered suspect . Her proof is not good enough. She is making excuses. Thus a misdemeanor charge which should not have been placed in the first place is made. Because her proof was disregarded- readily available- but disregarded -despite all the evidence in the world- in this case literally- that her character, exceptional intelligence and gifts and reputation are sterling. And why discredit her proof without even questioning the recklessness of the police chief charging her? Because she is a woman and the reputation on the line is that of a man or men who failed to ask if the practice in this store was followed. “Go get another one from the rack“ the clerk says. What might be left to do? Well, I suppose a civil liberties numb lawyer now as prosecutor could do whatever could be done to tarnish her reputation further by investigating deeply to see if this remarkably gifted educator had some hidden character flaw or secret substance abuse problem rearing ugly blemishes now as shoplifting. Or maybe the man whose reputation is on the line could hire a communications person- a new young one who knows Twitter and New Media to tarnish her further. Or dig around in the community. Outlandish? Unheard of for a man whose unethical if not criminal activity because his reputation is on the line would go to such lengths? No. Because sexism is alive and well, and the first ‘read’ of this situation will not be - repeat not be- to question the man’s credibility. The suspect is a woman. And even a Senator- even the girl ones- remain oblivious to the corrupting influence of that particular variation of sexism. The proof is right there on the front page of the biggest newspaper in the state. If you care to read it.
Still a Fried Mosquito and A Black-eyed Pea: Froggy Still A-Courting to Take Down the Affordable Healthcare Act
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:02
Back in 2005, Dana Connors, Maine State Chamber of Commerce president said, "This is not the time or place to expand Maine care coverage to more uninsured. “ He ignored that covering uninsured lowers health costs then. And 10 years later, United Health Care ignores that fact as well.
In 2005, Dana Connors, said people just didn’t “shop enough” to find affordable health insurance. In 2016, insurance companies limit those options further by pulling out of the Health insurance Marketplace created to help consumers shop around.
And United Health Care- with 11 billion dollars in profits last year- complains that Community Health Exchanges are unaffordable and unprofitable- so they‘ll be pulling out. In 2016, filling pockets- insurance companies pockets comes at the expense of providing healthcare.
A recent New York Times poll reported the highest paid individuals in healthcare are insurance executives. “The base pay of insurance executives, hospital executives and even hospital administrators often far outstrips doctors’ salaries: $584,000 on average for an insurance chief executive officer, compared with $306,000 for a surgeon and $185,000 for a general doctor.. The chief executive of Aetna had total compensation of over $36 million…A former president of a midsize health system in New Jersey, received total compensation of $21.7 million..”
In 2016, it is still true that insurance companies executives are paid outrageously. United Health Care paid its CEO 102 million dollars.
Dad Donald- A Parenting Guide to Being Presidential
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:52
Human Growth and Development textbooks may be the ‘go to’ reference to explain ‘what the hell is going on’ as the new Republican opponent apparent, Mr. Trump has said, in this 2016 Presidential race.
You may remember from your Human Growth and Development class the different kinds of parenting power and decision-making that Gerald Lesser, Diana Baumrind, Carolyn Newberger and others have identified. There’s the egalitarian parent’s power- the child has more influence in decision-making than the parent. Then there’s the democratic parent’s approach to power- decisions are made collaboratively. Finally, entering the room via the gold escalators, just to remind you who brings the bacon home, there’s the absolute authoritarian parent- What Dad says goes. Dad makes all the decisions. If Dad says we’re building a wall, we’re building a wall. Dad divys out praise or shame or warmth depending on whether Dad thinks you need it. Dad’s power, after all, controls the resources- financial, emotional and physical . If Dad thinks public humiliation and shaming is in order- well, this is just what Dad has to do. He doesn‘t have to apologize for injustice, crudeness or even the psychological violence of what he says or does. He is Dad.
Dad Donald- A Parenting Guide to the 2016 Presidential Race -Susan Cook- Human Growth and Development textbooks may be the ‘go to’ reference to explain ‘what the hell is going on’ as the new Republican opponent apparent, Mr. Trump has said, in this 2016 Presidential race. You may remember from your Human Growth and Development class the different kinds of parenting power and decision-making that Gerald Lesser, Diana Baumrind, Carolyn Newberger and others have identified. There’s the egalitarian parent’s power- the child has more influence in decision-making than the parent. Then there’s the democratic parent’s approach to power- decisions are made collaboratively. Finally, entering the room via the gold escalators, just to remind you who brings the bacon home, there’s the absolute authoritarian parent- What Dad says goes. Dad makes all the decisions. If Dad says we’re building a wall, we’re building a wall. Dad divys out praise or shame or warmth depending on whether Dad thinks you need it. Dad’s power, after all, controls the resources- financial, emotional and physical . If Dad thinks public humiliation and shaming is in order- well, this is just what Dad has to do. He doesn‘t have to apologize for injustice, crudeness or even the psychological violence of what he says or does. He is Dad. In this and many cultures , The Dad persona- and the person assuming it- is given broad license to do what Dad will. Parenting is an innate, developmentally and culturally defined mindset. I wrote an entire Masters’ Thesis about its intricacies. When someone subtly or overtly begins to play ‘the parental power card’ and exercise parental power over you, it’s hard to immediately recognize because - well, we all there at one time. None of us become our own parents- or parents ourselves- until we grow up or had to. Which is part of the reason it has been so hard to hear what Mr. Trump has been doing. He will parent us, or treat us and the problems of this country as if is he were the authoritarian parent yielding his absolute power like authoritarian parents do. And those of us who never rebelled - whether our parents liked it or not- and became our own parents can really be kowtowed. A turning point in human development is telling Dad- up front- “You can’t tell me what to do. “ Or some variation of questioning Dad’s omniscience. That power shift forever more changes human development. This is Donald Dad Trump. He doles out humiliation as needed- he threatens to take the car keys or build a wall- and once he comes down the gold escalator- Dad built that-you know-he will tell Mr. Cruz he’s smart. He will tell Reince Pribus what a big boy he is doing his job as Republican Party chair. And on and on. Great dads are a wonder to behold. My father was a great father. He held leadership positions of influence. He was the President of the Automobile Dealers Association in the state I grew up in the 1950’s- the automobile’s heyday. He knew parenting is also about knowing what you don’t know- and respecting that every child- every child- has something to teach a parent about how to be a parent. And to be President you have to listen to the economist , the defense and state department , the Supreme Court, and the Congress children. And I do not believe Dad Donald gets that not doing that is the end of the house of Dad Donald’s power. Many a three year old has told a shocked parent, ‘You’re not the boss of me.‘ Dad Donald doesn’t remember that .
Longing for a Poem, Getting MPBN Numbers Instead
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:35
I hope you’re in the mood for some numbers. Or at least I hope you’re not in the mood for a poem. In Maine, the daily poem we all could feast on for FREE when Garrison Keillor’s The Writers Almanac was aired at 9:00 am on weekdays, 6:00 am on weekends is gone. It has been moved to NOT FREE Maine Classical Radio, an HD radio venture that doe not reach the far parts of this very rural state, is not available in used cars or cars with low tech radios and is only available to those with high speed internet access. In rural Maine that is a wished for acquisition. Cable access is still not available in many places in this rural state. All the ways, The Writer’s Almanac is now available, to Mainers, cost money. They are not free.
Maine Public Broadcasting Network seems to have forgotten what somebody wrote as their mission statement on their 2014 990 form, the poetically named “Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax”.
‘Maine Public Broadcasting is Maine’s premier independent media resource serving the entirety of Maine..”
And on page 2, ‘MPBN is the only statewide Public Media service providing local and national content on the Radio, Television and Online to Maine residents, free of charge.”
Thus The Writer’s Almanac is no longer available to the ‘entirety’ of the state nor is it free of charge.
Now, I, along with many others, have asked MPBN to place the 5 minute program back on Maine Pubic Radio- their transmitter tower based service. And they have not. One has to ask why? Somebody doesn’t think 5 minutes about important historical events, lives of creative people and others doesn’t fit with the new ‘talk’ format MPBN is striving for? Somebody tired of the poems, not sure what they do for humanity anyway?
Ah let us soothe our souls by perusing the 2014 MPBN 990 tax return, to make the ineffable, um effable- like a good poem does.
Who Rules Public Radio and Who Really Matters: A Bigger Ruler
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:16
Maine Public Broadcasting Network has made the perplexing decision to segregate music and poetry to a separate pay-to-hear HD radio service called Maine Classical Radio under the guise of Maine Public Radio making itself a new ‘talk format‘. That is, talk they like. Still keeping ‘The Prairie Home Companion’ on public radio Saturdays which is of course music and their bejeweled cash flow. Poetry, from ‘The Writer’s Almanac‘ now pay-to-listen and off Public Radio.
So, who does decide? Who rules Public Radio? And who really matters?
Not rural Mainers- in Washington and Aroostock counties where HD radio doesn’t reach- and who still don’t have high speed internet or cable TV and can’t afford it and only have used cars. They can’t hear classical music and poetry on public radio now. The median salary in these 2 counties is between 37 and 38000 dollars a year. Those living at or below the poverty line between 18 and 20 percent.
MPBN CEO/President Mark Vogelzang is paid $220,000 a year. In contrast The top four administrators are paid $602000 a year. ‘Public’ funds that non-profit MPBN received to serve the public equaled 58 million dollars over the last 5 years.
There appears to be a big income discrepancy blind spot at MPBN. Or an attitude of indifference if Maine Classical Radio hoards cultural treasures from ‘those Mainers‘ the poor ones, driving their beater cars, with their cheesy FM radios- who cannot pay for it . It is not new in the history of art, music, fine literature for the upper class to seize what the creative have made with twigs and baling wire, changing the rules so only those who pay can enjoy them.
-Susan Cook-
Hope In A Time of Endings: An Independence Day Recognition of Voice
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:34
Speaking out about unjust events and atrocities that others passively accept segregates the outspoken, often. In their own time, they are often isolated from like-minded peers. On this Independence Day, three events of the past week remind us how deeply valuable voice is, in reckoning with atrocities and injustice of the past and preventing more of them in the future.
-Susan Cook-
Speaking out about unjust events and atrocities that others passively accept segregates the outspoken, often. In their own time, they are often isolated from like-minded peers.
"My Funny I.T. Guy" To the Tune of "My Funny Valentine'' (The song and dance genre)
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:08
A musical tribute to "My Funny I.T. Guy" . Blackberry phones - like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had- used to be considered difficult to hack. The F.B.I. - having revealed their lack of technological competence very recently- now claims with conviction that her emails could have been hacked even though they have found no evidence of that and found fewer than 10 out of 30,000 emails worthy of a higher level of security- afterwards.
If the FBI now has new information technology sophistication, why don't they spend our taxpayer dollars on getting rid of truly offensive material anonymously sent in emails.
-Susan Cook-
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry:Isn't the Individual Candidate Who Won't Listen Just Like Congressional Politicians Who Refuse to Listen?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:02
Today's Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks "What's the Difference Between Politicians Who Refuse to Consider What Politicians in the Other Party say and an Individual Candidate Running for Office Who Refuses to Listen to Any of the Politicians in His Own Party Trying To Tell Him What To Do"?Is It Possible that the Congressional Refuse-To-Listen Politicians Led the Individual Candidate to Think Not Listening is the Right Thing To Do?
-Susan Cook-
The Freedom to Succeed and the Mind's Eye:One Runner's Success
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:01
In Maine, recently, an internationally known annual road race was held . 6338 runners raced. One runner in the group of the first 183 spent a full year- in another state locked up- not for committing a crime- but for having a mental illness. In some states that is still possible.
This year he missed the first 100 places in the 2017 Maine Marathon by a few minutes.
In order to have success you have to have freedom to succeed. And there are hundreds of obstacles to that - in this country- still touted as the free-est nation on earth. We know it's not always but most of us still hold out having the freedom to succeed as America’s cherished offering .
The current political rhetoric ignores that. The anti- freedom to succeed catch phrases of this Presidential election cycle remind us of that. Don’t let immigrants come here. Build a wall. She must be a liar-don’t let her succeed. Don’t trust her. And yes, he’s not fit countered by she’s not fit. I guess it comes down to success being having the freedom to succeed, and then seizing it. Many, many people don’t do that but that’s what this runner did. Where a person finds the motivation let alone - as another runner called it the audacity to hope- that success is still up for grabs- I don’t know. It takes a large mind to see what small minds shut out-and who is shut out. But it has nothing to do with the mind’s size. It has more to do with the mind’s eye- that sees the horizon, like runners see, when they get out on the road, getting out on the road, giving it another go, giving themselves the freedom to succeed, with only 182 others in front of them. It also takes a culture or a country that yes, may hold them back for awhile, but not long enough to take away the freedom to succeed for good.
-Susan Cook-
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry- The Republican Bible Scripture on Bringing up Marital Infidelity
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:18
Today's Sixty-second Moral inquiry brings quotations from the Republican Bible on Adultery which ask 'Why Shouldn't the GOP Presidential Candidate Bring up a former President's Marital Infidelity'
The Republican Bible Scripture on Bringing up Marital Infidelity
-Susan Cook-
1. From the Mount, former Speaker of the House Newt Spake, he of spotless Calista since 1993 who informth his wife Marianne of their marital breech in her hospital bed, not with Newt.
Lost Dignity and Lost Politics- the Presidential Debate and Sexploitation
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:33
The then director of the Harvard Eating Disorders program gave a talk to a small group of eating disorder mental health providers in my work town. While meeting with the editor of Seventeen Magazine , she had asked why the models chosen by the magazine were of starvation level body type- or at, say, the fourth or fifth weight percentile for females of their age and height. Seventeen Magazine, the then Editor explained was sharing a vision of ‘art‘ with the public which justified presenting models likely eligible for Eating Disorder diagnoses as a mirror of the cultural ideal of beauty.
Seventeen Magazine’s anorexic models have about as much to do with ‘art’ as Sunday night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had to do with presidential politics. That is, nothing, other than the brief captivation of a temporarily enlarged audience. Visions of art and political campaigns come and go.
The debate and Seventeen Magazine’s implied endorsement of the anorexic weight female body do have something in common . Donald Trump made extra special effort to identify 4 or was it 5 women- now well into their sixties if not seventies- to be in the audience because they report that their bodies were exploited by Hillary Clinton‘s husband 30 or 40 or 45 years ago so as to minimize the offensiveness of Mr. Trump’s newly discovered sex-ploitation talk audio tape.
-Susan Cook-
The then director of the Harvard Eating Disorders program gave a talk to a small group of eating disorder mental health providers in my work town. While meeting with the editor of Seventeen Magazine , she had asked why the models chosen by the magazine were of starvation level body type- or at, say, the fourth or fifth weight percentile for females of their age and height. Seventeen Magazine, the then Editor explained was sharing a vision of ‘art‘ with the public which justified presenting models likely eligible for Eating Disorder diagnoses as a mirror of the cultural ideal of beauty.
Why Women Don't Tell: Dying from Silence
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:59
The anniversary of the loss of my childhood friend who died from suicide just passed. She, like many women, was sexually abused and never told anyone. Not too long ago, many assaulted by Harvey Weinstein are finally told. For the silence of those who have been exploited or sexually assaulted to end, shame needs to be disenfranchised, for once, from telling. Which means that the blame, the ready cacophony of ‘She’s lying’, the persistent undermining of women’s credibility, no matter what her experience or credential ends. We all bear witness to that in the reduction of an exceptionally experienced, brilliant woman who ran for president reduced to liar, sneaky untrustworthy thief and criminal. We should all fear that the same specter awaits those who have accused Weinstein and that in time, his accusers will be met with the same sanctioned dismissive view.
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-Susan Cook-
The anniversary of the death of my childhood best friend, who I’ll call ‘S’, passed recently. 'S' drove to an isolated country road, parked her yellow convertible by the side, and, in time, died. She committed suicide. Someone found her there. Over the next few weeks time- word of her death spread to me when her roommate answered my call late one Sunday night, hoping to talk to my longest friend. Her ashes were scattered from a mountain overlooking the ocean. The long disoriented grieving then began for a 24 year old, who I knew had not always been happy, but presented happiness to everyone else. Yellow was her favorite color.
And then, there‘s the coverage of a 2013 Maine prostitution trial following the exploitation of a young woman by 140 men. Her feelings, her body, her violation were pretty much ignored as the media devoured the events. The statewide newspaper headlined the “dilemma” of men who paid for sex with her trying to prevent the embarrassment of publicity . And then there was the Maine Press Herald columnist who wrote of the young woman “oh yes, having sex with well over 140 men who paid dearly for an hour of her precious time” and questioned how contrite she was when she said “These actions were not taken because I wanted to. I did not feel like I was in a position to choose.” Bill Nemitz, the columnist wrote, “Come again?” “The Madam glides from the spotlight insisting she'd been tricked into turning tricks,” he wrote.
Will Millions of Private Health Insurance Jobs Be Lost If Obamacare Ends? The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:12
Like the Defense Industry, Obamacare was created to keep America strong. Like the Defense Industry, Obamacare government stipends are paid to private companies. Obamacare stipends paid to cover insurance premiums to make them affordable are paid to private insurance companies NOT sandal makers in Indonesia. Will the good those billions of dollars paid to insurance companies be gone for the 20 million newly covered peoplewho will lose their newly acquired health insurance. And what about the salaries lost for millions of people in the United States who work for insurance companies and the salaries of millions who work for Planned Parenthood hired because of that extra government money?
Will Millions of Jobs Will Be Lost If Obamacare Is Defunded
-Susan Cook-
Credibility in African-American Blues Musician: Who's Believed, Who is Not
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:34
Maine's Legislature will vote on Open-Pit Mining soon but whose testimony about environmental contamination will be believed and who will speak the truth about it s effect on migratory birds, water and natural resources.
Who's Believed and Who Is Not
-Susan Cook-
In my state, there’s a good current example. In the northern part of Maine, a veteran legislator was granted forgiveness of a 150000 debt owed for unpaid bills for a gas station franchised to him by an international corporation. The brother company of that corporation owns thousands of acres of pristine northern Maine land. Coincidentally, or chronologically, depending on how you see it, the next step in their corporate forgiveness of his debt was his creation of a bill introduced to the Maine legislature allowing open-pit mining of copper, zinc, silver and gold on their land. Despite a months-long investigation by the reputable Maine Center for Reporting in the Public Interest of the co-incident of the customized legislation and the debt forgiveness, the veteran lawmaker denies the connection, the Legislature’s ethics committee did not say a word, their communication directors did not see it as worthy of mention and the Legislative leadership did nothing.
