More Kudos and Catcalls (K and C)

Let’s have a little fun in reviewing the past week’s miracles and missteps: more kudos and catcalls.

Catcalls  to Major League Baseball for not scheduling even one World Series game during the day.  Every single game was an evening game.  Shame, shame for assuming that America’s kids are simply smaller versions of adults, with the same capacity for handling a full day.

Worry and embarrassment accompany the story about a woman driver in Korea who finally passed her driver’s test on the 950th try.  Normally one would offer kudos to her.  However, she definitely falls into the catcall category because even though she finally passed her test, would you want to drive on the same streets as someone who failed their road test 949 times?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8347164.stm

I was traveling this week to Maine.  When I landed at Portland and went to the Avis counter to rent a car, the clerk checking me in asked me, as they are instructed to do by their mother corporation, if “I wanted full coverage for a mere $50 a day.”  I looked at her in disbelief, and then we both cracked up.  If I chose those coverage options, I would be paying an additional 150% of the original car rental fee.  Is Avis crazy or just stupid?

And what about those personal music appliances like headphones that grow out of seemingly everyone’s ears?   Just as the plane took off, I start to hear music all around me.  I thought it was being piped in over the plane’s speakers.  I asked the steward where the music was coming from and he informed me it was coming from the earphones of the man sitting in front of me.  Personal music device, my ass.  That music was no more personal or local than a public address system.  Catcalls to the makers of all of those headphones that in no way, shape or form restrict the sound waves to only their users.

Catcalls and pure disgust are offered to the GOP and their ridiculous health care reform proposal originating in the House of Representatives.  How unbelievable is it that their plan allows insurance companies to deny coverage and treatment for pre-existing conditions?  Are we not talking about health care, i.e. treatment for the ill?  Healthy people do not need medical care; sick people do.  How creative of the GOP to offer affordable health care to only healthy people.  Exorbitant premiums might just as well not be available because the average American who gets sick cannot afford them.  No wonder the private insurance industry adores the Republicans.

Happily, there was more substantive instances of kudos than catcalls in my little world this week.  That Louisiana judge, Keith Bardwell, who refused to marry an interracial couple a few weeks ago despite the legal tenets of Loving v. Virginia, quit his job this week.  The pressure of bucking the system, of actually enforcing the items in our Constitution, became too much for the man.  Very lucky for all of us.

Kudos to Maine’s governor John Baldacci.  In his interview by Deborah Solomon of the New York Times Magazine last Sunday (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/magazine/01fob-q4-t.html?scp=2&sq=deborah%20solomon&st=cse), he had some pearls of wisdom to say in response to Solomon’s comment: “I’m beginning to think that maybe Maine has outsize political influence because no one there is wasting time talking, yourself included.”  Baldacci responded, “Yes.  There is a pragmatism that runs through Maine people.  It’s more about getting the job done than talking about getting the job done.”  How often have I talked about our politicians doing the jobs for which they were elected and to discard all the game playing and politicking for actual results?  Mainers are minimalist and get the picture.  Baldacci and other Maine politicians know this about their electorate and perhaps take the proper actions for their people because of their independent, no-nonsense attitude.

Finally and gratefully, I cannot let this election week pass without offering kudos to my Party and President.  Within one year of his historical election, President Obama has shown us the light again.  The Democrats likewise have been rejuvenated and have been successful in getting various agenda items passed:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125712507804421903.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy

Regardless of the difficulty of passing promised legislation, President Obama has us on the path to ethics and responsibility in government.  His quick action (not perfect mind you, but nevertheless critical) to the financial meltdown brought us back from the brink of total collapse.  Much fine tuning is still necessary.  His first bill, the Lily Ledbetter Act, disallowed any statute of limitations when adjudicating equality issues.  His proclamation that torture will not be tolerated in our military and appointment of our first Hispanic Supreme Court justice are unquestionably landmarks.  Read Eugene Robinson’s Op-Ed piece from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202451.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

Admittedly, we have a long way to go on health care reform and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  But my hat is off to President Obama for his accomplishments so far, his promise for the future and his style of leadership that requires participation from all of us.  His leadership is based on the fundamentals of the community activism he worked at in the beginning of his career.  Many criticize President Obama for his lack of tenacity or decisiveness.  I say that this is purposeful on his part.    I believe his style of leadership is by consensus, i.e. he wants the people to partake in decisions and responsibility.  It goes back to his days as a community activist.  Change means nothing if it is decided by the top and handed down to the masses.  Change must originate from the people.  In that way, they will have ownership of any new legislation.

