Letter to Editor
The attached story is based on real events surrounding my heart attack last week. The hospital’s emergency cardiology team was headed by Dr. Ron Himelmann at Desert Regional in Palm Springs. I spent my entire time in the cardiology ICU. I was awake during all procedures and was awake from 5am to 9pm in the cardiology ICU.
Over the course of my 72 hours, I was treated by six nurses, five procedure team members and support staff. I now know all of them. Everyone came together as one. One with a common purpose: to offer their best effort as professionals and to stay connected to their patients as deserving human beings.
While the story which follows is a first person narrative, the story belongs to everyone on the hospital’s emergency cardiology team.
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Greedy 4 Money
Robust expressions of belonging to a community are critical to a full flowering of Democracy. Capitalism, on the other hand, promotes the virtues of individualism.
A working Democracy and an adherence to the practices of Capitalism are not sustainable and are, therefore, in practice, mutually exclusive pursuits.
Again and again, Smith warned of the collusive nature of business interests, which may form cabals or monopolies, fixing the highest price "which can be squeezed out of the buyers".
Smith also warned that a true laissez-faire economy would quickly become a conspiracy of businesses and industry against consumers, with the former scheming to influence politics and legislation.
Smith states that the interest of manufacturers and merchants "...in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public...
I am Paul in Spirit-in-sky-Paul. I write stories about my memories of growing up.
At 68, I have accumulated a very large store of memories. I was born '43 in Sequoia Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. Until age 6 or so, I lived with my book-ending sisters...1 18 mo. older, the other, 15 mo. younger. For our 1st 3 or 4 years, we thought of ourselves as one person with 3 identities.
BRENDA--HART GIRL NUMBER FOUR
I was nearly nine when Brenda was born
A fourth little girl now in our home.
How thrilled we were, except for Dad
He wanted a boy really bad.
He did, however, accept her with grace
and fell in love with her smiling face.
She was a very wonderful child
Always smiling and her manner was mild.
After a little more than a year
Our family had weeks of nothing but fear.
Fear that Brenda would not survive
As we asked God to let her live.
Brenda had just begun to walk
And make pleasant sounds as she tried to talk.
Now she could no longer move
This little girl that we all love.
We couldn't even hear her cry
So we prayed and prayed to God on high.
The diagnosis came - oh, what a blow
You see, they said she had polio.
They took her away - it seemed so unfair
But she needed to get therapeutic care.
I guess I finally understood.
But, I wanted to see her - if only I could.
Each Sunday, Mom and Dad would go
Hoping to bring her home.
But the therapy was very slow
And they returned home alone.
After nearly a year, progress was made
Those memories will never fade.
My little sister had finally returned
The homecoming for which we all yearned.
Surgeries and braces she faced for years
Her continued therapy had us all in tears.
All those discomforts, God used as a tool
In order that Brenda could start school.
She did very well - an excellent student
Even skipped sixth grade - she is so prudent!
At age 16 she became a high school grad
How could we any longer be sad!!!
She started work in a five and dime
Brenda wasn't one to waste her time.
Working there meant being on her feet.
Nine months of this without defeat.
A position in the medical field was to be
Transcribing records for many MDs.
She completed her work with lots of pride
We all are able in her to confide.
Brenda and Mom were very close
On each other they came to depend
But Mom died and Brenda lost...
not just her Mom, but her very best friend.
After thirty-five years, Brenda did retire
She is taking care of our Dad.
He's eighty-six and a little senile
Her strength I wish I had.
With the faith, love and loyalty
That I see in my sister, my friend
I know our God is with her
And will be to the end.
© 1997, by Betty Hart Lynn
Betty is my sister and lives in South Dakota with her husband.
She has 3 children and 5 grandchildren.
I have carried in my soul a memory of a shooting star gracefully
flashing across the mid-night sky....she of amazing grace in movement
belie the secret she hides...just happy to be alive...her smile radiant
as she tosses those pompoms into the air. Me too full of myself would hide
my true feelings of wonder with "my isn't she terrific" stare.
How was she to know, how I secretly prayed, that the day she bought me
as her slave, would be just the first day we would be this way.
Why now do tears spill from my eyes...it is far from easy to live
a life of borrowed emotions that cannot allow you to totally there.
Why is it so difficult too share a friendship with you, dear Brenda,
whose wish it was, too just be there.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SOMEONE SPECIAL
You're someone special, Brenda Joyce Hart,
A unique branch of our family tree.