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry:In the First Place, Why Would A Corporation Let a Veteran Legislator/Franchiser have Huge Debt?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:15
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry asks questions about right and wrong in sixty seconds about pressing matters of the day. Because the Maine legislature now debates rules to oversee mining including open pit mining which relies on machines not human beings to get the job done, today we ask why a major gas station corporation whose brother corporation seeks to build an open pit mine would allow a veteran legislator and franchisee of one of their gas stations to build up $250000 in debt in the first place?
Thinking About Denuclearization- What Children Know
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:35
'Chuzo Tamotzu, Children’s Drawings and the Art of Resolution’ is an exhibit hosted by the Bowdoin Art Museum which presents the artwork of children in the aftermath of Hiroshima. Images of death from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not shared with the rest of the world until 1952. Those images transformed the world's consciousness of nuclear annihilation and served to catapult many into the invisible harness of restraint called non-proliferation or denuclearization.
The Japanese artist Chuzo Tamotzu entrusted to children the ‘portrayal of ordinary people and ordinary circumstances after Hiroshima. Paintings from his project in which children of Hiroshima and Los Alamos, New Mexico children exchanged their work are displayed in the museum's exhibit.
The exhibit, a graphic presentation of the psychic work that Hiroshima inevitably presented to survivors and the world, coincides with the United Nations Conference on Denuclearization. The United States urged major economic powers to decline the United Nations invitation to this forum for contemplating turning the terror of nuclear annihilation into safe common ground. Artists do the psychic work for us, Robert Jay Lifton wrote. This art exhibit and the US failure to attend the UN conference suggest the psychic work of understanding nuclear annihilation is far from done.
-Susan Cook-
The Japanese artist Chuzo Tamotzu entrusted to children the ‘portrayal of ordinary people and ordinary circumstances while having the A-bomb unmistakably present in the background’ that Lifton talked about. In Santa Fe, New Mexico near Los Alamos- nuclear bomb invention headquarters- they envisioned a project in which the children of Hiroshima and the children of Los Alamos would exchange painted images of their lives and those around them. Surely motivated by the hope that the Japanese, surviving children of ground zero victims, the hibakusha , and government inventors of this devastation might see in these images the similarities of humankind and thus hope for survival, in a child‘s eye view.
This museum’s exhibition of children’s art is coupled with the art of now practicing Japanese artists who drew them. There was a time- post- Hiroshima when educators told children- it is time to stop drawing and focus on technology to move Japan forward. Some of the artists whose paintings are shown remembered when their Japanese mentors stopped encouraging children to draw and paint.
Birthing the Newest Political Hypocrites- The Two 1/2 Minute Conspiracy Theory
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:08
This week the United States Senate voted to overrule the intention of the Founding Fathers and disregard the process that give minority membership voice.They invoked the 'nuclear option' to stop the filibuster of the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. But what did the United States Senate really do. Today's Two and One-half Minute Conspiracy Theory offers, well, a conspiracy theory.
-Susan Cook-
"You Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Yours" In the Dept. Of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning)
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:48
In the Department of Poetic Justice, we offer a poetic tribute to the complex topic of hiring candidates for government jobs who carry heavy political indebtedness. Might be sung to the tune of "Love and Marriage" which was written for a 1938 production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town".
The Opposite of Love is not Hate, it's Indifference: Cupcakes and the Lineage of Hatred
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:52
When we don't recognize the unkindness of entitled hatred, we may be quietly consuming more of it than we realize. That may be a way in which a lineage of hatred quietly enters our system and our lives.
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Cupcakes and the Lineage of Hatred
-Susan Cook-
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: Why?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:30
Everyday the world can ask again what’s right or wrong , not just smugly proceed, go along on its merry path, answers tucked under its arm, as proof of right and wrong. In This President’s era, every single day presents a new Presidential moral challenge. Which moral question is at stake is a daily dilemma. It is ours to ask.
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A Citizen's Guide to Government Officials Swallowing Uncomfortably and the Chi of Democracy
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:10
FBI Director James Comey is being queried about whether President Donald Trump asked him to drop the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael ‘Mike’ Flynn and his contact with Russians to influence the 2016 election. Like the Watergate Hearings and President Bill Clinton's Impeachment Hearing, many find these events uncomfortable. Good feelings may also arise in watching them. It is the flow of the chi of Democracy.
A Citizen’s Guide to Government Officials Swallowing Uncomfortably and the Chi of Democracy -Susan Cook- We seem to be returning in this country to what we will euphemistically call ‘Government Officials Swallowing Uncomfortably’. I am, referring to the many visual opportunities to observe this during televised and live streamed testimony from fired FBI Director James Comey. He is being queried about whether President Donald Trump asked him to drop the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael ‘Mike’ Flynn and his contact with Russians to influence the 2016 election. Now, here at The River Is Wide, we sometimes write a feature called the ’Two and One-half Minute Conspiracy Theory’. But those testifying and all those listening are doing a pretty good job of that themselves. So today we focus on ‘the good feeling’ one might get from watching the Comey testimony. I say this having had such good feelings while witnessing the Watergate Hearings before the US Senate and later the impeachment process of President Bill Clinton for perjury about his extramarital affair with a White House intern. The stirring of the conscience one gets from watching the swallowing discomfort of government officials- elected or appointed- comes from this. It carries the tactile sensation, the neurological motion that indicates that we live in a democracy while a slow, delicate, tender tune up is taking place. This is not unlike the flow of "c-h-i"- the actual spelling is "c-h-i" but the English pronunciation is like the word "Gee" - during Acupuncture. I remembered the chi of democracy stirred when Speaker Newt Gingrich passed in his gavel during President Clinton’s Impeachment Hearings because his marital infidelity was revealed which was soon followed by Robert Livingston's election and rapid resignation as Speaker because of his marital infidelity which led to the rapid rise of the perception of Dennis Hastert as the best candidate for Speaker of the House and his rapid election. Mr. Hastert's past eluded the fact-checkers who, if you were old enough to read newspapers then, were working days, nights and weekends for weeks on end during that Speaker of the House election season. President Clinton was acquitted but the hearings brought disclosure of the marital philandering of many other prominent Republican members of Congress, all of whom voted for impeachment. Publisher Larry Flynt offered a reward for such information. Dennis Hastert was elected Speaker of the House. He now serves jail time for using campaign funds as hush money given to a man who alleged Hastert had repeatedly molested during his wrestling coach career. Some people swallow with difficulty just thinking about acupuncture because of the insertion of thin, thin, thin needles at points in the human body called meridians or "acupuncture points". But those razor-sharp points reach the special point which provokes and smoothes the flow of "c-h-i". And in this case, once the chi of democracy begins to flow, that swallowing difficulty indicates a good thing will begin soon. The opened flow of energy and intention which in a democracy means fairness and justice finding their way.
Still A Fried Mosquito and a Black-Eyed Pea: Froggy Still A-courting To Take the Affordable Health Care Act Down, But Froggy has Become Greedier, Less Compassionate
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:40
The US Senate and House Healthcare Bills hold no intention for the government to feed the whole crowd, like those in the song "Froggy Went A'Courtin''. In their proposed bills, the government is running fast and furiously from paying insurance coverage for anybody. The Senate and House bills propose that insurance premiums can be bought for a Fried Mosquito and a Black-eyed Pea. They’ll just be catastrophic plans with high deductibles. In this world view, all the hoarded, stockpiled Fried Mosquitoes and Black-eyed Peas will be used to pay off the huge medical bills the insurance will no longer cover.
But Froggy has Become Greedier, Less Compassionate and Still Doesn’t Get That Insurance Premiums Cost Too Much
And People Don’t Have the Money to Pay Upfront
-Susan Cook-
Oh yes and the reimbursement for those fried mosquitos paid out on insurance premiums will be in the form of tax credits which will be paid, no surprise here either, in real American dollars directly to insurance companies. All of the Obamacare efforts to give insurance companies their fair- repeat- fair share was not enough. United Health Care, for example, with 11 billion dollars in profits last year- just has to pull out of the Community Health Exchanges because they aren’t making enough money. In 2017, filling pockets- insurance companies pockets comes at the expense of providing healthcare, covered by reasonably priced - affordable premiums.
In 2017, all of Maine’s children are insured through Mainecare.
I can’t get rid of the image of Mr. Rat shaking his fat sides just like in “Froggy Went A-courting” along with the insurance companies who still claim deficits- while we all sit with a fried mosquito and a black-eyed pea. The US Senate and House Healthcare Bills - if they pass- will make that just a little bit of cornbread sitting on the shelf just like the song says.
Control Over Gun Use By Those Who Cannot Control Themselves: Changing the Meaning of Control in Gun Control
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:10
Maine has witnessed many domestic violence tragedies. In 2017, a woman, her son and a neighbor killed by her out of control partner were one of them. Maine ranks ninth in the country in number of women killed by men. In the country, men of color stand a much higher chance of being shot and killed by law enforcement. Why are men of color and women disproportionately victims of gun violence- men at the hands of police officers; women at the hands of men. The sophisticated Training in gun use law enforcement officials receive doesn't always provide resources for self-restraint in highly charged situations. What will?
Changing the Meaning of Control in the Gun Control Debate
-Susan Cook-
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Liu Xiaobo. A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:24
Liu Xiaobo died in 2017. His 11 year imprisonment by the Chinese government for posting subversive articles on the Internet had not ended. "No Enemies, No Hatred' and Charter 08, his collected writings, read more like the National or any State Democratic Party Platform than the hate-laden political rhetoric we now hear. Now that he's died, perhaps his writings will become a guide to wake us to the dangers of power-hungry authoritarian governments that neglect the truth of human well-being.
-Susan Cook-
Mean-spirited Is A Political Issue
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:13
The mid-term elections are almost upon us. Now that Obama care is working, what political issues might be nearby? What will help us make good choices among Republicans, Democrats and those trendy Independents? What issue cuts across the political landscape and party lines, not already written into party platforms or any independent's desperate attempt to sketch a silhouette starkly differentiating themselves from their partisan opponents?
Well, how about whether the candidate is or has been mean spirited in carrying out their political agenda?
- Playing
- Mean-spirited Is A Political Issue
- From
- Susan J. Cook
The Two and 1/2 Minute Conspiracy Theory: The Best Conspiracies Are Those In Which Co-conspirators Didn't Sign Up, Weren't Asked, Don't Know They're Part of It
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:55
The highest production of greenhouse gases in the US comes from the West Jefferson, Alabama Miller Electric Plant. The parent company- The Southern Company- says they have spent billions on emission reduction- for mercury and sulphur dioxide. They omit that the fact that the 12 billion spent is over 11 utilities in 9 states. Also didn’t say the Southern Company spent 14 million on lobbyists to eliminate EPA regulations to protect the environment.
-Susan Cook-
Not A New Question, Still Privately Answered
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:06
It is the question all of them ask over and over, the one that Rep. Todd Aken brought up. Was it a legitimate rape? It's not just the question adult rape victims ask. It is the question every sexual assault victim asks: the seven year old, the ten year old, the fourteen year old. There is nothing new about the question or about the answer victims privately provide. "Was this a legitimate rape?"
The World According to Suck-ups, Part 1: A New Book Pants, I mean, Paints the Picture
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:27
A new book holds lessons on the value of not kow-towing.
-Susan Cook-
Deborah and Mark Parker, authors of 'Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy' have given us all an opportunity to stop apologizing for not being willing to suck-up. Yes, we know there are universes where in the absence of sucking up one becomes almost invisible. Perhaps our time is better spent identifying those universes where that is true rather than trying to hone our suck up skills. Among those who thrive and polish their self-importance daily with the bees wax of those sucking up, distinguishing the genuine from the faux suck-up is easy. Gratuitous offerings, callouses on the elbows and knees.The authors speak to whether this Presidential Era may be remembered as The Era of The Suck Up. Please remember that the Republican National Convention ended with music chosen by the de facto Candidate: "You Can't Always Get What You Want", an absolutely unsubtle slam of the legion of now-we-get-it benignly ambitious
Presidential hopefuls who had not only refused to endorse the candidate but openly decried or petitioned against him. Suck up evenientem seiunctionem transgrediendi, in Latin.
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: Does False Equivalence Lead to Minimizing the Real Problem?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:24
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry "Will the real problem of sexual predators using positions of power to target women be ignored if false equivalencies prevail?"
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry:
Doesn't False Equivalence Lead to Minimizing the Real Problem
-Susan Cook-
As women identify men who have targeted them with unwanted sexualized or in fact criminal sexual acts, will false equivalence lead to minimizing and overlooking the real problem? Does equating putting a hand on a women's bare back with the same sexual predatory acts of Weinstein, Charlie Rose, the Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore minimize the real problem of the abuse of power that sexualizes relationships that are supposed to be professional- not sexual? Does it mean that sooner or later women or men speaking out against sexual exploitation will not be listened to because no one's talking about the same problem anymore? Sexual predators are seen in the same light as a man putting his hand on a woman's bare back? White, powerful men now join African-American men and females of any race in that one allegation may bring jail time, character defamation or cultural or professional exile - much like The Red Scare of the Fifties did. Respect for Civil liberties means we can't lose sight of the problem of racist, sexist injustice when men of color and women of any race are treated unfairly. Will the abuse of power of real sexual predators be ignored if a new abuse of power "The (anonymous) Court of Public Opinion" accepts false equivalence and the real problem of sexual predation minimized?
A Citizen's Guide: Where Not To Look For Good Husband or For That Matter Father Material
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:20
The recently passed Tax Overhaul bill declined to increase the child care credit while leaving no money for the Children's Health Insurance Program and an extra trillion dollar deficit for those who are now children to sort out. The US Senate is not the place to go if you'd like to find men who are good husband or father material. Not there. We draw upon the sage 2004 wisdom of Courtney Love in her scientifically replicated observation of what to do if Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in his elites-only hotel suite: Don't Go.
A Citizen's Guide: Where Not Too Look for
Good Husband or For That Matter Father Material
Susan Cook
As Charles Darwin was marveling at insect eating plants, variations in the sexual activity of orchids and the role of honeybees, we now know he was trying to figure out where good husband and father material comes from. What with the evolution of species and everything, every observation he made now applied to the United States Senate says one thing. The chances are slightly over fifty percent that you are going to end up with a disloyal, possibly serial groper, and now rising on the horizon as a frightening possibility, child predator if you go to Congress looking for your special mate. We draw upon the sage 2004 wisdom of Courtney Love in her scientifically replicated observation of what to do if Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in his elites-only hotel suite: Don't Go.
This all comes to mind because of the endorsement by the sitting Office Holder of a known child predator for a vacant US Senate seat (and his political voyeurs now coming back into the fold) and because of the recently passed US Senate version of the tax overmauling bill.
Let's start with the Tax Overmaul Bill. What is glaringly absent is the same thing that any oblivious parent ignores: Once you have the children- whether in the Mike Pence Evangelical way or not- someone has to provide care for the child. Twenty-four seven. For many many years. Women in the now dawning age of recognition of how intelligent they are- often have jobs- even though they still earn only about 78 cents for every dollar men make. This means someone has to take care of the children. In the US Senate, again, there's over a fifty percent chance you won’t find a man who knows this. Proof? The Tax OverMaul bill could have raised the child care tax credit so that those 78 cent working moms might keep more money in their pockets. This wasteland of parental awareness known as the US Senate failed to do that.
Getting back to Darwin, the only species that will be dealing with the added trillion dollars to the US deficit this Tax Overmaul creates will be those who are now children who grow up and somehow survive to be in Congress. I say survive because another thing the Tax Overmaul leaves unfunded is the Children's Health Insurance Program- health care.
I have worked with children and their parents since 1976- when being in Congress was a glimmer in Senator Susan Collins' eye - she who also voted against increasing child care credits. Like the sexual arrangements of orchids, the basic needs of children do not change. Responsible, attentive caretakers who are driven to keep them safe by love not greed. And money to pay for it.
If you are a young orchid, looking to reproduce and are drawn to the big pointy building in Washington DC, as Courtney Love said, "Don't go." It is a wasteland of concern for the well-being of children who evolution still has not provided a loud enough voice to be heard- except when they suffer the consequences of appallingly inadequate child care. That is- by the way- why some people don't have children because they know greed takes the money for the child care sometimes and besides- there just is not enough good free child care to go around.
The Horses of the Santa Ana Race Track: The Free Trapped In Their Own Freedom
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:35
Horses at the Santa Ana Race track were set free in an effort to save them from the Southern California wildfires. Their freedom, like that of the women who have now spoken out about sexual exploitation in the workplace, may have saved them.
The Horses of the Santa Ana Race Track:
The Free Trapped in Their Own Freedom
Because of my work as a psychologist, many, many women have told me of sexual assault and harassment. I am more often than anyone would imagine the first person the discloser has ever told- in an entire life. The experience leaves victims badly shaken, dispirited, if not traumatized. Trapped and without recourse because of someone else's misjudgment. The men whose brash entitlement to the open field of the female body, have in their own way been trapped- unprotested allbeit- but trapped. The public too quietly assuming innocence where in fact arrogance underscored the actions of the Weinsteins, Roses, Roy Moores. How could Garrison Keillor be in the same not yet deleted cache of sexual misconduct whose advances carried on- observing co-workers ignored? As the impact of his dismissal is realized, the dangerous fire's presence cannot be denied. We know now the fire has come, the horses neigh wildly, some still running the race track, their instinct now subjugated to what they have been trained to do.
In the Department of Poetic Justice:It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas..."
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:39
There has been a sudden shift in the hopeful tides that the Christmas season brings- toward hope that the majority in the US Senate will change. The current one passed a tax bill that thinks children are only important if they sit on Corporate Boards. And makes policy that says life ends as soon as labor and delivery are over! No increase in tax credits needed for child care. And no funds allotted for Children's Health Insurance.
(and the Great American Wrongbook)
It's beginning to look alot like Christmas,
every screen you see.
