Category: Uncategorized

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Bill Maher: New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit

This link from Bill Maher’s commentary on Huffington Post is well written. In fact Bill’s commentary reminds me of something I learned when touring George Eastman’s home in Rochester, New York. Eastman, the founder of Kodak, made a lot of money in World War I as a government contractor. Do you know what he did after the war? He gave all the money back. That’s the sign of a real patriot. Don’t you wish there was less emphasis on profit in our country and more emphasis on helping people and truly performing a service.
Bill Maher: New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit.

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Health care reform is good for business

This story comes from a story and video I’ve just seen on one of my favorite blogs. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Senator John Edwards, a woman currently battling cancer really does a great job of debunking some of the myths surrounding the health care debate which have heated up quite a bit this week. Some national Republicans are calling this Waterloo for Obama. Health care critics are always citing phony number and I’ve had a sense of that for sometime, but the statistics shown in this post are remarkable.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg1VSH1_eLo]

A few years ago I was speaking to a technical support representative of a major printer manufacturer. In our conversation I noted that he sounded very Canadian, which in fact he was. I quizzed him about why his company had located their technical support in Alberta. Why Alberta? Why put your technical support people in the middle of the Canadian Rockies. Why such a remote location? His answer was that the company wanted highly skilled English speakers but could not afford health care costs so they moved their operation to Canada. The light came on for me that day. As a business owner and an American citizen who wants to see my country grow and prosper I began to realize the imperative of health care reform. Small business will not be saddled with benefit costs which have been driving many out of the market place. Health care reform is therefore our patriotic duty. Taking advantage of people in the fashion that health care conglomerates have is very un-American not to mention un-holy.

Sadly the American health care system is deadlier than our neighbors to the north. Take a look at some numbers that come from this link.

Circulatory disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 219
  • United States: 265

Child maltreatment deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 0.7
  • United States: 2.2

Digestive disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 17.4
  • United States: 20.5

Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births

  • Canada: 5.08
  • United States: 6.3

Intestinal diseases death rate

  • Canada: 0.3%
  • United States: 7.3%

Proability of not reaching age 60:

  • Canada: 9.5%
  • United States: 12.8%

Respiratory disease child death rate per 100,000

  • Canada: 0.62
  • United States: 40.43

Heart disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 94.9
  • United States: 106.5

HIV deaths per million people:

  • Canada: 47.423
  • United States: 48.
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Brother Fly

I’ve been enjoying a lovely summer. For the first time in almost ten years I’m not working twelve months. God has been very good to me and us and I’ve found consulting opportunities which have allowed me to make up the difference.  Our weather has been very rainy and I love to see the sun, but it’s been great to sleep in  and just enjoy sitting still.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading and writing which have been very fulfilling pastimes. I’ve loved to read ever since I first learned how. As a child I lived next to a public library and it was my second home. I frequently tell people that a visit to a bookstore is a religious experience for me. Other than monasterys and other quiet places I frequently find myself in libraries and bookstores. In the past several years I’ve become very adept at reading RSS and that’s opened some new vistas for me.

St. Francis referred to sloth as Brother Fly and I can see how that could become habit forming.  I do enjoy the stillness and lack of routine this summer has brought into my life. Frequently I’ve found that epiphanies follow a change in routine. This summer has been filled with change. I fought it at first,  but now I’ve come to see that it’s just what I needed and I’m grateful for it.  Seeing God’s hand in my life often requires lots of help for me. This summer has given me new eyes.

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Regina Fratrum Minorum

Regina Fratrum Minorum is what is written on the lintel above the entry into this small side chapel which is adjacent to the University chapel at St. Bonaventure University. Translated literally I think it means, “Queen of the Friars Minor.” Mary held a very special place in St. Francis of Assisi’s heart and it’s depicted in this mural behind the altar in this small chapel. I used to come here and sit when I first moved to the area in 1979. I loved the quiet and peace and I always felt very secure in this chapel. Today when I was on campus at St. Bonaventure University waiting for the staff of Graduate Admissions to return from lunch I walked into the University Chapel and then here.

