Category: Living in Society

Politics mostly social commentary.

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Living in Society

Concerned Library Lovers

Solon Public Library

Library lovers gather at the public library. It is not a formal meet up or conference. We are more like a living coral reef where symbiosis is more important than creating permanent structure. The weather was so mild on Tuesday, we chatted outside on the walkways to the parking lots. Library lovers are concerned about what our government is doing regarding libraries.

As mentioned March 12, there is an anti-intellectual movement afoot in Iowa that would abolish public libraries. The expectation is a slate of bills will be debated on public and school libraries soon. Hopefully they are defeated, and better yet, never come up for a vote because of lack of support.

Among the bills is repeal of the state exemption from obscenity laws for public libraries. A worst case scenario of repeal is some librarians may see jail time because a kid brought home a book their parents didn’t like. The purpose of public libraries is not to provide cheap child care to parents who are too lazy to supervise what their children read.

An equally serious problem is the impact state lawmakers new “library regulations” will have on the talented staff at libraries across the state. I would expect these good folks to err on the side of caution: caution against winding up in jail. If the zealots have their way, I would expect libraries to experience significant turnover. If such turnover happened, the quality of patrons’ experience would be diminished, possibly permanently.

Another impact on Iowa libraries is what the federal government does regarding the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—the only federal agency focused solely on supporting the nation’s libraries and museums. Established by Congress, the agency assures federal resources would be available to improve and support the nation’s libraries. Iowa City Public Library Development Director Katie Roche issued a press release on the impacts of losing funding through IMLS last night. Read it here. The impacts of killing IMLS would be many. It would change dramatically what we could expect from public libraries. Yes, I’m talking about your library.

Folks who work at public libraries are well aware of how to deal with budget constraints. What makes the current climate different is a third party, namely outside zealots and the federal government, are directing actions with expected and politicized desired outcomes. People across the political spectrum can agree public libraries are a positive influence on society. We should stand up to defend them. How best to manage them should be and is an ongoing topic of discussion. Library lovers are stakeholders who shouldn’t be excluded from the discussion. For heaven’s sake, visit a library and check out a book. That’s what I was doing on Tuesday and it was uplifting. We do more than check out books.

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Living in Society

It’s Not A Clean CR

Pre-dawn on the state park trail.

Would I call Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office and tell her how to vote on the pile of crap that is the House continuing resolution to keep the government open? No, I would not. Same goes for Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey, and others. Senator Chuck Schumer? Especially after he announced last night he would be voting for the House CR? No I would not do anything there either. It is important to look at Schumer’s stated reason.

“For sure the Republican bill is a terrible option,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, according to the Washington Post. “But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take … much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”

It is what it is, although Schumer’s announcement provides cover for some Democrats to vote yes. If every senator shows up for the vote, and the two independents side with Democrats, (I think one Republican is absent). Republicans need 8 Democrats to file cloture before the actual CR is up for a vote, passing with a simple majority. So they have Fetterman and Schumer. That leaves six more.

Progressive personalities were out after Schumer’s announcement last night.

“Should Schumer and Jeffries be replaced?” Stacey Walker asked on Substack. ” Instead of leveraging this moment to demand real concessions, Schumer has once again capitulated without a fight, proving that Democratic leadership is not just ineffective but woefully complicit in the assault on our democracy. At what point do we demand a change?”

“Tonight, Chuck Schumer announced that he is going to vote in favor of the Republican budget resolution, which includes massive, unprecedented cuts to social services like SNAP benefits (better known as food stamps), Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, all so that billionaires can get even richer through tax breaks.” Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin wrote in her weekly newsletter about Trumpland. “Reportedly, Chuck is doing this because he’s afraid of what the American people will think of Democrats if the government shuts down. That is complicity. It is cowardice. It is shameful.”

I’ve already written my U.S. Senators and Chuck Grassley wrote back already. There is no changing Republican minds on the CR. So we wait. The vote is expected today, and if there is no CR, the government begins shutting down a minute after midnight tonight.

