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POEM: What Cannot Be Forest Upon Mother Nature
February 19th, 2020 Filed under: Health, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
What Cannot Be Forest Upon Mother Nature
As man expired
His last
Once agin
Mother Nature breathed in
A parent excrement
Concrete and steel
Leaving not
Even a scratch
In geologic time
Merely having caught a cold
Cold virus
Feverish bout
Something to sneeze about
Un-till returning
To natural appetites
Where awe is better than knew
In the tree of knowledge
With wisdom of what can and cannot be forest
Upon Mother Nature
Ultimately, this poem is a testament to the sustaining and healing power of Mother Nature. So many times I am struck by the unsustainable practices of so-called civilization. While I am not confident that humankind (unkind?) will be able to avert a monumental collapse of civilization as we know it today, I suspect that humans will survive in some form. Similarly, I strongly suspect than nature will survive. I suspect that humans are not smart enough, nor stupid enough, to end life on this planet. I suspect that humans are not strong enough, nor weak enough, to end life on this planet. While our blind greed is frighteningly persistent, this poem is one vision of Mother Nature, quite naturally, recovering from a virus and fever, and returning to health.
Mother Nature is awesome and powerful. In this envisioned scenario, humans don't make it, at least not in any form resembling our current civilization. In the first line of the poem, I reference the word "man" as expiring, that is, lowercase man, not humankind. I snuck this in as an opening to survive, if in fact, in the yin and yang of life, the patriarchal male force is brought into balance with the nurturing/healing female force. I don't think that it is any accident that nature, Mother Nature, is typically viewed as female across many human cultures. If we don't respect females, then we are doomed to an existence far short of our awesome potential, or, perhaps, simply doomed to extinction. May we as a species, one among many, find a balance befitting the awesome benevolence of Mother Nature.
Please enjoy these Mother Nature, environmental designs:
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Tags: Awe, Balance, Culture, Environment, Environmental, Extinction, Female, Greed, Healing, Life, Mom, Mother Earth, mother nature, Nature, Poems, Poetry, Power, Respect, Responsibility, Stewardship, Stupid, Sustainable, Time, Wisdom, Yin and Yang
JUST FOR THE HEALTH OF IT: Public Health Radio Show on WAKT 106.1 FM Toledo
March 26th, 2019 Filed under:
Just for the Health of It is my weekly half-hour public health show on WAKT, 106.1 FM Toledo. You can listen at 9:00 AM Tuesdays and Thursdays (after Democracy NOW) on-air or on-line ToledoRadio.org. To listen anytime you want online, below are links to the latest shows.
You can follow the program and shows on facebook here.
Just for the Health of It brings you fresh perspectives on the science of health for all; plus local, state, national, and global health news, as well as local guests for home-grown perspectives and connections to local resources. Just for the Health brings you the best of both social justice and personal health.
Just for the Health focuses on putting the JUST in Just for the Health of It.
My aim is to equip you to live healthily in a healthy community on a just planet.
For you of those folks who are perhaps too busy to catch a whole show, or just want to sample my sense of humor, here are a few of my parody PSAs:
Parody PSA: Cory the Coronavirus
https://toppun.com/WAKT/PARODY-PSA-Cory-The-Coronavirus.mp3
Parody PSA: Pla-ce-bo Pharmaceuticals' Elimin-all
https://TopPun.com/WAKT/Parody-PSA-Pla-ce-bo-Pharmaceuticals-Elimin-all.mp3
Parody PSA: PR Medica and Merciless Health Systems
https://TopPun.com/WAKT/Parody-PSA-PR-Medica-and-Merciless-Health-Systems.mp3
Parody PSA: Health Care for ALL
https://TopPun.com/WAKT/Parody-PSA-Health-Care-for-ALL.mp3
Parody PSA: TL20-squared VIRUS Pandemic
https://toppun.com/WAKT/Parody-PSA-TL20-squared-VIRUS.mp3
HERE ARE LINKS TO THE LATEST SHOWS:
Week of January 18 2021:
https://toppun.com/WAKT/Just-For-The-Health-of-It-s01e97.mp3
Featuring: new, more infectious coronavirus variant(s) could become dominant in March, and could make things much worse (2:49); Lucas County COVID-19 update (18:38); darkest days for L.A. doctors, nurses, EMTs –"The way most people leave is by dying" (26:28); no additional vaccine doses coming, despite Trump admin promises (33:57); COVID-19 reduced U.S. life expectancy, especially among Black and Latino populations (37:37); Black men have the shortest lifespan of any Americans, due to "John Henryism" (42:42); Biden's appointment of a health disparities advisor historic — but will the White House empower her? (46:24); communities recognizing racism as a public health crisis — declarations grow (53:29); Affordable Care Act's coverage gains decreased income inequality (56:15); get ready for a lot of Biden executive orders on health care — here's a list of what to look for (57:23).
Featuring: in wake of violent insurrection, violence as a public health issue — violence interrupters using tested methods to save lives in peace model replicated globally (1:57); (2:03); Gov. DeWine outlines new COVID-19 vaccination steps and eligible groups (9:45); Lucas County COVID-19 update (12:23); as virus surges, new studies suggest warning for school reopening (20:33); Deborah Birx overreaches in coronavirus task force assertion in less than transparent report (30:16); U.S. blind to contagious new virus variant, scientist warn (31:50); along with vaccine rollouts, the U.S. needs a national hi-fi mask initiative [N95 masks for all] (41:52); why COVID-19 has left so many hospitals running low on oxygen (48:39); new COVID vaccines need absurd amounts of material and labor (51:28); COVID-19 outcomes for patients on immunosuppressive drug on par with non-immunosuppressed patients, study finds (58:11); study finds time spent outdoors during pandemic is associated with higher levels of happiness (58:52).
Week of January 4, 2021:
Featuring: COVID-19 status update — what can we expect in 2021? (2:03); Lucas County COVID-19 update (10:43); New Year's resolution territory — updated national dietary guidelines released [see DietaryGuidelines.gov] (15:30) and more than 100 reasons to quit tobacco [Ohioans can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW] (26:34); police involvement a major racial justice issue in psychiatry (42:42); suicide rates did not decrease when antidepressant drugs were introduced (47:21); giving poor people money is more effective for mental health than brief therapy (48:05); as a physician and a patient, I've seen the damage caused by the stigma of addiction — it must end (53:06).
SHOWS from 2020:
Week of December 28, 2020:
Featuring: the looming questions scientists need to answer about the new variant of the coronavirus (2:05); a "duty to warn" — an ER doctor, shaped by war and hardship, chronicles the searing realities of COVID-19 (16:43); Lucas County COVID-19 update (25:41); beware the danger of "vaccine euphoria" (31:56); COVID-19 vaccines are safe — but let's be clear about what "safe" means (38:04); employers can require workers to get COVID-19 vaccine, says U.S. (44:56); a temp worker died on the job after FedEx didn't fix a known hazard — the fine: $7,000 (49:56); "Every day is an emergency" — the pandemic is worsening psychiatric bed shortages nationwide (54:52); implementing policies and strategies to eliminate racial disparities could improve outcomes for both COVID-19 AND cancer (58:12).
Featuring: COVID-19 vaccine rollout update (1:56); BIG STORY — a new, more contagious COVID-19 strain has been reported in the U.K. — is it headed for the U.S.? (3:24); problems in rural America — she collapsed in her kitchen from COVID-19 and the next day she was nearly 300 miles from home (6:33); 78% of those infected with coronavirus refuse to help with contact tracing in N.J. (10:54); political division is dangerously defining our COVID-19 conversation — we need new ways to speak to one another (13:48); Lucas County COVID-19 update (20:30); despite years of effort to combat infant mortality in Ohio, racial disparity increases (26:46); emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccines could hinder global access to them (31:11); one-quarter of the world may not get COVID-19 vaccine until 2022, experts warn (37:09); hospitals boost security as seek to stop vaccine "line-jumping" (43:51); the wealthy scramble for COVID-19 vaccines — "If I donate $25,000…would that help me?" 48:04); to get the COVID-19 vaccine right, we must close the confidence gap and stop pathologizing communities of color (49:55); FDA authorizes the first fully at-home, over the counter COVID-19 test (57:11); how hope can make you happier with your lot in life (1:00:35).
Featuring: follow-up to big story last episode — by FDA eliminating addictive nicotine from tobacco products, the single largest preventable cause of death, more lives could be saved than by even Medicare for all (1:55); U.S. enters brutal stretch of pandemic. even with approaching vaccines (5:26); Lucas County COVID-19 update (12:50); Operation Warp Speed head says 40 million doses of vaccine will be distributed by end of month, but need 75-80% of Americans immunized to achieve herd immunity (20:37); supply is limited and distribution uncertain as COVID-19 vaccine rolls out (21:56); here's why vaccinated people still need to wear masks (24:33); what motivates COVID rule breakers? (30:52); research provides tools for achieving the "how" of mental well-being in daily life (35:16); Big Picture in three stories — food marketing and nutrition — kids gain weight when new conveniences stores open nearby (39:34); facing two pandemics — how big food undermined public health in the era of COVID-19 (40:57); hospitals profit on junk food (50:01).
Week of December 7, 2020:
Featuring: COVID-19 big picture — Ohio and nation in big trouble, but science alone can't save us from ourselves (1:46); Lucas County COVID-19 update (20:16); Trump's Operation Warp Speed promised a flood of COVID-19 vaccines — instead, states are expecting a trickle (26:00); state and local officials plead for vaccine distribution funds already overdue (33:50); replace the "cold steel" of hospital-bed shackles with the warmth of compassion (37:23); the easy way for Joe Biden to save lives: eliminate addictive nicotine from tobacco products, the single largest preventable cause of death (43:40); can local food feed big cities? yes, if we cut down on meat (50:28); concentration in the food business — to high, too risky (54:53).
Week of November 30, 2020:
Featuring: COVID-19 big picture — is the U.S. COVID-19 epidemic the "worst of both worlds? — both a public health AND economic failure (1:56); COVID worsens bus driver shortages nationwide and in many Ohio schools (6:27); major glove factories close after thousands of workers test positive for COVID-19, threatening global supply (11:14); recent COVID-19 surge forces Franklin County to cut back on contact tracing efforts (12:20); beyond burnout — for health care workers, this surge of COVID-19 is bring burnover (14:58); Lucas County COVID-19 update (23:47); Lucas County Health Board orders schools to go virtual — what's the deal? (28:23); COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes hit record high (36:01); winning trust for vaccines means confronting medical racism (42:03); children in U.S. may miss 9 million vaccine doses in 2020, report warns of falling below thresholds for herd immunity (53:33); science supports new dietary guidelines limiting alcohol consumption, especially for reducing cancer in men (55:27).
Featuring: COVID-19 big picture — with where we are at, are we doomed to "too little, too late"? (2:40); Lucas County COVID-19 update (22:27); "It's not enough" — health experts say Iowa governor's new COVID-19 order is "weak" (30:07); business group calls for national mask mandate and COVID-19 relief (36:22); "People are going to die" — hospitals in half the states are facing massive staffing shortages as COVID-19 surges (39:02); hospitals know what's coming — even the best cannot prepare for a tsunami of cases (47:17); World Health Organization advises doctors not to use Remdesivir for COVID-19 (54:32); GOOD NEWS –"They have been following the science" — how the Cherokee Nation has curtailed the COVID-19 pandemic, as a nation within a nation — what a real tribe looks like (56:29).
Featuring: COVID-19 big picture — where are with we with the layers of protection: mask wearing, physical distancing, community restrictions, testing, contact tracing, and hospital capacity? (1:55); Lucas County COVID-19 update (42:11); health experts want to prioritize people of color for COVID-19 vaccine, but how should it be done? (49:36); proportion of pediatric emergency room visits for mental health increased sharply amid pandemic (57:22); suicide rates increase after hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters (57:58).
Week of November 9, 2020:
Featuring: Lucas County, Ohio, and U.S continue to smash COVID-19 records — get the latest (1:54); counties with worst virus surges voted overwhelmingly for Trump (14:59); United Nation votes to hold summit in December to push action on COVID-19 pandemic — U.S. abstains (18:46); face masks don't hinder breathing during exercise, study shows (21:16); pregnant women with COVID-19 are at increased risk for serious outcomes (23:53); the hidden public health hazard of rapid COVID-19 tests — worsening data collection (25:12); how your brain tricks you into taking risks during the pandemic — the difficulty of incorporating accurate risk decision-making into our daily lives (29:15); Medicare fines half of hospitals for readmitting too many patients, a sign of poorer quality health care (42:35); more U.S. patients to have easy, free access to doctor's notes (46:17); updated colon cancer screening guidelines recommend beginning at age 45, down from 50 — especially for blacks (48:53); one-third of people with disabilities experience frequent mental distress (50:08); make America healthy again by paying more attention to nutrition, the #1 factor in health (53:22).
Featuring: Lucas County, Ohio, and U.S continue to smash COVID-19 records — get the latest (1:56); winter COVID-19 wave poses threat to nation's hospitals (16:22); sewage testing shows a country flush with coronavirus cases (21:27); study finds faster, wider spread of COVID-19 within U.S. households (28:51); Yale study shows child care can be relatively safe with mitigation efforts and lower rates of community spread (31:15); winter is coming for bars and restaurants — here's how to save them…and us (35:20); why isn't routine COVID-19 testing happening in prisons and immigration detention centers? (40:51); latest COVID-19 polling shows most know someone who's had the virus, a third have had someone in their household tested in the last month, and this doesn't differ much by age, race, income, or party affiliation (47:23); states say they lack federal funds to distribute COVID-19 vaccine as CDC tells them to be ready Nov. 15 (51:08); as COVID-19 intensifies, shortages of staple drugs may grow worse (56:10).
