Whose Fault is it Anyway?

Illegal drugs are the world’s problem! The things that have been done under the influence of hard drugs are, in some examples, unspeakable. There was one incidence in which a man took first one, and then the other of a woman’s two children and held them up as though they were chickens, and calmly fatally slit their throats in full view of the mother, and then he turned the knife on her. To make matters worse, she was someone else’s wife, although his lover. I wondered in light of that shocking event whether anyone still thought that taking drugs was a cool thing to do.

The police commissioner of every force in the world will tell you that he is conducting a war against illegal drugs, but that said, it’s about as successful as the war on terrorism. Perhaps it’s really one and the same.

Who is the drug dealer?

Well, he is the villain of the piece. He is the one who pushes drugs and is available with the goods, and he is the one who is roundly despised. The police operations are directed at him, and when a gang is broken up and the goods confiscated, much is made of it in the press. He is also shown as the person who is wealthy, paying in cash for incredibly expensive items when the rest of the world is suffering through a credit crunch. People are losing their jobs and their homes, but not the successful drug dealer.

The image that he puts out is very seductive to young men. The dealer has women, drugs, big homes, Hummers and other high value cars, and he has the respect of a lot of people. When you try to lure a young man away from that siren song into a normal job paying normal wages, he turns his lip up and scoffs at the “chump change” being offered.

The business is a tough one and the rules are strict. Mess up and you pay with your life, and you might also cause your near relatives to lose their lives. It’s a business that takes otherwise nice people and turns them into monsters. You cannot be nice or slack and survive because there’s always someone coming up behind you to take over your turf. You can only survive if you are prepared to show that you are determined, and that usually means putting people in the ground. Don’t have the heart for it, stay away from it!

The facts are that the drug dealer is a businessman, exactly like all others in a fundamental regard. He seeks to identify a market that needs and wants to buy a certain product, and he then sets out to provide the merchandise. His closest peers are the tobacco and alcohol industry. However, those industries are legal, but nonetheless they do promote a like product that alters the mind and body, and not always in a good manner.

My main beef is with the tobacco industry because they deliver a product that has a negative effect on the user, and those around him, when it is used in exactly the way as instructed. It is even worse than guns because although they are destined to kill, they do no harm if only used for target practise on tin cans. But tobacco certainly does nothing to improve one’s health, and the potential favourite user is a young person. It cannot be said that cigarette smoking does kill, but it can, and very often does lead to death. There was a time when cigarettes were given for free to college students. I hope that is no longer done, but I am straying from my point of whose fault is the out of control use of drugs and its consequences.

For some peculiar reason we do not look at the customer’s role in assessing blame. I wonder why that is? Politically it’s a hot potato because drug addicts still vote, (maybe) and such an issue as this would normally be the subject of the politician to address. Well, I’m not running for any office and I’m prepared to say it like it is. Should it ever happen that a drug dealer imports a quantity of drugs and no-one shows up to buy, he won’t do it again and he will find something else to sell, like Mary Kaye products, or Amway.

So, in summary I say that the people at fault for our problems are the users. I sincerely hope that none of those people are in the chorus demanding that the streets be cleaned up and the war be won because they cannot have it both ways.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Good Medical Operations

I have just had my first ever operation in an hospital. Oh no! I hear you say. Don’t bore me! Well, lend me an ear as I relate to you a delightful story of a good operation because you are only human and we just don’t know when your turn may come around.

The world is full of Good Operations and Bad Operations. Because there is more than one hospital it is inevitable that there will be various degrees of satisfaction flowing from necessary interventions for your health.

I live here in Valencia, Spain, and ever since we came to Spain we have been clients of the Sanitas system of private health insurance. It is not cheap, nor is it expensive if you get what you pay for.

There are options available to some people. For instance, should you be employed here you are automatically enrolled into the public health care program, and that continues for as long as you work, and for a while after your employment ceases. I came here as a retired person, therefore I was advised to purchase private insurance. My wife works, and her policy covers herself and our dependent son, but not myself. The two of them are double-covered by both public and private cover.

Recently, and for the first time, I have had to use my cover for something other than normal annual checkups, and the reason I’m boring you with this is because I can report that my experience was how it should be, with a liberal margin that went above and beyond.

