Happy Columbus Day!

Here’s a few “fast facts” about the observance of this day in the US of A:*

1.     "Celebration of Christopher Columbus's voyage in the early United States is recorded from as early as 1792."   

2.     "President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed it as a one-time national celebration in 1892 ("During the anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used rituals to teach ideals of patriotism.)"

3.     "The first statewide holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907." [Emphasis added].  

Here’s a few “fast facts” about the man, Christopher Columbus himself:**

1.   “…cultural anthropologist Carol Delaney notes that Columbus himself never owned a slave and adopted an ­indigenous child as his son.”

2.   “Slavery was already here in the New World. So were cannibalism and human sacrifice, neither tolerated in the Old World.” [Well, not in Europe, anyway.]”**

3.   “Contrary to popular belief, “Columbus didn’t ‘discover’ America — he never set foot in North America.”***

So, I don’t get it; where is the big attitude from the Native Americans about Columbus and Columbus Day coming from? Why all the push to re-designate Columbus Day – a holiday that has stood in some way in various areas of the United States of America since 1792 – to “Indigenous Peoples Day.”

And, by the way, just what – exactly – is an “Indigenous Person?” I mean, I was born here, both sets of my grandparents were born here, so…doesn’t that make me an Indigenous Person?

I know…. There I go bein’ all logical again!

But, seriously now, folks…. As a history buff, I have no problem with a national observance of the American Indian heritage that this country has.

And, guess what? “Indigenous Peoples Day should be a holiday … and it is: Aug. 9. [Not only that, but] …November is Indigenous Peoples Month.” 

But, even if an international observance of the various peoples around the world who are/were indigenous to given nations were not good enough, and it is deemed necessary that America needs its own Indigenous Peoples day of observance, my question is, why does it have to replace Columbus Day? The answer is, it shouldn’t. The attempt to do so is just one more way to “un-Americanize” our United States of America. And it needs to stop.

References:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day

** https://nypost.com/2019/10/13/stop-scapegoating-christopher-columbus/

*** https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/14/christopher-columbus-3-things-you-think-he-did-that-he-didnt/

Of tobacco, socialism, Forrest Gump and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In 2019, we ALL know smoking is bad. The Center for Disease Control says, “Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body. It is the leading cause of preventable death.”* We know it causes cancer. We know smoking to be one of the causes of heart disease, stroke, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).*

Question: When have you ever heard a licensed physician tell someone to take up smoking to improve their health?

Answer: Never.

That’s because smoking only harms your physical health, never improves it. And yet, despite decades worth of knowledge that it’s harmful, despite all the anti-smoking campaigns and laws against tobacco sales to younger people and against using it in public places, etc. for some strange reason, there seems to be an almost-romanticism surrounding smoking that continues to lure teenagers and adults alike into the habit.

And, so it is with socialism. Nowhere in world history is there a single success story where implementing a socialist government has ever improved things wide scale. Quite the opposite. Instead you can point to a dozen examples, in modern history alone – Venezuela, Cuba, the USSR, Nazi Germany, even the once-great empires of Britain and France - where implementing a socialist government or a socialist system has instead brought extremely high taxation, costs of living at best, or dictatorship, despotism, reduced economy sometimes to poverty levels, pain, suffering and misery instead at worst.

And yet, despite decades - centuries even, if one includes older than modern history – of knowledge that it’s harmful, for some strange reason, there seems to an almost-romanticism and poetic headiness surrounding socialism that continues to make people fall for it as a suggested cure for societal problems? People rationalize chasing this siren’s song with statements like “Well, they just didn’t implement it correctly,” or “They just didn’t get enough money into the system for it to work correctly” and so on.

There’s an old saying – I’m sure you’ve all heard it – that “Insantity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We would think that someone who tries chain-smoking to improve their physical health to be crazy. So, why do liberal whackjobs like US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) or US Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and former-Senator and former-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before her advocate socialism and it seem so appealing and convincing to some that “This time we can get it to successfully work?”