So far back as my mind can remember
You've always been my "Aunt Brenie".
But even more than being my Aunt
You've been so much more to me.
You've been a shining example
Of what a Christian should be.
You've been given many challenges in your life
From braces to casts to canes.
I know it couldn't have been easy
And yet the strength of your spirit remained.
I'm sure there were times when your faith faltered
And yet you didn't let it show.
You continued to be a blessing to your family
Someone we were proud to know.
If I were to draw a picture of your faith, Aunt Bren,
I'd start with a tall oak tree.
It's many branches and leaves make it so beautiful
But there'd be more to my picture you see.
There'd be deep roots that stretch way down in the soil.
These roots would represent your faith.
The soil would be your relationship with God
And together they would account for your strength.
I love who you were, I love who you are,
And I love who you're going to be
As God continues to do a work in your life,
You'll grow even more special to me.
© 1994, by Karen Fox Stroupe
Karen is my niece and lives in Pennsylvania with
her husband and daughter.
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SAFE IN HIS GRIP
I am safe in His Grip
As I travel down life's road.
Confident that God is with me
No matter where I go.
I am safe in His Grip,
Even when I am in the pit of despair.
He enables me to climb out
When I am overcome with fear.
I am safe in His Grip
When my health is slowly fading...
He comforts me with Words
That are soothing and uplifting.
I am safe in His Grip,
When the winds of life blow hard.
He surrounds me with His Love
As I travel down life's path.
I am safe in His Grip,
When happiness beams down on me.
My heart explodes with gratitude
As I think of how much He loves me.
© 2000 by Gail Parks
Gail is a friend I met over the Internet. She lives with her
husband and children in Canada. She wrote this poem for me
because I always sign my messages with
In His Grip, Brenda
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BLESSINGS RIPPLE
Blessings ripple when you share your heart
To those who are lost upon life's path.
Share your time, your love and your compassion
With someone who is facing a difficult situation.
Then let God do the rest
And you will be richly blessed.
For those around you will also find
That they are blessed because you took the time
To hold their hand when they were scared
And you prayed for them in their time of despair.
Now isn't that truly amazing
That God gives both of you His blessing.
That's how blessings ripple my friend.
Once you start sharing there is no end
To the blessings you receive from heaven above
And it all begins when you take the time to
share God's love.
© 2006 by Gail Parks
Gail is a friend I met over the Internet. She lives with her
husband and children in Canada.
Economics 101 or where did we go so terribly wrong
A serious talk as told by little every man (EM) and Little Man (LM)
LM: Did U decide to take that econ course, U were thinking about?
EM: yes…and it is a huge mistake…
LM: oh
EM: I attended the 1st class meeting last night over at Rainbow Rock..
LM: Yeah…the CC across town…
EM: they offer a bunch of sample courses …
LM: I remember…like a an open door chips-n-dips party…
EM: well…forget that…if U didn’t have time 2 swing over 2 in-and-out, dinner would be dispensed … cheese-crackers the cuisine of dreamers and slackers…
LM: and the class?
EM: right…couldn’t get near the door…U no the drill
LM: even 4, excuse me 4 saying, a sleep inducing pill like econ 101...
EM: I couldn’t believe it either…
LM: I guess it is, ‘the economy stupid…’
EM: no kidding
LM: I wasn’t
EM: right, …so
LM: go on…
EM: so, they circulated a “waiting” list…which everyone seemed to sign…
LM: yes
EM: everyone knows that ¾ of them will not return 4 the next meeting…
LM: which is when…?
EM: this coming Thurs…
LM: U going back?
EM: I don’t know…what do U think
But LM was focusing on the Drifters’ song, Get-a-job…
and EM’s question floated away on heavy air…
And, so, it came 2 pass…
HONORING HER MEMORY
Christina Taylor Green (9/11/2001 - 1/8/2011)
"I just want her memory to live on, she's a face of hope, a face of change," she said. "Stop the violence, stop the hatred." Mother quote
A life bracketed by two national tragedies: born on the day (9/11/2001) of the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York; died on the day (1/8/2011) of the tragic shootings in Tucson, Arizona.
All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations. Obama quote
Obama Arizona Speech: 'I Want America To Be As Good As She Imagined It'
This past week, Monday (5/9) through Friday (5/13), for me, was dominated by a heart attack. My first.
It started on Monday afternoon. Pain in center of chest but to the right of the serum. Tingly sensation in both forearms. Acute pain in the lower, back side of my head. And perspiration flowing freely everywhere on my body.
