Smear merchants lie through their teeth about people like me who want
to help others so their bosses can stay in power to help themselves.
Partisan bickering will not solve our problems. We need outside-the-box
ideas that help liberals, conservatives, and everyone else get more of what
they want. Requires pixie dust? Impossible? No. Read an example of how
we could make government affordable without penalizing anyone.

Kevin Pezzi, MD

The Singing Surgeon™
I'm part Native American and revere natural health,
so should I also call myself a Medicine Man, too? :-)

Iconoclastic views on economics, politics, technology, science, and life

I'm a PBS mind in an MTV World

Disagree with something I wrote? So do I! Read more

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

— Elbert Hubbard, American editor, publisher, and writer (1856–1915)

Trivia: He and his wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, the noted feminist and writer, died aboard the RMS Lusitania, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, when they were heading to Europe to cover the war and interview Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

If you disagree with something I wrote, feel free to challenge it. Some of my viewpoints are the antithesis (exact opposite) of what they once were. That isn't flip-flopping; that is changing opinions with scant evidence to support them into convictions with a firmer foundation of facts.

My political philosophy is an amalgamation of libertarian, conservative, and liberal principles. My opinions have changed so significantly that my conservative friends might be horrified by how I strongly believe that liberals are correct on certain issues. I've previously written about some of them, but to make this more fun, I will present others as challenges in which I offer $100,000 to the first person who can refute the logic I used in forming that opinion. Please note that due to my limited time and difficulty using my hands after I broke my neck, I cannot quickly update my previously published opinions. However, now that I am balancing the promptings of head and heart, I strongly disagree with many opinions I expressed in my writings.

I like finding people who make me think, not necessarily those who agree with me. Genius Robert Heinlein said, “I never learned from a man who agreed with me.” If you can educate me, I'm all ears.

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”
— Albert Einstein

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
— Albert Einstein

“The ultimate ignorance is the rejection of something you know nothing about and refuse to investigate.”
— Dr. Wayne Dyer

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.”
— General George Patton

“Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes

“A lot of people risk their lives in a brief act of heroism, which is kind of cool, but Jill has what I call slow heroism. She is risking her professional life on something that her own calculations show may not work for a thousand years—may not ever. So I like to support people that are risking their lives.”
— ex-Microsoft billionaire brainiac Nathan Myhrvold speaking about Jill Tarter, who inspired the character played by Jodie Foster in the movie Contact. It takes a brilliant person to see that others who go against the grain of conventional wisdom may be sages although lesser minds often ridicule their ideas.

“I am not young enough to know everything.”
— Oscar Wilde

“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
— Winston Churchill

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
— Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist (484 BC - 406 BC)

“It is socially unacceptable to be right too early.”
— Robert Heinlein

“I'd rather stand alone on the truth than with millions on a lie.”

“The most distinctive mark of a cultured mind is the ability to take another's point of view; to put one's self in another's place, and see life and its problems from a point of view different from one's own. To be willing to test a new idea; to be able to live on the edge of difference in all matters intellectually; to examine without heat the burning question of the day; to have imaginative sympathy, openness and flexibility of mind, steadiness and poise of feeling, cool calmness of judgment, is to have culture.”
— Arthur H. R. Fairchild

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”
— Abraham Lincoln

This reminds me of something stressed by one of my psychology professors, who said that society imposes rigid boundaries for what behavior is acceptable, and applies tremendous pressure trying to force people to conform to the behavioral expectations. Some of the most brilliant and productive outside-the-box thinkers led unconventional lives. One of the side effects of forcing people to think inside the box is that by lopping off outside-the-box behavior, potentially great outside-the-box ideas are lost, too.

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
— Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (1908-1965)

“You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream.”
— John Eliot

NOTE: Several family members were brutally slaughtered recently, so I will take a break from writing. Their deaths erased my affinity for writing about politics or the economy, thus I'll later limit myself to health and brainpower in addition to completing my book on rapidly overcoming racism and bigotry. BTW, the two men who murdered my father are still on the lam; I am offering up to $100,000 for information leading to their arrest and conviction.

Why am I selling my Sea-doo, Ski-doo, and shed to help a deported person reenter the U.S.?

I am selling my Sea-doo to raise money for Operation Save Liz to help Liz Larios and her husband. The Northern Express published two superb articles on them (Nightmare at the border: Liz Larios and Deported) that highlighted their plight, courtesy of our federal government that justifies such actions by conveniently forgetting how our nation acquired much of the western United States.