Week of October 26, 2020:
Featuring: Lucas County, Ohio, and U.S smash COVID-19 records — get the latest (2:02); persons infectious with COVID-19 up to 10 days if only mild symptoms, or up to 20 days if severely ill (16:47); CDC expands definition of close contact after spread from "multiple brief encounters" (17:32); COVID-19's wintry mix — as we move indoors, dry air will help coronavirus spread (19:24); "at a breaking point" — new surge of COVID-19 cases has states and hospitals scrambling, yet again (25:48); amid pandemic, U.S. has seen 300,000 "excess deaths," with greatest disparities for people of color and persons age 25-44 (34:19); FDA show signs of cold feet over emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccines (37:52); remdesivir's hefty price tag ignores NIH investment in its creation (45:17); Trump's antibody "cure" will be in short supply (49:31).
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update, as nation's cases surge (2:01); surge in COVID-19 cases mean fewer Minnesota schools meet in-person rules, while exposing hostility to public health efforts (11:48); "overwhelmed" — hospitals across America engulfed by rebounding virus (13;48); hepatitis is still a silent killer in Africa and elsewhere b(18:32); how the CDC and others are failing black women during childbirth (21:48); black maternal death rates and the implicit biases — how we can address them (31:20); what no one tells black women about breastfeeding (35:25); new research shows many children with mental health conditions don't get follow-up care (41:15); how drugs damage the environment (44:07).
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update, as Midwest hit hard (2:00); Midwest keeps reopening as states reel from new virus cases (7:26); COVID-19 surges in North Dakota, filling hospitals and testing attitudes (14:17); Mississippi's governor revokes statewide mask mandate (19:16); Trump is "single largest driver" of COVID-19 misinformation, Cornell study finds (22:42); the confidentiality of Trump's medical information has limits (23:29); the lesson from Trump catching COVID-19 — with this virus, there's no magic bullets (25:27); "COVID is all about privilege" — Trump's treatment underscores vast inequalities in access to care (31:12); inequality "surrounds you" — a black doctor returns to heard-hit Louisiana after treating and contracting COVID-19 in New York (39:35); battered, flooded and submerged — many Superfund sites are dangerously threatened by climate change (51:43); doctors offer guide for teaching the health effects of climate change in medical residency (55:50).
Week of October 5, 2020:
Featuring: "Donald Trump Memorial Studio" and the public health principle of nonjudgment (1:58); Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update (4:56); states loosening COVID-19 restrictions amid ongoing pandemic and expected fall surge (10:55); these coronavirus vaccine trials don't answer the one question we need to know — will it protect against the most serious disease? (16:56); why it will take more than one vaccines to beat COVID-19 (21:37); keeping coronavirus vaccines at subzero temperatures during distribution will be hard, but likely key to ending pandemic (26;34); lessons from STDs on how to fight COVID-129 (33:27); why misinformation about COVID-19 keeps going viral (45:18); global rates of unplanned pregnancies still too high (48:06); the FDA approved the abortion pill 20 years ago — it's time to make it available via telehealth (51:28).
Week of September 28, 2020:
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update (2:06); three experts reflecting on the U.S. reaching 200,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths (5:20); new wave of COVID-19 cases builds in U.S. (8;43); four U.S. states report record one-day increases in COVID-19 cases (11:01); Florida to life all COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and bars (11:55); Des Moines says no to governor's demand for classroom return (12:42); government watchdog finds supply shortages are still harming U.S. coronavirus response (17:02); battle rages inside hospitals over how COVID-19 strikes and kills (17:38); massive genetic study shows coronavirus mutating and potentially evolving more infectious amid rapid U.S. spread (20:45); California's deadliest spring in 20 years suggests COVID-19 undercount and massive disparities among racial/ethnic minorities (24:07); Africa has defied the COVID-19 nightmare scenarios — we shouldn't be surprised (28:40); COVID-19 could reverse decades of progress toward elimination preventable child deaths (32:42); potent drug supply drop, not domestic drug policies, likely behind 2018 overdose death downturn — and underlying epidemic trend continues (38:37); a reversal in blood pressure control for Americans (42:37); more than 3 billion people protected from harmful trans fat in their food (45:22); "front of package" nutrition labels improve nutrition quality (48:59).
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update (2:08); CDC reports that dining out increases risk of contracting coronavirus more than other activities (6:02); CDC director says masks more guaranteed to work than a vaccine (8:57); as controversies swirl, CDC director is seen as allowing agency to buckle to political influence (10:07); top health official echoes Trump's COVID-19 views, drawing accusations of politicizing U.S. mental health agency (19:33); polls show eroding trust in scientific and political institutions (29:46); America is trapped in a pandemic spiral, characterized by 9 conceptual errors — 1) a serial monogamy of solutions, 2) false dichotomies, 3) the comfort of theatricality, 4) personal blame over systemic fixes, 5) the normality trap, 6) magical thinking, 7) the complacency of inexperience, 8) a reactive rut, and 9) the habituation of horror (35:01).
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update (2:07); University of Toledo COVID-19 update (2:37); college football is coming and COVID-19 is already there (6:22); pandemic blind spot — it's not easy to get coronavirus testing for children (14:21); COVID-19 hits men harder due to their weaker immune systems than women (17:58); obesity raises risk of death from COVID-19 among men (21:46); housing disparities and health disparities are closely connected (26:22); medical education needs rethinking to link medicine with public health (29:06); awareness of our biases is essential to good science (37:30); overcoming psychological biases is the best treatment against COVID-19 yet (44:08); the fires may be in California, but the smoke and its health effects, travel across the country (51:52); Des Moines river "essential unusable" for drinking water due to algae toxins (55:32).
Week of September 7, 2020:
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update (2:05); COVID-19 is leading cause of death among law enforcement officers, killing more than shootings (5;24); COVID-19 update for colleges and universities (7:34); new rapid COVID-19 test begins distribution to states this month (16:34); COVID-19 vaccine updates and issues (18:21); meatpacking companies dismissed years of warnings but now say nobody could have prepared for COVID-19 (30:02); thousands allowed to bypass environmental rules in pandemic (37:51); low-wage workers face retaliation for demanding COVID-19 safety measures at work (42:13); COVID-19 has likely tripled depression rate (46:46); COVID-19 sparks 12-fold increase in remote delivery of psychological care across the U.S. (50:14); LGBTQ youth say cost, parental permission pose major barriers to mental health care (54:15).
Week of August 31, 2020:
Featuring: Lucas County and Ohio COVID-19 update (2:06); first confirmed COVID-19 re-infections — what does this mean for us? (3:50); updates on university and school re-openings (9:53); Trump's continued political attacks on scientific integrity and fragmented COVID-19 response (19:52); strain on health care system, even when not at capacity, kills more with COVID-19 (40:21); The U.S. Postal Service is a vital part of our health care system (44:47); more challenges, and some wins, in fight against racism in health care (47:04); Africa eliminates polio in historic health win (56:32).
Featuring: Lucas County COVID-19 update (2:08); some people listen to health experts, others ignore them — what it means for America's future with COVID-19 (3:32); how miscommunication and selfishness hampered America's COVID-19 response (11:39); cloth masks do protest the wearer — breathing in less coronavirus means you get less sick (19:02); your cloth mask won't protect you from wildfire smoke (23:58); Trump regime moves to exempt teachers from quarantine requirements (26:33); not-so-remote learning — college students return to campus even as classes move online (27:38); coronavirus is spreading in schools, but the federal government isn't keeping track (28:58); cellphone data shows how Las Vegas is "gambling with lives" across the country (36:39): nursing home cases up nearly 80% in COVID-19 rebound (52:45); Amazon gold mining drives malaria surges among indigenous peoples (54:02); new Ebola outbreak in Congo raises alarm (57:43).
Featuring: Lucas County COVID-19 update (2:07); seven months into pandemic, COVID-19 testing still falling short in Ohio (2:58); Ohio back-to-school plans amid COVID vary widely between metro, rural areas — statewide, over 1/3 returning to classroom (6:37); Ohio State steps up COVID-19 measures, including mandatory testing (7:57); when should schools use only remote learning? Massachusetts issues new metrics to help districts decide using COVID-19 infection rates (11:07); coronavirus testing plummets in Texas as school prepare to reopen (13:58); UNICEF finds 2 in 5 schools worldwide lacked handwashing facilities prior to COVID-19 pandemic (18:13); Florida sheriff bans masks as state COVID-19 death toll breaks new daily record (19:15); despite rise in COVID-19 cases, dozens of Tennessee Republican lawmakers continue to refuse to wear masks as required in special session (21:26); 26 states will soon face shortages of ICU doctors, and other shortages are growing in nurses, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists (23:51); winter is coming — why America's window of opportunity to beat back COVID-19 is closing (25:49); CDC reports large increases in in mental health issues, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic (35:48); vaping linked to large COVID-19 risk in teens and young adults (38:11); black and other nonwhite NFL athletes report more pain, physical impairment, mood disorders and cognitive problems that white peers (40:54); globally, only half of women get treatment for preventable killer of newborns (45:59); Researchers say misleading whole grain labeling provides legal evidence to improve labeling regulations (49:43).
Featuring: COVID-19 and prisons (2:30) local and state COVID-19 update (4:52); local and national updates on school reopenings (17:50); ventilation should be part of the conversation on school reopening — why isn't it? (33:25); poll — 35% of Americans, most Republicans would reject COVID-19 vaccine (41:03); U.S. obesity epidemic could undermine effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine (43:30); health care workers of color nearly twice as likely as whites to get COVID-19 (47:32); telemedicine is booming — but many people still face huge barriers to virtual care (50:03); experts urge evaluation of diet at routine check-ups (53:21).
Week of August 3, 2020:
Featuring: worldwide whirlwind of COVID-19 (1:44); local COVID-19 update (6:44); states with stricter COVID-19 restrictions watch lax neighbors warily, knowing the virus does not respect borders (10:08); 79% say they support national face mask mandate (16:59); in Texas, more people are losing their health insurance as COVID-19 cases climb (18:03); about 20% of New Jersey prisoners could be freed to avoid virus (20:12); young kids could spread COVID-19 as much as older children and adults (22:08); contact tracing is failing in many states — here's why (23:16); how effective does COVID-19 vaccine need to be to stop the pandemic? (30:07); those coronavirus vaccines leading the race? don't ditch the masks quite yet (36:06); liberal group warns that U.S. is unprepared to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine (43:06); COVID-19 vaccines may cause mild side effects, experts say, stressing need for education, not alarm (45:15); poorer communities face double burden during pandemic as they stay home less (50:48); one in three children worldwide have unacceptably high lead levels (52:37).
Week of July 27, 2020:
Featuring: Lucas County, Ohio, and national COVID-19 update (1:55); new poll — 3 in 4 Americans back requiring masks, and other pandemic response support growing (9:26); COVID-19 will end up as a leading cause of death in 2020, CDC says (12:13); U.S. COVID-19 deaths back up over 1,000 per day (15:14); scientists publish findings from first statewide COVID-19 random sample study in U.S. (16:01); as long waits for results render COVID-19 tests "useless," states seek workarounds (18:32); COVID-19 tests much easier to get in wealthier and whiter neighborhoods (26:03); U.S. prison population down 8% amid coronavirus outbreaks, mostly due to criminal justice system slowdown (30:07); what scientists know about how children spread COVID-19 (31:47); back to school? most major schools are heading to online class as COVID-19 cases spike (40:20); cost of preventing next pandemic equal to just 2% of COVID-19 economic damage (47:44); We are the first to applaud you regarding your efforts in COVID-19 — a message from the African diaspora to our brothers and sisters of Africa (50:14); after surgery, black children are more likely to die than white children (53:11).
Featuring: Lucas County, Ohio, and national COVID-19 update (2:18); "epicenter of the epicenter" — young people partying in Miami Beach despite COVID-19 threat (9:19); over 1,000 inmates at Texas federal prison test positive for COVID-19 (15:02); Texas nursing home COVID-19 cases jump 60% since July 1 (15:42); masks win political momentum despite GOP holdouts (16:53); Americans want evidence and data to drive COVID decisions — and they don't believe that's happening (19:46); public health groups denounce new Trump move sidelining CDC (23:17); testing is on the brink of paralysis — and that's very bad news (27:48); world treating symptoms, not cause of pandemics, says UN (31:52); why are we so late responding to COVID-19? blame it on our culture and brains (36:02); the coronavirus-climate-air conditioning nexus (41:26); scientists' warning on affluence (46:15); half of world's population exposed to increasing air pollution (47;33); in shadow of pandemic, U.S. drug overdose deaths resurge to record (48:37); years-long push to remove racist bias from kidney testing gains new ground (50:06).
Featuring: lobbying brewing over access to COVID-19 vaccine (2:27); as U.S. buys up remdesivir, "vaccine nationalism" threatens access to COVID-19 treatments (5:51); COVID-19 vaccine research must involve Black and Latinx participants — here are 4 ways to make that happen (8:31); WHO, partners unveil ambitious plan to deliver 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to high-risk populations (14:21); U.S. withdrawal from WHO threatens to leave it "flying blind on flu vaccines (17:42); rebroadcast of May 2019 episode on immunization history and benefits (25:15).
Week of July 6, 2020:
Featuring: national COVID-19 update (1:45); Lucas County and Ohio update (8:04); hollowed-out public health system faces more cuts amid virus (11:33); women in science are battling both COVID-19 and the patriarchy (21:20); structural racism is why I'm leaving organized psychiatry (29:31); expecting students to play it safe if colleges reopen is a fantasy (40:23); as COVID-19 tears through Navajo Nation, young people step up to protect their elders (47:18).
Week of June 29, 2020:
Featuring: local, state, and national COVID-19 update (1:53); "normal" is the problem (13:32); the emerging long-term complications of COVID-19, explained (24:14); "vaccine sovereignty" versus "a people's vaccine" (39:12); lack of water fuels COVID-19 for 2 billion people around world and in the Navajo Nation within the U.S. (44:09); what "less lethal" weapons actually do (50:27).
Featuring: local, state, and national COVID-19 update (1:53); burgeoning activism (12:32) in journalism (13:08), among scientists (17:13), health care professionals (25:13), in scientific publishing (37:28), and connecting racism with environmental justice (42:32).