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Living in Society

Libraries Remain Important in Rural Iowa

Solon Public Library

In addition to calling the American Library Association a “Marxist” organization, and asserting librarians should be arrested for materials found within the walls of spaces they manage, there is an anti-intellectual movement in Iowa to eliminate public libraries. There isn’t a bill for that, because it is a sub rosa campaign. The intent is there, yet supporters hide it because they are dishonest.

Our local library community responded to the bad bills filed by members of the Iowa legislature. They sent an email to patrons and published a guest column in the March 11, Cedar Rapids Gazette. Click here to read the guest column. Shedding light on what this small minority is attempting is the best way to defeat these bills. Anyone with common sense realizes the value our libraries represent in our communities.

I sent this email to my district legislators:

Dear ___

I live in your district urge you to vote no should HF521/SF235 come up for a vote. The bills would repeal current exemptions from Iowa obscenity laws for educational institutions and libraries.

Here is my reason.

The basic question is who should decide what content is available in public libraries and schools? I submit it is someone trained in library science and rooted in the community. We should empower librarians to do their job and settle any disputes regarding content, including those relating to obscenities, without getting run out of town on the rail. The obscenity exemption protects government employees who seek to do their job.

Should we have public libraries? I believe we should because they benefit the entire community, especially those who have limited means. We need an arbiter of what resources are in our libraries, and that person should be a trained librarian.

Vote no on HF521/SF235.

Thanks for considering my request.

Regards, Paul

Supporting your local library includes standing up for them when an unreasonable minority tries to impose their values on the rest of Iowans. The time to contact legislators is now.

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Reviews

Book Review: Jane Austen’s Bookshelf

My credentials to write a review of Romney’s book are somewhat chary. I have never read a book by Jane Austen (Gasp!). When on vacation in Stratford, Ontario, our family attended a dramatization of Pride and Prejudice during which I promptly fell asleep. Yet here I am saying Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend is one of the best books I read this year. Why is that? It is easy to get caught up in Rebecca Romney’s quest.

There is a lot to learn in Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: about rare book collecting, about Jane Austen, about approaching books through multiple media, and about the women she found with connections to Austen. For a general reader, this was the best introduction to all these women born in the 18th Century who lived until the 19th who experienced success as writers.

The most interesting questions Romney answers is why the well-known authors she identifies fell out of favor among readers. She also explains the role of re-prints in perpetuating a writer’s legacy.

From beginning to end, Jane Austen’s Bookshelf was captivating, informative, and fun to read while following along with the author. If you care about books, this is one you will want to add to your to be read pile.

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Living in Society

Double-Wide Society

Waiting room at the University of Iowa Health Care Radiology Clinic.

When the University of Iowa bought Mercy Iowa City Hospitals and Clinics in November 2023, we were thankful our hospital of decades did not close the doors because of bankruptcy. We haven’t had major health issues, yet our child was born there 40 years ago, and they kept the facility up since then. Why ruin a good thing?

Now called University of Iowa Health Care, there are changes to accommodate. For example, we have to wear a wrist brand inside the 2,828 square foot building when we are at an appointment. I suppose practitioners might confuse us with the other patient seeking treatment at the same time. It’s not like we are a small town. We’re up to 3,182 people according to the most recent census information. Hell, I don’t know the half of them! There were questions about the wrist bands at first, yet we didn’t want the administrators in the county seat to get mad at us and close the only clinic in this rural part of the county. We now wear them when asked.

I’ve been treated in our local clinic since we moved back to Iowa in 1993. The doctors and nurses used to be good. Nurses still are, but the first impulse of recent physicians seems to be to refer us to another clinic in the university system for a test or consultation. Hang on to your wallet, because if you don’t have good insurance, these referrals can run into the thousands of dollars.

Some practitioners, the male ones anyway, give me the wooden Indian look when I ask about my records from before the acquisition. They don’t say, but I think there is an issue with integrating our old medical records into the university system. No worries, though. Doctors today seem to live in the moment. They might say, “Don’t worry about those old records. Let’s take a look at you now!” That’s fine with me because I live in the now. I’d just as soon forget about all the ailments for which I have been treated in the last 32 years. The only major health concern from the old days is my being obese. That persists, yet the university has a solution.