I previously agreed with the millions of Americans who possess a deceptively simple conception of the issue of illegal immigration: it's our country, they entered illegally, kick 'em out, end of story. Then I learned that a huge chunk of the western United States once was part of Mexico. We bought a small part of that land fair and square, but the rest was acquired using might makes right principles of coercion. As fond as I am of the U.S., I am even more fond of doing the right thing, and might makes right is never a justifiable part of that equation.

U.S. Postage stamp: Chester A. Arthur, Presidential Issue of 1938

I also advocate treating everyone with decency and respect. If you read the first Northern Express article referenced above, you will likely be shocked by the brutally cold, callous, inhumane, and unprofessional way that Liz was treated by an ICE agent. One of my relatives, Chester Alan Arthur, was President of the United States from 1881 to 1885. If he were President now, that ICE agent would be fired. Arthur was raised in an abolitionist home (his father cofounded the New York Anti-Slavery Society) and later practiced law in New York, where he ably and commendably defended the civil rights of slaves. From the Wikipedia:

“A champion of civil rights, Arthur was one of the attorneys who successfully represented Elizabeth Jennings Graham; her lawsuit, after being denied seating on a streetcar due to her race, contributed to the desegregation of New York City public transportation. In Lemmon v. New York, the "Lemmon Slave Case", Arthur helped secure the 1860 decision that slaves being transferred to a slave state through New York would be emancipated.”

More from the Wikipedia:

“Arthur's primary achievement was the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. The passage of this legislation earned Arthur the moniker "The Father of Civil Service" and a favorable reputation among historians. Publisher Alexander K. McClure wrote, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected." Author Mark Twain, deeply cynical about politicians, conceded, "It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration." Historically, Arthur was known as the "forgotten" President; who was never fully admired, loved, or feared. As President, however, Arthur transcended the office by promoting the general good over partisan politics.”

Chester A. Arthur statue at
Madison Square in New York City

Arthur made a boatload of money as Collector of the Port of New York—in fact, more than he later made as President. He once firmly believed in and profited from the spoils system, but he “was able to overcome his own physical and emotional demands of the Presidency and without partisanship look after the country's welfare. This was refreshingly surprising since most of Arthur's political career had depended on the spoils system. Although Arthur was a man of his times, he was able to transcend the Presidency by advocating the nation's welfare over party politics. [...] By standing up to his own friend Roscoe Conkling and wing of the Republican Party, Arthur showed remarkable independence from political forces.” (source)

President Arthur was clearly committed to doing the right thing, so he would certainly fire the ICE agent who abused Liz. President Obama should fire him or at least demand that he apologize to Liz.

President Chester A. Arthur on expedition in Yellowstone National Park in 1883

Presidential party in Upper Geyser Basin: President Arthur on expedition in Yellowstone National Park in 1883 with Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan and Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln. This two-week visit made him “the first President to visit America's first national park.” Arthur's official photographer, F.J. Haynes, later “became the national park's primary photographer and published a book titled Haynes Practical Guide to Yellowstone Park.”

General Sheridan and Secretary Lincoln were pallbearers at Arthur's funeral, along with Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co., and Cornelius Vanderbilt, “patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history.” One estimate pegged his wealth at $143 billion in 2007 dollars, making him as rich as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Sergey Brin (Google), Steve Jobs (Apple), and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia combined!

I am committed to helping reverse an iniquity, so I am selling my Sea-doo to help Liz return to the United States, where she belongs. I don't know Liz, her husband, or other family, but she strikes me as a good person who led an exemplary life in Traverse City. She held down two jobs, had “a great little home,” a dog, and a loving fiancé who is now her husband. She was—and will be—a blessing, not a burden.

Shortly after I decided to help Liz by selling my Sea-doo, I thought of another possible way to contribute. A movie director asked me to appear in a film discussing some of my unusual ER cases. I responded by saying that I would agree to it only if that producer/director used his Hollywood connections to quickly help Liz and others like her. In his initial message, he tried to entice me by saying that the exposure of appearing in his film would increase my book sales. Perhaps, but not by much, now that so few people have the intellectual stamina to read a book, let alone one with polysyllabic words and concepts that mystify some physicians, such as competitive inhibition of hormones. So, to sell a few more books, I'm going to hop onto a commercial jet and head to California? No way! However, I'd do it to help Liz, who is currently in Juárez, a town where everyone—including the police—live in mortal fear of criminals.