Unless a leader teaches the people themselves how to affect change in government, his actions will be merely superficial.  A leader may hold the reins of government for just so many years (unless, of course, you are Michael Bloomberg).  In order for a legacy to develop, positive effects from that particular leader’s tenure in office, it is much more beneficial to educate the voting population on the finer points of  participation in that process and how they can translate their ideals into action.  This idea of “teaching change” goes back to the old adage: “If you give a man a fish, he will not be hungry today.  But if you teach a man how to fish, he will never go hungry again.”

Finally, accolades galore to Nancy Pelosi for her astute leadership in the House in seeing through health care reform legislation.  It was a close call, but Speaker Pelosi brought home the bacon —- with just two votes to spare.  She delivered for her President but moreover, she delivered for each and every one of us Americans.  Pelosi can play with the best of them and the GOP can continue to vilify her.  The irony of the situation?  While she plays well with the big boys and is giving them a dose of their own medicine, she bested the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats at their own game.  That above all, is what infuriates the obstructionists.   Speaker Pelosi obstructed the obstructionists.

Little by little, the Democrats and the President are affecting change on a grand scale.  Kudos to the real leaders of and for the people.  Yes, indeedy: it was a satisfying week.

Election 2009: No Kings or Vagabonds

America got what it deserves.  In this “off” election year, no kings were crowned and no vagabonds were unjustly thrown out of office.  Yet, the election results, the whys and wherefores, are a sad commentary on the American people.  We of the Democratic persuasion mistakenly think that one victory seals all of our future victories.  Wrong.  President Obama’s landslide one year ago was a different animal than the election of this year.  The main factor that got President Obama such a mandate was turnout.  Did you hear me?  Show up or shut up.

The races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and the mayoral race in New York City, are not a referendum on our sitting President.  Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, wrote this piece a few days before the election:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202873.html

By briefly analyzing both races for governor plus the mayoral election, it will become apparent why voter apathy, laziness and falsely assuming that someone else will pick up the slack — coupled with weak candidacies racked by equivocation, is a sure formula for handing over the reins of government to the GOP.  In none of these three contests is there any evidence at all that they were a referendum on the Obama administration.  That excuse does not hold any water.

In New Jersey, the electorate ousted the sitting Governor Corzine in favor of Christie.  This action was a result of economics: not only did Corzine, former head of Goldman Sachs, symbolize all that is corrupt in our financial industry, but the voters also held him personally responsible for the tattered state of the New Jersey economy.  For example, with an unemployment rate in that state very close to double digits, the people’s anger overtook their sensibility when their property taxes were increased.  In actuality, Corzine had no responsibility for that tax increase as other legislative bodies dictate any changes to that rate.  But perception is all it takes to show the incumbent out the door.

In my home state of Virginia, we were in trouble right from the get go.  The Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds never stayed on message because he never had a message.  He was a weak candidate because he constantly equivocated and the voters do not like uncertainty.  Furthermore, Deeds has a speech impediment: he is a stutterer.  Like Deeds, I am also a stutterer.  Often, in order to get a word out of his mouth, he had to substitute a different word with the same meaning.  Thus, people thought this rather choppy speech pattern reflected a confused thought process.  Not so, not fair, but still this is exactly what happened.

The Republican candidate Bob McDonnell is a snake in the grass.  His positions on such social and cultural issues as equal pay for women, reproductive rights and equal gender rights is as right-wing as you will ever find.  However, all through the campaign, he stuck to his platform of increasing jobs, prosperity, less government interference and no tax hikes.  He never once deviated from his message.  Even though he is full of hot air and will never be able to deliver these goals without a tax increase (especially after the stimulus money is used up), he stuck to his guns and never wavered.  This is a typical Republican strategy: promise everything to everyone, say whatever you have to because you know damn well you will deliver on nothing.  The only objective is to get in office and keep the Democrats out in the street.

