From a friend:
" While walking down the street one day a Senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."
"No problem, just let me in," says the Senator.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."
"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Senator.
"I'm sorry, but we have our rules." And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises ...
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.
"Now it's time to visit heaven."
So, 24 hours pass with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."
The senator reflects for a minute, then answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above...
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the Senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"
The devil looks at him, smiles and says.......
"Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted."
NL
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
You're Wrong...No, I'm Right
I've got friends on all sides of the political spectrum. One of the reasons they are my friends is because usually we are capable reasoned discussion around their opinions and that makes things interesting.
But not lately.
This really frustrates me because I love hearing what people think. I'm less interested in hearing them repeat what other people think and somehow passing that off as reasoned discussion. It's not.
I promise you, I do not now, nor have I ever, had a parrot as a pet. It is unlikely I ever will. I've never been in the least bit interested in having something that just repeats what I or someone else says. It's boring and unnecessary noise.
What is even worse is that somehow in the past 22 months or so it has become a part of "reasoned" discussion to shout at people. For a while most of that shouting came out of the Obama camp. Now it's coming from everywhere. McCain supporters have begun to shout. Even worse, they've begun to shout at other McCain supporters. What? How not okay is that?
Along with that shouting has come phrases like "how can you be so stupid to be voting for [insert candidate of choice]?" as if the person you are talking to has suddenly lost their mind because they don't agree with you.
But my personal favorite (not) has been this willingness to "comment" on opinion pieces that don't agree with your opinion and then to call it "witty."
It's not. It's tired. It's juvenile. It's disrespectful. And the only reason anyone gets away with it is that somewhere in this country, I hope, are people who recognize that reasoned discourse does not involve what is essentially a "nanny nanny boo boo" and so the conversation stops.
Two other things on my mind with this "you're wrong" attitude. First, there is a very basic fear people who have an opinion and aren't expessing it have - and that is that the lack of manners coming from other parts of this society are an awful lot like being in High School where if you weren't doing the 'in' thing you were in jeopardy of being beaten up. The second is that it's okay to 'wink' and parody the girl in this race but if you do the same thing with the black man in the race, well, that's racism.
It's true. Sarah Palin does and says some things that make her an easy target. Thank God she's okay with the fun we are poking at her at her expense. John McCain's face, drooping from the after effects of cancer treatment and just plain being old, make him fair game for comments about his health. Biden is fair game but not really leveraged because, well, he's not as old as McCain, not as female as Palin, and he's been around long enough not to be *that* interesting. But really, what if people actually did with Obama what they do with McCain or Palin?
And the lies, the outright lies wrapped around truths...on both sides. Geez, that's not debate - that's rumor mongering.
We teach our children not to behave this way...but apparently the lesson wears off.
So please, don't send me any more "opinion" pieces for either candidate. I'm bored with them. Furthermore, I am entirely too smart to vote for someone just because you tell me I should.
Oh, except for Saturday Night Live...they ARE funny - for the first time in years.
NL
But not lately.
This really frustrates me because I love hearing what people think. I'm less interested in hearing them repeat what other people think and somehow passing that off as reasoned discussion. It's not.
I promise you, I do not now, nor have I ever, had a parrot as a pet. It is unlikely I ever will. I've never been in the least bit interested in having something that just repeats what I or someone else says. It's boring and unnecessary noise.
What is even worse is that somehow in the past 22 months or so it has become a part of "reasoned" discussion to shout at people. For a while most of that shouting came out of the Obama camp. Now it's coming from everywhere. McCain supporters have begun to shout. Even worse, they've begun to shout at other McCain supporters. What? How not okay is that?
Along with that shouting has come phrases like "how can you be so stupid to be voting for [insert candidate of choice]?" as if the person you are talking to has suddenly lost their mind because they don't agree with you.
But my personal favorite (not) has been this willingness to "comment" on opinion pieces that don't agree with your opinion and then to call it "witty."
It's not. It's tired. It's juvenile. It's disrespectful. And the only reason anyone gets away with it is that somewhere in this country, I hope, are people who recognize that reasoned discourse does not involve what is essentially a "nanny nanny boo boo" and so the conversation stops.
Two other things on my mind with this "you're wrong" attitude. First, there is a very basic fear people who have an opinion and aren't expessing it have - and that is that the lack of manners coming from other parts of this society are an awful lot like being in High School where if you weren't doing the 'in' thing you were in jeopardy of being beaten up. The second is that it's okay to 'wink' and parody the girl in this race but if you do the same thing with the black man in the race, well, that's racism.