I first noticed the double-wide waiting room benches when I went to the podiatry clinic. A six-hundred pounder could fit into one of those no problem. My spouse and I can share one since there is room to spare for the two of us. In another context, we might call the double-wides “accommodation.” I suppose the doctors get tired of telling patients they need to lose weight, therefore let them have double-wides. Now that I’m thinking about it, some of the examination chairs I’ve been in are double-wide as well.

Obesity is a problem in the state:

Iowa currently ranks 11th in the nation for adult obesity, according to the latest Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. However, Iowa is one of 19 states with an obesity prevalence rate of at or over 35 percent. (Iowa Department of Health and Human Services website).

It is good the hospitals and clinics try to accommodate people with every characteristic. The University of Iowa is a teaching hospital that accepts patients from all over the state. That is, they accept people if there is room and sufficient staff to treat what ails them. Otherwise, we go to Illinois, Nebraska, or Minnesota. Anyway, if obese Iowans make it through the maze to treatment, they will be comfortable while they are at the clinics.

There is a dark side to all this, and that is people are getting fed up with all the accommodation in society. It’s not just the double-wides. It’s everything. It’s like we returned to the 19th Century world of the great novelists with their chatty gossip and sexual double entendres. Where wit and morality are front and center in books that purportedly corrupted youth. I’m thinking of Charlotte Smith, who promoted women’s rights as long as women knew and kept their place subservient to their husband and produced a large number of children. It is as if to say, “Here! You have a right to this double-wide. Also know that we are better than you and will lord it over you.”

Sorry for that last paragraph, which was a bit of a stretch. Sorry, not sorry.

Let’s face it, though. Some in the Iowa legislature and the Congress definitely want to tell us how to live. In many cases, it has become a big morality play in which we have to hear their values and comply… or else! Here I am thinking of the state bill to repeal the obscenity exemption for schools and libraries. Our local library emailed us:

While the intent behind these bills may be to protect community standards, the broad language used could lead to unintended consequences. By altering obscenity exemptions, these bills could subject libraries and educational institutions to increased legal scrutiny and potential penalties for materials deemed inappropriate by subjective standards. This shift could result in self-censorship among librarians and educators, limiting the diversity of materials available and hindering the open exchange of ideas that is fundamental to educational growth. (Email from the Solon Public Library, March 7, 2025).

They expect us to comply and remain in our station in society. They assert in this, they are better than us.

All of this said, I like the new arrangement with the University of Iowa Health Care organization. The people are friendly and helpful, and if something is wrong, and we can afford all the tests and consultations, problems can be detected early and addressed before they get out of control. That’s what we want with our health care. Double-wides are optional.

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Living in Society

Winter Hangs On

Winter hangs on, March 5, 2025.

Heat stored in the driveway concrete is doing its job. As I write, the snow is forecast to end in about an hour. After that, very high winds are expected: the kind that blow trees over and wreck buildings. It will be a day of staying indoors and wondering how the apparent demise of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will affect these small updates. Several hundred NOAA employees have been fired. National Public Radio reported staff cuts at NOAA could interrupt the weather forecasts many Americans rely on.

We finished our federal and state tax returns and neither owed anything nor expect a refund. In the meanwhile, Associated Press is reporting the Internal Revenue Service is drafting plans to lay off half of its 90,000-person workforce. “A reduction in force of tens of thousands of employees would render the IRS ‘dysfunctional,'” said John Koskinen, a former IRS commissioner.

Our Social Security pensions came on time in February. The Social Security Administration plans to lay off 7,000 workers, bringing its workforce headcount to about 50,000, according to a recent news release. Workforce cuts may delay benefits, shut down offices, and create problems for retirees who rely upon government assistance, according to a US News and World Report article. Our family bellwether is whether the payments arrive on time. We are waiting to see what happens.