On the televised news updates,
they've opened the floodgates,
a new guy finding a new place!
with no history of offering
young girls that he'll give a ride,
as soon as their inside
molestation, ignoring their cries.
when men won't act like females are
objects they can abuse,
because they'd like to use
them. They show us what they are made of!
will finally take a look around
and ask themselves privately
would they take the chance and leave
a female child with their colleagues.
corporate wealth while children stay
in day care that's marginal
no background checks to show
what the caregiver might know.
that the people who can't vote
are not just the unenrolled,
they are also those whose clothes,
all small sizes, onesies.
will finally get the drift of it:
that someone must stay behind
pay for day care, somehow find
money to care for the child.
if she happens to take note
that tax credits for robots
indecently coopt
child care credits, parents lost.
include a word about children,
she could finally take it on,
ask Murkowski, maybe Mitch
where's the pro-life in that?
has confused reality,
thinks the GOP doesn't need
children who do not yet hold seats
on Boards of Major Companies.
she can share with her colleagues.
How about they all confess that
their policy suggests life starts with sex,
ends just after the birth?
twenty-one or fifteen months,
Republicans now believe
you should never get reprieve,
on college loans, no health care free.
is sucking up. We don't know why.
But the news coming in today
says there may just be a way
a Democratic majority any day.
every screen you see.
On the televised news updates,
Alabama opened the floodgates,
a New Senator put in place.
In the Department Of Poetic Justice: "I Want a Leak Just Like the Leak that Richard Nixon Had..."
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:13
Drawing from The Great American Wrongbook, in the Department of Poetic Justice, which could be sung to "I want a Girl Just Like the Girl..."
" I want a leak just like the leak that Richard Nixon had."
(To the tune of "I want a girl just lie the girl who married.." )
A real eye-opener with special news,
Liddy, Watergate-ish and then he blew a fuse.
I want a leak just like the leak that Richard Nixon had.
I want to see lab results from a strand of someone's hair,
or clippings when he gets his toenails cut,
fingernais engrained with who knows what.
I want to see lab results from a strand of someone's hair.
I want to see behavioral comparisons each day.
Please check the weekdays close to the weekend.
Thursday, Friday, right near the week's end.
I want to see behavioral comparisons each day.
Where are the officials who monitor him day-by-day?
It's not like these are minor infractions,
Western civilization gone during his binge.
Where are the officials who monitor him day-by-day?
Kelly, Sarah Huckabee, even Mr. Tillotsen,
could give him a pat on his shoulder pads,
whoops, coinicidentally, happen to snag,
one strand with the follicle, answering what we have asked.
I want a leak just like the leak that Richard Nixon had.
A real eye-opener with special news,
Liddy, Watergate-ish. He might blow a fuse.
I want a leak just like the leak that Richard Nixon had.
Fake News Creation and the Abuse of Power- Local Style: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:54
This American Life recently reminded us that the Democratic Party doesn't seem to get who it is anymore. Is it the Political Gamesmanship that's done it? Or their own creation as, yes, Donald Trump, says of fake news.
As an episode of This American Life pointed out recently, the distinction between the 2 parties has gotten lost. Democrats do not know how to say- out loud- big girl like- what they stand for. In Maine- often- Political Gamesmanship, Political favor- trading and vengeance toward people who say things they don't like- are at the front of the party line. Using Montreal, Quebec-based IP numbers as website hosts to spread untruths or upload items to the "Cloud", difficult to trace back to the party staffer hacking away on an I-phone. Or simply finally paying off their collaborators with the bigger Communications Director or Chief of Staff job.
Fake news creation is about as passive aggressive as it gets. Slightly genomed up, it places at risk, an ethical free press because even the party Communications Director may not telling you fact. Without an ethical press, the opportunity for anybody to rise to the top job, based on merit, trustworthiness, skill is in danger.
In the Department of Poetic Justice: You Don't Know This But Your Civil Rights Are Violated
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:43
From The Great American Wrongbook and In Today's Department of Poetic Justice, a poetic tribute to the question: what's wrong with violating the civil rights of citizens who go to public hearings to testify. Could be sung to the tune from The Sound of Music, "You Are 16, Going On 17".
In the Department of Poetic Justice: You Don't Know This but Your Civil Rights
(and the Great American Wrongbook which could be sung to the tune "You are 16 Going On 17"
from "The Sound of Music")
-Susan Cook-
on the Internet,
can be reduced
to mush and you can't say
or even make a guess
they will not tell you.
Their IP numbers
lead you in circles
out on the World Wide Web.
Politicians and their staffers
think that their job includes
negative, hostile
demeaning, caustic
words they will aim at you.
Lunatic for criticizing,
exposing you could say,
electeds who don't know
why the voters
should have something to say.
Staffers can be good at lying
And maybe you should know,
Erhlichman, John Dean,
Haldeman, that scene,
dirty and just obscene
Politicians, dirty staffers
sometimes go hand-in-hand.
And in this Nation,
From DC to Maine
some often do slip through.
They will spend their time in the State House
trying to discredit you,
on your tax dollar,
Privacy Guarded, on sites
they've come to know
Where they'll post demeaning comments
Democrats do it too
While their Communication
Director pretends
she just doesn't know.
When it's time for applications
for jobs at the State House
misogynistic, fascist,
or sexist, oh well,
hide email notes?
Call the other party's staffer
try to get him on board.
Proxy, so toxic,
civil rights blocks it
when people file suit
Since the limitations
of the statute are not met
Solar pronouncements
liberal announcements
don't allow or defend
Violating civil rights,
the Director doth approve,
legal, illegal, law school achievers
might help prevent abuse.
Maybe yes or maybe no. Depends
if where they'd like to end
elected to Congress,
where they won't confess
their civil rights offense.
Pump it up and put it out,
the environmental news
sent to the press
now would be hard-pressed
to find out his real past.
If the Speaker brings corruption
into their messaging
there goes the free press,
Antidotally keeps
Democracy different
From some fascist dictator
who believes the public blames
who she decides
will ruin her game plan,
public jobs, personal gain.
Human rights, their violators
aren't just in one party,
Democrats,
GOP staff,
ignoring your civil liberties.
When they decide they will take
the b-i-t-ch out to the woodshed,
law school, a small school
compared to the
leadership's big decree.
bigger than Africa,
Ukraine, Rwanda,
where leaders still launder
human rights they've squandered
Are in danger of repeating
just what they've done before
violate people who
speak at a hearing.
We have seen all of this before.
In the Department of Poetic Justice "What Do I Owe You? I Thought I Already Paid"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:45
Reconciling one man's self-defined Free Trade Agreements (Eeew) is hard to do. A Poetic Tribute to the lyrical dilemma of paying $130000 for something you don't think you should have to pay for because you are fabulous but you are trying to buy someone's silence so you can be elected to a high public office with the support of Evangelical Christians.
(The Great American Wrongbook)
to tune of "Getting to Know You"
from "The King and I"
-Susan Cook-
I thought I already paid.
What do I owe you?
I do not like to be made
into a shyster.
Your rates were far above
my financial free trade
agreement. My private codeword
for what I should not have to get
a bill for. That's not fair trade.
I did not enjoy time with you
I guess I neglected
to ask the same question of you.
for a couple of hours
(was it longer than that?)
for which I paid. Did you realize
that I am a senior- AARP- as well,
discounts qualify. Couldn't you tell?
sixty-five plus you begin
to charge by the hour
instead of counting item by item.
"Je ne c'est pas"
how your bottom line fares.
I just know when I did real estate
finishing the deal
no matter how long it takes
one price from start till the end.
don't take this wrong but it seems
one hundred thirty thousand, well,
No, you didn't tell me-
there is a difference between
older fellows who last
I guess you could say. Than those on rapid lunch breaks.
Just like our country, you defer payment
for debt. Who carries that kind of cash?
I just don't get it.
President Clinton you know,
notoriously went out
at lunch time for his quick runs
in Little Rock. I am guessing he thought
money would cheapen deep love he had,
He made sure no cash would ever changed hands
No paying it forward,
he a liberal man.
I'm not a liberal but
I believe there are times
when paying it forward
helps cover the bottom line.
Eventually, the past
may bring up incidents
when changing the spelling of your name
would help avoid future repayment claims.
You weren't there. Cash was for your doppelgang
The Political Power of Breastfeeding: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:58
The World Health Organization, a United Nations affiliated committee almost succeeded in passing a resolution affirming breastfeeding as the best, safest food for infants.Then the US delegates threatened military-level sanctions if it passed. Breastfeeding remains powerful as human sustenance and as a political tool. Bringing mothers to the hearing might have sent some of those naysayers off. Maybe could have cleared the hearing room.
The Political Power of Breastfeeding: A Citizen's Guide
-Susan Cook-
I was with a young friend recently who was with his/her mother, also a young friend in a crowded café, in Maine's best known outdoors store. Pretty crowded when we walked in, pretty much empty by the time we left. That observation gave me an idea for how to minimize the audience at a public legislative hearing other than through politicaltactics and cheap shots where publicly disseminated hearings times are falsified or constituents emails blocked. Have a Mom begin to feed her baby- Mother Nature's way. In a legislative hearing, spectators would make a beeline for the exit.
A well-attended hearing on LD 1781 was held recently. Bath Iron Works /General Dynamics is seeking 60 million dollars in tax breaks to build missile destroyers- the Aegis series and the Zumwalt. Barely mentioned is the fact that sonar, one of the most sophisticated weapons in the world, is installed and beta tested here on these destroyers which means they are no longer weapons-carriers. The ships are weapons themselves.
Sonar is one of the most powerful, devastating weapons available. The Navy quickly acknowledges whale deaths in the Bahamas were directly caused by sonar deployed by nearby destroyers. The sonic attack in Havana aimed at US Embassy employees reported in the New York Times is consequent to sonar's destructivenss.
Biomedical engineering faculty at Duke University assess the impact of sonar on living things. Sonar impacts at the cellular level, they suggest . In nascent stages, like early understanding of the effect of radiation, sonar's impact is now being studied. Even the Navy acknowledges its catastrophic potential.
Bath Iron Works' sonar installation also has severe consequences for living things in Bath's South End. At least one South End resident diagnosed with severe extremely rare bilateral vestibular nerve damage suggests it is likely consequent to BIW's sonar testing- always done at night- on weekends, holidays, or sometimes week nights. Severe vestibular nerve damage is irreversible, according to a world expert neuro-otologist.
It's not like Bath Iron Works management has not been appraised of the fact that residents of the South End are aware of and feel the impact of Sonar when it's being tested. If I have emailed, texted, sent return receipt registered mail letters to them once, I've sent them 100 times, to various configurations of CEO, Vice President, Operations Managers, Communications Director, Fleet Service overseer. The one response I received said "Sonar is not tested at night."The nightwatchman at the nearby yard entrance confirmed, when I called him, "They make a loud noise when they test that." Which they have, at night, when I thought sonar testing was happening.
Which brings me back to the infant being fed. The South End of Bath is a working class neighborhood, barely gentrified, relatively low rent, because the big hulking military-industrial complex is right up the street. General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works has absolutely no idea whether there are infants, babies, toddlers, children living in the rental apartments across the street. I have repeatedly in my messages to their top management said there is a neurological danger to mammals- whales and including children - from sonar and asked them to tell me what they are doing and when they're doing it. They simply ignore the request as if either I will go away or the danger will go away. Both are exceedingly unlikely.
There are several legislative champions of the 60 million dollar tax credit bill to- they suggest- insure Bath Iron Works will stay and thus keep 5000 jobs here and our country's defense strong. Ghost towns are just as likely to evolve when people can no longer tolerate the environmental conditions there as they are when the work has dried up. The legislators cheerleading the bill who we will collectively call Les Representatif Des Cheapshots have not recognized that.
Maine has many a small formerly paper-mill dependent town that now has subsistence level conditions because the Maine environmental lure has been accosted by an industry now disappeared. 3 million dollars a year is not going to prevent an international company from taking their business elsewhere.
There are also plenty of other boats, ships, wind power turbines, that can be made there- ones that don't have sonar installed, and won't be patrolling the seas and, inadvertently killing whales and sealife. Which again brings us back to the breast-feeding baby. Would that the power of the breast was enough to drive the political gamesmanship out of Les Representatif Des Cheapshots- and open the eyes of giant Forbes 500 companies to the dangers of their technologies. Maybe drop their fear of breast-feeding and focus on protecting the children and their mothers who take part.
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: What's Wrong With the Many Chimneys, One Smokestack Approach to Legislating
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:25
Elected representatives have taken a new approach to legislating. Only their own district or cell or voting area can receive information from there! Otherwise- blocked on Twitter!! Banned from videotaping for the local Public Access Television Channel! What's wrong with legislation created chimney be chimney?
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry:
What's wrong with A Many Chimneys, One Smokestack approach to Legislation?
-Susan Cook-
If elected representatives act as if their only concern is just their district or area or cell where people vote for them, doesn't that mean that democracy's voice or smoke is isolated, segmented chimney by chimney. When each chimney funneling into one big smoke stack is isolated- will each of the representatives for each of those cells not see the big picture or what's coming out of the big smoke stack each of those individual chimneys feed into? And isn't that the way the big smoke stack carries out plans those individual chimneys just can't see or know about? Especially if the big smoke stack panders or bribes or strokes those individual chimneys one by one or threatens them if they don't go along with the big smoke stack plan? And isn't that how you end up with no democracy at all because then only the big smokestack really knows what's going on and everyone else gets blocked on Twitter or thrown out of the meeting?
The Indifference Diaries: The Opposite of Love is Indifference: How to be a Good Neighbor and Warship Builder
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 09:56
As Bath Iron Works ships become more sophisticated in their use of sonar devices, we recall the 40 million dollar Maine Legislature approved tax break for a subsidiary of the fifth largest weapons producer in the world. A reporter recently disclosed via the Freedom of Information Act the communication between the bill's sponsor, a legislator, and the Vice President of the General Dynamics-owned Bath Iron Works which will receive the money . The VP's solicitous tone and responsivity is in striking contrast to his refusal to respond and his frank indifference to a neighborhood citizen seeking information about the devices used/installed/tested in the shipyard and their pronounced health impact on residents.
The Indifference Diaries: The Opposite of Love is Indifference- A Defense Company Ignores the Impact of What They Do
-Susan Cook-
Dear Mr. Harris,
What testing is in place at BIW this morning from 3 AM or so on? Sonar is harmful.
"At this point I will no longer respond to your messages , given your decision to pursue legal action. Our counsel is Jon Fitzgerald." Now, Mr. Fitzgerald is a vice-president.ewho testified as theleadl lobbyist on this tax break bill who I have also contacted multipletimes precisely when the disturbance because of sonar/radar/"you tell us" is happening.
Dear Mr. Fitzgerald, Starting at about [fill in the time], the sound of testing of a sonar device at or near the drydock on Washington St. is loud and disruptive. Please inform me before your company testing begins. And please remember the Duke University Engineering work which indicates that sonar disrupts on the cellular level."
After this bill was filed, a reporter using the Freedom of Access law, obtained copies of Mr. Fitzgerald's communication with the bill's sponsor.
The legislator needed "talking points" from Mr. Fitzgerald.
“I am available at your convenience, thanks for sponsoring.”
“[H]appy to host a working lunch or whatever works for you,” Fitzgerald said in a Dec. 8 email to the bill's sponsor. “At that time, I will have the expanded list of city/town BIW employment, a draft of the legislation, a multi-page listing of state, county and municipal assistance provided to Ingalls in Mississippi. It would be great to get specific on co-sponsors and any other details you require.”
[Ingalls Shipbuilding is a BIW rival based in Pacagoula, Miss. Bath Iron Works has argued the renewal of a 1997 tax deal from Maine is essential to maintaining the company’s competitiveness with Ingalls, which has received considerable subsidies from its state".] The two met Bath Iron Works’ offices.
“[W]ould you like me to order lunch?” Fitzgerald wrote. “I would get something from the Sandwich Shop. If that works for you, let me know what you would like, they usually have fish chowder on Friday.”
“Sounds good,” former State legislator Jen DeChant replied. “Turkey sandwich. Thank you.”
Truth be told, I received one response from Mr. Fitzgerald to the multifold I sent. "There is no testing of sonar equipment at 4 am. " he texted on Wednesday September 13, 2017. Testing as opposed to installing; using as opposed to testing; sonar as opposed to radar; radio waves as opposed to radar. I am not a medical physicist so parsing exactly what they are doing is difficult.
Watch Your 500 Pound Gorilla Very Carefully: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:35
Not too long ago, I watched a program about a 500 pound gorilla whose owner taught him to sign. That gorilla, all grown up, would move his finger an inch off his massive thigh and the owner immediately recognized it. “Oh, that’s his sign when he’s whispering- kind of like at a cocktail party when you tell someone something from across the room so no one else will know.“ I will acknowledge here that I implied the owner was reading a lot into what the gorilla did. I said, "I would prefer a gorilla- any day- his place or mine- who was more straight forward. After the Republican Tax Overhaul bill passage, I am reminded: watch the Gorilla carefully.
A Citizen’s Guide
-Susan Cook-
Not too long ago, I watched a program about a 500 pound gorilla whose owner taught him to sign. That gorilla, all grown up, would move his finger an inch off his massive thigh and the owner immediately recognized it. “Oh, that’s his sign when he’s whispering- kind of like at a cocktail party when you tell someone something from across the room so no one else will know.“ I will acknowledge here that I implied the owner was reading alot into what the gorilla did. I said, "I would prefer a gorilla- any day- his place or mine- who was more straightforward."
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: Why Won't Facebook Show You Exactly Who Will See Your Post as Soon As You Post It Since They Know That Already?
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:12
Sixty Second Moral Inquiry! The Right Thing for Facebook to do is to tell posters immediately- as soon as the post is written- who will be seeing it- including all the photos. Eliminating the anonymity of the poster and the viewer.
The Sixty Second Moral Inquiry: Why Won't Facebook Show You Exactly
Who Will See Your Post as Soon As You Post It Since They Know That ?
Today's 60 Second Moral Inquiry asks: why doesn't Facebook show the user exactly who will be seeing your post before you post it? I mean the names and the funnny little photos which come up immediately ? Hasn't anonymity been the primary breeder of the hostility that Facebook creates? I mean ending the anonymity of those who will see the information- not just the poster- that naive and sometimes quite frankly malicious senders post? Since Facebook knows who exactly will see the post as soon as you write it, isn't it right for them to share that so the friend of the friends of the friends will think: wow, that's malicious to post this. And do the right thing and not post it? Isn't it possible people would be let's say morally embarassed if other people knew they were gawking at private information? In real face-to-face communication like Mark Zuckergberg doesn't like having, the speaker and the receiver are known and isn't that the right ethical way to do it?