Maybe the fictional movie character “Forrest Gump” was right, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Or, as “Star Wars” character Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi pointed out, “Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”

Sources:

*“Overviews of Diseases/Conditions | Overviews of Diseases/Conditions | Tips From Former Smokers | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/diseases/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EST 4059 - Tips 2016 Campaign Search - English - Prevention Terms;S;WL;BR;RES;HCP;CO&utm_content=Danger - Broad&utm_term=dangers of smoking&&gclid=CjwKCAiAy-_iBRAaEiwAYhSlA7AijSy95v2OPKj0SaLHwT2oPKQdcJbJH6DiKtEJHdT8oBDSDbmzbBoCtvsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.

Govt shutdown nonsense - fact from fiction

Well, it's day 24 of the partial government shutdown and, ask yourself; So, what exactly is a “government shutdown?”

“In short, it means that the Congress hasn’t passed, and the president hasn’t signed, legislation that directs the U.S. Treasury to fund the operations of one or more federal agencies and departments over a period of time. When that happens, there is a funding gap and those agencies either shut down or curtail their activities. Employees are furloughed without pay for the duration but some are required to keep working, without pay, especially if their jobs are related to the ‘safety of human life or the protection of property.’”* [Emphasis added.]

Now, if you are not an employee in some way of the federal government, ask yourself; So, other than hearing about it all the time on the news, have I really been affected by it? If so, has it been by much?

Granted, if you’re trying to lock in your mortgage rate or close on the sale or purchase of a home, you’re probably in limbo. (I know; I was there myself during a government shutdown during the Clinton Era.) But, do you not still see food on the store shelves, the electricity still on and the water taps still providing water in your home? Has your mail or packages from Amazon Prime suddenly been undeliverable? When you look up into the sky, do you not still see large airliners (or the contrails therefrom) overhead? If you receive a monthly check from social security, military retirement, welfare or food stamps have your checks not been coming?

The answer to the above is yeah; there’s still food, electricity, water, the mail is still being delivered, airliners and other aircraft flying around (some of which were hauling 30 Democrat congress folks and 109 lobbyists down to Puerto Rico to party on the beach and attend live performance of the hit Broadway show “Hamilton” and “attend three parties including one with the show’s cast.” **  And “Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare payments won’t be interrupted by the partial shutdown. All three programs are considered mandatory spending and are not affected by a federal budget debate.”*** (Somehow, that aspect of this shutdown situation brings to mind the old saying about Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned…. But that is a discussion for another time.)

You may find yourself asking, But, what about really important federal govt jobs? What about them?

Let’s start with “‘Excepted’ positions;

“Federal employees who perform “emergency work involving the safety of human life or the protection of property” or other types of work will be “excepted” from shutdown furloughs.”

“Otherwise, federal employees whose salaries are funded through annual appropriations will be asked not to work.”

“Since most political appointees are not subject to furlough because they are not part of the Title 5 leave system, most will continue to work during a shutdown.”****

What if they’re not “excepted” jobs; how will they pay their bills, you may ask? Remember; “Federal workers are encouraged to apply for unemployment compensation should they qualify for it in their home states.”***** So,  “Federal workers who lose pay during the government shutdown can fall back on unemployment benefits in most states.”****** So, all the rumors about babies not getting formula because their parent(s) is/are federal employees affected by the shutdown is just hogwash.  