Featuring: local COVID-19 update (2;03); Ohio immigration detention facility has 100% COVID-19 positive detainees (9:07); COVID-19 spikes, but most governors signal they're staying the course (13:39); Americans divided on return to regular routines (17:09); pandemic lockdowns saved millions of lives (19:03); face masks may reduce COVID-19 spread by 85% (22:48); black U.S. adults follow many COVID-19 news topics more closely, discuss the outbreak more frequently (28:12); researchers face hurdles in studying COVID-19 racial disparities (29:12); for a day. scientists pause science to confront racism (34;33); racism, not genetics, explains why black Americans are dying of COVID-19 (37:12); omission of air pollution from report on COVID-19 and race "astonishing" (46:10); George Floyd's autopsy and the structural gaslighting of America (47:58).
Week of June 8, 2020:
A Double Special Edition on Racism and the dual epidemics of COVID-19 and police violence, featuring: Ohio Legislative Black Caucus declares racism a public health crisis (2:33); Physicians for a National Health program declare police violence and racism as public health emergencies (7:11); over 1,000 health professionals sigh letter saying, don't shut down protests using coronavirus as an excuse (10:01); protest in top 25 hot spots ignite fears of contagion (11:23); protests draw shoulder-to-shoulder crowds after months of virus isolation (16:24); racism is the contagion in health care we need to eradicate (23:46); my nightmare — COVID-19 meets racism meets the killing of a Black person by police (27;41); the everyday health harms of racism (33:39); which death do they choose? — many Black men fear wearing a mask more than the coronavirus (42:17); tear gas is way more dangerous than police let on — especially during the coronavirus pandemic (48:58).
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #12: Racism as a public health issue (2:08); amid COVID-19, U.S. should embrace the right to food (9:31); Bill Barr promised to release prisoners threatened by coronavirus — even as the feds secretly made it harder for them to get out (13:06); model testing blitz in San Francisco shows COVID-19 struck mostly low-wage workers (20:45); One-fourth of U.S. doctors are immigrants who, if they die of coronavirus, could have their families deported (27:27); COVID-19 cases shift to younger people (29:14); the latest on testing (33:17); the local situation (41:11); biopharma companies are spreading misinformation — and taking advantage of it (44:34); masks sold by former white house official to Navajo hospitals don't meet FDA standards (50:45); status of Latin American epidemic (52:47); is defunding the World Health Organization really just a backdoor attack on sexual and reproductive health? (55:46)
Week of May 25, 2020:
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #11: national situation (2:18); latest local news from Lucas County and Ohio (36:16); other news, including how bad is COVID-19 misinformation (48:06).
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #10: national situation (2:48); what's our status in re-opening and what does this mean? (11:11); latest local news (35:44).
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #9: national picture (2:38); Toledo, Lucas County, and Ohio status and re-opening considerations (11:22); Americas has no plan for worst-case scenario of COVID-19 (26;34); coronavirus pandemic exposing long-term inequalities experienced by communities of color and in public health system (32:24); survey shows record high trust in government and widespread suspicion of businesses in COVID-19 responses.
Week of May 4, 2020:
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #8: Donald Trump assures nation will continue to be full of baloney (2:07); status at prisons in Ohio and Lucas County (6:47); latest local update (13:08); national "non-plan" for testing (16:34); piecing together info on local situation (23:29); high-tech and low-tech COVID-19 treatment (28:29); what Jonas Salk would have said about COVID-19 — evolve socially (35:15).
Week of April 27, 2020:
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #7: National and state roundup (1:43); jails could add 99,000 deaths to epidemic (14:42); physical distancing — how are we doing in U.S., Ohio and Lucas County (19:14); what it will take to get the U.S. open for business (29:08); what about antibody testing and immunity? (34:24); the latest on local testing and contact tracing (57:18).
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #6: National roundup (2:05); local round up including county social distancing score from cell phone data, county COVID-19 response preparedness score, and nursing homes impact (9:57); thinking big and responding big (21:52); where are we with testing and what needs to be done? (32:50); where are we with contact tracing and what needs to be done? (46:42); more news on challenges facing (51:02); health inequities and racial disparities (55:18).
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #5: Featuring: How does our local epidemic compare to the rest of Ohio and the rest of the country? (2:09); latest news and commentary (4:37); battle of the latest projections – a deep dive into the numbers racket (23:56); quick roundup of completely predictable bad news (57:13).
Week of April 6, 2020:
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #4: Featuring my prediction – COVID-19 deaths will approach the leading cause of death this next year (1:45); good news – Ohio leadership (3:55); bad news – national lack of leadership (5;42); grade card on key interventions required to reverse epidemic (16:31); where is all of this leading? a look at the south going south (27:53); some lighter news (35:55); testing update – don't expect anytime soon (37:52); drug treatments? "closed for cleaning"? should people wear masks? (50:01); pandemic will ravage lower-income countries (54:05).
Week of March 30, 2020:
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #3: Featuring leadership bringing us to number 1 in the world (1:43); Ohio Sen. Rob Portman refuses call to advocate for a coordinated nationwide shelter-in-place strategy (4:31); my prediction two weeks ago that the U.S. will look like Italy in two weeks is panning out (7:10); local testing started — what does this mean? (9:14); a third of coronavirus cases may be "silent carriers" (18:45); playing the "hot spot" game is too little too late (18:45); the economy versus our public health is a false dichotomy and dangerous distraction (25:43); rationing and supply-line shortages will only worsen (34:32); multiple waves of epidemics from health care workers and other workers, institutionalized populations like prisoners, nursing home residents and active military, as well as homeless and displaced people worldwide (44:28); what would winning look like? (52:43).
COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #2: Featuring quick leadership assessment (2:16); the coronavirus paradox — our lowest point and finest hour (3:10); a terrified nation needs a leader during this crisis, not a salesman (8:03); World Health Organization expert explains why China's cases of COVID-19 have declined and what we must learn from this (14:02); situation analysis of where we are right now and likely heading in the next few weeks (28:11); Lucas County local report on where we are at with testing, contact tracing and hospital preparedness, based on my interview with Eric Zgodzinski, Health Director, Toledo-Lucas County Health Department (33:01).
Featuring COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION: good news/bad news (1:43); majority of Americans have at least one underlying condition that puts them at greater risk (3:19); the biggest thing to worry with coronavirus is the overwhelming of our health care system (5:57); chronically deteriorating funding of public health has crippled our ability to respond effectively to this epidemic (13:56); aggressive social distancing is seriously important even if you feel well (23:30); absence of a truly coordinated national response leaves those potentially exposed or sick confused about what to do (25:12); White House classifies coronavirus deliberations as secret which hampers response (41:19); Science magazine editorial — disrespecting science and the laws of nature confounds response (45:51); FTC and FDA cites 7 firms falsely claiming products treat COVID-19 (50:05).
Week of March 9, 2020:
Featuring as coronavirus spreads, the bill for our public health failures is due (1:53); coronavirus testing could cost some patients extra and impede response to epidemic (7:07); America is botching coronavirus testing (10:26); prisons and jails are vulnerable to COVID-19 outbreaks (12:17); Ohio ranks at bottom in new national drug trend report (20:46); air pollution is one of the world's most dangerous health risks (21:25); climate change leads to more violence against women and girls (23:29); every country on Earth failing to provide world fit for children (30:35).
Featuring my coronavirus pandemic prediction (1:44); if coronavirus sweeps America, blame our brutal work and healthcare culture (3:08); how you can prepare for the coronavirus epidemic in America (14;35); Bayer CEO quits over Roundup lawsuits (26:53); here's the Medicare-for-all study that Bernie Sanders keeps bringing up (27;43); Obamacare favorability hits record high (31:02); survival of the friendliest — how close friendships help us thrive (32:19).
Week of February 24, 2020:
Featuring a public health case study on coronavirus epidemic — where are we headed and what lessons can be learned? (1:50); no clear rationale for 45% of Medicaid antibiotic prescriptions (21:39); changing clocks is bad for your health, but which time to choose? (24:45); largest publicly-traded health insurers profits grew by 66% in 2019 (28:39); 1 in 4 rural hospitals is vulnerable to closure, driven by states refusing Medicaid expansion (29:07).
Featuring Ohio gun safety laws get "D" on annual scorecard (2:19); puberty starts a year earlier for girls now than in the 1970's (5:35); as out-of-pocket health costs rise, insured adults are seeking less primary care (7:02); Trump's budget a non-starter for Great Lakes restoration (10:21); in agricultural giant Brazil, a new a growing hazard of illegal trade in pesticides (12:38); "Like sending bees to war" — the deadly truth behind almond growing (19:12); most Americans consider climate change the most important issue facing society today, with many struggling with eco-anxiety and changing their own behaviors (25:07); why sequencing the human genome hasn't cured many diseases (27:46); Pittsburgh unveils master plan to significantly expand bike lanes (33:00).
Featuring Trump kept controversial pesticide on market and now its biggest manufacturer is ending production (2:18); spike in loneliness with two-thirds of adults feeling lonely (4:42); a sampling of interesting facts about what, when, and where America eats (10:07); consumers trust food and beverage corporations much less than other corporations (14:00); public health experts warn China travel ban will hinder coronavirus response (14:30); jail officials profit from selling e-cigarettes to inmates (19:43); the disturbing link between environmental racism and criminalization (23:20); female genital mutilation hurts women and economies (31:40).
Week of February 3, 2020:
Featuring Dicamba pesticide on trial (2:22); Trump regime forgets to renew its own opioid emergency declaration (4:13); putting the Wuhan coronavirus in relative perspective with the flu (5:14); containing new coronavirus may not be feasible, as experts warn of possible sustained global spread (10:27); FDA sunscreen report raises concerns over common sunscreen chemicals (14:54); hormone-altering chemicals threaten our health, finances and future (19:55); analysis of data gives insights into complementary health recommendations from U.S. physicians (34:55).
Week of January 27, 2020:
Featuring in opioid racketeering trial, pharmaceutical executive John Kapoor sentenced to 5.5 years (2:19); report finds most states lack crucial highway safety laws, with Ohio in bottom tier (5:17); the USDA never gives up on favoring corporate interests over kids' health, in rolling back school food rules (8:38); new study debunks argument for weakening health school lunch rules (12:16); sepsis associated with 1 in 5 deaths globally, double previous estimate (14:34); Physicians for a National Health Program public letter on Medicare for All (16;49); The American College of Physicians' endorsement of single-payer reform is a sea change for the medical profession (18:55); how non-compete clauses shackle physicians and hurt patients (22:01); the false promise of natural gas, aka, methane (25:21); world consumption of natural materials hits record 13 tons per earthling per year (35:02).
Featuring why drinking diet soda makes you crave sugar (1:44); slow carbs over low carbs – fiber matters (5:00); FDA and NIH let clinical trial sponsors keep results secret against regulations (9:02); putting air filters in classrooms could give student performance a serious boost (12:42); between 2005 and 2016, the shift away from coal saved an estimated 26,610 lives and 570 million bushels of crops (14:07); why Black doctors like me are leaving faculty positions in academic medical centers (16:42); McDonald's in Black America (23:18); millions of "outdated" tests being performed on healthy females 15-20 years old (26:00); Kansas leaders announce breakthrough bipartisan deal to expand Medicaid (26:58); the most expensive health care option of all — do nothing (27:36); more Americans dying at home rather than in hospitals (33:17); helping patients prep mind and body for surgery pays off (34:35).
Featuring alcohol-related deaths have doubled since 1999, here's why (2:18); 40% of gun owners reported not locking all guns, even around kids (6:25); Coca-Cola internal documents reveal efforts to sell to teens, despite obesity crisis (8:52); half of America will be obese within 10 years, unless we work together (10:48); more than one in three low- and middle-income countries face both extremes of malnutrition (13:48); Medicaid expansion linked to 6% decline in opioid overdose deaths (18:10); U.S. health care bureaucracy costs unnecessary $600 billion yearly (19:02); every American family basically pays a yearly $8,000 "poll tax" under U.S. health system (20:25); nurses get under 7 hours of sleep before a work shift — 83 minutes fewer than days off (25;40); health care providers are unrecognized victims of mass killings, and we are doing little to support them (28:26); U.S. cancer rate drops by largest annual margin ever (30:58); ecopsychology — how immersion in nature benefits your health (33:12).
Featuring Trump abandons sweeping vape ban with weak new rules (2:21); 7 women's health topics we need to talk about in 2020 (5:48); advocates hopeful gun violence research funding will lead to prevention (12:16); long work hours linked to both regular and hidden high blood pressure (15:28); processed meat recalls rise dramatically as consumers bite down in metal, plastic and glass (16:48); animal agriculture cost more in health damage than it contributes to the economy (20:08); "completely unsustainable" — how streaming and other data demands take a toll on the environment (21:38); The IRS sent a letter to 3.9 million people and it saved some of their lives (22:32); "Medicare for All" ignores a bigger problem of community-level factors impacting health (25:22); Toledo needs to fix access to drug treatment centers (29:32); your DNA is not your destiny — or a good predictor of your health (33:04); huge drop in cholera cases worldwide as key endemic countries achieve gains in cholera control (35:10).
Featuring a special episode on conflicts of interest in health science research with: why scientists defend dangerous industries (2:32); scientists' failure to disclose hundreds of millions by of dollars in conflicts of interest in federally funded health research (9:12); and how even public universities do a poor job of reporting their professors' conflicts of interest (20:46).
Featuring context and broader perspective on Toledo's reported ranking as #2 in mental health among American midsize cities, with wide look at Toledo health indicators compared to the U.S. as a whole (1:45), and how Ohio ranks compared to other states within another set of health indicators(10:00); and for Toledoans to feel relatively better, an in-depth report on the extraordinary danger of being pregnant and uninsured in Texas (15:44).
Featuring the latest Romaine lettuce outbreak — Just say NO (2:18); labeling foods with the amount and type of exercise needed to burn off the calories may encourage people to make healthier dietary choices (5:46); dramatic health benefits following air pollution reductions (8:03); climate change impact of hot temperatures shortening pregnancies (12:17); mental health and addiction care are poorly covered by insurance networks, even with parity law (13:42); half of homeless people may have experienced a head injury in their lifetime (17:04); large pharma companies don't really provide drug development innovation (18:38); another generic drug company admits to price-fixing (23:31); how "Indian relocation" created a public health crisis (25:23); scientists take action to prevent sexual harassment and bias in STEM workplace (24:34).