The other reason for the Democrats’ failure in Virginia was that no one showed up at the polls.  In order for a Democrat to win anywhere, but especially in Virginia which is a purple state, i.e. it can swing either way, the typically Democratic voting blocs must go and vote.  Where were the African-American voters on Election Day?  Where were the young voters?  Do they only show up when we have a sexy, charismatic candidate running?  Democrats need to be ever-vigilant.  One national electoral victory does not ensure future victories.  It is an ongoing battle and Rule Number One is that you must vote.

In New York City, Mayor Mike Bloomberg won a third term.  Of course it didn’t hurt his chances when he spent almost $100 million from his own pocket.  In contrast, his opponent, Bill Thompson, spent only a scant $ 8 million.  A local election does not generate as much hoopla and thus, turnout, as does a national election.  In the Big Apple, only about 25% of the electorate made it to the polls, once again spelling disaster for the Democrats.  Being the sage politician that Bloomberg is, he and his advisers knew it was going to be a close race, despite the polls that said he had as much as a 20 point lead.  So he decided to put his bucks where his mouth is, and that strategy worked.  He won.  Once again, Bloomberg proved to be a politician who chose a strategy and ran with it.  No hemming and hawing.  And those voters that did show up liked his decisiveness.  As an aside, do you realize that Bloomberg spent about $200 per vote?

So in this “minor” election year, we nevertheless need to acknowledge our shortcomings as Democrats to ensure that we have better results in “major” years.  This time our lack of civic duty sealed our failures at the polls.  The lack of kings and vagabonds to awe us, to get us to show up, is no excuse for our lack of responsibility.  We must always act dutifully even if there is no political star or scoundrel in the immediate picture seeking his fifteen minutes of fame or shame.  The consequences of this election day will not be so terrible, but our actions, or lack thereof, could have dire effects on future, more consequential contests.

Of course, my muse for this post was the one and only Elton John:

So quit your whining and crying.  Next election, no matter if it is a local or national one, get yourselves —- and at least two other voters —- to the polls.  We were lucky: we were not terribly hurt in this election.  But your vote in the next one might make the difference in a much more serious scenario.

POSTSCRIPT:

The Washington Post has printed my article, “The Wife App’, albeit an abbreviated version.  Here is the link:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2009/11/the_wife_app.html

Something About the Public Option

Let’s face it: the battle for health care reform is really an effort to redistribute wealth.  There.  I said it.  And I condone it.  There is something about health care reform that is missing, like real reform.  Read this article:

http://www.justhealthnow.org/component/content/article/148-why-the-public-option-is-doomed-to-fail-and-what-can-be-done-about-it.html

We need to consider both parts of the formula for an efficient, fair and competent health care system to work: the users (patients) and the providers.  Both sides are beholden to the insurers, whose motives are not in sync with the needs of the patients or providers.  I hope against hope that this conversation is not moot as long as we have any remnant of our private health insurance industry in existence.  At least in this round of reform, we will still be left with the private insurers, the real fly in the ointment.

Nevertheless, with regard to this weak public option that will most likely be incorporated into reform, it might as well be thrown in the trash for all concerned parties.  To have a public option available to only those who are lower-income earners  would be a defeat before it is ever put into action.  By attracting only lower earners, the scope of the insurance will not be large enough, fairly competitive or adequately diverse to create a viable pool of insureds.  This weak public option would only be an extension of our already existing Medicaid program.  The neediest would get the worst possible health care.  This is a fact of capitalism.

A robust public option must be made available to all who desire to participate in such a program.  Otherwise, the public option will be a dumping ground for only the neediest of people with the most catastrophic illnesses requiring the most costly care.   Additionally, an unfair burden will be placed on individual employers to foot the health care bill.  This too, will have serious repercussions down the road for our economy.

If the public option is available for only the neediest, what effect will that have on our providers, i.e. physicians and hospitals?  Will they be able to retain the right to participate with only those insurance plans they choose to?  What about their participation in the Medicaid program?  Will they no longer have a choice in that matter?  Will they be required to accept all insurance plans, including Medicaid?  Besides the extremely low reimbursement rates of Medicaid, often not even covering the doctor’s own office expenses of time, medication dispensed and follow-up, the paperwork associated with filing Medicaid claims is overwhelming.  In addition, providers often have to wait months, if not a full year, before they receive the actual payment from Medicaid.  In the meantime, how are those providers meeting their payroll responsibilities, paying their utility bills,  making their monthly rent and keeping their malpractice insurance current?  Guess what?  They are not.  As a result, they will shut their doors forever.

