On June 7th, a large female snapping turtle (over 18 inches across) came out of the wetland by the side yard and laid her eggs on the leach field! I could hardly believe what I was seeing! I checked a web site on New England turtles and found out the eggs have a gestation period of 70 days.
So Sunday, August 16th, is the big day! I’ll have my camera out and keep watch to catch the little critters when they emerge from the sand. I hope they do. I hope they’ll know which way to go. Three directions are away from water. It will be interesting to see if they know which direction to go without being told.
We also have a pair of Marsh Hawks living in the same area. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them too. I’m sure they’d love baby turtles.
If they do live to hatch, and dig themselves out of the sand, and evade the hawks, and make it to the water, it will be quite a testimony to the determination of nature to live and propagate. It seems ironic that the most intelligent creatures, we humans, need so many un-natural support systems to survive- houses, cars, phones, TVs, PCs, processed foods, health insurance, lawn mowers, Facebook and Oprah, while the rest of the animal kingdom survives without any of it, and in spite of it.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Innovation, Flint Knapping and Health Care
Many opponents of health care reform say that innovation will suffer if the private health insurance industry is taken over by public paid plans. I hear this all the time, and yet I have not heard what they mean by that assertion. I also read an interesting article on flint knapping today. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111843678) It seems that pre-historic man, over 165,000 years ago, began heat treating stones to harden them and make them behave more predictably when knapped, or chipped, to make sharper tools and spear heads. Innovation! But were they motivated, or incentivized by free enterprise profit, or just the need to make a better product? I say the latter, and so is health care. The very notion that we will grow dumb and stop innovating because our health care may be paid for by the government is just plain dumb- and not very innovative!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
If the Health Industry Lobbyists aren’t Worried- the Fat Lady Already Sang!
The NY Times reported today that health industry lobbyists are not worried about the Senate version of the health bill. This means they've won! They have everyone on the Senate Finance Committee in their back pocket. Senator Baucus is the worst of the bunch. He's received more money from the health care industry than any other member of Congress. They were panicked by the thought of a lower cost public option, so they’ve thrown their muscle behind the lesser of two evils- a non-profit private co-op. Watch as they apply pressure to water down the co-op and make it unattractive to the status quo. Over time the health industry can squeeze the co-op out, and we’ll be right back where we are today- stuck with a profit motivated health care system with 47 million uninsured Americans, no choices, no protection from cancellation and no guarantees of coverage with prior conditions.
If the President doesn’t hold his ground on the public option, all this commotion and effort will be for naught, and the health insurance industry will prove they are stronger and more powerful than the democracy they thrive within.
If the President doesn’t hold his ground on the public option, all this commotion and effort will be for naught, and the health insurance industry will prove they are stronger and more powerful than the democracy they thrive within.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Got insurance? - or why I'm a prisoner in NH!
OK, let's focus on the insured today- not the uninsured. Insurance companies are in business to make money- more precisely, to make profit. There used to be many small insurance companies in NH. Now there are only two major insurance companies doing most of the business for the whole state. What happened? In the nineties NH passed a law requiring health insurance companies to cover small businesses. When they were forced to insure people in small businesses, they fled NH like rats leaving the ship to avoid unprofitable mandates. The larger companies had the volume of business to offset the risk. Prior to the law, they were not were not insuring the small, high risk businesses- rather they were just skimming the low risk, high profit policies where ever they could land them-- still leaving many small businesses with no affordable health insurance for their employees. There are now just two major health insurance companies doing most of the business in NH.
And let’s not forget why there are only two companies left- Federal law doesn’t permit insurance companies to operate beyond a state or region. This preserves their local monopoly and denies us choices of other large companies across the country (there are hundreds of them out there). When health insurance reform is passed, we’ll be able to shop around nationally- just like we do for a home mortgage- and get the best deal. This will increase competition and give us an opportunity to have the best policy for our situation, regardless of where we live. I live in NH. If I moved to Vermont my insurance company would cancel my policy. That’s unfair and stupid. If I have a pre-existing condition, I may not get any company to pick up my insurance if I moved- so I’m a prisoner of NH – all because of an insurance company!
Insurance reform will help all of us who are insured today by giving us more choices and the freedom to live wherever we want without the fear of losing our coverage. I can’t imagine why anyone other than an insurance company would be opposed to that kind of reform. If you are opposed to health insurance reform, then you are just dupes for the insurance industry- doing their bidding and keeping us all locked into a system that only benefits insurance companies- not us, the people who pay for it.
