Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 5, 2011

13

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 5, 2011 


SUSAN Henderson

 LIFE IS GOOD

Mountain 
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Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

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HAIL Hamilton My Turn


Well, this past week marked 
another milestone in my 
life. I had another birthday 
and believe me, I am happy 
to be able to say that! It 
wasn’t the presents or the 
cards or the messages or e-
mails that brought me joy. 
They were all wonderful, 
but it was, simply, the fact 
that I am alive and well.

 I have many things to be 
thankful for, a loving family, the best grandchildren 
in the world, a pretty good golf game, 
(this old girl actually hit a 240 yard drive straight 
down the middle of a difficult fairway yesterday), 
and much more. And, I am happy for life. 
It is good. That is not to say that there aren’t ups 
and downs, but the bottom line - life is good.

 I do want to share a couple things regarding 
my birthday, however. First of all, watch out! 
My granddaughters, Maila, Maheilia and Milania, 
ages 8, 6 and 3 respectively, created the absolute 
best ‘birthday card’ ever. They created the 
- “Mountain Views News - Junior Edition” and it 
is hilarious! They are a very observant and quick 
witted crew! 

 Secondly, my dear sister really surprised me 
with an Ipad. I am not an ‘Apple’ person; I don’t 
own an IPod or IPhone, but Grace and her husband 
Artie, went out on a limb because they 
thought I would really enjoy it. They were soooo 
right! And, in the card they sent, the following 
message was enclosed, “I have learned that success 
is to be measured not so much by the position 
that one has reached as by the obstacles which she 
has overcome while trying to succeed.” BTW

That was especially uplifting coming from my 
sister who has known me my entire life and 
watched me play the cards that have been dealt 
to me. Yes, Life is Good.

 I’ve been thinking for a few weeks about what I 
would write about for my birthday and everyday 
it changed. I was going to talk about how the 
world has changed over the past six decades. I 
was going to talk about my favorite things (our 
new puppy Charlee) and my pet peeves (Stadium 
Names - ‘Farmers Stadium?!). I enjoy writing, 
although I don’t always have the time to do 
so. And, even though I chided Amy Putnam recently 
about talking a lot, the truth is, I do too. 
In fact, on my very first report card, (1st grade), 
my teacher described me as ‘talkative’. I still 
remember my parents reaction (I didn’t know 
what the word meant), and I have come to realize 
that everyone in our household was glad that 
someone had validated the fact that I talked all 
the darned time! 

 Anyway, I was going to take the time in this 
column to talk about the lighter side of life and 
publishing, but somehow, none of those things 
seemed that important by the end of the week, 
especially in light of the events unfolding in 
Egypt and other parts of the world. 

 As Americans, we love to put blinders on and 
pick and choose what we see happening around 
us. When we do see disturbing developments, 
our first reaction is, “well, that can’t happen 
here.” Really? 

 I know many of you, when watching the violence 
in the streets of Cairo couldn’t begin to 
relate to that much discontent and frustration 
that would lead to the overthrow of a government. 
Hopefully many of you understand what 
a blessing it is to be able to disagree in ‘peace’. 
Whether you are on the right or the left, a coffee 
drinker or a ‘tea partyer’, we don’t have to resort 
to violence in order to be heard. Like it or not, 
we have an election process that gives everyone 
the opportunity to be heard. BUT......We don’t 
take it seriously. 

 Yes, Life is Good in these United States of 
America but we really should start working 
harder at keeping it that way. And the only way 
we are going to keep it that way is to participate 
in the process. Yes, we have to vote and encourage 
everyone we know to vote. 

 We need to understand that while we think 
what happened in Egypt could never here, the 
truth is that a majority of Americans do not vote 
and feel no connection to our government, or 
political parties - neither Democrats nor Republicans. 
And, common sense will tell you that as 
the numbers of Americans who feel disenfranchised 
or disconnected increases it won’t be possible 
to enjoy Life in America as we currently 
know it. Yes, Life Is Good, but we all need to 
work harder at keeping it that way. So the next 
time you hear someone talking about how bad 
things are and why they don’t bother to vote, 
try to help them understand that as bad as it is 
here is a hell of a lot better than it is everywhere 
else. See if you can get it across to them that if 
we have problems with the way things are run, 
then we should try to become part of the solution. 
Yes, Life Is Good, for now.

Bogus Proposed 
28th Amendment Email

I’ve been receiving a chain-email 
periodically for more than a year 
proposing that a 28th amendment be 
added to the United States Constitution. 
I’m sure many of you have received the 
same email. A quick fact check, however, shows its claims 
are false or misleading. 

 “Subject: 28th Amendment!

“For too long we have been too complacent about the 
workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that 
Congress members could retire with the same pay after 
only one term, that they didn’t pay into Social Security, 
that they specifically exempted themselves from many of 
the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any 
fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary 
citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt 
themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is being 
considered...in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn’t seem 
logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly 
don’t care if they are Democrat, Republican. Independent 
or whatever. The self-serving must stop.

“This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time 
has come. Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States 
Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of 
the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators 
and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that 
applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not 
apply equally to the citizens of the United States”.

“Each person contact a minimum of twenty people on their 
Address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise. Then 
in three days, all people in The United States of America 
will have the Message. This is one proposal that really 
should be passed around.”

Analysis: While it’s true that members of the U.S. Senate 
and House of Representatives enjoy a relatively generous 
government pension plan - some say too generous - and 
that Congress in the past has exempted itself from certain 
laws that apply to the rest of us, the case outlined above is 
largely inaccurate and outdated. 

