Chasing Bubbles With A Butterfly Net

For someone like me with a well-developed startle response and a self-imposed posting deadline, the last few days in the news have been exhausting. It's the silly season in America, of course, with just days to go until the mid-term elections and the culmination of all our anxious imaginings, regardless of our political starting points. But it isn't just any election and it isn't just an America in isolation; it's a globe in transition 'midst an era of revving change. Back peddle? Plunge forward? Stand up on the brake peddle or accelerate--with or without a prayer? Shit or go blind? (Do NOT fuss at me; that's a perfectly good Anglo-Saxon term with a rich, fertile history.)

The week's been either a blogger's dream or her worst nightmare: more material than I could ever want, flitting past me far too fast, and me with only a sieving mind to capture it. I wake up every morning to chase the tantalizing NYTimes headlines, browse among the big, syndicated blogs, and find it impossible to choose a spot on which to land--a hummingbird on a sugar high.

Should I go with the eerie tolling in my brain from Angela Merkel's "Multikulti has utterly failed" statement? No matter how the Germans are spinning that one today, my head still rings. I've finally gotten so old that a first-hand knowledge of history is more than just a Trivial Pursuit advantage. Swell.

Bad Banks and Buttheads

The sad and sorry events that conglomerate to make up The Great Recession are not remote or removed from us. They are not hypothetical or academic. They are happening to me, to you, to people we love and know and meet. This is--ultimate irony-- an illiberal and unprejudiced set of setbacks; open to all comers, the just and the unjust alike. Doesn't that make it just so impossible to grasp the rationale behind policies and pronouncements from the reactionary right?! I'm almost speechless, but only almost. A couple of personal stories and a well-earned award--just got to get these off my chest.

The first thing a young man of my distant acquaintance found in his brand new mailbox during his first orientation week at college in late '90's was an application for a credit card--Holy Magic Crap, free money! The Grail. College definitely had the shit beat out of high school. He hid the application away in a drawer under his new Abercrombie  boxer shorts for a few days, pondering whether to ask his parents about it or even whether it was safe to handle.  He took it out once and filled in the information blanks, then put it away. He took it out again and signed on the bottom line; the card company only asked for his signature--could that be right?--and hid it away again. There was the fine print, the interest rate, but those numbers had no meaning yet. Finally, he queried some of the less obviously insane freshmen on his dorm hall, and heard, "Dude, you haven't sent yours in yet?! Mine's already come. My roommate got an application at a booth at orientation. Check it out!"

Fast forward about twelve years. Whizz right on past the day the collection agency reached his family and the panicked pay-off they were forced to negotiate--shudder; faster, please. Past graduation, a special technical training program, a year of internship, a job search, and three years on the job. Past an engagement, the purchase of a first home, the trade-in of an old car for a less-old car. Past the day the market tanked, taking our futures with it. Past the anticipated, dreaded demise of  his job when his employer just closed up shop. Slow down for the birth of his own eponymous LLC, and over a year of highly successful service to old clients who were happy to sign on and to spread the word. To the day in 2010 when he applied for a business credit card to make some minor equipment upgrades. And applied. And applied. To his own old bank. To the big ones and the small, local ones. To no avail.

Now, imagine another family and a retail specialty business that had abundantly supported two generations who worked there for over twenty years. Imagine that the business wanted to relocate and considered a For Sale listing with a business broker, but a buyer miraculously turned up, cash in hand. Imagine that a great new location was found, the new features and fixtures provided by family talent, hard work, and capital supplied by the sale of the old location. Now, imagine that the new, improved, larger shop was within weeks of readiness, its experienced owners and employees eager to get back to work, and a bank loan requested to complete preparation. A proven business, a flawless record of profit, and a fool-proof business plan. Plus valuable real estate offered as additional collateral. Turned down. At every bank, including the one that had financed the original shop all those years ago and had been repaid impeccably. No. Loan. Period.

Imagine.