Also, if these providers have no choice in participating with payers and therefore no control over their reimbursement schedule, who will fill our medical school classes seeing that the choice to become a practicing doctor does not include a decent wage?  More important, without a decent income, no one will be able to afford the debt incurred to attend medical school because one’s future earnings just will not cover those expenses.  Need I go on any further about the avalanche effects of a health care system that is not a single payer, government-sponsored program?

Will health care reform be just another noose around our medical providers’ necks?  A way to dodge the real issues of decent and reasonably priced care for all?  Me thinks the answer is “Yes”.  Unless we have ultimately universal, single payer coverage, there will always be an insidious class system inherent in our health care program.

The design of health care reform must offer equal benefits for everyone, while encompassing means-tested premiums.  Equal benefits with unequal fees is the redistribution of wealth that I initially spoke of.  Without equal access, equal care and equal reimbursement, our entire economy will suffer from these roller coaster effects.  The only true antidote is the single payer, universal plan.  Since there is no chance of that getting passed in this round of reform, the best we can hope for would be a precursor, i.e. a very strong public option.

We can hem and haw about the public option all we want, dither about the opt-out status of each state, talk about triggers, and try to pull the wool over our eyes about the extent and depth of the intentions and greed of private insurers.  Just today, Humana announced a 67% increase in profits for the first nine months of this year.  Do not be mislead by the much lower “net” earnings figures, as they are post-salary raises and bonuses.  Fifty to sixty per cent of those gross profits are going right into their executives’ pockets, not back into the system to pay for policyholders’ benefits.

I am no genius of public policy, but I do value the principles of foresight.  Where are these considerations for the future in the plans so far put forth?  It is a patch system we are offering when what is needed is an overhaul, a totally new model.  A weak public option will serve to create a permanent underclass of patients along with an exodus of providers.  This patient/provider double whammy of negative factors, these half-measured efforts, these useless tokens disguised as reform, spell failure for any health care improvements.   Until our lawmakers and policy wonks accept that health care reform is an entirely different animal than whatever it is we have now, every plan will fail.

POSTSCRIPT:

Please visit my diary site at:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/3/799940/-Something-About-The-Public-Option.  The ongoing comments and debate on that site are eye-opening and thoughtful.  Thanks.

Praise the Dogs

Tim Geithner was interviewed yesterday on  “Meet the Press”.  He stood pat that “Wall Street has changed.”  He added, “We’re not going to let the system go back to the way it was.”  Does he mean that in an ethical sense, or in a business model sense?  Does he mean that Wall Street stopped selling dubious investment vehicles and that they did not invent new financial instruments that put even the old ones to shame in terms of their instability and lack of real  investment value?  Take your pick.  Any old or new way, he is talking out of both sides of his mouth, and both have much falsehood attached to them.  Here is a synopsis of the interview:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/01/geithner-on-meet-the-pres_0_n_341390.html

This is my favorite part:

After financial institutions were widely blamed for assuming too much risk and bringing the economy to the brink of collapse, Geithner said a concern now is that they might end up being too timid.

“The big risk we face now is that banks are going to overcorrect and not take enough risk,” he said. “We need them to take a chance again on the American economy. That’s going to be important to recovery.”

IS OUR POLITICAL PROCESS AND GOVERNMENT GOING TO THE DOGS??????

A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: ‘Talking Dog For Sale ‘ He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

‘You talk?’ he asks.

‘Yep,’ the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says ‘So, what’s your story?’

The Lab looks up and says, ‘Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.’

‘I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.’

‘I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired.’

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.
‘Ten dollars,’ the guy says.
‘Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?’

‘Because he’s a liar. He never did any of that shit.

Such is my take on this story and the current state of our financial industry.  Liars and more liars.  No, my friends, it is a disservice to denigrate dogs by comparing them to our scions of industry and government.  If human beings were one iota as altruistic and sensitive to need as dogs are, we would be in a whole lot better shape than we are in now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/weekinreview/01kershaw.html?scp=1&sq=sarah%20kershaw%20on%20dogs&st=cse

Kudos and Catcalls

I am introducing a new, recurrent feature to this site.  “Kudos and Catcalls” will be an overview, presented in brief comments, of the hot-button issues facing us, by supposedly in-the-know people’s responses, whether stupid or smart.  By using this cheers and jeers model, I can provide a quick, but honest take on the important issues, providing my readers with relevant reading, all the while infusing them with my opinion.  What is the point of life if you don’t have an opinion?