Featuring no need for extra protein unless losing weight or gaining muscle (2:21); access to online grocery shopping can vastly reduce "food deserts" (3:47); Trump administration plays perfect Grinch with its new food stamp rules (5:31); red states expanding Medicaid points to its widespread political popularity (10:18); tobacco use among kids jumps from 3.6 million to 6.2 million in one year (14:48); the e-cigarette ingredient to really fear is nicotine (17:07); Ohio to test state drinking water supplies for "forever chemical" contamination (20:15); 1.9 million Michigan residents drink some PFAS as evidence mounts about its dangers (21:58); breast cancer linked to permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners, especially among black women (27:32); police killings of unarmed black Americans may effect health of black infants (29:39); how racism ripples through rural California pipes (35:08).
Featuring short-term air pollution linked to growing list of health problems (2:14); Americans' drinking, drug use, despair wiping life expectancy gains (5:05); health care, mass shootings, 2020 election causing Americans significant stress (9:09); hospital alarms prove a noisy misery for patients (12:24); the $11 million Medicare tool that gives seniors the wrong insurance information (16:50); Mississippi forfeits a million dollars daily in Medicaid funds, severely affecting mentally ill (20:49); mental health studies limp transgender teens under one umbrella, missing clues to help them in the process (25:23); shooting victims have increased risk of mental harm long after physical injuries have healed (30:24); feeling loved in everyday life linked with improved well-being (32:24).
Week of November 25:
Featuring holiday commentary on eating for quality of life, and tips on mindful eating (1:43); public health case study — why the FDA was unable to prevent a crisis of vaping among youth (10:53); large health coverage expansions do not increase overall health care utilization (26:40); employees spending greater share of income on health insurance (28:58); Georgia waivers more costly and cover far fewer people than Medicaid expansion (31:10); Ohio Medicaid still hemorrhaging money to pharmacy middlemen (33:28); with half of brain removed, it still works pretty well (36:52).
Featuring new data-driven definitions of unhealthy yet persuasive 'hyper-palatable' foods (2:16); adult cigarette smoking rates hit all-time low in U.S. (5;37); e-cigarettes take serious toll on heart health, not safer than traditional cigarettes (7:18); High proportion of youth report using prescription opioids (8:51); vaping and prescription opioids — limbic capitalism in action (10:49); childhood trauma as a public health issue (18:47); getting a handle on self-harm (23:07); 35,000 Americans die of antibiotic-resistant infection each year (30:16); groundbreaking HIV vaccine design strategy shows promise in proof-of-principle tests (31:47); in a notoriously polluted area of the country, massive new chemical plants are still moving in (34:16); Delhi is engulfed by toxic pollution — why isn't anyone wearing masks? (34:55)
Featuring how in health care so-called market competition and the "public option" is a poison pill (1:43); number of uninsured children rises for second year, topping 4 million (22:50); widely used algorithm for follow-up care in hospitals is racially biased (25:26); women scientists author fewer invited commentaries in medical journals than men (28:15); dementia impacts women more and new approaches are needed (29:03); tap water at Trump National Golf Course contaminated with toxic "forever chemical" (31:57); restoring native vegetation could cut air pollution and costs (34:22).
Week of November 4:
Featuring thousands of doctors paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by drug and medical device companies (2:20); pharma money paid to doctors is the cancer growing in cancer medicine (6:06); massive marketing muscle pushes more expensive 3D mammograms despite no evidence they save more lives (19:11); proposed opioid settlement could cost drugmaker only pennies on the dollar (14;12); Trump has already hired 4 times the former lobbyists than Obama had six years into office (15:13); wasted health care spending in U.S. tops annual defense budget (15:48); to treat chronic ailments, fix diet first (17;36); nutritious foods have lower environmental impact than unhealthy foods (20:42); study finds focusing on patient value and goals instead of problems yields better outcomes (23:02); in longer run, drugs and talk therapy offer similar value for people with depression (27:42); mentally ill die many years earlier than others (30:46); sleeps connection to gut microbiome reinforces overall good health (31:42); racial inequities in hospital admissions for heart failure (34:29).
Week of October 28:
Featuring the connection between pipelines and sexual violence (2:21); taking the cops out of mental health-related 911 rescues (5:42); when medical debt collectors decide who get arrested (7;22); children's risk of dying before age 5 varies more than 40-fold (11:23); 7 million people receive record level of lifesaving TB treatment but 3 million still miss out (14:27); 2 out of 3 wild poliovirus strains eradicated (16;44); fear of falling — how hospitals do even more harm by keeping patients in bed (18:30); exercise can reduce artery stiffness even in those with heart failure (20:41); largest study finds greater reduction in cardiovascular disease and death from taking high blood pressure medication at bedtime rather than in morning (21;21); doctors argue for term limits to diversify medical school leadership (23:58); U.S. air quality was improving but is no getting worse (28:26); replacement flame retardants pose serious risks (31:07).
Featuring a call to eliminate all flavored cigarettes, not just the electric kind (2:18); JUUL announcement on certain flavored e-cigarettes is way too little way to late (6:32); Doctors are more likely to prescribe opioids later in the day, or if appointments run late (7:23); every hospital needs recovery coaches for patients with substance use problems (9:46); cultivating joy through mindfulness — an antidote to opioid misuse, the disease of despair (15:13); INVESTIGATIVE REPORT – inside the drug industry's plan to defeat the DEA (19:03).
Featuring: lead scientist of controversial meat guidelines didn't report ties to food industry front group (1:43); noise pollution as an emerging public health crisis (7:37); update on vaping recommendations (12:41); upcoming flu season may be fairly severe (14:33); STD rates hit record high in U.S. (16:22); global report on vision impairment (18:38); NIH funding disparity between black and white scientists (19:29); sheriffs avoid paying their hospital bills by foisting "medical bond" on sick inmates (21:33); unjustified drug price hikes cost Americans billions (25:31); antibiotic resistance in food animals nearly tripled since 1000 (27:20); EPA about-face lets emissions soar at some coal plants (28:24); PFAS levels rise in Michigan drinking water from Lake Erie (30:30); environmental and health harms are downshifting America's obsession with the lawn (31:33).
Week of October 7:
Featuring the recent confusion around meat consumption research — a case study on nutritional science research (1:43); lack of sleep has detrimental effects on hunger and fat metabolism (19:00); smartphone dependency predicts depressive symptoms and loneliness (20:07); handgun purchasers with a prior DUI have a greater risk for serious violence (21:50); FDA refuses to classify 'forever chemical" PFAS as hazardous substance (23:15); safe drinking water violations are higher for communities of color (27:50); role of racial stereotypes in assumptions that African-Americans are more violent (28:58); special series of articles in the American Journal of Public Health documenting role of slavery and racism in health inequalities that persist today (31:06).
Week of September 30:
Featuring American Heart Association statement condemning JUUL's executive leadership change to long-time tobacco exec (1:45); how active shooter drills in schools are traumatizing our children (4:33); the Surgeon General's deafening silence on gun violence (10:42); investigative journalist reveals startling flaws in generic drug industry, with FDA missing in action (14:20); World Health Organization calls for urgent action to reduce patient harm in healthcare (18:03); stressed out — Americans making themselves sick over politics (23:19); heart-healthy forager-farmers in lowland Bolivia are changing diets and gaining weight (25:35); many schools are putting brakes on making meals healthier for kids (27:52); some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup (31:02); in continuing trend, S.C. Johnson joins Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in ditching ties to Plastics Industry Association (34:34).
Featuring Ohio initiatives to fight youth vaping (2:18); sexual trauma as a global public health issue (5:57); Defense Department as single biggest polluter on planet (12:00); 15 governors lobby for provisions in defense bill to limit toxic chemicals (17:10); deforestation is getting worse, five years after countries and companies vowed to stop it (19:12); Man vs. mosquito – at the front lines of a public health war (20:57); the connection between residential segregation and health (23:48); national support for "red-flag: gun laws could prevent many suicides (25;47); obesity epidemic grows and disparities persist (28:39); despite growing burden of diet-related diseases, medical education does not equip students to provide quality nutritional care to patients (29:52); House panel investigating private equity firms' role in surprise medical billing (32:16); more women and children survive today than ever before — U.N. report (33:29).
Featuring suicide prevention awareness month info (1:43); lifestyle, not genetics, explain most premature heart disease, and multiple risk factors raise risk exponentially (7:23); flu vaccination linked to lower risk of early death in people with high blood pressure (8:43); it matters that Detroit broke federal law when it razed asbestos-laden building (11:25); Juul illegally marketed e-cigarettes (13:26); if Ohio can't pass the simplest health care price transparency laws, how will Congress curb surprise bills (15:59); Physicians for a National Health Program diagnose politicians and pundits with Corporate Talking-Pointitis (23:06); only a fraction of costs of excessive drinking are paid for by alcohol taxes (30:12); STAT wins long legal fight clearing way for release of Purdue OxyContin files (32:50).
Week of September 9:
Featuring a case study in nutritional fads — vitamin D — with a study of high doses of vitamin D resulting in decreased bone density (1:43); emails show Monsanto orchestrated GOP effort to intimidate cancer researchers (8:24); how Ohio's Chamber of Commerce killed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (11:14); EPA to roll back regulations on methane, a potent greenhouse gas (12:41); sexism in health care — in men, it's Parkinson's, in women, it's hysteria (14:53); overeating wastes far more food then we throw away (18:33); big pharma sinks to bottom of U.S. industry rankings (21:14); advocates sound alarm as uninsured rates rise under Trump (22:02); Obamacare health insurance exchange prices to drop in Ohio for first time (23:46); opioid treatment is used vastly more in states that expanded Medicaid (26:23); plant-based fire retardants may offer less toxic way to tame flames (27:43); water treatment cuts parasitic roundworm infections affection 800 million people (28:26); a quarter of the world's population at risk of developing tuberculosis (29:45); FDA approves TB pill that cures more hard-to-treat patients (30:15); for the first time, clinical trial results show Ebola drugs improve survival rates (32:01).
Featuring an in-depth investigative report into industry influence of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines development process (1:47); and Ohio drug deaths plunge in Ohio, but up in Lucas County (29:50).
Week of August 26:
Featuring the two largest health factors in your personal health: smoking and diet (1:44); nearly 200,000 trans people have been exposed to conversion therapy (16:02); toxic furniture flame retardants may not stifle deadliest home fires (18:35); Health panel tells doctors to screen all adults for illicit drug use (20:31); spending on illicit drugs nears $150 billion annually, similar to alcohol (21:17); American Medical Association leaves coalition opposing single-payer Medicare for All (22:50); and programs work from within to prevent black maternal deaths: workers targeting root cause — racism (24:56).
Featuring Brazil's Bolsonaro administration approving 290 new pesticide products for use (2:20); in echo of Flint lead crisis, Newark offers bottled water (4:31); summer in the city is hot, but some neighborhoods suffer more (5:32); up to half of patients withhold life-threatening issues from doctors (9:18); how #MeToo is changing sex ed policies – even in red states (10:04); 140,000 women could lose clinical abortion access in 1st year if Roe v. Wade were overturned (14:55); 250,000 fewer Ohioans on Medicaid, but even the experts don't know why (15:38); Half-a-million years of Ohioans' life expectancy lost to gun deaths (19:13); review of 33 years worth of medical studies reveals key areas for new research to explore concerning gun deaths (23:13); the dangers of the mental health narrative when it comes to gun violence (25:17); racist words and acts, like El Paso shooting, harm children's health (29:46).
Featuring lower weight bias among physicians who regard obesity as a disease; BPA substitutes linked to obesity; call for radical reform to address 3.5 billion people worldwide with poor dental health; Coca-Cola pushing to get FDA let it add vitamins to drinks; amid teen vaping epidemic, Juul taps addiction expert as medical director; high radiation levels found near U.S. nuclear dump from weapons testing in Marshall Islands; moral injury and burnout in medicine requires collective action; and how judges added to the grim toll of opioids.
Week of August 5:
Featuring growing PCB claims adding to Bayer's legal woes for Roundup; floods and fires stir up toxic stew posing long-term dangers; new tool for Michigan officials to use to remedy environmental injustice; Florida sugarcane burning could switch to green harvesting saving lives and boosting economy; U.S. could have averted 15,600 deaths if every state expanded Medicaid; Trump proposal to push 3 million Americans off food assistance; one-third of food grown never makes it out of fields; relatively low-dose radiation from CT scans and x-rays favor cancer growth; fitbits and other wearables may not accurately track heart rates in people of color; and seeing greenery linked to less intense and frequent cravings.
Week of July 29:
Featuring the corrupting influence of conflicts of interest in medical research; UT exhibit on protest and social change includes "Condoms STOP AIDS" poster developed by your humble host; widespread aspirin use despite few benefits, high risks; child drowning rates dropping two-thirds driven by better building codes concerning pools; vaccinating dogs for rabies worldwide could save the lives 59,000 people yearly; nations with strong women's rights have better population health and faster economic growth; Medicare for All unlikely to raise hospitalization rates much, if at all; climate shocks, conflict and economic slumps drive rising world hunger; taps run dry for half of Zimbabwe's capital city affecting millions.
Featuring keto diets and other diets that severely restrict carbohydrates, how there is little evidence for their effectiveness, especially considering their potential risks and sustainability issues both individually and ecologically, and how massive carbohydrate restriction hamstrings consumption of health-producing carbohydrates like beans, fruits, vegetables and unrefined grains; capping medical residency training hours does not hamper doctor quality; primary care needs to be encouraged; patients provide input for first time in mental health definitions; how to deal with anxiety about climate change; and protecting forests and watersheds to treat water cost-effectively and sustainably.
Featuring why there is so much commercial corruption in nutrition; fiber and health and fiber as a good marker for intake of whole foods; indoor carbon dioxide levels could be a health hazard; most kids on public coverage have parents who work for big companies; international drug development processes are irresponsible and must be reformed; the burgeoning benzo crisis; psychiatric diagnosis "scientifically meaningless"; and environmental activists declare victory after Detroit incinerator closes.
