The Blaisdell Blog

What do Tonga , Kuwait and Zimbabwe have in common?   They are the only three countries in the world which did not see a reduction in deaths in children under 5 years old in the last 20 years.   These three countries don’t get to blame poverty for their poor showing in infant mortality.   A mammoth study, “The Global Burden of Disease” published in The Lancet , takes into account every country on earth.   Think of all of the bastions of poverty, inept government, violence and corruption that dot this planet like a pox.   Yet, in each of these countries, save the three mentioned, early childhood deaths have been reduced—by a lot.   For example, Bangladesh dropped its under 5 death rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2010.   In Africa, Malawi reduced mortality by 56.6%, in Asia, Laos saw a 55.6% decrease, in Central America , Nicaragua reduced their deaths by 61.9%.   The list goes on, thank God.             In a year that has seen precious little to be joyful about con

Christmas is not my favorite religious holiday.   I like Christmas and I do not mind the mixture of secular with religious messages that it holds.   It is just that for religious significance Easter and Reformation Day hold stronger messages.   But today is Christmas Eve and I am enjoying the spirit of the season despite the above disclaimers and a personally difficult year.             Few could say that this has been a banner year for the Butler household.   There has been too much loss, both on a personal and national level.   But, despite all of this, as my pastor so aptly reminded us, “…the Lord is near…” (Philippians 4:4-8).   It is that Bible verse, and all it means, that makes me more than comfortable with the parts of Christmas that deal only with its temporal celebration.   A person can live his faith, but we manifest that faith in worldly terms all the time.   I love Christmas trees (pagan), Christmas cards and letters (Hallmark), Santa Claus (a Turkish monk), and

I stand before you both chastened and ashamed.   I have lived with the assumption that my opinions about greater gun control were a matter of personal preference.   I did little to further gun control politically and simply assumed that right would win eventually.   My sins of omission became part of the problem.   I became part of the problem.   I choose not to follow that path any longer.    Friends know that I am no gun lover.   I’m fine with hunting and have a grandmother’s pride in my grandson and granddaughter’s first deer kills.   But that is as far as my tolerance goes.   I don’t understand the preoccupation with hand guns and see absolutely no need for semi-automatic weapons.   If the only purpose of a gun is to murder human beings, I am quite certain that the world is better off without it.   We have too many guns in this country.   Here are a few examples of how a few civilized, educated, culturally sophisticated countries stack up on gun ownership: United State

I am moving back and forth between rage and tears, fear and sorrow.             The shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School falls too close to my sphere to be viewed with the sympathetic detachment that generally accompanies these oft-repeated tragedies.    Besides being the Grandmother of six children, five of whom are in elementary school, I taught for 30 years in elementary school, eventually becoming a principal.   I have had to confront and detain a student believed to have a gun (thankfully, he did not).    But today’s news has brought me to my emotional knees.               I am willing to bet that a few things will come to light in a few days: 1.        The killer will be emotionally unstable with a history of small but escalating violent episodes. 2.       The family will be in denial about the severity of all of this. 3.       Medication will be required but frequently skipped, missed and excused. 4.       There will be frequent use of violent g

In September of 2010 a news crew in Detroit , Michigan filmed more than a dozen auto workers at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant drinking beer and smoking pot on what was supposed to be their, “break” from work.   Call me hopelessly mired in the straight life, but for my working career, a break meant a hasty trip to the bathroom and a chance to catch up on paper work.               These wasted losers where busy getting high as kites and not the least bit worried about how their creepy behavior was going to impact their job performance.   They didn’t have to, they belong to a union.   When the tape hit the air Chrysler did the right thing and fired their asses.   Who would want to buy a Chrysler product after seeing who is putting it together?   Unfortunately, while these men deserved (needed…where begging for…had richly earned…) being fired, the union played every sleazy card in their deck and this week, two years after their dismissal, these spoiled snots were allowed back

On December 7, 1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution, thus earning its nickname, “The First State.”   This Mid-Atlantic state is a gem of history and typically American success stories.   Yes, I know it gave us Vice President Joe Biden, but it also gave us Caesar Rodney (more on him later).             I love the state of Delaware for very personal reasons.   Thanks to a grant from DuPont (via Conoco) I was invited to earn my second master’s degree (in economics) from the University of Delaware at Newark .   They paid for my tuition, books, room and board, transportation, even a generous stipend for two summers of work.   I filled in the rest of the requirements with doctoral classes at home, produced a 5 part television series on economic education in the elementary classroom, and a thesis, “The Economic Impact of Acid Rain Remediation on Coal Fired Utilities in Missouri” (a piece of work comparing mils of revenue to microns of emissi

If it pleases you to worry about a coming apocalypse on December 21, 2012, I can’t stop you.   Personally, I think there are better emotional choices.    The word, “apocalypse” doesn’t literally mean a cataclysmic devastation, of course.   It comes from the Greek and means to, “reveal.”    So if you want to hoard, pray and hope for some familial exemption from the December 21 st revelation , feel free.   But, trust me; if things are going to stop spinning on the 21st, it is way out of our hands.   Lutherans don’t worry about the end times; we worry about whether or not there is coffee in Heaven, and do we want to go if the answer is, “no.”   I did, however, have a revelation of my own the other day when the papers and news shows were in a dither about the multi-million dollar Powerball possibilities.   It occurred to me that buying a lottery ticket and doomsday fascinations have a great deal in common.   And, in a strange way they both deal with optimism.   Either way, things are

December 1 st was World AIDS Day.   AIDS is a rotten disease—not that there are any good ones.     Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the last stage of HIV infection.   The human immunodeficiency virus gradually destroys the immune system, making it harder for the body to fight infections.   It is a wasting disease.   It works slowly, allowing its victim to unknowingly spread its ugly self from person to person before anyone realizes that a killer has been loosed on the unsuspecting.               There are equally vicious diseases that can become pandemic, but most of them are so quick to kill that they literally outrun their supply lines, killing off their hosts so efficiently that the victims can not spread the disease before dying.   Ebola, the almost mythic hemorrhagic fever of the 70’s, was like this.   It would sweep down on an African village and kill off the entire population before people, walking on foot, could carry the disease to another village many kilometers