Non-verbal Political Commentary for the Speechless! A How-to Citizen's Guide!
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:53
In speechless times, a practice to express how your world looks now.
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Political Commentary for the Speechless! A Citizen's Guide
-Susan Cook-
Since approximately June of 2016, mental health professionals have been trying to diagnose a certain someone! Stop!It is unethical to diagnose someone you have never met! Diagnosing yourself given the events that have transpired around a certain someone is more acceptable. People do it all the time- punishingly at times. So a little less punishing approach might be to let yourself sit down by the sandbox and - go ahead - give us a representation of what the world looks like now.
Play therapists tell us that symbolic representation through a sandbox configration can be very very therapeutic if not a source of profound insight.
Ok, here's an example of what one configuration might look like.
Out comes the Prince, the Queen (ok, it's Ezmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame- no matter- a Queen's a queen) . Next comes the lizard- whoa, whoa, no, no wait- it's the chameleon! Spotty. Goes over to the Prince- is one color. Goes over to the Queen! Another color! (Sharpie inflicted color changes!) Goes back over and rolls around in the sand a little. Gets up. Shakes himself off- hokey-pokey style. Another color. All of this is happening quickly. As if the chameleon has.......Time Magazine cover's diagnostic speciality! -Attention Deficit Hypereactivity Disorder!!!! Chameleon here! Chameleon there! Intensely focussed on one topic! For a minute! Switches to another topic! Different color! Different spots! Entering the sandbox configuration! The BBBBBBarbies!!! Fully clothed. OK. the skirts are very very very short and very very very tight. And the Chameleon is there! On it. Next! Different Barbie! Barbies gone. Sand piled over them quickly, quickly. quickly. Out comes the dog. Digging, digging, digging. Chameleon- late, late, late at night, dozes off. Orange-ish, yellow-ish. Stays that color until the next morning.
See what I mean? Way better tha arm chair diagnosis. Way better.
Don't Diagnose! Go Wth the Play Therapy ! A Citizen's Guide
-Susan Cook-
Since approximately June of 2016, mental health professionals have been trying to diagnose a certain someone! Stop!It is unethical to diagnose someone you have never met! Diagnosing yourself given the events that have transpired around a certain someone is more acceptable. People do it all the time- punishingly at times. So a little less punishing approach might be to let yourself sit down by the sandbox and - go ahead - give us a representation of what the world looks like now.
As a play therapist, I believe symbolic representation through a sandbox configration can be very very therapeutic if not a source of profound insight.
Ok, here's an example of what one configuration might look like.
Out comes the Prince, the Queen (ok, it's Ezmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame- no matter- a Queen's a queen) . Next comes the lizard- whoa, whoa, no, no wait- it's the chameleon! Spotty. Goes over to the Prince- is one color. Goes over to the Queen! Another color! (Sharpie inflicted color changes!) Goes back over and rolls around in the sand a little. Gets up. Shakes himself off- hokey-pokey style. Another color. All of this is happening quickly. As if the chameleon has.......Time Magazine cover's diagnostic speciality! -Attention Deficit Hypereactivity Disorder!!!! Chameleon here! Chameleon there! Intensely focussed on one topic! For a minute! Switches to another topic! Different color! Different spots! Entering the sandbox configuration! The BBBBBBarbies!!! Fully clothed. OK. the skirts are very very very short and very very very tight. And the Chameleon is there! On it. Next! Different Barbie! Barbies gone. Sand piled over them quickly, quickly. quickly. Out comes the dog. Digging, digging, digging. Chameleon- late, late, late at night, dozes off. Orange-ish, yellow-ish. Stays that color until the next morning.
See what I mean? Way better than arm chair diagnosis. Way better.
Killing The Red Pines in Charlotte: The Private Time Line of Environmental Contamination
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:45
I’ve been asking for about 9 years now why Red Pines that have thrived for hundreds of years would die. Not that I knew 9 years ago they would die. But I did know something would happen because as close as 160 feet from the upper perimeter of their hillside cemetery location, a Connecticut-based company- Lane Construction- began to expand gravel mining. I was thinking about pollution to the water aquifer under the mining operation, the noise level driving migratory birds away, the destabilization of the landscape which with enough rain could easily cave in, hundreds of caskets falling into some giant sinkhole. Google Earth clarifies exactly what those Red Pines were up against.
Letter from New Jersey: Civil Liberties New Jersey-style
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:50
Coming through the transom today, a letter from New Jersey to share. Civil Liberties: New Jersey-style!! How are they taken? Oh, I guess they mean Civil Liberties -the noun..
Anonymous Used To Be a Woman
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:52
In the not so distant past, Anonymous was usually a woman. a woman composer, artist, author, musician, writer unless she was an accused criminal, an adulterer or a witch.The NYTimes editorial raises the specter that the machinations of power have truly shifted in this country to stifle freedom of speech, a civil liberty which keeps citizens visible and named. Is it possible men now need Anonymity to speak their mind?
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Anonymous Was A Woman
-Susan Cook-
As a regular New York Times reader, I always am very disappointed when I miss a "must read'" as I did when Anonymous published a disturbing analysis of President Trump.
In the not so distant past, Anonymous was usually a woman. a woman composer, artist, author, musician, writer unless she was an accused criminal, an adulterer or a witch.
That's not to say there is something regal and righteous about anonymous authorship. The NYTimes editorial raises the specter that the machinations of power have truly shifted in this country to stifle freedom of speech, a civil liberty which keeps citizens visible and named. Is it possible men now need Anonymity to speak their mind?
I had the pleasure of being the object of an Anonymous editorial first appearing through the anonymous machinations of the local journalism power brokers in my town that the tactless Downeast Magazine editor- a Republican- re-published I don't think the statute of limitations for libel have run out but basically, I testitified at the 2011 Congressional District re-districting hearing and I criticized recent actions by the Other party. I then said, completely misquoted later by a journalist who was emailed the inaccurate quotation by Who Knows Which party staffer- that the consequence of the other party actions could very easily be voter intimidation. Preface - please- by remembering that creating circumstance that will intimidate voters is a lot different than having the capacity to recognize that what you do intimidates voters. There are legislators that " all the live long day"like the tired working class song goes- engage in acts the consequence of which they will never, ever, ever, ever grasp- because of what ever set of blinders they bring to the position. Use whatever adverb or adjective you like. They don't get consequence. I gave three examples of these actions: moving 350,000 voters to a collectively newly configured district, eliminating same-day voter registration and a Senate President recording voter phone calls ( possibly as a courtesy to another shared user of the same phone then on the Other Party's National Committee) . Each of these examples require the further cognitive perambulation to recognize that some voters- witnessing these actions- may say "I can't participate in voting or voicing my opinion (paradoxically)." Some legislators and policy makers may just not have je-ne sais quoi- the recognizing that consequence thing down. Kind of like, some members of the current administration might not get around to recognizing the consequence of having an out-of-control President.
My criticism led to an anonymous editorial written by Who Knows, pushed through by Who Knows supplying the proper email addresses to Who Knows, facilitated by the Insider Track of Who Knows. Susan Cover now of the Kennebec Journal misquoted me. Who sent her "the misquotation" as if it it was what I actually said is another Who Knows. Sometimes, it takes a whole village to create spinelessness. Think Flint, Michigan.
My original observation of the legislator began with me calling about an act of environmental devastation which- several years later- sure enough- is now a fait accomplis.
When the machinations of power lead to those who speak out being targetted, publicly harassed, leading to the need to editorialize anonymously, very dark, entitled and priviliged permission-giving taking place in the inner circles of authority. If the anonymous editorial is based on inaccuracy and misquotation, as it was in my case, - very dark, entitled and privileged permission-giving taking place in the inner circles of authority.
I bet there are Democrats and Republicans in my state who are bloated with pride about the publication of an anonymous editorial factually condemning this President. The use of anonymity is also a functional MRI of a power structure gone very bad indeed- possibly revealing endemic spinelessness and, in that, a corruption of freedom of speech.
By the way the anonymous condemnation of me, misquoting my re-districting testimony about- paradoxically- intimidation of citizen voice is also an MRI of sorts- of a spinelessness- based on power abused not to correct the problem but to keep the jobs of the powerholders in place or find them new ones.
The Thickness of the Moral Skin of the US Senate: To Be the Catcher in the Rye
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 08:19
The thickness of moral skin is sometimes measured in the willingness of its inhabitants to take on the risk of being the catcher in the rye- the one who protects the children running toward danger. The US Senate during the hearings to vet a Supreme Court nominee stepped aside- almost to a one. The spectacle was almost like watching the ingenuousness of Holden Caulfield falling away after encountering the world's indifference- this time right in front of us.
The Thickness of the Moral Skin of the US Senate: To Be the Catcher in the Rye
"You know that song 'If a body catch a body comin' through the rye? I'd like-"
"It's 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye'!" old Phoebe said. "It's a poem. By Robert Burns."
"I know it's a poem by Robert Burns."
She was right, though. It is "If a body meet a body coming through the rye." I didn't know it then, though.
"I thought it was "If a body catch a body'," I said."Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch eveybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."
After Holden Caulfield has this conversation with his little sister, in his sojourn before entering a psychiatric hospital, he calls up Mr. Antolini, the Pencey Prep teacher . "He's the one that finally picked up that boy that jumped out the window I told you about, James Castle. Old Mr. Antolini felt his pulse and all, and then he took off his coat and put it over James Castle and carried him all the way over to the infirmary. He didn't even give a damn if his coat got all bloody."
In the aftermath of the confirmation hearing of a prep school alumnus who left a trail of nightmares and unresolved trauma in the emotional web of one 15 year old, the thickness of the moral skin of US Senate members comes to mind. I'll talk about the 2 from my state since I know most about their moments of moral cowering.
In 2007, I was interviewed and quoted by a reporter for Current.org , a public broadcasting newspaper. Susan Collins had contributed mightly to the firing of a popular Friday night jazz host who had criticized the Iraq War- in a genial, understated. way Turns out that the Maine public broadcasting Board of Trustees was comprised of members who together gave over $160,000 to the Republican party. I said (look it up) that Mainers would work hard to defeat Susan Collins in her next go-round she being someone who engages in activities that usually get legislators thrown out of Washington. Now, Senator Collins does not like anyone making reference to her pre-marital relationships in her first 50 years of dating eligibility or recreational activities. That off-sides view that Susan Collins endorses about her own past, may explain her minimizing the testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's sexually assaulted victim. Indecent exposure is also illegal. Instead, she insisted his distortions, lies and beligerence toward his 2018 Senate questioners had nothing to do with his judicial temperament. By Collins' side, as she announced her choice, was Maine's recent failed GOP gubernatorial candidate, former DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew whose cost-cutting adminstration co-occurred with an almost unparalled number of deaths of children at the hands of their foster, biological or step-parents.(https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/14/letter-to-the-editor-mayhews-dhhs-neglected-maines-children/)
Senator Collins usually hires out her thin moral skin and backlash toward those who threaten. Her one-time Director of New Media Matthew Gagnon was a player on the Maine political commentator scene whose willingness to bully has been documented on the front page of Maine's largest newspaper.
Then there's Maine's other Senator Angus King who ires quickly when anyone calls him out on his - ahem- purchase - when he was governor- of a state-owned oceanfront parcel of land abutting one of Maine's pristine ocean-side state parks. I even a wrote some lyrics sung to the tune from "America the Beautiful" which his purchase decidely was not.The purchase was documented in the Times Record and noted there was no "public bidding" on a piece of property that any one knew would do nothing but increase in value. It is now worth many times what he paid for it by encouraging the right state employee .
"Oh beautiful for spacious me, for land I'd like to buy,
that borders on state property in Georgetown or nearby,
that suddenly the state of Maine would like to sell to me,
the ocean deep, the price real cheap, what better guy than me?"
The morally thin skin of US Senators created a Brett Kavanaugh nomination and hearing that has left millions of sexual assault survivors in this country with a deep sense of moral betrayal. While survivors are compromised because of the emotional fissures trauma creates, many have stepped forward to disclose, despite the insistent cacophony of shame and the self-doubt that the assault is their own fault. Withstanding that self-blame requires morally thick skin which the moral imperative of the Kavanaugh hearing creates.
I do not trust Senator Collins or our other Senators- to be- we all hope they might- the catcher in the rye. Only one came to Holden Caulfield's mind- the teacher who carried the suiciding adolescent boy and didn't even care if he got blood on his jacket. Senator Collins and her GOP Senators minimized the belligerance, hostility and denial of his past of a Supreme Court nominee accused - not in a trial- but a job interview. In the wake of that dismissal, many, many sexual assault survivors who the equally morally thin-skinned Lindsay Graham said "have a problem"( hint: are flawed, damaged, mentally ill) will go home and direct the damage toward themselves- in self-harm, self-mutilation, if not suicidality.
Not one of these Senators can be trusted to be the catcher in the rye- nor can this Supreme Court nominee-. They are far too frightened of getting blood on their jackets or their morally thin skin.
The Generic Election 2018 Senate Candidate Anthem: In the Department of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning)
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:19
In the Department of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning) , a generic anthem for each and every Election 2018 Senate candidate.
The Generic 2018 Election Senate Candidate Anthem
-Susan Cook
Oh beautiful, for spacious me, I am a profound man
So don't keep asking me to say for what it is I stand.
My friend Big Grouchy told me, "Just say you do not know
which Senators agree with you. Voters don't have to know.
" Oh beautiful, for spacious me, Big Grouchy meant to say
Don't tell them how you'll vote until they really have to pay.
Friday before Election Day, when Silver's polls are up,
Their vote will be your Hostage! Kavenaugh the final wedge!
Oh beautiful for spacious me. Big Grouchy says I can
hide all the facts about my past, my voting history.
I'm not anonymous you know. But Grouchy gets real mad
if someone tells the truth and he can't find out who they are.
Oh beautiful, for spacious me. Big Grouchy also said
Make sure you scan the Internet and pay some overhead
to Google every minute to tell you if they post
the facts you know, so they won't blow the cover off of you.
Oh beautiful for spacious me. Big Grouchy says he will
send out subpoenas rapidly when Truth's anonymous.
It's not that he's a liar. It’s public image work.
He says just show them what I want. The rest they can forget.
Oh beautiful for spacious me. My only problem is
because I have said things outloud, it’s not anonymous.
I mean the public record. It’s out there on the web.
Maybe Big Grouchy’s next lawsuit will ban the Internet.
Oh beautiful for spacious me, I know that I can win.
I've got them all so nervous. I think it is a cinch!
The most important thing to me is getting to D.C.!
Constituents? What's that? The issue's loyalty to me.
Oh beautiful for spacious me, I don't know what Brie is.
Food you know is not my thing. It doesn't go ka-ching!
My checkbook always needs me: I round up every sum.
The difference goes to charity, Guess what ! Lowers the tax for me!
Oh beautiful, for spacious me, I don't do sacrifice.
The Senators earn 100 thou. I don't plan to be one of them.
There is a difference, I'll tell you, no, I don't think I can.
I don't want citizens to think they are the ones I'm better than.
Oh beautiful for spacious me, I give to charity.
It comes to point zero zero one of my salary.
My supporters don't do math. Plus I am not a Mormon.
They give their ten percent away. No way I'll outdo them.
Oh beautiful, for spacious me, I won't let wages rise.
A dollar here, some quarters there. What do poor people buy?
I 'm not that big a spender, except for my TV,
It's part of my economy. Don't ask me: "So, tax-free?"
Oh beautiful, for spacious me, a trillion dollar gap,
would not be my problem when I am down there in DC.
It's not something I started . It wasn't on my time.
Too bad for you. you've got enough to pay me on your dime.
And yes, environmentally, contamination might
happen somewhere, the EPA has problems keeping sight
of chemicals and stuff like that. My votes will all be right
Don't start inventing reasons for me to take on your gripes.
Oh beautiful for spacious me. There are times when I'm wrong.
It doesn't really matter though, because I know I'm right.
It shows that I'm a leader. I will do what I want.
Do not forget I have to fend for my financ..um.. political life.
Oh beautiful for spacious me. I'm not a hypocrite.
Computers are for everyone and helps them feel they fit
into the world of cyberspace. Who knew they’d be Anonymous
and spread the truth about my past while I'm in politics.
Oh beautiful, for spacious me, I 'm so glad that I found
the time that I will really need to make my way around
to donors who will help me run my Senate race for free:
Make sure the check's signed properly "For More Money...For me."
Dept. of Poetic Justice tune: "Nate Silver's Been Counting All the Numbers..." sung to "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas..."
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:20
A musical tribute to polling before Election Day! In the Department of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning) with lyrics for "The Great American Wrongbook" sung to the 1951 "It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas"
In the Department of Poetic Justice (and reckoning) with lyrics for the Great American Wrongbook
"Nate Silver's been counting all the numbers..."
(sung to the tune from the 1951 "Its beginning to look alot like Christmas"
Nate Silver's been counting all the numbers.
Every poll you see.
Time for Nate Silver to put down
his wizard wand, take off the gown.
The Dumbledore one, his disguise.
We are worried because we still remember
Just two years ago his quirks
acting like his numbers reversed ,
somehow knew the future first.
Didn't call Ellen Langer or channel Stephen Jay Gould first.
I hope he has finally come to realize
he is not at the race track.
The numbers he likes to trace
are events that all took place
when respondents picked up phone lines.
Or answered the caller on the cell phone
and said "Yes, I soon will vote."
Heads up, Nate, what that answer is
is what the person said just then
at that moment not two weeks hence.
A person responding to a question
is just the same as you or me
when we enter a voting booth
and record that moment's truth:
when we vote things up or down.
Maybe Hogwarts Online could help him
understand time difference
as they say over in Par-ee
Hier ce n'est pas aujourdhui
C'est difference. They're different days.
Hogwarts alumni have ongoing
seminars in wizardry.
And reassert all the time
prediction is not their game.
They do their magic in real time.
Nate Silver could sign up for the course
on wizardry for those in math.
Statistic anomalies still won't
change a basic fact:
elections won't turn Nate's clock back.
The day of the polling he was using
to predict who'd win or lose
He denies it with all his might
but he was hoping he was right
his Wizard hat perched way up high.
Over his favorite Dumbledore robe.
Don't you wish he'd just fess up
math has models that don't explain
future happenings which aren't the same
as what is counted when polls are made.