Week of July 8:
Featuring alcohol and cancer; bullying and weight bias; the Veterans Crisis Line; austerity and inequality fueling mental illness; EPA moves to phase out animal experiments which could mean end to toxics regulations; mini-biographies help clinicians connect with patients; new guidelines aim to enlist primary care physicians in transgender care; poll: most Americans favor Medicare for All if they can keep their doctors; and children's cardiac care dangerous when mixed with corporatized health care.
Featuring the continuing public health case study that is the obesity epidemic, with a call to move beyond individual behavior and focus on social determinants driving obesity such as fat shaming and bias, and access to culturally-competent health services; plus, medical groups declare climate change as greatest public health challenge of the 21st century; Agriculture Department buries studies showing dangers of climate change; dangerous DDT levels 50 years after banning; and how banning dangerous chemicals could save the U.S. billions.
Week of June 24:
Featuring the question: Is public health in America so bad among the young, supposedly healthier people, that the U.S. may eventually not be able to defend itself militarily? Plus, the National Domestic Violence Hotline's busiest year; childhood adversity's link to mental illness, sexually transmitted infections continue unabated; world's rivers awash with dangerous levels of antibiotics, the U.S. continuing to use pesticides banned in other countries; and Ohio River moves to voluntary pollution standards in face of massive petrochemical plant build-out.
Featuring the importance of happiness and purpose in driving health and well-being, and the epidemic of meaninglessness in work life; the role of sleep in health; the celebration of Men's Health Month through using male privilege to help bring about gender justice and defeat patriarchy; the secret to Latino longevity; and how skyrocketing out-of-pocket health expenses, particularly among employer-based and private health insurance is costing health and lives.
Featuring a public health case study offering several perspectives on the many factors which form the perfect storm of the obesity epidemic — with a few tips for weathering the storm; and a series of articles regarding racism and racial disparities in health — with some good news.
Week of June 3:
Featuring continued coverage of the health effects of processed foods, including two new major studies; concerns about the potential risks of the exponential growth of nanoparticles in food processing; toxic chemicals used in food packaging and how to avoid them; and why cutting down on salt is health promoting,even if your blood pressure is fine.
Week of May 27:
Featuring continuing Mental Health Awareness Month coverage including suicide, supposed mental health parity, and appealing health coverage denials, and another in a series of mental health poems by local poet, Justin Samson, with this week's poem on PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome; Media Watch segment on MercyHealth claiming that nurses mean the world ironically while their nurses strike; landmark study on processed foods and overeating, and a series of stories on air pollution as a public health emergency.
Featuring Mental Health Awareness Month coverage including the debut in a series of mental health poems by local poet, Justin Samson, with this week's poem on major depression; public health news and research roundup coverage of dementia prevention recommendations, childhood cancer prevention, and basic sanitation as a critical public health issue in the U.S. and globally.
Featuring Mental Health Awareness Month coverage, public health news and research roundup coverage of the ongoing Monsanto Roundup™ saga plus other herbicide/pesticide/plastics toxins, prescription drug prices, and the debut of another parody PSA.
Week of May 6:
A whole show about vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. SPOILER ALERT: immunizations profoundly improve the public health of our planet!
Week of April 29:
Featuring tips on cutting back on salt and sugar, and getting more whole grains into your diet. This episode debuts two new segments, Media Watch, looking at how public health is portrayed in the media, and Health Observances, April as minority health month, examining racism as the driving force in the so-called mystery of stubbornly high black infant mortality. The Public Health News and Research Roundup includes the health effects of fracking, and the effect of food waste on climate change.
Featuring "The three most dangerous food additives," and good news in the Public Health News and Research Roundup. And look out for that parody PSA!
Featuring Public Health News and Research Roundup and a noncommercial break highlighting blood donation.
Week of April 8:
Featuring environmental health news and the question: Can you be a serious environmentalist without cutting down drastically on animal-foods, that is, cutting way down on meat, eggs, and dairy?
Featuring a far-reaching riff on epidemiology, the science of the distribution of health, disease and their determinants in populations; in laypersons' terms, what are the most important things to consider in our community's health. Regarding personal health, the show closes with a quick summary of evidence-based eating for health.
Featuring Public Health News and Research Roundup [not affiliated with Roundup™, the infamous human carcinogen].
https://toppun.com/WAKT/Just-For-The-Health-of-It-s01e01-3-15-19.mp3
Featuring Medicare for all testimony and Toledo Democracy Day coverage, plus conferring the award for the MOST CONSTIPATED View of DEMOCRACY.
PILOT Show from December 2015:
https://toppun.com/WAKT/Just-for-the-Health-of-It-s1e00-With-Dan-Rutt.mp3
This is the original pilot show that started it all! This full hour show features an interview with local guest, Johnathon Ross, M.D., M.P.H., a local public health physician and former president of Physicians for a National Health Program.
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FREE Anti-Trump POSTER: DUMP Trump, TRUMP Dump — It all makes sense when you realize that the "T" is silent
July 16th, 2018 Filed under: Free Stuff, News, Political and Philosophical Musings, Web Specials Add Comment
Confused about the daily antics of Donald Trump and his regime of toadies? Perhaps this will clear it up. I give you this FREE Anti-Trump POSTER: DUMP Trump, TRUMP Dump — "It all makes sense when you realize that the "T" is silent."
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The New York Times cataloged a list of items that Prez Donald Trump has done to lower the bar of presidential behavior. Such a trove of uncouth, demeaning, and dangerous behavior fuels anti-Trump sentiment and action. This list is only from the first eight months of his presidency; the list is much longer now, and growing every day. Here is the starter list:
Mock a foreign leader with a demeaning nickname and threaten his country with nuclear annihilation over Twitter
Call for the firing of "son of a bitch" athletes who choose to exercise their right to free speech
Refer to the White House as "a real dump"
Spend the weekend golfing at your private club while the mayor of an American city wades through sewage-filled water to help citizens after a catastrophic hurricane, then accuse that mayor of "poor leadership" when she criticizes your administration's slow response to the storm
Criticize victims of that hurricane still living without drinking water or electricity by saying they "want everything to be done for them"
During a visit to some of those victims, throw rolls of paper towels at them and tell them they should be "very proud" that only 16 people have died so far, unlike in a "real catastrophe"
Attack a senator battling terminal cancer
Pick nominees to the federal bench who call a sitting Supreme Court justice a "judicial prostitute" and refer to transgender children as part of "Satan's plan"
Campaign hard for a Senate candidate; then when he appears likely to lose, say "I might have made a mistake" and later delete your tweets supporting him
Behave so erratically and irresponsibly that senators of your own party resort to saying you're treated like someone at "an adult day-care center" to keep you from starting World War III
Spend one of every three days as president visiting at least one of your own properties
Publicly and privately humiliate your own attorney general for recusing himself from an investigation into your campaign
Say nothing when a foreign leader's bodyguards brutally attack peaceful protesters in the streets of Washington, D.C.
Tweet GIFs of yourself violently attacking the media and your former political opponent
Encourage police officers not to be "too nice" when apprehending criminal suspects
Help draft a misleading statement about the purpose of a meeting between your son, other top campaign aides and representatives of a rival foreign power intent on interfering in the election
Deliver a speech to the Boy Scouts of America that includes mockery of a former president and winking references to sexual orgies, and then lie by claiming that the head of that organization called and told you it was the best speech ever delivered in Boy Scout history
Hang a framed copy of a fake Time magazine cover celebrating your business acumen in your golf clubs around the world
Mock a female television anchor's appearance, saying the anchor was "bleeding badly from a face-lift" at a holiday gathering at your private resort
Force your cabinet members to take turns extolling your virtues in front of television cameras
Welcome into the Oval Office a man who threatened to assassinate your predecessor, whom he called a "subhuman mongrel," and who referred to your political opponent as a "worthless bitch"
Continue to deny that Russia attempted to influence the presidential election, despite the consensus of the American intelligence community — and yet also blame your predecessor for not doing anything to stop that interference
Grant temporary White House press credentials to a website that, among other things, claims that Sept. 11 was an "inside job" and that the massacre of 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax
Block people who criticize you on Twitter
Claim that an investigation into your campaign's possible collusion with a foreign power is "the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!"
Pressure multiple intelligence chiefs to state publicly that there was no collusion between your presidential campaign and the Russian government
Without consulting anyone at the Pentagon, announce a new policy barring transgender soldiers from serving in the military
Pardon a former sheriff who was convicted of criminal contempt of court for refusing to obey the law
Continue to repeat, with admiration, a false story about an American military general committing war crimes
Mock the mayor of a world city for his careful, sober response to a terrorist attack
Tell Americans that a march of torch-carrying white supremacists and neo-Nazis includes "some very fine people" — and when one of those marchers murders a peaceful counterprotester, condemn violence on "both sides"
Run an administration whose ethical standards have, in the words of the federal government's top ethics enforcer, made the United States "close to a laughingstock"
Hide data that don't support your pre-existing policy preferences
Admit to trying to intimidate a key witness in a federal investigation
Continue to leave hundreds of executive branch positions unfilled
Profit off the presidency, accepting millions of dollars from foreign government officials, businesses, politicians and other supporters who pay a premium to patronize your properties and get access to you — while also attempting to hide the visitor lists at some of those properties from the public
Promise to drain the swamp, then quietly grant ethics waivers to multiple former industry lobbyists who want to work in your administration
Tell a lie, on average, more than five times a day
Call for criminal investigations of your former political opponent, seven months after winning the election
Appoint your family wedding planner to head a federal housing office
Shove aside a fellow head of state at a photo-op
Attack private citizens on Twitter
Delegitimize federal judges who rule against you
Refuse to take responsibility for military actions gone awry
Fire the F.B.I. chief in the middle of his expanding investigation into your campaign and your associates
Accuse a former president, without evidence, of an impeachable offense
Employ top aides with financial and other connections to a hostile foreign power
Blame the judiciary, in advance, for any terror attacks
Call the media "the enemy of the American people"
Demand personal loyalty from the F.B.I. director
Threaten the former F.B.I. director
Accept foreign payments to your businesses, in possible violation of the Constitution
Occupy the White House with the help of a hostile foreign power
Intimidate congressional witnesses
Allow White House staff members to use their personal email for government business
Claim, without evidence, that millions of people voted illegally
Fail to fire high-ranking members of your national security team for weeks, even after knowing they lied to your vice president and exposed themselves to blackmail
Refuse to release tax returns
Hide the White House visitors' list from the public
Vacation at one of your private residences nearly every weekend
Use an unsecured personal cellphone
Criticize specific businesses for dropping your family members' products
Review and discuss highly sensitive intelligence in a restaurant, and allow the Army officer carrying the "nuclear football" to be photographed and identified by name
Obstruct justice
Hire relatives for key White House posts, and let them meet with foreign officials and engage in business at the same time
Promote family businesses on federal government websites
Tweet, tweet, tweet
Collude with members of Congress to try to shut down investigations of you and your associates
Threaten military conflict with other nations in the middle of news interviews
Compare the U.S. intelligence community to Nazis
Display complete ignorance about international relations, your own administration's policies, American history and the basic structure of our system of government
Skip daily intelligence briefings
Repeat untruths
Share highly classified information with a hostile foreign power without the source's permission
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Testimony for National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service — END DRAFT REGISTRATION
June 27th, 2018 Filed under: About Top Pun, Anti-War, Health, News, Peace, Peace Signs, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
I prepared the below testimony to present at a public meeting in Chicago before the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, a commission created by Congress to deal with questions of draft registration, most specifically, whether to end draft registration or expand it to women. The Commission designed the format for this meeting with severely restricted opportunities for general public input. I intend to submit this testimony in written form, but I do not anticipate that I will be able to present it in person. At the end of this testimony is a much shorter statement that I intend to present to the media in Chicago, and directly to the Commission, if possible.
FULL TESTIMONY
My name is Dan Rutt. I have traveled from Toledo, Ohio, to be here today. I have come from 250 miles away to testify to you about service. I am volunteering my time to testify about that which is involuntary: conscience. I have come much further than 250 miles to be here today…
My testimony is rooted in family history predating the existence of the United States of America. I am 12th generation in this land now known as the United States of America. In the early 1700's, my ancestors settled on land given to them by William Penn, on what would come to be known as Pennsylvania. My Mennonite ancestors fled Germany to escape conscription and war.
With that wave of German immigrants and refugees, those that occupied the land had much fear about them ruining life as they new it. Newly-arrived German males age 16 and older were forced to take a loyalty oath to the British crown. The English oath was administered roughshod over the newly arriving boys and men, most of whom spoke only German upon their arrival. Apparently, a nominal and blind oath provided some comfort to those fearful residents already occupying the land.
As the Philadelphia harbor bells rang, signaling new arrivals, people gathered to greet them. Many gathered to welcome family or provide strangers with much needed assistance, knowing what it is like to leave one's home and arrive in a strange land with little or nothing. Others gathered to enlist indentured servants. Here is my most important question regarding service. Serving freely or serving under coercion — which is the greater service? I submit that serving freely is greater. In this particular case, the free service of hospitality and welcoming outsiders is greater than enlisting indentured servants. In the shared scripture of The People of The Book — Jews, Christians and Muslims — a similar exhortation is repeated multiple times: "You must love foreigners because you were foreigners in Egypt." This service of what may be considered radical hospitality is a time-honored practice of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The humble practice is at the heart of every great faith worldwide. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love because you were first loved. My ancestors, yearning to be free, wanted neither to be the cause of war as soldiers nor the tragic effects of war in its wanton destruction. This was at the heart of my ancestors' journeys in life. This is my heritage.
More recently, in relation to war and peace, my great-grandfather, during World War II, ran an alternative service camp for conscientious objectors. As for me, I was literally born into service. I was born in 1961 in Haiti, while my parents were serving as medical missionaries, a doctor and nurse, with Mennonite Central Committee. Mennonite Central Committee has long encouraged and empowered years-long terms of service, often overseas. For my Dad, this was also as an alternative service to military service.