Let us turn our attention to the week’s catcalls.  If you remember, on 9/11/09 the Coast Guard held training exercises on the Potomac River right in front of the Pentagon, to which President Obama was en route to deliver a speech.  Panic broke out in the D.C. area and news stations reported terrorist activity.  This week, the Coast Guard was absolved of any formal charges.  However, catcalls go out to them for a total lack of appropriateness, previous notification to any public or military entity and a large dose of stupidity.  Here’s the verdict from the Washington Post on 10/28/09:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703632.html

Let’s hear a rousing razzie to those who ramped up the fear for the swine flu and then could not deliver nearly enough vaccine to quell those fears.  It is not our government though who is responsible; it is private industry.  So let’s give a double boo-hiss to those Republicans who are using this vaccine boondoggle as a prime example of how inept a public option, government-run health care program would be.  Listen to the talking brain of Dana Perino:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/perino-swine-flu-vaccine_n_338811.html

Mind you, these same conservative critics never cite the hugely successful Medicare program, the largest medical care delivery system in the world.  Medicare is well-managed, effective in providing decent health care and IS operated by the government.  Are these Republicans playing the typical game of selective politics, or are they just as dumb as rocks?

Likewise, Representative John Boehner publicly criticized the Democratic health care reform proposal: his main complaint was that it was over 600 pages longer than Hillary Clinton’s plan of twenty years ago.  Gee whiz.  We know the attention span of your basic Republican is practically nil.  They will read up on issues only if the assignment is no longer than an article in “People” magazine, i.e. only taking up the amount of time necessary to move one’s bowels.  Boehner, Mr. Tan Man, had no comment about the substance of the health reform presented to the country.  Did he ever stop to consider that universal health coverage might warrant such a hefty amount of paperwork?  Believe me, if the Democrats would have put forth a short plan, Mr. Tan Man would have criticized them for not being thorough enough.

Here’s a funny catcall.  I have repeatedly heard on the radio requests for people to partake in vaccine studies for such diseases as Ebola and the flu.  The speaker says that there is absolutely no danger involved for the volunteers.  Further, they will be compensated for their time.  Hold on: if these vaccines are totally safe, why do we need these studies in the first place?  Why not release the medications now?  A person would have to be dumber than even a Republican to go near any experiment that contained the word “Ebola”, much less the DNA of that virus.

Here’s a catcall for a local event.  It seems that Monocacy Elementary school in Montgomery County, Maryland, just got a brand new roof.  However, the school is scheduled for closure due to a lack of enrollment.  Great new roof, but no students.

Finally, let’s save our loudest catcalls for Senator Joe Lieberman, who has promised to filibuster the health care reform bill, especially if it contains a public option.  His ongoing traitorous acts are no surprise.  The Democrats are equally to blame for accepting his behavior in return for his caucusing presence and vote (only sometimes).  His committee chairmanship should be unceremoniously taken away from him immediately.  The only antidote to remove Lieberman from his convenient, duplicitous politicking is for the voters of Connecticut to never, ever, elect him again.

Enough negative crap.  It is time to give kudos where it is due, although I must admit, it is a far-sight more difficult task to find acts of wise, well-intention behavior.  Hats off to The FAA for revoking the licenses of those two Northwest pilots who overshot their destination by 150 miles because they were so caught up in an intense discussion about labor practices while (forbidden) using their laptop computers:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703821.html

A huge round of applause to President Obama for making a visit to Dover Air Force Base to solemnly show respect for the bodies of the eighteen slain servicemen returning from Afghanistan.  Not only had Bush II banned any photographs of the coffins, but he never, even once, went to Dover to pay his respects to the fallen.  For his war.  Based on his lies.  Words of appreciation for the efforts of our servicemen will go just so far.  Lip service not enough.  Paying tribute and honoring the dead encompasses the presence of the Commander in Chief.  By showing his thankfulness and recognizing the huge sense of loss of each and every serviceman who died in serving his country, perhaps the President is setting the groundwork for extricating ourselves from the war in Afghan.  Maybe, just maybe, by acknowledging the horrors of war he is taking a big step in ending the insanity of it all.  How can he look death straight in the face 18 times in one day and continue our fruitless wars?  So kudos to President Obama for staring hardship and adversity, and even blame, right smack in the face.