These are two of the stories I've heard, two of the REAL AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESSES denied what they need to operate, expand, provide for their families and HIRE!! While large corporations borrow at  ridiculously low interest rates, sit on the money, refuse to hire, and generate virtually nothing in the way of interest for the huge cohort of Boomers who are retiring or trying to recoup their devastated retirement savings.


I've read that banks are waiting for Republicans to return to power in Congress, which is a brand of hostage-taking that cannot be too despised. I've heard it said that businesses aren't hiring because they are leary of what "Obamacare" will wind up costing them. A bank is not a bank that isn't moving money, so it cannot refuse to operate as a bank indefinitely and hope to survive. A corporation is not really in business if it does not invest and hire. If everybody is waiting for first quarter, 2011, but banks and corporations are cash flush, what kind of recession do you call that?  I call that bullshit and politics. I call it wrong any way you look at it. I call on you to send a message to the financial world and large corporations, to those politicians who've been bought by them and do their bidding. I call on you to vote.

And, finally, I have waited a little too long to bestow a well-earned accolade, the Coveted General Wade Hampton I Asshat Award. You might remember it from my post SC's Slur-Slinging Crapfest. General Wade Hampton I was an embarrassment to the South who made a travesty of his part in The Revolutionary War and The War of 1812, led his soldiers into the woods and got them lost, owned over 3000 slaves, and lived in luxury despite the damage he'd done. He was so fond of power and the limelight, he designed an elaborate chapeau to reflect his rank and privilege. Wade was an asshat.

Gen'l Wade Hampton I
Both Stupid and Energetic

In light of recent news about his desire to fire from the state's public schools all LGBT teachers and all single female teachers who are sexually active, I hereby bestow the coveted Second General Wade Hampton I Asshat Award to....

SC Republican Senator Jim DeMint

References:
H/T to Private Buffoon . Thanks, Russ!
New York Times, October 3, 2010, "Cheap Debt for Corporations Fails to Spur Economy"
New York Times, September 8, 2010, "Falling Rates Aid Debtors But Hamper Savers." 

"An Investigation Into Credit Card Debt In College Students," Williams, Waterwall, and Giardelli, Contemporary Issues in Education Research, Fourth Quarter, 2008, Volume 1, Number 4.

Too Close To Home

Two (apparently) unrelated topics; one disgruntled South Carolina blogger.

Topic One: Healthcare

From The State, Columbia, SC's newspaper, these headlines:

SC health insurers cutting coverage to some kids

"'As national health care reform takes effect, health insurance carriers in South Carolina have halted access to new individual policies for children - a move that could leave families unable to find insurance for their healthy children', advocates said.

Starting this week, insurance companies are prohibited by law from denying plans to children 19 years old and younger who have pre-existing medical conditions.

South Carolina insurance companies said they must suspend new policies for that market because the sudden influx of sick children, and of those whose parents enroll them after learning of a major illness or accident, would drive up premiums for all policyholders.

Ann Roberson, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Insurance, said carriers are waiting on "additional guidance" from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about implementing the expanded coverage. They want to know, for example, whether an open enrollment period will be defined to prevent patients from getting coverage only after they need it, Roberson said.

'I certainly hope the administration will provide the appropriate clarification to insurance providers so they can re-enter this market," Republican Rep. Joe Wilson said in a statement.'" (My emphasis).

And I say, Joe Wilson, you lie.

You'll remember Joe Wilson, of course, the impulse-disordered voice from the floor, yelling at the President during his address to Congress on health care reform. (Obviously, Joe's uncontrollable outburst brought on by  his pre-existing condition). The President stated, "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." And then Joe Wilson made fool of himself. And he lied again later when he attempted to explain his outburst, claiming to be an immigration attorney. Joe Wilson was a real estate attorney--first, last, and always. Make a note of that and we'll get back to it.


Both Joe Wilson and the SC insurers mentioned above are lying. Insurers are not suspending new individual coverage to healthy children because the new regulations are a little confusing. They are reneging on their pledge to honor the spirit of the law. They are taking advantage of every possible loophole in order to avoid compliance with new laws that might cut into their gigantic profits...just as they always have. Just as they did when they refused to cover children with pre-existing conditions before the new healthcare reform act.


