321 results for author: Phil Anderson

The Fruits of Faulty Judgment

“I'm just a miner in the mother lode of misery, where the fruits of faulty judgment meet the spoils of bad luck.” From the song “King of Junk” by Eddy Lawrence This humorous song is about a junk yard owner who's good fortune is the result of others' faulty judgment and bad luck. He finds a “hidden trove of riches mid the mangled and the maimed” wreckage of cars. I like the poetry of the song. To me it speaks (out of context) to much of the current craziness in our society. Politics has always been ugly and partisan. But the angry divisions are getting worse. The decline in civil, democratic norms of behavior and the abandoning of ...

Victories for Justice

We have two victories in the struggle for justice and social progress to celebrate. I am referring to the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and the enactment of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. Martin Luther King claimed the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But too often it has been hard to find much evidence for his optimism. Reading the news is more likely to bend one toward drink, cynicism and misanthropy than hope for the future. As a society, we have a long way to go to achieve liberty and justice for all. But these two events are landmarks in the 400-year struggle for a ...

Guns Are Not the Answer

Over the weekend of March 19-20 there were nine mass shootings across the country. Eight people were killed and 60 wounded including children and unlucky bi-standers. These incidents happened in diverse locations and a variety of social settings. The usual reasons given for gun violence – a mentally ill “lone wolf”, “bad guys,” drug gangs, ethnic or religious hate – don't seem to apply. From the limited information available, there appears to be only one common thread to these incidents – the presence of guns. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 4 shot at a party Dumas, Arkansas: 1 killed, 27 injured at car show Norfolk, Virginia: 2 ...

Making Money From Medicare

Medicare was created in 1965 to provide affordable basic healthcare for senior citizens. At the time half of seniors did not have any hospitalization insurance. One third of seniors lived in poverty and couldn't afford any medical care. Given the obvious need and the fact that the private insurance companies were not interested in sick, old people (unless they had money) Medicare became a vital government program for seniors. Medicare has been successful in improving the health and well-being of seniors. It has been extremely popular with the public, despite its faults and limitations. Medicare has also contributed to reversing the poverty statis...

Statement on the Ukraine War Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP)

Statement on the Ukraine War Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP)   BACP supports an armistice halting the fighting in Ukraine. BACP supports a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine ending the war.   BACP opposes the U.S. arming Ukraine, training Ukrainian soldiers, imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or sending U.S. troops to Ukraine. These actions prolong the Ukraine War and risk a war between the United States and Russia. Instead of taking measures which prolong the war or risk a war between the United States and Russia, the U.S. should support every diplomatic effort to end the war.   BACP supports ...

Inflation Isn’t Biden’s Fault

"Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair." Sam Ewing Sam Ewing is a former baseball player and not an economist. But he provided a good definition of inflation. Inflation is the overall increase in prices for goods and services over time. We don't need economists to tell us inflation is occurring. It is pretty obvious when you go to the grocery store. Why pieces are going up is a more complicated story. Despite inflation being a well defined phenomenon with known basic causes, economist disagree about the specific reasons for today's price increases. This article ...

Ukraine: An Opportunity for Peace

“War is always a choice and it is always a bad choice.” World Beyond War in their publication    “A Global Security System: An Alternative to War.” The war in Ukraine is both a wake up call about the folly of war and rare opportunity to move toward a more peaceful world. War is not the answer whether Russia is invading Ukraine or the United States is invading Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not the answer when any other nation uses military violence to pursue some political, territorial, economic or ethnic cleansing goal. Neither is war the answer when the invaded and oppressed fight back with violence. Reading the stories of ...

Walk a Mile in Russia’s Shoes by Phil Anderson

Walk a mile in Russia's shoes by Phil Anderson I like to read historical novels. I also like a category of historic novel called counterfactual or alternative history. This is a way of looking at history that asks “what if” questions and postulates different outcomes than actually occurred. The mental exercise of counterfactual history can provide a broader perspective on world events. This genre of fiction is often futuristic. In this article I ask the reader to imagine a fictional story about the United States in the near future. This story illuminates current events happening today. Image that the United States – the world's last ...

The Cost of Gerrymandering By Phil Anderson

The Cost of Gerrymandering  Phil Anderson   Democracy does not exist in Northwest Wisconsin when it comes to congressional representation. Because of the extreme gerrymandering of the district people essentially have no choice. Republicans are virtually assured of winning any election for the House of Representatives in the 7th Congressional District.   This is not just a problem for Democrats. It is not that Democrats are sore losers who don't have the support of the people in the district. Gerrymandering produces “safe” districts that allow minority control regardless of what the overall majority of people want. ...

Folly in Ukraine by Phil Anderson

Folly in Ukraine Phil Anderson “Today we face an avoidable crisis between the United States and Russia that was predictable, willfully precipitated, but can easily be resolved by the application of common sense.” Jack F. Matlock, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987-1991 Once again, our government is meddling in another conflict on the other side of the world. Given we just got out of a disaster in Afghanistan, one would think we might be a little cautious about jumping into another no-win situation in Ukraine. But we are actively “precipitating” an “avoidable crisis.” Our government and corporate media insist ...