It's true. Sarah Palin does and says some things that make her an easy target. Thank God she's okay with the fun we are poking at her at her expense. John McCain's face, drooping from the after effects of cancer treatment and just plain being old, make him fair game for comments about his health. Biden is fair game but not really leveraged because, well, he's not as old as McCain, not as female as Palin, and he's been around long enough not to be *that* interesting. But really, what if people actually did with Obama what they do with McCain or Palin?
And the lies, the outright lies wrapped around truths...on both sides. Geez, that's not debate - that's rumor mongering.
We teach our children not to behave this way...but apparently the lesson wears off.
So please, don't send me any more "opinion" pieces for either candidate. I'm bored with them. Furthermore, I am entirely too smart to vote for someone just because you tell me I should.
Oh, except for Saturday Night Live...they ARE funny - for the first time in years.
NL
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Crazy Thinking?
I'm a Washington Redskins fan.
You know how we get. It doesn't matter if you even LIKE football, which I didn't, until recently when I've begun to appreciate its finer aspects...sort of like the French impressionists - who, in my opinion, lack clarity. A Redskins fan believes, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that this is the BEST team in the entire league and that any bad season is the result of bad weather, bad refs, and cheating opposition. Sometimes we will concede that we'd be better if we had fewer injured players. Oh, and in case you hadn't picked up on it, is said "we." That's right. Redskins fans believe they are part of the team.
It's crazy thinking...but it's who we are.
So last week when the 'Skins were facing the Evil Empire, otherwise known as the Dallas Cowboys, I watched them start the first quarter in a state that I can only describe as "clearly stoned."
So there I was, watching and thinking "I have to do SOMETHING. I have to PLAY my POSITION!" But what could I do? I was already rooting for them with ALL of my energy.
Then I got it.
I would bake a pie.
As soon as I began rolling out that pie dough (okay, unrolling the already rolled pie dough) the team, MY team, perked up. By the time the pie was in the oven Washington was playing the game. As the pie baked and filled my apartment with the smell of cherries the 'Skins played and played. Just about the time I took the pie out of the oven, fully baked, the 'Skins were taking a knee for the win.
This weekend I planned to bake a pie. But I wasn't sure. Was I crazy thinking? Really, it's just a pie. So I held tight. Through the first quarter I watched Philly run over the Redskins as if they weren't even on the field.
As they started the second quarter down so far I thought I was in hell I knew the truth...
I was going to have to bake another pie.
The question...is it only Cherry that works or can I make any kind of pie?
Out came the dough. Unrolled and patted into the pie plate. Out came the apple pie filling, poured into the pie shell. Then the butter, sugar, and flour for the crumb topping I favor. For a bit of interest I decided to add some brown sugar and cinnamon.
And just as I started all of this, the 'Skins woke up. It was if they knew I was baking a pie in their honor.
Once again they won, even though once again they were not favored for the win.
I'll leave Coach Zorn to continue working his magic with my team. Clearly he is doing good work.
But I have my job too. There will be pie at my house next weekend if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
:)
You know how we get. It doesn't matter if you even LIKE football, which I didn't, until recently when I've begun to appreciate its finer aspects...sort of like the French impressionists - who, in my opinion, lack clarity. A Redskins fan believes, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that this is the BEST team in the entire league and that any bad season is the result of bad weather, bad refs, and cheating opposition. Sometimes we will concede that we'd be better if we had fewer injured players. Oh, and in case you hadn't picked up on it, is said "we." That's right. Redskins fans believe they are part of the team.
It's crazy thinking...but it's who we are.
So last week when the 'Skins were facing the Evil Empire, otherwise known as the Dallas Cowboys, I watched them start the first quarter in a state that I can only describe as "clearly stoned."
So there I was, watching and thinking "I have to do SOMETHING. I have to PLAY my POSITION!" But what could I do? I was already rooting for them with ALL of my energy.
Then I got it.
I would bake a pie.
As soon as I began rolling out that pie dough (okay, unrolling the already rolled pie dough) the team, MY team, perked up. By the time the pie was in the oven Washington was playing the game. As the pie baked and filled my apartment with the smell of cherries the 'Skins played and played. Just about the time I took the pie out of the oven, fully baked, the 'Skins were taking a knee for the win.
This weekend I planned to bake a pie. But I wasn't sure. Was I crazy thinking? Really, it's just a pie. So I held tight. Through the first quarter I watched Philly run over the Redskins as if they weren't even on the field.