There are racetracks that run the horses daily
They like their polling geeks
since there's money on the table
picking ponies a good gig.
when Nate retires. Is that next week?
No Reason Two: Asking Questions About Gun Access for a HCFA-1500 Form
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:55
We cannot expect care providers to intervene with individuals who intend to use a gun to harm others or themselves unless we do everything we can to make sure providers ask the questions in the first place. Do you own a gun? How many guns? These questions are the point of entry for prevention. On a HCFA-1500 form, that required data begins to answer the questions about conditions we all second-guess later. Did the individual have a mental health diagnosis or a physical health problem? Had they been treated for it before? What was the treatment the provider offered? If the Billing specialist who must complete the HCFA-1500 form in order to avoid rejected payment requests, is the person insisting that the care provider remember to ask questions about gun access, so be it.
No Reason Two: Asking Questions about Gun Access for a HCFA-1500 Form
In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School shooting, many suggestions have been made about changing gun access. In order to effect access, we first have to know who has access, either legally or illegally. One way to do this would be to require every health care provider to answer on the HCFA-1500: Does this patient own or have access to a gun? How many guns? You could even ask what kind.
HCFA-1500 stands for Health Insurance Claim Form.It is regularly revised by the Center for Medical Services. It is the universally required form that any health care provider, from your podiatrist to your opthamologist, must complete in order to bill Medicare, Medicaid, and any health insurance company for payment.
Any information on a HCFA-1500 form is HIPPA protected. The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act prevents any of the information on a HCFA-1500 form from disclosure- unless subpoenaed by a legal authority or with the patient's permission.
The HCFA-1500 includes the patient's name, age, employer's name, diagnosis,the date the illness or injury started, the procedure code for the service or supplies the health care provider gave, the dates of service, prior hospitalizations for the illness, if the service is the result of a disability, car accident or work-related injury, similar injury treatment, marital status, school enrollment,employment, other lab services and all insurance-related information- a prior authorization number from the insurer, plan name.
There is even an empty space "reserved for local use" that could now be used to enter gun ownership information.
Why do this? Because we cannot expect care providers to intervene with individuals who intend to use a gun to harm others or themselves unless we do everything we can to make sure providers ask the questions in the first place. Do you own a gun? How many guns? These questions are the point of entry for prevention. On a HCFA-1500 form, that required data begins to answer the questions about conditions we all second-guess later. Did the individual have a mental health diagnosis or a physical health problem? Had they been treated for it before? What was the treatment the provider offered?
No health care provider gets paid without a properly completed HCFA-1500 form. If the right spaces aren't completed, the bill is rejected. And if it is the billing specialist who is insisting that the health care provider ask the questions so the HCFA-1500 form is not repeatedly rejected- so be it.
There is no reason not to use this required and widely used tool to document that an individual has access to a gun or many guns. The data gathered- which is HIPAA protected- will answer many questions that we speculate about – later.
Ode to Mr. Roubini's West Grand Lake Bass Update
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:18
In Maine, Bass fishing on West Grand Lake is a destination respite for many, including Mr. Nouriel Roubini, the legendary economist who was almost single-handed in anticipating the 2008 housing collapse and world-wide recession. This "Ode to Mr. Roubini's West Grand Lake Bass " is revisited in the wake of the recent change in , let's say, the landscape under the "River of Financial Abundance".
ODE TO MR. ROUBINI'S WEST GRAND LAKE BASS REVISITED
MR. ROUBINI, DO YOU THINK IT WAS THE WEST GRAND LAKE BASS
THAT HELPED YOUR BRAIN CELLS FORECAST THE 2008 CRASH?
LUCKY FOR YOU, SOME BASS STILL REMAINED
TELL US, WILL INTRODUCING ALEWIVES TO THE ST. CROIX RIVER DRIVE OUT THE BASS?
The 2022 Prologue,
Mr. Roubini, time to fire up the grill,
Your very best guide in this time of ticker tape upheaval
is not Bloomberg News or today's Wall Street Journal.
To keep your title as Dr. West Grand Lake Bass,
your Omega-3s jumping, still saving our last
nickels and dollars from going out with the tide,
go to www.grandlakestreamguides."
-SUSAN COOK-
Bannon's Farewell: An Addendum "I Was Seeing Him"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:47
Great American Wrong Book lyrics for Mr. Bannon, now that Roger Stone, one of 6 of his former campaign colleagues indicted, is one of 3 now convicted.
Addendum to Bannon's Farewell. "I Was Seeing Him..."
to the tune from "I'll Be Seeing You.."
-Susan Cook-
I was seeing him, yes
it was a minor whim
I probably should have stayed home
watching re-runs of
a certain Cosa Nostra film .
I had no idea
it was a favorite of his too.
I was hard at work helping You-Know-Who.
So I guess I'll change my pattern.
Try to get back to the gym.
Do a lot more yoga.
See if my PC could possibly fit in
The next space launch they're having
maybe Elon Musk could try
get it out there- headed straight
for Mars, hey, maybe for Saturn.
Actually, I barely knew him.
Roger Boulder, was that him?
The other thing I do not do
is send out emails
on a whim.
I hope you understand emails
easily are faked.
The important things- I say, face-to-face.
That was why I saw him briefly,
usually at yoga class.
He is a big tanner.
Not my style. Burns my nose too fast.
I spend enough time dealing
with my allergies to dust.
How I got by with no yoga,
Let's just say, it's now a must.
Now I won't be seeing him
at yoga anymore.
It may be a little while before
a class offered near him. But more
and more, federal prisons opt
to have it. Keeps the prisoners calm.
No more tanning booths.
Just downward facing dog.
I will not be seeing him.
I got my computer cleaned up.
Gee, I'm sorry that he's hit
a road bump. Sort of a hiccup.
I don't think back to those days,
I secretly admired
Mr. Mueller. Those head stand shoulders,
shout out, Yoga something he has tried.
AND DON'T FORGET!
THE ORIGINAL!
A Poetic Tribute to the Departure of Mr. Bannon’
To the Tune from ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’
Susan Cook-
read between the fine lines,
called reporters back,
still read things in The New York Times,
I didn’t ever bother,
I never used words like suck or cock.
I’m a journalist.
You know I just like to talk.
I am kind of Presidential.
I think that came through.
Yes I’m allergic to
Certain foods, mold, cat dander too.
That’s why my nose looked stuffy
Kind of red, yes, my eyes too,
never got a chance to Photoshop
my best side for you.
they both do
A certain kind of yoga pose,
I’ll tell you just between us too,
I think yoga is liberal ,
Mahatma Gandhi had his version too
Who’d do that kind of thing?
Alt-left wingers ok Melania, too.
There might be a yoga version
made with alt-right guys in mind,
Politically on target
Where you keep your ammo by your side
I won’t have that much time,
I am not planning to retire
I’ll be back at Breitbart,
White guys only need apply!
starting his own studio,
Sean Spicer, Reince, maybe even
Mitch McConnell might decide to go
And when the class is over
Lying in Shavasana,
They will all be chanting
Three times,
What happened,
Ohm, Ohm, Ohm, Ohm.
l
Myths, Proverbs and so on. The Sword of Damocles: A Citizen's Guide
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:23
Quick and to the point! Citizens' Guides adapted from Greek myths, proverbs and so on.
The Sword of Damocles: A Citizen's Guide
-by Susan Cook-
Once in Greece, there lived a king, Dionysius. Many admired him for his wealth. One courtier, Damocles, admired him. Dionysius asked Damocles why he admired him. Damocles said he would like to do whatever he wished for a day like the king. Dionysius said tomorrow the next day Damocles would do that.
The next day Damocles was dressed in royal robes, he had fine food, and good entertainment. Suddenly he saw a sharp sword hanging from a thin thread hanging above his head. He asked why it was there. Dionysius replied, "I live with that sword above my head always." Damocles begged the king to take back his power. Damocles never did envy the king again.
COVER A
MYTHS A-
WRITING A-
SPELLING A-
In the Dept.of Poetic Justice! And I Cleared It With You! Michael Cohen's Congressional Testimony
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:09
In the Dept. of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning) with lyrics for the Great American Wrongbook!
In the Country of Facebook. Hey, Wait a Minute. Facebook Is Not a Country!
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 08:21
On the Fresh Air episode, "For Facebook Content Moderators, Traumatizing Material is a Job Hazard", a Silicon Valley journalist plumbed Facebook's nascent acknowledgement of its product's dangers. And its efforts to be more ethically astute. Hmmm... Which part?
In the Country of Facebook- Hey, Wait a Minute- Facebook is Not a Country
Facebook is not a country. The exponential math of the internet that creates its expansive unlimited access to anonymous individuals makes it seem like one at times. It is a corporation, that lives or dies by the money it makes. Just like corporations that made products that later were identified as dangerous like agent Orange, Thalidomide, the Corvair, or DDT, Facebook has been slow to acknowledge the damage of its product. Mark Zuckerberg hinted at that evasion during the 2016 Election season when, as questions arose about deceptive Facebook political messaging, he went Live posting Himself smoking a goat on his patio. Get it?
On the Fresh Air episode, "For Facebook Content Moderators, Traumatizing Material is a Job Hazard", a Silicon Valley journalist plumbed Facebook's nascent acknowledgement of its product's dangers. They have hired $15.00 an hour Quality Analysts to delete unacceptable posts. having noticed that, yes, human beings use words and images to verbally abuse and exploit others and posture power. It is almost like they now enter into Moral Sensibility Media. Of course, limiting abusive content posts is only part of the problem. Passive bystanders who see the post, absorb the image or words, are part of the damage Facebook creates. The passive bystander murderers in Myanmar , remember, were perpetrators Facebook could not control because looking does not create a digital stamp that tells you which individual's awareness was invaded by the post. The boundaries of hearing, receiving are not addressed by merely making decisions about good or bad posts and those analysts are not being veted as "universal moral arbiters". The power of Third Reich that drove the Holocast also came from the proliferation of anti-Jewish messages paraded in front of passive bystanders who when they received it, were effected and/or damaged by it.
Now they play catch-up. Their sea of minimum wage-earning auditors are tasked with - what in another breath- Facebook suggests requires "Supreme Court-like" profound thinking . The journalist said "...While we pay these folks as if the work is low-skill labor.. it [requires] very high-skilled labor because they are making these very nuanced judgemnts about the boundaries of speech in the Internet..." . The journalist said " Not all of [the content] is benign though] because it turns out, "[For the content reviewers] there is something traumatizing about vewing these images. .." "There is no policy that can account for every imaginable variation.. [of a violent, pornographic, and hate-speech laden Facebook posts]. " "My hope is...by devolving some of the power these tech companies have back to the people,,,we can bring some semblance of democracy to what will always remain private companies..." .." And here is the kicker "I think we're really kind of having one of the great reckonings over free speech globally that we've had in a long time. And there isn't one great answer. it's always a question of, how are you going to manage all of the trade-offs?'
Identifying "freedom of speech" as the liberty on the line ignores the abusive impact on the passive bystander. People have suicided after reading Facebook posts targetted at them, not only because they read it but because of awareness that a large bystander group anonymous to them sees it too and they are powerless to shut it down .
Pre-meditation might have led them to use their technology (they have it) to let every user know exactly who the members of the universe are who would see their post and then make an informed choice about whether or not to post. They did this ineffectively- not restricting friends of friends' access to posts let alone public posts. Just as Dow Chemical Company de-emphasized the impact on just one Vietnam veteran of Agent Orange exposure , DDT makers did not pre-meditate how one nesting Bald Eagle could be the perpetrator who crushes the shell of an unhatched nestling, Facebook has minimized "the one person"who sends in a complaint and recieves the "this doesn't reach the level of our standard of abuse" automatic reply and the passive bystander- the Facebook voyeur- replicating that damage. Even while they act to limit the damage of their "unlimited access" product, Facebook still are tries to keep hidden abuses of their product they uncover. Even now, the newly hired content reviewers must sign "non-disclosure agreements."
A marker at a private school I walk by memorializes a 14 year old boy who suicided . It reads, "There should be a way so that everybody could know everybody." Knowing each other and knowing who your posts are reaching might solve some of the damage Facebook's unlimited access creates. It is not one that minimum wage Quality Analyst hiring solves, even as Fresh Air tells us, Facebook is considering a Supreme Court- like Content Advisory Board to make final judgement on content decisions. Remember, even Supreme Court decisions often give weight to one plaintiff in deference to a repeatedly tested document- the Constitution.
So Independence Day in our real country celebrates our measure of democracy which includes everyone, a happenstance of place offering humane protection through a Bill of Rights for every single one of us. One way to assess whether a society is just is see whether those at the top of the social hierarchy are treated with the same dignity and fairness as those at the bottom. Facebook has not figured out how to do that- even as exploitation of anonymity and unlimited access are exploited NOT just by those posting but by the passive unidentified bystanders too who use it to gain power over others.
Lost Intention: Even at a Maine Vigil for Gun Violence Victims
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:46
Sustaining intention for good means we understand that permission for violence makes a gun what it is: a creator of violence. At a Maine vigil, the lost intention of honoring the tragedy of victims stood right across the street with a pistol in a holster on his belt loop.
Lost Intention: Even at a Maine vigil for Gun Violence Victims
In Maine, I went to a vigil for the gun victims at El Paso and Dayton the Saturday night following the weekend of those horrible events. There were maybe 125, maybe 140 people there in front of the Governor's mansion in the state capital. There, the newspapers said, to hold vigil for those who had died the prior weekend at the hands of the guns held by shooters who had no justification other than the gun they held that allowed each of them to shoot in how many seconds? 24? 5?
The vigil was, I thought, surprisingly underattended. I have met many people who have been affected by the shootings at a gut level. It is too innocently complacent - people going to Wal-mart or to a bar to socialize- to begin to grasp how such disregard of the humanity of others comes to be.
There were a few speakers- hard to hear sometimes- the one non-office holding candidate for the United States Senate seat now held by Susan Collins spoke loudly, forecfully. The other patted herself on the back for voting for background checks, reminding us that the former Governor of the State vetoed the bill. You bet current office holders are patting themselves on the back, in the wake of these shootings. One man standing across the street held a Veterans for Peace banner, his co-holder having left. As he held his vigil, an overweight young man took a place behind him on the left. The speakers were getting harder to hear so of the organizers turned on a portable generator to power a microphone and speakers which made it even harder for the vigil keepers at the fringe- as I was- to hear.
I crossed the street to join the Veteran . "Want to hold a sign?" he said. "Of course," I said, taking the "The NRA is Dead Wrong" placard.
As we talked, a police officer came over and began to speak to the overweight twenty-something young man standing behind us.
"He has pistol in a holster on his belt," the Veteran said to me. "He's been video-taping people at the vigil and texting people on his phone."
As I turned my head to look, I could see the holster at his side and hear the police officer talking to him. Reaching out his hand, the police officer introduced himself, as the pistol holster holder responded with his name. "I parked on this side of the street," the pistol holster holder said. "Those people over there wouldn't listen to anything I'd have to say anyway." The police officer was taking notes, as they talked.
There was absolutely nothing at the vigil that called for a pistol- for safety, for reassurance, for protection. Unless its holder was fearful. And this overweight, baby-faced young man, grinning at the police officer, did not appear to be.
Of course, I don't know if he was. Or why he felt a need to carry a gun or who he was texting and sending his video recordings to. It was a serenely calm August in Maine evening, when the streets of the Capital were so deserted I had begun to think that maybe the vigil was being held on a different night.
What happens inside someone's mind and emotional landscape is not easily known. And he could have turned into a panic struck psychotic, delusions telling him, as the El Paso shooter said he had, that he was doing what President Trump wanted him to.
The fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock has just been celebrated, an event in which a half a million young people gathered and not one person was shot, not one gun confiscated. "They went with good intentions," one documentary producer said.
Good intention is being lost to Americans- displaced by hatred and permission to marshall fear and act on it. Guns give permission for violence that human intention alone cannot. Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and his Vice President for Social Good tell us, promotes good. Both of them believe the world is- at its core- is made up of Harvard and Stanford undergraduates- so happy for a way to talk to many without the encumberance of email address identification. They are profoundly ignorant of the impact of exponential math which leaves out this overweight twenty-ish boy with a pistol visible in its holster- hanging from his belt, texting on his Facebook Page and inciting more hatred. And who knows what paranoia and fear simmers inside his mind, in his communications with his gun holding texting friends, his targetted videos that slightly amped up could lead to yet another mass shooting.
I left while the police officer was still speaking to him. My breath had already been taken away that- here in Maine- a man with a gun in his belt-looped holster would come to a vigil to celebrate human tragedy- and somehow think his intention was in keeping with that of the vigil.
In Maine, we are not all of the same mind. And we still do not understand what has changed since 1969. That, "goodness of intention " even at a vigil about loss, could not hold its own.
Death of a Paddler
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:41
Those who sign on for white water rafting trips, fishing and hunting day trips are hoping to find a few hours or so of Great Abandon, an experience the Pandemic has made even more difficult for many Americans to access. Just a little over a year ago, a River rafting Guide who brought that experience to many passed on. And now so much has changed.
- Playing
- Death of a Paddler
- From
- Susan J. Cook
Death of a Paddler
A white water rafting guide died on July 24, last year, four weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. "Sully" was a white water rafting guide out of the West Branch of the Penobscot slightly northwest of the place where the flow of the East leg joins it to become the Penobscot River.
When I was told that he died of a very aggressive cancer four weeks after initial diagnosis, my first thought was, "I wonder if he had health insurance." White water rafting guides, registered Maine Guides, commercial fisherman, small family farmers, all the self-employed seasonally based vocations that are the bristling heart and soul that Maine's natural resources offer up, do not have a reliable, affordable health insurance network. Going without means missing medical check-ups.
I only knew this particular guide because he was a guest at a relative's wedding, the groom and his bride, both White Water Rafting Guides. The wedding celebrated every aspect of Maine's outdoors. The vows were exchanged on "Miss Moggin", a lobster boat decorated with white tulle, moored off Pumpkin Island Lighthouse, at the southern end of Eggemoggin Reach. Other wedding guests reached the wedding location on a boat formerly used as an island mailboat which tied up on the port side of the "Miss Moggin" and the "Millie", a smaller lobster boat tied up on the starboard. The officiant, a commercial fisherman, donned his white Captain's shirt, trimmed with gold braid epaulets along with a white dress cap loaned to him for the occasion by the local Fire Department chief. Under blue skies, with a fair wind, over sixty guests on the mailboat, 30 others on the Miss Moggin and 10 on the Millie observed as the couple vowed "to love and cherish" "til' death do us part" noting that "marriage is a vow not to be taken lightly". The bride wore a white, empire-style wedding gown, with beaded bodice and lace overlays. Both the bride and groom wore boat shoes. The Miss Moggin, despite the white tulle, still looked like a lobster boat which the groom's soon-to-be-mother-in-law noted, to no one in particular, “She knows I don't like boats.”
