20170325 (insurance)

To be irksome many will say they're not in the same boat.

 Dump's withdrawal of his

Health care reform reveals

Again the divide separating

Americans yawns wider than

Any bridge they’re willing

To build. Health insurance, for

That matter any insurance,

Succeeds when a given class

Agrees to pay enough to help

Anybody else in the same boat

On similar risks. Obviously

Many legislators would like 

To pretend certain voters are

“Not in the same boat”: men

Who clutch at subsidizing 

Prenatal, maternity care, even

Breast cancer screenings.

Are not they married or fathers?

Do they get off by sticking

Their schvantzes in old mossy 

Knotholes? Perhaps they still

Believe storks efficiently 

Deliver only healthy, full-term

Progeny sans complications

In neat white cotton didies. 

Youngsters refuse benefits 

For senior care. Do they plan 

On, “living fast, dying young,

And leaving pretty corpses”? 

The elderly, those gobblers

Of the medical pie, refuse to

Fund abortions or contraceptives

Since in their days of wild oats 

And procreation they frolicked

Without unseemly incidents:

“Just say No,” they coldly advise.

Nonsmokers pay for smokers?

And thus the vast pool of eligibles

Shrinks to the size of seven

Billionaires too stingy to pay

For the travails of any with 

Less. Back then to the actuaries

Who will have to meter benefits

Not based on exposure to risks

But by how much each insured 

Has kicked in. “You’ve paid 

Only for the last five years. Why

Should you receive what long term

Subscribers get?” The metaphor

Fails altogether. “OK. Everybody

Out of the boat, you selfish bastards. 

Not a one of you deserves saving.”

c. 2017, J.S.Manista

20170317 (reasoning)

High school debate where, if you made stupid arguments, you lost but you learned.

Ever try talking across the

Chasm in American politics?

Any time I try to cite Trump’s

“Locker talk,” I am quickly

Confronted with Clinton’s

Promiscuity (as if I had ever

Defended it). “I’m not talking

About Clinton,” gets you 

Nowhere, since they are 

Convinced, as opposition,

You thereby have more 

Demons in your closet 

Than they in theirs. Should

You cite the unfairness of

Blocking every piece of 

Legislation ever proposed

By the Obama administration,

They are ready with examples

Of W’s attempts to privatize

Social Security being scuttled

By similar steadfastness.

Is this an argument in middle

School? He did this. Well, she

Did that. What does this have

To do with that anyway? Can’t

We talk about just one thing?

Bring up McConnell’s censure

Of Warren with the cheapest 

Of shots. They come back

Saying Warren used her slight

Native heritage for advancement

In academe via affirmative

Action. Huh? When I concede

Slick Willy was a creep and

His wife not all that admirable

Either, having surrendered

Even one point to them, in

Their view I’ve collapsed 

My entire position. Gleefully

They prattle on confirmed in

The righteousness of their

Cause. Lest I lay blame solely

On that class of defectives 

Supporting the maniacs currently

In the White House, let me 

Mention my effort to move

A Clinton loyalist to the 

Sanders camp. He was so

Certain history flowed in

His direction, one might as

Well have tried to convince 

The waters of Niagara to rise 

Back to Lake Erie while standing

Amid the rocks and crashing 

Cataracts below. Her coronation 

Was assured. This was no time

To weaken one’s influence by

Promoting an old man lacking

Worldwide credentials. The 

Power structure would remember

My mutiny at the critical moment.

Why can’t they stay on topic?

Did none of these people ever

Take part in high school debate?

c. J.S.Manista, 2017

20170310 (ingenuity II)

Hardly the stone age, certainly not the nuclear age, but the goal has always been the same--kill
the other guys better, faster, cheaper.

Technology’s incremental growth

Accelerates in wartime as if the

Weapons of previous years are 

Not enough to guarantee victory

This time around. Granted it was

Markedly slower in ancient and

Medieval periods compared to

Today, although any visit to a

Museum of history will show

Considerable development if 

Only through paintings and 

Tapestries if they don’t display

Examples of the arms themselves.

Our age strained all the envelopes

And benefitted from waves of

Change in every science.

Byproducts of the era of straighter

Shooting rifles were better types

Of iron. The standardization of

Rifle parts led to assembly line

Production. For peacetime progress

I could point out the essentials of 

Computer memory were stored

In textile cards that made possible

Automatic weaving. But more

Innovations proceeded by far

From the decryption of military

Codes during the life and death

Struggle known as World War II.

Even our remarkable achievements 

In space were more grounded in 

Flinging nuclear bombs across

Continents than from healthy

Curiosity about the composition

Of lunar dust. The first use of

Telescopes was to locate warships'

Masts emerging above the  

Horizons for greater time to staff

The battlements. In 1861, 

Before Andrew Carnegie became

Famous for iron and steel, he

Wired the wide territories of the

Civil War for instantaneous

Telegraphy. In my commentary

For International Women’s Day,

By focusing on Ms Smith’s

Tiny but revolutionary designs,

In addition to giving my three

(Soon to be four) granddaughters

A hero to admire and emulate,

I wanted to illustrate that not all

Helpful technology is born of

The insane fratricide we call

Defense. Our life and death

Issues are widely known: disease,

Hunger, shelter, natural disasters.

Yet in our rush to slaughter each

Other more quickly, cheaply,

And efficiently we let these

Desperate needs go begging--

Splurging without limit to 

Forestall fears of our own conceit. 

What a waste of ingenuity.

c. J.S.Manista, 2017