My goal is to save Liz's life. Over the years, I've corresponded with thousands of people, many of whom aspired to become physicians. Some of those people mentioned how great it must feel to save a life—something that few people have a chance to do, but I did every day working as an ER doctor. Some people called me a hero, but as much as I appreciate that approbation, I was just doing my job. A real hero goes out of his way to save someone's life; in the process of doing that, he often is subjected to some peril. Heroic or not, saving lives is immensely satisfying, but you don't need an MD after your name to help save a life; anyone can contribute to Operation Save Liz.

Kevin Pezzi's Sea-doo that he is donating to Operation Save Liz

Kevin Pezzi's Sea-doo he is selling to help Operation Save Liz

My Sea-doo

Kevin Pezzi's Ski-doo FZ 670 he is selling to help Operation Save Liz

Listing of my Ski-doo for sale on Craigslist

To help Operation Save Liz, I will also sell my newest snowmobile and lighthouse shed, which took me 7 months to build. I am as meticulous building sheds or other stuff as I am doing surgery, so my sheds are works of art. My lighthouse shed was featured in a book, Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution, by Alex Johnson. Alex wanted to also include my Alpine shed, but a computer snafu likely nixed that plan. However, the Alpine shed is mentioned on his website and pictured below:

Alpine shed designed and built by Kevin Pezzi

Here is my schoolhouse shed:

Schoolhouse shed designed and built by Kevin Pezzi

Here's the lighthouse shed I designed and built, and the one I am selling for Operation Save Liz:

For those of us who love lighthouses, looking at a lighthouse shed is enjoyable, and it is fun to ascend into the lantern room (the glassed-in housing near the top) and see for miles. It is even more fun to ride a Sea-doo or Ski-doo, but I contend that helping others, such as Liz, is even more gratifying and capable of eliciting a satisfaction far more enduring than the ephemeral thrill of riding personal watercraft (usually called Jet Skis) or snowmobiles.

Interesting trivia about President Arthur

Ellen “Nell” Arthur
Chester's love for her reminds
me of the song, A Daisy A Day

Arthur was part Native American (thus making me part Native American, since I share some of his DNA) and an exceedingly principled man of his word. He married Ellen “Nell” Lewis Herndon, who died of pneumonia before he became President. “Arthur stated that he would never remarry and . . . had a memorial to his beloved “Nell”—a stained glass window—installed in St. John's Episcopal Church within view of his [White House] office and had the church light it at night so he could look at it. The memorial remains to this day. [...] By the end of his presidency, Arthur had acquired wide personal popularity. On the day he left office, four young women (ignorant of Arthur's pledge not to marry again) offered to marry him. (source)”

From the Wikipedia:

Arthur “"moved decisively to curb corruption and incompetency within the Navy." In addition, both the Naval War College and the Office of Naval Intelligence was created. For these achievements Arthur was called the "Father of the Steel Navy."”
“President Arthur overturned a court-martial ruling against African American West Point Cadet Johnson Whittaker.” (One of the unique joys of being President is having the power to do the right thing by righting wrongs.)
“In 1884, the International Meridian Conference was held in Washington, D.C. at President Arthur's behest. This established the Greenwich Meridian and international standardized time, both in use today.”
“President Arthur was also in office when the United States became the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations in modern times with Korea.”
“Professor Marina Margaret Heiss at the University of Virginia lists Arthur as an example of an INTJ (introversion, intuition, thinking, judgment) personality.”
“As President, Arthur alleviated his stress by taking late evening walks that usually began after 1 am. He rarely went to bed before 2 am.”
Arthur “tried to lower tariff rates so the government would not be embarrassed by annual surpluses of revenue.” (Wouldn't we just love to have that problem now? :-)

Many Presidents could benefit by echoing one of Arthur's statements: “I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody's damned business.”

Obama's commendable Executive Order on Immigration

“Libertarianism is an ethical system whose discovery tends to compel its adherents to fight—and not mostly for themselves, but for the freedom of their fellow man, for perfect strangers.”

Kevin Pezzi, MD

Why am I selling my Sea-doo, Ski-doo, and shed to help a deported person reenter the U.S.?

Interesting trivia about President Arthur

Related articles

Notes:

Comments (1)