In 1979, the year I graduated from high school, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In response to this, President Jimmy Carter instituted draft registration of young men my age, ostensibly to send a message of military preparedness to Soviet leaders. I was in the first batch of young men required by U.S. law to register for the draft. However, the prospect of draft registration conflicted with a higher law, my conscience and ultimate commitments. I could not and cannot, in good conscience, participate in war-making. As the clarity of my conscience emerged, I could find no way to register for the military draft, whose sole purpose is preparedness for war. My conscience also dictated that if I was to disobey an unconscionable law, then I was to openly take full responsibly for my actions while I worked to change such a law. I began by writing letters to Selective Service and my elected representatives. I may not have had been well-schooled — yet, anyways — on the politics of waging war or peace, but I was intimately familiar with my conscience and the legal duty that my young male peers and I faced. I was a teenager facing obedience to my conscience. This obedience came at the legal threat of up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
I quickly learned that my war resistance is not dependent on geopolitical circumstances, political pendulums, or legal threats. I am already opposed to the next war. Unlike in the pragmatism of war, my enemy's enemy is not my friend. For me, war is the enemy. Nonetheless, the nearly 40 years since my initial confrontation with draft registration affords me a certain perspective as I have lived through a full cycle of history. While I was a skinny teenager facing taking on the United States government, the U.S. government was backing the soon-enough-to-be-notorious Osama bin Laden as a so-called "freedom fighter," leading the mujahadeen in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation. Of course, our support of Osama bin Laden, our enemy's enemy, turned out to be a deadly lessen in the futility of weaponizing violent radicals in the vain hope that it won't blowback in further violence on virtually all fronts. Today's "freedom fighter" is tomorrow's terrorist. Today's war seeds tomorrow's terrorist. Gandhi spoke frequently of the seamless connection of means and ends. War IS terrorism. How can we expect it to produce anything else — with it many "means" and "ends"? In the end, I cannot view warmaking as service to this country, or any country for that madder, certainly not to humanity as a hole. I find warmaking incompatible with Jesus' call to love our enemies and to be peacemakers, the children of God.
In speaking with hundreds of Americans over the years about draft registration resistance, I have found that people's objections to my objections are of two basic types. One type of response is basically that draft registration is such a minimal requirement that it isn't worth much fuss. If this is the case, then why don't we just get rid of draft registration, without much fuss? The other type of response is about the utter graveness of our warmaking, and usually something about our national doody. If war is so grave, perhaps the concerns around someone refusing to go postal should receive more thoughtful and consequential consideration. To add insult to injury, in a surreal show of moral farce, war apologists routinely cite "necessary evil" as their moral foundation. This is not the God I serve. Straddling these two poles of minimal and supreme concern, are the tired questions that are asked pacifists, such as: "What would you do if someone was raping your grandmother in the ally?" I learned to answer such questions with: "I'd register for the draft." If their perplexity persisted, they might suggest that I go back to Russia (where I've never been) or indicated their inclination to see me face time in jail; presumably, so I am not around to not protect them.
Mean wile, back in 1980, soon after winning the presidential election, Ronald Reagan broke his campaign promise to end draft registration. His campaign rhetoric about getting the government off the backs of people rang hollow, like a hollow bullet to my heart. The media wanted to do a story on this broken promise and how it affected the young men subject to the law, particularly those opposed to it. As it turned out, while there were millions of nonregistrants quietly in violation of the law, I was the only local public nonregistrant that they could track down, and I soon found myself highlighted in various media for years to come.
To make a long story shorter, in 1983, I was indicted for failure to register — I prefer refusal to register. In 1986, I was tried and convicted. My indiscriminate honesty more than compensated for their lack of investigatory skills. I served 107 days in the federal Community Corrections Center in Detroit, served two years probation, and served 200 hours of community service. I can't help but note, today, since the theme is "service," that the solution to my singular failure was to rip me from my community in order to integrate me back into my community. Plus, the court had to bean-count community service that you couldn't have stopped me from serving anyway.
Of course, there were larger forces at work. I, and a select few others, had to be made examples of. I, for One, am proud of the example I served. In the case of The United States of America vs. Daniel A. Rutt, there was a focus on my failure/refusal. In the meantime, I had finished college, got married, finished graduate school, had a son, and got a job. I went on to serve in a public health career of almost two decades. I even got a national award from the feds for my work in health promotion — thanks for noticing, U.S. of A. For the last 16 years, I have run my own business promoting social justice.
I do not consider my time imprisoned or countless hours engaging in war resistance as any great burden. In fact, I consider this as service to my country and humanity. I do suspect that most any person who did a tour of active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan has suffered more than I. Unfortunately, war is replete with suffering. Of course, suffering is of no great inherent value. Nonetheless, whatever we willingly suffer for is a good measure of what we truly value. I hope that more Americans, whether male or female, young or old, will volunteer to put more skin in the game and resist war in any way they can. I believe that the cost of freedom is found in not killing, rather than killing. As General Patton so infamously stated, "No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country."
It is impossible for me to separate my service from my conscience. Conscience is that small still voice that emanates from the foundation of our existence, that calls us, at the risk of trademark infringement, to be all that we can be. My war resistance is deeply rooted in following Jesus, The Prince of Peace. The Jesus I follow was executed as an enemy of the state. He was executed at the behest of the religious elite. Today, the religious elite dutifully save themselves and their clan, more faithfully blessing warmakers than counseling their youth to resist war, more conveniently blessing warmakers than counseling their youth to resist war. The first wave of martyrs in early Christendom were men who refused military service. The broader wave of martyrs were Jesus followers who refused idolatry, the literal and figurative "pinch of incense on the altar" to Caesar.
For me, draft registration is that "pinch of incense on the altar" of the state. When it comes to military service, in the great U.S.A., there is no "one nation under God." When it comes to military service, The United States of America is God. Specifically, The United States of America, does not recognize ANY Constitutional right to refuse military service for ANY reason, including conscience or freedom of religion. As we all know, the U.S. Constitution provides for many rights, rights that cannot be infringed upon by the state. There are many constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to peaceably assemble, freedom to petition for redress of grievances, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to equal protection under the law, among others. These are often referred to as natural rights or God-given rights. Such rights define the character of a state, and place limits on its sovereignty, recognizing a power greater than itself. The United States of America, does not recognize ANY natural or God-given right to refuse military service for ANY reason. If you are surprised by this, so was I. I count this as the singular lesson that I learned in my draft registration resistance. This sad and idolatrous reality was unmasked only by a federal judge citing a Supreme Court case in a legal opinion rejecting my motion for dismissal on the basis of religious freedom. Fortunately, I have found that God's grace extends further than legislative grace or constitutional provision of this republic. I strongly suspect that tens of millions of Americans of faith recognize that holy obedience sometimes requires civil disobedience.
My male ancestors age 16 plus who arrived to this land so many years ago were forced to swear a loyalty oath to the government, even though most didn't even speak the language in which the oath was administered. This didn't even seem to matter to government officials. Why is this? I suspect that the nominal and incomprehensible oath was a "pinch of incense on the altar," a ritual form of national worship needed by a resident populace afraid of strangers. The minimal content of the oath served as a safe and surefire way to maximize compliance and minimize resistance. Who would get back on the boat and return across the sea because they had to mouth or sign an incomprehensible swearing. Who would not submit their name and basic information to the Selective Service System? Well, most young men do not register when they first become legally required. Most young men, hoping to go somewhere, register when they need to secure a driver's license, or when they reach the shore of an education, needing a student loan.
I suspect that the ritual obedience of a "pinch of incense on the altar" may be more important than an actually functioning, fair and equitable system of potential conscription. Conspicuously absent from the Selective Service annual report is the noncompliance rate with the requirement for registrants to update their address (within 10 days) every time they move. Every observant person knows that 18-25 year-old men move a lot. How many address updates do they get? How many address updates don't they get? Surely, this can be estimated, and certainly it matters if one actually cares about being able to effectively and fairly enlist young men in a potential draft. The noncompliance rate for initial registration is 8% for all 18-25 year-old men. I strongly suspect that the noncompliance with current address is much higher than noncompliance with initial registration; probably, in combination, high enough to blow a hole in any contention that draft registration is effective and fair. By the way, those young men not complying with address updates are subject to the same legal penalties of up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. In FY 2017, 184,051 names and addresses of suspected violators to initial registration were provided to the Department of Justice. Does it strike anyone else as odd that the names and addresses of suspected violators are forwarded? If the Selective Service System has the names and addresses of potential enlistees, what else do they need?
I contend that what Selective Service is largely after is your assent to civil obedience, participation in a national religion of warmaking, your "pinch of incense on the altar," if you will. This seems to be a better characterization of Selective Service's function than, in the case of a military draft, to "rapidly provide personnel in a fair and equitable manner." Oddly, if you find yourself a male age 26 or older, beyond the age requirement to register, and you failed to register, you could still run into trouble by being denied eligibility for federal student financial aid, federal job training, federal employment, or U.S. citizenship; yet, you may be in the clear if your can "show by a preponderance of evidence" that your failure to register was not knowing and willful. Just don't be too conscientious; that is, until you have to prove that you were not conscientious. Apparently, the true crime is conscientiousness in not registering, more so than simply not registering. The selective prosecution of a few conscientious and public resisters while millions are noncompliant speaks volumes to this. Certainly, a system where obliviousness is excusable and objecting conscientiously is a crime is a system that distorts our nation's highest values. I don't object to Selective Service being shot full of holes regarding compliance. I do object to Selective Service dishonoring or punishing conscientiousness. As there is no way for a registrant to officially indicate any intent at conscientious objection, I would be very curious to see what would happen if conscientious objector status were a checkbox in the registration process. We might learn a lot about the state of conscientious objection in America. Of course, if Selective Service noncompliance is largely about non-conscientiousness, then I have to ask: What would such a level of non-conscientiousness say about what we might be fighting for and who might be fighting for it?
The draft registration system cannot account for true conscientiousness. The draft registration system cannot muster enough compliance, conscientious or not, to claim fairness and equitability. The honorable course of action, in both cases, is to end draft registration.
In truth, the actual practice of draft registration ignores conscientious objection. While there is no apparent constitutional right to refuse military conscription, there are some legislative provisions for what are called conscientious objectors. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism to indicate conscientious objection during the current draft registration process. This is objectionable to many conscientiously opposed to war. Somewhat oddly, the only legal way to make such a claim is to submit to a system, the Selective Service System, whose sole purpose is preparing for war, which you must reject completely. Plus, conscientious objector status is only possible as a military service classification, if and when a draft may occur. The longer a registrant is unrecognized as conscientiously opposed to war, the further the objection. Further, conscientious objector status can only be recognized for those who are opposed to all wars. If you in good conscience object to whatever current war in which you are subject to serve, this is oddly irrelevant. You could, in fact, turn out to conscientiously object to every actual war that comes down the pike in your lifetime and this is deemed irrelevant if you are not opposed to every theoretical war (or past war). This renders conscientious objection to a meaningless idea for what is perhaps the vast bulk of being conscientiously opposed to war. Finally, there is no real mechanism to truly count or officially value the service of conscientious objectors, meaning that men will be drafted until the military need is met, whether ten or ten million men have conscientious objection. The service of a conscientious objector is superfluous to the determining aim of the Selective Service System. This itself is offensive to many persons of conscience opposed to war-making. Let's end the criminalization of conscience.
In truth, the actual practice of warmaking habitually runs roughshod over international law and human rights. The promise of some possible future alternative service as a noncombatant is little comfort to my conscience, and of many others. In a warring world, the distinction between combatants and noncombatants offers fantastical sanitization rather than actual sanity. The fact is that across time and across a myriad of modern armed conflicts, over ten so-called "noncombatants" are killed for every "combatant." The first casualty of war is the truth; most of the rest are noncombatants. My duty is to oppose war, not escape military service. This is my service to humanity. This service is regardless of combatant status. Plus, the best way to serve warriors happens to be ending war.
In the age of terrorism, some will claim that we live in new era of war, not subject to the old rules of war. We do live in a different time than in the 1980's, the decade when draft registration was initiated. I can testify to a profound shift toward anti-war sentiment since then. During the first Gulf war, in the early 1990's, I never felt so isolated as an American, confronting palpable resistance even from liberals. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, our local peace network, the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition, initiated weekly Sunday demonstrations at busy intersections around town. These demonstrations for peace and against war occurred weekly for 15 years (and continue twice each month). In the early years, most of the feedback we had from passing motorists was angry yelling, middle fingers, and expletives flying. Over the years, this angry response has become rare, perhaps a couple a week, and the overwhelming positive responses are represented by hundreds of "honks for peace," peace signs and thumbs up. Americans in the heartland of Ohio are tired of war and welcome peace. Draft registration is a relic of ages past. Why have draft registration when even the military cites no scenarios where they would want a draft?
One issue at the heart of draft registration and military conscription is what is the proper role of women in warmaking and peacemaking. I am delighted to see that women serve as 5 of the 11 commissioners. Surely, it is women who should determine what is the proper role of women, in this case, concerning warmaking and peacemaking. In my lifelong work across a wide range of social justice movements, I have found women to be the most reliable and most inspiring leaders and laborers for social justice. I strongly suspect that women will take up the mantle of even greater war resistance if they become subject to military conscription. I take inspiration to serve as a war resister from Julia Ward Howe. She, most famously known as the composer of the Battle Hymn of The Republic, was the founder of Mother's Day, originally a day of war resistance. She issued this Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm! Disarm!" The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
I would much prefer entrusting my conscience and fate to such "a general congress of women without limit of nationality," rather than the currently constituted National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.
Perhaps somewhat ironic, given my heritage, Germany now has a constitutional right to conscientious objection while the United States does not. When Germany ended conscription in 2011, the majority of those serving were conscientious objectors, and the debate had shifted from conscience to whether they should give up a huge pool of cheap labor. I believe that forced national service is incongruent with our nation's highest ideals. I believe that volunteerism is at the core of authentic service. I suspect that lowering our ideals by forcing service is a poor way to nurture true service. Let us lead by example. This is why I am here today. If you want to gauge both the heart and the cutting edge of service in this country and for this country, look to those who volunteer, willingly, without pay, to live out their deepest values. This is the clearest view of our highest ideals incarnate, that service, that work, which cannot be bought and sold.
