Welcome to Lucky 2013!
The following are our predictions for the coming year (well, OK, it isn't January - or February or March - but I put in for repairs in early January and have been pretty out of commission for most of 2013's first quarter; some would say it's a long-standing condition, but anyway...):
Political Prediction: The Republicans will continue their strategy of driving the country, thus the world, deeper into the economic doldrums, blaming the Democrats for the result, and trusting that nobody will notice. Thereby proving that, indeed, man does not learn from experience.
[N.B. This was written on December 27, 2012. Despite the Republican autopsy (of the November election, I hasten to add) - and despite the gentlemen who said, "Why should I pay taxes for that? That's the government's job; the government should do that!" - that prediction seems to be holding so far. Notwithstanding the excellent opportunities the Republicans are creating for the Democrats in the mid-term elections - not to mention 2016, some of us actually miss the two-party system that represents rich liberals and rich conservatives fairly equally and, at times, the rest of us. We miss the days when there were "throw more money at it" Democrats on the left and "let 'em stand on their own feet" Republicans on the right and possibility of agreement somewhere in the middle that might actually the benefit at least some of the rest of us. Now the Democrats are the middle, the Republicans are the moderate to extreme right and there's nothing left for the rest of us (pun intended). Sadly, we see no end in sight. Figuratively speaking, at least.
Population Health Prediction: Obamacare will continue to roll out, Republicans will continue to claim gloom and doom, and somebody - possibly Democrats - will notice that Obamacare is actually pretty middle-of-the-road and entirely too focused on Health Care. [Again, this prediction, made in December 2012, seems to be holding up fairly well. I'd pat myself on the back but my shoulder is too sore just now.] There is nothing wrong with Health Care, as I am still here to assert because of excellent Health Care. However, wouldn't it be nice if we decided to save money by changing the conditions that cause disease and disability instead of doing the expensive mopping-up? Rather than worrying about why and how folks end up in the ER, wouldn't it make sense to keep the ER available for man-made and natural disasters (sadly both all too frequent) and fund the preventive Public Health services that make so many expensive health care events less costly or even unnecessary. We're thinking here of education about what a constitutes a healthy family; health policy to improve unhealthy neighborhoods; access to healthy, safe outdoor playgrounds and parks; restaurant and agriculture inspections; health policy against development of food that might hurt people; legislation to make air and drinking water safe and available. We're even thinking about reproductive health information available to everyone capable of reproducing, whether or not we approve of their behavior. [Time out for a pet peeve: Why is it that our Congress can't agree on reasonable limitations on guns and ammunition, saying people should be free to protect themselves in spite of the immoral actions of a few, and at the same time Congress won't agree on equal access to health information about deadly sexually transmitted diseases because people should not be free to protect themselves because of the immoral actions of a few? Perhaps if we let a few of those admittedly immoral congressmen back into office, this contradictory stance will change. Right?]
Global Climate Change Prediction: Finally, the ever-present question: Is there hope for humanity? Note that this question is not, "Is there hope for the earth?" The earth will do fine, thanks for asking. It's the large mammals who won't fare so well if we humans do not change our climate changing ways. Given that we are included in this set of endangered species (large mammals) one would think self-interest might lead us to stop kidding ourselves about global climate change. However, one should not think any such thing because, to paraphrase my Life User's Manual©, fairly equal amounts of heredity, environment, and self-deception have gone into the makeup of you and me. And the self-deception third seems to be winning when it comes to global climate change. Nonetheless, one can always hope. I for one hope that environment will win out over self-deception in some way that does not include either the extinction of large mammals over the next few thousand years or the survival of the very rich and their large-mammal pets and servants in bubble-cities, bubble-farms, bubble-ranches, and bubble-resorts spotted strategically around the globe.
On that jolly note, Happy New Year. Or Earth Day. Whichever comes first.
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Drop in at Sherry's to read or comment on the most recent "View from the Trailing Edge," "Trailing Edge Dictionary of Modern America," attempts at poetry, and/or the occasional "Deeper Meaning of Liff" (Douglas Adams).
About Me
- Sherry Spence
- A Maternal and Child Health consultant, I am interested in the relationships between our health and our environment - the people, places, institutions, and conditions that affect us. I've been a vital statistics and cancer registry manager, a key player in developing health information systems, a single mother, a middle manager, a contract researcher, a French teacher, and an occasional writer.
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Trailing Edge Dictionary of Modern America
Area of Environment:
Global Climate Change: (noun phrase. Origin: Politically correct clarification of "Global Warming") (1) ongoing, world-wide, man-made changes including significant increase in average temperature, increase in extreme weather events, and changes in the Earth's crust leading to increased volcanic and earthquake activity; (2) normal, cyclical variations in average temperature, not caused by humans and not much different from El Niño or La Niña, except that the most recent one with the same pattern of atmospheric change happened about 56 million years ago.
* Sample sentence (primary definition): Global climate change is here; the only question is how badly will it harm vulnerable populations and how bad will we let it get.
* Sample sentence (secondary definition): Global climate change is here; we didn't cause it before, which proves we're not causing it now.
Area of Political Endeavor:
Campaign Promise: (noun phrase. Origin: LBCE [Long Before Common Era]) (1) series of words and phrases designed for maximum effectiveness in evoking pleasant, comfortable feelings toward the speaker and minimum content; (2) description of what the speaker will be unable to accomplish, if elected, owing to a lack of direct control over its occurrence; (3) [rare usage] set of positions and proposed actions concerning important governance issues and over which the speaker will have some control if elected.
* Sample sentence (primary definition): Her campaign promises were great; I'd tell you about them but I it was really the way she put it; you had to be there.
* Sample sentence (secondary definition): He would have lived up to his campaign promise, but it turned out that State Representatives can't make economic policy for countries other than the USA. Who knew?
* Sample sentence (tertiary definition): My friend Jeanne's campaign promises were clear and unhesitant. When she got elected, she accomplished them, too.
Global Climate Change: (noun phrase. Origin: Politically correct clarification of "Global Warming") (1) ongoing, world-wide, man-made changes including significant increase in average temperature, increase in extreme weather events, and changes in the Earth's crust leading to increased volcanic and earthquake activity; (2) normal, cyclical variations in average temperature, not caused by humans and not much different from El Niño or La Niña, except that the most recent one with the same pattern of atmospheric change happened about 56 million years ago.
* Sample sentence (primary definition): Global climate change is here; the only question is how badly will it harm vulnerable populations and how bad will we let it get.
* Sample sentence (secondary definition): Global climate change is here; we didn't cause it before, which proves we're not causing it now.
Area of Political Endeavor:
Campaign Promise: (noun phrase. Origin: LBCE [Long Before Common Era]) (1) series of words and phrases designed for maximum effectiveness in evoking pleasant, comfortable feelings toward the speaker and minimum content; (2) description of what the speaker will be unable to accomplish, if elected, owing to a lack of direct control over its occurrence; (3) [rare usage] set of positions and proposed actions concerning important governance issues and over which the speaker will have some control if elected.
* Sample sentence (primary definition): Her campaign promises were great; I'd tell you about them but I it was really the way she put it; you had to be there.
* Sample sentence (secondary definition): He would have lived up to his campaign promise, but it turned out that State Representatives can't make economic policy for countries other than the USA. Who knew?
* Sample sentence (tertiary definition): My friend Jeanne's campaign promises were clear and unhesitant. When she got elected, she accomplished them, too.
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