My problem was a gradually growing bunion that was disfiguring my left foot, and it had progressed to the point at which it was becoming uncomfortable. My doctor advised that the time had come to rectify the situation, and so I got on with it. As an introduction to the operating room it seemed like a fairly gentle way to do it.

I should say that about twenty years ago I had the opportunity to observe this operation take place on live television and I thought it was fascinating and horrible. The tools employed were scalpel, saw, hammer, screwdriver, screws and file. Although the technique has improved those are still a part of the necessary equipment.

The Sanitas system in Spain is a private organisation that operates its own complete circuit of clinics and hospitals, complete with dedicated professionals. It is very clear to me that the administration has got it right when it comes to what is their number one priority. The patient is Number One! All too often systems are so preoccupied with their own concerns that they place the patient way down the list.

My operation took place at the hospital in Valencia called “ Hospital Nou (9th) de Octubre”. My instructions were to arrive at 8am for admission and preparation. My wife accompanied me, as it is expected that family will be in attendance in order to assist.

I was assigned to a private room that was more like an hotel accommodation, including the wording on the welcome cards left for me. Family visiting hours are 24 hours a day, and the room includes sleeping facilities for visitors.

I wasn’t taken into surgery until 1pm, so that involved quite a long wait during which my wife was free to come and go as she wished. I was finally wheeled downstairs and parked outside the operating arena and then I was taken in to be processed.

We must bear in mind that all business was being conducted in Spanish, and my skill is lacking. The senior surgeon realised this and kindly consented to converse with me in English. That was even more gratefully received than the anaesthetic.

They seemed to think that a bunion operation is all too routine, but as I was awake throughout I thought it very complex and difficult. The chief surgeon, who seemed to me to be about the age of my son, worked together with two others and the anaesthetist and a nurse. That seems like a lot of personnel to me, but for over an hour they did a lot of violence on my foot, including having to break my big toe in three places to straighten its direction.

My first moment of anxiety came when the surgeon said that he was going to introduce four needles into my foot in order to deaden the nerves. He then asked me whether I could feel anything and I said that I probably wouldn’t after he had done the injections. I was wearing a facemask at the time inhaling tranquillising gas. He said that the needles had been given and my foot should be nerve dead. I looked over at the anaesthetist and he smiled back at me. Lovely! He simply had turned up the gas to calm me and turned it down again to bring me back to full consciousness.

The procedure itself was very peculiar. As I was conscious I knew what they were doing through the feel of pressure. I knew when the surgeon cut my skin as I felt the pressure from the tip of the scalpel. I could tell when the bone mass was being reduced through both the sound of the saw and the feel of the pressure, and also I could feel when he was filing away unwanted edges. I really felt uncomfortable each of the three times they pressed down until the bones broke, which I could hear as a small “pop” sound. And, finally, I knew that they were affixing a small plate as they applied screws to the bones to keep it in place. I was perfectly aware of all that, but there was no pain.

What this essay is really about is competence and attitude. I am singing the praises about my experience because Sanitas got it completely right, from the moment I walked in to discuss the problem, through to my recovery. Every member of the team acted in a completely professional manner, and they even added their own personal pleasantries and wonderful bedside manner. Should you ever have to have medical attention you should be so lucky!

P.S. Had I known ahead of time that the doctors were going to break the bones in my big toe three time I may have gone to the movies instead.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

The End of the World as we know it! (Part Three)

The Grim Reaper has arrived!

In parts One and Two I wrote of the seeming meltdown of the world order as oil prices soared, social order went to hell, and people were losing their homes. I predicted there was much more to come, but while I was right about that, I certainly wasn’t expecting what we got!

How does a company that has been in business for more than 150 years suddenly find that it cannot continue to trade. Didn’t they learn anything at all over all that time while in business? Suddenly we find that it was not just one or two companies that were in trouble but the entire banking system. Now governments all around the world have been forced into action to prop up the capitalist form of doing business. How did we come to this point?

The short answer is that it was because of the way we do things. Our capitalist system runs on credit. We are all expected to live beyond our means. Credit cards arrive in the mail urging us to step out from beyond our safe “living within our means” policy, and go borrow, borrow, borrow! We are urged that it is important to keep up with the Jones’ next door.