True, many Americans are confused by the new laws and need more information, but--trust me on this--the insurance companies are NOT confused. Their attorneys, whose billable hours are paid for by your premiums, have been pouring over every jot and tittle of the new law for months. No, the insurance companies are counting on the confusion of the average American to keep from getting called out for deception.


Consumer groups are furious, naturally. In California, another state where the largest insurance carriers are refusing to write new individual policies for children, Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy organization, stated to the LATimes, "Insurers need to decide if they are in the business of providing care or denying coverage." 


Bless your heart, Mr. Wright; insurance companies are not remotely interested in providing either care or coverage. Insurance companies are in the business of collecting your money as premiums and hanging on to it by their teeth like bulldogs 'til they draw blood. 


The South Carolina Department Of Insurance, Consumer Health Insurance site is...well, toothless. From their FAQ site today--no changes in sight:

Can an insurance company turn me down for individual health insurance coverage? If a company can turn me down, how can I obtain health insurance coverage?

 Yes, you can be turned down. The South Carolina Department of Insurance has no jurisdiction over the underwriting decisions of an insurance company; therefore, we can't require they insure you.

If you are turned down for coverage, you can get coverage through the South Carolina Health Insurance Pool (SCHIP). 

SCHIP is a high risk pool for people who have been turned down by private insurers due to health problems. The issue at hand today is entirely different. Insurers aren't turning down sick children; they are refusing to sell ANY new individual policies to healthy children.

That means that if, for instance, your employer's health policy is too expensive for your family of four and you choose to shop for individual insurance, you can obtain today it for yourself and your wife, but not for your children.

Topic Two: Immigration

We found out yesterday that our neighbor Edgar is being deported to Costa Rica on October 1st. He is the hardest-working man I think I've ever met...all temperatures, all humidities, all day, every day. Edgar owns a lawn and landscape service. When we're lucky, we can hire his service to babysit our yard while we're out of town, and, at those times, I don't dread coming home to face the results; I look forward to it. As he always told us, he'd be driving by our house every day anyway, so he could easily see what needed to be done.

Many of Edgar's employees have been able to obtain their US citizenship in recent years, but not Edgar. He's been here for many years and has run his business reliably and well. Wherever we see him, he smiles, waves, and calls us by name. His house is always tidy-looking and his yard looks fabulous.

In April of this year, Representative Eric Bedingfield, R-Greenville, introduced an immigration bill to the SC House that he modeled to be "virtually the same" as the Arizona immigration law that had just been signed. "It provides a procedure for verifying a person's immigration status under certain circumstances and provides for the arrest of a person suspected of being present in the United States unlawfully," Bedingfield says. 


According to a poll published today, " sixty-nine percent of Palmetto State voters favor passage of an immigration law like Arizona's in South Carolina, higher than support nationally.  Just 20% are opposed to such a law." That same poll shows a 52% to 36% lead for tough-on-immigration Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley over Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen. 


I fear that, as the election rhetoric heats up, South Carolina politicians will be pointing to deportation numbers to bolster their own numbers. I also fear that voters haven't much to choose between the two candidates when it comes to immigration. The State newspaper reports, 

Sheheen said a South Carolina law approved in 2008 is a better law because it sets tougher standards for verifying employee residency and provides local law enforcement the ability to enforce immigration law.

“Ours is frankly tougher,” Sheheen said. “We need to fully implement the law that we passed and that’s not been done.”

I don't hold out much hope for my neighbor. My husband wrote to our State Senator asking that he do what he can for Edgar, but there's so little time. Edgar tells us that he has spent $30,000 on attorney fees trying to appeal the deportation. I don't know why he cannot stay and I don't know who represented him legally, but I know it couldn't have been Joe Wilson.

Disinterring Ophelia

"It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter."