There is the uncertainty at the National Institutes of Health which is the government mechanism to help fund research in so many diseases we seniors might get. The way cuts rolled out was the same way a group of kids dink around with a live turtle, seeing what it will do under stress conditions. Morale at the clinics and labs that rely on this government funding must be low. Low enough for employees to look elsewhere for a new, more stable job. I hope they get NIH funded so the research on infectious disease, cancer, and other common ailments continues before more people need life-saving treatments and die for the lack of them.

We don’t use Medicaid presently. We might as we age and perhaps need continuous care in a nursing home. It is best if a family can care for their aging members, yet not always possible. The Congress is playing a shell game about cuts to health care, yet it is no secret they are looking at $880 million or so in cuts to Medicaid in addition to other programs poor people and children rely upon. The prospects for such cuts loom like the forecast high winds later today.

The wind picked up since I began writing this post. After experiencing the 2020 derecho, high winds have been unsettling. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea for me to watch damage occur in our yard during the derecho, rather than take shelter in the lower level. What the experience gave me was a direct connection to the potential damage of high winds. If NOAA is dissolved, the uncertainty of from where we will get reliable weather forecasts can cause stress. With everything going on in the administration, more stress is something we don’t need.

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Living in Society

Not Watching Movies

Photo by Donald Tong on Pexels.com

Sunday was the annual award ceremony for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I’ll just straight up say it: I don’t recognize any of the honored films, actors, and technicians and can’t find the impetus to learn who or what they are.

It’s hard to say what happened. When I returned from Europe and attended graduate school, I saw multiple movies every week. When we gathered for the recent holidays the family viewed a made for television movie. Before that, who knows when I saw the last one. It had been years.

I’m not the only one. The online service Quora posted, “Less than 10 percent of Americans go to the movies regularly today, but that has been true for the last 20 years or so. Now overseas markets, especially China, bring in the big box office.” Streaming services, installed home theaters, and changing preferences contribute to the decline. Movies have been in decline more than 20 years for me.

In 1986, I wrote a high school friend about this:

I have been thinking about the motion picture of late. It has been about a year since we saw one in a theater. Probably will be as long before we see another one. Film was a crucial part of my masters degree. I saw so many. I thought about and digested them constantly. Here in Cedar Rapids, film has taken a back seat in my intellectual journey. Rather, I have changed my perspective.

What is essentially an entertainment became, for a brief instant, an inspiration. Film is visual, musical, and most of all, a social statement. By watching so many, I studied one of the societies in which I live. But now, this study finished, I turn to application of this knowledge. (Letter to Dennis Brunning, April 19, 1986).

I had viewed maybe ten films in Europe over three years. One of them was Patton which we showed repeatedly to soldiers in the field. I became an expert at showing a film movie using a generator and a lamp projector.

For me, movies were part of an intellectual process. It began when I saw Apocalypse Now in Springfield, Illinois while on my trip home from Europe in 1979. Francis Ford Coppola’s film opened up a new world of creativity. When I finished mining the movie vein in the early 1980s, film-watching at theaters was mostly over for me. It became a “date night” special we did only a time or two per year.

Back in the day, before there were talkies, movies were available everywhere. Many urban neighborhoods had a place to pay a dime and see a movie. They were cheap entertainment. Over time, these storefront neighborhood theaters disappeared to be replaced by movie theaters on the scale of the RKO Orpheum chain. My home town had four of these, the Capitol, State, RKO Orpheum, and Coronet. Next came multiplex theaters where concession sales were consolidated for many motion pictures playing in close proximity. In our community of about 250,000 there was at one time a single multiplex. Traveling a half hour by car to see a movie eroded interest in new release films.

Home movie watching had its heyday with the advent of VHS cassette tapes of movies, and later DVDs. I continue to have a collection of VHS tapes stored in two banker’s boxes. The technology to play them has become too expensive to justify getting a player. It was great while it lasted. When we lived in Indiana in the late 1980s and early ’90s I would stop at the video rental store after work, get a movie or two, and order pizza delivery for supper. It made a good, inexpensive Friday night in our small family.