I appreciate the opportunity to testify before the Commission. From your bios, I can see that you are exemplary leaders in service. Unfortunately, I think that you may have an impossible job. I appreciate that Selective Service is technically considered under civilian control. Still, I can't help but notice that both Selective Service and this Commission are heavily represented by persons from the military or traditional national security apparatus. This does not fairly represent America in the civilian service necessary to make for peace in the world. Also, about 4 in 10 Americans are persons of color, including many of those in the military. Why is this Commission even whiter than the overly white Congress who appointed it? This is not a service to America, and raises the question of whether white supremacy is part and parcel to your work. In tandem, the Commission's overwhelmingly militarized representation and unduly whiteness, inspires little confidence that your recommendations can represent America. Perhaps it would be more honest to call this Commission an Omission. I suspect that this failure is rooted in the failure and cowardice of Congress to deal with draft registration in a changing world, that is, a world that recognizes women as equals. Congress punted on the politically unpopular choices of just ending draft registration or expanding it to women. Instead, Congress kicked the can down the road for a couple of years by creating a Commission to address this question for them. Unfortunately, This Congress-created Commission is so couched in generic service rhetoric that it is hamstrung in dealing straightforwardly with the singular issue that triggered its creation: draft registration. Until the Commission owns up to addressing the issue of draft registration as its core reason for existing, any hopes of sparking a national conversation on service will be sparks falling on damp firewood. Further complicating the credibility of the Commission is the tightly controlled and choreographed public meetings in conjunction with severely limited open public testimony. A responsive democratic process would have began with generous opportunities for open public testimony, and then using this input to shape additional "invited" testimony. This may already be too late to remedy. The chasm between the nature of "invited" testimony and uninvited testimony betrays a characterization of the Commission's work to date as democratic or representative. In my years of public service, both as a community planner and as a citizen participant in many public forums, I think that it is fairer to characterize the Commission's public meetings to date more as "dog and pony shows" than as an open and responsive democratic process. For this Commission's work to claim legitimacy, there is a lot of changes that need to be made. Lastly, having to make FOIA requests to find out about the basic public functioning of the Commission does not bode well for a culture of transparent, accountable public service by the Commission. I hope that you have found worthwhile input in my testimony to move toward a peace-loving democracy in which every one of us finds ample opportunities, free of compulsion, for self-sacrificial service for the good of all.
My name is Dan Rutt. I have traveled from Toledo, Ohio, about 250 miles away, to be here today. I am one of the select few prosecuted and imprisoned for refusing to register for the draft, back in the 1980's. We are here today for one reason, and one reason alone: Congress punted on the politically unpopular choices of just ending draft registration or expanding it to women. Congress punted by appointing a Commission to provide recommendations regarding draft registration a couple years down the road. That Commission is the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service. Unfortunately, This Commission's work is so couched in generic service rhetoric that it is hamstrung in dealing straightforwardly with the singular issue that triggered its creation: draft registration. Until the Commission owns up to honestly and openly addressing the issue of draft registration as its core reason for existing, the Commission will be a failure. Draft registration continues to have no mechanism to accommodate conscientious objection. Draft registration is fraught with noncompliance by young men either not registering at all, registering late, or not updating their addresses. The military cites no scenarios where they would want a draft. This is no time to expand draft registration, whether to women or persons with select skills the military might want. Now is the time to end draft registration. Voluntary service is true service. Let's keep it that way.
Today's public meeting in particular highlights the failing credibility of the Commission. Previous public meetings around the country have had very limited opportunity for open testimony from the general public. Today's meeting has even less opportunity. Previous public meetings have been billed as having opportunities to speak directly to the Commission; and when people get there they find out that there is a scheduled two minutes per citizen. This meeting is being billed as an opportunity for Q&A, not even to the Commission but to their invited speakers. Furthermore, the overall time for the public to even participate in this insular Q&A has been cut down to "20 or 30 minutes." From the experience of previous public meetings, the chasm between the nature of "invited" testimony and uninvited testimony betrays a characterization of the Commission's work to date as democratic. The Commission is moving in the wrong direction. A responsive democratic process would have began with generous opportunities for open public testimony, and then used this input to shape additional "invited" testimony as needed. This may already be too late to remedy.
Unfortunately, the Commission has other credibility problems that may very well make their job impossible. This Commission is dominated by members from the military or traditional national security apparatus, all the while trying to couch their work in a broader, more generic view of service. This Commission is extremely white, in a nation where people of color are about 4 of 10 Americans. This Commission is poorly designed to represent America. To make matters worse, the Commission has chosen to conduct its business in such a manner that citizens have had to make FOIA requests to find out about the basic public functioning of the Commission. This does not bode well for a culture of transparent, accountable public service by the Commission.
Originally, I planned my trip from Toledo to Chicago, for this public meeting, to deliver testimony to the Commission, offering a story of conscience and how draft registration fails to meet a broad range of America's ideals. Because this public meeting cannot accommodate such open testimony, I stand before you, hoping that a free press will shine a light on the ill-conceived and poorly executed work of The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.
Listen here to the audio of my brief testimony against draft registration at 1:15:10.
Tags: America, and Public Service, Balance, Blessing, Business, Change, Character, Charity, Children, Choices, Citizens, Citizenship, Civil Disobedience, Coercion, Community, Compulsion, Congress, Conscience, Conscientious Objection, Conscription, Constitution, Constitutional Rights, Control, Cowardice, Creation, Crime, Culture, Democracy, Draft Registration, Education, Elite, Employment, Enemies, Evil, Experience, Failure, Faith, Family, Farce, Fear, Female, Freedom, Freedom of the Press, Future, Gandhi, God, government, Grace, Haiti, Heart, History, Holy, Honesty, Hope, Hospitality, Human Rights, Humanity, Ideals, Idolatry, Inspiration, Ironic, Jesus, Job, Justice, Labor, Law, Life, Love, Meaning, Media, Mennonite, Mercy, Military, Modern, Moral, Murder, Muslims, National, National Commission on Military, National Security, Nature, Necessary Evil, Noncombatants, Obedience, Patience, Peacemakers, People of The Book, Perspective, Political, Politics, Poor, Power, Present, President, Prison, Public Health, Questions, Radical, Reality, Refugees, Religion, Religious, Religious Freedom, Resistance, Rhetoric, Risk, Rules, Russia, Sacred, Security, Selective Service System, skin in the game, Social Justice, State, Status, Suffering, Supreme Court, Surreal, Terrorism, Time, Toledo, Truth, Values, Violence, War, Women, Work, Worship
POEM: Awe That Is Fine Her
August 13th, 2016 Filed under: Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
Sheez
Know more than
Know less than
Then any won ails
In whatever
Privileged to breathe at awe
Fenced buy abets
Dis regarding
Weather grate her
Or less her
As any won object
Is any thing worth wile
Over looking
Hi her
Or lo her
A parity girl
Beyond sum
Sublime whole
As summon to be respected
As things aren't
As they peer
And with won voice
Even as winsome and surrender some
Make us as we were
Mend to be
Engendering awe that is fine her
In every weigh
This is a poem about a certain sublime equality to any path toward enlightenment and more particularly about the struggle of a female protagonist engendering courage and healing in a patriarchal world. I am grateful for women sublimely manifesting the so-called feminine virtues. This helps me achieve balance in my own masculine existence. Of course, I am in particularly awe of folks who can transcend socially prescribed gender roles and model the full range of virtues and vices that whole human beings embrace. May we find wholeness along the serpentine and twisted paths of our lives. May you eagerly welcome whatever may be coming around the next bend.
Tags: Awe, Balance, Courage, Enlightenment, Equality, Female, Gender, Healing, Poems, Poetry, Privilege, Respect, Virtue, Women
FREE POSTER: Hillary Clinton DeathStar Featuring Female Stormtroopers With Paid Maternity Leave
June 8th, 2016 Filed under: Free Stuff, News, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
Here is my tribute to presumptuous candidate Hillary Clinton's statist realism. She is a tried and true caretaker of American empire. Her predictability will be a discomforting relief to many. And as for Trump, search your heart, he is your fodder. Fear not, regardless, any rebels will be put down.
Download and/or print FREE POSTER: Hillary Clinton DeathStar Featuring Female Stormtroopers With Paid Maternity Leave
Tags: Donald Trump, Elections, Fear, Female, free poster, Heart, Hillary Clinton
POEM: They Knot His and Her — Owed To Gender Fluidity
June 2nd, 2016 Filed under: Gay, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
They cross that strait
When they get two it
As engender queer
In mirrorly two be
Or knot too be
This poem is an ode to gender fluidity, to anyone who looks in the mirror and sees a different gender than at first glance, or seize more than one gender.
Gender, as a complicated amalgam of biological and social constructs, should be expected to manifest itself in a myriad of ways. The simplistic binary of male/female is abridge too far for many folks. Life is as often as knot incredibly nuanced or calling us to weighs of being that no mirror man or woman has gone before. To be pronoun challenged is that splendiferous juncture wear he/she and us/them simply becomes they and we. To coin an old phrase, E Pluribus Unum, "from many, one."
In the U.S., transgender issues have taken the forefront since the gay marriage equality issue is largely resolved.
Like many social justice issues, transgender equality will be brandished about, weaponized by reactionary bigots where it may still win political points amidst a rapidly changing status quo. I strongly suspect history has a distinct direction in this struggle, and it will resemble the future more than the past. June is gay pride month, or perhaps better named LGBTQQIA Pride Month. Hopefully, this time of special celebration will help people relish their own gender identity and the gender identity of others. May our diversity enrich us all.
Tags: Diversity, Equality, Female, Future, Gender, History, Identity, Justice, Life, Ode, Poetry, Political, Pride, Queer, Reactionary, Short Poems, Social Justice, Status, Status Quo, Time, Transgender
POEM: Guileless
October 6th, 2015 Filed under: Poems Add Comment
Many amen
Such a singular attraction
As a guileless woman
Unable to disguise
Her own beauty
This poem is an ode to the singular beauty of each and every woman, with a special nod to the guileless. This poem takes on another layer of meaning if you get the pun in the title, Guileless, as also Guyless. When a woman is in touch with her own beauty, she neither requires a guy or has any need to dis guys to feel whole. Of course, when a woman is in sync with her own beauty, others find this attractive as well. While this will surely be followed by amen, whether it is followed by a man or not, is soully up to the woman. Awe we need to know is that one's own beauty is more than, enough.
Tags: Awe, Beautiful, Beauty, Female, Feminism, Feminist, Gender, Meaning, Ode, Poems, Poetry, Short Poems, Women
POEM: Can She Be Eunuch?
September 23rd, 2015 Filed under: Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
She stated
No one else can do what I do
To witch
They rejoined
Realing in whore
Accept that you are a cog
You intractable wrench
Unfit for cloning round
And unstranded
She cut out
From the puppet tier
Knot to be
Am ployed
She were eunuch
This poem is about breaking away from the artifice and inhumanity of the machine, aka, capitalism, which is designed to monetize you in any way possible. When someone discovers the passion of their unique role and contribution to the world, the machine pushes back as it has difficulty incorporating one's soul eccentricities into it's standardized system and dehumanized algorithms. Generous portions of creativity easily overwhelm "the way we have always done things" as well as distant, disconnected orders from big bosses. Creativity is so unnatural to the machine that it ultimately creates huge inefficiencies, even amidst its seeming devotion to efficiency. The machine typically finds it much more expedient to grind cows to hamburger than even milk them for all that they are worth. Workers' humanity routinely suffers the analogous outcome. Creativity that cannot be easily plugged into the machine is ignored, discounted, or actively stifled. In this poem, the sheer stupidity and foolishness of a system that fails to adapt to the unfathomable creativity of the human spirit is represented by the rhetorical question that is the title: Can she be eunuch? Beside the overlayed meaning of the pun eunuch/unique, the definitional absurdity of a female being a eunuch (a castrated male) illustrates how the machine fundamentally misunderstands and misuses the very people it is alleged to serve. The machine is indiscriminate in its castration! Of coarse, such crudeness does serve some people, just not workers within the system. Even though a system well designed to incorporate human creativity and eccentricities could unleash incalculable efficiencies and productivity AND be well aligned with the desires and needs of each of those working within such a system, the capitalist system is not intended to produce the greatest good, particularly the common good, but instead is geared and cogged to produce material wealth for an elite few who pull the levers of so-called industry. Private profit at the expense of human potential and the common good is the only real order of the day in capitalism. The common good is reduced to foolhardiness as it is wide open to being robbed by the capitalistic princes of virtue, greed being the organizing principle of capitalism. Human attributes not easily monetized atrophy in capitalism. Turning humans into cogs for personal profit may very well be one of the better definitions of evil. Robbing others of their God-given creativity and eccentric passions for a few bucks and a cynical acceptance of a diminished humanity is a pathetic way of honoring the countless gifts humanity brings to the world. Courageous creativity, the bold commitment and determination to find a way to be who you were created to be, is the answer to the dehumanizing capitalistic machine. Reveling in the infinitely greater portion of life that is not easily monetized assures a home and hearth for your own humanity and all those who take the time to be present to such gifts. May you find your unique passions and the courage to boldly follow them in their many serendipitous consummations.
Tags: Absurdity, Acceptance, Art, Capitalism, Common Good, Courage, Creativity, Crude, Cynical, Dehumanizing, Efficiency, Elite, Evil, Female, Foolish, Gift, God, Greed, Heart, Humanity, Life, Meaning, Monetize, Passion, Poems, Poetry, Present, Productivity, Rage, Rhetoric, Soul, Stupid, Time, Virtue, Wealth, Work
POEM: Unfare
September 10th, 2015 Filed under: About Top Pun, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
Weighter
Truth be tolled
Whoever's pain the bill
I'd like a reseat
This poem addresses the truism that life is not fair. I have spent most of my life and part of most days working to address social injustices. Recently, with the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have redoubled my efforts to examine my own privileges and disenfranchisements. In sum, I am a very privileged individual. I am fascinated by how our own sets of privileges and disenfranchisements play out in society, particularly social justice movements. Perhaps the most prevalent divide, present even within most households, is male and female. Patriarchy is nearly omnipresent. As in any privileged group, men must exert effort to not by default weaponize privilege against those disenfranchised, in this case, about half of the world's population! I have seen how people of color and trans folks have worked hard to claim their rightful roles and places within the LGBT equality movement. In addition, socioeconomic class issues cut across virtually all social movements. As a U.S. citizen working predominantly alongside other U.S. citizens, the privilege of First-Worldism profoundly impacts our relevance and importance as planetary citizens, where the poorest majority of humanity bears the brunt of the rest of the world's over-consumption of resources, abuses of power, and assorted and sundry cultural dominations.
