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Mainstream Media

When I was a kid there were three commercial televisions networks, PBS, and an independent station or two. News came from a 30-minute local broadcast at 6:00pm and was followed immediately by a 30-minute network newscast. The daily paper was on our driveway every morning and was supplemented by “The Today Show”. Throughout the day AM radio would air news on the hour. That is the media with which I grew up, and not until Ted Turner’s Cable News Network did the idea of 24-hour news flowing into our living room become a possibility. This was quickly followed by the abbreviated version with “Headline News”. Ultimately, other entrepreneurs followed with “The Weather Channel”, “C-Span”, and areas of specific interest like financial news.

All of the above media suffer from their own problems, usually attributed to their delivery method. The 24-hour channels find themselves without enough information to fill the day so they turn to commentary. The daily newspaper is typically 24-48 hours behind events due to publishing and delivery methods. Lastly, the major networks conceive their stories in the morning and build a broadcast around a concept that is not reactive to change or daytime events.

Personally, I feel “news” means the presentation of information or events. Unfortunately, what many view as news is colored commentary or persuasive opinion. For example, “A man robbed a bank” would be objective news reporting. On the other hand, “A burly man from the low-income neighborhood robbed a bank” could paint an entirely different picture in your mind. The simple use of adjectives and commentary has flowed into the news and tainted the objectivity of reporting and the average person is historically ignorant to this manipulation by accepting formerly credible news outlets at face value.

I would assert all media is “mainstream.” With television, newspaper, radio, and the internet we can access any news source at anytime. Every day I read multiple international and domestic newspapers, wire services, watch network news broadcasts, and scour several newsfeeds. I see trends in news and who is, or is not, reporting events. At the same time I also filter the adjectives and objectively form my own opinions. The insinuation of a domestic conspiracy in reporting is obvious when reviewing live, objective newsfeeds from around the world. I am intrigued by the three major networks presenting the same stories, in the same order day after day. I also wonder how major papers like the “New York Times” and “Washington Post” can have nearly identical front pages and editorial comments.

I believe the “Legacy” media is failing to provide objective reporting to its audience. Worse, it is not necessarily what, or how, it is reported, but the failure to report. For example, the “New York Times” made a conscious decision to withhold a story during the presidential election of 2008 that most likely would have changed the outcome of candidate choices. Most recently, the legacy broadcasting networks, the “New York Times”, and the “Washington Post” failed to provide timely reporting of events leading up to the resignation of a government official. Once upon a time I believe these legacy information outlets prided themselves on getting “the scoop” but it appears that is no longer the case.

The term “Mainstream Media” implies an accusation or conspiracy to promote an agenda. Some object to this, but the pattern has emerged over decades. The new method of story absence, however, is a covert method to undermine the “mainstream” argument. Objectivity would allow me to form opinions and omission of news is more manipulative than colored commentary.

Death and Taxes

Each time I find myself attending a funeral I start to reflect. Death is not a bad thing as our bodies seem to wear out for one reason or another. But, as a culture and society we seem to deny our ultimate end. One statement that intrigues me is the saying, “Only two things are known; death and taxes.” That basic assumption though, bothers me and has encouraged me to further think how I cannot do anything about death.

I know with certainty I will die and everyone around me will die. Of course, the cause of death cannot be predicted but the risks associated with it can be minimized and each of us tries to live with a goal of prolonging life. We literally fight death with all of our might but we cannot stop its inevitability. Taxes, however, are not an absolute. At some point in our history it appears that we evolved to accept taxes part of our being, just like death. Instead of continually working toward ending this other ‘absolute’ in our lives our society seems willing to perpetuate this self-destructive mechanism upon ourselves.

Taking a step back, maybe a better word for tax would be “privilege payment”. We pay for the privilege of living in a civilized society, and this argument could be made throughout human history. Most of us are willing to contribute a nominal amount of our individual efforts to support the purported common good of the society in which we live. I accept there is a cost to civilization as I expect infrastructure for safe water, sewage disposal, defense, and transportation. In some instances, I do not object to contributing to a common indigent fund for those who are suffering. Arguably, there may be additional ‘common goods’ we may decide to support. For instance, we may agree on the need for a method to enforce rules and laws and thus pay the personnel needed to do those jobs. We may want workplace safety, trees planted along side boulevards, stripes down the middle of roads, and jails to house those that do not follow our rules. Some members of our society may decide to put money toward paying others not to plant crops, not to go to work, or to take care of doctor’s bills, to give some people meals, housing, and even access to the internet; all in the name of the common good of the society.