Today, I just don’t know. Groups I know get on Discord to live stream a movie for people viewing from all over the globe. Some people are addicted to Netflix and its equivalents. Viewing a movie on television in the family room morphed into each family member watching something different on individual screens. The movie itself seems to be beside the point.

The short analysis of why movie watching is in decline is people don’t have “spare time” the way we did. We view every moment as an opportunity to be occupied with activities. We believe we have more activities than time. There is too much investment of time to see a movie at a multiplex. The same social behavior impacting movies also affects reading, which, as I have written, is also in decline. The idea of spare time and needing something to do with it, just doesn’t seem to be present in society the same way it was 40 years ago.

Some day I will take my DVD copies of The Matrix, Out of Africa, Blade Runner, and Lord of the Rings to the living room and watch them. Revisiting my favorites does not help the broader problems of the motion picture industry. I’m not sure going to the multiplex a couple of times a year would either.

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Living in Society

Republicans Choose Budget Reconciliation

Photo by Trev W. Adams on Pexels.com

Try though I did to reach out, my Republican members of Congress did not hear the message. All of them voted yes on the reconciliation framework. Following is what I wrote my congresswoman:

Rep. Miller-Meeks,
Vote no on the reconciliation bill.
During your recent telephone town hall you mentioned the reconciliation bill and ways to offset the tax incentives it creates/extends with savings from Federal government operations.
I have studied the matter, and some of the proposed budget cuts, and have more to learn. Based on what I have learned, I urge you to vote no on the reconciliation bill.
Providing tax cuts to the well-off in Iowa and in the country at the expense of programs less well-off people depend upon is the wrong direction.
In part, your parsing of the Medicaid cuts at the telephone town hall helped me understand the direction, and I thank you for that explanation.
Good luck making your decision. I hope you vote no on the final reconciliation bill.
Regards, Paul Deaton, resident of the first Congressional District.

Somewhere in Miller-Meeks D.C. office likely rests a tick list on the bill with my email registered as a no.

Because the Republican House is so narrowly divided, they know they have to stick together to get anything done. So far, they are. As the chaos in the federal administration unfolds, there will be pressure on members of congress to do the right thing. Regarding my senators and congresswoman, I won’t take no for an answer, so they will hear from me again during the remainder of this spring and summer. That’s when it counts the most because after that, it’s time for the 2026 midterms.

Here is Congresswoman Miller-Meeks’ response to me email.

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Living in Society

Days Are Longer

Pre-dawn light on March 1, 2025

Saturday I went to town to view the selection at the public library used book sale. There wasn’t much of one. The perimeter of the room had the usual tables of young adult, romance and adult fiction books with an ample amount available. My interest is usually in the center tables, which this year were only four or five, compared to the usual 10 to 12. My goal was to buy no more than three for a free will donation. I couldn’t find a single one, so I came home.

It shouldn’t be surprising so few books were donated. The bottom line, according to Gallup, is fewer people are reading books in 2025. Reading appears to be in decline as a favorite way for Americans to spend their free time. Less reading, fewer books at the annual sale. Life as it is in Big Grove Township.

I participated in the People’s Union national retail boycott on Friday. The plan for no shopping changed when we received a new prescription at a doctor’s appointment. I bought gasoline, since the car was running on fumes, and made two stops for supplies related to the clinical visit. A lot of people were out on the street in vehicles. Costco had the fewest people inside on a Friday afternoon since I can remember. Not sure any impact will be felt or that demand for goods and services changed. The boycott was something small that people could support. These days, we need stuff like that.

I have a lot to say about the meeting between the presidents of the United States and Ukraine yesterday. Here’s what Ben Rhodes posted yesterday, which reduces it to an easily understandable paragraph: “People need to understand that we are in an entirely new paradigm. It is now Russia (and) the US against Ukraine and Europe. This is not a shift in US policy, it is a transformation of what kind of country the United States is in the world.”

There is widespread support for Ukraine in the United States. It just can’t be found in the oval office.