As for me, solidarity is a primary guiding principle for my social justice activism. Literally standing with people who are disenfranchised in one way or another strikes me as one of the most direct ways to step toward social justice. This is related to "putting skin in the game," which serves as my primary measure for authentic commitment to other human beings and the creation we share. As Alice Walker so elegantly stated, "Activism is my rent for living on this planet." This planet, so teeming with life, deserves our respect, appreciation, and honest efforts to make it the best home possible for millions of miles around. As I like to say: Life isn't fair, it's excellent!
Tags: Citizens, Consumption, Creation, Disenfranchised, Domination, Economic, Equality, Female, Gratitude, Humanity, Justice, LGBT, Life, Patriarchy, Play, Poems, Poetry, Political, Poor, Power, Present, Privilege, Respect, Short Poems, skin in the game, Social Justice, Social Movements, Society, Solidarity, Truth, Work
POEM: Innocence — An Owed In A Sense
August 14th, 2015 Filed under: Add Comment
Her innocence
Was immune to their dis ease
As be wilder
And a tempt
However tempered
Only to be
Dis missed
As just
A guile
His innocence
Deified awe bravery
In the face
Of accusations summoned
As subdude
As never a cur to them
Posing the quest in
Guise will
Be guise
Her bosom leaped
Skipping to a beat
As sir passingly chaste
Giving birth in maternal rapture
Nun the lass
By those racking up
Scorn points
Holy to be allayed
His heart sang
As here the music
Temporal forces
Craven reseeding
To proper gate the race
Certifiably birthed
In a heil of ballads
Or castrating scores
Of bullet points
Him off
In tom foolery or gaiety
There it is
In a sense
Light as it may be
Worth the wait
Up till
Abated breath
This poem, an ode to innocence, addresses the default cynicism and mistrust in contemporary modern culture. Innocence is suspect. Original sin has much more effective branding than original blessing. The unguarded are as likely to be blamed for violations as violators. Plus, passionate living is often viewed as potentially dangerous. Freely following one's passions can often be inconvenient or unnerving to others who might prefer a more staid, predictable environment. Exercising freedom, by definition, limits the predictability available to those who live alongside you. Exercise freedom enough to challenge the socializing forces of any given culture and you can expect these forces to provide sanctions designed to exorcise your freedom. Shame and punishment is a poor trade for the inevitable vagaries of free and passionate living.
This poem, with alternating female and male subjects, also confronts gender roles and their over-sexualization, particularly of women. Hyper-sexualization is a major means of reducing free human beings to controllable objects, for the proper gating of the race. Viewing others as free subjects in a shared humanity rather than objects in a controlled environment is essential to the evolution of humanity.
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of innocence is the shame-free liberation it unleashes. As a child responds freshly to the world unfolding before them, harmony and positive change become more accessible. The maturity of experience can bring a disciplined freedom committed to an innocent wildness and natural generosity, even in the face of powerful shaming and sanctions bidding us to sell our freedom for a slice of the take. May you successfully dance circles around the forces of shaming and punishment, ever inviting others to joyfully join the dance of freedom.
Tags: Awe, Beautiful, Blessing, Change, Control, Culture, Cynicism, Environment, Evolution, Experience, Female, Freedom, Gender, Generosity, Harmony, Heart, Holy, Humanity, Joy, Modern, Ode, Passion, Poems, Poetry, Poor, Power, Punishment, Sex, Success, Trust, Women
POEM: Unemployed Stat
May 2nd, 2014 Filed under: Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
Unemployment hit a 5-year low
Still, Bob remains 100% unemployed
This short poem highlights the difference between statistics and people. Statistics can estimate probabilities with some accuracy of how a large group of people may act, or be affected by something. Statistics cannot reliably predict stuff on an individual level. The farther we get away from individuals, the greater "power" statistics wields. Of course, we could compile all the statistics in the world and estimate what the average or typical human would be like, yet never actually know anything meaningful about any individual human. That typical human being would be a 27-year-old, Mandarin-speaking, Christian, female agricultural worker. Those researchers might well learn more about humanity by going to lunch with their other researchers. To take a simpler example, suppose researchers measured the foot size of every person in the United States and calculated the average value. If leaders used this information to provide everyone with a pair of average-sized shoes, there would be a lot of shoes thrown at such foolish leaders. Except for the exceptional genius of baggy pants, one-size-fits-all often doesn't work well. In many cases, the truth is closer to one-size-fits-none. The point is that the farther we get away from knowing individual human beings the less we know about humanity.
Statistics is impersonal. Statistics knows nothing of intimacy. Statistics treats human beings as deterministic objects. Only by studying huge numbers of people can statistics succeed at sufficiently washing out individual differences. Granted, most human systems are very complex and many of these differences are, in fact, "material" or deterministic differences. Nonetheless, the grandest fallacy or illusion brought by the power of statistics is that human free will is insignificant and can be ignored or rounded down to zero. The greatest fact that can only be ignored only at the peril of losing our humanity is that human freedom is the very reality that most defines humans.
Bob is not a statistic. Bob is not simply something to be tallied up, or experimented on for other people's edification. For those who actually care about Bob, statistics provide little human warmth and limited meaning. Without human caring, which is ultimately rooted in intimate human relationships, statistics serve to dehumanize us. The issue is not whether to abandon statistics as a human tool to help understand the physical world around us. The issue is whether our humanity will wield tools for our betterment, or such tools will wither our humanity.
People who seek great power need to scale up their individual power through tools. If the scale of power sought exceeds one's ability to exercise their humanity, by growing their own humanity and the humanity of others, then tools become weapons against humanity. The exercise, and even threat, of such power exceeding a human scale can tempt others to react in an equally inhumane way. This "self" defense is often justified as an equal and opposite reaction. However, unless inhumane treatment is met with humane treatment, then the interaction is nothing more than physics — every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction. If humanity doesn't respond to inhumanity out its own higher nature, humanity, then it is reduced to inhumanity. Part of human existence is physics. However, if we don't recognize and live into our higher nature, in the realm of metaphysics, then humans will closely resemble billiard balls, albeit very complex billiard balls. The ability to react in a humane way to any situation is, in fact, what human response-ability is! Newton's third law of motion, that every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction, is not adequate to explain human behavior. Though, ironically, the less free we become, the closer this seems true. I don't know about you, but for me, as a free range human being, that's not the way I roll!
Sadly, the temptations of great power, whether to secure great power for oneself or to react in "self" defense against such dehumanizing power, seem to be an everyday reality for most humans. Modern-day success often seems to rest on either wielding dehumanizing power over others, or, at best, reaching a form of detente, where we react in equal and opposite ways, hoping not to reduce humanity any further, but not willing to risk our humanity to up the game. Unfortunately, any slightest miscalculation will degrade humanity. And the calculating humans required for even the best detente have already sacrificed their humanity to play a game of billiards. In fact, without higher aspirations, people become tools — or at least begin to appear as tools. Yet, people are not tools. Hope springs eternal.
Reintroducing human scales, necessarily smaller and decentralized, resting on a rich and robust foundation of human intimacy, is the greatest challenge humans face in responding to globalization and cancerous capitalistic and consumer culture. We need to get over the notion that modern civilization's institutions are too big to fail. We need to get over the notion that wee, the people, are too small to make a difference. The truth is the opposite. Western civilization is deeply dependent on dehumanization and continues to race unabated past natural limits, most notably by destroying the very environment we depend upon. Humans depending on dehumanization and doggedly insisting that we "shit where we eat," is unsustainable. Either humans transcend such dehumanizing dependencies or we will descend into fascism. Either humans learn to live in harmony with nature or nature will "select" us, or at least our cancerous globalized civilization, out of existence in some Darwinian extinction. Nature may be kind enough to simply scale us down a bit, doing for us what we can't do for ourselves, in a Newtonian third law of motion tour de force. We can do better. Not through hubris and ever more precise power grabs. I suspect the seed of a successful human future will be rooted in personally nurturing Bob and singing songs of humanity rather than bowing to the steady hum of a wickedly efficient bureau of labor statistics.
Tags: Christian, Culture, Darwin, Decentralization, Defense, Dehumanizing, Employment, Environment, Extinction, Fascism, Female, Foolish, Free Will, Freedom, Future, Genius, Harmony, Hope, Hubris, Humanity, Impersonal, Institutions, Intimacy, Ironic, Labor, Law, Meaning, Metaphysics, Modern, Nature, Physics, Play, Poems, Poetry, Power, Reality, Relationships, Rich, Risk, Sacrifice, Short Poems, Songs, State, Statistics, Success, Sustainable, Temptation, Truth, Western Civilization, Work
POEM: Feminists Know Something
March 21st, 2012 Filed under: Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment
As a man
One day I wondered
How come there are so few
Women economists
Women lawyers
Then it occurred to me
Maybe they know something we don't
The quest to understand the difference between men and women has probably been around as long as there have been men and women. This feminist poem seeks to stimulate reflection around the issue of self-selection of a career or vocation. While there are certainly barriers to women entering, succeeding or advancing in certain male-dominated careers or vocations, there are definitely self-selection factors based on gender. In this poem, I choose the specific fields of politics, economics, and law for reflection. These fields are dominated by men. However, I suspect that much of the reason women are not attracted, or dare I say engendered, to these fields is because of both the nature of these fields and the way these fields have been shaped (or distorted) by a male point of view. As a man and a feminist, I try to understand and value women's experiences, ways of being, and points of view. Of course, men's experiences, ways of being, and points of view, are transmitted more easily in our society due to men's dominant role and control over many structures and processes in our society. Given these realities, we should all be feminists, seeking to strike a more healthy balance between the genders. This requires that we all pay more attention to what women know; and by knowing I mean much more than simply intellectual content but the whole range of experiences, ways of being, and points of view. And by all means, I don't relegate the field of "doing" to men, given the fact that women do most of the work in the world. Simple curiosity demands that men especially seek insight into what women know that men may not. Of course, being counter-cultural, this takes work, and for some reason women either seem more willing to take on work, or just experience ending up doing more of it.. Either way, we should all pay more attention to these differences.
Tags: Balance, Control, Counter-Cultural, Curiosity, Experience, Female, Feminism, Feminist, Gender, Law, Nature, Poems, Poetry, Politics, Short Poems, Society, Vocation, Women, Work
February 16th, 2012 Filed under: Gay, Top Pun Design Commentaries Add Comment
Homosexual Agenda – Spend Time with Family – Be Treated Equally – Buy Milk
Homosexual Agenda – Spend Time with Family – Be Treated Equally – Buy Milk–Gay
Pride Rainbow Store FUNNY BUTTON
This cool design is linked to a button, but other great Top Pun products like
T-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, caps, key chains, magnets, posters, and sticker
sheets can be accessed by scrolling down the product page.
Gay Civil Rights Buttons.
This gay civil rights design is a parody of the right-wing fixation on some nefarious homosexual agenda. If you want to get right-wing religious conservatives all hyped up, talk about homosexuality. Somehow, the idea that LGBTQA persons are normal people who desire the same civil rights as everyone else is a foreign concept to them. This long-standing religious bigotry is hugely disproportional even if you were to buy the Scriptural reasoning by religious conservatives. Homosexuality is one of those touchstone issues that acts as a lightning rod for many darker aspects of religious conservatism. Of course, they are plenty of issues with sexuality itself. Role in issues of controlling moralism and imperial exclusivism, and the oppression train is ready to roll! While you may hear language about welcoming and loving the sinner not the sin from the more moderate bigots, the bottom line is always that homosexuality is always viewed as wrong and deviant. So much for that grand diversity. The Bible talks very little about homosexuality, though, granted, what it would seem to say about homosexuality is not very good. This strikes me as eerily similar to the biblical basis for racism. Back to the issue of disproportionality. When religious folks overwhelm and overlook other obviously more important issues like poverty and violence with less clear issues, I don't think this represents some kind of cutting-edge discernment; rather, an honest reading of church history, shows that this is people hanging onto an age-old bigotry not some eternal truth. While racism is present in the Church, just like it is present in most institutions to some degree, the Church has at least agreed that racism is wrong. While there is much of the Christian church that does not view women as equals, most prominently, the Roman Catholic Church, the overall social norm has tipped to female equality. If you think that the Roman Catholic Church is that they hold out, just speak to a lot of Catholics; but times are changing. I believe that homosexuality is in the inevitable queue for growing awarenesses around age-old bigotries that will fall when true religion is manifest. Our sexuality, including sexual orientation, is a gift from God. This should be celebrated, not despised.
The other thing I really like about this design is that it focuses on the normality of gay aspirations. Of course LGBTQA people want to be treated equally – duh! But this equality is a prerequisite for going about living a normal life. I will pray and work for the day when discrimination against LGBTQA persons is only a subject in the history books that baffles people why it ever happened in the first place. Let's make it so!
Tags: Bible, Bigotry, Catholic, Christian, Church, Civil Rights, Conservative, cool design, Discrimination, Diversity, Equality, Family, Female, Funny, Gift, God, History, Homosexuality, Institutions, LGBT, Life, Morality, Normal, Oppression, Poverty, Present, Pride, Queer, Racism, Religion, Religious, Right-Wing, Sexuality, Time, Top Pun, Truth, Violence, Women, Work
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Top Pun's mission is to maximize prophets. Top Pun creates serious, funny, and seriously funny peace and justice designs which are available on your choice of products such as buttons, T-shirts, and bumper stickers. Top Pun blogs to highlight additional facets of his word artistry such as pun-filled poetry and funny political satire, free posters, as well as political actions of local and global importance -- and don't forget the noncommercial, public health radio show available online, Just for the Health of It . Top Pun's serious playfulness ever reminds us that justice is no yoke, and the pun is mightier than the sword!
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