And let’s not forget why there are only two companies left- Federal law doesn’t permit insurance companies to operate beyond a state or region. This preserves their local monopoly and denies us choices of other large companies across the country (there are hundreds of them out there). When health insurance reform is passed, we’ll be able to shop around nationally- just like we do for a home mortgage- and get the best deal. This will increase competition and give us an opportunity to have the best policy for our situation, regardless of where we live. I live in NH. If I moved to Vermont my insurance company would cancel my policy. That’s unfair and stupid. If I have a pre-existing condition, I may not get any company to pick up my insurance if I moved- so I’m a prisoner of NH – all because of an insurance company!
Insurance reform will help all of us who are insured today by giving us more choices and the freedom to live wherever we want without the fear of losing our coverage. I can’t imagine why anyone other than an insurance company would be opposed to that kind of reform. If you are opposed to health insurance reform, then you are just dupes for the insurance industry- doing their bidding and keeping us all locked into a system that only benefits insurance companies- not us, the people who pay for it.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The President is Coming! The President is Coming!
The President is coming to NH today. It’s promising to be one of the wildest town hall meetings ever! Despite the lack of civility displayed by opponents of health care reform, the President is embracing the challenge to take questions from a live, mixed audience of participants. I hope he can pull it off.
This is quite a contrast to visits we had from President Bush. I know an 80 year old woman who painted a sign protesting the Iraq war. She was told to move further away from eye shot of the President on a motorcade through Hudson, NH. She refused to move, stating her right of assembly of free speech. The police arrested her and put her in jail. When she appeared in court several months later, after everyone forgot President Bush had been there, the judge found her innocent, but that never made any news.
Let’s hope anti- health care protestors are not treated in the same way.
This is quite a contrast to visits we had from President Bush. I know an 80 year old woman who painted a sign protesting the Iraq war. She was told to move further away from eye shot of the President on a motorcade through Hudson, NH. She refused to move, stating her right of assembly of free speech. The police arrested her and put her in jail. When she appeared in court several months later, after everyone forgot President Bush had been there, the judge found her innocent, but that never made any news.
Let’s hope anti- health care protestors are not treated in the same way.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Health Care Reform- Good luck!
I’ve been a strong proponent of health care reform. Personally, I would like to see us have universal single payer health care like Canada and most industrialized nations. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed the free enterprise system to turn health care into a “for profit” business over the last 30 years, and the power and influence of the industry is very hard, if not impossible, to compete with. Although there is a strong majority of people who favor health care reform, they don’t have the power or influence to make it happen. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that almost every Representative and Senator receives huge campaign contributions from the medical industry. I find it very discouraging that we’ve allowed our democracy to be high jacked by the medical industry.
Here are my key points for health reform:
1- Today people can be canceled because they have an expensive illness. No company is required to provide health care- so they end up bankrupt or untreated, both of which are unacceptable. The proposed health care reform will not allow this.
2- If you loose your job, you can get COBRA insurance (a program mandated by law) for 18 months. It’s expensive, and after 18 months it’s terminated. I know a person who has Leukemia and was laid off. The treatment for Leukemia could go on for 2-3 years. I also know two people who went bankrupt because of health costs treating a terminally ill spouse. This shouldn’t have to happen. We should have health insurance that’s independent of where you work and who you work for. How did we ever get trapped into that system? I heard that during WWII no one could get a raise, so the companies starting picking up health insurance as an alternative and we really got stuck from that point on.
3- Medicaid covers people at the every bottom of the income sector, but private health insurance costs $10,000- $14,000. If you’re self employed, that’s unaffordable for most people who earn less than $50,000 a year. That’s almost have of the working population! People in that income bracket have to buy food, pay for a car and housing, and raise and educate their children. There’s no money left over for health insurance.
4- I believe it’s immoral for businesses to profit off the misfortune people’s accidents or illnesses. Corporate health care profits are as high as 30%. They keep the profit high by insuring only low risk people. It should be against the law for a hospital to put a homeless person in a taxi and drop them off at a homeless shelter when they need treatment. This is documented as being done much more often than the medical industry would like you to know about. A single payer health system would be 20- 30 % less expensive because there would be no advertising costs, no profit to cover, and no multimillion dollar CEO salaries to pay.