Today was a homecoming and an epiphany for me. Yesterday, I formally applied for admission to the University and today I met with the head of the department I will be a student in. I wanted to stop by admissions too and make sure that I was covering all the bases. With some extra time following a great lunch at Cafe La Verna I stopped by this chapel and sat where I sat so many years ago and thought how much my life had changed and how grateful I am for the direction it took and continues to take. I thought too of the Franciscan influence in my life and how these men and women in brown had so deeply influenced my life. I began my formal education at St. Pius X School in Delevan, New York in 1957. Fifty-two years later I’m in the process of application at St. Bonaventure University. How much my life has been formed by Franciscans.

Today, as I walked about the campus I discovered that I knew many people.  I met Dr. Gibbs who will be in charge of my education here. At Graduate Admissions I met Tina Dewe,  a woman whom I still owe an airplane ride. I talked to  Br. Ed Coughlan and Fr. Dan Riley.  In fact Dan Riley has more to do with me being at St. Bonaventure other than my wife and daughter than probably anyone else I know.  It was a homily on Holy Thursday night nearly ten years ago delivered by Dan that brought me home to my roots. Although the experience of a student is new, the surroundings are old and familiar. I did get to sit in St. Joseph’s Oratory for the first time in my life. I’ve passed it many times throughout the years and been intrigued but never had a chance to venture in until today.  St. Bonaventure has always held a special place in my heart. I remember sitting in study hall at Archbishop Walsh high school and looking south at the orange tile rooftops. It was here that I attended basketball camp in the summer of 1970. It was here that my wife and I came on our first date almost twenty-eight years ago. Here it was that our son Devin began to play organized basketball in  Butler Gymnasium.  Here we’ve come hundreds of times to watch the Bonnies basketball teams.  Now,  my daugher and I are students.   I stopped by the bookstore to pick up a t-shirt that says St. Bonaventure University.  I look a bit more official.

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A time of re-creation

Tonight I drove over to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass, supper and an “Evening of Re-Creation.” This is the first evening of its kind I’ve been able to attend this summer. Everything from Fr. Bob’s homily to the evening session where Brother Kevin Kriso, OFM led a group of three people who shared about the topic of service was what I needed to hear. The gospel passage that was highlighted this evening was from Luke 7:20. Are you the one or should we expect someone other. How often I demand proof. Is this really what you want me to do. In other words are you the one or should I expect someone else. I’ve been doing that lately. Second guessing can sometimes appear cautious and logical but there comes a time when I must pick up my mat and walk. I must move forward with caution perhaps but move forward nonetheless. Sometimes re-creation and re-invention go hand in hand.

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Going home

Today I applied to St. Bonaventure University Graduate School. Though I’ve never been a Bona student before, I’ve been connected to St. Bonaventure and Franciscans most of my life. Last night I attended an informational session about graduate programs at St. Bonaventure at Hilbert College, another nearby Franciscan college. I spoke with a representative of the University who happened like me to have connections to both the University at Buffalo and State University College at Fredonia. How does a guy who almost retired a month ago apply to a graduate program in educational leadership? Daily, my thoughts are of what God’s will is and most of the time I marvel at the direction my life takes. I’m reminded of Thomas Merton’s quote about the road ahead.

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. –Thomas Merton

It’s only a step on the journey and God only knows where it will lead, but today I’ve done something very Franciscan, I’ve followed my heart.

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More health care news

Here’s a story I came upon tonight on Crooks & Liars. It’s a great piece by Bill Moyers which highlights the problem that average Americans have in obtaining health care and the best part is that he shows how a country doctor and our new Surgeon General helps average Americans. This week Republicans and Democrats who are getting money from health care conglomerates are attempting to derail health care reform for ordinary Americans. We need your help in getting out the vote and pressuring Congress to pass health care reform that guarantees affordable and where necessary government subsidized health care for ordinary Americans. Congress get’s free health care but many of those same congressional folks think that you and I don’t deserve the same. Call or write your representative and make your voice heard on this most important issue.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46WUVXCV27U]