Do you feel a draft?

I wish someone would just have the guts to call for a draft. Everyone and his mama, include the Dub and Barb, know we do not have enough troops to do what they think needs to be done. Someone out there, anyone, with an ounce of political will, with serious intention, bring it up again. It has been said in so many ways, now lets just use plain English: It is not working. Or the Queen's English: Ye olde surge hath rendered ye little. No funciona, people. You can't run a business without workers! Call for the draft. Lets get everyone lined up and see how the tone changes. I am in. Sign me up. Birthdate 8.22.80.

Whole Hype

I made my first real visit to Whole Foods yesterday. I say "real" visit because while I first set foot in a Whole Foods a few weeks ago, that visit did not afford me time to conduct a proper survey of the store – I’d gone in with a specific, very limited shopping list, and I was in Seattle, which, as far as food is concerned, is how I picture paradise.

But yesterday I had some time to kill and decided to put a Whole Foods gift certificate to good use: a cousin of mine refers to Whole Foods as “whole paycheck,” so the gift card was the excuse I was looking for to investigate the store, which is a recent addition to the Cleveland area. We don’t have Whole Foods where I come from; I used to think of its absence as a reflection of the Rust Belt’s progressive status – or lack thereof. I’m not so sure about that now.

In general, I consider myself to be health-conscious and environmentally-conscious, so you might think that Whole Foods is my kind of store. In some ways, it is: it’s full of organic produce, zero-trans-fat goodies, hormone-free milk, unsulphured fruit. (If you have never had unsulphured apricots, they are worth the money – trust me). In the end, I got fair trade coffee, apricots, dates, tea, and a little carton of chocolate soymilk, for a treat sometime.

That said, I’m not about to become a regular shopper any time soon. First of all, I was disappointed by the coffee selection – there were plenty of beans, but very few of them were fair trade. Admittedly, one of the fair trade roasters was local – which I appreciated – but still, I could have gotten a broader selection in my tiny local supermarket in Buffalo (the first indication that the lack of Whole Foods in Western New York doesn’t necessarily mean much) or the local market I go to here in Cleveland.

On my first pass around the store, I noticed the food, the clean floors, the well-stocked shelves, all of which I appreciated. On my second loop I became more critical. Is it really necessary to have a fountain running all the time before the plants which are displayed in the garden section? If you’re going to claim that your store sells environmentally “friendly” goods, the fountain just seems a little out of place. Clean floors go a long way toward creating a nice ambience and promoting shopping; I just felt foolish when I passed the fountain.

The bottom line is that I didn’t buy anything at Whole Foods that I absolutely could not have gotten at the Food Co-Op on Euclid Ave, or the Lexington Co-Op on Elmwood Ave in Buffalo. Sure, Whole Foods had a lot of imports, but, frankly, neither my budget nor my taste makes imported goods high on my list of things to buy – with the possible exception of date and fig bread (the only things which would make me likely to return to Whole Foods soon).

Was the atmosphere nicer? I’ve never pretended I don’t prefer to shop in clean grocery stores, and Whole Foods fit that requirement much more than some of the chain stores I’ve shopped at in Cleveland and Buffalo in the past. To be honest, however, I’d have to say that most of the atmosphere was superfluous. I’d rather shop at my local general grocery store, and the next time I’m in the mood to splurge on unsulphured apricots, I’ll visit the local Co-Op.

Another book I don't have time to read

This is written by one of my favorite writers - he's reviewing a book by another of my favorite writers. How meta-something. Here's the link.

A line drawn in the snow

“If lines were drawn, and the US and Canada were at war, which side would you be on?” a friend recently asked me after hearing my recollection of an evening spent watching the Tragically Hip in downtown Cleveland. (At the time I told him Canada, though, to be honest, it’ll probably be a game-time decision. After all, most of my family lives in the States – though, frankly, if lines were drawn in the snow, they might also move north.)

At any rate, about a month ago I saw the Tragically Hip live in Cleveland. The Hip are not my favorite band (Sam Roberts, if you’re reading this, my number is …ahem), but I grew up listening to them, and they put on a great live show, so it’s hard to pass up the opportunity to see them in concert. Apparently, most other people from Buffalo feel the same way (and I know a lot of women who feel the same way about Sam Roberts). I walked into the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland and immediately ran into a girl who grew up a block away from me in North Buffalo. The last time I’d seen her was three years ago – the last time I saw the Hip in Cleveland.

More striking was the observation that literally half the crowd was wearing Sabres jerseys. (I had on my “I love Buffalo” Tshirt … picture that “I love NY” shirt that everyone has, with the outline of a buffalo in the heart.)