First reaction, denial. Heart burn from something I had eaten. Laid down on couch and commenced Yoga like deep-breathing. Not as easy to do when it is real and not practice. But I know from past experience that it will help if I can keep with it. Long & slow inhale with mouth closed. Long & slow exhale releasing air from mouth. Easy to summarize but not easy when you are in full “flee” automatic response mode.
Oh, it’s working, keep at it. Inhale, long & slow… Coming back.
Give what just happened a name. If it has a name, it is not unknown.
Get up and pray there will be no more.
By Tuesday 3am, I knew I was in the grip of something. About one hour and fifteen minute intervals since the first episode. I have been expecting adult on-set of diabetes for the past two decades. Both my father and my Uncle Louie had adult on-set. I figured that time had come for me. I believed that I was having a diabetic episode of some kind.
Tuesday I had committed to take both kids to school and pick them up after.
Their mom was already out of the area taking a course required for renewing her certification as an Occupational Therapist.
Getting them to school was relatively easy. But there was no denying it was getting worse rapidly. I went to Albertson to get food. I picked up lots of sweets. Cupcakes and candies. I ate a couple cupcakes and felt better…ah, diabetes is the culprit. Now time to pick up kids. Gavin first. Back to get Kelly. Get her to the condo with Gavin. Now 4pm and I am popping candy
every couple of minutes.
Off to a free standing (not attached to a hospital) emergence room.
I pass an EKG but it still doesn’t seem right. Order an ambulance and off to the emergence room at the near by hospital. Time 4:45pm. As I am being admitted, the heart attack finally begins.
Everyone in that emergency room become one. Their full attention and total commitment is to not let the heart attack win.
In the next 72 hours, I was able to witness what is possible if we commit to it.
Was I special? No. I live on social security; I have no private pension or retirement benefits. I, do have, Medicare AND Medical.
Earlier today (2pm), I walked out of the hospital and drove myself home. I picked up 5 new prescription…total cost, $10. I have 5 stents where arteries use to be blocked.
I have no incisions or stitches. I was never put to sleep.
I no longer have swollen extremities. I have no new debt to worry over.
Tonight, I sleep peacefully in my bed with my son in his room. Tomorrow, my daughter will join us and sleep over. A miracle, no doubt.
We, Americans, can afford to make this miracle happen for all of us.
Jeff Madrick’s Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present is an attempt to chronicle the emergence and persistence of this pattern.
The first thing you need to know about the cycle of financial overreach, crisis, and bailout is that it was not always thus. The United States emerged from the Great Depression with a tightly regulated financial sector, and for about forty years those regulations were enough to keep banking both safe and boring. And for a while—with memories of the bank failures of the 1930s still fresh—most people liked it that way.
Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, however, both the political consensus in favor of boring banking and the structure of regulations that kept banking safe unraveled. The first half of Age of Greed describes how this happened through a series of personal profiles.
The nation's five largest mortgage servicers -- Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial -- have also been the focus of a federal investigation into whether the banks defrauded taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures
The recession might be officially over, but American views toward the institutions that brought the economic system close to collapse have never been worse.
According to a new poll by Gallup, 36 percent of Americans now say they have "very little" or "no" confidence in U.S. banks, the highest percentage on record since Gallup first started tracking that data. Those saying they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in banks has also stagnated, stuck at 23 percent for the second straight year, after falling to a low of 22 percent in 2009.
Gallup, who has been tracking confidence in banks for over thirty years now, notes the steady decline of confidence in their release, pointing out that 60 percent of Americans had at least "quite a lot" of confidence in banks in 1979. That fell to 30 percent in the early 1990s, but then steadily rose to 53 percent in the mid-200s.
The percentage of Americans with a good deal of trust in banks has been nearly halved since 2007:
But we could also be talking about 1991, when the consequences of vast, loan-financed overbuilding of commercial real estate in the 1980s came home to roost, helping to cause the collapse of the junk-bond market and putting many banks—Citibank, in particular—at risk. Only the fact that bank deposits were federally insured averted a major crisis. Or we could be talking about 1982–1983, when reckless lending to Latin America ended in a severe debt crisis that put major banks such as, well, Citibank at risk, and only huge official lending to Mexico, Brazil, and other debtors held an even deeper crisis at bay. Or we could be talking about the near crisis caused by the bankruptcy of Penn Central in 1970