Regardless of the specifics of the individual line items that we agree to tax ourselves for, we should constantly examine their necessity. I choose to minimize the risks I take in my daily life, exercise, eat well and therefore am hopefully prolonging my life and cheating death. I argue that we no longer do the same regarding taxes and instead readily acquiesce to taxing our individual efforts and allowing the state to control and disburse them. I assert we have voluntarily enslaved ourselves to an entity that we may not be able to escape.

Death is inevitable; the process of self-destruction through taxation is not. Taxes are acceptable when presented with a true cost and benefit analysis, a clear exit strategy from the tax, and a method to provide for checks and balances against a tax. If you were taking an inventory of your personal health in an effort to ensure you were prolonging your life you would question every risk, every activity, and eliminate those that are harming you. This same analysis must be performed frequently and regularly regarding taxes. We must question every dollar that is spent and be willing to take tough measures to eliminate waste, just as you would do personally.

The Wrong Debate

Health Insurance is not a right. It is not an entitlement, not a guarantee. I have searched the Constitution for insight into the current debate and noted that the founding fathers did not identify health insurance as an inalienable right. Stop and note, I did not say that health care is not a right. What is taking place in America today is the wrong debate and it is packaged under words like “health care reform”. But, no one is debating whether health care in America is adequate; in fact it is easily described as the best in the world with people seeking medical treatment in this country from around the world. The issue is cost, and who should pay for health care.

Unfortunately, when the wrong debate takes place too many people get trapped by the play on emotions. I always suggest taking a step back and asking “why”?

Why do we have health insurance? The health insurance debate began 100 years ago as medical technology improved and Progressives made calls for compulsory insurance. In 1920, these attempts failed as they were associated with the socialist policies of the Germans in WWI. By WWII though, more expensive hospital stays, successes by the “Blues”, and tax incentives made employee benefit programs such as insurance appealing. Ordinary citizens put a priority on access to health care, regardless of cost. Prior to that time, we paid our doctor when we needed treatment. Of course, sometimes a person did not have the resources to pay their doctor, but that did not mean they would not receive treatment. Unlike today, it was treatment first and pay later.

Why does health care in America cost so much? First, medical malpractice has increased the cost of basic overhead requiring doctors and hospitals to charge fees to offset this cost. Second, the government will only pay certain amounts on Medicare claims thus requiring all other payers to subsidize the costs of benefits to these recipients.

Why do doctors get paid so much? One of my concerns is this new debate in America over wages, basically class envy. In short, if being a brain surgeon were easy then we all would be doing it. I watched the anesthesiologist insert an epidural in my wife’s spine prior to the delivery of our son. I am a smart guy, an engineer that handled hazardous chemicals with explosive potential, but you could not pay me enough money to do what he did. These educated, skillful individuals deserve every amount of the wages they earn as they hold our lives in their hands. I want absolutely the best person doing that job. I do not see a doctor’s job as a “staff” position equivalent to a mid-level manager nor do I feel my plumber should earn more. Heck, Congressmen earn $176,000/year and doctors are more educated, more trained, and care about me.

I have not offered a solution, because now we can debate the issue. Let’s agree that everyone is entitled to health care, but not to health insurance. Let’s agree that we have a great medical system with the best doctors in the world. And, let’s agree that health insurance is a nice convenience to offset catastrophe, but as individuals we are accountable for the health services we use and need to pay our bills. A large, government run health care insurance program is not the solution to the problems at hand.

Copyright © 2009 John R. Nelson. All Rights Reserved.

Another Casualty Of The Recession: Child Support

Dad’s like me need support. PLEASE listen.

This article is from April, but makes the point well. Let’s remember:
– 3 of 4 people terminated in this recession are men. Women are set to become the majority in the workforce (NBC)
– Jobs available are now at 1999 levels, but yet the population has grown by 33.7 million since then.
– Official unemployment is currently 9.7%. (actually 16.2%)

Duck! It’s a Flying Car!

I was born in 1967, at the height of the hippie counter culture during the summer of love. The war in Vietnam was escalating, but was not quite an evening presence in our living rooms. As a nation we were focused on getting to the moon and beating back the Soviets. A computer filled a room, but had less computing power than today’s digital watches. A color TV was an expensive marvel and “Made in Japan” was synonymous with “cheap”.