Even so, you might be inclined to say, but, what about all their lost pay? “Federal employees furloughed during the shutdown in 2013 did receive back pay for the 16 days the government remained closed. Congress included a provision in its October 2013 spending bill that reopened the government and authorized that furloughed employees receive “at their regular standard rate of compensation for the period of such lapse in appropriations, as soon as practicable.”****

So, the military and federal law enforcement is still on duty and getting paid.  Not only that but veterans are still getting access to VA benefits, etc. “The VA Contingency Plan for the shutdown states that nearly all of it’s [sic] employees-approximately 96 percent-are ordered to report to work as usual…. VA medical facilities remain open and appointments are still being kept at VA hospitals and clinics.” ******** And the retirement checks will still be paid. The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) definitively says the “answer to this question is a definitive “yes.” According to OPM, “Federal retirees under the CSRS and FERS retirement systems will still receive their scheduled annuity payments on the first business day of the month.”******

But, what about the poor and indigent and other elderly who rely on Medicare and Medicaid? “The partial government shutdown will have no impact on Medicare and Medicaid at the federal level, CMS has stressed to industry observers.

“The nation’s public payers will continue to operate as normal, since funding for CMS is assured until at least September 30, 2019.

“CMS and its programs (including, but not limited to, @Medicaregov, @Medicaidgov and @Healthcaregov) are NOT affected by the partial gov't shutdown,” CMS stated on Twitter after the partial shutdown began in late December [2018].”*********

So, it's important to remember that - despite all the media claptrap to the contrary - the entire government is not shutdown. Critical elements of it – like federal law enforcement, the Federal Aviation Administration, etc are still open with the lights still on (albeit perhaps with a reduced staffing).

And life goes on. The sun will set in the western sky tonight and rise again in the east tomorrow morning just like always. In fact, I would wager that if there weren't the media hyping this partial government shutdown everytime we turned round, 99.9% of the American public would not only be unaffected by it, but would be completely unaware it was going on at all.

###

* Spangler, Todd. “Government Shutdown: 23 Questions You Probably Have.” Detroit Free Press, Detroit Free Press, 10 Jan. 2019, www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/10/government-shutdown-faq/2528872002/.

**Ogrysko, Nicole. “Your Pay and Benefits during a Government Shutdown, Explained.” Federal News Network, Federal News Network, 29 Nov. 2017, federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2017/04/your-pay-and-benefits-during-a-government-shutdown-explained/.

*** Bedard, Paul. “30 Democrats in Puerto Rico with 109 Lobbyists for Weekend despite Shutdown.” Washington Examiner, MediaDC, a Subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, 14 Jan. 2019, www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/30-dems-in-puerto-rico-with-109-lobbyists-for-weekend-despite-shutdown.

**** Goodkind, Nicole. “Here's What Happens to Social Security and Disability Checks in the Event of a Government Shutdown.” Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2018, www.newsweek.com/government-shutdown-social-security-disability-checks-1269131.

***** Wing, Terry, and Nicole Ogrysko. “Here's How a Shutdown Would Affect Your Pay and Benefits.” Federal News Network, Federal News Network, 20 Jan. 2018, federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2018/01/heres-how-a-shutdown-would-affect-your-pay-and-benefits/.

******Higgins, Sean. “Federal Employees File for Unemployment as Government Shutdown Becomes Longest in History.” Washington Examiner, MediaDC, a Subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, 12 Jan. 2019, www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/federal-employees-file-unemployment-as-government-shutdown-becomes-longest-in-history.

*******Smith, Ian. “How Pay and Retirement Benefits Are Impacted by a Partial Shutdown.” FedSmith: For the Informed Fed, 16 Dec. 2016, www.fedsmith.com/2018/12/16/pay-retirement-benefits-impacted-partial-shutdown/.

******** Kurtz, Annalyn. “Federal Workers Can Collect Unemployment during Shutdown.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 1 Oct. 2013, money.cnn.com/2013/10/01/news/economy/shutdown-federal-unemployment-benefits/index.html.

*********“Government Shutdown & Impact to Military, Veterans | Military Benefits.” MilitaryBenefits.info, 11 Jan. 2019, militarybenefits.info/government-shutdown/.

**********HealthPayerIntelligence. “Government Shutdown Spares Medicare, Medicaid, But Has Other Impacts.” HealthPayerIntelligence, 11 Jan. 2019, healthpayerintelligence.com/news/government-shutdown-spares-medicare-medicaid-but-has-other-impacts.