Ever since the passage of the Congressional Accountability 
Act in 1995 Congress has been answerable to the same civil 
rights and equal employment regulations that pertain to 
private businesses. Other alleged disparities, such as those 
having to do with Congressional retirement provisions and 
health care coverage, are misrepresented above as well.

Congressional retirement and Social Security: It’s false that 
members of Congress can retire after only one term with 
full pay, and false that they don’t pay into Social Security. 
Members elected after 1983 participate in the Federal 
Employees Retirement System. Members elected before 
1983 participate in the older Civil Service Retirement 
Program. In both cases, they contribute to the plans at a 
slightly higher rate than ordinary federal employees. How 
much members of Congress receive upon retirement 
depends on their age, length of government service, and 
the configuration of their plan. All members of Congress 
pay into Social Security.

Immunity from prosecution for sexual harassment: Once 
upon a time, members of Congress were exempt from 
many of the employment and civil rights regulations under 
which private businesses operate, but no longer, thanks to 
the congressional accountability Act of 1995. Section 201 
includes prohibitions against discrimination based on race, 
color, religion, sex, or national origin, as well as sexual and 
other harassment in the workplace.

Congressional health care coverage: It’s false that Congress 
has exempted itself from the provisions of the various 
health care reform bills introduced in the House and 
Senate in 2009. According to an analysis by FactCheck.
org: “Members of Congress are subject to the legislation’s 
mandate to have insurance, and the plans available to them 
must meet the same minimum benefit standards that other 
insurance plans will have to meet.”

Origin of email: As best as I’ve been able to determine, the 
email was written by Bob Gale, a regular contributor to 
Andrew Breitbart Presents Big Hollywood, and originally 
posted June 29, 2009. 

About the author: Gale is a Screenwriter-Producer-Director, 
best known as co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of 
“Back to the Future” and its sequels; he has also written 
various comic books including Spider-Man and Batman. 
Interestingly, Gale has testified as an expert defense witness 
in over a dozen plagiarism cases against Breitbart. 


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STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

MY MOTHER’S HANDS

I’ve spent the last two weeks 
holding my mother hands. 
As she got smaller, her hands 
seemed to get larger. I think 
she lost over 12 pounds while 
she was in the hospital and at 
the time of her death yesterday 
morning she weighed less than eighty pounds. 
One afternoon, about four or five days ago, 
my daughter and I held those hands down 
as my mother tried to rip off her breathing 
mask and pull off her IV. A few nights before 
that I held her hands as she spoke to ghosts. 
She spoke to her husband, and mother and 
brother, all of whom had been dead for at 
least thirty years. I heard her say to my father 
something that sounded like, “You look good. 
What have you been doing?”

As usual I was completely unprepared for 
what was happening. I knew my mother 
was 95 years old and I knew that she was 
failing. It was harder and harder to engage 
her in conversation and all she ever seemed 
to say was that she was hungry and wanted 
a chicken salad sandwich. She would 
complain about hunger even right after she 
had eaten; even while she was eating and we 
didn’t understand. My sister thought that 
she was just making conversation and was 
happy finding something to complain about. 
Finally, on the night before she died, the nurse 
at the hospital gave us a little blue book that 
described her behavior. It explained that on 
their final journey people will often complain 
of thirst and hunger and this thirst and hunger 
cannot be satisfied by food or drink. We had 
not understood this and agonized wondering 
why my mother was always thirsty.

Please understand that I am not 
complaining. My mother lived to be over 95 
and I almost never went more than 2 weeks 
without seeing her. During my lifetime she 
changed a lot. I can still remember when I 
thought she was about eight feet tall and was 
the most competent and sweetest person in 
the world. She could sew, and clean, and 
make meals, and tell me the right clothes to 
wear, and had answers for everything. I think 
I began to doubt her when I realized that her 
greatest joy was to buy clothes that were on 
sale and give them to me and tell me they 
looked good which only meant that they were 
affordable. Gradually I understood.

My sister and my mother would argue 
about clothes as my sister tried desperately to 
fit in with the other, richer, kids. Money was 
always a problem for my mother. Even in her 
last days she worried over who was paying for 
her room and board at the retirement home. 
Of course, it didn’t help that when she moved 
into the rest home four years ago some worker 
had stolen her check book and written checks 
totaling over two thousand dollars. Eventually 
we got the money back and everything was 
straightened out, but my mother was always 
distrustful. If she had money in her purse she 
was always afraid that someone would steal 
the money and it became easier for her not to 
have money. In fact, we wrote her a note that 
she carried in the purse that said, “there is no 
money in your purse and Stuart pays all your 
bills and you have nothing to worry about.” 
She worried anyway.

This money business is strange. Upon 
my mother’s death I was given bills from 
the hospital that greatly exceeded my yearly 
income. It was strange seeing those numbers, 
even though I knew that most of the bills would 
be paid by Medi-Care and her Supplemental 
Insurance Policy. Still this is more money 
than she has spent in her own life and it is 
ironic that this money is now exchanged at 
a time that does her absolutely no good. My 
mother was always very clear that she did not 
want any extraordinary measures taken to 
prolong her life. When she still lived in her 
apartment she would religiously show me the 
place where her papers were kept and the Do 
Not Resuscitate (DNR) request was kept. She 
so wanted her death to be easy — easy on her 
and easy on her children. It wasn’t easy — 
there were two heart attacks, and pneumonia, 
and renal failure, and horrible reactions to 
medications. Still my mother kept fighting, 
and she clung to life. She may have thought 
consciously that she was ready to die, but her 
overall will to live remained stronger than 
that rational decision. She was strong, but 
that continued decision to live was out of her 
hands. No, I can’t quite admit that she is gone 
and can still feel myself holding her hands. 
I’m okay with that. 


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