NewGathering

Monday, October 14, 2024

Bulletin material from the USCCB: Catholics Care. Catholics Vote.

The publication pasted above, from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), appeared in last weekend's edition of our parish bulletin as a two-page spread. I admit I don't read our bulletin every single week as assiduously as I probably should, but in my 30+ years in the parish, I don't recall previously seeing anything in the bulletin that was as explicit about connecting particular issues with our duty as citizens to vote.

The image above may be too small to read as-is, although it seems if you click on it, it may pop up in a window that is large enough to read - at least that's the case in my environment (I read the blog in Google on a Wintel laptop). If you're interested in seeing the original, it's here at the USCCB website:

https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/parishes-and-schools/upload/catholics-care-catholics-vote-bulletin-insert.pdf

Below the break, I'll retype some of the content, and then offer a few comments.

All the way in

This is my homily for today, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B. Today's readings are here.

MORE LEVY: Moderate Drinking, Depression

If you like graphs, you can read this article in its original form on the Gallup website:

Alcohol Consumption Increasing Viewed as Unhealthy in the U.S.

Young adults aged 18 to 34 are leading the charge to drink less for better health

Or if you like articles outlined in tables you can read the version on my website:

Gallup: Alcohol Consumption Increasing Viewed as Unhealthy

At work I had software (SPSS) that easily churned out tables, but did not easily turn it into graphics. I find tables a handy way to express data found in graphs in copy protected publication since you cannot copyright facts only their expression. Also sometimes I can produce better tables that the original article.

What I find that is interesting in this article is that the notion of moderate drinking is being rejected. Ideas such a glass of wine a day is good for your health. It also appears that this rejection is occurring even for people who have not read recent literature that tells them that a drink or two a day is not good for your health.

And the leaders in this great change are aged 18-34 which includes a lot of people in college. Well maybe they were always weekend drinkers. Maybe they have seen or experienced a lot of the negative consequences of daily alcohol consumption. It is interesting that their advice to others is to cut down on drinking rather than giving it up completely. So that allows for weekend parties.

Finally, it is interesting that a lot of this change occurring the pandemic. Was it because going to bars and restaurants was dangerous? Was it because hiding your drinking was not easy if you had to drink at home? Or that drinking at home interfered with working at home?

Top 12 Causes of Death by Age Group UPDATED

UPDATE

I decided to add into the discussion a related post on suicides in the US Military

The US Military Suicide Crises

Brief Summary

Nearly half of those serving in the U.S. military have contemplated suicide since joining the forces, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Members 2022 report. This is a huge jump up from the nine percent that said they had thought about taking their own life before signing up.

To put this into context, estimates currently put the figure of suicides among active duty personnel and veterans of the post 9/11 wars at 30,177 - a high number, especially when considering that 7,057 U.S. service members were killed in war operations in that time.

In the blog that I am developing for a Lake County Ohio Commonweal Local Community, I am putting together posts relevant to Mental Health since we have a Mental Health Levy on the ballot for November. This one is on suicide.

Suicide and Age: Most Common Causes of Death

I found statistics on most common causes of death were a very interesting way of looking at things, not only for suicide but also for preventable accidents as well as COVID.

Lake County Mental Health Levy UPDATED

UPDATED. I HAVE ADDED TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST AN ADDITIONAL LINK TO A WEAL POST ON COST AS A BARRIER TO MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT SINCE COST AND AVAILABILITY HAVE ARISEN AS ISSUES IN OUR DISCUSSION.

Lake County Ohio has a renewal mental health levy on the ballot this November. It does not raise tax rates. Usually, the renewals are put on the off-year ballots. The more civic conscience voters tend to vote then and are more likely to be for levies. Usually, these levies are put on the ballot a year before they expire, just in case. Usually, the percentage of votes "for" are in the low fifties. A lot of people are looking for ways to cut their property taxes.

Go to the post on my Lake County Ohio Weal blog

Support Issue 10 Lake County ADAMHS Board Levy

The Current British Empire of Tax Havens

New analysis by the Tax Justice Network has revealed the United Kingdom to be the biggest enabler of corporate tax dodging in the world. Betty and I were both shocked!

Statista has the infographic in my following post on the Weal Blog that I am developing to foster a Virtual Commonweal Community in Lake County Ohio. (More about that in the coming days)

The Nations Who are Enabling Tax Dodging

The infographic is followed by a link to an example of how this works.

Then I give a link to the actual report followed by a summary about what it is about.

You may also find this related post on my Lake County Weal Blog relevant:

Where Wealth is Concentrated

Only 20 percent of the world’s population lives in the Global North. Despite this, nearly 70 percent of all private wealth, and 74 percent of the world's billionaire wealth, is concentrated there. The five richest billionaires today, according to Forbes, are LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffet, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

According to the report, as many as seven in ten of the world’s biggest companies are run by a billionaire, or have a main shareholder who is a billionaire. Huge corporations are winning out too, as Oxfam’s analysts explain: “the biggest firms experienced an 89 percent leap in profits in 2021 and 2022. New data shows that 2023 is set to shatter all records as the most profitable yet. Eighty-two percent of these profits are used to benefit shareholders, who are overwhelmingly among the richest people in every society.”

Since Anne knows a lot about the world economy and has also spent time on the ground in the UK, I will be interested in her thoughts on this.

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Award Winning Books, Then and Now

The finalists for the National Book Awards were recently announced. I always take a look at readers' comments. Here are the top two "Reader Picks" from comments in the New York Times. I am adding one additional comment that I found interesting

[58 Recommendations] These nominees used to suggest next reads for me. Now they prompt me to just stay away.
[46 Recommendations] Alas, nobody takes these awards seriously these days, and least of all in the publishing industry. The arbiters of social justice, and those running in fear of it, aren't doing awardees any favors in the end. A debased currency won't buy reputation. If only we were as activist in questions of class and finance -- who has money and who doesn't -- as we are in the arts. Of course, the finance program would require sacrifices by persons who actually have money, rather than the vicarious ones which consumers and arts administrators insist on in the arts, and which someone else will pay for, in the form of obscurity and penury.
[26 Recommendations] It's vital to learn about other cultures and other ways of living, and we all benefit from reading challenging fiction, but it's as important for a great number of people to see themselves analyzed and reflected by a thoughtful, intelligent author. There may be 35-year-old versions of John Cheever, John Updike, Mary McCarthy, Philip Roth, Kurt Vonnegut, Joan Didion, Paula Fox, James Salter, or Patricia Highsmith writing today, but few of them are getting published and recognized.
Those not provided with writing like that of the authors above (and many more) flee to romance novels, thrillers and mysteries, which have their place, but shouldn't be all someone reads.

It seems like if you want to get published today and you are a normal white person with a name that wouldn't stand out in 1950, forget about it.

Below are the finalists for two categories—fiction and nonfiction. I have annotated them with a few facts about the authors' that were readily available (nationality, "ethnicity," man/woman). Are the readers' comments fair? FWIW, I bought James when it came out, and I just bought Martyr!