“Oh, you’re from Buffalo? That’s pretty much like being Canadian,” an expat Torontonian told me this spring, when we met in England while traveling. But it’s sometimes hard to explain to people not from Western New York / Southern Ontario the strange affinity Buffalonians have for Canada – reference my friend’s question about which side of the 49^th parallel I’d choose. Likewise, some residents of Fort Erie, the small town immediately over the border from Buffalo – where I lived till I was three and a half – have had to explain themselves recently, as they are rooting for Buffalo against Ottawa in the Stanley Cup playoffs. (http://www.buffalonews.com/101/story/71646.html)

This quirky wannabe-Canadian attitude – and our devotion to the Sabres – is what gives Buffalonians an instant sense of community when we meet out of town. I wonder if the concert venues are similarly packed with Sabres jerseys when the Hip play Seattle, for instance. I like to think so, and I like to think that one day, when I find myself living farther from Buffalo, all I’d have to do is seek out Canadian musicians to find some friends from back home.

This is not to say that Buffalo is the perfect city – any time you want to hear me lament about the terrible urban planning, the segregation, the extreme graft of city and county government, the dire fiscal straights, the famous local food that pretty much just slowly kills you (chicken wings, roast beef on weck), I'm up for it.

But everyone’s gotta root for the Sabres! Even some Canadians: http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/212194

Veto fever

Someone needs to call the public health department in Washington DC because the president has some veto fever. The Repubs have a new tactic, and watch closely: Bush, unable to govern effectively is sitting like a child on the rails of progress, threatening to issue vetoes simply because he does not like something. Somebody get this kid a snack. He is cranky. Furthermore, note when the veto has been used - twice in his whole political childhood. The first time related to stem cells, the second to blocking the war spending bill. He is now threatening a veto on a hate crimes bill that would supply funding to local law enforcement to prosecute crimes committed against people due to their sex, diability, or sexual orientation. Today there was a threat to veto any spending legislation that comes through with attachments that, 'attempt to further build the abortion industry.' With no real political clout to spend, these clowns are going back to their old reliable social issues to try and fire up the base to salvage something from the Titanic as it goes down. THEY ARE CREATING SITUATIONS THAT DO NOT EXIST. THERE IS NO PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT TIES ABORTION RIGHTS CLAUSES TO SPENDING. This is like saying, 'If Martians land, we will fight them!' Has not happened so far. Join reality people.

Furthermore, 3 of the 10 empty suits in the Republican debate this week raised their hands when asked who in the group did not believe in evolution. Is anyone here interested in a president that does not believe in evolution? Anyone? Perhaps they can't believe it because it has yet to happen to them in their lives. Sort of like I can't believe that the Lord will take care of anything - if he is supposed to, he is asleep at the wheel.

Healthcare is not a six pack of beer

Healthcare is not a commodity because it is not something that can simply be bought off the shelf. Consumers do not actively go out and select it; it is not an object but the assistance provided to cure and help educate people who are in need of care. The central tenet is the two people involved. The transaction does not end with the provision of care; care is not consumed as a bag of beans or a six pack of beer. The people involved in the transaction have an interest in each other beyond the transaction. It would further be suggested that, if healthcare is a commodity, it is easily exchanges for a different ‘type’ of commodity, based on the wide variety of choices available. Such a model fails to recognize that it is not usually the consumer who is buying the product from an unlimited set of options; employers are generally selecting the cheapest option and offering it to employees, who are happy to have anything at all. This circumstance does not resemble a market. It has also often been demonstrated that people are resistant to switch; the doctor is not the phone company or the airline.
Furthermore, the ethics of a commodity-based business transaction are different from an ethic of care. Business ethics that accept health care as a commodity will take an approach that is investor oriented, and looking for competitive edge, legitimizing unequal treatment based on unequal ability to pay. Professional ethics would require a certain degree of altruism and an abdication of self-interest at times, in the interest of the patient. Business ethic does not appreciate the protection and assurance of care that is required when people are ill and exceptionally vulnerable. Of course, a market ethics would not per se foreclose altruism; rather, it leaves no obligation to it. The ethics of the marketplace, then, easily replaces the more difficult ethics of professionalism. A marketplace structure erodes the commitment of the physician to the patient; the corporation ensures that this role will be filled by ‘someone’ – just not likely anyone the patient has seen previously. And what of the patient who makes a consumer choice to go without insurance, and then shows up at the physician’s door? If there is no moral obligation to care for all people in a commodity driven system, what does this say about our values?