From a strictly economic standpoint, it appears to make sense to eliminate the USPS - BUT from a practical one, it makes no sense at all.
Contrary to popular myth, there are millions more than 'a few' people who depend on the USPS - for their living (I do; the micro-corporations I head do (1 a for-profit; 1 a non-profit which is supported by.... the for-profit). People in cities depend on the USPS for packages & for bills (not everyone 'loves' online bill-pay - which is less secure than physical mail, generally speaking; & which can be extremely expensive because of the need for secure Internet service).
People in rural areas find it vital - dish networks are not universally affordable or available, again contrary to popular myth - & we again have the security concerns relative to the Internet. Unlike city people, rural mail is something we depend on daily - for packages; for bills; for communication. Contrary to popular myth again, people do still write letters; use catalogs; and have working relationships with their postal carriers. I & friends all have driveways that are miles long - the mailbox "is out at the road" - 4 - 5 miles is not uncommon.
We who have PO boxes have them for good reason. People move; boxes do not. Those of us who have a need to keep distance between us & stalkers definitely need PO Boxes. Having been in the 'wonderful' position of walking out my door into the barrel of a loaded gun 3 times, I can guarantee you I will never put my physical address anywhere, any more. No, the stalker is not some former 'lover'. I stumbled across a network of crooked cops & I turned them in. My attorney advised that I 'would be guaranteed anonymity for life'. The IA cops 'guaranteed' the same thing. I should have listened to myself - 'guaranteed anonymity for life' lasted exactly 36 hours; at which time I answered the phone at the Church I head & heard, "This is Detective T K; & I'm going to kill you, you bitch".
We discussed it - I recorded the conversation; copied the tape; took it to the DA - & found that the Detective was accurate - "Unless or until he puts you in the hospital with a serious injury, state law does not allow us to act". He did not ever succeed in hospitalizing me, but he sure raised hob with my peace of mind for some years.. have you ever had to dive out of the way of a car that's trying to run you down? I have. Have you ever watched the front end of said car deform around your feet as you stood at the top of a set of cement steps? I have. And there are those 3 incidents with the gun. I am unique in that I dated military men who taught me hand-to-hand combat tactics & made sure I became skilled. My problem has not been how to defend myself; it has been how to do it without killing some slime who really needs to be dead, because said slime are not worth jail time waiting for trial, or standing in front of a judge over.
I am hardly the only person this has happened to - it's why there's a federal witness protection program. It's why many men & women live on "elevated alert" - because of stalkers. Yes, women stalk, too. Insanity affects both sexes.
And then there's - our government owes us this service. Contrary to popular myth, our government is still "of us People, by us People, & for us People". And you cannot put a price on the need of all of us for equalization in some areas - which means, we keep the USPS.
Does it need reorganizatio? Yes. It needs far fewer 'managers' than it has. The Postal Service has always been top-heavy in this regard. It probably needs some reorganization in every area of it. But no matter what, we need to get rid of the myth that the private sector can solve all problems in a cost-effective manner. Having been in business nearly all of my life, I know this for fact. We need to keep the USPS. Mitakuye oiasin - All, my relatives.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Sanitizing Mascot Language
Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. We're currently battling once again over mascotting in North Dakota, where the House Majority Leader has introduced a bill to - in it's words - "force the University of North Dakota to retain the 'fighting sioux' nickname and logo'. Among other actions. Now that the word 'mascot' has come to be known for its toxicity, bigots and other ignorant people have gone to the old 'divide and conquer' strategy to try to muck up the view of 'what's really going on here' by using the phrase 'nickname and logo'. Sounds much better than 'mascot', doesn't it? But it's the same song on a different day, in reality.
I always hope that people in positions such as Majority Leader will behave in more dignified ways than to promote mascotting, but once again, I am much disappointed.
Still, after fighting through the House, where the Chair of the ND House Education Committee was obviously biased in favor of this stupid bill, and where it passed by something like 65 - 28, we have gotten a "Do Not Pass" recommendation from the Senate Education Committee. Now our prayer is that the full Senate will concur when it votes on this bill tomorrow.