5- I haven’t talked to any person from Canada who isn’t very satisfied with their health care. When you get sick, you can see any doctor you want. I can’t do that today. I have Harvard Pilgrim. I have to use doctors within their plan. My freedom of choice is very limited. It wouldn’t be if we had universal health care.
6- You can’t shop around for health care like you can for mortgages. By law, there are restrictions and health insurance is limited to a state or small region. My HP plan covers me as long as I’m in Maine, NH or Mass. But if I move to Vermont, my policy would be terminated. That isn’t right. They do it to keep competition out so they can maintain a small group industries you can choose from. Health care reform will open up more companies to choose from.
7- The bottom line is private health care business cares more about profit than people. It’s wrong and we should change it.
8- As far as limiting coverage and treatments in a government run system- the private companies do that today. They just don’t tell you until you need treatment, then you get the run around. They may even just drop you. The new health care reform will not allow them to drop you. They’re fighting it because it will hurt their profit margin if goes through.
9- Cost is an issue, but I would pay higher taxes if it meant that every single American could get health care when they needed it. 47 million people are uninsured today. We’re too good a country to let this continue without doing something about it.
Here are my key points for health reform:
1- Today people can be canceled because they have an expensive illness. No company is required to provide health care- so they end up bankrupt or untreated, both of which are unacceptable. The proposed health care reform will not allow this.
2- If you loose your job, you can get COBRA insurance (a program mandated by law) for 18 months. It’s expensive, and after 18 months it’s terminated. I know a person who has Leukemia and was laid off. The treatment for Leukemia could go on for 2-3 years. I also know two people who went bankrupt because of health costs treating a terminally ill spouse. This shouldn’t have to happen. We should have health insurance that’s independent of where you work and who you work for. How did we ever get trapped into that system? I heard that during WWII no one could get a raise, so the companies starting picking up health insurance as an alternative and we really got stuck from that point on.
3- Medicaid covers people at the every bottom of the income sector, but private health insurance costs $10,000- $14,000. If you’re self employed, that’s unaffordable for most people who earn less than $50,000 a year. That’s almost have of the working population! People in that income bracket have to buy food, pay for a car and housing, and raise and educate their children. There’s no money left over for health insurance.
4- I believe it’s immoral for businesses to profit off the misfortune people’s accidents or illnesses. Corporate health care profits are as high as 30%. They keep the profit high by insuring only low risk people. It should be against the law for a hospital to put a homeless person in a taxi and drop them off at a homeless shelter when they need treatment. This is documented as being done much more often than the medical industry would like you to know about. A single payer health system would be 20- 30 % less expensive because there would be no advertising costs, no profit to cover, and no multimillion dollar CEO salaries to pay.
5- I haven’t talked to any person from Canada who isn’t very satisfied with their health care. When you get sick, you can see any doctor you want. I can’t do that today. I have Harvard Pilgrim. I have to use doctors within their plan. My freedom of choice is very limited. It wouldn’t be if we had universal health care.
6- You can’t shop around for health care like you can for mortgages. By law, there are restrictions and health insurance is limited to a state or small region. My HP plan covers me as long as I’m in Maine, NH or Mass. But if I move to Vermont, my policy would be terminated. That isn’t right. They do it to keep competition out so they can maintain a small group industries you can choose from. Health care reform will open up more companies to choose from.
7- The bottom line is private health care business cares more about profit than people. It’s wrong and we should change it.
8- As far as limiting coverage and treatments in a government run system- the private companies do that today. They just don’t tell you until you need treatment, then you get the run around. They may even just drop you. The new health care reform will not allow them to drop you. They’re fighting it because it will hurt their profit margin if goes through.
9- Cost is an issue, but I would pay higher taxes if it meant that every single American could get health care when they needed it. 47 million people are uninsured today. We’re too good a country to let this continue without doing something about it.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Health Care Town Meetings- Who's organizing the mobs?
So we all have an opinion on health care, and these town meetings offer an opportunity to ask questions and meet out legislators in person- democracy in action. Opponents of health care reform are attending these meetings with the sole purpose of disrupting the forum and preventing the meetings from taking place. It smacks of “brown shirt” thug tactics and by acting this way these people are stealing our democracy. It’s shameful that any political leaders may endorse or support this behavior. It’s un-American! It’s one thing to ask questions, but it’s inexcusable to steal the forum and deny people their first amendment right of free speech and assembly. I hope people fight back by expressing their disgust with this behavior.