As a child in the early 1970’s, Evil Knevil was idolized, I saw television shows such as Star Trek and repeats of “Lost in Space”. I remember seeing the Bell Telephone book with pictures of people talking in the future on videophones and could not wait to go to Disney World to fill my head with more images of “Tomorrow land”. The year 2000 was so far away, but yet full of promises that we would be driving flying cars, watching TV on walls, and living on the moon. Doors would open and close with sounds as we approached them, lights would activate automatically, and we would talk to computers; living like George Jetston.

Some parts of that vision have come true as I do have flat panel televisions that hang like pictures, carry a communicator (cell-phone) in my pocket, not unlike “James T. Kirk”, and motion detectors open store doors and turn lights on and off. But the other technologic visions have escaped us. I traded my SUV two years ago, a vehicle which weighed as much as my Dad’s 1969 Ford Galaxy, and averaged the same gas mileage. In 35years we have accomplished little more in our ability to achieve a presence on the moon than where we were in 1973; having had no man step foot on our orbiting satellite since the last, Gene Cernan, left his mark.

On one hand, we have done so many things well: advances in medicine such as artificial hearts, efficiencies in agricultural, computers for the masses, and less costly access to education and travel. At the same time, our near God-like abilities have blinded us to changes taking place around us and created a near mass delusional acceptance of our abilities. The average American is more concerned with Britney Spears than the presidential election, last nights sports scores more than yesterday’s stock market, and planning a summer vacation than events in hostile world regions.

Natural disasters have struck several times in this country in the last decade demonstrating the average citizen cannot care for himself. Hurricane Katrina and its images of personal lollygagging without the wherewithal to save one’s self is an excellent example. I would asset the average person believes food comes from a can and has no understanding of how to care for himself. Other disasters such as flood, mass power failures, and California earthquakes have further driven home this problem that we are no longer the conquerors of technology and environment but have been conquered by our own success.

I want my flying car. I want the promises that were made to me as a kid by the generation that I am now paying social security to out of my paycheck. I want those advances to move forward and allow us to live on the moon and leave this planet. Instead, checks are being written that will further indebt out nation to others and ultimately force is back to a pre-industrialized agrarian society. Via increased energy costs, government bailouts, and trade deficits we are transferring our wealth to other nations and ultimately onto the backs of our children. In my opinion, it is more likely that we will be riding horses than driving flying cars in the future.

Cable, Bikes, and Podcasts

I cancelled cable Monday. I was amazed at how liberated I felt. Interestingly, the Brighthouse lady hassled me offering discounts if it was too expensive, asking if I had children and wasn’t I concerned about them, and what were we going to do with our time? We went to the library yesterday and checked out books. I am personally reading Ayn Rand “Atlas Shrugged” right now and that will keep me busy for a while. I plan to teach the kids to play chess and card games like cribbage.

For clarity, because I cancelled cable we did not give up television. Instead, we have Blockbuster.com and at thelibrary we found we can get DVD’s for free. Among those are entire television series like “Lost” which we never saw. So, we can watch 42 minutes of a single episode on our time with no commercials. If we ultimately tire of that I discovered that most of the major networks have archives so we can retrieve shows.

Most important – we are FREE!! Free from the time waster coming into our home. And, we save $100/month! Think about it, think about canceling cable.

Second, I started riding again. It feels good. I am training for the Spacecoast Freewheelers Century at the end of October

Third, podcasts. I have an iPod Touch (http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/). I have subscribed to several podcasts such as: NBC Nightly News, CNBC Mad Money, Science Channel, and one I really wanted to share with you. This is the “KunstlerCast”. The details are: James Howard Kunstler, author of “The Geography of Nowhere” and “The Long Emergency,” takes on suburban sprawl, disposable architecture and the end of the cheap oil era each week with program host Duncan Crary.

You can visit his web site at http://www.kunstlercast.com/ and subscribe to the podcast. I subscribed – they are 15 minutes. The last two episodes from last week are Part 1 and Part 2. They are 30 minutes and 20 minutes each. He takes a tour of Saratoga, NY and describes main street America with a retreat from suburbia. Also, his personal blog is availble here http://www.kunstler.com/.

Last but not least, remember you are not tied to using your iPod. You can listen on your laptop with iTunes (which I do too). So, I balance out using my iPod and my laptop to listen to content.

JOHN

Death and Taxes.

