Coast Chronicles: Peninsula Potpourri, Sweet and Sour
Published 5:00 pm Monday, August 17, 2009
Health care: debate or debacle?
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I am outraged by how low some politicians are stooping to blow-up the reform our currently broken health care system so desperately needs.
Leonard Pitts in the Seattle Times cites the spurious claim of Sarah Palin posted on her facebook site that says “Democrats are proposing a ‘downright evil’ health care system in which the fate of the elderly and disabled would be determined by ‘death panels.'”
Palin says she is referring to Section 1233 of the current health care bill which basically allows funds for a consultation with your doctor on a living will or advanced care directive – both documents are useful, some would say critical, to ensure that the elderly get the end-of-life treatment that they have mandated for themselves when in good mental health.
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This provision was actually put into the bill by Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who says that “it’s nuts to claim that it has anything to do with euthanasia.”
It appears that in the face of all the hysteria, this worthy provision has now been dropped from the bill.
Note too please that there is plenty of evidence at the Huffington Post Web site that the screaming disruptors at recent town hall meetings have been paid to be uncivil. This is not the way an educated democratic citizenry discusses and formulates policies.
Monday’s Oregonian states, “Republicans argue that a public plan would invariably push private insurers out of business, and prompt employers to drop private coverage, pushing people who are already insured onto a plan run by the government.”
“Obama counters that a public option would keep insurers honest by forcing them to compete in the marketplace.”
Yes, and yes again. A public plan could well push private insurers out of business – in America we used to call that competition.
The big private health insurance companies are pumping millions of dollars to lobbyists to railroad the public plan. Why? Because they are afraid of competing with a public plan. Because instead of spending only 80 cents of my dollar on health care and putting the rest in their pockets, they might have to compete with a public plan (like Medicare) that spends 97 cents of my dollar on my healthcare.
Let’s just admit that there are some public services – roads, justice system, policing, education (and health care?) – which are best managed by government.
Or where government is not doing a good job – in some school districts for instance, or maybe on the alternatives to the Pennsylvania Turnpike – private enterprise has a chance to improve on the product.
But the reverse is also true: where private enterprise fails at providing basic services, the government must step in.
That’s how the system works.
If the private insurance industry is so intent on staying in business, why do we have 50 million uninsured citizens?
Every citizen in the United State of America needs and deserves health care insurance. Period.
Paul Krugman says, “What’s missing is a sense of passion and outrage – passion for the goal of ensuring that every American gets the health care he or she needs, outrage at the lies and fear-mongering that are being used to block that goal.”
Well, here’s a small contribution to the passion and the outrage.
Peninsula potters show”It was a rousing success. We had hundreds of people, wall to wall people, and we did a really good business,” says Jan Richardson about the Peninsula Clay Artists Show this past weekend at Donna Rew’s renovated Artisan Studio in Ilwaco, where over 500 pottery pieces were on display.
“People had a great time and a lot of things got sold. We had a great raku firing workshop and a crazy horse hair firing,” Jan shares.
“Horse hair firing? Oh, you take a pot without any glaze and you heat it up and you very carefully put horse hair – tail hair actually, a nice straight piece of tail hair – on the pot and the heat makes it crinkle up and it leaves wiggly lines all over the pot and you wash it off at the end when the pot cools enough to touch and you spray it with a sealant,” she explains.
“We had big crowds, especially all day Saturday, and we’re going to do it again next August.”
I managed to catch a preview of the Clay Artists Show this past weekend on my way out of town and was extremely impressed with Jan Richardson’s new work.
Richardson is known for her meticulously constructed houses and cottages of clay – little window sills, individual tiles on the roofs, carved doorways and entrances.
One of her masterpieces for this show was a replica of the Oysterville Church. (Word on the street is that even Sydney Stevens liked it.)
Jan’s new work has taken a totally different and vibrant turn. These pieces are vessels that stand in the shape of what I’ll call “cubist lighthouses” (Jan says, “just call them sculptural forms”), slumped clay slabs with broad foundations tapering to intriguingly different topknots, with earth tone glazes and textured impressions.
My favorite piece was one with whales carved into the glaze leaving a stark contrast between the dark background and the lighter exposed clay – imagine drawing or carving on clay through a dark glaze. The result is similar in appearance to a wood-cut. These vessels are exquisite and whimsical compositions.
I also fell madly in love with Sue Raymond’s book series. Being a poet and writer, of course, I have too many books (I’m talking serious addiction here), so when I saw the little red book folded open and laying splayed out titled, “Falling … Can’t Get Up,” I knew I had to have it.
The concept of our local artists forming more-or-less a potters guild to share space, expertise, technique, group shows like this one and maybe collective purchases is timely.
I applaud our artists for coming together for their benefit and the enjoyment of the community.
Tilth membership meetingTilth is having a potluck membership meeting this Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. at Linda Hinde’s home (call 665-2308 for directions). We’ll be discussing the Harvest Dinner that Tilth will be sponsoring in conjunction with the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum’s “Key Ingredients” show this fall.
“Key Ingredients” is a traveling show put together by the Smithsonian that features a walk through American history using food. The exhibit at the Heritage Museum will also include a focus on local food history.
VespersIn the category of shameless self-promotion, I’d like to let folks know that my sister Starla Gable will be joining me in performing as part of the summer vespers series at the Oysterville Church this Sunday, Aug. 23.
The service starts at 3 p.m. with Pastor DeWayne LaPointe, Peninsula Assembly of God, Ocean Park, presiding.
We’ll be singing acoustic folk tunes, some songs older than we are, and a few originals – pulling guitars, ukuleles, spoons and not-sure-what-all out of our bags.
We grew up in a barbershop family and learned to play the guitar during the Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary era, so we have a PP&M-style overlayed with tight harmony that has been called “genetic harmony.”
We started singing on mother’s knee at the piano – sounds corny but it’s true – when I was two and a half and my sis was about a year old. (We have a recording to prove it.) I am fearlessly forging through “Jesus Loves Me,” in a reasonable facsimile of the melody, and my sister is fascinated with the comb for mom’s hair. (“Mommy, mommy, comb…” etc.)
We’ve progressed a bit since then – we’ve recorded one CD and we’re working on another one this year.
Hope you can join us.