I do hope you enjoyed this new feature.  Honestly though, it is somewhat dispiriting to have so many more assholes than aces in this world.  Why so few maestros and so many morons?  I will try harder to find those worthy of kudos rather than catcalls.

Happy Halloweeeeeeen !!!!!

With Halloween upon us, let us acknowledge and revel in how far we have progressed since last year’s Halloween.

Often times, it is therapeutic to look back and take stock of just how far we have come.  Last Halloween, I dressed up, props and all,  as our Sarah, evoking laughs but also some dread and fear of what could come about.  For this Yo Mama, the past year has been nothing short of spectacular.  Our Sarah is not in any public office and for the meantime, we are safe.

The campaign was full of emotional ups and downs, election night was one of the most exciting times I have ever experienced, and Inauguration Day was so historic and euphoric.  Hope is morphing into real change, even though the process is not as easy as we thought it would be.  Time will be the judge but overall, I think we need to just take it all in and celebrate all that has happened since last Halloween.

Enjoy the photos, then take a minute to appreciate where we are today and give huge thanks for the way things turned out since last Halloween.

Remember the good old days?

A more sedate fall this year .....

Still full of hope .....

And golden dreams .....

Yellow splendor .....

The audacity of orange .....

Burning bush .....

Aptly named .....

Gorgeous gourds .....

Screaming meanies .....

A Halloween lineup .....

With love and thanks from:

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!!

The Wife App

My husband got an iPhone this past weekend.  He is acting like he died and went to Heaven.  Maybe he has.  I have been instructed to stop talking so much to him and just send him an email.  This could be the end of a beautiful relationship.  Thirty five years of marriage down the toilet.  I have just turned into an app.  The wife app.

Can you imagine an app such as myself that holds down a job, does her domestic duties, manages the household accounts, raises children and cares for the dog?  A dog, through all of her almost ten years, has benefitted from the cushiest of assisted living.  Not to mention that my husband has done likewise.  All of this plus keeping my spouse’s ego intact.  I am the best app available, no?  Plus, just like the real deal of wifedom, the wife app is totally free of any fees.

There is even a Republican app:

But this state of affairs was to be expected.  Remember the adage from “Field of Dreams”?  If you build it they will come.  A prime example of this attitude is our building — and then USING —- the atomic bomb during World War II.  What?  Who in their right mind would have thought we would build the bomb and NOT use it?  Surely our current techno-advanced world is a prime example of that thought.  We keep on devising new technology which  makes person-to-person contact irrelevant.  At a doctor’s office, if we are not in their computer, we do not exist.  At our  stock brokerage office or bank, if the computers are down or just slow, we cannot even begin to ask for help with whatever problem we were calling about.  Further, our assets no longer exist, as they are caught in the netherworld of downed technology, for the duration of the techno failure.  If the technology is some way defective, we have no recourse.  The word “service” is immaterial today.  We have built such a user-friendly, yet personally vacant business model that we have become our own victims of isolation.

But I will continue to buck the system.  I am bugging the daylights out of my husband by calling and emailing him incessantly.  He is going to rue the day he ever got that iPhone and made me an app.

The following video is a refreshing reminder that human contact is necessary, and pleasant.  I will look forward to the day when a doctor actually touches his patient, a banker greets a long-standing customer by name and remembers that that customer never bounced even one check in over 25 years, and a husband has a seat at the dinner table and wants to hear about his wife’s day, face to face, up close and personal.  Until that time arrives, I will be the best damn app I can be.

Here Comes The Judge!

This being my 400th post, I am going back to my major premise for speaking up in the first place: adherence to a code of ethics, personal morality and the expectation of doing the right thing.

Call me judgmental.  PLEASE DO SO! After almost thirty years of parenting and taking offense when others, including my own children, have labelled me judgmental, I now take that as the ultimate compliment.  So thank you very much.  It means that I have done my job.