At the reception, the couple's engagement with the outdoors was on full display: the two tier wedding cake, decorated with fishing rods, canoes, moose, deer and white water rapids, a collage of the couple with the moose which the bride had shot when she won a permit through the Moose Lottery, with the groom as co-permitee. Several photos of the couple with deer and various fish they shot or caught together were included, along with one photo of a rafting run in which the groom served as stern paddler with the bride paddling at the side. The best man congratulated the groom on sharing his life with a bride willing to lather herself up with fly dope, to walk 2 miles through the woods to fish for trout.
The bride invited the crowd "to party it down". Sully and the white water rafting guides, dressed in their semi-formal wedding attire: water-proof sandals, short-sleeved shirts and dressy water-proof shorts,took her up on it. Their gift to the bride was a bottle of "Hot Damn", a Made-in-Maine liquer. The female rafting guides decided to move away from the stuffiness of the dance floor to the less restrictive area on the top of their table (#11 in the Guest Seating Guide) from which the dishes had been cleared. They were joined , shortly thereafter, by their male rafting guide companions, Sully included. They danced with great abandon until the groom's maternal aunt tapped the dancer closest to her on the ankle, pointing to the table that looked like it might break. "Thank you", she said, and they got down. The party was, one of rafting guides said, "A Ray-jah (spelled R-a-g-e-r).
Great abandon moves a body through a landscape far different from a cancer diagnosis that ends a life in 4 weeks.Great abandon is what day trippers try to get a taste of when they sign up for a rafting trip. Maine legislators, if they want to insure that young people cultivate careers as Outdoor Crafters of Great Abandon, need to make health care available and affordable to them, maybe even allowing them to buy into the Maine State employees' health plan. Maybe even at the same rate that legislators do. "In wildness is the preservation of the world", Thoreau wrote. He too relied on the expertise of Maine Abenaki guides to craft his trip into the Maine Woods. Someone needs to be looking out to preserve the health and wellbeing of Maine's Outdoor Crafters, who create the rafting, bird hunting, fishing trips, Great Abandon moments for those lacking those opportunities in their everyday lives.
It turns out Sully had moved to Alaska from Maine and found his dream job, calling on his knowledge of the wild,that maybe even gave him health insurance. Twenty years and four paddlers later, the now very married couple drove to the Forks. They missed the spreading of the ashes but got there in time for the party.
As American as Apple Pie: Domestic Violence and The Abuse of Power to Tarnish Victims' Credibility
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 09:31
A new exhibit at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center in Maine called "Finding Our Voices: Ending the Silence of Domestic Abuse" opened just before Domestic Violence Awareness month. From the halls of the US Senate to a poetry reading, readiness to silence the credibility of the accuser persists.
As American as Apple Pie: Domestic Violence and The Abuse of Power to Tarnish Victims' Credibility
-Susan Cook-
The other day on a radio call-in program, Susan Collins, Maine's Senator, justified her vote for Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court because (she said this) even though she thought something awful happened to PhD Holder and Academic Scholar Christine Blasey-Ford, Susan Collins didn't think it was Brett Kavanaugh who did it. In other words, Susan Collins just can't bring herself to grant Dr Ford credibility. Playing both ends against the middle, this time with Dr Ford's credibility, like she has in the US Senate. At the same time, Susan Collins said that to believe Dr. Ford threatens the entire judicial standard of innocent until proven guilty. What she didn't say is that by automatically granting credibility to a Job Applicant over his accusing victim, she replicates an abuse of power that keeps victims silent.
Two of the most agonizing moments for assault victims are when it happens and when the victim discloses. For women, credibility is immediately questioned- with or without professional accomplishment, with or without the scrutiny of a large audience.
On men's side, and on the side of Susan Collins who has gained longevity by playing the middle against both ends, is Power and the fact that men require less Proof to back up their statements than women do. We have seen the backwash from men finally held accountable for their abuse of power in the #Me too movement. Many of those men remain "miffed" or staunch in their refusal to take responsibility for the abuse of that discrepancy - financially, culturally, physically, in professional hierarchies ( 80.7 cents for women for every dollar men make). Indeed, many fall back on their reverence for "Power" to justify the reluctance to continue to fight #Me too.
The Public Radio host whose host public radio organization distanced themselves rapidly finally published his NOT "Mea Culpa" column, advising the reader to "look what happened to me" over a "harmless flirtation". Discrepancy of power places whoever was on the receiving end of the "harmless flirtation", in a subjugated position. Power interferes with saying "No", further undermined when, as the Pubic Radio host said, "she worked for me but it never happened in the office." He called upon his concern for the powerlessness of children in the NOT "Mea Culpa" piece to explain how he has managed to water down his anger toward #Me too which remember "Look what it did" to him. A negligent out not unlike Susan Collins claiming herself the better judge of what happened to Christine Blasey Ford. The magnitude of the discrepancy in physical power of adolescent boys and adolescent girls is not that hard to fathom.
This call-in program preceded the opening of an exhibit called "Finding Our Voices: Breaking the Silence of Domestic Abuse" at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center in Maine, encouraged by Patrisha Mclean, the ex-wife of the singer Don McLean of "Bye, bye, Miss American Pie". He was convicted 3 years ago of domestic violence criminal threatening, criminal mischief and criminal restraint.
One of the women in the exhibit, the wife of a man named "Charlie" who took out a gun and threatened to shoot her after she told him she had almost suicided, did not speak for years of the domestic abuse in her marriage. She left, still not disclosing until two years after she left, at 65, 43 years into the marriage. Had she disclosed before, her credibility would be on the line.
Many years ago, I was a colleague of the man who physically assaulted his wife for those 43 years. With 3 other Professors, we flew to a northern Maine University to teach graduate students. I taught life span development, always including sections on childhood sexual abuse, abusive relationships and abusive parenting. Those were topics that I had a deep commitment to, and still do. In one of the videos I always showed in the class, the victim said "Sexual abuse is about power. The abuse of power." Thirty three years ago, the reality of incest was not broadly acknowledged. Nor was wife battering or domestic violence. Or child abuse. Or parents who gave themselves license to terrorize or abuse. The college where I taught was sexist. I complained about the job inequities of assigning me to teach 4 courses I had never taught before and The "Dean" clearly made a mental checkmark against me for speaking out about that.
No one would have guessed that this quiet man had his own private target when his power was challenged. His wife. And to this day, abuse of power to keep victims quiet persists. The Edna St Vincent Millay Poetry and Arts Festival began a day or so after Susan Collins' radio appearance. It included a Poetry Slam and reading held at night at a local bar. The organizers felt compelled to include a Caveat to poets and artists taking part.
"Please be advised. As participants will include people of all ages, please be sensitive to content and language that might be of concern, scare children or trigger trauma."
No one wants to scare children or trigger trauma. The accusatory nature of the statement was inflated and not necessary in this context. Even when that was pointed out, the organizer still would not take it off the website.
And with it, the perpetrating "Charlies" and the adolescent "Kavanaughs" go about exercising their power. Yet, one more time, those who have experienced trauma will question if they have the power to speak about it or will say it "right" or won't "upset" anyone. Even at a Poetry and Arts Festival. The contributions to the power that diminishes women's credibility are many and varied. From the US Senate, to the dimly lit bar at night, credibility of the victim takes second place to the protective tidings of the powerful. I noticed that a person featured in that video many years ago had signed up for the poetry slam. I made the decision not to take part. I don't know if the person who appeared in the video 33 years ago did.
Love Really Counts: Greta Thunberg's Plea for Climate Change Action
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:17
Greta Thunberg, in her UN Climate Change speech called on threatened loss of the loved, in her view, the environment to bring action on climate change. If loss of the environment is not enough to change deniers, perhaps loss of the loved will be, just like the grief the loss of loved ones brings to the surface on holidays and anniversaries.
Love Really Counts: Greta Thunberg Calls on Love to End Climate Change
Greta Thunberg's address to the United Nations Climate Change Summit sounded like love suspicious of yet more betrayal and imminent disappointment. "We will never forgive you"she said, if these leaders fail to act. Greta accused them of leaving Love behind for the fairytale of perpetual economic growth.
The hearts' UPC scan code to distinguish false love from true is not perfect. But its accuracy depends on one premise and one premise alone. Love really counts. And now we bear witness to the winding and wending path climate change has created into the heart of Greta Thuberg. Where scientific documentation of imminent extinction of koala bears and right whales, the collapse of ecosystems, uncontainable widespread drought and wildfires have not impressed the economically driven, love will. If it really counts, that is.
George Bernard Shaw or some other member of the white Western male canon said genius is perpetual adolescence. Adolescence is the developmental proving ground in which love re-discovers and re-invents itself over and over. It is not naive or diminishing to believe love really counts, as Greta Thunberg does but adulthood is the disproving ground where awareness of love's limits are re-discovered: as life's carbon-spewing, coal-fired engine spews along.
I am not the first to use the phrase "Love really Counts" but I did vote for it at a Board meeting for a Maine center which offers free services to families who have lost a loved member. The Center for Grieving Children was founded by a dear colleague after his sister died. After all, bereavement is not pathology. It is the human molting of an interior layer of love, taking its own very long time to surface. Even under the best of circumstances, grief never quite goes away. So my colleague, Bill Hemmens founded a place where children and their parents could go to sit together in that long shedding. When time for the Board to find a brief summation of the Center's mission, "Love really counts" came up, I voted for it. It passed.
Scientific progress has not eliminated bereavement.Only in its absence after loss of a loved one, does the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (Fifth version) codify with a diagnosis. Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder, ICD-10 code F43.21. For a time, we worked on a project to put into print interviews he had done with children who attended the Center. A very young child whose sister had died, told him, in the safe confines of grief acknowledged, "Sometimes in the night when the wind blows, I can hear her crying." And thus a five year old's image resonates with many who have known grief that is both silent and loud enough to wake you from sleep.
As Greta Thunberg looks dead-on into the eye of the world's money-driven, we are struck by their absence of grief at the loss of the natural world and the complete lack of reckoning that the death that goes unmourned may be our own. Witnessed oblivion makes those who heard Greta Thunberg, listen, shuddering, because, we know she believes love really counts. Her indignation toward the world's powerful as they come to her generation for hope betrays her recognition of the underlying pathology that makes Denial of Climate Change political fodder. And "sometimes in the night when the wind blows" the deniers may be awakened by what they have not done.
Who Rules the World and Why It Matters, At Age 18
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:10
Censorship of anti-war statements is now and always has been a threat to our nation's stability and the world's safety.
Who Rules The World and Why It Matters, At Age 18.
Maine Public has begun celebrating Maine's 200th anniversary with little short pieces about Maine's history. Closing out the pieces with “Happy Birthday, Maine” is the voice of Charles Beck, the Vice President for Programming.
Charles Beck revoiced coincides with the very disturbing possibility of war with Iran again and renewed conflict with Iraq. There are many who will never have another birthday because of the Iraq War. Forty five hundred Americans have died, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and others.
It also reminds us that as the Iraq War began 14 years ago, Beck fired The humble Farmer- a 30 year jazz program producer for a thinly veiled criticism of Republican President George W. Bush beginning the Iraq War. The first sentence was “I don't care for war.” Beck played no small part in suppressing the anti-Iraq war message on Maine Public radio, along with the Maine Public Board of Trustees, half of whom had donated over $160,000 to Republican candidates.
Right around the time Beck censored the producer, I had the opportunity to swing on a hammock with my two young grandnephews, one five and the other a summer away from turning 4. They had gathered up from the sandpits two or three Power Rangers, two R2-D2s and several 3 inch tall good and bad guys and placed them in the hammock's webbing so we could all ride together.
After a moment or two, the five year old leaned back in the hammock's arch and gazed up at the canopy of oak leaves. He asked "Who rules the world?"
That summer day, with the Power Rangers, the R2-D2s, the good and bad guys up on the hammock with us, I sensed the gravity of his question. I asked, "Well, who do you think rules the world?"
"Queens and kings and presidents and the news," he said.
On a warm day, to listen to the honest musings of a five year old about the world is to be reminded that everyone's opinion matters, that we all have a responsibility to protect this opinion sharing, to protect what matters.
How did he know that already? Did he know how intensely kings, queens, presidents and the "news" go about trying to rule the world? More than all the Power Rangers, R2-D 2s, the good guys and the bad guys combined, let alone what happens when Darth Vader rises out of the sand pile to once more have a go of it?
That day comes to mind now that the real threat of young men and women being sacrificed at the feet of War supporters, the Jared Kushners carrying out Israel's vendetta, the Donald Trumps pursuing re-election. It's why as it did then censorship matters.
The five year old who I have always called “Who Rules the World One” just turned 18. Eligible to be drafted, if there is one. Eligible to sign himself up for the Army Reserves, which he frequently says he'd like to do. The financial incentives for an 18 year old whose knows money is hard to come by is very hard to resist. It makes the kid eligible for the tuition Pot of Gold at the other end of deployment- if there is one- after a deployment.
Back then, many, many Mainers were distressed that an anti-war view would be censored by a Republican-laden Maine Public Board of Trustees. I started a website called “freethehumblefarmer.com” which- everyday until Obama was elected, I updated, wrote new material, got out my sixth grade book reports to post when I was running out of material, sprung for the monthly web server fee. No, I didn't identify myself openly as the website writer, domain holder, refresher. Yes, in this country, at that time, identifying oneself as the critic of public broadcasting censorship of anti-war statements can make you a target too. I still was a little taken back when – ego is also powerful force- the independent producer of 'The humble Farmer," told the writer for another small publication “Discover Maine” that he- the independent producer had written, updated and created the website that I was fully responsible for. I corrected both of them.
To this day, censorship of anti-war statements on public radio remains fiercely relevant. Censorship means five year olds and three year olds grow up with no reminders that the price of war is death and devastation. No message that war has and always will put an end to birthdays for those “anonymous” nobodies somewhere. But then there's Maine Public, still appointing Charles Beck to offer “Happy Birthday” wishes to Maine or maybe he appointed himself with no audible protest to be heard.
Auld Lang Syne to 2019: Fitbits, Cerebellum and Walking My Impeachment Articles Back Home!
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 04:38
Auld Lang Syne for 2019: Fitbits, Cerebellum and Walking My Impeachment Articles Back Home!
Auld Lang Syne 2019
Should old fish stories be forgot
and finally laid to rest
their gills and fins and scales and such
like old golf hacks who've lost their touch.
The polish finally off the balls,
the sheen off the comb-over,
the implants brittle and now gray
'placed, of course, in ancient days.
And Mitch now that his shoulders
still recovering from his fall,
Kentucky's finest on the rocks.
We mean, the bourbon, not the Boss.
Or maybe he got hurt from Donald Trump
who climbs up there, trying to see
a way to pretend nothing's wrong.
After all, he's been impeached.
Donald testing out the strength
of Mitch who is quite short.
His shoulders not like giants have
or the ones Obama has.
We've noticed Mitch has not brushed up
on the time line that's about
the Constitution's Regs on mailings sent to Sen-
ators from the House.
When Mitch thinks no one's there
he nibbles on his fingernails
especially since Ms. Pelosi
said she does not use Express mail.
Back in the day when Ben Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson et al
were sending stuff from here to there
Pony Express was not.
Back in the day, when Ben Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson et all
declined to say how long to take
since there was no US mail.
In seventeen eighty eight,
the Founders findly hailed
Congress to get a move on things
and build post offices for mail.
Nancy Pelosi has a certain time in mind
to send Articles of Impeachment,
just one of the many things
she'll do when she has time.
She's got alot piled on her plate.
The Constitution drafters too,
took their sweet time, the first Post Office
built in Seventeen Ninety Two.
So do the math. That is four years.
To save the government some money
Ms. Pelosi could walk from her home
to give them to Mitch in Kentucky.
The GOP prefers to save
their nickels and their dimes
especially for CEOs,
Insurance guys and their kind.
Who more often find a fan
and their ally, Mitch McConnell
and his shoulders. Those are
the ones on which they try to stand.
So Ms. Pelosi's will depart,
her fitbit strapped to her arm
and her briefcase with two articles
toward San Francisco and its charm.
Now, you know why no one set
time limits back in Ninety Two
average Senate life expectancy
half as long as when Impeachment Articles were due.
And here in Maine, Bath Iron Works
still implanting sonar bows
while my neighbors cerebellum
on an MRI may look like they've been fried.
The cerebellum is the place
in the brain where balance lies.
Since their lawyers still can walk upright
they're content to close their eyes.
Should old fish stories be forgot
and finally laid to rest,
their gills and fins and scales and such?
Not while Pelosi still can walk.
Sunshine Week Is Coming! Public Record Access and the Freedom of Information
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:22
March brings us Sunshine Week, an annual honoring of the ethical and legal obligation for Transparency of Public Records and the Freedom of Information Act which sustains it. The impeachment trial immersed us in avoidance of transparancy, if not efforts to make invisible the public records of the US government. How are we doing here in Maine?
Sunshine Week: March 8 - March 15, 2020.
Honoring Freedom of Information
-Susan Cook
The Center for Public Integrity celebrates Sunshine Week to honor Citizens' Right to Know what Government Is Doing (Federal and State) through the Freedom of Information Act and Maine's Public Access Law. The cluster of Maine Democratic Party-affiliated appointees (Governor Janet Mills' appointed staffers, Jeremy Kennedy, former executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, now appointed Chief of Staff, Mills' Communication Director Scott Ogden, former Communication Director of the Maine Democratic Party and others, for example, Speaker Sara Gideon's Director of Communications, former Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party, Mary Erin Casale, and Jonathen Asen, Speaker Gideon's Chief of Staff) all are required by law to hold allegiance to. Of course, Sara Gideon's attorney of choice during a recent ethics committee complaint against her for campaign contribution problems was Ben Grant, former chair of the Maine Democratc Party when now Governor Janet Mills was the party's Vice-Chair.