It is a shame to be the only family in the neighbourhood driving a ten-year old car. Still using the old big chunky television? Why, when you can bring home a flat screen for no money down and pennies per month. Are you actually renting the place in which you live? Don’t you know that home ownership is essential; otherwise you are throwing your money away.

Well, now the business world are coming to face what are being called toxic loans on their books. These are loans and mortgages that people were given, sometimes railroaded into, that they can no longer afford to pay. When interest rates were low they were sucked in, and subsequently rates have risen and Gotcha! Many young families are now being thrown out and their homes are taken over by the same kind bankers who drew them into the mess.

Children are being taken out of private schools to be put into the public system; people are losing their jobs, and in the first case of its kind (lately) in the United States, a man killed his entire family and himself because they were broke and losing their home.

Meanwhile, as an astonishing first time ever, capitalist governments are taking up equity positions in private enterprise in order that such businesses have money to continue to trade. Make no mistake about it, this is nationalisation, something that is so abhorrent to Western governments that they have to hold their noses while doing it.

In the case of one entire country, Iceland, it finds itself technically bankrupt. Imagine that, an entire country has gone broke. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the many 20 to 25 year old young women who are declaring bankruptcy because they have so overspent themselves on all the things that modern society insists that they do. How shameful is that?

This is clearly an-going story, so I shall be back with an update. Meanwhile, the question arises as to what can we do as individuals to protect ourselves? The problems are so large and so deep, covering so much territory that it is difficult to know which way to jump. Governments are taking strategic steps to guarantee your deposits in banks, so if that is your only concern perhaps you can relax. Certainly, without those guarantees even more banks will go to the wall as customers demand their money.

If you’re an investor on any of the stock markets you are certainly at very great risk as we see volatility being the order of the day. Mainly, it seems to be a case of hanging on and hoping that all those over-paid executives haven’t made too big a mess of things.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

The Media

It’s a very good thing that I’m my own editor, otherwise this piece would never see the light of day. That’s because it’s about the news media and all its faults. The one thing that both the electronic and print media do well is report on the mis-steps and bad fortune of the public at large, but when it comes to having their own sores exposed they are very shy.

You can take your pick of the world’s media, they all pretty much march to the same drummer. The ironic thing is that they can only do so because of the support that we, the very people whom they so love to destroy, give them. What’s wrong with this picture?

In trying to start my rant I am finding it very hard to know where to begin. Which country has the worst press? I used to think that it was England with their News of the World, and the other tabloid papers. But America’s no better! It’s about what sells.

Now, of course, when I was a young lad I was discouraged from telling tales out of school. It was not a very noble thing to come into contact with interesting information, only to go as quickly as possible to pass it on. Well, that is exactly what the media do, and they all too often succumb to the temptation to place their own opinion or bias upon the news item.

You have seen the news interviewers yourself interrupt their guests, who they have asked to come on to share their views, only to shape the interview to satisfy the host’s own point of view. They seem to think that this is about being a professional. The fact is that they are like little boys and girls having tantrums because their opinion is the only one that matters, or so they think.

In the United States, Bernard Goldberg, a long-term news correspondent at CBS wrote a book after he retired called “Bias” an insider’s view of delivering the news with a liberal slant. He was condemned and ostracised because the media can’t even admit that it has an opinion about the news.

This is my point about news reportage: it’s all about someone’s point of view. Yes, I know that they control the printing presses and that they can say whatever they want. However, there’s something called the Media Trust. I can’t even begin to imagine what real work this group does as it sure does nothing about controlling the quality in reporting.

The late Princess Diana is a superb example of the hound dog mentality of the press corp. On one occasion she had been visiting a female friend’s home, only to emerge to face a battery of cameras. They actually chased her down the street to her car, but before she got there she came to a stop alongside a wall as she cowered from the continuing flashes. I thought as I watched that clip that those bastards will chase her to her death.

Perhaps you’re an editor of a small town newspaper where nothing newsworthy ever happens. This is called punishment and is the place where disgraced editors get sent. One of the tricks of the trade is to focus on a few members of the community in good standing and to build them up in stature, while at the same time looking for a mis-step that can be blown up and scandalized. If they request your opinion on something you can be sure they will go and find a contrary point of view. Beware of friendly news people! I have even seen capable and honest news brokers respond to the directives from “upstairs” to get tough.