Julie and Julia
Oh the food, and the performances by Amy Adams and Meryl Streep are perfect! I can’t wait to go out and buy “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”… The movie intertwines the life of Julie and Julia through the cookbook- Julia’s journey to write it and Julie’s crazy, but original attempt to make everything in the cookbook in one year. I loved this movie and so did everyone with me. It’s great enterainment!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Global Cooling vs Global Warming
OK, I accept global warming as a fact, but...given that the earth has undergone many warming and cooling cycles- the last ice age ended 10,000 yrs ago- and will probably continue to change in temperature, isn't global warming more desirable than global cooling? We can grow more food and people will be in less discomfort than the alternative of cooling? The earth does not remain a constant temperature, no matter how much we'd like it to.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Electric Plug-in vs Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
The public is being taken for another ride, this time fuel cells. The government is sponsoring fuel cell development and been an accomplice to the suppression of electric plug-in cars. The two aren't in the same league- Electric is here today and available nationwide if we could buy them. They can be recharged virtually anywhere. Hydrogen fuel cells have to be recharged at refueling stations (like gas stations)and require 100,000+ facilities nationwide- it's just a replacement business for oil! Oh yes, and it is more expensive than oil. What do we gain from that?
Here's a letter I sent to Honda Motors on the subject:
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Honda Automobile Customer Service
1919 Torrance Boulevard
Mail Stop: 500 - 2N - 7D
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
Dear Honda,
While you have pursued a hydrogen powered vehicle in the Clarity, it appears to be another folly intended to appease environmentalists while not really addressing our energy problem. My understanding is hydrogen production is very expensive and ties the drivers to specific refueling stations. The fact that Shell has installed a hydrogen refueling station is a clear statement that the oil companies see a future in manufacturing fuel using oil. What’s to be gained by doing that?
I also don’t understand why you invested in the electric car over ten years ago and then abandoned it just when lithium ion batteries have progressed to a point where their range could be very viable. Most people would be very satisfied with 100 mile recharging range. Also, we can recharge a plug in electric car within the existing electrical infrastructure, at home, at work, at parking meters, or at the mall … and not have to drive around town looking hydrogen stations.
In these times you have an opportunity to really do a great thing- lead us to oil independence by remarketing the EV Plus with new batteries and sell it for heavens sake. People don’t want a lease. They want a car we can drive for 10 years! All my friends would buy an electric car. The times have changed- You’re on the verge of missing an opportunity to lead the world into a new era. Hydrogen fuel isn’t practical, good old AC in the garage is practical!!!
I look forward to your carefully forged defense of hydrogen fuel cells, but I would really like to know why you’ve given up on the plug in electrics when they seem so much more viable and can be mass produced today and sold nationwide!
Thank you,
Gary Way
cc: CBS 60 Minutes
NBC Dateline
New York Times
National Public Radio- All Things Considered
Here's a letter I sent to Honda Motors on the subject:
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Honda Automobile Customer Service
1919 Torrance Boulevard
Mail Stop: 500 - 2N - 7D
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
Dear Honda,
While you have pursued a hydrogen powered vehicle in the Clarity, it appears to be another folly intended to appease environmentalists while not really addressing our energy problem. My understanding is hydrogen production is very expensive and ties the drivers to specific refueling stations. The fact that Shell has installed a hydrogen refueling station is a clear statement that the oil companies see a future in manufacturing fuel using oil. What’s to be gained by doing that?
I also don’t understand why you invested in the electric car over ten years ago and then abandoned it just when lithium ion batteries have progressed to a point where their range could be very viable. Most people would be very satisfied with 100 mile recharging range. Also, we can recharge a plug in electric car within the existing electrical infrastructure, at home, at work, at parking meters, or at the mall … and not have to drive around town looking hydrogen stations.
In these times you have an opportunity to really do a great thing- lead us to oil independence by remarketing the EV Plus with new batteries and sell it for heavens sake. People don’t want a lease. They want a car we can drive for 10 years! All my friends would buy an electric car. The times have changed- You’re on the verge of missing an opportunity to lead the world into a new era. Hydrogen fuel isn’t practical, good old AC in the garage is practical!!!
I look forward to your carefully forged defense of hydrogen fuel cells, but I would really like to know why you’ve given up on the plug in electrics when they seem so much more viable and can be mass produced today and sold nationwide!
Thank you,
Gary Way
cc: CBS 60 Minutes
NBC Dateline
New York Times
National Public Radio- All Things Considered
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