True: to judge others harshly has, as a probable pitfall, the creation of a bottomless pit of negativity.  However, within the scope of reason, having an opinion on things moral and ethical is the main ingredient of successful parenting.  To do otherwise is an abrogation of parenting duties and a disservice to your children.  In order to instill values in the next generation, one must take a position.  To just stand by and accept all options as equally correct, and further, to thrust the final decision on the maturing child and saying “Good job”, no matter whether the decision is moral, is not parenting.  It is trying to make friends with your child instead of being a moral compass for his or her development.

Let me cite some examples.  Mind you,  these three incidents occurred in just one family in the span of one night’s dinnertime.  There is a family of four: a mother, a father and two grown children.  The daughter is living in her own apartment and one night heard screams from a female neighbor and then watched the male companion hit the woman twice.  This daughter did not call the police because the male neighbor saw her observing.  Her parents agreed, or at least did not fault their daughter, that she took no action, i.e. she did nothing.  Then, this same family’s son has a fiance who recently quit her fairly lucrative job because she just didn’t want to work.  Really and truly.  Her soon-to-be father-in-law then put her, in name only, on the payroll of his business so she could qualify for health insurance.  This young woman does not work at that place of business.  Furthermore, the intended father-in-law also plans to make a killing in the real estate market (dream on: “best laid plans, etc………) by using this fictitious employment record to buy some property in the intended daughter-in-law’s name.  Tit for tat.  Finally, the mother of this family was just fired from her job and got her psychiatrist to sign off on disability providing a whopping $4000 a month of your and my money to a adequately healthy person who just thinks she should be paid for doing no work at all.   I wonder why this woman waited until she got fired to ask her doctor for a disability request.  Do you think  that perhaps her “disability” is no such thing at all and that the task of job searching and her probable new salary would not match up favorably with the amount of the the disability payments she could expect?   Whew!  All of this in one family.

These kids do not stand a chance of growing up and doing the right thing because look at the role models their parents are.  Monkey see, monkey do.  I will be the first (liberal) person to admit that there are many citizens who need our social and economic safety net, i.e. unemployment and disability benefits.  But to those, however few or many, who abuse the system because they refuse to take a job that does not net them as much money per week as unemployment payments do or claim fraudulent disability benefits because it sure beats the grind of a nine to five job, I say you are damn well correct is thinking me judgmental.  Somebody has to be.  And I maintain my sense of right and wrong in condemning those medical professionals who approve such disability diagnoses.  The chain of blame is long, the red tape-laden system is conducive to such abuses, but it begins with the person who thinks they can game the system for their own delight at the expense of all of us.  Do they not have any pride at all in making an honest living?

As I have grown older and wiser, I have come to the realization that many use the term “judgmental” as an epithet to prohibit me from having an opinion, especially one that is critical of their corrupt and often illegal choices.  The bottom line is that they just do not like what I am saying.  Perhaps they cannot handle the truth.  Instead, they call me arrogant.  Damn right.   I was brought up to call them as I see them, and when I see outrageous behavior that affects all of us, I certainly am going to be arrogant.  I will call on the carpet that horrible behavior every single time I see it.  Some idiots would advise me to just keep quiet for the sake of peace.  In fact, these benefit abusers are actually banking on that hope that a confrontation is actually worse for the judge than their abuse of the system.   Somewhat twisted, no?

Why are we so shocked at the ethical and moral vacuum of our corporate and political world?  If such behavior is so ingrained in us as individuals, our group ethos has no chance of reflecting higher principles.

So thank you for calling me judgmental.  I accept that as a very high compliment and will continue to rise to the occasion.  They don’t call me “Yo Mama” for nothing.

Thanks for sticking with me for 400 posts.  My next one is going to be a doozie!

Say It Ain’t So, Joe

The New York Yankees took the American League pennant last night —– for the 40th time!  In my lifetime, the Yanks have won the pennant 21 times.

It has always been a thrilling ride.  When I was growing up in the late 1950’s and 1960’s. my father would manage to get tickets to each of the World Series in which the Yankees participated.  There was never any question as to whether or not I could justify skipping school to attend the games.  No contest: Yankee baseball was heads and tails more important, more enlightening, than my junior high school classes.  My father never questioned this, nor did my teachers.  I would have had to be out of my mind to give the choice one iota of consideration.