I plan to be there to hear the floor debate and see what kind of ludicrous arguments may be made for spending at least $1 million - not to find a more suitable mascot for the UND & take it out of the dark ages HB1263 would shove it further into - but to try to bring a lawsuit to 'force' the UND to retain living people & our living cultures as pets &/or cartoons - the definition of 'mascot' in the OED. A repeat of a lawsuit which was dismissed by the ND Supreme Court 'with prejudice', we have been told; and which the ND Attorney General says is UnConstitutional!
I never fail to be amazed by the depths to which bigots will stoop to try to retain the status quo. We got the Civil Rights Act passed in what, the 1970s? for blacks.. and it was later extended to cover women and Hispanics, without much question. Yet for us IndigenUs People of this Turtle Island, there continues to be effort on effort made to treat us as mindless and valueless - except when it comes to making money from our images. Dis-gust-ing!
I proposed several respectful alternatives to HB1263, including hoghouse the bill (scrap the original wording) & replace it with: with the blessing of the involved tribes, put the beautiful artwork on the state's website & letterheads - the state is named for my People, after all; and on the 'Pride of Dakota' labels that go on thousands of products shipped through that program - retaining the words "Pride of Dakota" of course; and put the beautiful artwork on license plates. This last suggestion came from a friend who is a German-from-Russia, & everyone I've asked about it has liked this idea as well as the previous 2. Said "it's logical!" "it's common sense!"
Which probably means it won't go anywhere, in part because it came from me. Isn't it odd that a woman described by the current governor as being "nothing! nobody! She has no money, no votes, no power!" can have such impact? Duwahleh! Mongye.
Well, let's pray on that tomorrow's vote kills HB1263 once and for all, and the state of North Dakota can hold its collective head up high for this nod to human dignity - instead of continuing as it currently is & has been for far too long. Mitakuye oiasin.
I always hope that people in positions such as Majority Leader will behave in more dignified ways than to promote mascotting, but once again, I am much disappointed.
Still, after fighting through the House, where the Chair of the ND House Education Committee was obviously biased in favor of this stupid bill, and where it passed by something like 65 - 28, we have gotten a "Do Not Pass" recommendation from the Senate Education Committee. Now our prayer is that the full Senate will concur when it votes on this bill tomorrow.
I plan to be there to hear the floor debate and see what kind of ludicrous arguments may be made for spending at least $1 million - not to find a more suitable mascot for the UND & take it out of the dark ages HB1263 would shove it further into - but to try to bring a lawsuit to 'force' the UND to retain living people & our living cultures as pets &/or cartoons - the definition of 'mascot' in the OED. A repeat of a lawsuit which was dismissed by the ND Supreme Court 'with prejudice', we have been told; and which the ND Attorney General says is UnConstitutional!
I never fail to be amazed by the depths to which bigots will stoop to try to retain the status quo. We got the Civil Rights Act passed in what, the 1970s? for blacks.. and it was later extended to cover women and Hispanics, without much question. Yet for us IndigenUs People of this Turtle Island, there continues to be effort on effort made to treat us as mindless and valueless - except when it comes to making money from our images. Dis-gust-ing!
I proposed several respectful alternatives to HB1263, including hoghouse the bill (scrap the original wording) & replace it with: with the blessing of the involved tribes, put the beautiful artwork on the state's website & letterheads - the state is named for my People, after all; and on the 'Pride of Dakota' labels that go on thousands of products shipped through that program - retaining the words "Pride of Dakota" of course; and put the beautiful artwork on license plates. This last suggestion came from a friend who is a German-from-Russia, & everyone I've asked about it has liked this idea as well as the previous 2. Said "it's logical!" "it's common sense!"
Which probably means it won't go anywhere, in part because it came from me. Isn't it odd that a woman described by the current governor as being "nothing! nobody! She has no money, no votes, no power!" can have such impact? Duwahleh! Mongye.
Well, let's pray on that tomorrow's vote kills HB1263 once and for all, and the state of North Dakota can hold its collective head up high for this nod to human dignity - instead of continuing as it currently is & has been for far too long. Mitakuye oiasin.
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