I recently tried to exercise the state law called The Maine Public Access law (modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act) which allows the public access to documents generated in doing state business. Invisibility/ transparency distinctions seem, let's say, fuzzy, at least in Speaker Gideon's office. Maine laws exist to clarify the invisibility/transparency distinction and uphold Democracy.
In February 2018 , I sent a Freedom of Access (FOIA) request to the Maine Office of Information Technology. General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works had presented a bill asking for a 60 million dollar tax break. Will the money cover retirement and/or bonuses funding? Who among you believes that BIW would depend on the vagaries of the Maine Legislature for essential funding?
To look at bill development, I requested the email communication from prior Director of Communications Jody Quintera to the newly appointed Mary Erin Casale.
The first response from Chief of Staff, Jonathan Asen said I was confusing the federal documents under the Freedom of Information Act with Maine public documents. I sent him the documentation that Maine has a Public Access laws too, and said I limited my request to the period between October 31, 2017 and January 31, 2018 and exclusively to email communication.
In May 2018, Speaker Gideon's Chief of Staff replied that the Office of Information technology had pulled 12978 documents from the 93 day period which included the emails of only the Director of Communications. That's about 140 emails sent each day by Ms. Casale each or 17 each hour of an 8 hour day, every single day of those 93 days, including holidays. Mr. Asen said I would have to send him a $3000 downpayment to cover the cost for he and Mary Erin Casale to redact "personal" information and that each page would have to be printed in order to do that at a cost of $.25 per page.
Doesn't transparency become invisibility when names are deleted off email copies? Not in this case. The parchment would be scratched out, Harry Potter-style. In May, I did not say print them. I asked only for electronic copies. The law says the fee is $15 per hour after the first hour of staff time. Transparency, the law's intent, is affordable not exorbitant cost.
August 13, 2018, Mr. Asen received my letter limiting my request to Director of Communication emails between October 31, 2017 and January 31, 2018. He replied only after I queried the FOIA ombudsperson about my request.
November 5, 2018 (Election Day eve), Mr. Asen wrote that he wouldn't provide redacted electronic copies . To receive the documents , I would pay $.25 a page for printing. The cost including the $615 for the cost for Mary Erin Casale to go through redacting printed documents, Mr. Asen nearby, would be over $2000. He now signed his letters "Jonny".
FOIA and Maine Public Access laws mandate transparency. Real transparency among those newly hired by Governor Mills and Legislative leadership makes for better government. If Sunshine Week got by them/, maybe their employers will give them a workshop to make sure they don't confuse invisibility and transparency. Even Harry Potter gets that.
Holding Hands With Avengrid, What's That They Put In Your Palm? Lyrics for The Great American Wrongbook !
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:19
Now that Mainers have said "NO!" to CMP and Avengrid destroying the North Woods, a lyrical tribute from the Great American Wrongbook!
"Holding hands with Avengrid, What's That They Put In Your Palm?"
(To the tune from George Gershwin's 1937 tune "Nice Work If You Can Get It..."
In the Dept. Of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning) with lyrics for The Great American Wrongbook.
Holding hands with Avengrid, what's that they put in your palm?
Nice work if you can get it. If you can get it, why not try?"
The SEC reports fill in exactly how much their Board is paid.
Were they thinking we'd forget it? Two hundred thousand for work for seven days?
Just imagine CMP waiting at Avengrid's Board Room door, where they'll make sure they get it, the largest paycheck, hey, maybe more.
In one year Avengrid pays their executives more,
than legislators will be earning until two thousand twenty four.
Vote like those who pay you. Hey, do you think they will bail? Ha!
Say "Hasta Luego" to Avengrid, Iberdrola!
Quebec, Massachusetts, CMP want Maine's forests stripped
so they can drive gas guzzlers offload their greed and guilt.
While all of us lie nights awake, wondering if CMP can again
screw up consumer billing under David Flanagan?
Mainers like to pay up, make sure their employees get paid!
But not six figure paychecks for Board Directors for 7 days pay!
Who among you thinks the Board and Management will kiss off
Multimillion dollar paychecks no matter who picks up the cost?
So bringing CMP under the State of Maine's fiscal roof,
Won't they want those paychecks intact? Before they say "Yes", where's the proof!
Holding hands with Avengrid, what's that they put in your palm?
Nice work if you can get it! If you can get it, why not try?
Holding Hands With Avengrid, What's That They Put In Your Palm? Lyrics for The Great American Wrongbook !
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:19
Now that Mainers have said "NO!" to CMP and Avengrid destroying the North Woods, a lyrical tribute from the Great American Wrongbook!
"Holding hands with Avengrid, What's That They Put In Your Palm?"
(To the tune from George Gershwin's 1937 tune "Nice Work If You Can Get It..."
In the Dept. Of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning) with lyrics for The Great American Wrongbook.
Holding hands with Avengrid, what's that they put in your palm?
Nice work if you can get it. If you can get it, why not try?"
The SEC reports fill in exactly how much their Board is paid.
Were they thinking we'd forget it? Two hundred thousand for work for seven days?
Just imagine CMP waiting at Avengrid's Board Room door, where they'll make sure they get it, the largest paycheck, hey, maybe more.
In one year Avengrid pays their executives more,
than legislators will be earning until two thousand twenty four.
Vote like those who pay you. Hey, do you think they will bail? Ha!
Say "Hasta Luego" to Avengrid, Iberdrola!
Quebec, Massachusetts, CMP want Maine's forests stripped
so they can drive gas guzzlers offload their greed and guilt.
While all of us lie nights awake, wondering if CMP can again
screw up consumer billing under David Flanagan?
Mainers like to pay up, make sure their employees get paid!
But not six figure paychecks for Board Directors for 7 days pay!
Who among you thinks the Board and Management will kiss off
Multimillion dollar paychecks no matter who picks up the cost?
So bringing CMP under the State of Maine's fiscal roof,
Won't they want those paychecks intact? Before they say "Yes", where's the proof!
Holding hands with Avengrid, what's that they put in your palm?
Nice work if you can get it! If you can get it, why not try?
Holding Hands With Avengrid, What's That They Put In Your Palm? Lyrics for The Great American Wrongbook !
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:19
Now that Mainers have said "NO!" to CMP and Avengrid destroying the North Woods, a lyrical tribute from the Great American Wrongbook!
"Holding hands with Avengrid, What's That They Put In Your Palm?"
(To the tune from George Gershwin's 1937 tune "Nice Work If You Can Get It..."
In the Dept. Of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning) with lyrics for The Great American Wrongbook.
Holding hands with Avengrid, what's that they put in your palm?
Nice work if you can get it. If you can get it, why not try?"
The SEC reports fill in exactly how much their Board is paid.
Were they thinking we'd forget it? Two hundred thousand for work for seven days?
Just imagine CMP waiting at Avengrid's Board Room door, where they'll make sure they get it, the largest paycheck, hey, maybe more.
In one year Avengrid pays their executives more,
than legislators will be earning until two thousand twenty four.
Vote like those who pay you. Hey, do you think they will bail? Ha!
Say "Hasta Luego" to Avengrid, Iberdrola!
Quebec, Massachusetts, CMP want Maine's forests stripped
so they can drive gas guzzlers offload their greed and guilt.
While all of us lie nights awake, wondering if CMP can again
screw up consumer billing under David Flanagan?
Mainers like to pay up, make sure their employees get paid!
But not six figure paychecks for Board Directors for 7 days pay!
Who among you thinks the Board and Management will kiss off
Multimillion dollar paychecks no matter who picks up the cost?
So bringing CMP under the State of Maine's fiscal roof,
Won't they want those paychecks intact? Before they say "Yes", where's the proof!
Holding hands with Avengrid, what's that they put in your palm?
Nice work if you can get it! If you can get it, why not try?
Re-purposing Good:Sustaining Heart, Finding Truth During the Pandemic
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 07:32
The pandemic has brought much repurposing for good. As the current President comes to Maine for Public Relations at a factory churning out 1 million nasal test swabs a week, let us acknowledge how we have sustained heart and struggled to find the Truth.
Re-purposing Goodness-Sustaining Heart
Nancy Messonier is the sister of Trump-fired former Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who suggested his co-workers tape record Trump as documentation of Trump's mental status. The Trump administration was not above threatening defunding or some other vendetta against this Rosenstein relative Nancy Messonier, as early as January and February we know now.
"Trump," the Washington Post said on April 23, "ignored 70 days of warnings about the Coronavirus beginning in early January. He kept insisting as he did on March 10, that "it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away." Even the Wall Street Journal stepped up and reported that "Trump was 'furious' after Nancy Messonier warned finally on February 25 that the coronavirus was rapidly spreading and that 'the disruption to everyday life might be severe.' Trump called Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and threatened to fire Messonier. " Vice President Pence the next day was declared "in charge" of the pandemic. Azar too was telling Trump exactly what Trump wanted to hear.
When we consider the heart Mainers bring to fighting Covid19 spread, Trump's actions to – as ever- repurpose any situation to his own self-serving myopia- borders on sinister. His government has worked against Mainers who in their own good way, like the Guilford folk going to work despite fears, did their part.
I went to "Big Al's Super Values" recently the first time since March 21 when Maine began closing almost all of its doors and the electronic sign outside changed from "We Have Toilet Paper"
to "Closed. Saturday March 21 6 PM" to "Reopen?" Big Al has bent with the times, compliance with CDC recommendations required for entry.
The items they sell, "Odd Lot Outlet" all seem slightly more luminous now- not just because the clerks said they have been sanitizing everything. I know they have. Us all in our face masks and face shields, every cookware item, automobile repair assistance tool, toy and coloring book and the fire sale paper and office products from a nationwide retailer who I won't mention by name, all of it seemed brighter.
Yes, a little, just because it was there, even the canary yellow legal size paper. I noticed that because as Maine closed its doors, me running out of paper loomed large. I knew I would soon run out of the 6 for $1.00 small metal clip binders I place around hard copies of my PRX series submissions. For some reason, I thought I'd have enough until the store re-opened. I did run out. I knew I was set with my collapsible portable blanket storage box which serves as my sound and echo-proof recording studio, barring additional disaster.
And yes, far greater loss has merged into American lives, our country, too, a repository of stunned grief like that of refugees or other trauma survivors. Our roots are newly veined with heart breaking events that have become commonplace. The high school seniors with their drive-thru graduations. Many, many members of this disparate society finding a mask to wear, one a friend made, a relative passed on, or something re-purposed to protect.
There are the dancers in their apartment hallways now using the confines of their sequestered freedom to roam, as props in choreography. And the children with their crooked elbows resting their chins on hands. The sadness in their eyes while they gaze into computer screens not photo-shopped out.
We all lose track of time in upending moments, even the usual reliability of time has changed. Three months in the life of an 8 year old does not have the same duration as that of a ninety year old in an entire life span lived. And the delineation of time, in the stores we visit, in retail, of all things, keeps us from losing hope in an ending. This pandemic gives us a taste of just how debilitating the timelessness anti-aging drugs tantalize us with.
While Big Al's, his staff, we were all doing our part, good was being repurposed for bad by an administration set on deception. In many countries, lying to please the Fuhrer has been commonplace. There is a way in which leaders repurposing good for bad is timeless. In our masks, staying 6 feet away, we need to recognize it when it decides to visit us where we live.
Ch'i and the Lessons of "Rage": Donald Trump through the lens of Sun Tze and Hannah Arendt
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 09:14
The revelations of Woodward's "Rage" are understood best through Sun Tze, the ancient Chinese text also known as The Art of War and the historical rendering of "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt.
Ch'i and the Lessons of "Rage": Donald Trump Seen
through the Lens of Sun Tze and Hannah Arendt
Use order to await chaos
Use stillness to await clamor
This is ordering the heartmind
-Sun Tze-
-Susan Cook-
Bob Woodward's “Rage” shares his taped record of the actions and omissions by President Trump, Jared Kushner and his colluders which have contributed to 200,000 deaths in the US from COVID -19. Yes, the exponential indiscriminate human cost parallels the failure to act against Nazi era policies which led to the Holocaust.
On February 7, 2020, Donald Trump told Woodward very clearly that COVID-19 spreads through airborne transmission and is carried by asymptomatic infected people. President Xi Jinping informed Trump on January 23 of these known COVID 19 facts “We're sending them things,” he told Woodward, N95 masks, Personal Protective Equipment. Trump continued to minimize the virus, held large rallies in which the preventive- masks were not required. He continued to refuse to wear one himself.
His January 23 call with President Xi Jinping informed him of the complete shutdown of Wuhan, China and the internal block on travel within China. Trump's January 31 ban of flights from China to the US, still, allowed upwards of 70000 travelers to enter this country on flight transfers originating from China. To the public, he minimized. ”It'll go away.”
With 200000 dead now, in this country, numbers still rising, concealing airborne viral transmission becomes akin to a guard claiming he did not know prisoners were being led to gas chambers not showers or Eichmann claiming he was a "mere instrument" of the State.
On January 23, 2020, Beth Sanner, the chief briefer for the Director of National Intelligence, reported in the Presidential Daily Briefing, “Just like the flu. We don't think it's as deadly as SARS. We do not believe this is going to be a global pandemic” , “Rage” quotes her as saying (pg. 230).
Trump handed off to son-in-law Jared Kushner oversight of distribution of Personal Protective Equipment and Ventilators. Astronomical rates of infection among healthcare workers followed a created "shortage" of protective equipment. Many health care workers arrived at shifts at major COVID 19 treatment hospitals, only to be given a paper mask and a paper bag, told to write their name on it and reuse it over and over. While Kushner depleted the national stockpile of N95 masks, sending millions to China in January, thousands of healthcare workers have died, administering care to COVID 19 patients. (Washington Post, April 18, 2020 ". The State Department announced Feb. 7 that nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies had been shipped to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.) (Also see St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 2020 "Inside Jared Kushner and Peter Navarro's efforts to rescue the White House's coronavirus response)
Kushner's failure to prioritize human need over international political posturing, echos the Ukrainian Holodomor when Stalin created a "faked" food shortage. Millions died because in Ukraine's "fertile breadbasket", the government seized food distribution, claiming a “famine” had struck.
The mindset of Donald Trump and his appointees is clarified in 2 books. “The total state must not know any difference between law and ethics,” Hannah Arendt quotes Adolf Hitler in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (p. 394). The events decribed in “Rage” suggest the actions of Jared Kushner and Donald Trump have became the State, informed by ethics they perceived as equivalent to the law. "It's crazy but it works," Kushner who depleted the national N95 mask stockpile as "heroic"generosity toward China.
Hannah Arendt quotes Plato. “...The universal art of enchanting the mind by arguments had nothing to do with Truth but aimed at opinions which by their very nature are changing and which are valid “only at the time of the agreement and as long as the agreement lasts...[There is a ]very insecure position of Truth in the world, for from opinions comes persuasion and not from Truth” Plato wrote. "Rage" details the daily Trump activities focused on his "satisfaction with a passion for the victory of the argument at the expense of Truth”. Jared Kushner is no passive bystander to those events- his "Hero"quest preemininent.
The Truth in this Pandemic is the novel Coronavirus- COVID-19. Despite the publication on January 10,2020 by Chinese scientists of the COVID-19 genome, the Truth of COVID-19 eludes the best scientific minds.
Meanwhile, China's lock down of travel within China and failure to prevent departures from China became a global weaponizing of a life-threatening disease.
The 2500 year old Chinese military treatise, Sun Tze or The Art of War is a guide to conflict resolution without aggression, a "How To", in this case, a handbook to creation of the perfect foil for Donald Trump, for whom truth and fact are secondary to persuasion. His flaws are there for the taking.
Sun Tze says:
And so in the military-
Knowing the other and knowing oneself
In one hundred battles no danger
Not knowing the other and knowing oneself
One victory for oneself
Not knowing the other and not knowing oneself
In every battle defeat
Trump's response to the COVID 19 truth, the Chinese likely knew, would be aggression toward China because Trump's only strategy under conflict is verbal or physical aggression. The Chinese know well Pandemics tell the truth. COVID 19 would make it to the US borders.
Sun Tze explains ch'i, the life force.
And so the ch'i of the 3 armies can be seized
The heart mind of the commander can be seized
...therefore morning ch'i is sharp
Midday ch'i is lazy
Evening ch'i is spent
Thus one skilled at employing his military
avoids their sharp ch'i
The Chinese know Trump better than he knows himself. COVID 19 facts disclosed to "late night Tweeter/ spent Ch'i " Trump meant the truth would be ignored, aggression toward perceived enemies a priority, persuasion not fact the focus of his public pronouncements. The State, ethics and law treated as one. Someday, "Rage" forewarns, the inactions of Trump and Jared Kushner and those blindly supporting them may enter history's record as crimes against humanity.
In Dept. Of Poetic Justice "When the Saints See My Receipts" Turbo Tax Tribute!
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:58
Lyrics for the Great American Wrongbook! Depreciation. Commuting miles. My Old and Trusty Mileage Log. Tax Experts Waiting to Answer! And much much more.
“When The Saints Find My Receipts”
--Susan Cook-
A Musical Tribute to Turbo Tax To the tune from “When I Paint my Masterpiece”
by Bob Dylan
Oh the sheets that hold
all my deductions
MS Works and Excel too
Spread mighty wide,
The rows and columns,
stretch up high,
toward heaven too.
Refrain
I sleep calmly knowing my deductions
for my taxes clean as they can be.
If I've erred, I'll find my redemption
I have always kept receipts.
You’ve got all last
year’s deductions,
Rental properties, you knew,
The nonprofits
I give my time to
My hourly fee
Of course you knew.
Refrain
Sleeping calmly kmowing contributions
to non-profits where they ought to be.
Someday, maybe more things will be tax-free
Then I'll stop keeping receipts.
My mileage log
is old and trusty
Audometers
I use to tell
The truth to you if I get busted
Commuting miles?
The road to hell.
Refrain
Tax experts are always standing ready
Answer any questions I might have.
Do I have depreciations?
God Bless You! You know I have!
Just goes to show
Our home computers,
Desktops or a laptop too
Can bust the chops
of higher taxes
Knock down how much
Federal tax due.
Refrain
Of course you always Will review them.
Ask politely let's go through again.
You looking hard for one more tax break.
For hard earned cash I shouldn't spend.
The streets where gold
Is used for toilets
Mostly down
In Manhattan.
The IRS
tries to stay on it, hence
you devised Audit Defense.
Refrain
I sleep calmly knowing the deductions
for tax I've paid accurate and clean.
