Friday Fish Wrap: December 10. 2010

This has been quite a week, to be sure. I really do want to thank all the readers and friends who shared their condolences and stories - by email, phone and blog comments - about the passing of our beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Asta.

Is there any doubt about how much pets enrich and inform our lives? There isn’t here at Rancho Maven. We’ve had a few friends ask about whether we’ll get another dog. Maybe. Probably. Some day. I’m thinking late spring or summer. And we’re pretty sure it will be a pound puppy or rescue dog. For right now, though, we still think we ‘hear’ her coming in the dog door in the kitchen, or I wake in the night listening for her snoring.

I want to thank the staff at Klaich Animal Hospital. They cared for Asta all her life. We watched Mark Klaich go from newbie-vet to having, well … a few gray hairs. It’s been a nearly 20 year relationship with them and they’ve never let us down or disappointed. Nick Klaich was scheduled for surgery all day on Wednesday but still took the time to make the final arrangements for Asta - taking the necessary time with her and us.

There is a new art exhibit opening this evening at the McKinley Arts Center, Reno. I’ve known Roger Kinnaman for years, and worked with him extensively. For fine art of this quality, Roger’s work is a bargain - and a great idea for holiday gift giving. My sister-in-law’s den sports one of his pastel works.

· Gallery East (McKinley Arts & Culture Center, 925 Riverside Drive) - Sierra Nevada Series by Roger Kinnaman is inspired by the mountains of Northern Nevada. Kinnaman captures expansive vistas and detailed vignettes in his vibrant, textured pastel drawings and oil paintings. Shimmering waterfalls, colorful trees, and mossy rocks are depicted in a manner which is both realistic and expressive. The variation in nature holds Kinnaman’s attention and the subtlety in his technique will captivate audiences. The exhibit is on display from December 10, 2010 to January 28, 2011, and an artist’s reception will be December 10 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 pm.

Am I the only one thinking that Atlantis Casino’s CEO, John Farahi’s single-handed campaign to bill the Reno-Tahoe area as the only tourist destination to even consider is a bit over the top? Is there trouble in gaming paradise that we don’t know about?

You also have to wonder about Harry Reid and his attempt to make online poker the next legal big new thing. Haven’t these people learned anything regarding why Nevada isn’t the be-all and end-all anymore? This is another good case for campaign finance reform.

I’m also feeling a bit queasy about Bill Clinton stumping for Obama in the latest wrong-headed attempt to extend a hand across the aisle - that is sure to be bitten off. Can you say “DINO’S”? This deal to reduce the Social Security tax is a disaster in the making. This year it will be billed as a tax decrease. When it comes time to expire, restoring it will be billed as a tax increase. Sort of like the temporary Bush tax finagles.

Is it just me, or is this a sneaky way for the GOP to defund Social Security - then they can point to it and say “look! Social Security is insolvent!” What am I missing here?

Last night I finished reading ‘Wealth and Our Commonwealth - Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes” by William H. Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins (with forward by Paul Volker). This book should be required reading for any Progressive worth their salt. If you can read this completely accessible (only 140 pages!) book, and not come out realizing that repealing the estate tax (or ‘death tax’ as the GOP has framed it), in addition to rolling back taxes for the upper 2% is completely daft … then go join the GOP.

Paying taxes is a privilege. It’s an integral part of our social fabric and social contract, and helps us really define ‘what kind of nation do we want to be?’. The re-distribution upwards of income and wealth that has evolved since the ‘Reagan revolution’ will take this country down more certainly than any foreign terrorist. This book explains why this is so.

When the likes of notable Socialists like of Andrew Carnegie and Teddy Roosevelt thought the rich should be paying more than ‘their fair share’, we should re-think this move to unburden the rich of taxes.

Carnegie testified before Congress that the very wealthy should be paying a larger share, and discourage them from having undue advantages and prevent obscene accumulations of wealth - much like the European aristocracy that we fled from. Carnegie observed “the growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large estates left at death is a cheering indication of a salutary change in public opinion.” “

Roosevelt spoke against the “malefactors of great wealth”, proposing a system of progressive taxation … “the adoption of some such scheme as that of the progressive tax on all fortunes, beyond a certain amount either given in life or devised or bequeathed upon death to any individual - a tax so framed as to put it out of the power of the owner of one of these enormous fortunes to hand on more than a certain amount to any one individual; the tax, of course, to be imposed by the National and not the State Government. Such taxation should, of course, be aimed merely at the inheritance or transmission in their entirety of those fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits.”

The truth is, that these hedge fund managers, corporate CEO’s, sports super-stars, entertainers and others who have accumulated enormous wealth, have been able to do so thanks in large part to the groundwork and investments made by us all - rich and poor alike - in a stable system of governance, that provides the rich soil for a growing economic engine. Therefore, they owe a larger share in return to all of us.

Never fear, they’ll still have plenty.

I’ve started making some suggestions under the Lifestyle page, for truly sensible gifts for Christmas, that won’t break the bank, and will probably be highly appreciated. If you have some suggestions, please offer them. If I think they’re cool, I’ll use them and give you the credit.

The abysmal state of breast cancer ‘care’ and ‘treatment’ here in Reno, Nevada has reared its ugly head again. One woman - retired RN - contacted me with her horror story. Another is the wife of my ‘computer guy’. That’s two who got sent right to the surgeons knife and ‘oh, we’ll figure out the rest of it later on’. Too bad that there are no ‘do-overs’ in cancer. Either you get it right the first time, or … not.

This makes me feel particularly ineffective and impotent. Is impotent a word reserved for men? I hope not. I’m giving what advice, support and encouragement I can - including directing them to other women here who have made the same grim discovery (as in ‘it isn’t just me’), usually too late - but I’m one lay woman bucking an entrenched system of for-profit medical providers who don’t want to change.

Sigh.

Oh, and my 93-year-old mom is staying here at least for tonight. The new med for the myoclonus apparently caused her to go to sleep for nearly 18 hours. By the time I got to her, she was dehydrated and hadn’t eaten in all that time. So it’s here with us for a bit of restorative.

I’m just not sure who’s going to need restoring. Us or her. I was just out in the kitchen listening to “why don’t you like Obama. He’s a nice man. He’s better than ‘W’. Why do you think ‘W’ was so good? Bill Clinton turned out to be a good man, too.”

“Uh huh.” Scrub the kitchen counter a little harder.

She hears about 25% of what you say and makes up the rest. Tee-vee is just a blur of pictures that she no longer understands. Reading requires too much effort. I think living independently at Sky Peaks has come to an end. The question is ‘what’s next’? I briefly considered moving her in here - that was before the wine took hold this evening. I mean, for what she pays at Sky Peaks, I could hire a lot of help. But by the end of this evening, I realize just how fucking crazy I would have to be to do that. Talk about a marriage and sanity killer. There isn’t enough money in the world.

You can have the liquor delivered to: 13470 South Hills Drive.

I’m kidding. Sorta. Kinda. I like off-dry white wines, not too much oak, some mineral.

Well, I think I go hide out in Asta’s old crate for a while and suck my thumb.

Like I said to my darling step-daughter this evening, “whatever your week was like, just know that it could’ve been much worse.” She knows all about Grandma, and heartily agreed.

Have a nice weekend.

Sit. I’ll let myself out.

-maven