Good health is good business

My community is 9th in the nation for obesity.  What a terrible claim to fame.  A shocking 33.2% of my neighbors are obese,  

Businesses look at factors like this when deciding where to locate.  Because obesity is clearly and strongly correlated with expensive diseases, particularly hypertension, other heart disease, some cancers (digestive-related ones in particular), and diabetes.  These are expensive for employers as well as awful and expensive for the people who suffer from these conditions. 

There is also a strong correlation between a walkable community and good health.  The more we use our cars, the less healthy we are.  

Like so other many good things, good health and good business go together.  Because healthy workers are more productive and less sick.  

Walkable communities are happier communities.  

Get out of your car, and you will not only become healthier, you will save money!  

Many people in the US don't think they have good alternatives to a car.  Certainly a car is convenient, especially in a spread-out community.  (In cities, it's easy to see the merit of ditching the car and using other ways to get around!)   It's up to city leaders to define the vision, and for city staff to define the criteria, to change this status quo.  

Require sidewalks.   Require them to be set off from the street a bit so there can be a strip of grass, or a bench, or a tree or something else to calm the street and make it more pleasant for those who are not in a car (and even for those who are)!  Require connnectiveness.   Don't block access to other areas with cul-de-sacs or long walls, without some breaks -- like a path out of the cul-de-sac and like gates  or breaks in walls. 

Cities shold be designed for people, not cars.  Not that cars don't have a role in our lives.  But this role must be smaller, for the sake of our health, our economy, and our planet.

Good health is good business.   Help people get out of their cars.  

Peace, y'all

Molly

On God letters

In my own shorthand, for my perpetual lists, that's what I called my letters to leaders on subjects I felt called to write about to promote peace and justice.  I used to write regularly to my representatives in Congress, the President, the heads of state Amnesty International asked me to write to, and my representatives in the state legislature.
Replies were predictable and rarely satisfying. 

Still, especially in these days of email and online petitions (which I sign frequently), a single letter has value.  Even if the response is rote, the decision makers tally the letters.  More than 5 letters (of the non-formletter type, the truly personal ones) constitute grassroots clamour, a true groundswell.

So I should keep on with the God letters, even though it's a chore.  And so should you!  

Last Christmas I derived great pleasure from writing big checks to charity.   I wonder if I could also derive pleasure from writing God letters?   I wonder which has great impact, my voice or my money? 

Money is finite.  Voice, like love, is infinite.   I guess I should use the gift of language for good, and exercise those marvelous First Amendment rights more vigorously. 

And so should you.  Let's clamour for peace and justice!  Let's make a groundswell of public support!

Peace, y'all

Molly

More on Micah's words

Months ago these words started germinating in me. "what does the Lord require but that we love mercy, act justly and walk with our God?". Today I thought hard on these words. In English, mercy and justice are sort of opposites. And love is more than sentiment, it's action, an active verb. So it's clear to me what it means to walk with God. (though it is hard to do). But nurturing both justicevand mercy is still a puzzle.

Then a serendipitous thing happened. Tomorrow is Quaker Lobby Day in my state Capitol, and 'the issues we'll lobby on are criminal justice!! Talk about justice and mercy.

Quakers in my state place priority on efforts to repair the harm suffered by victims over soohong punishments to offenders.

We want to enable offenders to redeem themselves and reintegrate in society.

We wantto replace costly incarceration through diversion, drug treatment, job training, and education.

We want to redress racial inequity of the current criminal justice system.

Tomorrow I will lobby with Micah's guidance. I don't think God requires this. I think God prepared me for tomorrow some how.

Peace, y'a, and act justly, love mercy, and walk with God!

Molly

Seek first to understand

On a recent drive I held a conversation with an imaginary companion who was scornful of liberals.  I explained my position.  Then I realized I had failed to observe the third habit of Highly Effective People - Seek first to understand-- and I really should listen to the other person.  Since that person was imaginary, that's as far as it went.

Not really.

I realized that my articulating my views, I was seeking first to understand--to understand myself.  Have you asked yourself why you believe what you believe?  That's what I did, and below I share.

WHY I'M LIBERAL

Thank you, planet!  Thanks, nation, society, and community!

I didn't ask to be born, nor did I really choose it.  Yet, here I am. I KNOW I have taken more from the planet (and my community and etc) than I have given back.   I eat food and return mere compost.  I use far more resources than most other living things on the planet, because I am human.  And since I'm American (again, not by choice but by fate), I use far more resources than most of the planet's other people. 

The planet and society benefit and nurture me.  So--I owe.  To say thank you, I must give back. 

Government must stick up for the little guy -- and girl.

Unless a higher power intervenes, the big will prevail over the little, the strong over the weak, the rich over the poor.  Predators eat prey that is smaller than they are.  Bullies are the big kids.  Sports teams choose the biggest players.  In many sports, we match contestants for size because it's such an obvious advantage.  A bigger army usually vanquishes the smaller.  Etc.

It's why the U.S. has a Senate, where a Senator from a tiny state has the same power as a Senator from a big state. 

Now our government is of the people, for the people, and by the people.  The government's role is to protect ALL the people, weak and strong, big and little, rich and poor.  To do this the government must make sure the strong don't prevail over the weak. 

That's the basis of labor laws.  Employers, you must pay workers.  You cannot work them too many hours.  You cannot use slaves.  You cannot use children.  You must provide a safe workplace.  Etc.  

Could a business make more money if it didn't have to follow these rules?  Certainly!  