I read each morning near a window with an eastward view. As I sip my coffee, I notice light in the east when the sun begins to rise. All of a sudden it is dawning before 6:30 a.m. I feel compelled to get out in it and watch for a colorful sky along the state park trail. Longer days mean a hastening pace for the year, a late winter rush until summer solstice. When the days are longer, our lives feel shorter as we must rise and engage with the challenges of a new day, setting aside quotidian things like reading.

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Living in Society

Week Six

Trail walking, Feb. 25, 2025.

Perhaps the most egregious aspect of the new administration is their blind pursuit of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of the population. The tax bill/budget passed by the U.S. House last week proposed $4.5 Trillion in tax cuts to be offset by $2 Trillion in cuts to programs Americans depend upon. In other words, the House wants to borrow another $2.5 Trillion to fund tax cuts. The Senate majority seems poised to go along. I don’t know anyone, including my conservative friends, who want the federal government to borrow more money to fund tax cuts.

Think of it like our family budget. As I wrote earlier this month, I re-negotiated how we interface with our internet and television provider. The savings per month worked out to about $120. Should those savings be used to fund other new things, or should they be applied to reduce short term debt? Obviously short term debt should be as close to zero as is possible to make room for emergencies. That’s where the savings should be applied. Assuming household finances are stable, that’s what I will do.

The idea that household finances will remain stable is a bit off. We rely on Social Security and Medicare in retirement. It now appears Team DOGE is planning to fire as much as half the staff at the Social Security Administration. There are two determinants of how things are going at the SSA: how well they manage the trust fund, and whether our monthly pension payments arrive on time. Whether they can manage to create the same service with half the staff is doubtful. If nothing else, the SSA has proven to be well-managed, an example of efficient government operations. In February the payments arrived as they normally had. There is uncertainty over whether that will continue to be the case.

Why is there uncertainty? In case you missed it, in week six, the Trump administration is running an amateur hour on most aspects of its management of our government. My feeling is Trump doesn’t really care for the job and all it entails. He outsourced work he should be doing to Elon Musk in an arbitrary appointment as his “special adviser.” Musk obviously has no clue about how the federal government operates. His statement this week, “We’ll make mistakes, won’t be perfect,” at the initial cabinet meeting was far from reassuring. Exactly the opposite. He expects inexperienced billionaires in the cabinet to go along with the slipshod way he is attempting to manage change in governmental agencies. I have to ask where was Trump during his cabinet meeting?

Since the November election, the ultra rich have come out of hiding to loot the treasury. What do I mean by that? On Thursday, 880 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees were fired, and the process of dismantling the agency Americans (and the rest of the world) depend upon for accurate weather forecasting began. NOAA and it’s parent agency the Department of Commerce stiff-armed news reporters about what was going on. The sudden firings raised more questions than they answered about Trump’s approach to government. People need accurate weather forecasts. If under the president’s direction NOAA goes away, some private company may have to take over to provide the service. I guess that is the point of this administration: give all the money to private businesses and the wealthiest among us.

Robert Reich suggested in his Feb. 28 substack article, “An important aspect of the era we’re in is that a record share of the nation’s wealth is in the hands of a small group of people who are now revealing themselves to be remarkably selfish, shameless, and insensitive to the needs of America.” Seriously! Key billionaires were lined up next to the podium at Trump’s swearing in ceremony! The idea people do not like the wealthy is not new.

If the administration tampers with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as they seem intent on doing, regular folks will rise up against the wealthy class. As I’ve written before, “Providing tax cuts to the well-off in Iowa and in the country at the expense of programs less well-off people depend upon is the wrong direction.” If there is a disruption in these three agencies, you don’t need Jeane Dixon to predict an open revolt.

I follow Republican Victoria Spartz from Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. In a recent newsletter, she wrote, “If the GOP does not have the backbone to start fixing healthcare in reconciliation, we have to start a full government takeover now – before we completely bankrupt our country and our people.” In the end, she voted to raise the debt ceiling and borrow another $2.5 Trillion to give to the wealthiest Americans. What Spartz means by “fixing healthcare” isn’t the same thing I, or any normal person, means. Since the GOP does not have any perceivable backbone, it will be up to the rest of us to start a full government takeover, and soon.