Bristol Palin's coupe de mere this week, the ubiquitous airing of Mel Gibson's verbal sexual abuse, and my accidental viewing of Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" video have convinced me that it's time to re-empower those who mother adolescent girls. I am reared up over the cynical forces that undermine and threaten to bury the tender developing selves of our daughters, so break out your copy of Hamlet (or watch any filmed version other than Gibson's); it's time to disinter Ophelia.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia's fate demonstrates the fragility of a young girl's hold on stability and safety. In adolescence, she begins to live for the approval of her father and of Hamlet, with whom she has fallen in love. Hamlet is pre-occupied with his own demons and rejects her; subsequently she loses her grip on reality, dresses in her best and drowns herself. Hamlet comes upon the gravediggers; here, Shakespeare inserts a cruelly ironic moment of graveyard humor before he allows Hamlet to discover for whom the grave is intended. Ophelia will haunt you.

In 1994, Mary Pipher, PhD, published Reviving Ophelia: Saving The Selves of Adolescent Girls as a wakeup call to families, fingering modern media and culture for increases in the rate of depression, anorexia, and suicide attempts in teen girls.  The book made its title a household phrase and Mary Pipher was deluged with speaking requests. I recommended the book to dozens of families who were trying to save their girls from illnesses exacerbated by America's sexualized marketing of teens. It pleases me to report that many families realized how wisely, carefully, and persistently they were going to have to fight in that cause; they were able to shut down the gushing well of exploitation that was drowning their daughters. 


Other families, sadly, felt helpless; their attitude was, "If she doesn't get it on MTV (or through magazines, books, ads in stores, etc.) at home, she'll just get it at her girlfriends' houses." They didn't realize that, if they could set and hold strong boundaries at home, they would be giving their daughter a critical safe port. The daughter could then internalize that concept of herself as precious. The sense of being worthy of careful nurturing, of possessing a selfhood worth fighting for, could operate to help a girl protect herself as she moved toward womanhood. 

I happened to see segments of Stefani Germanotta's (Lady Gaga) music video for "Alejandro" (a worthless waste of audio perception) on the screen of an adjoining exercise bike at the gym. The rider of that bike looked to be about 40 and perfectly normal, but she was glued to the video.  I have to admit, it was the proverbial train wreck; my neighbor's screen was so hard to ignore, I almost missed the news on my own screen that the BP oil well had just stopped gushing. Imagine what the Gaga video would be like for a thirteen year old girl! You can it see it on YouTube here, but approach with caution. It's not that the video is objectionable in a new way (it pretty much struck me as picking up where Madonna left off), but that it is objectionable in the same old way.

I often despair at how each generation has to relearn lessons that the previous generation sweated to master.  Not only did absolutely NOTHING change in the exploitation of teenage girls since Pipher's book was published, but the trend has accelerated. As age of menarche declines (as measured in decades) and secondary sexual characteristics (telarche) appear even earlier with the rise of obesity in children, America's media, driven by the unchecked profit motive, reaches further back into childhood to sexualize and exploit our daughters.

In Bristol Palin's passive aggressive decision to alert Us magazine, instead of her parents, about her decision to marry the father of her son, I see the fear and anger of a daughter whose family failed to protect her adequately. Bristol learned from her mother to live an overexposed life, and she applied that lesson to her television debut on the reality show "The Secret Life of The American Teenager."  Specialness that special can only be learned.  To me, it all further demonstrates the Palin family's willingness to exploit its most vulnerable members relentlessly.  They seek celebrity rather than substance.

There is a segment of the country's middle and lower class women who slavishly worship Bristol's mother; in their idolization of her, in their--typically inaccurate--identification with her, I see a feminine cohort that Feminism has failed.  Perhaps especially when they try to wrap the cloak of Feminism around themselves.


In the huge popularity amongst teens of Stephani Germanotta's pornographic music video, I see another failed crop of adolescents, both male and female. The lyrics of "Alejandro" are explicitly aimed at a young audience: "She's not broken, She's just a baby. But her boyfriend's like a dad, just like a dad/ and all those flames that burned before him. Now he's gonna fight your fight, gonna cool the bad."


Now, listen to Mary Pipher, PhD.  The video will sound and look a little dated, but its message is more applicable now than when it was filmed.




Who do you know that needs to hear it?