Tonight I had to go to a funeral of a friend. As I drove on this cloudy, gray, evening, I reflected on how I knew him when we last visited, his last few months, and ultimately on death. Death is not a bad thing, I thought to myself, as our bodies seem to wear out for one reason or another. Thus, we so readily state the obvious and often recite, “Only two things are known; death and taxes.”

That basic assumption though, bothers me and caused me to further think how I cannot do anything about death. I know with certainty I will die, you will die, and everyone around me will die. Of course, the cause of death cannot be predicted but the risks associated with it can be minimized. Each of us tries to live with a goal of prolonging life as it is paramount to the survival of our species, and any other, to do so. With that in mind though, we must die as we scientifically understand death. We cannot change that one basic fact about our life.

However, taxes on the other hand are not an absolute. At some point in our ancestral history it appears that we evolved to accept taxes part of our being, just like death. Instead of continually working toward ending this other ‘absolute’ in our lives our society seems to willingly perpetuate this self-destructive mechanism upon ourselves. Taking a step back, maybe a better word for tax would be “privilege payment”. I am thinking that we pay for the privilege of living in a civilized society, and this argument could be made throughout human history. Most of us are willing to contribute a nominal amount of our individual efforts to support the purported common good of the society in which we live.

I accept there is a cost to the civilization in which I desire to live. I expect to have infrastructure to bring me water, carry away my waste, defend my country, and provide for me to move from place to place. In some instances, I do not object to contributing to a common indigent fund for those that cannot work or are suffering physically.

Arguably, there may be additional ‘common goods’ we may decide to support. For instance, we may agree, or disagree, on the need for a method to enforce rules and laws and thus pay the personnel needed to do those jobs. We may want workplace safety, trees planted along side boulevards, stripes down the middle of roads, and jails to house those that do not follow our rules. Some members of our society may decide to put money toward paying others not to plant crops, not to go to work, or to take care of doctor’s bills, to give some people meals, housing, and even access to the internet; all in the name of the common good of the society.

Regardless of the specifics of the individual line items that we agree to allow our taxes to pay, we should be asking if it is necessary. I choose to minimize the risks I take in my daily life and therefore am hopefully prolonging my life and cheating death. I argue that we no longer do the same regarding taxes and instead readily acquiesce to turning more benefits of our individual efforts to a common entity to control and disburse. When this happens, we no longer have our individuality and we have voluntarily enslaved ourselves to an entity that we may not be able to escape. In ancient times entire societies fled enslavement and they knew they had to for a better life.

Death is inevitable; the process of self-destruction through taxation is not. Taxes are acceptable when presented with a true cost and benefit analysis, a clear exit strategy from the tax, and a method to provide for checks and balances against a tax. If you were taking an inventory of your personal health in an effort to ensure you were prolonging your life you would question every risk, every activity, and eliminate those that are harming you. This same analysis must be performed frequently and regularly regarding taxes. We must question every dollar that is spent and be willing to take tough measures to eliminate waste, just as you would do personally.

I am going to try to take time to start posting here again. Great weekend with the kids. My goal has to been focus on getting to the beach, slowing down to enjoy things in life again. We have made efforts to get to the beach, walk the dog, and slow down. Even reading takes time, but makes life better.

Less is more – less stress, less worry, less things, less everything.

My dog Shadow died Wednesday night. He was hit and killed by a car in front of my house. It was a hard week, a friend that never spoke to me, but yet I knew he was always there for me was suddenly taken away. Not only did I have to handle his death, but I had to communicate it to my kids. As our family mourned his loss, I started wondering about death. Is it better if an old person is tragically killed than a young person?

One of my rationalizations to help cope was that he was 15, near the end of his life. He had a great, healthy, full life for a dog. Thus, was it OK that this happened?

When an old person passes away we reflect on all of the things they did – kids, military, service to others, adventures, vacations, work, hobbies, etc. But, when a child passes, we tend to reflect on all of the things they did NOT get to do – experiencing life. Does that mean it makes it OK for something ‘bad’ to happen to someone just because they are older? Does it make it better for me, personally, that Shadow was killed this week because I know that some time in the next year he would have passed on anyway?

I was mad at myself for not petting him before I let him out Wednesday night. I did not take him to work on Wednesday either, like I do everyday. I remember looking at him Wednesday night and asking him if he needed to go out. A few minutes later I checked the door and he was not there, he always comes back, he is always there. I instantly knew something was wrong.

