Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Looking for Vietnam War chapter in Dick Cheney's memoir? Don't bother...
For a detailed (and timely) wrap-up of the situational patriotism shown by Wyoming favorite former Republican Veep, Dick Cheney, go to http://www.thenation.com/blog/163010/chapter-about-vietnam-went-missing-dick-cheneys-book
Get the facts on Affordable Care Act
As Republicans continue to attack the Affordable Healthcare Care Act, it celebrates its first anniversary. We celebrate too.
Question: Was this originally called the Affordable Healthcare Act? That's what I keep calling it and now I find it listed as the Affordable Care Act. I like the change in wording but wonder when it happened.
Those interested in facts about the act, and what's it's done so far, can find info here:
HEALTH REFORM (www.healthcare.gov): Official government site provides information on finding insurance options, prevention, comparing care quality and understanding the new law along with FAQ’s.
Question: Was this originally called the Affordable Healthcare Act? That's what I keep calling it and now I find it listed as the Affordable Care Act. I like the change in wording but wonder when it happened.
Those interested in facts about the act, and what's it's done so far, can find info here:
HEALTH REFORM (www.healthcare.gov): Official government site provides information on finding insurance options, prevention, comparing care quality and understanding the new law along with FAQ’s.
PROGRESS (http://progress.democrats.org): PROGRESS is designed to show the real effects of the steps President Obama and Democrats have taken to rebuild our economy. Behind these numbers are stories about people whose lives and communities have been positively affected by the change Democrats have made.
WY OFA (http://wy.barackobama.com): Wyoming Organizing for America is the grassroots organization that supports President Obama's agenda for change. Visit BarackObama.com for blog posts, local events, and more!
KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION (www.kff.org): A non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. They serve as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public.
LET’S MOVE (www.letsmove.gov): A nationwide initiative to promote making healthy choices, improving food quality in schools, increasing access to healthy, affordable food, and increasing physical activity.
Rev. Rodger McDaniel takes the long way home
I was pleased to see that today's lead story in our local paper was also on the web site. To read it all, go to: The long way home - Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online.
On the day that Rev. Rodger McDaniel retired from his state job, he grabbed his backpack and walked to the COMEA Shelter to spend a week as a homeless person.
For many years, Rev. McDaniel has been urging others "to get out of your comfort zone." He puts that into practice. He's been involved in the Cheyenne community for many decades. I first met him when we served together on the first Laramie County Habitat for Humanity board. He and his family spent a year in Nicaragua directing Habitat projects. He served in the state legislature. He brought new vitality to the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division of the state Department of Health. He's established partnership with Wyoming social service non-profits, such as UPLIFT. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm on the UPLIFT board. I was on hand on a snowy November evening last year when UPLIFT awarded Rodger its public service award.
As I read about Rev. McDaniel this morning, I thought about David Brooks' column in Thursday's New York Times. We have lost our sense of modesty, he writes, the knowledge that we are limited in our skills and accomplishments and need others to fill in the gaps. The self-effacing are forgotten. The self-aggrandizing take center stage. The stage itself, it seems, has taken center stage.
In a famous passage, Reinhold Niebuhr put it best:
“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. ... Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”
The Rev. McDaniel probably won't disagree with this quote. Embedded with it are the Three Virtues that I learned in Catholic school: faith, hope and love. Or rendered a different way: faith, hope and charity. Jesus is quoted about these virtues in 1 Corinthians 13, the passage that so many of us heard (or read) at our wedding masses. It wraps up with a line that's translated in various ways. Here's one version: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is love."
When I blog, I'm not always thinking of faith, hope and love. Usually I'm thinking very uncharitable thoughts. For example: "Tea Party members are a bunch of ignorant assholes." Not sure what Jesus or the Corinthians would have made of that. Not much love there, though.
Blogging is an attempt to communicate. But the most visible bloggers, it seems, are those who shout the loudest to rise above the din. I don't shout very loud. But that doesn't mean I am any less interested in my "brand." When I write, I am interested in the content but I also want people to read my work. I am shouting that the content on hummingbirdminds is pretty darn thoughtful and you ought to go read it.
Perhaps I'm deluded. Blogger and Facebook and other social media sites may not be new and innovative ways to connect people. They may just be other ways to say me-me-me.
On the day that Rev. Rodger McDaniel retired from his state job, he grabbed his backpack and walked to the COMEA Shelter to spend a week as a homeless person.
For many years, Rev. McDaniel has been urging others "to get out of your comfort zone." He puts that into practice. He's been involved in the Cheyenne community for many decades. I first met him when we served together on the first Laramie County Habitat for Humanity board. He and his family spent a year in Nicaragua directing Habitat projects. He served in the state legislature. He brought new vitality to the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division of the state Department of Health. He's established partnership with Wyoming social service non-profits, such as UPLIFT. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm on the UPLIFT board. I was on hand on a snowy November evening last year when UPLIFT awarded Rodger its public service award.
As I read about Rev. McDaniel this morning, I thought about David Brooks' column in Thursday's New York Times. We have lost our sense of modesty, he writes, the knowledge that we are limited in our skills and accomplishments and need others to fill in the gaps. The self-effacing are forgotten. The self-aggrandizing take center stage. The stage itself, it seems, has taken center stage.
In a famous passage, Reinhold Niebuhr put it best:
“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. ... Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”
The Rev. McDaniel probably won't disagree with this quote. Embedded with it are the Three Virtues that I learned in Catholic school: faith, hope and love. Or rendered a different way: faith, hope and charity. Jesus is quoted about these virtues in 1 Corinthians 13, the passage that so many of us heard (or read) at our wedding masses. It wraps up with a line that's translated in various ways. Here's one version: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is love."
When I blog, I'm not always thinking of faith, hope and love. Usually I'm thinking very uncharitable thoughts. For example: "Tea Party members are a bunch of ignorant assholes." Not sure what Jesus or the Corinthians would have made of that. Not much love there, though.
Blogging is an attempt to communicate. But the most visible bloggers, it seems, are those who shout the loudest to rise above the din. I don't shout very loud. But that doesn't mean I am any less interested in my "brand." When I write, I am interested in the content but I also want people to read my work. I am shouting that the content on hummingbirdminds is pretty darn thoughtful and you ought to go read it.
Perhaps I'm deluded. Blogger and Facebook and other social media sites may not be new and innovative ways to connect people. They may just be other ways to say me-me-me.
Jim Hightower has a few gift suggestions
Jim Hightower offers ideas on SPECIAL GIFTS FOR IMPORTANT PEOPLE
The Christmas spirit is alive and well with my favorite liberal populist writer.
I especially like this one:
I especially like this one:
And for those teabag Republicans who got elected to Congress by demonizing Obama's universal health care plan as Big Government Socialism – how about a supersized box of political integrity? Since you oppose providing health coverage to everyone, surely you intend to include yourself by refusing to accept the socialized health care that you Congress critters get from us taxpayers. Take a dose of integrity, and you'll feel much better in the morning.
Save the world, plant something in your neighborhood
This column by Sarah Goodyear in Grist offers some easy ways to improve the world beginning in your neighborhood. Plant something. Get to know your neighbors. Go for a walk. Common sense stuff that gets ignored as we talk about saving the world. Go to http://www.grist.org/article/2010-12-24-seven-new-years-resolutions-to-make-your-neighbrohood-a-better-p
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