As they started the second quarter down so far I thought I was in hell I knew the truth...
I was going to have to bake another pie.
The question...is it only Cherry that works or can I make any kind of pie?
Out came the dough. Unrolled and patted into the pie plate. Out came the apple pie filling, poured into the pie shell. Then the butter, sugar, and flour for the crumb topping I favor. For a bit of interest I decided to add some brown sugar and cinnamon.
And just as I started all of this, the 'Skins woke up. It was if they knew I was baking a pie in their honor.
Once again they won, even though once again they were not favored for the win.
I'll leave Coach Zorn to continue working his magic with my team. Clearly he is doing good work.
But I have my job too. There will be pie at my house next weekend if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
:)
Saturday, October 04, 2008
The Beauty of the Bailout
So one of the things about Washington that I don't think will ever change is that it is full of opportunists. No where in the country is this more apparent than in our Legislative process. No time in the legislative process is it more likely to happen that when all hell is breaking loose and legislation has to be passed quickly. (Quick, for the record, isn't a word that appears in the body of the congressional dictionary.)
Knowing this I decided to wander out to our newly passed H.R. 1424. This bill provides "authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes."
I like economic and financial stability although I'm still hoping it doesn't mean that what we've stabilized is bad credit and people who got rich off of it. I think energy production should be incentivized although I'd like a clearer definition of natural gas (methane gas is natural but do we really want MORE of it?)
I'm wondering how much tax relief we'll really see individually if we are now having to fund an additional 850 billion (for what we've spent on this and the war we could have bought BOTH Iraq and Mexico - solving at least two problems and increasing our tax-base.) I was heartened to see, I think, that the Palin family paid the same amount in taxes as I did in 2007...although I made a bit less. But she has more deductions and lives in a much more expensive location. Oh, and she didn't get a stimulus check either.
It's the "other purposes" I think bear a closer look. So let's see what else the "bailout" gave us.
First, it made some improvements (depending on your viewpoint) to the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Since Paul Wellstone died in 2002 I was immediately assured that it wasn't specific to his mental health. Which is good because otherwise I think we could be looking for more specific mental healthcare coverage for at least 435 representatives in the House and 100 senators in the Senate. I digress, but only a bit since this is the whole point of the what was the original H.R.1424 before it was changed to make economic stabilization even possible.
In brief, this "rider" makes it clear that limits are based on duration/scope of treatment - not dollars, substance-related disorders have to be included in mental health benefits (does lemon cake addiction count?), prescribes a bunch of minimums in terms of what all health plans must cover, increases medicaid drug rebates, limits certain types of physician referrals (mostly around ones that benefit the referring physician - like a practice run by the referring physician's "Uncle Louis.") and makes Congress responsible for investigating whether or not anyone is paying attention to this little piece of legislation.
Then we get the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 - Title I: Genetic Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance and Title II: Prohibiting Employment Discrimination on the Basis of Genetic Information - (Sec. 202) legislation. Basically it prohibits insurers and employers from forcing you to undergo genetic testing and punishing you in ANY WAY if you do - especially if the results of your tests might suggest you could cost them some extra bucks in the future. Furthermore, if you've undergone it already (or do at some point in the future) they don't get to punish you if the results aren't what they consider optimal. Not in granting insurance and not in determining what your rates are. I consider this piece of legislation possibly worth 850 billion dollars. I'm hoping they fund HHS, Labor, and Treasury sufficiently so that these three Departments can actually enforce their mandate. Oh, and I'm wondering if they've figured out how to test for lemon-cake addiction genetics. Do I have my mother to blame for this (because lately she's become the heir apparent for family blame - so much for personal responsibility dearest brother.) Maybe my father? I blame him for my love of travel, willingness to question what others tell me is truth, and my pot belly. Maybe my lemon-cake addiction comes from him...
The greatest irony, and the part that pleases me most, is that these two riders poke the insurance companies and their greed right in the eyeball. Why? Because insurance companies are part of the financial infrastructure and thus benefit from the economic stabilization act. Good insurance policies help Americans with healthcare and if we do it right we won't have to risk government nosiness into our very personal business. For every pro-choice activist this should come as good news.
There's a lot more that this bill does in the "other category." Things that aren't mentioned in the summary. That's research you'll have to do yourself because this thing appears to be about 451 pages long. If you want more information on the bill (and a chance to see partisanship in action - thank you Financial Services Committee) go here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:H.R.1424:
Thank you Paul Wellstone. May you rest in peace.