Children are weak, small, and powerless.  So our government makes laws and regulations to protect them.

Our environment and the living things that live --but don't vote, or contribute to electoral campaigns--are weak too.  They cannot fight back if some pollutes or abuses.  Government must protect these too. 

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

We all want to live in a safe community with clean air and water, pretty open spaces, plenty of beauty.  Unbridled industry doesn't create these.  A government protecting the common good does.

These thoughts are not fully refined,   But what I did on that trip was seek first to understand--myself.  Now I'd like to hear from conservatives and understand what underlies their beliefs.

Peace, y'all



Break your addiction to oil

Beloved readers, this was a note some time ago in a message in the Grist, a wonderful environmental newsletter, in an entry about what we can do about the oil tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico.

The immediacy of that crisis seems to have faded, but the message persists.
Under this topic were four suggestions:
1. take stock of your own carbon footprint
2. get out of your car
3. Support sustainable energy sources
4. Promote smarter transportation systems.

I'm in good shape for the first two, and hope you are too. My carbon footprint is a huge and scary thing, but I'm working on it. And in June I got serious about commuting via bus, and have used the car for work I think 3 times since then.

#3 and #4 are more challenging, at least for me. Any suggestions? Looks like a good way to flex those First Amendment rights of petitioning the government.

I would embrace suggestions.

Peace, y'all

Molly

more on the federal budget

Wow I didn't realized I haven't posted in so long. I'm back. For now anyway.

The feds sure spend money on war. We used to call it that--The Department of War. This changed last century to the Department of Defense. How Orwellian.

Well, here is a look at the 2011 budget. Billions of dollars (did you know the lowest number starting with "b" is "billion?) and the biggest slice is for war. 30% is for current military spending. 18% is for past military, including veteran's benefits, and (ominously) interest on the national debt from previous military spending. $1398 Billion. That's $1.3 TRILLION. Any way you slice it, that's real money. And obscene amounts of it.

Non military spending -- that is, every other thing the feds do, is more than this. This is right. We should spend most of our money on nonmilitary things, like international relatons, foreign aid, justice, environmental protection and (my favorites) National Parks.

I agree that national defense is a federal function, but our military is a cancer on the federal government. It consumes it. Its product? Wealth to military contractors, and death and destruction for "others." For the womend and children and poor in other places. It's wrong in so many ways.

Oh yes, that military largess also paid for the F-15 and F-16 in the air show I saw yesterday. Was the entertainment value worth what that bird and its well-trained pilot cost us? No way.

I would like the military to hold bake sales and give billions to schools. What about you?

Peace, y'all

Molly

Is the Federal budget a reflection of our country's moral values?

So claims the Friends Committee for National Legislation, a fine Quaker lobbying group. So also claims Matthew in the Gospel: For where your treasure is, they will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21

But the cynic in me (small but still present) says them who have the gold make the rules, and that fits our budget picture more clearly.

For each dollar of federal income tax we paid in 2009, our government spent
33 cents on Pentagon spending for current and past wars (3 cents on veterans, 6 cents on interest on debts, 24 cents on Pentagon and related spending.
27 cents supporting the economy -- recovery and bailouts, 26 cents, other jobs, education and social programs, 1cent.
17 cents on health care, mainl Medicare, I suppose
11 cents responding to poverty
9 cents for general government
2 cents for energy, science, and the environment
1 cent for diplomacy, development, and war prevention

FCNL says if these expenditures don't reflect your values, talk to Congress. Good idea. Also talk to your family and friends, your neighbors, your Facebook community, anyone you can.

FCNL makes it easy to reach your reps in Congress. Visit www.fcnl.org, follow the "contact Congress" link, and there you go!

Honest to goodness, it is so much cheaper to prevent a war than to wage one and pay one off decades later. But there's profit in war and not so much for working on making lives better for the multitudes of poor and disenfranchised.

Okay, I'm going to silence the cynic, who is rarely constructive, and bring back cheerier outlook.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Inspiration fizzled and my evening was same old, same old.

But how about Arlen Specter's change of party!!? It sadly reflects on how far to the right the Republican party is going. How does this relate to peace? Well, a good democracy has lots of back and forth, give and take. And the narrowing of the GOP makes that party weaker. Ultimately that is bad for the USA. But maybe it will be good for moving the USA to a better position in a variety of policy areas.

And what about the swine flu's origin in the CAFO pork factories in Mexico? Visit Tom Philpott has the story. to read about it. For me, this underscores the importance of sourcing our foods closer to home. This relates to peace thus: it's better for the planet if our food dollars pay for food, not petrolem. And we need a healthy planet for us to live in peace.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Government and my relationship with it

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." Thomas Jefferson wrote (or said) this.

I work for the state, and I like to tell people I meet (from my state) that I work for them. It grounds me, keeps me dedicated. It also invariably gets a favorable response, which I like a lot.

Two big questions are rattling around my head lately. Both relate to government and my relationship to it.

Question 1: During my state's tight financial crunch, when the governor says we will all have to sacrifice, exactly what will I need to give up? (A related question: what can I do to help, besides staying of trouble so I don't use state resources to help me out?)

Question 2: How have I, Molly Dove, suffered under the 8 years of the Bush administration? What is the federal government's role in my life? The pondering I have given this question lead me to the tentative conclusion that the federal government's role in my life is largely positive.

Dear reader, would thee please give me input on one or both questions?

With hope--

Peace y'all

Molly