But, as I have tried to cope this week I thought about the days before – on Saturday he sat in the park with my wife and me as we sold pumpkins for church. Kids came to pet him and commented on how cute he was. Sunday he went to Cocoa Beach with us and was in the park while my wife volunteered at a bike race/ride – riders and kids saw him and petted him for hours. She had commented to me how many people could not believe he was nearly 15 years old and how cute that he was. I was able to hold him in the car and pet him. I distinctly remember looking into his eyes and saying to him what a great friend he was. Monday he went to work with me and rode in my car. I stayed late and it was just the two of us. For some reason, I drove home with my hand on him – not petting, but resting on him. Tuesday, 10.31.06, was his 15th birthday. I forgot, but the kids remembered. They bought him treats and played with him. That night I bought him a new doggie bed to lay in. LeeAnn and I never got to give it to him as we were late getting home and just came into the house. Wednesday night we arrived home late to torn books by our new dog rabbit and I had to clean up the family room. I let Shadow and Rabbit out and Shadow never came back.

Everytime I walk outside I can see the blood stains on the road. I see your grave in the yard, I am sorry.

Shadow, you were there for me everyday for the last 14 years. In the last two we have been at work everyday and you helped me get through some rough times. I tried to protect you and take care of you, I am sorry I let you down my friend. I miss you so much.

Shadow
10/31/1991-11/01/2006

Holy Land Day 8

This was the day I was seeking the entire week. Throughout the week it was hard – churches built to remember events seemed to desecrate them in my mind. Finally, peace.

I wrote the following to LeeAnn Saturday morning.
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“My angel, I found what I was looking for. We went to the Garden Tomb, a place of remembrance. The English purchsed the property in the 1800s and give a theory why they believe it could be the site of the crucifixion and tomb.I felt moved. We had communion! I found myself with tears. I found Peace this morning. I am sad I am leaving, because there is so much here. But, I miss my family, all of you. I want to return, I want to study, but most of all I want to share this trip and future trips with you.I feel peace.J”
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That summed it up the best. We left the hotel and went to the Garden Tomb about 9am. The Garden Tomb is an area that the english bought and set aside to remember Christ’s crucifixion. About 1000 people a day visit the site and it is guarded outside by Israeli soldiers (just two). It is what you would imagine, a beautiful garden. There is a rock wall, “skull mountain” that remembers the men crucified there by the romans. the face of the rock itself resembles a skull and the skulls from those crucified were thrown into a pit.

The English that own this site believe this is a possible place, instead of Mt. Calvary, because of the rock, the roads intersecting there and Roman tradition to crucify by the road, and that there is a tomb located nearby. Regardless, they state tha this is a hypothesis, like anything else in Jerusalem and should be remembered as such. The place is very peaceful. We spent about an hour there and it was completed with communion. If nothing else, our communion was a time to reflect on our trip and what had happened this week.

After the Garden Tomb, we traveled to West Jerusalem. It was beautiful. The city changed from the rundown side we had seen in East Jerusalem, primarily occupied by the Palestinians, to the Jewish dominated part of town. We saw the church that remembers the site where John the Baptist was born, and we saw the wilderness where he preached.

Next, we climbed a hill up to a church to remember the site of the Visitation – where Mary told Elizabeth that she would be preagnant with the Son of God.

That was it — a short day followed by an afternoon of killing time waiting to leave. We flew out of Tel-Aviv at 12:20a, flew 12 hours, and arrived New York at 5:35a. If you do the math, I had almost 18 hours of darkeness as the aircraft stayed just ahead of the sun.

Would I go again – YES! I want to share the Holy Land with LeeAnn and the kids. I think it would be a great gift to all of them as studying the bible will never be the same. I understand what it means to “go up to Jerusalem”, what the wilderness looked like, and where the Golan Heights are. I can remember the geography and picture that in my mind when reading and studying the bible. The churches are beautiful, and I can accept them for their uniqueness and a way to remember miracles or very important events that took place in the Bible. I understand that is there purpose and each religions’ way of remembering those events.

My own journey was to learn. I am very naive when it comes to studying the bible, or even understanding the history of man in any of these locations. I learned history, saw archaeology, and hopefully understand more about today’s politics in the area.

I would tell you to go go go on such a trip. I went with an organized tour group and was also able to enjoy it from the cohesiveness of our group, all being from the same church. There is much to learn.

Please feel free to email me with questions. I am going to post all of this on my blog