If I erred I'll find my redemption.
When the Saints see my receipts.
Oh the sheets that hold
all my deductions
MS Works and Excel too
Spread mighty wide,
The rows and columns,
stretching high,
toward heaven too.
Bannon, Santa Claus and all that in The Dept. of Poetic Justice
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 05:00
A lyrical tribute from one Special Viewer observing the Republican National Convention and a certain Pardon being given by You Know Who!
One thing in the jail cell
would not come my way.
Remembering We Have Already Said Farewell: "Epilogue: To a Fire Gone" from "Breathing: American Sonnets"
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:42
An American Sonnet to those to whom we have said "Farewell".
From "Breathing: American Sonnets"
by Susan Cook
(available from GulfofMainebooks@gmail.com)
Epilogue
To a Fire Gone
After "Reluctance: by Robert Frost
Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?
When was it less than treason? But what do
you mean, Mr. Frost? That’s for countries to
feel short-changed by. Loss happens to those who
see the passing on of days, years, one blue
time in life, one breaking, undoing a
treacherous rope they have been tied onto,
its deep burn. In the coldest time of day
or night, fires started that you thought grew
larger instead were, licked back into their
own intensity, remained confined on
one small patch of earth. You did not see where
the fire, some time later, died. You were gone.
Big difference, see, between countries resigned
to losing, small unfed fires, gone in time.
Do Good For Evil, My Grandmother Used to Say
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:28
There are many many examples of malice these days. And then there are the opportunities to do good.
-Susan Cook-
There's a quote from The Bible I've taken to lately that my father often said my grandmother used.
It's in Romans Chapter12. She quoted the simple, straightforward version. "Do good for evil."
That ethic seems reassuring these days. Day after day, there are examples of malice in the world, in our country, in our state. Does it really require trillions of dollars or a mound of extensive years-long clinical trials to prove the intent of vaccine developers to do good for evil? Does it really require another 15 years of US National Guard members in Afghanistan to prove that the vast majority of the Afghan people see malice not good in what the US has been offering them, calling upon their religion ?
I watched a journalist interview a hospital surgical technician who underwent chemotherapy who now refuses to be vaccinated. They rolled the vaccine out too quickly, she said, and didn't do enough studies first.
The journalist asked if she thought 600000 people dead from Covid 19 was adequate reason to expedite vaccine development. The Covid 19 genome was made available to Western scientists in in January 2020
At that point, the Surgical Technician broke into a broad smile. I was struck, at first, by the numbed quality of her response. As I've thought about it, this seems yet another time when good done for evil is perceived as malice.
The Life enhancing, yes, Prolife core of any ethic lies in doing good for evil, that too, now stained as Antilife. How can a fierce opposition to a vaccine to do good for evil be seen as Prolife?
These are traumatizing times- emotionally numbing, mind- fogging, time bending, anxiety inducing.
We don't have trillions of dollars or access to the high echelons of power. We do have simple acts of kindness, and as my grandmother said, in our small way, we can do good for evil.
The Texas Abortion Ban, Vigilante Justice and Frankie Valli's Love for Human Connection
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 08:17
The Supreme Court decision to ignore the inhumane aspects of the Texas Abortion law reminds us to look to the places where human connection is valued.
The Texas Abortion Ban, Vigilante Justice and Frankie Valli's Love for Human Connection
-Susan Cook-
"Jersey Boys", the emotionally sensuous, tender musical journey of the 1960's-era Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is now the one remaining 2021 production of Maine State Musical Theater shown to vaccination proving/ masked audiences only.
Opening night coincided with the US Supreme Court 5-4 decision to not review the Texas abortion law which appoints and allows citizens to seek vigilante justice against a medical provider or insurance company who is "suspected" to have supported or enabled a woman to terminate a pregnancy. A Vigilante Justice mindset toward women who support or act on Reproductive Choice is not new. Social media "shaming", "outing" if not outright harassment have become commonplace, fostered by Vigilante Justice -types- those who have seized on anti-abortion stands as a chance to fan the moral crevices of their narcissism through anonymous Facebook or other social media posts. That has yet to become a prosecutable crime so it is not surprising that women's privacy again is seen as fair game for assault if not rape.
The music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons was and is a mirror for the moral narcissism of their time. The libido-driven romance of – yes- men and women (adolescents and adults) reckoning with the quest for deep human connection- heterosexually- it seemed- carrying on the myth of "The One" while the fifties and sixties culture around them minimized any of the psychological or physical trauma of the time. The unwanted pregnancies, some terminated by inner city abortionists, the deaths that followed from physical consequences or suicide, the closeted men and women invisible in the cultural edification of heterosexuality, the dismissiveness toward date rape, incest, domestic violence, wife and child battering, the lack of any safe and sound child care options so latch-key children were left as caretakers, 9 years old left to caretake 5 year olds.
The Four Season's second big hit, "Big Girls Don't Cry" perfectly mirrors the time's trivilialzation of deep emotional pain:
"...told my girl we had to break up
...maybe I was cru-you-el...
Shame on you, your Mama said...
Shame on you you're crying in your bed...
Shame on you you told me lies...
Big Girls Do Cry...
Any number of teenage women whose disclosure of an unwanted pregnancy or incest or rape or sexual intercourse were met with (still often are) physical assault, face slapping, shunned exile or abandonment by mothers, fathers, relatives, the circles they might have reached toward. Collectively, the woman's emotional pain became invisible. The shame that Facebook and other social media now profit from in their anonymous posting options allow the Vigilante Justice-types a new means for public shaming through privacy rape. Many Frankie Valli-era teenagers and young women died from the shaming that fueled their drug or alcohol addiction or promiscuity or suicidality. Big girls don't cry.
Shame is precisely the emotion that the Senior Legislative Aide of Texas Right to Life, Rebecca Parma attempts to generate in an NPR interview when she offers the false equivalence that terminating the pregnancy of a zygote, embryo or fetus which is non-viable outside of the mother's uterus is equivalent to killing a child that even rape or incest do not justify.The 30 or 40-something Rebecca Parma now endorsing Privacy rape by forcing providers to disclose private medical information is as exploitive as the Frankie Valli-era exploitation of privacy then dismissing as "private" incest, date rape, domestic violence and in the case of unidentified paternity, fathers whose signatures and names were left off birth certificates of infants born to single mothers, later left and ignored in foster homes, foundling homes or orphanages. Ancestry.com has now filled in many of those blank signatures. Ms. Parma may not know of any suicided pregnant women or backroom abortion recipients or incested or physically assaulted children. The Texas Abortion law renders them as invisible to her as the privacy rape victims the law targets. A case in point is the non-acknowledgement to her Republican colleagues of the profound impact being born into poverty carries. As early as 1980, the Maine Children's Death Study documented the strongest correlate of child death before the age of 18 as the child's household's eligibility for Food Stamps.
Tragedy came Frankie Valli's way, too. His 22 year old daughter Francie died of a drug overdose, alcoholism ended his marriage , likely more human suffering than Jersey Boys reveals. But his lyricists and songwriters brought their creative longings to the moral underpinnings of true love: that it could be good, whole and true. In 1967 "You're Just Too Good to Be True" came just six years before Roe Vs. Wade began to unpack the cultural truth around him, in all its human suffering, walkup abortionists and suiciding 20- somethings. Roe vs. Wade began to prevent what had always belonged to women to bear: the ignored suffering of children after birth . Frankie Valli's devoted musical reverence for the deep nourishment of a healthy life-enhancing human connection did not and could not succeed in bringing those to fruition in the ways that Roe vs. Wade has- in far far more ways than Ms. Parma could ever know, despite the Texas license giving her and anyone else permission to invade privacy at whatever cost.
Auld Lang Syne Repurposing the Bottom Line To Hear For Whom The Bell Tolls!
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 03:45
This year, even with its dashed hopes and fear of "deja vu all over again" an abundance of good prevailed.
Auld Lang Syne !
Repurposing The Bottom Line To Hear For Whom The Bell Now Tolls!
-Susan Cook-
Should old stock options be forgot and not put up for trade?
Curevac, Novartis, Sputnik Five
Oh, right Sputnik's not on our exchange.
Now do not fret. Moderna and German-based Bio N Tech pulled through
and managed to earned good money
unlike what Pfizer, their US partner could not quite do.
For those of you who wonder how vaccine makers gears did shift
to their bank accounts
and bigger wallets to make sure their profits fit.
Into their pockets to not confuse the world (they are discrete)
their job of saving lives
with good old American Wall Street greed.
And don't forget the home test kits, administered at your leisure
so when you board a New York bus
your weapon will not be your sneeze.
Now for a minute, let's forget Nancy Messonier, the queen
of 2020 Test disasters
like the CDC had never seen.
And put on hold her minimizing so she'd stay employed
the virus which we needed testing for,
the bug we needed to avoid.
So fortunately Abbott, Quidel stepped up to the plate
and gave us Binax, Quick-Vue tests
to check on antigens we've made.
And since we're on the topic, yes, these home tests are great.
Please remember twenty-nine point six,
Abbott's stock increase this year, to date.
Now, no one in their right mind, well, hard times can bring forgetting
this country's favorite sound.
It goes like this: Ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching.
Even so, some companies disregard the bottom line
when a crisis comes
(think 3/10/20) they thought of us all the time.
In Maine, some companies said, “We 'll make products that will help”
Protective clothing and face masks, hand
sanitizer, and brand new tests.
Alcohol once used in Maine Spirit Bourbon quarts
was repurposed in a Growler size
to sanitize germs of all sorts.
And Idexx didn't drop the ball, recommissioned Canine tests
to accommodate Covid genomes
found in human nostrils through their tests.
And LL Bean did not bail out on doing what they could.
They made masks, protective shoes,
and gowns. Just their way of doing good.
These times have been exhausting. Yes, we've been raked through the coals.
For some Maine business, the bottom line
listens for whom the bell now tolls.
Shaming and Humiliating By Choice: Roe v. Wade and Denying Consequence
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 06:13
As 6 Supreme Court Justices end Roe v. Wade, shaming and humiliating Pro-Choice advocates becomes the anti-choice strategy.
Reproductive choice supporters know each of these circumstances has precipitated many female suicides.
In the Department of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning): 'To an Itsy Bitsy Spider'
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 02:50
In the Department of Poetic Justice (and Reckoning), The River Is Wide offers a poem that could be sung to the tune from a tune in the public domain, of course, The Itsy Bitsy Spider. With lyrics for the Great American Wrongbook, "To an Itsy Bitsy Spider" is a reflection.
In the Department of Poetic Justice (and reckoning) with lyrics for the Great American Wrongbook To an Itsy Bitsy Spider -Susan Cook- To an Itsy Bitsy Spider The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Once he was up there no one could get him out. So they chose him for governor. Now they’re sorry Itsy sits up there cause the itsy bitsy spider keeps having little fits. The itsy bitsy spider doesn’t like the income tax He had an itsy fitsy when his bill could not get passed So the itsy bitsy spider went looking for revenge And itsy said he’ll never sign another bill again. The itsy bitsy spider wanted to reduce The government budget. Itsy doesn’t have no use For asylum seekers coming here who’d like to be like the itsy-bitsy spider, enjoying liberty. The itsy bitsy spider forgot it’s not just him creating legislation. Itsy doesn’t seem to know he’s not the most important legislator who's around, so he vetoes everything and tells them no, no, no, no no. The itsy bitsy spider seems like he's inflated his own self- importance which is a little over-rated. It’s a problem that is treated with some sure de-levitators. That is heading to the State House to deal with Legislators. The itsy bitsy spider can have a real hard time. Just like Nikita Khrushchev sometimes you think he’ll pound his sneaker on the table when he gets very mad. Whoops! That’s the part we fantasized. Has itsy had past lives? The itsy bitsy spider did not come out of nowhere. His message is so simple. You wonder where he found the voters who believed him. Voters sometimes can be the sucker now they’re left to try and find a way to impeach… the itsy bitsy spider! …went up the water spout...
An American Sonnet for The Woman Who Is a Journalist
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:17
During National Poetry Month, an American Sonnet to bring us to know better the women journalists of Ukraine.
-Susan Cook-
A Sonnet for Negative Ads
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | :57
Sometimes, there is an ineffable quality to the offensiveness of negative campaign ads. We turn here to the sonnet to express deep concern about negative political ads. Thus, for this 2014 Election Campaign season, "A Sonnet for Negative Ads".
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- A Sonnet for Negative Ads
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- Susan J. Cook
Sonnet for President Obama's Tear
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:11
First published on the eve of Martin Luther King Day , we turn to our preferred form of political expression, the sonnet, to acknowledge the compassion President Obama has brought to the Presidency. Today, we offer a "Sonnet for President Obama's Tear''.
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- Sonnet for President Obama's Tear
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- Susan J. Cook
Sonnet for President Obama’s Tear His tear is for every person lost since illegal guns became more, much, so much more available. How do you convince the NRA these dead are theirs too? Touch the darkness of those who will not ever know who their guns took, experience wretched calculations of forever’s duration, time with no end, grief re-sensed. They calculate abstractly the time passed for those whose children died, who are not here. We only know one madman’s moment lasts lifetimes when we can’t bear Obama’s tear. Obama’s tear tells what must be retold. Compassion’s time is for whom the bell tolls.
Susan Cook
Why Women Don't Tell, Part 3: The Cultural Anomie that Keeps Violence Toward Women Hidden in Broad Daylight
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 08:36
The arrest of a Fifth Avenue architect as the alleged serial murderer of several women brings up the question of whether anyone over that long period of time knew of the man's aggressive and violent underworld life. Did they know and just not tell? Is this yet another example of Not Telling about Violence Toward Women, about the cultural anomie about disclosure- "a lack of moral standards" a "lawlessness" about disclosing about violence toward women?
Why Women Don't Tell Part 3
The Cultural Anomie that Keeps Violence Toward Women Hidden in Broad Daylight
In the 15 or so years since the first woman was murdered by the alleged perpetrator, the now- indicted and arrested Fifth Avenue Architect, didn't anyone suspect or even know this man had violent tendencies? Aggression toward women? Was there no speculation that his wife and children periodically left because of a recurrent aggression no longer suppressed? Some recurrent resurfacing of a pathology? Did no one suspect or even witness events that raised doubts about violence and aggression in the man's life?
The deaths of these women described only as “prostitutes” as if there was nothing else to say about them, renews fears that this culture's anomie about violence toward women has not gone away or is at least quietly accepted. Anomie, Google says, means “a lack of moral standards, or a sense of lawlessness, or sometimes the anxiety that comes from being in a lawless place.”
Then there is the Anomie about Telling What We Know about someone else's violence and aggression. The arrest of this particular alleged perpetrator hiding in plain sight raises renewed anxiety that cultural acceptance of failing to Tell What We Know persists-Why Women Don't Tell. Surely, someone must have known or suspected this alleged perpetrator's violent side. The Tarrasoff Law would dictate that even healthcare providers disclose to authorities threats of known violence or homicide or committed ones.
Sometimes, the most fiercely internalized moral lessons come from witnessing in ourselves or in others the horrible aftermath of moral atrocities. The next step is to speak out but we know too well that if you see something you very often do not say something. Telling, comes at a cost- a well known cost that many avoid. Our internalized evolutionary tool for bettering the human race by telling- our sensitivity to human pain and suffering betrays us. There is no telling. The secret is kept.
I am a psychotherapist who for many years has studied and continues to study and provide Trauma intervention. Knowing itself- witnessing- violence- the discovery of the dark truth can be all by itself traumatic. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V acknowledges hearing about and witnessing violence, atrocious events can lead to post traumatic stress disorder. The frontal lobes- where we plan, decide, our executive skills which lead us through our lives, go offline, as Bessel Van der Kolk writes. Psychotherapist Sebern Fisher notes the neurobiology of a response to trauma may bring fight or flight, tonic immobility, collapsed immobility, an orienting freeze, or loss of consciousness or fainting (the vasovagal response) The human abilities through which we function are hijacked or shutdown completely. All reasons why others don't tell what they have seen, heard or know.
There is also plenty of exposure to culturally sanctioned punishment for Telling by the discloser. A shameful example of that punishment if not assassination for telling is best exemplified by a Washington Post Pulitzer Prize toting- columnist who reviewed in 1997 “The Kiss”, Kathryn Harrison's telling about her father's incestuous acts with her. The words in the book synchronize almost with precision the torturous emotional sequalae of the act of telling about incest and the incest itself. So precise as to bring chills which they did on my first, second and third reading. The real topic of the Washington Post reviewer Jonathan Yardley is given away by the article's title: “Daddy's Girl Cashes In”. His review explicates how to take down the girl who tells the truth about being the object of violence- physical or sexual- or fearful that violation or victimization has taken or is about to take place. The visual metaphor of Yardley's stance is that of him standing with his heel on the back of Kathryn Harrison's neck- pushing her face, the mind with which she eloquently and painfully found the words to disclose and the lips that mouthed them in mud. “Slimy, repellent, meretricious, cynical”, he wrote. “His seduction of the not-unwilling her. Its essential elements are not graphic sex -- in that department Harrison is coy rather than revealing -- but a revolting mixture of self-pity and narcissism“. “The real act of dishonesty is this shameful book, which exploits the private life of the author's family -- if, by the way, anything herein actually happened as she claims it did...” As if telling about sexual violence is exploiting “family privacy”.
Jonathan Yardley could have served as Consultant for anyone hoping to suppress suspicions about the now DNA-verified suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders. He reminds any perpetrator how to irreducibly discredit Anyone who might Tell the Truth of what they have seen, heard or observed. Yardley even refers to the same geographic area, the “polygon” of the alleged murderer's route writing that salaciousness rather than the atrocity of Harrison's sexual abuse drew readers. “The chattering classes of Manhattan and the Hamptons have homed in on it with the unerring instinct of swine slopping in swill. It is the Flavor of the Month.”
If the response to the trauma of hearing the atrocious does not bring shut down, freeze, a loss of conscious willingness to know what we know, our ethical core can be part of the making sense. There's a chance here that the Cultural anomie of Telling about Violence toward women will be uncovered- if it's held up to the light here- broad daylight where it has been hiding all along.
A Poem to the President of the NRA
From Susan J. Cook | Part of the The River Is Wide series | 01:09
This poem to the President of the NRA has no statistics, no logic, no legal reasoning or principle. Only profound grief and sadness..
- Playing
- A Poem to the President of the NRA
- From
- Susan J. Cook