...
Knowing this I decided to wander out to our newly passed H.R. 1424. This bill provides "authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes."
I like economic and financial stability although I'm still hoping it doesn't mean that what we've stabilized is bad credit and people who got rich off of it. I think energy production should be incentivized although I'd like a clearer definition of natural gas (methane gas is natural but do we really want MORE of it?)
I'm wondering how much tax relief we'll really see individually if we are now having to fund an additional 850 billion (for what we've spent on this and the war we could have bought BOTH Iraq and Mexico - solving at least two problems and increasing our tax-base.) I was heartened to see, I think, that the Palin family paid the same amount in taxes as I did in 2007...although I made a bit less. But she has more deductions and lives in a much more expensive location. Oh, and she didn't get a stimulus check either.
It's the "other purposes" I think bear a closer look. So let's see what else the "bailout" gave us.
First, it made some improvements (depending on your viewpoint) to the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Since Paul Wellstone died in 2002 I was immediately assured that it wasn't specific to his mental health. Which is good because otherwise I think we could be looking for more specific mental healthcare coverage for at least 435 representatives in the House and 100 senators in the Senate. I digress, but only a bit since this is the whole point of the what was the original H.R.1424 before it was changed to make economic stabilization even possible.
In brief, this "rider" makes it clear that limits are based on duration/scope of treatment - not dollars, substance-related disorders have to be included in mental health benefits (does lemon cake addiction count?), prescribes a bunch of minimums in terms of what all health plans must cover, increases medicaid drug rebates, limits certain types of physician referrals (mostly around ones that benefit the referring physician - like a practice run by the referring physician's "Uncle Louis.") and makes Congress responsible for investigating whether or not anyone is paying attention to this little piece of legislation.
Then we get the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 - Title I: Genetic Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance and Title II: Prohibiting Employment Discrimination on the Basis of Genetic Information - (Sec. 202) legislation. Basically it prohibits insurers and employers from forcing you to undergo genetic testing and punishing you in ANY WAY if you do - especially if the results of your tests might suggest you could cost them some extra bucks in the future. Furthermore, if you've undergone it already (or do at some point in the future) they don't get to punish you if the results aren't what they consider optimal. Not in granting insurance and not in determining what your rates are. I consider this piece of legislation possibly worth 850 billion dollars. I'm hoping they fund HHS, Labor, and Treasury sufficiently so that these three Departments can actually enforce their mandate. Oh, and I'm wondering if they've figured out how to test for lemon-cake addiction genetics. Do I have my mother to blame for this (because lately she's become the heir apparent for family blame - so much for personal responsibility dearest brother.) Maybe my father? I blame him for my love of travel, willingness to question what others tell me is truth, and my pot belly. Maybe my lemon-cake addiction comes from him...
The greatest irony, and the part that pleases me most, is that these two riders poke the insurance companies and their greed right in the eyeball. Why? Because insurance companies are part of the financial infrastructure and thus benefit from the economic stabilization act. Good insurance policies help Americans with healthcare and if we do it right we won't have to risk government nosiness into our very personal business. For every pro-choice activist this should come as good news.
There's a lot more that this bill does in the "other category." Things that aren't mentioned in the summary. That's research you'll have to do yourself because this thing appears to be about 451 pages long. If you want more information on the bill (and a chance to see partisanship in action - thank you Financial Services Committee) go here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:H.R.1424:
Thank you Paul Wellstone. May you rest in peace.
...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Because it's your JOB!
Last time I checked (which was about 30 seconds ago) US Senators were paid an annual salary of $169,300.
Clearly congress is different than any other place where people get paid a salary. The rest of us, we work. And if we don't work, we get fired. No salary.
So could someone please explain to me why we taxpayers are paying these men salaries while they interview for another job?
We're in a terrible financial situation and at least one senator is "phoning in" while he stumps in Colorado and wonders why Washington can't get their job done.
Um...because it's full of people who don't actually bother DOING their job? The one they are being PAID for?
You're fired.
Clearly congress is different than any other place where people get paid a salary. The rest of us, we work. And if we don't work, we get fired. No salary.
So could someone please explain to me why we taxpayers are paying these men salaries while they interview for another job?
We're in a terrible financial situation and at least one senator is "phoning in" while he stumps in Colorado and wonders why Washington can't get their job done.
Um...because it's full of people who don't actually bother DOING their job? The one they are being PAID for?
You're fired.
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