Can you imagine the euphoria I felt watching Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Joe Pepitone and Mantle and Maris performing?  Even at my then young age, I knew I was watching history.  My devotion to the Yankees was signed, sealed and delivered during those impressionable years.

Then this season, I ran into a huge dilemma.  Perhaps my very favorite Yankee was Joe Torre, under whose capable managing skills the Yanks took home six pennants.  I frequently say that Joe Torre is the only man on this planet for whom I would leave my husband.  It is not as if Torre is a looker, or a trendy media darling.  He is simply a man fulfilling his employment duties in a solid manner.  His understated personality and abilities speak volumes to me.  So when the possibility of Torre’s Dodgers winning the National League pennant this year crossed into the realm of reality, I almost lost my baseball compass.  If the Dodgers would have won the pennant and then faced the Yankees in the World Series, who would I root for: Joe Torre or the Yankees?

Thankfully, that is a decision I do not have to face.  However, I daresay that I would have gone for Joe Torre in a heartbeat.  Over the years, I have been so impressed with his downright managing capability coupled with his understated public persona.  And, every time, I will back that person, one individual, who shows a respect and responsibility for his job.  A job well done is to be admired and supported.

It is absolutely not my intention to minimalize the talent and team effort of the current Yankees, nor to underrate Joe Girardi’s managing skills.  You can bet your sweet bippy that I hope the Yanks wallop the Phillies in the Series.  I just miss Joe Torre.

So Joe: say it ain’t so.  Don’t tell me that you just lost the pennant.  But find some solace in the fact that you would have had Yo Mama’s wild and crazy devotion if you had wound up in the 2009 World Series.

Hope, Yes; Audacity, Not Yet

Dearie me!  Is it just a slow news day, so Huffington Post leads its website with the story that President Obama is NOT in support of a public option, or is this supposition actually true?  Should my dander be raised even more than usual, or should I accept this pronouncement as merely Huffington Posts’s shot at creating dander-raising news to fill its 24/7 entertainment cycle?  Here is the article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/24/leaderless-senate-pushes_n_332844.html

Let us consider the possibilities.

1.  Regarding health care reform, President Obama has always tossed the ball into Congress’s court.  They, after all, are our elected legislators, the voice of the people.  Further, the President doesn’t want to suffer the political fallout if the public option should fail.  Having the public option as the mainstay of reform is imperative, but it WILL fail, or at least be meaningless, if a STRONG option is not part of the bill.  To pass reform with a weak, wishy-washy public option is worse than no such program at all.  So Mr. President, public option or not, the reflection will still be totally focused on YOU.

2.  Maybe President Obama’s ultimate goal is to let a weak (or none at all) option pass, so that the writing on the wall, i.e. what we REALLY need, namely universal, single payer, government-run health care, will eventually pass.  This same CNN article reports that the President is actually in favor of the trigger in place of the public option: give the insurance industry five years to make changes and then, if they do not step up to the plate, an automatic trigger of a public option will fall into place.  PUH-LEESE! That is identical to caving in and allowing the insurers five more years of  their greed, corruption and self-serving policies.  The President has a fair shot of still being in office in five years, so maybe he figures that by allowing an inadequate reform bill to currently pass, he will have more ammunition in five years for the real deal  if the trigger is activated.  WRONG. Oh so wrong!  We do not need five more years of this insanity to ultimately prove that President Obama is correct in his initial belief that we need universal coverage.  That would be five more years of cutting off his nose to spite his face.

3.  I am trying to make sense out of the fact, that according to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, we are only a couple of votes away from a decent public option yet President Obama has not firmly gotten behind this provision.  Wasn’t the public option his idea in the first place?   Where is his allegiance to getting help for our people rather than fulfilling his political agenda?  We have the hope, now where the hell is the audacity?

So please help me out here.  I have more confidence in President Obama than my above objections would lead you to believe.  I do not think that he is really gaming the system.  However, if what Huffington Post reports today is true (and I honestly must admit that I have not seen any similar stories on any other news site), what could possibly be the rationale behind the President’s behavior?  Am I being just as premature, inflammatory and wrong as Huffington Post is in reacting to their “story”?  But if Huffington Post does have the goods on this, Man oh Manischewitz: we are only one or two votes away from a viable public option and the President is not going after securing those votes?  What is really happening here?