Obamacare is Constitutional

U.S. Supreme Court

The Affordable Health Care Act has been ruled constitutional by a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court.    The Republicans, dominated by freshman Tea Party congressmen, unlimited Super PAC money, Fox News, right wing radio and lobbyists for big insurance and pharmaceuticals, are predictably screaming bloody murder.     I do agree with many in the Republican rank and file who think our representatives should be entitled to no more benefits than the rest of us receive.   Let's see how they'd like the reality of our patchwork health care system.     I hear a lot of fears being spread that don't necessarily hold up under the weight of the facts.   Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who sponsored the Massachusetts health care reform that became the forerunner for Obamacare, is in no position to want it all thrown out.   Some conservative lawmakers had been the original champions of the individual health coverage mandate.   When I think of the way they labeled John Kerry a flip-flopper in 2004 and piled on in favor of the unfunded George W. Bush senior drug benefit that cost billions we didn't have, their collective record on getting government out of health care has been inconsistent at best.    Under President Obama, any reform is deemed socialist and compromise is a lost art.   Medicare is an example of government involvement in health care working successfully with private enterprise.   The Veterans Administration is a noble idea but arguably too much government in light of some scandalous conditions at VA hospitals.   The conservative or libertarian models of just letting the market take care of itself tend to super serve wants more than needs, leading to a wider variety of erectile dysfunction medications while antibiotic research and access to family physicians get less attention.   We already pay twice as much per patient as other developed nations.   The status quo cannot stand    Obamacare is not the last word in health care costs and coverage, but it's a start.   Where's the Republican plan? 

Social Networks Need Social Filters

Someone on my Facebook recently posted about how much they were looking forward to getting out of town for a certain period of time.   They returned from their vacation to find their home robbed, and they think it was done by someone they know.    We're glad you could get away, but please wait to share this information with Facebook friends (or Twitter followers) after you get back home.   How well do you know every one of what may be hundreds of online friends?   I see this inside information posted all the time now that summer has arrived.    There are other forms of posting that may be less dangerous but just as unnecessary.   Now that I can control the Facebook settings, I can't say I miss seeing everyone's progress playing Farmville.  The pictures of the kids, pets, friends and co-workers are fine.   I don't even mind a few opinion pieces, but the relentless angry rants trashing people who may disagree comes across as an assault on my Facebook page.   So you can't stand Obama - I picked that up fifteen posts ago.   At least on this blog you have the option of ignoring my rants; I'm not splashing them all over someone else's personal page.   And please, just because I ignore your request to repost something "if you care" doesn't mean I don't care.   I just don't care to make my Facebook into a chain letter.   Many people lack a face-to-face social filter.   We can't always expect their social network filter to be any better, but I can hope so for my sake and sometimes for theirs.

Day Trip!

The Breakers, Newport

Newport, Rhode Island is an easy day trip from here in eastern Connecticut.  Before you even arrive in town, the trip over the Jamestown and Newport bridges provides an overwhelming view of Narragansett Bay.   Rhode Island really should have been called the Bay State for this reason alone.   Last weekend's trip was no different than previous ones in that you can find yourself in a sea of people as you enter by the Welcome Center or past the shoppes along Thames Street.   Once you get past that, the city itself is quite walkable and drivable.   There are other novel ways of taking in the sights, too.   Trace the shoreline out along Ocean Drive, then take in the Bellevue Avenue mansions as you head back toward the center of town.  My favorite mansion is The Breakers, but the history of most of these properties is perhaps most impressive.   Museums are everywhere.   The Cliff Walk is also nearby.   There are countless places to shop, eat or drink.   O'Brien's Pub is a special place to me - there's something in a name.   Back in the eighties, I managed to catch the Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams Park featuring Bonnie Raitt among others.   Coming from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun territory, the Newport Grand Casino fails to impress, but there's plenty in Newport that does.

You're Not Special?

In an age when news organizations often tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need to hear, this speech was a bombshell.   The trophy business may not like what Wellesley, Massachusetts High School teacher David McCullough had to say at the school's graduation ceremony.  News flash: We're not special just because we were put on this planet.   His candid comments have caused quite a stir, mostly because they so richly deserved to be said.    Just ask a school administrator or a police officer when parents say, "My Johnny wouldn't do that", "Why are you picking on my child?" or "Give my kid a break."   Children have learned from their parents and millions of marketing messages to ask "what's in it for me?"    This sense of entitlement isn't a rich versus poor, white versus black, American versus foreigner or even conservative versus liberal issue.   We need to reward character and achievement.   Enough with all the excessive awards and trophies.   Everyone's not a winner - certainly not all the time, and that's as it should be.  If everyone's special, nobody is.  Here is the full text of Mr. McCullough's speech.     It's worth reading!

Walker Prevails

Wisconsin's red-blue recall contest

45 per cent of Wisconsin's voters had their hopes dashed in tonight's recall election.   Republican Governor Scott Walker fended off a challenge from Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett.   These results are tragic for anyone who believes unions should still have a voice in the workforce or decries the limitless use of funds by mostly out of state Republican organizations.  While disappointing, Walker's win should not be shocking to anyone except MSNBC's Ed Schultz.   A Washington Post article runs down the reasons for the failure to recall Walker.   In addition to their lopsided 10-1 spending advantage, Walker and company have been campaigning with a laser-like focus way ahead of this judgment day he saw coming since last year.   The serious Democratic split in their own recent primary left many labor supporters less than enthusiastic about supporting Barrett, who then had only weeks to campaign.    Voters outside Milwaukee tend to see the Badger State's largest city as its problem child.   That Milwaukee connection did not help Mayor Tom Barrett in the hinterlands, and Walker capitalized on that.   There was also the Washington Democratic connection, or lack thereof.   National Dems never were as enthusiastic about a recall.    Recent polls do not tie President Obama's Wisconsin fate in November to this recall, thus explaining Obama's tepid endorsement of Tom Barrett.   

Democrats in Wisconsin and nationwide would be ill-served by handwringing and finger pointing.    The attack on labor's dwindling political clout had been central to Governor Walker's agenda all along, even after wage concessions by state unions.   If the tide is to be reversed, labor unions (especially state and municipal ones) have to make their case everywhere, since state workers often unfairly get a bum rap as privileged while others suffer to make ends meet.   This unfair broad brush perception played right into the hands of Governor Walker and his "divide and conquer" strategy.  Let's face it; even many who weren't Walker fans were tired of the unending uproar.  Inevitably, Walker's antics will be his own undoing unless he moderates his tone and stops looking like an operative for the Koch Brothers.   It's time for Democrats to use this time to unite, focusing on November nationwide and revisiting the Wisconsin gubernatorial race in 2014.

Downsize Me

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a ban on soda servings larger than 16 ounces.   The soft drink industry together with conservative pundits have decried this "nanny state" threat to individual freedom.   As with gun control opponents,  this regulatory attempt does beg the question, "what's next?"   You know, they may have a point in their selective outrage, and I'd be willing to make a deal. Let's toss this Bloomberg mandate aside if the soda industry can conclusively prove that there are no significant individual health risks and public health costs to a steady intake of fast food drinks that dwarf the standard sizes of a generation ago.   All that talk about the rise of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes is just alarmist too, right?       Oh, wait, we do know the facts.   Why is it more important to protect subsidies of companies who make high fructose corn syrup than to stave off an epidemic caused by consuming sugar at toxic levels?