Even the weather can be an ally. During this past Summer the area of Southern United States took several hits from hurricanes. Poor Haiti took one hit after another, but that was not where the major channels amassed their people. As residents were ordered to leave New Orleans the press came crowding in, because that was where the story was supposed to be given New Orleans history. When the storms changed direction they left to head for the next projected hotspot to be able to report on the expected death and destruction left by nature’s wrath.

I watched as the Force Five hurricanes were downgraded to a One, and the feeble efforts of the presenters to justify their presence. How absolutely pathetic and loathsome is that? They feed on bad news. They want images of people crying who have lost everything. The more dramatic, the better for the cameras! As viewers, we know only too well that people lose their homes and possessions and they cry. Please, give these people the only thing they have left, some privacy.

I would not be fair and balanced without presenting the other side of the media. They expose the crooks and bad politicians; they open up shady dealings to public scrutiny and hold governments accountable. In this regard they do a job that is actually beneficial to the public. I guess all that other stuff can be called entertainment for as one paper said, “Inquiring minds want to know.”

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Secrets II

As a member of a secret group, is there a feeling of being special just because it’s secret?

Let me be clear: What I’m talking about might be different to privacy, although I believe that generally it’s thought that the two are one and the same. I think that the right to privacy in our lives is an inalienable right; but secrecy is quite another thing.

Very public people who are professionals are still entitled to a private life. Simply put, as human beings we are not designed to always and forever be on show. We need down-time to be able to relax. The mobile phone is one of the most invasive objects to have been invented in the past 100 years. It invades our privacy in all manner of times and places, and more surprisingly it’s amazing the things we interrupt to answer.

In my last blog I talked about the weight, responsibility and honour of keeping the secret that we promised we would. Not everybody is automatically able to do this. For some people it requires deliberate practice to learn how to keep quiet when you long to blurt it out.

WikiHow, the on-line advisor at www.wikihow.com/Keep-a-secret, suggests the following things to help you keep mum about important information: (Words in italics are my own.)
1. Keep your motivator in mind. If you let the information out how damaging will it be?
2. How long do you need to keep the information to yourself. There is nothing worse than struggling to keep the information, only to find that it has passed into the general population.
3. Force yourself not to tell. This is about having the discipline to keep your mouth shut. As discipline goes, this form is quite extreme as the inclination to tell is one of our basic human characteristics.
4. Never drop any hints that you have secret information: Should you do so it will only be a matter of time before you let it out.
5. Avoid the 20 questions if someone thinks that you have something. News reporters do this all the time. They assume that you know something and they attack your soft spot. Don’t fall for it.
6. Don’t even bring up the topic within which is hidden the secret. That’s too easy for the inquisitive. Once the topic is on the table the forbidden information is a mis-spoken word away.
7. Defensiveness is good. If your questioner has figured out that you have the information there’s nothing wrong with being defensive about it. It’s OK to say I’m not going to talk about it.
8. Lie, if necessary. This would be an extreme thing to do, but if the information is so important, that would be better than releasing it. Politicians do it all the time.
9. Tell it to a stuffed animal. If you are breaking at the seams and you just have to tell it, do so to a stuffed animal. Preferably not one that has an eves- dropping microphone.
10. You can also just say the secret to yourself. Sometimes, just saying it is all that is needed to make it manageable.
11. Change the topic. If the topic comes up in a conversation and you hold secret information about it, as suavely as you can, try changing the subject. This works, as I have done this very thing.
12. Pretend you don’t know any secrets. This works well by simply refusing to confirm or deny that you know anything at all.
13. Never pass secret information to unreliable people. Stay a thousand miles away.
14. If your motivator is that the information is simply embarrassing, perhaps by some simple editing it can be made more acceptable.
15. Can you share the secret with one other trusted person? This is a dangerous suggestion for once the information passes to a third person it can no longer be assumed a true secret. However, there are whole groups who share confidential information so it just depends on the culture within which you operate.

“The Way to Truth” blog states that “Guarding a secret is the same as guarding one’s chastity. Those who keep a secret, whether personal or a friend’s. keep themselves chaste. Conversely, those who spread secrets damage their honour and reputation by leaving them unguarded.”

The business of secret keeping is indeed serious. However, sadly it is perhaps one of the most understated.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael